Treasure Town ~ Woodland Outskirts

[Fusion]

"At least we know one of 'em's alive an' kickin'," Puddle sighed, relieved. A psychic barrier when you're looking for psychics was probably just as good as finding them themselves. The Scraggy rested a hand on the barrier, its body rippling from its power. "Karat! Deoxys! You guys aight in there? It's Puddle and Rocky again! And Nate!"

Regardless of a response, Puddle tried to push through the barrier. Not because it thought it'd get through, but because it was actually kinda fun.

 

[Negrek]

"Puddle's right," Rocky said. "If Karat can make a barrier, then he's probably okay. We should leave."

"Leave? You want to know how Deoxys is, don't you?" Nate asked. Rocky didn't have anything to say to that. He stared through the shield, looking miserable. Nate paced around its perimeter, waiting to see whether there was any response to Puddle's call.

 

[Namohysip]

The barrier didn't break or let up, but just before they could leave, there was a sound a little further inside. Someone was walking through the brush...

Out came a robed figure, just like he'd been before the team had arrived. Owen in particular would have mentioned something like this--how Karat usually hid under a robe in public so nobody would hassle him with autographs or interviews, to the point where the tattered robe itself had become iconic. Under it, they couldn't see anything about him, and Karat still didn't say anything...

 

[Negrek]

Well, that wasn't fucking creepy or nothing. What was the point of showing up if you were just going to stand around silently, like a fucking weirdo. It reminded Nate too much of the other mewtwo, honestly.

"What's up, Karat?" he asked. "Figured we'd come check up on you, since you ain't answering your badge and all. Is Deoxys doing all right?"

Rocky looked too nervous to say anything.

While waiting for a response, Nate focused on the figure in front of him. He had something of a suspicion...

Nate used Foresight!

 

[Fusion]

"Oh, howdy," Puddle waved. That... didn't feel appropriate. This whole thing started to feel odd, but in a fun, strange way. "You, uh, doin' alright Karat? Deoxys..?"

It stood back to let Nate do his thing, but didn't take its eyes off of the robed figure either. It was... odd, like something was supposed to look off about them.

 

[Namohysip]

Nate would suddenly get a piercing headache before he could get a proper reading. It felt angry, irritated, almost.

"What do you want?" Karat finally said--his voice sounded normal, albeit a little hoarse. "We're fine."

He didn't move from his spot.

 

[Fusion]

Puddle let out a relieved sigh. It was just Karat, angry as per usual. That was good. "Oh thank gods... then Deoxys woke up, right? He's alright? Did the life force thingy work?"

 

[Negrek]

"Ow! Mother--" Nate rubbed at his head, eyes watering with the pain.

"We didn't want to bother you!" Rocky said hurriedly. "W-we just wanted to check on Deoxys. And I guess M-marshtomp was worried..."

"Seriously," Nate growled, still holding his head. "I figured if you didn't want company, you would've replied when I asked how you were. Not sending nothing when somebody checks up on you is exactly how you get them all up in your business, asshole. What, your fingers not work or something?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Our badge works with psychic power," Karat replied. "We didn't feel like answering. Not after everyone kept constantly trying to 'make us feel better.' We set you all on Ignore." Karat's body shifted a little under his robe in a way that didn't seem natural. "Was that all?"

 

[Negrek]

"Well, I mean, I feel that," Nate said. "You kinda didn't say nothing about Deoxys, though. What's up with him?"

Even that wasn't all, and Nate now had an extremely strong suspicion what was up with Deoxys anyhow. But Rocky would probably explode with anxiety if they didn't cover that first.

 

[Namohysip]

"...We're fine. There's nothing to worry about." Karat started to drift backward, but his robe caught on one of the lower branches. It revealed Karat's hand, however briefly--which had become a boneless, twisting thing of orange, teal, and lavender.

 

[Negrek]

"But you're--!" Rocky started, his glowing eyes going huge.

Not now! Nate cut him off. "Wait! Hold up! I get it, you're fine, Deoxys is great, what the fuck ever. Giovanni's mewtwo, though. Remember him? Chip had him in the lab for a while? Well, we found him again. And whatever Giovanni says about him not having free will or whatever, at least Bahamut seems to think there's somebody home. He's being controlled by one of those eterna parasites, too, but we're going to try and get rid of it. We gotta get through to him somehow, though. You got any ideas? We gotta find some way to, like, connect with him. I think."

Well, okay, Rocky could admit that was kind of important, but... He shot an unhappy look over at Puddle. The other familiar had seen what was left of Karat's hand, too, hadn't he?

 

[Fusion]

Puddle didn't realize he was quiet until Rocky looked over to him again. It was kinda just staring at Karat, thinking something over, when it went and lost its train of thought. It was something about Karat... right?

Up until the Mewtwo showed off his hand, Puddle was clueless. After that, however, he snapped and looked Karat dead in the eye. "I get the you wanna be alone with Deoxys and all that, and I know I suggested the whole... parasite thing, but... look at yourself dude. You sound like hell, you look like shit... how far has Deoxys even progressed?" It knew it was blunt, and maybe a bit harsh, but it couldn't really think of a nicer way of saying all that without taking another century to find all the right words.

