Lost Cause

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Each step was made with hesitance, but he was fairly certain that this path was the safest. The only problem was that it was a guaranteed safety. His eyes darted about to and fro with a growing sense of dread and anxiety. He was alone, out in the open, in the place he'd last seen Voix. For all he knew the damned Zoroark lived here and yet he was coming back. It made his skin crawl and fur stand. He honestly looked adorably fluffy more so than terrifying. He swallowed his fears as he stepped along, uncertainty kept him from making much progress.

He came with the intent of collecting some items, a sack strapped around his side. The light crystal blue necklace dangled from his neck as he walked on all four legs. It was much more comfortable this way. It kept his stomach less exposed, far easier to run from danger as well. Zadira needed more items though. Not only for his own protection, but to hopefully sell them to the local merchant back at Grassveil, maybe an explorer or two. The debt he needed to pay was big and the lawyer made it perfectly clear what would happen if he couldn't keep on his payments.

It was understandable, considering the pachirisu saved what was essentially the rest of his life, but the lawyer's expectations were brutal. He could either pay up or he was going right back to where he was found.

Just around the bend it was. The steelix's massive form turned the corner. Its individual segments twisted and turned, though the wider finned ones were careful not to dig into the earth as easy as it would be. The steelix could spy the duo of zangoose, a wickedly wild grin on his expression as he gave a nod to them in greetings.

The steelix's grin fell, however, as he noticed something important among them. "Y'er friends seem hurt there buds," Chevy pointed out. "Bein hurt around a place like this isn't all that great and dandy. D'yall need a lift? I know a gal around here that'd be able to help y'with that kind of thing." Chevy glanced down at Zadira before his eyes trailed up to Mocha, indicating that he asked the both of them rather than just the two pups in the lead.

They're not real. They're not real. They're not real. The thought repeated in his head as he focused on the poorly lit space between his face and the floor just beneath his arms. The zangoose could certainly hear the boisterous volume of the steelix as well as the rumbles of its body, but that didn't mean anything to him. He just needed to ignore it and they'd go away. They'd go away eventually. They had to go away.

Mocha: [Energy: 1 +1 (Page) = 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 0 + 1 (Page) = 1]
==================================================
Maxie didn’t attack, but she didn’t drop her guard either. ”Explain,” she ordered, voice low so as not to draw the attention of those in the cave. She took a step backward—toward the double—and the zangoose took a step back accordingly.

”I… Can’t, really.”

The mawile pushed further. ”Bad start.”

”I don’t know! she hissed, clearly panicked. ”I’m me.”

”No, you’re in the cave,” the mawile pointed out.

”Yeah, and I’m here. There’s two of me I guess?”

”Where’d you come from?”

The zangoose seemed puzzled by the question. ”... I don’t…”

”If you came from the cave the others would have seen you. I didn’t see you come up the path. How’d you get here?”

She remained confused. ”I… Don’t remember…”

Of course she didn't. ”Well what do you remember?”

The Mocha—now pushed against the boulder that Maxie had been perched on earlier—thought for a moment. ”I remember us meeting, back at the pond. I remember fighting the floatzel. I remember meeting Zadira, and the zoroark, and Roi, the poochyena and their friends, and then the mightyena—I remember your apology—”

”You remember all of that but you don’t remember how you ended up behind me?” It didn’t make any sense—granted, neither did the time of day changing so suddenly… ”What about after?”

”...After?”

”Do you remember anything after all of that? After this?” The twins had mentioned they might have been from her relative future. Could this Mocha be a similar case?

”N-no?” She wasn’t.

Maxie pressed her iron maw against the zangoose’s chest. She felt real. ”Agh, Maxie my back’s still—”

The mawile released her. The zangoose was clearly in pain, but she didn’t seem upset by the action. ”Th-thanks… I get it, you want to make sure I’m not an illusion—”

”You’re not. Voix wouldn’t know we met at the pond.”

”...So, now what?”

”Zadira’s going to lose it if he sees two of you.”

”I’m going to freak when I see two of me. They’re both going to assume I’m an illusion.”

”Yeah good luck with that.” With those parting words, she started back towards the cave.

”...Gee thanks.”

