Fandom Pokémon: Rise of Shadows

[Latios]

With the group now all starting to fall asleep, the night went on silently from there on as the stars floated and danced above them. For being a place without so much as a chirp of a Kricitune, the distortion world has a rather beautiful night time with its own warped version of the night sky. Every now and then a star would pass over the camp casting a dim light on those below like a Illumies would back in the over world. If one looked close enough the floating stars would sometimes form consolations for a moment before splitting apart again. This dragged on for a while, until the light of the fire had died out and no one else lay awake to watch the stars no more.

Upon morning. The trace of he dancing stars had vanished entirely. The black sky of the distortion world replaced instantly with the swirling messy blue of the distorted daytime sky.
Assailant Minako Daisie Emperor Of Embers

 

[Minako]

There was no morning sun battling the clouds to let shine its light upon the sky, no cold morning air to breathe in and chill the body, and no fresh morning dew to admire as they adorned ariados webs and flowers. It was both a terrifying and fascinating phenomenon of the distorted realm, and it was a true miracle not just any human or pokemon could say that they've experienced it.

For the small singer, however, she'd simply describe it as unsettling and creepy.

As she woke up to the swirly, blue... whatever it was that passed off as "sky" of the distortion realm, Rosie couldn't help but feel uncomfortable and a large feeling of anxiety planted itself in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to get out of here for a variety of reasons, but first and foremost was because she felt they didn't belong there... and usually, when something is where it doesn't belong... whatever DOES belong there won't hesitate to kick the undesirables out...

Sure, She was fairly certain Giratina had invited them to stay... But she didn't want to be around when the Renegade pokemon decided they had worn thin their welcome...

Rosie shuddered a bit, hugged herself slightly, and got up to start preparing breakfast for everyone. Looking through their supplies her life-long bully had packed for them, she was surprised to find some very high quality bags of pre-made dough for poffins ( Ro felt terrible for thinking this, but she couldn't help but notice they were the more weighty brand of dough as well, and she was sure these bags were chosen entirely for their weight). She nodded to herself, trying not to feel numb from everything, as she took out some jam and food coloring and began coloring the dough for the poffins.

She felt awful about waking up Florinas Charizard, but since she needed its help to get a fire started for the cooking, she simply apologized to the Charizard as it awoke.

"I-I'm sorry, but could you please help me with making breakfast?" She asked mareepishly as he opened his eyes.

The Charizard, much to her surprise, simply smiled sleepily at her while nodding and rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Ro beamed back at the good-natured pokemon and and shyly trotted along with him as they walked to the area where she would cook. It didn't take long before the poffins were filled with jam and ready to be baked (Florina, for all her flaws, really did know how to come prepared, as she sent over an interesting metal box: It was like a small toaster oven without a cord, clearly able to function as a makeshift oven... Did Florina anticipate them baking? Or having her Charizard? Ceres was her famous fire-type, sure, but the flames on her back would make it rather uncomfortable for this box's use... the Charizard, however, could use this with much more ease... What was she up to???)

It wasn't too soon after a poffin was baking in the small box oven (she was calling it that for a lack of a better term) that she found the smell had attracted her Togekiss to her.

"Oh! But what about the others--" She began, quickly turning towards their sleeping area to find that Ceres was also up and about, resting Cadence and the Ralts they found yesterday against Felicia as they remained asleep.

"Oh phew... " Rosie thought to herself in relief, smiling at Ceres as the Typhlosion approached them.

"Morning Ceres!" Rosie heartily greeted her, smiling when she received a warm hug back from her.


"Good morning, Ro sweetheart," Ceres replied back, though she didn't expect at all that Ro would respond to her given their language barrier.

"Good morning, Aer--" Ceres began, correcting herself when she caught herself using the Togekiss' old name, "Er, Magnus. How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, CerCer!" Magnus responded with gusto, an "early pidgey" as Cadence grumpily liked to put it, which suited the winged boy just fine.

She smiled and nodded in response, turning her attention to the suspiciously cheery Charizard.

"Good morning, Kaine, I hope you slept well as well," Ceres greeted him, though a careful ear could detect a rather serious and suspicious tone.

Well, if Kaine noticed, he showed no indication of it in his response.

"Morning, Ceres!" He replied heartily, eyeing the metal contraption he was heating up hungrily.

Ceres rolled her eyes, and looked around to see if anyone else was awake, frowning and rolling her eyes as she spotted Charise and Max, still fast sleep.


"Ooooh, they slept together all night!" Magnus stated, his tone mix of impressed and curious.

"...Indeed..." Ceres dryly acknowledged, none too pleased.

"Hm. I wonder why he didn't sleep with Emlas?" The Togekiss suddenly asked.

"...I-I'm sorry.... Why... Would you wonder about him with Emlas...?" Ceres narrowed her eyes and turned to Magnus, not liking the random question.

"Because he said he was cap... capped... captimavated-- captivated by Emlas? He wanted to take her to court-- Er, I think it was just court? He wanted to court her??" Magnus repeated what he heard of this situation earlier, somewhat understanding it now, but not by much, he added, "Charise said it's what adults say when they like each other? Don't two people who like each other sleep with each other?"

"...Yeeeeesss..." Ceres replied slowly, having just enough of this charade between the two, "If you'll excuse me."


She began walking towards the two, and internally apologized to the slumbering Blissey as she passed them on her way.

"I'm sorry, Felicia, but I have to draw the line somewhere," Ceres thought.

She stood before the two sleeping, frowning as Charise, still well in dreamland, was nuzzling against his furry chest like it was a pillow.

"Charise..." Ceres began sternly, just loud enough Ceres hoped to get Charises attention without disturbing anyone else.

"Mmm... Five more minutes, mumsy dearest..." Charise mumbled sleepily in response.

"Charise, I am not Euphrasie," Ceres duly stated, still trying to awaken her.

Assailant

 

[Assailant]

Still deep in dreamland himself, Max let out a sort of happy hum as he gently squeezed Charise and held her close against him. As Ceres came over and began talking to Charise, Max was a bit more receptive to her. Max yawned and opened his misty eyes for a few moments, almost staring at Ceres before cracking his neck a few times and sighing happily. It was obvious he had no idea Ceres was actually there, as he smiled and stroked Charise's hair, waiting for her to wake up.

He felt his heart lifting when he was reminded of her presence, almost as if he could fly. Her face resting against his chest felt... it was a sensation he had never truly felt. Him and Felix and slept together on occasion, but this was something totally different. Different even than the occasions when Emlas slept with him. Max felt an overwhelming rush of jubilance as he leaned over and kissed the top of Charise's head, beaming widely and continuing to stroke her hair softly, completely unaware of the Typhlosion standing mere feet from them.

Minako

April was perhaps the next person to wake up. She sighed and muttered to herself about the rock ground being uncomfortable before standing up and stretching a bit to make herself more comfortable. As she looked around at the rest of the group, she noticed that everyone (other than that Typhlosion she hadn't ever really met) was still asleep. She made the rounds, checking for shadows (she was well aware they were in the distortion realm, but it never hurt to do a quick once-over to be safe) when she came across Tyler.

