Becoming the Dawn [Worm/Pokemon] Celestial Menagerie inspired

Waiting for a superhero to show up was as cold as it was stressful. Here I was on the roof of some fifth story building freezing my ass off in the cold Brockton Bay winter looking up at overcast skies wondering when he was going to come flying in.

This must be what it was like to be Mary Jane.

Or was Lois Lane more appropriate?

No, the hero I was waiting for was more of a Green Lantern so I guess that would make me…Alex? Alice? Arya? Whoever got fridged. No one actually cared about her name, it's not like anyone actually read Green Lantern comics and DC didn't bother with a Kyle Rayner run since forever.

Fucking DC you fucking hacks. You shit out ten Batman runs but you can't make a decent comic outside of Gotham in the last five years. Where's my Geoff Johns Aquaman continuation Javins?

"Hatenna?" a quivering voice called out from below me. From between my shoes a blob of pink and blue stared up at me shivering. Her pointy hat drooped and she looked a second away from bawling into tears.

Right, strong emotions are a no go.

I reached down to the small pokemon holding it to my chest as I bobbed up and down like a baby trying to focus on calm thoughts.

Beaches, long train rides, movie theatres after covid before they got popular again.

"Better?" I asked her getting a tentative nod back. Good. I placed her back down before I started to get maternal. I didn't want cute, fluffy pokemon; I wanted dragons that would crush my enemies under their heel.

Well claws.

But the combination of Healer, Anticipation and Magic Bounce was just too good to box her forever. Which meant I was going to have to build a trick room team and that was going to be a nightmare because, like, four pokemon learnt trick room by level up and Game Freak never got around to making a pokemon that set Trick Room on entry.

Fucking Game Freak. You can milk me by hiding Ursaluna, Urshifu and Spectrier behind DLC but you couldn't at least break the game in the ways I wanted you to? Pathetic.

"Enna!" The pink blob started crying once again.

Right. I had enough of that.

With a mental flick of the hand Hattena dissolved into a burst of light and popped like a shadow clone. Somewhere in the back of my mind I could feel Hattena resting, not quite asleep but not fully awake either.

I sighed, glancing at Rowlet, "This is why you're my favourite."

Rowlet said nothing, just perched on the railing of the roof with his eyes closed. His bowtie glimmered slightly trying desperately to absorb the few traces of sunlight there was on the overcast day.

Good man. Going to be a nightmare when he evolves but by then I hopefully should have something better to replace him with.

Hmm, Harvest Tropius would kickass.

A whirring, crackling sound from above had me looking to the sky where a man was slowly floating over on electrified boots that just repelled off the air like two magnets rejecting each other. In his hand he had a long lance and on his other arm clasped like a wristband was a metal disk.

It was the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen. A man flying through the sky like a demigod. Seeing it was almost worth the nightmares about getting kidnapped by a woman with a fedora.

Not really but it was still pretty cool.

Dauntless gave the building a few circles making sure I was alone before he slowly descended from the skies.

"Hello," he greeted with a voice that was not firm but not soft either. A neutrality that felt like he was reading from a script, "Are you the one that wanted to meet me?"

"I am," I said, "Wanted to talk to you about joining the Protectorate."

It was a choice made because there was literally no other option. I wanted to be a hero and going independent in a city with Coil in it was stupid. But that didn't mean I hated the thought of joining.

There was a pause as Dauntless considered that. No doubt whatever handlers he had in his ears were coaching him what to say.

"You could've just come to the headquarters," he said.

"Your headquarters is all the other way in town and I don't have money for the bus. Barely had enough for the phone booth."

His eyes scanned me looking at my ratty shoes, threadbare jumper and I had no doubt that he could smell the fact that I haven't showered in like four days. It was obvious to pretty much anyone that looked at me that I was homeless.

"Why did you ask for me specifically?" he asked, talking the one condition I had negotiated from the phone operator when discussing this meeting.

The reason I'd chosen him was because despite reading his interlude I couldn't remember his name and wasn't going to blurt out something I shouldn't.

Years of reading Worm had ingrained most of the characters' names into my brain and if Armsmaster or Miss Militia popped by I was more likely to call them Colin or Hannah then I was to use their hero names. The Wards would've been worse, the last thing I needed reflexively to say Missy or Dennis.

I shrugged, "Our powers are similar."

"Really?" He asked in a voice full of confusion as he glanced towards Rowlet.

"Really," I said pointing to my bird, "That might look like a flesh and blood owl, even feels like it too. But it's more like a hard light projection. Every day I get a charge that when I use it I can spawn a creature."

"I can see the similarity," Dauntless admitted, "Are they all like that one?"

"No different types."

"Types?"

"That's too long to get into right now. As in, I'm probably going to have to get a whiteboard to explain that part of my power fully."

"So you're familiar with your power?"

'Familiar' he says. Like I haven't been playing pokemon for twenty-two years ever since I got pokemon Sapphire when I was five. Like I didn't have two hundred plushes at home, or had a Pikachu birthday cake three years in a row.

I was more than familiar with pokemon.

"It's…Intuitive," I decided was one way to call it, "But I've only had it for four days now."

"Oh," he said softly, staring at me with empathetic eyes I didn't need.

I might've been dropped into Earth Bet but it hadn't broken me, not enough to trigger. It wasn't fun but I wasn't going to bitch about it every second and cry melodramatically about how much I wanted to go home.

I rather focus my attention on practical things.

Like how I was gonna kill Scion.

---

The beard was just as glorious in real life as I imagined it.

Like black silk it hung on Armsmasters face, trimmed to be angular as it ran up his chin. No hints of grey on it unfortunately. I'd always imagined him to have a couple silver fox grey in his beard like Iron Man but Colin, like most parahumans, was younger than I thought. Thirty-six at most.

Though admittedly it was a bit hard to guess someone's age from their chin.

I shouldn't have been surprised Capes had only really been a thing for like twenty years at this point. Even the oldest Capes that weren't already old to start with weren't even fifty yet.

Colin glanced at the whiteboard and the very detailed type chart I drew up on it along with a short explanation of what each of them did.

"This 'Type chart'," he said, "Did your power tell you this?"

"Not laid out like this. Whenever I spend my charge I get to pick from five randomly selected monsters. It doesn't tell me what they are by name but I can feel what they're weak too. I can also tell what they'll be weak to when they evolve-"

"Evolve?" He interrupted me to ask.

"When they get strong enough or if conditions are met they - I guess the best word is metamorphosize into a stronger form. Some of those change types. So I got a pretty good feel for all of them and can piece together the puzzle from all the clues."

It was the truth enough for his lie detector that I wasn't even sure he had at the moment. Even without knowing Pokemon at all I probably could've figured the type chart within like a week just from that.

"If you're just guessing what makes you sure you haven't made a mistake?" He grilled me for what felt like the tenth time already. Ability this, can they breed that. It was endless. If I wasn't already set on joining, he would've scared me off.

Unsurprisingly, although he hid it he hadn't taken the news that there was a new girl with a constantly growing power like Dauntless well. Shame, he was hot but I guess our ship was never to sail.

"Because I'm not an idiot. Besides, if you can't trust that then feel free to thoroughly test it when I join."

"If you join," he corrected, "Seeing that you refuse to tell me anything about yourself: No last name, no previous address, not even if you're an American citizen. Given that you refuse to play ball, I'm not sure how we can accept you."

As much as I wanted to be honest I couldn't. I hadn't been dropped into this world with a valid Id and the last thing I wanted was them wondering why I was using the identity of a thirteen year old brat right now. That's if I was still alive here, I was born in Sydney and on Bet the Leviathan had fun there in the 2000's.

"Who I was before I got my power doesn't matter - I'm leaving that person behind for a fresh start. I know how that looks but I don't care, if that means you have to slap me with restrictions or pump me full of truth serum till I can be trusted then that's fine, I can accept those terms," I said.

