Mystery Continent ~ Southern Beach

[Negrek]

"Yup, that's him. But you can call him 'Vinny,' I hear he loves that." Ha, ha. If he ever got to hear somebody call Giovanni that, at least he'd get to die laughing. "We met your lucario boyfriend, by the way. Tell me, has he always had a massive stick up his ass, or is that just one of the hazards of hanging out with you?"

 

[Namohysip]

Darkwhite blinked, turning toward Nate with a curious tilt. By now, she'd fully pulled herself out of the sand to address him, even as sand poured out of her hazy ears. "What? Who? Boyfriend? Not interested. Especially a Lucario. They're, like, always angsty or serious."

She huffed, and despite her words, she seemed pensive. Her claws played with the sand, and her spaded tail drew random shapes nearby.

 

[Negrek]

Rocky laughed. "They are! This definitely one of the serious ones. All 'agents of darkness' this, 'grrr I'm a hero' that." Rocky puffed out his chest and struck a heroic pose. "I'm a lucario, and I'm gonna defeat you... with aura! Because I'm a lucario."

"No? Well, that's fucking weird," Nate said, watching DarkWhite fidget. "Ain't having memory problems, are you?"

"He challenged us all to a fight three days from now in the Great Canyon," Rocky said. "I bet it's gonna be really cool! Plus I bet Rayquaza's going to be there doing glowy stuff. I hope so. I didn't get to see him the first time."

 

[Namohysip]

"My memory's perfect!" Darkwhite flicked a spray of sand Nate's way. "Great Canyon in three days, huh? Maybe I should show up there too and see what happens. I bet I could have a lot of fun! Or maybe I'll be busy doing something better."

 

[Negrek]

"Whatever you say, oh great fucking hero of Telum."

"You could probably come if you wanted," Rocky said. "But what do you think you'd be doing that's more fun than watching Rayquaza fight? I want to do that, too!"

The familiar gave Nate an exaggerated wink, and he had to exercise every inch of self control not to react to it. Oh my fucking god.

 

[Namohysip]

And again, something nagged at Darkwhite, and she stared at Nate. "...Telum. He said Telum?"

Darkwhite hadn't been herself this whole conversation, but this time in particular it seemed that even the haze around the strange Mew's body had calmed.

 

[Negrek]

"Sure did. And his name's Shield, by the way. I guess everyone there has charmingly weapon-themed names instead of the fucking food nonsense going on around here." Nate sat back and considered DarkWhite a moment. "I'd guess yours, but fuck if I know the weapon equivalent of whatever part of a sandwich. Scope? Skewer? Help a guy out, here."

Rocky snorted, probably annoyed that his clever ploy had been ignored. He crossed his arms over his chest, watching DarkWhite intently.

 

[Namohysip]

"What... what are you doing?" Darkwhite asked Nate, floating a little higher. Her tiny fists were balled up and a malevolent energy swirled around her. "Toying with me? You think you're allowed to toy with ME? I'M the one that's allowed to play mind games!" By now she was trembling, looking for something to glare at that wasn't Nate, but the mostly featureless ocean wasn't giving her a lot to work with.

 

[Negrek]

"Nah, no toying. I'm just calling it like I sees it," Nate said, trying not to flinch when DarkWhite's shadowy aura flared. "You know I ain't smart enough to pull one over on you."

"Yeah, he's definitely not smart enough for that!" Rocky said, and then turned to flash Nate a thumbs-up and cheerful grin. Fucking thanks, Kid.

"You don't gotta take my word for it. Like Rocky said, Shield'll be at the canyon three days from now. Probably he'll start spouting off about Telum again, too."

 

[Namohysip]

Darkwhite's eyes were narrowed to half, those white irises focused on him. "So he's gonna be there, huh?" she said. "In three days... That's such a long time! Do you know how long that is? That's like, nine meal times! And I don't even KNOW where that Mewtwo guy went. I was just about to steal Rayquaza for myself but that guy did it instead and now I don't have anything!" Darkwhite flicked more sand away. "How do you guys know all this anyway?"

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah, three days. But maybe he'll get there a little early to set up whatever fucking traps or ambush or whatever the fuck he's got in store. You know how that is." Nate tried to act casual despite the fact that DarkWhite was still swirling with darkness and could turn him into a bloody smear at any moment. She probably wouldn't. Probably. But he also didn't think he'd actually seen her this pissed before, either. "Dunno what you mean about knowing shit. I sure as hell don't feel like I know the first thing about anything in this fucking world. I guess somebody got a call about shit going down in the desert, a bunch of us go over there to check it out. Boom, Rayquaza flinging Radiance shit everywhere, but then that Shield guy shows up and catches him, like with a pokéball and all. He goes on for a bit about how he knows we're all trying to make what happened to Telum happen here, but he won't allow it, and then Mewtwo shows and they both teleport out. Fuck if I know what it all means. I wasn't even fucking there. Hell, I don't even get why you'd want to snag Rayquaza, besides dragons being cool and shit. The fuck would you even do with a Rayquaza, anyhow?" Nate tentatively extended the unopened pack of berry snacks towards DarkWhite. "Here. Want a berry... thing? You look like you could use a berry thing. Take a load off, you know? You obviously got a lot on your mind."

