Tenacinde Canal Boneyard

[Sinderella]

Maybe it was the palpability of seeing Gladion’s thorny look, maybe it was the rush of slowly realizing their predicament, or maybe she’d hit her head on a pipe upon being thrown into this dungeon. What was certain was the way her unbridled frustration pulled her lip back, and the scathing look that could have drilled a hole into his chimera back. Her eyes didn’t move off of him until she was certain she’d have a moment to butt in.

“Why the fuck are you like this, dude?”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Like what? I can't make a self-deprecating joke, that there's a stick in my ass or whatever?"

Gladion’s face gave the appearance that it was taking real effort for him not to yell that. He was confused and frustrated by this conversation, trying to navigate it though multiple layers of predicate assumptions about him and what he was like, with only a loose understanding of a different Guzma that didn’t seem to match this one’s behaviour. Nothing he was doing seemed to be able to deescalate things.

Lillian was intimidated by the tension in the air. It didn’t help that she was substantially shorter than Odette was, much less Gladion. She didn’t understand how things were deteriorating between them so quickly, but she felt like she had to do something to help. To help him, mostly: She could tell he was at the absolute end of his rope based on the way he’d stopped doing anything to swing back. That felt unlike what he’d have done when she’d known him.

“Do we really need to have this—”

While she spoke, she moved to push past Gladion. She stumbled and dropped her sentence as she pushed her hand through his leg instead.

What? How was that possible? Why wasn’t his leg solid?

Ambient stress from her emotion sense mingling with her own, she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hands to the front of her head, where her eyes were used to be. “What is even going on right now?”

Gladion didn’t seem to have noticed.

"Look, maybe this place is just getting to everyone. It's rainy as hell, I gotta slap mosquitos outta my eyes twice a minute, and it's so hot and humid I don't even wanna think about what it'll do to my fur. Let's just... hurry the hell up and get outta this fucking place as fast as we can, yeah?"

 

[JFought]

Sprigatito did not need to speak human to notice that tensions had risen. And at some point in their conversation the ralts appeared to have been spooked by something he did not quite catch. But none of this was centred on him, so he didn't care. I couldn't even if I wanted. Unable to speak, unable to interject, unable to even understand the context. I am practically invisible. He lashed his tail. Normally this would require effort. And so he resigned himself to simply following the group, in the hopes that they surely knew where they were going and would lead him to some form of civilisation.

He took a sidelong glance at the growlithe walking close to him. "I have my own guard dog. How flattering," he dispassionately quipped. Though, this one had at least shown himself to be a reasonable and responsible 'mon, and besides, the poor fire-type seemed utterly miserable in this weather. Perhaps he desires emotional support. I can empathise with that.

On a complete whim, he decided he knew best how to pass the time. He put on an innocent face and turned his ears in the growlithe's direction. "You seem kind. Would you mind if I stole your ear for a moment?"

There was no use in waiting for an answer. Or in hiding anything at all, really. "You see, my troubles all began in the passing eve of a bygone moon, when I was cursed with a terrible affliction." Forlornly, he lifted his head to greet the rain face-to-face. "I was born..."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette felt a claw squeeze her shoulder. "Hey, 'Dette, simmer down," Guzma muttered. "It's not that deep, we're just--"

While she spoke, she moved to push past Gladion. She stumbled and dropped her sentence as she pushed her hand through his leg instead.

Before Guzma could finish his thought, and before Odette could snap back at him, they watched Other Lillie's hand just faze through Gladion's leg. Just right the fuck through it. Odette nor Guzma trained Nulls, but they were familiar enough with Theliel--their Gladion's Null partner--to know that that wasn't supposed to happen. Odette had also personally been in enough fights and altercations with Other Gladion to know he was as solid as they came.

Completely deaf to the mewling sprigatito and Muppet Blue having their conversation, Odette withdrew her derringer without a second thought, aiming the barrel right at Other Gladion's face. Guzma's expression flattened under his shock, his fur shooting stock straight.

"Odette, what the fuck?" he snapped.