Besides as much as he wanted to play hardball he couldn't just say no. Even if I had a weakass power the Protectorate wasn't in the habit turning away joiners, especially ones that could heal.

He frowned, "If you're in trouble the Protectorate has resources that can protect you. There's no point in completely abandoning your life."

"I'm not in trouble, legal or illegal. I just don't have any attachment to that person anymore."

Colin leaned back in his chair, armour silent as it shifted with him. His fingers pressed a button on a large landline he had on the desk.

"Has the creature disappeared yet?" he asked.

"No sir," came from the phone, "We've hit city limits and it's still here. Do you want me to drive to Boston? See if it disappears then?"

They had wanted to see if I had a range limit and gotten an intern or something to drive Rowlet as far as they could. From him I got the vaguest impression that he was in a van with someone but even if I focused I couldn't tell if that person was a man, woman or what colour their hair was.

No Skitter omniscence for me unfortunately.

Armsmaster thought about it for a moment, "No. Just stay there and tell me if it disappears later," he then pushed a different number, "How are the lab results?"

"The blood samples disappeared after ten seconds. X-rays confirm that this thing has organs but nothing that looks like ovaries or sexual characteristics. It doesn't appear that this thing can breed."

That I wasn't sure was true. Yes my pokemon might've not been real but Pokemon due to the fact it was a kids game never had actual breeding involved. The eggs just sorta popped up when no one was looking. It was a big enough plot point that there was a professor dedicated to discovering how that worked.

His helmet rose to meet my eyes.

"You said that when you killed one, it dissolved into light and you were able to resummon it eight hours later," He said.

I nodded.

"Killed a strong word. But when I had them fight each other Hatenna won and Rowlet got sent to-" I almost said the box but that would've made no sense to him, "-I mean he sorta dissolved till he could heal up."

His fingers tapped on his desk.

City wide range, no breeding capacity, can't be permanently killed. I could see the gears turning in Armsmasters head and they came to a conclusion he didn't like. I was just simply too useful not to recruit.

I didn't want to toot my own horn but I had a good power. Not Triumvirate tier but good enough.

Well it wasn't Triumvirate tier, yet.

"Alright, you have a charge built already? Use it."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't I be in a lab for this?"

"My helmet has the best scanners in the entire base," he said, and although it sounded like bragging I had no doubt it was the truth. An efficiency tinker like him could do both.

I closed my eyes leaning back in my chair as I reached for that ball of light that I felt forming in the back of my head. It was heavy but weightless, bright but dark and cold but warm all at the same time.

I poked at it with an imaginary finger and it burst, splitting up into five different balls.

The first one I got the impression of heat and darkness. That ball was covered in a shell of what it could be and that was covered in an even bigger shell, a Russian nesting doll. But the biggest shell was flickering, impermanent. A mega evolution.

Houndoom, it had to be. I was tempted to choose it immediately - Flash fire was on the list of things I needed to have but I held off. Lung wasn't an immediate threat, Burnscar less so and Behemoth had more options then just fire.

Compared to something like storm drain or damp it wasn't on the immediate need list.

The list went faster.

Water and ice. Shell armour and Skill link - Cloyster. Shell Smash would've been fun but I had no way to get a water stone yet.

The same went for the Seadra that was next. A dragon scale might've been theoretically easier to get but not right now.

Ghost and Dragon. When I felt that my heart skipped a beat but it wasn't the one I wanted. The one I'd already put a charge into on my third day only to be told that it wasn't enough to summon him.

Compared to the lord of the Reverse World I wasn't jumping out of my seats over the chance to get stuck with a Dreepy.

I moved on to the last.

Dragon. Will get the fighting type later. Three stages, Overcoat, Soundproof and Bulletproof.

There was no hesitation in me as I chose that one.

Light poured out of my body and pooled into a shape right beside me. A sound like a Pokeball echoed and when it was over a small four legged lizard was standing there.

It was two different shades of grey but with thick gold scales that hang off it like a cloak with the largest of them all on its head like a crown.

"Jang-mo," the pokemon greeted me, tucking in its legs like a soldier saluting.

But I didn't return the greeting. Instead I only stared at Armsmaster and said, "Dragon type, immune to most projectiles, sound based powers and powders."

In other words it was a bitching pull. I had to hold myself back from hollering, settling for only a slight smile. Thank you Gacha gods, I'd almost forgive you for not giving me Diluc.

Actually no I didn't.

Armsmaster stared at the tiny dragon with a firm expression. His beard perfect at hiding his clenched jaw.

"I'll make some calls," he said.

---

Bread was nice until it started to lick your mouth.

With a hand and a groan I pushed Fidough off me as I got out of bed that smelt like a wet bakery. A glance at the clock told me it was about five to nine. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I shuffled over to the shower, taking my toothbrush and mouthwash with me.

If that walking pound of dough gave me a yeast infection I was going to turn him into a muffin.

Showered and in a fresh set of clothes I left for my meeting that was soonish.

The morning sun looked different inside the Rigs force fields. Warm oranges turned pink casting everything in a porno like glow. But it was cool. I hadn't seen it like this before, I'd spent the last two weeks in Boston getting my power tested and my health assessed.

It was neat and it taught me some things about my power but most importantly Hattenna passed her evaluation which meant she and I by extension had ticked that important checkmark.

Healer.

The golden ticket.

And after investing two charges into her she'd leveled up to level fifteen and gained a move I'd honestly forgotten about. Aromatherapy - The move that can cure status conditions.

In the games it could only cure the big ones but not ones that disappeared when you switched out like confusion or infatuation but this wasn't the games and there were some very curious people that wanted to know if it could cure people affected by masters.

Hattenna was still in Boston waiting for clearance to be allowed to be tested at the Parahuman Asylum. I hoped it worked, those Lab Rat victims had been through enough.

Armsmaster was waiting in the meeting room with a woman I expected next to him. Blonde and fat, it wasn't hard to guess who she was. The white Amanda Waller.

"Good morning," I greeted, taking a seat in front of them.

"Good morning," Piggot returned the greeting, reaching a hand across the table to shake my hand, "My name is Emily Piggot, I'm the director in charge of managing the Parahuman situation in Brockton Bay. Though I'm assuming you knew that."

"I did. But it's good to learn that the T's silent."

Piggot's lips curled, "Yes, no one ever gets that right unless I tell them."

Armsmaster cut in by pulling out a pair of stapled documents along with a few pictures of the Pokemon I pulled in Boston.

Fidough. Impadimp. Duraladon. Falinks.

Piggots eyes lingered on Impadimps photo a moment too long.

"Your tests in Boston were promising," Piggot said, "It's a shame about the six at a time limit, but it's enough for us to work with. The pink one most of all."

"This is a typical contract for a newly recruited full time Protectorate member," Armsmaster said handing me a piece of paper, "Typically the base salary starts at $78,800 with reduced taxes but during your first year you are what's called a Junior member. It means your access to confidential files will be restricted, you won't be eligible to lead a team and depending on your role going forward you will have an experienced hero with you while you patrol. You'll be expected to follow their orders unless you believe them to be illegal."

"After a year you'll graduate into a full member of the Protectorate. Typically your base salary would increase to $112,800 a year."

"You keep saying that - Typically. Does that mean I'm not getting the typical contract?"

"No," he said, "Members that can bring more utility to the table can expect a higher salary. For a typical healer the base salary is $180,000."

My mouth fell.

I could buy so much with that.

Bitchin.

I mean sure it had the increased risk of getting Ziz'd or stabbed to death by a sad man in a robot body but six figures was six figures.

"However, that's with the expectation that you would be on call 24/7. Liable to be transferred to another city at the drop of a dime," Piggot interjected, "Which isn't the case with you. At least not completely."

My brow furrowed as took in her words. Not the case? There was only one thing it could be.

"You're talking about the fact that I can let others order my monsters?"

