Treasure Town ~ Marowak Dojo

[unrepentantAuthor]

She knew about Curio. Not just the explosion, the Radiant Arrest. How the fuck did she know that? Did Astrid tell her? Did Curio? Who else knew?

"What? Beating- yeah of course this is about that. Do you even know what I did? How it happened?"

Gods, what if everyone knew? They'd... they'd realise. They realise what she was like. you're a violent animal a violent animal you can't control yourself violent animal Brisa stifled her thoughts with a strained noise. She could still manage to explain.

"Look. What I did... I messed up so bad I don't know what to do with myself. Not that you'd know what that feels like."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Not that you'd know what that feels like."

The words were a punch to the face out of nowhere, and contrasted so sharply with Brisa's downright pathetic demeanor that it took Starr a good few seconds to register that no, she really had just heard that. It took every ounce of willpower to keep the whiplash off her face, drawing on every last bit of training, all the times it'd been drilled into her head that you do not break composure when confronting the enemy.

...

She had the nerve to act like she knew what that felt like?! When it was a mistake?! She didn’t have to look at herself and the person she’d chosen to be and turn her back on all of it, even while knowing that all of that was still her and always would be! She thought an accident could compare to that?!

But Starr couldn’t say any of that. Not to her. So she just grit her teeth and said, “It's stupid to get bent out of shape over a mistake.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

'Stupid.' This gal really didn't get it, huh?

"That sure ain't how I see it," she said, staring Starr in the eye. As she did, all thought of her apology burned away, as her hackles started to rise. "I hurt Curio, goddamnit. I hurt her bad. Because I lost control. Because I'm..."

Brisa made a strangled noise in her throat and tried not to spark up. "It was a mistake, so I don't have to feel like shit about it. Is that how you see it? How you can go about things the way you do? You hurt someone, you call it a mistake, you feel okay about it? I can't just fuckin' do that."

 

[Chibi Pika]

You hurt someone, you call it a mistake, you feel okay about it?

There was a sudden, sickening flash of white-hot guilt burning away at her insides.

'Feel okay about it.' She'd never feel okay about that. No amount of pain could ever make up for it. Never, never, never, never.

And seeing Brisa standing in front of her, throwing a fucking pity party over something that could never even remotely compare to that... it was a goddamn insult.

“Do you honestly think that you know anything at all about me?” she said, her voice cold and quiet, sharp as a knife. "You think you can stand there and tell me that I don't know what that feels like?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

What did she know about Starr? She'd put down Cynthian as a 'snivelling coward' and fought over it rather than apologise. Played loose with Turf's life when they still knew nothing about shades and would've fought Brisa rather than apologise. And now Starr was condescending to lecture Brisa about when was appropriate to feel remorse when guilt and shame were Brisa's nightly companions.

Well.

She'd teach her how to feel sorry.

Brisa growled and sparked. "If you tell yourself it's 'okay to make mistakes' so you don't gotta take responsibility for the hurt you lay on others, well, maybe I had the right idea about you in the first place after all."

 

[Chibi Pika]

The shock had faded. The next blow was nothing but a dull sting. Nothing she hadn't already told herself, but with none of the precision.

Starr gave Brisa an unimpressed stare, almost like she was disappointed. "Why do I even fuckin’ bother. You seriously don't even give a shit when someone's trying to help, do you?" She felt a sudden flicker of anger, but not for her own sake. "Where the hell were you when Curio felt like shit, huh? Why was I the one who had to pick her up?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Starr with Curio. Starr had helped Curio? But Curio still hadn't talked to Brisa. What had they said to each other.

Her vision closed in and the chatter of the world outside seemed to hush itself to make room for the droning in Brisa's head. Starr had comforted Curio, and things still weren't right, and Brisa had tried to talk to Curio, and here was Starr, saying shit like that-

"You think Curio wanted me to hang around her after that? I fuckin'- I went to her, goddamnit. For all I know, she's never gonna talk to me again. I can't just... just dance back into her life like it's okay. Y-you- What the fuck do you expect of me?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

There was that pain in her eyes again. Jesus, Brisa was tearing herself to pieces over literally nothing, and it was the weirdest thing in the world, and Starr almost, almost, would have felt sorry for her, if she weren't projecting that crap all over Starr just so she could feel like the better person for punching herself in the face over something so stupid. And Starr wasn't gonna humor that.

