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Frontier Town Sanctum of Wishes

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Jade rubbed her arms, trying to stave off the chill. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and just... tried to focus on the things she could sense. The fluttering of the paper tags hanging from above. The scent of burning sage. The occasional jingle of a Chimecho tending to the sanctum. Things that were real.

She turned sharply at the sound of someone calling her name. Who--an Electrike, padding softly into the sanctum. Oh, it was Koa. Yeah, she shouldn't have been surprised, she just hadn't been expecting to run into him so soon.

"Oh, uh... hey," Jade said, raising a paw slightly. Unsure of what else to ask, she said, "How'd you know I was here?"
 
"Lucky guess," he replied, injecting some forced lightness into his tone. "And I kind of tracked you here," he added, chuckling awkwardly.

What did he say now? "Are you-" he began, before quickly switching tracks. "I'm sorry." He murmured. "I shouldn't have been so aggressive training..." And I'm sorry for corrupting you.
 
Jade blinked at him, all too aware of how tense she probably looked. "Oh, that? I mean, it was just training, right?" She forced a small laugh. "If my team were here, they'd say it was no big deal, aha. Same with your team, right?"

It wasn't the training. Hell, the fight against the rangers had been a lot rougher, and she'd taken way more of a beating there. So then why did she feel so damn unnerved?
 
"Yeah..." Koa murmured. Her tone didn't convince him. You know why. His stomach churned as he stared distantly at the wall of the Sanctum and he unconsciously rubbed his shoulder.

Jade hadn't been there for the fight against Seth. She hadn't seen.

"I'm sorry," he stammered. "I..." He swallowed. "I think what happened is my fault. Not the training. But the other stuff. Shadows. Like what the Charmander attacked us with, and that Drapion. And like what you and Ridley used," he added softly. "It's been affecting the team and it even caused problems when we fought the Wolf."

He wished Archie was here to explain it better, to be calm and rational. Or anyone else. Even having Steven around would have been nice.
 
Jade fidgeted uncomfortably with her paws, unsure what to make of Koa's stammering, guilt-laden apology. "I mean, I remember what Powehi said about it,"—it would be hard to forget that—"but... why would that be your fault? It was... there were a bunch of us who got attacked by the Charmeleon." Lightless flame, savage eyes glinting in the dark...
 
"Because... it was something I did that spread it to everyone else." He couldn't bring himself too look at Jade as he spoke. This was all wrong Jade didn't deserve to find out like this he hadn't meant for this to go so wrong.

Fixing his gaze on the wall, he forced the words out, trying not to see how much Jade would probably hate him. "When Archie and I were trying to help that Drapion that attacked at the Haus, we ran into this Zweilous named Alex. He claimed to know about shadows and we thought we could learn something helpful from him so we agreed to meet. But I think something he did... corrupted us. Like it triggered something. Betel freaked out and... and then it happened again fighting the Wolf..." his voice cracked and trailed off.

Unconsciously, he tensed.
 
Koa looked so anxious, and Jade felt a swirling mixture of ... confusion. Guilt for leaving in a hurry and making him feel so bad. Regret for not keeping a better hold of herself.

"Hey, look, I don't..." She stumbled over her words, trying to piece things together in her head while still not really getting what he was talking about. "I don't really get why it'd be your fault if someone else did it to you. And like, we'd already been getting those dreams from Powehi for a while, so it feels like something that was going to happen eventually?" Jade had the distinct feeling that she wasn't doing the greatest job at reassuring him. For lack of anything better, she gestured to the cushion next to her and said, "Uh, did you want to sit down...?"
 
More guilt clawed at Koa. She didn't get it, she didn't understand what he'd done. He reluctantly sat down, still on edge. "Because... because I was the one who trusted a stranger and followed him out into the middle of nowhere and gave him the chance to do that."

He hung his head, but quickly plunged ahead. "If I'd just been careful everything in training wouldn't have happened a-and I should have told you sooner or before we fought, I never meant for that to happen," he murmured.

"Are you okay?"
 
Jade was quiet while Koa spoke, motionless aside from her tail swishing gently. "Well... I, uh... I can't say I've never been guilty of trusting a stranger and following him into the middle of nowhere, so it's not just you," she said with a crooked, forced grin.

A few seconds passed, and then: "Uh, I hope that was funny. Just trying to lighten the mood a bit."
 
The comment jarred Koa from his thoughts and he turned to look at her, his eyes widening slightly. "Wh- Wait what?" He blinked, suddenly curious. He remembered a little of what she'd told of her home, of being a trainer but he got the sense she'd been up to more than just training. A sort of smile tugged at his muzzle, then faded as he gazed thoughtfully at the flickering candles around the sanctum.