It was something we tested in Boston. As long as I personally ordered my Pokemon to listen to someone's orders then they'd follow them. It was per mon and it reset every time I boxed them, so I didn't have to worry about them being stolen or something.

"Yes, with your range there's been talks about assigning 'Hattenna' to a member of staff that will travel in your stead. This way you wouldn't be reassigned at a moment's notice and allow you to continue your role in Brockton Bay," Armsmaster said.

I frowned, "If that were to happen then wouldn't mean not being on call would come with a decreased salary?"

"Yes," Piggot confirmed, "But at the same time you'd still be an active hero. In essence you'd be working in two places at once. Which is a conundrum because we're not sure how you should be compensated for that."

"Maybe I should get paid $292800," I suggested doing some quick math, not really serious about it. Money past a certain point just became another digit.

"We thought about that," she admitted, "But higher ups decided that was too much for a junior member, some even thought that handing that much money to a woman that has a precedent for abandoning her identity was unwise," And although she sounded polite I was left with no doubt that she was one of those people, "So we've reached a middle point; You'll be paid the standard healer salary ignoring your Junior status and after six months a committee will be appointed to look over your results and evaluate how much we should be paying you. If it's decided that what you bring to the table is significantly more we'd up your compensation- With full back pay included."

I leaned back in my chair as I processed that.

That was a lot of money. Enough that I could probably retire before I was Thirty-Five. It was a dream come true. Except that money didn't matter when society would be destroyed in four years.

I sighed, "That's a generous offer Director and I respect the intentions in which it's offered but I'm not sure I can accept that."

Piggot blinked before her face schooled and pulled back in her chair, arms folded.

"Why not?" Armsmaster asked, voice audibly unimpressed, "If you're waiting for a better offer there isn't one."

"It's not about the money. I'm worried about the precedent it would set."

"Precedent?"

"Using Hattenna like that means that a sixth of my power is permanently unavailable to me. Now that's something I'm fine with, I understand just how needed healers are. But what happens if I get a second healer? A third? Fourth? Fifth? Am I just supposed to give up my power and be forced into the backline because I'm more useful there?" I said picking off fingers with each number.

Pigotts response was instant, "Yes, if you're asking that question then you don't understand the value of healers. If it's between one cape walking the streets and six healers spread throughout the Protectorate then the decision is obvious."

"And if I can do the greatest amount of good there then I'd have no complaints but what if I'm better used somewhere else?" I asked before I turned to Colin, "Let me ask you this; What is the tinkertech invention that has had the most positive effect on the world?"

"Containment foam," he said.

"Dragon's the one that made that right?"

He nodded.

"Then why isn't Dragon dedicating her entire focus on containment foam if it's so useful? Why bother with those mechs at all? Don't answer that. Now I'm not saying I'm ever going to be on her level - I'm not that arrogant. But just like she's not churning out containment foam 24/7 because she's more than that, how am I supposed to know if I'm more than the woman that creates the healing monsters unless I'm given the freedom to?"

If they had me waste my charges on levelling Hatenna or a Chansey or whatever rabbit I pulled out of a hat instead of trying to get a Legendary I'd just straight up leave Protectorate, which would not be bitchin. Weaver was right that they were the best option and I needed them to work with me to prevent the end of the world. So I had to kill this in the crib before it ever became an issue.

Piggot stared at me with a hard look in her eyes, but whatever it was I couldn't tell.

"Six months," she said, "You've got six months till the evaluation. If you don't want to be relegated to just a healer then prove it. Follow the rules, accomplish objectives and work with others."

I smiled, "I can work with that."

---

I couldn't work with this.

"No," I said, rejecting another concept art that had me forced into a princess dress.

"Come on," Sarah said as she looked over the art, "What's wrong with the matching Hatenna?"

Sarah was the head of branding and she clearly had her soul ripped out of her. How else could she stand to be in an office that looked like it was fingerpainted by toddlers with pink fluffy rugs going across the floor.

"The Fairy type looks cute but it's also the type I have the least amount of. If we went on the 'Fairy Princess,' idea then that'd be too restricting. I have sixteen types to work with, come up with a concept that could include literally anything else."

"But think of the merchandise that concept could fuel," she said, voice a touch below whining, "I'm thinking of a whole toy line of castle sets, costumes, dolls and if you get popular enough we could have you cameo in that cartoon all the little girls love."

She pulled up her sleeve showing me the tiny tattoo she had of the show on her shoulder, "Come on you'll be perfect on Little Witch Wendy. I've even gotten Vista an episode, it won't be hard to get you in too."

And I'm sure she loved that.

"You're talking about merch but you're completely ignoring who buys that merch. Little girls begging their parents; by focusing on them you're ignoring the boy demographic," Behind me I released Duraludon, Jangmo-o and Falinks.

I picked up the Brass and placed it in Duraludons outstretched hands. Well, what counted for hands anyway. With a jump Jangmo-o springed up landing on the steel types shoulder.

"You just tell me little boys aren't gonna aren't gonna beg their parents for action figures of these Pokemon?"

Sarah shook her head, "They won't because kids are in that girls are icky stage. Across the board for female heros with enhanced strength the figure is one boy buying their merch for every eight girls. When you take away Alexandria who skews the numbers it goes to something like twelve to one."

"As a woman that can't punch through concrete you're at a significant disadvantage when it comes to marketing. Rime is the fourth highest rated female hero in the entire protectorate. She also has the lowest merch numbers of the entire top heroes - Well excluding Cineral. That's why you should focus all your attention on the demographic that will actually buy your merch instead of trying to cater to people that won't, no matter what you do."

Fuck nuggets she actually had a point. I felt personally slighted that she was actually good at her job

I sighed, "Okay fair point but I actually need a concept that allows me to use my powers. You already took poison and bug types off me; Which I get but getting pigeon holed into just fairy types is a disaster waiting to happen."

"We could go with a fairy themed persona," Sarah suggested, "Fairies, dragons, knights. Instead of being the princess kept captive by a dragon waiting to be saved by a knight, you could represent all of them at once?"

My neck cracked as I mulled it over.

While not as good as the Fire-Water-Grass in terms of super effective coverage in practical non video game terms the Steel-Fairy-Dragon was better in almost every way. Dragon had the highest BST of all types, Steel had the most resistances and while Fairy wasn't the best when they weren't going up against dragon they were at least a good neutral option with good support moves.

"Falinks could work as a kind of royal guard," I mused. Being the only one of my pokemon that knew protect it was a perfect fit.

She smiled, "We can include others as long as they fit the theme. Now let's get into the most important part; What will your cape name be? I'm here to consult but this is your decision, take your time I know it's a hard one."

I laughed, "It's not really. When I got my power I thought about the type of person I wanted to be, what I wanted to represent and more importantly what person I aspired to be."

"And what person is that?" she asked softly.

"I want someone to look at me and know it's okay. That things will be better, I want to be a light, someone that burns so bright it banishes all the bad things. So there's really only one thing I can be called."

I looked at Sarah, staring directly in her eyes.

"Call me Dawn."

---

This was going to be a Celestial Menagerie fic but I just love Pokemon too much to do any other kind of creature. So we got this fic cause of it.

Summary of the pulls.

Day 1: Hatenna

Day 2 : Rowlet

Day 3: Giratina

Day 4: Jangmo-o

Day 5- 8: Wasted testing her abilities.

Day 9 - 19: Duraludon, Falinks, Impadimp, Fidough. Leveled everyone except Impadimp to level 10 and Hatenna to level 15.


Legendary Chart.

Giratina 1/20

The Protectorate as expected had a pretty good gym. Those perfectly trimmed V-cuts didn't come from nowhere after all. It was probably the second largest room on the base that wasn't the cafeteria, covered wall to wall in equipment tailored for a variety of exercises with a special set of barbells and weights in a cordoned off section meant only for Triumph and Aegis.