"What the fuck do you expect of me?"

Echoes. Words spoken long ago. Drifting to the foreground.

“It’s for her own good.”
“…Kinda sounds more like you’re doing it to hurt yourself.”
“Yeah, well, what would you know.”

They were the same. And yet...

Starr turned away. "Sounds like you saw that she needed space and used that as an excuse to hide from your fuckup so you didn't have to worry about putting it right. That's the easy path." She wasn't entirely speaking to Brisa.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Starr couldn't even look her in the eye. And she was the one hiding? Brisa was the one who'd wanted this fucking meeting in the first place!

"I'm hidin' from nothin'," Brisa spat. "If you'd fought me back at the Bluff, or hell, on our first day? We'd be square by now. But no. Instead we gotta avoid each other instead of havin' it out. You're the type that spits fightin' words and then turns tail so you don't have to back 'em up."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr was quiet for a long while. It would've been so, so easy to act on it. But. But that’s what she would’ve done before.

"I got nothing to prove to you. You already think I'm scum no matter what I say, what's a battle supposed to do."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

No, no, salt and sand, don't get to this point and back away from a fucking fight again. Gods. She needed to fight Starr more than she needed to fucking eat or sleep or breathe just please no more of this stalling bullshit! Fuck the apology. Brisa would give Starr an apology when she'd bitten the goddamn dust.

fight me fight me fucking kick my teeth in get your claws in me put me to the fire hurt me hurt me hurt me

"I thought you’d jump at the chance for a fight," she snarled. "Guess not. Makes sense though: from what I hear, humans like you don't fight, you're happy to let pokémon fight for you."

 

[Chibi Pika]

God, fucking--

Starr was trying. She was trying so hard to just ignore the torrent of bullshit. It was the stupidest comeback in the world. Fucking textbook trainer smack-talking that wouldn't even mean anything if not for all the everything else. Her friends would be disappointed. They'd tell her it wasn't worth it, and she'd believe them, but they weren't here. The only one who was here was this dysfunctional bitch with a hard-on for aggravated assault.

There were a million things she could've said. All of them hollow, meaningless. It was like nothing existed but them.

Starr turned around to face Brisa. "So go on then."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

It was like only the two of them were real.

Brisa made a sound that was somewhere between the word "alright!" and a battlecry.

This was too personal for a shock.

This warranted teeth.

She charged forward, unheeding of her tired body, her living lightning at her mouth.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr was braced and yet the blow still came like a dump truck, slamming her back a good few feet while she struggled to keep her footing. Stabbing pain dug into her shoulder and she grit her teeth as muscles spasmed with the sting of lightning. She crouched low, tilting her body to throw the Shinx off-balance, but she was still holding tight.

Had to get free, had to use speed, get the chance to set up, she wouldn't stand a chance in a mindless brawl.

The Litten flared up, embers bursting to life across her back, spreading, in Brisa's face, in her mouth, but she still wouldn't let go, dammit. So she stopped pulling away and reversed, slamming her shoulder into Brisa's face so the flares got in her eyes. A moment's relex gave her the leeway to slip away like water through fingers and then she was off, tearing across the dojo floor in a blaze of red, feeling the inner fire boosting her movement.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

The relief and catharsis of a real fight with Starr, finally, was almost enough to dull Brisa's anger. But not entirely.

The tactical part of her mind came to life in a scattered sparking, barely-used of late. She wouldn't be given the opportunity to wail on Starr unhindered, so she'd need to be smart. If she could paralyse and slow the fucking litten, that would be enough to let her close into a melee. Thunder Wave it was.

She fired off a burst of paralysing electricity, her fur glimmering as she did.

 

[Chibi Pika]

A wave of sparks surged across the floor, and even the moment's contact with each footfall was enough to send the tingling wave of energy creeping up Starr's legs, settling into her muscles, dulling her movements. "Ngh..." Just when she thought she had the speed advantage. She could push past it, build up more and more boosts until even the sparks couldn't slow her down, but that'd take time, and Brisa would catch her before then, and--

No time for thinking. Her thoughts zeroed in on her training, routines drilled endlessly until they became second nature. When escape gets cut off, strike the enemy head on to force an opening.

