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moon_blitzTitle: Writing History In (One Step At A Time), Chapter 1
Fandoms: Doctor Who/Pokemon (Twitch Plays Pokemon!verse)
Rating: Teen
Characters: Eighth Doctor, Crystal
Chapter Summary: Stranded, the Doctor meets a strange girl with a very familiar name... (I'll include a story summary starting with the next chapter)
Background Note: For those of you who aren't aware, Twitch Plays Pokemon accidentally restarted their game after they beat the Elite Four, and got as far as choosing the girl character before a mod rebooted the stream. This girl become known as "The Girl Who Never Was", a title also shared by one of the Eighth Doctor's audio companions. Someone asked for a crossover, and so this fic was born.
Chapter 1
The Doctor idly flicked a few switches, debating where to go next. He felt the need for a break, for recent events had left him drained in every sense of the word. Still, he wasn’t the type to take a full-blown vacation, especially not by himself. He would simply rest, then. Somewhere quiet and not liable to be invaded or blown up while he was there.
It took another day or so of thinking, but he eventually decided to go to one of the planets Earth. It was one of the countless planets humanity had named after their homeworld as they had spread across the universe, and it was home to a fascinating culture, based entirely around the native animal population. Pokemon, they were called, and humans used them for pretty much everything once they had learned they could be tamed. As he navigated the TARDIS towards the time he wanted to land in, he pulled up some of the planet’s most recent history on the scanner.
“So...a boy A.J. is the most recent Champion,” he murmured to himself, studying the image of the child that appeared on the screen. He was about ten, with black hair poking out from beneath a backwards hat and a friendly smile, although there was a strange look in his eyes that the Doctor couldn’t quite place. From the little knowledge he had on Pokemon, his team seemed pretty diverse as well. “Let’s go pay the new Champion a visit!”
As he started to punch in the exact coordinates, the TARDIS gave a sudden jolt and part of the console exploded, sending sparks everywhere. Backing away as another shower of sparks threatened to set his jacket alight, the Doctor was forced to grab onto one of the steel pillars ringing the console as the time machine started to rock violently. Lunging for the controls in between explosions, he hit the materialization switch and hoped he wasn’t about to land somewhere nasty.
Happening to glance up at the scanner, he stared as the image of A.J. flickered and vanished, a picture of another boy appearing half a second later. It stayed for only a moment, but he was able to catch the name ‘Red’ and see that he had an even more haunted expression than A.J. Another image flickered onto the screen, before it abruptly went black, but the Doctor wasn’t able to see anything meaningful expect that whoever it was had an interesting hairstyle.
The TARDIS landed with a thump then, and wheezed several times before going silent and dark. A quick inspection amid the smoke showed that the power supply was critically low, rendering flight impossible. “Looks like I’ll be getting that vacation after all,” he sighed, patting the console in sympathy. Hopefully wherever he was had the means to help him repair his TARDIS, otherwise he could very well be stuck until his fellow Time Lords sent him replacement parts. If they even realized he was in trouble within the next few centuries, that was. Well, time to see where he had ended up.
Poking his head out of the door cautiously, he breathed in the cool night air and smiled. The planet was habitable, at least, and his first impressions was that it seemed pleasant enough. Opening the doors to vent the smoke and other fumes the crash had released, he stepped out and looked around. He had landed next to a thick forest, the dense trees and bushes making travel within it unlikely. Luckily, there seemed to be a path of sorts off to his right leading to some tall grass, which he hoped he could pass through easily.
While he waited for the air inside the TARDIS to clear, he looked up at the night sky. Having no idea where he was made picking out familiar stars and planets difficult, but the act of star-gazing helped to soothe his still-raw nerves. The night was quiet for the most part, but he could hear faint rustlings from the forest and nearby grass from time to time. Local wildlife, he concluded after a failed attempt to creep up on a nearby creature caused it to bolt in fright.
