It was like walking into a cheesy romance novel.
Okay, so that was maybe a harsh analogy, but when one finds themselves observing the temporary parting between two lovers who see each other extremely often and part company just as often, it seems more than a little melodramatic for them to be fighting back tears, constantly having 'one last' hug or peck on the cheek, and making no real progress in completing the farewell for over five minutes.
"You two realize I am obligated to make Cece-esque comments if you keep this up, right?" Lin said finally, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame of the Chateau main doors (Kaito visibly flinched).
Force and Iris paused their melodrama and gave the Weavile a curious look. Force seemed skeptical, whereas the mischevious look in Iris' eyes was bordering on a challenge. After a moment, they went right back to talking about how often they wanted the other to write, while casting glances in Lin's direction every few seconds.
Lin sighed. Somehow, she wasn't surprised that was the reaction she'd get. She looked over at Kaito, who was pointedly not looking at the spot where Lin's body touched the doorframe, as if ignoring the detail would make it go away.
"Are they serious?" she asked the Togetic in an undertone.
"Frankly, I'd do the same thing in their place," Kaito mused. "I'm not even sure what a 'Cecilia-esque' comment from you would sound like."
Lin sighed again, then snapped her claws loudly. The two lovers paused their affectionate nickname exchange and gave her an expectant look, both looking highly amused.
"I'd say you two need to get a room again, but my popcorn bowl's still half-full, so give me a sec to go fetch it, okay?" Lin stated, with a passable imitation of Cecilia's bubbly tone.
There was just a long awkward silence.
"I think we're ready to go," Iris said finally, her cheeks now crimson. Force was looking a bit flustered as well, which Lin took as a good sign that her imitation had either been incredibly accurate, or the contrast of the statement's mildly disturbing implications and Lin's usual demeanor was too much for them to handle. Either way, she got what she wanted to achieve.
"About time," Kaito said, stretching his arms. "So, do I need to remind anyone of what your objective is?"
"You told us literally twenty minutes ago. I don't think Force and Iris get amnesia that quickly. Or often," Lin deadpanned. She then returned to her imitated bubbly tone. "Not amnesia, anyway!"
"Never do that again," Kaito said, becoming flustered. "Seriously, that's terrifying."
"Then remember to be careful what you wish for," Lin replied smoothly. "Good luck."
"Same to you," Kaito said. "Don't you dare," he added, when Iris opened her mouth to say something. The Kirlia pouted briefly, but then flashed a smile and twirled before the two of them vanished in a flash of bright light, leaving Lin and Force alone on the doorstep of the Chateau.
Lin wordlessly began to walk towards the Chateau gates, her scarf trailing behind her. She could hear Force's footsteps following, so there was no need to look back, but as she slid the iron gate open, she caught the Riolu gazing up at the top of the mansion. No, that wasn't right. He was gazing at the section of the house that held the attic space, and the eerie Spiritomb within. Oblivious to her gaze, he shivered, then cast his gaze downwards and slipped through the open gate.
Lin closed the gate with a rusty clanging sound, and began leading the way through the forest. She had taken this path several times before, and so even the labyrinth-like structure of Eterna Forest was familiar enough to not even need to focus on navigating. However, this time they needed to go a specific route, towards the nearby city.
"How are you feeling, Force?"
"Huh?"
Lin looked over her shoulder, then impatiently gestured for him to walk alongside her. The Riolu hesitated, as if in disbelief that such an invitation existed. Not exactly the most confident of Pokemon, it seemed. However, he soon picked up his pace, until they were side-by-side.
"How are you feeling?" Lin repeated. With him walking next to her, she was able to watch him from the corner of her eye. She wanted to bring up a subject that was sure to make him fidget and uncomfortable, and she needed to be able to nip any hesitation and evasiveness in the bud.
"Um...fine? Why?"
Lin rolled her eyes. "You know why. It's been weighing on your mind since last night," she stated curtly. Force flinched a little.
"You know, only Iris is allowed to read my mind, Lin," he said.
"Then talk and I won't need to," the Weavile replied seriously. "It's a long walk to the Ruins. And I rather not leave you thinking that we only care when Cece's upset about things."
