Pokemon? Nyx just wants to catch a break

	>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj1GooBp0ss&pp=ygUIa3VydW91emU%3D
    ^Essentially the TLDR on Nyx if you don't have time to read all of this.

    The story will likely take place in Hoenn or Kalos, I've yet to decide.

    Nyx is just a run of the mill office lady, a young twenty-something with a promising future ahead of her, meek, but a hard worker, doing her best to support her team by pulling overtime shifts and covering for her coworkers' mistakes. She has also stormed into work two hours late after pulling the classic mental breakdown maneuver of taking a scissor to her own bangs without any help, slamming a letter of resignation down on her boss' desk fully intent on doing fuckall for the two weeks she's obligated to clock in for. But before we get into any of that let's turn the clock back a bit shall we?

    You see, before graduating high school as an honor student, completing college a year ahead of schedule, and being offered a job at a reputable company, guaranteeing her financial stability for the foreseeable future, Nyx was a starry eyed trainer. Perhaps a bit of a punk, but that was just her fashion sense really. As much as she admired the hardcore attitudes and rebel spirits of that sort of crowd Nyx was timid by nature. Nonetheless, like most other kids her age she at least wanted to give the league a shot, and after begging and pleading with her strict parents for years, she was gifted a Deino. The intention of giving her a notoriously difficult Pokemon to raise was to scare her back onto the narrow path they set up for her under the cover that they simply wanted her to succeed and thus provided her with a Pokemon boasting immense potential. Unfortunately for them, Nyx's dedication to raising her partner and completing the league challenge carried her far, and perhaps a bit slowly, but most certainly surely, she collected all 8 badges of the region and made her way to the elite four after a couple years on the road.

    Little Nyx, accompanied by her Zweilous, Sableye, Mandibuzz, Swalot, and Absol, takes on the E4 only to face a disastrous loss at the hands of the champion. Devastated by her poor performance, her defeatist attitude kicks in and she completely gives up on being a trainer, convinced that it was never her calling or place to try living out that dream. She packs her things and resigns herself to living the way her parents intended, with the sole exception of keeping her team rather than selling or trading them off for ones with more practical uses around the home. Of course, even with her academic gifts leading her to a steady job Nyx still has her hardships. Nothing ever seems quite enough for her parents, her quiet and soft spoken demeanor often leads to others taking credit for her work, and she's also worked up a bit of a nicotine addiction. Even though she's supposedly done everything right, the pressure feels like it's only mounting instead of stopping, and the straw that broke the Camerupt's back?

    Tale as old as time. The guy who the boss just promoted is the idiot with the loudest voice in the room.

    The smart thing to do would be to play along, continue sycophantically sucking up to her boss, and keep at her job. To simply focus on being a good employee until her time and dedication are recognized. But as evidenced by her uneven bangs and poorly done streaks, Nyx had just about had it with smart decisions.

    Which brings us to present day, present time, and present Nyx going on something of a bender, drinking and complaining the rest of the day and some of the early evening away to her friend and local bartender Stella. However, as activity picks up and the regular customers start rolling in, Nyx is left to brood on her own for a bit, that is, until her eyes lock with those of a beautiful stranger.

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OPTION 1: IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQff3RBFJQw

    Outside the bar, peering into the window, a petite girl looks in. Her expression should be unreadable, but Nyx swears there's almost something forlorn and lonely betrayed in those eyes. She feels compelled to invite her in and strike up a conversation, but her quiet voice can barely reach Nyx's ears over the lively chatter of the evening crowd. This prompts Nyx to invite the girl to the roof for conversation, and she can't help but feel a wee bit proud of herself for making another step towards being the bolder self she wants to be.

    Alone time with a cute girl in a secluded area isn't all it's cracked up to be though as most of Nyx's attempts at flirting or conversation fall flat. The mysterious girl in white has introduced herself as Rina and while not rude or aggressive, is awfully quiet and hesitant to share anything about herself. However, she's awfully curious about Nyx and listens to her own explanations of her life's story and woes with what Nyx promises isn't her slightly drunken imagination's fabrication of an eager expression. Nyx eventually tells Rina that it's OK if she doesn't want to share anything and that if she's being too pushy she can stop, but it's this consideration that cracks the blue haired girl's shell. She asks Nyx if she'll believe her story no matter what.

    "Of course" Nyx lies.