There was also a small selection of child sized equipment. It wasn't hard to guess who that was for.

In the middle of the gym was a sparring ring, with padded flooring and a rack with gloves and other striking pads.

And standing in that ring was a brown haired woman in camo fatigues, an american flag bandana covering her face and a minigun by her feet. But it wasn't those things that stuck out at me. No, what really stuck out to me was the sheer boss-like aura she exuded.

Like Virgil in his chair she just seemed to radiate a final boss energy like atmosphere to the point that walking up to her I half expected piano music or an electric bass to start playing.

Hmm.

"Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken. I've even forgotten my name~" I hummed under my breath as I stepped onto the matts, "Hey your Miss Militia right? I'm Dawn."

The time I spent in the bathroom mindlessly practising her hero name was well spent.

Hannah's eyes gave the impression of a smile behind her mask, "Nice to meet you Dawn. Always a pleasure to see a new hero."

The word hero had me rubbing the back of my neck as a smile spread across my face. Yeah I was a hero now wasn't I? It felt weirdly right to be called that. It had always been something I'd dreamed of when I was a kid and now it was coming true. Well, the dreams that didn't involve Zatanna were coming true.

"Thank you," I said.

"Just giving credit where it is due," She said as she warmed up her hands, stretching out each finger and massaging her wrists, "Now as much as I would like to get right into the heart of things I have a speech I have to recite. But please stretch as I go through it."

I just nodded as I balanced on the balls of my feet and twisted, with the loud pops of years of shrimp posture making themselves known.

But I couldn't help but feel excited. I was training to be a superhero. She was no Coach Boomer or Aizawa but it felt like I'd begun my first steps to change the world for the better.

Plus Miss Militia looked super sexy in her Camo Fatigues. I was never one that got the whole military kink but looking at her it clicked. I could see why Kojima was obsessed now.

"Before you are allowed to patrol or make arrests as a member of the Protectorate you are required to undergo at least twelve hours training on arrest techniques. After this course you will be expected to be able to demonstrate competency in disarming, throws and restraining techniques. Do you have any questions or points that need clarification?" She recited it with the ease of someone that said it a thousand times before.

"Is 12 hours all I really have to do? Seems kind of low," I said as I pulled an elbow over my shoulder.

Miss Militia shook her head, "It's the bare minimum but you'll be expected to undergo more training over your time as a junior member. That can range from 50 to 120 additional hours. Then after remedial training every three months or as needed."

"That makes more sense," I admitted.

"Glad you agree. This isn't a hand to hand course. Don't expect to use what you learn here against villains. This is so you can restrain regular criminals and rowdy civilians without causing them harm," Hannah said, "Now before we begin some ground rules for both here and on the streets: No striking, none at all. It looks bad and if you feel the need to strike someone then the situation has escalated to the point that you should've already used your power to subdue and not your fists. That said, don't use your power here until I give you permission."

It made sense. I didn't have to think hard to imagine how bad it would look if a hero punched someone in the face. Plus anything I could do was nothing compared to what Falinks or Duraludon could do safely.

"And what if I'm not in a situation where I can use my power?"

"That'll be rare," she said, "But in that scenario? Assuming they don't have weapons or you're not outnumbered then you'll have armour and they won't. Use that to weather the blows till you can take them down. If you can't or the situation won't let you then just retreat till backup can arrive to help you. We don't want another Vikare to happen."

I nodded and she walked me through how to fall safely before she moved onto the various throws and holds. Miss Militia fatigues were tailored to show off her curves so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that beneath them she had the body of a demon.

She moved like one too. Each demonstration had to be done twice. The first where she effortlessly performed a takedown in seconds without thinking about it, and the second where she forced herself to slow down so I could actually see what she was doing.

And then we moved on to the practice phase of it where I had to demonstrate them on her and I knew they only worked because she let them. She weighed like a rock and she was sturdy in her footing. Any time I tried to push or lift her I had to put my entire body weight into it or she'd just absorb it without moving.

But then we moved onto the part that I'd been dreading and eagerly anticipating at the same time.

The part where she did them on me.

"Feel free to tap out," she said as she had me in a choke, an arm going across my neck that was firm but didn't have pressure and her legs snaked underneath my own, keeping them open.

I'd have a better chance of smashing through an iron cage than getting through her.

"They… Won't… Respect it out there," I grunted out into her thick bicep that felt like a bundle of coiled cables. Harder I wanted to scream. If I died here it would've been worth it.

"No they won't," she agreed, "But you'll have your powers out there. If you can't get out by yourself then summon something that can get you out."

She didn't need to tell me twice as a light came out of me and right beside me Rowlet popped into existence.

The owl with his big beady black eyes stared at the two of us. His head twisted as he looked around the room before they honed in on Miss Militia.

And then he threw a handful of leaves in her face.

---

Pain. All I could feel was pain through my body. In my back, in my shoulders, in my calves. There wasn't a muscle that didn't feel like it hated me.

After Rowlet Miss Militia had come down on me like the hand of god. Not out of anger but concern.

I got the vibe that she didn't trust that Rowlet could keep me safe so she doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on training me so that I could protect myself.

Apparently no one told her that Rowlet was my weakest Pokémon. I also had forgotten to tell her that for, er, reasons.

I groaned into my cafeteria food. It wasn't I'd never exercised before but there was a special kind of pain in knowing you could fix it with a snap of your hands but couldn't. Hatenna was still in Boston and I didn't want to ruin whatever tests they were doing just to heal some cramps.

"That's a familiar sound," a voice said and glancing up I saw that it was a man in a red skin tight costume. Next to him was a well built boy on the cusp of being a man with a lion themed helmet. Each of them had a food tray absolutely covered in potato salad.

"Miss Militia's got a reputation I take it?"

"Yep," He said nodding sagely as the two of them slid in the seat in front of me, "She, like all former Wards that joined young, is a freak of nature put here to make the rest of us feel bad about not exercising more."

"I feel like I should take offense to that," Triumph said.

"You don't count," the red man said, scooping some potato salad into his mouth, "You were already grown when you joined."

"I can still take offense."

The red costumed man just shovelled some more food into his mouth, eating like someone was going to steal it from him. He had a red visor that covered his eyes but left his black hair visible. Racing stripes ran down his shoulder both his chest joining at a point to form a large V.

"Triumph and Velocity right?" I asked getting nod from both, "I'm Dawn."

"The monster girl right? Dauntless told us about you," Triumph said.

I nodded a joking smirk on my face, "I'm sure he said how pretty I was too."

"Something like that," he said, picking at his food.

Velocity's fork skewered into the last of his salad finishing it off with the crunch of an uncooked potato. All in all it took him less than maybe 20 seconds to eat his lunch. Impressive, if a little disgusting considering he hadn't even used his power. If I tried to eat like that acid reflux would kill me.

"Heard it's not just monsters you do, apparently you're a healer as well?" Velocity asked.

"I am yeah."

"That's great. Our team could really use someone like you."

"Get into a lot of fights?"

"Not really but with Christmas coming up patrols are going to be a nightmare on my feet."

"Can you-" Triumph tried to speak with food still in his mouth, he coughed slamming a fist into his chest and taking a sip of his drink before he continued, "- Can you fix things that aren't injuries?"

There was only one reason he'd ask - Clockblocker dad.

"We did some testing on some rats that had cancer," I explained, "Others that had been infected with things like syphilis. It looks good, power managed to cure them, but they're still waiting before moving on to human tests."

"But signs point to?"

I wasn't sure. There weren't any person in Pokemon that I could remember that had illnesses, especially not one's as bad as cancer. Wally existed but that was probably congenital and wasn't that bad relatively speaking. He'd been well enough to travel Hoenn by himself.

But I couldn't say whether that was because of healing moves, advanced technology, berries or the fact that Arceus just didn't invent cancer.

There was Pokerus but that was something different.

