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Fearow and Spearow were scattered wide, everyone flying in all directions and trying desperately to avoid crashing into each other, not helped at all by the dark green shadow cast by the cloud cover, the dim lighting interrupted by  lightning flashes. They had impeccable timing, occurring just often enough to prevent anyone's eyes from getting too acquainted with the dim light. They illuminated everything for only a brief moment, too little time to judge speed and distance of any other bird.

The wind writhed violently around Esareth, tossing her around like so many spearow of her flockmates. A tailwind would push her straight into a downdraft, which shifted into a headwind. These shearing drafts were the worst storm she had ever had to fly in. The tornado wielding these winds loomed close, threatening to suck her in as she struggled to escape. Rain and hail swirled everywhere, pelting her face and wings. The roar of the tornado's winds and the earsplitting cracks of thunder battered her poor ears and the lightning flashes lit up the entire sky, leaving afterimages in her eyes. Panic long since filled her entire body and hadn't stopped. She was desperate for the peaceful flying she had known before this storm appeared.

The flock has never been caught out like this before. Storms of this magnitude were never subtle, and a flock like Esareth's had no trouble avoiding them. To the elder birds, the clouds and winds may as well whisper the future. A warm and windy day is the first sign, not audible enough to hear the warning but loud enough to get you to listen. When the winds aloft shear hard to the North, they shout to be ready to fly. When you see large clouds on the horizon, they scream loudly to run away.

In the morning, the winds were quiet and the flock was settled and relaxed. Nobody was on watch for storms because the weather was calm. Esareth was out foraging for berries with the other spearow. There was a leppa berry bush they had found recently and she wanted to eat some before Astaris ate them all.

"Esareth, where are you?" Her mom called to her from above the canopy, "come here, we have something special for you."

Esareth had only enjoyed one berry, and she was sure they would be gone by the time returned.

"I hear my parents calling, see you later," she said and gave the berry bush one last longing glance. She would love to eat more, but she had to leave.

"OK, we'll be flying back to the dock after this," one of her flockmates let her know. The flock placed a strict emphasis on keeping track of its members. The importance of knowing if someone is separated from the flock, and if they are, where they can be found, is taught to every fledgling. If you go out foraging or exploring or having fun, the less precise your directions are the more important it is to keep your ears open for flock mates trying to find you.

Esareth, who heard about the bush from Gateliel, only knew the rough bearing and direction when she told her parents, so it was sadly necessary to leave the berries behind.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Esareth called out to her soaring parents, who descended to meet her.

"Hello Esareth, we have something for you," her mom said, and rocked her wings side to side in greeting. Esareth waved back and followed as her parents descended into the canopy for a landing on the forest floor.

With his long beak, her dad reached deep into his flight bag and started digging around for something. He gave her mom a look, and she ruffled her wings.

"Esareth sweetie, we have something for you," she said again. Esareth briefly wondered how many times she would say that, as she had heard it three times already. "You're now old enough to have this," her mom still wasn't explaining anything, but her dad finally found what he was looking for, so maybe she could know soon. In his break was a necklace. It had large wooden beads around the entire length, with a bigger bead hanging off the middle. He put it around her neck and it fell into place comfortably.

"This rosary is a very important treasure," her dad filled in. "Keep it safe from anyone, OK?"

Esareth looked at both of them and nodded.

"Good. We love you very much," he said, and put a wing over her. Her mom did the same.

"We're proud of you, Esareth," she said.

Before she could push off their wings in embarrassment, a loud shrieking was heard that put everyone on alert. There was something wrong and the flock needed to reform quickly.

All three of them took off and cleared the canopy as fast as possible. The cause of the alert was immediately obvious. The overcast skies were in motion. It was an impossible motion, storms simply didn't work that way.

"Fly as fast as you can!" Some fearow shouted, "That's a tornado!"

It seemed like ages ago that Esareth had almost pushed away her parents' wings. She was tired, disoriented, bruised, and even more tired. The only thing she wanted now was to hide under her parents' wings and be shielded from this horrible storm.

She, and every other one of her flockmates, continued suffering at the whims of the tornado with no end in sight. The tornado was intensifying, and everyone was tiring.

