Treasure Town ~ Woodland Outskirts

[Negrek]

Nate wasn't exactly the woodsy type, but if you wanted any privacy around this place, pretty much the only way to get it was to head for the trees. If even that was enough; apparently some members of their party came out here to kill and eat other pokémon, despite there being basically any kind of fucking food you could want back in town, one of the charmander was like starting a fucking farm or something, and that was besides the usual people out training or looking for berries or whatever the fuck. Nate followed the rough footpaths until Treasure Town's buildings were well out of sight, then turned and plunged into the undergrowth, striking out for parts unknown. It completely fucking sucked, with his bag snagging on branches and briars, and both those same smacking him in the fucking face all the time because he was fucking tiny, but he dragged his way along grimly until he felt he was far enough out of the way that nobody was going to bother him. Nobody except maybe one of the "feral" pokémon some of the members of the team went on about, and wasn't that a fucking weird concept.

Nate sighed and shrugged out of his pack, resting it up against the side of a tree, and dug out the weird knobbly rock that now contained a shade. He set it on the ground in front of him and sat back to rest a moment rubbing idly at a stinging cut left by a particularly nasty twig. "Hey. How's the weather in there?"

The rock twitched a little. Nate got what felt like a general sense of contentment from it. It seemed like ever since the shade had joined up with that rock, he'd started to feel like he could sense its emotions or something, like it'd gone a little bit psychic. Handy, maybe? He wished he knew what it meant.

"Well, like I said, don't get too comfortable, okay? I dunno how long it's safe for you to stay in there. I got berries and shit for when you get hungry." Of course, the shade might not need to eat at all, if it was feeding on some kind of energy in the rock itself. Nate picked the stone back up and examined it, feeling it shudder now and again in his hands. It sure didn't look like anything special. Hard to imagine there was an infinite energy wellspring or some shit in there.

It really did feel familiar. Nate tossed the stone gently, smiling to himself. It was a stupid fucking idea, but, well, why the fuck not. "Go!" he said, and hurled the rock as hard as he could.

It wasn't a good throw by any stretch of the imagination. Tiny fucking arms again--he couldn't even reach far enough to hoist the rock over his head and chuck it that way. It landed with a thud a couple feet away and tumbled over sluggishly, once, twice, before coming to rest in the leaf litter nearby.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Skara still wasn't clear on how much time they had before being relocated to Destiny Village. Probably any day now, now that their missing teammates had been brought back in one piece. All the more reason to try and get to the bottom of this slug nonsense now, then. Chip's visit and the subsequent events had been informative, certainly, but her own efforts had been a little less than fruitful. She had a stone, she had a jar, she'd even made sure to bring along some spare berries. Every time she'd tried to question the thing, figure it out, though, something had just been... off.

One would think that the shades that had been controlling towering legendaries would be the terrifying lot. She'd heard tell that some of them had only been collected after their captors had to dodge furious garchomp and typhlosion. Something about that one little shade still gnawed at her all the same, and the more she'd prodded it, the harder she found it to push out of her mind.

The roserade-not-roserade, half melting into darkness, pointing a searing solar beam right at her, too far gone to hear anything she'd said—

She didn't blame Cynthian for it, she reminded herself for the twenty-eighth time. He hadn't been himself. It was the shade, after all.

It was just like all the others. There was no reason for her to treat it any differently, for her to assume its responses (such as they were; she was still terrible at interpreting those, or whether it was actually responding to her at all) would be any different from any other shade's. But...

She had no idea where the shade currently nestled in her satchel had come from. One of the other patrols might've found it sometime around the Cynthian incident, maybe? Something like that. It was probably better that she didn't know, at any rate. Much easier to be detached. Efficient. Get out of town to someplace quieter and get down to business before another distraction cropped up.

Someone shouted, something thumped, and Skara was sufficiently distracted. Wasn't that the mudkip's voice? What was he doing out here?

"Hello?" she asked, inching tentatively closer to him. "What's going on?"

 

[Negrek]

(( Ooh, interesting spin on things. It has been hinted that there are differences between the various slugs, I think... ))

Nate dashed over to the rock at the sound of a voice, scooping it up against his chest and then turning to glare back at the bushes. That bug he'd seen around a couple times before was patiently creeping her way through the undergrowth. He wished he knew what kind of pokémon that was. Maybe one they didn't have in his world at all?

