Pokémon Drabbles

Volo Drabble

(Originally written on my Tumblr: crowborn666! Highly recommend you check me out on there if you can!)
Includes post game spoilers for Pokémon Legends: Arceus!

(Kinda did a self insert here lol, basically had the reader/player have the starter I used when I first played through Legends!)

Volo would admit he was surprised to hear someone had fallen through the rift, the ragged man that spoke in such odd terminology peaking his interest. But alas, the man known as Ingo had no memories, or anything worthwhile of Volo's interest.
Volo's interest had moved on from him, seeing as he held no knowledge of beyond the rift, and left Ingo in the Pearl Clan's hands.
But it wasn't long until news of a second person to fall, this time with a fancy looking device that simmered inside Volo's mind with the thoughts of the true creator.
He'd met you in Jubilife Village, accompanied with a Cyndaquil at your ankles. At first, he'd expect you to be brave, like everyone was saying. After all, it isn't everyone that can run up to a Pokémon without fear in Hisui.
But when he saw your face, you looked almost timid. Afraid.
Lost.
At the time, he figured it was natural to be afraid, being thrust into a world so different than your own. But as he began following you in your journey, checking in every now and then, he noticed you would light up at the sight of him.
Your eyes, which were usually a bit dull and distant with your thoughts, always lit up when you spotted him, giving him your full focus. And yet you were oblivious to your affects on him.
While you sat and rambled on about the plates you were being given, or about the insane size difference between normal Pokémon and their alphas, or even legends you'd come across, he couldn't help but listen to every word, even if it wasn't useful to him or something he'd already known about.
He found his heart warming at the sight of you interacting with Pokémon. In this time and world, it was so rare to see someone care for and adore Pokémon in the way you did.
Even his own.
He'd watch as you took time out of your days to tend to any hurt Pokémon you'd come across, even if it meant getting hurt as you did so. Most people would shy away from a hurt Garchomp, too afraid of its temperament and its rough skin. But unlike them, he found himself fascinated as you ignored all that, murmuring softly to his Garchomp whom had gotten hurt while traveling through the Icelands with him. You ease the aches of its bumps and bruises, not caring one bit how its skin would scrape and nick your own.
You had both been camping in the Highlands when he knew.
A storm had rolled in, forcing you both to take shelter in a grotto.
"Is something wrong?"
He had asked you those three words, noticing your far off look as you stared out into the storm.
You had devolved into a small vent, a frown tugging at your lips as you confided your troubles into him. How you felt crushed by the pressure of the task entrusted to you.
'Seek out all Pokémon.'
Those words haunted your dreams from time to time, fears of failing or dying before your task's completion echoing in the back of your mind.
Volo's plans had been set in motion long before you'd arrived in Hisui, but when you told him you had hoped for some help, help from someone like you, like him, guilt pierced his heart like a Poison Jab.
He almost hated getting so attached to you, knowing exactly what your reaction was inevitably going to be when he scooped up your crying form after you were banished. When he urged you to seek out the three Lake Guardians, when he helped you in getting the last remaining plates.
He wouldn't look you in the eye atop the Temple of Sinnoh, he didn't need... he didn't want to see your tears. He could already hear them perfectly, sounding far too loud as they dripped onto the stone beneath your feet. Your hitching breaths and quiet sobs sounding like knives cutting into his ears.
A part of him was mad, mad at the world and how it treated him, and a small piece of him was mad at himself for ruining things between you both.
You'd once promised him you'd let him see Arceus with you, after all.
His grin was broken, perfectly fitting for a madman such as himself. If he could defeat you here, then you wouldn't have to live with the heartache he'd brought to you. You could move on from this life, forget each memory and start anew...
A great beast of darkness rose up from behind him, but all you could see were Volo's own tears trickling down his cheeks.
"Strike them down, Giratina!"