"that's because it is," she says bluntly, but there's a hint of amusement in her gaze. 

she doesn't dare take another step closer to t'neri, but she does move in a wide circle around her. no doubt she's been pent up since the injury. the easiest way to treat her would be after expending most of her energy, but freya doesn't want to risk more damage until she's taken a good look at her wing and ensured it's healed properly.

the dragon lowers her head and hisses lowly. lyune hisses back, but freya waves a hand towards him. 

"she's itching for a fight," freya says and then tilts her chin towards her. "you have another pokemon on you?"

a pokemon he can depend on. better that than one of her dragons. 

porter holmes

☉

silver and gold always reminded her of the morningstars. silver like sophia's bow. gold like the morningstar crest, emblazoned on the bleached white stone outside her home. silver like the water by the bluffs, when the moon hung in the sky. gold when the sunrise bathed the city in its light. 

and she thinks, maybe, this is easy, not understanding, but still appreciating, the lengths he went to mull over his own answer. 

but she finds herself saying, just as softly, "blue."

and she looks away, swallowing, eyes tight, as a terrible loneliness sweeps through her. 

"how did balmung become your partner?" she asks quickly.

Roy Aker

☉

their watering isn't for naught. hideo makes her lapse back into silence. water trickles over her digitized hands, a sprung leak from the watering can; she watches it darken the bark, slither into the roots. 

her entire body tenses when she hears the breaking wood, but she reminds herself - again - that no matter how real it feels, they are not here. not really. they're nothing but tourists, playing a game crafted by their enemies. 

like mice in a maze.

her hand lifts from a thankful zigzagoon. "what about that one?" she asks, pointing, and then makes a face at herself. "sorry. the 1000 hands?" their options drift around them by way of exits from their glade and as they deliberate, the scene begins to lose its color. 

Hideo Kino

proceed to stage three

☉

no, it will always be their fight. as long as gods and legends have allied themselves with the likes of man, their wars are each other's. and so freya releases the digitized version of her salamence, joining zekrom and remiel in the onslaught. 

by the end of it, there are scattered scales and feathers, a limping but rejoiceful beast before them. the combatant is on the ground, unmoving and stiff. 

when a back is bared to them, freya wipes her brow. it's her first time seeing, on her own, all of the simulation's mentioned flora and fauna. they pass by a flock of roaring moons and she cranes her neck. 

the simulation loses its color and when they're done, they're sitting in the lab. she's covered in sweat - as though she'd lived through the heat, the battles. she offers a weary smile to her companion and hands him a water bottle. 

Remiel Calcifet

celebrate

☉

it gets the better of her, in the end. electric shadows arc out from the lucario's palms and freya grits her teeth, realizing too late that their opponent is afflicted much the same way as one of her salamence is. 

she withdraws echo and replaces her with miirym. each strike the lucario lands will strip it of more of its power and miirym knows just when to surface, just how much pain to take, before lashing out in full force against her opponent. 

he echoes the same question Melody Miro asked her during her interview. it doesn't surprise her to learn he hadn't watched it. 

an infestation festers in the shadows.

"there's no better time than the present."

MATIAS SILPH

☉

the rest of the room takes turns talking, reacting to the  new information, but she stays trained on Hideo Kino and the legendary creature perched on his shoulder. she has no idea if the commentary is meant to placate her or dull the sharpened edge of her deepening scowl, but her expression does not change.

the worry lines on her face are just that - fretting over the idea of a child selecting by a god. the rest of them speak on its trust - that it must be fine, if it's sided with them, and yet they do not remark on the creature itself. 

it has its own wants. its own needs. its own motives. ones no one in the room is privy to and until they can discuss with hideo further, ones she can only assume he has no inkling to either. 

it's Alexei Ivanov that finally snaps her attention away. 

that makes her chair scrape against the ground as she stands; the last of her fuse sparks and burns and her lips twist, words like sweeping wildfire before Hideo Kino even finishes speaking. 

