After finishing up work and returning to base Flocon was still mulling over his interaction with the Frillish from earlier that day. As for the others: Sylpheed had gone to clean the infirmary again, Irukan and Ohm were prepping the food for dinner later on and Frukkshin was out with Fringe doing some shopping. All this leaving the Ninetales some time to be alone. Well, sans Bancho roaming around with some sort of object that needed moving or fixing.
"You seem bored." Bancho mused as he passed the other side of the round table Flocon was seated at, idly chewing at a twig of bamboo and carrying some half-fixed chair.
Flocon looked up passively. "I don't really have anything to do. Everyone else is out doing something and here I am, just—here. I guess." he said as he motioned around the base with a paw.
Bancho let out a slight breath, something that sounded vaguely like he acknowledged Flocon's boredom. "I see." he said.
Flocon waited for him to say more, but seeing as the Pangoro elected to remain silent Flocon decided to continue, "And that's the thing, I don't know what I could be doing right now. Everyone here has their duties but everything that needs to be done is getting done, I feel… like I'm not doing enough." He looked off forlornly, his ears drooped onto his head and even his mane seemed to deflate.
Bancho grunted as he chewed a bit more and set down the chair he was carrying before saying, "I'm done moving things. Going to do some training." As he stood up a bit straighter and stretched a bit. "If you've nothing to do. Come with me."
Flocon looked up to see Bancho already leaving. Wanting to go with him, Flocon fumbled out of his chair and managed to catch up with him.
Looking up from across the room, they heard Ohm call out. "Don't get yourselves killed." his voice sounded mostly passive. Flocon cast a gaze over to the source to find him at another table with Irukan as they flipped through a notebook.
"You don't tell me what to do." Bancho retorted, his voice a hardened edge.
Flocon looked between the two after Bancho said that. I thought they were friends? he thought to himself, then tried to rack his head a bit more, Or, is this part of being friends? He gazed onwards as they exited down the stairs, through the odd foyer with the mailboxes and into the chilly air of Galet, the streets slick with the sheen of fresh rain.
The two began to walk. Minutes passing before Flocon finally looked up. "Where are we going, Pangoro?" he asked, his question was genuine as they passed into La Troisieme Quartiere. He looked around confusedly, he never really payed much attention to the streets of here until now. But there was an odd feeling he got from doing so, like some sort of heavy weight was slowly being dropped on him.
With a grunt, Bancho replied shortly, "Flatlands outside Marais Morte." his voice was quick and flat as if he weren't used to talking while he walked.
Flocon cast a curious look at him, and then turned his attention back forward. "That's a long walk, isn't it?" he asked.
"Fairly."
Flocon put forth a few more attempts at conversation but each and every one of them led to a simple one-sentence response and nothing more. This continued for a few minutes until the Ninetales finally surrendered.
Casting his gaze around the district he noticed that it looked dilapidated, abandoned. The only difference between it looking so and being so was that there were still pokemon bustling about the streets. Flocon let his eyes wander about, occasionally glancing a look off one of them. They looked terrible, sickly even, but something about them made them seem almost happy in some way. Their accents were much harder than the ones he usually encountered and something about this sight struck him in a strangely personal way. It was as if he was the native… but in a foreign land. No, he was the foreigner and this was the homeland… but that didn't make sense at all, did it?
He knew he had passed by this part of Galet many times before but he had never stopped to really take a look around him. He noticed that the buildings here were almost nothing like what he knew. None of them taller than two, maybe three floors, unlike La Deuxieme Quartiere where buildings stood as tall as six or seven. Windows were boarded up here and there and patchwork cement covered the sides of many buildings. Looking at these strange hybrid buildings, sitting somewhere between old and new but never quite bending one way or the other. Just gazing upon the cracked cobblestone roads, smoothed by years of footsteps, he gained some odd sense of nostalgia. Gentle tears threatened to flow but he forced them behind the enemy lines, no matter how much it hurt to do so.
