Frontier Town Civic Courtyard

[Tetra]

Koa's eyes widened with excitement as she spoke, and he had to restrain himself from interrupting her to ask all about her trip on the mountain. Was her Coronet the same size? That line of thought immediately brought up the sour memory of how his Coronet was cursed, and he briefly wondered if that had happened in her world and if it had then-

Mentally shaking himself he focused instead on Odette again. His jaw nearly dropped at her final statement. "You're Alola's Champion where you're from?" She was a Champion? She had to have been exceptionally strong back home. He remembered hearing they were going to start holding a league in Alola back home... who had won that? It took him a second to recall, but then he remembered. Lana, a water-type specialist. As the news had put it, she'd made 'waves' with her Primarina.

"Sick! Back home it was a girl named Lana who became the first champion I think. That means you must have a really strong team. What are they like?"

 

[Sinderella]

The apprehension grew, to the point where she was struggling to not let it show on her face through Koa’s gushing. She waved her hand at him, instead feigning bashfulness.

“Yeah, yeah, I am. They finally established a League circuit there and I had a chance to compete for the crown. And, uh, won,” she explained.

Whether that win was actually deserved was what was fueling her apprehension. Was it a win or a selection by forfeit?

“Oh, wow. Lana competed in the circuit in my world too. She made it pretty far.” It was wild to think that in some distant world, she’d actually won. That left her wondering who was placed in the Elite 4 in Koa’s world…

She felt some of her wariness fade as Koa asked more about her team. That was easy to discuss.

“They’re something, that’s for sure,” she said fondly. “There’s Solene, a gothitelle. She was my first partner. She used to be a huge scaredy cat, but we took dance lessons together and she really broke out of her shell. Then there’s Enora, who’s a sylveon. She’s what you’d expect out of a poise and proper lady. A little harsh sometimes, but always means well.”

She felt like she was talking too much, but now she couldn’t stop. “Then the froslass, Isaur. She goes with the flow, down for almost anything, and you’ll never see her without a snack in hand. Then Ange, who’s a chandelure, is probably my hardest hitter. Hates losing. Super sweet, and super airheaded. I mean that lovingly.” She chuckled to herself. “And Loïc, a mimikyu, is…a fine mix of kind of rabid and kind of dangerously smart. My newest member, Cyrille, is a primarina. He’s only been with us for a bit, and he’s definitely the group baby, but he pulls his weight. We’re very proud of him.”

She didn’t realize how big she was smiling until she realized there was only one more teammate to talk about. It shrunk down to something more thoughtful.

“And, then…there’s Odile. Actually she was my first partner before Solene. She’s…special.”

She’d already spoken so much, she decided to stop herself there. Shaking her head, she looked back at Koa. “I expect a rundown of your badge-winning team too to combat how much I just talked your ear off,” she said, somewhat embarrassed.

 

[Tetra]

Koa found himself reflexively sizing up her team, wondering what it would have been like to battle her, even if she was out of his league. Gothitelle, Sylveon, Chandelure, Frosslass, Mimikyu, and a Primarina. Odette definitely seemed to enjoy ghosts and fairies. Specialist meant vulnerabilities, but also strength in knowledge. Some weakness to steel. And some ghost or dark vulnerabilities... Anubis could help, especially with Flash Fire...

Mentally nudging the thought aside, he focused on his answer to Odette. "So you're like... a ghost specialist I guess? Anyways I never mind hearing about trainers teams, and yours sound really amazing," he replied amiably.

"My first was Echo, my Crobat." He chuckled awkwardly. "I didn't really want him at first because I was so convinced I'd planned out a perfect team already, and I wanted a Luxray as my first. Honestly I was kinda of rude to him when we first met. But he was determined to stick with me. Became my best friend eventually. An amazing flier." It was weird to think back on how far away the beginning of his journey felt now. And how different he felt.

"Then there's Hazard, my Joltik. Really clever and a sick fighter. Doesn't want to evolve but he's grown really tough, and catches opponents off guard. Rascal is my Tyrantrum. She's... headstrong, to say the least. Definitely the powerhouse. My Houndoom, Anubis, likes to play team leader kind of, and keep everyone in line. I have a Breloom who's a real fighter type, very serious. And my last is my Spheal. Baby of my group too. Anubis is really protective of her." He missed them so badly...

"What kind of pokemon is Odile?" he asked curiously. The choice of nickname almost vaguely made him think of a Krookodile or something. "Another ghost type?"

 

[Sinderella]

Odette pursed her lips as Koamaru listed off his team. She found the "enemies to best friends" retelling regarding his crobat rather endearing. Hearing about other trainers realizing the strengths of Pokemon they didn't originally consider was always a treat to her. Though, she couldn't quite relate to the idea of "planning a team," considering half her members were unplanned additions. It sounded like Koamaru was in a similar boat.

