HOME | DD

Description
Note: Please do not harass the original author or anyone who makes content related to this pasta. This review was simply made for entertainment purposes only. This is all based on MY OPINION as well.

WELCOME BACK TO SAUCEZ REVIEWZ: POKEPASTAS SERIES!!!

Pasta Name: Absol (Reaper)

Publish Date: September 23, 2012

Synopsis: Throughout Mickey’s life, he occasionally encounters a specific Absol he nicknamed Reaper, and when he sees Reaper, someone within his family passes away tragically.

Fun Fact: This pasta puts the story in a first-person perspective and adds an interesting and realistic portrayal of what life would be like if Pokémon were real. (I have a lot of fun facts for this one)

Highlight: The idea of a realistic portrayal.

Quote: “I hate Absol. Hate them with a passion. Not because of what they are, but what they stand for.” -Mickey

Fun facts (specifically for my reviews) this is the first pokepasta I've done that involves a in-universe perspective of the Pokémon world since La Condena de Milotic and the first pokepasta to be based on a pokedex entry since Hypno's Lullaby.

Also, since some of the people who brought Strangled Red during this, this pasta has Mickey, not Miki. Miki was the name of the Charizard and the in-game protagonist's name was Steven in the Strangled Red pasta.

So the pasta first starts off with our protagonist Mickey ranting about how much he hates Absol not because of what they are but what they represent and stand for because every time a particular Absol appears, someone in his family dies tragically. They first saw this particular Absol when they were 6 years old when they were in the woods with his mother and her Linoone she nicknamed Breeze for their protection from wild Pokémon. The air and walk was nice in the woods until Breeze began to act protective and defensive by curling up into a ball and started growling at something from the distant. Mickey followed Breeze's eyes and he saw these shining bright red eyes from the woods. It was Absol's eyes. Mickey loved the design of the Pokémon. It had dark blue blades as a horn and tail and had white beautiful fur.

"Mama! Look, Pokémon! A big white one!"

Absol ran away as Breeze chased after them. The mom asked what the Pokémon looked like. After Mickey explained. The mom started to freak and said that Pokémon was an Absol and they had to go home immediately. They rushed on home. Mickey questioned about Breeze but the mom said Breeze is smart and she can find her way home.

The mom immediately called their father and she was silent for several minutes since he would travel with his Mightyena he nicknamed Grimm and wasn't home most of the time, but he would often bring gifts back home.

The mother sobbed and the protag knew something was up and she hung the phone trying to contain herself. "Mama? What happened to daddy?" The mother hugged Mickey and sobbed again. Mickey then knew that his Father was never coming back.

He had been at a hotel in Lilycove city as he traveled to visit Mt. Pyre to catch indigenous Pokémon and check out the Safari Zone. He was going for a cruise on a boat and the captain of the ship got drunk and drove the ship up on the rocks and there were no survivors.

1- So this takes places in Hoenn or was the father there for his travel? I can assume Hoenn because it has various islands.

2 - if they were calling on the father's phone, who picked it up to tell the mother the tragic news? My guess is either she probably called the hotel and one of the employees told her but it wouldn't make sense on how they got that information so fast. Or did the mother just assumed that he was dead because there wasn't a response for several minutes? Well since the protagonist is writing this story years later, I can assume that they added what happened to their father into the story.

3 - One more thing, was it a boat or a ship as in a cruise ship? The pasta has boat in one sentence and ship on another. I can understand cruise ships because there are ships like the S.S. Anne in the Pokémon World but this is a realistic portrayal we're talking about. But if it's a cruise ship, isn't it illegal for ship captains to drink while operating ships? I can understand if it was just a boat for a group of friends though because some people like to party on boats and all. Either way, that is a tragic way to die.

All that was left of the father was his Mightyena he nicknamed Grimm in his hotel room and he was going to bring back a gift for the protagonist. He caught Mickey his own Pokémon it was a beautiful female Vulpix. He nicknamed her Foxfire. He was excited about having his very own Pokémon at last. Mickey thought Foxfire was like a part of his dad that passed onto her. Everyone in his family had a Pokémon now.

Another fun fact: Vulpix's English name was originally going to be Foxfire.

His brother Alex had an Electrike named Jolt and his younger sister Eva had a Skitty named Blush.

You guys noticing a pattern here? Linoone, Mightyena, Electrike, Skitty, and Absol. They're all Hoenn Pokémon, which is all the more reason why I think it does take place in Hoenn. Also, the dad went to Mt. Pyre to get "indigenous" Pokémon there and got Mickey a Vulpix (Kanto) to bring back.

It was 2 years later and Mickey was now 8 years old. He was playing in the backyard with Eva and their Pokémon joined as well. Alex was in the front yard with his Manectric (must've evolved between the two years) to train him as they kept it on separate yards for safety purposes. They were dressed up like pirates including their Pokémon with eyepatches, fake peg legs and bandannas as they were pretending to search for buried treasure.
Hey I know that feeling. I like searching for booty too. xD

They pretended that the occasional bolts of lightning from the front lawn with Manectric were approaching storms as a typical children's game to go along with the roleplaying. Mickey supervising the place, Foxfire "swabbed the deck" with her tail when the protagonist looked up at her.

However, when Mickey looked up more, he saw something straight up ahead that wasn't even twenty feet away.

It was the Absol.

It was the exact same Absol as years ago. The protagonist didn't know how they knew but they did.
I guess since this is a realistic portrayal, Absols would probably have slight differences in their appearances compared to other Absols just like with animals in general.

Foxfire noticed Mickey stopped giving commands and looked the same direction to notice the Absol too.

The Absol gave a low, guttural growl of their own name and suddenly a blood curling scream coming from the front yard that was accompanied by a shock of lightning. So, Pokémon do say their own names just like in the anime, huh? Okay. Even as an anipoke fan myself, I always found the whole concept of Pokémon saying their own names especially correctly for the most part kind of random.

The Absol fled into the woods afterwards. Mickey told Eva to get mom immediately as he and Foxfire ran to the front yard. The sight was a grim one. Alex was pinned under a fallen tree, screaming and trying to struggle away as his Manectric Jolt vainly tried to lift the wooden colossus off of his broken body.

Mickey: "Foxfire! Go help Jolt!" She obeyed.

