Rocky Road ~ House of Brisa, Dave, Koa, and Owen

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa stirred from her bed where she'd been idly watching the news on her badge and called out a reply.

"Just about, partner. There somethin' yer rarin' t'do?"

She dropped herself onto the floor and padded into the living area, offering Koa a weary smile.

 

[Flyg0n]

"I finally did it!" he said, his voice bubbling over with excitement. He practically bounded up to her, bouncing on his paws.

"I finally did that thing you guys do, where you can transform into those cool new forms!" Of course it had taken him considerably longer than anyone else but he wasn't about to let that spoil the moment. "Did you see in that battle against Eien?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa couldn't help but grin, as the kid did his frenetic dance of pride and joy.

"I saw somethin', sure. Bit hectic t'take a close study of it. Reckon y'can shift into it at will?"

Her tail flicked eagerly. She couldn't help it, it was fun to see new combat powers!

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa nodded, his face contorting with concentration. He'd practiced briefly earlier, just to see if he still could. Closing his eyes, he focused as hard as he could.

Memories swirled through his mind, of the fight, of shadows and darkness. With some difficulty he focused instead on the sensation he'd had when he first changed, clinging to Echo, making a desperate promise.

A moment later he felt his body shift, growing larger and stronger, bigger too. He opened them again and flashed a grin at Brisa from his new form. "So what do you think?" he asked, his voice slightly deeper. "Sick, right?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nodded, smiling warmly. "I'm impressed, Koa. Unleashin' yer Blacklight ain't just a neat combat trick, it shows real personal growth. I take it you've been facin' some of those inner demons of yers, hm?"

She weighed up whether to open a celebratory bottle of something strong. How old was Koa, like, sixteen or something? Younger? Shit, that was probably too young. Sure, she'd started drinking when she was his age, but she'd had excuses for that. She'd gathered by now that kids in most worlds didn't touch a drop until they were older than that.

She decided to let the kid respond first and then prompt him for a good celebratory option.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa nodded, the memory of the fight lingering, as well as his earlier conversation with Echo. He chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess so."

How did he explain it to Brisa without sounding like an idiot? Did it really matter? It was Brisa he was talking to. She'd seen him be plenty stupid before anyway.

"Actually, Echo helped me realize. I was-" he hesitated for a second, old habits making him want to make up an excuse or tell some kind of half-truth. "I was obsessed with trying to be perfect. I guess I thought maybe if I was... I don't know what I thought. Maybe everyone would like me or something." He shrugged, the motion feeling strange in his new body.

"But I do know that's never gonna happen. It's stupid. I can't actually be perfect and... Well Echo said I'd have a better chance of flying. So I guess I'm trying to just be okay with that or whatever."

It felt weird, admitting it out loud to someone other than Echo. A phantom sort of pain still lingered in his chest just thinking about it, but it wasn't as intense as it used to be. He flashed a grin. "I'm part fighting-type now by the way."

He hadn't even properly tested the limits of his new form yet. He wondered how he'd fare against Brisa now...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa couldn't help but laugh. But it wouldn't do to have Koa think she didn't take him seriously, so she put out a paw and patted his shoulder in as reassuring a way as she could.

"Look, buddy, if'n y'were 'perfect'..." she caught herself, and shook her head. "Ah, you already have it figured out well enough, I take it. I'm glad. And hey, maybe cool it on the self-exertion. That's a fun way t'destroy yerself, an' I'd know."

She looked him up and down again. The way he held himself sure had something of Fighting energy, for sure.

"You do anythin' with this yet?" she asked, grinning. "I wanna put ya through yer paces in the Colo."

 

[Flyg0n]

"Not yet," he said, flashing a dangerous grin. A colosseum fight, huh? He'd watched plenty, but never had the chance to do any himself. But he idea was awfully appealing. "Bet I could take on almost anything now though."

His thoughts drifted briefly the colosseum, and who he'd fight. One image popped into his mind, one he'd been thinking about for some time.

Giratina.

The name both made him excited, and somewhere beneath that excitement, a hint of fear.

"We should do some more training. Maybe I could take you on like this," he said, trying to size her up. He was bulkier than her now, and he had a feeling he could take more hits in this form that his regular one. Although she still had a slight edge in height, if he stood up... Yeah, that would definitely be fun to try.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa chuckled. "If you want yer ass kicked, I'm happy to oblige," she drawled. "But aside from that, I do a lotta Legendary matches. Could have you along fer one of those sometime. Reckon you'd be a dab paw."

She stretched, cracked her neck, and transformed seamlessly into her zeraora form, Blacklight rippling along her body as she changed. Her body mass was a little less like this, but she stood taller, and she could properly crack her knuckles. Fuck yeah.

"So, how about it?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa scowled playfully. "Please, you can't even push me over when I'm like this. You wouldn't stand a chance." He reared up and thumped his paws on the floor for emphasis. "Got quite a few pounds on you too."