"Shush," she said, sounding far more calm than somebody aiming a gun at another living being should have sounded. "Now I might not be completely familiar with your kind, but I sure as fucking shit know that Null's can't just be smacked out of thin air like a fucking gastly." She cocked the gun. "So, I'm gonna ask you once. Is my bullet going to tear clean through you like her arm just did, or are you going to tell me what your godsdamned problem is?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

Good news: the sprigatito didn't object to Blue's presence. Bad news: they appeared to have mistaken that presence for an invitation to start reciting Cat Beowulf, and did you know that Cat Beowulf was maybe actually not that much more exciting to listen to than weird foreign language arguing, or actual Beowulf.

Nine million impressively theatrically-delivered meows was less stressful than the arguing, though, so he did his best to tune out the more obnoxious of two evils and nod along to whatever the cat was saying. Hell, why not toss in the occasional inquisitive "Wow," or "Oh, no!" or "Devoured everyone in the mead hall, you say," whenever they paused for dramatic effect. Clearly they couldn't understand him, either, but inventing random intrigued-sounding responses almost kept his mind off the weather, almost.

Up ahead, Lily tried to reach for Gladiolus and stumbled, hard, grabbed her head like she needed to steady herself. "You okay?" he thought at her. Last thing he needed was one of the few people here who'd bothered being helpful getting—

And then the mawile pulled a gun, and shit shit shit fuck what the fuck was wrong with this place.

Blue hit the deck and pulled Sprigatito down with him. (Hey, more wonderful news: couldn't hear any meowing or innuendo or horrible death threats probably with his heart pounding in his ears and drowning out everything else! Everything except the single, crystal-clear click of the hammer being cocked, fucking dog hearing, fuck.) She was aiming at Gladiolus, which honestly he might have considered a reasonable response ten minutes ago, but the thing was apparently a person, and apparently just Lily's brother, and Lily was also in the line of fire oh shit—

 

[Jackie Cat]

She cocked the gun. "So, I'm gonna ask you once. Is my bullet going to tear clean through you like her arm just did, or are you going to tell me what your godsdamned problem is?"

and Lily was also in the line of fire oh shit—

The rest of the world faded away. All that mattered was protecting Lillie. Something in the back of his brain howled at him to dodge, rush forward, take the weapon, fling it to the side, attack. But that would mean the slightest chance of a stray bullet going clean through Lillie, and he— he couldn't—

He stayed put.

"Get behind me, Lillie. Now."

The chimera stared down Odette, eyes narrowed.

"If you hit me with that thing," he said, in a low voice, "you'll regret it."

He moved to shield the Ralts with his body, adopting a defensive stance.

"If you hit anyone else with it, you'll kill them. And I won't forgive you for that. So think very carefully before you pull that trigger, Odette."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

What had she done?

This wasn’t what— no— she didn’t want this to happen. She was trying to help him, and instead she’d only made everything worse.

A corner of her brain wanted to try to fix things, to do something dramatic, but it was a corner of her brain which hadn’t been in control since… ever. Instead, she complied and ducked behind him, as he had asked her to. It’s what he wanted. An apology died before escaping her throat because there would be no point in voicing it.

Instead, she called out to Odette, just in case it was possible to reason with her somehow, despite the fact she was pointing a gun at her brother. “What are you doing? Please stop this.”

 

[Sinderella]

"O, come the fuck on, why are you being a psycho right now?" Guzma said, his teeth grit so tightly, he felt his fangs digging into his gums. Odette didn't seem to be paying him any mind, and instead cocked a brow at the warning Other (Strange, Passable) Gladion fired back at her.

"I am thinking carefully," she chided. "Do you see me aiming at anybody else here? No. Just you. So that's moot. I also know that Nulls aren't supposed to be fucking permeable organisms, and I just watched your sister's arm go straight through your back leg, and you didn't even flinch. I'll admit that I only got mad in the first place because I thought you were being a dick, and I have something called 'demonic anger issues,' but now I'm certain something's wrong. Given we were just tossed however many miles away from civilization with new gibberish-speaking additions, this feels par for the course, but pardon me for wanting some answers and not wanting to be particularly nice about getting them. We just faced down some raging dickheads within the Covenant, so I'm tired of being nice."