Deciding that he should probably get a head start, first to rise meant first to food after all, she went over to rouse him. "Hey, wake up." She gently pushed him with her talons and-

"AGH!" April yelled out as Tyler suddenly sprung awake and cut her leg with his knife. "Nng, f-fuck!" Tyler stared at her wide-eyed and dropped the knife.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" He said in a panicked voice. "I didn't mean to, it was reflex, I'm sorry!" Tyler held his hands up in front of his face defensively, crying. "I-I'm sorry, p-please don't cut me!" April hissed and looked down at her leg, beginning to bleed somewhat.

"Y-you little shit, I'm-!" Tyler coward, crying quietly into his arms as April glared down at him. "I'm... g-gonna... f-f-forgive you, SO DAMN HARD!" Tyler sniffed and looked past his hands at April.

"W-wha-?"

"Nng!" She grunted and turned away from Tyler, limping away from him, leaving the young Ralts deeply confused.

 

[Emperor Of Embers]

Venin was the first of the three to wake up, being restless and such. He did not mind it, since it allowed the Tyrantrum an opportunity to glance around the area for trouble, which there was not any, before going back to sleep. He had picked up a sweet smell, a smell he knew well enough. Poffins. He walked over to Rosie and Kaine, and sniffed around until he found the baking poffins. He then looked at Rosie, and then at Kaine, then back to the oven. It had been ages since he had one, and then walked over to Alistair and serenity, and nudged them to wake them up. The two were exhausted, and were in a deep sleep. Growling out of frustration, he then pushed Alistair with his snout, which had caused him to wake up with a rush if adrenaline. "What!? Where?! Who?!- Venin..... What is i- wait.... Is that... Poffins?" he asked as he slowly got up, a little shaken from the sudden push, but he followed the smell of poffins, up to Rosie and Kaine, with a small oven. "Morning guys.... Sleep well?" Minako

 

[Minako]

Ceres frowned and rolled her eyes at the two of them, quickly becoming exasperated and feeling bad for having to do this, but figured it had to be done. For both their own good. Mostly Charises and Ro's.

"...Charise!" Ceres shouted, nudging the magnolia clad Gardevoir with her feet until the Embrace pokemon finally woke up, embarrassed and startled simultaneously.

"Augh! C-c-ceres!" Charise blurted rather loudly, panicked, realizing what she was doing and who's arm she was cuddled up with, "I-I-I was j-just--"

"Ro has been up a bit making food for everyone, except, of course, herself, because of that ridiculous idol diet of hers..." Ceres interrupted, unamused.

"Eep! Ro!!" Charise squealed as she stumbled to get up, grabbed her book, and get to Ro.

Ceres stopped her as soon as she made a step away from Max and towards Ro, nearly growling, "We will talk about this later..."

Sighing, and turning to Max while massaging her temples, she added rather irritably, "And we need to talk about this NOW...Max....What are you doing?"

Assailant


Cadence and Felicia also awoke from Aprils yelling, startled and scared awake from the yelling. Felicia gasped, but before she could do anything, April... forgave him...

She was happy the Pidgeot did so, but she didn't want to leave her with a cut on her talons.

"April! April, wait! Let me heal you!" Felicia scuttled after her while holding a lucky egg.

"You okay, kiddo?" Cadence asked the Ralts,sympathetically smiling at him while he seemed lost in confusion, "You have a bad dream or was that reflexes or... both?"

After everything he'd been through, Cadence wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of the two that led him to accidentally cut Aprils leg.

"Good on ya Feathers! You could have totally antagonized this poor kid, but instead you forgave him! That's a good sign," Cadence thought to herself while glancing at April walking away.


"O-oh! Y-yes, we slept o--" Rosie began to greet Alistair, stopping entirely to be frozen by fear at the ever terrifying Pidgeot squawking to high heaven, and bleeding, probably from the Ralts with a knife?!

Odder still was after her terrible squawking at being cut she was just... walking away?

And Felicia was chasing after her...?

What... was...

Rosie decided she would live a happier, healthier, more longer life if she just didn't think about it...


"Kaaaaay.... H-how did you guys sleeeeeeeeppp...?" She... almost finished that sentence with dignity.

Emperor Of Embers

 

[Emperor Of Embers]

Alistair raised an eyebrow at Rosie's behavior, but ultimately dismissed it. "Fine, and I think Venin is feeling better after going to sleep... He seemed so down yesterday." He said as he then saw April limping away. "Venin, could you get serenity up? I need you two to help Rosie while I get the Pidgeot patched up." He said as he walked over to his bag, and dug out some bandages, alcohol toweletts, and Sitrus berries, to speed the healing process. He then began to walk to April, with his mind set on helping the Pokemon.

Venin nudged Serenity awake, "We gotta help Rosie with breakfast, Get up or there won't be any for you." He said bluntly as she shook her head. "Must you be so blunt, Venny? I mean seriously, you can not wake a lady like this." Serenity complained as vening growled. "Yeah, Yeah. Let's go." the two then walked over to Rosie, ready to help. Minako Assailant Latios Daisie

 

[Latios]

The first of the Lati to awake was Emlas. She yawned before opening her eye's to the vast mirror like sky and gravity deifying landmasses. "This place is weird... We're leaving today, right?" She said to her brother currently next to her.

"Yes, we are getting out once we reach Hoenn up top to pick up Nathan. Once we do that we either fly outside the rest of the way, or Giratina let's us travel here more. His choice." Latios told her sleepily and without even opening his eyes to look at her.

"Huh... Well I guess being here is better than being attacked by those shadow guys." She said.

"Indeed..." Latios finished with a yawn before stretching. Looking around he noticed Edron was already awake. "How long have you been up."

"I haven't slept. I can't sleep. Not with them around here. Don't know when they might try and back stab us." The Blue Eon told him

Latios looked at him rather annoyed. "Sure... your funeral when you fall out of the sky" The older Latios merely scoffed back before returning to his watch on the humans.

 

[Assailant]

Max yelped, startled by Ceres revealing herself. He coughed and covered a heavy blush as he postured himself, regaining his bearings on the situation. When he had pulled himself together, he faced her question, though with a raised eyebrow and a confused tilt of the head. "Excuse me? Doing what?" He smiled an awkward and embarassed smile at her, clearly trying to be friendly.


April stopped as Felicia and Alistair began to approach her. She was cursing under her breath, trying to keep her weight off of her injured foot. She hesitated, looking angrily at them, although it was obvious the anger was not directed at them but at the situation. "I don't need help," she said with almost a hiss in her voice, still trying to overcome the pain, though she made no efforts to move away or repel them.


The young Ralts looked over at Cadence with anxiety, still recovering from the adrenaline of both the wake-up and April. "I-I just pr-prepared myself to fight back if someone attacks when I'm sleeping... she just... startled me."


Minako Emperor Of Embers

 

[Minako]

Ceres went from irritable to exhausted quickly at Max's response. He wasn't a bad pokemon, just very, very, very... confused. And misguided. Ceres must be the one to set everyone back on the right path... If she didn't, she shuddered to think of what would become of her poor family.