In this bustle Flocon let his mind drift and it never seemed to go one way, it went towards buildings that creaked where they stood and inspired strange emotions in him. A mix of awe and fear, towards them, these buildings, they all seemed to speak to him, centuries of history and war lay in the space between their cracks and holes yearning for someone to hear their cries of agony. As he passed by he heard the buildings settle like an old man about to tell their life story to a young child who barely understood the meaning of it.
A nearby worker busied himself with polishing a rusted bar, gathering as much on the paper sheet below him as he did in his lungs. With an instinctual cough Flocon looked down from the streets hoping to find some respite, but all he found was his own reflection in a puddle. He paused for a moment, the ripples vivisected his reflection at various points. Who the hell are you? he thought to himself. He tore his gaze from the strange figure, deciding to catch up with Bancho before he got too far to see.
Flocon found the sights that slid by him, dizzying, tormenting, none of this felt right but he knew he was where he was meant to be. Something called out for him but he dared not look back. Not so much as the fear of seeing what it was but from the fear that something might have been there. But he knew it was there, it had to be there, something tore at his back. Something was digging hallucinatory daggers in the space between his vertebrae until it cleaved even his spinal cord, freezing and deadening his senses.
He knew there was no escaping it as he was grabbed by some energy. something clawing its way in, digging its claws into the side of his face. And all this was forcing the Ninetales to look behind him and he caught movement just out of the corner of his eye. Crimson fur escaped into the alley, Flocon panicked as he felt the shadows of the buildings being cast over him. But how could they have been doing so? He was standing in the middle of a well-lit street at midday. At least he thought he was. And then those claws, those sickening but familiar claws that moved from his head to his throat and wrapped around it like a chain with a constriction that felt like he was drowning with his feet made of lead.
An empty and crystalline cling echoed in his mind, something was fading, but something was there. No, there were two. Two beings seemed to pervade him, they were right there, so far away, an indigo shadow cast by an orange glow stretched off from each one. They knew something he didn't… or was it the other way around? Did he know something? But no, how could he have known. There was an orange glow that cast an indigo shadow that made him know that they were closer than they ever should've been. Orange and indigo.
That cling echoed once more and it flew overhead with icy wings.
A firm grasp took him by the shoulder and turned his head. Flocon shut his eyes and tried to scream but couldn't, his tongue felt withered and dry. "Ninetales." a gruff voice came to him from in front of him.
A loud and sudden smack to the jaw sent him to the ground and out of whatever trance he was in. "I don't know how Frukkshin and Sylpheed put up with you." Bancho said with a note of exasperation.
Flocon got up with a bit of effort, he looked down and saw that he must've subconsciously frozen the water near him. Once he steadied himself he sent one glance back. He sighed shortly after, relieved that whatever presence that was stalking him appeared to have left before letting out a nervous laugh. "Yeah," he said, his voice shaky. "I can-"
Bancho put up a paw and said, "Whatever it is, I'm not interested." It wasn't exactly aggressive but it was said with a firmness that made Flocon shut his mouth. But before he turned back he rubbed his forehead, the action drew Flocon's attention to it. A small but fresh gash had formed on the Pangoro's forehead.
"Where did that cut come from?" he asked, worry woven through his words.
Bancho froze in place. "You've… ugh." he sounded in exasperation.
"I've what?" Flocon questioned, tilting his head.
Bancho looked up at him with bemusement before telling him, "I was trying to grab your attention from afar." Drawing himself up to recount it. "It didn't end well." he said as he put pressure on his wound to stem the bleeding.
Flocon looked around him. "How exactly?" he asked.
Bancho gave him a blank stare before turning on his heel and walking away.
It took a few moments for Flocon to catch up, tripping on a small stone for a moment. He needed not only a moment to register that Bancho wasn't going to say any more about the situation but to shake out his fur from some residual moisture that got on it.