Mickey attempted to calm down Alex from shock. The efforts of Vulpix and Manetric were soon joined by the strength of Breeze and Grimm. So Breeze did make it back home.

Mother and Eva quickly followed to get the tree off of Alex. It was off thanks to Grimm knowing Strength. The hospital was called to take Alex away. It didn't look good. 8 broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, his spine and neck were badly cracked, and both of his legs and hips were shattered.

It turned out while Alex was training Manectric, he failed to notice a lightning rod imbedded in one of the trees. One of Jolt's attacks had been pulled to it and the old tree was too weak to remain standing that it fell quickly on Alex before he could have a chance to react to it. What really killed him were his ribs puncturing his lung and the doctors couldn't fix him from drowning in his own blood on time so he passed away. His last words were "You know, it's sad, Mickey, I always thought I'd be a Gym Leader."

So, a couple of people in the Discord servers I type these reviews on were talking about how the whole idea of having a lightning rod imbedded in a tree is ridiculous.

Well think about it. There's electric type Pokémon and they probably wanted people to be careful with making sure the lightning doesn't hit the other Pokémon or people who are on the ground. Also, it's probably been there for years and the tree is rotting.

Sure, it wouldn't make sense for the previous bolts to not hit that tree. What I was thinking is there were multiple lightning rods for safety purposes and the final bolt hit that specific tree because Alex and Jolt were moving around while training. But, it's kind of a minor plot hole to be honest. What do you guys think?

All that Mickey had were his mother, sister, and his Vulpix for comfort and he would cry while holding Foxfire to sleep. He called the Absol Reaper from now on.

It was one year later after the incident, Eva left for school on the school bus as Mickey stayed home from feeling ill. They remembered the smile Eva gave before boarding the bus with Skitty peeking out of her backpack. Mickey was watching the bus go down the road as he was waving the entire time.

Suddenly, there was Reaper again. Reaper sitting on a rock across the street watching the protagonist. The protagonist froze as he witnessed Reaper.

And then, the ground shook from a huge explosion!!!

The protagonist whipped his head around to face the once school bus that his younger sister boarded that was now burst into flames.

Mickey dropped his blanket and ran towards the dreadful site that was once the vehicle carrying away his younger sister and he ran hoping there were any survivors and save them if he had to. He said he wouldn't mind the burns since he had a Vulpix and he was used to a burn or two.

There was suddenly a second explosion from the exact site as the dirt and debris blew Mickey away onto the ground. He knew there were no survivors after that one. The fire department came home and spent hours on the site.

After a couple weeks later, information was said that one of the high school jocks snuck in a Voltorb onto the bus trying to look cool as his sibling wanted to stop him but was afraid to. Later, he and his friends taunted it because they thought it was funny. It angered the Voltorb and it used its iconic move Self-Destruct which caused the first explosion. The second explosion was from the flames reaching the gas tank. This scarred the whole town and Mickey became a very solemn child afterwards.

How did they get the bit of information about them taunting the Voltorb, I don't know. But, I can understand that about getting evidence that the explosion was caused by a Voltorb. It could possibly be absent children who knew them or information from the family of those children and formed a story from it. Not to mention, the sibling of the jock was afraid to tell them not to bring the Voltorb, so I guess that answers that.

Also, losing 3 family members in a short period of time must be traumatizing.

Mickey was in great pain drowning in his own sorrow like his Mother. Foxfire was the only remaining comfort he had left. Foxfire tried so hard to cheer him up and make him laugh. Mickey did make it clear he never did laugh since he was in so much pain. He did let Foxfire know he appreciated her for trying though.

Now after Mickey's dad, brother, and sister die, you kind of know what's going to happen next.

Three years later of solemn as Mickey thought the three years were a grim, ugly, and empty kind of peace. This can be very scarring for someone his age indeed. I think he would have gotten like PTSD or something from all of this. I mean, hearing a family member died is one thing... watching them dying and suffering at it is a whole different story, specially when you think there's nothing you could do. The mix of frustration, self blaming, weakness, etc... is too much for a child his age.

The day was overcast and gloomy which he said it suited his mood as he pulled out a box of his sibling's stuff as his head was clouded of the sorrow of the deaths. So he went to the backyard for some fresh air with Foxfire. Foxfire was still attempting to cheer Mickey up. She decided to wear an old scarf and hat from his mother and dress up like super model. The protag thought it was cute and funny as it was so comical to him that he couldn't help but break a smile.
The imagery of that sounds adorable.

They went by a well and Foxfire jumped up on its edge and began to saunter around on her two legs doing a catwalk and it was so comical. That's so cute.

The protagonist hasn't felt a bit happy in so long... but then...

THERE HE WAS IN FRONT OF THEM...

Reaper showed up.

The burning red eyes were peeking out of the trees.

Foxfire suddenly stumbled as she slipped on a wet patch of moss on the well's edge. The protagonist realized what was about to happen and he dove for Foxfire. "Foxfire, no!" Mickey was so desperate at this point especially since Foxfire was his last thing of comfort.

He was...

Half a second...

Too late...

Yeah, even before Reaper showed up, I knew Reaper was coming right when Foxfire hopped on the well's edge to warn Mickey about the tragedy about to happen.

His fingers bushed her tail as she fell down the ten feet well with a splash of water.

Mickey dropped the bucket down.

"Foxfire! Grab the bucket! Get in!"

He felt the rope gain weight after a couple of times and then the splashing was gone.

Panic took full control as Mickey pulled the bucket back up.

Foxfire was in the bucket waterlogged and only barely breathing.

She was a fire type as she couldn't handle being in water for that long.

Now, I'm sure people have questions about this and even the comment section of this pasta on the Creepypasta Wiki page (not the Pokepasta Wiki page) did too and I'll get to them.

First of all, water shouldn't be that mortally deadly for a fire type, so why would it be killing Foxfire? Well it was just the water surrounding her that's killing her, but... The heavy liquid filling her lungs was quickly killing her too. That's what's killing her.

"What if the Vulpix was Alolan?"

First of all, doesn't the nickname FoxFIRE give what form she is away? I mean, I get it what you mean since Alolan Vulpix is an ice-type instead of a fire-type and her falling into the well wouldn't affect her as much. But, Foxfire still had water in her lungs which was mostly the cause of her death. Not to mention, this pasta came out in 2012, while the Alola games came out in 2016.