"This... Whatever this is you're doing with Charise, Max..." Ceres began, taking a moment to sigh and pause before continuing, "Think back to yesterday: Do you know exactly why Mamba is such a villain to us?"

She stopped a moment to think, shaking her head and elaborating, "I mean, long before he drugged Charise... Consider this: being raised by our kind, but naive and foolish Rosie, and Mamba being as smooth talking as he is, don't you think, having known him since childhood, Charise would have been immature enough to have feelings for Mamba then?"

Ceres hoped he knew where she was getting at.

"Mamba was the first pokemon Charise ever had feelings for back when she was newly a Kirlia," Ceres broke the news to the blinded Aura pokemon, "Back when she was still denying whatever feelings she had for out trainer..."

Ceres then looked at the Aura pokemon in the eyes, though she clearly didn't expect anything from doing so, "But, even then, She knew if she let herself pursue her feelings for him, that Mamba would take her away from our Ro. He would not let her stay with us. It just so happened he was an awful pokemon and devious manipulator... "

She paused again to scratch her head, finally continuing, "I'm not saying you're doing what Mamba is, o-or that you're bad. Goodness, no. I am not your enemy here, Max, I want to be friends with you as much as Charise does, but... What I am saying is, please, don't distract Charise from her duties. Her attention to Ro must not have distractions... One moment she falters could be Ro's final moment... I don't want that, and I don't think you do, either. So please, leave Charise be... For both hers and Ro's sake..."

She hated saying this, and she'd be lying if right now she didn't feel like the bad guy being so firm with Max to be kept at arms length, but it had to be done. Maybe this conversation will keep Ro alive in the future...?

She sighed heavily, saying her piece and shaking her head, not looking forward to the much harsher conversation she had in mind with Charise. As she began to walk away from the Lucario, she remembered the straw that broke the Camelrupt's back and turned back, adding, "Oh, and, maybe you should tell Charise you aren't captivated by Emlas anymore? You know Ae- Er, Magnus told her all about that earlier, right? Without her knowing your true feelings clearly it seems like you're stringing her along... And that doesn't exactly reflect well on your character, does it? Heh..."

Ceres knew it would actually probably be best Charise continue thinking Max was leading her on instead of actually trying to move on from Emlas with her, because if the feelings are mutual inevitably a relationship would form... causing more of a distraction...

But thinking of the poor Gardevoir dealing with Mamba... And her feelings for their trainer... Ceres didn't have the heart to encourage this misunderstanding a moment longer...


Felicia used her arm to stop Alistair in his tracks and shook her head vehemently. She pantomimed to him to stop. She then took out her lucky egg and pointed to it desperately.

"Please, don't use up supplies when not necessary! I can heal her without it!" She fervently tried to communicate with the human, even though she knew he couldn't understand her.

Everything they used unnecessarily was money spent buying new supplies or another trip to Florinas. No one wanted another trip to Florinas. Those should be saved for when Felicia was incapacitated or couldn't heal. Right now she was fit as a fiddle and needed to put her lucky eggs to work.

She then ran ahead of him and closed in on April, never minding her surly disposition because it was understandable.

"I-I know you don't, Hon, but no cut is better than a cut on your talon, right? Plus, it's hard to fly here, so the sooner this goes away the better!" Felicia cheered, not trying to ignore Aprils need to be alone, but also not wanting Alistair to use supplies on the wound.

Quickly, she took her egg from her pouch, cracked it, and carefully poured its contents all over the wounded talon. The cut went from gaping to near fully healed in moments. Felicia looked up at the Pidgeot and smiled.

"There ya go! All done!" She cheered, then sympathetically smiling, she added in a whisper, "Sorry, I hope I didn't overstep a boundary or anything, I know you're an adult and handle knicks like that, but I didn't want Alistair to use our limited medical supplies on such a thing when I could heal you up in a heartbeat."

Emperor Of Embers


The Sylveon smiled and placed a gentle feeler on the Ralts shoulder. She knew April wasn't a bad pokemon at heart, but she wasn't so foolish as to deny how she had wrong this poor boy, either.

"Hey... I know, Kiddo, I know..." Cadence began softly, trying to calm and comfort him, "Don't worry. No harm no foul, really. Felicia will patch her right up. She won't even scar up or anything. And she forgave you. I know... It... I know it might not mean much coming from her and how she treated you in the past... But.. Well, we're all stuck together, anyway, right? Just make the most of it for now. She's... Changed. And you don't have to take my word for it, You can see it... You know, as time goes by."

"It's alright to feel how you do about her..." Cadence told him, hoping that line didn't sound condescending or crossed a line, adding, "I know how bad she's bullied you in the past. I just... I just hope by the end of this, in the future, you'll have seen her change and acknowledge it, since she's going to try her hardest to make it up to you from now on."

Assailant

 

[Emperor Of Embers]

Alistair was stopped by Felicia, though he did not understand what she was saying, he understood what her intentions were when she pointed to her lucky egg. "Oh.... Well.... That saves me a trip to the Pokemart." he said as he watched her go to work, and was impressed with how fast she healed April.
Minako Assailant
Venin did not know how he could help, but he started by sniffing the ingredients, with Serenity grabbing said ingredients, and handing them to Rosie. In all honesty, they had no Idea what to do, since Alistair did all the cooking and prepping for them. "Venin.... I am afraid I do not know what to do." Serenity was worried she was going to get in the girl's way. "I don't either, but we gotta commit to it.... We can't be slouching." Minako

 

[Daisie]

For once, Arcanus was the last of the group to awaken. His eyes fluttering open, almost immediately he was met with an overwhelming sense of confusion. Having woken up to the peculiar world around him, he felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland. Trying to brush the feeling, Arcanus came to his feet, stretching. There really wasn't anywhere comfortable to sleep the night before. Not only had he not gotten an overwhelming amount of sleep, something felt... Off. Suddenly he remembered... That was right. The nightmare. As the memories came back to him, his expression took on a disturbed look. He had never gotten a nightmare quite as terrible as this one, before... Though, he'd never been under this much stress before, either.

He shifted his gaze absentmindedly over to April, Alistair, and Felicia. April had that signature pissed look on her face that he'd seen all too often. Wait... Had she just yelled? Arcanus was pretty sure that yelling had somehow worked its way into his horrid dream. Good lord...

After a few moments of trying to rub the tiredness from his eyes (as well as a deep breath to quell his unsettled stomach), he approached the three, keeping composure.

"Good morning," he greeted, straightening out his fur. "Everything in order?"

Assailant Minako Emperor Of Embers

 

[Assailant]

Max listened patiently and understandingly, nodding as Ceres went on. Clearly he was not very happy with what she was saying, but he nodded along and listened closely, although he had a noticeable reaction when she mentioned Magnus. When she finished, Max gave her a few seconds to continue if she pleased before nodding once more and brushing himself off. "Perhaps you should have a conversation with Magnus about confidence," he said in a joking tone with a smile. He then let out a shaky breath. "With regards to your request, however... there may be a misconception here." Max tried to get to his feet, using his stick for balance and shaking a bit as he did so. "You seem to be under the pretense that I aim to take Charise away from you... in actuality, all that has occurred is that you have gained me as an ally." He gazed firmly and intently in her direction. "With all due respect, I intend very much to defend Rosie until my last breath."