She didn't back down from his stare, although she did sneak a short look at the ralts, now well in the line of fire since he'd jumped in front of her. "And fuck you for not answering my question. Since you've decided to put your sister in the line of fire, and I obviously don't want to hurt her, I'll give you another shot. No pun intended." Her eyes narrowed. "The Gladion I know here is a solid substance. So either you're not Gladion, hence why you were being a bigger fuckhead than you probably should have been, or you're fucking astral projecting or something while acting like you're not, and I would like to know why and how."

A shrug. "Sounds pretty sound-minded to me."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Lillian pushed the wet hair hung down in front of her eyes, horror movie ghost girl style. She parted a crack in front of her left eye to more clearly watch Odette. The Mawile’s shoulders were almost at her head level and she was aiming up at Gladion’s head. (Or where his head appeared to be? It was kind of unclear.) That put her pretty cleanly outside the line of fire from either side of him. She sure didn’t feel safe, but Gladion telling her to get behind him was decidedly not on the list of reasons for that.

“Bu-but you’re the one pointing the gun at us?” she ‘corrected.’

“And he knows who I am, too. I don’t want you to shoot anyone I know.” Her voice slowly gained firmness as she spoke, slowly finding some degree of confidence. “Or anyone I don’t know. Why would pointing a gun at anyone solve any of our problems in this situation?”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Why—? Why couldn't he speak, why couldn't he breathe—

Lillie. Lillie spoke first. She had her head about her, and so— So could he. He had to.

"I'm solid enough," he growled. "You can't hit her through me. A gun can hurt me, but an aura as strong as mine... You'll be on your ass before you've reloaded."

That was true enough. But was it the best way outta this shit? He had to at least try to find another way, right? He didn't know that, not really. This woman was a fucking psychopath. Every instinct in him screamed to hide, to keep up the illusion, not to be seen. He took a steadying breath, and made a decision.

"I am the guy I say I am," he said, like he told himself in the mirror every morning, every night, "or rather, another version of him. My name is Gladius Mohn. I used to be human. Now..."

The illusion flickered, and vanished. Instead of an Silvally standing tall and proud, there was just a black-furred fox, crouched down to shield Lillie completely with his body.

"...I'm a Zoroark. That answer your question? Now put that fucking gun down, before I decide to feed it to you."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette didn’t look particularly deterred. Instead, she raised a brow. She supposed that answered part of her question—not a transparent illusion, but a Zoroark induced one; she hadn’t thought about that—but she still wasn’t convinced enough to drop the barrel entirely.

“Well, that’s one half of it, Gladius,” she said, sounding genuinely pleased. “However that doesn’t explain why you were pretending to be a Null this entire time. Even if you are a different Gladion, Gladius, whatever the fuck—of which I’m very aware there are several—why put up the illusion? Why not front yourself as a Zoroark from the beginning? Why pretend to be the version of the Gladion at least I seem to be familiar with? You hiding something? If you can answer that, truthfully, this thing,” she shook the derringer, “will go right back in my garter, no shots taken. But something still fucking reeks here, and it’s not the sulfur.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Gladius peered at Odette like she'd make more sense if he looked at her closer. "Are you fucking serious?" he muttered.

He blew out a long exhalation, and looked her in the eye.

"Don't you understand the situation you're in?" he growled. "You have until I stop speaking to put the fucking gun down, or I'll knock you out, and if a stray bullet hits my goddamn SISTER then I'll fucking kill you. Do you understand now, Cinq-Mars?"

 

[Sinderella]

If Odette's brow could have gone any higher, it did. She watched "Gladius" launch his threats at her, still steadfast in her aiming stance, and looking no closer to heeding to his rather violent warnings.

"Odette for fuck's sake, stop being such a fucking lunatic and put the gun away!" Guzma bellowed.

She actually had just enough audacity in her small body to wait until the last word left "Gladius's" mouth before she knocked her free knuckle into the side of the firearm, popping open the chamber for all to see.

Empty.

"Kinda hard for bullets to hit anybody if there aren't any loaded. But whatever helps you feel like the big fuzzy wuzzy here, Mohn." She flung the gun to the side, popping the chamber back into place with a clicking 'zip' and sliding it back into her garters. She aimed a dead-eyed leer back toward Guzma, as if to say "How stupid do you think I am?" Aside from numerous years of gun training drilling the concept of "do not aim a loaded gun at innocent bystanders," Drungfield also made her promise to not light anybody up unless it was life or death. In this case, it was just a matter of figuring out who she was standing with.