"Wouldn't the Vulpix be able to swim?" Well, I'm sure she could've swam but it was most likely the fall that weakened Foxfire and the unexpectedness of the situation that made her panic. Her heavy breathing could make her respiration too agitated which could led to the water to get to her lungs.

"My Foxfire, my precious Pokémon was dying."

They hoisted her out of the bucket, sobbing, and held her tightly to his chest.

"Foxfire, please don't leave me! I need you! You're all I've got left!" he begged.
Before you all ask, "What about his mother?" The story explains that later. It's not in the way you may think though.

Foxfire opened her eyes slightly looking at Mickey. "Please, Foxfire, you can't die! As soon as I finished school, you and me, we were going to go everywhere together. Please... don't go... you can't... I love you..."
Mickey continued to sob and hold her Foxfire smiled weakly at Mickey as her eyes shut again and he small chest heaved one last time. She was gone.

I'm legit in tears right now

So, here's a list of questions people would ask or have asked in the comment section in videos and pages of the pasta based on this scene and I'll answer them or theorized on why.

1 - "Couldn't Mickey do CPR to get the water out of her lungs?"
Well, if you've been paying attention, Mickey is 12 years old and people most likely wouldn't know CPR that well at that age and he didn't know at the time or wouldn't have thought to do that due to panic and all. Also, I agree with MP that it's a child under severe desperation, it's not something that's gonna cross his head as easily, especially when he already lost 3 family members in such a short time, the desperation and fear completely clouded his mind.

2 - "What about taking Foxfire to a Pokémon Center?"
Like I said before, this story was probably intended to have a realistic portrayal of the Pokémon World. I'm pretty sure Pokémon Centers would function like actual hospitals in our world where they don't heal instantly, it takes time to heal, takes time to get to the ER, and Pokémon can die easier when most of the time in they would faint in the canon universe, etc. Also, I'm sure it would be costly too because I doubt they would provide free healthcare. Also, Pokémon Centers heal fainted Pokémon, not dead Pokémon. Every second counts when it comes to these scenarios and he only had limited time to act too.

3 - "What about using a Pokéball to get Foxfire out of the well?" There doesn't seem to be any mention of Pokéballs in this pasta. In fact, I wonder if Pokéballs even exist in this universe because we had Skitty in Eva's backpack, his dad had Mightyena and the Vulpix in the hotel room, that one jock had to hide the Voltorb from his sibling. Also, since Voltorb is solely based on a Pokéball design, you would think they would exist in this universe. Also, I noticed a pattern. Each person seems to own one Pokémon each. It would probably be complicated owning six Pokémon at once without Pokéballs. This must be alternative universe before or without Pokéballs. Besides, I feel like the water would probably make the Pokéballs malfunction unless they're water proof, which who knows? I mean there are the dive balls and the net balls that would work best for these scenarios. But, judging by the anime and games when you are using Surf or fishing, Pokéballs are likely waterproof.

However, my friends made valid points about people having Pokémon as pets wouldn't likely use a Pokéball for them. The Pokéballs are usually used for trainers and battles. I mean, there is Ash Ketchum who never puts Pikachu in a Pokéball no matter what. There probably wouldn't be much of a use for the family having a Pokéball if none of them are trainers with the exception of his brother since he was training his Manectric (they evolved in between the time skip too) and he wanted to become a Gym Leader, and his father with travelling and catching other Pokémon.

After Foxfire was gone, he broke into tears. And he noticed the red eyes had vanished too. They buried Foxfire in the backyard as she had a good funeral and Mickey brought Foxfire's favorite flowers which were roses. They lit up candles and read the Bible as they lowered her down in a hole that Breeze dug up with Dig. The protag lost themselves after that. They stole hundreds of packages of cigarettes and lost track of time. Umm... nah I'll talk about that later.

Weak lungs ran in the family but Mickey doesn't care about killing himself at this point. Mickey had nothing left to live for after losing everyone he loved. He doesn't care if he died locked up in a smoky, cigarette bud covered bedroom. Mickey is now 13 years old.
I know you stole them but who exactly did you steal them from? And you're smoking illegally and if we're talking about Hoenn here which is based on the islands of the Kyushu region of Japan where the legal smoking age is 20. I know this because I live on Kyushu (specifically the Oita prefecture). Speaking of which, that means I technically live in the Hoenn region. Good because Hoenn has Milotic and some of the best Pokémon in the series.

But I guess some local stores could careless and he was able to get away with stealing the packs, maybe in that universe, but as a person who lives in the actual Kyushu region, they're pretty strict about smoking. Again, two different universes.

Mickey got severe lung cancer. He knew it would happen but he didn't care. And his mother didn't care either because she hasn't been right in the head since his sister's death. Mickey claimed that his mother wouldn't even notice if he's gone and if she does, he hopes that she would respect his wish to die. Getting cancer at age 13 and having a mother that's also lost it and doesn't care anymore is pretty sad and dark honestly.

He says it hurts to think, talk, and breathe and he's almost too weak to type the story. The protag only hopes for someone to find this story so someone out there will be aware of this Reaper. Mickey has been refusing treatments and the doctors don't know how much longer he has. I'm sure laws are different in other countries and universes, but I think the doctors would have him arrested for smoking illegally, but I don't know. Well, his medical treatment would take priority over the arrest, they wouldn't be able to lock him anyway due his condition.

Mickey just knows he doesn't have much time left though.

Why?

Because Reaper just appeared outside of his window, staring right at him.

The end.

Further Thoughts:

I have a lot for this one.

This pasta kind of depicts the lore of Absol in a way and at the same time, it shows how Absol can be misunderstood as someone who causes the disaster when in reality, they warn people about the disasters that are bound to occur. It says all of this in their Pokédex entries too.

The story goes on about Mickey's disdain for that Absol (Reaper) and he did mention in the beginning that he doesn't quite hate Absol for what they are but what they stand for. He does misunderstood what the Absol's motive is there.

Also, if it was the same Absol each time, it does make me curious about Reaper's motivation? Was it unintentional or did Reaper really did have a dark motivation and was this Absol stalking Mickey? Well, again, Absol is misunderstood and didn't mean any harm. They were just giving a warning about the harm instead. But, was this Absol stalking Mickey the whole time?