…

”... Yes. A lift would be great, actually.” Answer provided, Mocha turned her attention fully to Zadira, who she knew was not having a good time with the arrival of the new Pokemon. In a hushed tone, she addressed him. ”Z? You’ve got to trust me, okay? They’re not illusions. They’re real.” She was pretty confident they weren’t illusions. If this was all a zoroark’s work, she’d be extremely impressed at how complex their scheme must have been.

Mocha claimed they were real and he trusted Mocha, but...well, she literally just met this steelix. How could she possibly be so confident? His heart sank at the thought. He thought about objecting, but dismissed the notion. No matter what he said, he didn't have an actual choice in this matter. The zangoose tilted his head just enough to see out of the pit of his elbow.

Big steelix, two mightyena, and Mocha. He said nothing, but still he pushed himself onto his four paws. Standing on two legs was a bit too much effort for him at that moment, especially when his will to fight was so diminished. He sat himself down and waited...

Only for Maxie to return with a second Mocha.

His ears flattened while his brow knitted together. His gaze snapped towards the mawile, as if she had any control over this. "Are...are you serious?" he questioned, a small chuckle accompanied his disbelief-as if something about all of this was humorous.

The steelix, in the meanwhile, looked between the pokemon. Carrying them wasn't going to be a problem, but it seemed as if the group had their own sort of problem beyond simple harm. He opted to remain quiet at first, seeing as this was something they needed to sort out.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 1]
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“Huh. Okay, correct. There’s three zangoose. One blue, two red. Zadira, Mocha, and… Mocha?” Pesky so helpfully corrected his previous introduction.

Mocha turned to see what Zadira had commented on. She didn’t even try to hide her shock at the sight of… herself. Maxie—the only one here with a mostly complete understanding of the situation, approached her. She removed her scarf and handed it to her. ”Here, put this on.”

Mocha hesitated—or rather, simply didn’t immediately react. ”Uh, Maxie there’s… Ya know there’s a-another me with you, right?”

”Yeah, now put on the scarf.”

”...Why?”

”So we can tell you two apart,” the mawile answered before turning to Zadira. ”Hey, Z? I know this is a lot for you, and you probably want to attack either me or her to find out if one or both of us are an illusion, but I assure you she’s real—or at least not an illusion—I already checked.”

She could sympathize with the zangoose, even though she didn’t have his exact experience with any zoroark. This place was wearing on all of them. Mocha took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck. The entire time, she found herself staring at her copy.

The copy, in turn, was looking to Zadira, her ears flattened and clearly upset, though about what specifically was unclear.

“I think,” Dart started, speaking to his brother and Chevy, “We give them all a little bit.”

Maxie already checked. Mhmm. Yes. This was fine. Just fine. It was laughably fine. His demeanor didn't improve. Instead, his claws steadily began to press into his arm. They were folded inward, but curved discreetly. Don't say anything. Don't do anything. It's not worth it. He would only entertain it. His gaze flicked back to Mocha, his Mocha...could he even say that? Was it weird to say that? He wasn't sure but he didn't have the capacity to dwell on it.

He forcefully leveled his breath as he tried to keep calm. He counted in his head, but it was difficult to do that and say what he wanted at the same time. A brief pause later and he spoke, "Can...Can you stop bringing people back...for five minutes?" he kindly requested of Maxie.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 1]
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”I’m not doing it on purpose! She was louder than she intended to be. ”I gotta… I have to stop going off on my own, apparently. How about, you do us both a favor and don’t let me leave your sight again, okay?”

Mocha—the scarfless one—was surprised at how well Zadira was handling this. Although, looking at him, she imagined it had to do with him being utterly overwhelmed and exhausted more than restraint or level-headedness. ”...C-can I speak?” She felt incredibly out of place—come to think of it, she supposed she was.

”Oh wow she sounds exactly like me too,” Mocha blurted, still in a bit of a stunned state.

”I am you,” the other replied quietly, still not sure if she should even be talking.

”Why?”

The zangoose was a bit taken aback by the question. She had no idea how to answer. She didn’t have an answer. ”I-I don’t… Know?” She glanced at the two mightyena at the back of the cave. They were the experts on this stuff, right? ”Hey, Dart? Can you explain… Hh, me?”

Dart stepped a bit closer when he was called. “Well, we’ve heard a few stories about people meeting themselves—and I mean a few. Usually it’s like, a past version, sometimes a future version. But we don’t really know what they are or why it happens.”

