Poppin' Arms ~ Dorm Lounge

[Dragonfree]

Dave tilted his head, squinting. "And they're talking about this on the badge comms? The ones that already got compromised? Jesus fuck."

He raised an eyebrow at Starr talking like she dealt with spies all the time, but honestly at this point that could probably wait for a better time. "Yeah. Definitely sounds like S'more. The guy who fucking runs the place. Fuck." He glanced around the lounge, wondering if he'd set up cameras around the guild building. Why not? Keep tabs on Team Spectrum? "This whole place might be compromised, for all we know."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Fuck, I'm assumin' it is. We'll talk more about that one somewhere else, yeah? Fer now, I wanan get the hell out an' on a new investigation somewhere less . . . civilised. Say, Dave, y'wanna come with me on the Moonlit Forest investigation? It ain't spy-huntin', but maybe we'll get somewhere with it. An' Starr, I figure you'll wanna grill Silver, or somethin'?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave hesitated a moment. "...Sure. Okay." Most importantly, they should get out of here. He should go pick up Mia anyway, see what she thought.

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Right I've gotta find Silver and--" Fuck. Now they really needed someone from Team Spectrum watching Giovanni's cell at all times. If he was literally being held in the building run by one of his spies? God dammit the only thing worse than double agents was double agents in management.

...Great, now she was thinking about Sebastian.

"...And I'll let Diyem know we need someone on the team to keep watch," Starr finally finished. She'd probably need to take another shift herself once she was done checking on Silver. Dammit this was too many things. And Brisa was going to that place? Starr had the immediate urge to tell her not to, even if that was stupid. There'd be plenty of backup, and besides, Brisa was fucking strong. And the only reason that place had gotten to Starr was because she'd been... compromised at the time.

...Whatever, not thinking about that. Starr got up from her seat and said, "Alright, let's go."

<><><>​

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa heaped herself on top of one of the available seats and eyed Shield. He was laid back in a chair, staring into space with a substantially more upbeat expression than usual. He hadn't said a word on the way back from Moonlit Forest. The fella sure was off in his own head a lot, huh.

"I never heard yer whole story," said Brisa, after a moment. "I know the basics. Telum, Sword, countless lifetimes ago, mirror of Lucario Pita. There's much I don't know, though. Like, didya know Blade? D'you remember how y'got to Cibus?"

Every now and again, Brisa switched on her luxray vision, just to marvel at the way his metal bones gleamed.

 

[Namohysip]

"My whole story?" Shield asked, frowning. "I think I went over my whole story at this point... What more is there that you want to know?" He sat up with a grunt, like he had just been getting comfortable. "...Oh, but I didn't know Blade that well as... she is now. I knew her a little from our attempts to save the Tree when things started going wrong, but that's really all. A few days at most..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded. "Since Telum's destruction, she's been travellin' the worlds for centuries, apparently. I'm guessin' you've not watched countless years go by yerself? Just tryin' to piece t'gether how the two of ya could've ended up here, after so much time."

 

[Namohysip]

Shield nodded. "I have... no memory of any time between when Telum was destroyed to me waking up here on Cibus. Not a single memory. Like I just got knocked out and--to be honest, I thought I just woke up on Telum again and it was all a nightmare..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Sky an' stars, that must've been one hell of a fuckin' thing to find out really happened. I'm awful sorry fer it."

No wonder the poor fella seemed lost all the damn time.

"Where didya wake up, then? An' how didya come to work with Karat, Silver's team an' the weather gods?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't remember. It's all a blur." Shield shook his head apologetically. "Somewhere on the Air Continent. I was covered in bruises, so I think it must have been a real tumble... or something..." He trailed off, thinking. "But eventually I happened upon Karat. He asked me a lot of questions, analyzed my mind if I was lying... We looked around for clues, got Team Drumstick involved... wound up being misled into fighting you..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Don't worry about it. The posse doesn't seem t'be holdin' a grudge, as such. Though it did rather stick in the craw at the time, I get where yer head was at. Just... Make sure we can count on ya at the Worldcore."