 

[Namohysip]

"Of COURSE it's because dragons are cool!" Darkwhite snatched the berry from Nate and bit into it like it was alive and had to die. "I don't know what the heck a Pockey Bowl is but it sounds like a dumb way to catch Rayquaza. I wanted to grab Rayquaza way earlier, but after I stole Lugia, oooh, we have to STOP that little Mew from tampering with any more! So suddenly security's up the wazoo and that Mewtwo keeps attacking me!" She shoved the rest of the berry in her mouth and flicked her hand. Somehow, another appeared in her gasp. "You know what I think? This world would be a lot better if everyone was fun like me. What do you think?"

 

[Negrek]

"Well, yeah, dragons are fucking awesome. I can respect that." Jesus, she sure was doing a number on those berries. At least she was channeling her anger there for now and not at him. "Didn't realize Giovanni was giving you that much grief. If you could get one of those ball things away from him and hit him with it, he'd have to do whatever you said. But whatever. Fun... yeah. World sure would be a better place if more people were... fun." Dear fucking lord.

"He hates fun," Rocky said apologetically. "But I don't! What pokémon would you want to steal, if you could get any one at all? I think if I was a bad guy, I'd want to get a latios. It flies the fastest, nyoom! I could go everywhere at supersonic speed! Oh, but you can transform, can't you? Can't you just turn into a big dragon whenever you want?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Easily! But it gets old after a while so I just stick to my normal body unless I wanna mess with someone. And you guys are boring to mess with now. Especially that dumb... stupid crystal not-dragon-anymore." Darkwhite had ground up the berry she had been holding into mush. She grumbled and slapped her paws together. A strange flash of light restored the berry back to normal. "If I wanted to steal aaaany Pokemon..." Her tail traced the ground again, making random squares and ovals. "I'd piiiick... Mew! Ooh, maybe I should steal the one at the Water Continent... We'd be twins!"

 

[Negrek]

"Ah, yeah, people've gotten pretty good at ignoring you, haven't they?" Nate hesitated on the edge of offering some suggestions--there wasn't really anybody on the team who was quite that much of an asshole. "Shoulda crashed that bit party a while back. Pretty hard to ignore getting dropped in a chocolate fountain, and there was loads of food you coulda grabbed even if nobody was biting."

"Yeah! Two mew is better than one!" Rocky grinned. "But the Mew from here wouldn't really be your twin, right? She wouldn't be able to do the thing where you pop back up after you get hit. So you'd be the better mew." Wow. What a smooth fucking operator. "Is the thing you do"--Rocky made circular sort of hand motions, as if trying to suggest recycling or something--"is it time? Do you have time powers?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Huh? Oh, no, I just restored it, that's all." Darkwhite tossed the berry around. "Dunno when I got that power actually. Don't remember having it before I got stronger. And nobody told me about a party, either..." She flicked her tail. She must not check on Destiny Village often; perhaps she was busy doing other things, like kidnapping Rayquaza.

Suddenly bored, Darkwhite rolled in the air and floated a few feet higher. "I'm gonna go look for something fun to do again. This place is cold and lame."

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah, tell me about it. Wish I could fly off wherever the fuck I wanted instead of being stuck around this place."

"Bye! Good luck stealing things!" Rocky waved, ignoring Nate's glare.

 

[Namohysip]

Darkwhite disappeared, leaving Nate alone with his thoughts--and Rocky. She had definitely been more subdued than their usual encounters, and the haze around her seemed to be much calmer. And, perhaps most fortunate of all, Nate hadn't been hurt once.

 

[Negrek]

"That wasn't so bad," Rocky said, watching the spot where DarkWhite had disappeared.

"Yeah. I still got all my legs, so I'm counting it as a win." Nate shook himself and stamped his feet, trying to relax. Not easy when he wasn't convinced that DarkWhite wouldn't pop back up and smack him now that he'd let his guard down.

"Do you think she's gonna show up to the fight?"

"Fuck if I know. Seemed interested enough, but there's obviously some weird denial thing going on there," Nate said. "Not that you can fucking tell with that one to begin with."

"Mmmm." Rocky kept looking out over the ocean while Nate started the walk back to town. "I hope she does. Maybe seeing her will make the lucario realize he's got things wrong."

"Yeah, one way or another I got the feeling we'll need to figure out what her fucking deal is if we're going to solve all this bullshit," Nate said. "What do you know, turns out saving the fucking world means playing shrink to a bunch of immortal shitheads. Good fucking times. Now come on. I'm freezing my ass off out here."

"Where are we going?" Rocky asked. He didn't even have to jog to catch up.

"Anywhere indoors. I've had enough of the fucking dramatic scenery."

"The guild!" Rocky punched the air, flames leaping high.

"Oh, fuck no, come on."

Rocky laughed. "You aren't going to be able to stay away forever!"

"Fucking watch me."

The familiar's laughter was soon lost in the sounds of wind and waves, and the rocky point was empty again.

<><><><><><>​

 

[TheGOAT]

Soda was so elusive that locating his contact info was a task in and of itself. At least, Astrid thought so. She would eventually find out that it was in her badge already, in the contacts list, just a few taps away. She missed Helli’s tech-savviness, dumb as he could be.

Soda was not her friend—she didn’t think?—so beginning this conversation was yet another uncomfortable task to be powered through.

[Cucumber > Soda]: Hi! Astrid Cucumber here

She’d never felt so silly after writing something before. Oh well. It was her name, apparently, and that meant it wasn’t going anywhere.

[Cucumber > Soda]: What ya up to?

Part of her wondered if he would answer at all. If not, she might have to skip him entirely…