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Shadow blinked. ”That’s… that’s okay.” The Shadow Mudkip looked so small and scared, and it was weird. Shadow winced, looking away. ”I’m… sorry, too. I hurt you, a lot. And I was mean back. I mean, he was, but it’s the same thing.” But being sorry didn’t fix anything, did it? Here was Nate’s...

"...Why are you sorry?" Shadow glanced back at Nate's table. The Mudkip's demeanor was strikingly unlike his original, tiny and frantic and panicked. "Is he mad at you?"

"They're good. Soda's a ghost soulbound to Maple now but he insists he's happy about it, and the alternative is being fucking dead." Of course Mia liked Brisa for fighting her. Maybe he should just go ahead and try to kick the shit out of her sometime. Wasn't like she wasn't practically fucking...

"Not much. Checked on Soda and Flesh. Mia's off training as usual." He raised up his head to look at her. Was she making him coffee again? He hadn't asked, but whatever, wouldn't say no.

Dave raised a paw to her. "Hey. Had fun with your thing?"

Shadow crept a little closer, looking over his shoulder, but Dave was paying him no mind, occupied with his drink and the loud argument going on at the next table that he heard every word of despite his best efforts. "...Are you Nate's Shadow?"

The fight was done and they'd saved the world and they were going home soon and all this would be gone and forgotten. If ever there was an occasion for a drink it was now. Shadow sat and watched him as he drank. Dave drummed his paws on the table, debating whether he wanted some company...

It was over. No more Eternal Blacklight. They were going home. Dave lay slumped on the couch, one paw hanging off the edge. It wasn't like he was even in that much need of rest, technically. He'd finished the fight no worse off, other than still being kind of fucking famished (thanks, Flesh)...

"See you then. Thanks for the chat." If that happened. Who was to say? It'd be up to the whims of whatever gods went about summoning 'heroes'. No power to even influence it, when the request'd come from another fucking universe. But it was something. Maybe Brisa and Starr could have a nice...

Dave looked at her, at the fierce determination in her eyes, a cold hand gripping his insides. The Miracle Matters. Well, they hadn't exactly gotten to come back to their Cibus, had they? Even if Team Spectrum were called back, they weren't fucking coming back here. They just might get pulled...

Dave took a breath, looking away. "Yeah. I hope so. Not that we'll ever fucking know." He paused. Wished for a drink again. "Back when we went to Spirits' Edge, we talked to her dad. Convinced him to come look for her and get her help for the shit he's been up to. Maybe that'll jostle her...

"I mean, I sure fucking hope I don't remember it as some weird dream. Like I said, the fuck are you supposed to do with feeling like you spent months saving other universes as a dog." Shadow looked up at Starr for a moment, silent. "If I remember Brisa, and Mia, and Soda, and everyone, I'll...

Dave took a long breath, looking away. "Yeah." There was a familiar chill snaking through his chest, and before he knew it, Shadow was sitting on the seat beside him, head flat on the table. "Maybe it's better that we won't remember what we lost."

Time for chapter 31, wherein we get a random lengthy filler battle followed by a plot twist I thought up before I started this revision. Chapter 31: Spirit Mark blinked, not sure where he was. He stared into the white ceiling for a few seconds while hearing the thunderstorm roar outside...

Dave'd finished his food. Should he order more? He wasn't hungry, really, just wanted something to drink or chew or something. He looked up at Starr instead, silent for a moment. "Yeah. That sucks, huh. Didn't exactly get a lot of time together."

Okay, whatever. God forbid he try to understand what the fuck she was talking about with her fifteen kinds of unexplained jargon. Dave stuffed the rest of the burger into his mouth. What the fuck did it matter anyway? The politics of some other universe he'd never visit anyway and was shortly...

"Wait, I thought you said humans can't build shit in the deepwilds. You've got train tracks and roads going through it? Or are you saying most territory is just like, off-route non-deepwild, and people never have to pass through the actual deepwilds?" That made more sense, probably. (But then...

“Right. So when people who aren’t trainers need to pass through, they just don’t? Or do people, like, hire a trainer?” He paused. “I guess if you’ve got air travel you can get between places without touching the actual deepwilds per se. What did you do before inventing commercial flight?” He...

There was that again. "So is like... everyone a trainer in your universe? Adults? Where I live it's mostly kids and the competitive league circuit. I mean, people have pets and all, but not actual battling teams, most of the time."

Ancient times with wars and shit. A postwar society? Maybe sapient Pokémon just didn't do war, and they kept human tribalism in check. That'd be something. Killing and eating people, A-okay, but not on an organized scale, you lunatics. "How big is the 'deepwilds'? Like, you made it sound like...