    And thus Rina reveals to Nyx, her silhouette backlit by the full moon, that she's actually an alien. Or rather, she must be, as she has no recollection of who she is, merely that a week ago she woke up in a crate in the middle of nowhere and was lucky enough to encounter some travelers who noticed her disheveled state after almost two days of wandering and guided her back to society. As for why she must be an alien, not far from where she woke up she noticed a small crater, pieces of debris, and a blue, star shaped creature lying unconscious within. Feeling an odd sense of kinship with it urged her to carry it along with her, and it seemed content to stay by her side after waking.  No doubt it understood the security offered by a companion who thought to protect it while asleep, and it willingly accepted proper capture upon Rina's reintegration into the world. She was informed of Minior's interstellar origins and came to the conclusion that they were two extraterrestrial beings who must have crash landed on Earth.

    Nyx tries to laugh it off at first before realizing Rina is dead serious. The idea is ridiculous enough to draw a bout of sarcasm from her, and in a moment of poor judgment, she snidely remarks that Rina should simply just fly back to outer space if she's so worried about the disconnect between her and other humans. Rina proceeds to take Nyx more seriously than perhaps anyone has in her entire life and takes a Swanna dive off the roof of the bar. Nyx has a moment of poor judgment that puts the last one to shame and quickly follows suit, calling her Mandibuzz out just in the nick of time to save the both of them. After much yelling and no apologies on the part of Rina, who matter-of-factly states she was just doing exactly as Nyx told her, Nyx realizes that leaving Rina to her own devices is liable to get her killed.

    So she strikes up a proposition: Why not travel with her? Maybe by exploring the region they could discover more about Rina's origins, this way Rina has someone to guide her through a world that feels alien to her and Nyx doesn't have to worry about Rina wandering off on her own and getting herself killed. Rina lights up and notes that Nyx could use it as a chance to complete the league challenge she left unfinished as well. While Nyx is about to refute the idea she stops for a second. She had already left all her old prospects behind her, there were no obligations barring her from chasing old dreams, and even if the idea reeked of mid-life crisis despite her only being in her early twenties, she couldn't resist the appeal. And thus the two set off, one to find her old self, and the other to leave it behind.

Potential plot beats and misc thoughts
-So this one's the most fleshed out idea I suppose? But it also leans into Pokemon's more sci-fi elements and gets super out there, and has lots of bits I think might put some audiences off lol.
-The Big Major Plot Twist is that Rina is in fact, not quite human. She's an artificial human, AND a Pokemon-human hybrid to boot.
-You didn't stop reading then and there? Sweet. I haven't charted everything out yet but "Rina" isn't even her name, it's just derived from the fact that "PROJ.RNA" was written on the iron crate she was dumped in. She's the result of a research project funded by Team Flare for the study of immortality just in case the ultimate weapon didn't get the job done.
-As you might've guessed from RNA, the Pokemon she's supposed to be a hybrid of is Deoxys, which iirc has shown it can regenerate in the anime. But she's a failure on most accounts because she displays no potential for superhuman feats. In fact, the researchers were completely unable to get her conscious, making her essentially a lifeless doll. When funding got cut after Flare's plans were foiled they dumped her out in the wilderness hoping wild Pokemon would just eat her and dispose of the evidence.
-It is true that Rina has no superhuman abilities......Mostly. However, we all know Pokemon are able to rapidly advance, evolve, and show the ability to adapt to new environments. Rina had no need for conscious action and thought within the lab environment because it was safe, completely sterile, and her needs were accounted for without any action on her behalf. Exposed to the elements and without the constant efforts of staff to keep her in optimal conditions she "evolved"; Her cognitive functions and senses developing rapidly in order to get her to the point she could operate in the new environment.
-Her backstory is slowly revealed throughout her and Nyx's journey, when they encounter another crate with the same PROJ.RNA label dumped in the wilderness Rina insists they scan the area, and careful searching allows them to hone in on an abandoned research facility. It's mostly empty save for some kind of lead, a few pages of a report, a diary entry of the project head etc. However, it would be guarded by a powerful Pokemon.
-This becomes a pattern: Find and investigate an old research facility, battle and have Rina catch the guardian Pokemon, discover some evidence revealing more of Rina's backstory. Her final team would be Elgyem, Solosis, Sigilyph, Porygon-Z, and Minior this way.
-While Nyx's plot would center around her building up her sense of confidence, overcoming her self-sabotaging nature, and essentially having an "if you love something let it go and if it doesn't come back it was never yours at all" type development with Rina, Rina's would be about feelings of alienation and realizing that even if it feels like you’re all alone in the world, if you just keep trying, eventually you’ll find the people you can form meaningful connections with.
-I also just kinda think it’s romantic for a girl who has everything she needs but still rejects her place in the world to fall in love with a girl who pretty much has nothing and has to carve out a place for herself.
-I’m admittedly a bit unsure of what the climax of the story would be but it would obviously have Rina befriend and temporarily control Deoxys and fight alongside Nyx against whatever the big threat ends up being. I know I said she doesn’t have any special abilities but I do like to think she’s capable of communicating with it in a way most earthly beings can’t. After this the two converse and it offers to take her with it back to outer space. Seeing as a hostile environment triggered Rina’s ability to function normally, it’s entirely possible that she could similarly evolve to live in space alongside “her kind” if introduced to the depths of the cosmos. It assures her while it may seem cold and lonely in space, while their kind are few, they *are*.
-Nyx sees Rina seemingly about to leave for space and while it devastates her she doesn’t do anything to stop her.
-While Rina considers the idea she ultimately decides not to, instead insisting that she’s shackled by earth’s gravity. She asks for Deoxys to release her and dives for Nyx, and so we begin and end the story with her cradled in Nyx’s arms.

