Poppin' Arms ~ Study

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded.

"I do the same," she said. "Though I don't got the power to hear the world's heartbeat. Just the wind. The cries of folk and critter. Maybe my own pulse, if'n I work it up."

Maple talked about rest and connection like she didn't even deserve it, despite the countless souls she's protected. What went on in a mind like hers?

She pawed behind her ear. "My pa always told me that duty came before comfort. You... You've been doin' this a long time, ain't ya? How much duty has there been, and how much comfort?"

 

[Namohysip]

Maple chuckled a little at that. A sad laugh, but there was joy behind it, at least a drop. "Duty over comfort," she repeated to herself. "Yes. I think I am a lot like that."

"Perhaps too much," Millijoule suggested. "I fear that without my true self by your side, you've lost sight of what it means to relax."

"Well, how can I?" Maple asked. And despite the question, her tone was more of a quiet, matter-of-fact whisper. She smiled. "I don't think I'll ever be able to rest until I make things right. Joule is... all I can hope to keep."

"Maple has been far too stern lately," Millijoule stated, shaking his head. He curled the end of his tail around Maple, who looked away. "She has always been serious, but you must know that she is a bit of a prankster when she is in the mood. She isn't entirely unfun."

"Unfun, is that how I am, now?" Maple asked, pushing Millijoule's tail back. And again, her words defied her tone, which was now a little playful. "I'm focused on the task at hand. I don't... know who else can be sometimes. No offense, Brisa. Your team is just... a little distractible."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa couldn't keep herself from a sly smile.

"Truer words," she replied, drily. "I can't say I don't sometimes feel the same. Back when I thought this was gonna be a straightforward throwdown, I focused on training. Now that the size of things has outgrown my eyes, I've been double diggin' t'find answers and help and hold folks t'gether. It gets easy t'lose sight of the work my friends are doin'."

She recalled her conversation with Diyem, months before.

I did not hand-pick you.

I sent a message across the cosmos requesting a single, heroic spirit from anybody who may hear it, for me to borrow. You all are what I got in reply.

I was in no position to get something better.

"Diyem pulled folks at random t'help out here, gettin' only souls who chanced t'hear his call fer help and were willin' to answer. The team ain't exactly paragons like yer good self, but they've put their bodies on the line when it counted. They're heroes too."

And for the record, you have been the cause of very few of my annoyances.

It would be good to feel that way about herself. But . . . she didn't.

"So's Joule, the way I hear it," she added. "I swear t'you, I ain't ever givin' up on puttin' him right. Creation needs him, and by th'look of it, so d'you."

 

[Namohysip]

"Entirely at random," Maple summarized, nodding. "He must have truly been desperate to save this world to go that far. It does make me wonder... why. But... he is recovering now. I don't want to press him."

Millijoule gave Maple a curious look. "Quite the change of heart," he commented. "Had you met Diyem face to face a few months ago, I suspected you would have interrogated him regardless of the circumstances."

"Perhaps." Maple adjusted the hat-shaped fur on her head to partially cover her eyes. "He is Dark Matter, after all. But... he does not behave like the ones I usually see. The ones that are usually vanquished from worlds such as these."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Yeah, he's a peculiar one t'be sure," drawled Brisa. "I don't begrudge folks their suspicions, but I believe the bastard is sincerely tryin' to save this world. I tell ya, it was a pleasure t'see him put that warhammer to Giovanni's jaw."

She grinned wistfully for a moment. Almost as satisfying to see as Starr and Astrid shining together...

She shook herself free of the thought. "I mean to talk with him once he's taken a moment to rest and get done speakin' to others in the infirmary. I'll visit Starr and Astrid afore that, I reckon. It may be that he has more answers now that he's got more credibility in this world, and we know more about Giovanni's plans. After a fashion."

 

[Namohysip]

"Perhaps he'll have more to say now that he is properly in this world," Maple said. "He was always trying to watch from far away, but apparently he can see even less than we can that way, sometimes. Less than Buffet and Bean's efforts for sure..."

"Mm, I am curious what he has to say," Millijoule said. "Or perhaps he is already telling your team what he knows? Heavens forbid he trusts us immediately."

"We are opposites." Maple sighed. "And... I was not very friendly toward him. ...Wasn't very friendly toward anyone..."

Millijoule looked to Maple again, his light dimming.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa shook her head. "No, y'weren't. Neither was I, or a lotta folks in the posse. Neither was Diyem."

Who among the team had been pleasant, reasonable, and free of bad decisions, struggles and pain? Fucking nobody. Perhaps Cabot came the closest with his fervent optimism, but his talent was for battle plans, not team leadership.

"We gotta get fixin' to do better," said Brisa. "Just as soon as we solve our present problem, we need to go about things better'n we have. More trust in each other, fer starters. I confess I weren't so sure about you 'n' yer team at first, nor of Diyem, but I trust th'both of ya now."

She smiled, and there was a tiny hint of delphox slyness in it.

"Th'two of ya ain't totally unalike. Y'could bond over the pains of shepherding distractible pokémon, fer one. An' ya both exert yerselves to the point of exhaustion fer the sake of those without yer strength. I . . . look forward to seein' ya both work t'gether. Fer Cibus."

 

[Namohysip]

"Me, working together with Dark Matter," Maple said with a skeptical look in her eye. "I don't know if... I'm ready for that yet. He still tried to do... what happened to my home world. There are things about him that... will never stop reminding me of that."

"But, at the very least, you aren't trying to destroy him," Millijoule pointed out.

