Mystery Continent ~ Northern Pines

[Namohysip]

"Hmm? Something important?" Joule looked down at Maple, crouching until he was belly-down in the snow to get to her level.

"Yes, Joule, I..." Maple hesitated. "As you know, I'm going to be... the Voice of Telum again. And that means I won't be able to leave."

"Yes, certainly," Joule replied, nodding like he was being reminded of last week's notes.

"And... that means I will not be traveling to other worlds."

"Yes, yes." Joule nodded again, attentive.

"...So... what of you?" Maple asked.

"Of me?" he repeated. "Ah, of my travels? Well, I'll certainly be traveling. Very busybody. Though, I suppose I also should honor Bahamut's request to take a break and recover spiritually for a time... But traveling to other words! But is that not any different from a mortal leaving home for work in the morning?"

 

[Negrek]

"Uh, well. How long do your missions usually take?" Nate said. "If you're gone for a few weeks, I guess, yeah, that's like some mortal jobs. But if you're going away for years...?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmm... Hmmmm..." Joule tapped his chin. "That is true. Some of these outings can take much more than a few weeks. Still, Maple, you will be dormant for a while during different phases of world reconstruction, won't you? Perhaps I can seek out longer trips during those times. Hmm, yes. That could work."

"I won't... be holding you back at all?" Maple said.

"Well, perhaps I should slow myself down if Blacklight is the trouble I get into otherwise," Joule pointed out.

 

[Negrek]

"Heh, yeah. You'll have to be careful, won't you?" Nate said. "You won't have her around to bail you out if you get into trouble."

He kind of thought they should... maybe leave. Maple asked Joule about the thing, great, it sounded like they'd be able to work something out. Nate really didn't feel like he wanted to stick around and try to play relationship counselor for these two. He nudged Rocky and gave the familiar a pointed look.

I want to see what happens! Rocky protested in his head. Yeah, sure he did. Nate eased himself down from the log, wondering if he could sneak off without being noticed.

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, leaving so soon?" Joule asked Nate, for there was no escape. "I thought you wanted to evolve! I promise, the power of a thousand suns doesn't hurt for very long, near instant, really!"

"I think he's fine," Maple replied with a chuckle. "Joule... Thank you, really. I was worried, even if it was a silly thing..."

"Oh, what's a few centuries for taking a break?" Joule rationalized, slithering a little closer to Maple. It seemed, despite everything, the odd couple would be able to work things out. Perhaps it would be a new step in both their lives.

 

[Negrek]

Nate's eye twitched. That fucking evolution thing again. Not that it mattered.

"Yeah, we'll be out of your hair in a second," he said, over Rocky's psychic booing. He hesitated. "Just... one last thing. Maple. Do you really think all this--like meeting up with Eien, the whole dark eternatus thing, everything that happened after--do you really think it was just a coincidence?"

 

[Namohysip]

Maple hummed, thoughtful. "I had a talk with Diyem about this," she said. "I don't think it was a coincidence in the way mortals see it. Eien and I were both eternal beings, or as close to eternal as I'm familiar. We both traveled worlds for a long time and we both did largely the same thing... drifting like meteors in the vast expanse of space. Our resonance might have drawn us together, not unlike gravity itself, like two celestial bodies colliding."

"Ahh, I see." Joule nodded. "If that's the case... Two specific people meeting when they happen to both travel the same way... and live for as long as they do? I wouldn't really call that coincidence... so much as inevitability."

 

[Negrek]

It was weird to think about, Eien and Maple, bouncing around out in space, slowly drawing closer and closer to each other without even realizing it. How long had Eien been a "shadow eternatus," anyway? He hadn't thought it was anywhere near as long as Maple'd been out and roaming around.

Nate still wasn't sure he bought it, but, well, he wasn't an immortal Voice of Life legend thing, either. And he still needed to talk to Eien. About more than just this.

"Well, so long as it was nobody else helping the inevitable along, I guess," he said. "Sounds like you two got some shit to talk about, anyhow. We won't keep you."

"Bye, Maple," Rocky said. "Bye, Joule! You should come by our house sometime and make Marshtomp evolve when he isn't expecting it. That'd be really funny."

"Yeah, yeah, hilarious," Nate said, giving his familiar an unceremonious shove back the way they'd come. He looked like he was perfectly content to stick around and interrogate Joule about his God Squad plans if Nate didn't force the issue. Rocky let himself be shoved along cheerfully enough, waving to Joule and Maple over his shoulder.

"That was great!" he said once the legends were out of sight. "I'm glad they're happy. And I can be on the God Squad after all!"