The thought of being able to face a legendary was still pretty crazy. The feats he'd seen Brisa and her teammates pull off were far beyond anything he could've done back home.

His gaze grew more serious, his eyes glinting with excitement. "I'm down for it."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa thought about putting Koa through the wall just for fun, and thought better. The house wasn't the right place for roughhousing.

"Well, let's save the practical testin' fer the designated location! But sure. Let's do some drills and get you scheduled fer somethin' fun. Just you let me see what I can whip up fer us. Fightin' type, hmm... Maybe Poffin..."

Brisa mused on the notion of Koa fighting alongside her for fun for once, and not the fate of the world. Her mane crackled with enthusiastic electrical sparks.

 

[Flyg0n]

The look it Brisa's eyes made Koa want to try and dunk her on the spot, and he wondered if she was thinking the same. Still, Dave and Owen probably wouldn't appreciate dents in the walls and half the house wrecked.

"Guess we'll just have to go to the training rooms sometime." His eyes suddenly lit up as an idea struck him. "Maybe you could even show me that levitating thing you do! I bet I could pull it off. And uh," he chuckled awkwardly. "Who's Poffin again?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Magnet Rise?" said Brisa, deeply satisfied at Koa's desire to learn. "Sure. Don't see why y'couldn't pick that one up yerself!"

She shrugged off the zeraora form, and lounged comfortably on her side. "Slaking Poffin's the Guild's head enforcer. Salamence Protein's the head scout. Haven't seen either of 'em in th'Colo yet. Or... We could take on Lugia Meringue an' Ho-oh Brulée. Type advantage counts fer a lot, y'know."

She smirked a little at the thought of obliterating a pair of aspirants. That competitive streak of hers had really sprouted on Cibus, huh...

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa nodded along as she listed off potential opponents. Half of his mind was already thinking up strategies and moves he could try. But really, he didn't care much who he faced. As long as he had Brisa and his friends with him, that was enough.

<><>><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

There was a new system in place for Owen being able to get into his home. first, cal would go inside and fetch his Poke Ball. She'd withdraw him, go inside, and then resummon him there. Thankfully, the bedroom itself was large enough that, while it wasn't nighttime, he could go about as he pleased from there, and he even got better at rolling around even while contained. Unfortunately, he was still hopelessly large.

At the moment, Owen was squinting at a book too small for his face, reading through the comic as he always did. He must have been used to it.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa made his way home, for once feeling mostly relaxed. No mysteries, no crisises, no apocalypses.

How strange my life has turned... Only months ago he was just a trainer, hoping to meet a legendary. Now he saw them everywhere. The thought was disconcerting for sure. Grabbing a snack from the fridge, he headed for his room.

To his surprise, Owen was home. He'd gotten used to seeing the giant Charizard taking up half the house, but he also knew Owen spent a lot of his time out and about. It also occured to him he'd hardly had a proper conversation with his roomates in sometime. "Hey Owen," he said as he walked in, slipping by him and to his own bed. "What are you reading?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hey, Koa," Owen greeted without looking back. He probably 'saw' him all the same anyway. "Just a comic. Latest issue came out. It's too bad I won't really be around to see how it ends, but at least I'll forget all about it anyway. Maybe I can ask around when I remember things how it ended."

Cal must have gone someplace else, or was relaxing in the storage closet for nostalgia.

Owen closed the book and turned around, slowly so he didn't knock anything over. "How've you been?" he asked.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa flopped and stretched. "I've been-" Well, not much point in lying, was there? Owen would be able to tell. Besides, hiding things at this point was stupid. They'd been fighting together for months. And there wasn't much time left. "Tired, I guess. Kind of weirded out," he added. Echo had woken him up that morning by landing on his head and he'd almost been ready to launch him across the room. And even when Kora had surprised him earlier he'd almost attacked him on instinct.

"It feels weird still, not preparing for some kind of crazy battle. I mean, I guess we are but... the moon is in its normal place. Nobody is trying to kill us. Feels weird," he muttered with a shrug.

And maybe he missed it.

 

[Namohysip]

"After all this time being in peril and worrying about the world's safety, it's gonna take some time to wind down," Owen agreed, sighing as he curled and then folded his wings. "When you spend over half a year so used to this kind of active fighting... It's hard to shake that. And you're so young, too. It takes up a big portion of your life, from your perspective, huh?"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa tipped his head to the side. "I guess I don't think of it like that," he said finally. "Or didn't? Everyone says I'm young. Dave seemed upset about that," he mused with a chuckle. "But I just feel... normal. Back home, all the kids my age would get to go traveling and training Pokemon. I mean, until recently, kids could leave on their journey's when they were twelve." There was a note of bitterness to his tone. He quickly moved on.

"It sort of sounds like kids where I'm from are different, maybe?" he sighed. The multiverse so confusing.