Air Continent ~ Bone's Abode

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste entered the building, having the Treasure Town portal.

“Greetings, Astrid! Here I am.”

 

[Namohysip]

"...Yes?" Bone said, realizing that the passing Diyem-team was not quietly going about their business this time, but deliberately hanging around her home. She emerged with a pensive frown and looked the two over.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Hello, you would be Bone, I take it? The two of us heard that there were human ruins on this continent, and we were interested in exploring them. We were pointed on your direction.”

 

[TheGOAT]

“Sorry to bother,” Astrid tittered, tails fluffed. “I… happened to know a human from my homeworld, so I wanted to learn what I could while I’m here.”

Hopefully that didn’t come off as objectifying, she thought. For all Astrid knew, Bone had endured years of curious passerby bugging her about her humanity.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“My sister had- has a fascination with the human ruins of our home world, and it’s rubbed off on me. Neither of us ever really had the chance to poke around in any, though. Now that I’m here, with the chance to do so, I think I should take the opportunity.”

 

[Namohysip]

"Human ruins." Bone looked unimpressed, leaning forward on her bone club even as she stood and faced them. "And you believe that this world's history has somehow matched your own? And more importantly, that I, a foreigner to this world, would even know about these ruins more than an actual archaeologist?" She lifted the club, sighing. "There is little that I know. But I do know that human settlements were the most common on this continent... at least in terms of ones that were not lost to time."

 

[TheGOAT]

“We, ah, don’t know any archeologists in Cibus.” Astrid rubbed the back of her neck, enthusiasm beginning to spark up in her eyes. “But we do know humans hold a great deal of mystique across various different worlds. So, if we learn something here, maybe we can… y’know…”

In spite of that enthusiasm, she wasn’t sure how to describe it, really. Why was a simple, repressed nosiness of hers so difficult to put into words?

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"And you believe that this world's history has somehow matched your own?”

Celeste huffed. “No. Not unless your humans were all wiped out by a sky-burning light. I just have a desire to explore human ruins of some kind, and I want to fulfil it.”

And more importantly, that I, a foreigner to this world, would even know about these ruins more than an actual archaeologist?"

“Well, we’d been told that you might be able to point us to one, not that you’d give us a history lesson.”

 

[Namohysip]

Bone looked the two over again, then sighed. She looked to Celeste with a vague sense of nostalgia in particular, but didn't comment on it. "Fine," she finally relented. "I don't really know who to bring you to, though. I suppose you could ask Mawile in the Water Continent, but she's... well, at the Water Continent. I only know two places, though, that are worth noting..."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste laughed. “Only two is still twice as many than we’ll have time to explore today, I expect.”

 

[Namohysip]

Bone didn't smile, though her eyes softened a little. "Well," she said, "if that's the case, I'll take you to an abandoned human laboratory first. It's home to a few Pokemon who enjoy the metallic surfaces and residual electricity, but otherwise isn't very important. Perhaps I can give you a history lesson about it... for what I've learned, at least."

 

[TheGOAT]

Astrid was seeing stars. A human laboratory? What?

“That would be delightful,” she beamed.

 

[Namohysip]

Bone looked a little tired, but perhaps something else was pushing her to go through with this. "Alright," she said. "Then follow me, and bring some water."

<><><>​

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Just as Brisa had begun to feel truly strong, not weighed down by duty . . . here she was, deathly tired once again.

It's not yer fault. Things are outta yer paws right now. Best to do somethin' y'can actually handle, let the problem sit a moment.

Yeah. That sounded good – or, it didn't, exactly, but she knew there was something to the idea. So, with that idea in mind, she approached the home of Team Drumstick, those eldest living Omen Heroes who she'd faced off against in the abandoned laboratory some time ago. Her research on the heroes of each age, recently spurred on by the knowledge that phantasms of those 'mon would defend the Tree of Life, had told her that years of retirement had dropped Bone and her partners a few rungs on the ranking ladder. Still, her veterancy was considerable. Perhaps she'd have advice, and if Brisa was lucky, perhaps she'd agree to a duel sometime.

