Mystery Continent ~ Northern Pines

[Namohysip]

Maple chuckled. "In a sense," she said. "I'm... working with Arceus right now. Both of them--the one of Cibus, and the one within me, which we found, dormant but awakening. We are going to search for a Null Realm to recreate Telum and resume where we had left off. Probably a neighboring location... Cibus and Telum would be cosmic neighbors. She tapped her chin, eyes closed. "But, the process... may weaken me considerably. My power is sourced from the many souls I house. Once they are no longer in control, my power, too, will fade. Though... I may retain some of it." Her hand glowed with Joule's Radiance. "...But I think... as a Voice, I will no longer be able to travel." There was a hint of insecurity in her voice just then.

 

[Negrek]

"Oh, so that's how it's going to work?" Nate said. "That's a relief. I was kinda wondering if they were gonna have to, like. Turn you inside out, you know, to get everybody back."

He tugged on one of his gills sheepishly. It did sound kinda stupid, but, like, well. How the fuck were you supposed to get a planet out of somebody? He still didn't really get how it'd gotten stuck in there in the first place.

"But yeah. Like Buffet... tied to the world and all that." He tilted his head. "Did you like traveling? I dunno, I kinda got the feeling that it was more of a revenge thing. Not really about enjoying. But that's only what I thought."

 

[Namohysip]

"Well, they'll still have to do that in a spiritual sense," Maple said idly, turning her wrist like she was explaining the basics of water evaporating. "Think of it like emptying a bag of potatoes on the table."

Maple thought about his next question. Travel... "...Yes. I did enjoy the travel. Helping other worlds. But there was always a... sense that it wasn't truly what I wanted. Only a substitute. I ultimately knew why... I was a Voice. My home is my world, which I had lost. So... I have no regrets for returning to that life and protecting that world again. My role never truly ended. I just... never realized that my world had been with me all along."

She sighed, then, bringing her paws together, one over the other as she sat by a tree.

"I do wonder what Joule will do, though."

 

[Negrek]

A bag of potatoes? Never mind, that wrapped right back around into being horrifying again. Nate did his best to suppress a grimace, and his mental image of the process.

"Oh, yeah? Is that kind of a necrozma thing, flying around in space? I don't know very much about them." Or maybe it was just a Joule thing, being a wanderer and all. It didn't really matter, Nate supposed. Either way, he could see the guy not really being the settling-down type.

 

[Namohysip]

"Joule is a traveler, world to world, realm to realm, saving the ones he happens upon. He isn't really one to... find a place he would want to consider a home for very long. And... well..." Maple hesitated. "Well, why would... I expect him to change that part of him?"

 

[Negrek]

"Sometimes people change. Sometimes they don't," Nate said. "Like sometimes when people get older, they decide they want to stop traveling, heroing, all that shit, find someplace to call home. Happens all the time in my world. Or around here. Seems like most of the legends on Cibus mostly want to sleep most of the time, or just give up their jobs entirely." Nate shrugged. "Wouldn't count out Joule deciding he has different priorities these days. What did he say when you asked him?"

Probably something unhelpful about, like, hope or it all working out or shit like that, Nate would guess. But at least you had to know what you were starting with.

 

[Namohysip]

Maple sighed. "I never asked him," she said flatly. "He never commented on it, either. I'm wondering if he's weighing his options as well. If he would want to keep traveling to save more worlds... which is entirely fair... or if he would really be okay with spending a world's age with me. Or something in between, if perhaps one day he would get bored of Telum and..." Shaking her head, Maple rubbed her paws together. "I've defeated fallen gods on the regular and I can barely work up the courage to ask him directly. How silly is that..."

 

[Negrek]

"Don't think it's silly," Nate said. "Ain't much can touch you in a fight, but depending on what Joule answers, it could hurt a lot. Of course you don't want to ask." He sighed and looked off into the trees. "I got kinda the same thing I gotta ask somebody if I ever get home. Shit sucks."

"I know!" Rocky said brightly. "Just pretend he's a big scary demon monster and you need to cut his head off. But do it with words instead of attacks. Then it'll be easy."

"Thanks for your input, Rocky. Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about why he hasn't said anything yet. Could be he's still thinking things over. Could be he assumed you'd assume that he was going to stick with you. I don't think him not saying anything is a bad thing, necessarily." Nate fixed his gaze back on Maple and tried to give her a smile. "Obviously it'll be awful if Joule wants to go on adventuring without you. But not knowing one way or another, and worrying about it--I dunno if that's doing you any better."

 

[Namohysip]

"Mmh... You're right." Maple sighed. "I just need to work up the courage to get that all in proper order... to ask him. We've known each other for so long... This shouldn't be hard." Or perhaps that was specifically why it was so hard. "...I will. I won't put this off."

 

[Negrek]

"Don't think I agree that it shouldn't be hard," Nate said. "It is hard, right? But you've done hard things before."

"You should ask now!" Rocky said, jumping to his feet with his flames blazing. "Don't put it off, like you said!"

