A Bad Influence

It was night. By the time she reached Grassveil, the sun set and moon rose. Her illusion ability moved away from Skiddo and moved back into her usual guise of a Mightyena with an eevee and a dratini on her back. She was quiet in her footsteps, careful not to draw attention from the passing drunkard or mon heading home. It was quiet. It was soothing in a way to her. It was a relief to almost be over with this. That way, she could go back to the house and sleep. Chance's day of reckoning would have to wait for tomorrow...maybe. It depended on if Sova was around.

First, she had something she needed to do. The zoroark trailed away from Grassveil, towards the outskirts, where the Dratini's house waited. As she moved along, she spoke with a stern and cautionary tone to the dratini, "You are not to tell your mother that we're not a Mightyena and an eevee. Got it?"

Chance, who had fallen asleep most of the journey, woke up and listened. His ears flattened. That's right, they're going to have to get Osiris to lie to his mom. The zorua looked to the little Dratini with an apologetic glance, though he failed to consider that it might be difficult for the dratini to see in the dark.

Osiris, unlike Chance, had been awake for quite some time. The journey to his house was awfully suspenseful, and as they drew closer, his stomach tied itself up into knots. He envied his zorua friend one thing; he didn't have to go first. Kiba's judgement day got to be postponed at least until he got home, and Iris wasn't going to be there to see it. And Iris' mom very well might rip into him right here in front of his new friend, which would be the most embarrassing thing ever.

The zoroark speaking up for the first time in hours naturally jostled him out of his thoughts, and he sucked in a startled breath when he noticed he was riding atop a mightyena now, not a skiddo or a zoroark. He kept his wits about him, though - of course this wasn't the same mightyena. It was just... Kiba's mom doing the shapeshifting thing. Which she could do, apparently. "Um... okay," he agreed automatically out of instinct, not willing to upset her or get himself into any more trouble. "I got it."

Naturally, he wanted to ask why they had to trick his mom, but for obvious reasons he kept quiet. Maybe she'd explain herself... probably not. It was just a weird request.

The kid didn't ask questions. Good. The zoroark continued along the path. They could see Osiris' house in the distance. She said nothing as she approached. She wasn't sure what she was to expect of this, it made her nervous. Still, she kept on a straight face...even though nobody could see it. The illusion may have changed her appearance, but it didn't change her body.

Her pace hurried slightly once they were close, eager to get rid of this kid so she could get home. The zoroark approached the door. She reached into the hair she stashed the two children in and plucked out both the noodle and the non-eevee. The two were plopped right in front of her, as she lifted her harm to give it a knock, but stopped. Mightyena couldn't really knock all that well could they?

While the other two couldn't see it, her arm lowered itself. Instead the Mightyena's gaze focused on Osiris. She nodded to the door, "Knock."

Chance seated himself and stared down at his feet. While he managed to get the eevee illusion right, he had to focus to keep it up. He didn't want to anger mom again by messing this up. He glanced over to Osiris next to him with an uncertain look. He didn't know what was about to happen, but he reckoned it wasn't going to be good.

Time for capital punishment. Osiris didn't offer any last-minute resistances when he felt a claw scoop him up again, dropping him and Kiba unceremoniously right in front of the door. He glanced up at the now-mightyena and winced at the look and command he was given. It was safe to say he wasn't being left off the hook with a stern warning after all. Osiris sighed, shared a look with Kiba, and rose his tail up to knock solidly on the door a few times. Then he gathered himself up in a small coil and tried to appear pitiful.

They didn't have to wait long. Merely a moment after knocking, the door swung open inwards to reveal a very harried-looking dragonair, apron still around the lower portion of her noodly body. The elder dragon-type immediately zoned in on her son, "Iris! Where have you been?! It's nearly midnight, you leave no note, you missed lunch, dinner is cold-" and here, the dragonair drew back slightly as she got a decent look at her kid. Wrapped in wrinkly leafy bandages, crusty, dried blood visible on the edges of them, and faded bruises imprinted on his baby blue scales. "What... what happened to you? What. Did. You. Do?" she transitioned, taking note of the two pokemon next to the dratini.

Her question wasn't aimed at them, but rather her son, who had a penchant for mischief and selfish shenanigans. This, however, no matter the explanation given, would top all of his previous misdeeds. "I, uh... I messed up." Osiris mumbled weakly, his ear fins fluttering in embarrassment. The dratini didn't elaborate, however, instead timidly looking up at the disguised zoroark for... something. He didn't want to have to say the words out loud, and he figured she could probably summarize it as a mom, for a mom.