"No, I don't think I do understand the situation I'm in. Part of me thinks I don't want to at this point," she sighed, sounding as exhausted and annoyed as she felt; as if the death threats had rolled off her back like the mud and rainwater running tracks all over her skin. "But I did uncover a raging, angry liar in our midst, so I'll have to settle for that victory and end my reign of bullshit there. To answer your question, by the way," she said toward Lillie before aiming her deadpan back at "Gladius." "Still doesn't explain why you decided to play illusion, but you still played illusion for some weird fucking reason. While we're lost in this nasty ass pit, no less. Productive."

She shook her head and turned heel to start walking away. If she wasn't tired of being in the mud before, she definitely was now. If this wasn't the real Other Gladion, then that meant she wasn't with a single other Wayfarer. Fucking great. Gods only knew where they had been thrown.

"No version of Gladion I know calls me by my last name, though. That's new."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Huh, so Gladion (or Gladius, he said) was a Zoroark. That did seem fitting. But why was he crouched down like that? If he wanted to avoid getting hit by the bullet, then he should've... Oh. Ohhh.

The idea that there could be different versions of people was new to her, and no one had really explained it, but she knew her brother had named himself Gladion, not Gladius. Even if everyone was here in pairs, she knew that she would be related by blood to the one Gladius was wearing as an illusion. She also knew that Gladius cared about her, was willing to take a bullet for her, called her his sister. And so, she couldn't help but feel the same way.

She put a hand to his back in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture.

"He wasn't raging. He didn't do anything until you pointed a gun at him."

It was easier to put to voice her resentment of Odette from behind Gladius, where she didn't have to look her in the eyes. It was like a confessional booth, letting her admit to her thoughts without having to see anyone's reaction.

"He's my brother. That's all that matters. Maybe it's just a Zoroark thing?" She doubted that was the full story, but was willing to posit it anyways. "Like, they're hard to keep a population count on because they don't let their illusion down unless they feel really safe."

It felt weird to say that about her brother, but she had something like seven or eight senses now and was ambiently absorbing the emotions of everyone around her, she couldn't deny that different bodies had an effect on people. But if there was some version of him here that people liked and cared about, and it wasn't him, then she suspected it was a 'her brother' thing too. It was something she'd have in common with him: They'd both been raised to be a little bit fake if they wanted other people to like them.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Stupid. Should've just held his nerve. Should've just said 'You wouldn't'. Goddamnit. Stupid!

It wasn't until she he felt Lillie's hand on his back that he came back to himself, could pull his shit together. He stood up.

"In my world, there is no Odette Cinq-Mars in Alola," said Gladius, as coolly as he dared. "I've never met you before today. Wish I could say it was a pleasure."

Fuck, the adrenaline in him felt like shit on the way out. What a crash. Worse than a hangover. He had to get his breathing under control.

Fortunately, he'd become good at that long ago.

"Anyway. I woke up disoriented, in the company of strangers and my sister, in a strange and dangerous place, and I'm a Zoroark. You're seriously confused why I'd try blending in?"

He scoffed.

"Besides, I feel fucking naked in this form. I wear the Silvally look all the time. I didn't put it on specially for you."

He could feel the question emanating from Lillie before she even asked it.

"It's how my partner looked. Wearing her shape... It's how I remember her."

---

The way the Zoroark said 'remember her'... It didn't sound like he meant that she was waiting for him back home.

 

[Sinderella]

"Your world's blessed, then," she called back in a mirthless laugh.

She guessed that she was simply doomed to make awful first impressions on every Gladion she met. She was three for three now. But somehow, she had a nagging lack of remorse about this one.

Although she was listening to whatever Lillie and this "Gladius" had to say, she started thinking. Okay, so maybe this was another version of Gladion that had miraculously ended up summoned here by Betel. But why? Assuming every Wayfarer had been sent a partner, just as Guzma had arrived to her, then surely this Lillie was here for the Other Gladion. So why would another Gladion need to show up? Unless he was here already. Close enough to be whisked away in Betel's recalculation.

