Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Infirmary

[Namohysip]

"Right, Pleo, sure..." Brulee groaned. "I feel all bruised up. Do you have any idea how cramped that chamber was? Clearly they ran out of space and shoved me in the smallest one thinking my feathers would compress down..." He stretched, then winced when he stretched too far. "...And who are you, anyway?"

 

[Virgil134]

"I'm Cabot from Team Spectrum," he answered. "Me and my teammates have come from different worlds and arrived here in Cibus about 3 months ago. We've been trying to save your world by fighting Team Rocket, the ones that held you captive, and even saved Lugia after she became corrupted."

 

[Namohysip]

Brulee stared at Cabot incredulously for a long while, adjusting his feathers and trying o find a better position in the hospital bed. "...What?"

"Brulee!" Meringue called. His frantic steps through the hospital alerted a few nurses, though none bothered to stop him from heading in. Zinc stood in front of Brulee to make sure Meringue didn't accidentally tackle anyone.

He stopped by the entrance, beaming. "You're actually okay?"

"That's a stretch," Brulee replied, flopping his head onto a pillow.

 

[Virgil134]

"See? He's really here!"

Pleo walked into the room and stopped right besides Meringue. Cabot smiled upon seeing Meringue's beaming expression, recounting the dinner he and Pleo had with him and Lugia the other day. Specifically the part where they talked about the base underneath the Isle of Light.

"Told you we might find your brother down there."

 

[Namohysip]

Meringue stepped toward Brulee and looked him over, glancing once at Zinc, who nodded.

"Don't crowd over him, but... he'll be fine." The Goodra stepped away. "No straining yourself for a day, alright? You should be fine, but that will get you in top shape as soon as possible."

"Hmff..." Brulee looked back. "But I think Ho-Oh is still..."

"Just like Lugia used to be," Meringue finished, frowning.

 

[Virgil134]

"Yeah, we... weren't able to get her out," Cabot said, rubbing the back of his neck. "When that Mewtwo came back we had to leave in a hurry."

"But, we'll go back and save her, right?" Pleo asked as he went up to Cabot.

"Right! We will!" the Cranidos insisted, giving a confident smile. "Just like with Lugia."

 

[Namohysip]

"I heard that Darkwhite person planned to go back and get her," Zinc said, frowning. "Is... that true?"

Meringue scowled. "She's such a pest. You know what she did? Right when I was about to go to sleep, she turned into my bed, and I didn't know it for the whole night! I was sleeping in a Darkwhite all night and she woke me up with a kiss!" He shuddered. "Something's wrong with her."

Brulee blinked, then suspiciously inspected his pillow, which was not alive.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot visibly winced. "That sounds unpleasant..." He cleared his throat before continuing. "Anyway, I'm not really sure what to expect from her if she goes back to get Ho-Oh. I think even in a best case scenario my team and I will still have to fight Ho-Oh. I certainly don't expect Darkwhite to drop off Ho-Oh here at the infirmary the same way we did with you, Brulee."

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't think I was... was under that control as much," Brulee said, looking down. "For the best, but... Ho-Oh, she..."

"We'll get her," Meringue said, nodding. "They were able to help Lugia, right? Only problem is Darkwhite is the one they're relying on, but hey... she, er, she helped once? Kind of? Even if she's... someone I'd never want to hang around with once this is over."

 

[Virgil134]

"I mean, I wouldn't say that we're relying on her, but she does have some abilities that will come in handy here. Especially since we don't have a way yet to take that Mewtwo head on," Cabot said. "Either way, Meringue is right. I promise that we'll save Ho-Oh and bring her back safely. If Darkwhite ends up trying anything then we'll just beat her as well."

 

[Namohysip]

"Sounds like relying to me," Brulee said with a dry chuckle.

"They beat Darkwhite once, so they can beat her again," Meringue said with a nod. "Until then, though... I suppose I'll just have to kick my bed each night until we know we're done with her."