April scowled a bit as the egg cracked over her wound, but even she seemed surprised at just how fast it did its magic. Pretty soon, there was only a light stinging as a reminder of the wound. She stared at it for a bit as Felicia whispered to her. "Uh... y-yeah it's all good..." She sighed, letting the last of her anger seep out in that exhale and looked away bashfully. "Um... th-thanks for that... i-it feels better now, doc... s...-sorry for... yelling at you." She gave an almost crooked smile to Felicia before suddenly perking up as she heard Arcanus. She smiled wide and waddled over to Arcanus, wrapping her wings around him and kissing him on the cheek before letting go. "Yeah, everything's alright... ah, did my yelling wake you up?! Ack, sorry, Tyler slashed my leg up when I tried to wake him up and... needless to say that hurt and startled me, so... yelling..."


Tyler frowned and looked at April as she was treated by Felicia. "Can someone like... her really change? How do you know she isn't just tricking you? When I was younger and would still fall for it, sometimes she would pretend to be nice only to hurt me more. She would apologize for hurting me and give me some of her food, only for it to have laxates in it," he said, not realizing he had mispronounced laxatives. "Or she'd tell me it's snowing outside only to dump ice water on me the moment I left the door." He sighed.

"I'd like to believe she changed, I just don't know that I can."

Daisie
Emperor Of Embers
Minako

 

[Minako]

Ceres nodded, not doubting the Lucario's intentions for a moment, but still feeling he wasn't quite clear on her message. She stopped and turned back to look at him.

"It's... It's not that you'll take her away from us, or that I doubt you'll defend Rosie as if you were one of us... But the fact still stands we can't afford idle relationships right now... Please, let Charise focus on Ro... I don't want to find out what happens if she's too busy focusing on YOU, a Pokemon who might be able to defend itself against those... things... and RO, a human with no chance of defending herself against even the smallest of threats, let alone the darkness that has taken seemingly many lives," Ceres elaborated, then heavily sighed.

"There's nothing wrong with you, or that I have against you, it's just this situation, Max... That's all," She wanted to end this conversation soon, not that she was any eager for her other planned conversation with Charise, but Max was the more misguided of the two and as such must be dealt with with more delicacy.

"Anyway... Ro's making breakfast, so because I can imagine you're hungry I'm sending someone over here to help you to where we're eating," Ceres finished off this heavy conversation, making her way back to the breakfast area.


Felicia smiled at the large bird Pokemon, she pretty much knew this Pidgeot's number, given Cadence's father was practically her when they first met. And it looked like, just as Rasmus before her, the true love of another Pokemon had softened his heart just as Aprils was softened by her love.

She couldn't help but giggle at being called "Doc", but she supposed it did suit her: Blissey's, as well as Chansey's, were the Pokemon that helped around the Pokemon centers, and they were famous for using their eggs when not battle ravaged. In fact, Felicia was pretty sure that her parents, or at least her mother, was a Chansey from a Pokemon Center in Johto, if Charise's account was accurate...

Hm, perhaps she could ask to go see them after this was all said and done?

"Good morning!" Felicia greeted back and waved at the Hypno., smiling, "Yeah, we're ok!"

Daisie


Cadence listened to Tyler astutely and nodded, grimacing with every word he said.

"Geez, Feathers... You pulled no punches with this kid, didn'tcha...?" Cadence thought to herself.

She stopped to think for a moment about what would her father do, were he in this situation. It was easier thought than done, but she had to try. For April and Tyler.

"Yeah... It seems like people like her can't change, huh?" Cadence began to ask, hoping April wouldn't suddenly appear before Cadence got to finish her thought, so she quickly continued, "Tyler... I think from the very beginning, she was jealous of you. Very jealous. Because, by blood, you're your mom's son. Her mom's son. Something April wanted, I'd even dare to say needed, since before she could remember. That stuff comes with heavy and bitter emotions, and while you sure as sugar didn't cut her, shes still 'bleeding' on you anyway. And that's not fair. That's not fair to you at all. I can see why you feel this way, and I can't say I blame you for feeling it."

She lightly swished her tail and breathed in out subtlety, truly doing everything she could to channel her wise father right now.

"I'm sure April doesn't even know what was so important to her that kept her acting this way towards your guys mom, or acting that way towards you, for that matter," Cadence began to speak again after a moments pause, "But I can promise you that she's probably gonna pay for it the rest of her life: She didn't allow herself to show love and because of that, when your poor mom passed on, she passed on without hearing April say 'I love you'. Shes probably not heard April say that to her since she was younger than us. That's a heavy burden on her heart that may never truly be lifted."

She then held up a feeler and slightly lowered her head.

"And it's okay if you think 'Well, she deserves it!' or 'It serves her right!': You've been treated unfairly by her, and feeling that way towards being treated like that is only natural. I'm only saying that she may surprise you from now on, and if you feel differently towards her after seeing her change, then, that's a good way to go," Cadence now rested a feeler on Tyler's shoulder, smiling.

"Your ma wouldn't want you to hold onto a grudge, especially when the one you're holding a grudge toward is trying to change, right?" Cadence asked.

Magnus, overhearing the conversation after wanting to be with his friends, added, "It's what a hero would do!"

"Hm? Hero? Eh eh?" Cadence tilted her head in confusion and looked at Magnus, wondering why he brought that up.

Magnus winked at her, and Cadence at first narrowed her eyes at him, trying to comprehend the body language, then lighting up and going "Oooooh" when she got it.

"Yeah, man, it's totally what heroes do!" She agreed with her young Togekiss brother.

Assailant


Rosie smiled at Alistair's Pokemon, glad for their presence, and admiring Alistair's willingness to help the Large Bird Pokemon. It seemed like his Pokemon were idle, but still near her as if wanting to help her? Or perhaps they wanted food?

"Oh, uhm--" Rosie began when she was interrupted by her beloved, magnolia-clad Gardevoir.

"Roooo! Roooo!" Charise cried while approaching her, and the small human could tell if Charise was able to speak in human tongue she would be panting from exhaustion.

"Oh! Hey Charise! Good morning! Did you sleep well? Would you like some breakfast?" She asked her sister while placing another poffin in the metal baking box.

"What about you? Have you had breakfast?" Charise asked in response, never mind about herself.

"O-oh, uhm well, I ate A LOT yesterday, and I want to watch my figure..." Rosie muttered nervously, almost trailing off at the end of her excuse because Charise's face got grimmer and grimmer.

"EAT," Charise ordered while taking a protein bar from one of the food supply bags.

"...Ok," Rosie agreed meekly, taking the bar while shaking, and almost sneaking it into her pockets, but Charise's glare made her fear for her life and so she opened it and began to eat it.

Charise's glare then softened into a smile as Rosie finished eating the bar.

