Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Main Lobby

[Dragonfree]

Dave looked sharply at Owen. "Wait, what? How'd you figure it was him?"

Was he implying the real Soda'd manipulated his and his own substitutes' memories? Had he always been talking to substitutes? God, what the fuck.

 

[Namohysip]

"I didn't," Owen said, smiling a little. "I was bluffing. But now I know for sure."

There was something primal in the false Soda's eyes, like he wanted nothing more than to strike Owen down, yet he didn't.

 

[Negrek]

Nate stopped glaring death at Rocky long enough to laugh. Rocky tugged sheepishly at an ear, but he was smiling, too. Rocky might be too nervous to snicker at Soda, but Nate had no such reservation, and cackled until he was wheezing.

Nate grinned at Owen. "Okay, that," he said, "was pretty fucking good."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Perhaps in another reality, Owen is a poker player," the shade mused.

 

[Namohysip]

"I'm not allowed to play poker," Owen replied.

"Because your Perceive is cheating?" Cal asked.

"No, Mom said it was a bad influence."

Cal's embers flickered. Was he joking? Was that genuine? Both? God, why did he have to be so--

"Soda," Owen said, "...Breaker found a block in my memory exactly when I'd first arrived here. When I had to fend off Sushi on my own. I remember seeing a dark figure... and then I forgot everything. And even when I got my memories back, there was still a little bit that was totally lost to me. That block is still there." He tapped the side of his head. "What are you hiding from me? That it was you? Or something else?"

As the Charizard spoke, he walked through the crowd and toward Soda. His flame was even and his gait was normal. Soda, meanwhile, stood his ground, staring up at the Charizard once he was close enough.

"I'm not afraid of you," Soda growled. "Don't think you can intimidate me."

"Same here." Nobody but Diyem and Soda could see Owen's expression. "You said you wanted to help, right? Answer questions? Answer mine."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Barely batting an eye." The shade giggled between wheezes. "I take it having your memories manipulated is just another day at the office?"

 

[Disco]

A feathery tail whapped the other Shade in the face.

 

[Namohysip]

"Barely batting an eye." The shade giggled between wheezes. "I take it having your memories manipulated is just another day at the office?"

"You know those cards you get where if you get ten stamps, you get a free sundae or something?" Cal whispered back. "He'd have a lifetime supply."

 

[Ambyssin]

"And yet he remains so determined, even despite the fact that he can never be certain his convictions are his own." The shade's eyes glimmered. "Breathtaking."

 

[Disco]

"Shh... don't distract him.", Raven whispered back. Though, she wasn't sure if he would be distracted. He was very focused... And this was the most serious she'd seen him. It made her a little bit nervous.

 

[windskull]

"Not fun is it, having your memories brought into question?" Nip was standing now and was taking long breaths that came out in frosty puffs. His tail feathers flicked with agitation.

"For what it's worth, Soda, I don't think you're lying. I think you absolutely believe what you're saying. But there's too many strange things going on here for me to believe that they're the complete truth." He let out a low growl turning his head away. "Even if I think something's wrong here, I don't like saying your memories are wrong. It makes me feel sick."

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa considered the strange turn of events. "Do you... do you even know what happened to the rest of the 'you's' or did you come here because," he paused, narrowing his eyes as he thought. If his idea was true then part of him almost pitied this thing. "-You don't know what's going on either?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I'm not answering," Soda said.

More silence and Soda refused to break away from staring at Owen. But Owen was just as stubborn.

"For what it's worth, Soda, I don't think you're lying. I think you absolutely believe what you're saying. But there's too many strange things going on here for me to believe that they're the complete truth."

"Do you... do you even know what happened to the rest of the 'you's' or did you come here because," he paused, narrowing his eyes as he thought. If his idea was true then part of him almost pitied this thing. "-You don't know what's going on either?"

"...Tsk... Look, it's... We don't know what's going on with each other because that was the design when we split off just before Destiny Tower. Yeah, I don't know what happened, happy? Is that what you wanted? I thought it was pretty damn obvious. And... my memories are fine." The fight in Soda's voice was weaker than time. "I'm... fine. I know what's..."

