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.

Maxie was upset. Obviously so. Zadira didn't know how to feel anymore-to the point where it kind of felt like he'd stopped feeling. He didn't respond to Maxie's comment, but Chevy seemed to find it very amusing-as if it were a hilarious joke. Z didn't know if the information he provided was counter-productive to the idea of being helpful, but hey-it was something...right?

Voices sounded from up ahead. Laughter, cheering, and more importantly...crying. Z's ears perked up at the sound, concerned yet suspicious. He remained with Maxie despite his instant urge to carry forward to investigate.

Up ahead, the three absol the gardevoir warned of were busy in their own type of play. They bantered with one another and bounced around, fully invested in this game. One absol had a long white stick in their mouth. They paraded around with it for a second or two before they tossed it to the farthest one. Each one got their turn. It was a confusing game to witness, until one noticed the small brown figure that chased the white stick about. A bony helmet upon its head, a little cubone cried and begged for the bone back. The absol laughed and refused, one of them even going as far as to give the head a bat and cause the helm to swing around and blind the little guy.

---

"What about Roi and Maxie makes you not like the guild?" the gardevoir droned. Her attention turned back to the children as they collapsed into a dog pile. A chatter of laughter echoed as they hopped off of one another and engaged in a game of tag. Her attention lingered for a moment before she looked back to the duo of Mochas. The moment she looked away, the noise of the children began fade ever so gradually.

Mocha: [Energy: 3]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Ah. There they were. And they were tormenting what appeared to be a kid. Maxie stopped in her tracks. It was like something broke at that moment; some sort of regulator that kept her reactions and responses in check suddenly stopped functioning. She reached into her bag, feeling around for something. She’d been saving this for the right occasion. She wasn’t sure if this was it, but she was using it regardless.

”Who needs polite introductions anyway?” Maxie asked no one in particular before pulling out an orb and tossing it in the direction of the absol. In an instant it shattered, and in the next, the three disaster Pokemon were Petrified. With the threats neutralized, at least temporarily, she approached. ”You three,” she announced to the immobilized Pokemon, her voice carrying a stern, annoyed tone. ”Have been causing some people trouble, and that’s causing me trouble. So now you’re in trouble.”

She plucked the bone from one of the absol’s mouths, handing it to the cubone while turning its helmet around to face forward once again. ”You should get out of here, now,” She told the little Pokemon. Then, without missing a beat, she turned and swung her massive jaws as hard as she could at the absol who had held the bone, breaking the petrify effect and sending the dark type skidding towards Zadira and Chevy. She was going to take this one at a time.

…

”They’re leaders,” Mocha answered, easily falling into this pattern of being asked questions and answering them, seemingly forgetting how weird this situation really was, being counseled by a stranger gardevoir and a clone of herself.

”I don’t want to follow a leader—and I don’t want to be a leader. It’s not like I want to explore alone, though. I want to do it with friends, people I’m close to, without titles or ranks.”
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Maxie used x1 Petrify Orb

A petrify orb. Maxie had a petrify orb this entire time. Zadira's eyes went wide the moment she pulled it out of her bag. His gaze lingered on the shattered pieces of the orb long after the eerie pulse of energy petrified the pokemon. He hardly paid any mind to the cubone as it picked up its bone and moved along as quickly as its little legs could take it.

The absol was tossed to his direction, but he didn't move. His attention was focused on the petrify orb. Where the hell was this orb before? When the steelix and tyrannitar attacked? The mandibuzz? Zoroark? His eyes trailed past the absol and on to Maxie...as his blood began to boil.

The absol that was freed from its temporary paralysis cried out as it was effectively tossed away from its friends and closer to the mawile's friends. A glare crossed its expression as its eyes flicked toward its absol buddies. It paid absolutely no attention to the steelix, but Z it kept an eye on. The absol took in a deep breath. The moment it exhaled, a blast of cold and furious winds rocketed towards both Zadira and Maxie, a Blizzard attack getting along in attempt to chill the both of them out a little.

