Archive of Our Own

A theory on what happened to Malachi when he left his home. 

What we do know is.

1. Malachi left his home and never came back, and really doesn't want to go back Exhibit  A Exhibit  B: OBT chapter 7 page 18-20 Exhibit  C Exhibit  D Exhibit E Exhibit F
2. Malachi has terrible nightmares Exhibit  A OBT chapter 7 page 51.
3. Whatever happened was REALLY BAD Exhibit  A OBT chapter 7 page 54 Exhibit  B  Exhibit C He get really nervous when asked about his childhood memory. Exhibit D
4. And what happened is related to his half evolution. Exhibit  A Exhibit  B Exhibit C Exhibit D Exhibit E Exhibit F Exhibit G  Exhibit H  exhibit I exhibit J exhibit k exhibit L exhibit M exhibit N exhibit O exhibit P and he really doesn't like his half evolution Exhibit A Exhibit B
5. Also related to his money Exhibit A Exhibit B
1. Also an interesting point is why he bought the expensive bluff when there's free housing in town. 

Speculation and theories:

• His family may be abusive towards him. (Probably false)
• On the prebooted version he was driven out due to his family being homophobic.
• On this ask he sounds a little nervous when talking about his father and mentioned that " The tribe likes him, and that’s what counts." (I may be looking too much into this.
• These two asks suggest that Malachi does not have a very active relationship with his sisters. This ask says that Malachi has a TON of siblings. And he is nervous when asked about his siblings (Kinda nitpicky but whatever.) This ask he said that his life back then was not very interesting
• Holes with this theory this ask And this ask indicates that his moms take care of him and that he really misses them, or the stuttering may be from trauma instead.

• At the OBT 2024 trailer at 1:41 we can see an mega Manectric who definitely isn't part of Malachi's extended family as he never mentions the Manectric line in any of his asks 
• The most likely theory is that the Luxrays were driven out by the Manectric. Either the Manectric are wild or they are outlaws or imperialists.
• The they are wild theory is discouraged since that overall put wild mons in a bad light and doesn't really fit the theme of the story. The outlaws theory doesn't hold up since why didn't anyone get rid of them? But the imperialists one hold up the most since it [provided a reason why they haven't been driven out. Via corrupt government figures.