Destiny Village ~ X-Eye Cauldron

[Negrek]

"Oh," the shadow mudkip said, the yellow light in his eyes flickering. "I guess if it helps for him to think you're somebody else... But that doesn't make sense. He actually has a nice shadow, he should be glad--" The mightyena was reaching for him. The shadow mudkip jerked sideways, one hand raised to fend Shadow off. "Wh-what are you doing?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Shadow pulled back immediately, like he'd been stung, shrinking away. "Sorry. Never mind." Stupid. Why did he do that? "I just wanted to... help."

He looked away. Had the Mudkip just called him a nice shadow? "I still don't think you seem like the bad part."

 

[Negrek]

The shadow mudkip flinched himself when Shadow pulled his paw away. "Sorry," he squeaked. "It's nice that you want to help. But I don't think anybody can. And maybe I don't seem so bad now, but remember, I hurt a lot of people back when we fought the Shadow Machine. Or *you*, that one night. I hurt people a lot. You really should... stay away."

 

[Dragonfree]

Shadow looked back at him, blinking slowly. "So do I," he said, quiet. "I think... we're similar. In some ways. We both hurt people we don't want to hurt."

He glanced back at where Nate was, again. It was hard not to wonder why his Shadow was here, hiding under tables. Hard not to guess. "Where have you been, since that fight with the Shadow Machine?"

 

[Negrek]

The shadow mudkip blinked up at Shadow, faintly confused. "That doesn't sound right, what you said about hurting people. You have lots of friends."

Shadow's question, though, was even more puzzling. "I don't really know where I was. Inside Nate, I guess. Where do you go when Dave can't see you?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Shadow looked at him in incomprehension. Lots of friends? (In a flash, the sensation of punching Brisa, trying to make her attack him.)

"So you... haven't come out, until just now?" He cocked his head. "Then why are you hiding here, now?"

 

[Negrek]

The shadow mudkip hunched over, trying to become even smaller than he already was. "I've been here a while. Ever since we fought on the moon. I'm hiding because if Nate sees me, he'll hurt me."

 

[Dragonfree]

There it was. Shadow glanced back towards Nate's table. How far could a Shadow get from their original, anyway?

"He shouldn't hurt you. You haven't done anything wrong." He paused. Wanted to offer to protect him, somehow, but he couldn't protect anyone, and he had an awful suspicion that Dave wouldn't like it. "What about Rocky? Does he want to hurt you too?"

 

[Negrek]

"But I have!" the shadow mudkip insisted. "I did everything wrong. I always have. Everything bad." He looked sadly down at the floor, eyes dim. "I shouldn't even be here. None of us shadows should... right? We only got here because the people we belong to got hurt."

 

[Dragonfree]

Shadow thought back, to the fight where he'd first emerged. Everything was fuzzy back then, just blended together with Dave's own memories. Brisa rushing into danger, him powerless to stop it once again. "That's true," he said softly. "But you're here anyway. And... I think since we got here, we've made it better for them. Brisa's Shadow was good for her. I think..." His brow furrowed. "...I've been good for Dave too. A little. Maybe you can still help Nate."

 

[Negrek]

"I don't know." The shadow mudkip tried to shrink away again, but there truly was nowhere for him to go. "I don't know if I know how to help anybody. How have you been good... for Dave?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Shadow took a small step back and tried to discreetly make himself smaller, less threatening. "I say things he won't. Like how you apologized for Nate when he won't. And Dave hates that, but sometimes I think it's better that I said it." He paused. "I'm glad you're here, and that you said that."

 

[Negrek]

The shadow mudkip sighed and looked away wistfully. "Nobody can hear me. Except Nate, and he doesn't listen." He blinked away his tears and smiled faintly. "I'm glad you can hear me, though. And I am... glad I said that, too. It felt nice. I'm glad we got to talk, before we both have to go away."

 

[Dragonfree]

Shadow smiled back at him with a couple of wags of his tail. "That's good! I'm glad we got to talk, too. Even though there's not a lot of time left."

He hesitated a moment, looking back towards Nate's table. "Is he going to hurt you if you go back there?"

 

[Negrek]

"Only if he sees me." The shadow mudkip's smile had turned melancholy, but it remained. He wiped another oozing tear away from his eye. "Don't worry. I'm good at making sure people don't notice me."

 

[Dragonfree]

Shadow looked at him for a moment. "All right. If you're sure it will be okay." He exhaled a small cloud of wispy shadows. "I hope Nate doesn't hurt you again. You don't deserve that."

 

[Negrek]

The shadow mudkip looked like it was about to say something, but instead he simply looked down at the floor. "Okay. Well, I guess I should be going back. Nate probably will want to leave pretty soon." He turned to creep away under the booth, but then paused and looked over his shoulder. "Goodbye. And... thank you. For being nice. Dave is lucky to have a shadow like you."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Thank you!" Shadow said, attempting an awkward wave as he crouched down to see after him. "You're a nice Shadow too."

 

[Negrek]

The shadow mudkip froze when Shadow bent down to peer after him, but the mightyena was only trying to say goodbye. He watched, a bit wistfully, as Shadow headed back to his table. He didn't really understand why the mightyena insisted that he was a nice shadow or that he didn't deserve it when Nate got mad at him, but he supposed Shadow didn't know him much at all. The mightyena didn't really know what he was like. Plus, Shadow was nice. Of course he liked to say nice things.

Still, though. The shadow mudkip crept back up onto the seat beside Rocky, and then into the bag. After a few seconds of tense waiting, afraid to even move, he figured no one had noticed him. He was safe. And, as he curled up amidst the berries and orbs and elixirs, he wasn't even crying anymore.

"What's up with you?" the Rocky was saying to Nate. "You've been acting really weird."

"I feel really weird," Nate grumbled. "Last fucking time I get the fish at this place." It could easily be the last time he did anything at this place. There wasn't much time left.

He felt restless and strange. Weird kind of indigestion. "Come on," he said to Rocky, sliding out of his seat. "Let's bounce. I'm sick of this place."

Outside it was warm and sunny, with a gentle breeze carrying the scent of summer through Destiny Village's streets. Rocky perked up, flames leaping with excitement. "Ooh, we should go up by Destiny Tower!" he said. "You can see all of Destiny Village from up there. And then once we get to the top, we can roll back down again!"

"Sure," Nate said. "Might as well stop by the lab while we're up there, too. See what Chip's working on."

It was a lovely day. Couldn't think of the last time he'd felt that way. Maybe he'd have to order some more of that fish after all.

<><><>​

 

[Negrek]

Nate had honestly had enough of the X-eye Cauldron for a while, but it was Rocky's turn to pick their lunch spot, and he'd been insistent. "You always want to go to Pasta Plaza, but they don't have funny mushroom burgers." And a mushroom burger was the only thing the guy would hear of today, so here they were, once again, in a now-familiar booth.

It was stupid. The guy didn't even get hungry, but here he was insisting on his specific burger like it was the most critical thing in the world. And the familiar was certainly taking his time with it, while Nate's pizza had long since disappeared.

"Well, what do you want to do this afternoon, then?" Nate asked, leaning his elbows on the table. "It's your day and all."

"Hmmm..." Rocky leaned back, bits of mushroom swirling contemplatively around where his skull would be. "I dunno. But maybe something fun will find us."