Treasure Town ~ Woodland Outskirts

[Negrek]

Yeah, looking like that, Nate thought. Thanks, Diyem.

"That's what I figured," he said aloud. "But hanging out here in the woods don't sound like a good time to me. Is it just other people being nosy that's got you hiding out here?"

Rocky stared at Karat's mutated form. It didn't look nice. Was Karat really telling the truth, or was he trying to make them all go away? "Does it... hurt?" he asked a second later. "And can you, can you hear Deoxys now? Or..." He wasn't sure if he wanted to meet Karat's eyes. He wasn't sure if they really were Karat's eyes anymore. "Are you... Deoxys? Talking right now?"

 

[Fusion]

"I didn't figure Karat as the kinda guy to wanna be safe, figured he was so powerful that he didn't think he'd need to actually look for safety," Puddle hummed, glaring at "Karat," skeptical. Luckily, Rocky beat him to his question, but when was a little emphasis unnecessary? "So, yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and ask for Karat's input on this, Deoxys."

Puddle would look like an utter dumbass if it was wrong, which it thought was kinda funny, but didn't show it.

"I know he wants you to get better as quick as possible... but I really hope this was a decision you both came up with."

 

[Namohysip]

The air warped and dirt exploded outward in the area just between Puddle and Nate.

"How dare you assume this was not a mutual bond," Karat said icily. "That Deoxys would betray Karat... that Karat would be so weak as to fall under someone's control..."

...He has a point.

"We are here so we do not have to deal with everyone's overcrowded concern. We do not need... this. This, times a thousand, as everyone asks is over and over and over and over and over everything that happened... No. Deoxys was always shy of them, and Karat resented them. We were better off isolated."

 

[Fusion]

Puddle stared, unfazed by the lil explosion, then shrugged. A swing and a miss. It was still funny in its head how wrong it was, and thank gods it was in this case. They were both safe...

"Then I'm sorry for thinkin' wrong. Just... cautious, and stupid," Puddle said, crossing its arms. "Can't blame me for thinkin' like that. You both vanish outta no where, don't tell nobody you wanna be alone as this, and you're speakin' kinda odd too. It doesn't even sound like you're Karat or Deoxys." Odd, that felt almost vaguely familiar... Two people slapped together and sounding totally off because of it. For some reason, Puddle started to wonder where Vix was...

"We can tell the others to step outta y'all's business, give you both time to... I dunno, get used to this," Puddle nodded, turning away. They'd done all they could do here, and Puddle dug itself a deeper hole in Karat and Deoxys' eyes. Ain't no reason to stay. "I won't be seein' ya, so take care."

Normally, one would stop to consider if this was the right thing to do; leaving someone alone in the middle of the woods when they probably weren't in the best physical or mental state. Puddle, however, was honestly kinda worn out from having all its hard work thrown back at its face, and so it didn't care. Not completely, at least.

"If you got anythin' else you wanna get off your chest, I guess I'll stick around a bit, but if not..." Who Puddle was talking to was up in the air, so it was safe to assume it applied to everyone.

 

[Negrek]

Rocky yelped and leapt back when Karat's attack burst in front of him. "Sorry!"

Nate winced. "So that's it, huh?" he said. "Gonna hang out by yourselves, all you need is each other, put the world on ignore for the rest of your lives?"

Sounded like a fine fucking plan, to be honest. Nate was inclined to say if someone wanted to be left alone, you should leave them the fuck alone. Nothing weird about not wanting people in your business all the goddamned time. The familiar probably had the right idea.

"B-but what about the colosseum?" Rocky said. "You'll still fight, won't you? You must be really strong... together."

Nate glanced at him, rubbing at one of his gills. What the fuck was that guy getting at?

 

[Namohysip]

That got a reaction out of Karat. A subtle one, but one that, out of everything, was perhaps the largest one.

"...Karat enjoyed fighting. We enjoy fighting together. That hasn't changed. But... we do not think that is going to be feasible now. It will only... draw attention."

 

[Fusion]

Puddle stopped for a moment, simmering in thought. It just said it was gonna step outta this shit, yet here it was stickin' out another suggestion that could easily be thrown away like the rest. "You honestly wouldn't stick out all that much. Team Spectrum's hit another growth spurt, and half of 'em look entirely different from what they used to be. Still themselves, but different, like you two."

"If y'all really wanna fight, though, but don't wanna have it be in the public eye, I'm sure a few of Spectrum would love to fight you in that trainin' facility or whatever. The public ain't gotta know, and whoever you fight can shut their faces about it." There, one last bit of help. That was it. Nothing more...

Well, like, unless...

 

[Negrek]

Rocky drooped. "Oh, that's... that's not fair. It would be boring... Being stuck out here and not even getting to battle."

