Destiny Village ~ Sundae Park

[Chibi Pika]

Starr tilted her head, as if she was about to ask where the wrapper had gone, but she didn't.

“Yeah, I never really expected I’d get into the colosseum like that,” Starr replied a slight laugh. “I was a decent trainer back home, but not as hardcore as some people I know. It’s definitely Brisa and Astrid’s fault.” She paused, noticing the wistfulness in Owen’s expression. “That sucks that you can’t do it, though. Bet you’d love to cut loose in there.” Starr folded her arms behind her head. “What about doing private matches with the legends?”

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't want to bother them with stuff like that," Owen admitted. "And hey, maybe once in a while I work up the courage to fight in there. I had that battle with Pine and stuff, for one, remember? That was pretty cool." He walked between two trees with some difficulty, though it would be trivial for Starr.

"Besides, there's a ton of other stuff to do in Cibus anyway. I'm never going to get to all of it, but... I did my best. I think, y'know, all things considered, I'm... at peace with it."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr smacked her forehead. “Duh, that’s right.” Then a crooked grin made its way across her face. “You know, when Brisa first told me you were planning to solo them, I thought she was screwing with me. Or that you were screwing with her, either way. But yeah, not gonna lie—it was badass. And hey, maybe I oughta be thanking you—knowing that you planned to do it was what made us catch onto Pine’s weakness.” The guy had been an unstoppable tank until they’d realized he’d be weak to magic strikes.

Starr weaved between the trees along with Owen as he followed the path that let him fit the easiest. She sometimes wondered how he managed to get around some places with that huge frame.

“But yeah, I feel you on the ‘tons of stuff to do here.’ Been trying to cross off everything that seemed interesting, been doing a lot of sightseeing with Brisa and Astrid. Still feels like there’s a million things left, but y’know… can’t see everything.”

 

[Namohysip]

Owen nodded sadly. "It's fine in the end," he said. "When, or if, or whatever, when I remember all of this again, it's at least going to be a set of memories that I won't regret... forgetting about, you know? That's rare for me. Being able to plan ahead for when I'd forget one of my lives."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Man… the idea of forgetting all of this and not even having any warning for it. That sure was chilling. And that had just been Owen’s life before coming here. Hell, it had happened again when he first came here. For better or worse, he had experience.

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’d be able to deal with just having that happen, without seeing it coming. I don’t know how you deal with it.” She paused, realizing how that sounded. “...That’s probably a screwed-up way to put it. I know you don’t have a choice.”

 

[Namohysip]

"Well," Owen said with an amused smile, "the nice part about not seeing it coming is that you don't really realize it once it happens. So, in that way, it's not so bad. It's just when it all comes rushing back that... it hurts more than it probably should." He wondered if Starr had heard those screams he'd made...

"Er--I guess that's not so bad," he said. "Some people I know wish they could forget things, and I get to do it all the time. I guess the neighboring forest always looks healthier..."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr nodded distantly. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know either way, 'til you got it back." In a way it did kind of sound easier... except it gave her the fucking creeps. Someone screwing with you, and not even knowing about it? Hard pass.

"Y'know, when I first got to Cibus, I figured I’d be cool with forgetting about it. I guess I didn't expect to get..."--she paused, hunting for the right word--"...attached." Yeah. That was it. "Not saying I regret it, though. Hell no. It's just... something."

"I know I'm definitely in that camp of people with lives they'd want to forget." Starr gave a small, ironic laugh, knowing how bad that probably sounded. "Or at least, I was. I don't fucking know anymore." Even just mentioning it always felt like a shadowy fist, clutching her chest, and a flash of cold anger that wasn't hers. Detached emotion, offended that she'd cut out her own past like that.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen had a dark look in his eyes as well, but he spoke respectfully. "Yeah. Like I said... some people wonder if it's better to forget. But... I'm, uh, I'm biased. By a lot. Memories are... they're too important to have sealed away. Even if it's a regret or a mistake or some other kind of pain, I learned from it. If I forget... then I might do it again, and not even know. It's... frustrating to think about. To think about all the things I didn't know, that I made the worst decisions because of it. If I only knew what was going on, I..."

He caught himself just as his flame darkened. It returned to normal. "Well. We both have regrets. We don't want to slip into those same mistakes, right? That's why we can't throw it away."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Man, he sure knew how to cut deep. Part of her wanted to be annoyed at how on-the-nose he always was, and yet... there was something hard to hate about the earnestness that came with it. He reminded her of Brisa, in a way.

Starr exhaled slowly, lifting her eyes from where they'd been glued to the forest floor. "Making the same mistakes again... not sure how I feel about that being possible." Her expression was stone. "Kind of wanted to think that I'd changed." And from what she knew about Owen, he'd changed too. "I wanted to think that... I don't know, that I'm a different person now." Someone who wouldn't...

 

[Namohysip]

"You are," Owen said, nodding. He didn't know the full context of what Starr had done, what she was capable of in the past, but... "You definitely are. I feel..." He tapped his horns. "Something deeper in you. The remorse of someone who's killed. And someone who wants to avoid having to do that ever again... Just like me. The reason you're like that... is because of your memories, Starr. That's why they're precious. That's what makes you... who you are, good and bad. Because the bad makes you know better."

