Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa was wide open for the hit.

She heard something crack before she felt any hurt, and bit sand in a second flat. The dawning pain was almost soothing, dulled by the whiskey still in her blood. Huh. How about that. She was dimly aware that it was probably Cabot, and not Astrid, who had dealt this finishing blow. Ah, well.

She passed out briefly, to wake up when stirred after the battle was over.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian froze on the spot when he saw Astrid and Cabot turn both their attentions to Brisa. Not only was he himself ignored by them, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything as Brisa was taken down by them.

Time seemed to drag as he stared at the scene before him. He'd messed up. They knew he was weak, and that's why they focused on Brisa first. That was just it, right?

Before Cabot and Astrid could even turn back to him, Cynthian fell to his knees and hung his head low. There was no point in continuing. He already knew what would come next...

"I forfeit."

 

[TheGOAT]

Astrid skid to a stop, discarding the tiny icicles built up between her teeth. He was forfeiting?

She looked behind her and saw Cabot, in perfect health, and Brisa… in the sand. Ah. That was why.

Still…

“You sure?” Astrid said, relaxing but not turning her back. “I won’t hit you hard if you’d prefer I didn’t.”

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian shook his head and whimpered a bit. "No thanks."

He raised his crestfallen face at her, and there wasn't even a trace of fighting spirit left in him. "It won't make a difference."

I won't make a difference, wanted to add, but the words were stuck in his throat. Cynthian exhaled a defeated sigh. "You were all stronger. The fight was over before it even started."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot blinked in surprise, before he began to paw at the back of his neck.

"I mean, if you really don't wanna go anymore, we'll stop," the Cranidos said. "Though sparring is more about helping each other get stronger than winning. So you really don't have to worry about how well you'll do or anything like that."

 

[TheGOAT]

With lips pursed into a conflicted smile, Astrid placed a paw on his shoulder. “You did good. Keep practicing that Stun Spore.”

She leaned in closer towards his ear. There were no secrets to tell, of course, but maybe the gesture would make him feel better somehow. “We’re gonna need you,” she whispered, pulling back and shooting him one more confident nod.

Then, after victoriously bumping paw to fist with Cabot, she jogged over to Brisa’s slumped form. In no time, she’d placed a reviver seed in her jaws.

“Hey. You okay?” Astrid giggled. “Eheh, that looked like it hurt.” She tried to pull her out of the sand, but—oof. Her everything felt like it had been slammed by a Steelix. She tried to wrap Brisa around her so she could lift, but couldn’t find the leverage needed.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Astrid had slowed to a jog, and then to a standstill once she reached the grass-type. With lips pursed into a conflicted smile, she placed a paw on his shoulder. “You did good. Keep practicing that Stun Spore.”

She leaned in closer towards his ear. There were no secrets to tell, of course, but maybe the gesture would make him feel better somehow. “We’re gonna need you,” she whispered, pulling back and shooting him one more confident nod.

At first Cynthian stiffened from the cold air surrounding her when she leaned in towards his ear. However, her words that followed warmed his heart ever so slightly. He appreciated that.

"Thank you. For your kindness," Cynthian said, trying his best to hide the faint blush on his cheeks.

As he got back to his feet, he glanced at Cabot with a nod, then his eyes fell upon Brisa. Cynthian wanted to say something, or perhaps apologize, but he couldn't bring himself to do so.

"I think I've had enough sunlight for one day. I'll be retreating back to town now. Take care everyone," Cynthian said, and then he turned around and walked away before they could say anything.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot opened his mouth to speak, only to trail off as Cynthian already started walking away. He hesitated on what to do for a moment, when he noticed Astrid having trouble lifting Brisa up.

"Here. Lemme help."

Cabot wrapped his arms around Brisa and carefully lifted her back onto her feet.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa regained consciousness to see Astrid looking down at her and asking if she was okay. Well, she was now! She felt like she could barely stand, but she nodded and did her best to push herself to her feet.

