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"The thing where it echoes some shit you said? Yeah." Dave picked at a notch in the cup. "You know, that's a thought. Just get to the fight part straight away and skip the awkward small talk."

"Uh, she asked a bunch of random questions, and then she started grilling me about drinking, and Shadow, and busted out the sword out of nowhere, and we had a battle." More coffee. "I'm guessing that's how it usually goes."

"I mean, paying a different therapist for Fugu's help would rather defeat the point, wouldn't it." He looked at Brisa, picking up his coffee again. "Yeah, the others seem like nutjobs. Fugu's kind of a nut but in mostly just a normal Cibus kind of way. What's the big urgency here? I don't know...

"No. I'm scared and pathetic and talk too much." Shadow looked down, at the spreading shadow puddle around the Mudkip. "But he likes me better if he... just pretends I'm somebody else." He hesitated, looking back up at Nate's Shadow for a lingering moment. "I don't think you're what's bad about...

"I mean, I had the one session." Dave put the coffee cup down. "Plus the time she swung down during the fight and gave me her sword. Maybe I'll pay for a second appointment just to make it even." Or rather, make the God Squad pay. Where the fuck did they get all this goddamn money.

Dave glanced at her over his mug. "I mean, it's a movie. At minimum it'll be an amusing waste of time with overpriced popcorn. Cast of Pokémon's going to be a novelty either way. Beats the waiting game." He took a sip as she watched him, still with that concerned look on her face. "Look, I'm...

"No. There's nothing like that. Just people." Shadow paused, looking away. "I don't know what will happen when they leave. Maybe we'll just disappear. But they'll have to go on anyway, with the same lives that they had, and the same problems, and the same people will still be dead." He glanced...

Brisa would like romances, wouldn't she. Not dragging him to one, though, thank God. "Let's just see what they've got on. Can probably ask for recs at the theater." Happy endings, huh. "When I'm done with my coffee, anyway."

Dave raised his eyebrows. Of course. Brisa from fucking Cowboy World didn't even have movies back home. God. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like a plan. What kind of movies are you into?" He sipped his coffee again. For a moment he imagined Brisa watching a fucking Western, whether it'd remind her of home...

Dave clambered upright to give her space, then blinked at her suggestions. "Thanks. Uh, I mean, sure?" Something to do? Brisa never wanted to hit the bar anymore, and the last thing he wanted to do was fight another fucking Colosseum match. He took a sip of his coffee. "You want to... see a...

Shadow shivered, ears flattening against his head. "The real Mia is dead," he muttered. "It's not really her but... I don't want to lose her again." His gaze followed the Mudkip's to the table. "She seems happier in Cibus than the real one ever was back home, though. I hope she does stick with...

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...