Water Veil Cove

[Flyg0n]

Tucked on the far side of the island, away from the bustle of the main area and the docks, lies a little known secret - a beautiful cove, walled in by dense brush and thick trees and unseen by most. Steep cliffs frame the sides of this little beach, and water gathers in tidal pools near the shore. Bits of shells and seaglass are scattered here and there, sparkling in the sunlight.

Off in the distance, if the light is just right and the tide and currents flow just so, one might catch a glimpse of a small blue shape in the water with distinct yellow markings around its eyes and a flicker of a red gem...

***​

 

[Phoenixsong]

Blue had spent most of the previous day with Charizard, so today it was Gyarados's turn. If absolutely nothing else, he owed the poor guy a more thorough explanation of what he'd been dragged into. (And the bigger thing they'd all been dragged into, apparently. Hooray.)

Charizard had apparently been hanging around Red too long, because his idea of a fun time when left to his own devices for the day had been to head straight up a mountain. Well, at least it probably wasn't as cold as Mt. Silver. Blue and Gyarados had stayed in their room a little longer to look at a map of the island, hoping to find a spot on the beach that wouldn't be so crowded. The little out-of-the-way cove had seemed like the perfect place; it didn't even have a label to draw attention to it, unlike the main stretch of the beach. Buoyed by the promise of a sunny morning with no fancy legendaries or knife maniacs or assorted extradimensional weirdos, Blue had set off on a short hike and made good time to the spot.

It was, then, only natural that the moment he'd arrived and let Gyarados uncoil into the water, they were greeted by the sight of one (1) extradimensional weirdo with his milotic by his side.

The hand that had been patting Gyarados's side clenched into a fist so fast that Gyarados's head snapped down to look at him, barbels twitching. Lovely. What fantastic fucking luck.

...well, maybe if they were absorbed with admiring the shiny dirt or whatever, they wouldn't notice that Blue and Gyarados were here until they were too far out into the cove to start blathering about how Actually I Thought You Had A Slowbro or some other bullshit. "Lemme up," Blue whispered, and Gyarados obligingly lowered his head further so Blue could climb aboard. They couldn't shove off into the cove proper soon enough.

 

[Phoenixsong]

"BLUE? BLUE! BLUE WAIT! I NEED TO APOLOGIZE AND EXPLAIN SOME THINGS TO YOU!!! BLUE PLEASE!!!! I'M SORRY FOR MY RUDE BEHAVIOUR!!!!! ALLOW ME TO MAKE AMENDS!!!!!!!!! I CAN EXPLAIN!!!!!!!!!"

...fuck.

Blue had just gotten a solid grip on Gyarados's crown so he could swing himself up, and as Wallace jogged closer and closer he gave some very serious consideration to simply ignoring the guy and climbing on anyway. Alas, something in Gyarados's wide-eyed look of confusion made him pause. He'd really wanted to ease Gyarados into the Screw Blue's Friends Cinematic Multiverse concept in private, but... it was apparently a multiverse, as much as he was kicking himself for just going along with that idea, and in turn that probably, technically, hopefully explained what Wallace had been nattering on about back on the ship. He really had been thinking of someone else. (Except also not. Thanks, Blue hated it.)

He sighed, muttered an exasperated "hang on a minute, Gyarados," and turned to face the sprinting Wallace. "No need to shout, jeez, I'm right here. Lemme guess, Xander Monterriblehost didn't include the fact that this was actually a magic multiverse party on your invitation, either?"

---

Gyarados stared down at Blue, not sure who this screaming person was or why Blue seemed so irritated by him. Well, no, Blue was irritated by a lot of people; that part was normal. But who was the other human?

"I'm sorry," he said to the milotic, "has my human met yours before? What are they talking about?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

1. blah blah blah
2. involuntary cringe at the sound of "ble", but another language, okay, sure?
3. ????ornithology????
4. blah blah blah
5. adoption? parents? son?
6. what tf do these words mean, who tf are these people
7.

Now, Blue didn't have time to unpack all of that. Or, well, he had plenty of time, he was stuck there for two weeks until Monturdface got bored and had that hoopa thing send them home. He didn't have the patience to unpack all of that, so sue him.