"Nice... win," she gasped. "Guess I know now what sand... tastes like. Not so bad!"

She let Astrid and Cabot lend her some support, and looked around for Cynthian to see him heading off alone. Had he yielded? That was too bad, but a mon should be given space if they needed it.

Brisa, though, didn't want any space at all. With two mon pressed against her, she had to stifle a purr. When was the last time she'd had this kind of physical support? Yeah, she was okay. Better than she'd been, anyway.

It was gonna be a long walk back to town.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot noticed Brisa had trouble standing, prompting him to shift uneasily.

"Looks like I hit you pretty hard back there," he said sheepishly. "Sorry."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Not a problem," Brisa replied, wincing a little all the same. "That was a good dustin'; I never saw ya comin'."

Cabot was another fella she'd seen about plenty often enough in the past weeks without ever really talking to, too much. Since it sure seemed like folks from other worlds were raring for a lot more conversation than she was used to, maybe now was a good time to make a better acquaintance of him.

"Say, Cabot, you must be holdin' up pretty well considerin' how tough you're gettin'. You do this much fightin' and frettin' back home?"

 

[Virgil134]

"I do actually!" Cabot replied. "In my world I help keep the waters of my empire safe as part of the Royal Navy, so fighting is a natural part of that."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Empire, huh? 'Royal Navy.' Interesting.

"So what kinda foes do you square up against? I never saw the ocean before we all came to this world, so I don't have much idea what fightin' is like at sea."

 

[Virgil134]

"Well, there are pirates for starters. They're like a gang of outlaws, except they sail from island to island on ships and there's usually a lot more of them," Cabot began. "Even most smaller crews have at least a few dozen members, though some of the larger crews can even have hundreds of Pokémon on them. In fact, I had to defend a merchant ship from of the largest pirate crews in Anyilla during my first mission."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Damn, an actually decent pick for the posse, thought Brisa. At least on the surface. There weren't so many of those, to be downright plain about it.

"Huh. Good dishing," she remarked. Then, out of curiosity, "any humans in your life, transformed or otherwise? I'm findin' 'em to be quite the common thread between the mon in our posse."

 

[Virgil134]

"Not in my world. The first time I met any humans was right outside of Veritas City," Cabot answered. "That said, they did exist in my world centuries ago. It's kind of a long story, but there were basically a bunch of evil Pokémon that killed most of the gods in my world except for Arceus. Around the time that happened humans disappeared from the world completely."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Humans disappearing from the world. Malevolent pokémon. Ancient conflicts. Dead gods. Was every world so bleak?

"Huh. Sounds heavy."

Brisa paused, and adjusted herself against the support of the mon on either side of her. She was still hurting, but the catharsis and the thrill of physical contact rendered her insensitive to the pain. Was this possible because she had no history here, or because these were better people than the mon she knew her whole life?

"You got friends waiting for you back home?" she tried, with a grin.

 

[Virgil134]

"Uh-huh! I've got plenty of friends in the navy, including my two best friends: Berecien and Niilo," Cabot said. "Berecien is a Ponyta and a noble. He might seem a little stuck-up to someone who doesn't know him very well, but he's actually really nice and I'd trust him with my life. As for Niilo, he's a Sandslash and a mercenary. While I guess it means he's technically not part of the navy, it doesn't really feel that way since we trained together and have been assigned to the same crew since the start."

As Cabot helped Brisa walk towards the beach's exit he looked down towards the ground a moment, before giving a small smile and speaking back up.

"And, well, there's also a friend I made more recently back home... his name is Pleo. He's a Lugia."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Lugia? Oh, like that Meringue fella. Must be a big 'un.

"Glad to hear you're the sociable sort," said Brisa. "Gotta have a few of those in the posse, eh?"

 

[Virgil134]

"Yeah, exactly!" Cabot exclaimed, before giving Brisa a curious glance. "So what about you? What are your friends back home like, Brisa?"