Sticking close by Bancho's side, Flocon glued his eyes forward trying to ignore the sounds of pokemon in the streets. Children laughing and playing with their thin figure revealing the truth of their condition.
When they finally entered into Marais Morte, Flocon felt alleviated for many reasons, but his feelings were only replaced by a foreign guilt that weighed heavily on his mind, but had no definition to it.
But his train of thought was cut short by Bancho pausing to look around. "This place seems good," he said.
Flocon looked around, the area was fairly flat with a few stones spattered about, the area, Flocon noticed that just to his side was Purple Bog with its air that seemed almost alive. Isn't this where Frukkshin tested me? he thought to himself.
He looked over at Bancho to see that he was in the middle of stretching. Seeing as they weren't going anywhere, Flocon decided to ask, "So, what are we doing?"
"Basic training, agility for today." he said. "I'd recommend you do some warming up as well."
Flocon watched him blankly for a few moments before doing his best to stretch. Bancho watched his form closely. "Arch your back deeper. Stretch until your knees touch the ground." he casually instructed.
"Alright, but I don-" Flocon's speech was interrupted by a sequence of cracks down his spine, his spine seemed to loosen up and his legs popped a bit\. "Okay, that actually feels a lot nicer." he conceded with a sigh of relief.
"Now pull yourself forward." Bancho continued.
Flocon followed his advice, feeling his legs stretch and ease up.
"Now stand up as much as you can on your hind legs, lower your front so your chest is on the ground, then pull yourself forward once more."
Following Bancho's advice, he was able to stretch his hips and legs.
"Now roll your neck back and forth."
As Flocon rolled his neck he felt the last of his spine relax.
"Then, move your jaw to loosen that up. Take some deep breaths." Bancho said as he began to do exactly that.
As Flocon finally finished, his body felt incredibly light. "You really seem to know your stuff." he remarked, commending Bancho for his knowledge.
Bancho let out a small grunt at Flocon's observation before immediately continuing as normal, "Alright, onto the first exercise: agility."
"Alright, what are we doing for that?" Flocon asked as he watched Bancho shake out his arms.
"Simple, I'm going to throw some punches, all you have to do is dodge." he said as he raised his fists.
Flocon's expression quickly changed from one of interest to one that can only be explained through the exact thoughts of, What did I get myself into? Before shaking it off. "Alright then, let's start." he said with trepidation as he splayed his legs into a battle stance.
"I'll try not to break anything." Bancho said as he widened his stance to something comparable to that of a boxer's. Someone who knew not the exact spots to hit, but how to throw a punch hard enough to make it hurt no matter where it ended up.
He sprung forwards and threw his first punch: a right hook against Flocon who ducked out of the way only to be met with a knee to the neck. Flocon reeled back, gagging from his throat being crushed the way it was.
Bancho paused a moment. "Predict your opponent's moves. Receiving a strike like that in a real fight could easily kill you." he said flatly.
Flocon finally managed to settle his coughing. "Are you sure you're holding back?" he asked incredulously.
Bancho nodded and said, "Shall we try again?"
Flocon nodded as he repositioned himself. He's right, I rely on my distance, on moves that require the use of my mouth. If I sustain a hard enough blow to the throat, I'm done for. He thought as he took the time to shake out his groggy mind and refocus.
Seeing Flocon's preparedness, Bancho started again. This time throwing a haymaker with his left, Flocon gave a large clearance to the right. But Bancho swiftly recovered and paused his advance by twisting his body he redirected his momentum into a crescent kick that sent Flocon into the air.
Flocon flipped a few times from the imparted torque before slamming into the mud but even that wasn't enough to keep him down as he managed to quickly recover to his feet and get in position. Bancho nodded and this time threw a straight punch that Flocon replied to by jumping towards it, weaving under it from an angle and getting behind Bancho.