 

[Namohysip]

Karat was quiet again, but it felt like there was a scowl behind that shadowy robe. "We're fine. This voice is... just a little strained. We'll probably... just speak with telepathy like Deoxys used to."

Nate, is everything okay? I sensed a spike of energy against you. Are you alive?

"Just leave us alone. You've all done enough damage..."

 

[Fusion]

"We..?" Puddle tilted its head, its grin already long gone. It should have calmed down, it should have taken a breath or two, but as it turned out, having all the niceness you've shown someone thrown back at you like you haven't done shit kinda got under Puddle's skin. "We've only been tryin' to help, the one that actually got Deoxys hurt is off doin' her own shit. I ain't even know where she went! An' Rocky didn't do shit either, it was all that damned moon's fault."

Breath, Puddle...

The familiar paused for a moment, shaking its head. "Look, Karat, we only pester you if you're alright because we care. There's a lotta shit goin' around and nobody is really safe no matter where they're at. If somethin' happened to you, or if more happened to Deoxys, we gotta know."

 

[Negrek]

What, wouldn't you know if I'd died? Voidlands just got a little more crowded and all that? Nate thought at Diyem. I'm fine. Looks like Karat's pretty fucked up, though. Guess the whole fusing with Deoxys thing didn't work out so hot. He ain't gonna die from that or nothing, is he?

Rocky wished he could share Puddle's conviction, or even appreciate that he didn't think Rocky was to blame. But Karat was right--it was his fault, even if it wasn't all his fault, and everything Rocky'd tried to do to fix it had only made things worse. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, staring down at the ground.

 

[Namohysip]

Rrgh, hold on. Give me your eyes.

Nate would feel a surreal sensation, a cold feeling like someone had crawled just beneath his forehead. It wasn't painful, but it was certainly unpleasant.

Mmh... Oh. Wonderful.

"Nothing happened to us that we can't handle. That's simple enough, isn't it?" Karat turned back, crossing his arms. "Deoxys is better. Karat is fine. We--" He stopped, grunting, like he'd slipped up. "...Found a way to make it work. Nothing else seemed to. We were getting impatient."

Mmmmhm. He isn't lying. But he is a monstrosity, and probably will be one for at least a century. If I had to guess... Karat has Deoxys lodged in his chest, now. It was probably very painful. Hmph. He must have cared a lot to do that.

 

[Fusion]

Puddle started to simmer, yet its posture was calm. "Yeah, I get that. We were takin' a while, but whatever you did to yourself..." its simmer got hotter, its body bubbling just below a boil. "Why couldn't you wait just another day? We would've gone into space with Deoxys and gotten 'im close to the sun to recharge! I promised that I'd find a way... but I ain't gonna blame you for not believin' me."

What a pain in the ass... Karat had his reasons, Deoxys might've too. This was their shit now, so Puddle didn't have a reason to stick around, they got the solution they wanted. There probably wasn't anything Puddle could do to help at this point either, so why keep fucking bothering?

And yet... "I'm gonna start lookin' into some way to split the two of you apart, safely. Since you're already together, why not go into space an' let the Deoxys bit charge up on sunlight? Or do fuck all for all I care, it ain't like you're gonna listen to me." Puddle sucked its teeth, bringing its bubbling back down a bit. "I'm sorry we were takin' so long, but I didn't want somethin' irreversible like this to happen to either of you."

 

[Negrek]

Once again Nate was left rubbing his face, though at least this time nothing hurt. It just felt fucking weird. At least a century? That how long it's gonna take Deoxys to get enough energy to live on his own again, or what?

To Karat he said, "I mean, I don't blame you. The team definitely fucked you over, even if it was an accident. And the last thing I'd want, if some assholes had nearly gotten somebody I, uh, was close to killed, was for them to be all showing up after the fact pretending to give a shit about my fucking feelings." He sighed. "But, you know, what's your play here? You planning to hang out here in the forest telling people to fuck off for the rest of your life, or what?"

"Pop might be able to split them apart," Rocky said softly after listening to Puddle's plan. "He did it for Palkia and Dialga and everybody."

 

[Namohysip]

I'm only guessing. Deoxys tend to go dormant for a while once they're defeated. It could be faster, it could be slower. But Karat is now Deoxys' host. ...I do not get the sense that he resents this beyond the fact that Deoxys was hurt at all. They were a couple... Though this is a bit extreme.

"...Rgh." He grunted, and then brought his twisted hands--now that they had a closer look, it seemed to be three tendrils, one for Karat's former hand, and two for what Deoxys had--and pulled down his robe.

It was... actually not too bad. The general shape of Mewtwo's head was still there, but the skin color was off, more reddish or a patchy teal along his cheek and neck. His eyes had changed, looking a little smaller and less expressive. From his chest, there seemed to be thick, vein-like tubes running just under his skin that centered at something in his plexus--just as Diyem had predicted.

"We don't want to be separated. This is..." He searched for the word. "...It's... safe."