Not willing to give him false hope I shrugged, "Honestly can't tell you. I'm not a doctor. But if I'm cleared I'm fine with doing personal calls. What kind of illness is it if you don't mind me asking?"

"Atherosclerosis. A relative of mine has it and it's getting pretty bad."

I blinked. That wasn't what I expected him to say.

"I don't know what that is."

"It's a heart disease," he explained and it clicked.

He wasn't asking about Clockblocker, he was asking about Dinah.

Or at least someone she knew. I remembered she said something about heart disease to Skitter and while I didn't know how she triggered exactly but an illness in the family, doctors throwing out numbers, family throwing out numbers and a twelve year old girl struggling to figure out what that all meant but not having enough information.

It fit.

But had she triggered already? I couldn't remember reading an actual date. Just some months before Taylor went out in a costume which was April if I remembered correctly. Which could mean anything.

It's December now. So If I healed them would I prevent Dinah's trigger?

Dinah was one of the strongest thinkers to ever exist. She was the one nudging things in the background so that humanity survived Gold Morning. If I messed with it would I be making things worse?

"Dawn?" Triumph asked, dragging me out of my head.

"Right. The hearts complicated. I can't fix something that they were born with but I can email the Doctors and see how it looks."

Triumph nodded, a thankful look on his face that burned to look at.

"That's all I can ask."

---

The question of what to do with Dinah bothered me for the rest of the day and then the next and the days after that. If it wasn't for the lessons on patrol protocol, on chain of command, on PRT threat assessment, on local villains, on lessons with Miss Militia on this and that and so on, it would've been all I thought about.

In a way I was glad that all the preparations for becoming a hero kept me busy, kept me distracted.

It's not like I was trying to do it on purpose; Becoming a hero was a lot of work. Enough that I got why Junior members were a thing. With everything I had to learn I felt like I needed more than just a year to learn it all.

But it wasn't enough. Not to completely bury the question.

From: PRTPT0923-94@Secure.us

Dawn,

Apologies for the delay in answering your question but we did run some cardiovascular tests and it appears that Atherosclerosis is possible to be cured by Subject:Hattenna. The combination of the inhaling the particulates produced by the Subject and approximately ten to fifteen minutes within its presence is enough to clear the Patients 25, 34 and 35 from the plaque build up in the arteries.

This combined with other positive tests and thinker analysis we conclude that it's safe to grant Subject:Hattenna's tentative permission to heal non trauma related injuries in addition to the permission already granted to you.

A report of our findings will be emailed to your PRT Director and Protectorate Leader so you may discuss how to utilize Subject:Hattena long term within your city.

Merry Christmas,

PRT PT Michael Talburt.

Would it be better for everyone if Dinah triggered it? Probably. She could do so much with her power that would put her on the level of movers and shakers like Dragon. With her help Protectorate could plan better, prevent events like Ellisburg or Echidna from happening.

Yet.

She was just a twelve year old girl. It wasn't right to put that weight on her shoulders. Force her to suffer with the side effects of her powers and the attention it would give her for the rest of her life.

It wasn't a question of logic. That debate was too weighted to ever be a contest and it wasn't a debate about morals either, that was also too weighted to be a contest.

This couldn't be a debate. It was a choice, one I had to make.

"Dawn?" A voice called out and glancing up I saw it was one of Sarah's interns. Becky or Beth or something like that. No one wore name badges at all in the Protectorate - Safety concern.

In her hands she clutched a heavy metal case and strained to hold it up. With a flash of light Falinks was there lifting it up, carrying it with their horns and shield like arms.

"Fa! Links!" They shouted.

Becky blinked at the sight of them. A curious smile spread across her face and a small squeal under her breath.

"They're so cute," she said, "I wish I could take a picture with them."

In a way I was lucky; Pokemon was a children's series so all the mon were designed to be some brand of cute, cool or funny which gave them a natural friendliness that other power generated creatures didn't have. I doubted she'd be so happy to see Bitches dogs.

I was grateful for that. I'm not sure I could handle being a hero that had a power that scared people.

Plus it also meant my toy line was going to kick ass. Armsmaster was going to hate me.

"You'll get your chance tomorrow," I said as she led me to a private changing room, Falinks following behind us with a small marching chant.

As they did, heads in the room turned to stare at them. The men and women that manned the lights, cameras and boom-mics were local rather than PRT specialists and weren't used to powers like everyone else.

Sarah had wanted the specialists but with Christmas less than fortnight away it was either this or we'd be forced to wait till January before I could be on the streets.

Piggot's decision was the sooner the better.

The changing room Becky led me to had a PRT soldier guarding it. The man just glanced down at the five soccer ball sized monsters and sighed.

"Has the room been cleared?" Becky asked the soldier and the man nodded.

Turning to me she said, "Okay the rooms clear for you to change in. If you need help with the buckles let me know otherwise just knock when you're done and I'll send makeup in."

Swiping a key card over the door I entered the changing room. It was a small, private thing. With tall lockers that had the names of other heroes stamped on them and a sign in sheet that had to be filled in.

Dawn 10:32 14/12/2010

Popping the locks on the metal case I opened it.

The helmet was the first thing my eyes were drawn to. It was silver with a pink and purplish damascus pattern, but not actually metal. Instead rubbing my fingers over it felt like the same kind of plastic that motorcycle helmets were made out of, just dyed to look like metal. Out the back of it there was a Lancelot style plume but instead of the typical red this one was a mixture of Dragon type purple and Fairy type pink.

I felt like there should've been a seafoam blue in there to balance it out but that would've been off theme.

Picking it up I just held it in my hands. Feeling the weight of it as I rocked it back and forth, the holes in the eyes slit staring back at me. It was heavy, layers and layers of crush foam and padding added to the weight.

It was half a helmet that left my mouth exposed back still covered my neck, Sarah had said something about it being based on a sallet.

Mythical was the only word I could use to describe it. Like someone had plucked a knight from a picture book and plopped their helmet right in my hands. Fantasy, majesty, it had elements from both.

Bitchin maybe for sure but I wasn't sure it was me. It didn't scream 'Power' like I wanted it to.

The rest of the costume was a combo between a knight's armour and a princess gown that stopped below the knees, the dress was flowing and pleated. Below that I had purple jeans that had lines on them that invoked scales and the boots had small ridges like clawed feet.

Slowly I undressed and began the process of putting it on. The pants were just normal jeans, albeit one that had four separate buttons and a belt keeping the pants up - The Protectorate really, really didn't want their heroes getting pants in public - and the dress was easy but the chainmail sown in between the fabric made it stiff and instead of stepping into it and pulling up like I usually preferred I had to pull it over my head. Once it and the armour was on I could help but notice that both had been tailored to make me look two cups sizes larger.

Sarah's work no doubt. She'd once asked me if I was willing to get some implants paid for by the Protectorate and I firmly put my foot down and told her that I'd think about it. Maybe after Shatterbird was gone.

Testing the flexibility of the shoulders and at the waist I rubbed the inside of my arms where the words 'I have the power of God and Anime on my side,' were tattoo'd and found that I had no issues at all, the Protectorate made good costumes.

The tattoo was mirrored on the other arm where one of Sans's Gaster Blaster was locked into a beam struggle against Megaman. The skeleton himself wasn't on there; I'd been too embarrassed and worried about how others would think I was a gigantic nerd to include him.

Countless other tattoos littered my body in places no one would be able to see unless I was wearing a bikini. Video games, comic issues, funny memes. I wasn't someone that put a lot of thought into what I inked onto my body.

To me it was more about demonstrating that I was different than I was a year ago, a way of marking a moment of evolution. Whether I still liked what I'd tatted in the future didn't matter, if I cringed every time I saw it then at least I could tell I changed.

Though I had one rule now: No bands. A friend only had to show me the wikipedia page for Lostprophets once after I just freshly tatted the band's name on my thigh for me to realise what a terrible mistake that was. Too many singers turned out to be monsters for me to take that risk anymore.

