A Witch's Heart Pokemon AU, inspired by this post.
(This is more of an introduction, because I have Pokemon teams and art I want to make for this)
This AU takes place in the region of Aileni, and focuses on Claire Elford, a woman who lives near the small town of Cendiu. She mostly spends her days helping out the villagers around her and tending to her work, but that routine is one day interrupted by a scuffle between who looks to be a professor and a pretentious-seeming townsperson who she... doesn't fully recognize. Claire runs out to break up the fight, only to find it was just a... strangely heated argument over produce prices.
The two weird men introduce themselves as Ashe Bradley (the... professor?) and Sirius Gibson (pretentious townsperson, seems offended and frankly surprised you had to ask). Claire tries to understand who they are, but gets quickly stopped in her tracks by Ashe questioning if she knows fully the 'wonder of Pokemon.' Claire basically says 'yes, i live in this world.' Ashe then goes on the basic introduction monologue of any Pokemon media: Pokemon are lovely creatures that live alongside us, we aid them in the same ways that they can aid us, and we live in harmony except for when we don't. The usual.
Sirius tells Ashe to buzz off, Ashe initiates Claire on a Pokemon journey of some sort. Claire doesn't seem like a Pokemon battler, so it's likely a journey to identify and understand more Pokemon, but throughout this whole conversation, it's hinted at that Ashe just wants to get Claire out of the way for something. Claire, however, accepts Ashe's proposal to go identify Pokemon, and says she already has a Pokemon partner of her own. No need for starter choices :) except for me who has to figure out what she has :(
Anyways, Sirius is clearly a bit pissed at this predicament, but got signed up to identify Pokemon, too. He buys the produce he came for and leaves.
Claire, going to go "get the hang of things!" goes to the general first route area, and starts identifying Pokemon alone. Ashe fucked off to who-knows-where. She gets the knack of things, or whatever, and goes on to the next town. Unfortunately, the way is through a dark forest.
Halfway through the forest, Claire stumbles upon a clearing, wherein she finds a mysterious but, once again, strangely familiar stranger, who seems shocked and terrified at the sight of her. The two manage to strike a conversation, and though the stranger gives no mind to his answers, he seems to already have them... planned out.
Claire asks his name, to which he replies, Noel. He excuses himself, and walks into the deeper parts of the woods. that was weird. anyways
From here on out, I'm tired of describing every plot point beat-for-beat.
The antagonist "team" in this region is made up of the demons. They're supposedly after the control of a fake pokemon meant to reflect the Witch's Heart. The Pokemon can release massive amounts of power, but only when it's killed, sacrificing the heart of its owner whenever it dies. Though this Pokemon is in possesion of Noel at the moment, it's incredibly close to Claire, and the two are incredibly friendly.
Similar to the actual game of Witch's Heart, this Pokemon AU functions on a time-loop system. Noel remembers each loop, but Claire doesn't until the end of the game. With the fake-witch's-heart-pokemon, each of its deaths (typically by the Demons' hands,) restart the game from the beginning, and it's up to the player to make Claire get farther than before, establishing the theme of free choice only to be spited in its tracks, since the story itself can only ever change from Noel's intervention.
Ashe serves as the Pokemon Professor, but the Incident with his family still happened, and he knows about the Witch's Heart Pokemon. The more he gets to know Claire, the more that he understands he might be able to get his family back by, ultimately, killing the Pokemon attached to her. Therefore, if you get far enough without a demon killing you, you've gotta deal with Ashe!
Sirius serves as the rival of the Pokemon games, and still shares that backstory with Claire. I'm still trying to figure out what happened with the amnesia and Dorothy, tbh, so, can't give you much. Sirius, however, does currently reside over the Mansion as he does in-game, and it's a major location in this AU.
I couldn't figure out what to do with Wilardo. Maybe he's just a recurring NPC. I know for sure that he's fishing a lot.
Noel and Claire are, ultimately, the two driving forces of the story. Noel keeps harnessing the power of the Poke Heart to bring Claire back, while Claire is unaware but catching on. Noel ultimately breaks quicker in this AU, as he doesn't have the limitation of turning into a whole flesh-blob, though I may make him a part of the Demon Antagonist Team just for those tasty tasty parallel points.
anyways it's 1 in the morning, next up I'll be clarifying some things and also posting these guyses pokemon teams. Eventually I'll design the Pokemon Witch's Heart
