Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Main Lobby

[Fusion]

"Vix, he was the fuckin' Haze. He weren't spyin' fer anyone, he was out fer himself the entire goddamn time. Y'wanna ask yerself what other explanation could possibly account fer what's happened, fer the conversations Dave an' Koa an' Cola had with him, fer his absense now?"

Every word coming from Brisa just turned some dial in Vix labeled "anger," to the point that Puddle's corruption drain hardly helped her. Nobody trusted Soda, nobody ever fucking did just because of what he was... And he wasn't even here to fucking defend himself. The audacity of these assholes... "Oh, you mean like him working with someone who was secretly corrupted and also had the power to erase his fucking existence if she thought for a damn second that he was against her?"

"And a reason he couldn't be here is, simply, because he's out there doing more fucking hero work than you are sitting here talking shit about him behind his back like a pitiful fucking coward," Vix hissed, gaining a some sharper edges, and her eyes a sinister yellow glow. "How pathetic do you have to be to turn against someone else the second they do something behind your back? To not trust someone because of shit they couldn't fucking control?" That one was more aimed towards Bahamut, if Vix glaring at him was anything to go by.

Puddle stayed quiet, focusing on trying to get Vix back to normal.

 

[Dragonfree]

"Vix," Dave said, gritting his teeth, "I talked to him. He fucking opened by admitting it was him. He explained his plan to use the power he has to get back to his world and depose its Arceus and get his partner back. Only..." He glanced away. "According to Maple, shit didn't actually go down like he said. He believed what he was saying, but he's just... I guess you can confirm what happened with Soda back in his world." He looked over at Joule.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's muzzle twitched, but she held herself together, somehow.

"You know I ain't a coward, Vix," she said, quietly. "You know I ain't cruel. You know I ain't stupid. D'you really think I just have somethin' against the guy? I don't. I ain't even sayin' anythin' 'bout his character. Just that he was the fuckin' Haze."

She sighed. "I know it hurts t'hear ill spoken of someone yer fond of. But... Vix. Look. You'll figure yer way to acceptin' that truth sooner or later."

 

[Fusion]

"Vix," Dave said, gritting his teeth, "I talked to him. He fucking opened by admitting it was him. He explained his plan to use the power he has to get back to his world and depose its Arceus and get his partner back. Only..." He glanced away. "According to Maple, shit didn't actually go down like he said. He believed what he was saying, but he's just... I guess you can confirm what happened with Soda back in his world." He looked over at Joule.

"D-Dave's tellin' the truth, Vix! Soda... he is the haze, he was the spy! He was plannin' on fusin' with Cola to be strong enough to beat his Arceus but... he gave up on that," Puddle sighed. 'He gave up on helpin' me get stronger too, from the look of it...'

"He let Cola an' Pop make up, and it's because of him that Pop and Cola got away when that Mewtwo thing attacked," the Scraggy finished. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but everythin' everyone's sayin' is true."

"You know I ain't a coward, Vix," she said, quietly. "You know I ain't cruel. You know I ain't stupid. D'you really think I just have somethin' against the guy? I don't. I ain't even sayin' anythin' 'bout his character. Just that he was the fuckin' Haze."

She sighed. "I know it hurts t'hear ill spoken of someone yer fond of. But... Vix. Look. You'll figure yer way to acceptin' that truth sooner or later."

Hearing what Dave and Puddle said calmed Vix down enough to try and take Brisa's words to heart. Her body got brighter, but not as bright as it usually was, and she held a glare still as well. She still firmly believed that Soda was on their side, that he had good-hearted reasons, heroic reasons, to do what he did.

"Whatever he's done, he's still one of our allies. If people want to keep dragging his name in the dirt, I'll save us all the trouble and leave," she said, firm, but calm. She brushed Puddle off of her and crossed her arms, drawing silent.

 

[IFBench]

"Vix, please!" Saltriv called, a soothing quality in their voice. "I know it hurts. Stuff like this really, really hurts. But please. Stay with us. You're our friend."

 

[Fusion]

"And for a while, I thought Soda was too," Vix grumbled to Saltriv. "If this is how we treat our friends, shit, I might as well try my hand at world domination."

"Vix..." Puddle whined, shrinking.

The Chandelure stared at her familiar, then back to Saltriv, then the rest of the team. Then, she shook her head. "I'm standing by my statement. Any more shit talk about Soda, and I'm out of here."

 

[Disco]

Raven looked up at Vix and reached to put a hand on her in an attempt to calm her more, but stopped when she knocked Puddle to the floor. Instead, she said nothing. There was nothing that could be said or done to bring the tension down at all... She furled her wings tight against her body and ruffled her feathers, trying to relax herself.

Mellow and her shadow looked at Vix, then at the others. If Vix left... Would that be the crack that broke the team...? It only took one...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Koa was staring at Vix with silent fury in his eyes. Brisa hadn't known the kid that long, but she knew that if he lost his shit, he'd blow his top off at Vix. And Vix herself was shadowing before their eyes. They were this fucking close to a fight breaking out.

Oh, hell.

"Vix," she said, softly, the growl lying under it a reminder that she felt hard enough in her own way about this, that she was hurting too, "he ain't doin' what he's doin' fer our sakes. Or fer Cibus' sake. His plan as he describes it involves riskin' the entire world's destruction so's he can rip his homeworld open an' take his lover back."

From Brisa's satchel, black molasses oozed out, ultra stone in tow, and formed into the familiar figure of her familiar.

"The first thing he did on Cibus was beat the stuffin' out of Zeraora fer catchin' him with the Eterna meteor," she said, her normally upbeat voice subdued. "Why would he do that, Vix? If he were a hero?"