“We’ve never got to meet a copy of a person though!” Pesky added. “Tell us, what do you feel like?”

The echo blinked in confusion, not sure how to answer this question, either. ”Normal? I mean, I’m me...”

”I’m me,” Mocha muttered.

Don't let Maxie leave his sight. What a cruel joke for her to play against him. The mere implication that he had any power over this situation felt like a punch in the gut. There was no power to be held here. It was all a fabrication-one that he had to suffer through and wait for it to end. He said nothing in response to Maxie. No promises or favors here, just acceptance towards the fact that every time the mawile disappeared, she would bring back something more and more ridiculous.

The Fake-Mocha looked at him odd. He caught her gaze, still, he didn't trust it. His eyes dropped to a cold leer as he inched towards the scarfed zangoose. This was Mocha. This was the one he trusted about as much as he was capable of trusting.

Chevy, in the meanwhile looked between each individual character. He was about as confused as everyone else was. His mind worked away at a solution to this particular predicament, "What if..." he mused for a moment, "They fight to determine who the true fluffball is?"

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 1]
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”I’d win.”
”She’d win.”

The two zangoose responded to the steelix’s suggestion at the same time. This seemed to surprise Mocha.

”Wait, why would I win?”

”Because I’m not going to fight you, we already know who’s the real one.”

”Oh, yeah… Wait why are you so sure you’re not?”

”Because you were already here when I got here.”

”... Oh.” She seemed almost a little dejected by the fact that she couldn’t justify a fight between her and herself.

”You wouldn’t really want us to fight anyhow, given our current state.”

Mocha suddenly turned back to slight hostility. ”Hey, you don’t know what I want!”

”Yes I do, I’m you,” she reminded herself.

”Oh yeah?! What am I thinking right now?”

”’I bet she’s bluffing.’”

The scarf-wearing zangoose was, once again, surprised by her mirror. ”... Lucky guess.”

”’Wait maybe she can read my mind.’” Mocha’s expression somehow grew more surprised.

“Huh, neat.” Pesky commented as he stepped closer to the group near the front of the cave.

Maxie, too, was impressed by the doppelganger's demonstration. Based on Mocha’s reactions, the other one was spot on. She seemed slightly amused by the whole thing. This situation to her what Maxie’s apology was to Mocha. But unlike Mocha, Maxie wasn’t trying to hide the fact that she found this entire scenario entertaining.

”Okay, stop it!” She was getting genuinely flustered and frustrated now.

”’Before you tell everyone one of my private thoughts like—’” Mocha was on herself in a flash—literally. A Quick Attack tackle sent both zangoose onto the floor. Though they both suffered more from irritating their injuries than from the attack.

”Ahg! Jeez, I wasn’t actually gonna tell them!”

”WHY WOULD YOU EVEN ACT LIKE YOU WERE GONNA?!”

”BECAUSE IF YOU WERE IN MY POSITION AND KNEW YOU WEREN’T REAL YOU’D DO THE SAME THING! I don’t know what I am! I’m probably not gonna stick around! There’s no consequences!”

”But you said you weren’t going to tell!”

”I wasn’t!”

”But if there’s no consequences then why wouldn’t you?!”

The scarfless Mocha paused and blinked in confusion. ”...Huh. Good point. I THINK Z—” Before she could finish, the Mocha with the scarf covered the other’s mouth with a paw.

”SHUT UP! Dart how do we get rid of her?”

Dart perked up when he heard his name. “What do you mean ‘Get rid of her?’”

”If she’s one of the weird place things what makes her go away?” Despite being muffled, the now restrained Mocha continued to try to communicate—although it was pretty clear she was doing it for theatrics rather than trying to actually communicate anything.

“Well…” Dart started, drawing it out as he thought over the question. “The ones that don’t come from the normal world—the ones that come from here—can’t leave. So if we leave, she wouldn’t be able to follow.”

”Great! Let’s all leave then. Chevy?” She turned to the steelix—paw still covering her double's mouth, the other arm keeping the double's paws from pulling her own away. Maxie, too, turned to Chevy, very interested in the prospect of getting out of here in a quick manner.

Chevy was disappointed that he didn't get to see the cat fight. He made absolutely no effort to hide this fact. A disgruntled grumble responded to the group, "Yeah-Yeah-Yeah..." the steelix huffed. "If anyone needs a ride just hop on..." As a lover of violence, this situation turned out pretty dull for him.

