Destiny Village ~ Parfait Way

[Adamhuarts]

"Awww, you made one of Ivy!" Cynthian said, barely able to hold back her squeal.

"Ivy would really love it. She's been holding onto the one you made of me before. It's her favorite doll now," Cynthian said with a chuckle and then cleared her throats.

"I also brought something for you too. I'd almost finished it before... that event happened," Cynthian said, shuddered upon remembering Joule's ball of death. She shrugged the thought and then pushed the gift box towards Leg. "Here, I brought something for you too. It's my way of showing my appreciation to you."

Inside the gift box was a plush doll crafted in Leg's image. Cynthian had made it out of a soft comfortable fabric, found suitable buttons for the eyes and used a polished piece of wood for the tail. It had been her greatest work yet.

The other gift had been another costume very much like the one Leg already had. Unlike Leg's, this one was a more muted greyish yellow. The cheek marks were black and white respectively. Aside from that, the only other difference was the knitted rose Cynthian had stitched to one of the ears.

"I put everything you'd taught me into making them. I feel a bit embarrassed, but I hope you like them," Cynthian said while rubbing her other arm.

 

[Namohysip]

The Mimikyu skittered around Cynthian, then the doll, poking and prodding it to test the material. By the end of the inspection, she seemed pleased, bouncing left and right while the false head of her disguised bobbed with her motions. She moved it to the side of the pile and started pushing things around to make sure it had a proper spot, hissing contently all the while.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I'm glad you like the doll," Cynthian said, smiling. She gestured at the gift box eagerly.

"You should check out the other gift too!"

 

[Namohysip]

Leg slid toward the gift next, looking at the ribbons before, without much restraint, tearing it open from the top like a hungry predator. She hopped up and peered inside.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"What do you think?" Cynthian asked with glittering eyes. "I really like your costume, so I tried to make it myself too to test my skills, and to show my appreciation."

"I added the flower last as the finishing touch." Cynthian wore a remorseful smile on her face as she said that, and then sighed. "I made the flower to resemble my rose, and I put extra work to make sure the costume would be comfortable to wear as too."

Cynthian paused. "Do you like it?"

 

[Namohysip]

Leg looked like she was seriously considering it, slithering--did she slither?--around and around before finally stopping. She didn't look like she wanted to put it on just then--perhaps her kind had a means or ritual of some kind to break in--but she still quietly said, "...Love..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I'm glad." Cynthian heaved a relieved sigh and took a good look around the room at the mountain of dolls. Cynthian's bounsweet doll attempt could also be found sitting snuggly in the pile.

"When all of this is over, I'm going to miss you," Cynthian said with lowered eyes. If it hadn't been for the void lands, she'd have already lost any chance at making a proper farewell...

 

[Namohysip]

Leg flinched. She wasn't expecting that. She also didn't know that Cynthian would feel that way, in a sense. They were friends, yes, but... Would Cynthian be able to remember her?

"...I will, too." Leg quivered a little. "Khhh... Will always... Re... remember."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian smiled warmly at her and grabbed hold off the Ivy doll.

"I made you the costume and the doll so we'd have something connecting us even if we're worlds apart from one another." Cynthian returned the doll and took a deep breath.

"Even if I somehow forget everything... Oh, I know!" Cynthian said with a gasp. She leaned towards Leg, saying, "You guys visit all kinds of different worlds all the time, right? Why don't you visit my world too sometime? It could be when you're not too busy with worldsaving and just want to relax. Then, you can pay a visit and we can just... hang out?"

"Even if I can't remember," Cynthian said as she withdrew. "Even then... I'm confident I'll know in my heart that we shared a bond."

 

[Namohysip]

Leg's pinpricks of light for eyes glimmered again. She bounced, hopping from Cynthian to one of the piles of dolls and then to another. "Khh! Yes!" She hopped again, burrowing into the pile of plushies. She poked her disguise's head out, and then plunged back in. "Play!"

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Yeah! It'll be so much fun!" Cynthian said with a hearty laugh.

Cynthian confided in Leg to play. She'd have to ask Maple about her world hopping later. For now, it was just Cynthian having the time of her life with treasured and loved friend.

<><><><>

 

[Ambyssin]

"And this is apparently residential housing for VIPs."

Bahamut wasn't sure why he told Cola that. He probably knew it already. Should've just been honest. "I swore I sensed Reshiram's energy around here. I believe he lives with Kyurem and Zekrom, so worst case scenario we can ask her where Reshiram is."

He then recalled his previous meeting with the giant popsicle dragon.

"... hope you like really large cookies with a side of melancholy."

