Sojaveña Wilds Clan Battlegrounds

[Jackie Cat]

Sierra got carefully to her feet, her mane still sparking with excess electricity as she began to earth the power she'd built up in the course of the fight. Her expression was an odd mix of serenity and pain – perhaps it could best be called catharsis. She'd once fought like hell for years on end in her youth – this may well have been her most exciting fight in a long, long time.

"I am satisfied with that result," she growled, softly. "Continue training. I recommend strengthening your endurance."

She glanced at her clanmates with distant, but fond approval, then nodded to each of her latest opponents.

"Get up, Viento. ...Wayfarers, we give respect to your worth as opponents. Will you let us host you for a meal?"

 

[Shadow Serenity]

Kimiko was among those who winced as Dave's crushing blow landed. That one looked like it hurt. But, well, Sierra did invite it.

After her barrage, Kimiko had made to keep Viento busy, but both Wes and Jade had that covered. So she held back, keeping an eye on how things fell into place. She felt... oddly energetic and alert, despite the exhaustion. She popped her leppa into her mouth while she watched anyway, ready to endure and dive back in should the Escarpa warriors rise again.

But no, both Sierra and Veinto had gone down, and Piedra had taken enough of a beating to yield. The supporting warriors backed down immediately. Kimiko hadn't even seen where Halcón had gotten off too after showing up. Or Gladion, for that matter.

She still felt like she had energy to spare, finding it difficult to stand still even once the fight was over and the luxray began to rise. She made her way over to Viento, ready to offer a hand should he need it. "You good?"

She then turned back to Sierra, who was back on her feet, and nodded lightly. "That'd be our pleasure. And I'd be honored to continue trainng with you, if you'll have me," she added, referring to the Escarpa was a whole.

 

[Inkedust]

"I would also be honoured to enjoy another such spar in the future," Bellatrix added, after willing herself to speak. "I will gladly accept your offer."

 

[Butterfree]

"I am satisfied with that result," she growled, softly. "Continue training. I recommend strengthening your endurance."

She glanced at her clanmates with distant, but fond approval, then nodded to each of her latest opponents.

"Get up, Viento. ...Wayfarers, we give respect to your worth as opponents. Will you let us host you for a meal?"

Dave nodded to Sierra, inhaling and exhaling carefully as the encroaching shadows bled out of his brain. His body was still aching, but a rush of victorious hormones sang in the background, insisted this had all been well fucking worth it and they'd kicked the Luxray's collective asses. And who was he to complain. Better than going home feeling like shit.

"Food sounds good," he said. "And endurance."

Down in the Cipher facility, they couldn't be scraping by on slivers of consciousness. They had to be stronger. Better. And probably they needed Radiance.

The Covenant named itself after Light. Maybe that was what made them so fucking up their own asses. Was it actually a good idea to imbue all the Wayfarers with the stuff permanently? Who could say. Powehi wasn't fond of them being here in the first place.

But one way or another they had to dismantle the Cipher operation and rescue the victims. And it was a chance. They'd already had one dangerous fucking power foisted upon them. What was another?

<><><><><>​

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion didn’t have a watch, but he was pretty sure he was early. He didn’t want to leave Halcón waiting.

Now that he’d broken his helmet, he was going to have to relearn a lot of his combat reflexes. He couldn’t block with it, and a lot of his fighting ended up involving using it as a weapon. He still wanted to be able to hold his own, though. He fidgeted with his new amulet and tried to think about something other than nerves.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Escarpa were serious-minded 'mon, but Halcón didn't show much care for punctuality. It wasn't like the clan carried pocket watches themselves – though they did have a habit of looking to the sky for the position of the sun.

Eventually, the Luxio showed himself, loping towards the battlegrounds at his ease.

"Gladion," he said, by way of greeting. His head tilted. "You lost the helmet, I see. A freed head looks well on you!"

The clanner trotted the rest of the distance, his usual lazy smile evident on his muzzle.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion smiled in return. “That I did. Won’t miss it as far as my comfort goes. As far as combat goes, I hope the reflex to lean headfirst into attacks goes quickly. Which it probably will, seems the kind of mistake to automatically give hard feedback.”

He stood up as Halcón finished his approach. It was easier to do now that he wasn’t lifting all that metal with his talons. “At least it means I’ll be able to see people nearby properly.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Ah, and why wouldn't you want that, here of all places? The pokémon around here are all so handsome."