A dragonair answered the door. She was almost relieved in a way. A dragonite might have been an issue if things went a little too far south. She watched in silence as the mother interrogated the child. Just when she was going to mentally question why missing lunch or a cold dinner of all things were brought up, the dragon type finally noticed the priority of the situation.

She looked down to the dratini as the serpent looked up at her...why was he looking at her? What did he want from her? Did he expect her to lie for him? It was technically even given she ordered the dratini to lie about her, but the amount of authority she felt over the dratini told her not to worry about that.

"...Go on." she spoke with a tone so mockingly innocent, "Tell Mama Dragonair here what you've been up to today." Just like she wasn't going to save Chance, she wasn't going to save him. "I'm sure she'd love to hear all about it."

Chance knew that tone. His ears flattened as his tail wrapped tightly around his feet with hunched shoulders. This was the trap. If Osiris wasn't honest she was going to do everything in her power to tear him apart...verbally. Well physically might be a problem too considering Osiris wasn't related, but he hoped his mother wouldn't. She'd explain it all in the worst possible way as much as she could, though he doubted she could make it sound any worse than it was

Osiris' mother's gaze flickered from the mightyena back to her son, nothing missing anything in the byplay leading up to the imminent confession. Iris didn't quite believe what he heard from Kiba's mom. Of course she picked now of all times to not be all stoic and no-nonsense. He couldn't hold it against her though - she was a mom, and this was what moms did. If he got mad at her for it, it'd be as silly as getting mad at a skorupi for stinging you. It's just their nature; if they had an opportunity to learn ya a lesson the hard way, they were going to take it.

"I left Grassveil today to go to a mystery dungeon all by myself," he went with, admitting that much at least. "And it wasn't Pecha Forest. It wasn't even Shadowhue, it was... uh. Everspring Vale, " he continued, dropping his head to stare at the doormat as he explained himself, not wanting to look at his mom's expression. "And it was dangerous and I messed up and got hurt and I met this guy Kiba—that's him right there—and we didn't go home when we should have and we almost d-died."

He faltered at the end there, still not quite able to admit that much to himself, but he was forced to put the words out there. "And we had to get saved. By Kiba's mom." he confessed after a moment as if that was the most shameful thing about the whole debacle.

For her part, the dragonair merely looked from her son to the mightyena in front of her, the silent question obvious in her expression: 'he's not bullshitting me, is he?'

It wasn't the full story, Chance knew, but fortunately he was sworn to silence, so he had an excuse not to pipe up with the rest of it. He dared a look up at the dragonair as he was introduced. He didn't even try to sweeten her heart with a sheepish smile, for he knew that his mother would shut that down as soon as she saw it. The zorua averted his gaze once more and decided to stare off to the side as if there were something interesting over there for him to look at. What a lovely potted plant! Unfortunately, a claw met his snout and pushed him to look back forward, though the mightyena didn't even seem to move. It just looked like Chance decided to look back forward.

The unreal mightyena nodded in response, able to at least understand that the dragonair wanted confirmation. It was at this time that her tone dropped back into its no-nonsense and less-than-cheery demeanor, "Caught up right as a Boufallaunt was attacking them." However, she purposely avoided saying anything about how the normal type was definitely not going to bother anyone anymore. Pokemon generally didn't like pokemon that killed others.

As soon as she got confirmation from the mightyena, Iris' mom visibly turned cold. It wasn't that she doubted his words, but he did have the occasional tendency to fib outright or even tweak parts of stories when he was in a bind like this. Doubtlessly, this was the worst thing he'd ever done, though - either that or befriending a charmeleon that would days later blow up a chunk of town square before being hauled off to jail. Where on earth was she going wrong with this boy? "And the bouffalant did... this?" she asked, looking back down at her bandage-covered son.

"Um, no. That was..." Here, Osiris glanced up at the zoroark's changed form and thought better of being totally honest. He didn't think Kiba's mom knew the parallel between her disguise and his injuries, and truthfully he'd prefer it stay that way. "A different pokemon." he lamely went with, shuffling awkwardly.

Wordlessly, the dragonair nodded to herself. Then she floated to the side to make way and swung the door open fully. "Inside with you. March. I'll get you patched up properly and then we are going to have a Talk, do you hear me?" she said severely, her tone brooking no argument. Osiris nodded weakly before slithering slowly through the doorway, pausing only after he'd crossed the doorway to wave goodbye at Kiba weakly with his tail before he continued into the house.

