Rocky Road ~ House of Starr and Nate

[Namohysip]

"Flareon, huh," Silver repeated with an idle sigh. "Yeah. Figure there's a lot of fire there. And a Gyarados that can chill, huh? Talk about breaking trends." He glanced at Gengar, frowning as he oozed out of the refrigerator, dragging Weavile with him.

Silver sighed. "Other people are saying that we're, like, parallels, or something. I don't really see it. Like, sure, we're both Giovanni's kid, and we're both cats... but that's it. So what, you know?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr gave an impassive shrug and leaned against the wall. "I dunno if there really has to be that much more than that, just because we've got the same dad. I mean, I've got an actual brother back home, and I'm nothing like him," she added, making a face. "And no, he's nothing like you, either."

(Then again, a sibling was a little bit different than a straight-up alternate universe version of yourself, wasn't it.)

She let out a sigh, and let her eyes wander back to the team as they dug into their food. "So how'd you all get mixed up in all this Cibus and Telum bullshit, anyway? Something tells me you guys didn't have any sort of 'guardian angel' Voice of Darkness watching over you."

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmph..." Silver's arms crossed, briefly forgetting about his meal. Typhlosion tilted his head. "Yeah, we didn't have any help like that. I'm this Giovanni's kid, and I happened to gain access to the same tech that he used to world-hop. Been trying to chase him down for a while. But the Red you know, he isn't from my world. I don't think my world had a 'Red.' I found him during his world-hopping and he wanted to help. At least, I think he did... My Pokemon seemed to know more than I did. I'm not sure if you noticed, but he's..." Silver searched for the word. Like he was trying to find a nice way to say it. In the end, he failed. "Creepy."

 

[Negrek]

Starr was working on her defense, huh? Nate thought he had an idea of why that might be. Not that she'd thank him for bringing that up, especially not in front of Silver. Nate quietly followed him into the kitchen, going for a snack from the fridge himself. He hadn't realized Weavile and Gengar were in there earlier. Classic pokémon.

"Creepy, huh? Woulda said 'quiet,' myself," Nate said, frowning into the fridge. Looked like someone had eaten all the leftover pizza. Goddammit. "Now, the Red from my world, he's creepy. But the guy here seems nice enough. You ever battle him? I bet that'd be quite a fight."

 

[Namohysip]

"He's not a legendary trainer for no reason," Silver remarked, sighing. "We're partners and I think he appreciates that I'm helping. But I've never beaten him, not once." There was a hint of bitterness in his tone, but only for a moment. "The fact that you guys were able to take him on, even if it was something like thirty-to-seven, speaks to how strong he is. Especially since, apparently, he was trying to fight it, too. I don't think he actually got that much weaker even after he lost that corruption."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Yeah, gonna go out on a limb and say Red would've kicked our asses if it'd been a fair fight," Starr replied, guzzling more coffee. "Then again, he and his team were hopped up on Blacklight at the time, and that's usually like, the one thing we've got going for us."

Watching everyone eat was making Starr hungry. Sure, she was already planning to go out for food later, but if she wasn't going to nap now, she'd need something to hold herself over after that training session. So she went back to the fridge to hunt for something now that it wasn't half-full of Pokemon.

"Can definitely relate to the whole 'rival you could never beat' thing. Got a friend back home like that myself." Just how many times had she lost to Ajia? ...Come to think of it, she was also a champion trainer with an electric rodent for a team ace who'd showed up out of nowhere and humiliated Giovanni and... was Ajia her world's version of Red? What the hell.

"Wonder if any of us could beat him now that he's lost the corruption," Starr mused.

 

[Namohysip]

"Red has a talent for keeping skills he's seen from others, or something. Some kind of prodigy. I wouldn't be surprised if he found a way to keep some of that power even after it disappeared from him." Silver snorted. "Personally, I think it's crazy that some random Charizard can beat a Mewtwo. But here we are, huh? Apparently 'taking on a Mewtwo with a Charizard' is nostalgic to him."

 

[Negrek]

A charizard taking on a mewtwo, huh? Nate wondered if that had ever happened in his world. The whole thing with Red and Mewtwo was super sketchy in general. Nate still had no idea how Red could ever have beat him, since the power of friendship didn't mean shit against somebody who could explode your skull with a thought in his world.

"So you were all chasing Giovanni through different dimensions, huh?" He could see Rocky out of the corner of his eye, sidling closer and undoubtedly about to unload with a bunch of questions about Silver's cool space adventures. Before the familiar could butt in, Nate said, "That must have been something. How did that... happen? Uh, I mean, if Giovanni's your dad, didn't he try to get you on the team or nothing? How'd you end up fighting him instead? If, uh, that ain't too personal or nothing."