"Sounds like it," Nate said. That was good, at least. That was good, and at least for now, Rocky didn't seemed worried about the fact that Nate was leaving. Definitely good.

At least for the rest of the day, Nate didn't much feel like trying to shake his familiar off again.

<><><>​

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa loped along through the woods, enjoying the atmosphere. He'd been trying his best to visit all the sights of Cibus he could, since it'd be the last time he'd see them, probably.

Of course, he wasn't sure what difference it would make if he'd just forget it all, but it was still fun.

 

[Magyk]

After some asking around and a lot of walking, Ben finally came upon the woods. There was a certain member of Team Spectrum he'd been wanting to talk to ever since he saw him. There'd been something that spoke to him...something about that manectric. The way he preferred to be alone, the way Koa seemed to be detached from the group.

Ben saw too much of himself in him.

"Koa?" Ben called out. "Koa, are you here?"

The arcanine scrunched up his nose, he remembered Koa had a longer name, and only friends could call him Koa, but...he couldn't remember the full name. "It's me, Ben, from the Miracle Matters?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa's ear flicked at the sound of the voice and he paused, then turned towards the sound. It wasn't anyone he recognized, at least not from Team Spectrum, even though they'd used his name. A moment later, they identified themselves.

Ben... right. The Arcanine from Miracle Matters. What could he possibly want? After a moment's consideration, Koa replied. "Over here."

He trotted out from the trees and offered a friendly smile. "Uh hey. What's up?"

 

[Magyk]

The relief hit his eyes a little too honestly. He was glad to have finally tracked down the younger mon. "There you are!" he said with a grin. "I'd been meaning to check in on you, how are you? Nervous about the final battle?"

He doubted Koa would open up, since he knew first hand about not wanting to be open, but he still wanted to try. If Koa was scared, or nervous, or something, Ben was hoping to alleviate some of that.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa shrugged. "Sort of? But not really. I mean, we have a good track record so far I guess. And we beat you guys," he added with a playful smirk.

It wasn't like he could afford to be nervous anyway. Either they succeeded or... He recalled the strange meeting with the 'Overseer' or whatever. If they didn't... perhaps the whole memory wipe thing was good.

 

[Magyk]

Ben chuckled. "Not by much, though, " he replied. "It was still pretty close in the end."

He looked around at the woods with a satisfied nod. If he had known this was a place in his Cibus, it would have become is own personal haunt as well. "Any reason you come out here? I don't blame you for needing to get away for a bit."

 

[Flyg0n]

A smart aleck remark about how 'close didn't count' popped into Koa's mind, but he kept it to himself. No need to be too smug about it.

"I like the woods, I guess. Reminds me of being a trainer back home, exploring in the wilderness. Did you have a spot like this back on your Cibus?" It still felt strange to say, 'your Cibus', knowing there was at least one nearly identical world out there.

 

[Magyk]

Train-err...? Oh, another one. Hughmans really were all the rage in Team Spectrum.

"Not the woods, but I very much liked to be on my own in the other Cibus," he replied with an awkward chuckle. "Didn't really believe I mixed well with the others on my team, with all of them coming from really bizarre or crazy worlds that were used to powers simliar to the Blacklight. Just really needed to get away for some shred of normalcy in my time here--er, there."

 

[Flyg0n]

That felt a little familiar, didn't it? Most of his first days he'd spent in the library, enjoying the solitude it offered.

"Yeah, I used to hang out at the library a lot when I first got here. I'm not really big on people, and I sort of arrived really late. What kind of world are you from?" Judging from the Arcanine's expression, he doubted it was from a human world.

 

[Magyk]

"Oh, nothing like this one," he replied quickly. "And from the sounds of it, not much like yours either. There's none of your two-legged kind of species I can't quite say. Just us Pokemon where I come from. Kinda weird, isn't it? We have seeking solitude in common but we're barely alike as it is."

Could his kind and Koa's even be alike? He barely knew what humans were actually like, aside from meeting Starr, Giovanni, Silver and Koa. But they had all been Pokemon at the time, so was it really any more different?

 

[Flyg0n]

Another all Pokemon sort of world. That seemed almost as common as humans. "Maybe we aren't that unlike though. There's more to similarity than appearances, right? Like..."

He frowned in thought, his tail swishing side to side. "What did you like to do for fun back home?"

 

[Magyk]

"Oh, I like hanging out with my friends, and we go on adventures and discover new stuff all the time!" His tail wagged as he beamed at Koa. "What about you, do you go on adventures as a humman?"