"What? Nothing. What the fuck are you doing here?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

That was... brusque. It was just a question. Based on what Skara had overheard so far, though, it seemed like that was just business as usual for him? Huh. "I was just looking for a quiet place to finally do some research," she said, pausing now that she could see him clearly. "I haven't been having much luck trying to figure out these shade creatures, so I thought that someplace further away from all those distractions might lead me to a breakthrough." She clicked thoughtfully as she noticed the familiar stone hugged to the mudkip's chest. "...Is that what you were doing?"

 

[Negrek]

Somebody else looking for a quiet spot? Goddammit, there were too many goddamn pokémon in this goddamn forest. "I mean, kinda," Nate said warily. "The mewtwo said something about these rocks being kinda like pokéballs, so I was testing it out a bit, you know?"

He tried to think back to the dojo. The bug had been there, right? He'd been kind of distracted by fucking Mewtwo... He couldn't recall whether she'd put her shade into a rock or not. "You put your shade in one of these stones, too? Mine hasn't been too talkative since then. Just kinda... rolls around a bit."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Truth be told, Skara hadn't really thought about the implications of the stones being similar to objects from the others' worlds. A few rapid, confused clicks, and then: "I guess they did say that... does that mean that there are shades in your world? Or something like them? Do 'poké balls' make shades easier to manage where you're from?"

He seemed less on the defensive, at least, and it was nice to see someone who was still interested in investigating even beyond the "well they fit into these weird stones" step, so she stopped and shrugged the satchel off her back. "I was just about to try this one, actually," she said, flicking the bag open with her pincers. There was the stone lump, a few loose oran and pecha berries, and the jar containing Attempt #2. It was still scuttling around the jar in nonstop loops, and it managed to hiss at Skara without pausing as she lifted it out of the bag.

Well. Probably best to... feed it first, maybe? Get on its good side? Skara took the berries out next, making sure to lay them out where the shadow creature could see them; hopefully that'd at least put the idea of calming down into its head. (Whatever passed for a head.)

"So would you say yours is... friendly, I guess is the word?" she asked next. "What's it actually like, having it inside the stone?"

 

[Negrek]

"I dunno. Ain't never heard of anything like them, but there's loads of shit I've never heard of." Nate watched uneasily as the bug started making herself comfortable. It wasn't like he was looking for a conversation partner, here. On the other hand, he hadn't really gotten to talk to his shade much at all, not really, and it sure as hell wasn't very chatty now. If the bug had one that hadn't gone into a stone yet, he kind of wanted to see what it had to say. "All a pokéball does is shrink a pokémon down so you can carry it around easy. You can use it to stop one that's gone out of control for a bit, yeah, move it somewhere where it'll do less damage, but mostly it's just for convenience. Hard to take a steelix across the ocean otherwise, you know?"

Nate moved a little closer when the jar came out, peering at the blur of darkness inside. He thought there might be some shiver of recognition from the stone in his hand, some other acknowledgement, but the rock he was holding stayed quiet. If the shade even knew there was another one close by, it didn't appear to care. "I don't know about friendly. It seems pretty happy in the rock, I guess. Dunno what would happen if it got pulled out again, like if it'd go for somebody or not." He glanced down at the rock in his hand, which somehow seemed... content. "It's kinda weird having it in here. It's almost like I can tell how it's feeling, kinda? A bit like a psychic. Or maybe it's just me."

The shade inside the jar hissed and scuttled in circles, mandibles plinking against the glass. Nate smiled. "Little guy looks pretty pissed in there. You just catch him?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

Ah. Some of the "human" worlds had "pokémon trainers", right? The human-creatures kept pokémon with them all the time, helping each other get stronger. Something like that. For some reason. Why the pokémon of these worlds needed help getting stronger was probably a question for another time. Instead Skara nodded along as the mudkip explained. A psychic connection with the one who'd put them in the stone? How much more easily could they communicate that way? Was it really just with the one pokémon, or could they connect with anyone? Definitely something to look into... after one more shot at figuring the shades out in this state, at least.

"This isn't one of the ones I caught, actually," she said. "That one's turned out to be a bit—" Uncomfortable? Intimidating? "—intractable. If these creatures really do have distinct personalities, I was hoping a different one might be friendlier." Probably a misplaced hope, judging by the shade's mad little circuits around the jar, but it was worth a shot, right? Just needed to start with the peace offering. She unscrewed the lid, dropped one of the oran berries inside and drew back a little, watching carefully. "For, uh, for you." Ah, yes. Nice and assertive. "There're plenty more where that came from, if you like. Much tastier than pokémon. Right?" She made sure to keep the pile of additional berries in view.

