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Kaida had to concede the point, salvaging whatever positives was a good idea to her, even through any disasters. Her nod signaled her own agreement with the concept, before another idea surfaced. [break][break]

"Was anybody else "dead"?" She asked, "I am the only I know, but even you didn't know I was alive, yet I was. Is there anybody else? I think a really good positive would be to know what happened, and if it happened to anybody else." Some whispering part of her mind always pointed towards the tree and, if that was true...it was a true legendary event, the tree.

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Right. Of course that was why it was important. [break][break]

Her Pokemon had returned to their duties, warbling and crying out their own appreciation to Tapu Fini's lightshow. Ironically, she felt safer as they milled around, some aware of Kaida's tension, but most blissfully unaware. Still, her company was near. She felt protected enough to continue. [break][break]

"Lots of Pokemon died, I wouldn't say my life coming back matches how many were lost." How could it? Pokemon were the strong ones, not her, how could her revival into her completely useless self match to how much strength was lost?

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Yellow eyes widened and watched carefully as gentle hands prodded and rotated the Ekans, who was more than a little unnerved by this prospect, but it seemed the humans working on poison research and treatment had lots of experience working with the many frightening or disturbing poison-types. [break][break]

His blood was taken, a small amount that barely was worth noticing, and finally, the whole reason he was here quickly rose into importance. Poison. A wild Pokemon might have needed to be forced to give up it's venom, but Ormr was already aware of the task of today. As he was presented with the tube, he sprang forward and bit into the fabric on top. [break][break]

Kaida would be ok without him for one day, at least, she would have to be. The serpent sighed as another test tube came out, a sample of Acid Spray was next...

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"...hmm." Kaida's brow sinks a little lower, but she feels Fernando's own statement only makes her own make more sense. "Then, you're valuable." She can't phrase it in a more detailed way, only in the way that makes sense to her, "If there are few people like you, I wouldn't want you to be my enemy. Given the chance, I'd imagine someone would try to kill you, rather than me...I only became important after dying." Whatever her importance now, there was no point to killing her in that moment.

She feels she's being pulled into a conversation that Lars warned her about. It pounds in her throat like a heartbeat, her teeth pressing painfully together, and despite her desire to present another scenario: of the man with all those enemies, alone, where she doubted even the sap would have been retrieved, she shrugs and answers with the politeness she have learned kept her safe, safer than spitting at whatever wrong she found. Again, it wasn't a lie. "Surrounded by enemies, and a tree falling, I guess it's a little much to have everyone focus." So, there was a way the enemy could have acted in an illogical way. If everyone freaked out, then killing her wouldn't look like such a illogical action. Perhaps it was greedy of her, but she didn't see a way the Littleroot incident could have changed or gone better, she just wanted to gain as much information as she could. Killing her was just the start, her family would be in danger for any other battle. So she needed to know what she could. [break][break]

She can't act properly, and sheer confusion twists her face as Fernando expresses the importance of her own safety, "T-thank you?" Her mumble trails off into silence, then the first question that forms in her mind, "Why is it important?"

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"Not uncomfortable...just irritating." Kaida admitted, trying not to let her face drop in the face of Illeana's smile, "They always ask things I can't remember, like where I lived or my parents." Her face curled into a sort of smile, "And yes, you'd be a fool to ruin this kind of thing." She could understand the importance of telling someone something, and was glad Illeana respected that sort of tell. Their strange relationship relied upon it. [break][break]

Now her smile changes into a smirk, pride peaking through as she held herself a little higher, "I am smaller than you," Very much so, she considered, "But I would destroy you." Her voice was swamped in amusement, no harm meant as she spoke, and yet Illeana still seemed to think of herself as weak. She held back a snort, wanting to keep her own credibility in this conversation unharmed, "It was my first time experiencing things there too." Especially at the end, a monster, explosion, then death. It was a time of seeing new things. "Raised?" Now she looked upon Illeana with clouded confusion, "Uh...how do you raise a person to something?" Was that...just a thing? Did she miss out on a parent raising her to be something? "Even if you were, er, raised to something, starting small changes lots of things. You'll be fine. If people don't get better, you'll get better than them fast." That had to be true, people didn't just not get better. It was impossible. [break][break]