Esareth was exhausted, and she faltered. She couldn’t flap any more, and tumbled. The winds whipped her around as she struggled to regain control.

“Esareth!” She heard someone shout, her mom or dad she couldn’t tell. The tornado was sucking her in, and she waved her wings helplessly. As she spiraled closer and closer to the vortex, the temperature fell lower and lower. With so many feathers out of place or missing, the cold was cutting to the quick much easier than normal. She shivered involuntarily, from the cold and from fear. Panic was gone, slowly being replaced with resignation at her fate. When she got too close, the winds would be so strong she would be ripped wing from wing. She would be flung up high into the sky, higher than she could ever fly herself. The ground would be so very far away, and she wouldn’t have any feathers to fly with. It would be a long and high-speed descent of certain doom.

She tried to regain control again, maybe she could power out, but her wings had no energy left to flap, but it was useless. She resigned herself to her fate, and folded up her wings snugly, and closed her eyes tight. She was along for the ride now. Around and around she went, whipped around by the intense winds as they slowly drew her in toward the center. Tears she shed didn’t stain her cheeks, they whisked away instantly by the wind.

“-After that, I don’t know what happened,” Esareth said. Caspian listened intently. “Suddenly, the entire tornado was gone. Just vanished. I don’t know where it went or where I went. This isn’t the place where the tornado started, not by a long shot. I glided down here and that’s where I’ve been ever since.” She finished her recounting.

"Oh... I'm sorry.... Being separated from your entire family is so tragic! I don't even know what that's like," Caspian said.

“Didn’t you say you lost your memory?” She double-checked.

“Yes, but not like, everything. I still remember my name after all,” Caspian defended. He was a strange one. Today, while she was waiting for her flock to come, a strange black and purple ring had formed in the sky, and he fell out of it. He was clearly unconscious and hit the ground hard. Thankfully not hard enough to kill him, but it did knock him a bit loopy, it seemed. He claimed he was something called a ‘human,’ not that it meant anything to her. He was clearly a normal starly just like she was, just a bit brain-damaged from the fall.

She looked back down at her rosary. “They didn't even get to tell me what my rosary is for!” she whined and stifled a sniffle.

“Your rosary...?” Caspian asked and tilted his head to inspect it. “The necklace you're wearing?”

“Why did they give it to me? What's important about it? It's the only thing I have from them…” she wondered.

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“Whoah-ho-ho! You hear that?” Koffing said as he peeked over the bush, “The wimp’s got a mysterious treasure!”

“A very important one, no less,” Zubat confirmed. He too was peeking over the bush, not that he really needed to.

Skuntank stamped his paw. “Team Skull, huddle!” he shouted as quietly as possible so not to alert those chumps. Zubat and Koffing formed in, making a triangle. “We’ve been looking for a break for a while now. Finally these chumps show up and give us one. Lets not mess this up!”

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“I haven’t looked for them, because if you get separated from the flock, you should stay put and they’ll find you,” Esareth tried to explain. Solitary birds were difficult to deal with. They never learned how to flock and without fail they would not understand what flock life was like.

“Hey you! Important announcement!” A voice to their side shouted. Caspian and Esareth both turned to see a skuntank jump out from behind a bush, followed by a zubat and koffing. “That treasure you have, we need it! Koffing, noxious gas combo!”

The two birds glanced at each other. What was this about?

The toxic gas cloud pokemon did a little twirl, and clouds of green toxic gas started coming out of every pore. The skuntank’s tail opened up, and it started spraying purple gas everywhere. Suddenly, it made sense. These were the people that she had to protect the rosary from! They were trying to knock her out!

“Come on Caspian, lets blow this smoke back at them,” she said, and started to beat her wings furiously. Thankfully he followed along and with the two of them, they had successfully diverted the poison gas back at her attackers.

When the smoke cleared, Koffing and Skuntank stared incredulously.

“Hey, no fair! They blew our noxious gas combo right back at us!” Koffing complained.

“No matter,” Skuntank said in a strangely nasally voice, “We’ve got plan B!”

