Poppin' Arms ~ Dorm Lounge

[Fusion]

Aww geez... Vix wasn't ready for that, nor the familiar taste of sadness despite how often she felt it from her team. Vix looked between Mellow and Soda, then back again, and sighed. "But outright attacking him wasn't gonna get anything out of this. He's a fighter, just like the rest of us, just hurting him wouldn't have done us any good if you were looking for a confession."

"Not that he has anything to confess about either," she added, for good measure. "If anything, Soda would've been the best person to ask for help during all this, at least to me. Might be a bit biased, but I'd rather work with Soda than fail to even catch him."

 

[Namohysip]

"Tch." Soda was still snarling, but he'd relaxed his pose--or at least let his illusion do so--as Vix continued speaking. Owen glanced off, looking mildly shameful, and inquired Wishkeeper about what he was reading. He couldn't really get anything, which was odd, but those flashes he'd seen when Soda's illusions faltered... Soda was genuinely hurt. Yet for some reason, Owen was getting a headache trying to press further.

"We just...I just... I want to go home."

But eventually, Soda seemed to soften his glare. Owen caught a hint of something else again. Past the illusions, Soda's shoulders had sagged, barely, and his claws twitched. "Damn it," Soda muttered, looking off. "Look, just... don't be a fucking idiot with this. Come on. You showed all your cards at once. If I was the spy, you already lost. Now I'm gonna know you're suspecting me, I'd be paranoid about being followed, but guess what? With my illusions you wouldn't even know."

He walked toward Mellow, grimacing a little behind his illusion, and then knelt down. "You're going home, alright? Just... don't cry in front of me about that. It'll be alright. You're going home one day."

He stood there, awkwardly. Owen could tell that Soda didn't know how to comfort people like that... especially after being attacked.

"Soda?" Owen asked. "I, um... sorry."

"Forget it." Soda sighed. "Ask me your damn questions and maybe I can help with something."

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales’s ears dropped as he saw the sadness in Mellow’s body language and stepped forward to give a reassuring pat on her back with one of his tails.

“It… It will be alright, Miss Mellow. Dost not despair…” he said with a soft voice, trying to calm her down.

Emotions weren’t Keo’Keo’s forte, however, so he let his host do the sugary whatever and stepped toward Soda. His expression was cold and stone-faced, but he didn’t seem angry, nervous or anything like that. Merely inquisitive.

“Hmph, fair. Allow me to preface that I dost not give a damn about thee being a Zoroark, alright? I know better than anyone about judging someone by their species alone.”

At hearing his Shadow speaking, Icetales winced. He could tell that there was something bothering them both, even if he himself didn’t know what. Just… what was that spectral Ninetales channeling? What feat of his? He couldn’t really tell.

“But I shall say that there was something else about thee that made me plenty alert, thou see,” Keo’Keo turned in a direction, then another, then another altogether. He began hissing at the air, feeling vibrations that he didn’t like.

Those same vibrations could be felt by the real Ninetales, too, who stared curiously at his Shadow. That look of uncertainty on his face and the fur raised… was that fear?

Fear… of the unknown. Oh, golly! Just like…

“…Thy illusions. While I am aware that Zoroark are master illusioners, I find it… bizarre that thou keep thy illusions active most of the time.” Keo’Keo turned toward Soda, not knowing who he was looking at. “If thou hast nothing to hide, then why dost thou hide every time behind an illusion? What is thy reasoning? Dost thou lack trust toward everyone, or… something else?” The Ninetales closed his eyes. “If thou were a spy, the answer would be ridiculously easy. But if thou art not a spy, then… why?”

 

[Namohysip]

"'Cuz it's cool," Soda replied flatly, rolling his eyes.

Owen paused, as if there would be more in reply. But Soda wasn't continuing.

Seeing the silent audience, the Zoroark stared back. "...What?"

 

[Cresselia92]

“Because… it’s cool…” hissed an unamused Keo’Keo, uttering those words as if he had thorns stuck in his non-existent tongue. “Tsk! No matter how thou paint it, deceit is still deceit.”

“I reckon this is merely a harmless activity to pull off that modern thing.” Icetales tapped his chin with a tail. “I believe it was something called ‘trolley’…”

Keo’Keo snorted. “This is why I hate modern times…” he muttered under his breath.

