Torchic
Torchic Hugger
- Location
- Bavaria, Germany
- Pronouns
- he
Ayy, thanks for sharing your thoughts about this here, Raggy! Glad you mostly enjoyed it. Though I don't understand what you mean by pekamon Shinx-Nanashi, I appreciate your way of writing out your thoughts.
Chapter 6:
"I see." The Grovyle nodded. "Well, it's safe to say that you are the strangest individual I've ever met. Cino, was it?"
The Minccino—now calm, though more confused than ever—was attempting to explain his situation to the RT member. Although he hoped with all his might that Green might be able to help him, it wasn't looking good. He nodded to the question.
"Cino, we would need a very experienced 'mon for memory loss. We only have two of those, and they're both… at the other side of this region. I'm sure you haven't heard of Frisma Town or Medrose? To get you—or one of them—over here would take weeks with a drifbloon alone… Who's to say that they aren't busy right now?" Green looked at the worried Minccino, his two arms clutching against his torso. "I'm sorry, but we alone can't do anything about this. I don't know the fine details exactly, but I've heard it's an extremely delicate process, and requires a huge amount of concentration for long periods of time. We just don't have someone capable enough."
"So… I'd have to go there to find out what happened to me?"
"I'm afraid so. Or wait until they come back by themselves." Green pressed his lips together, "Which may take a couple of years."
Cino hummed worriedly. "So finding the two it is. Also… what's a drifbloon?"
"A transportation method."
"Oh, so they can bring me to wherever these healers are?"
"Theoretically, yes." Green nodded. "But you have to pay them for letting you use the balloons."
Cino tilted his head. "Pay them?"
Green didn't answer for a couple seconds. "...Yes, with money."
"What's that?"
This time, Green didn't know what to answer to that. Someone asking him what money was? What a preposterous question. He let out a confused chuckle, "...You know," for a moment he thought that wasn't a serious question, but he needed to act professional, and had to act as if nothing was wrong, "Poke, coins, currency. These things." He brought his bag up and grabbed a round, brown coin out of it, and held it with the tips of his claws. The coin had a 'P' with two horizontal lines engraved in the middle, and next to the symbol was a number. 10.
Cino was curious. He had never seen one of these shiny objects in his life. He wondered how much time it took to smith this coin from the mineral it was made from. It looked more orange than yellow, so he thought it was made of…
"You can use copper coins for all kinds of things," Green explained. "It's maybe the most important thing to have on you at all times, next to berries and seeds. Ah, wait, that doesn't…" He held his claws up to his chin, then shook his head. "Nevermind. These coins are very important. That's all you have to know."
"And… how can I get them?"
"Well, there are a lot of ways to get those. Some work better than others, but are harder to accomplish. For example—my, and everyone else working at the RT's jobs—rescuing people from Dungeons, escorting, investigating, practically anything that someone needs help with." He continued explaining how it all worked, and how the 'mon in need can request a 'mission', as Green called it. He showed him something else, a simple looking stone-like oval, with carvings all around it. At the top of it, there was a small bump showing out, looking like you could press it, but Green explained that this was a lamp that would blink when you were in trouble, and everything else about how it worked.
"Wow. This is like a whole new world to me. Everything's… different from what I was used to."
Green didn't know what he meant by that. But before he could continue, the door to the infirmary opened, and a Mienshao peeked in with a puzzled look on her face. She entered the room. "Are you still occupied with him? How long does it take to ask a few simple questions?" Her fur past her paws was trimmed, so they weren't hidden beneath the pink tipped fur they normally had as decoration. That had bothered her to no end.
The Grovyle seemed irritated. "Quie, I know I'm taking my time, but I wanted to get as many answers from him as possible. I… seem to have forgotten how long I was taking."
"That's fine and all, but we still got our missions to do for today. One more came in just now. With how they're accumulating, we have to do one member per mission this time."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was so urgent. I'll be right there."
"They came in rapidly, so it's a surprise for all of us." Quie shrugged. "Crede and Soda already left for theirs, and now we have to get going."
"Alright." Green turned to Cino. "You can stay here for the rest of the day. Please wait for one of us to return before you leave this building. We don't want you passing out outside."
Green stood up and with a quick pace, went towards the opened door. They continued talking. "So, you said they went on their own missions? You sure that Soda can handle going alone?"
"I'm sure she can, it's not gonna be that hard. It's the nearest dungeon from here."
"Well, if you say so. Just asking, because she's new, and…" The voices toned down until they were too quiet to be understood, and the room was silent again, with exception of Cino's thoughts.
As minutes of nothing went by, Cino tried to find something to occupy himself with. His tail came to view, it went between his legs, and moved around semi-frequently. For a while, he was staring at the movements he told it to do, seemingly mesmerized at how it could move around. Could he always bend it like that? Or roll it up to a spiral? He had never thought to try it out.
For a second he thought that it had grown longer since he arrived here, but shook the thought off. Minccino tails were relatively big for their small bodies, that much he knew, but… it wasn't longer. Something else was different about it. He couldn't put his paw on it, but he certainly felt like his tail was not a usual Minccino's.
It still looked like one, the bushy hair growing sideways a little, white tip, still a bit wet from the rain. Yet, when he focused on it, it felt like a new limb. But he had always had a tail, so why did it feel so different?
That was it! He could only swish it left and right, and bend it only a little, but now it could bend in every direction. The new movements that he could do with it were surprising him. He managed to wrap it around his body twice before the white tip touched his torso.
"Strange… it feels so strange…" He went through its fur with both his paws. Was it bulkier? He might be imagining it. Out of curiosity, he wrapped it tighter, and it went three times around. His tail was pressing his body together like Ekans trying to suffocate him. Though he felt like he would be able to do one more, but decided against it.
He turned his body and eyed the chair next to him. He went into a sitting position at the edge of the bed, forgot about his back problems for these couple of seconds and hopped down to the ground, making no noise with his soft pads on the tiled floor.
He found out that he could easily lift the wooden chair Green had been sitting on after wrapping his tail around one of its legs. "Wow." Like a snake, his tail crept up the leg and went over the flat part of the chair, and around the backrest. The temptation of testing out its strength was high, but it would've been a bad idea to risk destroying something that didn't belong to him.
The Grovyle said that he should wait for one of them before trying to go outside, but he was curious, and really wanted to try this out. Just a little fresh air wouldn't hurt him, right? Either out the window or the front door, there was nobody here to stop him. Why should he wait? He felt perfectly fine, save for the stiff back.
One option of going out was the window next to his bed. Cino stopped and wondered: what kept the rain out of this building? What was this invisible wall that let light through, but not rain?
He climbed on his bed, and barely reached the windowsill with his tail. Now what? How would he be able to-
His tail lifted him with ease. He flailed for a second after noticing his feet leaving the ground, and landed on his bed again, looking at his furry snake of a tail.
What had happened while he dozed off? What gave his tail such immense strength? It felt alien, but he had had it since he was born… hadn't he?
