Rocky Road ~ House of Brisa, Dave, Koa, and Owen

[Namohysip]

Owen nodded. "This whole thing was probably a big unexpected setback for him, or something. But at least he worked it in stride..." He trailed off, thoughtful. "I'm a bit of a planner myself, though. Just, you know, more for preparation and equipment, not... whatever social stuff Mergo does."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I do my best, but it's not like I got the experience or skills fer that kinda thing," mused Brisa. "I get people into the trainin' grounds all I can, give instruction, an' so on. And I tried t'get folks to attend therapy, but I don't recall havin' much luck there. I see the need, though, and that most folks don't take on anythin' of the sort."

She chuckled grimly. "Damn near everyone on the team has had some serious emotional shit t'deal with. Diyem sure knows how to pick 'em."

 

[Namohysip]

"Yeah..." Owen sighed. "I hope the me here went, at least. It seems like he really needed it. Back in my world, Wheat was really nice, and I think he's the same here, too."

He finished the second burger, contemplative. "Glad that he could find you, too. You seem really nice. You were there when, you know, some other things probably happened, right? I saw some damage to Destiny Tower, so..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa beamed at Owen. Hard to tell if she was warming so fast to the guy because despite reminding herself constantly that he wasn't the same individual charizard she knew and loved, she still thought of him as her best friend on some level . . . or because different timeline and experiences aside, Owen was just lovely in any reality.

"Yeah, Owen's had a lotta help from Wheat, recommended him t'the rest of the team. And, uh, I'm really glad he an' I met, too. I know the incident y'mean..."

"I... I trust Owen. No, I have faith in him. I ain't about to quit on him."

"I faced down Maple to vouch fer him. And I'm goddamn glad I did. He deserves folks as'll stand by him. And so do you."

 

[Namohysip]

That made Owen's flame burn bright, and he quickly looked away for modesty. "Y-yeah. Thanks," he said. On the surface it seemed like he was almost dismissing it, but Brisa knew him well enough to tell that it had really affected him.

"I hope he gets that kind of support back home," he said. "I had a lot of friends and family by my side, you know. I hope... I hope I still will."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"You will," said Brisa, with total confidence. "Are you kiddin'? After knowin' yer counterpart fer a year, and seein' how yer teammates think of you, I got the feelin' you'll have friends and allies wherever you go."

She really did believe that completely. And believing it so hard... That made it just a little easier to believe, come what may, that the same could be true of herself after this was all over.

<><><><><>​

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa's thoughts paced as he meandered back towards his house after a lunch. With everything settling down, and their final fight looming on the horizon, he'd had more free time. Ever since the fight on the moon, some thoughts he'd done his best to ignore to kept nagging at him.

He opened the door slowly, and he poked his head inside. "Dave? You home?" he called.

Hopefully no one else was.

 

[Dragonfree]

“Hey. What’s up?” Dave looked up from his badge. He was sprawled across the sofa, reading about Chip’s new laser technology. Kid looked troubled by something, like Jean after a day of her supposed-friends being particularly cruel to her. Jeez. What now?

 

[Flyg0n]

In another circumstance, he might have tried to beat around the bush more, but Dave would just forget this conversation anyway, so who cared? "I uh, wondered if you knew how Soda is doing. You know after... everything. I know you guys were close."

Why do I even care how Soda is doing?

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave raised an eyebrow. Didn’t Koa kind of hate Soda, or was he misremembering? “He’s all right. Now, anyway. Why?”

 

[Flyg0n]

Why do you care? He didn't, he just wanted to be nice. That was it.

"I just... wanted to check in I guess. I'm glad." Was he? "Do you think he'll be forgiven for... everything?"

Could he be saved?

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave frowned. "I mean, none of this shit was really his fault to begin with. The Blacklight fucked with his head to the point of insanity." He shifted to push himself upright, placing his badge on the coffee table. "The God Squad gets it, though. Maple's going to get him to help out in Telum. Who knows about your average Joe in the street, but also, who cares."

 

[Flyg0n]

"Maple and the God Squad let it go?" Koa nodded to himself. He supposed he wasn't very surprised by that. Not only was this Cibus, but the God Squad seemed like good mon. "I guess I'm not surprised."

Still, Soda had tried to rewrite the universe. But it hadn't been his fault, according to Dave. "What do you think it takes to redeem something like that then? Just an apology?" he fought not to let any bitterness seep into his tone. It wasn't Soda's fault. That was just what the Blacklight did.

But how many times had he heard that rhetoric spouted, about making the world 'better' somehow?

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave peered at Koa. Were they still talking about Soda? "Redemption, I mean, what's that even mean? It's not like there's actually some grand cosmic ledger where once you've done X amount of good things you've officially made up for whatever bad things."

He rubbed at his eye. How did he get here, talking ethics with a fourteen-year-old while they're both dogs?

"But by the same token, it's not like some magic happens and purifies your soul when you say the words I'm sorry, and then nobody's allowed to think you're an asshole anymore. All there is to it is what you do and whether people trust you for it. If you stop being a dick, and people believe you've stopped being a dick, then congratulations, you win."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa nodded thoughtfully as he took in Dave's words. A troubled sensation still tugged at him though. They'd managed to save Soda, and they'd freed him from the Blacklight but... He'd wanted it, hadn't he? He wasn't sure, but it wasn't like Soda had chosen evil.

"Do you think its possible to save someone then, even if they don't want you to?"

Another question lingered in the back of Koa's mind.

Should someone be saved?

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave narrowed his eyes at him. "Look, what are we really talking about here? Because it doesn't sound like it's Soda."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa averted his gaze. "Nothing. I mean, just something from my world I was thinking about, I guess."

He gave a shrug. "Soda just reminded me of someone I heard about from my world is all. Your world... does it have Team Rocket or Team Magma or anything like that?"

 

[Dragonfree]

...Where exactly was he going with this. "I mean, we have cartoons featuring a 'Team Rocket'. Maybe there's a 'Team Magma' there too, I don't exactly pay that much attention to it. Our actual existing criminal organizations have less stupid names. Why?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa blinked, then did a double take. "Wait... they're all cartoons where you're from? Wh- What about Team Galactic?"

He'd heard Dave mention the whole cartoon thing before but he'd never given it any thought. It made his brain hurt a little. "Nevermind," he muttered. "Multiple worlds or whatever. Where I'm from, Team Rocket... Galactic, they're real. And they've tried to do some awful things."

He supposed there was no reason not explain. "Where I'm from, Sinnoh region, there was a group called Team Galactic. Their... leader. He was like Soda, kind of. He wanted to rewrite the universe, make it better or some nonsense like that."

Except he hadn't been corrupted.

 

[Dragonfree]

'Team Galactic'. Of course. Sure, why not.

"Okay, so this guy wanted to rewrite the universe. I'm guessing the reason we're talking about him and not some other random nut is that he actually got somewhere with that? He get some weird powers like Soda or what?"