“Besides, those illusions have helped us,” pointed out Icetales. “Sir Soda used them so that everyone could escape from Giovanni once, and used them again to shield the cortège from Sir Red. Those are points in his favor, no?”

Keo’Keo said nothing, but he knew already where the real fox was headed. He could bring up that everything could just be an attempt to get their trust, but he kept that to himself.

“As such,” Icetales stared at Soda, “perhaps those illusions could be plenty useful, especially if we are aiming to search for clues undetected. While hidden behind an illusionary barrier, we might be able to find someone doing some shady business without them realizing we’re there.”

“So, thou art planning to catch someone red pawed…”

“Yes.”

“But who?”

“Well! This is the big question.”

 

[Namohysip]

"Well, who's your top suspect?" Soda asked. "You know, aside from the master of illusions Zoroark."

Owen winced. He didn't need Perceive to feel that bitterness. "We don't even know where to begin. I feel horrible suspecting anybody..." He looked hopefully toward the others for a clue or suggestion. His Perceive could be a huge help to a lot of them if they can catch them off guard, after all.

 

[Disco]

Before she spoke again, Mellow took time to forcefully calm herself down. It wouldn't help anyone to have a meltdown here. Maybe after this she could add another section to her hut. Yeah.

Two deep breaths later, and the swirling shadows under her receded. Mellow looked up at Icetales with a small smile, then refocused on the conversation. ...She had messed up, hadn't she? She of all Pokémon should know better than to judge someone by what they were. The Charmeleon looked away from Soda in embarrassment and regret.

"... I'm sorry. There's no excuse for what I did, even if we're under a lot of pressure.", she finally said in a quiet voice. "...The rest of your team is under suspicion too, though."

 

[Namohysip]

"Ehh, forget it." Soda shook it off. "I overreacted a little, too. It's whatever. But let me just narrow down your options real quick: I don't think it's Leg or Flesh. I mean, look at them. Flesh is about as stealthy as a tree in the desert, and Leg's barely able to speak. She's easy to read. So, both of them are out. If anybody's a spy in God Squad, you'll have to take a look at Truffle, who... well, shit, that dude can't hurt his dinner. And then there's Potluck, who... I mean, can you really expect the dude to be clever? And then there's Maple, but, I mean, c'mon, if Maple's the spy, wouldn't we be dead by now?"

"I thought you said you were the strongest," Owen said.

"I am, I mean--" Soda flinched, then flashed a snarl at Owen. "Shut up."

 

[Disco]

"...Well, the others that we should probably keep an eye on are..."

Mellow proceeded to give Soda a list comparable in size to the one Arceus had given Bahamut.

"...At least that's what S'more suggested. It would be really great if we could inspect everyone, but the longer we take, the more time one of the spies could set Giovanni free..."

 

[Cresselia92]

“S’more…” breathed out Icetales, almost reflexively. “I do not desire to cast any suspicion without evidence, but… I wager that if there is anyone who might be in cahoots with Giovanni, it could be him.”

“Ah. Yes. Authority means disaster, no?” mused Keo’Keo, flashing a wide smirk. “And we know that from experience, because of… well, we know. Him.”

“Yes, him. This topic is irrelevant, however. Anyway,” Icetales looked at the others, “to better elaborate, Sir S’more is probably the highest authority in the village, right after Sir Arceus. If there is anyone who could pull some strings without suspicion or any issue, it’s him.”

Keo’Keo placed a paw under his chin. “And yet, he was attacked by Sir Red, and apparently Sir Red had some connections with that sirrah, too…”

“Howbeit, Sir Red supposedly opposed Giovanni for some reason and gave him the beating of his life. And then, he proceeded to attack Sir S’more, too. Why would Sir Red even do that?”

“Because he was corrupted?”

“Or because he knows something about Sir S’more that we don’t know yet.”

 

[Namohysip]

"Mmmhm." Soda crossed his arms, skeptical. "And how do you expect me to do that, again?" he said to Mellow. "I'm not Bean. Send me to one person and I'll make sure I'm on the guy and they won't even know. Assuming Maple doesn't go off and assign me somewhere. But, S'more... now you're talking." Soda looked down. "Ngh... Not too keen on trailing someone like that. That who you want me to watch?"

 

[Disco]

"Obviously I'm not.", Mellow deadpanned. "That's just all the Pokémon we can't really trust."