She watched the shade and the berry for a moment, and then, assuming it took the offering, she'd try the questions she'd prepared one more time:

"Okay, little guy. Do you prefer eating berries, or do you prefer pokémon?" (Was it really pokémon they were feeding on? Emotions? Whatever. Hopefully it got what she was angling at.) "Chirp once for berries, and twice for pokémon.

"And what about these stones?" She fished her stone lump out of the bag and set it next to the berries, in plain sight. "Do you like being inside the stones more than being inside pokémon? Once for yes, twice for no.

What was the next one...? "Ah, right—about the stones. Are these stones where you... belong? Like, a home? Did you get separated from them?"

Skara had intended to try asking it what else it knew about the stones, but she still hadn't figured out a binary way to phrase it yet. Something nagged at the back of her mind, anyway. What was it the group had mentioned in that recent badge message? Something Darkwhite had said? Maybe... "Oh, and do you know anything about a... machine? Is that where you come from? From a machine?" Not that she had any idea what that meant, but it sounded like it might've made more sense to those who shared the update, so perhaps they could make sense of its answer.

If it gave one.

"If it's still not feeling cooperative," she added to the mudkip as an afterthought, "maybe, since yours is more docile, you could try asking it the same questions? If you wouldn't mind helping me out."

 

[Namohysip]

After being given some proper food, and the Shade delicately nipping at it before going for a more ravenous approach, it listened half-attentively toward Skara. The first question, whether it preferred berries or Pokemon, it had no answer to, and tilted its head. Perhaps it did not have a concept for preference on what it consumed, or perhaps it did not understand the question? Either way, it seemed to either have no preference, or didn't understand what she meant.

To the second question, about being within the stones, it stared curiously at it, then continued to eat at the berry. It occasionally glanced at the stone, showing curiosity, but little else. It did not know why it was drawn to the stone, only that i was, and did not seem to consciously desire to go inside.

And therefore, it gave a similar response to the next question. Belong to the stone? A home? well, it did feel like going to a home, but it did not really understand the rest of it. So finally, and it was hard to tell what it was saying, or if it was even correct, or merely an opinion, the Shade chirped once, finally done with the berry. The question about a machine, too, seemed to puzzle it. There didn't seem to be any luck with getting an answer there, either.

 

[Negrek]

(( well, it did feel like going to a home awww <3 ))

The shade chewed blissfully away at the berry, seeming at best only distantly interested in whatever the bug was asking of it, and without all that much understanding of her questions at that. "Well, I guess you got an answer about the berries or pokémon thing, at least," Nate said. "It sure doesn't seem too interested in us when there's food around."

He had his own berries, of course. Seemed like around here you could get whisked off to a fight against a fucking legendary at a moment's notice, so you'd have to be a fucking idiot not to keep a few on hand. "Tell you what," Nate said, fishing one out. "There's a couple things I've been wondering about, too, if this little guy's still open for questions." He approached warily, although it was really the bug he had his eye on--didn't seem like she'd object to him messing with her shade, but people were fucking weird about, well, the weirdest things sometimes.

The shade itself was snuffling around for more food, and when Nate ripped a piece off the berry, that was enough to bring it to attention. "You're a quick learner, right?" he asked. "Got the whole 'once for yes, twice for no' thing down pat." He tossed the piece of berry to the shade, then pulled off another. "Got a couple more questions for you, okay? Yes or no, nice and easy. You been in Treasure Town your whole life--you know, the place with the big burrows and all the pokémon, is that where you've always lived?"

Once the shade answered, he'd give it another piece of berry. "Have you always been on your own? Or have you been with other, uh, pokémon like you? Chirp once for alone or twice for others, I guess." And one more berry piece... "Did someone else bring you to Treasure Town, a pokémon not like you? Yes or no?" With those questions answered, one way or another, Nate would toss the shade the remainder of the berry.

One other thing had been nagging at him. Nate watched the shade chow down, contemplative. Sure, it seemed perfectly docile now, chewing on its berry like nothing else in the world mattered. That charmander, Owen, didn't seem to have any problem with letting his run around wherever. But they weren't nice all the time, were they? They'd gone after that roselia guy pretty bad, not to mention all the other infected pokémon they'd been fighting. Distress, negativity... that was what the big bad not-charizard in the sky said got them worked up, right? But were they like ghosts, where they fed on negativity and fear? Or was there something else going on?