He opened his mouth to respond, but the only thing his brain could formulate, "what the actual fuck", seemed both inappropriate in the face of such frighteningly sincere gushing and also staggeringly inadequate. Where the hell did he even start? Why were they even friends in the first place? How was his—no, not his, Nega-Blue's or Ble's or whatever—dad still alive? Why did Nega-Him talk like some obnoxious, cutesy little four-year-old? Why had he needed "parental figures" if Nega-Gramps and Nega-Daisy were right there? Wallace had mentioned both of them, after all, so it wasn't like they didn't exist in this guy's freaky minus world.

(Blue had never quite understood what the all the fuss about parents was, anyway. Sure, he'd been curious; sure, it would've been nice to have gotten to know them the way his sister had. But he hadn't exactly gone without someone to yell at him for not doing his homework, or tell him (however unsuccessfully) that cake was not dinner, or teach him how to soothe a gyarados before it got too angry, or talk about guy stuff, or sit and listen with a reassuring smile and a pot of hot tea when he was upset, or make sure he heard what he needed even when it wasn't what he wanted.)

But... god damn it, the guy was trying to be nice. Desperately so, if Blue was reading him right. Whatever the fuck was going on with Minus World, this dude had given enough of a shit to at least attempt to help Minus-Him. Part of Blue wanted to ask why Gramps and Daisy hadn't been enough, had something happened to them, did Wallace know who Leaf was, but he stopped himself. Even if the answers somehow weren't upsetting, it wasn't like they would actually mean anything. Not his world. Pointless. Better to save himself the stress.

"...Sure," he managed at last. "That's, uh, great for him? And you?" For one wild second Blue considered cracking a joke, one that started something like 'Congrats on the new k—', but that particular train of thought repeatedly slammed into a brick wall every time he attempted to finish it. If he'd actually tried to say the words out loud he'd probably have physically choked on them. So that'd have to be good enough.

"But let's get one thing straight, all right? I'm not him. I don't care how similar we might kinda almost be if you squint a little or whatever. Maybe you know him, but you don't know me, and I don't know you. I guess I should be flattered that you wanna be friends with me—and I'm gonna make this crystal-clear for you, that would be friends, at best, I am not calling you 'dad' or 'baba' or any of that—but whatever memories or pet names or baggage you might already be carrying do not apply here, and I don't need the headache that'll come from you getting those mixed up.

"So. You wanna hang around with the guy at the top? You start on the ground floor, just like everybody else. No assumptions from you, none from me. No magazines or nothin', even."

He straightened up, did his best to rearrange his face so it looked slightly less exasperated. "The name's Blue Oak. I'm the Viridian City Gym Leader, and I hold a Champion title at the Indigo League. I'm one of the best damn pokémon trainers the Kanto region has ever seen. This," and he turned to gesture at the bewildered pokémon behind him, "is Gyarados, one of my partners." He frowned, then sighed, then extended an open hand in Wallace's direction.

Would you look at him? So magnanimous, even after everything he'd been through. He was being a god damn gentleman, and when he got home Daisy was going to give him a medal.

"And you are?"

---

("Not sure about your universe, but in my universe, yes. They know each other. Wallace is talking about how much they love Blue—their Blue, not yours—as a son. Complete with a bootleg custody battle with Lance witnessed by a judge with no legal qualifications and who should never step into a courtroom again. Please don't ask. I am begging you. Please don't ask. Please don't mention it. Please just... please.")

Gyarados did, in fact, want to ask. He wasn't entirely sure how anyone could hear that string of words in that order and not want to ask, a lot, immediately. He could see why Charizard had been annoyed last night. But she seemed tired, too, so he didn't. At least she was admirably calm under this deluge of... of... whatever it was.

There were a few awkward beats of silence while his thoughts struggled to swim through the Whatever It Was and find a different tack. "Is your human okay? He seems, um, excitable, I think." That was about as tactfully as he could think to put it. "Mine gets worked up, too, sometimes, usually when someone is annoying him. But that happens really easily so it doesn't always mean anything." He paused, thought again, and another idea bubbled to the surface. "Is this about what happened on the boat? Were you there?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Of course! I would love to be your friend! Thank you, friend!"

