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The shadow Incineroar stared at the Manectric for a long while before slowly lifting its golden eyes to rest on Koa. “Convenient, isn’t it? You get to grow, and change, and be someone better. We get to stay like this.”

What I have to do… “Because otherwise it’s like you never even existed. You’ll just be forgotten, unless you make sure he can’t forget what he could have been.”

“What you deserve?” the Incineroar repeated incredulously, mockingly. “For the crime of what you could have been?” Starr rubbed her arm, glancing away. “This isn’t even someone you ever were. Just someone you could have been.” Her eyes flickered toward her own shadow and she let the ‘not...

“The same things…” the Incineroar repeated emotionlessly. The shadow turned to face Starr, waiting. “What, me?!” Starr snapped. The shadow stared wordlessly. Starr dragged a hand down her face. “Ugh, fiiine,” she said, turning to Koa. “Look, who gives a shit if there’s moments where you...

“What the hell kind of bullshit—” Starr began, but her shadow cut her off with a glare. She was about to reply with some kind of retort, except that would mean she’d be stuck talking to the shadow Manectric, and she didn’t exactly want to do that either. The Incineroar turned back to the other...

The Incineroar stared at the Manectric, considering him. “So you want to cause pain to distract from the pain you feel.” Starr turned away with a huff, but didn't say anything.

Starr's shadow didn't give much of a visible reaction to that declaration. Neither approval nor disapproval. She just considered him with the same steely gaze. “Why?”

Starr raised an eyebrow. “Well, I could always beat the shit out of it. I don’t think that’d do anything, but I’m not gonna complain if you ask,” she said with a forced grin. Maybe the bit of levity would cut the tension. What she didn’t expect was for a shadowy reflection of herself to kneel...

Well, that pretty much answered that. Starr wanted to say, ‘was that all?’ but it didn’t seem all that helpful. “You know like half the team felt like that at some point, right?” Starr asked, giving him a hard look.

Starr ran a hand down her face. "That all sounds like shit you'd want to have figured out, yeah. I would've assumed that was it. I don't know, maybe your shadow's just bitchier than the others. We're not gonna be here that much longer. Think you can hold out 'til then?" She didn't want him...

Starr gave another sigh. "Well, I'm not exactly an expert or anything..." Why couldn't Brisa or Owen be the ones handing this. "But I guess that sounds right. Stuff you're lying to yourself about." And she was nothing if not good at lying. "Look, whatever the hell your shadow keeps going...

Starr rubbed the back of her head. "Eh. I haven't seen mine since what happened on the moon. And well, that happened to everyone, even people who're pals with theirs." As far as she was concerned, if it didn't feel like showing its face anymore after what happened there, then that was just...

Starr let out a long sigh. "Well, if Owen or Brisa were here, I know they'd say something like how you haven't really accepted it, or whatever. But then, those two just straight-up talked with their shadows, so..." Starr trailed off, eyeing Koa's anxious expression. She knew the kid had shit...

Starr hesitated. "Mostly shit I already know," she said, trying to sound casual. "That I hurt people. That I can't erase the past. It's like... I already know all of that." She exhaled slowly. "I've already beaten myself up over it a thousand times over. Don't know what the damn thing...

Starr paused, raising an eyebrow but otherwise not reacting much. He wasn't serious, was he? Even the most denial-saturated members of the team had learned otherwise by now. Her shadow was the truth. No matter how badly she wanted to forget. There wasn't any changing it, and she was done...

Starr blinked. She hadn't really thought about hers in a while... “Yeah, haven't seen mine since”—the moon—“a while now,” Starr replied nonchalantly. "I'm pretty okay with that to be honest. Anyway, it's not like I'll have to think about it once everything's done here, so I'm not too...

'Always', huh... The way he'd said it didn't really feel like a joke or an exaggeration. Starr put on a casual tone and said, "Yeah, never could really get behind the way a few people on the team went and made nice with theirs. I mean, good for them and all, but. Not really my thing."

Starr laughed again. "I mean, kicking ass as a Pokemon is pretty great, right? I like being human and all, but I'm not gonna pretend I don't like being this strong." Then again, part of that strength came from being a Pokemon, sure, but a lot of it was pretty weird even by Pokemon standards…...

Starr blinked at him. "Yeah? I'll be fine. Sure, things were a bit of a mess when I left, but it's not like I'll be alone for it." Maybe it was just having been away from it for an entire year. Or maybe it was taking down corrupted gods on the regular in Cibus. "I'm sure the me that wakes...

A distant smile crossed Starr's face. "You could say that, yeah. They're both total dorks with zero self-preservation and they drive me insane constantly." She paused, tail swishing a bit. "And I miss them." But it wasn't so easy to say that she was looking forward to going back home...