Destiny Village ~ Sundae Park

[Negrek]

"I'm just bored! And I was, well... It's not important," Rocky said. "I don't want to hang out with Mudkip today. So I'm glad you two came along."

They didn't have any plans, though? Hmm. "Is there anything you want to do, Cola? I bet there's a lot you don't get to see when you're up in the tower. Maybe we should try to do something you aren't able to do when Arceus and everybody's guarding you."

 

[Namohysip]

"I dunno!" Cola shook his head, his eyes shaping themselves into the outlines of crescents with the curve pointing north. "I just like getting out and feeling the wind in my... uh... stuff." He didn't really know what to call his haze. He stepped to Rocky and teleported a few feet in front of him. "I just don't like him. He's so boring and uptight and he doesn't even know how to relate to others anymore! He tried and he just looks lame. He's an 'old god.' I should be the new god."

 

[Negrek]

"Oh, yeah?" Rocky tilted his head, regarding Cola with a smile. "What would you do if you had all Pop's power? Like if you were the new god? What would you change?"

 

[Fusion]

"Hell yeah ya should be," Puddle chuckled, raising a fist. "That old dude couldn't even figure out that Xers was fucked when we both already did!"

It fell on its back, wincing again, but let the feeling of the soft grass distract from its headache. "I don't even get half the shit that dude's sayin' ya know? I feel like I need a dictionary for anythin' that comes outta his... face?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I dunno, I'd probably just chill out on Destiny Tower and then look majestic," Cola said. "Gods don't do a whole lot for the world, don't they? If there's a problem we just beat it up and if there's not one then we just lay back and relax. Sounds like a pretty good job to me."

 

[Negrek]

Rocky giggled at Puddle's description of Arceus. "Pop says a lot of funny things. But it's even funnier when Mudkip tries to talk the same way."

Cola's answer gave him pause, though. "Really?" Rocky had been expecting something a bit more exciting than that! "But there's so much you can do if you're a god! I wouldn't want to lie around all day. If I was god, I'd make the world the best world ever. Nobody would be sad! Nobody would have to do dumb things like go to school or go to work or anything. And there would be no bad guys except ones that were dumb and easy to beat up, for fun." Rocky was warming to the idea as he went along. A perfect world... It was so weird that arceus kept screwing up and accidentally making Dark Matter. Making a great world would be easy! "Plus I'd make everything red because it's the best color."

He considered Cola. "When you grow up, are you going to make your own world? Or will you stay here on Cibus?"

 

[Fusion]

Puddle didn't know what Rocky was giggling about, but felt it should giggle itself too. It listened on about what Rocky would do if he was a god, and that got Puddle thinking...

"...If I was a god? Huh..." it hummed, sitting up. "A... god..? Shit, what would I do? I don't really got nothin' in mind about it. I'd just be strong, and fight things, ya know?"

But... that didn't seem right... Something urged Puddle not to go with that, but it couldn't tell what to say instead... "I-I dunno, really..."

 

[Negrek]

"Being strong and fighting is good, too!" Rocky said. "If you were a god, you could have all the most epic battles. Kind of like the ones we've been having, actually. Except even bigger!"

 

[Fusion]

Puddle grinned and chuckled lightly. "That sounds hella fun, but... There's probably more shit to it than that. That sounds almost too good, ya know?" It then looked away from Rocky. Its grin was still there, but there was a faint emptiness in its eyes. The feeling that something was missing didn't go away, and neither did that damn headache.

"Maybe I'm just over thinkin' it though, right? Beatin' up baddies is definitely what I'd do as a god!" Puddle said proudly. "I'd probably make a damn fine hero too!"

 

[Namohysip]

"When you grow up, are you going to make your own world? Or will you stay here on Cibus?"

"I think I want to stay here," Cola said, nodding. "Being a god is nice and having my own place could be cool, but... I like it here. I just don't like that I have to share it with other-me and all that. That... Pop. I don't know why we have to be the same person--it's not fair!"

"Maybe I'm just over thinkin' it though, right? Beatin' up baddies is definitely what I'd do as a god!" Puddle said proudly. "I'd probably make a damn fine hero too!"