"That's not what I— we're not—" Hrg. Should've thought a little longer, found a better way to word that. Of course the guy took that to mean they were bestest buddies already. Did he really expect making new friends to some so easily? That wasn't how that worked, in Blue's experience. But he was being a gentleman, and apparently a gentleman wouldn't just shut someone down cold like a part of his brain was begging to. "One step at a time," he tried instead. "Stay on my good side and we'll get there, yeah?"

"Wallace Papadakis, former Sootopolis City Gym Leader, current Champion of Hoenn, and Top Coordinator... he/they. Fluent in Greek, Hinodego, Galarian, and the Romance languages." Wallace took Blue's hand and shook it to his very best abilities. He then gestured his hand toward Victoria. "And this beautiful Milotic you see before you is Victoria. She and I are two peas in a pod, two cherries of the same stem, two roses cut from the same bush. For fourteen years, we have seen each other's best and worst moments..."

Blue didn't know what half of those languages were, but okay, damn, sure. A polyglot on top of the contests and the training, huh. Admittedly kinda cool, albeit waaaay more work than Blue had any interest in bothering with. He was juuust fine wrestling with learning basic Kalosian and nothing else.

And that was a very... coordinatory introduction for the milotic. She was definitely impressive, he'd give the guy that. You didn't exactly get a ton of milotic working their way through the gyms of Kanto, but he didn't think he'd ever seen any that were red and purple before. "Yeah, she's not bad," he said, nodding appreciatively. "Fourteen years, huh?" As long as he'd been alive, sheesh. "Known her since she was a feebas, then? Lucky; from what I hear, they're pretty damn shy. Not like magikarp, of which there are approximately twenty-seven billion in any given stretch of water. The trick there is managing to find one who's got what it takes." He grinned back at Gyarados, the tension in his chest finally letting up a bit.

There we go. Change the subject, talk about pokémon. Best distraction in the world. Like this, he could almost pretend this was a normal trip.

---

My trainer thought that they knew yours, but they know a different version of your trainer. Wallace is very... prone to extreme emotions.

If Gyarados was honest, that really didn't explain much at all. Did everyone but them come here expecting to see different versions of people they already knew? He wished he could've been as prepared for all of this. "Oh. Okay," he said lamely. "It's good that you're there for him when he gets, uh, extreme."

("But they're okay.") At least, I hope they are. ("And your trainer?")

He looked down at Blue, who was currently smiling up at him, that same casual, confident smile he had whenever it was Gyarados's turn to battle someone in the gym. He seemed to have settled down himself, mostly at least, even if the Wallace human was still yanking his arm up and down. "Blue is... good," he said, relaxing a little. Maybe Wallace was explaining how this whole confusing mess actually worked, and Blue was confident he'd gotten it now. Blue was better at thinking through complicated situations than he was. "Loud, a lot, but good. He trusts me and he helps me be strong." One of his whiskers shuddered a bit, but Gyarados took a deep breath and snorted, and it stopped. He was helping. Gyarados was strong now.

 

[Phoenixsong]

"Magikarp and Gyarados are sort of similar, though they more value strength over beauty. Victoria and I tried to calm a raging Gyarados when we were young. I was young and naive and didn't know much about Gyarados diplomacy, and I got a broken leg. Later on—I'd say a few years, when I was in my junior year of college—said Gyarados and I made amends. Edward, his name is. Gyarados and Milotic are frequently depicted as two sides of the same coin—one valuing strength, one valuing beauty. You'll see many crests with them side by side...

Blue snorted. 'Gyarados diplomacy', huh. That was sure one way to put it. He'd seen Gramps's gyarados when she raged in battle and had a hard time coming down from it, seen Daisy's throw a fit when a rival coordinator's pokémon had cheated; he was all too aware how fortunate he was that Gyarados had a much more low-key temperament. With a gyarados you didn't even know at the time? Full-on mad about something? Dude was lucky a broken leg was all he'd come away with. Stupid that he'd tried, of course, but it was a nice gesture.

Then it all threatened to veer into an art history lesson. Blue tried to cut him off before he started using words like 'juxtaposition' in their perfectly good conversation about things that were actually interesting. "Wow, and you actually managed to make nice with the guy even after he smashed your leg?" he said loudly. "Not a lot of people with the guts to befriend a gyarados after it's already evolved."

