Destiny Village ~ Central Crossroads

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian listened to her sniffle in silence, and he remained seated where he was to let her grieve. Everyone on the team had their own struggles and difficulties, and it made him come to the understanding that he needed to fully set his own aside for others' sakes.

<><><><><><><><>

 

[Negrek]

Another thing it was hard to do as a mudkip was slam doors. It could be hard to even open doors sometimes, especially around Destiny Village, where everybody just assumed you were fully evolved and a thousand feet tall or could, like, float or whatever the fuck. Nate had to settle for charging out the door the instant Rocky opened it for him and just imagine how good it would feel to slam it hard enough to crack the window. Meanwhile Rocky shut it with gentle care. The infernape familiar was grinning dangerously wide--cartoonishly wide, the smile actually stretching the edges of his malleable face.

"Well, we got your ribbon. Are you happy?"

"This is such fucking bullshit. Stop smiling, it ain't fucking funny!"

Rocky's grin broadened. "So are you going to pick the red one?" He held up a large, polka-dotted bow tie. "Or the blue one?" A matching tie in cheerful blue.

"I cannot fucking believe this. It's called a fucking joy ribbon, not ribbons. I thought Silver was gonna wear whatever the fucking thing was. Not me!"

"Awww, but this is great! You're going to look so cute. What's cuter than a mudkip with a bow tie? The store lady was thinking that, too. She kept smiling."

"Yeah, that bitch knew what she was doing," Nate said darkly. Of course he had no hope of leaving Rocky in the dust, though he kept squeezing through gaps in the crowd that were too small for his familiar.

Rocky followed along gamely, maneuvering through the crowd without much difficulty. "Well? Which one do you want? Go on, we can put it on right here!"

"Who the fuck cares? I ain't touching those things until Joule's literally scorching my face off with some attack. If then."

"No? Don't you want to show them off to everybody? They're gonna think they're great."

God, fuck that. Maybe he'd be able to wear one under his scarf without it looking too weird somehow. Or maybe it, like, counted if it was in Rocky's bag, as long as it stayed close to him? As far as Nate was concerned, nobody on Team Spectrum needed to know about the fucking stupid ribbons. Ever.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr walked down the streets of Destiny Village's shopping district, bored and restless. She could usually count on shop browsing as an effective distraction and timesink. Hard to get too distracted when half the stuff she was buying was for Team Spectrum's upcoming suicide mission. She still didn't have a handle on exactly what the hell their chances were up pulling off a win against Joule, and the answer changed depending on who you asked. Why'd the damn strategy meeting have to happen while she was stuck in the infirmary. Maybe she'd talk to Owen about it later or something.

While she was walking down the road, she heard shouting and turned to see Nate arguing with his shade, which as far as she could tell, was completely normal. Seemed like he was the only one on the team who managed to be even less happy with who he'd gotten stuck with, which was saying something considering that she'd been saddled with Lexx. Though she usually tried to avoid arguing with him in the middle of a busy street surrounded by tons of people.

"No? Don't you want to show them off to everybody? They're gonna think they're great."

The shadowy Infernape looked beyond pleased, while the Mudkip looked like he wanted to melt into the road.

"You picked a weird place to have a go at your shade," Starr said dryly.

 

[Negrek]

"Oh, look, it's Starr!" Rocky said brightly. He raised the bow ties high. "Ooh, ooh, Starr! Which do you think would look best on Mudkip? The red or the bl--"

"Hold up, I gotta do a murder a sec," Nate said, and blasted Rocky's head off with a hydro pump. Then he turned back to Starr and said, "Wasn't really my idea to get into it out here, but somebody couldn't resist being a fucking comedian, I guess. But hey, glad I ran into you. Real fucking fight back there, huh? Must've been damn satisfying to put that bastard in his place."

"Yeah, you were really cool!" Rocky's voice came out a bit distorted as he was still in the process of re-growing his head, but his new face looked no less amused than the old one. "Especially with that combo attack, wow! Mudkip wouldn't stop talking about it afterwards."