Not to mention, if this really was a different Gladion who had never known another version of her, how the fuck did he know her full name already? She didn't tell anybody here her last name.

Suddenly, everything before Amida regaining form, before time meshed together, came crashing down on her like an anvil crushing a stupid cartoon character.

Neo to Mesa, I say again: have you e̶s̵t̷a̵b̵l̸i̵s̵h̸e̷d̶ ̴t̷h̴e̴ ̷r̶e̴l̶a̸y̸s̷? Mesa, please report!"

The Breloom on the radio took a step back, stretching the handset's coiled cable connection. "Control, they have reinforcements, it doesn't look good. Permission to fire on the field?"

"Granted, Mesa."

"Shepherd! Shepherd, this is Neo. What the hell is going on over there? If I hear reports of bombardment anywhere near the vessel, there will be hell to pay.

"Hello, Gladion," crackled the voice of his alt-timeline counterpart. "That was a clever idea of yours, but I can't allow you to impersonate me."

Director Gladius has issued a summoning command.

"...son of a bitch," she said to herself.

Her pause gave Guzma the perfect opening shove her to the ground with his usual aggressive fervor.

"You really are a witch, you know?" he spat in a loud whisper. "What the hell wrong with you? Fucking Rambo complex-looking gnome."

He stopped when Odette lasered in on him with a look. The one that let him know shit was real, despite the fact that he still wasn't fully convinced this wasn't a strange Hau weed-induced nightmare.

This was the motherfucker Nolan had warned her about. And if she heard the radio comms correctly during all of that insane brawling, then he was part of the mess they were in in the first place. He had also ordered the firing on the mesa, despite evidently being afraid of guns himself for some fucking reason. That alone made her want recant her bluff and unload some bullets into him anyway.

She couldn't very well tell Guzma all of that now. She just needed to hope that he trusted her enough to know that she'd explain when she could. She shoved him away and stood up to try to fruitlessly brush off her dress. "Fuck off," she said in a huff. "Okay, you think I have a Rambo complex. Tell me something I don't know."

"Okay," Guzma retaliated. "You also remind me of a dog toy. Small and squeaky."

She appreciated him playing along, but that didn't stop her from filing that quip away for later vengeance. Rolling her eyes, she looked back over at Gladius.

No...Neo.

"I know how zoroark work," she said. She yawned; perfect timing. "It's been a rough few months full of liars, reprobates, and more liars. I also think I smashed my head when I landed, so please excuse me for being jumpy over the fact that you're not the person I thought you were, and happened to be an illusion on top of it. My trust levels are in the gutter." She glanced around at her surroundings again. "Literally."

She then presented her hands to him, as an evident gesture of remorse.

"I apologize." For not immediately breaking your snout, you fucking rat.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Oh. That answer was... Weird? Sad? Deeply weird in a profoundly sad way. Lillian generally considered herself pretty (involuntarily) good at being weird and sad, but he was blowing her out of the water right now. Going around wearing his absent (dead?) partner's visage as a way to remember her was a lot to take in on its own, but he was also referring to her as a girl. Didn't that make using her visage, like, Zoroark crossdressing? It's not like Lillian wasn't okay with that but she really hadn't expected a version of her brother to be okay doing that. She kind of wanted to ask how that played into his whole gender thing if they were ever on their own, but she didn't think she knew enough about transgender people to ask it in a sensitive way. It was probably a stupid question in the first place. No, it was definitely a stupid question and she flushed with embarrassment at having been dumb enough to think it.

"Oh, that's. Huh. I guess you can put your illusion back up now, if you want?"

His explanation seemed to be enough to appease Odette. Or, that's what her words suggested were the case, but now Lillian was constantly and irrepressibly perceiving the emotions of everyone around her, too. Odette's emotions did not match her apparent appeasement and apology. Not even close. That was... strange. Lillian knew better than to press her luck and question things if Odette had decided to start playing nice, but she couldn't help but give Odette a somewhat suspicious look.

"I'm glad we've got everything sorted out now! Now can we please get moving again?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

She didn't mean a word of it. The corner of his mouth twitched at the familiar irony of a liar complaining about liars.

"Yeah," he said, dully. "It is what it is. I'm with Lillie— Lillian. I just wanna get out of this place, and then we can go our separate ways."

