Poppin' Arms ~ Study

[Namohysip]

"Crobat..." Silver frowned, looking troubled. "I... don't remember... my team. It's... it's all a blank."

And despite everything, it seemed that this bothered Silver the most. He seemed genuinely troubled, much more than irritation, and he turned away so they couldn't see his face.

"Whatever. If they're my team then they know how to handle themselves. I'm not worried."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr's tail flicked from side to side, pensive. "Yeah. I miss my team too. Can't imagine if I couldn't remember them."

 

[Negrek]

Nate grimaced. Yeah, that was fucking rough. Though maybe it would be nicer not to remember them and not realize what you were missing... Until some asshole went and reminded you, at least.

"Yeah, I mean, they're fucking champions. I'm sure they won't have any trouble. And if they do happen to be around, for sure we'll recognize them. Ain't like there's bound to be too many champion-level crobat or sneasel or, uh, gengar"--shit shit shit he really didn't know the Johto League that well, he was not prepared for a fucking quiz--"or anybody like that knocking around. So if we see them, it'll be easy to send them back to you. But yeah. I'm sure they're doing fine and would call you a dumbass if you were worried."

 

[Namohysip]

"Maybe they'll recognize me, somehow," Silver remarked, though his tone suggested he wasn't really invested in the answer. He just wanted to know if they were around, and he wasn't sure why. "...Whatever. Not important. So, what, are we done here? I guess tomorrow I'll bring this up with the so-called Smeargle. She's not dumb enough to attack me, is she?"

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah. If you still ain't remembering much else, there ain't much more we can do here, I don't think." He shot the litten an uneasy glance. Daughter of fucking Giovanni, huh? Somehow he doubted she'd want to talk much about that, but holy actual shit. She must have some fucking wild stories. "And nah, I don't think Maple'll zap you. Don't see why she would."

Nate hung around awkwardly. What he really wanted to ask was... Well, no, what he wanted to do was pick Silver's brain a bit. Never mind all the Team Rocket stuff, how often did you get the chance to talk with one of the big champions? And all the other trainers he'd faced, shit! The guy had to have taken on Red at some point, maybe even Lance. More crazy fucking stories. Shame about the whole amnesia thing. For now he really ought to leave the poor guy alone.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr nodded distractedly. "Yeah. Maple told us she'll spill the rest of the story tomorrow, so I'm damn well gonna hold her to it. You might be able to get some more info from her then. Especially since her squad's been studying the machine you were in." Until then, probably best to finally give him some peace.

Starr adjusted her bag a raised a paw to Silver and Nate. "Be seeing ya," she said before heading out.

 

[Namohysip]

Silver said nothing and went back to his book. "Yeah. I'm tired anyway. Something about this body is... making me want to find a good, quiet place to curl up and nap for a while..." He tried to shake it off, but that was proving less and less successful as the minutes passed. All the stress of prodding at half-complete memories must have taken a lot out of him.

 

[Disco]

All of that had gone over Mellow's head completely. Whatever a Rocket was, it sounded bad. Was a Rocket another species that wasn't on her planet? It seemed plausible, with how there were Humans and other species that she didn't know existed until she came here. But looking at other two that were still there, maybe it was better not to press it.

Instead she went back to her own research to see what there was to eat here.

 

[Negrek]

It was nice to have a few days to relax, take a load off after the particularly bullshit battle and all it had entailed. Nate didn't have much recovering to do--for whatever reason he hadn't felt like getting real into the thick of things, and it wasn't as though he was hitting any post-evolution fatigue, either. He couldn't just lie around forever; there was far too much bullshit swirling around out there that somebody had to try and get to the bottom of. More than anything, his mind kept wandering back to that second fucking Mewtwo... and who exactly might have some thoughts on him.

The Guild wasn't exactly his favorite place to be under the best of circumstances, and now apparently a large proportion of the team were more or less bedridden, thus always fucking there, and with minders, too. Nate didn't have the first idea where else to go looking for the cosmog, though, so that was going to be his first stop. Apparently there was supposed to be some hugeass party for the conquering heroes or whatever the fuck--exactly where Nate didn't want to be and, better yet, a time when the dorms would probably be empty.

The guild certainly seemed quieter than usual when Nate showed up. He ducked past reception and into the real living area, and only got turned around a couple times in search of the study he'd found Silver in before. Kind of a dumb idea--it wasn't like the guy lived in the study or nothing, and who the hell knew, maybe he'd gone off to the fucking party, but maybe he'd show up in a while, or someone who knew him would.

