EVERYONE: - Complete [Horizons, Liko/Dot] Braving the Storm Inside

[Mialentia]

Content Warnings: Anxiety, Self-Esteem Issues​

Summary:​

As the Brave Olivine travels through a rough storm, Liko's feelings catch up to her. This causes an unprecedented situation, one that only Dot can fix.

Tags:​

Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hugging

Fic:​

“Hey, Roy, would you mind taking a look at this?”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“This one here doesn’t seem to be feeling the best…”

Liko was worried. It had been a few weeks since she caught Hatenna, and every day, she noticed it looked more and more off. At first, she’d chalked it up to simply her being new and unused to the Brave Olivine and the crew, but now she seemed fine around everybody, and yet still seemed upset most mornings. She tried figuring out what the issue was on her own ever since getting up, but at a loss, she decided to exit her bedroom, doing her best to not trip as she navigated the ship, which seemed shakier than usual today due to the weather, and approach her friend, who was enjoying his breakfast in the kitchen, about her issue.

“Oh, did you ask Mollie to check up on her?”
“She doesn’t look sick , per se… I’m not sure what’s up, but I know it’s not illness, at least.”
“Aw, do you think she’s sad?” Roy mused, kneeling down in front of Hatenna.
“Maybe…” Liko turned towards her Pokémon, a worried expression on her face. The Calm Pokémon seemed anything but inside, being paler than usual and hiding behind Sprigatito everywhere she went. “I just thought I’d ask you because you have a knack for understanding Pokémon. I feel like the more I learn about them, the less I know…”
“Hehe, thanks. I’m flattered.” The boy said, a proud, almost vain, expression on his face. His Fuecoco mimicked it, puffing out his chest.
“I know that you’ve had your share of troubles with Wattrel especially, so…”
“Oof… not wrong, haha. But… yeah, I’m not sure. Did you try asking Dot?”
Liko blushed at the mention. “It’s true that she might have an idea, but…”

The budding Trainer was worried about bothering her newest friend. Sure, they’d been getting along better than ever lately, that day recently where they all made curry together being a particular highlight, but she knew the streamer liked her personal space, which she was taking up even now, with her being shut in her room. And what if she didn’t want to see her right now? She was already pushing her boundaries, inviting her everywhere like this. What if she hated her, secretly? What if–

CRASH

“Aah!” Liko was snapped out of her spiral by the sound of porcelain smashing against the ground. Her Hatenna was even more surprised, jumping into Liko’s arms for comfort.
“What the– oh, no! That’s Murdock’s favorite plate…!”
“What happened!?”
“I dunno, the ship started shaking and… oh, whoa.” Roy turned towards the window, pointing at it to get Liko’s attention. The sky outside was dark, despite it being the middle of the morning, being only lit up by the occasional strike of thunder, which seemed to only be getting more and more frequent. “The storm’s really getting bad out, huh…?”
“Do you think Friede might want our help with something?”
“Good idea. Let’s go see him!”

----------------------------

The two children were met with quite the sight as they entered the Brave Olivine’s navigation room. Liko didn’t think she ever saw such a rough storm. The bay window in the room revealed that the storm was even worse ahead of the ship than on its side, where the kitchen window led. As they entered, Friede and Captain Pikachu were frantically doing what they could to keep the ship level, despite the strong winds and strikes of thunder.
“Oh, gosh…”
“So that’s why everything’s been shaking today… I knew there was turbulence, but this is another thing entirely.”
“Pika.” Cap almost yelled at them, as if asking why they were bothering them right now.
“Ah, um… sorry to bother you! W-We were just wondering if there was anything we could do to help?”
“Yeah! This looks rough, I wanna do my part!”
“Oh, hey, you guys. Honestly? I’ve got my hands full dealing with all this. Would you mind asking the others– ah, shoot! Cap, the wheel!”
“Pi– kaaaaaa…!”
“U-Um, maybe we should get going, Roy…”
“Yeah. Oh, I have an idea! The engine room!”

-----------------------------------

“Give it your best, Charizard, Carkol!”
“Orla!”
“Huh? Oh, hey, kids. What is it?”
“I wanna help with the ship’s power!” Roy exclaimed.
“Ooh, that’d be great, actually! Think you could lend me Fuecoco’s power?”
“Better yet, I’ll lend you mine, too! Fuecoco!” With a shout, the boy commanded his partner Pokémon, who jumped out of his arms, full of energy as always. “Liko! I’ll help out here. You should keep looking!”
“R-Right…!” Not missing a beat, Liko exited the engine room, Fuecoco and Roy’s song cheering her on as she went.

