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Showing up uninvited had to be one of the worst social acts one could take. It was a good thing Kaida didn't care about that right now. [break][break]

It was enough of an emergency that Kaida didn't mind intruding in another home. Muspel rumbled worryingly, and it took all Kaida had to mumble under her breath, "It's just fine, Muspel. We're just meeting the leader." That's all they were doing, sure. Still, it was going to be fine. There was just the little issue of her own death. The word hung over her like a cloud. Perhaps she was sent to verify her own state of living, or to confirm to the leader she was alive. It didn't really matter, except she was certain this was not going to be a short incident. [break][break]

Muspel thudded onto the ground nearby, rumbling and shaking her wings as Kaida slid off. The flying was getting better. Whether or not their landing was heard, Kaida boldly stepped forward and raised a fist to knock at the door. "Sir? It is Kaida." Her voice rung out, dull and normal and unmistakably Kaida.

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She stood stock still as Lars opened the door, attempting to keep herself calm, polite, unshaken. It was only natural, she tried to convince herself. Only natural that everyone around you is this shocked. It would only be for a little while longer. "Yes, I'm here, sir." She nodded her head respectfully, doing everything she could to keep this a normal meeting, as normal as she could make it. [break][break]

She paused a moment before entering, calling over her shoulder at her Charizard, "Muspel, I'll be back out in a second." And stepped inwards as the draconian promptly curled up. [break][break]

"The tree fell." She grumbled miserably once inside, "And I didn't even get one of the enemies." She talked as if the whole disaster didn't include her death, talked like she wasn't another aspect of a mystery. How could she? It was miserable to know you were killed and didn't even get anything out of the situation.

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Hadn't noticed you'd have passed. Kaida supposed that it was good, panic while escaping might have harmed her saviors or family. If her death happened as they were escaping, then it wouldn't have done anything to notice it anyway. [break][break]

"If I am being uptight, would you like me to call you, um, Laurence? Or something?" She stumbled, trying to find the appropriate wording for a situation she was sure nobody had ever discussed. Luckily, the subject turned to something she knew how to speak about. What happened until the death. [break][break]

"I never did get to see the tree roots, in the end," She admitted, lips briefly curling before she continued, "But I can say that whatever enemy that was there...was already there. On the first floor, me and my family-my Pokemon were sliced up and stuck with traps. We also got trapped on a floor by a barrier that kept out other Pokemon." Her eyes flashed with an anger, unbelieving that she couldn't have kept her family from being hurt, couldn't have gotten there faster. "...I might have made things worse...I tried to use my Pokemon's Sludge Wave to attack an enemy, there was something going down under where I was trapped, and then the place exploded, very badly." [break][break]

Now was the point she paused, holding her breath until the burn made itself known, forcing her hand to rub at her side in the phantom pain, "Somebody escaped from the explosion, so I tried to grab on, to escape, and failed. Then, I was saved, and then," She traced along the burning, as if to try and help point out what happened, "Flaming jaws came from under us, and bit me." She considered where she was tracing, and spoke up as if to try and ease any sort of guilt, "I must have died nearly instantly...no suffering." She tried to smile, as if to support the claim, but it showed with teeth, more a snarl than a smile, "I've started talking with my Pokemon, they're still rather scared with this happening."

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Lars. Kaida tested the name softly under her breath, and decided it was easy enough to use and, more importantly, remember. [break][break]

She leaned forward, eyes flicking to the notes briefly before looking back, "He was there. I didn't see him often, but he tried to help, I think." Some help it was. Unbidden, the thought darkened her eyes before she wrenched herself away. The enemy was already there, she doubted there was too much they could do about the tree. [break][break]

The disgust on Lars face was mirrored by Kaida's own taut face as she let out an unintelligible groan, "People were heading down the moment the guards tried to stop us, whatever they were there for, it didn't work." The guards had made her own journey slower while allowing the enemies to pass on. "I didn't even reach the tree roots, and it was destroyed." If she had stopped for the guards, it would have been destroyed too, she was certain. She didn't doubt Fernando was a leader for a reason, but she didn't think he understood. What beast would follow rules when the prey was right in front of them? Clearly not the destroyers. [break][break]

Her mood threatened to drop with those quickly spiralling thoughts, only to suddenly perk up upon a simple word. Eyes wide and cautious, she pointed towards herself, hoping she hadn't misunderstood. The little spark of happiness in her chest couldn't be wrong, could it? "Do you mean me?" Her voice was low, avoiding a mistake, a misheard remark. "Because...because I understand." She really hoped she wasn't wrong, "And if I'm family," Her smile was genuine, if restrained like most of her words, "I won't let injustice get to you either. Can't let someone hurt you, if you're protecting me. Didn't even know we're family." The words were both light and heavy on her. As gleeful the word "family" was to her, it only meant one thing to her. Family had protected her from injustice from another leader, and she expected herself tok return the favour.

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Something he should know about? "Well, I thought whoever was also running in, and going to the roots, wanted something. I didn't think they'd take the tree down, but I did have ideas the tree would be harmed. It felt like a special thing, I thought it would be a good idea to protect it...a big tree like that could even be a habitat if it wasn't special, I'd imagine." She continued on, casually laying the oddity of the tree down on the ground, "It seemed special then, with the tree branches moving to attack everything around it...the tree grew spontaneously as well. More alive than I expected." She dared think it felt similar to a Pokemon in that way, but left it unsaid, there wasn't much of evidence for that besides moving. [break][break]

She shook her head at the mention of videos, already sighing as she imagined what normal people would easily think, "They make us look like we're...crazy, don't they?" She hissed, teeth grinding together.

Lars didn't have a family either, leaving Kaida feeling much less seperate in that moment, "My only family's been my team for forever." She replied, "But you're right, fighting together is always the better of options. Poochyena are better as a pack, right?" Never thought she'd see the day of someone declaring her family, rather than the other way around.

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"Yes, the tree grew rapidly. Several times without obvious reason." Her voice stayed low, however, doubting that there had been no trigger, "I didn't see it being fed or watered...but some Pokemon eat dreams, or emotions, so maybe all the people around it were feeding it something." She shrugged, nothing but her opinion, "I did notice after the Sludge Wave I used, some time passed, and then it grew and attacked. Maybe growing was a defense to it." [break][break]

She pointed down, as if to provide a better image, "It had to do with the roots, wouldn't it? The tree did not attack until they were at the roots, it didn't mind us or the contest until then." If the tree was violent, then there would be no way it would accept the presence of the contest, it felt only logical explanation that something at the roots made it feel threatened.

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"I'm...I'm sorry." Kaida managed to speak, lowering her head, "You don't need to be anywhere, we'll do it instead." Coming back to life felt almost like a joke on her end. Yes, her team was traumatized, but that death would stick, and she already felt she had to ease a burden somehow. If she had to arrange a funeral, it would be for family. For the sake of empathy, she assumed the same. [break][break]

Out of control just because of a video? Without thinking, she provided her own opinion in one spilling of words, "What does it matter of the videos? Those people are also the same to think we can just tell when something will happen." Typically by "evil" looking Pokemon and the like, what was this, a story!? [break][break]

She deflated with a small, "I apologize...I didn't manage to find anything out about it, but I might say, there was an...ally, of mine there." She was loath to say friend or family without reason, "She saved me, but she might have managed to find out more than me." Kaida remembered she was a reporter, hopefully not on the side of the "shitshow" video. If she managed to get even a picture, they might be able to hunt more efficiently, for the secrets of the tree or otherwise

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