What tragic ways to die:
Cruise Ship - Drunk captain bringing ship up rocks
Tree Trunk - Lightning rod imbedded in an old, rotting tree and body becomes shattered
School Bus - Death by explosion caused by teenager stupidity
Water Well - Slip on moss and fell in water
Lung Cancer - Smoke knowing it was going to kill him

Fate was just not on Mickey's side and Absol was just warning him about the dangers of him and his family's safety.

"But why didn't Reaper warn Mickey sooner?"

My theory is the reason why it seems like Reaper warned Mickey right before the incident is because that's when the author noticed the Absol being there because Reaper could've been there for a couple minutes without their acknowledgement. Also another thing is since Mickey wrote the story, he could've exaggerated it to make it seem like it was the Absol's fault (since he hated Absol) for warning him too late when like I said, he was there the whole time. But at the same time, thinking on the timing, would they really believe Reaper especially knowing the reputation they had? A disaster has way too many shapes, it could mean anything, even something as wild to think about like a lighting rod in a bad tree. I don't know how he could've stopped his sister's death if the bus was already down the road and especially his father's death if he was miles away.

"This pasta is more sad than scary."

This was a lot of people in the comment section. There's over 140 comments for the pasta.

The creepy factors come from the tone and dark context of the Pokémon universe. A tragedy of human family losses if Pokémon were real. It makes you question if having Pokémon really exist would be a good or bad thing.

A pasta doesn't have to be scary to be creepy IMO. The dark tones of it can make a pasta creepy. So yeah, it's someone wanting to kill themselves over the traumatizing losses of their loved ones is pretty dark.

"Couldn't they just use a revive?"

Revives only work on fainted Pokémon. Lavender Town even makes it clear that Pokémon can pass away too and Lavender Town is on a lot of Pokepastas. (Well, so far, I've only reviewed 2 pokepastas that include Lavender Town: Creepy Black and Strangled Red, 3 if you include Hypno's Lullaby having the town's theme as an instrumental) There's even Mt. Pyre which was mentioned earlier in this pasta that makes signs about it being possible that Pokémon can pass away.

"What happened to the other Pokémon like Grimm, Jolt, and Breeze?"

I don't know. We can assume the worse for them like they were given away if both Mickey and his mom were messed up in the head. Blush the Skitty was blown up from the explosion. Foxfire died from having water in her lungs.

"Couldn't they have just stayed indoors?"

Absol can still look through the windows as stated at the end. Also, there's plenty of tragedies that can still happen indoors like a housefire from faulty electricity wires for example.

Foxfire's death could've been avoided if they stayed indoors but it did say he went outside for some fresh air.

"What if the Absol was just a mirage and Mickey was just seeing it for the rest of the times after his father's death due to trauma which explains how it was the same exact Absol? For example, how come Breeze didn't react to the Absol the following times afterwards. You would think she would remember Absol's scent or something."

Interesting idea, but that theory wouldn't make much sense because the story does mention that Foxfire saw the Absol too before his brother's death, so it all wasn't in Mickey's head. It would be too much of a dirty coincidence for Mickey seeing the Absol in his own head right before the death of a loved one four times in a row. Plus, Breeze wasn't outside with them the following times as explained in the story where Breeze came out later to help the other Pokémon with lifting the fallen tree trunk on top of Alex with their mother and sister and the rest of their Pokémon to follow. The theory would have something to go along with on why Reaper would look at Mickey specifically while warning about the upcoming tragedy though. Plus, Mickey was excited to see the Absol for the first time and the reason why Absol looked at Mickey specifically was because he was the first to spot it.

Was it predictable?

Yeah, especially Foxfire's death was pretty predictable with having a formula of Absol shows up and boom someone dies, but the content and tone of the sadness made up for the predictability. But to be fair, the author did make it clear from the beginning that people in his family have died. Plus, with Foxfire's, you can see how desperate he was as he went to try to stop Foxfire's death with trying to save her as he saw the Absol. He was completely consumed by panic and desperation, he didn't know what to do or how to stop it. It's hard to think when your emotions get the better of you and his body probably filled up with fear as soon as the Absol showed up.

Also, I think it handled the trope of "the author was typing out the story and notice they're going to get killed very soon at the end" very nicely. It could've been handled a lot worse though.

My Final Rating:

Will Absol sense the rating being a disaster or not a disaster?

And... it's... not a disaster.

As in...

It's a FRESH PASTA!!

I think despite being depressing, it's actually well-written, and I really appreciate the realistic portrayal take on the Pokémon World, as it depicts the dark side of Pokémon. I enjoyed how Absol is depicted as the antagonist but you can't blame it for what happens, like it's following its lore of predicting disasters and being misunderstood.

I wouldn't mind reading Pokepastas having realistic portrayals and in-universe prespectives. I do wish more Pokepastas were like this other than the usual "unusual cartridge and my game is acting strange" trope (not saying all of them with this trope are bad).

My rankings for the reviewed PokéPastas so far (from best to worst, top to bottom):
1. Easter Egg - Snow on Mt. Silver – Fresh
2. Forever Mine (Remake) - Fresh
3. Absol (Reaper) - Fresh
4. La Condena de Milotic – Fresh
5. Hypno's Lullaby – Fresh
6. Forever Mine (Original) - Fresh
7. Strangled Red – Dried
8. Zombreon - Dried
9. Lost Silver – Dried
10. Creepy Black – Dried
11. Abandon Lonliness - Spoiled
12. Pokémon Dead Channel – Spoiled
13. Prevention of Evolution (Original) - Spoiled
14. Milotic's Revenge – Spoiled
15. Leaf Green Beta Scene - Spoiled

6 Fresh Pastas | 4 Dried Pastas | 5 Spoiled Pastas

I think if it did more with its formula for Absol it probably would've gone above Forever Mine's remake. I will admit that I enjoyed Absol more but I think the visual representations for Forever Mine make it top Absol just by a bit. But, I do appreciate the realistic portrayal and the first person perspective and someone is writing out the story before dying.

Wow, the Fresh Pasta Ratings are winning. That's surprising and I'm being as unbiased as possible. At the start of this review series, I was expecting a lot more dried pastas and now we're at 15 and it has the lowest number.

So I don't know which pasta I'll review next, but I'll eventually pick one soon, so stay tune.