Halcón may have been joking, flirting, or both, but he kept speaking without expecting repartee from Gladion, at least. This was very possibly a mercy.

"So, you want to spar until you have been trained not to block hits with your face, is that right? A worthy task."

The cat smirked, which could have implied anything from 'let's not spoil your good looks' to 'are you seriously asking me to punch you in the face until you learn to dodge'. His body language was relaxed, confident, playful. Remarkably chill for an Escarpa, as always.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion twitched slightly, as if suppressing a small fight or flight reflex. Sure, like that’s what I’d be paying attention to while sparring, he thought to himself. Mercifully, Halcón moved on from the ‘handsome’ remark before Gladion had to make the impossible choice whether it would be worse to sarcastically concur or sarcastically not concur.

Halcón’s second remark was much easier to deal with. He rolled his eyes at it, even if he ended up laughing slightly at the same time. “I would say I’d like to work on a more Silvally-esque style with someone friendly, before the next time some tries to kill me with a hammer or something. But, sure, your description works too, I guess…”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Halcón nodded, and began to pace around Gladion's flank, smiling lazily.

"I will be glad to help you with that, then," he replied. "Ah, this is usually where I say I will go easy on my opponent, but you are truly strong by now, I think."

His grin flashed teeth.

"Besides, it is very unlike a true warrior for me to do less than my best. I should behave like an Escarpa, I think."

There was irony and irreverence in the Luxio's tone, but it did sound like he genuinely intended to push Gladion pretty hard.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

As much as Gladion wanted a good fight, the tone of that felt… off. It hadn’t evaded Gladion’s attention that Halcón didn’t quite fit the mould of a typical Escarpa. It was why he’d seemed so much more approachable.

“Yeah, and afterwards I’ll score you on your conformity.”

He raised a brow, and dropped the irony. “I don’t want you to easy on me or anything, but it’s not like I have any idea what you ‘should’ be like. It’s you I wanted to spar with.”

He paused, then added on “My wayfarer friends all seem to be supports,” as an afterthought. (It was still nice to call them that.)

 

[Jackie Cat]

Halcón stopped pacing, his head cocking to one side. The smirk remained, but more curious than before.

"My friend, I wonder – what do you mean to say? To give me permission not to fight a certain way – if I do not wish it – is how I hear your words."

The Luxio glanced over his shoulder towards the clan's camp.

"You know, I am not a 'support', myself. I am a talented warrior—" here the smirk returned, as strong as ever "—and I enjoy battle. You already know this, I hope! If I make a little fun of myself for pulling my punches, well... It is not really because of how I like to fight. It is more that it means less to me than my peers."

Halcón's expression became sharply tongue-in-cheek.

"Gladion, you may have noticed this already, but I do not often take things seriously. Shocking, yes?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"All of those things are reasons I was interested in sparring with you. I think I just..."

Gladion fumbled for the right words. "Mistook the sentiment of that bit of irony." Thought it was the kind of irreverent discontentment I'm used to. He felt strangely defenceless in face of Halcón's questioning. He was supposed to be good at this exact same kind of thing. Why couldn't he manage any retort of his own?

Part of him was itching to get up and ask to start, to bury his nerves at whatever this was into a fight, but... he could imagine what kind of message that would send. (Why'd he even have to care about this? He'd just intended to look for another match like the one before.) He had to clear this up first.

"Guess I'm just used to seeing it used as a response to... pressure, or whatever."

 

[Jackie Cat]

The Luxio warrior nodded, and sat back on his haunches, relaxed.

"Pressure, sure. Of a kind. For you, I think, this is about what you should be? For me, it is more like... I am exactly as I should be, but why do I not do more? Why do I not understand the importance of it? Why do I joke, and do less than my best, and waste time?"

Halcón shrugged, and smiled wider. More irreverence and self-deprecation, and he was enjoying it.

"Maybe I have more fun this way," he said, answering his own question. "But now I wish to ask, what is your wound, strange friend? Something ails you; I could relieve the injury."

Metaphor, and not too subtle – 'what's bothering you? Maybe I can help.'

 

[Shiny Phantump]

It took a moment for Gladion to settle on an answer. He sat down on his chest, the past few days having left him emotionally exhausted. He didn’t regret letting the irony armour crack per se, but blood, sweat, and bile he wanted it back sometimes. It just didn’t come as easily anymore. At least not around people he liked.

