Destiny Village ~ Parfait Way

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Hey," said Luz, with as disarming a smile and spread arms as she could muster, "the team were worried for a spell that folks'd see their wild Blacklight powers as pretty scary. Turns out the crowd love that stuff. They were big fans of Leg when she went all-out recently. I bet you'd do fine, and I know Brisa'd be thrilled to take a loss against a truly powerful opponent!"

The shade leaned over to Flesh and gave him a firm pat on the flank. "Let's give it a go, fella. Lookin' forward to it already!"

She sauntered over to Soda's corner, taking a swig of her juice as she did and appreciated the sensation of the coolness and flavour sliding down her throat as being the sort of sensory experience that wasn't too different for her compared to flesh and blood 'mon.

"Y'think Soda would go fer a match like that?" she asked, taking a closer look at Soda's quarters.

 

[Namohysip]

"Soda?" repeated Flesh, and then he made a growl that seemed to not be words but an actual hum of contemplation. "Soda is very strong. I don't think I've ever seen him go all-out in a fight because he doesn't need to. He might even be stronger than Maple!" Though, that seemed more like wishful thinking or idolization than anything else. Flesh didn't seem aware of that.

Soda's quarters had the magazines, of course, as well as what seemed to be some bedding in the back that was simultaneously slept in very little, and yet the few times it did left the place in a big mess. Oddly enough, there was very little fur on it, and what there was seemed to be strands of silver, gold, red, and black. There were extra baubles meant for his hair next to his bedside, several of them different colors than the usual fare. And, near his bedside, an unopened letter in Soda's handwriting: 'Just in case.'

It was far too small for Flesh to enter and investigate on his own.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz chuckled. "I don't doubt ya! Maybe we'll have to take him on last of all. But I bet we can do it if we get a fair bit stronger, an' take him on three-at-a-time the way we've been doin' so far. I think we're fightin' Truffle next! Say, Flesh, do y'all have a pen an' paper I can borrow, somewhere? I feel like maybe leavin' this guy a written invitation to come see the fight with you an' maybe have one of his own, since I don't tend to see him in person, and badge chat seems a mite casual."

With Flesh looking for something like that, she could take a jiffy to scrutinise Soda's quarters. Luz picked up a strand of gold hair. Fascinating. That was no typical zoroark fur colour, and no mistake. Did Soda have a golden-furred lover? With the rate at which he actually seemed to sleep here, and the presence of his lumbering housemate, it didn't seem likely. She pocketed a couple strands of odd fur, in case it could be examined forensically. It would pay to be proactive, she considered.

As for the letter...

Luz picked it up, gingerly. Was it sealed firmly...?

 

[Namohysip]

It didn't appear to be sealed very firmly. Not even glued down; a simple and careful unfurling would pull the letter out from its envelope.

The top words were frank and to the point, and once again were in Soda's handwriting. 'For if I'm dead.'

The immediate paragraph following seemed to be instructions on how to tend to Flesh. They were pretty thorough...

There didn't seem to be a whole lot more on Soda's bed aside from little bits of more fur and a few pieces of potato chips that had gotten lost in the sheets. There were, of course, the magazines as well, which remained untouched. Soda's desk space seemed to be lightly used, but there wasn't anything to glean from what was there aside from the letter. It was a little too clean compared to everywhere else.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Oh hell, was Soda planning on doing something that might result in getting killed or going missing somehow? He was a God Squaddie, so whatever he had in mind would have to be spectacularly high stakes. Unless he was just being careful about a vulnerable friend...

Were there drawers that might contain anything of use, in his desk?

...and what was with the magazines, anyway?

 

[Namohysip]

Soda's desk seemed clean; his drawers looked barren. Did he even do paperwork at all? Soda didn't seem like the kind of person to do paperwork like this to begin with. The letter seemed to be the only thing there in terms of written material...

"I found one," Flesh called back, trying to peer inside Soda's abode, but it wasn't even a quarter of the Guzzlord's size. He had no hope of looking inside. In one of his pinchers was a feather with a built-in inkwell, as well as a small stack of paper. They looked like completed reports from other God Squad members.

The magazines were somehow surprising and not surprising. High-quality paper that was glossy to the feel, and it seemed like the pictures accentuated the sheen of some of the Pokemon depicted.

That was odd. It seemed that one of the magazines had a different texture, slightly lower quality paper in one of the pages. The page itself was slightly bigger in size, too. It looked like it was a short story of that edition. A quick glance through the prose led to nothing particularly interesting, it seemed...

'. . . I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There he was, right in front of me, after the greatest battle of his life. And despite everything that he'd done, all of his accomplishments, he was approaching me? Right to me? We'd just met, but it must have been love at first sight. The way he swung his hips with every step, his glistening tail, his muscular shoulders, in five days the Tree of Life is going to be at its peak in power. That is when you should get ready to go, and the current god will never bother you again. Hope you're ready, because it's going to be a wild ride. If you're not sure, ask if you can go to a restaurant with me later and we'll talk more. I couldn't wait for him to take me home, oh, but which home would it be? Mine, or his? Oh, he's talking to me. What do I say? He's smiling, but there's a genuine warmth to it. My eyes trail along his body and I see . . . '

It didn't seem to be all that important. "Oh, um," Flesh said nervously. "A-are you... um... I don't really understand that terrestrial culture. It's weird. Soda goes through those a lot..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz didn't quite know what to make of the magazines. She understood the principle, more or less. Brisa wasn't entirely ignorant, and so neither was she. But she couldn't get her head around the point of it. Couldn't appreciate the appeal. She supposed some of the models were quite pretty. Very . . . healthy? She felt no connection, though. Just another reminder of what she was, and what she wasn't.

