Destiny Colosseum ~ Training Rooms

[IFBench]

Shadowy wisps around Saltriv's body that they didn't even realize were there began to dissipate as they collapsed to the floor from the sheer power of the blow. Their eyes were wide, and their mouth was agape.

"I'm...alright," they said, as they slowly stood back up, wincing. "What was that?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shook herself free of her shadows, but the tension in her limbs remained, as did the feeling of being bruised.

"Yer new shadow technique," she growled. "Looks t'me like whoever it hits gets stronger—much stronger—at the cost of bein' hurt."

She eyed Saltriv, whose expression was already turning fearful.

"I want you to use it on me in the battles ahead. I need this strength, and... I can take it."

 

[IFBench]

"I...I don't know if I can," Saltriv said, tears beginning to form in their eyes. "I don't want to hurt you."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa scowled and readied a terse admonition about duty, and then cut herself off with a sigh. The poor critter looked damn near crying.

"Saltriv, techniques like this can mean th'difference 'tween defeat an' victory," she said, carefully. "Look... Starr gets hurt every time she uses Flare Blitz. I get hurt every time I supercharge myself with Bright Arclight at th'start of a battle. Sparrin' hurts. We do all that stuff anyway t'stand a better chance of winnin'."

She paced over to the chikorita and put a firm paw on their shoulder. "I need this kinda strength. D'you reckon y'can help give it t'me, huh?"

 

[IFBench]

They still felt unsure about it, but like Brisa said, what if not doing it caused defeat, and hurt more people?

"...fine," they said, looking unhappy about it, but a small amount of acceptance was visible in their expression.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"There's a good mon," said Brisa, with a grim smile. "Well done on findin' yer umbral power. I know it ain't easy, but we're countin' on you as much as everyone else when th'fight comes. Be brave, Saltriv."

 

[IFBench]

"I will," Saltriv said, a weak smile on their face, their leaf drooping onto their back.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

It seemed like Saltriv was at least committed to doing their part. That was all Brisa could ask—she wouldn't be any more comfortable than they were in their position, that was certain. What had the chikorita experienced in their past to give them shadows like that? She didn't envy them that.

"Glad t'hear it," she said. "I gotta cut my trainin' short after that. Starr's on my tail about keepin' in good shape afore th'fight. You should too. Get some rest, Saltriv, I'll seeya round."

She loped out of the training room, still wincing at the pain in her muscles. It was yet another burden to bear, it would seem. By the stars, though . . . she'd hit harder when the time came.

<><><><><>​

 

[Dragonfree]

Fighting Ivy had been predictably easy, but even while being chopped into goo several times, Ivy'd been having fun. When she left she wanted to spar again. That was good.

Mia remained in the training room for a while, practicing moves against a punching bag, but it was never as fun against an inanimate object, and before long she'd grown bored of it. She headed back out the door and discovered Nate in the corridor, looking around, like he was searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" she said.

 

[Negrek]

It sure would be nice if certain assholes didn't decide to fuck off with all the loot without saying where they were going. Occasionally people needed something that was in the item bag, that was kind of the fucking point of having an item bag, and it made them just a little pissed if it turned out the thing they needed had taken an unannounced trip halfway across town. Thank god for the bullshit psychic link. At least he knew Rocky was around here somewhere.

He was making his way down the hall, checking the training rooms, when a familiar stepped out of one ahead of him. Nate glanced up, sarcastic comment at the ready, but no, fuck, that was the scyther-girl, and Nate cringed, instinctively looking around for the poochyena. But no, he... wasn't here. Right. He wasn't going to show up.

The scyther familiar looked the same as ever, eyes glowing and expression blank. Definitely not grieving the way a few members of the team were. Maybe that was a good sign?
"Rocky," Nate said. "He's around here somewhere. But hey, glad I ran into you. How, uh. How are you doing?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"I was sparring with Ivy," she said. "She's not very good but it was okay. I didn't see Rocky but maybe he's here anyway. I haven't been here very long and I heard people going past while we were fighting." She paused, frowning. "Last time you said Rocky can't go very far away from you because of what Arceus did."

 

[Negrek]

Well, that was either one hell of a dodge of the elephant in the room, or the familiar really wasn't fussed about all the Voidlands shit. Nate had the feeling that if something was bothering her, she would have said it, but who could say? People got real weird about that kind of shit.

