Poppin' Arms ~ Cafeteria

[Flyg0n]

Koa nodded, a little surprised anyone would want to talk to him. "Yeah, that's me," he said, offering her a friendly smile. "And I don't mind." Some company might be nice, he reflected. Take his mind off everything.

He watched as her familiar floated around and grinned. The strange Mew reminded him of Echo just a little.

"I'm-" he hesitated for the briefest of moments to consider his answer, "tired." he said finally. "Crazy couple days, huh?" he mused. He watched Ivy float around for a few moments, watching her curiously. "How come your familiar looks like that? I've never seen a Mew like that before. She looks cool."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I honestly don't know." Cynthian glanced at Ivy drifting on her back while munching down on the hotdog. Her ears perked up when her name was mentioned, but she was otherwise unattentive. "Ivy has... gone through a lot of changes over the months. She was still a Roselia though just before you arrived. I think having Darkwhite on my mind a lot influenced her current look."

"It's not complicated!" Ivy said, zipping to the table. She flopped the mostly eaten hot dog around as she continued, "Flying is fun, and Darkwhite is fun and can fly. So, I wanted to be like Darkwhite!"

Cynthian wanted to point out that Ivy had never met Darkwhite before they went to the worldcore. Ivy heard those thoughts and stuck her tongue out at her.

"What do you think of Cibus so far, Koamaru?" she asked, hoping for some light conversation. She laughed a little. "The world I'm from is very similar to this one. It's like visiting your room after a summer, but all your furniture has been moved slightly to one side."

 

[Flyg0n]

Huh. Well, Cynthian always seemed to care a lot about Sword, or at least based on what he could pick up. He supposed it only made sense.

"The world I'm from is very similar to this one. It's like visiting your room after a summer, but all your furniture has been moved slightly to one side."

Koa chuckled at her her remark. "I love it," he said earnestly. "Cibus is amazing. Nothing like the world I come from. I mean, for starters there's no humans. And everyone has a bunch of powers pokemon from my world can't use. And there's legendaries everywhere! My world has legendaries, but they're really rare nowadays."

It felt nice to get his mind off the gloomy aspects of their mission. Cibus was beautiful and he didn't regret coming, even if things weren't... going ideally.

"So your world is really similar? All pokemon, no humans?"

 

[Adamhuarts]

"That's right. There are stories from ancient times about humans though. They're more or less the same as the omen heroes from this world." Cynthian leaned her cheek on her bouquet and thought for a moment. "Oddly enough, my world had a much wider gap between the omens that happened. The only human alive in my world is who you'd consider to be Shield or Pita's counterpart."

"I want another hot do—" Cynthian shoved it at Ivy before she finished. The rosemew grinned and drifted away with her treat.

"Unlike here and Telum, the ones who stopped Dark Matter in my world were an Empoleon and a Raichu. That's one more way my world differs from here."

Cynthian straightened her posture and tilted her head, a chocolate aroma of curiosity radiating off her flowers. "Are you a human too? I heard that Starr and Mudkip 'train' pokemon in their world." The concept still sounded alien and confusing to her even now. "Did you do something like that too where you're from?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa perked up, eyes gleaming. “Yeah! I think we’re from different versions of human worlds, but I’m a trainer too. I guess that’s why my familiar took the form of my starter, Echo.” He cocked his head. “I guess a lot of pokemon here find it strange but I don’t know it's… different than it probably sounds. Kind of like having a familiar, I guess? You both help each other out.”

The Nate bit was news to him though. He'd never talked to the strange little Mudkip, so he was surprised to hear that he seemed to be a trainer too. Somehow, it was hard to picture himself trying to hold a conversation with the guy though. He seemed so... on edge, all the time.

Cynthian… huh, her name wasn’t far off from Champion Cynthia, now that he thought about it. “You know, there’s a trainer back in my world named Cynthia. She’s really strong, a champion basically! Her name is Cynthia and she even has a Roserade on her team.” he grinned wryly. "It's kinda cool."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Like having a familiar huh? I'm not really sure how much of a comparison that is." Cynthian glanced at Ivy beside her. "Ivy is more like the little sister I never had back home."