---

"Well, the whole leader dynamic is really up to the team, isn't it?" the gardevoir shrugged, "Leaders are just more traditional to have...and sort of just naturally happens in most cases. You could also just be your own rescue team and hang out with others-so that you're not under them or above them."

Mocha: [Energy: 3]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Maxie shielded herself from the ice attack as best she could. She resisted it well enough, but the cold still bit at her harshly. She powered through it. The steelix wasn’t going to help. Zadira wasn’t going to help. She was on her own. She launched herself at the absol, attacking not only with her horns but with kicks and punches as well. A pinkish fae aura emanated from her attacks. It was quite as strong as an attack, but it exploited the absol’s weakness.

…

It wasn’t just not wanting to have or be a leader, it was the bureaucracy of the whole thing, and the monetary incentive. She couldn’t quite put it into words, but the whole concept just wasn’t for her.

”I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” she declared, assuming that would cease the conversation. It did not.

”Great. Let’s talk about Zadira instead.”

”There’s nothing to talk about!”

”There’s lots to talk about.”

Unlike the time with the steelix, Zadira managed to not freeze into the spot. His mind swung from shameful fear back into outrage. A white trail was left in the spot he previously occupied. Icy spikes rose up from the ground in the wake of the attack. The steelix shuffled off to the side, avoiding the attack with a hearty laugh, "Got a lively one eh?" he laughed.

After all of the tiring troubles he had to go through that die and now revitalized by the pulse from the gardevoir, he felt absolutely fresh and ready...to hit something. Zadira's eyes locked onto the absol that focused its attention on Maxie rather than him. She was the threat here. While true, his teeth grit together at the thought. He backed onto two legs. Two blue spikes unfolded on each paw a mere second before he launched himself forward.

He approached the absol from behind, but didn't quite move to strike the disaster pokemon himself. Just as the absol heard his approach, it turned to look. His claws struck down, intentionally plunging into the ground with a brilliant azure hue. The ground around them rumbled and rippled as a tiny trail zipped just under the foe. Within the span of a second of his claws touching the ground, a spire that carried the same hue as his claws surged upward out of the ground underneath the absol.

The bully hadn't the breath to yelp before it was launched and flipped onto its back. The creature struggled to stand up, which presented a perfect opportunity for Maxie to make another strike.

---

"If you're insisting that there's lot to talk about then surely there must be something," The gardevoir grumbled, "What about them has you all up and upset?"

Mocha: [Energy: 3]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Zadira’s sudden attack came as a surprise not just to the absol, but to Maxie. She was certain he would stay on the sidelines for this fight, but she was pleased to be wrong. She took the advantage that was gifted to her, rushing up to the temporarily disabled dark type and clamped her massive jaw-like horns around one of its hind legs. The fangs of the maw glowed a white-blue color, causing frost and ice to form wherever they made contact.

If she really wanted to, she could probably seriously injure the absol right here at this moment. She could ensure that it wouldn’t be able to retaliate any further or cause anyone anymore trouble. But as fed up with everything this mountain had thrown at her thus far, she wasn’t so angry as to succumb to such cruelty. Although, if she was honest with herself, she couldn’t say the thought didn’t at least cross her mind in the moments before the maw chomped down.

She let go after a long moment, prepared to strike again if the absol still had any fight left in them. She hoped this one was done, though. They still had two more to go through.

…

Mocha stood up and looked directly at the gardevoir. ”Why are you asking all these questions? Why do you even care? I don’t even know you!” She didn’t want to do this anymore. SHe didn’t want to stop and think about herself, her life, her decisions. She didn’t want to stop and analyze why she made whatever decisions she made, or why she felt the way she did about anything.

She just did what she did, thought what she thought. She didn’t need to justify or explain it. She didn’t want to justify or explain anything.

The absol, fortunately, collapsed once the mawile released it. It fell into a furry heap and didn't move again save for the rise and fall of its flank. With the first absol easily dispatched, the other two were left to take care of. Thing about the other two was, however, that they were still petrified. Zadira, meanwhile, was left with plenty of opportunity to sort his issues out with Maxie...through violence.