Brisa nodded, chewing over the information.

"Okay. I've been thinkin' of speakin' to Karat. Did he ever tell ya where he's from or what his relationship is to Giovanni? That's any Giovanni. I gather that Giovanni is one of these fellas like Red an' Mewtwo that keeps showin' up in different realities."

 

[Namohysip]

"Mm. Created by one." Shield nodded. "But that was so long ago, and that Giovanni had been defeated. He escaped somehow and found his way here... Even he isn't sure. But it's not really related to any of this. In fact, I think Buffet had reached out by chance..." He hummed. "That's all there really is to it."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Fair enough. I'll ask him what he knows about Giovanni, maybe see if he wants to help interrogate the motherfucker."

Brisa pawed at her cheek. There was something that had been bothering her...

"Say, how'd you end up fightin' us in the first place? I know y'all figured we were Minions of Darkness or whatever the fuck, never mind that we could wield Radiance, but who actually made the call to try'n kick us off the planet, anyway? Was that yer own decision? Or someone else's?"

 

[Namohysip]

Shield looked off. "...Collective decision based on the evidence we had gathered." He tapped his foot. "...Sorry. The Radiance might have made us a little... hastier. It was the one we happened to steal from Giovanni early, possibly before he perfected that energy suppression..." He sighed. "It was all just one big mess in hindsight."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shrugged. "Figures. Everyone bein' high on Radiance explains it well enough without there bein' someone with an agenda in yer midst."

Never mind that line of thinking, then.

"So... You an' Sword were close, huh? I didn't get much of a chance to spend time with her while she was hangin' out with the posse, but when we fought off her Eterna construct, I felt like I knew the kinda fear she was goin' through. It made me wanna protect her somethin' fierce. Now that we're goin' to rescue her, I wanna understand her better. What was she like as a hero of Telum?"

 

[Namohysip]

As Brisa spoke, Shield's eyes seemed to glaze over as his mind went elsewhere. He was listening, yes, but the thoughts that question evoked...

"She was a bit of a prankster. And a little selfish. And maybe rash, and impulsive, and..." Shield frowned, internally wincing. "She grew a lot as I got to know her. And she became someone who cared a lot for everyone, and recognized her mistakes in the past, too. We were ready to confront Dark Matter and our own darkness, too..." He was shaking a little again, but he took a slow breath to stay calm again. "...I need to save her. She doesn't deserve this..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa winced, thinking of how selfish, rash and impulsive she'd been, once.

"I got the impression that she just really wanted us to love her," she said, quietly, something seizing up behind her eyes and in her throat.

 

[Namohysip]

Shield didn't reply to that one directly. His paws were shaking again, and this time he wasn't able to keep them still. "...We'll save her... right? I can't... not after I lost everything else..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I give you my word I'll give my all t'get her back," said Brisa, carefully. "If there's a way, we'll find it."

Goddamn, Shield was in a state. But of course, he would be, wouldn't he? He'd come fresh out of a tragedy that still had Maple shaken after centuries of grieving, and been thrown into all this Cibus shit unprepared. Of course he was unsteady.

Brisa got up from her chair and approached the lucario. How did– What could she– Augh, she just wanted to help him–!

She put a paw on his.

"It's gonna be alright," she said trace Radiance sparking at the touch. You won't be alone.

 

[Namohysip]

He seemed so cold. Destiny Village was, of course, a place with unforgivingly bitter weather now that they were in the very depths of winter, and the insides of the buildings were only marginally warmer since most Pokemon were used to that sort of cold by now. But Shield, now that Brisa actually had a proper hold on him--his fur could practically preserve food with how cold it was. A little deeper was the warmth of life, but maybe all that shaking was because Shield didn't even realize how much he'd been neglecting himself.

"I just want her back," Shield finally said, voice trembling. He leaned toward Brisa, whether he realized it or not. "I just want her to be happy. I want my world back. I want... things to be normal again..." Brisa's shoulder felt wet.