 

[Namohysip]

And yet, there he was, on the table. His pompoms were gently waving in the gentlest breezes within the building, perhaps from the air vents that ran through the ceiling. The lower quarter of his body was hanging off of the edge, while the rest of him was flat on a book...

But he wasn't asleep. The rhythmic breathing wasn't there, and he occasionally shifted or rubbed at his eyes. He must have been deep in thought.

He made a small noise of interest, then floated off the table. "...Oh, you." Silver lowered himself until he was only floating a foot off the table. "Heard there's a party. No surprise you're here instead. You're one of the sane ones."

 

[Negrek]

"Ha. Yeah. A party like that ain't really my scene." Nate didn't really put a lot of stock in Silver's idea of sanity, given that instead of partying he'd decided to hang out with a bunch of fucking books. Did the guy really never leave here? "So," Nate said, scrambling into a chair across from the pom-pom pokémon. "You hear about the wild shit that went down when we were fighting Dialga and Palkia and all?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I've heard bits and pieces about it," Silver replied, returning to the chair seat, which he floated a few inches above. "Not the details, though. I think everyone was too busy trying to recover. Something about an ambush, and apparently Dad decided he'd cut out the middle man and become the ultimate Pokemon instead."

 

[Negrek]

"Ah, yeah. So Team Rocket made a Mewtwo in your world, too, huh?" Like, yeah, if you had a Mew, and you had genetic engineering, why wouldn't you go and create a murderous superclone? It was just so obvious... apparently.

 

[Namohysip]

"Probably. I know the species... It didn't surprise me that it existed. So I'm pretty sure mine made one, too." Silver huffed, thoughtful. "I get the feeling I shouldn't let this world's Mewtwo know about that. Might rip me into... little stardust piles, or something."

 

[Negrek]

"Dunno if this world's got a Mewtwo," Nate said pensively. "Like, no humans, no Mewtwo, right? There's that carrot guy lurking around, but supposedly he's from somewhere else, like you and me. I guess maybe don't go talking with him, yeah. Seems like he's got as much sense of humor as a sharpedo with a toothache." Or like a certain other asshole Mewtwo Nate could name.

"Not super important though. Bad enough Giovanni got an actually good pokémon form to roll with, I guess he brought some master balls with him, too. He captured a... I guess it was a necrozma. Like the big cat guy on our team, except in a different form. I was kinda wondering if you remembered anything at all about his plan. Like, what the fuck is he doing in a world full of pokémon? You think he's going on a catching spree, or maybe after something specific?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmph... Not a clue." Silver sighed. "I don't remember anything about what led up to me becoming a ball of glowing dust, and I barely remember the basics of what life used to be like for me. I can't even remember what my team was, only that I had one. For all I know, they're... No, they're fine. Stupid for me to think they aren't. Maybe right now, they're trying to save the world while I'm just sitting around..."

 

[Negrek]

"Oh, yeah, they probably are. That's pokémon for you," Nate said. Poor bastard. "Doesn't look like you're 'just sitting around' to me, though. I mean you've been doing all this research, you know. Reading all these books." He couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the one Silver had open on the table. "What're you looking for, anyway? What d'you think you're gonna find in there that'll help you out?"

 

[Namohysip]

"No idea. But it's better than nothing, and I don't really know if I want to go walking around a place where a strong Pokemon's sneeze would scatter me to the wind." He waved his left pompom as a demonstration, showing that, indeed, a little bit of stardust fell away when he moved. "So far, though, I haven't been getting anything. And I don't really know what more to read, so... I guess my next step would be trying to get stronger. Somehow."

 

[Negrek]

Yeah, this was, what, like the third time the guy had mentioned being worried about somebody offing him, one way or another. It looked like the form he'd gotten stuck with wasn't all that powerful, but still... Kinda weird nonetheless. "Well, I guess you're in luck, since making pokémon stronger is kind of my job. Trainer and all that." He smiled. "Is there anything you've found out you can do? Tried using any attacks?"

 

[Namohysip]

Silver looked him over with a hint of recollection. Right, Nate was someone who used tot be human--one of those ones. The idea of training under a human seemed... odd, though, to Silver. What better time to try than now, though?

"I can Teleport," Silver said. "I did it on accident at first. I wanted to get to a book that was too high for me to float to, and I accidentally appeared on the rooftop..."

He looked reluctant. "And there's one other thing I can do, but you have to promise not to laugh. It actually does damage."