Frontier Town Frontier Town Outskirts

[Ambyssin]

As Owen had winded down his part of the meeting, Nova had put forth a reckless idea: to send some Wayfarers directly to Eremus Rift via Twilight Quarry. And he had volunteered as tribute, right on the heels of saying what the Comb showed him. Given some folks' reactions to that, he figured it would be best not to linger. So, Nova had quickly excused himself and made his way along the outskirts of Frontier Town.

The gifted darkness tingled deep inside of him. It wasn't quite ready to blossom, but Nova didn't think it would be long. There was a familiar tug in the pit of his stomach. He knew it well. And Nova figured there was no way this power could follow him to Forlas. But he was wrong. The question was how it would manifest. Would it be more... protective in nature here?

Nova sat down. He slotted in the Fire Memory. As a fiery red replaced his standard turquoise, he shut his eyes and tilted his head, bathing in the sun's warmth.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Deep breath. Hold it for a beat. Feel the sparks inside his chest catch and flare with the rush of oxygen, the heat building in the back of his throat. Face the target head-on, nose pointing straight at it and not turning at the last second to investigate whatever scent the wind carried over from that saloon (usually just skunky booze, but one time they'd been grilling something and it'd smelled amazing and Dog Brain needed to know what it was and anyway that's how you accidentally spit embers into your friend's face, sorry Leaf). Focus, focus, and exhale—

Tiny cinders flew from his mouth and scattered across the pile of scrap wood. Too scattered—not enough to cause more than a pathetic little puff of smoke, and that lasted a whopping three seconds before it might as well never have been there at all. The only way that could've been worse was if he'd been close enough to the busy part of town for anyone to actually witness that colossal embarrassment.

Blue just about managed to catch the growl before it slipped out, forcing the air into a sigh of frustration instead. Of course. He'd been making some actual progress the past couple days, when Leaf had been here to show him all the "being a pokémon" ropes. There'd been honest-to-god fire once, even. So surely he just needed to keep at it. Maybe even easier today, what with less weird background psychic fuzz jabbing at the corners of his brain. Golden, right?

Ahaha. Nope. He comes out here by himself and straight garbage, all afternoon. Couldn't even ask what he was doing wrong, because Linden had to be off somewhere else doing one of the fifteen jobs she'd apparently taken on since landing here. Big bad gym leader, champion, guy who'd brought out the best anyone'd ever seen in a charizard since Samuel Oak, he knew fire pokémon, he'd thought he was actually starting to get used to being one, and all he had to show for it was a whole lotta nothing.

Heat sizzled unbidden along Blue's back and up the sides of his face. He dug his claws into the soil and stuffed it back down, willed himself to focus it all back into his core. Deep breath. Hold it for a beat. Feel the sparks inside his chest building into fire, c'mon, Oak, you're better than this, actual god damn fire, aim, and—

Blue spluttered as the cinders caught in his throat, missing the woodpile entirely. Smoke curled from his mouth as he coughed. And growled. Thank god nobody was loitering around at the edge of town right now.

 

[Chibi Pika]

(Shortly after the events of Prism Hollow...)

Yep, Jade was feeling it now. She'd been relatively sure that the only thing keeping her going this far was the residual adrenaline of the battle combined with the post-evolution high.

It'd been a pretty easy walk back back from the mission, all things considered. No one gave the Wayfarers any trouble at the manor, given that they'd managed to rescue all the staff that'd been stranded underground for months. It was a thoroughly awkward parting, but one that was over quickly, and Betel's Waypoints made for a short trip home.

(Starr couldn't use the Waypoints, and wouldn't be returning to Frontier Town. Brisa had promised to look after her. The two of them were probably on the train to Novelux by now. Jade couldn't help thinking about them.)

In any case, now that the end was within sight, the bone-deep exhaustion of everything they'd been through was creeping up on her all at once, along with the residual echoes of what had felt like every bone in her body shattering. Not to mention the awkward, ungainly sensation of walking with too-long limbs that weren't balanced right for standing on hind legs anymore. She'd gotten used to being a Meowth, and now she'd have to get used to a new body all over again.

But that could wait. Jade was ready to sleep for a week. And then maybe after that she could start thinking about how to approach things with Starr.

Virga walked slightly behind Jade on the well-worn trail that led into Frontier Town. Lyra had done a good job healing her mangled wing, but now it needed rest, which meant flying was off the table for a few days at least. The Corvisquire had been oddly silent since the mission's end, not that Jade had much to talk about on her end either. She kept catching weird flickers of aggravation through their link, though.

"Doing alright?" Jade asked idly.

"It's nothing," Virga said with a huff, which meant that it wasn't. "I just hope that by the next time we see combat, I'll have attained greater strength."

Ah, the usual. Jade folded her arms behind her head and replied, "Well, you guys are growing pretty quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if you evolve again soon."

Virga glanced away, clacking her beak. "I also hope to finally regain my true power. That otter was able to reclaim his. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to."

Oh, right, Dustin. The Aeroblast at the river training. Jade still wasn't too sure what determined how much an offworlder could draw on their powers from back home. Several members of the group had managed it, so... she couldn't think of any reason why Virga wouldn't be able to.

"It'll probably come to you at some point," Jade said.

"Mm," Virga replied noncommittally.

Jade furrowed her brow. Something else, then. Well, she wasn't in the mood to pry it out, so she was content to just igno—

"You were able to use my power," Virga said flatly, eyes narrowed.

Here it comes. Jade let out a tired sigh, running a paw down her face. "That's just, like, my thing here."

"Your 'thing'?"

"Yeah, like... I can reach for my teammates' energy and copy it like it's mine. I've done it a bunch, I just... wasn't expecting that to be something I could copy."

Virga stopped walking mid-step and blinked at her, clearly taken aback. "That's it?"

"That's it," Jade echoed. "If anything, that just proves you do still have that power, deep down. If I was able to copy it."

Virga was silent for a long moment. "I... see." The Corvisquire resumed walking, head held noticeably higher. "It must be close, then. I'll have to resume my training as soon as this wing has healed."

Jade trailed behind her, rolling her eyes once she was sure she wouldn't be seen. Somehow, that'd gone better than she'd been expecting.

<><><>​