Before anyone could ask what plan B was, Skuntank lunged forward at Esareth. She tried to take off and fly up above where he could reach, but she was too late. He yanked hard at the rosary, and it came off easily. “We just steal it! Chaw-haw-haw!” He gloated. “See ya losers!”

With that, the three of them ran off down the trail.

“No! My rosary! Give it back!” Esareth called after them and gave a half-hearted chase. “I have to get it back!” She turned to Caspian, “Please, help me get it back!”

“I will!” He said, “but I don’t know how I can help; I’ve never flown before…”

This confused Esareth a great deal. He was not a fledgling. Just how much did that fall make him forget?

“Hold your wings out, you’ll remember!” She shouted, antsy that her rosary was getting further and further away. Caspian did so, and looked at each wing in turn. He folded them up again and flicked them out, as if doing it again would help.

“It’s not coming to me,” he admitted.

“Are you a bird or not? Bend your legs, spread your wings wide, jump, and flap down hard! You know how to fly!” Esareth demanded. She did as she described, perhaps him seeing it would spur his memories. He followed suit, and when she jumped and flapped hard, he did the same.

“Whoah! He said in surprise once he got airborne. “I’m flying!” he exclaimed in excitement.

"Hooph," Akari let out a big breath once she was safe inside Galaxy Hall. Rei, right behind Akari, took a moment to brush the snow off his uniform.

Hisui was deep in winter. The snow and ice, normally reserved to patrolling the icelands, had come south and blanketed the rest of the island. Many pokemon had retreated to their dens to hibernate, but others were content to brave the cold and short days. These pokemon needed study, so Rei and Akari ventured into the wilderness to observe. Despite how beautiful it was in the fieldlands, it was nice to warm up in the sturdy walls of Galaxy Hall.

With her own scarf shaken out and returned to its proper place on her head, the pair of surveyors made their way to Professor Laventon's office, making sure to wave 'hi' to Bagin on their way.

Professor Laventon was a kind soul. When he found her on the beach alone and afraid, he offered her a place in the Galaxy Team. She couldn't think of anyone who was more kind and generous. She couldn't remember-

A fire was burning low in Cyndaquil's fireplace. The fire-type was curled up on the edge of the coals, right next to the cast iron kettle that the professor kept warm. He knew the cold wasn't Akari's element. Warm tea was always warranted after these expeditions. A pair of empty teacups were waiting on the central table, thoughtfully placed, ready for two explorers to find.

Akari, the closest to the table, grabbed the two ceramic cups, while Rei walked to the fireplace, ready to pour. It was a routine they were well-practiced in. Lifting the kettle from its stand woke Cyndaquil, who jumped up and squeaked at the intrusion.

"I'm sorry Cyndaquil, I didn't mean to startle you," Rei said, and gave the fire mouse pokemon some pets on the head after returning the kettle.

While Rei was busy with the tea, Akari dug through her bag until she found her pokedex and Oshawott's pokeball, setting them on the table. Akari sat down on the rug, cross-legged, and let Oshawott out of the ball. He appeared in a ball of blue light and chirped happily, looking around. Akari giggled at the cute sight. Siezing the opportunity, Oshawott climbed up and snuggled into Akari's vacant lap.

One teacup per hand, Rei carried the drinks carefully and set them on the table.

"Hoo?" called Rowlet from his tree. "Hoo!" A ruffling of feathers and Rowlet was in the air, making a beeline for Rei.

"Hello Rowlet," Rei chuckled, leaning forward as Rowlet landed on his head. The bird had a soft spot for Rei, especially now that he was spending more time in the office thanks to the cold.

Not to be left behind, Cyndaquil stretched and hopped down from his fireplace and made a lazy pace toward the congregation of people and pokemon. The fire type had an affinity toward Akari, who knew exactly where he needed scritchess.

With pokedex in her right hand, Akari reached out her left hand and made scritching motions. Like clockwork, she felt a tiny furry body snuggle up against her.

"This is just what I needed!" Rei said, warming his hands with the tea.

Here in Laventon's office, warmed by the oil lamps and the fire, insulated from the frost on the windows and the falling snow, surrounded by her friends...