"Yeah, it ain't real often you actually see a pledge combo go off like that," Nate said, shooting Rocky a death glare. "Impressive shit."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr smirked. "Gotta go with the red, myself." Aaand then a Hydro Pump took the shade's head clean off. Good thing they could regrow those. She couldn't help grinning at Rocky's comment on her combo attack. So Nate hadn't been able to shut up about it, huh.

"Thanks. Not gonna lie, didn't think it'd work getting three of us in on the combo--felt pretty badass getting to pull it off though. And, y'know, all the better since we got to put that bastard in his place. Even if we've gotta deal with him again soon, no doubt."

 

[Negrek]

"I'll bet. Especially with all the other shit going on... Nice timing." Nate knew water pledge, sort of. He couldn't imagine ever actually getting to do a combo with it, though. "Yeah, we'll probably see that asshole again. I mean, I hope getting roasted by that hyper beam or whatever the fuck it was keeps him out of our faces for the next fight, but no fucking way it'd be enough to finish him off." Unfortunately. Nate tried not to let anything of what he was thinking show on his face. Like, yeah, obviously she hated the guy's guts, but it still felt weird to be talking about taking him out. Super personal, not exactly the kind of shit you just chatted about in the middle of the street.

"But Giovanni's your dad, isn't he?" Rocky said. "I mean, I know he's bad, but... Do you really want to get rid of him? Or I guess not really him, but still. It sounds really weird."

Fuck. Thanks, Rocky.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr paused, uncomfortably aware of the look of concern on Rocky's face. It'd been easy, riding the high of their victory, and she hadn't really had to put much thought into the fact that they'd eventually have to stop him for good. Whatever that entailed.

Are you trying to pretend that you'd feel bad if it came to that?

It didn't matter how she felt. That wasn't how heroes were supposed to act.

What makes you think you're a hero?

Starr rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "I mean, yeah, I don't really..."--fuck, what was she supposed to say--"I haven't really thought about how I want things to go down in the end. It's complicated. I'm just saying it felt good to make him regret screwing with us for once, that's all."

 

[Negrek]

"Haha, yeah! And we sure as fuck got to do that last round," Nate said, glaring at Rocky. The familiar wasn't looking at him. "Pretty damn satisfying. It ain't really the same, but I pretended we were beating on the boss in the last fight, myself. Ain't never gonna get the chance to do that in my own world." Not really the same at all. The Giovanni in his own world had been just as obsessed with tech and genetic bullshit as this one was, as far as anybody said, but the boss was more of a traditionalist. Back to the good old kneecappings and extortion. "It's kinda freaky, how there's apparently a bunch of... him. Like, a bunch of 'em in all different worlds or whatever. Makes me kinda wonder about there being more of me out there. Probably not, I ain't nobody special... But it's weird. Mewtwo, too. Too many of the damn things running around. Your world got a Mewtwo, too?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr let out a snort. "Yeah, 'freaky' is right. I'm kinda glad that his kid's Silver in that world, and not like, someone closer to me. No clue if my world's Giovanni would be pulling shit like this if he had the power." Her expression darkened. "We've sure as hell got a Mewtwo, though. Escaped from the Rockets' lair and busted up Viridian good."

From what little conversation they'd had in the past, it was obvious that Nate's world was pretty damn similar to Starr's. And apparently he'd been on Team Rocket too, if Karat wasn't just bullshitting. No clue if he was open to being asked about it, though.

"Sounds like your world's pretty similar to mine," Starr said casually. "What kinda run-ins did you have with Team Rocket, anyway?"

 

[Negrek]

Escaped from the Rockets' lair and busted up Viridian good, shit, that sounded a little too familiar. They weren't from the same world somehow, were they? But Starr had said her world didn't have a Silver, and the guy was pretty public, it wasn't like he could have just been some sibling dear old daddy had been neglecting to mention. So what...