Bancho twisted and threw a roundhouse kick but Flocon preemptively ducked. Bancho followed through with a hook that the Ninetales leaned back on, dodging it and the Pangoro's follow through jab with a twist of the head, the fist getting enshrouded by his flowing mane. Flocon shot forward through it and slid through the space between his opponent's legs.
"A bit of a slow start, but impressive nonetheless." Bancho remarked. "Getting behind your opponent can be instrumental to winning a fight."
Nodding and making a mental note of what Pangoro told him, Flocon then asked, "So, now what, are we done?"
Bancho shook his head. "Not quite, try and hit me with a physical strike. Special attacks come next. " he said as he widened his stance once more
Flocon widened his stance a bit, splaying his forelegs to prepare to attack, he lunged forward trying to headbutt, but his target weaved out of the way, Flocon tried to recover, but his movements were clumsy as he tried to kick off and bite at Bancho.
Bancho watched Flocon closely, anticipating his opponent's next move. He dodged each lunge, tackle, and bite that Flocon attempted with ease.
Flocon's lunges got slower and slower until he stopped to take many deep breaths, completely and utterly spent. Damnit, just one strike. He thought as he lunged and missed completely. But during this lunge Bancho slid and gripped the forelegs of the Ninetales, flipping him into the air but stopping before it turned into a full throw and instead using it to sling Flocon over his shoulder.
"Your movements were slow." Bancho said to the dazed Ninetales. "It's clear you can fight, but your movements look almost unnatural. Perhaps you'll be better at special attacks." After he finished he dropped Flocon onto the ground. The Ninetales fell into the slimy mud with a heavy smack.
"In fact, it'll be a better use of time to focus on your defensive abilities." Bancho said as he looked Flocon up and down.
Flocon rolled over onto his front, got up, and shook out his fur a bit. "Sure, whatever, but what was that?" he asked.
Bancho gave him a quizzical stare before saying, "It's called a throw, it turns your opponent's momentum against them."
"Oh." Flocon sounded. I might have to learn some, but if I really am that clumsy, I doubt I could learn how. He thought with a bit of bitterness at the last part. There has to be something I can do. Flocon remained oblivious to Bancho's repositioning.
"Are you ready?" Bancho asked, though it was more of a statement coming from him.
Flocon shook out his train of thought. "Yeah, let's begin." he said as he prepared himself once more.
Bancho seemed to slow down his movements, his palm glowing as he pushed the air in front of him creating a temporary Vacuum Wave. Flocon narrowly avoided the oncoming shockwave sent towards him, soon disappearing behind him with a sharp snap. However Bancho sent another one that he wasn't prepared for.
The wave flew directly at Flocon but something happened, neither of them were certain of what it was in the heat of the moment, the attack seemed to lesser in intensity as a loud crack shortly followed. Instead the Pangoro was the one who found himself reeling from the force of the attack.
Flocon covered his ears in pain as they instinctively pinned down. Bancho took a moment to breathe before getting back to his feet and walking over to the Ninetales. As he got closer he recognized something he saw hours earlier. The air around Flocon appeared to be charged in some way; it felt bone-chilling and it glittered with frozen crystals of air so minute that they remained suspended in the air around him like some sort of aerial colloid.
Flocon finally looked up and saw the same thing but it seemed to simply fade away after a few moments.
"What was that?" Flocon asked nobody in particular, looking around at the warmer albeit still chilly air immediately surrounding him.
"It came from you. You should know." Bancho mused as he brought a hand up to his chin.
Flocon looked up as if this was somehow new information to him. "Yeah, hold on." he said. He began to focus once more the air around him began to cool and crystals even started to take shape but they soon fell to the ground like snow, too large to remain in the air. "Damn." Flocon muttered.
Bancho looked him up and down. "Tell me, has this happened before?" he asked, paying especially close attention to Flocon's movements as he tried once more to recreate the move.