“Alright, lets see if there are any settlements nearby,” he murmured as he watched the moon rise above the trees. Standing around waiting just didn’t suit him, and the TARDIS interior seemed sufficiently vented enough. Making sure the doors were locked, he stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and strolled towards the tall grass. He wasn’t going far, so there was no need to bring anything with him. The grass wasn’t as tall as he first assumed, only coming up to his knees at its highest point. As he walked, he noticed a set of small glowing eyes looking at him, but the creature darted off when he stopped for a closer look.
The forest around him soon thinned out into a more meadow-like landscape, dotted with occasional strands of trees, so the Doctor paused and looked around a bit more. The section of ground he stood on was more elevated that some of the surrounding area, so he was careful in approaching the edge. The slope didn’t appear too steep, so he figured he could easily jump or slide down if need be. Something shining through the trees caught his attention, and he smiled. Artificial light was always a good sign.
A quick jump took him off the ledge, and the Doctor picked up his pace as he sighted signs of a pathway leading towards the light. A town, perhaps? No, the number of lights were too small. A village, more like. Dirt crunched under his shoes as he reached the path and the trees closed in again, and he walked along comfortably until he reached the edge of the settlement. Small, as he had assumed, but the rather imposing building to his left indicated that there was something important here.
The lights he had seen were coming from the large building, but he saw now that there were simple security lights, left on and night to deter robbers and the like. It took him only a moment to try the doors, finding them locked. A sign near the building caught his eye, and he read the large words printed on it. “Professor Elm’s Laboratory. A lab, in a place like this? Interesting.”
If the lab was locked, then the other residences were probably locked as well, an the inhabitants asleep. He didn’t see any benefit from waking someone up, especially if it was late at night, so he decided to find a place to sit and think until morning. The glint of moonlight off water intrigued him, so he slowly made his way towards it, glancing curiously at the homes he passed along the way. No one was about, not even a watchman, so he figured that this place must be pretty peaceful.
Finding himself on the banks of a wide river, the Doctor sighed as he stared out at the water. Wherever this place was, it was certainly pleasant to look at.
“You look lost.” The sudden voice made him turn in surprise, and he realized a young girl was sitting under a nearby tree, nearly lost in the shadows.
“I suppose I am rather lost,” he replied. It was true – he hadn’t the fainest idea where or when he was. “What is this place?”
“New Bark Town.”
The Doctor frowned slightly, the name ringing a bell. New Bark Town. Professor Elm. It couldn’t be...
“New Bark Town, Johto?”
“Yeah.”
Unbelievable. He had ended up exactly where he wanted to be, give or take half a mile. He’d have to congratulate the TARDIS when he got back. “Perfect! Is A.J. around?”
“A.J.?” the girl repeated, sounding puzzled. “No one called A.J. lives here.”
“What? Unless...ah, I must have come before he becomes Champion.” Understandable, given the violent crash. “Who is the current League Champion?”
“Red, from Pallet Town. Or he should be, but he vanished three years ago,” the girl answered.
That was odd. From what he remembered, Red was the previous Champion before A.J. And yet, this girl claimed that no one by the name was here. “Have you lived here long?” the Doctor asked, decided to approach the matter from a different direction.
“Yeah, all my life.”
“And no one by the name of A.J. has ever lived here?”
“That’s right. You really are lost, aren’t you? Did the voices mislead you too?” She sounded almost hopeful as she asked the second question.
“Apparently so. Wait, voices? What are you talking about?” Granted, he talked to himself a bit, but he doubted that was what she was getting at. Still, something was wrong here. Where was A.J., and what was this girl hiding?
“Ah...oops. Never mind, it’s not important.” The girl got up then, and he realized he was scaring her off.
“Wait, wait, forget I asked. Why are you out here so late?” he asked quickly, and she paused, considering his question.
“I couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day, assuming I’m able to do anything right...”
“Oh, are you getting your first Pokemon? No wonder you can’t sleep, then.” The Doctor stepped towards her slowly, trying to make out what she looked like. She looked about to right age to become a Trainer, judging by her height and voice. “I’m the Doctor, by the way. What’s your name?”
“Charley.”
His hearts stopped for a moment, and he briefly wondered if he was about to faint. Charley. Taking a deep breath, he looked back to the river, letting the steady flow of the water calm him. It was a coincidence, nothing more. It was a fairly common name after all, but to encounter it so soon didn’t made it hurt any less.