The elder dragon-type eyed him the whole time, watching the dratini as he made his way. Then she turned back to the mightyena in front of her. "I am so sorry you had to step in like this. Thank you so, so much for bringing him home in one piece; I don't know what I would've done if he hadn't of shown up tonight..." she paused for a moment, exhaling lightly as the possibility left her mind. "Do you want to come in? I can take a look at your child as well if he's hurt."

"Probably found him trampled, impaled, killed, looted, and half eaten if at all," her response was blunt and to the point, as if she didn't really register that might not have been the best thing to say in the moment. Even Chance had to give his mom an incredulous look and keep his mouth shut from an exclamation of his own. She...actually didn't see that it was a particularly bad thing to say. It was just a statement of fact.

Mirage's ears twitched and twisted in uncertainty. It would have been nice if someone remotely experienced took a look at Chance, but right now they needed to keep up the guise of an eevee. "Looking" at him was difficult if he had an illusion on and there was the risk of it dissipating with the wrong move. She hesitated as she weighted the risks versus the rewards. Eventually, she decided that perhaps the risk was too high.

If Chance were exposed as a Zorua, there was a chance that the Dragonair could eventually come across him again. Grassveil wasn't small, but it was small enough. The illusion eventually shook their head, "Ahh, n-no, I can look at him when we get home." Probably...

"If you're sure," the dragonair said gracefully, although she did stop to stare blankly a moment earlier at the mightyena's... less than tactful statement. But she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so if the pokemon that saved her child from certain death lacked a certain amount of social grace, it wasn't an issue to her. If anything, it was kind of horrifying, because she had no reason to doubt the words of this stranger and every reason to believe her.

She felt a little awkward just closing the door on the two of them though, especially considering what the mightyena had done for her and her son this day. "Thank you so much, again. I don't think I said so 'til now, but my name's Saige, and if you ever need anything, you know where we are." It was the least she could do to introduce herself and offer whatever she could. "Please don't hesitate to ask, really, even if it's something small. And don't you worry, I'm going to be quite thorough with him."

Osiris, meanwhile, shivered from his position on the living room couch. It was probably the wind and not at all the sixth sense of a child about to endure the divine wrath of an angry mama dragon.

She was not sure, but she didn't think she had a choice. The non-mightyena nodded their head, unsure as to why she was given that rather blank stare just then. She expected the creature to turn around and hut the door afterwards, but instead she was just thanked yet again. The dragonair bestowed Mirage her name. Alright, this was something she knew how to respond to. Saige was kind enough to lend Mirage a hand if she ever needed it. Somehow, Mirage felt as if this would not hold up if the dragoness knew of her true identity.

So, she needed a fake one, "Sidonia," the Mightyena nodded respectfully, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a chat with my own." It was so much easier to take others' gratitude under a different guise and identity. It felt normal that way.

The mightyena seemed to snap up the eevee in an instant, surprising the little tyke into a squeak. A pleading glance was cast in the dragonair's direction, begging to be rescued from the day of doom that was certainly going to be brought upon him. He was carried away by the Mightyena, for what he assumed would be the last time he would ever be seen if she didn't do something.

"Hope it sticks!" Saige chirped back mock-cheerfully, in an almost similar tone to the mightyena's moments earlier. If Chance had been hoping for an ally over here, he was sorely mistaken. "Don't be strangers, now!" It was a relatively happy-sounding farewell that really, really didn't fit the conversation that came before. But there was something inherently gratifying about seeing another mom about to rain down justice on an unruly child - like she had an ally in her own plight, someone out in the world doing the same, good, thankless work that needed to be done.

Truthfully, the dragonair almost certainly had less work cut out for her than the zoroark-in-disguise, but it wasn't like she knew that. And even if she did, she'd be no less harsh with her son, who had almost gotten himself killed today, and only lived because of the good grace of a total stranger. With that particular tidbit fresh in her mind, the dragonair turned back, floated into the house, and calmly shut the door behind her.

Osiris drooped slightly at the sound. He'd have honestly preferred it if she'd slammed it - a loud angry mom was one thing, but a calm angry mom was a totally different beast.

It was still a long ways home. Chance was held up at the mouth of the Mightyena, though really it was Mirage's claw. His body instinctively froze as the two of them moved under the light of the moon. They were silent along the way...at least until one little furball finally gathered the courage to speak. "Are we going home?" his voice was quiet, cautious, ready for her to snap at him to shut up and go back to his silence.

Mirage looked down at the boy. She was angry, yes, but also...tired. So tired. She'd never used that Z-crystal before, she wasn't prepared for the exhaustion that came with it. That, along with the fact that she'd walked all the way to Everspring Vale and back with extra weight on her shoulders. "Yes." she responded.