"I don't think that," Force said stubbornly. "I just don't want to talk about it."
Lin studied him for a few seconds, then focused straight ahead. "Have it your way."
"Huh?"
"I won't press you, but feel free to come to me if you become more open to the subject," Lin insisted. Force blinked, and she felt his eyes on her. "Do you want to discuss anything else?"
The Riolu scratched his chin nervously. "Um..."
"Anything at all. Personal, casual, menial, just pick a topic," Lin insisted. She and Force rarely ever operated one-on-one, they usually had Cecilia or Iris, or even Kaito included. It was almost as if the group actively tried to keep Lin and Force from being alone, but had no issue with her interacting only with one of the others in the group. It was any wonder why Kaito had separated the groups as he did, although it made perfect sense to Lin. Kaito already knew Sorin and had gotten information from him on the subject of the Johto ruins, and Iris' teleportation was more convenient. With Cecilia absent for the time being, that logically only left Force and Lin to investigate the Solaceon Ruins, and the two of them were infinitely more familiar with Sinnoh than the others.
"Um...I dunno. How's your love life?" Force asked, immediately cringing as he said it. Lin chuckled.
"Non-existant, and you knew that," she replied.
"Right. Why is that, though? It can't be that no one's interested."
Lin rolled her eyes. "The uninterested one is the only one that matters: Myself."
Force fidgeted uncertainly and he opened his mouth several times, each time pausing and then shutting it again. Lin observed this phenomenon for several seconds, finding it more amusing with each iteration before finally responding to the unasked question.
"No, I don't."
"Huh. Okay. New topic, then...you're a Weavile."
"Really tearing down my secret layers now," Lin chuckled. Force laughed nervously. "No, go ahead, what was your point here?"
"I've never see you fight. Isn't that a big thing for your species?"
The Weavile blinked. That was a genuinely unexpected question, one she wouldn't have considered normally. It was true that Sneasel packs put a large emphasis on battle training among necessary skills to learn, not only for survival and pulling one's weight within the pack, it also honed a Sneasel's competitive spirits and made the group as a whole stronger in the constant struggle to outdo the others.
"It is," she said slowly. "I do still train very regularly."
"Yeah, but I've never seen you actually battle," Force insisted. "Do you just take battle more seriously, or are you just so strong that you'll overdo it?"
"Hmm...perhaps a little of both. I've never really considered the matter before. I do choose my opponents carefully, but that's because I am stronger than many would be prepared for. My evolution is proof of that," Lin mused.
"Have you ever killed someone in a fight?" Force asked. Lin shot a glance at the Riolu. He seemed genuinely unsure, but she had a feeling he was approaching the topic he really wanted to touch upon.
"I do not consider hunting to be a fight, so with that in mind, I never aim to kill in battle," Lin said seriously. "If my opponent is outmatched or unlikely to survive injury, I will subdue him or her without claws."
"Even to protect others?" Force asked quietly.
"I do not enter battle with the intent to kill," Lin repeated. "If the circumstances warrant my opponent to be permanently eliminated because he or she is too dangerous to be allowed to live, it is no longer a fight, but a matter of survival."
"But have you ever killed outside of hunting?" Force pressed, and Lin could make out the almost desperate note in his voice. "Even without meaning to? Against your will?"
Lin stopped walking and patted the Riolu's head gently. He twitched, confused by the contact, but didn't object or move away. She crouched down until they were eye to eye.
"Even if I did, it won't make you feel better to hear it," she said solemnly. "Why does it weigh on you so much?"
The Riolu averted his eyes. He lifted his paw up to his chest level, and the paw gained a pale blue glow, stronger than Lin had ever seen it before, but Force seemed to be using no effort to produce it. As he brought his paw closer to his chest, over his heart, the aura surrounding his paw darkened into the malevolent black color that they had seen back in the Coronet chamber. Lin blinked in surprise, and Force looked up at her, tears forming in his eyes.
"That's my own aura."
"It's the same as the Keystone fragment. Diablos has part of himself in-"
"No!" Force burst out, shaking his head wildly, a tear now rolling down his cheek. "It's not his aura and mine. They're one aura! One!"
