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Third.
ENCOUNTER 3. Snowpoint City is small, cold, and definitely not covered in waist-high snowdrifts. The traveling becomes far easier as soon as you enter the city limits, and the bright orange roof of the Pokémon Center is easy to spot among the white blanketing of snow dusting the ground and the local buildings; it's warm in there, and the attendants inside seem used to this sort of thing - people wandering in bedraggled and cold, unprepared for the weather and the routes leading up to this place - and they'll give you warm, fresh blankets and mugs of warm drinks that steam in your hands. The taste is difficult to place - it's definitely made of berries of some sort, though it doesn't seem to be proper tea or coffee; the point, however, is that it's good at warming you from the inside, and while it doesn't have proper medicinal properties, it'll at least perk you up a bit and make it seem like facing the rest of the day might not be so terrible. Which is fortunate, really, given what's to come. Come mid-afternoon, there's a loud, sharp whistle from the doorway of the Center - it's high and shrill, the sort of thing that's designed to get as much attention as possible, in as little time as possible. It'll stop before it goes on too long, but it's definitely enough to be heard, and the source isn't exactly hard to spot. She's another one that isn't dressed like the other members of Team Galactic, her hair and outfit far different from the usual grunt attire; she seems a bit older than Saturn, her expression harder and more experienced. She's smiling a bit now that she's holding the room, but the expression is strange in that it doesn't reach her eyes, even though those are just as bright and alert as her fellow Commander's were. It's cold. Unwelcoming. And deeply, deeply wrong in a way that's both vaguely similar and completely different to the way the emotionless people here tend to present - it's unfeeling, but in a way that's natural rather than enforced. Dangerous. "So you're the group that left us before I could get to know you properly," she says, and her voice is as cold as the rest of her; it's cordial, perhaps overly so, but there's a firmness to it that heavily implies that she's only being nice because she's expected to be nice. Because maybe if she's nice, this will go nice and easy and nothing will happen. "I'm Commander Jupiter, serving Team Galactic under the orders of Master Cyrus. Sorry I couldn't meet you all properly before; things got a bit hectic. But we can change that now." Her tone implies that that isn't a request. |
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Although Sena's not sure if he prefers it that way or not. He might have offered, but he's feeling like he just jumped back to the old days of him running as a gopher for his bullies.]
Uh...one second, then!
[Nyoom. Off he goes. Monta actually looks incredulous at Sena running top speed for something like this, but at least Vee doesn't seem to care.
He does come back with a steaming hit drink similar to his own, as promised.]
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You're fast, kid. That's impressive, it's a good skill to have.
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[Is that a compliment or is she just being condescending. He's not sure.]
Uh...so what did you want to talk about, anyway?
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[It's not like he's unfamiliar with the concept, having scouted out other teams before, but...]
No offense, but...that doesn't seem like something a commander would normally do?
[Like...they'd send Grunts or something, right? After all, Saturn made such a big deal about him not supposed to be meeting them.]
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[...Jupiter, holy shit.]
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...And who's fault is that, anyway...
[yikes. He didn't mean to say that, and looks like he regrets saying it as soon as it comes out of his mouth, but that one statement had made him so...mad. Weren't these people suffering? Even if they couldn't form opinions, was that really their fault? Who would ever want to live like this?!
It's a chilling reminder that this person, as coldly formal and cordial as they are, is one of the people responsible for...for everything.
He has to remember why he's here.]
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[From the sound of it, she can at least appreciate the fact that Sena had enough of a pair to say it in the first place, even if it's kind of tinged with immediate Regret on his end.]
I'm not going to say you don't have a point.
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He can't really look at her, instead picking up his pet brush and pulling the hairs out of it, expression sad and wistful.]
...why?
[why aren't you even trying to deny what you did? why did you join this team in the first place? why do you continue enforcing it now?
there's so many questions he wants to ask, and his face says it all. he can't really pick out what he wants to hear - if he really wants to hear it.]
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Depends on what you want to know, I guess.
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...I want to know a lot of things.
[Same as her, he guesses.]
...why Team Galactic?
[Why did you join, he means. After all, every team he's played against...their members had their own reasons for joining. Even Deimon was like that too. And they would all eventually unite under the thirst for victory.
Is it like that for Team Galactic too?]
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[...Apparently it really is that simple.]
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What kind of message?
