Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Namohysip]

Owen nodded. "Yeah, I am. Fire-Dragon, or Fire-Flying, feels like. Dragons are cool, though, even if I always have the egg group." He grinned, stepping until he could sit next to Cuicatl. "How, uh, how have you been doing? With the whole thing with the storm, and then the moon... It's weird that it's all finally calm, now."

 

[Persephone]

"Never thought I'd go to the moon, much less see it," Cuicatl said. "Even if I had to fight there. And the storm..."

{Lines of stone rocket up from the ground as you weave around them, draco meteor forming in your maw. Coco's biggest weakness is being grounded and reliant on bites and head smashes. Never thought you'd use it against her, though.}

"...it's over. And things are calm and it's almost time to go home. Even if I still wish I didn't have to."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen frowned, nodding. "I think I remember hearing... you have a hard time at home. And with how powerful a Psychic you are, right, it's probably not going to be easy to recover these memories for a while. But... who knows. Maybe a tiny bit of it will help, you know?" He shrugged, sighing. "I'll probably forget, too. My world has a lot of interference going on with my head. Still... No use being nihilistic about it!" Owen folded his wings back.

 

[Persephone]

"Powerful might be a stretch. Languages don't bother me and I can pick up some stray thoughts. But I am a lot stronger than the average human." Cuicatl thought about arguing that nihilism was actually a pretty good response to the imminent loss of memory, but held her tongue. "What would you do to cope with that loss of memories, then?"

 

[Namohysip]

Owen didn't reply immediately. Instead, his eyes seemed to glaze over, possibly running through the many times it had happened, and then he stared at the horizon.

"Well," he said, "I'll be mad about it. Mad that something was taken away from me when I wanted to keep it, just like anything else. But memories are precious, y'know...? Ahh, but anyway..." Owen rubbed his snout. "...After that... Well. If I don't know I didn't have them, there's nothing to really cope with, I guess. Ignorance is bliss... And worrying about that isn't really worth worrying over. It'll just make me unhappy here, and maybe I'll regret that when I could have enjoyed it, if the memories come back. Y'know? It's... weird, circular logic... but it ends up working out in the end, either way."

 

[Persephone]

"Hmm." Yeah, that made sense. Never mind that it still felt a bit too close to death for her. "Want to do something together, then? Have any ideas?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmm..." Owen leaned back, thoughtful. "I'm not really sure... It's too bad we haven't really done any hanging out like this before. But you know, if you're going to miss this place, miss being a Hydreigon and all that... Why not live it up right now, huh? We could have some fun together." He smiled wryly.

 

[Persephone]

“I guess we could go flying,” Cuicatl said. “If you still can, what with not being a flying type?”

 

[Namohysip]

"Flying?" Owen asked. "Well, sure! I was thinking we could spar, since that's a really Pokemon thing to do compared to humans... but flying is also fine! I don't think humans can fly on their own..." He nodded, stretching his wings. "I'll try not to bump into you. I can be a little clumsy in the air, still, with the new size..."

 

[Persephone]

“It isn’t something humans can do. We need Pokémon for that.” Or planes, but she didn’t want to try and explain those to a charizard. “Come on, let’s get going”

With the wind surrounding her, Cuicatl could almost feel at peace. Yet the sensation still tugged at something deep inside - that this was over again. That soon she would be weak, grounded, and blind, no matter what she did.

“I don’t like the old me much,” Cuicatl finally confessed. “And I don’t want to become her again. Physically or mentally.”

 

[Namohysip]

They had been flying for some time, drifting over the skies in this sense of freedom Owen always enjoyed. The usually talkative Charizard had clearly been bothered by something, or was at least pensive about it, for him to be so quiet. So when Cuicatl finally started talking, he seemed almost startled, but then his eyes settled.

"...I get that," Owen admitted.

Then, as they flew, he spread his wings into a glide so he could keep over Cuicatl. He held out his hand and formed a shape of flames.

"I don't, either," he admitted.

The flames twisted into something resembling a body--a small Charmander with wide, bright eyes and a hint of fear. This Charmander was only a foot tall, truly tiny compared to Cuicatl.

"That's me," Owen said. "That's me back home."

More flames loomed above this Charmander with strings attached to the little one's arms and shoulders. They pulled and tugged, and the arms moved accordingly.

"That's what I'm going back to. I think... I think I understand that fear, at least a little."

 

[Persephone]

“But you’ll grow up someday,” Cuicatl reassured him. “I’ll still be… human. Weak in more ways than one.”

 

[Namohysip]

"No," Owen said, "humans... are strong. Just because they don't show it in the same way Pokemon do, they're still strong." He glanced at Cuicatl, then continued ahead. "I was just talking to Koa about this, actually," he added, laughing a little.

 

[Persephone]

“Some are.” She thought of her mother. Starr. All the other former humans on her team. “But I’m not. Physically or mentally.”

 

[Namohysip]

A quizzical glance was Owen's answer, looking her over.

"Well," Owen said in a way that perhaps a father would to their daughter, "I don't really know how someone like you could be weak in any way, after all that's happened."

 

[Persephone]

“After all I’ve been through here, maybe I’m not. At home…” she sighed. He had a point, whether he’d intended to make it or not. “I guess I could become mentally stronger in time.”

 

[Namohysip]

Owen nodded encouragingly. "All this has proven is that it's possible... And I think you'd have to be strong to begin with to get to this point at all. That's how I see it, at least." He nodded firmly. He wanted to ask what her world was like, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't want to talk about it. He wouldn't press. "Besides, even if you're human, you turned out to be a Dragon here. Maybe you have the spirit of one, or something."

 

[Persephone]

“I’d like to think so. I was practically raised by one…” She trailed off. It was rude only talking about herself and doing it kept her mind on her problems. “You were a Pokémon before, then. What world? One like mine or one more like this, without humans?”

 

[Namohysip]

"Before I got to Cibus," Owen said, "I came from a world like it, called Kilo. But I also know a lot about humans and stuff, too, so... I guess you could say, in some ways, a little bit of both." He weaved left and right idly. "I used to think humans were these mythical creatures that ate metal. I didn't really know a thing about them until I got memories back."

 

[Persephone]

"Memories back?" Cuicatl asked. "So you've lost them before?"