Bahamut descended toward the rows of houses, trying to remember which one was the one he was looking for.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz swung her hindpaws in the air, sat on the garden wall of Truffle's and Leg's house. Confronting Truffle about espionage... It seemed to be a harder task every time she considered it. Air moved across her face, ruffling the surface of her substance. She looked up to see Bahamut, descending.

"Howdy, big guy. Say– D'you got a spare second?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Sure."

Bahamut floated in place for a single second.

"Well, it was nice catching up with you." He bobbed his head, then did an abrupt one-eighty. His bag jostled a bit, forcing him to turn back around, sighing.

"I assume you need more time than that?" Bahamut said, completely straight-faced.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz raised a brow, and smiled lopsidedly at Bahamut. "Fella, either yer th'most obtuse 'mon I ever ever, or you're the multiverse's master of deadpan humour. But alright, I'll speak plainer with you."

Luz drew up a knee to lean her crossed arms on and pointed a digit sidelong at the necrozma.

"When we first met, I figured we were total opposites. I reckoned stuff was gonna work out okay an' there was no point frettin' too hard either way besides, an' you were more cynical than every 'mon I knew put t'gether. Then after . . . what happened, with Joule... Well, I had a taste of certain feelings. It got me thinkin'. As far as we know, ultra shades have negligible senescence if any and're near enough to indestructible."

She paused for thought, still eyeing Bahamut for a reaction.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut tucked his head down and hummed. "Well, the... sturdiness of your cores was made very clear to us when we first found the stones. However..." His voice trailed off and he tapped his crystalline chin with a wing-claw. "The other part sounds like an assumption to me. No one knows explicitly what these ultra stones truly are. Not even Diyem." Of course there was a chance he was lying about that, but in light of everything else going on, Bahamut considered the makeup of the ultra stones to be small potatoes.

"In my opinion, it is the will of nature for things to decay over time. Slowly, perhaps." Bahamut raised an upper wing. "Even light decays as it travels from its origin." He brought his arm to his side and shook his head. "But I doubt you're interested in the ramblings of an old fool. This is about your lifespan, isn't it? Or, perhaps, what will happen if we can ensure Cibus' safety... and are able to return to our homes?"

Cal had broached the subject with him before, but that was something he could keep up his figurative sleeve until necessary.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Yeah. Somethin' like that."

She narrowed her eyes, made a motion with her mouth as if she were chewing her cheek.

"Bahamut, were you always th'way y'are? Or—assumin' I live long enough—am I gonna end up like you?"

She scoffed at herself.

"I mean, with a perspective and attitude like yers. Philosophical outlook, kinda thing. Sure seems like yer takes on things are informed by millennia of hurt."

 

[Ambyssin]

So, that was it. A very different concern from what Cal had talked with him about. Perhaps it would be good for Cola to witness, too, for one reason or another. Bahamut lowered himself to the ground and sat cross-legged.

"You haven't been alive for long. This was your first experience with... significant losses," Bahamut said. "Fortunately we managed to get everyone back sooner than expected. But perhaps such events didn't allow you to fully work through your grief. It is a... complex emotion. Everyone processes it differently."

He curled his tail around one of his legs. "The short version is that, no, I would not expect you to end up like me. There are plenty of good examples for what your future could look like in this very village. Arceus, Zekrom, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina... just to name a few."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz nodded, slowly, chewed over the thought.

"Okay."

...

"Okay, yeah, I see that."

She matched Bahamut's gaze and hummed to herself.

"Nah, I don't reckon I did work through my grief. Hell, my gal an' I are back to where we left off, almost. Brisa sent to me—y'know, telepathy—while she was still on her way home an' asked me t'do her a favour like nothin' had happened. I dunno whether she's not bothered about bein' dead fer a while or she's just pretendin' like it don't matter. But besides thinkin' about loss, about pain, about things not workin' out, it got me thinkin' about who I am without her, what I'm gonna do with my life, whether somethin' like that could ever happen t'me."

Luz kicked her free leg forwards and backwards.

"Maybe I'd end up like those 'mon y'mentioned, sure. Why did you end up as you?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut looked at a house to his right. "I'm not sure that's something you really want to hear." He wrapped his left lower wing around the protrusion on his left leg. "All stars come with expiration dates. They release their light in explosive bursts of energy and fizzle out. The only reason I exist... is pure chance. Two stars going supernova in such close proximity the collision of energy created sentient light. And I had to struggle to adapt to existence by myself. No family. No friends. No civilization.

"The first planet I found with life on it... a water dam had burst. It was going to flood a city." Bahamut continued to stare at the house. "I got the water back into the reservoir and fixed the dam. The humans in the village then responded by sending all their pokémon at me. Pummeling me with attacks while I was exhausted in an effort to catch me in one of those poké balls. I managed to escape the planet after breaking out of three dozen of them.

"That was just the tail end of the first century."