“I fled a mould my life was supposed to fit into. A role I was to play as perfectly as possible. From where I’m standing, I don’t see being expected to fill a role you aren’t at all, or a role you only partially fill as two different things. They look to me like the same thing to different degrees.”

Gladion followed the eyeline of Halcón’s glance back towards the camp, then looked directly to him, then glanced away awkwardly. “I guess I thought it sounded like you had to stick to your own mould. I remember the last fight we had, I could tell you were enjoyed that. Even unseriously, still sounded familiar. Tried to be sarcastic back, but… seems I’m no good at doing that in a friendly way. Which is odd, because I’m sarcastic a lot.” That probably says something about me as a person.

 

[Jackie Cat]

The Luxio nodded, listening with patience. Gladion obviously interested him, and while another clanner might have preferred to jump straight into battle, he clearly felt at ease just talking, for now.

"You are from another world," said Halcón, musing. "You ran far from your mould, strange friend."

He considered something for a moment, then seemed to latch onto a thought.

"I tell you, I have no wish to run from mine. I think the way in which our roles are different in kind rather than degree is that I am lax rather than uncomfortable. I will take my warrior duties seriously when they are worth taking seriously... I will be proud and serious in battle when my battles are for a purpose greater than spending my hours."

He looked more seriously at Gladion, albeit still with that friendly, smug, laid-back energy of his.

"You walked worlds. You broke your helmet. You are un-caged. But not... at ease, I think. Is that so?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“I’m glad you’re content. And I certainly can’t imagine you running off. The Escarpa seem a much better place than my home. I just… second-guessed that for a moment. The polar opposite of them, in a lot of ways. But I second-guessed if difference had made me overlook something.”

Even though Gladion understood that Halcón was just being friendly, showing interest in him, the ease with which Halcón navigated this conversation relative to him still left Gladion feeling painfully awkward.

“I spent most of my life with no clue who I was. Then after that, as… legally an outlaw. Sure, I’m free and relatively safe here, but that kind of leaves a mark. I’m still… figuring out what to do.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

The big cat shrugged. For a Luxio, he was pretty large – liable to evolve any time now, probably.

"Clan life isn't for everyone. At least there's no great shame in leaving – we have civilians, you know? But that life is not for me."

For a moment, it seemed like the clanner was unsure what to say to Gladion's admission. His gaze drifting off to the distance, as the Soja' winds ruffled his mane, and disturbed the dusty ground. Or perhaps he was just giving it due thought, not rushing to answer. At ease.

"Suffering outlasts injury," he said at last. "Remove a weapon, and a wound remains. One must clean and bandage it, wait for it to heal, and still there may be a scar."

He absentmindedly scratched at a scar of his own on one shoulder. He had a few.

"Is there a reason for haste, in your recovery?" he asked.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Time here’s limited for us from outside this world. We’re not good for long term stability, in our numbers. So we’re not gonna stick around.”

Gladion’s tone of voice was wistful. This was something he noticed only in retrospect, and it caught him rather by surprise. He’d spent most of his time here disliking this lonely world that didn’t make sense to him. He shifted awkwardly where he sat, feeling mildly uncomfortably in his awareness of his own body here.

“I guess that’s an easy answer to do anything quickly here. But we’re also supposed to forget what happened to us here, so… It’s just as much a reason to not bother dealing any issues.”

A meek look crossed his face. “More than that, I think I’ve already let my armour break, and I don’t know what to do with the vulnerability…”

Gladion tilted his head, an amused look crossing his face as a though crossed his mind. “I mean that rhetorically, though the parallel isn’t lost on me.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Halcón chuckled, glancing back at Gladion. "So, you broke your helm and your 'armour' alike, and you came here to have me strike you until you found new armour."

He pawed at his cheek fur for a moment, his ears flicking in thought.

"You are afraid of injury," he said at last. "You can grow tough and healthy, so that a wound is unconcerning. You can become evasive or protected, so that none may strike you. You can let others take blows on your behalf, whom are stronger in defence. You can escape notice, hide, and so not invite attacks. You can anticipate your enemies, pick your battles, strike from outside their reach... or weaken them until they cannot retaliate effectively. Perhaps by grouping in such overwhelming force that there is no battle at all."

The cat was certainly talking about both combat and social relations. For the Escarpa, maybe the two weren't truly separate.

He shrugged again, and met Gladion's eye. "But if you enter battle, it is possible you will be hurt. In fact, it is certain and inevitable. To go into battle is to invite danger – and pain. The real answer, I think, is to be unafraid of pain. To accept it."