--------------------------------

…Well, she was full of energy when she and Roy parted ways, but now she had no idea where to go. Mollie was busy attending to the wild Noctowl taking up residence on the ship, who got hit by a thunderbolt as the ship entered the storm. Nothing she could do there. Murdock and Ludlow were caring for the smaller Pokémon who are afraid of storms, and she didn’t want to stress them out more, since they didn’t know her as well. That just left Dot, who was still in her room. As she stood in front of her door, she hesitated. Should she really be bothering her? What if she gets in her way? She’s probably busy, like everyone on the ship is. Everyone… except for her.

She didn’t like to admit it, but Liko never really felt as useful or competent as anyone on the ship. Even besides the adults, who obviously are capable of doing much more than she ever could. Roy started his journey at the same time as her, hell, even a bit after her, and yet, he already outmatched her in power and spirit. And Dot… well, Dot was wonderful. A skilled coder, influencer, and even Trainer in her own right, coming up with strategies she could never even consider. She felt pathetic. She was…

No. No isn’t the time to be selfish. She needs to do something, anything, useful to others. She extended her arm, ready to knock on Dot’s door.

Liko didn’t notice just how much Hatenna was struggling. The Calm Pokémon had been slowly getting more and more affected by Liko’s lack of self-esteem. As a Hatenna, she’s especially in-tune with the feelings of those around her, and Liko’s anxiety and negativity, which did nothing but gain in intensity as everyone around her grew as people and Trainers, made the pain in her head grow more and more. The crisis situation the storm put everyone into didn’t help, and the Psychic-type felt herself reaching ever closer to a breaking point with every second.

“Huh? Who’s there?”
“H-Hi, Dot… it’s me, Liko. How are you holding u–”
“Sorry, no time! I’m trying to cross-reference weather info right now to find the best path out of this hell.”
“Is there anything I can d–”
“Liko, I don’t have time for socializing! Go!”

Liko felt the last strand of her determination snap.
Hatenna felt something inside of her snap.
----------------------------------

From the other side of her bedroom door, Dot heard a sigh. She didn’t mean to be so rough with her new friend, and felt a twinge of regret, but this was a high-stakes situation. She’d just have to apologize later.

“Okay– wha…? Aaaah!”
“Liko?” Despite her thoughts of putting this off for later, Liko’s scream immediately snapped her out of her work-first mindset. Dot immediately got up, and opened her door… only to start floating in mid-air. “What the hell!?”
“Dot! What’s happening!?” Liko seemed just as panicked as her, holding on to a glowing Hatenna for dear life.
…wait, glowing ?
“What’s with the–”
Ring-ring-ring
Dot’s phone started ringing, pulling itself out of her cardigan’s pocket and answering itself. On the other end was Friede.
“Dot! Forget the storm, we’ve got a much bigger issue on our hands! For some reason, Cap and I have started–”
“Levitating off the ground…?” Dot finished.
“Um, yes, but– wait, you too?” She nodded in response. “Well, find the source of the problem! I can’t reach the ship’s controls when I’m floating, I’m sure you can imagine! I’ll call the others and tell them the same thing. If we work together, I’m sure we can find the problem and fix it before we end up sleeping with the Magikarp!”
“Got it. I’ve already got a lead.” Dot replied before hanging up.
“U-Um! I should try to go on ahead, then.” Liko blurted out, preparing to kick the wall behind her for momentum.
“No, wait.”
“Hm?”
“Look at Hatenna. Why do you think she’s glowing?”
“Hatenna’s… Huh!?” Somehow, the girl didn’t notice her Pokémon was acting strangely until her friend pointed it out. “Aah! What should I do!? Is this my fault!? I–”
“Liko.” Dot grabbed her arm, which surprised even herself. “Relax. It’ll be okay, okay?”

Liko didn’t expect this from Dot either. Usually, she isn’t much for physical contact, even avoiding it when Murdock tries to show her affection. Was she really so hopeless that she had to force her friend into uncomfortable situations to behave normally? Could she get any more pathetic!?
“Liko!” Once again, she was snapped out of her trance by her friend. “You’re crying…”
“Wha… I am…?”
“Look at me.” Demanding her attention, Dot showed her friend a technique she learned a while ago for controlling your thoughts and emotions. Wordlessly, she pointed at her face, breathing in, then pointed at Liko’s, inciting her to do the same. Once she started, she used the same hand to count down from five, one finger at a time, and then breathed out, before resuming the process a few more times.

