Destiny Village ~ Sundae Park

[Fusion]

"I am aware and will continue to not talk about it!" Kora said happily, although there was a faint dark glow around him and a twitch in his eye. He really didn't want to talk about it.

Obviously, Soda is fine.

Oh wow, that's a first, you believing in something good.

I-I don't know what you're talking about!

Instead, Kora leaned closer to Koa, that grin on his snout stretching a bit further, and his ear twitching a bit. "You wanna know how I disappear into the ground? Hmmm, the others might be upset if I show off too much before the fight... but this isn't something I use in fights too much..." he thought to himself, then he started snickering.

"Alright, so, before I just spill one of my secrets, lemme ask you somethin'," Kora said, appearing right beside Koa. "What are your thoughts on the Gods? Or, legendaries, I dunno how you call 'em. Pokemon like Reshiram or Zekrom... Palkia Giratina Dialga, all those kinda dudes."

 

[Flyg0n]

Well, if Kora didn't want to press, he certainly wouldn't stand in his way. That was a relief.

Koa whipped around to face Kora as he reappeared beside him, glowering at him. He couldn't say he was very fond of the disappearing act business. His annoyance was quickly replaced when Kora asked his next question. For a brief moment, excitement overran any feeling of annoyance he held against the Zoroark. His eyes lit up, slightly.

"They're incredible," he said, containing himself. Sure, nowadays it seemed like Team Spectrum could defeat any of them easily, but that didn't mean they weren't still cool, and held sway over powers far beyond those in combat. "Back on my world, I was actually really interested in them. Especially Giratina. And Palkia and Dialga."

He paused, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Why do you ask?"

 

[Fusion]

Koa's excitement bled into Kora fairly easily, even with Koa containing himself. "I know, I know! They're all so damn rad!"

He cleared his throat, then floated off the ground enough that he could sit up. "Anyway, I ask because I'm one of them~!" he said, puffing out his chest and grinning proudly.

Another Kora appeared by his side, with a cheeky grin on his face. "Yeah, yeah! We're crazy strong too because of it!"

Then there was a third, although a bit more of a crazy look in his eye. "We only look like a Zoroark on the surface! But look any closer and you might get nightmares~!"

The original article beamed sinking into the ground enough to be eye level with Koa. "I bet you don't believe me yet, do you? I wouldn't blame!" he said, snickering.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa stared at Kora for a long, long moment, absorbing everything he'd said, eyes wide. He didn't sense any deception, but then, what would he know? The other one had been so good at it-

He cut off the thought train before it could begin, and cocked his head to the side. So Kora was a legendary? He was... one of them?

He barked out a sharp laugh. "A few months ago I'd never believe you. But I've seen it myself. Apparently normal pokemon here can just be chosen to be the next legendary." Even saying the words out loud felt a little crazy. His memories flashed back to Brisa's fight at the colosseum. He'd watched it happen then too.

Still, even though he'd seen it before, an eager glow filled his gaze. He thought longer about what Kora had said, his eyes widening slightly. "You have the powers of a Darkrai?!" he exclaimed, this time unable to contain his fascination. "That's how you can sink into the shadows like that?"

 

[Fusion]

"Close, but not close at all~!" The three Kora's grins stretched, then they shook their head. That dark glow around him started to grow more and more, yet Koa would be able to see Kora himself clearly. He was... changing? It would have felt like watching another person Unleash, but the pressure Kora was giving off was a lot more dense than most others.

Kora's fur shortened, revealing grey and black scales underneath, and a familiar pattern of red and black stripes along his chest. His crimson claws turned a shining, splendid gold. Six shadowy tendril stretched from his back, tipped with crimson spikes. His mane shortened more and more until it looked more like a ponytail, and his head? A Golden Crest, or perhaps a crown or helmet, sat upon it. Finally, a shortened tail grew from Kora's lower back... it looked like it was cut off.

With Kora's sudden change, any locals that would have seen him certainly would have stared. Some would have panicked, in fact... but that didn't seem to be the case. None of the 'mon that walked by or would have seen him even reacted. Must've been his illusion ability.

"I'm a Giratina!" Kora chirped, flexing his arms. It looked like he gained a noticeable amount of bulk as well, while still being on the leaner side. "Whaddya think?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa froze, torn between awe and something else that lurked beneath the awe, flashes of an old dream- A foggy landscape, two burning eyes cloaked in black, shadows dripping from a titanic form-

He pressed the unwanted thoughts away, focusing on his excitement instead. Kora was a Giratina? The very pokemon responsible for saving his world. A half legendary, half Zoroark.

