Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[Namohysip]

"Functional house arrest..." Puff frowned, jotting these notes down. "But you're still fighting for them..." He nodded, and then, when he was finished jotting what he could down, he asked Dave, "With all this trouble that you're going for, I guess this would be a silly question... but it would be a lot better to hear it from you directly. All this trouble you're getting involved with... Why are you fighting for it?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"Why? I mean, they deserve rights like anyone else, no matter how much trouble it is. What kind of question is that?"

 

[Namohysip]

Puff nodded, tapping his claw thoughtfully. "It seems like a lot of trouble," he said. "And it also sounds like you put yourself at great risk for it when you didn't necessarily need to. But"--and to this, he raised his paw slightly--"I think, in your eyes, you actually did need to." He smiled a little. "We see that a lot in Destiny Village. It's the same attitude we see from the Omen Heroes, and others in that field."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave raised an eyebrow. "If you say so."

 

[Namohysip]

Puff didn't press. Instead he nodded in understanding. "It sounds like there are hardships even when you return home," he said. "Sometimes it makes you wonder... when you return, if there was anything about this world that you could bring back... what would it be?" He let the question linger only briefly. "I get the impression a lot of Cibus is bizarre to you. But I think we're all curious what perspectives Team Spectrum has regardless."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave opened his mouth and then stopped.

There were obvious answers. The way that the notion of discrimination hadn't even computed for Puff, holy shit. Souls and afterlives? Only if Soda was to be believed souls actually existed back home, too, and were just conveniently undetectable and vanished off to the Overworld upon death. God.

Soda'd also said the world ran on friendship and good intentions. Wouldn't that be nice.

"You know what, I'd love a bit of the thing about Cibus where things tend to magically work out okay in the end. That's real different from how things work in my world."

 

[Namohysip]

"Magically work out okay, huh," Puff repeated with a dark glint in his eye, but he nodded anyway. "I guess when there are a lot of good people with good powers, that's something that'll happen. Maybe we're lucky with Pop and everything, too. ...But... sounds like you don't have a Pop to help you out when things get really hairy."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, no. Pretty glad we don't, personally. Better no god than praying you win the fucking God Lottery and get one that isn't some form of maniac liable to murder half the population or turn people into salt or whatever the fuck. God knows the gods people have made up over there are all fucking bonkers in one or another way."

He remembered he was in an interview a moment later. "Feel free to, uh, edit the language there."

 

[Namohysip]

"Into salt," repeated Puff with an air of intrigue. "That certainly is a... colorful idea." He finished taking his notes, and it seemed like he had covered a great deal of information. "Well," he said, "I think those are the key notes that I wanted to take regarding everything. Why don't you tell us a little bit about Team Spectrum? I'm curious what you think . . ."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave exhaled. "Team Spectrum's a disparate band of whoever the hell Diyem got to agree to this. Some total nutjobs, some harmless weirdos, some decent people. Like you'd get with any group like this. But one way or another we're good at what we do. We get shit done. We save the day. Hard to argue with results."

 

[Fusion]

That lil trip to Shaymin Village went a whole lot better than Puddle expected it too. It was actually feeling refreshed for once, and, like, relaxed. But there was more to do, siblings to check on, sodas to drink, all that fun stuff. Ayla and Kindle pretty much drank all of Puddle's supply, which was a fun little excuse to go to X-Eye as soon as possible.

Drinking alone wasn't all that fun, though, so this was also the perfect time to see how Luz was doing. It was smart, sending a text to Luz as soon as it could, asking if she wanted to catch up over drinks, and headed on over to its favorite restaurant, store, thing, whatever. Puddle ordered one of every soda, as usual, and waited, sipping away at a lemon soda.

Luz'd get here when she got here, so there wasn't anything to worry about. Yeah. She'd be here fine.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz strolled into the Cauldron with a smile on her face. Everyone seemed stressed out lately. A nice drink and chat with a friend sounded perfect right about now.

"Howdy, Puddle," she called, lightly jogging up to the bar. "Thanks fer savin' me a seat, pal."

She threw a lazy salute to the waiter, who went about mixing her a pitcher of her favourite cocktail, as usual.

"What's new, fella?"

 

[Fusion]

Seeing Luz show up, Puddle put on a big ol' grin and let its tail wag a bit. "Hey, it's not like anyone else was gonna come an' take it."

"I've been up to a lot. Cleanin' up after Vix died, helpin' Karat with Deoxys even if he didn't really want it, tryin' to find out where Vix went, checkin' on our siblin's... You know, the usual," it chuckled, then sighed, its grin faltering for but a moment. "How about you? I ain't had the pleasure to bump into you too much, I was startin' to get worried, you know?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz shrugged, and took a deep, fake breath.

"It's been a weird time fer me lately, fella. Thought I had myself figured out, but it's just one thing after another lately. Supposedly you an' I are due to become some kinda eternatus-necrozma-dark matter critters at some juncture, if'n what we already are don't already count. Brisa's goin' round turnin' into a more real zeraora than I can manage with all the effort in the world. And..."

She trailed off. C'mon. Chipper, brave, confident. This was meant to be fun.

"Well, it's not all bad," she amended. "I'm strong enough now to do some Guild work. I hang out with God Squad pretty often. And Brisa ain't so weirded out by me anymore..."

She just hadn't started spending any more time with Luz since her workload eased up. Like she'd been hoping.

 

[Fusion]

"Aye, I get that. I think I might be takin' the news of our family whatevers the easiest, I'm just happy to have a family again," Puddle chuckled, then paused for a moment. Again..?