Turning back to her, he did his best to smile. “Nice to meet you, Charley. And to answer your previous question, yes, I am very, very lost.”
He could tell that she was studying him intently, and he wished he could see her better. But the nearest streetlamp was too far away, and the moon wasn’t bright enough to penetrate the branches of the tree she stood under.
“A lost doctor, looking for a person who doesn’t exist...” she murmured, almost to herself. He shifted, uncomfortable at how accurate that was. “You don’t have any Pokemon, do you?”
“No.”
“Then how’d you get here?”
“The...vehicle I travel in broke down just outside of town, so I walked the rest of the way,” he explained, deciding to keep the exact details vague.
“You’re lucky you weren’t attacked by wild Pokemon. So. Lost, no Pokemon, and no easy way to get around. We’re kinda the same, in a weird way.” She paused, thinking, and the Doctor wished he could bring himself to think of her with her name. But the memories were too fresh, the pain too deep.
“I suppose we are,” he said after a moment, suddenly desperate to fill the silence between them. “You don’t suppose Professor Elm would consider giving a Pokemon to someone like me, hm?”
“I dunno. Probably not, but you could always ask. The lab won’t be open until the morning, though,” she replied, tipping her head towards the building in the distance.
“Understandable. What time is it, anyway?”
“I’m not sure. My Pokegear broke last week, and it’s not repaired yet. Well after midnight, I think.”
“Then you better go home and try and sleep a little bit. You’ll need all the rest you can get.” This time, his smile wasn’t as strained, his voice wasn’t as tense.
It seemed to reassure her, for she nodded and answered, “I guess you’re right. See you in the morning, Doctor.”
“Indeed. Good night.” He watched her walk off, examining her from the back. Her hairstyle was certainly unique, with two short ponytails sticking out at right angles from the back of her head, and he wondered it it was a product of the genetic tinkering humanity had done before they settled this planet. Or perhaps she simply used a lot of hairspray. Still, it seemed oddly familiar. He waited until she had entered her home, then settled down by the riverside, content to watch the river and try and figure out his next move.
Fandoms: Doctor Who/Pokemon (Twitch Plays Pokemon!verse)
Rating: Teen
Characters: Eighth Doctor, Crystal
Chapter Summary: Stranded, the Doctor meets a strange girl with a very familiar name... (I'll include a story summary starting with the next chapter)
Background Note: For those of you who aren't aware, Twitch Plays Pokemon accidentally restarted their game after they beat the Elite Four, and got as far as choosing the girl character before a mod rebooted the stream. This girl become known as "The Girl Who Never Was", a title also shared by one of the Eighth Doctor's audio companions. Someone asked for a crossover, and so this fic was born.
The Doctor idly flicked a few switches, debating where to go next. He felt the need for a break, for recent events had left him drained in every sense of the word. Still, he wasn’t the type to take a full-blown vacation, especially not by himself. He would simply rest, then. Somewhere quiet and not liable to be invaded or blown up while he was there.
It took another day or so of thinking, but he eventually decided to go to one of the planets Earth. It was one of the countless planets humanity had named after their homeworld as they had spread across the universe, and it was home to a fascinating culture, based entirely around the native animal population. Pokemon, they were called, and humans used them for pretty much everything once they had learned they could be tamed. As he navigated the TARDIS towards the time he wanted to land in, he pulled up some of the planet’s most recent history on the scanner.
“So...a boy A.J. is the most recent Champion,” he murmured to himself, studying the image of the child that appeared on the screen. He was about ten, with black hair poking out from beneath a backwards hat and a friendly smile, although there was a strange look in his eyes that the Doctor couldn’t quite place. From the little knowledge he had on Pokemon, his team seemed pretty diverse as well. “Let’s go pay the new Champion a visit!”
As he started to punch in the exact coordinates, the TARDIS gave a sudden jolt and part of the console exploded, sending sparks everywhere. Backing away as another shower of sparks threatened to set his jacket alight, the Doctor was forced to grab onto one of the steel pillars ringing the console as the time machine started to rock violently. Lunging for the controls in between explosions, he hit the materialization switch and hoped he wasn’t about to land somewhere nasty.