"If you're so confident," Owen said gently, "Breaker seeing for sure won't be any harm, right? You already got your part of the plan done."

"I... I'm leaving," Soda said, and made a move for the door.

 

[Disco]

A quick thought from Raven was all it took for thick roots to burst through the floor to try and snare his feet. On the other side of them, stood Mellow, who was more shadow than not. A deep, foreboding growl reverberated through the hall...

 

[Negrek]

When Soda started for the door, Nate immediately turned, and Rocky could tell he was gathering water for an attack. The familiar hastily stepped between him and Soda, ready to block his host further with a foot as necessary. "Please," he called after Soda. "If someone did something to your memories, don't you want to know? Wouldn't you want to know, so you could get back at them? And..." He seemed to lose confidence for a moment, gaze falling to the floor. "And if somebody messed with your memory, then maybe they could control you, like they did with S'more and Giovanni. Don't you want to know so you can try to fix it? Otherwise they might make you do something that would hurt someone. You don't want that, do you? Maybe they could make you do something that would make Flesh sad. Or maybe they could make you try to take power from Cola." That had been Soda's plan, hadn't it? He'd meant to take Cola away and use his powers for something. That was Soda's idea. Wasn't it? "Maybe they already have."

 

[ntmymike]

"Soda wait..." Miles decided to speak up about what's going on in his mind. "is it... is it possible that the main you alter your memory for another purpose?" He paused. It was bold of him to make such speculation but his mind can't help but think about the worst possibility. "If he can trick everyone here... can he... can he fool himself to achieve his goal?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Don't be stupid," Soda muttered, stopping when he saw Raven and Mellow tag-teaming. He hopped away from the roots, but didn't bother advancing further. The fact that Owen wasn't even bothering to chase him... He probably had something set up, too. Clever shit.

"Here's my question, then," Soda said. "What's the point? Who could possibly be behind all of this and be so coordinated that they'd do... I dunno, anything? Who has the kind of power that could nullify Arceus, mess with a bunch of heads, and then just go unnoticed?"

"Well, what if they weren't unnoticed, and we just... overlooked them?" Owen wondered aloud. "By now we probably saw everything we could have..."

And then, in a flash of light, Breaker appeared beside Wheat just outside the doorway.

"Hello. God told me to come here."

 

[Negrek]

There was a brief standoff between Rocky and Nate, a furious telepathic debate about whether anyone was going to be mean, or fuck-you-this-is-fucking important. Rocky relented in the end. He could at least tell that Nate wasn't going to say anything super nasty. He stepped aside, so the mudkip could actually see Soda again.

"You're asking who?" Nate said. "Overseers much? Ain't busting up worlds their whole schtick? And I don't think it's no coincidence that Eien's one of them. Maybe they didn't take kindly to her getting too buddy-buddy with a Dark Matter. One of them gone rogue, personal vendetta, whatever, you think they could swing it?"

 

[Disco]

"... Would one of the Overseers go so far...? That would mean Maple would have been directed towards Cibus, while they knew Eien was present... ...Perhaps by using Soda.", Raven commented. It seemed strange, as dedicated to the greater good all Overseers were...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa continued watching carefully, and flexed her claws as Soda threatened to leave, wondering if a Soda substitute, even a mastery-level Blacklight-empowered one, would go down to a strong enough Radiant Arrest. In the end, he stayed. For now. While his other self did gods-knew-what on the moon...

...where Joule had compulsively struck with his cataclysmic Z-Burst.

"Hey, can I ask y'somethin', fella?" she drawled. "Yer prime self way up there. Did he plan fer Joule to hit the moon with Blacklight? Or is he just takin' opportunity over somethin' unintended?"

It would be something to know if Soda was winging it or not. She didn't know which answer would be more worrisome. Hopefully Breaker would reveal something definitive about the fucker, but it didn't really feel like the time to hold out hope...