Shit. He probably should have let Rocky ask about what kinds of weird aliens he'd seen or whatever the fuck instead.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr let out a low chuckle. "Yeah, a Charizard taking out a Mewtwo wouldn't happen in a million years where I'm from. Even with Mega Evolution. Guess he's a good fit for this place."

Again, there was a small, weird part of her brain that wondered if she could beat him in a fair fight now. Damn Pokemon instincts.

 

[Namohysip]

"Didn't like what he was doing," Silver replied simply. "Used to be fine with it, but you know, he's kind of not all that focused on being a father when he's busy taking over the world. And then other worlds. I think he's lost sight of... everything. There's such thing as too much power." Silver's arms crossed. "I learned that one a while ago when I saw what happened to Mewtwo." There was a distant look in his eyes. "It was kind of by chance. But I met him. Before he became his... tool. I think he liked me, but then he got taken away to who knows where. And then the next time I saw him, years later, there was just nothing in his eyes. Something about that..."

 

[Negrek]

Nate's stomach gave a sick lurch. "Shit, really?" he said. "I thought that Mewtwo had always been like that. Like Giovanni made him to be that way from the start."

 

[Namohysip]

"He's still based on Mew," Silver said. "He still had feelings. But then... something happened to finish any gaps the scientists who worked on it missed. No idea what. Maybe just some therapy."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr gripped her coffee tighter. "Mewtwo got brainwashed in my world too. Some people ended up busting him free though, so I don't think he ever lost himself entirely the way this Mewtwo did."

And she still wasn't sure how to feel about that. Silver sounded a lot like Ajia and Jade--talking like Mewtwo needed to be free, but when it led to things like a corner of Viridian getting trashed...

 

[Negrek]

Therapy? Nate's mind went immediately to Diyem's torture-therapy he'd gotten from the Overseers. It had to be a coincidence, right? Silver had just chosen to use that word. And there was no reason for the Overseers to fuck around with some random mewtwo. It had to be something else. But Silver was kind of implying it hadn't been Giovanni that made the mewtwo the way he was, and that was pretty damn worrying.

"Your world too, huh?" Nate said. "Not in mine. Guess that's one of those things that can be different." All the shit the mewtwo in his world got up to was 100% on him.

"We got rid of the parasite that was possessing the guy, at least," Nate said. "I guess I don't know if that'll fix whatever else was going on with him, but hopefully. Maybe he'd like to see you after he wakes up."

Nate hadn't even considered that. But it was true, wasn't it, that the mewtwo had been emotionless even before shit went down on Telum. Maybe he wouldn't be better after all. Shit.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr's chest tightened, and she glanced between Nate and Silver. "If he'd already been brainwashed, then was the parasite even doing anything to mess with his head, or was it just... there. It's pretty different from the situation that happened with Owen or Maple, right?" Or with you.

 

[Namohysip]

"We don't really know, do we?" Silver asked. "I want to talk to him when I can. I may not have the same body, but he's a Psychic. Maybe he'll recognize my mind. If there's even a little bit of him left in there..."

Typhlosion scooched a little closer to Silver and he rubbed the starter's neck.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr gave a shrug, hoping to seem indifferent. "I guess if anything might jog his memory, it's a chat with another Mewtwo. Maybe there's some kind of connection there, who knows." It was the best they could hope for, anyway.

She glanced back at him and Typhlosion and felt a small pang in her chest. "So how long have you been a trainer, anyway?"

 

[Namohysip]

Silver thought about it, but it looked like he was having trouble remembering. Perhaps he was also wondering what sort of technicality fell into play when he was jumping worlds, or when he was actually a Pokemon... How did that all count?

"I guess I started as a proper trainer when I stole this guy from the lab." Silver glanced at Typhlosion. "I was kind of... uh... Long story. I mean, come on, Dad was the Team Rocket boss, so I had a little bit of entitlement about that kind of thing. Anyway, I guess if you count that as the day I started off my trainer journey... it's probably been, I dunno, five years at this point."

 

[Negrek]

"Oh, for real?" Nate said. "Guess it worked out just fine for you two, anyhow. I stole my first pokémon, too."

Wait. That was a fucking weird thing to be, like, bonding over or whatever the fuck, was it? Nate to a swig of beer to cover his cringe.

So Silver had started training five years ago. Jesus. Nate might be the oldest person here.

 

[Namohysip]

"Stole, huh?" Silver seemed less amused, but he didn't look interested in pressing Nate over it. He instead shrugged and leaned back. "Hmph... I just don't like sitting around feeling useless. But apparently now that I don't have any Blacklight power anymore, I'm useless against whatever's attacking Cibus. So that's annoying."