Poppin' Arms ~ Dorms

[Namohysip]

Team Spectrum's new shelters were in the Poppin' Arms guild's second floor. Unlike the lobby, which was decorated with doodles and fan mail from all over the world, the dorms were much simpler, with beige walls and a bulletin board on the hall talking about a few incoming events. There was one for a no-hands no-powers eating contest in the cafeteria a week from their arrival, as well as a weekly menu for the in-house eateries. Basic rules were also posted there, such as quiet hours, cleanup duties, and apparently a specific rule disallowing Surf attacks in the halls. This rule appeared to be frequently crossed off.

Everybody's rooms were lined up next to one another with wide and tall doors to allow even Bahamut passage, albeit with a slight squeeze. Every room had the same basic amenities of a few desks, beds stuffed with something fluffy to be shaped in whatever preferred setup they wished, and a Luminous Orb in the ceiling that could be turned on and off by a switch in the entrance wall. There even appeared to be a small box for storing small items, and another one that had some variant of a Hail Orb inside to keep the inside cool.

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[Ambyssin]

Having finished the meal with Pepper and Thyme, Bahamut slinked back off to the guild and climbed the first set of stairs he could find. It took him to the beige hallway. His head swiveled back and forth. How long had it been since he'd taken residence in a proper building like this? At least a thousand years, if memory served.

He peered into a door and inspected one of the rooms. "I don't suppose they have a solo room," Bahamut grumbled.

 

[Namohysip]

"Probably not," Owen answered after a pause, emerging out from one of the rooms which was still empty, though Owen suspected Bahamut would want to find someone a little larger than him to room with. Didn't exactly leave many options open, though... "I saw a few clips of you in that fight against Surf and Turf, though. You kinda just... stood there."

Something seemed to be off about Owen's tail; the flame had a black core to it.

 

[Ambyssin]

"What did you expect me to do? Fight a pair of children?" Bahamut's eyes briefly flickered orange. Given what he'd seen of Owen's texts, he knew the charmander would be one of the first to make a mad dash toward that place. "I'm not about to perpetuate a system that has people battling for sport. So, I chose to end the fight by simply frustrating the children into giving up.

"Besides, I believe you have more pressing matters to attend to than critiquing my strategy." He pointed to Owen's tail flame and his core dimmed to match it.

 

[Namohysip]

"What?" Owen glanced at his tail, then jolted and tried to hide it behind him. "Oh, um--sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I think it just does that when I call my Shadows to help out. You said I shouldn't be trying to bottle it all up, after all, right?" He tried for a smile, but it seemed to be more nervous than boastful.

A great Charizard peered out from the other side of the room Owen had been in, then returned inside without a word.

"I guess different worlds have different customs, but battling seems to be how Pokemon get to know each other more here. I mean, it's not a huge surprise for me, but it seems like it's not the case for a lot of the others who came with us..."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut shook his head. "I do not believe the answer to your plight is to detach all your negativity so it magically manifests as a daemon that can function on its own. It looks to me more like you've found a new way to avoid the issue." He licked his forepaw and brushed it against it cheek. Bahamut hated the reflex, but found it oddly satisfying. "Which is exactly why I'm skeptical about the battle-happy blood knights on our team charging into that colosseum. If your mental health is struggling, it will certainly show in your actions in battle."

 

[Namohysip]

"Nothing ever satisfies you, does it?" Owen asked, and while the annoyance was true, Owen also smiled with it. Both emotions seemed genuine. "It's not dethatched from me. That guy is me. And now I can't ignore it when those thoughts I have are upfront. Now I have to deal with them... even if nobody else can hear him. To be honest, he kinda reminds me of you. Maybe that's why he showed up at all... or that's how my Shadows appeared, at least."

The Charizard beamed a book toward Owen, who yelped and caught it. The sheer force of the throw made him skid back several feet. Growling, Owen glared at his Shadow, but then at the book thrown. "...Oh! Bahamut, this is for you. I wasn't sure how applicable it is, but it might be a start to help you out a little? It's a bio book on Pyroar. Not exactly the same, but..."

 

[Ambyssin]

"And what thoughts are those, exactly?"

 

[Namohysip]

Owen held the book out, but then sighed when he wasn't bothering to take it. Maybe the thousands of years Bahamut lived made his social skills atrophy. "Well, they start off rational and get irrational if he's out too hard. My flame is a pretty good indicator of that. Once it's about... half dark, I need to focus so he behaves."