The Embrace Pokemon hugged her sister, and then looked at Alistair's Pokemon nearby and wondered what they were doing.

"Oh, what are Alistair's Pokemon doing?" Charise asked.

"Ah, they might be waiting for this next poffin, I think? I'm not sure since they don't look too hungry?" Rosie said, wishing Alistair hadn't walked away to help the Pidgeot.

"Here, I'll go ask them," Charise offered, smiling.

She directed her attention to Alistair's Pokemon for a moment to greet them and inquire about their objectives.

"Hello, Venin! Hello Serenity! Good morning! How can we help you two today?" The magnolia-clad Gardevoir asked both his Pokemon heartily.

Emperor Of Embers

 

[Daisie]

Upon hearing April's explanation, Arcanus couldn't help but shoot a worried glance over towards Tyler. He couldn't blame the young Ralts... In a literal apocalypse, one surely had to wake up ready for battle. That's not to mention the fact that April of all people woke him up... He'd have to try and work with Tyler on trusting April. Oh boy, how he really did not want to take on any more responsibility. He chuckled as April finished off, and smiled weakly. "Quite a way to begin your day." He looked over at the caring Blissey. "Thank you for helping... It was Felicia, correct? I do not believe we have talked much." Right then, he mostly wanted a distraction. It couldn't hurt to get to know some of the other members better, as well.

Assailant Minako

 

[Assailant]

As Ceres walked off, Max hummed to himself in thought. Should he listen? Should he not? He asked for Rosie's blessing and got it, so does that mean that she's okay with the possibility? Does Ceres's blessing even matter? Perhaps he should approach the human about this at one point or another. He had much to think about.

His thought process came to a screeching halt as his stomach let out a loud rumble. Right, food. He began trying to walk after Ceres, and presumably towards food, but after stumbling a few times he resigned himself to crouching down and waiting for somebody to help him. He hated being this helpless... he had a job to protect the others, and he couldn't even walk without getting someone to come help him. Max had to keep reminding himself that things would be different when he was out of the Distortion Realm... hopefully...


April simply sat and listened, tentatively testing her healed leg with a smile. She was simply happy to be back with her Arc, although she noticed he seemed somewhat out of it. She'd have to talk to him later.

Minako Daisie


Tyler puffed out his chest a bit when Magnus said his piece, smiling a bit but clearly still thinking things over in his head. After a few moments though, he stopped posturing and returned to his normal disposition. "M-maybe you're... wait, did you know mom?" Tyler smiled and looked at Cadence excitedly. "I've been meaning to ask: mom never really seemed like a fighter, what was she like? Was she like, secretly a ninja? Or maybe a Cleric?!"

Minako

 

[Emperor Of Embers]

Ceres nodded, not doubting the Lucario's intentions for a moment, but still feeling he wasn't quite clear on her message. She stopped and turned back to look at him.

"It's... It's not that you'll take her away from us, or that I doubt you'll defend Rosie as if you were one of us... But the fact still stands we can't afford idle relationships right now... Please, let Charise focus on Ro... I don't want to find out what happens if she's too busy focusing on YOU, a Pokemon who might be able to defend itself against those... things... and RO, a human with no chance of defending herself against even the smallest of threats, let alone the darkness that has taken seemingly many lives," Ceres elaborated, then heavily sighed.

"There's nothing wrong with you, or that I have against you, it's just this situation, Max... That's all," She wanted to end this conversation soon, not that she was any eager for her other planned conversation with Charise, but Max was the more misguided of the two and as such must be dealt with with more delicacy.

"Anyway... Ro's making breakfast, so because I can imagine you're hungry I'm sending someone over here to help you to where we're eating," Ceres finished off this heavy conversation, making her way back to the breakfast area.


Felicia smiled at the large bird Pokemon, she pretty much knew this Pidgeot's number, given Cadence's father was practically her when they first met. And it looked like, just as Rasmus before her, the true love of another Pokemon had softened his heart just as Aprils was softened by her love.

She couldn't help but giggle at being called "Doc", but she supposed it did suit her: Blissey's, as well as Chansey's, were the Pokemon that helped around the Pokemon centers, and they were famous for using their eggs when not battle ravaged. In fact, Felicia was pretty sure that her parents, or at least her mother, was a Chansey from a Pokemon Center in Johto, if Charise's account was accurate...

Hm, perhaps she could ask to go see them after this was all said and done?

"Good morning!" Felicia greeted back and waved at the Hypno., smiling, "Yeah, we're ok!"

Daisie


Cadence listened to Tyler astutely and nodded, grimacing with every word he said.

"Geez, Feathers... You pulled no punches with this kid, didn'tcha...?" Cadence thought to herself.

She stopped to think for a moment about what would her father do, were he in this situation. It was easier thought than done, but she had to try. For April and Tyler.

"Yeah... It seems like people like her can't change, huh?" Cadence began to ask, hoping April wouldn't suddenly appear before Cadence got to finish her thought, so she quickly continued, "Tyler... I think from the very beginning, she was jealous of you. Very jealous. Because, by blood, you're your mom's son. Her mom's son. Something April wanted, I'd even dare to say needed, since before she could remember. That stuff comes with heavy and bitter emotions, and while you sure as sugar didn't cut her, shes still 'bleeding' on you anyway. And that's not fair. That's not fair to you at all. I can see why you feel this way, and I can't say I blame you for feeling it."

She lightly swished her tail and breathed in out subtlety, truly doing everything she could to channel her wise father right now.

"I'm sure April doesn't even know what was so important to her that kept her acting this way towards your guys mom, or acting that way towards you, for that matter," Cadence began to speak again after a moments pause, "But I can promise you that she's probably gonna pay for it the rest of her life: She didn't allow herself to show love and because of that, when your poor mom passed on, she passed on without hearing April say 'I love you'. Shes probably not heard April say that to her since she was younger than us. That's a heavy burden on her heart that may never truly be lifted."

She then held up a feeler and slightly lowered her head.

"And it's okay if you think 'Well, she deserves it!' or 'It serves her right!': You've been treated unfairly by her, and feeling that way towards being treated like that is only natural. I'm only saying that she may surprise you from now on, and if you feel differently towards her after seeing her change, then, that's a good way to go," Cadence now rested a feeler on Tyler's shoulder, smiling.

"Your ma wouldn't want you to hold onto a grudge, especially when the one you're holding a grudge toward is trying to change, right?" Cadence asked.

Magnus, overhearing the conversation after wanting to be with his friends, added, "It's what a hero would do!"

"Hm? Hero? Eh eh?" Cadence tilted her head in confusion and looked at Magnus, wondering why he brought that up.

Magnus winked at her, and Cadence at first narrowed her eyes at him, trying to comprehend the body language, then lighting up and going "Oooooh" when she got it.

"Yeah, man, it's totally what heroes do!" She agreed with her young Togekiss brother.

Assailant


Rosie smiled at Alistair's Pokemon, glad for their presence, and admiring Alistair's willingness to help the Large Bird Pokemon. It seemed like his Pokemon were idle, but still near her as if wanting to help her? Or perhaps they wanted food?

