Poppin' Arms ~ Study

[Persephone]

“Hi! Vix, right? Cuicatl here was just strategizing.”

“Valentina just dragged me here, is what she means.”

 

[Fusion]

"Funny, I was coming here to do some planning myself. But by myself this time, I think I might've scared Puddle off," Vix snickered a bit. "Would it be alright if I joined you guys? I feel like it's been a while since we last chatted, it could be nice to catch up, right?"

 

[Persephone]

“Suit yourself.”

“Of course! We’d love to talk.”

“Quiet hours, Val.”

“Sorry.”

 

[Fusion]

Vix smiled, taking a seat beside Cuicatl. She didn't know what to say at first, shyly tapping the tips of her arms together before saying, "So, what have you been up to recently? I don't want to seem like I'm prying, but... well I'm not a professional, but you sort of seem kinda down, Cuitcatl. You feeling alright?"

 

[Persephone]

"Little bit."

"We've been through some shit," Val continued. "Brother died about... a year back? Accounting for time here is..." She realized that she actually didn't know for certain if it had been a year or not. The anniversary could have passed unacknowledged. "...hard? She's taking it hard."

Cuicatl hissed and lashed out at Val's head, landing a warning bite. Then it promptly crashed back down to the ground.

 

[Fusion]

Vix's flame dimmed at the news of Cuicatl's brother, and she flinched when Cuicatl bit Valentina. Her eyes widened in shock. It was difficult to figure out what to do; obviously Valentina was just hurt and might've needed help, but Cuicatl... Vix wanted to ask why Cuicatl lashed out like that, but it was fairly obvious, wasn't it?

Floating there wouldn't have done anything for anyone, so Vix shook her head and asked, "Valentina, are you alright?" She then looked to Cuicatl, worried. "Why would you... do that to Valentina?"

 

[Persephone]

"I'm fine. Didn't even break the scales. Warning bite. Shouldn't bring up that in front of strangers without asking. Duly noted for the future."

Cuicatl, again, said nothing.

"Enough about that, how are you doing?"

 

[Fusion]

Vix looked at Valentina for a moment, then to Cuicatl. They were really hurting, weren't they? It sort of felt like Vix couldn't do anything about it, at least not yet. She took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. If they wanted to move on, then they would move on. She wasn't one to force someone to dwell on pain.

"I'm... doing alright. Probably better than most, which, believe it or not, sort of makes me feel worse," Vix tittered weakly. "And for a while, I've felt pretty alone. It was basically just me and Puddle up until it dragged me into making friends. Like Owen, I think, and Luz," Vix's flame brightened just a bit as she remembered her fight with the Zeraora. What a blast that was, Vix still had a few jitters left over from how amped up she got.

Momentarily, Vix shook her head. "It sort of feels like I don't know anybody, really, and I want to change that. I want to help them too, any way I can." She looked to Cuicatl again, briefly. "Even if all someone needs is someone to talk to or be around, you know? Like a hero." Vix winced. "I-I mean, like a friend."

 

[Persephone]

"Of course we can be friends! Right, Cuicatl?"

"..."

"She says yes. So, uh, what'd you do for fun at home?"

 

[Fusion]

"Hero training, dungeon charting, and feral Pokemon studying. All so I can become a Guildmaster someday, " Vix said, regaining some of her chipper tone. "It sounds like a lot, but it's mostly just me hanging out with my friends in a mystery dungeon, hehe."

"What about you two? Anything you like to do for fun?"

 

[Persephone]

Guildmaster. That meant Vix was probably from a Pokémon only world. Bringing up training was probably not the best move. Not like she had many other hobbies...

“Just kind of helped out around the house, played with some of the Pokémon that lived nearby. What’s hero training? That sounds really cool.”

 

[Fusion]

"That's... complicated," Vix took a second to think it over. "The heroes of my world are capable of amazing things, but they all have something unique to them. My teachers said, if I wanted to be a hero myself, I'd have to find what was unique about me. Hero training, at least so far, has just been me and my friends trying out as many things as we can to see what sticks."

"I haven't had much luck finding my thing, so when my teachers were approached by Diyem, they decided to send me instead," Vix nodded, then her light dimmed again. "Other than accidentally saving Owen from suspicion, wearing myself out in fights, and hitting things really hard, I haven't had much luck here either."

