[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]The world goes by in a blur, the chilly night winds wailing in her ears as she runs.[break][break]

They have no heart. They are crude. Selfish. They do not understand emotions like we do.[break][break]

So why then had they flinched? Why had they worn such a scared and defeated expression? Unable to lift their head to meet her gaze? Even if she hadn't said a word, she'd known the pixie capable of reading her heart. Why did they -[break][break]

The trees blot the faint moon, as if attempting to hide her away from the pale light. And they snicker in hushed tones, whispering to one another as she trips and falls over their sprawling roots.[break][break]

Bad things happen to bad people. This is what she gets for thinking such things. Knees and palm scrape against the dirt, pain gnawing up her limbs as she tucks up and tumbles across the ground. And when she finally rolls over onto her back, it is to the sight of a starless night. A cold, empty sky that offers no comfort.[break][break]

A shaky exhale, condensing into a fading wisp. The ground is cold beneath her, prickling through her clothes as she lays to catch her breath.[break][break]

And with each breath she takes, she eventually cracks and begins to sob.

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]"Well, there's a place out here that I kinda wanna get to..." A place that nurtures bittersweet memories in plots made with the soil they'd found together. Before she can sink any further into memories, she stumbles with the sudden shift of the sand beneath her feet.[break][break]

A quick glance over. Socks seems to have escaped her pokeball, her body shaking as she unleashes a gentle Earthquake to wake the secrets that hide below. Dunes shifting to reveal the burrowing Orthworms that attempt to sneak up on them amidst the unyielding sandstorm.

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]"I..." A breath, a note, a pause. How does she put it into words? Everything that has been churning in the pit of her stomach and weighing heavy on her mind.[break][break]

Here, out in the open. Though the rare glances are thrown her way, most of them are truly hooked upon the irregular features that Freya so possesses. Along with the fact that she is one of the most important people in this region. But even someone as important as her can make mistakes, just like her.[break][break]

It'll be okay.[break][break]

Her fingers knit together, interlocking as she quietly catches the words within her palms.[break][break]

"Miss Freya, do you think I'm still human?"

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]Contrary to his belief, there is a flicker of recognition for his words. But she just isn't quite sure if it's applicable to this very situation.[break][break]

"I'll think you'll just be pissing him off, more than anything." After all, Volcanion's raison d'etre seems to finding Magearna. So much so that he is willing to give up fragments of his life just to look for her. Eye resting upon Rex's hand as he pushes into the room, she takes a breath and waits for the door to be open just enough for her to slip on past him. "No fighting him. He isn't recovered."[break][break]

That, she is unwilling to budge on. And she will very well break his bones if he tries anything.[break][break]

"Volcanion!" A callout to let him know of her arrival. A rather audible sigh ringing from the back of the room as the knight prepares himself for yet another day of dealing with this damn kid again. "Rex is here too."[break][break]

Oh, that look that greets her when she rounds the corner of the Magearna pile. Weary and quite honestly, looking like an old man who's just been rudely awakened from his nap. Still, there's no way he's making any efforts to get up and walk away for such insignificant gnats.[break][break]

Not that Eris would've let him get away before she tended to him. As ocean eyes pour over her approaching figure, she has one hand pulling out a pokeball, calling upon a Corsola that waddles before the knight. And like always, Cori chirps in greeting, wiggling his stubby coral feet as he begins to create a cloud of Life Dew.[break][break]

"Is she not with you today?"[break][break]

A low, thoughtful rumble. Longing without a trace of the same frustration he had held for the Magearna when he'd given life to her all those months back.[break][break]

"She is. Just resting in her pokeball, 'cause it was a pretty long trek." Comes the reply, a hand vaguely gesturing towards his ring, to which he sighs and reluctantly offers one half. "Did you want to see her?"[break][break]

"No. That is fine."[break][break]

Bit by bit, he absorbs the healing waters, silence falling over the duo as she finds a spot to sit and makes herself comfortable.

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A MILLION MILES AWAY

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"I know... but -"[break][break]

No if's or but's. It is a collective agreement between all three pokemon as they each chatter at her. So she relents for now, a slight frown on her face as she hovers behind the man.[break][break]

"Can you heal Reiner?"[break][break]

She knows her stubbornness to be somewhat of an issue, her refusal to get her injuries looked over often giving Doug somewhat of a headache. Yet, when it comes to Reiner, she does not shrink away from the chance to make things better.[break][break]

"He acts tough, but I can tell his chest hurts whenever he has to move faster than a walk."[break][break]

Narrowed eyes directed towards her, the Luxray grunts as if attempting to rebuke her.

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]Knowing her luck, Eris probably will end up running into the wrong company. Hell, running into Lulu out here is proof enough. But before she can nod and go her separate way, Reiner tugs on her arm, his lips drawn thin as he narrows his gaze at the dark.[break][break]

"Miss Lulu?"[break][break]

Her eyes light up with both intrigue and hesitance, drawn to the voice that rings out from behind the trees. Blonde hair, carefully tied into two pigtails. That same jacket with that same clover patch that she wears in this very moment. Those same mismatched eyes, red and pink with a scar shaped exactly the same as hers, running across her left eye.[break][break]

"What are you doing here?"