The only exception was The Megas that I had scrawled across my hips. No way they got laid.

Now that the case was emptier I saw the gauntlets that matched the armour sitting at the bottom. Next to it was a little pouch and in it was a couple coloured contact lenses. Between the pink, purple and silver options I chose purple.

The gauntlets were next and then the helmet.

When the final buckle clipped into place it felt like I was naked; in that moment it stopped being a costume and felt more like a second pair of skin. No, I couldn't tell where my skin ended and the armour began. It just felt right in a way I couldn't explain. Like this was meant to be.

The woman in the mirror agreed, a slight smirk on her face. She was beautiful in the right places, sexy in the other parts. With a thin waist and the plume coming out the back of her head I could just see her flying on the back of dragons, the ghost sword of kings in her hand while juggernauts of steel destroyed her enemies.

And I guess some fairies would be there too.

Yeah.

This was perfect.

---

If any eyes were on me I couldn't see them. All I could see was a blinding wall of light so powerful, so tangible that they put any forcefield cape to shame. Boom mics extended through the light like spears in a phalanx while camera's acted like the shields.

"Roll sound!"

"Sound speed!"

Around me the crew worked all hands on deck to get everything organised leaving me to stand in the middle of the room like a statue. There was nothing I could do to help, after my makeup had been done all I could do was stare forward going over my five lines again and again until they were ready for the scene. I'd even offered to help with hosting the piano but I was politely refused, something about insurance.

Batman didn't have to deal with this shit.

"Roll Camera!"

"Cameras rolling!"

I should've just become a vigilante. Who needs things like a salary, a professionally made costume or a place to sleep at night? At least that way I wouldn't have to deal with my hero intro ad.

"Alright everyone. Action!"

The sound of those wooden clacker things went off and the lights finally dimmed.

I stared into the eye of the camera for a second letting them see me in all my armoured glory.

"I'm never alone," I said, putting on my fiercest action hero voice. I thought I'd have a stutter or a hitch in my voice as I said my lines but they came out smooth. A confidence grew in me as light pooled out of me and split into four separate beams. When the light faded standing there was Jangmo-o, Falinks, Fidough and towering above them all was Duralodon.

No Rowlet.

I was allowed to use other types on the condition that it didn't interfere with my branding. A battle once and a while would've been fine but my introduction? No way.

From stage left a pack of stunt men in black ski masks ran at me. With a mental order my mon ran at them aiming to meet them in the middle. Duraludon the slowest with his relaxed nature running behind the two four legged Pokemon his feet causing thuds with each stomp while his wide body acted like a good enough shield covering me from the men long for Falinks to form a defensive wall around me, their little feet stamping as they focused their energy.

Strange, I hadn't asked them to do that. My power was a lot like Chicken-Littles in that I just had to plant flags and they'd go do it. Fight this, wait here, go over there. It was something that meant I didn't have to micromanage my pokemon. All I told Falinks was to wait around me and it did that but it also set up.

Was there something in Falinks pokedex entries that let it do that? Or was it a safe guard built into my power? Something that says 'If no orders are given while in combat then set up?' Both were likely.

The relaxed steel type had a leer in his eyes as Jangmo-o the fastest and the highest leveled Pokemon reached the men first. His tail was coated in a purple energy that almost tripled its length.

With a wild swing Jangmo-o hit two of them with the long tail. But when the tail touched them the energy transferred to them coating them in the same purple and launched them away, the two men flying faster and further than what a normal hit should've allowed.

Out of the view of the camera's the stunt men landed on crashpads. Not that they needed them. The move protected them safely till they came to a complete stop; Jangmo-o was no Gavel.

The men that Jangmo-o hadn't launched pulled out guns, stepped to get an angle around Duraludon and fired.

Paintballs splattered against the hexagonal barrier that Falinks threw up. Paint streaked down it for a few seconds before like the shattering of a glass the barrier disappeared.

"I always have the advantage," I said a second off. The editors would have to cut the scene so that I said it before they fired. Cooler that way.

Fidough pounced, her stubby little legs still strong enough to jump on a man's chest slamming her nose into his very padded shoulder. The man staggered finding out for himself that even the weakest pokemon could hit like a featherweight boxer when using a move.

Springboarding off the man she leaped through the air, her tail wagging so cutely it'd be illegal to show a diabetic. The stuntman with a gun paused, the power of covet overtaking him for a moment despite him expecting it. His grip on the gun slackened and Fidough took advantage of it to bite down on it, ripping it from his hands.

The underbaked dog then proceeded to land on her face, sending the gun sliding across the room.

Fucking Klutz.

Fucking Gamefreak. What's the point of having abilities that actively make a pokemon worse? Because my Pokemon had all their abilities that just made some really good Pokemon complete dogshit.

More paintballs fired at my terrifying babies- dragons, I meant dragons. Both completely ignored them even if they were real bulets as Duraludon advanced on the men, throwing them off camera again.

The camera operator followed Jangmo-o as he hopped back into the middle of the stage where a giant piano hung in the air hosted on some cables. A crew member hit the switch and the cable unfurled, dropping the piano.

I was sad to learn that falling pianos didn't whistle as they fell. Cartoons lied to me.

"I'm always getting stronger," I said, snapping my fingers. Well I tried to, gauntlets really didn't snap like that.

But that didn't matter as when I invested a charge into my pokemon, just as I had every day for the last four days, a bright, pale light of every colour of the rainbow burst out of Jangmo-o completely enveloping him.

It was almost blinding but I didn't look away, couldn't. This was my childhood right here.

In the light I saw a shadowy blob start to morph. The two back feet stretched and twisted, gaining another joint while the two front feet split into four long talons. Armour segmented, molting to cover more of the body.

And when the light faded standing there wasn't Jangmo-o but Hakamo-o. Sparkles reflected on his golden scales and the muscles beneath them. Veins in the dragon's arm flexed hard enough that it was visible even beneath the scales and Hakamo-o jumped, a raised fist smashing a hole through the piano line he bored through it and rising above it.

The piano split in half under its own weight crashing hard into the ground sending splitterring pieces of wood across the ground.

It was the coolest, most awesome, most fucking badass thing in the world. It was so bitchin that it brought a tear to my eye.

Hakamo-o landed on the ground, gaze going to me. It's snout was more pronounced now and it gave his eyes a more fearsome stare. Then without any prompting he slammed his wrist together, the scales clanging like cymbals.

My dragon danced his feet tapping the ground to the tune his scales made. Purple coated his tail extending it and he used it like a ballerina might a ribbon. It was a Haka like his namesake but it felt more like a soldier reporting for duty.

His gaze never left. Red eyes staring at me and only me.

It was powerful and beautiful all the same. No, it was beautiful because it was powerful.

It was perfect.

When he evolved one more time he was going to be my main Pokemon. I just knew it.

Pseudo-legendaries were just too op.

Our staring contest broke as I turned back to the camera. Back straight, head up and feet planted like Hannah taught me as Duraludon picked up the two halves of the split piano, carrying them like one might a carton of coke.

"My name is Dawn," I said, planting a flag for my steel type.

Duraludon paused as he processed the order before he hesitantly tossed the piano halves at me. I couldn't see them but I could hear as they flew through the air like cannonballs.

"Falinks!" The formation pokemon yelled as they jumped, smashing their horned plate like arms into the piano pieces glowing with white focused energy. Splitters of wood thunded into my back, the impact absorbed by the layers and layers of armour but still hitting hard enough that if I hadn't braced I would've been knocked forward.

Fucking ow.

I brushed some clinging splitters off with a gauntleted hand feeling how the armour was where I was hit. They hadn't penetrated. Good.

It'll bruise but at least it'll look awesome in the ad.

I smiled, pulling my purple lips into the best heroic grin that I could manage.