He tried lifting himself up again, and slowly moved towards the windowsill. For a moment his tail grip wavered, but he managed to hoist himself up so he was staring right at the invisible barrier that stopped every single drop of rain.
His paw touched the barrier. Nothing happened. "Huh… what is that?" He could ask that question all day.
The glass said nothing, had no scent, and made a hollow 'dok' sound when he knocked on it with the tip of his tail. He saw no way of opening it, so supposed it was just there to see the outside while being protected from the weather by some kind of indestructible barrier.
Before he decided to jump down, he tried using his tail to slowly descend to the ground. It could barely reach the ground, just enough for him to get down. He wondered if he could move around like a Sentret.
The door was still open by a crack, so he didn't need to use his tail again. Going through a hallway with a white wallpaper and gray carpeting, he searched for the way out. A little way inwards, there were stairs leading up to the upper floor to his left, a closed door with opaque glass to his right and letters on the wall indicating that further down were this village's RT members offices.
He could see light coming through the glass of the door, but turning the handle revealed it was locked. He sighed, and looked at the stairs. There were no letters telling him what was up there, so his curiosity got the better of him. Nobody except him seemed to be here, so nobody would know he was snooping around.
He reached the second floor through two flights of stairs. The hallway split into two again, but also continued into an area with a tiled floor. It was dark, making it hard to make out anything. "Why is it so dark up here? What is this place?"
There, he saw something big and metallic with two big handles, quietly humming. Next to it was a flat surface with an unrecognisable collection of metallic utensils stuck on the wall. The surface also had two more handles, a red and blue ring on them respectively, as well as a long tube between them. The most bizarre looking was a metallic cube, littered with buttons and knobs. He eyed the humming object. "...What is that thing? Why does it make noise…?"
He used his tail again to open it. Chilly air hit his body, startling him. He saw some see-through plastic boxes with all kinds of berries in them, metal cans, bottles, cartons, and bags, each labeled differently.
Of course, he didn't know what these things were, except for the berries. He rummaged through the fridge for a little bit, examining everything a little closer. The box with the orans looked delicious. They wouldn't notice if one or two berries were missing, right? "Maybe this would've helped me with my burning back?"
After a short struggle he managed to open the box. He took out a cold oran, and-
BEEP.
Cino jumped back, dropping the box on the ground.
BEEP.
All of the orans were rolling in different directions.
BEEP.
He scurried back until he hit the wall next to the hall with the stairs, heart racing. Had it stopped? It wasn't beeping anymore. What was this alarm? Was it meant for him? "Oh Mew, oh Mew… what did I do...?"
Clutching his chest with heavy breaths, he quickly collected every single berry from the ground and put them back into the box—not without thoroughly cleaning them with his tail, of course—and put the box back into the humming machine. He closed the door of it and sighed. He took two steps back and watched the fridge closely. No alarm anymore. "I didn't… I didn't mean it…" he quickly said to the metal object, as if it could understand him, "I was a little hungry, yes, but… I'm sorry!"
All of a sudden, it stopped humming. Cino held his breath until he could no more. "Why did you… stop?" He was too scared to open it again, so he slowly distanced himself to the object. "I'm going now… goodbye." As if expecting an answer, he stopped and listened. Still no humming.
Forgetting everything else that was in this small kitchen, he went into one of the other hallways. It was now so dark that he couldn't see the wall in front of him anymore. The only light in there came from two slits underneath two opposite doors. He thought twice about opening one of them, for what if the alarm came back? Even though he hadn't encountered anyone here , he had a feeling that there was somebody with him, somewhere, hidden in the shadows.
He looked at the dark corners of the hallway, seeing nothing.
"Hello?" A muffled voice from downstairs, barely hearable. Cino froze. Was it one of the RTs? He didn't know what to do. The voice knocked on the glass of the door. "Anyone there?"
Did they hear the alarm? They must have.
A couple seconds passed, then it knocked again, a little harder this time. "Hello?" The voice was still muffled, but perfectly understandable. Cino recognised it from the Dewott that had tried to approach him earlier today. Even if he had wanted to let her in, the door was closed.
"Seriously," she said, much quieter now. "I'm sure I heard something. I thought everyone was gone…" The rest of the sentence was inaudible, but she said something about 'intruder'.
Was he an intruder? He got brought into this building, and was now walking around in it. Did that count?
Cino made sure that the Dewott was truly gone before moving again. First the fridge, and now this. His poor heart was trying to escape his ribs.
Calming down again, he looked at the two doors standing opposite. The left one, after opening it, revealed a… rather messy room with white color for its walls, which were decorated with all kinds of framed objects. Most of them were of different leaves. On the right side was a fuzzy looking bed, and on the left a wooden table with stacked papers, a couple laying on the ground in random spots—most were crumpled and sat next to a bin. In the far corner, a healthy plant that resembled a Grovyle's long head-leaf sat on the windowsill.
Opposite of Cino was another one of those invisible walls, letting light into the room. The window was a tight bit open at the top, and chilly air flowed into the room.
"Do they… live here?" He checked the other room, and found similar things. A white wall, decorated with framed pictures of… webs? Hanging bulbs from the ceiling, a bowl of various berries and… round objects of varying sizes surrounded by a web on another wooden table. What were these for?
Cino reluctantly touched one of them, and it stuck to his paw instantly. "Ahh, ew…" Whatever these were, he didn't care to find out anymore.
At the opposite side of the table was another bed, which seemed like it had been used until recently. It looked comfortable, were it not for the fact that—judging by the rest of this room—a giant bug might have been sleeping on it.
Having had enough of this room, and finally getting rid of the object, it landed on the table with a quiet 'plotch'.
Outside this room, he looked at the other hallway on the floor, thinking that the rest of the doors would lead to other private rooms.
He eyed the fridge again while walking towards the stairs. Oh, how much he wanted to eat something right now. His stomach rumbled at the sight. What would he eat until they came back? They didn't prepare anything, or at least the Grovyle didn't tell him anything about that. Cino would just have to wait it out until someone came back from their mission, as they called them.
As he was descending the stairs, he thought about what kind of 'missions' they were on. The Grovyle told him they were helping others, escorting, and whatnot from those Mystery Dungeons. What even were those? He'd never heard of anything like it.
"Ugh, it feels like I've just woken up in a different world with no memories. Great." He sighed, opening the door of the infirmary he was in. "What am I supposed to do?"
He paced around the room, thinking about something he could do until they returned. His mind was blank.
"There has to be something, right? Something I can remember?" He looked at the landscape on the wall, as if this was the key to unlock his memories. The dream came to mind. It had felt so real! Who was that Torchic in that dream? What did he call him? Tary? Why did he look different from other Torchic? His yellow feathers, and orange tuft on his neck… that's not how they were supposed to look.
...His strength, too. It was abnormal. The Torchic had flung him several metres ahead without any effort. Cino felt the phantom pain when he imagined hitting the tree.
Didn't he also use a water gun on him?
"Yes, this was definitely a dream. No Torchic should be able to do that…"
But still, something was off about him. Cino was certain that they had never met, yet he somehow knew his name. Tary.
