Frontier Town Nocwell's General Goods

[Tetra]

"Oh sure," he said. He hadn't wanted to assume anything about her packing preferences but looking now, her bag was definitely haphazardly crammed full.

He analyzed the bag for a moment before unpacking a few items. "I got pretty good at this as a trainer, I'll show you. You gotta put in the big stuff first..."

Their meeting had not been on Koa's to do list, but he felt glad to have talked to her and shared their dreams.
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[Ambyssin]

Nova slowly padded down an aisle of Nocwell's Store, eyeing the healing berries sitting on the metallic racks. Water droplets dribbled down some of the orans. Someone must've given them a quick wash recently. He paused and lifted a chitinous foreleg. The chimera sent a spark of radiance racing down his gold chitin.

Would it really work?

He'd pushed radiance into a blast seed once before and it clearly had an effect on the Shadow Machine. But blast seed shells were firmer than orans. What if the radiance just... splattered the oran berry? Not to mention, drawing on radiance while in the Quarry would be a big risk against hordes of shadows.

Sighing, Nova paced between the orans and sitrus berries. What to do? What to do?

 

[Jackie Cat]

Nova's pacing went undisturbed at first – it was not a busy time for the store, and the staff were comfortable enough with the chimera (and his contemplative tendencies) by now that they'd gone to attend to stocks in the back.

Shortly, he sensed the presence of another in the building. Soft pawsteps – a bipedal gait. The rasp of a pawpad against wooden shelving. A faint clinking of metal adornments, and – hardly there at all – living breaths.

The Lucario had noticed Nova first, though. They were a perceptive species, even if this one's ragged ears, greying fur, and haggard chops all suggested that this 'mon was very old. One eye, framed between two pinkish strips of scar tissue, was glazed a milky blue. He wore bandages around his limbs, gold bands and rings from various bodyparts, and a tattered cloak from his neck.

"Hmm..."

He stepped past a stand displaying various tools and supplies, and fully into Nova's aisle. He eyed the iridescence on Nova's foreleg, and the berries nearby, his muzzle set in a dour downturn.

"Try it," said the Lucario, nodding slightly. His voice was soft, putting one in mind of dry sand in mid-flow. "I am curious for the outcome."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova immediately tensed. Muscles coiled as if to bolt for the exit. He didn't recognize this 'mon's voice. And certainly hadn't heard anything through what little of the grapevine he was connected to about any grizzled lucario.

... A grizzled lucario who seemed to recognize that radiant spark.

"I, uh, kinda need to buy it first," he said. "Not exactly rolling in money." He glanced at his torso. Dusty and matted from spending most of his time outside. Maybe not the extent of proper wilders. But that was what Nova was used to. Even though he didn't really like being a homeless wanderer back home, it was something familiar that he'd been clinging to on Forlas.

 

[Jackie Cat]

The Lucario regarded Nova with a stony expression, then glanced around as if to note that nobody was watching.

He sighed.

"If you can't afford a single berry, then you're wasting your time browsing. Or are you engaged in tormenting yourself?"

He reached into one pouch of a leather bag at his hip, and withdrew a coin. He tossed it to Nova, sending it spinning in the air. It was a Commonwealth dollar, silver underneath many years of dull tarnish.

"That should buy you several meals. Now, take the oran."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I can. I just--"

He stopped when Lucario handed him the coin. Nova blinked, then grabbed hold of one of the berries. Part of him said this was a bad idea. Some complete stranger asking to see radiance wasn't an everyday thing.

But Nova relented. He was curious and this guy was offering him a chance to test it. Concentrating, he drew on that radiant spark and pushed a small amount into the berry.

 

[Jackie Cat]

The oran shimmered with new energy, and for a moment, it seemed as though it would hold its lustre. Then the skin of the berry began to split, with the faintest hiss, as if it were being fried in tallow. Pale moisture welled up from the berry's flesh, held there by surface tension. It caught the light beautifully, until the effects faded away, leaving it softened, but intact.

"If you conveyed enough light, the berry would burst," said the Lucario, a thin curve rising on one side of his muzzle. "Just like a pokémon would, if they held enough of it. It would be well for you to avert such an experience."

 

[Ambyssin]

He had been warned as much, if Nova wasn't mistaken. Was it Mhynt who floated the idea? Luz? It was all muddled for him.

"Not the first time I've gotten that warning. 'mon like me are built with a Self-Destruct switch. Keeps us in line." He glanced at the stranger. "So then, you acquainted with radiance from the Wandering Light... or something else?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Something else," answered the Lucario. "She gave you the power, then. I was almost certain to begin with, but it is unlike her. I had to be sure."

The 'mon tilted his head to examine Nova with his good eye.

"Avowedly chimeric... but resembling nothing so much as the warform of the creator. Artifice in the skull. Every element, latent in the deep aura. This 'switch', for a master to sever the life thread. Created, purposefully, to slay... anything. You're a god-killer."

He said this flatly, and without alarm or judgement.

The aura-sensing organs at the back of his head rose up and quivered steadily.

"And you have Shadow running through your blood, even now. Were you aware of it?"

 

[Ambyssin]

A... god-killer?

Brief images flickered through his head. Falling through the floor into an abyss while a blonde-haired youth reach toward him, shouting. The studious look of a young, energetic riolu and her skeptical ice vulpix partner.

... Diving in front of Vulpix's trembling form as Judgement's white lances rained down from above.

Blinking slowly, Nova's cheek bolts turned once. "Yeah. I've known for a long time." There was, perhaps, enough intonation that Lucario could glimpse a double-meaning behind it. "Never heard anyone call me a god-killer before. Where'd you get that from?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Huhmph..."

Lucario's sensors gradually simmered down.