Nate set his own shade's rock aside and said to the bug, "I want to try something. Get ready with that jar. I think that guy might decide to come after me when I ask him this next one."

It didn't much matter to him whether the bug complied. If she decided to ignore him, then she'd be getting the shit kicked out of her by shadow-him or whatever the fuck, and served her right. Nate paced in a tight circle, thinking. Negative thoughts, right? Plenty of that shit to go around. Plenty. Start with being stuck on some other fucking planet whole worlds away from anyone you even slightly fucking cared about, for who the hell knew how long, after already being flung forward in time or some shit so even if you made it back, you'd still be practically alone in the middle of bumfuck nowhere! How about even if you did manage to get back to your own goddamned world and time and physical location, you'd still be on the run from the police, and Team Rocket, and the League, and like basically everybody else, pretty much anybody'd be happy to turn you in for the reward. And then take into account that you were apparently working for Big Evil again, just the cherry on top of the whole shit sundae, like even three fucking worlds removed from home nothing ever changed, not in any way that actually fucking mattered.

Probably the bug thought he was fucking crazy, watching him walk in a circle pissing himself off. Well, fuck her too. Fuck this entire stupid fucking "adventure" from back to front.

Nate rounded on the shade again. "So what do you think now, huh? Angry thoughts, you like them, is that right? Yes or no." He took a step forward, glaring. "Or is it fear? Do you attack people because you get all scared when they're pissed?" Yeah, right. What a fucking stupid idea. Maybe the slugs didn't like it, no. All those ugly emotions and shit. But maybe... "Or is it because you want them to stop? Is that it? You think maybe if you take control, you can make them stop somehow? Yes or no."

 

[Namohysip]

The Shade listened to each one. All things considered, it was feeling very cooperative now, even if it didn't completely trust them...

You been in Treasure Town your whole life--you know, the place with the big burrows and all the pokémon, is that where you've always lived?

The Shade let out a confused growl, trying to understand what Nate was asking of it. Treasure Town, this place? It paused, and then eventually chirped once. Indeed, it only knew Treasure Town.

Have you always been on your own? Or have you been with other, uh, pokémon like you? Chirp once for alone or twice for others, I guess.

Another, single chirp; it didn't seem to remember being with any other creatures in particular. It certainly recognized the other Shades, but it didn't remember being with them in any particular way... Right?

Did someone else bring you to Treasure Town, a pokémon not like you? Yes or no?

To this, the Shade tilted what might have been its head and chirped twice. It had no recollection of that.

Probably the bug thought he was fucking crazy, watching him walk in a circle pissing himself off. Well, fuck her too. Fuck this entire stupid fucking "adventure" from back to front.

During the whole silent tirade, the Shade watched Nate with something that looked like anticipation. It coiled up around the berries, then practically hid behind them, making tiny little whining noises.

So what do you think now, huh? Angry thoughts, you like them, is that right? Yes or no.

Two chirps. It didn't even hesitate.

Or is it fear? Do you attack people because you get all scared when they're pissed?

But to this one, the Shade only curled up a little more, looking like it didn't know the answer. It didn't know why it behaved a certain way, it only did. It did because that was what it felt like doing. But now, it didn't know... The Shade never gave an answer.

Or is it because you want them to stop? Is that it? You think maybe if you take control, you can make them stop somehow? Yes or no.

And for similar reasons, it had no idea how to answer this final question. It just did. It wanted to so it did. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to it, but... maybe Nate just didn't understand.

"Grrr... rrr... khhh... ff..." The Shade curled around the berry again. It didn't have much to answer with, and that was frustrating. Nate's anger was frustrating. It didn't understand why he was doing all that. None of this made any sense. All the Shade wanted was some food and to stop being so confused. "Ff..." But with all this interrogating, this bothering, maybe getting shoved in one of those stones was what it wanted after all! Then all the questioning would actually stop. "Fff..." Because right now, all he could think about this...

"Fuck!"

Baby's first word.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Skara dropped the jar held in her pincers, staring at the shade. She was still for a few moments, then clicked once.

"...huh."

Gingerly, she retrieved the jar and carefully lowered it over the shade and its berry, glancing between the creature and the mudkip worked up into some sort of silent lather. "Well. That was interesting. Definitely useful to know."

She had no idea what on earth had just happened. Maybe that was enough experimenting for one day?

