Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Cresselia92]

“…Tomorrow noon, hm?”

Icetales let those words linger in his head, unconsciously bringing a tail filled with Radiance and a tail filled with Shadow toward his face. It was almost like his face had become a literal yin yang symbol.

“Well, I do not have anything scheduled for that time, so I should be able to attend to that match, yes.” He chuckled nervously. “I am not sure what I could accomplish, but… I shall try.”

The fox brought the tails back down and stared curiously at Cynthian. “And pray tell, who is thy current partner?”

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I'll be heading in with Brisa. She's the one who signed us up actually," Cynthian replied, her smile not leaving her face.

"Don't worry about anything Icetales. With our powers combined, no one can stop us now!"

 

[Cresselia92]

Whatever spark of enthusiasm Icetales might have had, it dissipated instantly when his ears picked up the name of Cynthian’s partner.

Brisa.

The bursts of Radiance and Shadow sputtered out and became none, while his eyes widened and his ears drooped.

“…Oh.” He began scratching his cheek with a forepaw, not feeling all that confident about that proposal anymore. “I… Oh, heavens! I, well…” Then, he sighed. “…All right. I appreciate thy offer, Miss Cynthian, but… I am not sure if it is a good idea for me to join that match. It is just,” he looked away, mulling over the thoughts that were forming in his mind, “there is a bit of a wedge between Brisa and I, thou see?”

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Is it about what happened in the guild lobby?" Cynthian asked.

 

[Cresselia92]

Despite the noises of the waves still filling the air, Icetales didn’t hear anything for a while. It was just silence and a solemn expression on his face.

“Yes. That, and… other troubling thoughts that have been plaguing me. So many swirling moments that still make my head hurt.”

The Ninetales walked toward the shore, letting the saltwater splash on his forepaws. He found the fresh sensation comforting.

“…So, yes. A few members of our team hid information from the others. About Maple. About Soda. And about that… lure.” He sighed. “I cannot say that I wasn’t bothered by that. I mean, we have spent all these months together, and I… gods, I was foolish enough to believe that we were a solid and unified team. That we were… one.”

By then, his tails had become completely still.

“Though, in hindsight, I knew I overreacted. I know about discretion and confidentiality. Like, heavens, I am a butler! That is basically one of our most important lessons!” He nodded to himself. “So, I… When I had some time to think it thoroughly, I understood. That was a very delicate situation, with no easy answer. And my conversation with Sir Koamaru confirmed my suspicions. I am… not angry with them or anything like that. Far from it.”

Icetales paused to let those words linger, then he turned around. However, there was only sadness in his eyes.

“But I… cannot help but believe that Brisa does not trust me. The look in those eyes, when my darkness emerged…” He shook his head. “I cannot forget it. I feel like she does not entrust me to fare well in the Voidlands.

“But I can do it. I know I can. What my sister revealed to me… it opened my eyes, unveiled my true vocation and talents.” He brought his tails forward. “The darkness… I can bend it to my will now. I know I can!” A glare of determination flared in his eyes, but that waned and made way to sadness once more. “I want to build bridges, not walls. I want to clarify everything. To prove what I can do. But I… I am not sure how to start. It is not like I do not want to fight by her side, but would she want to fight by my side? This is… what I am uncertain about.”

 

[Adamhuarts]

"It's not enough to just assume, you know," Cynthian said, gently kicking at the sand by her feet. She sighed. "You should talk things out with her, or fight things out."

She smiled. "Something tells me she'll be fine with either."

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales nodded absentmindedly, but he mulled over those words. “I… suppose so.”

The Ninetales turned once more toward the sea and took in another mouthful of iodine. Then, he exhaled a cloud of snowflakes, as bright as the stars. The chillness filling his body was enough to refresh his mind and invigorate him with new determination.

“…Very well. I shall reach out for her tomorrow morning, and see to solve this tension between us.” He glanced again at Cynthian. The doubts he had were gone, and a fierce aura seemed to radiate from those eyes. “Even if I were to prove my worth in a duel… I shall!” A smirk made its way on his muzzle. “So, keep that invitation for the match fresh. This is a good time to have faith in us.”

 

[Adamhuarts]

"That's the spirit!" Cynthian said, throwing a flower in the air.

She stretched her arms and yawned. "I think I'll turn in over for the night now. I'm still kind of sore from taking a beating from Sword. A good night's sleep should get me back in form."

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales nodded. “Yes. Tomorrow will be a fairly busy day, so go take that rest, my dear.” His smile became radiant. “Thou deserved it. I shall see to go back to Rocky Road in a moment. There is… something else I must do first.”

Cynthian gave a tired nod back and got ready to leave, but not before planting a goodnight kiss on Icetales’ cheek. The Ninetales’ tails spread out and unleashed some blue mist, stunned by that action and overwhelmed by his raging emotions. Though, he didn’t have enough time to recombobulate and inquire about the reasoning of that action that the Roserade was already far, with only the faint scent of strawberry mixed in the air.