Charizard snorted indignantly, but this, too, was only the motion, and made no sound.

"Disappointment in myself, for one. I used to be strong and on top of things, but now I'm weak and crawling to just keep the stable ground I have left. If it counts as stable." Owen stepped into his room and gestured for Bahamut to enter so they didn't take up the halls. "Another is that he's... pretty pessimistic. I don't remember ever being like that, so that might be the Shadows forcing me to hear the stuff I usually shrug off. Since, I mean. Life's full of disappointments, right? No point dwelling on it. But he likes to."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut walked in after him. No point dwelling on it? Easy for one as naïve as him to say. "And just what do you remember of your life back home? Perhaps this shadow of yours manifested because some part of your soul is tired of forcing a smile when things in your life are far from 'fine.'"

 

[Namohysip]

"No, you're right," Owen replied, hopping onto his bed, which had been fashioned into a circle with a pit in the middle. He stayed sitting on the edge, though, so he could still speak directly to Bahamut. His part of the room had been filled with books borrowed from the library on the shelves above him, with a ladder to the right so he could actually reach them. Then again, he could just have Charizard grab it if needed. There was a desk with a book on Shaymin Village open in the middle.

"Charizard is me from a time I had forgotten about for a very long time. Well, kinda-sorta me. Like I said, I wasn't nearly this negative." But Bahamut's actual question was more important. "In terms of my current life... I remember everything. To be honest, coming here is a vacation for me. But he"--Owen motioned to Charizard--"is from way long ago. He's... I guess you could call him the 'second' Owen. I'm the... mm... fifth."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Excuse me?" Bahamut tilted his head. "Do you mean to tell me you've died and been reincarnated?" It took every ounce to restrain his contempt at such a thought.

 

[Namohysip]

"Ehhhh..." Both Owen and Charizard made the same shrugging motion. "Not in the traditional sense that you might be thinking about. Like, I've always been a Charmander or somewhere on that evolution line, for one."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I take it yours is a dimension overflowing with gods and godly power then, hmm?" Bahamut tail scraped its barbed ends against the floor. "No wonder you must feel so at home here."

 

[Namohysip]

"You could say that." Owen nodded. "So, for your original question... I think I remember enough of my past at this point. I remember enough to know exactly why my Shadow is the way it is. And I also remember enough that I don't need to agree with it."

Charizard glared.

"I've done enough moping around to know that it never gets me anywhere. When I say there's no point in dwelling on it, it's because I'm trying to make things better, not ignoring it. I've found that... you don't attract a lot of support if all you do is be negative, even if you have every right to be." Owen kicked his legs rhythmically on the edge of his bed. "And sometimes if all you do is think negatively, you'll wind up choosing the wrong methods of solving problems. Clouds your vision."

 

[Ambyssin]

“You’re speaking quite vaguely.” Bahamut tapped a talon on the floor. “Moping about what? Trying to solve what problems? If your world has gods, why are they not helping?”

 

[Namohysip]

"They, uhhh..." Owen scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Long story short, they kinda... are the ones that need some rescuing. And for a while we forgot they existed. Actually, fourth me used to not believe gods existed at all, or spirits, or, y'know, any of that."

 

[Ambyssin]

“Hmph. Sounds to me like you’re better off without them.” His eyes grayed. “Creatures that can violate nature on a whim. It’s unsettling.”

 

[Namohysip]

"Agreed," Owen said with a sigh. "But I don't think it's that simple, either. Where I'm from, it's... a sliding scale. It isn't like mortals don't have godly power at all, if you're defining it as being able to violate nature." Owen brought his tail forward, holding up its flame. "...I wouldn't exist as I do without a little bit of that power. This flame... isn't possible without it. Without a little nature-defying. But then..." Owen shrugged. "I guess at that point, you have to ask what's nature, and what's defying it. Because in the end, the gods are just doing what we do, but more." He paused. "Where I'm from, at least. It's... kind of funny to hear it coming from you, actually," he added, gesturing to his back. "Pretty sure you would've been classified as the very thing you're denouncing."

 

[Ambyssin]

“I cannot bend the laws of nature to my will,” Bahamut retorted. “Nor do I wish to. Life springs forth from the cosmos and it is to the cosmos that it must return when the time is right.”