Destiny Village ~ Sundae Park

[Namohysip]

"I see, I see..." Pansit seemed particularly enthusiastic. "Your elements are at odds with one another--how does that work? Your Poison and his Fae elements must make things difficult to manage at times. How does it work?"

 

[Adamhuarts]

"We're not at the level we'll have to worry about that," Cynthian said with an awkward chuckle. "I'd prefer not to say further."

 

[Namohysip]

Pansit nodded. "I'm glad that you're able to find some joy among your team. That's very good!" Pansit said. "Now, how about . . . "

And the questions continued, with Pansit asking about little, simple things about the team, and despite how trivial it all seemed, she seemed to earnest and curious that it was hard not to answer.

<><><>​

 

[Virgil134]

"Oh, Cabot! Look at these ones!"

Cabot turned his head to see Pleo had walked off to examine a bunch of colorful flowers in the grass. With spring approaching the weather inside of Destiny Village had become a lot more tolerable to Cabot, which had made him want to go out for a walk in the park with Pleo. As the Rampardos approached the shade, Pleo turned to him with an excited beat of his wings.

"These flowers weren't here last week!" the young Lugia chirped.

"Well, yeah, that's spring for you," Cabot chuckled. "As it gets warmer and the days become longer flowers start to bloom and everything begins to look more lively. Certainly a nice change from everything being so cold and miserable all the time, don't you think?"

 

[Navar]

"...Great day, huh?"

Shiron walked into the park, deciding not to spend so much time sulking anymore. Besides, the fresh air did him good. Or that's what his therapist told him. The Swampert walked on two legs, never liking the idea of going quadrupedal.

Then he heard the duo talking to themselves and smiled. Cabot was one of the team members Shiron wished to know more about, and the perfect opportunity had arrived.

"Hello!" Shiron waved, walking towards the two.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot looked up and saw a Swampert approaching them. He recognized him to be Shiron, someone from the team who he'd talked to a couple of times in the past but never really got to know all that well.

"Oh, hey there, Shiron!" the Rampardos greeted, waving back at him. "How are you?"

"Are you here for a walk around the park as well?" Pleo asked.

 

[Navar]

"I'm doing good! I think..." Shiron frowned, and then looked at Pleo with a smile. "You could say that, yeah. Wanted to take a walk, and then I ran into you guys! Which is nice, since I kinda, uh, wanted to know you two better, I just never had the time for it."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot and Pleo looked at each other in surprise for a moment, before turning back to Shiron with a cheerful smile

"Heh, well that sounds good to me," Cabot said. "You always seem pretty nice, so I wouldn't mind getting to know you better as well."

"You're a human in your world, right?" Pleo asked curiously. "How is that like?"

 

[Navar]

"Oh, starting with the big questions, I see," Shiron smiled at Pleo and nodded. "It's, uh... different? I can't exactly say I was the role model for humans, since my parents barely allowed me to go out. Not... fun."

He grumbled. Was that too harsh? Probably. "W-Well, it's weird. Back home, most parents sent kids on journeys across the region, to compete with their Pokémon partners. It's all friendly, of course!"

 

[Virgil134]

"So, you wanted to go on this journey like everyone else, but your parents wouldn't let you?" Cabot asked, wincing slightly. "That... must have been rough. When I was younger I wanted nothing more than to go on adventure and see different islands, which was a big reason why I joined the navy in the first place. If I would have been forced to stay in the town I was born in, I never would have gotten to know some of my closest friends."

The Rampardos shook his head. "That said... are you sure your parents didn't just do it because they wanted to keep you safe? When I first signed up for the navy my parents got pretty mad and we got into this huge argument. Even if things turned out alright, looking back at it I guess I can understand why my parents weren't too happy about me putting myself in harm's way."

 

[Navar]

Shiron frowned. "...Not really? My parents weren't exactly good ones, never letting me get out of the house, I barely had friends back home. The only one I had only became my friend because I ran away from home."

The Swampert grumbled. "...That's too sad, I think. What about you? What's your world like?"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot blinked. "Uh... alright then."

He scratched his cheek and wondered for a moment if Shiron was perhaps oversimplifying things a bit, but opted not to press the matter. After all, for all he knew Shiron's parents really were bad people. With how different everyone's worlds were it was probably not wise to assume that everyone's parents were like his own. The Rampardos cleared his throat, before speaking up to answer Shiron's question.

"Anyway, my world is one where only Pokémon live, or at least right now. Centuries ago humans used to live there as well, but they disappeared when most all the gods except for Arceus were killed by a group of bad Pokémon. The entire world was thrown into disarray, and most of it is still uninhabitable because of it. I'm from the one part that is still habitable, which is called the Cradle. It's basically this giant sea with islands scattered about."

 

[Navar]

Shiron nodded as he listened to the explanation, deciding not to talk much and just pay attention. All that talk of legendaries and unhabitable places was interesting, of course.

"Oh! That kinda sounds like where I come from!" He beamed. "Well, except for the whole thing about the legendaries and humans come from. The region I'm from is like... Surrounded by water! Some people say it has too much water, but now that you mentioned your home... I don't think so."

 

[Virgil134]

"Oh, that's pretty neat!" Cabot replied, wagging his tail slightly. "Most on the team come from places where there's more land than water, so it's nice to hear there's someone who can relate to that."

Meanwhile, Pleo looked around a bit, shifting impatiently before turning to Shiron with a curious tilt of his head.

"Do you have a Shade as well, Shiron?" the Lugia asked.

 

[Navar]

"Honestly, sometimes I wish I could visit some of you guys' worlds! I'm sure there's some fun places to be."

The Swampert then looked at Pleo.

"Oh, yeah, I do. He's not around, though," Shiron scratched his chin. "Might be at my house?"

 

[Virgil134]

"Oh, what is he like?" Pleo wondered. "Is he someone you know from your world?"

 

[Navar]

"He kinda talks like my best friend back home," Shiron answered. "...Although he's a Lucario, for some reason?"

 

[Virgil134]

"So he's a human back in your world?" Cabot asked.

"Oh, so kinda like Starr's brother then!" Pleo exclaimed. "He's a human in her world, but a Zeraora here."

 

[Navar]

Shiron blinked. "Uh? Yeah, yeah. That's about it. He was a human back home, and the only... real friend I had."

"And... what about Pleo? How do you two know each other?"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot and Pleo looked at each other again, before turning back to Shiron. Cabot rubbed at the back of his neck as he thought of the best way to explain things.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story," Cabot began. "You know how I said that most gods in my world were killed centuries ago? Well, in order to help restore the world Arceus created new gods, which is where Pleo comes in."

"I'm the Lugia from Cabot's world!" Pleo chirped, perking up. "Or at least, the other me is."

Cabot nodded and continued on. "The part of the Cradle that I am from is an empire called Anyilla. About 40 years ago a group of bad Pokémon called the Company tried to take it over. While they failed to conquer everything they did manage to occupy almost half of Anyilla, fracturing the Empire. When Pleo woke up they tried to capture him and use him as a weapon so they can finish what they started. Since I'm part of the navy we're trying to stop that from happening so Pleo can help us defeat the Company and reunite the Empire instead."