After about thirty seconds of doing so, Liko felt a little calmer. Though she wasn’t sure if it was the exercise she was taught, or the person who taught it to her.
“Thank you…”
“Did you notice? We’re closer to the ground now.”
“Huh? W-We are!”
“I thought so, but this confirms it. It’s Hatenna’s Psychic.”
“Psychic? When did she learn that move?”
“I suspect she didn’t quite “learn” it. It seems more like she’s responding than initiating.”
“Responding… to what?”
“To you.”
Dot suspected that this had something to do with Liko from the moment she saw Hatenna glowing. She’d heard of that type of Pokémon being in tune with the feelings of those around them from info online, but she never expected it to have effects as intense as was described there… until she saw it for herself.
“Hatenna must be reacting to your anxiety. A lot of Pokémon fire off moves when they’re in pain, or in distress, or just generally in danger. Hatenna’s Psychic is most likely a fear response.”
“I’m… making her… afraid?”
“Well, afraid of what might happen, yes.” Then, it hit her. “Liko… are you afraid, too? This seems deeper than just a simple fear of thunderstorms.”
“I-I…” The trio rose up higher, as Liko let go of Hatenna, as if to get her away from what she saw as the source of her Pokémon’s pain.
“L-Liko! It’s okay, take a breath. Like this.” She motioned at her face again. “Okay?”
“M-Mhm…” The blue-haired girl imitated her friend again, lowering them closer to the ground once more. “I-I just… I put everyone in danger so many times… the reason I ended up on this ship in the first place was to run from people who wanted my pendant… then, they took away Sprigatito… and then the situation in Levincia… and now this…! I was hoping to help us through this, but I’m only making it worse…!”
“L-Liko…!” Once more, the three rose up, almost hitting the ceiling.
“All I ever do is making things worse, isn’t it!? Even for Hatenna here! She’s in pain and it’s all my fault!” Liko, in her distress, couldn’t even notice that she and Dot were getting pushed into the ceiling now.
“That’s not true!”
“Huh…?”
“Liko, you don’t understand just how much you help us!” Dot continued, desperate not to reach the floor again, but to get through to her most treasured. “...How much you help me. Do you know what I did with my life before I met you? Nidothing vids. Day in, day out. Just staying cooped up in my room, looking info up, getting into that costume, shooting, editing. That’s all I ever did. And yeah, I love it, but it was my entire life. But when you started knocking at my door… when I met you face-to-face… I knew my life would never be the same.”
“...”
“Now… I’m looking forward to the next time we hang out. To the next time we cook curry together. To the next time… I can see you.” Dot blushed, not knowing what had come over her. “You gave me my life back. So please… let me help you. Let yourself help you. It’ll be okay.”
“D-Dot…” Liko felt tears well up in her eyes. “C-Can I make… one selfish request… then…?”
“Anything.” Dot’s eyes were resolute, her gaze piercing even her curtain of hair to reach Liko, ready to brave the storm inside her friend’s heart.
“Can I… hold you?”

Liko felt stupid to ask. She knew how much Dot hated hugs. She saw her avoid them the entire time she’s known her. She was probably going to reject her. It’s all she deserved, after all–
“Of course you can.”
Liko’s negative spiral was cut short, Dot’s agreement slashing through the darkness in her mind like a Fury Cutter.
“I…” Finally, the dam broke, and Liko pushed against the wall to rush into her friend, holding her tight as the momentum sent them back through the air a meter or so, tears running down her face.
“Shh… it’s all right.” Dot whispered. Despite her confidence, Dot half-expected she would hate the experience of being hugged by Liko. She thought she was doing it out of obligation, in order to make sure she would be okay, and in order for everyone to land safely on the floor of the ship to regain control of it.

Instead, when they did retrieve their place on the ground, Dot found herself reciprocating the hug, leaning into it fully. She didn’t understand why, but Liko felt… softer. All the hugs she ever got from people were inflicted upon her. Murdock’s hugs, her mother’s overbearing affection in general… she never got much of a say in it. But this was different. Liko asked. She was falling apart and desperate for affection, but she still took time to ask her if it was okay. This had long been Dot’s favorite thing about the girl; her caring nature towards even strangers, like she was not so long ago. None of what she said before was a lie; she felt more alive than ever since Liko came bursting into her life.