"And you can meet me and my friends this Friday the 17th! The Protectorate is hosting a petting zoo at the WeyMouth shopping centre where you can pet and take pictures with my friends all day long!" I said, my under baked dog jumping into my arms.

"Fidough!" she said with a short pink tongue hanging out of her mouth.

The others sounded off with a cry of their own.

"Fa-Links!"

"Hakamo-o!"

"Duraludon!" The steel dragon shouted his large frame giving him a deep, bassy voice.

"And there's two more surprise friends that you'll just have to come down and see!" I finished off with a wave as the camera's finished rolling.

---

In a world with actual superpowers tv still managed to be boring.

I used my foot to change the channel, flicking through the stations and finding none of them were that interesting. A House knock off, something that was like a cross between Bones and Criminal minds. Once or twice powers would be mentioned but there wasn't a show that was really dedicated to powers as far as I could tell.

No thinker detectives, no changer romance dramas. Not even a villain of the week with a blaster power.

I suppose that for as much as powers had changed the world they didn't dominate it.

Pressing down on the remote I pulled up a video on power classifications and hit play and then annoyed at the accent of the guy who spoke in the video paused it, turned on captions and muted it before hitting play one more time.

Strumming the E string of the guitar I found in my room the clip on the electric tuner glowed green to show that it was tuned. Then I finished the rest of the strings and after readjusting the ice pack nestled between my shoulder blades began playing.

The sound of Burn My Dreads opening chorus filled my room. The walls echoing back the song with a tinny sound.

"Dreamless dorm, ticking clock," I whispered under my breath, feeling myself getting into the rhythm of playing.

To be honest I wasn't that great. Or that good really. The guitar was something I'd picked up relatively recently when I borrowed a guitar from a friend for a Ibuki cosplay when I was twenty-three? Twenty-Four? The pandemic made it impossible to return and so I spent the lockdown with nothing to do but practice.

Stuck in my room on the Rig, I guess I was back to those days. Thank god my room was sound proof.

My room on the PHQ was spacious, just like an apartment. If you ignored how the windows couldn't open and the barrier that blocked the view. A dresser already pre stuffed full of PRT squad shirts and pants and a wardrobe with only my costume hanging on a rack. In a week or two depending on Christmas holidays my back up costume will join it, maybe a month later my back up, back up costume will join them and then I wouldn't have space for anything else.

The room was divided in heights. Steps lead up to the bedroom/office part of the room. A king sized bed and a desk with a computer that was currently hard at work downloading some songs onto an Ipod. It felt funny having to manually download songs again.

"I walk away from a soundless room. Windless night, moonlight melts."

It felt worse to learn that some of my favourite songs didn't exist in this world. Even the ones that should've already been written. Endbringers, villains and economic collapse wasn't good for the arts turns out.

Fucking Eidolon. In the name of My Chemical Romance I swore he'll get Dark Voided for that.

"Reminds me that I still live."

The other half of the room was sunken into the floor in what was meant to be the entertainment area with a long L shaped couch, a Tv that was impressive for 2010 but nothing special to me. An Xbox was plugged in with a bunch of games in one of those rotating towers that dvd stores used to have.

In the corner was one of those one person sized Jacuzzi with a curved sliding glass door. Something that I expected would see a lot of use in the future. In another was Duraludon who watched me with lazy eyes.

"I will burn my dread~ I once ran away from the god of fear and he chained me to despair yeah," I hummed slowly, banging my head.

He was the only one of my pokemon that I let roam free in my room. Mostly because I thought it was cool having a six foot dragon guarding my room and because he was the only one that possessed the slightest bit of chill in his body.

Hakamo-o's scales clanged, Falinks was always shouting, Hatterene was always crying, Rowlet got restless at night, Fidough caused fermentation around her and Impadimp always tried stealing shit which is why he's staying in the box permanently.

I couldn't trust him in this room. Couldn't trust him in general. Asshole would try to steal copper pipes out the wall if I left him alone.

"Burn my dread"

Still I couldn't help but notice that the Protectorate certainly spared no expense when it came to making sure their heroes had all the luxuries they wanted. Whether it was just to take care of them after a hard day of fighting the good fight against alien abominations or because they were desperate to keep their heroes around was something I couldn't decide. Both probably.

"I will break the chain and run."

Though it was hard not to look at this room and wonder if this was the start of all the issues in Ward. Did the Warden just sorta see these sorta of luxuries as a given and that's why they handled the housing situation so poorly?

I suppose that I couldn't entirely blame them for that. A city of millions of people with no government was a nightmare at the best of times. Add in Shard bullshit, multiple worlds to juggle and thinkers masterminding things in the background like Tattletale and Teacher and things got messy.

"Till I see the sunlight again"

Dinah didn't help either with how she fanned the flames of race war.

Of course thinking about her made me remember the choice I'd been putting off.

Fuck.

I flubbed a note hitting my thumb on a string. The wire caught on the underneath of a hangnail and ripped a gash in up my thumb. Wincing I stuck it in my mouth sucking on it till the pain stopped then I wrapped it in my shirt.

"What am I going to do?" I asked directing the question at Duraludon standing guard in the corner as I put pressure on my thumb. The pokemon just twisted his club like hands in a 'what do you expect me to say?' kind of way.

Right dumb question. He didn't know what I really meant.

Clenching tight on it I went to the bathroom and opened up the bathroom mirror for the medicine cabinet. In it was an overwhelming amount of condoms and morning after pills but it also had some actual bandaids in it too. Washing the blood off under the sink I dabbed the thumb dry and put the bandaid on.

It still hurt, but not as much as it did before.

Music time over officially I pulled out my government issued phone and reread the message I typed out but hadn't sent.

Good news Triumph ♡〜٩( ˃▿˂ )۶〜♡ The power specialists and doctors say that my healing monster should be able to heal your relative ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ ) So Mission: Heal Triumph family! is good to go once you get the greenlight from AM and Piggot ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Closest time we can do that is probably this Friday after the petting zoo at the mall. So if you wanna volunteer for that we can just pop by on the way back to base ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ.

My bloody thumb hovered over the send button but I couldn't bring myself to push it. I could only stare at it paralysed.

Truth was I was scared. Scared that by changing something I would be dooming trillions of lives. Probably even more. Dinah was one of the key people in Gold Morning. She was the one that let everyone know and gave them time to prepare and if she wasn't there then everyone would get bumfucked, more than they already had.

But that didn't mean she had to be the one to do it. A couple psychic type pokemon as an excuse and I could tell everyone. No, the real problem was Khepri.

Without Khepri humanity would've lost. It was just a plain and simple fact. Without someone able to get everyone fighting in perfect unity, without someone able to observe through multiple battles how he avoided Flechette, without someone willing to sacrifice lives to keep her alive and without someone able to bully a god long enough to stunlock him for a fuck off cannon to kill him humanity would've lost.

Dinah was the key to Khepri. She was someone who set up the domino's that lead to her and without her Khepri wouldn't be a thing.

Objectively Dinah was needed.

Objectively I needed to let Dinah trigger so that we all had a better shot at surviving.

If Cauldron knew about her they'd do everything they could to make her trigger happen.

Hell they'd probably sacrifice a million infants to the devil if it meant that she'd trigger. God just thinking about Cauldron pissed me off. It was one thing when they were just words on a screen but it was another to know that right now they had thousands of people in cages, mutated just to perfect their vials, that Earth Shin was under the control of a genocidal idiot because they put her there.

And that hundreds of people were trapped in unimaginable agony, unable to die until the sun burned out.

If they at least won in the end I could justify it, give them the tiniest bit of doubt that it was necessary in the end. But no. In the end nothing they did mattered and everything and everyone they sacrificed was pointless. Everything they'd done was barely a blip on Scion's radar.

Which is why I with my heart hammering in my chest and feeling like I was about to throw up.

I sent the text.

Setting it on silent I tossed the phone on the other end of the louch, not even willing to look at it lest I got tempted to take it back and delete the message before Triumph saw it.