Click here to view the full list of every PokéPasta review so far

Description
Note: Please do not harass the original author or anyone who makes content related to this pasta. This review was simply made for entertainment purposes only. This is all based on MY OPINION as well.

WELCOME BACK TO SAUCEZ REVIEWZ: POKEPASTAS SERIES!!!

Pasta Name: Absol (Reaper)

Publish Date: September 23, 2012

Synopsis: Throughout Mickey’s life, he occasionally encounters a specific Absol he nicknamed Reaper, and when he sees Reaper, someone within his family passes away tragically.

Fun Fact: This pasta puts the story in a first-person perspective and adds an interesting and realistic portrayal of what life would be like if Pokémon were real. (I have a lot of fun facts for this one)

Highlight: The idea of a realistic portrayal.

Quote: “I hate Absol. Hate them with a passion. Not because of what they are, but what they stand for.” -Mickey

Fun facts (specifically for my reviews) this is the first pokepasta I've done that involves a in-universe perspective of the Pokémon world since La Condena de Milotic and the first pokepasta to be based on a pokedex entry since Hypno's Lullaby.

Also, since some of the people who brought Strangled Red during this, this pasta has Mickey, not Miki. Miki was the name of the Charizard and the in-game protagonist's name was Steven in the Strangled Red pasta.

So the pasta first starts off with our protagonist Mickey ranting about how much he hates Absol not because of what they are but what they represent and stand for because every time a particular Absol appears, someone in his family dies tragically. They first saw this particular Absol when they were 6 years old when they were in the woods with his mother and her Linoone she nicknamed Breeze for their protection from wild Pokémon. The air and walk was nice in the woods until Breeze began to act protective and defensive by curling up into a ball and started growling at something from the distant. Mickey followed Breeze's eyes and he saw these shining bright red eyes from the woods. It was Absol's eyes. Mickey loved the design of the Pokémon. It had dark blue blades as a horn and tail and had white beautiful fur.

"Mama! Look, Pokémon! A big white one!"

Absol ran away as Breeze chased after them. The mom asked what the Pokémon looked like. After Mickey explained. The mom started to freak and said that Pokémon was an Absol and they had to go home immediately. They rushed on home. Mickey questioned about Breeze but the mom said Breeze is smart and she can find her way home.

The mom immediately called their father and she was silent for several minutes since he would travel with his Mightyena he nicknamed Grimm and wasn't home most of the time, but he would often bring gifts back home.

The mother sobbed and the protag knew something was up and she hung the phone trying to contain herself. "Mama? What happened to daddy?" The mother hugged Mickey and sobbed again. Mickey then knew that his Father was never coming back.

He had been at a hotel in Lilycove city as he traveled to visit Mt. Pyre to catch indigenous Pokémon and check out the Safari Zone. He was going for a cruise on a boat and the captain of the ship got drunk and drove the ship up on the rocks and there were no survivors.

1- So this takes places in Hoenn or was the father there for his travel? I can assume Hoenn because it has various islands.

2 - if they were calling on the father's phone, who picked it up to tell the mother the tragic news? My guess is either she probably called the hotel and one of the employees told her but it wouldn't make sense on how they got that information so fast. Or did the mother just assumed that he was dead because there wasn't a response for several minutes? Well since the protagonist is writing this story years later, I can assume that they added what happened to their father into the story.

3 - One more thing, was it a boat or a ship as in a cruise ship? The pasta has boat in one sentence and ship on another. I can understand cruise ships because there are ships like the S.S. Anne in the Pokémon World but this is a realistic portrayal we're talking about. But if it's a cruise ship, isn't it illegal for ship captains to drink while operating ships? I can understand if it was just a boat for a group of friends though because some people like to party on boats and all. Either way, that is a tragic way to die.

All that was left of the father was his Mightyena he nicknamed Grimm in his hotel room and he was going to bring back a gift for the protagonist. He caught Mickey his own Pokémon it was a beautiful female Vulpix. He nicknamed her Foxfire. He was excited about having his very own Pokémon at last. Mickey thought Foxfire was like a part of his dad that passed onto her. Everyone in his family had a Pokémon now.

Another fun fact: Vulpix's English name was originally going to be Foxfire.

His brother Alex had an Electrike named Jolt and his younger sister Eva had a Skitty named Blush.

You guys noticing a pattern here? Linoone, Mightyena, Electrike, Skitty, and Absol. They're all Hoenn Pokémon, which is all the more reason why I think it does take place in Hoenn. Also, the dad went to Mt. Pyre to get "indigenous" Pokémon there and got Mickey a Vulpix (Kanto) to bring back.

It was 2 years later and Mickey was now 8 years old. He was playing in the backyard with Eva and their Pokémon joined as well. Alex was in the front yard with his Manectric (must've evolved between the two years) to train him as they kept it on separate yards for safety purposes. They were dressed up like pirates including their Pokémon with eyepatches, fake peg legs and bandannas as they were pretending to search for buried treasure.
Hey I know that feeling. I like searching for booty too. xD

They pretended that the occasional bolts of lightning from the front lawn with Manectric were approaching storms as a typical children's game to go along with the roleplaying. Mickey supervising the place, Foxfire "swabbed the deck" with her tail when the protagonist looked up at her.

However, when Mickey looked up more, he saw something straight up ahead that wasn't even twenty feet away.

It was the Absol.

It was the exact same Absol as years ago. The protagonist didn't know how they knew but they did.
I guess since this is a realistic portrayal, Absols would probably have slight differences in their appearances compared to other Absols just like with animals in general.

Foxfire noticed Mickey stopped giving commands and looked the same direction to notice the Absol too.

The Absol gave a low, guttural growl of their own name and suddenly a blood curling scream coming from the front yard that was accompanied by a shock of lightning. So, Pokémon do say their own names just like in the anime, huh? Okay. Even as an anipoke fan myself, I always found the whole concept of Pokémon saying their own names especially correctly for the most part kind of random.

The Absol fled into the woods afterwards. Mickey told Eva to get mom immediately as he and Foxfire ran to the front yard. The sight was a grim one. Alex was pinned under a fallen tree, screaming and trying to struggle away as his Manectric Jolt vainly tried to lift the wooden colossus off of his broken body.

Mickey: "Foxfire! Go help Jolt!" She obeyed.