“You know, there’s a trainer back in my world named Cynthia. She’s really strong, a champion basically! Her name is Cynthia and she even has a Roserade on her team.” he grinned wryly. "It's kinda cool."

"Whoa, really? That is kind of cool!" Cynthian beamed up, her eyes full of intrigue. She seemed more interested in the Roserade than her near namesake. "What kind of pokemon was the Roserade? Have you met them before?"

 

[Flyg0n]

"Hm. Some pokemon are kind of like brothers to their trainers," he mused. Kitto and Hitmonchan were like that, he reflected. "It depends on the pokemon a though too I guess."

Seeing how excited Cynthian seemed he wished he had met her Roserade. Koa shook his head regretfully. "I never got to meet her. But I know she's strong! I've seen Cynthia's team in battle before. Her Roserade is so cool. Her whole team is!"

Gosh it felt so nice to talk about this kind of stuff.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Seeing how excited Cynthian seemed he wished he had met her Roserade. Koa shook his head regretfully. "I never got to meet her. But I know she's strong! I've seen Cynthia's team in battle before. Her Roserade is so cool. Her whole team is!"

"Oh," Cynthian settled her hot dog on a tray to listen to more about this Cynthia person. Ivy tried stealing it with telekinesis only to be thwarted when Cynthian held the hotdoh down with a vine.

"This battle world from some of you humans' worlds sounds a lot like what pokemon do here in the Colosseum, but with extra steps." Cynthian had seen the strength of humans since coming to Cibus, so... "Do humans only fight other humans in battles there, or can they also fight the pokemon of their opponents?"

She struggled to picture how that would work since she'd heard humans can't normally use special powers in their original worlds.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa quickly shook his head. "Nah, humans in my world are tough but they can't fight pokemon like that. Usually it's pokemon and their trainers who fight against other pokemon and their trainers. I guess it is kinda like the colosseums here though," he mused. "A lot of people and pokemon compete in these big tournaments every year to try and prove who's the strongest." He paused for a moment to think.

"Hm. You'd probably be really strong in my world I bet."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Hm. You'd probably be really strong in my world I bet."

"Me? I don't really think... that," Cynthian said, and then she paused having surprised herself. Even now she couldn't help but deflect any praise thrown her way...

"Anyway, trainers are basically sport coaches and pokemon are the players on the field?" Cynthian asked, keeping the conversation going. "What does one achieve by winning the tournament? Fame and fortune?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa cocked his head. "Of course you would be though! I mean heck, if I were a trainer I'd love to have a Roserade like you on my team! You're awesome! You look sick and you have all those powers you can use. I'm already glad you're part of this team."

He nibbled a bite of food from his plate before continuing. "Anyways yeah, I guess it's kinda like that? Trainers do help give pokemon a lot of training and strategy. Professor Rowan even says there's some kind of special bond that humans and pokemon share, like a connection that powers them up. But it's also more than that, you know? For some pokemon at least. It's different for each individual but for a lot of them they're like family."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Koa cocked his head. "Of course you would be though! I mean heck, if I were a trainer I'd love to have a Roserade like you on my team! You're awesome! You look sick and you have all those powers you can use. I'm already glad you're part of this team."

Cynthian paused halfway through her bite and gave him a dazed look. She then chuckled, smiling warmly as she twirled the pointed curve on her mask. "Oh wow, thank you, Koamaru. You're kind. I appreciate that."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa looked down awkwardly at his plate. "Thanks," he mumbled. He hadn't really given what he said that much thought, but it was true. He believed it.

"So what about your world? What did you do back home?"

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I've done a few things. I helped out at my mother's flower shop and garden before being brought here." Thinking back on it, her life had been pretty dull outside her social struggles and hardships.