Brisa watched carefully, and put a steadying paw on Koa's shoulder, using a tiny whiplash to calm him, to remind him how much she cared.

Perhaps she ought to do the same for Vix.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut was sorely tempted to point out the hypocrisy behind Vix focusing squarely on Soda when Maple was in an arguably worse situation — one that didn't sound like she had any control in the matter — but people like Dave had already made up their minds on the matter and chosen to sit on the information instead of doing anything with it. Never mind that Bahamut had repour with Maple. That he had managed to talk through the whole "There's an eternatus in this precious tree" thing with her. That maybe he might've had a shot at convincing her to stay back and making the situation smoother.

But he'd been out of the loop. As was the case for everything except the time when half the team was dead. Whatever. Nothing new there. At least the routine was familiar.

"Denial."

Bahamut blinked. He looked back at his tail. Where did—

"It cannot be reasoned with." The shade's eyes glistened with an eager yellow. "Do you not see it? This is Vix's hope. Her devotion to someone who, if the situations were reversed, would never return such a gesture. It is tragic. And that tragedy is what gives the gesture such beaut— urk!"

Bahamut wrapped the shade up once again.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa was nearly on the brink of losing it when he felt Brisa's touch on his shoulder. Calming him. His anger faded slightly.

After taking another moment to compose himself, he spoke. "I think that's enough." he said quietly. "We're sitting here debating about this when he's out there on the moon, doing literally Arceus knows what. All that matters is deciding how to rescue Eien and Maple and what to do next. So let's please stop deciding our feelings on the Zoroark and focus on what matters now." There was a hint of a chilly anger in his tone, combined with a levelness that he only felt because of Brisa.

Then he clamped his jaws shut and looked back at Diyem.

 

[Fusion]

Vix did her best to not lose her shit just then; taking deep breaths, shutting her eyes, mentally counting to ten over and over again, but none of these were really helping. All of these voices pricked her body like pins and needles, and she had enough. And honestly Bahamut's familiar was incredibly irritating, even for Vix when she wasn't two steps away from blowing something up

"I meant what I said. Keep talking about your bullshit, all of you, I'm leaving." Vix exhaled, irritated. Her body gave off shadowy, ghost-like wisps for a moment before she shook them away and turned to leave. "Good. Bye." She did, on her way out, send one final glare to Koa before leaving.

Puddle wanted to stop her, but didn't know how, slumping its shoulders. Scrafty came back, and watched Vix leave from Puddle's side. It really turned to shit quickly, and in front of everyone else...

 

[Disco]

Mellow on the other hand, snarled as her anger flared again. "And who's fault is that? Hm? We wouldn't be doing this if you had trusted us too! Maybe he'd still be here instead of on the moon, because Maple wouldn't have lost it!"

Mellow watched Vix leave, cast one last sour look at the others, and went to follow her out.

 

[IFBench]

"VIX!" Saltriv yelled, running after her, before wrapping two vines around her in a hug. "Please don't leave. Please. You're my friend."

"We made it this far. I do believe that Soda does genuinely want to do good. I don't think he was trying to do bad things. I think we can still reason with him, but we can't do it without you. You're the one who was closest to him. Please. Stay with us."

A shadowy aura flared around both them and Vix, as they tried to Accept Vix's shadows and soothe her.

 

[Fusion]

"Saltriv, as my friend, I am asking you to let me leave." Vix's voice was stern, and about as stubborn as she was. She said she was going to leave, and so, that's what she was going to do. "And while I trust he dearly, it's obvious he trusted someone else more than me, seeing how I didn't hear half of this before today." She looked... hurt, admitting that. "You all will do fine without me."

 

[Disco]

Mellow growled. "Let me go. We both have every right to leave."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Why the fuck would you say Maple wouldn't have lost it? Last I heard, when you guys went over to her house to check her for Shadows she was pretty fucking unimpressed. You sure she would've figured oh, hey, actually that's perfectly plausible now, I'm going to not go into the Tree of Life?"

 

[IFBench]

"We won't do fine without you! Owen would have gotten imprisoned if it wasn't for you! You strengthen all of us with that wax of yours! You can change into an entirely different form and really help strike down enemies! We need you, Vix!" Saltriv cried, tears beginning to well up in their eyes. "Please, don't leave us!"

 

[Fusion]

"I'm not leaving the planet, just this damned meeting. Soda getting shit talked is vile, but I'm not gonna leave a planet I'm supposed to save over it," Vix said, gritting her teeth. She melted around Saltriv's vines, taking another deep breath. "I've caused enough of a ruckus already, and I'll just cause more if I stay in this room with assholes like--" She stopped herself, sighing. "See you back home."

 

[windskull]

Nip had stayed silent so far, choosing not to speak on things that he was frankly out of the loop on. But as tempers flared and things began to get our of hand, he had to speak up.

"It would be nice if it were as simplee as everyone makes it sound, wouldn't it," he growled, lip curled in the beginning of a snarl. "That Soda is pure evil, and that our teamates were stupid to not trust us and say something sooner. But if you ask me, the tone of this conversation is exactly why they didn't speak up. Some of us don't believe them. Some are angry for not saying something sooner. Or telling people that Soda knew, so that they could have dealt with it."

He growled and shook his head, then wapped his arms around his torso, claws digging into skin. "It's hard to speak up when you don't know if you can trust others to believe you isn't it? And as for Soda. Well. Whether or not Maple was being truthful, desperate Pokemon will do almost anything to find peace. Or carry out revenge. Or do anything, really." He paused. "Some are willing to go greater lengths than others."

 

[Disco]

Raven watched as Mellow and Vix walked towards the guild's exit, and could only shuffle closer to Bahamut. She looked absolutely miserable but didn't say a word.