A headache was forming the more he thought about this. He wanted to continue, but the mild ache intensified rapidly.
It felt like something was scrambling his brain into a mush. He held his head, only for it to hurt even more when he moved it around.
Suddenly, images flashed in front of his eyes. There was one with that yellow Torchic, another one with other Minccino and Cinccino, various others with what looked like crudely made houses, back to the two Minccino screaming in fear, red, blue. A Cinccino defending itself with a protect barrier, red, blue.
He couldn't take it anymore and screamed. The pain was too much for his body to handle. The pictures dissolved into mere flashes of purple.
It felt like his head would explode at any moment.
The pain vanished all at once. With it, his vision.
—
…
… n…
C… o…
Cin… o…
"Huh?"
He opened his eyes, but it was still pitch black.
"Where am I?"
Something called out to him, but it was too quiet to understand properly.
"Hello…?"
Do n… wo… y…
Th… is your… s… con… ous.
"My… subconscious? Am I dead?!"
...No. The voice got clearer. I would not let that happen, Cino. It was right behind him, yet he was unable to turn around.
"Who… what are you?!"
Is it not of importance. You will be safe. I will make sure of that.
"Wh- what? Why me? Where were you when I killed my family?"
I was acting in self-defense.
"What did you do to my family, you monst-"
Something long went around his head and shut his mouth. Shhh. You are safe now. They are gone.
He managed to remove it from his mouth, "You killed them and used me to do- ah! Haaah..."
The voice touched the Minccino's back at four different spots, and pressed on it with a slow, circular motion. Lay back. Relax. Everything will be fine...
Cino drifted off into complete relaxation. It was like the stiffness was getting sucked out of his back...
...I am so sorry.
—
Cino opened his eyes, scaring an Ariados that had been next to him for some time.
"Oh Mew, oh Mew…" she said, breathing heavily. "Oh, I thought you were gone… I checked your pulse, and… oh, I was so scared."
Cino, who was more confused than terrified, looked around. He was still in the same room. Seeing an Ariados worry about him was… strange. "What?"
"Hey, it's ok… I'm one of the RT here, don't worry…" She looked unsure what to do in this situation, and nervously shifted her legs around, but didn't move. "My name is Soda, and I… found you passed out on the floor, and… put you back on your bed. Can you tell me what happened?"
Still tense, he didn't know how to properly answer that. He was thinking about… something, and got the most intense headache of his life.
"I'm… not sure," Cino said, "I walked around the room, and… yes, I passed out."
"Ok, um, do you know why?"
Cino shook his head. "It just… happened. I don't know… what's wrong with me."
"That's… why we're here to find out," she said, trying to act reassuringly. "Cino was your name, right? Green told me about you."
He nodded, then his stomach protested.
"Oh, you must be hungry. Didn't he prepare anything for you? Hold on," she raised a leg and turned around, "I'll be right back."
She exited the room.
Yet another moment of silence. It was so quiet that he could hear his… heart?
Something wasn't right. It was too quiet. Normally he would be able to hear it quietly thumping in a steady rhythm, but not this time.
Cino slowly put a paw on his torso, where his heart should've been. Instead of the rhythmic beat, he felt…
Nothing. At all.
Maybe he hadn't felt anything because he shuffled around? No, even while perfectly still, it wasn't beating.
He shrieked—how in the name of Arceus was he alive? It was impossible. It couldn't be, he surely had to be dead by now, and this was the afterlife. Yveltal should pick him up any second now, where he would join Giratina in its realm for all eternity.
Soda heard him screaming and came rushing into the room with a bowl of various berries, balanced on one of her legs. "Hey, what's- what's wrong?!"
Cino clutched at his torso. "It… it stopped! I should be dead…! I should be… I…"
Normally, he would be right. But yet, he felt perfectly fine. No pain, no dizziness, no coughing out blood. It's like he never needed a heart in the first place.
His insides felt weird, however. Or maybe he was just hungry.
"Ok, uhm," she quickly put the bowl to the side and approached the Minccino. "Ok, calm down, calm down, everything will be alright, just-"
"Nothing's gonna be alright with me! I should be dead!" He jumped up, accidentally hitting the Ariados with his feet. She jumped back from the unusually strong force. Cino didn't even notice, and held his head with both arms, "I should've been dead since I passed out here, but somehow, I'm still alive! First my burning back, now this! What is wrong with me…?! Just what…"
He slowly looked up and stared at the Ariados, unblinking. "What am I?"
Soda didn't know what to do, they hadn't prepared her for this yet. Maybe this could be a test of finding it out herself? That they could see that she was worthy of this position as an RT member…?
Oh, who was she kidding. This was something not even Green could help her with.
The silence was unbearable. "I… uhm, you're a Minccino, no?"
Cino smiled. "You're not even sure? I thought the same, but now I'm also not sure." He cackled hysterically. "I might as well be a descendant of Giratina. It'll be only a matter of time until I release hell on this planet- ngh..." His vision was faltering, until it was completely black. He tried to fight it, but to no avail, as something else took over. He looked around, looked at his paws, and then at the Ariados.
His tail started elongating ever so slowly.
Soda just wanted to leave this room and get help from her teammates, but they all were busy for at least another hour. "P-please, lay-y down, and… w-we'll find a sol-lution to this…" She was scared for her life. Something wasn't right with this Minccino.
His grin broadened, and Soda could swear she heard something crack. "Oh, Ariados," his voice suddenly went deeper, "there is nothing wrong with me." Another crack. "Nothing at all…"
Soda screamed and frantically stepped back, bumping into the door and closing it. She desperately tried opening it again with a shaky leg, but Cino was faster and with speed and strength that could have broken through the wooden door, held it shut with only his tail, which could reach it from his bed!
The sudden appearance of his elongated tail resulted in Soda shrieking even more.
"Don't think you'll get away that easily."
She started shaking uncontrollably. he thought that finally getting accepted into the RT was a dream come true. With its prestigious image, she'd soon be able to go on proper missions, get proper rewards, maybe even get a little famous later on, and be known as one of the best.
Since she was a Spinarak, she had looked up to everyone in the RT. Saw them as heroes this region needed after those Dungeons started appearing. She had felt more proud and reassured every time someone thanked her for rescuing them from a Dungeon. It was the best feeling she had ever felt. Nothing could come close to the happiness she would emanate after a successful mission.
But now… it had turned into a living nightmare. This Minccino wasn't normal-
Wait! Green had told her that if she found an oddly colored or looking 'mon, that she had to stay as far away from it as possible. And yes, the tail the Minccino had didn't look normal anymore. It split into four where it touched the door, and was missing fur here and there in random spots, most of it had fallen to the floor, and with every slight pulse of it, more fell down.
Wait, pulses? His heart stopped, so how…
...Was it… getting longer?
This had to be a nightmare. It just had to be. Soda didn't believe what she was witnessing. She got ready to defend herself with shaky legs. She hadn't been accepted just because they needed someone. She could prove that she was more than capable of defending herself. This little Minccino wouldn't be too hard to get rid of.
