xmenfirstkink | round 3 overflow post

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Round 3 Overflow Post

This post is for Round 3 fills only. We ask that when a round hits 8500 comments, fillers begin moving their fills to this post.

Format:
SUBJECT LINE -- Round #, short description of fic (ex: "Alex/Hank, lab partners")
--- Link to the prompt
--- Text of the prompt

--- Link to the fill
OR
--- Entire text of the fill

EXAMPLE:
Prompt: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=1038472#t2038174

Charles/Erik -- Charles is a bakery owner whose most frequent customer is Erik.

Fill: http://xmen-firstkink.livejournal.com/6437.html?thread=0139482#t4502942

Charles started off the morning the same way he always did...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From: (Anonymous)

EPISODE 02

(o)============================(o)
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||                   “A Legendary Game!”                  ||
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(o)============================(o)

In the previous episode:

Charles met Erik Lehnsherr, heir of the once famous Lehnsherr Pokémon Ranch in Magnus Village, at the Xavier Gym where he was later beaten by Cain, Charles' older brother and Gym Leader.

Erik agreed to accompany the two youngest Xavier siblings to Cerebra Village where Raven's very important baseball game will be taking place at midday so he could train with Charles and learn a way to defeat the Xavier Gym Leader.

While Raven gets ready for the game, Charles shows Erik to Cerebro, his joint project with the young lab assistant at Cerebra's Pokémon Lab.

"Meet Cerebro!" said Charles with a flourish.

The big machine was Hank's and Charles' pride. Hank had built it all himself, genius he was, but Charles had helped with some calculations and had gotten it to run properly after Hank's long months of frustration when it wouldn't work, rejecting user after user. Cerebro would bring a revolution to Pokémon Research, would pave the way for better Human-Pokémon relationships and Charles was sincerely hoping to show Erik the genius of it all.

But Erik wasn't looking very thrilled.

Charles gave his newest friend a shy smile. "I admit it is somewhat crude-looking, the whole thing is still in its beta phase, you see, but what it is capable of doing even just now is simply amazing."

Erik gave him a short nod, clearly unconvinced. He looked warily around the room, his face scrunched up with an apprehensive frown, and his eyes narrowed minutely when Eevee squealed loudly and happily having cleaned its plate of food.

"You liked that, didn't you?" asked Hank to the small Pokémon. It yipped, content, and ran up to Charles who petted it behind its ears.

Hank switched on Cerebro then and began the calibrations, the device chirped as its buttons lit in blues, reds, yellows and greens.

Truth be told, Charles had been hoping to impress Erik with his and Hank's work. The boy's frowning face and evident apprehension, however, told him well enough how little he had succeeded. Perhaps when the actual session began, Cerebro working its magic, Erik's mood would change.

Because, well, Charles liked Erik and wanted to show off. He was mysterious and Charles loved mysteries; here was a piece of the puzzle that was the downfall of the Lenhsherrs' Ranch, a beloved place for Brian Xavier that Charles never got to visit --oh, his father had promised to take him there, he had, but then the accident happened and Brian never came back home.

From: (Anonymous)

"It's ready, Charles," announced Hank and motioned to Charles' pockets, "Call your Wobbuffet, won't you?"

Charles nodded, called forth a pokéball and summoned Wobbuffet. It let out a loud 'Wobbu-Wobbu-ffet!' and saluted with more force than usual, excited, as eager to start the session as Charles. Eeevee yipped cheerily next to them.

Erik's unfaltering glare, however, hardened when Hank placed a Cerebro helmet on Wobbuffet's head. He opened his mouth, about to say something before his eyes widened almost comically at the sight of Charles putting on the bigger Cerebro helmet himself. His befuddlement was quite short lived, though, quickly morphing into what Charles would have thought to be silent simmering outrage.

"He's a test subject too?" he barked at Hank.

Hank gave him a look that said something like 'what else did you expect' --Hank could be a nervous wreck anywhere but his Lab-- and went to retrieve their research diary, a pencil and their notes from previous sessions as well.

