Destiny Colosseum ~ Training Rooms

[Flyg0n]

As Brisa drew near, the shadows around him deepened, turning nearly black. He glared up at her, neck craned, fangs bared and a perpetual snarl in his throat. Dark lines trickled down from the corners of his eyes, as if they had been stained with tears, though his eyes remained as cold as ever.

Look how she looks down on you now. Look how she's coming to try and stop you, suppress what makes you who you are. Are you going to let her do that?

No.

Blue light surged from his form, mingling with the shadows. He felt his body growing taller, leaner. Stronger. In seconds he could look Brisa nearly in the eye, or at least not have to crane his neck any longer.

The light faded and a Manectric stood, staring coldly at Brisa, his fur a few shades darker. The same dark lines from his eyes remained, though they seemed fainter now. Wordlessly, he lunged for her, determined to push past her. To get away.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's eyes and shackles bands of golden fur blazed with Radiance, and the crackling restraints of lights appeared around him, stopping him in his tracks and restricting his movements. Now was the time for the golden tethers. The connection was firm, linking her to him even as the streams of light seared at Koa's Shadowed body.

That's enough, kid. No more of that, now. Y'ain't a monster. You're hurtin'. Just like me. Just like the rest of us. It's okay.

Brisa used Shining Whiplash! It's Ultra Effective! Brisa Called out to Koa!

 

[Flyg0n]

The bands lashed around Koa and he howled, the radiant energy sending a flash of pain through him.

"You dont understand," he said, his voice teetering on a dispairing wail. He pulled away from her in vain.

You're hurtin'

You're a monster and you liked hurting her. That's what you are.

It's okay

It'll never be ok.

"I wanted to hurt you, I liked hurting you. It felt good."

He thrashed against the whiplash, struggling to break free, yet unwilling unable to.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa remembered every time she'd had her teeth at someone's throat. Every time she'd hated herself for it. Every time it had been okay.

"Sometimes it does. Y'gotta figure out what t'do with those feelings. And it's gotta be somethin' better'n pretendin' they ain't there."

Koa's voice was normalising again. The bassy distortion fading. The marks at his eyes, too. Without the Shadowing, he looked like a normal manetric. His paws and ears a little large, his head a little fluffier than most. He looked so young.

Brisa closed the remaining distance between them, and pulled the newly-evolved manetric into a hug.

"Get a hold of yerself, Koamaru. Y'ain't goin' nowhere."

 

[Flyg0n]

His heart twisted and he pulled harder against the radiant bindings. No. He didn't want to think about any of it, any of the thoughts that haunted him. He'd kept it in for this long and he could keep doing it. They could forget about all this, pretend it didn't happen. The shadows around his body began to retreat.

The fading shadows left a pain in his chest, a dull ache and lingering doubt that he tried his best to push away and ignore. To his dimay, Brisa drew close to him.

You really think she's gonna let it go?

He didn't need her why would she care after he'd hurt her. His heart raced and he took leaned away.

Yet she kept coming, closing the distance to him.

His body tensed.

Watch out for her.

A few sparks crackled across his shoulders. He was ready to fight-

Brisa pulled him into a hug and he went stiff. Half of him yearned to pull away, to push her away and run. Run

I don't want to run.

The dark thoughts in his head dimmed. His energy faded and the last of his shadows and strength deserted him. He sagged into the embrace, too tired to fight it anymore. Her mane felt soft, her lanky paw wrapped around him and... It felt... good. A voice kept telling him it was fake, she would never truly accept him and yet-

He didn't care. Maybe it was fake. Maybe she was pretending or pitying him or luring him in or-

His thoughts faded away and for a once he didn't think about any of it. Not his doubts or fears or his consuming desire for strength. Nothing except for a warm body, a soft hug and the comfort of a friend.

The thought of what lay next and how to deal with what he'd done terrified him. He didn't want to face any of it. Ever. But at least for now, he would enjoy this moment.

​

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Koa resisted. At first. Then he leaned into it, apparently too dazed to speak up.

C'mon. That's enough fightin', now.

"Koa," said Brisa, quietly. "Y'did great. I reckon it's best y'sit with all that fer a spell. We'll pick up yer combat trainin' at the usual time, but fer now... Say, why don't we hit Pasta Plaza t'gether an' get a bite to eat? On me. We'll shoot the breeze a li'l. Sound good?"

Koa didn't say anything, didn't look at her eyes . . . but he nodded. And when Brisa stepped towards the exit, he came with her. It might just have been his greater size as a manetric, but it seemed like, perhaps, he was walking a little closer to her than before, too.