There was no real specialization in his team. He seemed to be going for something more well-rounded, which she respected. Truthfully, his lineup didn't sound like anything to scoff at. He had more than half the types covered just among his selected six, and she could tell by the way he spoke of them so fondly that they all had a wonderful bond. She'd only been talking to him for a couple minutes, but by the sounds of it, he had the makings to be a very established trainer indeed.

Though, there was one he'd picked...a houndoom She'd exhaled a little heavily around the mention of that particular 'mon, but kept her expression thoughtful. Despite the fact this body wasn’t scarred, she swore she felt a tingling jolt travel up her marked arm. She scratched it gingerly, hoping to ward the feeling off.

She knew one bad encounter shouldn’t taint an entire line for her. Anubis truly sounded like a wonderful partner to have. But her fear tickled the back of her mind regardless of how much she tried to ignore it.

"You've got a really nice groove going there. Color me impressed," she complimented, trying to move herself on. "You'll get all eight badges in no time, I'm sure. If you ever find yourself in my stretch of the multiverse, you're welcome to visit me and my E4 for a training intensive."

When he asked her about Odile, she blinked at him. How to answer that without going on another tangent. She'd been relatively tight-lipped about getting to far down that buneary hole, but from one trainer to another, perhaps she could afford to lighten up a little.

"Not quite," she said tentatively. "She's, uh...a new type. Well not new, per se. Just a previously unknown one. Probably one you've never heard of. I only somewhat recently found out about what she and others like her are, and research is ongoing."

Was 5 years considered recent, though? She supposed in terms of Pokemon types, it was. "I...can say she's what would be classifiable as a legendary. Those that know of her call her a legendary, at least. But she acts more like a feral fucking child than anything of that caliber, so sometimes I question that title."

 

[Tetra]

Koa couldn't help his curiosity piquing a little at her reaction when he mentioned Anubis. It was hard to read what she was thinking. Interest? Wariness? He almost wanted to ask, but resisted the urge. Better not to get into it, or bring any personal questions into the conversation.

At her next words, all of his curiosity was replaced by shock and excitement. "A legendary?" He barely heard her next comment about acting like a child. Odette had caught a legendary in her world? A mix of jealousy and admiration filled him, then confusion.

"But you said she was your first..." he began, his voice trailing off in bafflement. "So your starter was a legendary? How? What kind? And what type? What are her abilities? And what do you mean by classified as because technically to be a legendary, at least in my world, you'd have to actually have a certain scope of influence to be one, or at least most professors agree that thats the case because otherwise-" he broke off awkwardly as he realized he'd launched into a ramble, and glanced away, suddenly finding the ground very interesting.

"Sorry, didn't mean to ramble uh. It's just a legendary as a starter is just pretty unheard of where I'm from." He traced a claw in the dirt, suddenly wishing he'd kept his mouth shut instead of looking like an idiot.

 

[Sinderella]

Odette was surprised at first. She was expecting maybe a “how?” or a “that’s neat!” Maybe even guessing on what exactly Odile was. What she got was a mixture of both hopped up on caffeine pills. Koamaru must have really liked legendaries. Maybe this was the wrong topic to try and be vague about around him.

Truthfully, the more questions he asked, the more amused she became. Her shocked expression gave way into a gentle smile, and she made no motion to cut him off until he did it himself.

“No, don’t be,” she reassured him. “I rambled already, so you get a pass.”

She sighed. His intense curiosity turned down her defenses, and she made the quick decision to humor him some more.

“I take it you’re a legendary fan, huh?” she asked. Well, who was she to deny him information on legendary whereabouts on the other side of the multiverse? It’s not like telling anyone here would greatly distort anything going on back home.

“I would use the term ‘starter’ in reference to Odile loosely,” she said. “Starter implies I’d been training her since I set out to become a trainer, but that’s not the case. She was with me from the moment I was born, but I didn’t formally start to train with her until I was…22, I think.”

She sighed. “My jokes aside, Odile—Venira, her real name—is…ancient. Eldritch. Been around since before my world existed. Probably since before any world existed. So despite her demeanor, she fits the bill of what my world classifies as a legendary. Pokemon that have been around since the dawn of everything and had hands and crafting my world at large. And while she’s not largely known, her influence certainly is.”

That time, she looked at Koamaru a little more seriously. “I could spend hours explaining what she is and how we came to know each other, but I’ll aim to keep it short.” Another breath. “Odile is something classified blood type where I’m from. They’re pretty close to ghost types, but the way they draw their power is a little, uh, different. Blood types draw the majority of their power from hosts they partner with, whether it’s a human or another Pokemon. It’s specifically drawn from the blood of the host. Hence the edgy fucking type name.”