"I have been from the start," replied Charles calmly. Contrary to Charles' hopes, Erik grew even more dubious and distrustful of the process.

"Cerebro won't run with anyone else." Decidedly oblivious of Erik's menacing frown, Hank explained further: "Cerebro's objective is to provide a temporary link between a human and a Pokémon's mind. Just as some very powerful psychic pokémon can project their thoughts into human minds, even read them on occasion, Cerebro is to aid a human to do the same. Alas, it cannot as of yet convert the human brainwaves' frequency to Pokémon's on its own, it needs the aid of a psychic pokémon to map a working synapses' core of transmissible brainwaves frequencies and to trigger the connection. Boosting the model Pokémon's own psychic powers allows for said Pokémon, the human and Cerebro to have a considerable range of action as well, say, miles of clear coverage. So you could say Cerebro is also an ability booster, only for psychic Pokémon and only for this task alone, though."

Many had trouble following the theory behind Cerebro but Erik seemed to be doing quite fine as Hank prattled on. Charles really, really liked Erik.

"Still, Cerebro has quite the trouble doing the necessary psionic wavelength conversion onto most humans since common psychic Pokémon lack the mind strength and fine tuning than more powerful Pokémon like Mew, for example, possesses. That's why only the most powerful psychic Pokémon can effectively wield telepathy."

"But Charles' brain is amazing." At this, Erik turned to Charles who might have or might have not blushed, mind you, and raised an eyebrow, his mouth quirked in a guarded smirk.

"Really," said Erik.

It was hard being the sole focus or Erik's piercing stare. Charles squirmed a bit, much to his own chagrin. Erik's smile grew wider.

"Yes! His brain offers no resistance to the process, unlike the others, it's amazingly cooperative. It's as if it was already accustomed to the whole of it and welcomed the experience." Hank said excitedly, his glasses slid down his nose with the movements of his wild gesturing. He quickly resettled them with a push of his forefinger.

"So let's begin."

This is where what little good humor Erik had scraped together in the last minutes drained away. He was all glares and scowls again. Oh, bother.

From: (Anonymous)

"I assure you, Erik, that Wobbuffet and I are perfectly alright with this. It's neither painful or harmful, actually, we look forward to our every Cerebro session, it's quite refreshing and thrilling," soothed Charles and Wobbuffet saluted happily just as Eevee squealed with anticipation.

"If you say so," replied Erik unconvinced but offered a tentative smile all the same. His hands were tight shaking fists.

Then Cerebro finished the brain mapping. It beeped and the outside world became a second worry for Charles as his mind expanded, Wobbuffet's consciousness sharing the ride with him.

Charles loved it. His world now was but bright spots in an endless clean mindscape, each spot with a distinct flavor, a distinct light, a distinct warmth. Each a unique Pokémon or man with a unique story, a unique life. He navigated with ease the sea of minds, a practiced skill, familiar and known from years of daily indulgence at home. Which reminded him, he knew this shining rosy dot near the stadium.

Charles touched it with a tendril of his mind. It bloomed in bright colors of wonder and delight. It greeted Charles with joy.

You followed us, my friend.

The light grew warmer, unabashedly giddy as it showed him images of the stadium grounds: Raven was discussing something with Irene while their Pokémon and the rest of the team ran laps, swung bats and generally prepared for the game.

Yes, I'm excited about it too.

The light shone a bright yellow and tasted of anticipation.

"Charles?"

Hank's voice yanked Charles' attention, and so he left the familiar consciousness to its own devices, hopefully none too troublesome.

"I'm here Hank," he replied.

Hank let out a relived sigh, out loud he said: "See? He's alright."

"Could've fooled me. He isn't moving at all." Erik's voice sounded clipped, sharp.

"He's connecting to nearby Pokémon minds. Maybe even human ones, Wobbuffet's readings are quite high today."

"Hush you two! I'm having fun," said Charles with a grin.

