Destiny Tower

[Negrek]

"Great!" Rocky said. "I can go right away. There was just one more thing. Has Cola met Red?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I believe he has," Pop said, nodding. "He seems like a good human. That's one thing we can agree on."

 

[Negrek]

"That's good!" Rocky said. "Maybe you can ask him to watch Cola sometimes for you, if they like each other. Which I figure they will, since everybody likes Red, and I'm pretty sure he likes every pokémon there is. He might be a good person to take Cola out and show him the world, since he's really strong and can protect him if something goes wrong. Plus, Red's really nice! I bet Cola could learn a lot of good things from him."

Rocky glanced away from Pop, flames flickering irregularly. "I do think Cola has to look out. There are people who would want to hurt him. But... You can't just keep him away from everyone, or get rid of all the bad people. That will just make Cola like them more, because it proves all the bad things they said about you right. But you can try to make sure there are good people around him, too, and try to be good to him yourself. Then even if he screws up or gets in trouble, he knows he can go to you and you'll try to help him. But trying to make him like you will only make him like you less."

Rocky smiled faintly. "Mudkip said that. He's really dumb about most things, but if you pretend like you're asking about pokémon training, sometimes he has good ideas."

 

[Namohysip]

"He did, hm..." Pop listened thoughtfully, then sighed. "Perhaps having Red near him could be a good influence. They say that he'd a Legendary human all on his own,. one way or another. Perhaps there is some merit to that after all..."

"Well. Thank you, Rocky. I'll await whenever I get a message from Cola through you." He smiled, and while it was faint, it seemed relieved.

 

[Negrek]

“Okay, I’ll go right away, then! Watch for my call. And when you talk to Cola, don’t worry too much. Just remember that you don’t just want to focus on what bad things you aren’t going to do. Talk about the good things you’re going to do, too. That’s another tip from Mudkip.” They hadn’t been able to talk as much as Rocky wanted because Mudkip started being weird and sad and didn’t want to say anything more. It was probably still good advice, though.

“Remember what we talked about, and don’t worry. You’re going to do great! Okay, bye now. Talk to you soon!” Rocky was off with a bound and a burst of speed. He had to go find Puddle and Cola right away! If Pop could talk with Cola, maybe they could finally start to understand each other better. And then maybe Cola wouldn’t want to go with Soda, and maybe then... Then he’d be safe.

Of course he would. There was nothing to worry about with Rocky on the case.

<><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

Destiny Tower seemed so much taller and imposing now that Cola was walking right up to it.

He stood next to Puddle and Rocky. Behind him was Owen and the others. "Where's Soda...?" Cola mumbled.

"I texted him," Owen said. "He'll be on his way soon. He's just in the middle of something at the park right now."

"Mmg... I don't want to wait anymore," Cola said. "He'll show up later, right? I... I just want to talk to Pop. And... see how he really feels. And then you'll see if he's lying, right?"

 

[Fusion]

Puddle patted Cola on the side, smiling. "We can trust 'im to show up soon, just gotta wait a little bit."

Honestly the longer they waited, the better. Puddle still felt incredibly uneasy about meeting with Pop, like something really bad was gonna happen, or was supposed to happen. Maybe Joule's in there, too, waiting to kill and eat all the familiars that showed up, while Pop took Cola by force. That thought alone gave Puddle chills... even if it sounded a bit exaggerated with Pop and Joule's personalities...

Unless they were corrupted...

Oh shit, what if they're corrupted?

 

[Disco]

"I am sure he'll be here soon.", Raven assured him. "He'll probably be here before you know it!"

 

[Negrek]

Rocky was waiting anxiously to see who all would show up. Hopefully a lot of people! He didn't like Soda being here at all, but maybe if there were more people, he'd have a hard time doing anything bad. Maybe. Unfortunately Rocky did trust Soda to show up here, just like Puddle, because this might be his last shot at getting Cola's power for himself.

For now he kept quiet outside the occasional comforting word for Cola. He didn't know that he could do much more than watch and see what happened.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa followed behind quietly. His thoughts were still troubled, but when he'd heard about it, he wanted to come. Not only did he like Pop, but he also wanted to make sure Cola would be ok. Besides, if Soda was going to come, he wanted to keep an eye on him.

Out of the corner of his eye he spied Rocky, and shot the Infernape a smile and a greeting, though he kept his attention focused ahead. Something told him he would want to stay on his toes...