---

("It's good to have that kind of a relationship with your trainer, where they trust you and they can help you get stronger, or more beautiful, or whatever you need or want. You seem to be more... levelheaded than Blue. Not that that's a bad thing.")

"He thinks faster than I do, which is good when we're battling. Sometimes not as fast as what he says, and then he gets in trouble, but that happens less these days, mostly. Charizard and Exeggutor are the really level-headed ones, though. They're better with decisions than me." Gyarados paused. "Well, Charizard is. Exeggutor mostly handles difficult decisions by just deciding not to make decisions." He looked at Victoria. She was nice; he wondered what other pokémon helped take care of such an emotional human. "What about the rest of your team?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

Crap, Blue's looking at you weird.

Man, but this guy kept wobbling riiight on the edge of oversharing, didn't he? What was he telling Blue all this for? Was he still running on "we're actively really good friends now even though that's not what Blue actually said", or did he regularly chat up random strangers about sensory overload?

Better latch onto another change of topic, then, before Wallace managed to embarrass himself. (And then maybe they could start steering this car toward an actual stopping point, sheesh. Poor Gyarados was gonna need twice as much explanation after all this crap. At least he seemed occupied enough by the milotic.)

Wallace waved a dismissive hand. "I think a lot of people and Pokémon are mistreated, misunderstood, put in less-than-ideal circumstances, whatever, and the best I can do is extend compassion to others."

"Pretty big of you," he said, nodding. "My family's always been pretty good with gyarados; nice to see someone else who's willing to do right by 'em, and not just screw 'em up because they're a moron who thinks just catching a gyarados is an easy ticket to steamroll the league or whatever. Shame about all this 'different universe' garbage—" it wasn't, not remotely, but he was being magnanimous today "—'cause it'd be pretty cool to see for myself how well you were able to get through to him, in a real battle, yeah?"

Blue straightened up and made as if to head back toward Gyarados. "Eh. Maybe someday, right?" Or maybe never, definitely preferably never, Wallace was a decent enough guy once he calmed the hell down but please god no more multiverses.

---

("And I don't think I've ever seen Wallace compete in a Coolness Contest! I'm sure they would do well, but they vastly prefer Beauty Contests! It's all a matter of preference, of personal strengths. You seem very concerned for the well being of your trainer, and you seem to be able to keep them in check. I'd say that's a strength!")

"Hm. Maybe. Thanks." Sometimes Rhydon said those things counted as strength, too. Maybe they did. It was a bit of a jump for Gyarados to consider himself good at those things given he hadn't been there on the boat. Things were a lot easier back at the gym, where the only thing he really had to focus on was practicing, training. He wasn't very well-suited for complicated situations like this.

("Well, there's quite a few of us. There's Elizabeth. She's a Luvdisc. A little older than me. She used to train with Wallace's father—rest his soul. I look up to her a lot. Richard and Charles—Sealeo and Seaking—have some sort of rivalry going on. It's been that way for a few years. There's Edward, a Gyarados. He tried to pick a pick a fight with me when I was a Feebas. Wallace stepped in to try and calm him down and... well, they reconciled eventually. Philip mostly stays to himself. A bit sleepy. Donald is a party Ludicolo through and through. Macbeth is... a pretty intimidating Tentacruel, but he won't hurt you if he likes you. Joan's the main flyer. Swanna. A gift from Juan. I like her. She's nice. Bartholomew is a Wailord. I don't see him much; he's at Ever Grande Cove a lot. So are Anne and Kenneth—Walrein and Starmie. Duncan and Costantine—Spheal and Clamperl—don't do any battling. They're the babies of the family, sort of like my little siblings.

Things were also a lot less crowded than that back at the gym, too. "That's a big team, uh, family," he said, his mind off of the boat for the moment. "At the gym it's usually just me, Exeggutor, Pidgeot, Machamp, Rhydon, and Arcanine. And Charizard, when he isn't busy." He tilted his head, barbels waving slowly as he thought. "Well, there are others at the house, and the lab. Nidorino, and Charizard's mother and the rest of her team, and the two bigger gyarados, and the other ones who help the professor. I don't know those last ones very well, to be honest. I don't think I could keep track of that many other pokémon, and they come and go a lot. But it sounds nice to have met lots of friends, I think."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Oh, thank god, he'd gotten the hint. And was still yammering, and oversharing, but the important part was that the conversation was moving in the general direction of no longer being a thing. There was actually a chance that Blue and Gyarados could have their quiet morning before it turned into the afternoon, or the evening, or fucking tomorrow.