Brisa didn't have their badge numbers, so she came through the nearby portal, shook herself off, and approached the dwelling with tail flicking cautiously.

She knocked.

 

[Namohysip]

The door, if it could be called one, was made of simple and aged wood, recently installed to help keep out the cold air that, perhaps, was now a bother compared to her more youthful years. The door creaked open and Bone gave a short nod as welcome. They were at around eye-level, though Brisa, going on four legs, was much larger.

"You are... Brisa, of Team Spectrum," Bone stated. "Welcome." With a leisurely push, Bone used her club to open the door further so Brisa could step inside. "Tea, if you like," she said, pointing to a steaming kettle nearby that seemed simultaneously traditional and modern. The liquid was a powerful, bright green and it smelled strongly of the forest.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Thank you kindly, ma'am," said Brisa, with a polite nod.

She entered, accepted the tea, and poured some for herself and for Bone, after a querying glance.

"If'n you prefer, I go by Brisket in this world fer folks as find it more natural-soundin'," she added. "Though I'm surprised y'remember me at all. I don't believe I've had the pleasure yet, which is no surprise seein' how full the days've been of late. Y'can't've been expectin' me, so I surely appreciate the hospitality."

 

[Namohysip]

"No. Your name is important. It is all I kept of myself for a long time." The Marowak set her cup down gently, waiting for it to cool a little more. "I have spent a lot of time reading about your group. There is a lot of free time for me, now that I can afford to take things easy."

Outside, two kids ran across the road, visible only because Bone's eyes trailed their shadows passing by the door gap.

"Full days pass quickly. You've been on our world for nearly half a year, now."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa blinked, deliberately, and there the children were, visible through the walls. Bless. They were lucky, to be born on a world like this. To have a future like they did.

"Strange to think," remarked Brisa, quietly. "When Diyem first brought our spirits to his Voidlands to recruit us, I had no idea I'd be on Cibus longer'n a day or so. Each mission turned out not to be the conclusion, and there were always more t'come. We weathered scrutiny an' suspicion. Made local friends. Made a name fer ourselves. The time expected t'be spent here just stretched an' stretched, on and on. I no longer have any idea what my future on Cibus looks like. I find myself expectin' to make a career. A life."

She turned back to Bone, blinking the luxray vision off.

"I wonder if any of that sounds familiar t'you at all, ma'am."

 

[Namohysip]

Her face was inscrutable and rigid, but her eyes had a kindness to them no matter what she was saying or doing. It was hard to imagine those eyes were part of someone so capable of fighting.

"All those years ago," Bone said, taking her slow, first drink, "my team and I fought Rayquaza and reminded him of his duties. The very same one that you had fought those months ago. And when Cibus was saved then, I was told by the spirits that it was time for me to go. And I heard a voice... a voice I later learned was Buffet... telling me that, perhaps while it was my time to go, perhaps I would see them again one day."

She closed her eyes, considering that choice again.

"I did not want to leave. I had made friendships and bonds and I was not given the luxury of being able to say goodbye in a way I'd wanted. I told the voice... that I did not want to leave. That I wanted to stay for a little while longer. Hmhm..." She took another sip. "A little while became a few weeks, a few months... I'm no longer human. And I never will be again." Her grip on the bone got a little tighter, just barely. "...It was a gradual choice. One that would have been overwhelming to me, had I made it all at once."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's expression tightened a little, but she listened carefully, nodded slowly, sipped her tea.

"I'm expectin' t'be in a similar situation myself. I never heard from my father how it happened fer him, but after learnin' that summoned humans on Cibus and other worlds routinely stick around long after they're due t'leave, it sure seems like there's a pattern. Receive the call, bond with others through shared strivin', don't wanna give it all up."

She closed her eyes a moment and exhaled deeply. "Ma'am, I've been wonderin' since our fight at the lab what life is like fer you an' yers, settled after a full adventurin' career. Whether y'have contentment, satisfaction an' so on after th'kinda strife you've fought through. I hope y'don't mind my askin' after it."