Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Infirmary

[Adamhuarts]

A few days had gone by since their second return from the Worldcore. Cynthian still hadn't fully recovered yet: half her cape was still charred and missing as was a portion of her mask. Yet, she insisted on going out to get them some refreshments.

Cynthian returned to the infirmary a while later with a basket of gummi sandwiches, a few cans of soft drinks and some regular oran and sitrus berries. She approached Sword and Shield with a smile.

"I hope you two are still hungry. I grabbed these from a shop nearby," Cynthian said, sitting on the opposite bed with a wince. She glanced at with a hint of relief in her eyes. "How are you holding up, Sword?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I've... been better."

Without all the distortion in the way, Sword's voice was soft and small to match her body. A little pink Mew, no strange purple fur or dark eyes or spaded tail, just a Mew that was curled up against Shield in the same bed. Gone were the vital indicators, since Zinc had finally declared Sword stable enough to recover on her own, but not strong enough to go out and about freely.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I heard about what happened after I passed out last time. It scared me but... I'm just glad you're okay now," Cynthian said with a long sigh. If that other spy hadn't been generous enough to keep Sword from fading...

"How much do you remember, from when you were Darkwhite?" Cynthian asked while glancing at the ultra stone fragment in her bag, which lay next to Ivy's still dormant stone. "Oh! You don't have to answer of course. I won't pester you if you don't have the strength for it right now."

 

[Namohysip]

Sword seemed uncomfortable at that, but she nodded anyway. "Everything," she said softly. She took her first bite of her sandwich. Despite not having an appetite, Zinc had encouraged her to try eating anyway, and it seemed that her body was starting to warm up to the idea. Shield gently rubbed her back.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Ah..." Cynthian looked at the stone fragment again and recounted what she'd been filled in on by the others. Sword had apparently already been Darkwhite when the hazy creature had found her.

"Shield, the first thing you remembered was waking up wounded on Cibus, right?" Cynthian asked, glancing at him. "What about you. What's the first thing you remember? Were you already Darkwhite by the time you became conscious? Do you know how you ended up that way, or why?"

She made sure not to mention Telum's name. Guilt tore away at her enough for prodding at their old wounds this much already... but perhaps Sword knew something that could shed some light details still unclear in the dark.

 

[Namohysip]

"I do. A tumble, a serious fall, or something like that. I thought it was the aftermath of the explosion... but it simply couldn't have been that."

"I don't... know," Sword said. "...I... remember... Shield hugging me. Before the explosion. And then I woke up, and... I was already Darkwhite. I was crazy. I just wanted to... cause as much chaos as possible. Because it was fun. I didn't... think of anything else... anyone else..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I'm sorry. It must have been hard going through that. I know what it must've felt like," Cynthian said as her flowers became apple scented.

She took a deep breath and asked one more question. "What about the person who put you in the worldcore? Did they reveal their true identity to you at any point?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I... don't know who he is. But I know that he was the one who rescued me from..."

"Giovanni," Shield said.

Sword nodded. "The scary Mewtwo. Both of them. Um... But..." She sighed. "I don't... I don't know. I don't even know if it was male. But I felt... safe. I felt safe. And he kept saying these nice things, that I was going to be okay, that I'd be with Shield soon. And... that he was sorry, and that I had to be strong for a little longer. I felt..." Sword hesitated. "I felt like he really wanted to help. So I don't understand why..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Had you two met before they took you to Worldcore?" Cynthian asked, shaking her flowers slightly and suppressing their scent.

"After our first actual encounter with Giovanni, you'd also said you were working against him to foil his plans." Cynthian asked. She didn't know what Darkwhite really said back then, because she'd still been hibernating at the time. "Were you doing it for fun at the time, or perhaps, Is the invisible spy the one who told you about Giovanni's plans and where to find the legends he'd abducted?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't think we met before..." Sword curled up a little, trying to think, but was turning up nothing. "...I was just messing with Giovanni because it seemed fun. And this tiny part of me was telling me that I should have... Maybe because I knew that he was the same Nidoking from before..."