"gym leader alexei, you mean to tell me you've had tornadus since last november and you haven't told anyone - not dahlia goode , not our longest tenured councilman - " with a snapping gesture to FERNANDO SILPH by the window - "because you feared rocket may find out? how many crises have we had since meteno? how many people could you have helped?"

her voice is painfully low, but no less threatening. despite their history, this man is not her friend right now. "you've had this creature with you for over a year and you've never used it ONCE to help our cause? conflict after conflict - the ultra sea skirmish, route 120, mirage island - and you kept it hidden to what aim?"

embers glint past her teeth, eyes molten with anger. "how little faith do you have in your own organization?"

she straightens. "so help me gods, if another one of you has been hiding something of this caliber from the league, i'll see you suspended."

GYM JAM

☉

an acrid, cloying stench accompanies the spilled blood. her heel slides against the ground. she sidles away from the struggle; lathliss' jaw locks onto the hardened flesh, eyes gleaming with primal hunger. her shoulders are too wide to get through the hole in the wall and so she sinks jagged teeth in further but poisonous barbs cut through the roof of her mouth. 

scarlet flows around her maw, mingling with the tainted ichor, and she reels back in pain. spitting, hissing, recovering, and all the while freya is thinking of how to diffuse the situation. 

thinking this is all my fault this is all my fault this is all my fault this is all my fault. 


"i need to be strong, baki!" she roars. "there are people who depend on me! you reminded me that!" silver metal glints in the silver-golden glow of the scattered children, slowly drifting together above their mother. they drift in a circle above her now, bells dipped towards the woman brandishing her sword.

Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki

☉

he agrees and she is all the happier for it. part of her yearns to stretch out the tapestry of their alternate life, to pick apart the changes, but that isn't fair to either of them.

"okay," she says and she thinks about it, really thinks about it. they'll have more questions, so long as he's content with the game, but this first one seems important. 

her lips twitch. she asks, "what's your favorite color?"

Roy Aker

☉

"we make due," she says and when he reaches for one, she hesitates, then nods. 

what he'll find is a marvel of ingenuity. what ana doesn't have in resources, she makes up for with her brilliance. each arrow is meticulously crafted, seamless, and faintly warm, as though latent energy still exists within it. 

her bow dips. with a flick of her wrist, it folds back in on itself. steel meets the scabbard at her hip. the arrows are ana's, but the sword-bow is still his. one day, maybe, she'll need to replace it, but she cares for it almost as particularly as she cares for her dragons. 

"you looked happy," she says, "at the holiday party."

ALEXANDER STONE

☉

this is the man who ruined her partner's life. this is the man that keeps him in the shadows. this is the man who robbed him of fatherhood. she has come to terms with what fernando did to her. she has come as close to forgiveness as possible. but him?

she would still be satisfied, seeing him burn.

rock explodes and a low rumble in her own throat has echo rolling away, palm flung out, crashing earth to earth. tectonic plates shaking and shuddering, the only world that matters now is here of their own making. what will they have made, by the time this is finished?

he surprises her by talking first, words lacking the stringent bite she's come accustomed to. 

they haven't shared words since aqua.

"always enjoyed the circuit," she answers amicably, gaze darting to the cameras recording their battle. "it's been a long road. i'm happy to be here."

her words are sweet, but she is stone-faced, lips thin and brows drawn in concentration.

MATIAS SILPH

☉

whatever mirth she'd managed to build in her isolation is lost with each step he takes towards her. there is an ache in her heart, yes, but around it are layers of hurt - both stale and raw. he salts the wounds with a judgmental eye and she picks up another one.

"they're better than decent," she says. "they're made out of paradox remains."

she scrunches her nose. "the metal ones, that is."

and, to protect ana fell's reputation, she reaches for another. she steadies her breath. draws, muscles straining. her breath whistles past her teeth and the arrowhead sinks with a heavy chnk into the target, right at its center.

"does it matter who?"

ALEXANDER STONE

☉