She turned to the others. "Who should we try checking out next? Aside from S'more himself, I guess..."

 

[Fusion]

Vix's flame sparked for a moment, then remembering the fight way back with the blacklight Charizard. Or was it Red? That didn't really matter. "If we wanna tail S'more, I could help Soda with that. I can, like, hide in the shadows and all that spooky ghost stuff, and maybe use my wax again to see what happens."

She decided not to mentally compare it to them finally hanging out, it was just business. But anything after that was likely to be personally, fu fu fu fu...

"I don't really know, maybe someone else from the guild too? I mean, have we even found whoever messed up the security footage way back when someone tried to frame Owen?" Vix hummed. "If it wasn't someone from inside the guild, then it'd have to be someone good with technology. Which... doesn't really narrow it down. For all we know it could have been Giovanni himself, or that Blacklight Mewtwo, or the same first spy."

"Maybe... Maybe we could have a powerful psychic help out with the investigation, like Karat. He could probably read into a bunch of people's minds and tell us if something's off."

 

[Namohysip]

"You don't think we already did that?" Soda said, frowning. "Karat read everyone's mind, but even Karat isn't perfect. You never know if there's a way to hide stuff from that. Hell, I can. Truffle can. Mind reading is one of those things you gotta train to avoid for powerful foes when you're saving worlds, y'know that?"

There was a silence.

"...Why're you looking at me like that?" He stared at Vix.

 

[Disco]

Mellow glanced between the Chandelure and the Zoroark. The intensity of the ghost Pokémon's expression seemed familiar-

It was the same as when she got shoved out the way at-

Oh.

Oh.

... Mellow gave Vix an incredulous look. She couldn't seriously have a crush on him, could she?

 

[Fusion]

Some other words, I lost track in the middle and just listened to him speak...

"...Why're you looking at me like that?" He stared at Vix.

"...Hmm," Vix hummed, staring back at Soda. She quickly registered that she was asked something and snapped back to reality. It kinda felt like she zoned out for a minute or two... Did she miss something? "Huh, what? What's wrong?" she asked, glancing between Mellow and Soda. "Is there something on my face? Am I melting or something?"

"I-I'm getting the feeling that I missed something, uh... could you repeat what you said? After the part with, uh... Karat? Yeah, after that, hehe..."

Hopefully they'd think she was just thinking too hard or something, not that Vix would know. All she remembered was black and red filling her vision for a bit.

 

[Disco]

"Somehow I don't think Soda needs your help."

 

[Cresselia92]

Neither Icetales nor Keo’Keo knew what to say. The former glanced curiously at Vix, slowly piecing things together, while the latter simply looked away, not wanting to deal with that kind of androgen-filled atmosphere.

After a while, the spectral Ninetales glared at the other, his gaze silently telling to the host to take care of the matter. Once sent the message, he began poking at the wall, finding that activity far more interesting.

“Huh…”

Icetales coughed, trying to bring things back to the topic at paw. “So! If Sir S’more is out of the question for some reason, then we ought to focus on someone else.” He began tapping the floor with a paw, wondering who else they could check out. “Hmm… Aside from Sir Chip, is there someone else who could have… huh…” He paused as he telepathically poked Petram about some information, before nodding. “Ah, yes. The security system. Who else could have gotten access to the registrations?”

 

[Fusion]

"Somehow I don't think Soda needs your help."

"Well that's just rude and uncalled for," Vix huffed, melting a bit. "M-Maybe I don't need his help, and I'll look into S'more myself."

That would be a bad idea but it was the only idea that came to mind.

 

[Namohysip]

Soda looked Vix over as if he'd actually been considering the proposal, looking her up and down, evaluating. His claws made subtle gestures as if sizing up what it could do with that waxy body. Then, he shrugged and said, "Well, anyway, what're we planning, then?"

"Who's in charge of the security footage?" Owen asked.

"Someone not really all that involved in this. We checked him and he didn't have any signs of tampering or suspicious evidence there." Soda scratched his cheek, thinking. "Protein's the scout. That Salamence. Poffin is in charge of security for here and sometimes Destiny Village itself. He's the Slaking. That's all I got aside from S'more himself or maybe someone who can also mess with the footage, so maybe Chip. I guess Maple can also portal in..."