She was rubbing her arm again now. “To keep a very long and very dramatic story short, Odile is part of a line of seven legendaries of this type. They held a pact with the person who we’ll call my biological father, who’s…” A look of disdain crossed her face. “Abhorrent. That cult I infiltrated?” She didn’t elaborate and simply shook her head. “When my mum had me, Odile picked me to be her host and just…tethered herself to me. It wasn’t anything special I did, it was just a total freak accident and nothing more.”

Now she was smiling more nervously. “I suppose that raises more questions than answers, but that’s the gist.”

 

[Tetra]

Koa listened to her intensely, absorbing every word. Sure, it was meaningless here probably. And maybe he'd forget it, but right now that didn't matter, he had a chance to learn about legendaries from a whole other world, legends that didn't even exist in his own as far as he was aware. He fully intended to enjoy the moment.

An eldritch legendary, old as the world itself sounded awfully close to something like Arceus. The bond part sounded typical enough, not far from mega evolution. The blood part sounded... unnerving, but he supposed he didn't want to judge given how fondly she spoke of Odile...

“To keep a very long and very dramatic story short, Odile is part of a line of seven legendaries of this type. They held a pact with the person who we’ll call my biological father, who’s…” A look of disdain crossed her face. “Abhorrent. That cult I infiltrated?” She didn’t elaborate and simply shook her head. “When my mum had me, Odile picked me to be her host and just…tethered herself to me. It wasn’t anything special I did, it was just a total freak accident and nothing more.”

Nausea swelled through Koa, followed by confusing swirl of emotions. Thoughts gnawing at him and clamoring from the dark recesses of his mind. His jaws twitched for a second as a overwhelming sensation of pure hate came over him. Masking it quickly with a slight frown, he shoved the spiral of thoughts deep down and turned his attention instead on the rest of what Odette had said.

Legendaries. New types. Bonds. That part brought back his excitement, his earlier curiosity returning, though he was more serious as he spoke. "Whoa. So your world has seven new legendaries tied to this type..." he mused out loud. Another team another group, using legendaries, every world was the same, another- "There's other blood types then? And what does she look like? And does that mean she's... she's as old as Arceus in her world? Do they have domains like Giratina too or are they protectors of something?"

 

[Sinderella]

His frown wasn't lost on her, and for a moment, she felt herself panic. Had she shared too much? Should she not have mentioned the cult part? She figured she was relatively clear that she had no part in that, despite her relations, but she still didn't want to give him the wrong idea.

However, he was soon asking questions again, albeit more seriously this time. But it just seemed like he was invested in her story, and not royally disgusted with her. She decided not to harp on it.

She nodded. "Yes. They're relatively rare compared to other types, but quote-on-quote 'common' blood types exist. They're known to spawn solely in shiny Pokemon," she explained. She briefly furrowed her brow at him. "I'm sorry, you know what shinies are in your world right? They're Pokemon with different colorings than their standard counterparts. Where I'm from, the presence of a blood type from the birth of a Pokemon results in a mutation that causes the shiny coloring. Thing is, nobody really knew that until recently thanks to my doting father." There was a vat of venom built up behind that one word.

"As for Odile, when she's neutral, she kinda...looks like a tumbleweed. With wings. When she's battling, she looks like a dragon. But, like, a dragon made of bramble. Thorns and branches and shit. Learning how to ride her took some trial and error." With a fond chuckle, she shrugged slightly before continuing. "However, blood types have a strange ability to be able to mimic the shapes of their hosts, so I'd say ninety-percent of the time, she looks like me. That took a lot of getting used to."

Another head shake. "And...no. From the stories she told me, she's not as old as Arceus, being that Arceus made her, but she's still old. Extremely old. As for domains, well...I'm not sure what religion is like in your world, but some religions where I'm from subscribe to the idea of the existence of seven core carnal sins that drive humanity and Pokemon kind. Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, and Wrath." She let him chew on that. "Seven sins, seven legendaries. And Odile's domain is Wrath."

 

[Tetra]

Koa's head felt like it was buzzing, and his pelt itched, but he ignored it. He couldn't help but wonder if his world had them. Odette's world sounded different, but then there seemed to be common concepts between worlds. Places, people, pokemon. Her world had had a Lana, and clearly shared plenty of common pokemon. Could there be an entire set of legendary pokemon hidden on his world too?

"Wow that's... Really different." The idea of a shapeshifting pokemon always put him on edge, but then it sounded like Odile and Odette got along now, which was good. "I don't think shinies in my world are like that, they're supposedly just a unique color. Rare, but otherwise identical. I guess maybe we could just not know about them but..." Probably better not to worry about that. Besides if his world had an Odette, wouldn't he have heard about her? Was there another him out there?