Mickey attempted to calm down Alex from shock. The efforts of Vulpix and Manetric were soon joined by the strength of Breeze and Grimm. So Breeze did make it back home.

Mother and Eva quickly followed to get the tree off of Alex. It was off thanks to Grimm knowing Strength. The hospital was called to take Alex away. It didn't look good. 8 broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, his spine and neck were badly cracked, and both of his legs and hips were shattered.

It turned out while Alex was training Manectric, he failed to notice a lightning rod imbedded in one of the trees. One of Jolt's attacks had been pulled to it and the old tree was too weak to remain standing that it fell quickly on Alex before he could have a chance to react to it. What really killed him were his ribs puncturing his lung and the doctors couldn't fix him from drowning in his own blood on time so he passed away. His last words were "You know, it's sad, Mickey, I always thought I'd be a Gym Leader."

So, a couple of people in the Discord servers I type these reviews on were talking about how the whole idea of having a lightning rod imbedded in a tree is ridiculous.

Well think about it. There's electric type Pokémon and they probably wanted people to be careful with making sure the lightning doesn't hit the other Pokémon or people who are on the ground. Also, it's probably been there for years and the tree is rotting.

Sure, it wouldn't make sense for the previous bolts to not hit that tree. What I was thinking is there were multiple lightning rods for safety purposes and the final bolt hit that specific tree because Alex and Jolt were moving around while training. But, it's kind of a minor plot hole to be honest. What do you guys think?

All that Mickey had were his mother, sister, and his Vulpix for comfort and he would cry while holding Foxfire to sleep. He called the Absol Reaper from now on.

It was one year later after the incident, Eva left for school on the school bus as Mickey stayed home from feeling ill. They remembered the smile Eva gave before boarding the bus with Skitty peeking out of her backpack. Mickey was watching the bus go down the road as he was waving the entire time.

Suddenly, there was Reaper again. Reaper sitting on a rock across the street watching the protagonist. The protagonist froze as he witnessed Reaper.

And then, the ground shook from a huge explosion!!!

The protagonist whipped his head around to face the once school bus that his younger sister boarded that was now burst into flames.

Mickey dropped his blanket and ran towards the dreadful site that was once the vehicle carrying away his younger sister and he ran hoping there were any survivors and save them if he had to. He said he wouldn't mind the burns since he had a Vulpix and he was used to a burn or two.

There was suddenly a second explosion from the exact site as the dirt and debris blew Mickey away onto the ground. He knew there were no survivors after that one. The fire department came home and spent hours on the site.

After a couple weeks later, information was said that one of the high school jocks snuck in a Voltorb onto the bus trying to look cool as his sibling wanted to stop him but was afraid to. Later, he and his friends taunted it because they thought it was funny. It angered the Voltorb and it used its iconic move Self-Destruct which caused the first explosion. The second explosion was from the flames reaching the gas tank. This scarred the whole town and Mickey became a very solemn child afterwards.

How did they get the bit of information about them taunting the Voltorb, I don't know. But, I can understand that about getting evidence that the explosion was caused by a Voltorb. It could possibly be absent children who knew them or information from the family of those children and formed a story from it. Not to mention, the sibling of the jock was afraid to tell them not to bring the Voltorb, so I guess that answers that.

Also, losing 3 family members in a short period of time must be traumatizing.

Mickey was in great pain drowning in his own sorrow like his Mother. Foxfire was the only remaining comfort he had left. Foxfire tried so hard to cheer him up and make him laugh. Mickey did make it clear he never did laugh since he was in so much pain. He did let Foxfire know he appreciated her for trying though.

Now after Mickey's dad, brother, and sister die, you kind of know what's going to happen next.

Three years later of solemn as Mickey thought the three years were a grim, ugly, and empty kind of peace. This can be very scarring for someone his age indeed. I think he would have gotten like PTSD or something from all of this. I mean, hearing a family member died is one thing... watching them dying and suffering at it is a whole different story, specially when you think there's nothing you could do. The mix of frustration, self blaming, weakness, etc... is too much for a child his age.

The day was overcast and gloomy which he said it suited his mood as he pulled out a box of his sibling's stuff as his head was clouded of the sorrow of the deaths. So he went to the backyard for some fresh air with Foxfire. Foxfire was still attempting to cheer Mickey up. She decided to wear an old scarf and hat from his mother and dress up like super model. The protag thought it was cute and funny as it was so comical to him that he couldn't help but break a smile.
The imagery of that sounds adorable.

They went by a well and Foxfire jumped up on its edge and began to saunter around on her two legs doing a catwalk and it was so comical. That's so cute.

The protagonist hasn't felt a bit happy in so long... but then...

THERE HE WAS IN FRONT OF THEM...

Reaper showed up.

The burning red eyes were peeking out of the trees.

Foxfire suddenly stumbled as she slipped on a wet patch of moss on the well's edge. The protagonist realized what was about to happen and he dove for Foxfire. "Foxfire, no!" Mickey was so desperate at this point especially since Foxfire was his last thing of comfort.

He was...

Half a second...

Too late...

Yeah, even before Reaper showed up, I knew Reaper was coming right when Foxfire hopped on the well's edge to warn Mickey about the tragedy about to happen.

His fingers bushed her tail as she fell down the ten feet well with a splash of water.

Mickey dropped the bucket down.

"Foxfire! Grab the bucket! Get in!"

He felt the rope gain weight after a couple of times and then the splashing was gone.

Panic took full control as Mickey pulled the bucket back up.

Foxfire was in the bucket waterlogged and only barely breathing.

She was a fire type as she couldn't handle being in water for that long.

Now, I'm sure people have questions about this and even the comment section of this pasta on the Creepypasta Wiki page (not the Pokepasta Wiki page) did too and I'll get to them.

First of all, water shouldn't be that mortally deadly for a fire type, so why would it be killing Foxfire? Well it was just the water surrounding her that's killing her, but... The heavy liquid filling her lungs was quickly killing her too. That's what's killing her.

"What if the Vulpix was Alolan?"

First of all, doesn't the nickname FoxFIRE give what form she is away? I mean, I get it what you mean since Alolan Vulpix is an ice-type instead of a fire-type and her falling into the well wouldn't affect her as much. But, Foxfire still had water in her lungs which was mostly the cause of her death. Not to mention, this pasta came out in 2012, while the Alola games came out in 2016.

