Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[Chibi Pika]

"I don't mean going around telling people about it," Starr replied with a grumble. "Obviously that'd sound stupid as all hell. I just mean, like..." She trailed off, struggling to find the right words. "If someday I could think back to a time when I actually did something right and made people happy... it'd be nice." God, that sounded stupid, didn't it. "Might make it easier to deal with shit back home, I don't know."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave looked at her silently as he chewed on his food. A time when I actually did something right and made people happy. Jeez. Starr usually seemed in pretty decent spirits these days on Cibus, but she was sure making it sound like her life back home was all doom and gloom.

"It hurts. I'm sick of it. Sick of being in pain. Sick of acting like I've changed. You're all supposed to be here, helping people, protecting people. All I fucking know how to do is hurt people."

He swallowed. "Didn't you say you had some friends back home and had been, what, traveling with them away from all the Rocket shit for the better part of a year? None of that qualify?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr glanced away. "I mean yeah, obviously I like being with them, I just mean..." What did she mean? The distinction felt obvious, but trying to describe it was annoyingly hard.

"...It's just different when no one here knew me back when I used to be... like that. My friends back home aren't holding that stuff against me, but it's not like they can just forget, you know?" They wouldn't forget how she'd hurt them. It'd always be there.

 

[Dragonfree]

"Fair enough." Dave had another sip of his soda and wished it was alcoholic. "I guess you're going back to being chased down by Team Fucking Rocket, huh?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr let out an indifferent sigh. "Yeah, guess so." If that was all it was, it would've been easy. The previous nine months had been easy compared to all the Legendary bullshit that had sprung out of nowhere in the days before she'd been dragged to Cibus.

"It's not like that's all I'm going back to. There's plenty that I miss about my old life. And it sure a hell beats the years I spent on Team Rocket." Starr wasn't all that hungry anymore, but she reached for another wing just to have something to do with her hands. "Besides, if things get worse, I'll just drag my idiot friends to another region with me," she added with a bit of a snort. "Not like I'm married to Kanto."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Huh. Didn't you say they dragged you back into the Rocket shit in the first place?" She'd definitely said that. "If you can just drag them off to another region with you, then yeah, for the love of all things holy, drag the teenagers away from the armed gangsters."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"They did," Starr replied simply. But that wasn't really how it had gone, was it? Ajia had given her about a million outs.

"Well... it's more like, they're stuck with that mess either way. They didn't actually try to drag me into it or anything. But I'm not leaving them, so here we are." She threw her hands up. "And I already know it's stupid of me--not like I can actually do anything when both sides of the fight have goddamn Legendaries." Which was a hell of a lot harder to deal with than guns. "But, y'know, I guess I know more about how the Rockets work, which is... useful." Much as she hated to admit it.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave grimaced and knocked back more of his soda. "You've got legendary bullshit going on too? Should've fucking figured."

So, what? These kids were involved in shit that involved not only gangsters but fucking gods? That was probably worse, but it was harder to see it as real. Even after hanging out in Cibus for the better part of a year.

He stopped with the burger halfway to his mouth. "Wait, hold up. Both sides, as in... your friends have legendaries?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Well, that was one benefit to the whole worldjumping thing--no need to worry about keeping her friends' secrets when talking to someone from literally another goddamn universe who wouldn't even remember it anyway.

"Yep," Starr replied with a dry laugh. "Sure was a fun surprise for me when I learned that one. But I guess it was nice to finally get an answer as to why she could magically bullshit her way out of any trap. So y'know, I guess I'm the idiot for worrying about anything when she's friends with fucking Mew." Sure would be nice if it was that simple--have a legend, be untouchable. Yeah, right.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave blinked. He honestly wasn't even sure what was more disturbing, teenagers being manipulated by legendaries, or legendaries being manipulated by fucking teenagers.

"Honestly? That sounds like you have more to worry about. Good Christ."

He had an unsatisfying gulp of soda. "I guess there's some bullshit reason the legendaries can't just fight Team Rocket themselves and leave your friends alone, huh?" He shook his head. "What are legendaries... I mean, do they just walk around like in Cibus, or do most people not know they exist, or are they just rare Pokémon, or what? Over in my universe they're just... dumb myths. Stories. Mewtwo is a fucking conspiracy theory. I don't know how the fuck it's an actual thing in any universe."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Not like Cibus, no. You're not exactly gonna run into Zekrom at the grocery store back home," Starr said with a snort. It sure had taken a while to get used to that since moving to Destiny Village.

"And yeah, we've got plenty of myths and stories and shit that isn't real, but the Legendaries... I don't know, I guess they've just always been there?" How were you supposed to describe something that you just took for granted as being a thing to someone who didn't have anything like it? "Most people have never seen them, but there's enough sightings that it's not like you'd ever wonder if they were real. They don't show themselves to humans much. Probably for the better."

It was weird as hell how much normal stuff just plain doesn't exist where Dave was from. Then again, there were worlds where humans didn't exist, and that one Golett kid from way back when had been from a world where Pokemon didn't exist, so really, nothing should've surprised her anymore.

"Gotta admit, it's pretty funny hearing you talk about Mewtwo like that, though. Y'know, since my coworkers made him and all," Starr added with a dry laugh. "But I guess most people wouldn't know Rocket was doing genetic experimenting and shit. I'm just sort of used to it."

