Chapters
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Quinn found a fully automatic door waiting at the upper balcony, made of a sturdy-looking metal. Lights came on as he approached, and a camera followed his movements, pivoting as his antennae twitched. A second later there was a click, and a tiny metal compartment opened beside the door. A voice echoed through speakers there, slightly distorted by the volume and their low quality. "Place the inhibitor around your neck. It will make a sound when it is working correctly." "Inhibitor."…-
80.7 K • Completed
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Quinn didn't leave that night. Yet no matter how much he didn't want to leave, he could make no argument to Avery's reasoning. To stay meant undermining her efforts to foster a new, more merciful faction among the Mew of Starfall. They could never learn that the cat arguing for a forced separation and exile for the persistent variants also had a family with one! Every goodbye hurt—but one most of all. Mew lived a long time, he should see his mate and daughter again. Once he traveled…
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80.7 K • Completed
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Quinn was back in his apartment. "His" and "apartment" were both exaggerations in this case. An impossible Silurian civilization of cat Pokémon had given him the space to live during his time at the "hospital" for treatment. It had some of the same amenities he might be used to, but other unplaceable choices. Importantly, there was no food stored inside, or any means to keep it fresh. But that might mean less about the sophistication of the era, and more about his…
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80.7 K • Completed
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It was a long way to the surface; a long way through twisting tunnels, confusing passages and abandoned buildings. In another life, Quinn would've made that trip up slowly, exploring every inch of the strange facility and learning whatever could be discovered about the ones who lived there. Even if he wasn't an archeologist, he still wanted to know. Basically no one understood the ancient Pokémon, or imagined they had ever lived in civilizations. Here was a relatively recent structure, with much…
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80.7 K • Completed
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Their home wasn't on the platform itself, technically. Like so many others who worked in terraforming, their place of residence was somewhere in the territory they were assigned to work. Each one was temporary, built of sturdy modules on springs and jointed legs that kept them from the ground. Some Mew had huge walls and defense systems, but Quinn and Avery felt no need for that. They'd grown up with the "wild" Pokémon, and had no reason to fear them. The home was a mismatch of…
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80.7 K • Completed
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Quinn was the first to approach the rebel settlement. To call it a "base" was a bit generous, as it clearly had no military purpose. Instead of a featureless crater, there were dozens of structures scattered through a verdant clearing. Trails of soft grass ran between buildings with entrances large and small. This was not what kept all but one of the survivors from joining him. What terrified all of them—and Quinn too, though he wouldn't admit it—was the Pokémon living there. If the…
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80.7 K • Completed
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Quinn did not return to Absentia to find the refuge did not exist, because Mew and the offshoot species were living together in harmony. But if he had, maybe there would be some world-destroying paradox to kill them all. Instead, he found a city. Nowhere near as large as Starfall, or as advanced. But instead of shelters and tents with the occasional stone building, Quinn found a city of submerged domes and underground boulevards. Thousands of Pokémon lived there—many Mew, but more other things. Some…
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80.7 K • Completed
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Avery was small. Of all the experiences in her life, this was new. In that regard, Quinn's tragic accident had given her an incredible gift. Humanity was so small a price to pay for everything she had gained. Life in the city called Starfall varied little for her from day to day. Avery woke with the dawn, because that was what her body wanted. She was never alone, but slept comfortably in her mother's bed, basking in the warmth of another living thing. Adoptive though she might be, Metis had…
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80.7 K • Completed
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There were many paths through history. When Quinn was young, he had already known in his imagination what his route would look like. He could picture his challenging education, the eventual completion of some important academic discovery, before eventually navigating his way to lead a scientific team on one of the fancy tech firms. Maybe he would work for Silph, or end up on an orbital lab somewhere. Though he had little interest in children, he might adopt one or two for Avery's sake, so long as she…
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80.7 K • Completed
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As he soon learned, tracking Avery down wouldn't be as simple as flying to a specific place, or even a direct teleport there by one of his powerful new friends. The cats kept a tight perimeter around their primary settlement, and would capture him long before he got close. Even traveling through time would do him no good if each era had similar protection.. But he didn't have to find Avery in Starfall. He had already told her where to meet him. All he had to do was leave something behind for her…
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80.7 K • Completed
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