She took a deep breath. "What about you? Tell me more about your pokemon team. What were they all like?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa grinned. His team was something he always enjoyed talking about. "Well if you've seen my familiar, Crobat, thats my starter. I met him as a Zubat. Then I have a Joltik, a Tyrunt, a Houndoom, a Breloom and a Spheal. They're all really awesome and I've been training with them for several months now." he sighed and smiled wistfully. "We're getting really strong."

He took another bite of his meal. "So you grew flowers and stuff?" he chewed thoughtfully. "That's neat. My cousin is into that. He turned our backyard into a whole Johtonian rock garden. It's kinda cool."

He'd never understood that himself, but he could appreciate the effort it took.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Flowers are peculiar things. They don't bloom the whole year - only a few months during a season - and then they wilt away and are gone till it's time to bloom again. You have to cherish them while they're still around, because there's no permanence when it comes to a flower..." Cynthian scratched her cheek like she realized she said something that'd raise onlooker's eyebrows.

"I think my favorite thing about them is how they come in so many different colors and shapes, and each kind of flower gets given a meaning. Spending time in my mother's garden and tending to the flowers always put me at ease." Cynthian smiled, picturing those days when she could absorb herself in the wall of flowers and forget about everything around her.

She glanced at Koa with a nostalgic smile. "Battle has never been in my nature before I came here. I only started to see the fun in it after spending time with Team Spectrum. If I don't forget everything about this journey when it's over, I wonder if I'll be able to return to that simple life of a rose."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa chuckled. "You kinda remind me of my cousin. He'd tell me stuff like that sometimes too. I can see now why he loved his garden so much."

He supressed a small sigh. He missed home still, even if he knew he'd go home eventually. Never once had he thought things would get this crazy. What would Blake have said to all this? Probably would've had some sensible advice to give.

"I don't know," he mused out loud. "I don't even know how much anyone will remember. Would you want to return to life just the way it was? I mean, is there things you'd want to do differently if you do remember, or do you just want to go back to the way you used to live?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Frowning, he tapped his paw on the table. What would he want to do if he remembered? Would it change his goals and dreams at all? That was hard to think about.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Oh dear me, I don't want to forget everything I've experienced here. At the very least, I don't want to forget who I am now." She had a sad smile on her face, and there was a hint of dread mixed in to.

"You didn't get to see who I was when I first came here. I was... a huge wimp basically. Starr even made me cry on my first day here." Cynthian laughed when she said that, though it was brief. She stared down her hot dog, growing colder by the minute. "I don't want to go back to being that Roselia."

 

[Flyg0n]

A pang of sympathy ran through him as he watched her. It was hard to imagine the Roserade he saw now being a complete wimp. Yet she seemed so distressed.

"I don't think you will. You're strong," he said confidently. "And Diyem even said we may not forget everything that happened!"

He sighed softly, his frown deepening. What would Kitto or Blake say in a situation like this? What did he even think about this? Cynthian seemed so pleasant. He could tell why Icetales seemed to enjoy her company so much. He wracked his brain for moment, trying to think. Everyone else seemed more qualified to offer encouragement than him.

Especially after what he'd done.

"But..." he gathered his thoughts. "Even if you didn't. You've proven that you can grow into someone awesome. It's like you said, right? Flowers bloom for time, a season. Well... I believe that you'll still turn into someone cool, even if you don't remember everything. You've already shown that you can. Plants are hardy," he said with a wry smile.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"But..." he gathered his thoughts. "Even if you didn't. You've proven that you can grow into someone awesome. It's like you said, right? Flowers bloom for time, a season. Well... I believe that you'll still turn into someone cool, even if you don't remember everything. You've already shown that you can. Plants are hardy," he said with a wry smile.

"Yeah, you're right! As long as I don't forget everything, l think I'll be fine." Cynthian held her bouquet like a clenched fist and gazed firmly at it.

"Wanting to become a brave pokemon is why I answered Diyem's call, and maybe my old self will feel his soul healed even just a little to go the rest of the way. Whatever happens, Cynthian will still remain."