Poppin' Arms ~ Holding Cells

[Dragonfree]

Dave glanced at Kora. Why was he making it sound like he'd gone through something similar. He made a face briefly at him making it about Maple.

"Yeah, Flesh wants you around. Plenty of people want you around." He gestured to the still-untouched mozzarella sticks on Soda's side. "You saw I passed you your portion of the sticks, right?"

"I want you around," said Shadow's voice beside him, quiet, and Dave clenched his teeth. Why now.

And yet. "I want you around," he added, after a moment.

 

[Fusion]

Why'd this Dave guy make a face? Did we say something wrong?

It is likely. For the look of things, Dave has grown rather fond of Soda, and perhaps... the feelings are mutual...

But, hey, we got somethin' outta Soda at least. Kinda. Sorta... Maybe?

Kora sighed, putting on a weak smile. He wanted to be happy for them. He should of been, it's not like this was really any of his business, not technically. "Dave's got the right idea, you know. Your friends will forgive you, and in time, so will anyone that the parasite and Blacklight made you hurt."

 

[Namohysip]

"Tch..." Soda glanced away at that. "Yeah, yeah..."

Finally, he took one of the sticks.

In some of that silence, during which he downed two of them, he took a long, steady breath before saying, "I think I need to make up for it."

 

[Dragonfree]

That did perk him up, thank God. "Make up for it? What are you thinking?"

 

[Fusion]

Call me crazy, but I think we were getting through to him!

Alright, crazy, but I think you got a point.

A smile grew along Kora's snout, but then he tilted his head, thoughtful. "Nothin' excessive, I hope? You don't exactly look like you're gonna be at a hundred percent for a while, and I don't think pushing yourself too hard is something anyone wants."

 

[Namohysip]

"Tch... Nothing big." Soda glanced at the wall to clear his thoughts. "I'm gonna stick around on Cibus. Help with restoration. If they'll let me. Maybe... I dunno, maybe by then I'll feel like I made up for it a little." He sighed, arms crossed. "...Yeah... Maybe that'll be my life. I'm old anyway. May as well do what I can..."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave exhaled. Sounded kind of fucking sad, but what else was there? At least the idea seemed to placate Soda's conscience a little. At this point that was probably about the best he could hope for.

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea."

 

[Fusion]

"Hey, you aren't that old I think!" Kora chuckled lightly, keeping a brighter expression for a fair bit longer. "And staying and helping out on Cibus... That'll be a good start," he nodded, smiling.

I... don't think... Is he alright?

He will be, I promise.

You don't mean that...

The fox's expression started to falter, and he turned away. "You take care... Soda," he said, giving a wave and one last attempt at an warm smile. It was lukewarm at best, probably. As he started to leave, Kora gave Dave a glance. "If... you don't mind, could we chat for a bit? Once you're done with Soda, I mean. I can wait a while, ain't got anythin' goin' on today."

 

[Namohysip]

Soda waved idly. "I'm tired," he muttered, but gave Dave a reassuring nod. "And... yeah, fuck it. Thanks. I think... I'm gonna go and talk with Maple and everyone else, say I'm alright to go and see if they agree and whatever. After that... I'm gonna start looking at community service and whatever. Put up the dimension hopping hat and put on the local recovery hat..." He glanced away. "...I figure... Adne would've wanted that, anyway."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Sounds like her."

Dave let out a long sigh, looking away. "Yeah. Talk with the God Squad. You'll be fine." He paused. "Maybe next time we can eat in at the Cauldron, for once."

He raised a paw in a casual wave before he turned to follow Kora out of the main cells, head murky.

 

[Namohysip]

Soda waved back, returning to his mozzarella sticks. Wheat didn't move as usual, but Soda didn't mind. Overall, Soda was left in higher spirits by the end of it, a sense of purpose quietly kindling itself in his mind.

 

[Fusion]

Kora waited outside the building, taking in that fresh, crisp air. He watched some leaves twirling around in the wind, absentmindedly moving his claws in the same pattern.

We do not need to keep worrying. Soda will be fine, he can handle himself.

I know, it's just... pah, I dunno...

We can't not care about him, even if he isn't the same Soda, he's still Soda! Why wouldn't we care about him?

The better question is, why do we care in the--

The fox's ears flicked, hearing someone come up behind him. Dave, yeah, that was his name. Kora turned and gave him a gentle wave, before looking out at the leaves in the wind again. "...Thanks for coming, and, sorry for keeping you. How does Soda look now?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave followed Kora outside. The other Zoroark had stopped in front of the building to wait for him, apparently lost in thought.

"I mean, better than last time I was here." He looked up at Kora, eyes narrowed. Surely that wasn't all the guy wanted to talk to him about.

 

[Fusion]

"Good, good," Kora muttered. He took in a deep breath, then sighed, somber. "I... Man... I can't tell if this feel embarrassing or not, but..."

Kora turned back to Dave and sat on the ground. It was probably the only way for the two to be eye level, and if Dave looked back into Kora's eyes, he'd see a cold emptiness behind them. "Could you... tell me how Soda was like? Before you all had to stop him on the moon? It just..." he looked to the side, shaking his head. "It feels like I never really knew him. I heard a few bits of pieces of what you guys talked about just now, and my Soda never told me about a person named Adne. I don't think, he ever really opened up to me enough..."