So @protagpigeon reblogged enough times about self indulgent fics that I decided to do something about it. So this is your fault :)

Summary

When Arceus sent Dawn back in time to Hisui, her spirit became separated from her body. To preserve the timeline, Arceus created a simple consciousness in control of Dawn's body capable of completing His tasks. The Galaxy Team named it Akari.

Dawn, a wandering spirit, has nowhere to call her home. In the Icelands she meets Akari for the first time. That's her body, and she will get it back.

Akari

“Who are you?” Dawn asked, her raspy voice echoed against nothing as she circled her prey. Dead eyes followed her around and around.

For months she had wandered the island that was so familiar yet not. Pokemon she had and had never met before called it their home. People she never heard of made it their domain.

No matter where she went, she was reviled. Rejected from the Pearl and Diamond clans as a bad omen. Chased off from the Galaxy Team as a beast. Driven away from the lush river valleys of the West, the vibrant woods of the South, and the verdant shores of the East.

The dreary North is where she stopped running and made her claim on the world.

“This one is called Akari,” the imposter droned. Her voice was as flat as a windless lake. Dawn recognized her voice, despite the even tone.

Dawn first noticed the imposter from afar. People who wander the Icelands are brave or foolhardy. And yet the imposter waded through its mountainous snow drifts as if they were mere diglett mounds. The imposter captured pokémon with nary any effort, throwing balls at the wild pokemon without sending any out to fight. The imposter had an efficiency that hinted of something... extraordinary.

Dawn had some skills in sneaking around. In the earlier months, she was not strong enough to overpower her enemies, so she had to learn to slink around unnoticed. The imposter was not fooled in the slightest. Any time she watched the imposter, the imposter watched her, empty eyes locked with hers. Uncaring. Unnerving.

Unnatural.

The imposter was the only one on the entire island who didn't react to her with revulsion.

It was miraculous how one could adapt to circumstance. When Dawn first awoke after meeting with Arceus, she expected... she didn’t know what she expected. Waking up as a ghost was not what she expected. A free spirit in the truest sense, not tied to anyone or anywhere. Untethered, and yet, incapable of anything.

When she awoke, she saw herself as she was. A Research Partner of five years to Professor Rowan, assisting him in the research of Pokémon evolution, living in Sandgem town, going to Jubilife on the weekends. Pale skin, dark hair, and fair voice. As she moved across the island, this self-image had changed. Changed to something she had never seen before. On her head was a long tuft of white fur, flapping gently in an unfelt breeze. Behind her, a poofy tail tipped in red. In her mouth, many sharp teeth. A Zorua. A perverse one of ghostly constitution.

She lost her midnight blue hair. She lost her dainty nose and small lips. She lost her height. She lost her clothes. She hardly noticed the change until it was over.

The imposter, though. The imposter had her face. The imposter had her voice. The imposter had her body.

“Tell me who you are, Akari,” she asked again, spitting out the imposter’s name like a curse.

“This one is a six star surveyor in the Galaxy Team,” the imposter answered. It didn’t tell Dawn anything she didn't know. She had seen enough of their clan to know how their uniforms worked.

It was in the Coronet Highlands that Dawn stood upright for the first time in months. She knew that Spear Pillar was associated with Arceus. It was a faint hope that she would find Him there. For all the anguish of being rejected by human and pokémon alike, nothing hurt as much as the barrier surrounding Mt. Coronet's summit.

The betrayal of it all was far sharper than the sting of touching the barrier. Of all the misery she had endured, the rejection by Arceus was the most heartbreaking. She agreed to his quest, and He spurned her. It was there, on the top of the mountain, throwing herself against the barrier over and over, that she changed again.

“When did you join?” She prodded.

“This one joined the Galaxy Team in spring,” was the imposter's dull response. 

Dawn narrowed her eyes. That's when she awoke, separated from her physical form. She stood up straight. Her large mane of hair twisted and coiled as if suspended in water, and wrapped itself around the imposter. She leaned in and put her paws on the imposters shoulders, claws digging in slightly. “You took my body,” she whispered, her teeth snapping centimeters from the imposters face. “Why?”