On the other hand, Z much preferred the fact that the two didn't fight. He wasn't sure how he'd be able to handle that mental image again, especially with what happened before. He kept quiet as the group discussed their next course of action. In a way, this all felt like he was back with Roi. Not the fake-Roi earlier, but when he was on the exploration team. Mocha held strong similarities with Couper, the big steelix Voler, and Maxie with Roi. The two mightyena were just some random passerbys or clients. Him? He was...him, the guy that just tagged along and waited for the mission to end.

His attention was caught as the double started to spew something. He quirked an eyebrow. It sounded like whatever it was the double was going to say was about him. How many words possibly started with "Z" that applied to this situation after all? While it was quite obviously something Mocha didn't want him to hear, his curiosity was caught. "Wait-what was she going to say...?" his quiet voice sounded from a mumble.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 1]
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Now Mocha had a problem. How was she supposed to keep herself quiet? She couldn’t exactly just leave her double; she’d just shout out all of her—their?—secrets. She didn’t really like keeping secrets. That was, of course, why the double was so ready to shout them all out, she wouldn’t have to deal with any of the potential repercussions.

Fortunately, she didn’t really have any big, dark secrets that she kept. The worst things she didn’t tell anyone were about some of the things she saw back at home; the fights with the seviper, the general violence of it all. But none of that was really a secret anyway, it was all just stuff she didn’t want to talk about. Most of what she kept secret were little things—ideas and thoughts that she, for one reason or another, felt compelled not to say out loud—which, for her, took a small amount of effort. Fear of potential embarrassment was the typical motivator.

Oh no, Zadira was curious. She had heard his question, quiet as it was. He knew it was about him. Of course he did. Nothing else that matters starts with the letter Z. She had to do something. She had to let the scarfless her go at some point. She had to convince her copy not to out her secrets. She could convince herself, right? She whispered in the mirror’s ear, ”Anything but that, please.” She removed her paw from the other’s mouth.

”... Fine.”

Mocha relaxed. She got up off the floor and started moving towards the steelix.

Her echo, however, wasn’t quite done. She was agreeing not to say what she was going to say, but she was still going to tell. She put a paw put to the side of her face, concealing her mouth to all but the one she was looking directly at—Zaidra. She made sure she had his attention, before pointing at her scarf-wearing double. She mouthed the words—notably not actually speaking them.

“She likes you,” pointing at him on “you.” Then she put a claw to her lips, indicting that this was a secret between them. Afterwards, she smiled, winked, then hopped up to her feet. ”Now, let’s get out of here.”

Maxie, who saw the exchange but not the message conveyed, looked at the Mocha-copy with a slightly perplexed expression. ”You can’t actually leave, remember?”

”It’s not about the destination, Maxie. It’s about the journey.” Maxie rolled her eyes and followed the two zangoose.

”Come on, Zadira, we’re getting out of this place before more crazy happens.”

The copy's message was both received and comprehended, but not understood. What? How? Zadira's brow knitted together in confusion as a response. The zangoose tilted his head off to the side as the Mocha-copy winked at him. That...didn't make any sense. Well, it was obvious that Mocha liked him from how friendly she was with him, but this copy insinuated that there was perhaps a bit more to it than that.

That still didn't make sense either. He'd known Mocha for less than a day and he'd done nothing but be a problem and attack her. Why would she possibly like him any more than some pokemon to be pitied? This had to have been a trick. It was exactly the kind of thing Voix would do. He was probably going to try to ruin what little they had together by making Z out to be a creep or something. The zangoose's look of confusion sifted into a frown.

Maxie declared that it was time to go. He gave a hesitant glance in the copycat's direction before he pulled himself together enough to follow. Chevy, their newly found tour guide, would start to lead the way to wherever this "friendly face" was that would help them.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 1]
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He was different. That was, ultimately, what sparked Mocha's interest. Zadira was so very different from every other zangoose she knew. That made him interesting by default. Plus he was smart and his general nervousness was kinda adorable. But she had only met him today, she knew he had some problems, he was still clearly dealing with a previous loss, and she had to account for the fact that her pity for the poor guy may cause her some bias. It was for these reasons that it was supposed to stay a secret—she hadn’t even really figured it out herself.