As if he his mind had packed up and wandered out, the blind fury he felt targeted itself on the mawile. In the moment, he didn't care for holding himself back. He flashed forward with a white trail in his wake as his claws shifted to a dark crackle of energy. His paws flexed before he brought them down towards the mawile in a slashing motion.

---

"I'm asking because there's a reason for you to be here...both of you. Fate has a funny way of making things go around and if other-you is so insistent on talking about the problems out loud, then it's obvious that there's something you need to talk about. Having an impartial ear on subjects helps with decision making and sorting through feelings. So out with it, so I can go home." The gardevoir huffed. Her eyes turned back in the direction of the children-or at least where they used to be.

The playful group of kids faded out entirely, leaving nothing but an empty area where they used to be. The gardevoir gave a low irritated growl, "Figures..."

Mocha: [Energy: 3]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Unlike the absol, Zadira wasn’t a dark type, and Maxie was resistant to a lot of types, including dark. The zangoose’s claws still hurt, however. Maxie wasn’t expecting the zangoose to go for her right after the absol fell—she wasn’t expecting him to go for her at all, in fact. But it didn’t surprise her that he did. She sort of wished it had, but it didn’t. After reading Roi’s journal, she had become suspect that Zadira might do something like this. She had hoped that suspicion was wrong.

She wasn’t sure what provoked this attack; whether it was something she had done within the last few moments or if this was the boiling point of something that had been building up for a while now. She didn’t care which it was, either.

The moment the zangoose’s claws made contact with her she swung her horns to intervene, putting them between Zadira and herself. ”Zadira!” she spat the words following an involuntary pained sound. Instinct told her to retaliate immediately, to strike back at the zangoose and disable him as quickly as possible. But she hesitated. She still had two absol she wanted to deal with, and she’d rather try to make use of raging zangoose than fight them by herself after she wasted her energy on him.

…

Mocha rolled her eyes. ”Fate? Is that why you held me back here? Because you think this,” she waved at her mirror, ”is fate? Sorry, but I don’t believe in things like fate. I decide things for myself, and they might not always be the best decisions, but they’re my decisions and I’ll deal with the consequences on my own!”

She turned on her heal and started marching in the direction Maxie and Zaidra had gone. She didn’t seem to notice the children had vanished. ”I can’t believe I just let them go off without me!”

The copy stayed where she stood. She watched her double as she started off, but she spoke to the gardevoir, quiet so that only she would hear. ”She’s sorta lying. The idea of predetermined events terrifies her.”

While Maxie didn't care for the reason, it was both. The fae called out to him, but he hardy paid any mind. His response was to sneer at the mawile, "You had that this entire time?" He didn't wait for an answer. Without fear of the sharp-toothed horns, he moved to plunge his claws into the ground again. Before he could touch ground, something wrapped tightly around his wrist. His eyes widened as he instinctively pulled back, but instead found himself yanked upward and off of his feet.

"And just what the hell do ye'think you're doin, Mog?" a hoarse and scratchy voice hissed right into his ear. The mere sound of it instinctively folded his claws and caused him to shiver. All prior fight and anger was swept away as quickly as it appeared. He was forced to come face-to-face with chilling blue eyes that glared right through him with a passionate hatred. Instantly, he snapped shut. No response. No further comments. Nothing.

A zoroark held him up in the air by the wrist. It hurt, but he knew better that to complain. This particular zoroark didn't bother to hide itself despite appearing from nowhere. It appeared very...scrawny. Quite clearly it was malnourished with thin gray hairs occasionally lining the red. Its gray muzzle included, it was very clear that this zoroark was an elder despite the strength.

His mind could hardly comprehend nor understand. What was before him was impossible, perhaps another trick of Voix? Was all of this a scheme? He wanted to cry in frustration all over again, but he bit them back in fear of what would happen if he let them out.