Cino jumped down and walked towards the Ariados. "Relax. I just want to-" she barraged him with multiple string shots. It didn't even take a second until he was fully enveloped in it, except for his tail.
This had temporarily stopped him, but not his tail. She shrieked as the mutated and pulsing tail had grabbed her. Vibrations shot through her body as soon as the tail touched her, dizzying her a little.
With only a couple slashes at the string, he was free again, seemingly unfazed by the effects of it. "Why are you attacking me?" he drawled, "I haven't done anything. I just want to talk."
"Let me go! You freak!" She flailed and stabbed the tails with her legs, to no avail. Where she thought she had pierced the skin of it, no blood came out. She tried a poison jab next, releasing her venom into the tail.
Cino shook his head. "Useless. Try as you might, you won't even make a scratch. You're just wasting your energy." He pressed harder, making her squirm and scream again. "You're weak. Powerless. Inferior to a lifeform like me. Just stop attacking. It's no use. I might accidentally kill you."
What was he saying? Was he completely insane now?
Poison didn't seem to do anything either, so she went back to randomly stabbing the tail.
Cino was right in front of her. She could hear more and more cracks and saw that his torso was pulsing even more than the tail. "What interesting powers you have. Venom. Sharp limbs. Hmm, climbing on walls, too. And-"
She managed to pierce the Minccino's head with her leg. A second one followed, and hit his left eye. Still no blood.
In that moment, she let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she had killed that mutant. It was over. That had to have killed him, right?
To her horror, Cino looked up to her.
"Fool."
She screamed in agony as he pressed even harder, her exoskeleton cracking in some spots, green blood oozing out. "Arg… no! Please… stop!"
Cino pulled her legs out of his skull. He then ripped them from her without any effort, one after the other, resulting in four more screams that decreased in intensity.
Now, she was too weak to properly scream, and decided to just cry and plead. "Please, please, don't… don't kill me… why-…?" Cino let her fall into the small puddle of green ooze and tears underneath her. A yelp escaped her mouth. Her breathing got slower and heavier. "No… please, no… I'm sorryyyyy…"
"Just shut up for a bit, will you?"
Cino slammed his right paw—that had deformed into a sharp spear of flesh—into her skull. His arm deformed again, and was now making its way through the Ariados's body. Her exoskeleton was repairing where it had cracked open as if nothing ever happened to her. He sighed, calming down.
"It's a shame, really. I wouldn't've gone so far as to crack you open, but you just had to get aggressive. Hm?" He pulled his arm out as he started seeing her memories and thoughts, "You wish to get stronger, hm? Get accepted into the harder missions your team is going on?" Cino smiled. "Very well. Wish granted."
The Ariados opened her eyes again, shocked after realizing that all her pain had gone away, but then staring at the Minccino with hatred, saying nothing.
He sat down in front of her, leaning on his arm paws. "Hey."
...
"Come on, don't be shy. I just want to talk."
...Still nothing. Cino sighed.
"It's your fault, you know. I can get a little agitated sometimes, especially when someone tries to attack me." He shrugged. "Short temper."
Finally, after ten seconds of silence, Soda spoke with venom in her voice. "What did you do to me?"
"Me? Nothing much, I just planted a part of me in you."
"You-" She would spit her venom on him if it did do anything. "WHAT?!"
"Yeah." Cino shrugged again, and smiled. "As an apology for killing you, ok?"
"Y- you- what- how- no…"
"Let me guess, you wanna know why I didn't just kill you outright?"
"A-are you gonna take cont-trol over me too?!"
"No, silly. I can only do that with this body here. Good choice, Tary. Thanks."
"Wh- who's-"
"Not important. Listen, let's just say I made you nearly unkillable and much stronger. Because that's what you wished for, right? Getting stronger? Being a proper member in here? You're gonna need that. Believe me."
"What- are you Jirachi now? Making wishes come true?"
"Jirachi…? Can it..." Cino shook his head. "No. Anyway, I didn't kill you because your team still needs you, silly. Tell them that I was fine, and let me go when they come back, alright?" He still had the fake smile on his face. "Alright."
Soda was confused. The mutant had killed her, and revived her again. Why? And more importantly, how? She looked over Cino's body, as if the answer was hiding somewhere on it.
"Notice anything… different about you, Ariados?"
"It's Soda. And no. Why should I?"
"Take a closer look at yourself."
Legs missing, several oozing spots of her blood—not anymore. The cracks were gone. A giant gaping hole right under her spike on her forehead. Cino held his paw on the hole and closed it. No pain.
"Don't you wanna get back your legs? They're right there." Cino pointed behind him. "You need them to walk."
"...You're sick. Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what? Helping you? Because I'm nice. And you should be thankful."
"How is killing me helping me?"
Cino held his arms behind his back. "That one's on me. I already explained why, you got too aggressive for me. And I countered that. It's as easy as that. Now, get your legs. Or how else do you want to walk around?"
"You're insane. How do you even exist, you... lunatic?"
"Cino's good friend Tary helped me. He's the reason I'm in this body now."
That got a reaction out of Soda. "You're using someone else to be your puppet… how can you be so deranged?"
Cino faked a frown, "Aw, no, how could you say something so mean to someone," his voice got louder, "who basically gave you immortality?" He smiled and waved his body around.
"What if I don't want your stupid immortality?"
"Too bad."
She grumbled. "And what did you do to Cino?!"
"Oh, he's fine." He tapped his head. "He's just, mmh, let's say unconscious. But I promise he's perfectly fine."
Soda couldn't stop coming up with questions and insults, so Cino sighed and grabbed her legs off the floor. He held her right front-leg where it was supposed to be, and told her, "Now, let's take a break from spitting insults and concentrate on this leg here. If you do it right, you'll get a tingly feeling, and that means it's connected again."
She slowly shook her head in disgust. "You… what are you even saying? How in the name of-"
He rammed her leg into her body, causing her to tense and look at her leg, and then at Cino. "Just… do what I say, and you'll be fine. Otherwise… I'll kill you for good and remove the part of me out of you. Now concentrate. You're getting on my nerves."
Soda seemed to do as he said, looking intensely on her inserted limb. How did that not hurt? It was like her whole body was immune to pain. She got even more confused after she had done as he said, and with a snap and a new, yet familiar feeling, she could move her leg again. But it was too deep in her body.
He helped her again and pulled at it until she could move it properly. She didn't know what to say. Her concentration was solely on her leg now, that she didn't notice Cino holding her left one ready for her.
"You can look at it later. Concentrate on the other ones first."
How can he be so casual about all this? What even is he? What is going on?!
She did as he said, and with every leg she got, she could connect it faster than the last.
Soda stood up, testing her legs. Looking at them, moving around, turning. She couldn't believe it. How was this possible? How was she able to do that?
"Well, what do you say after someone helped you, RT member?"
She didn't want to say it, but… he had been helping her—as weird as it sounded—get her legs back, after… he pulled them out…
Soda wondered what would've happened if she didn't try to defend herself.