Just like Soda.

But Kora wasn't like Soda, right? Not if he was on a team anything like Team Spectrum.

Unable to help himself, he grinned, wide-eyed. "You're really a Giratina?" He almost laughed at the coincidence of all. "That's sick! So were you like, a Giratina back home too? What kind of powers do you have? Can you actually fully turn into a Giratina?"

 

[Fusion]

Kora grinned, as excited as ever. He crossed his arms and leaned back, using his shadowy tendrils to prop him up instead of just floating. "I don't use this form as often back home, since it's not something I got full control of over there. I'm pretty sure it's tied to this Blacklight stuff, since I first used it here. I also don't need it back home since my base form is really all I need."

That, and you can't just hop into this form whenever back home, at least not when you want to.

A pity, I think it's hella rad. But, honestly, not a good thing to see back home.

Through Koa's excitement, Kora sensed the faintest tug of fear, or maybe because it rose up in him instead. While he tried to keep their excitement high, Kora shuffled uncomfortably a bit and pulled his tendrils back.

"I can turn into the real deal too, even change my size, hehe!" Kora grinned, patting his chest. "Apparently, that's like, my thing. It's an extension to shapeshifting, which apparently not all Zoroark's can do. All I gotta do is touch someone, and poof."

To prove that point, Kora booped Koa on the nose and, in a shadowy cloud of darkness, became a mirror image of Koa. "Now I'm really you, hehe~! You can hit me too if ya want! I ain't gonna change back unless I wanna!"

 

[Flyg0n]

He wanted to know more. There were so many questions he had for Kora now.

And then Kora bopped him on the nose and a second later, shifted into an exact copy of himself. Koa felt his hackles rise reflexively, a faint snarl in his throtat, but he quickly suppressed it. The memories of facing his shadow, and then that blacklighted spectre of himself on the moon were far too fresh in his mind.

He gathered all his strength, and that of his team, for one final strike. His next words tumbled out, before he could give them a second thought, directed at his apparition.

"I hate you!"

He clenched his jaw almost imperceptibly, forcing himself to stay relaxed. He hated everything about this - feeling on edge, waiting for the next fight to come... He'd rather take his mind off things. Besides, why should Kora get to have all the fun?

"Sure, you can do that, but can you do this?"

As he spoke, he drew on the power of blacklight, and shifted into his unleashed form, relishing in brief surge of power as he grew in size and strength. "What do you think? Not bad, right?"

 

[Fusion]

Was that bad?

I... don't know? Koa doesn't look angry but he certainly felt it, right?

We do not know much about this individual, and yet we keep treading on his sheets of ice. One false move and he might just despise us.

That was probably true, but Koa's own transformation pushed all note of caution and fear aside as excitement burned violently in his chest. "You'd be surprised, hehe~" the now-canine stood on his hind legs and rest a paw on Koa's chest, putting on an electrifying grin and shutting his eyes as he, again, started to shift and change.

It took a bit more time and effort than the first replication, but Kora managed to mirror Koa once again. Kora opened his eyes, then looked down at himself, then at Koa, and let out a giddy "Aw hell yeah!" and pumped his fists. "You look fucking awesome, dude! And this feels awesome too! You've gotta be mad strong, right?"

C-Careful! We don't wanna tread on the wrong ice or whatever again!

Maybe we can let Koa beat the shit outta us and make up afterwards if that happens?

Would we have a choice if it came to that?

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa narrowed his eyes, feeling a brief flicker of annoyance. He suddenly did not appreciate the Zoroark mimicking his form. Well if Kora was so eager to see what his form was like, why deprive him of the opportunity? Besides, Kora could only mimick the shape, he didn't know anything about the form.

Not like he did.

"Oh yeah? Let's see if you can handle it!"

With an empowered cry, he lunged at Kora, feinting before tossing a casual Focus Blast at him - nothing too strong, this was just for fun mostly, but he wasn't holding back too much either. Besides, these Miracle Matters pokemon were supposed to be able to handle it right?

 

[Fusion]

Well, would you look at that, we did indeed piss him off.

And he does seem pretty strong too...

And we're worrying because..? Did we forget what we're ridin' in?