[What did it sound like to a neutral observer like you, he means. It's so easy to just keep doing nothing with your life - it's safe, and it's easy, and you don't...you don't get hurt, or have to do anything scary. It's so easy that even when given the incentives to change his life, even when he had the tools this whole time...he never did, not until joining Deimon.
What kind of message would make you want to suddenly do something with your life? That's what he really wants to know.]
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He told me he wanted to become a god.
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But...becoming a god? Who could...who would want to...]
I don't...I don't understand. Whats glorious about this? The whole point of fighting for glory is...is so people can acknowledge you, right? It's that victory you fought so hard to attain...it's meaningless if people don't...if they don't know it, right?
[That's what American Football is all about. Victory. That's all there is to it. There is nothing for the runner ups, the feeling that "we did our best, it couldn't be helped" is something of disgrace...it's all or nothing.
The fact that this small child can say such things with such conviction, even through stammering and stuttering, is...
Well, it's something.]
Isn't that what glory is? If no one understands what you've done...
[And furthermore...]
W...what about this is...s-saving people from themselves?
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You've got a lot of thoughts going on, don't you?
[It's not condescending; just...kind of an assessment.]
If you're going to stand up to people, do it like you mean it. You've got the words, just put some spine behind them. You'll get places.
[She shrugs, though.]
Master Cyrus believes that spirit is the root of all evil, pretty much. It leads to conflict and strife and all sorts of other things that are synonymous with "bad", and getting rid of spirit will stop people from hurting each other. That's all.
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[He hadn't quite expected to be acknowledged like that. It's not that she's wrong either, so he ends up just looking at her as she continues to speak.]
Yeah, but...doesn't it lead to good things, too? People helping each other, working together...having goals.
[He can't help but look pensive, thinking about his life before...all of this. Everything.]
You're not really living without your spirit. You're just...there. Going through the motions. Isn't that kind of...sad?
[He winces slightly as he says the next few words, like maybe he knows he's assuming something he shouldn't. Like maybe he's going too far.]
...kind of like how you used to live? Before, uh...
[Uhm. He stops himself before he says anything else.]
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I know Saturn was a real mess before he joined us. Mars was...probably always a mess, I don't know. But I've never been a trainwreck or anything. Never been sad or angry at the world. Just looking for a good time.
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[After all, Sena wouldn't have called his own life bad. Just painfully average, with more bullying than most. Running errands all his life isn't really a tragic backstory, but it was...incredibly dull. Frightful, sometimes, but dull.]
...but...is this really any better?
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[And that's...really it, isn't it.]
Tell me, kid, did you ever find your thing you like? Your thing that you get, your thing that you really, really like doing, and now that you've got it you're not too crazy about the idea of starting over and going back to that feeling you're talking about? Sure, you could, but the question is why would you?
Because that's all of this, for me.
[Everyone else is suffering, sure. But she isn't. And that's all that matters.]
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...Yeah.
[Somehow...he seems visibly more relaxed. As if he's figured something out, or has come to some sort of revelation. Even with his face still holding that distressed expression...he just looks...calmer.]
It's just too bad that...it's not something that can coexist with other people's dreams. But...that's a normal part of living too, I think?
[What is he getting at.]
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[Hers just came at the expense of the world.]
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[It's a balance, he guesses. In order to win, someone has to lose. He's lost enough times to know that.]
But, you know...as long as you're achieving your dream, I can't achieve mine. Neither can my friends here, or back home...or anyone else in this world. So that means...that someday, somehow...we'll end up fighting. Probably not today, but someday...and when that happens...
[He grips the pet brush a little tighter, never having really gotten anywhere with cleaning it. As if it's some sort of signal, all three of his Pokemon look at him, curious expressions on their faces (although Nin's expression is....pretty much nonexistent).]
...we'll face each other with everything that we have. It'd be an insult to do otherwise. And...
[A small smile appears on his face, the first one since this entire visit started. It's genuine, and even behind his light blue eyeshield it visibly brightens his face.]
...we'll win.
[He'd said everything quietly, but...it was firm. Not a stutter to be seen, and his eyes don't waver even when he looks back up at Jupiter.
Huh.]
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Do you have a name, kid?
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[Oh. There it is. How can he get flustered like this so easily after such a simple question...]
...Sena. Sena Kobayakawa.
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