The imposter was not cowed.

Dawn pushed in closer to the imposter, their eyes millimeters apart. “I will have it back. That is a promise.”

“Promises are for the gods and the dead.” The imposter said. Oh the irony.

Adaman

“We were warned of you,” the Diamond Clan leader said.

The imposter's pokémon had defeated the goddess of death twice over. An incontestable outcome. The barrier around Spear Pillar, the one sure sign of Arceus's indifference, fell with Her. It hardly mattered that Dawn blamed the wrong god. The pain had ossified long ago.

With the fall of the barrier so too did the imposter, onto the stone floor of Spear Pillar. Dawn ran to her body, to find the imposter had fled. What lay before her was a pile of flesh and bone without spirit. Free for the taking. Dawn screamed and laughed and sobbed at the cruelty and irony of the world. She clutched her limp body to her chest like a doll, mindful of her sharp claws. Finally, she had her body back.

“Oh?” Dawn had the smallest of hopes in her voice. An inflection the imposter never had. She fiddled with her sleeve. A nervous tick the imposter never did.

Dawn learned many things as a ghost, all in service of a single goal: take back what was hers.

Dawn learned to craft illusions. To disguise one's entire self as something other. To perceive it so resolutely that reality itself believes it. She imagined how she would utilize it on the imposter.

Dawn learned to summon the chill of death. The humans called it ‘bitter malice.’ It matched how she felt. She envisioned how she would unleash it on the imposter.

Dawn learned to manipulate the spirit. The intangible consciousness that empowered human and pokémon. She couldn't wait to oust the imposter.

Power isn't free. To call forth the Beyond was to embrace the Beyond. It changed you irreversibly.

In the end, it was power she didn’t need. The imposter had abandoned her body before she could force the imposter out. Her plans and sacrifices were moot.

“‘The one wearing Akari's face,’” the leader quoted. “‘Her visage is only skin-deep.’”

Dawn had heard this before.

When her emotions had run their course on Spear Pillar, Dawn finally entered her body. She could experience the world as she never could as a ghost. The chill of the air, she had not felt in a long time. The breath she drew in her lungs, she had not needed in a long time.

Finally she had her body. Finally she was more than a lonesome spirit. It was a long time since she had felt happiness. She had joy at last. She ran all the way to Jubilife Village. A roof, a bed, a warm fire, a tasty meal. These were just over the hill. Her days in the Icelands were over.

Dawn never felt more alive.

She was hopeful. It was this that alerted the Galaxy Team. She would not mimic the imposter. The imposter’s mannerisms were too strange. Too robotic. Too dead. The leaders were suspicious of her immediately. Missives were drawn up to alert the clans.

Dawn ran before the messengers could depart. She ran straight to the Diamond Clan. She didn't run fast enough.

She had the tiniest of hopes that, by seeking out the Diamond Clan, she might receive an audience with Dialga. That she might convince Him to send her to her own time. Her desires were simple. To return to her loving family, to return to her pokémon friends, to return to her important research. It would be nice to do so while she drew breath.

“This is my face,” Dawn hissed, offended at the mistake. An emotion the imposter never felt. “It was stolen and now it is returned.”

"Begone, Fox. You aren't welcome here." The point of a sword said the rest.

The imposter’s eyes never turned a sickly yellow in rage, and the imposter's hands never formed wicked claws of anger.

How naïve she was to think that returning to her body was what she really wanted. How foolish she was to think that carrying through on her promise would complete her. Life is more than flesh and blood.

The Diamond Clan's reaction was disappointing, but only a small setback. She was a free spirit after all. Not tied to anyone or anything or any body. She could get back to her family the long way. For now, she would return to the Icelands. She would not seek out the Pearl clan. She had enough of hoping for one lifetime.

As Dawn Walked away from the Diamond clan camp, she never felt less alive.

Carolina

“You’re beautiful,” Carolina said as she worked the brush through Dawn's soft fur.

“It’s a sign that our time together will soon end,” Dawn cautioned.