He found another well-known spot of light and poked at it in greeting.

Somewhere close by Eevee squealed and the light opened a little door welcoming Charles in. He saw then the laboratory though everything was bigger now; before him was Charles' body, deadly still but smiling. Erik was looking at him too, his right hand clutching a pokéball.

"I'm with Eevee now," announced Charles. Hank gave a quick glance to Cerebro's main screen and began scribbling in the project's journal.

"Good, good," he said. "So how are you feeling Eevee?" he then asked.

Eevee's response was a waggle of its tail and a little excited cry.

"I...am... fine. Food was good Hank, better than ever!" translated Charles slowly.

"Don't...tell Hank, Charlie, but I saved...some for you. Hid it away." And just as Charles finished talking, Eevee lowered its ears indignantly, giving him a hurt glare.

"Oh, Eevee, darling, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Charles apologized quickly. Hank, however, almost dropped the journal and puffed angrily.

"Gosh! Not again Eevee!" he said, "I told you to stop hiding food in my Lab! It's unhygienic, honestly!"

Erik's face betrayed then a smile. A tiny itty bitty smile but it was there. Charles smiled to himself as Hank began to search through the Lab for the hidden food, Eevee at its heels, barking warningly each time they approached one of the Pokémon's usual hiding places.

"It's Charlie's! Leave it alone, not giving it to you, you have plenty!" translated Charles once more, chuckling. "Eevee, I'm fine. I appreciate the sentiment, though. Thank you," he said.

Eevee's ears perked up. It looked at Charles expectantly.

"Of course you can eat it, go ahead."

Eevee ran. It bypassed an annoyed Hank kneeling under a desk and retrieved a few chunks of Pokémon food from behind an old broken computer tucked away in a corner.

Hank sighed, walked to stand next to Charles and began writing anew in their journal. He shoot admonishing looks at Eevee every now and then.

And, well, Charles couldn't see him, but he heard Erik snort loudly, disbelieving and contemptuous. It deflated Charles; he had hoped Erik would have lost his apprehensiveness by now, that the boy had gotten at least a bit more interested in his and Hank's work.

From: (Anonymous)

"It's a nice little show, but I'm not stupid. You can't seriously think anyone sane would really fall for this ridiculous charade," said Erik, he had crossed his arms over his chest.

"I assure you this isn't a trick," huffed Hank.

"Prove it," challenged Erik just as he summoned one of his Pokémon. A Magnemite.

"Read her."

A new spot lit up in Charles' mindscape map. It was dimly green with bright whites, it tasted of loyalty and longing. He gave it a friendly mental knock.

"Hello there," greeted Charles out loud. The Magnemite gave a spin in the air, it greeted him with a contented screech.

"You summoned Lorna. She's ah... yes, she's the youngest of your Magnemite but not the youngest of your party Pokémon."

"Easily to deduce. By her size and bolts, if you paid attention in our duel, you could easily tell her apart."

"He's got his eyes closed!" hissed Hank to which Erik only harrumphed.

"Alright, alright. Could you tell me something only you and Erik know, Lorna?" asked Charles sheepishly.

Lorna turned to its trainer, tilting down a little in the air, asking for permission.

Erik nodded. Hank was taking notes as fast as he could.

"Lorna tells me that once, when you were very young, you fell into the breeding pond at the back of the Ranch. You almost drowned but the Pokémon nearby were able to get you out."

As soon as Charles spoke, Erik's eyes widened and his mouth clenched tightly shut.

"Lorna's mother, oh, oh dear... oh dear, I'm so very sorry." Charles shook his head, "Lorna's mother drowned saving you. Lorna was only a few days old back then and you have taken care of her and her big brother and big sister ever since."

Charles kept silent after that, Erik too. The only sound for what felt like hours but were in reality merely a few seconds was Hank's pencil scratching on paper.

"Well," said Erik finally, "I'm impressed."

Somehow it didn't feel like a victory.