Puddle was always full of ideas, though. "Oh," Rocky perked up slightly. "The training facility is nice! And there's lots of people on the team who are really strong. I bet they'd love to battle you. Maybe it's not as exciting as battling some of the legendary pokémon, but... I bet if you wanted, we could invite some of them to come, too! It would be like a super secret battle club, for only the strongest pokémon!"

Nate suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Dear god, not more secret fucking clubs.

 

[Namohysip]

Karat's tendril-fingers wrapped around themselves, clearly showing some form of pensiveness. "I'll consider it," he said, looking at a nearby tree. "Some alone time would be nice so I can... continue to acclimate. But maybe in a few days, I'll... look into that."

 

[Negrek]

Rocky's flames crackled, leaping high. "That would be cool," he said. "That would be really cool!"

"And if you decide you don't want to, ain't no problem with that," Nate said firmly. "But yeah. I imagine it's gonna take a while to get used to... things. One way or another. Ain't no shame in that." He rubbed at his gills again. Goddamn habit. "I was serious about what I said earlier, Giovanni's mewtwo and all. I promise we'll piss off and let you be real soon, but is there anything you think we could do to get through to him? I figure you probably understand him better than anybody else around here. If there's anything you can think of that might help, it could really, you know... help."

 

[Fusion]

With Karat and Deoxys' "consideration" of its idea, Puddle was satisfied. That was at least one person it was able to do some good by, maybe, possibly. It didn't really know what that meant or if it actually did it but it felt good. It gave Karat a nodded, and was about to leave, but stayed a bit to let Nate do his thing. Felt kinda scummy to come to someone just for work shit, but eh, Nate was probably used to being disliked for this kinda thing. Why else would he do it? Because he was a hero and had to?

...Oh wait.

 

[Namohysip]

"Mewtwo..." Karat hummed, looking like the initial topic had passed. "Giovanni... yes. I know about him. But that was a long, long time ago, and the one I was under is long dead. The only thing I really know is... I did not know, for the early part of my life, that I could do other things. Following orders was all I knew, and I was... resistant to change. I was created to follow commands. It was only when I met someone with a greater commanding word that I snapped out of it... and only because that person told me to be free."

 

[Negrek]

Nate blinked. Now that was, that was interesting. And really fucking sad, honestly. "Thanks," he started to say, "that's--"

"Who was it?" Rocky asked. "The person who told you to be free. I-if, umm, that's okay to ask." He might be regretting that he'd blurted out that question.

 

[Fusion]

Puddle thought it was a bit odd to ask about whoever helped freed Karat from another Giovanni, but like... what are the odds that this someone is connected to the shit going on now? It's not really likely, but it wasn't entirely impossible, either.

The familiar quietly watched and listened, giving in and wanting to hear what Karat was about to say.

 

[Namohysip]

Karat closed his eyes, thinking back. He made a humming noise that had an ethereal rumble to it. "He was a boy. A boy that seemed older than he really was, with a powerful aura swirling around him, like he was a Legend in and of itself. He didn't speak, and yet... I seemed to know precisely what he was saying. His Pokemon felt the same way." He nodded. "I don't know his name. I only know him for the red clothes he wore."

 

[Fusion]

Puddle blinked, tilting its head. Where did it hear that kinda description before..? "Did this kid have a hat, and a Pikachu? Charizard, maybe?"

 

[Namohysip]

Karat frowned. "...He did. Why?"

 

[Negrek]

"Oh, shit," Nate said involuntarily. In Karat's world, too? The similarity between Karat and the mewtwo he knew only made the differences more unsettling. Almost made it feel like there was something wrong with his world. Or, well. He still thought he'd take it over all this fucking eterna nonsense.

"Oh!" Rocky said, eyes glowing and a broad grin on his face, but that was all. He'd let Puddle have the pleasure of the reveal.

 

[Fusion]

"Huh, I dunno, that sounds just like someone I know," Puddle hummed, tilting its head to the other side. "I... I know I know someone like that, but like... his name is right on the tip of my tongue. Who is he..?" This was gonna bother it all fucking day, dammit... fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that.

"Rocky, Nate, ain't the Team buddies with someone like that? I know we know a guy like that, ri--" it looked up at the other two, and seeing Rocky looking at it like that... He knew didn't he? Was Puddle supposed to? "...What?"

 

[Negrek]

Rocky laughed. Puddle had to be joking, right? "It's Red!" he said. "And of course we know him. He's a charizard now, but it's still him. We fought him and everything!" He went quiet for a second, thinking. "I think he even lives with some people on the team. Somewhere in Destiny Village? Anyway, that's him!"