"Oh, uhm--" Rosie began when she was interrupted by her beloved, magnolia-clad Gardevoir.

"Roooo! Roooo!" Charise cried while approaching her, and the small human could tell if Charise was able to speak in human tongue she would be panting from exhaustion.

"Oh! Hey Charise! Good morning! Did you sleep well? Would you like some breakfast?" She asked her sister while placing another poffin in the metal baking box.

"What about you? Have you had breakfast?" Charise asked in response, never mind about herself.

"O-oh, uhm well, I ate A LOT yesterday, and I want to watch my figure..." Rosie muttered nervously, almost trailing off at the end of her excuse because Charise's face got grimmer and grimmer.

"EAT," Charise ordered while taking a protein bar from one of the food supply bags.

"...Ok," Rosie agreed meekly, taking the bar while shaking, and almost sneaking it into her pockets, but Charise's glare made her fear for her life and so she opened it and began to eat it.

Charise's glare then softened into a smile as Rosie finished eating the bar.

The Embrace Pokemon hugged her sister, and then looked at Alistair's Pokemon nearby and wondered what they were doing.

"Oh, what are Alistair's Pokemon doing?" Charise asked.

"Ah, they might be waiting for this next poffin, I think? I'm not sure since they don't look too hungry?" Rosie said, wishing Alistair hadn't walked away to help the Pidgeot.

"Here, I'll go ask them," Charise offered, smiling.

She directed her attention to Alistair's Pokemon for a moment to greet them and inquire about their objectives.

"Hello, Venin! Hello Serenity! Good morning! How can we help you two today?" The magnolia-clad Gardevoir asked both his Pokemon heartily.

Emperor Of Embers

"No, sweetheart. How can we help YOU. In all honesty, we really don't have anything to do... So maybe we thought we could help make breakfast...." Venin said as bluntly as humanly possible as Serenity shook her head.

"Really venin? Are you trying to win her affection with a nickname?" Serenity said in an annoyed tone.

"No, I am not. Besides... She is a much better match for the Lucario than with me anyways...."

"Yes.... She could get hurt loving you." Serenity said as Venin sighed.

"Yeah? Because I have lost more than you can imagine, so maybe I have to put up with the fact that I failed my probably dead children, and that I still feel all the emotion to this day..... So what makes you think people would get hurt being around me?" Venin said in a mildly irate tone, trying to stay calm.

"Venin.... We are friends, right? Well... If you lose yourself to your emotions... Then people will get hurt. I am honestly surprised you kept it in this long." She looked at Charise and Rosie. "Sorry about that dearies, now, what would you like us to do?

 

[Minako]

"D-did... Did they just forget I was here, o-or...?" Charise thought as she stood there, frozen and uncomfortable, her eye almost twitching, but she was forcing herself not to to try to be polite. Their entire conversation made Charise feel like she had just been thrown into an ice cold pool out of the blue.

She was hoping she didn't ooze being uncomfortable from that whole unpleasant interaction in her body language, but she could already feel her shoulders tense up into a cringe and her face scrunch and then freeze into a forced smile.

Why were they saying all this so casually? What was this about Venin trying to win her affections? Was Serenity implying she suspected he had feelings for her? Who did Venin lose? Why would Venin losing said loved one automatically lead up to her loving Venin causing her to hurt? Did they forget about Mamba and how Charise loving him might be actual suicide? Why was Serenity saying this in front of her as if Serenity wanted Charise to know this about Venin? Was she trying to vouch for Venin in her own way? If so, why do that when Venin thought Max was a better match for her? Why did Venin think Max was a better match for her?!

Charise felt like she could scour the universe for where all that came from and find no answers.

"Ahahahaha... Uhm, That's quite alright... I-I too often call my friends and family terms of endearment... ahaha, I-it makes me happy Venin is calling me that! It means we're friends after all, d-doesn't it?" Charise replied back with a bit of a forced and awkward smile to Alistair's two Pokemon.

Another awkward chuckle escaped her as the poor Embrace Pokemon tried not to make a huge deal out of what just happened.

She almost forgot what Venin originally said to her when she first approached them, but barely managed to remember it after her question, "Ah, uhm, as for what to do, I think we're ok for now. Kaine seems to have that small oven working for our poffins to bake and really Ro's human hands might be better at kneading the dough than ours would be."

A quick look a bit behind Charise would show Rosie kneading the dough and her meticulous motions in doing so, which might be hard for a Pokemon with no Psychic abilities would do.

Emperor Of Embers


"Mmhm, I'm Felicia!" The Blissey smiled while confirming her name to the Hypno, continuing, "And don't worry about it, it's what I do!"

Felicia could not be any happier that she had healing abilities and shuddered to think about what would have happened to April's leg if she hadn't been there: The wound on her leg could have gotten seriously infected from the wait of getting to a Pokemon center if the group didn't eat up gauze and hydrogen peroxide to disinfect her cut.

Plus, a Pokemon center might not be most urgent stop when they left this realm if everything Kaine had told them was true. They had to gather Soul Dews scattered around the regions and somehow Felicia doubted very much that they were going to be located in convenient locations for the group, such as said centers.

Trying not to think of troublesome thoughts so early in the-- Oh, she supposed she couldn't tell if it was actually morning...

--So soon after waking up, she focused on Arcanus pointing out that they hadn't had much time to converse.

"Oh! Yeah, haha, Yesterday was pretty wild start to finish and so was the day before that..." Felicia muttered, embarrassed and bashful a bit.

"Well, that's alright though, seems like we've still got a ways to go with each other, so we'll have plenty more times to talk, and you have a loved to look after, so it makes sense your attention is on them above others," The Blissey added this matter-of-factly while nodding steadily.

Daisie


Cadence and Magnus were both stunned by his reaction, and Cadence sort of shot a frown at Magnus for saying something and causing her to say something that accidentally got his hopes up about his mother.

Magnus looked down in shame a moment upon receiving said frown.

"...Er, sorry, kiddo," Cadence began sadly, "W-we didn't know your Ma. We know of her because your pal, Maxie boy over there, who found us because our Charise resembled your Ma a lot, but... She... was gone by the time we joined these guys..."

When the small Sylveon said the Lucario's name she used her feelers to point at him, but it was only for a moment as they drooped afterwards.

"I-I'm sorry, we didn't mean to mislead you, I-I just thought you liked being a hero and stuff, from all the stuff you were saying last night, a-and that's why I said what I did..." Magnus muttered meekly, his head still slightly hanging.

"Yeah, we're sorry..." Cadence mimicked, equally as apologetic.

"Cadence," The Intertwine Pokemon would hear Ceres' voice as it approached them from the side, and Cadence upon hearing her name being called gave the Typhlosion her attention.

"Hm? Whats up, Ceres?" The Sylveon asked.

"If you would not mind, could you go over and help Max find his way towards the food? He can't really sense anything here, and with him being blind and all..." Ceres trailed off near the end of her sentence, figuring she didn't have to finish it for Cadence to gain her objective.