Fuck my life.

I wanted to be a hero. Ever since I was a little girl I looked into comics books and wanted to be just like the people on the pages. Wanted to become someone that when people saw me they knew they'd be okay.

I couldn't be that if I sacrificed a little girl just for better odds.

Would Superman do that? Would Steve Rogers do that? Peter Parker? The answer was obviously no. They were heroes and I was one too. If I did that I'd become just like Cauldron and there's no way I would ever become like them. Their accountant didn't even wear pants for fuck sake.

I was going to have to save this world the right way and I didn't care what it took. Dinah Alcott was going to have a normal childhood. All the children in Brockton Bay were going to have a normal childhood.

That was a promise.

---

Day 20-25 Level Jangmo-o up till Lv35

Day 25: Jangmo-o evolves into Hakamo-o.

Sorry that there's no rolls in this chapter. I thought about it a lot and realised that there's just no way to justify Dawn not immediately speedrunning to get a Pseudo-legendary as soon as possible. Kommo-o having the lowest level required to evolve of all the Pseudo tied with Metagross at 45 didn't help.

Regarding Cauldron I'm not really interested in a debate as my own feelings are pretty neutral towards them. They did some good things, they did some bad and then they did just the most blatantly evil stuff for seemingly kicks sometimes.

Would Earth Bet be worse without them? Yeah absolutely. Without them creating the Protectorate and funding other hero teams villains would rule the world. Doesn't mean I or especially Dawn has to like them though.

PRT Files: Dawn. (Master 7. Trump 9 Nine x Infinity)

-Subfolder: Subject 4 'Duraludon' (Brute 5. Striker 3. Mover 2. Master 1)

Note: As its name is liable to change in the future due to a phonomeon of Dawn's power called 'Evolution' (A permeate change in biology that increases capabilities and may grant additional abilities) the power generated monster shall be referred to as 'Subject 4' within this document.

Age: N/A

Height: 5 '11"

Gender: N/A (Dawn has been observed referring to it as a 'he' but no discernible sexual characteristics can be identified. Assumed to be personification and not indicative of sex.)

Weight: 40kg.

Appearance: Subject 4 is a bipedal monster composed of an unknown metal that is both lightweight and durable. It has no arms but instead has giant clubs with grooved indents specialized for digging through stone.

Capabilities: As demonstrated by its size and metallic armor Subject:4 is a defensive focused monster largely immune to standard ammunition and is only capable of attacking in close quarters combat with its club arms which have demonstrated to be able to knock over a large SUV.

To aid it in its preferred combat it has the ability to quickly gain momentum while running. Starting out at the same speed of an average adult man (5.7 Mph) before accelerating to 25 mph given enough time and space to build up speed.

It is capable of using a striker ability illustrated by a slight orange/red glow along its clubs <Img 1. Img 2> that gives it enhanced striking power against anything composed of flesh, bone, rock, metal or ice but has an inverse effect against certain types of parahumans (See image 3: Type chart for details.) This ability is shared amongst Subject 3 'Jangmo-o' and Subject 5 'Falinks'.

Additionally it has a low level master ability that fills anyone that looks into its eyes with low levels of fear that reduces the victims ability to defend against its blows, the total immunity to poison and immunity to powers that redirect attacks.

[Note: Physical capabilities liable to change as more charges get invested in it]

Personality: Low level of activity in response to simulation. Very rarely vocalizes by itself unless prodded to by Dawn.

Subject 4 has a notable hydrophobia. Being unwilling to get wet and taking steps to avoid getting wet unless otherwise given an order by Dawn. After said order was completed it then took action to get dry as soon as possible.

Awareness testing:

Response to sound: Responded by turning to the source of the sound. No further reaction.

Response to verbal abuse: Responded by turning to the source of the abuse. No further reaction.

Response to threats of physical abuse: No reaction.

Response to physical abuse (Slaps, punches, etc): Subject 4 made no reaction to the hits. After five minutes of enduring this it then proceeded to walk away. When the aggressor attempted to follow Subject 4 picked the aggressor up, forced them to turn around and pushed them away. No hostility was detected in Subject 4 during the test.

Assessor notes: "It's fucking 6 feet tall and made out of steel, of course it didn't care that it was attacked, fucker probably didn't even feel it."

Response to Dawn being verbally abused: No reaction beyond turning to the aggressor.

Response to Dawn being verbally threatened: Subject 4 reacted by interposing itself between Dawn and the aggressor but made no further action.

Response to Dawn being verbally threatened but the aggressor was told to speak in mandarin (Dawn does not speak mandarin) keep a calm demeanor, make no aggressive body language and Dawn was wearing earplugs that prevented her from hearing. Dawn was also not aware this was a verbal threatening test: Subject 4 reacted by interposing itself between Dawn and the aggressor but made no further action

Assessor note: This indicates that Subject 4 is able to understand speech and is not just going off body language or Dawn's own knowledge of languages.

Conclusion: Subject 4 is conscious and aware of everything around it. It is able to assess situations and respond accordingly and does so by deescalating as needed. It is unlikely to get aggressive unless prompted and is safe to be around civilians without direct oversight from Dawn.

Emotionally it either doesn't have any emotions, has a such low response to its emotions that the distinction is meaningless or as a previous assessor noted - It simply didn't care during the tests. This is something unique to Subject 4 compared to Subject 3 and 5 aggressive responses to the same tests.

Dawn has taken to saying that it has a lax nature.

Future Plans:

Beyond just the increase in capabilities from invested charges Dawn has requested that a variety of metal alloys be delivered to Subject 4 stating that a specific multi layered alloy was a prerequisite for Subject 4 to 'evolve'. Dawn is unable to identify what kind of Alloy is needed and has requested to test until she finds the right one.

Dawn states that this new form will possess the ability to get more durable with every hit, access to a laser that increases in potency with every use and a general increase to it's base capabilities.

[Request granted: $12,000 of Dawn's initial budget allotted.]

Armsmaster Notes: Dawn's city wide power range and Subject 4's inheritant disposability presents a unique opportunity to fill in gaps in our patrol roster.

Its calm disposition, high profile and durable body makes it suitable for acting as a guardian during Ward patrols along high visibility areas such as the Boardwalk. Thereby freeing Protectorate members to be reassigned to other areas.

Additionally while its weight and massive stature prevents it from accompanying Protectorate members on motorcycle patrols it is capable of being transported by PRT van. Assigning it to a PRT Squad during Dawn's off or training hours will allow the squad to quickly handle threats within the Power rating 5 to 6 category without waiting for Parahuman assistance.

[Restricted access: Level Four Clearance and above]

Dawn flight risk factor: Medium.

While Dawn has been clear by Watchdog her unwillingness to divulge her past has necessitated us to consider counter measures should she turn out to be a villain plant or be the target of a master due to her healer status.

Mission statement: Under no circumstances is the death of Dawn an option to be considered. If Dawn becomes an enemy then her non lethal capture will be considered the highest priority.

Presigned kill order: No

Birdcage designation: No. If captured, Dawn will be relocated to a three story mansion in Honolulu under house arrest with loosened restrictions pending cooperation.

Subfolder - Threat assessment: Subject 4 - Low/Constant threat.

Notes: Subject 4 is not strong enough to free itself from containment foam if constrained but Dawn is able to free it by dematerializing it and rematerializing it next to her rendering containment null (A capability that extends from its generator to all her monsters.)

This means that should conflict arise between Dawn or Subject 4 and a PRT Squad any attempts to restrain Subject 4 is temporary but effective. After Subject 4 is dematerialized one or two squad members should lay down a wide cones of containment foam between them and Dawn to delay Subject 4's return to the battlefield while the rest of the squad focuses on more priority targets or Dawn.

If other priority targets are no longer present or Subject 4 has rendered itself a sufficient threat then thermic bombs are authorized to mission kill Subject 4.