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OPTION 2: TOXIC (TRADITIONAL EARTH BALLAD BY BRITNEY SPEARS)
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpc9MQcjrYg

There, across the bar from Nyx, sits a stunning woman in a lab coat whose ruby red eyes promise....Well. Not a good time, but an interesting one at the very least. And Nyx’s heart is going to lead her places most wouldn’t even go with a gun. Taking a chance that would have a seasoned gambler like Grimsley go pale in the face, Nyx stumbles over to the empty seat next to the brunette and introduces herself.

Cerise, as she learns, is more than just a pretty face, and in fact is a research head for a well renowned organization that’s studying mega evolution (name pending). And of course, as an excellent judge of character, Cerise can tell Nyx is a trainer who has quite a bit of experience and untapped potential. She can see it in the smolder of determination burning in Nyx’s eyes. Or at least that’s what she purrs as edges closer, knowing that she’s more or less got Nyx wrapped around her finger.

Cerise is in fact a fairly good judge of character, but those readings were informed by the fact that she saw Nyx whip out her old badge case while complaining to Stella earlier, not to mention nobody in a stable state of mind cuts their own bangs. Like a Sharpedo smelling blood in the water, she seizes the chance to have her own little grunt to do some dirty work for her. She promises that if Nyx can just do a few small favors for little ol’ her, she’ll make it well worth the other woman’s time, and brandishes a mega bracelet to back up her talk.

You see, she loves her work, she really does. And because she loves her work, she’s just a tad worried about if it’s getting put to good use, and so she’ll need Nyx to do a little......Recon work for her. And if things are worse than she thought, mayhaps just a little bit of property damage, some toying with the security team, if Nyx wants she can even do some measured assault, doesn’t that sound fun?

Nyx actually thinks it sounds pretty terrifying but Cerise insists, though it’s hard to think about how hard she’s pushing Nyx into a corner metaphorically when she’s also doing it literally. Unable to resist the begging of a pretty woman or the call of power promised by access to mega evolution, Nyx reluctantly accepts, steeling herself by thinking about how not only is this going to force her out of her self-doubting behavior but also help someone she sees herself in, one betrayed employee to another.