"You were crafted with intent; you resemble the creator's warrior aspect; you have powers befitting either a war-god, or a slayer of gods. You are precisely the kind of being that mortals would create to challenge the gods."

He sniffed, with a trace of dour amusement.

"However, I make no moral inferences on your character." Lucario's paw went to his chin, holding it thoughtfully. "How long have you known? Your presence in this world is brief. A mere sliver of your soul's lifetime..."

Recognition glimmered in Lucario's one good eye.

"Tell me," he said, without flourish or drama. "I wish to know."

 

[Ambyssin]

"A mere sliver of lifetimes," Nova corrected. There was a sad smile on his beak. "Centuries, maybe? I lost track of time not that long after it happened. A human corrupted my spirit. Wandered around, doing his bidding. A prisoner in my own body."

He looked up. "I heard a voice often. And he said something... that made me think he was going to free me." He looked around. "And then I ended up here. Not... quite what I expected."

 

[Jackie Cat]

The Lucario nodded. Understood. There was a kind of cold, hard sympathy in his face, but he gave no words of comfort regardless.

"The corruption of your spirit... Shadow?"

He took his answer from Nova's expression, and moved on immediately.

"Don't assume that the voice you heard is related in any way to your summoning," he said, flatly. "While not impossible, I think it more likely that an attempt to free you is yet ongoing, frozen in time until your soul returns home. That, or..."

For once, there was a pause. Then the Lucario shrugged, and pressed on regardless.

"Some kind of hallucination on your part, or deceit on the part of another. Pokémon are entirely capable of going insane without occult help of any kind, but Shadow will eagerly hasten – and worsen – a pokémon's insanity."

Again that sharp-edged, warmthless, sympathetic look.

"You do not seem insane to me," said Lucario. "There is hope in that."

He said the word 'hope' with an uncharacteristic jump in emotion, his voice cracking barely perceptibly on the hill of the vowel.

 

[Ambyssin]

"I appreciate that." Nova sounded genuine. He didn't want to overthink this situation or he'd fall into a raboot hole of paranoid thoughts and that didn't do any good. He tried to match Lucario's look with one of his own, and nodded slowly.

"Folks just call me Nova. And I'm guessing you... have had more than your fair share of experience with the stuff?"

He glanced down the aisle. "We can head outside if you'd prefer."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I know your name," said Lucario. "And yes... I have had a greater than equal share of experience with Shadow."

The strange 'mon seemed to find this faintly amusing. Clearly, putting it this way was an understatement.

"Enough to know that its properties are not identical in every world. Also, that the rules governing each reality are malleable, and that Shadow can be a means of adjusting those rules. Perhaps you will be changed upon your return home, Nova. Perhaps in your time on Forlas, the weight of your soul will press against this world."

He followed Nova's line of sight, and hummed thoughtfully.

"I have no preference," he said, after a moment's consideration, "but if there's someplace else you would have us travel to, then lead the way. I shall go with you."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nodding, Nova gathered up the supplies he absolutely knew he needed for the Quarry raid and paid for them appropriately. As he led Lucario out, he slipped the Fire Memory into his drive. Turquoise parts shifted to red. He lifted his head to bask in the hot desert air, shaking out his upper half. His dusty white fur fluffed up a bit.

"Properties can change plenty," Nova said, glancing knowingly at Lucario. "Shadow can be a prison on the soul or a corrupting blight. A killer could become a shield for others." The faintest ripple of Iron Defense's steely gray energy flickered in his cheek bolts. "Though, if you already knew my name, you probably knew that, too.

"Maybe my soul's already pressing on Forlas." He dug two of his talons a bit into the dirt. "Maybe it isn't. If I'm going to make a difference, I can only hope it's for the better."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Lucario accompanied Nova outside, and nodded. Yes. He knew that, too. As Nova spoke, the elder 'mon nodded again. Yes. Your soul influences this world.

He looked up into the sky, not heeding the brightness of the day's sun.

"Hmph. Rather a difference for the better than for the worse, but be mindful. Your soul will only leave a deeper indentation on the skin of this reality the longer you are here... and the more powerful you become. You wield both the light and the black – powers that affirm your soul and shape the world."

Lucario eyed Nova, and his mouth twitched into a grim imitation of a smile.

"I have seen noble intentions lead to great suffering... In your relatively long life, you certainly must also have done. You of all your cohort may need this advice the least."

He looked as though he might say more, then sighed, and looked away.

"You go now to battle," he said, flatly. An observation, more than a question. "Tell me... what outcomes you foresee."

 

[Ambyssin]

"A grueling fight." Nova lifted a foreleg and curled his talons. "Against enemies that blight our auras, eating at our health. Shadows growing steadily because we're in a pit of them." His gaze sharpened. "Sparks of radiance behind attacks that, hopefully, prove enough to pull an offworlder out of the depths of darkness."

It was far from certain. Nova was hoping, but not treating it as a certainty. Overconfidence kills and all that.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Lucario raised a brow, very slightly.

"The fire lizard? It is possible. Should you accomplish it, he may become a valuable ally."

He blew air from his snout, and blinked. He didn't blink often. Hardly at all, in fact.

"You described your expectations for the events of the battle, and one potential outcome. Have you considered the possibility that you will become new puppets of the hydra? That would be an especially regrettable eventuality. I have considered preventing you from confronting him until you are more ready."

The old 'mon shrugged, and chuckled. It was a terribly dry, rasping sound.

"I think you can do it, though. I want you to do it."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova bobbed his head slowly. "I've been thinking about it. It's why I wanted to test the berry. Why I'm trying to see if I can get some... temporary wards against the dungeon's outside corruption.

"But, well, if I let that possibility paralyze me... if I fear that outcome..." He gave a chuckle of his own. A small black wisp escaped his beak. "I'd be doing the bastard's work for him."