Search results

"Oh, Chip already aimed it at the moon. It made the legends really mad. So we couldn't do that again. Or maybe we could threaten to do it again? Hold the moon hostage?" Were they still talking about things they were going to lie about having done, or things they actually wanted to do? "You...

"Oh, well, that's not good," Rocky said, ears drooping slightly. "I don't want people to be sad. Hmm. When you say 'effervescent,' do you mean like silly? I could get a cape." Rocky mimed sweeping a cape around to hide himself in. "Maybe build a space laser? Hmm, Chip has a space laser... maybe...

"Only if he sees me." The shadow mudkip's smile had turned melancholy, but it remained. He wiped another oozing tear away from his eye. "Don't worry. I'm good at making sure people don't notice me."

The shadow mudkip sighed and looked away wistfully. "Nobody can hear me. Except Nate, and he doesn't listen." He blinked away his tears and smiled faintly. "I'm glad you can hear me, though. And I am... glad I said that, too. It felt nice. I'm glad we got to talk, before we both have to go away."

"I don't know." The shadow mudkip tried to shrink away again, but there truly was nowhere for him to go. "I don't know if I know how to help anybody. How have you been good... for Dave?"

"But I have!" the shadow mudkip insisted. "I did everything wrong. I always have. Everything bad." He looked sadly down at the floor, eyes dim. "I shouldn't even be here. None of us shadows should... right? We only got here because the people we belong to got hurt."

"I know the feeling, yeah," Nate said. And now he was feeling like he just wanted to sit and stare at the ocean for a while. At least they'd picked a good backdrop for this conversation. "Oh, that could be a good idea," Rocky said thoughtfully. "Maybe I could be somebody who seems evil, but...

The shadow mudkip hunched over, trying to become even smaller than he already was. "I've been here a while. Ever since we fought on the moon. I'm hiding because if Nate sees me, he'll hurt me."

"No, huh?" Nate said. That sure was a fucking depressing thought. But... he thought he knew what the skarmory meant. "That how it's always been for you? Good or bad not mattering?" "Ooh, that is more exciting!" Rocky had found something infinitely more fun to pay attention to. "That's a good...

The shadow mudkip blinked up at Shadow, faintly confused. "That doesn't sound right, what you said about hurting people. You have lots of friends." Shadow's question, though, was even more puzzling. "I don't really know where I was. Inside Nate, I guess. Where do you go when Dave can't see you?"

The shadow mudkip flinched himself when Shadow pulled his paw away. "Sorry," he squeaked. "It's nice that you want to help. But I don't think anybody can. And maybe I don't seem so bad now, but remember, I hurt a lot of people back when we fought the Shadow Machine. Or *you*, that one night. I...

Letting someone else do the thinking, huh? He could kind of understand that, given what it sounded like Seyka wasn't saying. "Yeah, I know what you mean," Nate said. "Doesn't sound like good times, though. The whole sacrifice thing. Must have been nice, coming here and getting a break. Who...

"Oh," the shadow mudkip said, the yellow light in his eyes flickering. "I guess if it helps for him to think you're somebody else... But that doesn't make sense. He actually has a nice shadow, he should be glad--" The mightyena was reaching for him. The shadow mudkip jerked sideways, one hand...

"I did those things, though," the mudkip said. "I was with Nate the entire time. And I never would have said sorry... if you didn't come over and try to talk to me." He sighed. "I'm a coward. But... I don't understand. What do you mean, Dave pretends you're somebody else? He thinks you're not a...

"I guess they will." The shadow mudkip shifted again. The puddle around him was spreading, slowly. "But Nate's lucky. He likes where he used to be better than here. Nobody's dead. And he'll be glad if I disappear. Why wouldn't he? I'm everything bad about him." The shadow mudkip unstuck one of...

The shadow mudkip shuddered again. "I heard about that," he said, shifting in place. Goo squelched faintly as he did so. "I know that you care about her a lot. Which makes it worse that I..." He closed his eyes again, then tried to wipe his tears away on his shoulder. They stuck tenaciously to...

The shadow mudkip opened his eyes, blinking away tears. "I deserved it," he said softly. "It wouldn't be a good idea to be my friend." The mudkip looked briefly back at the table he'd come from, where Nate was now sitting quietly, looking vaguely as though he had a stomachache. "I hope Mia and...

"Sorry..." The shadow mudkip shuddered, oily tears leaking from under his closed lids. "Sorry for being mean to you. For saying things that weren't true about you, and attacking you, and trying to make you mad. Sorry for calling you a shitty mightyena and making fun of you for wanting to, to..."...

The shadow mudkip cringed. "Yes," he said. "Sorry."

The shadow mudkip stopped breathing when Dave's shadow stared right at him. He squeezed his eyes shut instinctively, but the mightyena would have seen that, wouldn't he? Stupid. He should have been more careful. The mudkip wanted to put his hands over his face, but all that would do was glue his...