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]It is a sentiment shared between child and Luxray with a single glance. How strange it is to see a Ralts and not be accompanied by one themselves. Still, she is certain that Mesprit is probably lurking around, not wishing to miss a chance to mess with their siblings in some way.[break][break]

As Hideo begins to complain about the weather, Eris already has her hands reaching for a pokeball, releasing an Emolga into the fray as a transparent Light Screen protects them from the incoming waves of sand.[break][break]

"Iunno about you guys, but this kinda weather tends to make me think Regirock's nearby."

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]The stars tell our story. And they have shifted.[break][break]

Having traced the skies to track the constellations she'd found in a dream, she notices the difference as she retraces it once more. The titan no longer slumbering peacefully in a cave. A new titan found next to it. Creatures of ruin not quite tearing apart a kingdom and its earth below...[break][break]

Her eyes drift towards the strangest constellation, WlTr. World turtle, is the title that comes to mind. Reminds her of the story her mother had once told her about the barriers between pokemon and humans in the past - How the world turtle had met a young girl and befriended her. How that had resulted in her death at the hands of her fellow people and how the world turtle had flooded the world with his tears.[break][break]

The Unown that surround this turtle hint that they may not be referring to the same legend. After all, those funky little bits of alphabet soup seem to be the very foundation for the rules of this world. The need for them to watch this unknown creature signifies that there may be another large problem lurking upon the horizon. Another that can make or break this region even further.[break][break]

And she sighs, charting the stars on yet another page to compare how they have changed.[break][break]

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A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]Freya offers her an out, one that she would have taken if not for the prod of the Luxray by her side.[break][break]

"We... had a fight. And I-" A breath in, a brief glance towards Reiner as he gives her a reassuring growl. If she wants help, she must first admit it.[break][break]

"I said some things I shouldn't have."

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]The growl gets a flinch out of her, one that Reiner calms with a gentle bump of his snout against her shoulder. She's not angry. Or at the very least, not at her.[break][break]

"I-" But the next question is met with a long drawn pause as she looks down at the ground, her weight shifting from one foot to another.[break][break]

"Mes and I aren't..."

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]"No, not Uxie." Should've phrased it better, but she notes the bite in Freya's words with a tinge of apprehension. "paxton concordas. He said the pixies were the ones who could stop Necrozma, and that they wanted all 3 of the pixies in Sapphire or none at all."[break][break]

Is she angry at her? Maybe, considering how she was mouthing off about the initiative.[break][break]

"I mean, I do get where they're coming from. It took all three to bind Necrozma back in Sootopolis. But the chain snapped when the red jewels on their heads got broken by the shadow pokemon." Nerves draw more words from her mouth, her fingers knitted together as she curls into herself and grows that bit smaller. As if she were trying to cover for the notion now. "Me and Hideo have been trying forever to mend it, but... Well, I mean -"[break][break]

How many had witnessed the kids using the red chains back when they were fighting Pecharunt and Cyllora? Would Freya remember anything considering how she sounded like she'd been in a haze? Neither she nor Hideo have given any indication as to their powers, and barely anyone could see her using those exact same chains against the Regis back in Petalburg.[break][break]

"Azelf's back now, so maybe there's a chance they could recover."

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]The word 'promise' feels like a brand wielded by his tongue, a mark of a traitor pressing deep against her neck as she feels the very heat sear at her bones.[break][break]

Navy won't like this.[break][break]

Navy knows that she's just following her heart, as she has always done.[break][break]

In the reflection of his false eye, she sees her own flawed ones. Scarred and changed, a mismatched pair of red and pink staring back. Cursing him further with every last drop of her hurt and regret. But a cursed man can stand to bear a few more. Without even the slightest stumble over their crumbling and tattered bridge, he disappears.[break][break]

And she teeters, crumpling as scorching rage turns to bitter tears.

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[attr="class","eris99"]

A MILLION MILES AWAY

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[attr="class","eris109"]Its end is not a grand explosion of rubble and grain, but a slow, agonising groan as it crumbles away. Weathered stone will erode and eventually be reduced to sand, but sand that is gathered and compacted over time will eventually reform into rock. Defeat does not spell the end for this eternal soul. Such is the curious existence that is Regirock.[break][break]

Such is the bitter taste of his promised war against the gods.[break][break]

Out of the resultant cascade of desert flies a small, glowing star. Metallic wings allowing him to cut through the mess and return to Eris with a curious, muffled chirp. And between parted beak, he carries a trace of steel, a small, twisted fragment picked out by an eye for shiny things.[break][break]

Navy.[break][break]

Cold to the touch. She turns, but he is nowhere to be found. A lonely mirage silently dissipating with the wavering heat.[break][break]

_"Navy?"

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