But her double—she was like if Mocha had no filter. Why wouldn’t she be? If she could just say whatever it was that was on her mind at any given time, without consequence, Mocha would. No secrets, no lies, no hidden feelings. But she couldn’t do that. That’s not how things worked. If the copy was in fact her, then she was knowingly sabotaging himself—acting in a self destructive manner. Which… Probably wasn’t really out of character. If there was anyone Mocha trusted not to make the best decisions for her, it was herself.

”You two coming?” Maxie asked the two mightyena as she walked past them.

“Nope!” Pesky answered, cheery.

“We still have exploring to do,” his brother elaborated. “Best of luck getting out of here though. Safe travels and all that.”

Maxie was a little surprised that anyone would want to spend any amount of time in this place willingly. ”Uhg. Have fun with that I guess. See ya.” She waved halfheartedly at the two before clambering onto the steelix—the Mocha not wearing the scarf assisting her a bit.

”Never road a steelix before. Anything we should be aware of?”

The real Mocha was sure not to put herself near her double—because she assumed Zadira wouldn’t want to be near the double.

"Uhhh, keep all of your limbs to yourselves at all times, I guess?" Chevy responded. He squinted in thought as he tried to think of anything else, but none came to mind, "I don't exactly give people rides often, so hell if I know."

Zadira absolutely stayed away from the double. He kept himself close to the real Mocha. His mind struggled and squirmed to make sense of any of this, despite how pointless he knew it to be. Voix was smarter than him, stronger than him, better than him. There was no denying that. It was pointless of him to try, but still, he did.

"Anyways, come along this way, she shouldn't too far off this time o'day," the steelix exited the cave and carried on. The distance was large, but for a massive steel serpent such as Chevy, it was no big deal. The group could see the aforementioned ally before the Steelix said a thing. Up ahead, a Gardevoir could be seen sitting atop a rock, arms crossed, as she looked on to a trio of ralts, two vullaby, and a poochyena that all seemed completely enveloped in some game off to the side. The gardevoir's expression was sunken, dark circles around their eyes that could only be noticed when they turned to face the oncoming Steelix.

"Sup Nina?" the steelix laughed in greeting. The gardevoir was not amused, "Everyone, this is Nina, she'll be your caretaker for the evening." The gardevoir was even more unamused.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 1]
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”She doesn’t look too happy to see us,” the copy declared, at full volume for anyone and everyone to hear.

Maxie dismounted from the steelix. Mocha followed, as did Mocha. Maxie was sure to get introductions out of the way as quickly as possible. ”Nice to meet you, Nina. I’m Maxie, this is Zadira and Mocha and Mocha again—because apparently that’s allowed to just happen apparently.”

”I bet you wouldn’t be as bothered by it if it was a copy of yourself that showed up,” the Mocha not wearing the scarf commented in a bit of a passive aggressive tone.

The actual Mocha was inclined to agree, but she didn’t say that out loud. She didn’t have to—that was what the other one was already doing. She had the greatest and strangest sense of self loathing at this moment. ”We’d like to not be here anymore, please,” preferably before the other her says something the real her would regret.

The gardevoir raised an eyebrow at the group. The children chattered away nonchalantly, as if completely oblivious to the titan and his cargo. Zadira hopped off of the steelix-train, sure to keep his mouth shut about all of the possible red flags about this situation that was sure to get shot down in the group's eyes. Why would they listen to him now? They hadn't about anything else...

"My name isn't Nina," the gardevoir spoke, blunt and to the point. The steelix laughed heartily. The psychic fae waited until he was finished before she continued, "My name is Sana. "Nina" is just a pet name he calls me by when he wants something." The gardevoir glanced up to the steelix, who seemed entirely amused by this.

She rolled her eyes and continued, "Annnd you've come to the wrong place for 'not being here' I'm afraid." She looked back to the steelix with another questionable look.

"They're a little hurt. Was wonderin' if you could give em a little helpin' hand, if y'know what I mean," The steelix grinned

The gardevoir looked back to the group, her attention focused on Mocha in particular...the bleeding Mocha. The one with the bandages. Her eyes flicked between the duo of identical Zangoose. "...Either I'm not truly here or I've somehow stumbled into that wicked place again. Fun...either way, I can absolutely help...but I'm afraid I can't without a price."