"What about the… blood here?"
"I'll take care of it."
"...Ok… uhm, thanks?"
"You're welcome."
Chapter 6:
"I see." The Grovyle nodded. "Well, it's safe to say that you are the strangest individual I've ever met. Cino, was it?"
The Minccino—now calm, though more confused than ever—was attempting to explain his situation to the RT member. Although he hoped with all his might that Green might be able to help him, it wasn't looking good. He nodded to the question.
"Cino, we would need a very experienced 'mon for memory loss. We only have two of those, and they're both… at the other side of this region. I'm sure you haven't heard of Frisma Town or Medrose? To get you—or one of them—over here would take weeks with a drifbloon alone… Who's to say that they aren't busy right now?" Green looked at the worried Minccino, his two arms clutching against his torso. "I'm sorry, but we alone can't do anything about this. I don't know the fine details exactly, but I've heard it's an extremely delicate process, and requires a huge amount of concentration for long periods of time. We just don't have someone capable enough."
"So… I'd have to go there to find out what happened to me?"
"I'm afraid so. Or wait until they come back by themselves." Green pressed his lips together, "Which may take a couple of years."
Cino hummed worriedly. "So finding the two it is. Also… what's a drifbloon?"
"A transportation method."
"Oh, so they can bring me to wherever these healers are?"
"Theoretically, yes." Green nodded. "But you have to pay them for letting you use the balloons."
Cino tilted his head. "Pay them?"
Green didn't answer for a couple seconds. "...Yes, with money."
"What's that?"
This time, Green didn't know what to answer to that. Someone asking him what money was? What a preposterous question. He let out a confused chuckle, "...You know," for a moment he thought that wasn't a serious question, but he needed to act professional, and had to act as if nothing was wrong, "Poke, coins, currency. These things." He brought his bag up and grabbed a round, brown coin out of it, and held it with the tips of his claws. The coin had a 'P' with two horizontal lines engraved in the middle, and next to the symbol was a number. 10.
Cino was curious. He had never seen one of these shiny objects in his life. He wondered how much time it took to smith this coin from the mineral it was made from. It looked more orange than yellow, so he thought it was made of…
"You can use copper coins for all kinds of things," Green explained. "It's maybe the most important thing to have on you at all times, next to berries and seeds. Ah, wait, that doesn't…" He held his claws up to his chin, then shook his head. "Nevermind. These coins are very important. That's all you have to know."
"And… how can I get them?"
"Well, there are a lot of ways to get those. Some work better than others, but are harder to accomplish. For example—my, and everyone else working at the RT's jobs—rescuing people from Dungeons, escorting, investigating, practically anything that someone needs help with." He continued explaining how it all worked, and how the 'mon in need can request a 'mission', as Green called it. He showed him something else, a simple looking stone-like oval, with carvings all around it. At the top of it, there was a small bump showing out, looking like you could press it, but Green explained that this was a lamp that would blink when you were in trouble, and everything else about how it worked.
"Wow. This is like a whole new world to me. Everything's… different from what I was used to."
Green didn't know what he meant by that. But before he could continue, the door to the infirmary opened, and a Mienshao peeked in with a puzzled look on her face. She entered the room. "Are you still occupied with him? How long does it take to ask a few simple questions?" Her fur past her paws was trimmed, so they weren't hidden beneath the pink tipped fur they normally had as decoration. That had bothered her to no end.
The Grovyle seemed irritated. "Quie, I know I'm taking my time, but I wanted to get as many answers from him as possible. I… seem to have forgotten how long I was taking."
"That's fine and all, but we still got our missions to do for today. One more came in just now. With how they're accumulating, we have to do one member per mission this time."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was so urgent. I'll be right there."
"They came in rapidly, so it's a surprise for all of us." Quie shrugged. "Crede and Soda already left for theirs, and now we have to get going."
"Alright." Green turned to Cino. "You can stay here for the rest of the day. Please wait for one of us to return before you leave this building. We don't want you passing out outside."
Green stood up and with a quick pace, went towards the opened door. They continued talking. "So, you said they went on their own missions? You sure that Soda can handle going alone?"
"I'm sure she can, it's not gonna be that hard. It's the nearest dungeon from here."
"Well, if you say so. Just asking, because she's new, and…" The voices toned down until they were too quiet to be understood, and the room was silent again, with exception of Cino's thoughts.
As minutes of nothing went by, Cino tried to find something to occupy himself with. His tail came to view, it went between his legs, and moved around semi-frequently. For a while, he was staring at the movements he told it to do, seemingly mesmerized at how it could move around. Could he always bend it like that? Or roll it up to a spiral? He had never thought to try it out.
For a second he thought that it had grown longer since he arrived here, but shook the thought off. Minccino tails were relatively big for their small bodies, that much he knew, but… it wasn't longer. Something else was different about it. He couldn't put his paw on it, but he certainly felt like his tail was not a usual Minccino's.
It still looked like one, the bushy hair growing sideways a little, white tip, still a bit wet from the rain. Yet, when he focused on it, it felt like a new limb. But he had always had a tail, so why did it feel so different?
That was it! He could only swish it left and right, and bend it only a little, but now it could bend in every direction. The new movements that he could do with it were surprising him. He managed to wrap it around his body twice before the white tip touched his torso.
"Strange… it feels so strange…" He went through its fur with both his paws. Was it bulkier? He might be imagining it. Out of curiosity, he wrapped it tighter, and it went three times around. His tail was pressing his body together like Ekans trying to suffocate him. Though he felt like he would be able to do one more, but decided against it.
He turned his body and eyed the chair next to him. He went into a sitting position at the edge of the bed, forgot about his back problems for these couple of seconds and hopped down to the ground, making no noise with his soft pads on the tiled floor.
He found out that he could easily lift the wooden chair Green had been sitting on after wrapping his tail around one of its legs. "Wow." Like a snake, his tail crept up the leg and went over the flat part of the chair, and around the backrest. The temptation of testing out its strength was high, but it would've been a bad idea to risk destroying something that didn't belong to him.
The Grovyle said that he should wait for one of them before trying to go outside, but he was curious, and really wanted to try this out. Just a little fresh air wouldn't hurt him, right? Either out the window or the front door, there was nobody here to stop him. Why should he wait? He felt perfectly fine, save for the stiff back.
One option of going out was the window next to his bed. Cino stopped and wondered: what kept the rain out of this building? What was this invisible wall that let light through, but not rain?
He climbed on his bed, and barely reached the windowsill with his tail. Now what? How would he be able to-
His tail lifted him with ease. He flailed for a second after noticing his feet leaving the ground, and landed on his bed again, looking at his furry snake of a tail.
What had happened while he dozed off? What gave his tail such immense strength? It felt alien, but he had had it since he was born… hadn't he?
He tried lifting himself up again, and slowly moved towards the windowsill. For a moment his tail grip wavered, but he managed to hoist himself up so he was staring right at the invisible barrier that stopped every single drop of rain.