The fox looked down to the defensive mawile. The glower suddenly shifted away to a much friendlier-although disgusting considering a missing tooth or two and the rest coated in plaque-smile. "Well-howdy there Lil Miss! You'll have to excuse my son here, he's uh...not very edu-cated as they say it." The word "educated" was emphasized oddly, as if the concept of the term was foreign. "My name's Haine...and uh...you are?" The vixen didn't put Zadira down, instead focused on the much smaller pokemon.

---

"Fate or not, if you go up there you may very well die," the gardevoir spoke up louder as Mocha started her departure. "I asked you and you to stay for a reason. If you leave em alone, they'll be fine. Go up there, and you might just make things worse."

Mocha: [Energy: 3]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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She was totally fine with fighting the absol. She was totally okay with having to deal with Zadira, be it by fighting him off or talking him down or whatever. She was ready and willing to fight. She was not ready for Zadira’s mom to suddenly appear out of nowhere. She didn’t know how to respond.

This was another product of the other world—she knew that immediately. And she knew that this Haine character was a danger—everything surrounding Zadira was a danger. Maxie wasn’t sure if she should answer, or what to answer with. She was on the verge of breaking down in some way. Some part of her just wanted to attack the zoroark on the spot. Another part just wanted to walk away from them and go back to fighting the absol. Or leave the area entirely, leave Zadira to deal with his past on his own.

She kept her defensive stance. She answered with a forced calmness. ”Maxie.”

…

Mocha stopped. She wanted to ask how the gardevoir knew what would happen, but she doubted she’d get a clear answer if she did. She sat down on the spot, facing away from the psychic type and her echo. She was going to listen to her advice, but she didn’t want to participate in this discussion anymore.

"Maxie, that's quite a lovely name," the vixen lied. The zoroark's gaze shifted between the limp sack-doll of a mute zangoose in her claw to the fae. It was expected of the mawile to speak more, but the fae didn't exactly comply. Zadira didn't know what kind of trick this was, or if it even was a trick. After all, it wasn't like his mother died or anything. For all he knew, she followed him all the way back...well, who was he kidding? There's no way she'd follow him.

"You wouldn't have happened to see another zoroark roaming around here would you? A bit of a clip in his lip? Ego the size of a wailord?" she finally asked. Voix, Zadira determined, she was looking for Voix. That made a lot more sense. Her gaze turned to him questioningly. Slow, uncertain, and unable to look her in the eyes, he squeezed them shut and shook his head. The pain in his arm and the vice grip around his wrist was become a bit much. Pins and needles gradually began to spread throughout his paw.

The two absols, in the meanwhile, watched on from their stone-still stance. Gradually, their own feeling of numbness began to fade out. It was only a matter of time before the orbs effects wore off.

----

"...You're quite the moody one," the gardevoir spoke to the double. Exasperated and exhausted, the gardevoir heaved a heavy sigh. "Gods above, fine. If you want to go so bad then go, just take this." The gardevoir reached towards her chest as the red horn took on a bright red glow. A small orb of brilliant purple energy collected around her fingertips. With a wave of her hand, the orb shot right into Mocha's back painlessly. In exchange, another orb shot right back over to the gardevoir.

Suddenly, the gardevoir's headache was alleviated somewhat...and Mocha could now feel just how much of a drag the psychic pokemon was put through. "It'll help you not die so I can sleep well at night."

Mocha: [Energy: 3]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Technically speaking, she had encountered several zoroark, and one zorua. And she knew that the zorua was technically the one Haine was looking for. But she wasn’t going to mention any of that. Maxie realised that the copy of Mocha was very unique when compared to all the other echoes. She was a copy of someone who was already present, she was able to encounter herself, and by the time she appeared she was already aware of the possibilities this other world presented.

That, and Mocha was absolutely the type of person who would rationalize that one of them had to be fake, and accept that she may be the fake one with little protest. Maxie knew she would have a much harder time accepting that idea—she imagined most people would. And this zoroark in front of her? She clearly had no idea what was going on, and the mawile knew it’d be a waste of time to try and explain it.

”No, I have not seen any zoroark matching that description,” Maxie answered dryly. It was technically the truth, or a lie, depending on how you considered the criteria. She had seen a depiction of that exact character on the wanted poster Roi had shown her. And she had technically met the same person, albeit as a young zorua, not as a zoroark.