Plot Beats and misc thoughts
-Rather than focus on Nyx finishing the league, this one has her and Cerise adopt a “soldier” and “mission control”  dynamic, Cerise directing Nyx on how to best infiltrate facilities and providing tips on how to prepare for certain guards/encounters beforehand.
-The reason Cerise has one hand gloved is that she was injured by some kind of experiment gone wrong, one she already warned her superiors about, but rather than stop the project after the incident they merely ordered everyone to keep quiet about it. I’m not sure to what level of severity I want to go with, but I’m considering giving Cerise a prosthetic hand.
-Thing is, the above happened a long time ago, and Cerise simply kept quiet and continued to work as a good employee in the hopes that maybe, when she had a higher position on the organizational food chain, they would take her complaints about safety and ethics more seriously. Needless to say, things stayed the same, and Cerise’s optimism shriveled and died a bit more with each year spent working.
-At this point, she’s bitter and cynical enough that she just wants to cause some havoc without getting her own hands dirty or putting herself in the line of fire, she doesn’t actually care all that much about to what purposes her work is being used for but her moral justifications are meant to hook Nyx.
-Unfortunately for Cerise, Nyx’s unwavering trust in her is very endearing, and a couple missions in, her little disposable pawn isn’t all that disposable anymore.
-I’m not sure how this story concludes but I would want Nyx’s ultimately optimistic outlook on life and courage to break away from oppressive systems to melt through Cerise’s defenses. They expose how Cerise’s employers are up to shady business, probably something like forced mega evolution and mass produced mega stones or some such. The opportunity to betray Nyx for her own benefit presents itself but Cerise can’t bring herself to go through with it and they fight through the final challenge together.
-While not as much of a fighter as Nyx, Cerise can mega evolve her Beedrill, and I’d imagine her team has a Galarian Weezing, Hypno, Arbok, and Toxapex.

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OPTION 3: DID IT HURT? (WHEN YOU BROKE THROUGH THE EARTH’S CRUST ON YOUR ASCENT FROM HELL)
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptja6yej7s4

	.......Wait a damn second. She knew those twin beauty marks anywhere. That wasn’t a stranger at all. In fact, the beautiful woman on the bar TV screen was painfully familiar to Nyx. It was almost hard to recognize her in her ostentatious outfit, but the girl had to be none other than Seraphina, an on and off companion and full time rival of Nyx’s. At least, that’s what they were back in the day.

	As in, the girl who Nyx spent vast chunks of time exploring oceans, caves, rolling hills and valleys with. The girl who she carefully watched over as they slept in shifts in remote areas where the Pokemon were known to be a little more volatile. The girl who she had to comfort over every loss she suffered and the one who would insufferably tease Nyx each and every time she won. The girl who promised she would always be Nyx’s friend through thick and thin even though the two had their bouts of petty bickering and squabbling.

	The girl who Nyx totally blew off and ghosted when she quit being a trainer, too ashamed to look in the eyes anymore.

	The girl who was badmouthing Nyx on TV right this second. Nyx stares at the screen mouth agape as the dainty young lass, with posture and poise as angelic as her name implied, gave her inaugural speech as the head of a newly opened battle facility. She attributed her drive and success to none other than “a girl she used to know” who “relentlessly bullied her and put her down, but only served to strengthen her desire to bond with her Pokemon to prove her wrong.” Nyx would have given her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she was talking about someone, anyone else, until Seraphina tells stories that were obviously about her with some key twists of the details.

	Nyx’s switch flips from “flabbergasted” to “incoherent bitch” in a matter of seconds. If she weren’t friends with the bartender the bouncer surely would have dragged her out for drunkenly cussing at the TV screen. Stella manages to calm her down and exasperatedly tells Nyx that if she wants to give Seraphina a piece of her mind, her best bet is to simply climb the ranks at that battle facility and tell her directly.

Plot beats and misc notes
-The least going on here but the rivals to enemies to friends dynamic might be something? Somehow it’s like the two are exes even though they never dated.
-This is notably the route that leaves Nyx without a travel companion of sorts, so I suppose in this instance there would probably be a lot more focus on her inner thoughts and interactions with whatever the side cast ends up being.
-I admittedly haven’t imagined the gimmick or setup of Seraphina’s facility yet, something princess or angel themed, as that is generally what I was going for with her design and her public persona as a sweetheart who can do no wrong.
-I think at some point BEFORE Nyx climbs to the top of that facility she and Seraphina cross paths by chance. The latter refuses to listen to anything the former has to say though and Nyx promises that she’s going to take Seraphina down herself if that’s what it takes for her to acknowledge her again.
-Seraphina’s a tsundere through and through, she probably does little things to support Nyx’s journey in secret.
-Nyx is completely torn between wanting to tear Seraphina to shreds and go back to being companions, so I guess she is too lol.
-Y’know how Nyx has an Absol? In this path it’d be replaced with something like a Mawile or Audino, and the Absol would instead be on Seraphina’s team. This is because the two would have traded Pokemon in the past as a sign of friendship, and mega Absol fits in with Seraphina’s angelic theming.
-Seraphina’s team is likely something like Togekiss (ace), Swanna, Absol, Espatra, Tsareena, and Skarmory