 

[Negrek]

Perhaps Nate had done too good a job at pissing himself off, or maybe being pissed off was the only rational answer to all the bullshit he'd been through recently. Or ever. One way or another, he was feeling more than a little cranky watching the shade go through its contortions, for some reason unable to answer some of the simplest fucking questions on the entire planet. But when the shade finally mustered up its first coherent word, he burst out laughing.

"Oh, shit," he said between giggles, sitting down hard. "Yeah, it's like that, ain't it?"

He had to feel a bit bad, with the shade twitching and rippling and obviously distressed, but of all the damn ways to answer the question, seriously. Maybe they couldn't learn to talk properly, but it looked like there was plenty of room for hilarity nonetheless. Nate would have tossed the shade another berry, but the bug had already brought the jar down over it again.

"Sorry, little guy," he said. "Didn't mean to give you a hard time. You did great. And I ain't really mad at you, either." Absently he picked up his own shade-containing stone, which shuddered unhappily in his hands. One way or another the shade inside seemed to have picked up on a little of what was happening. Nate patted it while he mulled over what the other shade had said.

"Yeah. Seems like that guy must have showed up in Treasure Town to begin with, at least as far as it knows. So maybe there's another one of those machines hidden here somehow? Or maybe something else makes these guys, I dunno," he said to the bug. The whole Dark Matter thing was supposed to be born out of negative thoughts and emotions and shit, right? That sounded like compete bull, but who knew. Maybe the shades were popping up wherever a pokémon thought a bad thought or something. "It really doesn't seem like these guys are that dangerous, though. Like, maybe everyone should carry around some extra berries and, I dunno, if they're feeling real cranky, scatter them around a bit or something?" It was kinda stupid, but hey, maybe it would work? Sucked that nobody could see the damn things, normally. There had to be some way around that. Maybe there was some way to get the celebi to "purify" the whole village?

And then there was that whole bit at the end there. Something was going on there that the shade couldn't quite communicate, but it sure didn't seem happy about it. There was only one thing it had been clear on. Didn't like angry thoughts, huh? So at least it didn't seem like the shades went to people who were having a bad day because they thought they'd be a tasty snack or anything like that. Rubbing his hand over the top of his slug-rock, Nate frowned pensively at nothing.

 

[Phoenixsong]

"I think that's a good plan," Skara said, nodding. "Keeping berries around and making sure people know they can be reasoned with, or at least distracted, I mean."

She managed to wrestle the lid back onto the jar. The mudkip had a point; the shade did seem like it had had enough. Maybe she'd try introducing it to a stone later—good to get these reactions now, as, ahem, startling as they might've been, but apparently it would be more relaxed inside of one. Much more conducive to question-answering, most likely.

"I dunno what, uh, that was at the end there, exactly," she said as she tucked the jar and remaining berries away, "but I think we've finally gotten some solid information to be getting on with for now! Sorry if I interrupted you earlier; I appreciate the help, though. I hope you can, uh—" no, really, what was that whole silent tantrum just then? "—take it easy? For as long as we've got before something else around here goes horribly wrong, at least." She chuckled humorlessly at the last bit, then shrugged back into the strap of her satchel and turned back toward the path into town. Maybe, if she was lucky, there'd actually be time to get the packing for Destiny Village done before Maple sounded another alarm.

 

[Negrek]

Nate snorted. "Yeah, just one fucking thing after another around here, ain't it?" He watched the bug inch away through the undergrowth. He almost wanted to ask her what kind of pokémon she was, but who the fuck did that? Everybody around here just seemed to know that shit, somehow.

After a couple of minutes the shade inside the rock had calmed down a bit, though it twitched restlessly now and again. Not a good time for a training session, or a better one than usual? If the shade wasn't feeling happy inside the stone, maybe it would be more inclined to leave. Nate set the stone on the ground in front of him, watching it give the occasional sideways lurch. He couldn't really keep calling it "the shade" or "the slug," could he? "We're going to need a name for you, aren't we, little guy?" Fuck. He sucked at naming things.

They had work to do before, as the bug had said, something else went horribly wrong. Hopefully there would be no more interruptions.

<><><><><>​

 

[Disco]

To say that she was frustrated would be an understatement. She had just begun to settle down and make a life for herself in this place, when it all seemed to collapse in the span of a half hour. Not only was moving not an option now; it was apparent that it was, in all probability, for the best. She had to be there with her team. So many of them were splitting apart at the seams after that fight.