The leftmost tail made its way toward his cheek, still registering what happened, and the fox’s face took a blue tint. By the stars, how could she make his heart race so much? Not that he minded that, of course. If all, he could tell that she was feeling in high spirits, too.

Satisfied and reassured by that conversation, Icetales marched toward the shore and stood there for a few minutes.

Breezes; stars; black sky.

He turned left, then right. Not a single soul was around anymore. He was truly alone.

After a few more seconds of staring at the dark sea, Icetales walked down the beach. The walk turned into a trot, the trot turned into jogging, the jogging broke into a wild run.

Black fumes seeped from the fox’s body, the darkness consuming his entire essence. Gone was the Ninetales, and in his place there was just a dark purple demon with blue flames. Yet, he didn’t repel that phenomenon, but rather he embraced that fully.

In that moment, the half-daemon felt he had become one with the night and the cosmos. He had found… freedom.

<><><><>​

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa made his way towards the beach. The day was clear and he had some free time. He'd never been to any of the beaches here yet, and he figured checking one out would be a good way to relax. Not to mention beaches always reminded him of home, in a good way. And perhaps he could practice more. It seemed almost everyone on the team had managed to transform or evolve or... whatever it was they pulled off. Everyone except him.

To his surprise however, he wasn't alone. A Meganium was there as well, though one nothing like the ones he knew. Saltriv he realized. At least he was pretty sure. he didn't know of any other Meganium that looked like them. One of his teammates, though he'd hardly spoken to them. And someone else. who'd managed to use that unleashed form.

Might as well try to be friendly. "Hey," he called. "Saltriv, right?"

 

[IFBench]

Hearing a voice, Saltriv turned, seeing a Manetric. They smiled, and waved their leaf. "Hi! Yep, I'm Saltriv," they said. "You're Koa, right?"

 

[Flyg0n]

"Er, just Koamaru is fine," he replied. He gave a nod of acknowledge and sat down nearby. He vaguely remembered her form had looked like she had a flaming tail and some sort of shell. Everyone's seemed to vary wildly so far. So what caused it? And how could he figure out his. If he even had one...

"What are you doing out here?"

 

[IFBench]

"Just relaxing on the beach. Reminds me of a place back home," Saltriv said, gazing out towards the ocean. Their expression looked almost melancholic.

"What about you? What brings you out here?"

 

[Flyg0n]

"Reminds me of home too actually," Koa replied. "I lived in this place called Canalave City, and it was right on the ocean." He glanced at her curiously. "You're from a world like this, right? Just Pokemon, no humans?"

 

[IFBench]

"Yep! Well, there are a few Pokemon who used to be humans, but only five. And four of them saved the world! My uncle was actually partners with one of them!" they said, their tail wagging slightly as they talked about humans. "Humans are so cool! They're so powerful and heroic! I want to go visit the human world someday!"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa laughed a little. "Wow that's impressive."

Must be nice to be related to a hero.

The notion of humans being regarded as powerful and heroic was still odd. Wasn't Brisa like that too though? He wondered what made them like that. "The human world is cool, I guess. I mean, here seems cooler to me but I maybe that's because I'm from the human world, so its normal to me."

He paused and glanced at them again.

"Hey, if you don't mind me asking, do all Meganium look like you on your world?"

 

[IFBench]

"Nope! We have sexual dimorphism! Boy Meganiums have long antennae, and girl Meganiums have shorter ones! But I'm nonbinary, so I don't have antennae at all, I just keep my leaf!" they said, giving their leaf a wave.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa stared at them and managed a nod. So many words... he vaguely found himself reminded of talking to Professor Rowan. Still, the gist was clear enough to him. "That's kinda neat. Pokemon back home are really different. They aren't interested in the stuff Pokemon here seem to be, like all this... human-y stuff? Like selling items, making buildings or stuff like that."

And of course, most Pokemon back home could tap into inner darkness to power up. Although Pokemon here couldn't either. Still, Pokemon here seemed interested in different things that the ones he knew back home.

And I still can't evolve like everyone else.

"Hey, I was wondering, how'd you do that special evolution thing? Back in the Voidlands." Maybe if he could figure out what triggered it, he could finally pull it off.

 

[IFBench]

"That's...weird," Saltriv said, giving Koa an odd look. "All that stuff is just exclusive to humans in your world?"

They smiled a bit more as Koa changed the topic. "Oh, that! I just trusted in my friends really hard, and had a surge of intense empathy for them all, and then that happened!"

 

[Flyg0n]

"I mean it's not exclusive to humans. It's more like... I don't know. A majority of Pokemon aren't into that. I guess a few are, and they like to help humans with stuff but its just not interesting for them." It was hard to picture Rascal or Echo or even Scrapper wanting to build a house or work in a store. They were fighters, through and through. The thought of walking into a store only to be greeted by Rascal was rather amusing.

"Anyways..." he frowned. "Just a surge of empathy? That's it?" He had empathy, didn't he? And he trusted the team fine enough. So why wasn't it working? Unless it was because the team didn't trust him? Immediately he pushed the thought aside. That didn't make any sense.

Maybe there was just something he was missing.