"Eh? I mean, sure, but, why didn't you help him? Weren't you just over there? Why not get Cha-reeses pieces to do it? Doesn't she have a thing for him, or something?" Cadence asked in confusion, not entirely opposed to helping, but wondering why the task befell her when there was not one but two better candidates.

"Because I'm already irritated and exasperated enough and I don't want to say anything more to Max than I already have..." Ceres thought to herself, actually saying aloud, "Because I'd rather go help Ro with the food and Charise is occupied making sure Ro eats herself. You, out of all of us, should be aware of that ridiculous diet of hers and all. Charise is the only one who can convince her to have more than a crumb."

Cadence was the one pokemon of hers who actually got on the stage with Ro, so what Ceres was saying was painfully accurate.

"Oh, yeah, that," Cadence dryly replied, shaking her head at her foolish trainer and then nodding to show she agreed to complete the task, "Alright then. Leave ol' Max to me!"

Before the Sylveon left she waved to her two other friends present, departing with, "See ya'll in a bit!"

With that she trotted over to the blinded Aura Pokemon who was crouching down, presumably waiting for assistance.

" 'Sup crouching dude," Cadence cheered as she approached him in mid trot, stopping right in front of him and tapping his paws with her feelers, "You ready to eat or what?"

Assailant

 

[Emperor Of Embers]

"Welp, then I see no need for us to bother you anymore...." Venin said as he walked off, hopefully make an attempt at getting rest before breakfast was ready.
"Venin.... We can't just be idle..."
"No Serenity, YOU can't be idle. I am tired, I haven't had a full night's sleep in years.... Just... Just leave me alone, so I can try to get some sleep...." he said in a slightly aggressive tone as he laid down on his side about a good distance away. Serenity shook her head, knowing full well that she had irritated him with what she said. "I am sorry about that Charise, I... I never meant to make him mad...." Minako

 

[Assailant]

Tyler hung his head in disappointment. Well, that was alright, he supposed. He could always ask someone else. He was interested in just what his mother was like on the team, but as he thought about his mother...

His heart welled up with pain as he tried to respond, and instead he only hung his head lower and closed his eyes, reflecting in somber silence. His mom would know what to do about the whole April situation... mom... mom always knew what to do...


Max smiled at Cadence. "Aha, yes. I am only now realizing just how hungry I am."

 

[Minako]

"After saying all that I can't say I blame the poor fellow, but even so..." Charise thought to herself, still trying to pretend she was more comfortable with that whole affair than she really was.

"Ahaha... I-it's fine, Serenity, I know you didn't mean to upset him, I'm sure he knows it too and will get over it," Charise reassured her friend.

Feeling about a bit too uncomfortable, Charise decided to try to excuse herself and go back to Ro before anymore unpleasantness happened.

"That's some pretty heavy stuff, lady, but I think our Gardevoir friend here is right: He'll cool his jets eventually," Kaine interjected, Charise almost forgetting he was there since he had been quiet (well, as quiet as one normally is when their mouth is stuffed with a poffin).

"Oh! Kaine! Good morning! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't notice you there!" Charise chuckled nervously, secretly glad he was there to mildly dispel the tension.

"Heh, well I wasn't exactly trying to draw too much attention to myself or anything, and you seemed more preoccupied with your trainer anyway, which is fine," Kaine explained cheerily.

"Ahaha... Yes, thank you," Charise nodded and was grateful for his understanding.

"Wanna know what isn't fine? That creepy little Ralts kid sleeping with a knife!" Kaine blurted, sort of trying to change the subject away from what it was before, but this subject was certainly no better.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Charise gasped.

"Yeah, apparently he slept with it and was on high alert of something because as soon as he woke up he shanked the birds talon something fierce, though I think your Blissey friend helped her," Kaine pointed to Felicia, causing Charise to look over and nod solemnly.

"Poor Tyler... He may never feel secure again if he doesn't reunite with his guardian soon..." Charise stated mostly to herself.

"Poor him? Poor us, that kid's super creepy," Kaine leaned in to whisper, clearly knowing now he was switching to gossip.

"What makes him 'super creepy', as you put it, Mister Kaine?" Charise asked coyly, giving him a challenging look.

"W-well.. H-he's a psychic type... a-and a kid... y-you know," Kaine, now bumbling all over his words while explaining hesitated.

"Mmhm, and the fact he isn't too powerful as a child, which is most likely why he uses a knife at all, doesn't soothe that fact? Or that I am not only also a psychic, but also was once a Ralts myself, once upon a time?" Charise continued to poke him, enjoying his squirms with every word she said.

"O-oh! W-well!" Kaine gasped, finally realizing the err of his discrimination, "Y-you're different, you know! You're a full blown Gardevoir and grown up and stuff and have control of your powers!"

"Yes, and I assure you, I can be much more 'creepier' than Tyler should I so chose to be because of that," The magnolia clad embrace Pokemon firmly stated.

"R-right, s-sorry..." Kaine slightly hung his head, feeling bad.

"Heh heh! It's fine, but really though, you have nothing to worry about from either me or Tyler! We just want to help with our powers!" Charise almost burst out into laughter at Kaine taking her giving him a hard time too seriously, leaning closer to him and whispering playfully, "Besides, the Lati's are far, far more psychically powerful than both of us combined! I should think they have more 'creepiness' to them all that considered, wouldn't you agree?"

Kaine, at this, lit up and hooted with laughter for a moment.

"HA! Yeah, I s'pose so!" He chuckled, turning his head away and blushing slightly as Charise gently elbowed him while smiling, "...You're alright, Girlie. You're alright."

The two smiled at each other, and while Charise still had some suspicions about him, she couldn't deny this Charizard had good character.

"Heh, You're 'alright' yourself, Mr. Kaine," Charise snickered.

"Aha... Please, just call me Kaine," The Charizard bashfully requested, lightly scratching the back of his head shyly.

"Hee... Very well then... Kaine," Charise beamed at him, happy he smiled brightly back at her.

Emperor Of Embers


"Well yeah, I could hear your stomach growlin' from way over there!" The small Sylveon teased the blind Aura Pokemon.

Leading him by the feelers, The two made their way to the group.

"Open your eyes, see all the love in me~
I got enough forever!
Don't be afraid, take all you need from me!
And we'll be two together~!

Ooooopen your eyes!
And we'll be two together!" ​

The young Sylveon couldn't help but sing a little bit as she trotted while guiding the Lucario to food.

It made sense, if any of Ro's Pokemon would be musically inclined, it would be the one she shared the stage with.

"Heeeeeey party people! We're here!" Cadence announced as they arrived nearby where almost everyone had gathered.

"Oh! Max! Morning!" Rosie happily greeted the Lucario, almost forgetting he was blind since she almost made an attempt to wave at him, but not only did she remember at the last second, her hands were tied kneading more poffin dough. (However, if her hands weren't...)

"M-max! A-a-ahaaa, uhm, Mood Gorning! I-I mean! I mean Good morning!" Charise fumbled and bumbled all over herself, causing her to receive odd looks from Kaine and Cadence combined.

"Uhm, li-listen, I-I am SO SORRY about last--"

"Charise," A familiar but dry sounding voice interrupted the Gardevoir.