"Wouldn't the Vulpix be able to swim?" Well, I'm sure she could've swam but it was most likely the fall that weakened Foxfire and the unexpectedness of the situation that made her panic. Her heavy breathing could make her respiration too agitated which could led to the water to get to her lungs.

"My Foxfire, my precious Pokémon was dying."

They hoisted her out of the bucket, sobbing, and held her tightly to his chest.

"Foxfire, please don't leave me! I need you! You're all I've got left!" he begged.
Before you all ask, "What about his mother?" The story explains that later. It's not in the way you may think though.

Foxfire opened her eyes slightly looking at Mickey. "Please, Foxfire, you can't die! As soon as I finished school, you and me, we were going to go everywhere together. Please... don't go... you can't... I love you..."
Mickey continued to sob and hold her Foxfire smiled weakly at Mickey as her eyes shut again and he small chest heaved one last time. She was gone.

I'm legit in tears right now

So, here's a list of questions people would ask or have asked in the comment section in videos and pages of the pasta based on this scene and I'll answer them or theorized on why.

1 - "Couldn't Mickey do CPR to get the water out of her lungs?"
Well, if you've been paying attention, Mickey is 12 years old and people most likely wouldn't know CPR that well at that age and he didn't know at the time or wouldn't have thought to do that due to panic and all. Also, I agree with MP that it's a child under severe desperation, it's not something that's gonna cross his head as easily, especially when he already lost 3 family members in such a short time, the desperation and fear completely clouded his mind.

2 - "What about taking Foxfire to a Pokémon Center?"
Like I said before, this story was probably intended to have a realistic portrayal of the Pokémon World. I'm pretty sure Pokémon Centers would function like actual hospitals in our world where they don't heal instantly, it takes time to heal, takes time to get to the ER, and Pokémon can die easier when most of the time in they would faint in the canon universe, etc. Also, I'm sure it would be costly too because I doubt they would provide free healthcare. Also, Pokémon Centers heal fainted Pokémon, not dead Pokémon. Every second counts when it comes to these scenarios and he only had limited time to act too.

3 - "What about using a Pokéball to get Foxfire out of the well?" There doesn't seem to be any mention of Pokéballs in this pasta. In fact, I wonder if Pokéballs even exist in this universe because we had Skitty in Eva's backpack, his dad had Mightyena and the Vulpix in the hotel room, that one jock had to hide the Voltorb from his sibling. Also, since Voltorb is solely based on a Pokéball design, you would think they would exist in this universe. Also, I noticed a pattern. Each person seems to own one Pokémon each. It would probably be complicated owning six Pokémon at once without Pokéballs. This must be alternative universe before or without Pokéballs. Besides, I feel like the water would probably make the Pokéballs malfunction unless they're water proof, which who knows? I mean there are the dive balls and the net balls that would work best for these scenarios. But, judging by the anime and games when you are using Surf or fishing, Pokéballs are likely waterproof.

However, my friends made valid points about people having Pokémon as pets wouldn't likely use a Pokéball for them. The Pokéballs are usually used for trainers and battles. I mean, there is Ash Ketchum who never puts Pikachu in a Pokéball no matter what. There probably wouldn't be much of a use for the family having a Pokéball if none of them are trainers with the exception of his brother since he was training his Manectric (they evolved in between the time skip too) and he wanted to become a Gym Leader, and his father with travelling and catching other Pokémon.

After Foxfire was gone, he broke into tears. And he noticed the red eyes had vanished too. They buried Foxfire in the backyard as she had a good funeral and Mickey brought Foxfire's favorite flowers which were roses. They lit up candles and read the Bible as they lowered her down in a hole that Breeze dug up with Dig. The protag lost themselves after that. They stole hundreds of packages of cigarettes and lost track of time. Umm... nah I'll talk about that later.

Weak lungs ran in the family but Mickey doesn't care about killing himself at this point. Mickey had nothing left to live for after losing everyone he loved. He doesn't care if he died locked up in a smoky, cigarette bud covered bedroom. Mickey is now 13 years old.
I know you stole them but who exactly did you steal them from? And you're smoking illegally and if we're talking about Hoenn here which is based on the islands of the Kyushu region of Japan where the legal smoking age is 20. I know this because I live on Kyushu (specifically the Oita prefecture). Speaking of which, that means I technically live in the Hoenn region. Good because Hoenn has Milotic and some of the best Pokémon in the series.

But I guess some local stores could careless and he was able to get away with stealing the packs, maybe in that universe, but as a person who lives in the actual Kyushu region, they're pretty strict about smoking. Again, two different universes.

Mickey got severe lung cancer. He knew it would happen but he didn't care. And his mother didn't care either because she hasn't been right in the head since his sister's death. Mickey claimed that his mother wouldn't even notice if he's gone and if she does, he hopes that she would respect his wish to die. Getting cancer at age 13 and having a mother that's also lost it and doesn't care anymore is pretty sad and dark honestly.

He says it hurts to think, talk, and breathe and he's almost too weak to type the story. The protag only hopes for someone to find this story so someone out there will be aware of this Reaper. Mickey has been refusing treatments and the doctors don't know how much longer he has. I'm sure laws are different in other countries and universes, but I think the doctors would have him arrested for smoking illegally, but I don't know. Well, his medical treatment would take priority over the arrest, they wouldn't be able to lock him anyway due his condition.

Mickey just knows he doesn't have much time left though.

Why?

Because Reaper just appeared outside of his window, staring right at him.

The end.

Further Thoughts:

I have a lot for this one.

This pasta kind of depicts the lore of Absol in a way and at the same time, it shows how Absol can be misunderstood as someone who causes the disaster when in reality, they warn people about the disasters that are bound to occur. It says all of this in their Pokédex entries too.

The story goes on about Mickey's disdain for that Absol (Reaper) and he did mention in the beginning that he doesn't quite hate Absol for what they are but what they stand for. He does misunderstood what the Absol's motive is there.

Also, if it was the same Absol each time, it does make me curious about Reaper's motivation? Was it unintentional or did Reaper really did have a dark motivation and was this Absol stalking Mickey? Well, again, Absol is misunderstood and didn't mean any harm. They were just giving a warning about the harm instead. But, was this Absol stalking Mickey the whole time?