He clenched his fist and punched the air in frustration. The sphere of aura surrounding his paw launched away from his hand, the Riolu blinking in stunned confusion as the projectile struck a tree, obliterating the chunk of wood and sending splinters scattering around its base. The tree creaked, but miraculously remained standing.
"The power you have in those things is incredible," Lin noted, gaping at the perfectly circular chunk carved from the tree.
"It's not my power!" Force snarled. "It's his...and I don't want it anymore! I shouldn't have taken it...but I..." he sniffled and wiped his eyes with one paw.
"Very well," Lin stated. Force blinked and looked up at her as she straightened. "I'll do everything I can to help you be rid of it. But it may take time."
"I don't care what it takes," the Riolu sniffed. "I'd rather die than carry it forever."
"Be careful what you wish for," Lin reminded him seriously. Despite it not being remotely funny, Force cracked a small smile and nodded. "Come on, let's try to find out where Cece went. I need to have a word with her, too. Can you track her with your aura?"
"Oh, no sweat," Force said, perking up a little. He focused on his paw, watching as it once again glowed with a pale blue aura. "Okay, so...Cecilia is..." he closed his eyes as the sphere of aura pulsed gently in his palm. Finally, he pointed with his free paw.
"That way?" Lin wondered. Hm, that definitely ruled out Cecilia being at her den, but it also meant she didn't go to one of her usual hangouts, like the city or forest.
"I'm pretty sure," Force said, and began walking confidently. Lin smiled privately and followed after him.
Roughly an hour had passed since they had set off, and while Lin was pleased that their detour was still technically progress towards their real destination, she was starting to get a little impatient. None of this was really Force's fault, because he suggested that Cecilia was probably on the move, so his ability to pinpoint her whereabouts kept shifting in accuracy. At least they hadn't needed to take the route that detoured into the Mt. Coronet caves at the end of the route, because they'd probably get hopelessly lost if Force kept needing to recalibrate his aura sense.
"I...really wish...we had Iris...to teleport us," Force panted, as he climbed over a number of large rocks that made up the majority of the terrain. Lin was having significantly less trouble with the terrain, as the snow-covered mountainside had plenty of these obstacles and more, but the Riolu had been far quicker to tire.
"I doubt Cece would even have come this particular way," Lin said, unable to keep the impatience from her tone.
"Maybe...but the only...other way..."
"Please don't try talking right now," Lin suggested. She reached out her paw and the Riolu fumbled for a moment before managing to grasp it, and the Weavile pulled him over the last of the rocks. Force promptly dropped to the ground, still panting heavily. Lin rolled her eyes, but didn't complain, instead taking a moment to examine the nearby area. Despite the rather unorthodox manner of going about it, they were on one of the pathways that led away from Mt. Coronet towards one of the other small human towns devoted to Sinnoh history. Then again, that description could be used for almost any town in this region.
Force finally regained enough energy to perform another aura tracking, and then he brightened. "She's really close right now...actually coming closer. Huh...that way," he said, pointing off to the side.
Lin blinked. "Force...you're literally pointing at her territory mark etched in a tree."
"That's her mark?" Force asked, peering closer at the scratched bark of the tree Lin was looking at. "That's...a weirdly complicated design. Don't most territory marks settle for just a simple nick or two?"
"Funny, I thought the same thing," Lin chuckled. She sobered a moment later. "Wait...she doesn't have her territory over here. Oh don't tell me..."
"What?" Force asked, as Lin began walking at a quicker pace. The Riolu followed, occasionally checking his glowing paw, but unable to get Lin to slow down. Lin didn't need his aura to guide her at this point. She knew the type of space Cecilia liked to spend time at, so all she had to do was wander around in this general direction until she stumbled upon such an area.
As expected, it didn't take too long to find a tree stump surrounded by plants and flowers. Granted, the vague smell of fire had accelerated the process significantly. Cecilia was stretched out comfortably atop the stump, like a lazy kitten, her flames burning at a low simmer. Even a cursory glance was enough to determine that she had used up a significant amount of pent-up energy, and again, the smell of smoke nearby was helping.
