Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[Dragonfree]

“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling optimistic.” Dave took a chug from his glass. “Sleep for a week sounds good. Get some rest while you still can.”

"And what if someone gets hurt because of the idea I gave to Arceus? Even if it was Maple."

Dave stiffened. “Well, good fucking riddance.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa hadn't seen that much of Shadow but it sure seemed like he just said the shit Dave was worried about under layers of rationalisation. Thing is, Shadow wasn't any more stupid than Dave was. Just a hell of a lot more scared. And he was scared now, of excess deaths.

"What idea? Dave, what did you do?"

Brisa clenched one paw anxiously as she waited to learn about whatever plan he'd thought up.

 

[Dragonfree]

“Just... teleporting him out of the blast radius just before it hits. Or portaling him. Instead of taking the attack he just draws it to him and then gets out of there.” Dave waved a paw in agitation. “It’s just a way to fucking save him. Never thought I’d be thinking up ways to rescue God from the light-dragon but here we fucking are.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa wasn't sure what to make of Dave's apparent hope that Maple might die, or his strange chagrin about finding a possible way to save Arceus, but it could only be a good thing if Cibus wasn't about to lose one of its mightiest defenders.

"Hope it works. My world ain't so lucky t'have guardians like that. Against threats like the ones facin' Cibus, we'd just get crushed."

Didn't Dave have a thing about gods? Brisa had never really talked to him about legendaries, or other concepts of divinity either. But she knew he had a thing about Maple, even if she didn't understand it fully herself.

"Anyway. Sounds like y'just feel bad fer wishin' Maple dead, now that y'might've put her in a position t'get killed."

More ale. Her brain was sinking comfortably at last. Her emotions, however, weren't exactly settling. She felt like she wanted to crawl into bed and run a marathon at the same time.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave scowled. "I didn't put her in a position for fucking anything, I just voiced an idea to Arceus. It's not my problem what they do with it. And fuck her anyway."

"I didn't tell the kids to go to that church, either, but I still told them where they were keeping Gabriel and that's why they went," Shadow murmured.

Dave's blood chilled in his veins. He was going to strangle that fucking mutt--

"That's dumb," Mia said, annoyed. "I would've figured it out and we'd have gone anyway."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa said nothing. She'd never pressed Dave on that and after learning as much as she had from Jesse's mental leaking (and seeing how desperate Dave was to not discuss it) she wasn't about to start.

She turned intently to her drink and made herself fascinated by the tiny bubbles along imperfections in the sides of the glass.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave blinked hard at Mia. What? On the other side of the table, Shadow was staring at her, too. She would've...

He chugged down half the glass and slammed it back down on the table, turning firmly back toward Brisa. "Yeah. My world doesn't have 'guardians' either. No gods, no legendaries. We're on our own." He paused, jaw clenched. "You know Soda told me Maple up and resurrected him after he died? That'd be fucking handy, huh."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Oh thank the fucking stars she didn't have to listen to a conversation about that, or even leave. Gods. What the fuck was this about ressurection, though?

"Thunder. Goddamn. He's...? I dunno how I feel 'bout that."

Brisa knew that someone's essence could travel between worlds since she was young. Souls were an iintuitive concept to her. What happened to them after death, though? Not so much. What did raising Soda from death mean? Was his soul ever . . . anywhere else? She tried to recall the different faiths she knew about from back home, and the ones on Cibus. Ho-oh, Yveltal, and the like.

"Uh. We got legendaries, they just don't tend t'show their faces, let alone any like the ones here. Not many of them take it on 'emselves t'do good in the world, that's fer sure. Zeraora Luz would be one of those few, an' she's hardly been seen around my part of the world in decades. The rest... Maybe they just don't care."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave's gaze was a bit too fixed on her. "Uh-huh. How powerful are they? Just kinda strong Pokémon, or going around resurrecting people and committing planetary genocide?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Nothin' close t'Maple, no. Not as far as I can credit, anyhow."

...Hold up.

"Wait, fuckin' genocide? Are y'still talkin' about Maple, or...?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"No, I had a chat with Bahamut. Apparently Eternatus was going around devouring planets and sending everyone inhabiting them to basically Hell, and he took it upon himself to kill them first so they could go to a different afterlife that his psychic powers say they're happy in. As you fucking do."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

What the fuck.

"What the fuck," said Brisa.

What the fuck.

"What the actual goddamn fuck. He wiped out planet's worth of livin', thinkin' people—Did he–? Wait, that don't sound like– Gods. I... I, uh... I didn't realise he was that powerful."