 

[Negrek]

Rocky smiled and waved back, but even seeing a friendly face wasn't enough to reassure him. Everything depended on what happened when Pop showed up, and then Soda...

 

[Cresselia92]

What seemed to be an excited yell came from the outside of the tower, before a phantom Ninetales came rushing upfront. The glow inside his chest was almost blinding, as a sign of his energy.

“Yo, folks! Am I late for business?” He took some glances around the place, before tilting his head. “Hm, doesn’t look like it. Cool, cool!”

The Ninetales took some other glances around, when he spotted Cola. He grinned and wagged his comet-like tails.

“Hey, Cola! What’s up?” he chirped, before approaching the small god. “Wow! It’s been a while since we had some fun together, huh? Long enough for me to gain three extra tails, haha!”

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, wow! Good job on evolving!" Cola said cheerfully.

"Yo."

"Soda!" Cola cheered, trotting over to him and tackling him in the chest.

"Gah--c'mon, stop messing with the illusions!" Soda said, trying to pull Cola out of his fur, but he kept squirming until he was stuck atop Soda's mane.

"Okay! We can go in, now!"

"Ah, shit, I kept you up?" Soda muttered, shaking his head. "Yeah, let's go. He's waiting at the ground floor, right?"

"Yeah... I see him there. He's just waiting..."

Far ahead there was a dim, silvery glow. Seemed that, indeed, Pop was waiting patiently...

"...Yeah... hey." Soda tried to cross his eyes to look at Cola. "Can we talk for a second?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa shot a side eye at Cola and Soda, and casually ambled closer. "You ready, Cola? We all got your back, okay?"

Whatever else he felt about the Arceus-to-be he still felt a little bad for him, even if he might be scaring himself for no reason. He offered Cola a friendly smile.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Soul slunk into the room. She wasn't sure Cola would exactly want her there, given she hadn't been very fond of his showing at the Tree of Life. Still, even if she thought he wasn't ready to be a god, she wasn't comfortable with the idea of him being forcibly recombined... Even without considering the prescient it would set between shades and Joule, Cola deserved a shot at being someone.

Oh, was that Petram? It was. He'd gotten the evolution he'd so wanted. She wondered how he felt about it, but she figured this wasn't the time for that discussion. She'd have to talk to him sometime afterwards.

 

[Fusion]

"...Yeah... hey." Soda tried to cross his eyes to look at Cola. "Can we talk for a second?"

"You know what, yeah, sure, please, outside. Away from Pop," Puddle asked, then cleared its throat. Fuck, they might notice Puddle was still nervous! It quickly cleared its throat and tried to cover that up. "I-If you wanna, Cola."

 

[Disco]

Raven blinked when Soda showed up, and smiled at seeing Cola happy.

When he asked Cola if he could talk, however, she glanced away, towards Pop. "We shouldn't keep him waiting for long..."

 

[Namohysip]

"Won't be long," Soda said, stepping away. "I wanna have a talk with Cola... privately. Alright?" Soda glared at them, but then turned around, walking. It didn't seem like he was forcing Cola to follow him, either. And yet Cola remained.

"...Uh, should we follow him?" Owen asked as Soda took a few more steps away. He seemed to be heading for a small, raised portion of the hill, more like a stack of boulders in the cold landscape. He said something to Cola, who hopped off and trotted ahead. "He'd know..."

Does anyone have good hearing?

Owen wondered if Soda would just disguise that...

 

[Cresselia92]

"Oh, wow! Good job on evolving!" Cola said cheerfully.

Petram grinned and wagged his tails with more vigor. “Thanks, bud!”

Then, Soda arrived and Petram regarded the other fox with a curious stare, before following his gaze.

‘Okay, Petram! This is it! Your first big job as an older ‘mon! Keep your focus on the—hey! Isn’t that Soul?!’ He waved his paw at the other Ninetales, before placing his paw on his chin, thoughtful. ‘Wait… That’s not how an older ‘mon behaves, right?’

Petram took a deep breath and smirked. “Okay, sure. You can chitchat for a little moment, I guess. Minute more, minute less. But I’d say it’s good to not keep a god waiting for too long, okay?”

 

[Disco]

We shouldn't follow. It would just make him suspicious.

Raven sighed and watched them. She couldn't hear anything. It made her nervous. There was no way to tell anything, but... She looked over at Koa.

Can you hear things from a distance?