Happening to glance up at the scanner, he stared as the image of A.J. flickered and vanished, a picture of another boy appearing half a second later. It stayed for only a moment, but he was able to catch the name ‘Red’ and see that he had an even more haunted expression than A.J. Another image flickered onto the screen, before it abruptly went black, but the Doctor wasn’t able to see anything meaningful expect that whoever it was had an interesting hairstyle.
The TARDIS landed with a thump then, and wheezed several times before going silent and dark. A quick inspection amid the smoke showed that the power supply was critically low, rendering flight impossible. “Looks like I’ll be getting that vacation after all,” he sighed, patting the console in sympathy. Hopefully wherever he was had the means to help him repair his TARDIS, otherwise he could very well be stuck until his fellow Time Lords sent him replacement parts. If they even realized he was in trouble within the next few centuries, that was. Well, time to see where he had ended up.
Poking his head out of the door cautiously, he breathed in the cool night air and smiled. The planet was habitable, at least, and his first impressions was that it seemed pleasant enough. Opening the doors to vent the smoke and other fumes the crash had released, he stepped out and looked around. He had landed next to a thick forest, the dense trees and bushes making travel within it unlikely. Luckily, there seemed to be a path of sorts off to his right leading to some tall grass, which he hoped he could pass through easily.
While he waited for the air inside the TARDIS to clear, he looked up at the night sky. Having no idea where he was made picking out familiar stars and planets difficult, but the act of star-gazing helped to soothe his still-raw nerves. The night was quiet for the most part, but he could hear faint rustlings from the forest and nearby grass from time to time. Local wildlife, he concluded after a failed attempt to creep up on a nearby creature caused it to bolt in fright.
“Alright, lets see if there are any settlements nearby,” he murmured as he watched the moon rise above the trees. Standing around waiting just didn’t suit him, and the TARDIS interior seemed sufficiently vented enough. Making sure the doors were locked, he stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and strolled towards the tall grass. He wasn’t going far, so there was no need to bring anything with him. The grass wasn’t as tall as he first assumed, only coming up to his knees at its highest point. As he walked, he noticed a set of small glowing eyes looking at him, but the creature darted off when he stopped for a closer look.
The forest around him soon thinned out into a more meadow-like landscape, dotted with occasional strands of trees, so the Doctor paused and looked around a bit more. The section of ground he stood on was more elevated that some of the surrounding area, so he was careful in approaching the edge. The slope didn’t appear too steep, so he figured he could easily jump or slide down if need be. Something shining through the trees caught his attention, and he smiled. Artificial light was always a good sign.
A quick jump took him off the ledge, and the Doctor picked up his pace as he sighted signs of a pathway leading towards the light. A town, perhaps? No, the number of lights were too small. A village, more like. Dirt crunched under his shoes as he reached the path and the trees closed in again, and he walked along comfortably until he reached the edge of the settlement. Small, as he had assumed, but the rather imposing building to his left indicated that there was something important here.
The lights he had seen were coming from the large building, but he saw now that there were simple security lights, left on and night to deter robbers and the like. It took him only a moment to try the doors, finding them locked. A sign near the building caught his eye, and he read the large words printed on it. “Professor Elm’s Laboratory. A lab, in a place like this? Interesting.”
If the lab was locked, then the other residences were probably locked as well, an the inhabitants asleep. He didn’t see any benefit from waking someone up, especially if it was late at night, so he decided to find a place to sit and think until morning. The glint of moonlight off water intrigued him, so he slowly made his way towards it, glancing curiously at the homes he passed along the way. No one was about, not even a watchman, so he figured that this place must be pretty peaceful.
Finding himself on the banks of a wide river, the Doctor sighed as he stared out at the water. Wherever this place was, it was certainly pleasant to look at.
“You look lost.” The sudden voice made him turn in surprise, and he realized a young girl was sitting under a nearby tree, nearly lost in the shadows.
“I suppose I am rather lost,” he replied. It was true – he hadn’t the fainest idea where or when he was. “What is this place?”
“New Bark Town.”