So, Mellow, with a determined face, made her way to her small berry farm that she had grown and kept meticulously since she got the idea to start one. In the present she was picking each and every berry that was ripe or as near to ripe as she could find. All of them were being carefully placed in a sack she'd bought just for the trip to their new home.

Destiny Village.

It still left a sour taste in her mouth. Maple did too. But she would grin and bear it and hope and pray she and the others didn't go to sleep only to wake up with Diyem standing over them. If they made it to him at all, and weren't doomed to float in somewhere they didn't belong as spirits forever. Arceus' protection or not... Maple clearly had her own agenda. Mellow kicked grumpily at a fallen and rotten berry.

Soon the orchard was picked bare. She had everything she could get from all the trees, plus Mint cuts and Apricorn saplings. Carefully the Charmander hoisted the very full pack onto her back and trotted away. The garden now looked nothing more than a torn up and abandoned mess to be taken by the forest...

<><><><><><>

 

[TheGOAT]

[Cucumber -> Brisket]: Hey. You wanna head down the river soon?

[Brisket -> Cucumber]: How do you do, Astrid? Would this be for the noon excursion we discussed last week? If so, I would be delighted. Shall I bring food, or would you prefer to choose the fare? -Yrs, B. Escarpa

[Cucumber -> Brisket]: Yep ^^ I packed some berries and gummies from DV. Meet in 30?

[Brisket -> Cucumber]: Thirty minutes suits me well. I will be there shortly! I have been anticipating this since it was first suggested; I will be glad of it after recent events. -Yrs, B. Escarpa

<><><>​

The sun crawled across clear skies above Treasure Town, full of activity. It was some kind of holiday, probably, because the streets seemed more crowded than usual. Voices were louder; there was less space to move.

Astrid wasn’t here for a holiday. She made her way down to the dividing line between the marketplace and the main square—the river, running down past the border of the town and eventually into the ocean. In the other direction, it ran into the woods and beyond.

Brisa was already waiting for her by the riverside. Astrid slowed to a stop, huffing once. “Hey! Sorry, ran a couple minutes la—“ Her leftmost tail shot forth to catch the jar of berries that had begun slipping out of her bag. “—late, hah.”

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

What better way to take a gal's mind off belligerent fellas than an evening with a friend?

“Howdy, Astrid! Don’t worry about it. We don’t even keep time to the minute where I’m from,” replied Brisa, with uncharacteristic cheer.

She couldn’t help it. Nothing was wrong. Astrid had come specifically to spend time with her, there was nobody else around, the sky was perfect. It was hard to stay terse.

Brisa had already laid out a chequered blanket for them both, and was sitting on it with her ears perked and her tail high. She’d chosen a spot half-shaded by a lone tree, and put her satchel to one side. Nearby was an open area where she’d clearly been practicing a few attacks, judging by scorch marks on the turf…

“It’s a pleasure to see you,” said Brisa, tail swishing a little.

 

[TheGOAT]

“It’s nice to see you too!” Astrid said, the edges of her mouth ticking upwards in silent relief. Out here, there was plenty of shade from the sun, plenty of green to drown out the monotonous gray of the dorms, plenty of sights and smells to enjoy with some company.

And indeed, she had very good company. She needed this.

The blanket was big enough for the two of them and some food. Perfect. She sat the bag down, discarded the berries, then the gummies, and—she couldn’t help herself—stretched out all of her extremities, audibly cooing at the sensation. Arceus (Pop?) knew if she wasn’t out here, she’d be getting a massage or something.

For better or worse, Astrid’s mind lingered on the battle. That damned battle from what felt like ages ago. That damned fever dream. And so she asked, “How are you feeling?” with unmasked concern. Her eyes locked onto Brisa’s fading wounds. Even her evolution hadn’t quite disguised them all the way.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa considered the question before answering.

“...actually, pretty good. Can’t help feelin’ like I oughtn’t to be, considerin’ everythin’. But I really am… happy.”

She stretched out, savouring the ability to really relax in the company of another person for once. She couldn’t remember very many such moments from any time in her life.

“I mean, we did all survive that fight, and win where we meant to. I evolved, and I feel more myself than I have since our first day. Luz—that’s my familiar—might drive my screws loose, but she’s been pushin’ me to have more confidence. I ain't even worried about this Lucario fella; I know we'll beat him. There’s more to be grateful for than I’ve ever been used to.”

Brisa turned to her friend and smiled. “How about yerself, Astrid?”