It shook its head, another thing to lock away for later. Luz was putting on a positive face, but it wasn't super difficult to tell that was just a face. Probably thanks to its dad being the epitome of negativity. From the sound of it, one of the things bothering its sis was not being a "real" Zeraora. Maybe Puddle could help with that.

It opened a blue raspberry soda, taking a sip as it thought of what to say. "I've been thinkin' about what I'd grow up to a few times, and like... we're kinda lucky to have Diyem as our dad, ain't we? He can become pretty much whatever he wants, and he actually becomes it too I think. That means, when we get strong enough, we can do the same! And we're gonna keep soarin' up from there, so eventually we'll blast right past our hosts, you know!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz chuckled. "Is that so? I don't know that I'd credit that idea without some evidence t'speak fer it, or else Diyem's word, or somethin'."

She received her cocktail and took a long sip. Her gel filled up with chilled, flavoured liquid, ice crystals and alcohol she couldn't get drunk off of.

"Ain't really about power," she mused. "I don't think ya need a body that can fight gods in order t'be courageous, an' righteous, an' all that. It's more that I keep thinkin' like I oughta be livin' a certain way – a flesh an' blood way – and I dunno that I ever will."

She sighed, and made a sound like she'd clacked her tongue. "I dunno. Ain't even really about that so much as... Well."

Gods, how was she gonna talk about it without sounding ridiculous...?

 

[Fusion]

Puddle wasn't all that surprised it was a bit off, but it was getting somewhere! This help thing was getting kinda easy! It didn't really get the flesh and blood part, but it sounded like Luz was just about to say what she was worrying about.

"Well? About what?" Puddle asked, leaning in. "I know somethin's buggin' you, and I wanna try an' help, Luz. As weird as it might be, I am your bro, and your friend, right? I'm here for you."

That was probably more sentimental or cliche than Puddle intended, but it was probably better to just say it than to think of a better way. If there was one. There probably was.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz smiled at that, and the unease in her core settled just a little. Her 'bro', huh? Her brother.

"Ha, okay. You got it."

Big breath. Here goes.

"I figured I was who Brisa always wanted t'grow up t'be, y'know? Ascended Zeraora, bold, brave, confident, charmin', always knows jus' what t'do an' say. And able to fully enjoy folks' company in the usual ways. 'Cept, as things've turned out, I'm awful offputtin' to most folks, I can't take hardly anyone in a straight fight, I ain't got fur t'stroke, nor a mouth t'kiss, nor tears t'shed. And after Brisa bought it 'gainst Joule... She's more confident than ever, and I've near enough t'lost my nerve. She's actually who she always wanted to be. I'm..."

What was she?

 

[Fusion]

Puddle's grin shrank. As Team Spectrum grew, it looked like Puddle's family was starting to have a few cases of "Who am I? What am I?" Which made sense, all things considered, the familiars were pretty strange in concept. Maybe it really was a blessing Puddle couldn't remember who or what it was actually based off... Assuming that ignoring everything that triggered a sense of distant familiarity counted as "not remembering."

"Luz," Puddle began, standing up in its seat. Its sister needed help, its help. It had to say this right, whatever it was it was going to say. "You ain't alone, feelin' like that. Most of us have memories or personalities of someone else, all of us are... not ordinary Pokemon, and that's startin' to mess with our heads." It's grin fell completely, leaving only its eyes on its face. "We... We can't lose to that confusion. But that's why we have each other, to help get through that shit."

The Scraggy stood up on the table, mindful of their drinks and uncaring of any eyes that might've snapped too it, and walked over to Luz, looking her in the eyes. "You are everythin' Brisa wanted to grow into. You are her role model, her ideal hero, everything Brisa knew she had to make herself be. Out of all of us, you're the only one who's host genuinely looked up to them, because you're the best one of us for anyone to look up to." A faint... closely familiar pain grew in Puddle's chest. What it said was true, Luz was more than it could ever hope to be... It already knew that, accepted that... but that saying out loud...

"You're... amazing, Luz. Even if we aren't yet the same as everyone else physically, I got faith you'll be the first to cross that divide, you know?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz put a paw to her chest, and felt something unfamiliar.

"Partner, that's among the most downright touchin' things I've ever been told," she said, softly. "I don't know how right or wrong y'are, but what I'm hearin' is that you believe in me. An' I swear, that means plenty t'me."

Luz bit her lip and stirred her cocktail with her straw. "I got plenty I can say of myself that ain't so flatterin', and I know Brisa ain't nothin' but smiles toward me fer sure, but it helps t'know some folks're impressed enough with me."

She sniffed, and considered where to go with this. Sweet as Puddle was, insisting that everything was fine and she was super great hadn't worked for her before, and it oughtn't to work now. So what would help? Sure, becoming a flesh and blood creature would solve some of her problems, but it wasn't exactly something she could intentionally work towards...

"I met Zeraora of Cibus," she began, thinking aloud, "and I realised that I'm far more sociable a critter than her. I talked to Joule, and found that fer all that we're his offspring, it don't mean much. I met the original Luz, and I learnt that I know nothin' of who she really is and was. I guess I found out who and what I wanna be, and I decided to talk to my host about bein' . . . family, I guess . . . and then we all turned out t'be eternatus-incubators after all. Just in time fer me to actually care about that. 'Cause now... Now, not only does Brisa not need me, but I might be a threat...?"

Luz grimaced, and downed her drink. It wouldn't numb a thing, but at least it was satisfying.