Cola's haze flared up excitedly. "I wanna be a hero," he said. "I want to save the world instead of hoping others do it for me. And all that other stuff Rocky said, too! I don't get why Pop doesn't do as much as he CAN do for here. It seems... weird!"

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah! I'm going to be a hero, too! I want to join the God Squad and help them fight evil all over the place! We should all be--we should all be, heroes... together..." Rocky faltered, glancing out at Destiny Village and rubbing at one shoulder.

"What do you mean Pop doesn't help people as much as he could, though? Is it like a free will thing, where he doesn't want to tell everybody what to do? Maybe he thinks it would be bad to control things too much."

 

[Fusion]

A grimace fell on Puddle's face. "That's just how some gods are... Willin' to let shit go to hell until someone else fixes it..." it grumbled, then shook its head.

"...Ok," Puddle blinked. It had no idea where that came from... and kind of hoped it went unnoticed. "Maybe Pop's just not as strong as he needs to be or somethin'?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Pop says it's because mortals shouldn't be relying on gods to solve their problems unless it's a godly problem to begin with," Cola said. "But I don't get why. Maybe sometimes mortals just don't know what they're doing since they keep dying every century!"

 

[Negrek]

"Well, that kind of makes sense," Rocky said. "If I was a god, I wouldn't want people bothering me all the time to come and fix their problems! But it would still be better to help sometimes. If people are going to do something really dumb, you don't want to just sit around and let it happen. Relying on me to fix everything would also count as doing something really dumb!"

 

[Fusion]

"But I don't get why. Maybe sometimes mortals just don't know what they're doing since they keep dying every century!"

"It ain't like that's our fault, er, their fault. Mortals are just... made weak," Puddle huffed, clenching its fists. "We can't fuckin' help that we die so fast..." it muttered, sighing. It felt cold, which might be because of the shade and the breeze, but all of Puddle felt cold.

"And even then, I've only ever heard of mortals dealin' with big problems, like Team Spectrum and this... Blacklight shit. Like, other than Bahamut, the rest of them are all mortals! And they're still savin' everyone's ass," Puddle groaned, wincing ever so slightly. "Imagine bein' one of the strongest things on the planet, and you had to be saved by a team of teenagers with more issues than a comic book series."

 

[Namohysip]

"Yeah, and I guess the gods are trying to help out here since this is a big, godly problem, but what about smaller things, huh? I wanna go around performing miracles and looking cool and everyone likes me! How come I have to hide away all the time?" Cola huffed. "I wish Soda showed up more. He offered to take me on walks, too, and those were my favorite."

 

[Fusion]

"I wanna go around performing miracles and looking cool and everyone likes me!"

Puddle chuckled, leaning back and sighing. Some part of Puddle found the idea of it and a child Arceus relating to each other at all, laughable. Or... ironic? That sounded like a smart word. "You an' me both, dude."

"I wish Soda showed up more. He offered to take me on walks, too, and those were my favorite."

"What's the deal with Soda? First, Vix goes on and on about him, then a buncha other people keep hangin' out with him, and even you like bein' around him..." Puddle asked, a hint of envy in its voice. "He's just tall, dark, and... well I guess he's strong, there's that..." That was probably why everyone liked him so much. Yeah.

 

[Negrek]

"And he's super cool! That's why!" Rocky wished he could do illusions like that. Even his model wasn't that good at them. "Where'd you go? Have you ever gotten to leave Destiny Village?" Besides to go to the Tree of Life... Rocky had only heard a little bit about what happened there, but it didn't sound like a lot of fun.

 

[Namohysip]

"He just took me for walks around DV is all, but that was way more than anyone else ever did. Soda's just really nice, and he actually gets what it means to not like when someone stronger than you is forcing you to do something. I dunno why, though." Cola bobbed his head.

 

[Fusion]

"Hm... Maybe if he was there was us at the Tree, he coulda helped us beat Xerneas when we had the chance," Puddle thought aloud, gritting its teeth. That whole ordeal still left a sour taste in its mouth, and not the good sour. Like... rancid soup, or really ripe lemons. Or batteries.

An idea popped into Puddle's mind, pushing its headaches aside for a bit. "If he's as great as everyone thinks... do you think he'd help you and I get stronger, Cola? We can even bring Rocky along! We'd get as strong as gods in no time!"