The torracat's second question drove all the speculation from his mind. "Uh," he said, eyes darting around in search of escape routes without him even realizing it. He wracked his brain for anything he knew about the torracat, other than the fucking huge deal with her being Giovanni's kid. She'd never said she'd actually been involved with the team, though. And she pretty obviously hated the guy's guts, so... not a fan of Rocket in general, no doubt. Probably best to keep things under wraps.

"They took my pokémon," he said. "Didn't really like me trying to get them back, neither. So I guess you could say we knew each other pretty well."

"Well, yeah," Rocky said. "You were a Rocket, too! Of course they knew you."

Nate's chest tightened, the breath catching in his throat as he whirled towards Rocky. This fucking guy. "You--you fucking--"

"He was so bad at it that they fired him!" Rocky cheerfully told Starr. "That's how we met. I saved him from, you know." He dragged a finger across his throat, letting his tongue loll out. Then he ducked a hydro pump, giggling, tail flicking playfully.

"I am going to fucking--you bastard you can't just go around saying that. It ain't fucking funny!" But Rocky was ready for more attacks, and he didn't have trouble dodging Nate's anger-blind strikes. He didn't even have time to deal with this joker, he realized with a cold shock. The fucking torracat.

Nate spun back in her direction. "Look, it ain't like that, all right? I ain't a fucking Rocket. I fucking hate them. That was years ago! This joker just thinks it's funny to bring it up every five seconds."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Oh my fucking god," Starr said, putting a paw to her forehead. She didn't know whether to laugh or feel bad for him for having that thrown out in the open like that. At least it wasn't in front of anyone else on the team?

"Anyway, you can calm your tits cause I'm in the same boat as you, alright?" Starr went on with a dry chuckle. "I'm not like Silver--apparently he was against them from the beginning. Took me until last year to get a fucking clue and get out." And it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't been pushed into it. She'd been thinking about that a lot more lately.

 

[Negrek]

She had, huh? Nate's heart was still pounding in his ears, but his panic quickly faded enough for proper embarrassment to set in. Fucking Rocky. And he'd gone and freaked out about it in the middle of the street, God. "Oh, that's... That's good. Uh, congratulations?"

"Oh, so you were?" Rocky asked. He leaned down a little, eyes gleaming with interest. "Did you get to do lots of cool missions and stuff? Did you ever steal anything really special? Like a super-rare pokémon?"

"For fuck's sake, shut the fuck up," Nate snarled. "It ain't a fucking game, it ain't just some fun story." And after a moment of struggle he couldn't help but add, "What, I join Team Rocket and get constant shit about it, she joins Team Rocket and she's the most interesting person in fucking Destiny Village?"

"Well... yeah," Rocky said, gesturing at the torracat like it was obvious. "Starr's cool."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr took a step back from the overeager Infernape-shade grinning in her face. Jesus, was he based on a literal 10-year-old or what. She was starting to see why Nate couldn't deal with him.

"Yeaahhh... real cool missions..." she said with a forced grin, briefly making incredulous eye contact with Nate before looking back at Rocky. "Beat up some goons, caught some legends, the usual."

 

[Negrek]

Nate winced. Yeah, that question had touched a nerve. "Rocky, shut the fuck up. Stop asking shitty questions."

"It wasn't a bad question!" Rocky protested, although even he must have realized something was wrong based on Starr's response. The familiar's ears were pinned back defensively, and when Nate snapped, "Knock if off or I'm gonna blast you into next fucking week", he merely crossed his arms and scowled.

"Sorry about him," Nate said. "He don't really get it." He searched around for something to say, something that wouldn't make things worse. To be honest, "caught some legends" definitely made him want to know more, but it didn't look like Starr wanted to talk about that shit. He prodded at a pebble lying near his foot and said, "So, uh, if you were with Giovanni, umm... Were you up in Viridian, then?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr relaxed slightly. It was pretty weird--for much she hated thinking back on that life, she'd never expected to meet anyone here on Cibus who could actually relate to it. Even her alternate universe counterpart had had a totally different experience with Team Rocket.