"Are..." 'Are you okay' seemed like a stupid question to try and ask again, but she still seemed so bothered. Memories of the night came back to him, of the aftermath... "It happened to me too," he said finally. "When we all fought the wolf, I lost it for a bit because of the shadows." And because of him. Even the thought of Wes now brought a surge of searing rage. He quickly pushed it down. "They get into your head."
 
Man, Koa was really broken up about this, even though as far as Jade was concerned, nothing about this had anything to do with him.

"Look..."--she took a deep breath--"it was just a weird moment; it's passed now. I know what Powehi said about Shadow, and I guess I have a better idea of what to look out for now, so..." She paused, shaking her head. "If anything, I was mostly just confused and creeped out by..." By what Ridley had done. Because he'd used it first. And because he'd walked into that ocean.
 
Koa glanced at her from the corner of his eye, muddled surprise and confusion rising in him. She seemed surprisingly calm about everything, given the circumstances. Not angry or disappointed or judging. Not even a lecture or a rant. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or not.

The silence lingered far too long for his comfort. "By what?" he asked finally, half afraid of what she'd say. Had he done something else-?
 
Jade gripped her arm with a paw, eyes firmly on the clay floor tiles. "You didn't even use any Shadows in that battle, so I really don't know how it'd be your fault when Ridley was the one who did it."

And maybe Shadows were made of negativity or whatever, and maybe that could've been an accident, except walking into the ocean wasn't an accident.
 
"Wh-" Oh. Somehow he hadn't properly considered that Ridley using shadows had been what bothered her. That made more sense though. He hadn't had a proper chance to even talk to Ridley about what had happened. After the training Ridley had seemed so agitated and Steven had taken off...

He frowned, staring down at the cushion he sat on. "Oh. I don't think he meant to hurt you...?" he murmured awkwardly. It felt weird to speak for Ridley. He had no idea what to say to her. 'Don't worry, its no big deal, you'll get used to your own teammate attacking you'? At least Ridley had cared, when Wes hadn't. 'Just try not to think about it too hard?'

"I... don't even get what happened, I guess he's uh... it sounds like he's affected the way the wolf was, like he's got more shadow. But it can be fixed," he added quickly, forcing himself to sound hopeful. He'd tried not to dwell on Ridley too much yet but it still worried him a lot.
 
Jade exhaled slowly, leaning back on her seat and staring at the light filtering down from the rafters. "I get that it's hard to control and stuff. But like, most of the Shadow Pokemon we know about got made that way because of something that happened to them. Not..." Not doing it to themselves.

Jade shook her head. "I don't know, I know I'll have to get over it the next time we have a mission. I just... it scared me, I guess." Her tail curled around herself.
 
It was about the dream, he realized with a start. Koa didn't speak for a long moment. He'd felt more scared for Ridley but he didn't know. Why had Ridley done it, why would he... A frown grew on his face. Now that Jade had brought it up, it brought back the memory of that dream and everything tied to it.

"I tried to find him before training but I couldn't. I don't know..." his words trailed off. Prying always made his skin crawl, but he couldn't bear to leave either. "Is that why you used shadows?" he asked softly.
 
Jade's fur bristled. "I mean, I don't know why, I wasn't trying to," she said sharply, but then immediately winced, ears flattening.

"Sorry... I guess I just, didn't want to think about him, or what he did, and then when he used the shadows first, it all sort of spilled out." Jade rubbed the back of her head. "That's sorta why I didn't want to attack him during the battle, so..." So she'd focused exclusively on Koa.
 
He mentally winced and desperately wished now that he had talked to Ridley or he had an answer. Something that would make it all make sense. "Well... At least you managed to control it?" Koa offered feebly. It'd only slipped out a little, better off than Ridley was.

"So it wasn't all bad... Besides, I can take you." He'd meant as a light tease, but he mentally winced a moment later, wondering if it was too much.
 
Jade laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. It felt good to laugh, like something she'd sorely needed. "I guess I haven't been training as much as I should've." She thought back to when she'd first joined the Rebellion, and the kind of drills Stalker had run everyone through. Much as she hated to admit it, that'd been mandatory for making through the Rocket battles. And she really hadn't been going nearly so hard on Forlas...

"Next time it won't be so easy, honest," Jade said, holding both paws up. "I'll... get some new moves or something."
 
"Oh yeah? Well so am I, so you're gonna have to step it up then," he retorted, grinning. "I'll be expecting more of a challenge." At least she hadn't been upset by his comment it seemed. Between Kitto's teasing and Blake's ribbing, it must have rubbed off on him.

He chewed on his consideration a moment before speaking. "We can still train together. If you want," he added quickly. "But it can be just us, if you'd rather not train with... anyone else." With Ridley. What would happen now? What if they couldn't cure Ridley? How would he be able to fight?
 
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