So, even though she didn’t fully understand it, Dot held Liko tight as her tears fell on her cardigan, and just enjoyed the moment.

ring-ring-ring

“Ah– Friede…!” Dot exclaimed, startled by the ringtone. She slightly pulled away from the hug, and looked at Liko, as if asking for permission to answer her phone.
“It’s okay, Dot… thank you. You can respond.” The girl responded, wiping her tears away with her sleeve with a genuine smile.
As the smaller girl responded, receiving thanks for resolving the situation, Liko turned to her Hatenna, now back safely on the ground.
“I’m sorry, Hatenna. I was so caught up in my own feelings, I didn’t consider how they affected those around me… especially you. I’ll be more careful from now on, okay?”
“Tenna!” Good as new, Hatenna responded enthusiastically, ran behind her Trainer, and jumped into her hood, as she likes to do.

Liko, feeling like she had distracted Dot enough, and satisfied that Hatenna was back to normal, prepared to leave. However, Dot, who had just hung up the phone, reached out and grabbed her by the hand, startling her.
“Dot?”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“W-Well, you have work to do to get us out of here, right? So…”
“Yeah. And I need your help.” Dot responded, a warm smile on her face.

 

[lisianthusakura]

Making my way over because @kintsugi reminded me that you write wonderful Horizons fics! I really need to get caught up, but perhaps this will do for now...?

In terms of my overall thoughts! This was a cute read, and I'm happy I decided on this specific fic... overall, my main thought here that I had multiple times was, 'this really feels like it could be an episode,' which I think is a testament to how believably sweet the premise itself is. Like some of Horizon's female viewers, I felt really seen by Liko as a character -- though I can hardly be authoritative on it given how I'm not very up to date, I think you portrayed her well and in a fitting manner.

I wanted to bring up a couple things relating to grammar, though -- they didn't disrupt my enjoyment of this fic, but in the interest of 'helping each other out'!

Spoiler: Grammar! o/

I noticed that you swap between present and past tense a little bit here and there, when it's usually easiest to just stick with one! English is kind of weird with tenses, so I get it, LOL! Here are two examples of what I mean:

Murdock and Ludlow were caring for the smaller Pokémon who are afraid of storms[...]

Since your fic is in past tense, and this sentence has 'were' in here already, 'were' would fit a bit better instead of 'are'!

No. No isn’t the time to be selfish. She needs to do something, anything, useful to others. She extended her arm

'Wasn't' and 'needed' would be better fitting here, like how your sentence after this is in past tense!

I also noticed that your sentences do run a little bit long from time to time because of commas? That can be a really effective device to showcase a character's thoughts or speech patterns being especially ramble-y (I've used this for characters similar to Liko in the past!), but it can at times make for a bit of a jarring read. It can be difficult to know when to stop and start, so I would recommend trying to read a section you're unsure of out loud and see if there are any natural places to stop, or ways you can rearrange your sentences. I like spacing things out with sentence breaks a lot LOL, so you could try that as well!

For example, this is a section you originally had:

She tried figuring out what the issue was on her own ever since getting up, but at a loss, she decided to exit her bedroom, doing her best to not trip as she navigated the ship, which seemed shakier than usual today due to the weather, and approach her friend, who was enjoying his breakfast in the kitchen, about her issue.

And this is a rearranging I tried -- bolded are parts of the text I moved around, and underlined is something original:

She tried figuring out what the issue was on her own ever since getting up, but at a loss, she decided to exit her bedroom. The ship seemed shakier than usual today due to the weather, but Liko tried her best to not trip. Having made it to the kitchen successfully, she approached her friend, who was enjoying his breakfast, about her issue.

It's probably easier said than done, so don't worry if it's too difficult! Your writing is perfectly understandable, anyways ~.

The little details you added here and there -- Murdoch's favourite plate (I hope he can get it replaced, lol!), making curry together -- helped to make this fic feel like more than just an arbitrarily picked retelling of one situation that happened on The Brave Olivine, if that makes sense? 'Giving life to your world,' I guess you could say -- well done there.

Alright! I have a few quotes I wanted to comment on because I liked LOL.

Spoiler: Quotes

And what if she didn’t want to see her right now? She was already pushing her boundaries, inviting her everywhere like this. What if she hated her, secretly? What if–

This 'what if-' chain captures her very well, and I'm afraid I feel very seen by it LOL...

The Calm Pokémon seemed anything but inside

I really liked this! Nice usage of in-world information here o/

that day recently where they all made curry together being a particular highlight

I'm not sure if this happened in the anime because I'm not caught up, but I always love when writers do this. It shows that there's a world there that's not just a specific telling of a scene, you know? Not that it's always bad to do that, because there are times where it's speedier / easier to just forgo this kind of thing, but little proseless flashbacks like this are nice, ehehe.

