Blaguarro Town Main Station

[Weazel]

“To be fair, there’s a couple dozen of us, and I evolved,” Archie replied, “But, fair enough. Name’s Archie, by the way.”

The Dewott’s tail swished back and forth, and he leaned back on his heels in thought. The timing definitely was inopportune. Could it be some malcontent simply taking advantage of the town’s current struggle policing itself? Maybe, though, again, why go through all the trouble of making it look like a Saint was causing the damage instead? Cipher might have reason to ferment discontent in the town, but they’d arrested all the local top brass, Miror B. was far to the east according to his wanted posters, and the rest of the big names were likely still far to the north, so if it was Cipher, it was probably just a few assorted peons that slipped through the net.

Of course, there was also the alternative proposal that it really was the Saint herself going around wrecking things. Sometimes the simplest answer really was the right one, and the simplest answer to ‘who would go around trying to make it look like the Blazing Twilight is wrecking things’ was ‘no one, it really is the Blazing Twilight.’

“Say, for argument’s sake, it really is the Saint who decided they had a bone to pick with your town,” Archie said, “What should we be looking for? What kind of telltale signs would they leave behind? If they were to suddenly show up in front of us, what’s the most important things I need to know?”

 

[Inkedust]

"Tala. And well..." She gestured to the wreckage around her. "Things falling from high places. Claw marks, pecks and some feathers left behind. The culprit is an avian after all. Don't think they're using anything sophisticated. Though if she is the one causing this, the most obvious is to not draw her ire but if you do, watch out for the flames. Not unless you want to feel like a block of lead for a few days."

As Tala spoke, Archie would feel like he was being watched. Though the Kommo-o seemed none the wiser, continuing to talk.

 

[Weazel]

Wait, there were feathers left behind? That was potentially identifying evidence! But then, he hardly had an encyclopedic knowledge of the features that made every avian Pokemon identifiable by their shed feathers. And he doubted forensics as a field of study was particularly advanced in the current age Forlas appeared to be in.

“Suppose you wouldn’t happen to know any ornithologists?” the Dewott mused.

Well, he could definitely agree to not provoking the Saint if he could avoid it. Mentions of the lasting effect of the Blazing Twilight’s flames brought back memories of Owen, and the way he had first cut and then burned Archie’s arms, and how much slower those wounds were to heal compared to any of the others he’d suffered – even the one Seth had gouged across his stomach…

Something was watching him. He could feel the fur on the back of his neck standing up. The Dewott glanced up and down the station platform, and then his eyes drifted to the nearby rooftops to scan there, too.

“Sorry, but do you… Feel that?” he asked, lowing his voice a little. Maybe he was just being paranoid...

 

[Inkedust]

Tala glanced at Archie in confusion. "Feel what?" she asked, but as the dewott took in his surroundings, he would see it. There, up on one of the rooftops, was a large, dark figure clawing at the shingles that watched the two pokémon with great interest. The moment it noticed the dewott's gaze, it took off... not away but towards Archie and Tala, landing on a nearby overhang, tearing down a good chunk of it with its weight although the action looked far too intentional to be a sloppy landing.

Black feathers contrasted against magenta flames and highlights, a hooked beak curved into an affixed grin and piercing blue eyes flicked between the pair of pokémon before settling on Archie.

Tala was speechless, her eyes widened, disbelieving. Her reaction was more than enough to prove that the dark moltres that perched before them was the Blazing Twilight. The genuine article.

"Isn't it cute?" asked the bird. "Putting all that effort into rebuilding when it can all be torn down again. Just. Like. This?" She leaned further, causing the overhang to groan and deform beneath her weight, just barely stopping before the whole thing toppled over.

 

[Weazel]

Scratch that, he wasn’t being paranoid after all. A black bird cloaked in magenta flames, large but not intimidatingly so. The bird tore apart its perch with impunity, simply by throwing around its weight. It was likely content in the knowledge that there was very little either the Dewott or the Kommo-o could do to stop it. Still, the Dewott’s paws drifted towards the scalchops on his hips all the same. Call it a force of habit.

“I take it you’re the Blazing Twilight, then?” the Dewott asked. A formality mostly, once glance at Tala’s shocked expression told him all he needed to know. Still, letting the bird introduce themselves, do a little grandstanding, might help start the conversation off on the right foot. The Kommo-o’s warning not to do anything to provoke the Saint’s ire rang through his head again. When he spoke again, he kept his tone relatively flat. Questioning, but not accusatory.

“I guess, I’m confused. Maybe you could help me out here? Why would a Saint such as yourself, spoken of with reverence in myth and legend, take the time out of their schedule to come to a dying frontier town and, for example, knock over random watchtowers? I would think such a thing would seem... Beneath you?”

 

[Inkedust]

"Is explaining myself to a mortal like yourself beneath me? Since you seem to know so much about what is and isn't 'beneath' the Blazing Twilight," Moltres sneered. "But fine, fine. It's because I want to." She locked eyes with Archie as she said that before pulling away a wooden board from her perch, throwing it in front of the dewott. "Because it's not fair."