<><><><><>​

 

[Dragonfree]

Mia was at the Colosseum, like she often was, probably with Rocky or somebody. Would Nate be there right now? Whatever. If that guy was going to give him shit right now over his own weird dramatic insistence that he couldn't bear to have Dave in the same room as him, so fucking be it.

He headed for the stadium, first at a quick walk and then, in a rush of impatience, breaking into a run. He arrived, panting, and headed for the training rooms where she'd usually hang out.

It didn't take long to find her. She was engaged in a duel with the Infernape familiar, the Mudkip watching from the sidelines. Great. He'd just be in and out.

"Mia?"

She didn't look up. "Hi," she said without losing a beat, still trying to aim a series of slashes at the other familiar. He'd told her she had a lot more time than this, hadn't he. Probably she'd be annoyed with him. He'd just have to live with that.

 

[Negrek]

Rocky deflected Mia's first volley of strikes, but then she ducked under his reaching hands and sliced up and across, taking the infernape's head clean off. It dissolved in smoky wisps while Rocky stumbled back, feeling blindly at the empty space.

"Oop," Rocky said, sounding mildly put out. "Oh no, I'm dead!" Mia didn't let up her attack, another slash taking his arm off at the elbow and a third carving a chunk out of his spectral side. Rocky laughed and shambled away from her, zombie style. "I'm dead, I'm deeeeead. Whooooo stole my heeeeeead?"

"Yeah, you're fucking dead," Nate said, glaring at Dave. "Lesson's over."

Rocky giggled and collapsed dramatically on the floor. Now Nate did turn to him, annoyed. "You can't let your guard down like that just because you're impatient to strike back. Scyther are ambush fighters. Let her wear herself out, and then you'll be able to beat on her all you want."

"Blocking is booooooring," Rocky moaned, flopping around on the floor.

 

[Dragonfree]

Mia looked satisfied by her victory, grinning in her slightly unsettling way as she harmlessly chopped Rocky into pieces. Dave suppressed a shudder as she turned back toward him, expression instantly turned to vague irritation. "You said you wouldn't be here until five."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know I said that." Dave took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, something came up. We just need to... talk."

He glanced over at Nate. The tiny Pokémon was giving him acidic glares in between turning the same on Rocky. Whatever. This was his problem, not Dave's.

 

[Negrek]

"Bye, Mia!" Rocky said, now more an indistinct haze around his core than anything but sounding as cheerful as ever. He was starting to pull himself back together now that she was distracted, a tiny stub of a head having formed near one end of his body, a tiny leg growing from the other.

"Anyhow, blocking is stupid. It doesn't even matter! I can't get hurt. Even if somebody blew up my body, my core would still be around. And nobody's going to break that. Well, I guess Joule kind of did, with Millijoule, but even then he had a lot of trouble, and he said even then it didn't actually hurt, well, Millijoule said that kind of, I think, even though it was Joule..." He trailed off, a faint frown forming on a face that was by now about half its usual size.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Defense good, actually," Nate said. "Life lessons. See you later, Mia. Maybe next time we can go over some footwork, if we actually have the full hour."

 

[Dragonfree]

Any other time he would have just ignored it, but right now the Mudkip's nonsense was just grating. "Look, I'm sorry some people here have things to do other than sit around in the Colosseum. Maybe if you'd..."

His brain caught up with what Rocky'd just said. About Joule, breaking cores. He turned sharply and squinted at Rocky. "Sorry, what? Joule did what?"

 

[Negrek]

Nate looked like he was about to fire back with something, so Rocky tried to get a reply in before he could. "Umm, well, I guess Millijoule decided he wanted to go back to being Joule, so... Joule absorbed him. But he had to break Millijoule's core first to do that. Or something." By now Rocky was looking more or less like his usual self, but he wasn't inclined to get up off the floor. Even if Joule really wasn't going to go around absorbing people, Rocky didn't like to think about it too much. "So I guess breaking cores is something he can do," Rocky muttered, "even if it's hard."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave stared at him. Shit. What? What the fuck? "What do you mean, Millijoule decided he wanted to go back to being Joule? And to be clear, who told you he wanted it, because if it was fucking Joule you should not buy that, on principle." Was the fucker just going around murdering familiars because technically the shades had been part of him once back when they had none of their current personalities? Why the fuck would familiars ever want to--

His heart stopped for a moment, and he glanced back at Mia, who was tilting her head, apparently hearing this for the first time too. "I'm not doing that," she said, frowning, like it was very obvious. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Why the fuck would they.

Rage boiled up in his throat. Why'd they ever kept working with the fucking God Squad. As if the name shouldn't have been reason enough to just stay far away from all of them, from the start. "Well, it's not happening."