Wallace, of course, was somehow still managing to apologize even as he was turning to go. Blue dragged his hand over his face, sighing heavily. "C'mon, Wallace, lighten up for ten seconds. We've already been over this, yeah? None of us were expecting this multiverse shit. It's... it's fine, you can stop— hey, uh, you okay?"

By the time he'd lowered his hand it sure looked like Wallace was leaning on his milotic as they moved away, half-led and half-carried back down the path. Blue could hear Gyarados hissing behind him, high-pitched, concerned, but the sound petered out after some hasty parting comments from the milotic.

They disappeared behind the trees in short order, leaving Blue and Gyarados alone in awkward silence. The serpent lowered his head again so his trainer could climb on, but Blue noticed the way his gaze kept darting toward the path. "She was saying she had it under control, right?" Blue guessed as he hauled himself up. "She definitely gave me the impression she was the one who had a handle on things. If she needed us she'd've told you so. I don't think the infirmary's that far from here, if that's where they're headed." Dude really looked like he could do with a lie down somewhere cool and quiet. Some time with Victoria, some help from the medical staff if he really needed it, he'd be fine. Probably. For whatever constituted "fine" for Wallace Papadakis.

"Well, big guy, I guess we might as well get started, eh?" He allowed himself to slump forward over Gyarados's crown, partially so he could pat the top of the pokémon's nose and partially because being a ragdoll was currently much more appealing than sitting up. "I know you're about fifty different kinds of confused by now, and you've been real patient putting up with all this. Least I can do is try and get your confused into the same general postcode as mine and Charizard's. Then we can all be pissed off about it together! Super fun vacation family bonding time, am I right?"

Gyarados snorted. Then, with a stroke of his tail fin, the two of them pushed off into the cove.

<><><><><>​

 

[Negrek]

Mightyena jogged on ahead of Nate, now and again circling back to check on him before sprinting off again, constantly in motion. Nate was only hoping he'd survive at a walking pace, but he was glad

There were stories about legendary pokémon all over the fucking island, so Nate had picked one to go look for more or less at random. It was all probably bullshit, but what the hell. Mightyena was having a good time. And the rich dude did have that little gremlin thing with him, so there was at least one super-rare pokémon knocking around. Taking a shot at that one probably had the greatest chance at success. And probably the greatest risk, too.

He could worry about that later. For now, at least this place was quiet. Lots of ocean, lots of cliffs, not a lot of people. Nate could definitely handle that after the chaos of the past couple days.

Of course, trust Mightyena to find the one person on the entire coast and decide she wanted to go talk to them. Nate groaned inwardly as she went flying down the steep path towards a girl with a ninetales, tail wagging jauntily, ready to make friends. This was always so fucking awkward. So, what, was he supposed to make small talk with the trainer while his pokémon bothered the ninetales? Great fucking times.

Nate lagged behind, looking out at the ocean. Let Mightyena make nice if she wanted. He'd keep an eye out for the spirit that was supposed to hang out in the ocean around here.

---​

The island was wild but with plenty of paths for humans, so Mightyena could run and run and her human could follow without complaining about fighting through bushes or clambering up hills. Humans were so delicate! It was a wonder they got anything done on their own.

Today Nate wanted to go to the beach, which sounded like a good idea to Mightyena. She hadn't gotten to swim at all on the boat, after all.

Now and again Mightyena put her nose to the ground, scenting around for any buggy smells, or smells like metal. No sign of the scizor trainer yet, but they'd barely been searching at all yet. And, just like that, a couple of people came into view on the path up ahead. There was someone she could ask!

Mightyena easily caught up with the trainer and her pokémon, a ninetales with some kind of red rocks on a chain around her neck. "Hello," Mightyena called out to the ninetales. "Have you seen a human with a scizor anywhere around here?"