Shaking away the the thoughts so he didn't get side tracked, he continued. "But I'm not sure we have anything exactly like that in our world either. Religion I mean. Some people in regions pay resects to legendaries and worship them, and some just kind of revere them, like here I think. The Sanctum honors what my world calls Jirachi. And in Sinnoh I think some groups follow the lake spirits, but thats about it. It sounds different than what you describe."

He couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved that his world didn't have some other evil team... "Hey, if you're a regional champion, you must know about training, right? Maybe you could show me some tips sometime?"

 

[Sinderella]

Odette supposed she wasn’t surprised that Koamaru’s world functioned so differently. Though it felt strange to know that there were worlds out there where “shiny” didn’t automatically equate to “harboring a blood type.” She supposed, in a way, perhaps they were better off.

“Yeah I know who Jirachi is,” she said. “A lot of religious sects worship legendaries where I’m from, too. But some are also focused on higher powers that aren’t centered on legends. It’s a mixed bag, but I’ve never been that religious myself. I only know what I know from my mother and whatever I learned out of necessity from partnering with Odile.”

She appreciated the subject change. Something more upbeat to discuss. “I might know a thing or two,” she said in jest. “I’m still getting used to the concept of myself being the Pokemon, but it all feels relatively in the same vein.” She paused and huffed. “Bad joke. Anyway, yes. If you’re looking for a partner or mentor I suppose, I’d be more than happy to teach you a thing or two.”

 

[Tetra]

More training here meant more strength. And more strength meant the ability to stand up against whatever they would face here, and the ability to protect. To help. And if Odette had usful knowledge as a champion, he was more than ready to learn from her.

"Sick, sounds good." He grinned, then regarded her more seriously. Pawing at the ground with one claw, he hesitated before he spoke. "And... Thanks, by the way. For taking me seriously."

<><><><>​

 

[Namohysip]

One dusty afternoon, Mhynt decided it would be a good time to use some of her surplus funds working Mewtwo's bulletin board to make some luxury purchases in the courtyard. Unfortunately, she had no idea what she would do with any of them... nor what some of them were for. This led to an awkward walk down the courtyard, money in her bag, and nothing to turn it into.

She wondered if this would be a good place for a fancier bucket.

 

[canisaries]

The courtyard was a lovely place. The greens of the garden were a refreshing sight in an arid desert. He wondered if him being a grass type now contributed to that meeting.

Oh, and speaking of grass types - there was that treecko. Oh, great opportunity. He'd been hoping to talk to her about, well...

Andre trotted over to the treecko. "Hey! It was Mhynt, right? Are you busy right now, or could we have a chat?"

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt blinked and eyed Andre. She took a moment to figure out if this was someone with the press or one of her unfortunate allies.

...Right, the latter.

"No, I'm not busy," the Treecko finally replied. "You wanted to... chat? And, yes, it is Mhynt. I don't believe I got your name before..."

 

[canisaries]

"Oh, it's Andre," Andre said, pressing a hoof to his chest. "I heard what you said at the team meeting, and... if it's not too hard to talk about, I think I'd like to hear more about this Owen friend of yours. Make him a little... less frightening in my mind."

 

[Namohysip]

Her countenance changed instantly from casual and curious to walled-off and pensive. Even her body language shifted like she was hugging herself, though she played it off more like crossed arms.

"What do you mean about... him?" she said. "He's... a good fighter under the influence of an evil power here. That's all there is to it... I don't know if what I have to say about him will help with making him less frightening."

 

[canisaries]

"Oh..." Andre traced his hoof against the ground. "Well, I don't know... I guess anything that isn't violent or aggressive would make him seem more hu- more, uh, like a person. Easier to sympathize with. And, I mean, he can't be all bad if he resisted..." His ear flicked. "I apologize. It seemed I got the wrong idea about your relationship."

 

[Namohysip]

"...Relationship," Mhynt replied again, her arms squeezing against one another. "...We were... close before, yes," she said. "He's kind and perceptive. Very perceptive... He was in charge of deciding who is allowed to meet Jirachi or not. You had to be a good judge of character to do that, and he had a lot of tools at his disposal to pull that off. He... cared for the world. Sometimes to his detriment.

"But... one day, he was changed by... powers that overtook him. Became a monster of darkness who so easily... lost his mind to the frenzy of battle. Every trace of the person I knew was erased to become a killing machine. A hunter of the divine.

"Looks like that followed him here to be reawakened..."

 

[canisaries]

"...Oh," said Andre. "I'm sorry to hear that. Is it... something that can be undone?"

 

[Namohysip]

"...I don't... know anymore," Mhynt said. "I thought he'd been cured of it. But it was still with him, deep inside and waiting to come out. Maybe... there are resources here to cure him. But right now, he's dangerous. I'm sure he'd rather die than be left to wander in that state if we had no other choice." Her fingers dug into her arms, but her voice was kept even. "That's how it may go."