 

[Dragonfree]

"I mean, it's not like the genetic engineering is surprising. I'm a geneticist, I do engineering research. It's just, how the fuck did Rocket geneticists in your universe just so happen to create the same thing as a bunch of fucking nutcases made up out of whole cloth in mine and then some character designers were paid to make it into a movie monster? The whole purple tail and everything - how the fuck does that happen? With myths at least it's all got muddled origins thousands of years ago, but this? None of this universe bullshit has ever made any fucking sense."

He had a bite of his burger, shaking his head. "So your legendaries. They've still got godlike powers? Ability to enforce whatever they want against whoever they please?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Yeah, I don't have a fucking clue," Starr replied flatly, taking a long drink to wash down all the wing sauce. "Personally I'm more weirded out by the whole goddamn team being fictional. Shit's creepy." Was the boss a fictional character in Dave's world too? She didn't even want to know.

"Though if I had to pick a second-weirdest thing, it'd be the way that sometimes Pokemon are normal, sometimes they build towns, sometimes they all got lobotomized, sometimes they don't exist... I'm just waiting for the world where they're all fifty feet tall and made of chocolate." She'd meant for it to be the stupidest thing she could think of, but with her luck, Maple or Diyem or whoever would be announcing that that world was real and under attack any day now.

Starr stretched a bit, leaning back against her seat. "As for the Legendaries... I think the ones here on Cibus are stronger. Not that the ones back home aren't tough as hell. Takes a small army to take 'em down, but it's totally doable with the right planning and resources. So now all we gotta worry about is humans using them as living weapons, fun fun."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave snorted. "Yeah. Pokémon being pretty much the same everywhere except they have wildly different levels of sapience? The actual fuck's that about."

Legendaries, though. Powers rivaling a small army, concentrated in a single being. Christ.

"I guess if they can be taken down that's something, but you know. Most people don't exactly have a small army on hand, if a legendary decided it felt like leveling a town." He sipped his drink grimly. "So the deal is Team Rocket is trying to get the legendaries, and your friends have, what, befriended them, and are trying to help them take the Rockets down?" Not all that unlike the Cibus situation, really. Giovanni out capturing legendaries, plucky band of heroes trying to stop him by being friends. "Well, I hope they collectively know what they're doing."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr gave an impassive shrug. "Not much that humans can do to stand up to Pokemon either, if they feel like fucking shit up. Either way, we'd be using Pokemon to put a stop to it."

Cities didn't start getting wiped off the map until after humans started screwing with the legends. Of course the other executives all went off on their pretentious 'saving humanity' garbage, but it was all bullshit in the end.

Starr took another drink, mulling over the rest of what Dave had said. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Much as I hate to admit it"--she really, really hated it--"...they're not bad at what they do." And whose fault was that? Fucking Sebastian of course. "Apparently they stole Moltres the day before I got brought here, so I guess they're doing something right." She threw her arms in the air hopelessly.

So maybe having a legend was useful for some things. Didn't change the fact that she wouldn't be caught dead in their shoes.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave quirked an eyebrow. "Well, in my universe a trained human with a gun's a pretty good match for most Pokémon. What, they immune to bullets in yours?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr blinked. "Uh. I wouldn't say immune, no."

Stadium on fire, gunshots, running, screaming.

She shook her head. "But like, any mon worth their salt is gonna be strong enough to tank a few hits and turn a human into paste before you blink, you know? Yeah, they'll bleed, but like... unless you've got a really lucky shot, it's usually a bad idea unless you've got a whole squad for backup. Not to mention rock or steel-types, strong enough psychics, anything with Protect, Quick Guard, Teleport..." Starr rattled the list off without missing a beat. Her own firearm training had always stressed that over and over--if a Pokemon doesn't run away after the first shot, get the fuck out.

"Anyway, point is, if you need to take down a Pokemon, the best offense and defense is just having Pokemon of your own." Humans invented guns to kill each other. And sometimes they didn't want to use a weapon that could think for itself.

 

[Dragonfree]

"Huh. Well, my kids brought a fucking Arcanine to a gunfight and it was shot down before it could do a thing, so going to venture that our Pokémon are a good bit more fragile than yours."

Dave gulped down more of his soda, the carbonation stinging in his throat. That was about as good as it got, he supposed. "Not as smart either. Mainly a Pokémon's probably not going to make immediate ideal strategic choices to counter the gun. Not to say a Pokémon's never overpowered a guy with a gun, it happens, especially if the guy with the gun doesn't know what he's doing or it's a particularly strong Pokémon, but an armed human tends to have the upper hand."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr's chest tightened. Arcanine. Shot down before it could do a thing. Well... it was a stone evolution, so maybe it was really low level. Her own Arcanine was strong. Strong enough to take a few hits. Not that she'd ever need to. She had Extremespeed and Teleport. She'd be fine.

...This was stupid. He'd just said that his world's Pokemon were a lot weaker.

"It's pretty weird to think of Pokemon being that weak," Starr admitted. A single human being able kill a Pokemon so easily. No wonder he got all weird about Legendaries, if humans were top dog where he came from.

"We get it drilled into our heads since we're kids that Pokemon are tougher than any human could hope to be." Starr put on a mock teacher voice and said, "'Don't antagonize Pokemon, don't make them do anything they don't want to do, don't go in the deepwilds, don't even think about breaking the pact...' After a while it's like, 'enough already, we get it.'"

 

[Dragonfree]

"...Huh." Dave peered at Starr. "The pact?"