The zorua was relieved that he wasn't silenced. It provided him with hope. Still, he remained cautious. "Are we gonna see Dad tonight?"

"..." Mirage didn't know. Knowing Sova he was probably around Grassveil somewhere, probably conked out in some empty barrel that smelled like pickles for all she knew. Or, he could be at home: waiting...or sleeping. Who knew? "Maybe." she responded.

"Do I still have to-"

"Yes."

Now in the privacy of his own home, Osiris breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, he was probably about to be grounded to high heaven, but at least Kiba wasn't going to stick around and watch something that embarrassing. Just the dressing down he got on the doorstep was bad enough!

It wasn't enough to sway his mood from anxious and ashamed to anything else, though. His mom floated past him wordlessly, barely glancing at him on the way to her room. He knew not to go anywhere; she mentioned patching him up, and sure enough, the dragonair popped back out of her room with a first aid kit cradled in the confines of her long tail. She set to work on him slowly, quietly, and frostily. Unwrapping his grass bandages, gauging his wounds, spraying disinfectant on them despite his squeaking protests, silently holding out a berry for him to munch on to speed the healing process along... she worked quickly and efficiently. It was obviously not Saige's first time playing this role.

"Did you do well?" she asked, her tone of voice curiously emotionless. He cocked his head to the side, visibly confused, prompting her to elaborate. "You said you messed up. Did you do well, before that?" she cleared up.

Iris thought back to how he and Kiba double-teamed the wild mightyena, and even how they beat back the basculin. "... Yeah," he answered cautiously, not sure if he was falling into a trap or not.

"Your classes at Peak must be paying off, then." she innocently commented, and he lurched up with a protest in his throat when he saw where this was going. She silenced him immediately with a glare, causing him to droop back down. "It would serve you right if I withdrew you immediately, Osiris, and I would sleep like a baby afterward. If you've grown bold enough to blatantly disregard everything we've talked about—you know the rule, you have to take someone trustworthy with you on these trips, and it's only the forests around home."

Osiris went silent at this, closing his eyes and waiting for the hammer to fall. But it didn't come - what followed was different, almost worse. "Against my better judgment, it was probably those lessons that kept you alive out there long enough to be rescued. But rest assured, your leash just got a lot shorter. I'll draw up a proper punishment in the morning, but safe to say you're definitely grounded, and on curfew. And you can think twice about any visits to your convict friend any time soon... if ever." she finished, sighing heavily. Osiris wilted further with every word. At this point, she had finished replacing the dratini's haphazard and old bandages. With a flick of her tail, she gestured towards his room, and he got the message. He gingerly took to the floor and slithered to bed.

Maybe Kiba would get off lighter, he thought optimistically. Sure, he called his mom the worst word to call your mom, but did he have anything they could take away from him, besides the standard freedom retraction?

Chance went silent again as the outlaw carried him along. She may have been his mother, but at this moment he certainly felt like he was being kidnapped. He looked down at the ground as it moved along beneath him. Was she just going to carry him like this the whole way? He assumed so, given that she didn't just toss him back into her hair. He hated this way more than the hair. He was vulnerable, in the public eye, and he couldn't run if he wanted to. The zorua cold do nothing more but wait impatiently.

"...You could have died." Mirage spoke up once again after a pause.

"...yeah, but-"

"Do not "but" me. You need to get out of this fantasy land of your's. Everything doesn't always turn out alright. More often than not, it ends up horribly, horribly wrong. Your father and I have had to work our asses off to make sure you two are safe. And what do you do in response?"

"..." he was silent. He didn't want to answer. He didn't like the answer he had to give. Seeing as he wouldn't, Mirage did it for him.

"Again and again. You run off to hell knows where. First Discharge and now this. If I had been even few minutes late, if that bull had been just a tad bit smarter, or even if I had taken a wrong turn, you wouldn't be here. You would be gone. I would have kept looking and looking and I wouldn't find you."

"All because you wanted to go and do some dangerous stunt. Sova would have been looking too. Hell, even Emmelyn would look. You're doing more than hurting yourself when you go out there, Chance. Think about that next time you decide to do something so dangerously idiotic." Mirage's tone grew harsher as she walked. Her anger slowly got to her as she spoke. She silenced herself, either to wait for Chance's response or because she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep herself from getting...overly angry.

The zorua was silent in response. He just wanted to tune her out. He wanted to ignore her and not deal with her anger. He just stared at the stone path as she chewed him out, still waiting for everything to go back to normal.