He made a face at the state of his humidity-soaked fur, swatting at a stray mosquito, and smoothly put up a new illusion – that of an intensely frowning Weavile.

"Here. This way I'm not pretending to be the other guy," he muttered.

The other guy. Lucky fucking prick.

He glanced at everyone other than himself, Lillian and Odette, who'd just had to watch all that bullshit. What were they thinking right now? He thought of saying something to Guzma, but... like hell he was gonna give Odette some new thing to blow up about. (She was already primed to read whatever the hell she liked into everything he did, apparently.)

He settled for a stoic nod of masculine acknowledgement, and a simple "Guz."

And then he walked off, following the path the canal excavation site laid out for them.

 

[Sinderella]

The twitch of his lip indicated he didn't take her word at its false face value. Of course not; liars tended to know liars. Surely a version of Gladion would know that.

Even Lillie didn't look convinced, but being that ralts could read emotions like a book, that wasn't shocking either. All Odette could do was hope that she kept her fucking mouth shut and let the unspoken mistrust linger as it wanted. She didn't expect this Lillie to get it, and given her defensiveness over Gladius, she suspected she never would. Oh fucking well.

It's not like she had any reason to try and play nice; the guy tried to blow up her team, got them into this mess in the first place, did what he did to Sage, and gods knew whatever the fuck else somebody like him could have been doing. And he knew enough of her to know her full name. There was already some history present, even if this was their first godforsaken time meeting.

What mattered was getting the hell out of this dungeon. Before she reamed him for putting them in this situation in the first place. She could do that when she knew she could break off to find the others. Maybe get Muppet Blue and the sprigatito away from him too.

"Whatever helps ease that RBF," she snorted, waving him ahead. No way in fuck was she letting him walk behind her.

Guzma returned the acknowledgement with a pinched look, but nodded back nonetheless. "Paper Towel," he muttered back. He wasn't keen to start another almost gun fight, because man...but he didn't like the vibe in the air. Not from the grumpy zoroark-turned-weavile, and not from how edged out his friend looked. The air between them was too thick, and not because of the humidity and mosquitoes.

She was right. Something did stink. For once, it wasn't him. And he wanted to know what it was.

 

[JFought]

From the ground, Sprigatito had watched the entire altercation with wide, uncomprehending eyes. His fur stood on end the moment the chimera revealed himself to be a zoroark. Though it was not the zoroark himself, nor the firearm that had been pointed at him that shook Sprigatito most. It was the illusion. This was a zoroark that knew a silvally well enough to mimic (perhaps carelessly, judging from what he realised must have spooked the ralts, but that could be accounted for by a lack of skill generally). There were two explanations for how he could carry this knowledge. One: they all escaped from some laboratory. Implausible, not least considering the mawile is armed and well-dressed. Two...

He glanced at the growlithe who had pulled him down in an unnatural gesture. They aren't pokémon, are they?

In hindsight, their language should have made it obvious. But in what world could he have expected that humans could turn into pokémon? An editor would look upon such a premise and be appalled by the gall of it disgracing their desk. It would never sell, they'd plead. Yet there he was. How will I excuse this in my autobiography?

And with that thought, all of his remaining levity was spent. There was a zoroark in play, and just as they dispel their own illusions, so too do they cut the veil surrounding the cold realities that follow them. And with the possibilities this one brought, the questions at hand had become too grave and far too numerous. Is this some kind of sick human experiment? What do I make of this volatile group dynamic? Why am I here among them, and for who? All he knew for certain was 'Forlas,' miserable humidity, and the precariousness of his current situation.

For now, he could stay secure and keep his trump card hidden within his own deception as Sprigatito, which still remained (mostly) intact. And poor Sprigatito was terrified of the mean, scary zoroark and all the belligerent tempers. Once the group had begun to move, he remained frozen with ears folded for a purposeful moment, then made a show of hastily leaning into his growlithe protector's flank. He had read before that humans were suckers for timid and adorable pokémon, and so if his suspicions were true, the false-canine should make no attempt to maintain boundaries. And besides, his kitten-sense was telling him that this one was just as lost as he was, and perhaps therefore trustworthy.