As she stood in front of her door, she hesitated. Should she really be bothering her?

I have such a flair for the dramatic LOL, but I think a sentence break between these two sentences might be nice!

But when you started knocking at my door… when I met you face-to-face… I knew my life would never be the same.

“Now… I’m looking forward to the next time we hang out. To the next time we cook curry together. To the next time… I can see you.” Dot blushed, not knowing what had come over her. “You gave me my life back. So please… let me help you. Let yourself help you. It’ll be okay.”

i cant EVENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN awwww. if someone said this to me i think i would explode

I liked how you connected Hatenna's emotional state to Liko's and turned it into a sort of lesson / vehicle for fluff (lol) -- it makes a lot of sense that such an in-touch-with-emotions Pokemon like it would react strongly around immense worry like Liko's! I'm really glad it wasn't buried down into an 'I have to be stronger.' thing and that Dot was there for Liko. Shipping moment aside, I think there's something very very sweet and important there -- it's okay to be vulnerable and to need support, kind of thing, and I'm happy this fic reminded me of that.

Dot and Liko are very nice in this, too... I'm kind of forever a 'looking through the window' LikoDot shipper -- 'oh, I have friends who like this, soooo I guess it's canon to me' LOL, so even though I don't feel strongly about the ship itself I appreciated the moments between them.

Thank you for writing this! I'm glad I was able to check out some of your writing and learn a little more about this ship. Hope we all can see even more from you, Mia! o//

 

[Mialentia]

Oh wow, thank you so much for the detailed review! I'm flattered you enjoyed the fic so much.

overall, my main thought here that I had multiple times was, 'this really feels like it could be an episode,' which I think is a testament to how believably sweet the premise itself is. Like some of Horizon's female viewers, I felt really seen by Liko as a character -- though I can hardly be authoritative on it given how I'm not very up to date, I think you portrayed her well and in a fitting manner.

People often tell me I have a talent for making my writing feel canon, and it's something I'm incredibly proud of. I spend a ton of time rewatching shows/video game cutscenes and analyzing the characters to make sure I have their quirks right, and I semi-regularly trash fics if they feel even a little bit too out of character, lol. So I'm really happy to hear this from you!

Regarding the grammar; I appreciate the feedback! A good amount of this is stuff I have since gotten better at (this fic is almost a year old now), but regarding conjugation: I tend to keep sentences that sound like they come from the characters themselves in present tense, like we're peeking into their thoughts, while narration remains in past tense, mostly because I prefer to write in that tense. It's definitely a weak point of mine overall, though; to be honest, I pay it little mind lmao. I hope it didn't take you out of the story too much!

I'm not sure if this happened in the anime because I'm not caught up, but I always love when writers do this. It shows that there's a world there that's not just a specific telling of a scene, you know? Not that it's always bad to do that, because there are times where it's speedier / easier to just forgo this kind of thing, but little proseless flashbacks like this are nice, ehehe.

This did happen in the anime, yes! It's one of the earlier episodes (HZ027), and it's widely seen as a landmark moment for the Liko/Dot ship. It's where most people get fully on board with them as a couple, and just a really great episode all around!

I liked how you connected Hatenna's emotional state to Liko's and turned it into a sort of lesson / vehicle for fluff (lol) -- it makes a lot of sense that such an in-touch-with-emotions Pokemon like it would react strongly around immense worry like Liko's! I'm really glad it wasn't buried down into an 'I have to be stronger.' thing and that Dot was there for Liko. Shipping moment aside, I think there's something very very sweet and important there -- it's okay to be vulnerable and to need support, kind of thing, and I'm happy this fic reminded me of that.

Liko is such a relatable character to me, especially early on in the show. She's an artist, but she isn't quite as good as her parent. She's introspective, and shy, and pretty hard on herself. That's all stuff I share with her, so writing about her going through struggles like mine comes rather naturally to me, I guess, lol. It also helps make Dot's dialogue touching; I just have to remember what touched me coming from others, hehe!

Hope we all can see even more from you, Mia! o//

Oh, don't you worry, I have a lot to share! I've been writing for a very long time. I'm only spacing out my fics here so as not to flood the Library. I've already posted a few more Likodot fics though, as well as a BanG Dream one (which is the one I'm most proud of)! Oh, and a Lillie/Selene one as well!

Thank you so much again for your interest!