The Doctor frowned slightly, the name ringing a bell. New Bark Town. Professor Elm. It couldn’t be...
“New Bark Town, Johto?”
“Yeah.”
Unbelievable. He had ended up exactly where he wanted to be, give or take half a mile. He’d have to congratulate the TARDIS when he got back. “Perfect! Is A.J. around?”
“A.J.?” the girl repeated, sounding puzzled. “No one called A.J. lives here.”
“What? Unless...ah, I must have come before he becomes Champion.” Understandable, given the violent crash. “Who is the current League Champion?”
“Red, from Pallet Town. Or he should be, but he vanished three years ago,” the girl answered.
That was odd. From what he remembered, Red was the previous Champion before A.J. And yet, this girl claimed that no one by the name was here. “Have you lived here long?” the Doctor asked, decided to approach the matter from a different direction.
“Yeah, all my life.”
“And no one by the name of A.J. has ever lived here?”
“That’s right. You really are lost, aren’t you? Did the voices mislead you too?” She sounded almost hopeful as she asked the second question.
“Apparently so. Wait, voices? What are you talking about?” Granted, he talked to himself a bit, but he doubted that was what she was getting at. Still, something was wrong here. Where was A.J., and what was this girl hiding?
“Ah...oops. Never mind, it’s not important.” The girl got up then, and he realized he was scaring her off.
“Wait, wait, forget I asked. Why are you out here so late?” he asked quickly, and she paused, considering his question.
“I couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day, assuming I’m able to do anything right...”
“Oh, are you getting your first Pokemon? No wonder you can’t sleep, then.” The Doctor stepped towards her slowly, trying to make out what she looked like. She looked about to right age to become a Trainer, judging by her height and voice. “I’m the Doctor, by the way. What’s your name?”
“Charley.”
His hearts stopped for a moment, and he briefly wondered if he was about to faint. Charley. Taking a deep breath, he looked back to the river, letting the steady flow of the water calm him. It was a coincidence, nothing more. It was a fairly common name after all, but to encounter it so soon didn’t made it hurt any less.
Turning back to her, he did his best to smile. “Nice to meet you, Charley. And to answer your previous question, yes, I am very, very lost.”
He could tell that she was studying him intently, and he wished he could see her better. But the nearest streetlamp was too far away, and the moon wasn’t bright enough to penetrate the branches of the tree she stood under.
“A lost doctor, looking for a person who doesn’t exist...” she murmured, almost to herself. He shifted, uncomfortable at how accurate that was. “You don’t have any Pokemon, do you?”
“No.”
“Then how’d you get here?”
“The...vehicle I travel in broke down just outside of town, so I walked the rest of the way,” he explained, deciding to keep the exact details vague.
“You’re lucky you weren’t attacked by wild Pokemon. So. Lost, no Pokemon, and no easy way to get around. We’re kinda the same, in a weird way.” She paused, thinking, and the Doctor wished he could bring himself to think of her with her name. But the memories were too fresh, the pain too deep.
“I suppose we are,” he said after a moment, suddenly desperate to fill the silence between them. “You don’t suppose Professor Elm would consider giving a Pokemon to someone like me, hm?”
“I dunno. Probably not, but you could always ask. The lab won’t be open until the morning, though,” she replied, tipping her head towards the building in the distance.
“Understandable. What time is it, anyway?”
“I’m not sure. My Pokegear broke last week, and it’s not repaired yet. Well after midnight, I think.”
“Then you better go home and try and sleep a little bit. You’ll need all the rest you can get.” This time, his smile wasn’t as strained, his voice wasn’t as tense.
It seemed to reassure her, for she nodded and answered, “I guess you’re right. See you in the morning, Doctor.”
“Indeed. Good night.” He watched her walk off, examining her from the back. Her hairstyle was certainly unique, with two short ponytails sticking out at right angles from the back of her head, and he wondered it it was a product of the genetic tinkering humanity had done before they settled this planet. Or perhaps she simply used a lot of hairspray. Still, it seemed oddly familiar. He waited until she had entered her home, then settled down by the riverside, content to watch the river and try and figure out his next move.
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