Kora flashed a confident grin, standing strong and firm. He was... going to let that attack hit him head on.

A-Are we sure that's a good idea?

Relaaaax, we'll be fine! Kora's like if a ton of brick and a boatload of lead had a super-dense fuckwit of a baby.

Harsh, but true. In most cases. At home at the very least, this would be nothing to worry about. But here?

Much like Kora let on by doing nothing, the attack hit him directly in the head. Smoke covered his face and upper body, and it was impossibly hard to tell if he even moved or felt that hit. Then, through the smoky hazy, his vibrant crimson eyes shined through, and an unearthly cackle emerged from it.

"Kikikikiki~! That was so strong! So, so strong! I actually felt that too!" Kora cheered, rushing through the smoke to show that, despite his face being scuffed to hell and back, and even a faint bit of black blood dripping from his nose, he didn't seem at all bothered by it. "This body Diyem made me must be way further behind than I am, or maybe you're just way way way waywaywaywaywyawyayway stronger than I thought!"

Kora leapt and trotted excitedly in place, before shooting Koa a crazed look. "Do it again! Do it again!"

Did... uh, we break?

Nah.

It is difficult to break something that has been turned to metaphorical dust...

 

[Flyg0n]

Wow. It felt... good to use his powers again. He hadn't properly done much ever since he'd been stuck in the infirmary. Kora also seemed a little unhinged, but he couldn't pass up the chance to see what a member of their multiverse counterpart team was made of.

"Fine! Let's see what you got!"

Time to try another avenue. Electricity flared under his paws, rippling across the earth and surging up underneath Kora. He was careful to try and limit his powers enough not to destroy the forest - he was sure the residents of Destiny Village wouldn't appreciate their park being destroyed. Sure, there wasn't much strategy to his techniques, but it felt nice to just fight anyway, without thinking much.

 

[Fusion]

Once again, Kora let the attack hit him without so much as putting up his guard. It was pretty clear the fox was enjoying himself, perhaps more than he should have been. As the electricity shot up and around his body, it looked and sounded like Kora was having the time of his life!

Should we start fighting back? It might be rude to keep taking hits and laughing about it.

Yeah, sure. Last time we checked, we aren't at our best, so... How hard do we try?

Just match Koa's strength with our own, perhaps put a bit more oomph in it, for show.

Who's definition of "a bit" are we using again?

Kora shook the sparks off his body eyeing Koa down with a playfully sinister grin on his face. "I'm glad we're both havin' a blast, but I wanna try throwin' an attack out too!" Suddenly, a pitch black sphere appeared before Kora's head. It could have easily been mistaken as a Shadow Ball, but far, far darker instead. No, if the aura seeping from Kora's body into it was anything of note, it was supposed to be an Aura Sphere.

"You ready for this?" Kora asked, before quickly turning around and kicking the sphere at Koa. Despite Kora's behavior, and how impossibly dark that Aura Sphere was, it was slow and the pressure around it wasn't as harsh as it could have been. It was being held back a lot, but it would still hurt.

That's the best we could hold back?

Mmmm, nah, but it's better than nothing. Koa should be fine...

...Hey, wasn't he still recovering from a big fight?

...

 

[Flyg0n]

To Koa's confusion, Kora made seemingly no effort to dodge the attack. In fact, he almost seemed to take delight in it. Still, given that it was hardly a battle, he supposed it didn't matter much. As his attack dissipated, Kora began to charge one of his own.

An odd grin crossed Koa's face as the dark sphere grew above Kora's head.

When Kora kicked at him, he didn't move. Some part of him wanted to see, needed to know what they were up against. What this 'Zorotina' could dish out.

A second later, the sphere crashed into him. Darkness swamped his vision and he staggered back from the blow. He felt weak for a moment, much weaker than he thought he would.

Was Kora really that strong? Blinking, he shook off the attack. He was still standing, at least. Perhaps he really wasn't properly recovered after that fight... Still, no way was he just letting something like that slide.

You know another hit or two like that and you're out.

He ignored the warning in the back of his mind.

"Not bad!" he called. "You're pretty strong I guess. Now try this on for size!"

Opening his jaws, Koa let out a piercing howl of raw energy, laced with blacklight. Although this time, he threw a little more 'oomph' into it. Just to see what Kora was made of.