He looked back to Dave, a bit more life in his eyes, but hardly any. "Still, though, I wanna know more about him... but pestering him here, when he's recovering... doesn't feel right."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Huh." Kora was really invested in this. Hadn't he said he didn't even know him that well? "Well, today he does scouting for the God Squad. Or, today, before, you know what I mean. Uses illusions to discreetly spy on people and gather intel. Had an anti-authoritarian streak, deposing gods and liberating Hell-dimensions and whatnot. Apparently that's how he picked up Flesh, who he's been taking care of ever since."

Dave grabbed the last mozzarella stick from his portion and bit off a chunk of it. "He told me he was originally one of those humans brought over to one of these Pokémon-only worlds to save it. Adne was his partner, and they lived together after their mission because his human body was dead before he could return." God, thinking of that was still incredibly fucked. "He worked for some espionage organization, gained the trust of that world's Arceus, wanted to ascend and become immortal, Adne didn't want that. Ended badly, God Squad stepped in, Arceus locked him out of that universe forever, and Maple decided to give him another chance with them. The Eterna Parasite fucked with his memory of all this and made him think Arceus had mind-controlled Adne into turning against him, and that he needed to gain godly power to rescue Adne and everyone else out from under the yoke of that Arceus, at any cost." Including destroying an entire universe.

He looked away. "So he worked with Giovanni to gain more power to do that, and then, you know, just got increasingly unhinged from there. While he was still down on Cibus he was still fundamentally decent behind all that. Left careful instructions and Substitutes to make sure Flesh'd be okay, resurrected some people who got killed in the Worldcore, et cetera." A snap, bones twisting and breaking, watching his own mangled body tossed limply aside-- "But once he was up on the moon, with the Unown, with the thing running rampant? He was running on 98% parasite by the time we were fighting him. I talked to him at Spirits' Edge a while before that and he couldn't even remember why he was doing any of it. It wasn't him anymore. Maybe he feels like it's all still his responsibility but fuck that."

 

[Fusion]

As Kora listened to every word Dave spoke, picturing it all in his head, he held his paws over his chest, silent. He couldn't help remembering his Soda... and thinking about everything he must have been through, everything he's going through...

Everything for Soda just got worse and worse... and look where he is now.

An unstoppable downward spiral, leaving him crashing down at rock bottom, broken and mostly defeated. A tragedy in many, many parts.

B-But, at least there's still something to keep him going! He'll pick himself back up again, and maybe if we see him again, he'll be back to normal!

"That's... awful," Kora muttered, dimming. "...I never would have known, I never could have guessed... I kinda don't wanna believe it." He lowered his face and shut his eyes, shaking his head slightly. "But, at least in the end, he was fortunate enough to meet the God Squad and Team Spectrum. I... don't know how much of what I said stuck with him, but it felt like he really listened when you spoke."

Kora chuckled grimly. "Hell, I'm glad my Soda didn't rely on me. Things would have been much, much worse. Hahaha... ha..."

"Alright, enough of that," the fox shook his head, slapping his cheeks. "I guess, to brighten the mood a bit, what do you think of Soda? It's safe to say you care about him at least, right? I'm pretty sure he's grateful for that."

 

[Dragonfree]

"I mean, this one doesn't even know you. Can't just waltz in on him and expect to instantly change his fucking life."

Wasn't like Dave even knew him that well, either, no matter how dramatic Shadow wanted to be about it. It'd been a matter of months. Why should he be able to instantly fix fucking anything?

He exhaled through his nose. "He didn't deserve any of this shit. Just fucking talk to Flesh. The guy cares. Wouldn't have done any of this without the parasite chopping his brain into a goddamn stew."

 

[Fusion]

For how sad Kora might have been... the mention of stew brought a blissful look to his face. "Brain... stew..." he muttered, in a way that he hoped made it look like he was thinking about how tragic that might have been instead of how delicious it sounded.

"I don't think anyone deserves in anything like that... It kinda hurts not being able to stop it, but no one can be everywhere at once," he sighed. "All anyone can do is what you've been doing; making sure he doesn't fall back down again. I dunno if he's the kinda guy to flat out admit to it, but more or less, he needs you, and the rest of the God Squad."

Which applies to the other Soda as well... minus the old dad dog.

How mature of you to admit that.

If being mature means this then I'd like to be a kid again...

 

[Dragonfree]

What the fuck was that fucking orgasmic look on his face talking about brain stew, for the love of God.

"Well, I'm not exactly going to be here forever, so he'd better not need me."

 

[Fusion]

Oh god, did he see the face?

I will refuse to acknowledge the face existed. Therefore, shut the fuck up.

Do you think he's gonna judge us for it?

M-Maybe he's into it?

I believe I said, and I quote, "Shut the fuck up."

"Oh, I know you aren't gonna be here for him forever, but you'll stick in his mind for a long time! What, do you think he's just gonna forget you and everything you did for him just because you left?" Kora chuckled, smiling weakly. He was trying to put on some positivity, he really was.