"I think last time Rocky said he couldn't go very far away from me because of what Arceus did. I ain't never really believed that shit, and what do you know, turns out he was fucking lying." Nate glanced up the hall. Rocky was on the move, too. Probably could sense Nate coming. Little bastard. "Yeah, so... Lots of training. I know you familiars don't normally do a lot of fighting, but, uh, after all that shit with Joule, maybe it's a good idea to get used to it."

 

[Dragonfree]

Mia cocked her head. "Why didn't you test if he was lying? You didn't want to have to follow him. You could have experimented and found out." But he didn't like science, so maybe that was why.

Nate was also talking like the familiars would have to do more fighting than before. Did he not know, like Ivy? "They aren't really dead. Only for a while. We're going to get them back. I like fighting anyway, though. The other me didn't get to fight much."

 

[Negrek]

"What, you think I just took the guy at his word?" Nate smirked. "Nah. I'd definitely get some kind of psychic bullshit whenever I went too far from the guy. It just wasn't coming from Arceus, that's all."

Well, definitely not super bothered by her friend getting vaporized, then. "Yeah, that's what I heard. But something like this could easily happen again, so... Good thing you like fighting, I guess." He looked off down the hall again for a moment. "Seems like you're doing all right without your, uh, host. That's good."

 

[Dragonfree]

"I'm fine. Dave worries about me a lot because the other me went off and died, but this body is a lot better. When we get him back maybe he'll see that I'm not going to get killed. And we can see somebody about his brain problems." And they could see if anywhere else in Cibus had better hotdogs.

She paused, tilting her head. "Did you try going away when Rocky was asleep? Or when he couldn't see?"

 

[Negrek]

"When it looked like he was out cold or not paying attention, sure. But what do you know, it's kinda hard to pull one over on somebody who always knows where you are."

That sure was a fuckton of interesting information, though. Her model was dead? And what the fuck did she mean by brain problems?

Well. At least Nate had the feeling if he asked, she'd actually fucking spill. "What kinda brain problems do you mean?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"The way Dave's Shadow works is he follows him around sometimes and says things that Dave's thinking." Mia paused for a moment. The way Shadows all worked differently for some reason was weird. As far as she could remember, all that ever happened to Nate was his voice just changed a bit. But probably he knew about how they could be different anyway.

"A lot of what Shadow says doesn't make any sense. Like how he thought you might be the spy trying to kidnap me when you attacked him. That's probably normal, because most people think a lot of nonsense and Dave just doesn't say most of it because he knows it's stupid." It was still annoying, though. "But he also said he feels bad all the time, and he doesn't want to get out of bed, and he wants to die. I don't think that's normal."

 

[Negrek]

The fucking shadows again. Good thing Nate didn't have to worry about that unless they met any other fucking evil machines. Sounded like the poochyena had some serious issues.

And he'd thought Nate was the one spying for Giovanni? Really? When Nate had been busting his ass trying to figure out who the impostor was, if there even was one, where Giovanni was, what even the fuck was going on around here? Was still doing that, because it seemed like half the team were like fucking dying of grief, basically, and somebody had to make sure Giovanni didn't just pop up and catch them all with their pants down, again.

And, what, was Nate supposed to feel sorry for this asshole because he had a sad or whatever? After what he'd done to this familiar's model? After who knew how many other kids?

Nate's eyes narrowed, and his fingers curled inward against the tiled floor. "Well, guess he got what he fucking wanted, then. Maybe we oughta leave him in the Voidlands or whatever. Sounds like that's where he wants to be."

 

[Dragonfree]

Mia's eyes narrowed to slits, her voice dropping its usual nonchalance. "No. I want him back."

The Mudkip was angry, spiteful. Why was Nate so weird about Dave? She was foggy on what it was that he thought about him exactly, Dave had refused to talk about it, but it was bad and he still thought it and now he wanted him to keep being dead even though then they'd lose an entire team member and none of it made any sense. "Why do you hate science?" she demanded.

 

[Negrek]

Nate blinked. Damn, he didn't think he'd ever seen the familiar get serious before. And over that piece of shit poochyena, too. Fucking figured.

"What the fuck is it with you and science?" he snapped. "I already told you, I ain't got a problem with fucking science. The hell does that have to do with anything, anyway?"