 

[Negrek]

"I mean, it was Joule, but, he's also Millijoule? Kind of?" Rocky said. "He's different because he basically was Joule anyway, like a copy. So even though they were different people they were like two people being the same person so it's not like Millijoule really went away or anything. Joule said. Umm."

Rocky pushed himself back to his feet and stood awkwardly in place, looking back and forth between Dave and Mia and seeming unsure what to do with himself. "I don't like it, either. And I was really worried for a while. But I don't think Joule's going to take anybody back unless they want to. That's what he says. And Pop says the same thing, like even when Joule was really hurting and would want to absorb people to get his power back, he didn't! So I don't think he's going to go around m-murdering, umm, anybody."

Rocky's tail flicked uneasily and he didn't seem to know where to look, but he perked up a little at Mia's announcement. "I'm not going to, either! So we can still be friends, even if other people... decide to go away."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave narrowed his eyes at Rocky. "So Joule's been able to absorb all of you this whole time and just didn't?" Christ. He didn't really trust Joule with any familiar, ever, but if he'd actually not been trying to reabsorb anyone so far, that was at least a bit reassuring. And apparently that came from Pop and not Joule himself, which helped, a little. Were there any other witnesses to the Millijoule reabsorption who could corroborate that he'd been willing?

"Why are other people going to?" Mia asked. "It sounds like it just means you stop being able to make your own decisions. You can't want that."

 

[Negrek]

"I don't think he realized he could," Rocky said. "Me and Nate brought a shade to him because we wanted to see if he knew anything about them since they came from him. And when he went to hold it, it jumped at him and, like, burrowed into his chest!" Rocky shuddered. "It was kind of gross, actually. So that was how he found out he could absorb shades. And then he figured he'd be able to absorb familiars because they come from shades, but I don't think he has, except for Millijoule."

Mia's question was harder. Rocky fidgeted, his ectoplasm rippling here and there. "I don't know why people would want to go back. I don't understand, either. But there are people who would. Definitely. Because sometimes people don't want to have to make decisions. They don't want to have to do anything anymore. I think. Or something." He threw a desperate look at Nate.

The mudkip did an improvised quadruped's shrug. "Life sucks and some people would rather not. Ain't complicated."

"I think Luz wants to go back to Joule!" Rocky said brightly. "Maybe you can talk to her about why."

 

[Dragonfree]

A shade had... what. Well, maybe those were eager to go back to him, for all he knew. Maybe if Squiggly'd met Joule pre-Ultra Stone he'd have been dying to join him. Didn't change that they'd gone and carved out their own identities now, and Joule had no business taking any of them back unless they for some reason really wanted to.

Mia cocked her head at Rocky. "If you don't want to make decisions you can just flip a coin. Or follow someone else. Maybe you're going to want to make some decisions later. Giving them up forever is stupid."

"Well, you know, sometimes people do choose to limit their future choices in return for something else they get out of it. I mean, that's basically what marriage is, or having a job. Maybe some shades just really fucking want to be with Joule, I guess." Which was pretty creepy. Luz wanted to reunite with Joule? Christ. Maybe he should check on her, see if it seemed like weird brainwashing or if she just seemed to lucidly want to become one with the fucked-up light-dragon that'd murdered her host.

 

[Negrek]

"Well, I don't know that it's just about decisions," Rocky said, picking nervously at his ectoplasm. "Even if somebody else is choosing what to do for you, you'd still have to do it. Like if you're really tired, not having to think about what to do is better than having to make a lot of choices, but even if someone's telling you what to do, you'd still rather lie down instead." He shot another look at Nate.

"The fuck do you keep looking at me for?" the mudkip asked.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter!" Rocky said. "Joule said he isn't going to go around reabsorbing people, and Pop said he wouldn't, either, so you don't have to worry about it."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Well, I'm not exactly eager to just take his fucking word for it." Dave scowled at Rocky. "Anyone else who could confirm Millijoule actually wanted to go back to him?"

God, why was he even here still talking about this shit. He had better things to worry about. Like whether Soda was the fucking spy and was plotting to overthrow God.

Mia contemplated their words. "But if you just want to lie down, then you want to be able to decide to do that. Then you don't want to merge with someone who doesn't want to lie down. You won't get to do any lying down and can't make any other decisions either."

 

[Negrek]

"N-no," Rocky said. "I mean, Maple was there, too, but she probably wouldn't tell on Joule." His tail curled nervously in around his legs, and he kept picking at his spectral fingers.

"Hey. That's enough," Nate said. "We done here?"

Rocky hesitated a moment, then knuckled over to Nate, ears pinned back against the sides of his head. "It's not quite like that," he muttered to Mia as he went past. "Say you're so tired you want to sleep forever. If you merged with Joule you could do that... probably."