His paw touched the barrier. Nothing happened. "Huh… what is that?" He could ask that question all day.
The glass said nothing, had no scent, and made a hollow 'dok' sound when he knocked on it with the tip of his tail. He saw no way of opening it, so supposed it was just there to see the outside while being protected from the weather by some kind of indestructible barrier.
Before he decided to jump down, he tried using his tail to slowly descend to the ground. It could barely reach the ground, just enough for him to get down. He wondered if he could move around like a Sentret.
The door was still open by a crack, so he didn't need to use his tail again. Going through a hallway with a white wallpaper and gray carpeting, he searched for the way out. A little way inwards, there were stairs leading up to the upper floor to his left, a closed door with opaque glass to his right and letters on the wall indicating that further down were this village's RT members offices.
He could see light coming through the glass of the door, but turning the handle revealed it was locked. He sighed, and looked at the stairs. There were no letters telling him what was up there, so his curiosity got the better of him. Nobody except him seemed to be here, so nobody would know he was snooping around.
He reached the second floor through two flights of stairs. The hallway split into two again, but also continued into an area with a tiled floor. It was dark, making it hard to make out anything. "Why is it so dark up here? What is this place?"
There, he saw something big and metallic with two big handles, quietly humming. Next to it was a flat surface with an unrecognisable collection of metallic utensils stuck on the wall. The surface also had two more handles, a red and blue ring on them respectively, as well as a long tube between them. The most bizarre looking was a metallic cube, littered with buttons and knobs. He eyed the humming object. "...What is that thing? Why does it make noise…?"
He used his tail again to open it. Chilly air hit his body, startling him. He saw some see-through plastic boxes with all kinds of berries in them, metal cans, bottles, cartons, and bags, each labeled differently.
Of course, he didn't know what these things were, except for the berries. He rummaged through the fridge for a little bit, examining everything a little closer. The box with the orans looked delicious. They wouldn't notice if one or two berries were missing, right? "Maybe this would've helped me with my burning back?"
After a short struggle he managed to open the box. He took out a cold oran, and-
BEEP.
Cino jumped back, dropping the box on the ground.
BEEP.
All of the orans were rolling in different directions.
BEEP.
He scurried back until he hit the wall next to the hall with the stairs, heart racing. Had it stopped? It wasn't beeping anymore. What was this alarm? Was it meant for him? "Oh Mew, oh Mew… what did I do...?"
Clutching his chest with heavy breaths, he quickly collected every single berry from the ground and put them back into the box—not without thoroughly cleaning them with his tail, of course—and put the box back into the humming machine. He closed the door of it and sighed. He took two steps back and watched the fridge closely. No alarm anymore. "I didn't… I didn't mean it…" he quickly said to the metal object, as if it could understand him, "I was a little hungry, yes, but… I'm sorry!"
All of a sudden, it stopped humming. Cino held his breath until he could no more. "Why did you… stop?" He was too scared to open it again, so he slowly distanced himself to the object. "I'm going now… goodbye." As if expecting an answer, he stopped and listened. Still no humming.
Forgetting everything else that was in this small kitchen, he went into one of the other hallways. It was now so dark that he couldn't see the wall in front of him anymore. The only light in there came from two slits underneath two opposite doors. He thought twice about opening one of them, for what if the alarm came back? Even though he hadn't encountered anyone here , he had a feeling that there was somebody with him, somewhere, hidden in the shadows.
He looked at the dark corners of the hallway, seeing nothing.
"Hello?" A muffled voice from downstairs, barely hearable. Cino froze. Was it one of the RTs? He didn't know what to do. The voice knocked on the glass of the door. "Anyone there?"
Did they hear the alarm? They must have.
A couple seconds passed, then it knocked again, a little harder this time. "Hello?" The voice was still muffled, but perfectly understandable. Cino recognised it from the Dewott that had tried to approach him earlier today. Even if he had wanted to let her in, the door was closed.
"Seriously," she said, much quieter now. "I'm sure I heard something. I thought everyone was gone…" The rest of the sentence was inaudible, but she said something about 'intruder'.
Was he an intruder? He got brought into this building, and was now walking around in it. Did that count?
Cino made sure that the Dewott was truly gone before moving again. First the fridge, and now this. His poor heart was trying to escape his ribs.
Calming down again, he looked at the two doors standing opposite. The left one, after opening it, revealed a… rather messy room with white color for its walls, which were decorated with all kinds of framed objects. Most of them were of different leaves. On the right side was a fuzzy looking bed, and on the left a wooden table with stacked papers, a couple laying on the ground in random spots—most were crumpled and sat next to a bin. In the far corner, a healthy plant that resembled a Grovyle's long head-leaf sat on the windowsill.
Opposite of Cino was another one of those invisible walls, letting light into the room. The window was a tight bit open at the top, and chilly air flowed into the room.
"Do they… live here?" He checked the other room, and found similar things. A white wall, decorated with framed pictures of… webs? Hanging bulbs from the ceiling, a bowl of various berries and… round objects of varying sizes surrounded by a web on another wooden table. What were these for?
Cino reluctantly touched one of them, and it stuck to his paw instantly. "Ahh, ew…" Whatever these were, he didn't care to find out anymore.
At the opposite side of the table was another bed, which seemed like it had been used until recently. It looked comfortable, were it not for the fact that—judging by the rest of this room—a giant bug might have been sleeping on it.
Having had enough of this room, and finally getting rid of the object, it landed on the table with a quiet 'plotch'.
Outside this room, he looked at the other hallway on the floor, thinking that the rest of the doors would lead to other private rooms.
He eyed the fridge again while walking towards the stairs. Oh, how much he wanted to eat something right now. His stomach rumbled at the sight. What would he eat until they came back? They didn't prepare anything, or at least the Grovyle didn't tell him anything about that. Cino would just have to wait it out until someone came back from their mission, as they called them.
As he was descending the stairs, he thought about what kind of 'missions' they were on. The Grovyle told him they were helping others, escorting, and whatnot from those Mystery Dungeons. What even were those? He'd never heard of anything like it.
"Ugh, it feels like I've just woken up in a different world with no memories. Great." He sighed, opening the door of the infirmary he was in. "What am I supposed to do?"
He paced around the room, thinking about something he could do until they returned. His mind was blank.
"There has to be something, right? Something I can remember?" He looked at the landscape on the wall, as if this was the key to unlock his memories. The dream came to mind. It had felt so real! Who was that Torchic in that dream? What did he call him? Tary? Why did he look different from other Torchic? His yellow feathers, and orange tuft on his neck… that's not how they were supposed to look.
...His strength, too. It was abnormal. The Torchic had flung him several metres ahead without any effort. Cino felt the phantom pain when he imagined hitting the tree.
Didn't he also use a water gun on him?
"Yes, this was definitely a dream. No Torchic should be able to do that…"
But still, something was off about him. Cino was certain that they had never met, yet he somehow knew his name. Tary.
A headache was forming the more he thought about this. He wanted to continue, but the mild ache intensified rapidly.