"She should be right over...there!" Force said absently, pointing directly at the Quilava while keeping his gaze on his glowing paw. Lin proceeded to stare at him incredulously until he noticed her gaze and looked up. "What?"
"Hi Force! Hey Lin!" Cecilia chirped, the sound of their voices drawing her attention to them. "You're not spying on me, are you?" she asked teasingly. She was in bright enough spirits that if Lin didn't know better, she wouldn't have been able to guess that the Quilava had been freaking out the previous day.
"What if we are?" Force replied with a small grin.
"Then I'd need to know how long you've been standing there," Cecilia said, flashing the Riolu a playful wink. "What's up?"
Lin frowned and stepped closer to the tree stump where Cecilia was sitting, and Force followed her lead. "I wanted to be sure that you were doing all right since yesterday," she said seriously.
"Aww, that's sweet," Cecilia giggled, but this time her smile was a little more forced. "I'm...doing better," she said finally.
"Did you want to talk about it?" Lin pressed gently.
"No," Cecilia said absently. "I just needed to vent for a while."
"Did you usurp this territory?" Force wondered incredulously, seeming to have finally made the connection between the utter lack of other Pokemon around, and the fresh addition of Cecilia's territory mark to the tree earlier.
"Yeah!" Cecilia chirped brightly. "You should have seen it, too. There were like fifty of them against me at once, but I just went-"
Lin snapped her claws, cutting Cecilia off mid-boast. The Quilava pouted, but looked over at Lin. "You fought fifty or more Pokemon to deal with stress?" she asked, unable to hide the shock and concern from her tone.
"Uh...yeah, I was just getting to that part," Cecilia said. "Anyway, so the first few were really confident, so they just charged, and- Lin snaps her claws!" The Quilava turned towards Lin expectantly.
Lin blinked and slowly relaxed her claws, as Force covered his mouth with one paw to stifle his laughter at Lin's expression of surprise and annoyance. "I assume you also know what I'm going to say?"
"Hmm...something about how it's not a healthy or wise way of dealing with stress?" Cecilia guessed. "Ooh, and that I could have gotten hurt from being reckless. And it's not fair of me to steal territory."
Force suddenly grinned. "Hey, speaking of guessing what the other person's going to say, Lin did some scary good impressions of you earlier."
Lin shot the Riolu a glare, but Cecilia brightened. "Really? What were they?"
"Wait, wait...I want you to react normally to the situation, just to compare it to Lin's take of you, okay?"
"Sure!" Cecilia giggled. Lin sighed, but gestured for them to go ahead. This wasn't exactly the situation she had expected to run into on Cecilia's end, but Cecilia did tend to rebound from foul moods much faster than most. She couldn't be as bubbly as she was if she dwelled on negativity too much.
Force considered. "Okay, so Iris and I were taking our sweet time with our goodbyes before our mission...we'll explain that later, the mission's not important. Lin, can I demonstrate with you?"
"If you physically touch me the same way you did Iris, I'll lay you out," Lin warned.
"Uh..." Force reddened and looked at Cecilia, who was raising her eyebrows incredulously. "Wow, way to make it sound inappropriate..."
"Ooh, I get the idea of what it was like," Cecilia giggled. "So...something about you two needing to get a room, but I can fetch popcorn if you don't want to leave?"
Force stared at the Quilava. "I'm not sure what's scarier, the fact that makes Lin's impression almost dead-on, or the fact you pretty much said the exact same thing as someone doing an impression of you."
"Kaito was more unnerved by the second impression, though," Lin mused, unable to keep a straight face on seeing Force's bewilderment. Cecilia looked at the Weavile curiously. "He asked if...actually, Force, you repeat Kaito's statement, and I'll repeat mine before the impression. Then Cecilia does her own take."
"Uh...Kaito asked something about if we needed a reminder of what to do," Force said, shrugging a little bit.
"He told us twenty minutes ago. I don't think Iris and Force get amnesia that quickly. Or often," Lin said, her deadpan tone a little forced, but it was a close reproduction of the real thing.
"Not amnesia, anyway!" Cecilia giggled promptly. There was a long pause as the two bipeds looked at Cecilia incredulously.
"Holy shit, that IS terrifying," Force said.