 

[Fusion]

Oh thank god he's still standing! I was worried for a second there...

That better be out of the good will of your heart and not because you didn't try to hold back.

...Yes.

Kora stared down Koa, making a quick glance to make sure there wasn't anyone around. His illusion was still holding up, fortunately, but that attack Koa was charging up looked like it'd be a big one. A bad one to let past Kora. Although, honestly, the fox wouldn't dream of passing up on such a strong looking attack!

"Oh? You're finally gonna let me taste how strong you really are? Are you? Are you?" Kora giggled, planting his paws firmly on the ground and waggling his shoulders. "Hehe, I was hopin' I didn't have to wait long to see something like this!"

Are we sure everyone else is far enough away?

I think I let the illusion down enough to let everyone else know there's a fight going on, but, uh, Destiny Villagers are kinda... battle junkies, right?

Then make the fight look as pathetically boring as one of your lives. No spectacle, no spectators.

Dick.

Yeah, jerk.

As Koa's incoming attack got closer, this was the first time Kora felt the need to brace himself for the impact so far, and then purposefully ignored it. This was gonna hurt! It was actually gonna hurt! Kora couldn't contain his excited, to the point that a bit of darkness shifted before his eyes before the attack hit...

The impact was enough to push Kora back, and as it turned out, Kora braced himself at the last second. His crown returned, and his shadow tendrils, now ragged and torn, looked to have blocked the brunt of the attack. Disappointed in himself, but proud of Koa, Kora popped right before the transformed Manetric, grinning. "You're way strong! Way way strong!" he chirped. "Hehe, I can't wait to actually fight you when you're at your best! Imagine just how strong you'll be then!"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa smirked, feeling a rush of delight even if he knew neither of them were exactly trying their hardest. Even if Kora's attack had hurt terribly and even if his weren't as strong as he was used to, it felt good. To fight without worrying about the fate of everyone, and his entire team or the world.

Hit him again.

Koa tensed.

Don't let him beat you, you can take him. Let loose.

With some difficulty, Koa ignored the dark thoughts swirling in his mind, calling for him to keep attacking, to push himself, to take Kora down-

Taking a deep breath, Koa forced himself to relax, letting his power fade and shifting back to his normal form. He faced Kora confidently, smirking. "Thanks," he replied. "I guess you weren't bad either. I'd say..." he gave a casual shrug, "Adequate. Maybe you'll give us all a good a fight."

He couldn't wait to destroy Kora once his strength was back.

 

[Fusion]

"Adequate? Only Adequate?" Kora snickered, snapping his claws to go back to his base form. "That was my intention, so I guess I'm better at controlling myself than I thought!"

Now he's pushing our buttons...

We deserve it, don't we?

Perhaps the both of you, yes.

Rolling his neck and shoulders, Kora fluttered to Koa's side, then sat and crossed his arms in thought. "On a scale of one to ten, I'll give you... a four for that performance. I dunno how long ago that fight on the moon was, but you're still recovering clearly. I really can't wait to see you go all out, really let loose an' all that! Maybe then you'll go all the way up to a seven! No, eight!"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa narrowed his eyes, half-glaring at the Zoroark. "Excuse me? A seven? What kind of fight did you guys have? Didn't sound nearly as hard as having to travel to the freaking moon."

He snorted. "My seven could beat your ten I bet."

If only he really was back at full strength. Oh how he'd love to smash Kora in the face with a fully charged Focus Blast, or blow out his ears with one of his howls... All in due time.

 

[Fusion]

Kora waggled a claw and shook his head, exuding a smug aura. "My ten would put your ten six feet under, hun. And I still can't tell you about my final fight with the Blacklight, at least the one on Cibus... which I didn't even remember was this place's name."

"But I like that look you got, the one lookin' for a fight! Aside from being sane, and also fully human, you remind me a lot of myself," Kora chuckled, putting on a surprisingly warm smile. "I know you're still recoverin' an' all, but I'd be happy to spar some more before our teams go at each other."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa snorted and rolled his eyes. "Keep talking, it'll just make it more satisfying when we turn you all into dirt mops."

He flashed Kora a smile. "But sure, let's spar sometime. Maybe I can show you what a fight looks like." He paused, thinking for a moment. "And keep an eye on our colosseum. Maybe you might see an interesting fight," he said slyly. If everything worked out, perhaps he could finally fight alongside Brisa like they'd planned.