 

[Virgil134]

"H-Hey, we were doing great without her!" Cabot insisted as he proudly puffed out his chest. "It's just a lot easier when she helps out, that's all. If we have enough time I'm sure that we can become strong enough to beat that Mewtwo, and then we won't have to sneak around as much anymore."

 

[Namohysip]

"I guess so," Brulee said with a chuckle, though when he tried to sit up, he winced.

"All right," Zinc said gently, helping Brulee get back into a resting position. "I think Brulee needs to recover more. Meringue, you can stay, but don't have Brulee exert himself."

Brulee sighed. "Once I'm better... I'll do what I can to help you guys." He looked down. "Thanks for everything... See you then."

"And good luck finding Ho-Oh," Meringue said. "And whatever Darkwhite has planned..."

<><><>​

 

[TheGOAT]

Astrid had been staring at the ceiling for a while now, trying to decipher between what had occurred and what had simply been dreamed.

Everything was numb—even her sense of time. Whatever they’d given her had dulled most of the physical pain, and with it, her motivation to move. The frozen remnants of her tears clung to her eyes like residue, but she lacked the impetus to wipe them. All she could do was breathe. Breathe, and ponder.

Footsteps click-clacked down the nearby hallway, and briefly, her heart throbbed. But she could tell they weren’t Brisa’s, or a quadruped’s in general, and relaxed again. To her own surprise, she managed to pull her tails out from under her to get a good look at the door.

 

[Virgil134]

"Astrid?"

Cabot came to a stop at the opposite end of Astrid's bed. He'd gone to the infirmary to help drop off Ho-Oh and to make sure she was doing alright, when he'd noticed Astrid in one of the beds on his way out. The two of had fought amazingly well earlier, or at least until the amount of Radiance in Astrid's body caused her to explode... twice.

"Are you doing alright?" he asked, before rubbing the back of his neck. "That sure was quite the battle, huh?"

 

[TheGOAT]

Just Cabot. Phew.

She probably looked like shit, and being aware of the fact didn’t do her any good. A smile was cracked nonetheless. “Hey,” she croaked softly, clearing her throat to speak better, “how’re you? I—yeah. Yeah, it was.”

A short pause.

“…Is everyone alright? Did anything happen after I, um…”

 

[Virgil134]

"I'm doing alright," Cabot replied. "I didn't really get hurt all that much during the fight, so I helped Ho-Oh get to the infirmary with some others. And, uh... well..."

The Cranidos hemmed and hawed a bit, unsure where to start.

"How much do you remember after you exploded?"

 

[TheGOAT]

“I… remember Brisa. A-and Icetales.” Her expression matched the throbbing in her heart. “They were too close to the blast, weren’t they?”

 

[Virgil134]

"Eh..."

Cabot scratched his cheek. It seemed like Astrid had missed out on a lot more than he initially thought.

"Well, Icetales managed to jump out of the way in time, so he's fine. Brisa... wasn't so lucky," he began, before hastily amending his words when he noticed Astrid was starting to get more distressed. "But she's fine too! Or, fine enough... I think. She still had a Reviver Seed and she's not here at infirmary. Brisa also didn't seem any more injured than anyone else during everything that happened afterwards."

"After we'd won Giovanni came back to try and take Sword with him, but he wasn't able to because... uh..." Cabot trailed off trying to remember Nate's name, "Mudkip used that Shadow move of his, which stopped those capture spheres from working. We escaped, but Maple accidently brought us to some sacred spring in the Water Continent. We found out there that Sword is actually a Shade. One with an Ultra Stone and everything."

 

[TheGOAT]

Astrid listened to Cabot’s explanation, shifting from relief, to horror, to a mixture of both—and finally, her face settling on a neutral frown.

Brisa…

Why did it have to be the one person who had talked to her about not exploding? The very same person she’d drawn her power from?

She would have to face that noise later. In the meantime, Astrid pressed: “Darkwhite—um, I mean, Sword—is a shade? With a stone… so you mean, like, a familiar?” The frown deepened. “And her host? Who would that be?”