He laughed, weakly. "I've... oh, Starr. I don't think I can begin to explain the things I've done wrong. Killing people was... only the beginning. I'm... I'm to blame for much worse. When I go home, I... need to fix that."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr let out a low chuckle. "You don't have to be so sappy about it." Still, it felt good to hear. The sort of thing that might have been easy to brush off if it were coming from anyone else. Coming from Owen, it didn't feel like some kind of empty platitude--he knew that reality better than anyone.

"You think you'll get a chance to fix things back home?" she asked, tilting her head toward him.

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmmhh..." He wondered that one. "...Well..." He tilted his head left and right, thinking. "A lot of things about the world are already falling apart, and stuff. The empire that glued the whole world together is fragmented; all the things that made Dungeons in my world safe like Cibus is gone, too, so now wraiths--basically Diyem's demons, but less friendly--are all around inside. Oh, and an actually evil Diyem is preparing to pull in everything into his Voidlands... And I... sort of had to do with that, indirectly."

Owen sighed. "It's a tall order to fix. But... I... When I came here, I was in the middle of setting up a plan. If it works... If it works, we can swing things in the right direction again. If it doesn't... Well. I guess we'll be a world that the Overseers will have to repair. Eventually. But, hey! On the bright side, if I fail, we'll at least all go to the same place, right?"

That... might have been a joke. For once, it was hard to tell.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr blinked at Owen for a few seconds, then broke into a wave of ironic laughter. "Man... the hell is it with Pokemon worlds getting pulled into hell, huh?" Was the the flip side of the coin for having a world run on miracles and good vibes and shit? Well, at least he could still find some gallows humor in it. "Fuck, well... from what I can tell, you're pretty good at the whole planning thing. I don't know if that's the whole 'shit ton of experience' thing or what, but... hell, if anyone can pull it off, it's probably you."

It was kind of reassuring to remember that whatever went wrong with the Legendary bullshit back home, at least it wasn't anything on the scale of the world getting screwed over. Maybe she'd just move to Unova after all.

 

[Namohysip]

"Thanks," Owen said, grinning. "And, er, yeah. Planning is sort of something I've gotten good at over time. Y'know, back when I was with a trainer, I actually did their homework. Kinda. More like tutoring." He laughed a little sharply at that. "I guess those were the beginnings of it all, now that I think about it. Having to be smart because the people I was with... needed to do some catching up now and then.

"You know... But you must have been pretty smart, too. Being able to outsmart... y'know, him, or at least get out of his clutches. Despite being so... close to him."

 

[Chibi Pika]

A crooked grin made its way across Starr's face. "Really? Man, Feraligatr would've given me shit if I tried that. I guess being a nerd goes way back for you." In a way it was kind of... grounding to imagine Owen as a little Charmander doing homework way back when. Something simple, before all the complicated bullshit. It made her think back to the early days on her own journey. Also when things were simpler.

Starr rubbed the back of her head. "I never really felt like I did anything that impressive in escaping the Rockets." It had mostly been Ajia, really. "But I guess I had to know my stuff when it comes to staying off their radar. Feels good to hear that I must be doing something right."

 

[Namohysip]

"Everyone can do things wrong," Owen said, "but turning things around and finding a way to do the right thing afterward is what matters. Because once you start that, you... know what it's like. On both sides. And then you can make better choices, as long as you learn from it." He sighed, looking up.

"Some people didn't have a choice. Like Soda, or Maple, who were being controlled by something else. I... know what that's like, too. I hope they can forgive themselves." He glanced at Starr. "I'm still learning how to do that myself. I guess the way I've been trying to atone was fixing it all. But even when that's all done, d'you think I'll actually be satisfied?"

He finally stopped walking once they were in a decently sized clearing.

"I don't think I will," Owen said. "I think I'll just keep trying to save people. That's what being a Heart's all about. And I bet somewhere in your world, there's something similar."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"That sounds about right for you," Starr commented. She couldn't imagine him not trying to save people, even after making up for his past.

The idea of looking at the long-term in her own life was... strange. She was so used to just living in the moment, never imagining any kind of a future for herself.

"I don't know where I'll be once I'm done fixing the bullshit back home," Starr admitted. (When had she decided she was definitely staying involved in that mess?) "I guess now it's easier to imagine that I'll figure something out, though."

 

[Namohysip]

"Too bad we'll both forget," Owen replied, chuckling a little. "Ahh, I mean, hey. Maybe echoes of it will influence us, you know? That's what I'm hoping for, at least. Back home, even when I lost my surface memories, my feelings about things still remained. I think... that's going to happen here. Or maybe I'm just due to grow a spine back home anyway." He nodded. "That'd be nice. Having some of Wishkeeper back in me."

 

[Chibi Pika]

“You think so? Well, you’d be the expert,” Starr replied with a smirk. “But yeah, I kinda was hoping some of it would stick around. Even if it’s just feelings.” She wanted to hold onto it. That feeling of being worth something.

Starr held out a fist. “Well, I’ve been telling Brisa the same thing, but here’s to not taking any shit when you get back home, yeah?”

 

[Namohysip]

"Yeah. Here's to not taking anything unless I want it." He raised a hand, and just then, the ground in front of Owen heaved. A shapeless monster rose from the ground and threatened the skewer Owen right then, only to smash and crumple, accordion-style, against a golden barrier that Owen had effortlessly conjured with a mere glance.

The nightmare sprung away and dug through the ground. Muffled and distant, Starr and Owen would hear, "FUUUUUUCK!" under the earth.