Starr turned abruptly, letting the fire flare up again before shooting straight at Brisa, aiming to intercept her from the side.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Starr adapted so fast. She was bold, fearless. Salt and sand, they should have been battling from the day they'd arrived. This was the opponent she'd hoped for, oh yes.

Brisa's mind was back on automatic tactical analysis now. Half a dozen options ripped through her brain and she came up with an unusual response. Meet the attack with a full body electrified tackle. The move called Spark. It wasn't one of her well-practiced moves, but it didn't need to be. She'd conserve stamina, weather the blow, and secure a melee.

Her body bristled with power, each strand of fur lighting up with the electricity, and she charged Starr. She was committed to her own assault, and would not stop.

They met in a thudding collision of fire and lightning, and the impact filled her heart with a fierce joy. This was what she'd waited for.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Fire licked at the edges of Star's vision. Brisa had pivoted to head her off with an electrical tackle. Good, approaching from the side worked--no fangs this time, no risk of a lock. The hit was gonna suck, but it wasn't a game-ender.

The two met with a heavy impact, sparks and flares crashing, mingling, knocking the two back from each other. Jolts of pain shot through Starr's body as she fought to keep her bearings. She coughed hard, slightly winded. Still, not as much force as she expected. Was Brisa conserving energy, or just out of it from earlier? Either way, Starr had managed to put a bit of distance between them. She felt that second wave of heat rising within her, keeping her moving despite the occasional spasm of paralysis.

This wasn't Brisa fighting at her best. She had to take advantage of that. "Shoulda known your strats would be real basic, you're a Pokemon!" she called out before boosting herself with another rush of flames. Just had to keep moving, avoid the lock, setup, and win.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Fierce joy gave way to fierce anger. She forced herself to breathe despite the tightness in her chest. She'd thought that at least Starr would respect her combat ability. Goddamnit, goddamnit, fucking salt and fucking sand YES she was a fucking pokémon! Why wasn't that enough?

"I'm not human. I'm sorry I'm not human! This is all that I am! Can't you love me this way?"

"I know. I know you're not human." {You're a violent animal.} "You're a pokémon."

You're a violent animal.

Brisa was too experienced to lose sight of the flow of combat, even exhausted and in a maddened rage. She knew she was going to lose unless something changed in the matchup. Starr would keep accelerating, and Brisa didn't have the means to keep up or slow her down. She couldn't compound the paralysis, and Scary Face would just let Starr keep coming with fiery charges. She didn't have the stamina left.

You violent animal.

If they'd fought when they'd been meant to fight, she'd have been happy to lose. Starr was such a dynamic, brilliant foe, there would have been no shame in it. But now, holding this much fury in her heart? She needed to win more than anything. She'd do anything.

Violent. Animal.

"You're dead meat," she breathed, almost meaning it.

Brisa's fur gleamed with something other than electricity as she summoned the flickering bars of radiant light.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Beams of light rose up in front of Starr, and she only barely managed to skid to a stop before she crashed right into them. She pivoted around to turn back, but the bars were all around her. Bars. Curio had said-- This was her Radiance.

Starr turned and stared Brisa dead in the eyes. If this was the universe's idea of a cruel joke, they couldn't have chosen better.

There wasn't a hint of emotion on Starr's face when the lightning struck.

Another time. A world far away.
A girl lay on the floor of the cell, twitching.
How long had it been? There was no end in sight.
Another finger snap. Another spasm.
First screaming. Then crying. Then pleading. No mercy. Do not. You can't.
She deserved it. It was her fault. None of this was necessary.
Is THAT what you tell yourself?
IS IT???

Rays of light shone through the bars. A blinding brilliance at the center of the cage, burning ever brighter. A wave of unbridled fury spread through her body, mingling with the Radiance, filling her with its power, setting her ablaze.

"You BITCH!" Starr screamed as she tore forward, radiant claws cleaving through the bars.