Illeana's words rung painfully in Kaida's chest. She wondered how it would affect her to learn just what kind of losses had happened in the moment. "I wonder if you could have changed what happened there." Her tongue was loose, stop it, certainly nobody needed to know what did happen in there. She nodded stiffly at Illeana's kind response, trying to hold back more dim words, "Thanks. Didn't think that was a complicated thought to have." She might have had more to say, but she was trying to avoid a slip, and as a result clammed up. [break][break]

She feels like she can hear something beginning to creak, on the verge of some kind of shattering, or break. She's chilly, and she hates the sensation, the vulnerability of coldness. It feels like she understands and yet..."I understand...I think. They didn't think about me when they struck, I think it's fair to strike the same way." She didn't mean to say too much, didn't even notice how damning it sounded. She simply burned. [break][break]

It was more comfortable than the cold, she thought.

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Under the ground, Silk feels his targets vanish and snaps at nothing, only the scent of a man and his teleporting Pokemon in the air. Nearby, the Durant blinked away the sound attack, antenna slowly rising in the air before drooping. The smell-tastes were no longer nearby, the teleport had taken them too far for the Durant or Sandaconda to track. [break][break]

Kaida didn't expect any good news, the last Hyper Voice was followed with absolute silence, and her Pokemon were relatively unharmed, if a little rattled by the piercing sound. Kaida's ears were ringing as she wandered into the alleyway, spotting her Pokemon crowding around where something had been taken, the smell of the man leading them to the strange absence of something. [break][break]

"We'll catch them." Kaida assured herself, backing away before she could disturb the place. She took out her phone, using her own connection to the Rangers to leave behind her own message. Seems trading of some kind are going on here, take a look. Didn't matter if they knew it was her or not, she at least found something. [break][break]

Next time, she hoped to get her hands on those "somethings".

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Kaida wasn't sure where her new goal of gym badges had come from. It was to prove...something. How strong she was, how trusted she could be and, above all, what her Pokemon could do to all that threatened them. Whatever it was, that was that, but this was this, she was here to fight. [break][break]

The childish Toxtricity held her hand as she skipped beside Kaida, eyes sparkling like the fight was going to be a pleasant experience. Ormr chose to save his strength, unlike Bragi, with his eyes closed and head on Kaida's shoulder, he looked almost asleep. His heartbeat pounded against her own tremoring heart, though, and she knew the two were just as nervous as her, just coping in different ways. She didn't doubt their power, but what were they to do if they failed? [break][break]

Stop. Stop! A familiar taste of flame licked at her side, the phantom burn fading just as quickly as she shook her head and cleared it of disastrous thoughts. This wasn't her, she didn't worry like this...Littleroot must have shook her more than she thought, but it didn't matter anymore. They were her family, and it didn't matter what would happen in there, they would show their power. She just had to hope this was a truly private affair. [break][break]

She entered and made her way towards the receptionist quickly, eager to start, "Hello, I am Kaida Adachi...I am here for my gym battle?"

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Sorry. Dammit, she didn't want an apology out of that, "Don't be, it's not your fault." She neglects to specify, uncertain if Selena had made her own involvement public knowledge, clearly any news could easily twist her own credibility...and it wasn't lying if she just chose not to speak what happened. [break][break]

She wanted her hands to be moving, to gain some kind of control over her own situation, but she kept them still. More polite. More normal. Less simple. Finding out the Beast had been present, that their enemy was far more powerful was disheartening, yet comforting. At least she hasn't died to weaklings. That gave her some kind of pride, however misplaced. [break][break]

"And thank you." Nice to know that someone also believed in her. Her own views on her killer's motives were similarly simplistic, but felt right, "Capture? Harming them, maybe. Perhaps I would have found something important if...if I got them." Would it had been something involving the Briviary, the one on the Pokemon? No way of knowing now. [break][break]

"I think they must have seen an opportunity and," Her hand sliced across her chest, "Took it. I was a pretty easy target in the air." Her rescuers were so close, yet they weren't attacked, so it might have simply been a split-second decision, "The less of their enemies that survived, the better for them, right? Glad nobody else was killed dragging me out." She didn't say anymore, but a slight smile appeared on her face, the brief happiness directed at Selena. [break][break]

Perhaps it was a miracle all her Pokemon and allies survived. If it took that excruciating pain, and the dull burning that pestered her, she would take it.

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