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Frontier Town Traveller's Haus - Lobby

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Wes flicked an ear, remembering Nolan’s words. Insufferable prick.

“Don’t see why it can’t be both,” he said. “Being an offworlder and fighting alongside each other. Isn’t that how teamwork is supposed to work, anyway? Who cares about who came from where?”

He stopped himself and cleared his throat, catching his blunt words a little too late. “What I mean is…it does no good to sell yourself short. I’m no scientist, but from my own experience, battles aren’t some one-sided thing where only the trainer or the Pokémon improve. It’s a mutual thing. They help each other grow stronger, smarter, sharper.” He looked up at Nova. “So yeah, maybe being near humans is giving you some kinda…aura boost, or whatever the hell. But I’d be willing to bet the humans get one from you guys, too.”
 
"Maybe," Nova said. "Or our craziness is rubbing off on you. Astrid, Grace, and I burned down that impidimp and morgrem bandit camp the other day. And I blew up Cipher's shadow machine by putting radiance into a blast seed."
 
Wes blinked slowly as he registered the words. Then he slowly broke into a wide grin.

“Are you telling me…you threw a bomb at the shadow machine?”

Oh, that was too good. Wes’s shoulders shook with the effort to stifle his laughter, but then it came out anyways in a choked guffaw. “Holy. Shit. I thought I was the only one unhinged enough to do something like that. Damn, I wish I could have seen it!”

He shook his head, letting his chuckles subside before continuing. “I dunno, if anything that sounds like all of us are rubbing off on each other. Because that’s exactly what I did to my dear old boss’s snagging tech in my world.” He looked back at Nova with a devious smirk. “Arson’s a hell of a drug, isn’t it?”
 
"It broke open a bunch of glass tubes and spilled shadows everywhere, so it prrrroooooobably wasn't the wisest decision." Nova laughed nervously. He decided not to bring up the fact that he knew Explosion. "The second explosion was just my Bide for some reason. I guess everything's cooler with explosions."

He cracked a grin. "It was a lot funnier with the Fiends, though. Idiots spilled oil all over their camp, so Grace hit the oil with one Ember and..." Nova propped himself up on his hind legs and wiggled his forelegs. "Whole thing was ablaze. Then the little morgrem stormed out from cover and was LARPing as a vampire."
 
Wes cracked up again. He hadn’t had the pleasure—or misfortune, really—to meet the Fiends, but he’d heard enough to get a kick out of that image. “Holy hells,” he choked between laughs, “I can’t believe I missed that, too. Dinner and a show!” Though he had not a damn clue what “LARPing” was; he wasn’t sure he dared to ask.

“Sounds like you’ve kept things lively wherever you’ve gone, lately,” he said, shaking his head in amusement. “Can’t say I had you of all people pegged as an explosive risk taker.”
 
"Haven't been in loooong time, yeah," Nova admitted, scratching at a cheek bolt with a hind leg. "Between losing the mask and that spark of radiance, something reminded me of that... phase of my life. Did a lot of crazy things back then."

He shook his head. "I just hope it ends better for Forlas than it did for me back home. Same for you and, uh, your version of Cipher, whoever they are."
 
The glee diminished from Wes’s face at the mention of Cipher. He gave a half-hearted snort. “Don’t remind me,” he muttered. “I’ve got a scorching hot mess to return to after this, from what it sounds like. But if we can tear those bastards down here, I’ll feel better about my chances back in Orre—and maybe you’ll have learned something to take back to your world, too.”

Rising from his cushion and stretching, he gave Nova an appreciative nod. Huh…the guy was way less large and intimidating now that Wes had evolved. Maybe he’d misjudged the guy, initially. “So you used to be something of a firebrand when you were younger, huh? Well, in my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with reviving that part of yourself for a good cause.”
 
"Not exactly. I converted to, uh, firebrandy." Nova nodded like that last word was absolutely legit and totally not gibberish. "I was created to keep the peace, but I couldn't reconcile what I was doing... so I rebelled against my creator.

"It's not quite the same, but I imagine you can understand what it's like to be forced into certain situations."
 
Wes raised an eyebrow. Gods, if that sort of backstory didn’t sound familiar. “Yeah, I do. I mean, I wasn’t literally created for a specific purpose like you, but…” he trailed off and raised his eyes to the ceiling, scowling. “I dunno. I might as well have, frankly.”

He shook his head again. “Can’t change what we’ve done already, right? But we can change what we do from now on.”

He paused, remembering a phrase he’d heard from a certain relentlessly optimistic redhead. “Gotta look forward, not back.”
 
Wes chuckled at that. “As good a call as any.” He’d have offered to tag along, but his fatigue was finally starting to catch up to him. Maybe he’d actually stand a chance of getting some decent sleep tonight. Wes turned towards his room and gave Nova one last nod.

“Thanks for this. Really. Maybe you’ll have to show me some of your bomb techniques next time.” Then, chuckling quietly to himself, he and Nova parted ways.

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