"Mm, I am not..." She toyed with part of Millijoule's tail, thoughtful. "I don't really know how to repair things. I've not had to interact with... others in this way in a long time. We rarely worked with other teams because we were simply too strong."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa flicked her tail in thought as she watched the odd couple. Strength, huh? Something occurred to her.

"Say, the two of you know Joule better'n anyone. I got a few questions about the fella, but most of all, I've been cogitatin': why d'you reckon he created the shades? Would he, could he have done that of his own will? Luz . . . my shade has said a few different things about 'em."

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't know," Maple replied.

"They appear to be based on his power, but I can't say for sure if it's only his at play," added Millijoule. "I would know, I'm based off of him. Joule isn't any ordinary Necrozma. Just as Maple is a Voice that was enchanted with light, Joule is a dragon of light enchanted with Life. Perhaps with that added corruption, he was able to split himself off... Could we all, then, simply be parts of Joule?" Millijoule hummed. "It is possible..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa scowled. It wasn't their fault that the answer wasn't reassuring, but...

"I've been worryin' about the fate of the familiars ever since they hatched," she admitted. "Are they gonna stick around? Mature into somethin' else? Return to Joule when the time comes? There's nobody we can ask, and I can't think of a way t'find out. But Luz and that infernape-shade callin' out to him . . . was enough to make him attack Giovanni. There's still a connection. I can't help but wonder if there's an answer in there somewhere."

 

[Namohysip]

"There's no telling what it was that convinced Joule to strike Giovanni," Maple said, "but compared to everything else, it was... fleeting. I don't think it will work again."

Millijoule shifted some, curling a little tighter around the table. "Mm. In the end, we are nothing but projections from within this core. I do not know what that means or how we came about... I fear that not even Joule may know. Perhaps I should submit myself for study with that Porygon-Z..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa sighed, and accepted the state of ignorance once again descending on her. It had become far too familiar a feeling.

"Fine, then. I also wanted to ask if y'knew of any weaknesses or strategies we could use, if we gotta fight Joule. I'd understand if'n y'hadn't shared everythin' to date, what with not everyone bein' set on an ideal outcome, or implicitly trustworthy so far."

 

[Namohysip]

"Joule... was not much of a fighter," Maple replied. "Or not in the traditional sense. He does not like to use his power unless as a last resort. Normally he is incredibly gentle... A bastion of light, not..."

"Yes, I do not have very many memories of using my power to destroy," Millijoule said. "Not commonly, at least."

"But I also know that Joule is very peculiar about how he goes about attacking," Maple added. "He enjoys using pure attacks. If he is blemished... He will usually try to rectify that first, and he's quite good at it..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa scratched her cheek fur and frowned.

"You talkin' about radiant corruption, gettin' dirt on his armour, or somethin' else? 'Cause I ain't safely assumin' anythin'."

 

[Namohysip]

Maple blinked, then chuckled a little. "I'm sorry," she said. "With everything that happens, I lost track of what it all means sometimes... I mean, in general, if someone tries to... Oh, how does he phrase it..."

"Throw me off my game," Millijoule said. "That's the new hip way to say it. Why, there is a very vivid memory I inherited from Maple of Joule losing an exposition match against someone because they kept Growling at him! Now, granted, he was holding back substantially, and it was more a matter of sparring, but the judges did find his opponent to be a better fighter."

"He has a habit of neutralizing anything that interferes with his attack before firing it off," Maple explained. "I don't know how much of that is still true of... what's become of him. But if there's even a small amount of Joule in there, maybe..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa grinned. "Ah. He's somethin' of a perfectionist, then? ...I think we can use that."

She tried to read the expression in Maple's eyes as the Voice talked about her lover and touched his doppelganger with affection. Even when Maple spoke critically of Joule, her depth of feeling for him was evident...

"What's it like?" Brisa found herself asking, unscripted. "Bein' . . . Bein' with each other?"

She bit her cheek, wishing she'd asked a perspicacious question about leadership, or something.

 

[Namohysip]

Maple didn't notice. She just stroked at Millijoule's back, thoughtful, wistful, and that distant look in her eyes meant that her mind had gone elsewhere for a precious few seconds. "I can't think of anything better," she replied simply.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Nothing better. Brisa accepted the answer. It was enough, though it did strange things to the space behind her ribs.

"We'll get him back," she said. "I promise. I consider it my duty."

Her tail twitched uneasily. She'd been meaning to learn something of duty from Blade since the incident that lost them Sword. Maybe now was the time?

"I . . . I would hear of leadership from you," she said. "Even if I can only make good use of what y'can teach me fer a short time, I'm fixin' to learn from ya..."

The words, once out of her mouth, only served to remind Brisa of how little time they had before facing Joule, how great the wealth of Maple's life experience was to hers, the fact that they'd barely had positive interactions between them until this moment. If this counted.

 

[Namohysip]

"Leadership?" asked Maple, tilting her head. Millijoule, too, seemed curious. "After the reputation I built for myself among your group of visitors, I'm... surprised you would seek me out for that sort of advice."

"Well, regardless of how you handles yourself, you're clearly the team leader now that Joule is away," Millijoule said. "Yes, Joule had the charisma... but you should not sell yourself so short."

Maple looked away. "The team does not exactly take kindly do me relative to him."

"But of course!" Millijoule said. "You are the enforcer. The one to keep them in line. The one who establishes the rules! Joule needed you. Otherwise, well, he would probably still be in a Growling match against that challenger."

"...What do you want to learn?" Maple said. "I do not know how to... teach leadership."