A baneful fox’s life is a life of torment. Cursed to keep walking the earth in search of what they missed in life. Dawn was unique amongst them. Her life in limbo preceded her mortal death by several years. It did not matter in the slightest.

When Dawn’s body died alone in her shelter, it was sad in the way finishing a meal was sad. Mortality was simply a habit she was now free of. She reacclimatized to her zoroark form quickly.

“Why?” Carolina asked.

“Eventually all things must end,” Dawn said, cryptically.

As a being between both life and death, a baneful fox consumes both flesh and spirit. The Icelands made an ideal hunting grounds. It was easy finding a creature caught out in the elements. All she had to do was bide her time and it would perish on its own. Sometimes she amused herself with illusions, pretending to be a meal, or a shelter, or a lover. The cold and desperate fell for it every time, be they pokémon or human. Sometimes she had to defend her prize from other hungry beasts. She didn’t mind; she would eat double those nights.

Her compassion had burned out long ago.

“But why?” Carolina's youthful curiosity was insatiable. Dawn laughed.

A ghostly zoroark is a harrowing sight. Matted white fur on graying skin stretched tight over exposed muscle. Claws cracked and gray, and hair dull and faded. Face a perpetual snarl of agony and rage. A walking corpse.

It was this figure that greeted Carolina's parents a year ago. A horrifying beast with a small child in its arms.

Dawn was south of her normal hunting grounds when she met young Carolina for the first time. It was near one of the mountain villages that sprang up in the past century. Pokémon attracted to the promise of food and warmth, and livestock stuck outside of their stables, they made for a quick meal.

“A baneful fox like myself has a hole deep in their heart. It’s what makes us look so ghoulish,” Dawn explained.

“But you don't look ghoulish,” Carolina protested. Dawn held up a smooth black claw for silence.

Maybe the child couldn't see properly. It was the simplest explanation for why it would ask for Dawn’s help.

She pretended she didn't hear it. Nobody asked her for help, not even the most desperate. They saw her for what she was, a hungry pokémon that had spotted its next meal.

The child asked again. Dawn chose to act.

“When we find what's missing,” Dawn continued, “and it fills that hole, that’s when we heal.”

Dawn had to hurry to save the child. Her body made no heat, so she could not warm it, and the falling snow would soon cover its tracks. She was racing against time.

She prepared herself for the worst. A rifle in her face. The slam of the door. The call for a hunting party. She had seen it all before. If that was repayment for her good deed, it would smother the last embers of her humanity. But she would persevere. Even if doing so only brought more pain, she would save the child.

The child was lucky it hadn’t wandered far. It was lucky that the snowfall had abated. Dawn was lucky too. She knew that, should her charge expire, she would only hesitate briefly before consuming the dead child and its spirit. She knew it would break her.

“When we’re all healed, that’s when we move on.”

When Dawn found the house, the child's parents had just stepped outside to begin searching. They were initially shocked at her appearance, but with the child held outstretched for them to take, with the assurance their child was still alive, they understood.

Nobody thanked her freely. It was... nice. Nobody gave her food willingly. It was nice.

“You, your mom, and your dad have healed me a lot.” Dawn smiled softly. Her pristine coat glowed in the afternoon sun. White fur glistened like fresh powder snow, shifting to the rich red of haban berries. With Carolina's persistent love and care, Dawn looked and felt regal.

Dawn met little Carolina after she woke. The spark of recognition she had was impossible. She was dying. She could not remember Dawn.

Nobody hugged her lovingly. It was more than nice.

“Thank you,” Dawn whispered. She caressed Carolina's hand tenderly. 

Her time was coming. She wouldn’t get to see Lucas or her mom or dad or Rowan, at least, not in this life. In some ways, she regret that it was over so soon. In others, she couldn’t care at all. She yearned for this, and she finally had it.

The call of the Beyond was growing stronger. White light filled her vision, beckoning her. The time for regret was over. “Goodbye, Carolina. I'm glad I met you.”

“You’re not gone forever. I will see you again. That’s a promise,” Carolina said as resolutely and solemnly as a child could.

A tear of happiness slipped free, splashing quietly on the ground, and Dawn entered the Beyond for the final time.

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