What tragic ways to die:
Cruise Ship - Drunk captain bringing ship up rocks
Tree Trunk - Lightning rod imbedded in an old, rotting tree and body becomes shattered
School Bus - Death by explosion caused by teenager stupidity
Water Well - Slip on moss and fell in water
Lung Cancer - Smoke knowing it was going to kill him

Fate was just not on Mickey's side and Absol was just warning him about the dangers of him and his family's safety.

"But why didn't Reaper warn Mickey sooner?"

My theory is the reason why it seems like Reaper warned Mickey right before the incident is because that's when the author noticed the Absol being there because Reaper could've been there for a couple minutes without their acknowledgement. Also another thing is since Mickey wrote the story, he could've exaggerated it to make it seem like it was the Absol's fault (since he hated Absol) for warning him too late when like I said, he was there the whole time. But at the same time, thinking on the timing, would they really believe Reaper especially knowing the reputation they had? A disaster has way too many shapes, it could mean anything, even something as wild to think about like a lighting rod in a bad tree. I don't know how he could've stopped his sister's death if the bus was already down the road and especially his father's death if he was miles away.

"This pasta is more sad than scary."

This was a lot of people in the comment section. There's over 140 comments for the pasta.

The creepy factors come from the tone and dark context of the Pokémon universe. A tragedy of human family losses if Pokémon were real. It makes you question if having Pokémon really exist would be a good or bad thing.

A pasta doesn't have to be scary to be creepy IMO. The dark tones of it can make a pasta creepy. So yeah, it's someone wanting to kill themselves over the traumatizing losses of their loved ones is pretty dark.

"Couldn't they just use a revive?"

Revives only work on fainted Pokémon. Lavender Town even makes it clear that Pokémon can pass away too and Lavender Town is on a lot of Pokepastas. (Well, so far, I've only reviewed 2 pokepastas that include Lavender Town: Creepy Black and Strangled Red, 3 if you include Hypno's Lullaby having the town's theme as an instrumental) There's even Mt. Pyre which was mentioned earlier in this pasta that makes signs about it being possible that Pokémon can pass away.

"What happened to the other Pokémon like Grimm, Jolt, and Breeze?"

I don't know. We can assume the worse for them like they were given away if both Mickey and his mom were messed up in the head. Blush the Skitty was blown up from the explosion. Foxfire died from having water in her lungs.

"Couldn't they have just stayed indoors?"

Absol can still look through the windows as stated at the end. Also, there's plenty of tragedies that can still happen indoors like a housefire from faulty electricity wires for example.

Foxfire's death could've been avoided if they stayed indoors but it did say he went outside for some fresh air.

"What if the Absol was just a mirage and Mickey was just seeing it for the rest of the times after his father's death due to trauma which explains how it was the same exact Absol? For example, how come Breeze didn't react to the Absol the following times afterwards. You would think she would remember Absol's scent or something."

Interesting idea, but that theory wouldn't make much sense because the story does mention that Foxfire saw the Absol too before his brother's death, so it all wasn't in Mickey's head. It would be too much of a dirty coincidence for Mickey seeing the Absol in his own head right before the death of a loved one four times in a row. Plus, Breeze wasn't outside with them the following times as explained in the story where Breeze came out later to help the other Pokémon with lifting the fallen tree trunk on top of Alex with their mother and sister and the rest of their Pokémon to follow. The theory would have something to go along with on why Reaper would look at Mickey specifically while warning about the upcoming tragedy though. Plus, Mickey was excited to see the Absol for the first time and the reason why Absol looked at Mickey specifically was because he was the first to spot it.

Was it predictable?

Yeah, especially Foxfire's death was pretty predictable with having a formula of Absol shows up and boom someone dies, but the content and tone of the sadness made up for the predictability. But to be fair, the author did make it clear from the beginning that people in his family have died. Plus, with Foxfire's, you can see how desperate he was as he went to try to stop Foxfire's death with trying to save her as he saw the Absol. He was completely consumed by panic and desperation, he didn't know what to do or how to stop it. It's hard to think when your emotions get the better of you and his body probably filled up with fear as soon as the Absol showed up.

Also, I think it handled the trope of "the author was typing out the story and notice they're going to get killed very soon at the end" very nicely. It could've been handled a lot worse though.

My Final Rating:

Will Absol sense the rating being a disaster or not a disaster?

And... it's... not a disaster.

As in...

It's a FRESH PASTA!!

I think despite being depressing, it's actually well-written, and I really appreciate the realistic portrayal take on the Pokémon World, as it depicts the dark side of Pokémon. I enjoyed how Absol is depicted as the antagonist but you can't blame it for what happens, like it's following its lore of predicting disasters and being misunderstood.

I wouldn't mind reading Pokepastas having realistic portrayals and in-universe prespectives. I do wish more Pokepastas were like this other than the usual "unusual cartridge and my game is acting strange" trope (not saying all of them with this trope are bad).

My rankings for the reviewed PokéPastas so far (from best to worst, top to bottom):
1. Easter Egg - Snow on Mt. Silver – Fresh
2. Forever Mine (Remake) - Fresh
3. Absol (Reaper) - Fresh
4. La Condena de Milotic – Fresh
5. Hypno's Lullaby – Fresh
6. Forever Mine (Original) - Fresh
7. Strangled Red – Dried
8. Zombreon - Dried
9. Lost Silver – Dried
10. Creepy Black – Dried
11. Abandon Lonliness - Spoiled
12. Pokémon Dead Channel – Spoiled
13. Prevention of Evolution (Original) - Spoiled
14. Milotic's Revenge – Spoiled
15. Leaf Green Beta Scene - Spoiled

6 Fresh Pastas | 4 Dried Pastas | 5 Spoiled Pastas

I think if it did more with its formula for Absol it probably would've gone above Forever Mine's remake. I will admit that I enjoyed Absol more but I think the visual representations for Forever Mine make it top Absol just by a bit. But, I do appreciate the realistic portrayal and the first person perspective and someone is writing out the story before dying.

Wow, the Fresh Pasta Ratings are winning. That's surprising and I'm being as unbiased as possible. At the start of this review series, I was expecting a lot more dried pastas and now we're at 15 and it has the lowest number.

So I don't know which pasta I'll review next, but I'll eventually pick one soon, so stay tune.

Click here to view the full list of every PokéPasta review so far