Flocon squinted and cocked his head in thought as the frozen air sublimated back into the atmosphere from which it came. "I don't think so, I would've noticed if it had…" his voice trailed off as he came to a sort of realization. "But, when it was up for that split second after I realized it, it almost felt like I was using Arctic Warrior, but somehow differently than I was used to." he explained.
Bancho waited a few moments. "So, it felt as if it were a more focused form of your Arctic Warrior? I presume that's your unique move, similar to Frukkshin's 'Blitzkreig Flare' or Sylpheed's 'Planet Waves'?" he asked.
Flocon gave some thought to it. "Yeah, but I'm not entirely sure what it did." he mused. "So I'm not sure if it's even worth pursuing it."
"You seemed to put it up by instinct. So either you're a good liar, or something in your head is starting to click." Bancho remarked after a few moments of silence. "If the latter is true, then it's worth pursuing."
Flocon looked up. I didn't really think of it like that. Are things starting to come back to me? he thought for a minute before saying, "A few things might be starting to realign a bit more. But… I still can't make any sense of anything."
"Anything about the incident?" Bancho remarked.
"Well, yesterday, when we sat down at that cafe—I didn't check the name of it, did I?—that's not important though." Flocon said as he shook his head a bit before continuing, "Our waiter asked about the name Jack Flash… I know I've heard that name somewhere before… But even now, I don't know where I've heard it."
"And this relates to all of this, how exactly?" Bancho asked him, the questions seemed to come faster and faster each time.
Flocon took a minute to figure out his answer before finally saying, "Well, it vaguely reminded me of something. I remember… there was someone else there. I don't know who. But there was another pokemon."
"And how do you feel towards them?"
"Well, I'm not sure, I have this strange mix of feelings, some sort of sorrow and welling hatred at the same time." Flocon squinted, trying to make sense of everything, his mane fell in front of his face as he visibly shook it. "I mean, it doesn't make sense, those two emotions falling side-by-side, what sort of catastrophic mess must all this have been?" he questioned himself, his voice taking on odd and melodic intonations. "Is there any who might be able to explain such a… a… tortuous and winding mystery such as this?"
Flocon began almost slurring his words together as he continued, his voice shifting in pitch a bit, "I simply cannot begin to comprehend, how could one ever find it so difficult to remember such an important event in one's life? Why does this answer elude me so?" he paused for a second and shook his head vigorously. After clearing his throat, he looked back up at Bancho and said, "I think I got a bit carried away there. Sorry." His voice returned to it's normal and odd tone.
Bancho watched him closely for a moment before saying, "Anything you remember can be helpful."
Flocon sighed in response. "Yeah." he said, his ears drooping down a bit.
Bancho crossed his arms in response to Flocon's expression; it wasn't a commanding look, as if he was telling him off, but more an expression of thought. Flocon took a moment to try and shake the feeling off of him. But it seemed to stick to him like cement, and weigh him down just as much.
Finally deciding to speak up Bancho said, "We should head back, you did fine today."
Letting out a small breath and a nod, Flocon said, "Yeah, that sounds like it'll be good, maybe some other time I can try to do what that ice stuff was again."
With a nod and a grunt, Bancho began to walk, casting a strange eye at him before he turned fully away from the Ninetales.
Flocon began to follow behind, but kept a distance. I get that Banette and the other's have good intentions, but... Flocon tightened his face to try and hold back the tears. I'm like a prisoner, some sort of captive being held willingly. He pulled his head up. I can never be free, until I can prove myself innocent, but… what if I really am guilty…? What happens then? The Ninetales gazed down at the ground, his shawl weighing heavily on his shoulders as they found their way back to base.
Just a heads-up for next month, NaNoWriMo, I will not be stopping progress to do something else, in fact, I'm going to challenge myself to put up a chapter a week for that month, whether I'll actually be able to, who knows.
And another small announcement, I'm starting work on a little side-project. It'll be out sometime next month and have a much looser upload schedule.