The message, though. What under sky...? She read it again, fearing that the instructions would disappear before her eyes. That wasn't part of the romantic story!

"Uh, yeah, me neither," she said to Flesh. "Bein' a shade, I don't really know what to make of this stuff."

 

[Namohysip]

"I guess we have that in common," Flesh said. He might have been smiling. "You were going to invite him to a fight? I don't know how to do that. I could also just ask him... Soda understands me, so you won't need to translate or anything. He should be home soon... I think."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz nodded. "Yeah, fair enough. Worth me hangin' around, talkin' in person?"

She replaced Soda's personal affects where they'd been, humming casually to herself.

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't know when he'll be back," Flesh said. "And Soda doesn't really like people being in his room, either. I guess he can't hide his terrestrial culture magazines. It's part of their culture to hide them. But he has a lot..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Right, point taken. I don't understand these things all the time either. Folks used t'be cross with me a lot fer it. Brisa used be cross pretty much constantly. I'm learnin', though."

Luz strolled to the front door, snapping her digits as the thought.

"Hey, Flesh. It's been a real pleasure makin' yer acquaintance after all this time. I figure y'ain't one fer plenty of guests, or it'd've come up before now, but I'm happy t'drop by any time, if'n y'want some company. How about it?"

 

[Namohysip]

Flesh looked surprised at that one. "You would?" he asked, growling into the device, like he was hesitating. The device didn't parse whatever he had said for a while, but then he said, "I would like that."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz beamed.

"Friend, so would I."

<><><><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

"Alright, everyone, uh... Since Owen's busy arranging for everyone to send Cola to Pop for a talk, he asked me to kinda coordinate between us in case something weird ever happens," Cal explained. The newly-formed Charizard Shade stretched her wings--she still wasn't very good at flying--and stared ahead at the truly gargantuan home ahead of them.

"We... we're really doing this, right?" she asked, glancing uncertainly at the others. Confronting Maple... for anything. Was that a good idea? Joule was the one person they knew who could kill Ultra Shades...

 

[Disco]

Mellow stood awkwardly towards the fringe of the group, but spoke up. "... There's no way they would try anything where others could see them, right?"

She shuffled and glanced past Cal towards the massive house. Mellow still preferred to keep her distance from Maple. Everything that had come up only reinforced that preference. But this was important... Raven was giving encouragement from where she was at that moment; with Owen, going to confront Pop instead of the other way around. The Florizard looked at the others, and tried to remember the questions she'd always had in the back of her mind...

 

[Namohysip]

"I hope not..." Cal inched forward. She hardened her knuckles and tapped against the door. "Hello? Maple?" she called. "...I want to--I mean, can we talk with you for a second? Is Joule there?"

Light footfall meant that Maple was a Smeargle. The comically large door slid open, revealing the short Smeargle on the other side. "Joule's out," Maple explained, gesturing vaguely skyward. "Soaking up some extra sunlight. He should be back soon, though."

"That's alright, uh, we..." Cal glanced behind her, and Maple leaned to see the rest at the front.

"Quite a gathering," Maple hummed, though she seemed aware of their serious expressions. "Is something wrong?" She was already checking her badge for messages she may have missed.

 

[Negrek]

"Where to fucking start?" Nate sighed. He glanced back at the crowd of people waiting in front of the house. He wanted to ask if they could go inside instead of standing around on the street shouting about things, but if people thought it might stop Maple from starting shit, well, whatever. "You heard about all the shit going down at the Tree of Life, right? Xerneas is seriously fucking corrupted, and it seems like our boss is going that way, too. We're gonna have to make a move on the Tree soon. You're gonna come with us, right? How are you, uh, feeling about all that?"

 

[Disco]

Mellow glanced at Nate, then back at Maple. She frowned slightly when Nate mentioned her coming with them, but looked down to hide it.

 

[Namohysip]

Maple looked at Nate skeptically, then at all the others. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "Yes, I am going to be accompanying you. It's the Tree of Life."

"Right. So, you're definitely coming, and stuff?"

"...Yes. I am." Another suspicious look as she regarded the team. "Is something happening?"

 

[Negrek]

"I mean, yeah, I know that. I wasn't expecting you to be sitting this one out, and I don't think it'd be worth my time trying to get you to change your mind on that. I'm asking if you're ready." Nate looked back at the crowd again, fussing unconsciously with his gills. Lovely fucking time for some extremely personal questions. "Look, this fight, it's probably gonna bring back some unpleasant memories, you know. Like, the Tree, and Dark Matter being there, and maybe Eternatus, too? Kinda unclear if one showed up towards the end there on Telum, but even aside from that, it sounds like one might've attacked you when you were coming here to Cibus. Got you separated from Joule and all. I ain't saying you ain't solid or nothing, but it's gonna be a real delicate situation at the Tree, and if you're feeling kinda rough... I just want to know how you're planning to handle it, that's all. We want to try not murdering Diyem's girlfriend, and I wanted to make sure you're on board with that. And that you'll remember, when it comes to the fight."