Destiny Village ~ Sundae Park

[MadderJacker]

"Passable, for most of it," Mergo answered, though a lot of it had no effort to be hidden. If leaving at the very beginning to get some air didn't scream that he liked his distance from others, he didn't know what would.

"But you're still missing something. Everyone misses it, of course, so don't feel bad. People will see what they want to. They see the forest and marvel at it, but they do not see the trees. Even Owen."

The wind that swept through the forest grew colder and harsher, tussling hair and fur alike. Leaves rustled and whispered above their heads as the trees groaned and swayed. In the palm of his hand formed a tiny star of shivering violet, thrumming with power as he wrapped his fingers around it.

"I told you that I fight with each and every breath," he said. "Imagine if I'd interrupted your speech with this."

A veil of shadows coated Mergo as the ground started to shake, and all around them, some dozen trees were ripped from the soil they were rooted in, and they descended on Brisa. Some swept low and left a trail of snapped branches in their wake while others swooped high like a flock of Braviary. No matter where they came from though, they were upon her in an instant as the once-again-Gardevoir stood and watched.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa pulled her lip back and went on the defensive, weathering the onslaught with a mix of shields, evasiveness, and sheer grit. It wasn't a real attack. Her vitality was fine. But she'd treated this as a real fight up until Mergo had ostensibly paused it with his inquiry, and she reacted as if the attack could do harm.

The stream of branches couldn't last forever, however, and eventually she came to stand with paws clenched and a glare levelled at Mergo.

"Well, I guess I can see my mistake," she drawled, not bothering to conceal her disappointment. "If ya pause our scheduled throwdown to drop an analysis of my personal character, I'll be sure t'slug you in the gut 'stead of doin' you the courtesy of a reply. Lesson learnt."

She considered keeping up the fight. She could still burst. She could still call on Luz' blessing. But why bother? That was the other lesson here – he wouldn't really fight her if he was sure of the outcome, or so he said. Why show him more of her technique to study?

She blew a sharp breath, and abruptly dropped her zeraora form.

"I yield."

She bit her tongue rather than say anything more.

 

[MadderJacker]

Slowly, Mergo shut his eyes and drew in a long, deep breath. There it was. He could smell the tension in the air, and it had been far, far too long since he'd felt that.

"You yield," he echoed. "A shame. You were winning, too. You were closer to pinning me down than I was in return. My safest option was to pull a trick."

His arms folded behind his back as he opened his eyes again, meeting her glare with muted curiosity. He tilted his head to the side almost like a puppy.

"You don't seem satisfied. Forgive me, for I'm not the type of warrior that Aria is. Giving you that same kind of bout isn't in my nature," Mergo explained. "However, if you'd like, you may strike me so you don't leave here annoyed."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shook her head and sighed. Had he wanted to win? Had he wanted to understand her? Or had he only wanted to see if she'd surprise him, to scrutinise how she reacted?

"Seems you don't understand me half as well as I thought y'might," she said, wearily. "I've never yielded a fight just 'cause I thought I was losin'. An' strikin' you would do nothin' fer my vexation. I'd've thought you'd learn that much at least from my Whiplash."

Brisa shrugged. She wasn't sure if Mergo would get it, or even if she wanted him to.

"This weren't a sparrin' bout on my terms, but some kinda test. I quit th'fight 'cause I'd rather leave you wonderin'," she finished, drily.

 

[MadderJacker]

"It wasn't you who I was testing," he replied in the same distant tone. "I was curious, yes, but only as much as you had been. You seem mature. I believed that if I spoke with and saw who you were, I could get an answer that I sought. I was testing myself."

Mergo drew in another deep breath, and a shiver ran up his spine. This body had forgotten what it was like to feel these scents in the air. For as much as it stung, he felt relieved. If Hunter and Anna were here, what might they say?

"If the you back home were suddenly given all your memories of this 'Cibus,' would that make you the same person that 'Cibus' made you?" he asked. "Are you your original self? Are you someone new? Or does it all mean nothing since your persona is already flexible and always changing? It's a mystery."

Shutting his eyes, Mergo bowed his head and dipped into a curtsy. "I don't much like to use earnest people like I did," he said. "Perhaps I didn't read you as well as I had thought. Forgive me. I'm not as alive as I wish I were."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa banished her frown, though not without some effort, and gave Mergo a curt nod.

"No point holdin' anythin' against ya. Consider it forgotten. As fer yer questions..."

She considered what Mergo had said, and compared her previous feelings on similar subjects to what Mergo was implying about his 'test'. She traced mnemonic looplets on the ground with her tail as she committed her thoughts to memory.

"I got comfortable a while back with the idea that we're different people all through our lives. Even across the span of a day. Learnin' about Owen's many lives, the split selves of others, an' such things just got me thinkin' that potential selves, past selves, inner selves... Well, it's all to the changes of ordin'ry life as a change of career is to a change of habit. The diff'rence is one of degree, not of kind."

She gave Mergo a serious look, embodying that earnestness he'd correctly ascribed to her. "D'you have an answer of yer own? Did our li'l dance give ya more of sense of things . . . or less?"

 

[MadderJacker]

"I'd say it taught me more," Mergo answered. "Discussing philosophy could only get me so far, but this? What I'd done? Regardless of how you feel about me right now, I can tell for sure that I would have liked you if we were on the same side. You fill a similar role to a friend I made here. And I know the Cibus version of me would feel bad about toying with you."

Mergo did not. She wanted to connect with him in battle, and Mergo replied with the true version of himself that he put out to the world. At the very least he supplied that. Maybe it would infuriate her, but that was fine. Since when did he need people to like him anyways?