"Because we're trying to rebuild, is that right?" Tala asked, crossing her arms after getting over her initial shock. "Because you're the arbiter of this sort of thing?"

Moltres' gaze briefly flicked towards Tala. "Tough," she flatly replied.

 

[Weazel]

The Dewott hopped back a foot or two, trying not to trip over his tail. Of course, in the end he hadn’t actually needed to dodge the bird’s thrown board at all, the Saint aimed it short of him. Still, Archie figured it was better not to take any chances. And though his focus was momentarily disrupted, he still picked up on that first bit of the Blazing Twilight’s reply. ‘Because I want to,’ as the first response, followed up with some vague statement about fairness. Really though, that first bit was all Archie needed to know. Anything else was just an attempt to justify arbitrary cruelness.

“A lot of things aren’t fair, in life,” the Dewott conceded, “But you’ll have to forgive me, if I’m a little skeptical as to that being your actual concern. You are a Physical God, imbued with tremendous power, and you are choosing to use that power to torment townsfolk who cannot hope to ever match you. That doesn’t seem particularly fair, to me.”

 

[Inkedust]

"And?" Moltres asked, twisting her head to the side. Was she dismissing him, egging him on to continue his thought or a combination of the two? There was certainly a hint of genuine curiosity in her voice.

Tala kept a firm expression, keeping an eye on Moltres' flames but said nothing in an attempt not to escalate things. Instead, she decided to act as peacekeeper if the interaction between the Wayfarer and the Saint went south for any reason.

 

[Weazel]

Alright, to be honest, that was not the response he was expecting. But then, what was he expecting, exactly? He’d already suspected the talk of fairness to be a smokescreen, so him tearing it down did nothing to tackle the actual point the Saint had made. She’d already made it clear she wasn’t bound by any sort of higher reasoning or moral code. She had the power to do as she pleased, so she did as she pleased. Even if what she wanted to do was small, petty, and did nothing to advance anyone’s interests, especially not her own, whatever they may actually be.

“So, from where I’m standing, it seems to me that you’ve chosen to act cruel arbitrarily. There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason for why you’ve decided to come and tear Blaguarro apart,” the Dewott explained, holding his paws out, palms up, and shrugging. “I don’t see what you’re getting out of this. Why expend the effort?”

 

[Inkedust]

Moltres' eyes narrowed, her flames flickering brighter. There was definitely the sense that Archie was not impressing the bird very much at all. "Arbitrary?" she echoed with a hiss. "Is it arbitrary? Or is it just life?" Her claws gripped her perch tighter, leaving visible scratches on the wood. "Who are you to tell me that my actions are cruel and where my 'effort' should go?"

 

[Weazel]

The Dewott shifted, holding his paws up and out now in an attempt to be placating. To be honest, he wasn’t particularly impressed with this bird, either. But, maybe that was on him for expecting some kind of higher level of reasoning from a Saint, especially after meeting Luz. It seemed, ultimately, that Forlas’s Gods were much the same as its mortals.

“Is there a word you would prefer to describe it, if not cruelty?” he asked, earnestly. “If a volcano were to suddenly erupt, and wipe Blaguarro off the face of the earth, we would call that an act of nature. It’d be a tragedy, but one that was uncontrollable and unpredictable. You can’t reason with the natural forces of the planet.”

He fixed the Blazing Twilight with a more serious expression of his own, “But you are not a force of nature. You are a rational actor, you can choose how you act, how you carry yourself. And when a rational actor chooses to hurt people, destroy things, simply because they want to? Because they can, and no one can stop them? Where I’m from, we could call such a person capricious, arbitrary. Cruel.”

 

[Inkedust]

At that, Moltres brought down the entire overhang, creating a large cloud of dust and a near-deafening crash throughout the area. Her flames could be seen through the dust, they were burning bright giving her the appearance of a wraith or spectre. "And what can you do about it?" she asked, tauntingly. She drew closer to where she may have thought Archie may be, slinking through the murky air like a serpent. She opened her wings wide. "If I choose to be cruel?"

 

[Weazel]

Now he’d gone and done it. The Dewott grabbed his hat to prevent it being blown off from the force of the Saint bringing down the overhang she was perched on. This kicked up a tremendous amount of dust, which, handily, obscured the Dewott, but wasn’t thick enough to hide the Blazing Twilight’s scarlet flames. As the bird monologued, he drew his scalchops, and, quietly as he could, circled around behind her, focusing on the energies he could bring to bear if a fight broke out, letting some fade to the background, dragging others forward.

Of course, a straight fight against the bird was not one he could win. Not by himself, and likely not with Tala’s assistance, powerful as Kommo-o tended to be. But, he did have one possible advantage. This bird was used to throwing their weight around, and being treated with a certain amount of deference. She was a Saint, after all, and how many people would dare attack a Saint? Even now, she was relying on her reputation to force him to submit, more than anything else. There was a chance, however small, that biting back might put her on the back foot, give him an opening he could exploit, either for a continued assault or to aid in his and Tala's escape.