It felt like something was scrambling his brain into a mush. He held his head, only for it to hurt even more when he moved it around.
Suddenly, images flashed in front of his eyes. There was one with that yellow Torchic, another one with other Minccino and Cinccino, various others with what looked like crudely made houses, back to the two Minccino screaming in fear, red, blue. A Cinccino defending itself with a protect barrier, red, blue.
He couldn't take it anymore and screamed. The pain was too much for his body to handle. The pictures dissolved into mere flashes of purple.
It felt like his head would explode at any moment.
The pain vanished all at once. With it, his vision.
—
…
… n…
C… o…
Cin… o…
"Huh?"
He opened his eyes, but it was still pitch black.
"Where am I?"
Something called out to him, but it was too quiet to understand properly.
"Hello…?"
Do n… wo… y…
Th… is your… s… con… ous.
"My… subconscious? Am I dead?!"
...No. The voice got clearer. I would not let that happen, Cino. It was right behind him, yet he was unable to turn around.
"Who… what are you?!"
Is it not of importance. You will be safe. I will make sure of that.
"Wh- what? Why me? Where were you when I killed my family?"
I was acting in self-defense.
"What did you do to my family, you monst-"
Something long went around his head and shut his mouth. Shhh. You are safe now. They are gone.
He managed to remove it from his mouth, "You killed them and used me to do- ah! Haaah..."
The voice touched the Minccino's back at four different spots, and pressed on it with a slow, circular motion. Lay back. Relax. Everything will be fine...
Cino drifted off into complete relaxation. It was like the stiffness was getting sucked out of his back...
...I am so sorry.
—
Cino opened his eyes, scaring an Ariados that had been next to him for some time.
"Oh Mew, oh Mew…" she said, breathing heavily. "Oh, I thought you were gone… I checked your pulse, and… oh, I was so scared."
Cino, who was more confused than terrified, looked around. He was still in the same room. Seeing an Ariados worry about him was… strange. "What?"
"Hey, it's ok… I'm one of the RT here, don't worry…" She looked unsure what to do in this situation, and nervously shifted her legs around, but didn't move. "My name is Soda, and I… found you passed out on the floor, and… put you back on your bed. Can you tell me what happened?"
Still tense, he didn't know how to properly answer that. He was thinking about… something, and got the most intense headache of his life.
"I'm… not sure," Cino said, "I walked around the room, and… yes, I passed out."
"Ok, um, do you know why?"
Cino shook his head. "It just… happened. I don't know… what's wrong with me."
"That's… why we're here to find out," she said, trying to act reassuringly. "Cino was your name, right? Green told me about you."
He nodded, then his stomach protested.
"Oh, you must be hungry. Didn't he prepare anything for you? Hold on," she raised a leg and turned around, "I'll be right back."
She exited the room.
Yet another moment of silence. It was so quiet that he could hear his… heart?
Something wasn't right. It was too quiet. Normally he would be able to hear it quietly thumping in a steady rhythm, but not this time.
Cino slowly put a paw on his torso, where his heart should've been. Instead of the rhythmic beat, he felt…
Nothing. At all.
Maybe he hadn't felt anything because he shuffled around? No, even while perfectly still, it wasn't beating.
He shrieked—how in the name of Arceus was he alive? It was impossible. It couldn't be, he surely had to be dead by now, and this was the afterlife. Yveltal should pick him up any second now, where he would join Giratina in its realm for all eternity.
Soda heard him screaming and came rushing into the room with a bowl of various berries, balanced on one of her legs. "Hey, what's- what's wrong?!"
Cino clutched at his torso. "It… it stopped! I should be dead…! I should be… I…"
Normally, he would be right. But yet, he felt perfectly fine. No pain, no dizziness, no coughing out blood. It's like he never needed a heart in the first place.
His insides felt weird, however. Or maybe he was just hungry.
"Ok, uhm," she quickly put the bowl to the side and approached the Minccino. "Ok, calm down, calm down, everything will be alright, just-"
"Nothing's gonna be alright with me! I should be dead!" He jumped up, accidentally hitting the Ariados with his feet. She jumped back from the unusually strong force. Cino didn't even notice, and held his head with both arms, "I should've been dead since I passed out here, but somehow, I'm still alive! First my burning back, now this! What is wrong with me…?! Just what…"
He slowly looked up and stared at the Ariados, unblinking. "What am I?"
Soda didn't know what to do, they hadn't prepared her for this yet. Maybe this could be a test of finding it out herself? That they could see that she was worthy of this position as an RT member…?
Oh, who was she kidding. This was something not even Green could help her with.
The silence was unbearable. "I… uhm, you're a Minccino, no?"
Cino smiled. "You're not even sure? I thought the same, but now I'm also not sure." He cackled hysterically. "I might as well be a descendant of Giratina. It'll be only a matter of time until I release hell on this planet- ngh..." His vision was faltering, until it was completely black. He tried to fight it, but to no avail, as something else took over. He looked around, looked at his paws, and then at the Ariados.
His tail started elongating ever so slowly.
Soda just wanted to leave this room and get help from her teammates, but they all were busy for at least another hour. "P-please, lay-y down, and… w-we'll find a sol-lution to this…" She was scared for her life. Something wasn't right with this Minccino.
His grin broadened, and Soda could swear she heard something crack. "Oh, Ariados," his voice suddenly went deeper, "there is nothing wrong with me." Another crack. "Nothing at all…"
Soda screamed and frantically stepped back, bumping into the door and closing it. She desperately tried opening it again with a shaky leg, but Cino was faster and with speed and strength that could have broken through the wooden door, held it shut with only his tail, which could reach it from his bed!
The sudden appearance of his elongated tail resulted in Soda shrieking even more.
"Don't think you'll get away that easily."
She started shaking uncontrollably. he thought that finally getting accepted into the RT was a dream come true. With its prestigious image, she'd soon be able to go on proper missions, get proper rewards, maybe even get a little famous later on, and be known as one of the best.
Since she was a Spinarak, she had looked up to everyone in the RT. Saw them as heroes this region needed after those Dungeons started appearing. She had felt more proud and reassured every time someone thanked her for rescuing them from a Dungeon. It was the best feeling she had ever felt. Nothing could come close to the happiness she would emanate after a successful mission.
But now… it had turned into a living nightmare. This Minccino wasn't normal-
Wait! Green had told her that if she found an oddly colored or looking 'mon, that she had to stay as far away from it as possible. And yes, the tail the Minccino had didn't look normal anymore. It split into four where it touched the door, and was missing fur here and there in random spots, most of it had fallen to the floor, and with every slight pulse of it, more fell down.
Wait, pulses? His heart stopped, so how…
...Was it… getting longer?
This had to be a nightmare. It just had to be. Soda didn't believe what she was witnessing. She got ready to defend herself with shaky legs. She hadn't been accepted just because they needed someone. She could prove that she was more than capable of defending herself. This little Minccino wouldn't be too hard to get rid of.
Cino jumped down and walked towards the Ariados. "Relax. I just want to-" she barraged him with multiple string shots. It didn't even take a second until he was fully enveloped in it, except for his tail.