Nate cringed, watching his chance at asking anything about Maple's Dark Matter evaporate, but he couldn't say he disagreed.

 

[Namohysip]

Maple hesitated. "I... I'll message him," she said. "He'll reply when he can."

Awkwardly, she pulled out her badge and sent one over, hesitated on actually sending it, and then finally did. He didn't reply immediately, so she sighed and placed the badge into a... She had fur pockets.

"You look like you have something else on your mind, not just my troubles," Maple commented.

 

[Negrek]

"That was great!" Rocky said, beaming, when Maple sent her message. "You're really brave. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and Joule!"

Nate grimaced and rubbed at his gills when Maple tried to change the subject. It felt a bit silly to be talking about this compared to something like whether Maple was going to have to break up with her glowing space boyfriend of however many thousands of years. "I mean, well, last time we saw you--like not during battles or strategy meetings or whatever, besides that--you went a little nuts and tried to rip Diyem apart and he pulled a fucking Dark Matter out of you. It was kinda dramatic. I was just wondering if that all, you know, went okay. I mean Dark Matter was trying to blow up Telum, so did you, like, convince him to not... do that... when you put the new one together? Or, I know Diyem had a talk with him and all, but..."

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh. That." Maple sighed, rubbing her forehead. "That..."

It was quite a spectacle, and all for Diyem manipulating her into exposing that Dark core without her realizing it. She still wasn't quite over that. Underhanded. He could have asked directly, or been straightforward about it.

"Diyem and my Dark Matter had... a talk. I'm not sure the extent of what was said, but when he was done, he said that if I could find a place for him in the new Telum, then he won't... attempt to destroy it. Diyem is apparently going to assist. I don't really know what that means. But... All things considered, I trust him. I think he knows what he's doing."

 

[Negrek]

"Oh? So Diyem didn't put him back? He's, like, still out here in Cibus somewhere...?" Presumably that meant Diyem had, like, adopted him, right? At least for now? The guy seemed like he was acquiring kids left and right. "Have you thought about, erm, where you're going to put him? If you need to find a place for him..."

It was a little difficult to think of where you'd really want a Dark Matter hanging around. Like, what were his positive qualities? He sure showed some... grit and persistence... what with executing that whole plan for chucking the planet into the sun. Like at least twice.

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmm." Maple sighed, thoughtful. "Well, there are a few places we considered. That I personally considered. The first would be to seal him somewhere, but... as a last resort. Another would be to keep him near my Arceus, where he could keep a watchful eye on him. But what seems to be the most likely option..." Maple shrugged. "Lively Town. Where Sword and Shield would reside. He'd be... for lack of a better term, recruited onto their team. After some, as Diyem called it, defanging..."

 

[Negrek]

"Defanging," huh? That sure didn't sound like a good time.

"Wow. On a team with Sword and Shield, huh? That's... quite a mental image." Sword was bound to have a good time. Sword was bound to be the only one having a good time. "What about the whole, I don't know, accepting Dark Matter thing? I guess that's not something you can really just decide to do, you gotta feel it or whatever. Is that something you could ever see yourself doing?"

 

[Namohysip]

"...I don't know," Maple said. "That's what the recruitment is for. Dark Matter can... learn about the world beyond just its negatives. See that he has a place in it, even if it's not pleasant. It's not the usual way that he is accepted, but perhaps it's an alternative path. We'll be keeping an eye on him, of course... But I think it will work out."

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah. I guess if Diyem thinks it will, well, he'd know better than anybody." Nate leaned back on the log, looking down at his feet. They were muddy, which was not a surprise, because that's how the whole forest was right now. "Must be weird, after all those years going after Dark Matters, like. Destroying them and all. And now you're going to have to live with this one. Maybe even get to know him, a little bit." He frowned. "Do you feel, like, better, with him out wherever he is? Like more positive without him in there being all, you know, dark?"

 

[Namohysip]

Maple blinked, thinking. "Yes. I do remember seeing... more than just the darkness of others, once he was removed from me. It's... a relief, in a way. But it's also strange, like any kind of change..." She sighed. "I'm sure I'll get used to it all over again, though. And--"

Maple's thigh vibrated. She pulled out the badge, but the moment she did, a portal appeared nearby, and out came Joule.

"Maple!" he greeted cheerily, flopping into the snow, which started to melt against his body. "You needed to talk? Ah! Nate! Finally asking to evolve, hm? I'm sure I can give your body a jump-start to be a Swampert for those last few weeks here! Hold still, this will only hurt for a day!"

 

[Negrek]

Well, that sounded... good? Nate had kind of expected a bigger change, but Maple had been kind of preoccupied lately. "Oh, so--"

Nate flinched when Joule burst through a portal, as bright as ever. Why did the guy always have to be so fucking loud? "What?" he said, struggling to keep up with Joule's boisterous greetings. "Evolve? I mean, sure, but..."

"Not now!" Rocky jumped to his feet again. "Maple has something really important she needs to ask you!"