Vix shook her head. "But is helping around the house and playing with Pokemon really all you do? I don't mean to sound rude, but that kinda... doesn't sound like the right pick if you're looking for someone to save a world."

 

[Persephone]

"Now you're getting it..." Cuicatl said.

"Oh, hush. We also traveled with some friends. Quest thing to fight giant pokemon and--"

"--make a ton of money."

"Right, also to do that. Friends got kidnapped and the ransom is A Lot."

Val paused, waiting to get bit. Nothing. Until Cuicatl spoke.

"Radiance? Is that 'your thing?' Does anyone else on your world have it?"

 

[Fusion]

"Funnily enough, my world has something closer to Shadow rather than Radiance. Either that or just really, really strong Dark Types," Vix chuckled. It was hard to ignore that Cuicatl was still feeling down, but maybe they were starting to feel better? Hopefully.

"Oh, hush. We also traveled with some friends. Quest thing to fight giant pokemon and--"

"--make a ton of money."

"Right, also to do that. Friends got kidnapped and the ransom is A Lot."

"So you are heroes, then?" Vix asked. "Going on a quest for your friends sounds pretty heroic to me. Definitely more than I've done, that's for sure. All I did was fix a dungeon." That wasn't entirely true, but Vix didn't really a reason to delve into it.

 

[Persephone]

“Hero, huh... Maybe? How do you even define that?” Val stayed quiet, just glad Cuicatl said something that wasn’t inherently depressing. “Never felt much like one.”

Never mind.

 

[Fusion]

“Hero, huh... Maybe? How do you even define that?”

Vix chuckled. "I almost died trying to find that out myself, and frankly, I still don't know."

“Never felt much like one.”

"Yeah... me neither," Vix sighed. "But, here, we're definitely heroes!"

'Right?'

"We're making a difference and saving lives, stopping the badguys, and doing incredible things! I don't know what it means to be a hero, but the heroes I know do that, and from the sound of it, you did too before coming here," Vix smiled lightly.

 

[Persephone]

"I suppose we are... here."

Val was not going to let Vix take the obvious opening there. "What were you going to strategize about, anyway?"

 

[Fusion]

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, right. Let's see here..." Vix hummed. "I've managed to tweak my body in a way that I can do a great amount of damage, while also being able to take several hits myself. My idea is to work as a shield taking as much damage as I can for anyone else, and be able to deal huge damage to whoever we fight at the same time. I've already gotten it down, but there's more I can add to it... I just have no idea what."

She realized how quickly she went off and shook her head. "What about you two? What were you going to strategize about?"

 

[Persephone]

“Hmm... you want to block hits for other people? Can you get in front of them in time? Or make yourself big enough that they can hide behind you? And we weren’t strategizing about anything.”

 

[Fusion]

Vix nodded. "Ally Switch was basically made just for that. Normally, in my world, it causes two Pokemon to swap places. But here it's more... a hate magnet," she giggled. "Watch."

Vix stacked a few books nice n' tall, like a stage, then floated a bit away. She waved her arms around, gaining a ghastly purple glow, and three globs of wax shot from her head onto the books, forming into a little Litwick, a tiny Zeraora, and mini Smeargle. "Let's say that the Zeraora was attacking the Smeargle," right as Vix said that, the tiny wax Zeraora started whapping the mini Smeargle with its lil, itty-bitty arms. Zeraora jumped back, and the Smeargle stopped its foot, angery. Litwick melted in shock, hiding off to the side.

"Normally, the Smeargle would attack the Zeraora back, right? But if that Litwick were to use Ally Switch..." Litwick sprung back to life, wobbling in some sort of dance. Smeargle and Zeraora growled and snarled at each other, until they both noticed the Litwick, giving it a puzzled look. Then, Smeargle got mad at the little candle. Smeargle looked between Litwick and Zeraora, then decided to pounce on Litwick, squashing it easily.

"...Then the Smeargle is gonna get madder at the Litwick than the Zeraora!" Vix clapped, excited that her little show went off without a hitch. The globs of wax slooshed back into one shape and floated back into Vix's head. "It's... strange how different it is than my world's version, but I can make it work anyway.