 

[Dragonfree]

May wasn't sure there was still any point to looking into the mythical Pokémon here, if there was universe-hopping going on. What did it even matter if Manaphy was here, if it was just this universe's Manaphy? But it wasn't like she had much better to do. She hadn't bumped into Jade again. Might as well see if there was really anything to the idea this place was crawling with legendaries.

As they threaded the cliffs along the shore, though, it seemed they weren't alone. A guy came into view there a bit higher on the path ahead with a Mightyena - and while he just looked away sullenly over the ocean, dragging his feet, the Mightyena came bounding towards her. May froze as it approached, but it only stopped a short distance away front of them, tail wagging eagerly, asking about a human with a Scizor.

May furrowed her brow. She was pretty sure she hadn't seen any Scizor since coming here, but then again she'd spent a while just trudging around in the woods. "No, why?"

Spirit looked between the Mightyena and her reluctant companion. "Did you come here for the Festival of Friendship, too?"

 

[Negrek]

Mightyena stopped wagging, her ears standing straight up. "Why did you answer me?" she asked the human. "You can tell what I'm saying?"

 

[Dragonfree]

May frowned. "Well, yeah, I learned it at school like everyone else." Damn it, was this more bizarro-universes? A universe where all Pokémon spoke human, now a universe where no humans could understand Pokémon? Maybe it was just like the past, she supposed -- but Jade had apparently been from the past too, and she'd understood Pokémon just fine, it'd seemed like. "Is that... Do humans not understand Pokémon where you're from?"

Spirit looked fascinated. "So in your world you can't talk with your trainer? Can you still understand him?"

 

[Negrek]

[[ plot twist, Nate learns that the only reason he can't talk to his pokémon is because he didn't pay attention in school and then feels horribly guilty about it ]]

"No, they can't!" Mightyena said, her tail twitching back and forth as the shock began to wear off. "I mean they can't-can't! They can't even hear the way we talk! How can you--?"

It was too much--it was too exciting! Mightyena began to circle the trainer and her ninetales, speeding up as emotion overtook her. "Yes, I can understand him, of course! But nobody can talk to their trainer where I'm from, no! Not really. Not like with words."

But here was this human who understood her. Clearly! It wasn't a trick. "So you can talk to him for me, then," Mightyena said. "You can tell him what I'm saying!" She couldn't help it, she just had to jump!

--​

Oh, great. Mightyena was getting worked up about something. Nate probably needed to get down there before she challenged the ninetales to a battle or got too enthusiastic and knocked the trainer down or who knew what else. He started forward, only for Mightyena to come charging back at him, bouncing so much he felt like she might knock him down.

"Whoah, whoah, Mightyena! Hey! What the hell is going on over here?" he asked, trying to fend her off.

 

[Dragonfree]

May stared. The Mightyena was so excited about the prospect of talking to her trainer that she could barely contain herself. That was... that was something. Weird and sad and weird.

"Your Mightyena was... asking me to tell you what she's saying. Because people can't understand Pokémon in your world?"

Spirit trotted forward after Mightyena, probably itching for an excuse to show them she could speak human, too. May followed after her, hesitant. What exactly did Mightyena want her to translate, anyway?

 

[Negrek]

"My world?" Fucking lovely. It was one of the multiverse nuts. Nate wished he could tell Mightyena not to get her hopes up. She was going to be crushed. Nate scowled and crossed his arms. "I mean, yeah, nobody can speak pokémon anywhere I know of. Aside from a few wackjobs, cult leaders, those sorts." And one particular douche who didn't really count.

Mightyena sat down by Nate's feet, tail thumping madly against the ground. "He doesn't believe you," she said. "But if you can't understand me, then how could you know about Steelix, or Graveler, or Raticate? Go on, tell him! See what he says!"

 

[Dragonfree]

Honestly it was good to see she wasn't insane, that there were other people here who didn't seem to think this whole people from multiple worlds thing was all very normal and made perfect sense. "She says if I can't understand her, then how would I know about Steelix or Graveler or Raticate?" Were those his team...? "I don't know about you, but where I live we just learn it in school."

"It must be difficult to not be able to talk to your trainer at all," Spirit said to Mightyena, still admirably resisting the temptation to speak human. "Do you have to wait for him to guess what you mean, every time?"

