Destiny Village ~ Central Crossroads

[Virgil134]

"H-Hold on!" Cabot protested. "Nobody is seriously thinking that it was Owen because of the scarf and the wound, right? Someone easily could have framed him!"

 

[Dragonfree]

"It was Owen, but something else made him rampage," Mia said. "It wasn't him. Like how Zane wasn't always him."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa approached Owen, mostly to see if he was alright, but also to put herself between him and Shield.

"Owen," she said, quietly. "Were you dreamin' jus' now? And either way, d'you remember takin' the Harmony Scarf?"

She swivelled one ear back to listen to the assembled pokémon, cautious of any accusations that might fly about.

 

[Fusion]

"Oh, are we thinking it's Owen? Man, I was waaaaay off. I thought the ol' boss man went and lost his shit," Puddle bubbled.

"It wasn't either of them," Vix said, confident with her answer. "Owen isn't even a Charizard, and I don't think any of us can evolve and devolve at will." Even then, it was a funny coincidence that Owen had that bruise, right where S'more hit that Charizard. And Vix will constantly tell herself that it was a coincidence, because it was a coincidence. I coincidental coincidence that may or may not be a coincidence but it had to be a coincidence so it is one. "And I'll be honest, I don't think his shadow zard thing coulda done it either."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Weren't you paying attention? He had Shield's scarf that makes you evolve and devolve at will."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Maybe he's a sleepwalker because of deeply repressed psychological trauma?" Esper materialized a pair of slimy glasses and pressed them to his face. He then conjured up a gooey notebook and pen. "So, let's start by talking about your relationship with your mother..."

 

[Fusion]

"Weren't you paying attention? He had Shield's scarf that makes you evolve and devolve at will."

"Oh yeah," Vix tittered. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!

"So it's Owen?" Puddle asked. "Shame, after I went through all that trouble of saving him from getting his power stolen."

 

[Jedi Shulk]

“What is everyone going on about I’ve been busy training?” Fay asked the question.

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Of course it was Owen," Starr muttered, massaging her temple with a paw. "And it's not like this is the first time we've seen someone on the team go on a rampage." The memory of the shadow machine flickered through her mind, and she fought back a shudder. But he didn't look shadowed this time...

"You look conscious enough now at least," she said to Owen. "How you feeling? Your flame went all Blacklight and stuff."

 

[Fusion]

"W-Well, like, I don't think he can teleport, right?" Vix said, hopefully putting out the most confident and not-suspect-of-Owen attitude possible. "Blacklight or not, it couldn't have been him then, right?"

"She said, with the confidence of a Caterpie over an open flame."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Somebody else came up behind him, grabbed him and teleported," Mia said. "He looked surprised."

 

[Fusion]

"I think I might just be quiet for a while..." Vix squeaked, floating down to the ground.

 

[Virgil134]

"Wait, that shadowy creature attacked Owen when we got back to Destiny Village, right?" Pleo said. "Maybe it did something to him that caused him to act like this without him even knowing."

 

[Ambyssin]

Esper looked up from his fake notepad. "Or maybe they're having a secret affair!" A beat passed. "... nah, we don't have enough episodes of this drama for a plot twist like that. The network would laugh us out of the studio."

 

[Virgil134]

Pleo tilted his head and gave Esper a puzzled look, while Cabot shot the Poipole an unamused stare before shaking his head.

"Regardless whether Owen was framed or if something made him do it, we can all agree he's innocent, right?" he asked. "We know Owen, and he'd never attack others like this."

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Kate blinked at the proceedings with Owen, and mention of 'Harmony Scarves' and what they did before giving a puzzled frown to her new teammates.

"I'm sorry, I must be missing out on something here, but didn't I just stumble into this guy the other day?" she asked. "He didn't exactly look all that out of the ordinary for a Charmeleon, so what was with the freaky lightshow with his tail? And why would someone have an axe to grind against him in particular to try and force him to do stuff against his will?"

 

[Fusion]

"Yeah, normally. But it'd be pretty terrible if, say, there was something capable of making someone lash out in anger," Puddle popped. "Oh wait...

"You aren't helping," Vix growled, shaking her bag. "I believe Owen is innocent. It's really likely that someone jacked him up with Blacklight, threw that scarf on him, and sent him to destiny tower to cause havoc."

"If I was a betting puddle of ethereal goop, and I am, I'd say this was some sort of distraction," Puddle blooped. "Grab one of our potentially strongest members, destroy shit, and get away with some priceless artifact or something while everyone else is trying not to die."

Vix nodded, raising off the floor a bit. "Are we sure nothing else happened elsewhere? Can we even check for that?"

 

[Namohysip]

"W-wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Owen held up his arms immediately, making sure that he could be heard. He thanked Brisa for getting between him and Shield--despite Shield's lack of attacking power, he seemed worried that Shield would try anyway. But everyone else, all of their theories, there was something that was clearly not adding up.

"I don't remember doing anything that you're saying," he said shakily. "Even when I was Shadowed, I remembered what happened. I didn't... I have no idea what you guys are talking about."

"Owen barely even left this room," Cal said firmly. "The guy left for water and, like, that's it."

"Then you don't even remember being under their control," Maple concluded. "You could be turned against us at any moment."

"No! I wasn't under control, I... that's..." Owen was fully awake now as the gravity of the accusation hit him. "I'm not... under anyone's control! I can't be! I..." There was some primal fear lacing his voice, especially when he saw how many were staring at him with uncertainty.

 

[windskull]

"Regardless whether Owen was framed or if something made him do it, we can all agree he's innocent, right?" he asked. "We know Owen, and he'd never attack others like this."

"One would think," Nip responded bluntly. "But a mon can do terrible things when under stress or under some sort of threat."

He flicked one of his ear feathers, turning away to address Owen. "Assuming you're innocent, can you explain how you got that leg injury?"

 

[Fusion]

Despite knowing full well that this was a bad idea, Vix got between Owen and Maple. It felt like standing before a mountain... "We're jumping to conclusions way too fast on this. If Owen was under someone's control, why would they break him free of it and put him back to sleep instead of, say, keeping him under their control?" she said, looking Maple in the eye.

"Owen isn't under anyone's control, and I won't let him be accused of it for no reason."

"I feel like they have a pretty damn good reason, honestly," Puddle muttered quietly.