This had temporarily stopped him, but not his tail. She shrieked as the mutated and pulsing tail had grabbed her. Vibrations shot through her body as soon as the tail touched her, dizzying her a little.
With only a couple slashes at the string, he was free again, seemingly unfazed by the effects of it. "Why are you attacking me?" he drawled, "I haven't done anything. I just want to talk."
"Let me go! You freak!" She flailed and stabbed the tails with her legs, to no avail. Where she thought she had pierced the skin of it, no blood came out. She tried a poison jab next, releasing her venom into the tail.
Cino shook his head. "Useless. Try as you might, you won't even make a scratch. You're just wasting your energy." He pressed harder, making her squirm and scream again. "You're weak. Powerless. Inferior to a lifeform like me. Just stop attacking. It's no use. I might accidentally kill you."
What was he saying? Was he completely insane now?
Poison didn't seem to do anything either, so she went back to randomly stabbing the tail.
Cino was right in front of her. She could hear more and more cracks and saw that his torso was pulsing even more than the tail. "What interesting powers you have. Venom. Sharp limbs. Hmm, climbing on walls, too. And-"
She managed to pierce the Minccino's head with her leg. A second one followed, and hit his left eye. Still no blood.
In that moment, she let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she had killed that mutant. It was over. That had to have killed him, right?
To her horror, Cino looked up to her.
"Fool."
She screamed in agony as he pressed even harder, her exoskeleton cracking in some spots, green blood oozing out. "Arg… no! Please… stop!"
Cino pulled her legs out of his skull. He then ripped them from her without any effort, one after the other, resulting in four more screams that decreased in intensity.
Now, she was too weak to properly scream, and decided to just cry and plead. "Please, please, don't… don't kill me… why-…?" Cino let her fall into the small puddle of green ooze and tears underneath her. A yelp escaped her mouth. Her breathing got slower and heavier. "No… please, no… I'm sorryyyyy…"
"Just shut up for a bit, will you?"
Cino slammed his right paw—that had deformed into a sharp spear of flesh—into her skull. His arm deformed again, and was now making its way through the Ariados's body. Her exoskeleton was repairing where it had cracked open as if nothing ever happened to her. He sighed, calming down.
"It's a shame, really. I wouldn't've gone so far as to crack you open, but you just had to get aggressive. Hm?" He pulled his arm out as he started seeing her memories and thoughts, "You wish to get stronger, hm? Get accepted into the harder missions your team is going on?" Cino smiled. "Very well. Wish granted."
The Ariados opened her eyes again, shocked after realizing that all her pain had gone away, but then staring at the Minccino with hatred, saying nothing.
He sat down in front of her, leaning on his arm paws. "Hey."
...
"Come on, don't be shy. I just want to talk."
...Still nothing. Cino sighed.
"It's your fault, you know. I can get a little agitated sometimes, especially when someone tries to attack me." He shrugged. "Short temper."
Finally, after ten seconds of silence, Soda spoke with venom in her voice. "What did you do to me?"
"Me? Nothing much, I just planted a part of me in you."
"You-" She would spit her venom on him if it did do anything. "WHAT?!"
"Yeah." Cino shrugged again, and smiled. "As an apology for killing you, ok?"
"Y- you- what- how- no…"
"Let me guess, you wanna know why I didn't just kill you outright?"
"A-are you gonna take cont-trol over me too?!"
"No, silly. I can only do that with this body here. Good choice, Tary. Thanks."
"Wh- who's-"
"Not important. Listen, let's just say I made you nearly unkillable and much stronger. Because that's what you wished for, right? Getting stronger? Being a proper member in here? You're gonna need that. Believe me."
"What- are you Jirachi now? Making wishes come true?"
"Jirachi…? Can it..." Cino shook his head. "No. Anyway, I didn't kill you because your team still needs you, silly. Tell them that I was fine, and let me go when they come back, alright?" He still had the fake smile on his face. "Alright."
Soda was confused. The mutant had killed her, and revived her again. Why? And more importantly, how? She looked over Cino's body, as if the answer was hiding somewhere on it.
"Notice anything… different about you, Ariados?"
"It's Soda. And no. Why should I?"
"Take a closer look at yourself."
Legs missing, several oozing spots of her blood—not anymore. The cracks were gone. A giant gaping hole right under her spike on her forehead. Cino held his paw on the hole and closed it. No pain.
"Don't you wanna get back your legs? They're right there." Cino pointed behind him. "You need them to walk."
"...You're sick. Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what? Helping you? Because I'm nice. And you should be thankful."
"How is killing me helping me?"
Cino held his arms behind his back. "That one's on me. I already explained why, you got too aggressive for me. And I countered that. It's as easy as that. Now, get your legs. Or how else do you want to walk around?"
"You're insane. How do you even exist, you... lunatic?"
"Cino's good friend Tary helped me. He's the reason I'm in this body now."
That got a reaction out of Soda. "You're using someone else to be your puppet… how can you be so deranged?"
Cino faked a frown, "Aw, no, how could you say something so mean to someone," his voice got louder, "who basically gave you immortality?" He smiled and waved his body around.
"What if I don't want your stupid immortality?"
"Too bad."
She grumbled. "And what did you do to Cino?!"
"Oh, he's fine." He tapped his head. "He's just, mmh, let's say unconscious. But I promise he's perfectly fine."
Soda couldn't stop coming up with questions and insults, so Cino sighed and grabbed her legs off the floor. He held her right front-leg where it was supposed to be, and told her, "Now, let's take a break from spitting insults and concentrate on this leg here. If you do it right, you'll get a tingly feeling, and that means it's connected again."
She slowly shook her head in disgust. "You… what are you even saying? How in the name of-"
He rammed her leg into her body, causing her to tense and look at her leg, and then at Cino. "Just… do what I say, and you'll be fine. Otherwise… I'll kill you for good and remove the part of me out of you. Now concentrate. You're getting on my nerves."
Soda seemed to do as he said, looking intensely on her inserted limb. How did that not hurt? It was like her whole body was immune to pain. She got even more confused after she had done as he said, and with a snap and a new, yet familiar feeling, she could move her leg again. But it was too deep in her body.
He helped her again and pulled at it until she could move it properly. She didn't know what to say. Her concentration was solely on her leg now, that she didn't notice Cino holding her left one ready for her.
"You can look at it later. Concentrate on the other ones first."
How can he be so casual about all this? What even is he? What is going on?!
She did as he said, and with every leg she got, she could connect it faster than the last.
Soda stood up, testing her legs. Looking at them, moving around, turning. She couldn't believe it. How was this possible? How was she able to do that?
"Well, what do you say after someone helped you, RT member?"
She didn't want to say it, but… he had been helping her—as weird as it sounded—get her legs back, after… he pulled them out…
Soda wondered what would've happened if she didn't try to defend herself.
"What about the… blood here?"
"I'll take care of it."
"...Ok… uhm, thanks?"
"You're welcome."
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