 

[Negrek]

"What?" Nate was thrown, but only for a moment. Was he wearing something, somehow, that would have given his pokémon away? He didn't have their pokéballs, obviously, but... Hold on. Hold on, did she fucking recognize him? Is that how she'd guessed his team? Goddammit. "Cute parlor trick," Nate managed to get out. "But ain't buying it. If you can really talk to Mightyena, who's the biggest asshole in Saffron City?" Learning how to talk pokémon in school, honestly. What a fucking joke.

Mightyena laughed and affectionately bumped her head against the side of Nate's leg. "The answer he's looking for is Aiden," she said. "But yes! It's so annoying! I mean, we understand each other pretty well. Obviously things like "yes" or "no" are easy. But it's so hard if I want to explain anything complicated." She grinned at Spirit, tail thumping harder. "It must be so wonderful to be able to talk to your trainer properly! You could have a real conversation! You could talk about the future, or about what you're really feeling! It would even make it a lot easier to come up with battle strategies. I bet you and your trainer talk all the time!"

 

[Dragonfree]

"She says 'Aiden'?" Well, Saffron City was definitely a real place, and one where people learned Pokémon speech just like everywhere else. He was from another universe, where nobody could talk to Pokémon, but they still had a Kanto and a Saffron City? It crossed her mind for a moment that maybe it was just him, maybe he just hadn't gone to school or something, but surely if everyone else could talk to their Pokémon Mightyena would have noticed. Maybe it was the past, somehow, sometime further back than Jade. "Look, I'm only doing this because she wanted me to. If you're not interested, then never mind."

"I... Of course we talk," Spirit was saying, straightening herself. "She can be withdrawn, and she comes up with most of the battle strategies, because she is one of the best and I trust her judgement. But if we need to talk about something, we can talk, just like I could talk to another Pokémon or she to a human. I can't imagine not being able to talk back to my trainer at all."

May glanced at her, a sickening pang in her gut. "For God’s sake, he never said a word in his life until today, and nobody wonders if there’s anything wrong with him?"

 

[Negrek]

[[ why hello there, May's Issues ]]

For a second, Nate could only stare at the girl. (Actually a girl this time, right? God, he didn't need a repeat of the fucking boat adventure.) How the hell...? There had to be some kind of tell, right? There were all sorts of tricks for this sort of thing. Or maybe she was psychic? Even just enough to pick up on one or two things he was thinking about. "I mean, look. It just ain't possible, okay? I mean, pokémon speech is, like, energy shit. Humans can't even sense it. It ain't about the noises or whatever. So I mean how the fuck are you even figuring out what she's supposedly talking about? Like, how...?" He gestured down at Mightyena in frustration.

Mightyena's amusement was starting to shade towards annoyance. She prodded Nate's leg and said, "No, no, this is important! Tell him we have to find the scizor trainer who's friends with the dragon girl. And tell him that I love him, and I'm glad we went on this trip so he can relax and have fun for a change!" She gave her tail a couple more decisive thumps, as though that settled things.

Turning her attention back to Spirit, she said, "One of the best strategists, huh? You do look pretty strong! I bet your trainer's good at battling. What's the item you have there? It's pretty. Does it make your fire stronger?"

 

[Dragonfree]

'Energy shit'...? "What are you talking about? It's like, a lot of tones and pitches and syllables. It's just..." She trailed off as she realized somehow she wasn't actually sure she'd been literally hearing the Mightyena speak in Pokémon-speech syllables. She'd felt as if she was, but when her brain tried to call up the actual sounds, it couldn't seem to recall them. Was this another weird universe thing? God, this was giving her a headache. She rubbed at her face. "I don't know, but she... she says you have to find the Scizor trainer who's friends with a 'dragon girl', whatever that means. And that she's glad you went on this trip because she wants you to relax and have fun."

Was that it? Was this seriously what Mightyena had wanted to tell her trainer so badly? Some sappy fluff? There was a knot tightening in her chest. Maybe, if that was all, they could leave.

Spirit gave Mightyena a mysterious grin. "You could say that. But you could also say it gives me abilities that other Ninetales don't have." She looked up at May for a moment, then at Mightyena's trainer. "She also says," Spirit added, in human, "that she loves you."