"But the me from back home wouldn't have bothered explaining this to you. He would have just echoed you with 'I'd rather leave you wondering' and vanished before you could get a retort in."

He'd thought about it. The idea amused him, but he didn't want to do that. He could imagine Aria's low sigh, the look in Owen's eyes, and he'd already experienced those enough.

"I've now come to the conclusion that I'm a creature created by foul necromantic memory magic that I technically consented to," Mergo explained. "Which, given these unholy vessels we're in, only makes me somewhat weirder than before. At least I don't have tentacles."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa wondered which friend Mergo was referring to, that so 'similar' to herself. Aria, perhaps? Brisa had the alarming thought for a moment that Mergo might be the friend Aria had mentioned. The one with the flirting contests. What a disturbing thought that couldn't possibly be true.

"Inauthentic bodies or not, I'm comfortable with my identity," mused Brisa, after considering Mergo's words. "Just a mite resentful 'bout losin' not only the joys of this world, but my memory that such things are possible. Who knows? Perhaps I'll remember just that much. It might even be enough."

She skewed her mouth in a tight smile. "It's been an interestin' experience makin' yer acquaintance, Mergo. Pity we won't have time fer many more of these encounters afore the end comes."

 

[MadderJacker]

"'Interesting experience,'" Mergo parroted. He held an arm to the side and bowed like a performer. "I've been told that a lot. I see that hasn't changed either." Which was good to know.

His arms folded behind his back as Mergo stood up straight once again. And as he did, a single stray leaf from the chaos drifted down to fall upon Brisa's head. He didn't see if it landed, however, for he turned as it was just about a foot from her head and started advancing into the park.

"Pity it may be," he added, "but it means you'll have more time for your own team. Make your time count, Brisa. Soften the blow while you still can."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa sat down, and the leaf passed by her nose as it fell. She snorted, blowing it away.

"I'll take that under advisement," she murmured to herself, in reply to Mergo's parting words.

'Soften the blow'.

Yeah, that sounded about right, didn't it?

<><><><><>​

 

[Flyg0n]

Sometime before the death match in the colosseum...

Koa strolled through the quieter area of the park, lost in his thoughts. He found himself out here often, more than before. So much happened in the past days, and he was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea of the Miracle Matters. He couldn't help but be curious about them. So different, yet they'd gone through something so similar...

 

[ExplosiveTurkey]

And right up ahead, under the shade of a tree, was one of the 'mon on his mind.

The lucario looked to be sleeping, lying on the soft grass with an arm for a pillow. But as Koa approached, she cracked an eye open to look at him, evidently aware of his presence. Her free paw went up in a silent greeting.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa spotted a Lucario ahead that looked distinctly unfamiliar. After a moment, he recognized her from the picnic. Hadn't he seen her talking to Brisa? He trotted over to her after she waved, then dipped his head in greeting.

"Hey, you're one of the Miracle Matters, right?"

 

[ExplosiveTurkey]

"Eeyup."

She sat upright, shaking off the numbness in her arm. "Name's Aria. Think I overheard yours earlier — Koa... maru?"

 

[Flyg0n]

He nodded. "Yeah, thats me. Koamaru. Nice to meet you Aria." He studied her, almost unconsciously, wondering what sort of battle techniques she knew. Brisa was rubbing off on him.

"So you guys are supposed to be training us, right?"

He hadn't had a chance to pick Kora's brain much, but he couldn't help but wonder how the whole Blacklight stuff turned out on their world.

 

[ExplosiveTurkey]

Aria snorted. "If having a full-out brawl counts as training, then yeah," she said, before meeting his scrutinizing gaze with her own.

A moment later, the corner of her lips curled up. "Suppose it makes sense, though — I've been getting that look often. You guys seem pretty eager for a good fight."

 

[Flyg0n]

A glimmer entered Koa's eyes. "A lot of us really got into the spirit of battling I guess. Back on my world, I'm a trainer, so I guess fighting comes naturally to me."

He sat down before he continued, getting comfortable. "So I've been wondering, how did your whole... Blacklight Crisis or whatever play out?" It sounded like it was intense but he couldn't help but wonder if it was as crazy as traveling to the moon to fight a... 'Not Arceus' or whatever.

 

[ExplosiveTurkey]

"Mm... from what I've heard, it wasn't quite the same as what you guys dealt with," Aria replied, looking off in thought. "For starters, Soda wasn't responsible for much of anything — Giovanni kept that crown. Helped that none of us realized who he was."

The memory almost seemed to... annoy her.

"Gave him the chance to turn the world against us, so we had to fight them off in the Tree of Life while Diyem tried to get to Eien in time. Ended with us all taking some time off in the Voidlands, made worse by the fact that I hit Maple hard enough to make her unstable, so she was trying to kill us in hell. All in all, fun stuff."

 

[Flyg0n]

How strange... "It's weird, isn't it? The same events, played out slightly differently," he mused. He wondered if it was coincidence or orchestrated somehow? But that was too hard to think about...

"That sounds kind of intense. We didn't have to fight Maple until a lot later. I kinda showed up right when everyone died -er, went to the Voidlands or whatever. So I guess I was lucky to have avoided that fight."

 

[ExplosiveTurkey]

"Would've found it weird a few years ago. Now..." She chuckled. "It's kind of my life.

"But anyways, you were a late arrival, then? Funny how that works out. Our late arrival was Kora — no 'maru' at the end," Aria said, completely deadpan as she looked Koa up and down. "Wasn't a human, though. I guess Diyem decided to help you guys fit in this time around. The only human we had stuck out like a sore thumb."