"Nidoking..." Shield frowned. "Right. I remember that. He was the one that had gotten to the Tree of Life on Telum, with his Mewtwo. But that Mewtwo wasn't nearly as talkative. Might be the same one you guys have in Chip's lab, but... that Mewtwo had been normal looking."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Well Sword used to be a charmander before turning into a Mew... no wait isn't it the other way around?" Cynthian shook her head and shifted her posture on the bed. "If we consider that, it's possible that the blacklight Mewtwo is the same one Giovanni had on Telum. It even has a similar Eternal corruption happening with it."

"Oh, that reminds me. Do you know what or if Giovanni has anything to do with Eien, the eternatus, being in this world's Tree of Life?" Cynthian picked up a sandwich for herself and stared at it idly. "Also, did you feel her presence when you were in Worldcore? Could you two have communicated in some way?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I... don't really know. Sorry." Sword shook her head and tried to rest again. "I don't really know anything about what's going on in the Tree... or what Giovanni had to do with this one, either, if he did. It's all so strange. I didn't even know what an Eterna...whatever was until a few weeks ago... I-it's been weeks, right?"

"It has. A rush of them... but only weeks." Shield sighed. "Feels like years..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I don't suppose you know what Giovanni wanted with your world either, or anything about what caused the explosion that took everything away?" Cynthian asked, leaning a bit forward.

 

[Namohysip]

Sword shook her head. "We weren't able to get that far. Red did..."

"Apparently all Red saw was Giovanni fighting Silver, or something," Shield said. "And from there... Well, I don't really know where Mewtwo went, but maybe deeper into the Tree of Life or something..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"I see... We'll have to get Giovanni to tell us exactly how much of what happened had to do with him then." Cynthian pressed a pair of vines to her forehead and sighed.

She turned her eyes back to Sword and her gaze lingered on her briefly. Cynthian blushed slightly and looked nervous. "Say, do you remember the things I said in the worldcore? I still mean it, about wanting to be your friend."

 

[Namohysip]

Sword looked away. "I don't really know if... I'm ready for friends," she admitted.

Shield held her a little tighter. "Hey, it's alright. What we all said was real. We knew you weren't under control. You... had a lot you went through. A-and now you're better, right?"

"It all felt like something I wanted to do... It wasn't like I was being... forced, or compelled, I wanted to cause all that chaos..."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"That's not true at all. This blacklight corruption... it can-" Cynthian lowered her eyes "-it can make even the smallest thoughts or desires you have to go out of control."

"It's not right to blame to blame yourself for something you did when you weren't completely yourself, right?" Cynthian argued.

Even if I still think it's my fault for what happened to Mama Rosa...

Please, I don't have time for you right now...

"None of us blame you for what happened. We all went to rescue you from Worldcore because that's how much you mattered to us," Cynthian said with a faint smile. "Though I understand you've gone through a lot and there's a lot on your mind. It takes time to heal from an experience like that, right?"

 

[Namohysip]

Sword nodded. "I guess so..."

"Zinc said that physically, Sword's going to be fine. She's just low on energy right now, and probably also getting used to her new body. I had no idea you were actually Mew..."

"I... learned it right before going to the Tree. Xerneas told me. But I never had the time to tell you... I wanted to save it for after we beat Dark Matter. I'm sorry... I thought--I thought that I'd have to disappear with Dark Matter. But it looks like I don't need to anymore." Not that they were in Telum anymore.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian tilted her head and asked, "Does that mean you won't split into two pokemon like what happened to Nutmeg and Mew in this world, or Mew and Priscilla on mine?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't really know," Sword said. "I think... the new Mew that was born... never needed to be born on Telum, because I never disappeared. I'm that Mew, still." She looked at her tiny paws. "...I don't know if that's better, or worse... but I guess I'm back to being Mew again."