Alright, he only had one shot at this, and he had to make it count. He was as ready as he could be. The temperature around him started to drop, ice forming on his scalchops and the tips of his whiskers.

“You don’t intimidate me,” the Dewott snarled. “I saw my world die. I survived the death of my universe. There is nothing that you could do that could scare me.”

Archie SHADOW Focused... Archie Prepared Shadow Avalanche!

 

[Inkedust]

There was no knowing what was going to happen next, what Moltres was going to do but at Archie's words...

Everything went still, like for an incredibly brief moment, Moltres was impressed.

"So you do know," came Moltres' reply. It was a statement, not a question and her tone of voice... it didn't sound satisfied but vindicated. "And was it fair?" she asked, folding her wings. "Was it deserved?" She didn't wait for an answer. "And you still choose to fight?"

 

[Weazel]

“No it wasn’t fair!” the Dewott roared, “And of course it wasn’t deserved! Some fucked up black gem monster decided one day it was going to eat the stars! And why not? It’s not like the universe dying would effect it any, it could just jump to a new one once the deed was done!”

Capricious. Arbitrary. Cruel. So much like this damn bird, only The Monster That Ate The Sun cause destruction on a cosmic scale, whereas the Blazing Twilight contented herself with petty acts of vandalism in a single backwater town. Necrozma never bothered to explain itself, either. Was it a rational actor, or a force of nature? Ultimately it didn’t matter, the result was the same either way.

The Dewott changed his aim at the last moment, letting loose the Avalanche and causing spikes of ice to erupt from the ground, harmlessly to his side rather than in front of him at the Saint. He likely wouldn’t get the chance to prepare another one. Hopefully he wouldn’t need it.

“But of course I’ll keep fighting!” he continued. “No one should have to suffer like I did! What gives you the right to make others’ lives worse? I actively make the choice to try and make people’s lives better! What’s stopping you from doing the same?”

 

[Inkedust]

"To prove it," was all that Moltres said in reply, her tone neutral. The beating of wings followed and the dust when blown away. When Archie regained visibility of his surroundings, Moltres was gone.

Meanwhile, Tala pushed aside some debris that had nearly collapsed on top of her. She squinted, watching the Saint fly off into the distance. "What a mess," she grumbled. "Anite's gonna be having a field day cleaning all this up. Surprised she backed off though. Would've sworn that she would've tried to make a point out of you." She eyed Archie carefully. "Then again, you look like you could use a drink in the meantime," she added with a shrug.

 

[Weazel]

He didn’t actually see the Blazing Twilight leave. He’d had to grab his hat again to prevent it being blown away, and by the time the wind and dust settled, the Saint was nowhere to be seen. He did a quick scan of the sky just to be absolutely certain, and finally caught sight of her as a receding speck already far in the distance. Seemed like when the dark firebird wanted to, she really could make herself scarce.

“I-,” he paused, frowning at Tala. Then he pinched his brow and sighed, “I’m sorry. That was… Unprofessional of me. At least let me help clean up the mess.”

And what a mess it was. A fully collapsed overhang, random shingles from nearby roofs, the ice he’d called up. It looked like they had actually been a battle here, rather than a terse, but ultimately peaceful, conversation. The Dewott looked up at the fading Saint again, and squished down the bubbling sense of disdain he felt for the bird. It wouldn’t do him any good now.

“I took a gamble on her not being used to people not being immediately cowed by her reputation,” he said, “Not sure if I got lucky, or what. Part of me thinks I may have just made a new enemy.”

 

[Inkedust]

"Didn't seem like she cared about reputation at all," Tala observed. "It's not like she makes herself known enough to maintain it, which makes her appearance all the stranger." She lifted a few support beams to clear out the path. "Still, if you can help clear up a little you can have a drink or two on the house. Maybe tell some of the others of your group to come and help out if they can spare the time. Least I can do."

 

[Weazel]

Did she not care about her reputation, or did she not care about having a bad one? Those weren't necessarily the same thing. Well, he didn't necessarily know the Saint well enough to say one way or the other. He did agree that her appearance here was strange, though. Just what was the Blazing Twilight hoping to achieve?

Well, the Dewott doubted this would be the last time he saw her. There'd be another chance to get her to explain herself. In the meantime, best focus on getting this mess taken care of before the train came through. Archie set his scalchops back on his hips, rolled up his coat sleeves, and got to work clearing rubble.

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[Butterfree]

The party was quiet as they padded back to town. Dave spent a few minutes just marveling at the fact he could finally actually walk at a decent fucking pace.

Once the novelty of that started to wear off, though, he found himself looking back around at his companions. Odette, who'd somehow picked up Moltres's fire, however that fucking worked. And Jade, the lanky Meowth, looked distracted. She'd been practically pleading to soothe and make peace with Moltres, hadn't she. And there was this one thing she'd said, about this not being exactly normal where she was from, which still sounded like it was the sort of thing that could theoretically happen.

He inclined his head towards her. "So, let me guess. You've got 'Saints' in your world?"