"Yeah, spent most of my time in Viridian. Sometimes Celadon. Combat unit, so I moved around a lot whenever we needed extra muscle on jobs and such." She wasn't entirely sure if it was a good idea to reveal the whole 'executive' thing. "How 'bout you?"

 

[Negrek]

"I was in Saffron the whole time. Nothing real exciting there. Operations kinda shifted over there after Giovanni weren't in charge no more. Always heard Viridian Base was real nice, though. I only visited there... once." Not dwelling on that. On the other hand, "Combat specialist, though, huh? What kind of team were you running?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Huh, so Giovanni wasn't the boss anymore in Nate's world. For how similar their worlds were, it was bizarre to run into that odd detail here and there that differed.

"Ran a fire and lightning squad. Fire for property destruction. Lightning for... disabling enemies." She kept the emotion from her face. Not thinking about that. Nope. "Y'know, it's obviously different using fire firsthand, but it does kinda feel like I've always known how to work with it." How wild would it've been to practice Flare Blitz alongside Arcanine, Flareon, or Rapidash?

...God, she missed her team.

"You have a team?" she found herself asking.

 

[Negrek]

Fire and lightning, huh? Sounded pretty high-level, although if you were the boss' daughter, that probably gave you access to some pretty good shit. "Sounds badass. And like a handful. Especially those electrics. Always heard they go a mile a minute all the time." What pokémon might that be, then? Houndoom was pretty common. Electrode, magneton, maybe. Arcanine? Maybe a charizard from a starter? Or even a jolteon or flareon, Giovanni'd be able to pay for something like that...

"That's wild, though, ending up as a fire-type after you got so used to training them. Makes sense you already knew your fire before getting here, that explains a lot. Ain't no waters on my team, so not like I got any clue what I'm doing. Mightyena, raticate, steelix, and graveler, that's my crew." Nate coudn't help but smile, thinking of them, but it only lasted a moment before he remembered exactly how likely it was that he'd ever get to see them again.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr grinned. "Yeah, not gonna pretend like I could always handle 'em, but we work pretty well now. And you're right about electrics--Raichu can be a little shit sometimes."

"Gotta admit, I wouldn't've minded being a water-type either. Had it in my mind that I was gonna train water-types, back before joining Rocket. First partner was Feraligatr and she's still the team ace." With a laugh, Starr added, "Y'know, I bet she'd get a real kick out of having a type advantage on me if we could spar here. Wish we could."

His team was kind of a hodgepodge, and all of 'em were weak to fighting. But from the look on his face, he was obviously pretty fond of them.

 

[Negrek]

Raichu and feraligatr, huh? Shit, if he'd had to get turned into a water-type, and a water-type starter at that, why couldn't it have been totodile instead of fucking mudkip? "Water to fire, huh? Damn, that is quite a switch. 'Course, I always thought I was gonna be a dragon trainer as a kid. At least you were halfway realistic about shit."

"You could still catch a dragon," Rocky said. "You should! Dragons are cool!"

Like there was even the faintest chance of him catching anything anytime soon, or ever. God, why couldn't the guy take a hint and fucking leave? Nate's smile felt stretched and uncomfortable, but he did his best to keep it in place while he said, "Shit, yeah, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? I'm sure they'd all kick my ass, but it would be great, just to be able to do it at all. And they'd love it here, I mean... no Rocket bullshit for sure, not having to worry about any of that, or, like, nobody would even know what you were talking about." No Rocket bullshit, of course, unless Giovanni got what he wanted here. Unless Joule annihilated the planet so it wasn't even there to enjoy. Or any of this Dark Matter fucktwaddle.

Right, great. That had been the perfect way to cheer up. Nate took a deep breath and forced himself to move on. It wasn't hard--damn, but it was too long since he'd gotten to talk trainer shit. And he was feeling genuinely playful when he leaned forward and said. "All right, raichu and feraligatr, then. But go on, you ain't gonna hold out on me, are ya? Got to have at least one fire-type there, right? Who else you got on your team?"