Charise froze in place and stiffened up to a point it was almost difficult for her to turn around, answering the Typhlosion, "A-ah.. Yes, Ceres?"

"A word?" Ceres sternly "requested" while motioning Charise to follow her.

"Right, yes, of course..." Charise sighed, her tone and heart dropping with every word.

The two began walking several paces away from everyone (and definitely out of earshot from all the others) as the Charizard and Sylveon exchanged worried glances while going, "OoooOoooh..."

Assailant

 

[Emperor Of Embers]

Venin took many deep breaths, and eventually fell asleep. He knew Serenity was right, but it did not dull out the pain he had suffered. "They will never understand how it feels.... How it feels to have the things I loved taken from me..." was his last thought before dozing off, quietly snoring.

Serenity watched her friend fall asleep, she felt bad for him for being dealt such a bad hand in life, and looked at everyone else. In some way, she knew everyone had shared similar or different experiences that made them who they were, especially the Lati. She felt awful, even though she probably had a posh life compared to the others, but her big heart couldn't contain all the sadness she felt.
"Charise.... H... How did everything become so sad.... So depressing.... Every day, there is no shining sun, no laughter, and no smiles.... Just darkness and sadness.... I remember a time when I could see the sun, and smile as we have been given a new day.... But now.... I am not sure if those days will come back...." Minako

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus smiled kindly as the seemingly bashful Blissey. "Felicia," He reminded himself, in an attempt to remember the name later. "I suppose so... There is simply so much to focus on right now. It is a shame we haven't been able to speak much. My name is Arcanus." He outstretched his hand towards Felicia. "It seems you have a lovely family that you've made," he commented politely, looking over at the other members of Ro's team.

Minako Assailant

 

[Minako]

"I know, hee hee, April told us the other night," Felicia smiled, but happy formal introductions were made regardless, "And yeah, thank you... They... they mean a lot to me. I can't imagine what I'd do without them. Or who I'd be without them."

The Blissey imagined that she, like so many Blissey's and Chansey's before her, would be a Pokemon that was with the nurses in the Pokemon Centers a lot, helping heal and bandage sick and wounded Pokemon. It wasn't a bad fate, by any means, but...

There was... something lacking to it. Not that she didn't want to help others, but she felt it wouldn't fulfill her as much as if she was just sitting in a hospital waiting to be useful.

She joined Arcanus in his stare and while she smiled at first, she immediately began panicking when she saw Ceres and Charise walking away.

"SHE KNOWS," Felicia grimaced internally, already running towards them in a hurry while dismissing herself in a panic, "Ah! I-I'm terribly sorry, I gotta go! I'll see you later! Bye!"

Daisie


"So... I see you have NOT fixed this, like I asked you to when we first met these people..." Ceres started, displeased with her sister Gardevoir.

"Y-you can call these people o-our friends you know... A-and I'm still in the process of fixing this... l-later..." Charise meekly replied, lowering her head and fidgeting with her hands.

"I assumed you'd fix it 'later'. If you fixed this at all, you'd fix it 'later'..." She low-key was almost growling, using her claws to put quotation marks clearly around "later" just to spite Charise.

"Well, I'm still trying, ok...?" Charise responded, not appreciating being talked to in such a manner, even from Ceres.

"What were you... doing with him...?" Ceres asked through some hesitation, intensely looking at Charise while she answered.

"I-it was just t-two friends reading...! I-it's just that it was a really good book!" Charise defended herself (albeit a bit poorly).

"You know how I feel about you getting distracted by that Lucario, Charise, darn you! We can't let anything happen to Ro again!" Ceres practically scolded her, the Typhlosion clearly showing she knew what happened when she was returned and resurfacing the haunting memory in Charise.

"L-Look, we were all going to bed, anyway, Ro was with you all and--"

"What?! Is this seriously your attitude about this?!" Ceres shouted while simultaneously being shocked, appalled and irritated at the Gardevoir.

Charise exhaled, irritated, and tensed her shoulders while frowning, knowing she said something wrong, trying again, "I just thought since the whole point of being here was to be safe, I could read a book with Max for the night."

"Tell me you're not developing feelings for this Lucario, please..." Ceres massaged her temples while sighing exasperated

"Look, I just fell asleep while reading a book with a friend, you act like that was a bad thing!" Charise angrily and tiredly pleaded with Ceres to see her overreaction to this.

"It IS a bad thing, Charise!" Ceres was correcting her, equally as desperate, "Ignoring our trainer, again, for HIM is a very bad thing!"

"I would never ignore Rosie and you know that I would never let anything like that happen!" Charise, now offended by being accused of constant negligence for one night, defended herself with a bit more gusto!

"Yes, you did! Last night! It happened!" Ceres protested, "And Ro, our trainer, is our priority now more than ever, Charise! And you are missing that! I can't believe you're trying to dismiss ignoring her for one night!"

"I did not ignore her. I simply didn't get to talk to her before I fell asleep while reading with Max," Charise replied through gritted teeth.

"That's ignoring!"

"You're psychotic! You're trying to make me feel bad for having feelings for him, but when I take time away to heal from my feelings for Ro--"

"This is not about YOU, Charise, this is about RO," Ceres made clear while interrupting her.

"O-oh, Y-You wanna talk about Ro? Fine then, lets talk about Ro: Encourage her to compete in the gym challenge! Give her confidence and support to get more badges!" Charise pointed out, her fury rising.

"I will not be made the enemy here, Charise! You KNOW why we can't do that!" Ceres again shouted sternly.

"BECAUSE WE'D DO GREAT!" Charise barked loudly in response.

"THIS IS NOT! ABOUT! YOU!" The Lava Pokemon roared with all her might, truly embodying volcanic fury boiling over as fire blazed from the back of her neck.

Spoiler: And then

 

[Daisie]

Arcanus's friendly expression turned into one of confusion, and... A little bit of shock. He looked off towards where the Blissey was running off to, and he sensed a.. Plethora of mixed emotions. Not just from Felicia, either. A lot of anger, fear, and confusion radiated from that... General direction. Once more, he wasn't positive whether this feeling was a perk of being psychic or if he was just that good at reading people. He definitely wasn't as attuned to this sense as Max... But there was something there, nonetheless.

"...Hm. I sense family drama." He jokingly quipped before his expression turned to a concoction of worry and exhaustion. "... As if we don't already have enough of that... Is it truly so difficult to simply get along...?" His voice almost smelled of hopelessness at this point as he sighed. He'd never realised how quickly he could run out of steam. Arceus, he was tired.

"...Hm." He hummed quietly. "What a world."

Almost seemed like he forgot someone was even listening to him.

Assailant

 

[Latios]

Silent like a snake, suddenly the massive Renagade Pokémon aprocched them. Spiraling around the tower like island they had made camp on, he soon reached the top and circled around the group. “Well well. Right we’re I left you. Seems I’ve found a batch that can actually listen for once and not destroy my home. Very well... Now that my business has been attended to I guess I shall continue leading you through my home. I hope you are al well rested, let’s be off.”
Assailant Daisie Minako Emperor Of Embers