Bahamut unilaterally decided to wipe out populations to determine their fucking afterlife? Did he give them a choice? Dave wouldn't lie about this, and this was... Brisa hated gossip and kept saying folks' past should be left alone, but this was something else. Was this why Bahamut was always so keen to end lives? Sword's? The familiars'? Was he just reenacting whatever the fuck he went through before? This was... It was important. It could affect everything. Bahamut's words weren't that influential with the team, but Maple respected him, as did Owen, and apparently his more murderous ideas had that kind of precedent.

This from a pokémon so fucking stupid he thought Brisa might be flirting with him, and so fucking petty he called all charmander 'Owen Integer'. Brisa didn't fucking trust him to make hard utilitarian decisions, and she somehow fucking doubted he gave anyone a choice. What if her world had a person like him? Who would abuse power so terribly?

"Dave, I feel kinda sick."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave chuckled hollowly. "Join the club."

He took another swig of his drink. "He's the same species as Joule. Said oh yeah, this attack Joule's doing is a pittance compared to what he could do in his prime." He glared out the window, at the giant sphere of death. "Thing is, legendaries, gods, it all sounds good when you imagine they'd be doing exactly what you want them to do, but actually, if one guy making a bad judgement call or being in a bad mood one day means an entire fucking planet gets wiped out, you're in deep shit no matter what."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Yeah, that's all kinds of fuckin' disturbin'. Hell, apparently even if the fella's a big softie who hates fightin', like Joule, some motherfucker like Giovanni can just up an' mind-control him to wipe out worlds all th'same. I sure as hell hope we don't have anythin' like that in my wider reality. Or that if we do . . . that folks could pull off somethin' like we're about to."

It was the responsibility of people like the member of Team Spectrum, empowered by birth or chance or effort, to defend the defenceless from powerful threats. That's what her father had been summoned to do. It was what she'd always expected she'd do if the chance ever came. This was a dire case, but the principle was no different.

"I don't like our fuckin' chances if so. Folks here fer th'most part'll do their best to help each other. Frontier Town is full of asinine pricks what'll cut their nose off t'spite their own muzzle. Not t'mention our legendaries are . . . reclusive."

No, if a world-ender ever came to her planet, it'd be down to her and whoever else she could find in the wider reaches of the land. People like Jesse, who, she recalled, was dealing with some dreadful threat all on his lonesome. Yeah. When you couldn't handle something alone, you worked together.

 

[Dragonfree]

"That tracks." The one other guy from her world he'd met sure had been an asinine prick. "And I mean, what gives them the fucking right to make those calls? Why's Maple get to decide Soda deserves a second chance and somebody else who dies doesn't?" He gave Mia the briefest of glances; she was frowning. "Because she was just fucking born better than the rest of us? If she ever was a Voice of Life acting on the collective will of her world, that sure isn't what she is now."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

...So, Dave thought, what, exactly? That Maple should use her powers when others told her to, or not to? The way he said 'born better than the rest of us'.... With such contempt. Did he mean her power, or was he sarcastically saying that she was no better a person, not to be trusted with even the ability to do something like that...?

"Okay. Here's one fer you t'puzzle over, Dave," she said, a slight growl in her voice. "I'm no necrozma, but back home I got th'kinda power which, if'n I took it into my head t'do so, I could wipe Treasure Town clean off th'face of the fuckin' earth. I could fight half a dozen adult 'mon as a fuckin' child, and I've only gotten stronger. They couldn't do a damn thing t'stop me. Jus' 'cause I was born with power."

And she'd got a reputation as a feral savage for those fights, too. Brisa Escarpa, the wild girl, violent animal.

She sucked air through her teeth. "Every day I make th'call to use my strength to defend the innocent, 'stead of jus' takin' what I want. I ain't ever even killed a thinkin' person while carryin' out my duty. But I could've done. It would've be easy. It might even have been the right call, once or twice. Maybe one day it will be, an' it'd be wrong fer me to stay my paw."

But she never killed. She could, but she didn't. Maybe it would happen accidentally one day, because you couldn't control everything that happened in the course of your duties, and you just didn't have a right to cower from mistakes when innocents were counting on you to protect them. But she did everything she could to the point of misery and exhaustion to be at her best to fulfil her duty as someone with strength. Was that . . . still not enough? Was using her strength, inflicting injury, staying her paw, one day not staying her paw when it would save a life and slay a monster... Was all of it wrong, because she was no better than anyone else to decide how she should go about it?

"If I don't got th'right to make the call about what to do with my power . . . what do you want me to do?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave blinked. What? None of this was about her, why was she...?

...Hold the phone, she could wipe towns off the face of the Earth?

"Look, that's... Fuck. What? You can...?" What the shit. He knew she was strong but...

Mia cocked her head at Brisa, intrigued. "I'm very strong too but I don't think I could wipe out a town." She paused. "Maybe I could but it would take a very long time."

Dave shuddered, clutching his glass. "Well, Mia," he said, his voice tight, "you got shot after knocking out a couple guys and killing a third, so objectively you're not exactly unstoppable."

Mia frowned. "Only because I was distracted."

Shadow shivered, shrinking back where he sat. Dave took another sip of his drink and forced himself to turn back to Brisa. What did he want her to do?

"Look, given that you have the power to level a town, you just don't fucking do that. You don't level any towns. If you have to make judgement calls, you err on the side of not killing anyone." His eyes slid over to Mia again for a moment; her expression didn't change. "Anything real drastic, you only do it if it's put to a fucking vote or something. And in your backwards-ass cowboy world where everyone's a murderous asshole, probably don't do it then either."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Dave freewheeled for a bit. Clearly he hadn't understood before why Jesse was so frightened for her. And then he started on about not killing people like that could possibly be news for her. He didn't even ask to clarify.

She imagined being Maple, crossing worlds, saving lives, in hard situations like this all the time, choosing to give someone a second chance on the condition they travel the universe doing the same... And dying, dying to save someone's life, and Dave being glad she was dead.

"I'm not gonna level any goddamn towns, Dave, that's not th'point. Did ya not just hear me sayin'– Fuck, never mind."

She stared at her drink, oblivious to the expressions on her companions.

"No, y'know what, listen. I wasn't askin' t'be told not t'kill people. I've been told not t'kill people. You know that. You know that. An' I know better'n to put the use of my strength to a vote, too, 'cause half the town would vote fer me to slaughter every outlaw within a hundredmile, an' I ain't fuckin' doin' that."

Goddamnit, why was this suddenly so hard. Bad luck? No, it hadn't been easy to communicate with Dave before now, either. She remembered that weird assumption he'd made about Jesse having a problem with her preference in gender.

"Yer problem th'whole time we've been conversatin' is y'can't stand that power like that exists in th'paws of folks what can't be held accountable, 'cause what if they make a bad call? You suggested Maple resurrectin' folks or not should down t'the will of others, an' the use of my strength too, as if a buncha upset folks could ever know how to use that kinda power responsibly, not havin' spent their whole lives agonisin' over the burden of it. No, I ain't askin' if you think I should kill anyone, I ain't doin' that even if y'said yes, I'm askin' if y'think I should even get t'make those decisions in th'first place."

 

[Dragonfree]

A flash of hot, confused anger made him lightheaded for a moment. "I don't think you're going to level towns or kill people, where the fuck are you getting..." What the actual fuck. He gritted his teeth. "You asked what I want you to do, at no point did I imply that's not already what you're doing. Jesus Christ, I yelled at your asshole fucking dad for like an hour about why you're not going to murder anyone. Give me some fucking credit."

He took a deep breath. Jesus. What the fuck had he done to make her think that was what he was getting at. "My point is just, if a single person can cause drastic consequences for other people, there need to be checks on that. I'm not saying people should be able to vote to have you level a town, I'm saying if one day you were to somehow find yourself thinking it's a great idea to level a town, you still shouldn't fucking do that. You can make the call to not level a town. You should not get to make the call to do it without consulting anyone else, because people are going to die, and your singular brain is fallible and your information isn't perfect."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa gripped her glass so hard she thought she might shatter it. The moment of acknowledgement that yes, she was doing the right things, lifted her heart (and ears) for half a second before they came ccrashing back down at his indignation. Gods fucking damn it.

"You ain't listenin'," she bit back.

Her ears were pinned back flat against her head and her tail was thrashing and her hackles were up and if he said one more bloody stupid thing she'd just leave and drink silently in her room and risk Kate finding her in an absolute state because it'd be better than this.

"Alright," she said, after a moment of hard focusing. "I'm gonna try to explain it a different way."

She turned and looked Dave in the eye and felt like she was once again justifying her right to make decisions and live freely to a man who just wouldn't see things from her perspective no matter what she fucking tried.

"I've spent the last six years defendin' Frontier Town from murderin' outlaws an' the like, and I ain't even killed anyone t'do it, which is more'n you can say about some rangers. But the townsfolk still hate an fear me 'cause I broke some bully's nose when I was twelve, my ma's feral, and I could burn everythin' to the ground if I were ever in a bad mood. Even though I'd give my life fer 'em without even fuckin' hesitatin'."

She closed her eyes a moment and held up a paw to let her breathe. Then she kept going.

"I'm gonna spend twoscore years and twoscore more defendin' the innocent without ever takin' a life and people are still gonna think I'm dangerous. I reckon I'll die before anyone thanks me fer it. What do I gotta do to get people to believe I can make my own choices responsibly? That I'm a good person? That I'm not a violent fucking animal, an' I don't need t'be kept on a leash??"