Maxie glanced at Zadira. He clearly had some issues with his whole family, based on how he was reacting to this. Granted, based on her own first impressions with his brother and mother alone, she could understand it. A part of her still wanted to attack the zoroark, but something told her that would go very poorly. On the other hand, the absol were a growing threat. The petrify effect would inevitably fade, and she had no idea what they would do when it did.

”We were sort of in the middle of something here.”

…

Uncertainty. Confusion. Irritation. A bit of relief, and pity. Further confusion—that was hers. Mocha put a paw to her head, as if that would stop whatever it was that was happening. When the gardevoir told her to “take this” she wasn’t sure what the psychic type was talking about, and so she was uncertain and confused—those were her initial reactions to it. Then they suddenly became stronger, as if the emotions had become doubled in strength; when in fact she was suddenly made aware of her copy’s emotions, which just happened to match her own.

The others must have been Sana’s then. Mocha stood up and turned to the gardevoir. ”What did you do?”

The zoroark deflated in disappointment when the mawile responded. She heaved a sigh as a tired look came about her. Once the mawile pointed out that she was rather busy, the zoroark perked right back up, "Oh, right. Yes, carry on. He won't bother your business any longer. Isn't that right, Mog?" The zoroark lifted the zangoose higher up. He couldn't feel his paws anymore while his shoulder burned.

Desperate to appease the tormentor, he nodded. The two stepped back and away from the mawile, in the opposite direction of the steelix. The mawile would be left to her business with the absol without any further complication...much to the bullies' despair.

----

"I loaned you the bane of my existence, better known as Telepathy," Sana explained. She stood up slowly and gave her dress a rough stroke to beat off the dust. "It won't be as strong with you as it is for me, but at the very least it should help you from dying and perhaps let you control the situation a little more if you're smart about it." The lady's red eyes focused on Mocha, "It won't last forever, but it should be good long enough. Until then, you won't have whatever ability it was you had before. Any other questions? Without the children here I have no purpose in staying here and would very much like to get out of this hell-world."

Mocha: [Energy: 3]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Again, Maxie was divided amongst herself. A part of her wanted to confront this Haine, tell her to leave Zadira alone, encourage Zadira to retaliate in some way. But another part knew that would be a mistake. She was certain that confrontation would quickly devolve into a fight, and she didn’t want to have to fight a zoroark alone. And she would be fighting her alone. Zadira clearly didn’t have the will to fight her, and Chevy was the world’s heaviest paperweight.

So she turned away from them and to the absol. She walked up to one, and smashed her metallic horns into it to break the petrify effect early. ”Alright, listen up. I already took down one of you, and I’m ready to do the same to each of you, but I’d rather just deal with this as quickly and easily as possible. So if you wanna just take your friend here and run off, that’d be great for the both of us.”

It was extremely evident from her voice that she was growing tired of all of this. She only had the tiniest hope that the absol would be even remotely civil, and she was already prepared to launch at the thing with a barrage of attacks in the event that the absol refused the kind offer.

…

”Oh. Great. Thanks…?” She didn’t really understand how this was supposed to be helpful. ”Well… Good luck with that! I’m gonna go try not to die, I guess.” She turned back to the direction that Maxie, Zadira, and Chevy had gone.

”Hey, wait up!” her echo shouted after her. She looked at Sana. ”Uh, I’d recommend staying away from poison for the time being—actually just stay away from poison in general. Nasty stuff, that.” She then darted off to catch up with her double, aided by a Quick Attack.

The absol was very much confused by the situation. It looked between the opposing pokemon, much more wary than their other friend that lay unconscious on the floor. The disaster pokemon took a step away from the mawile, clearly unwilling to fight...alone. With a turn of their paws, the dark type bolted towards the remaining friend rather than the mawile. Two versus one seemed like much better odds.

Haine, in the meanwhile, watched the mawile for a moment longer. She lowered Zadira back down onto his feet. His paw was finally released...only for the grip to latch onto the back of his neck. A small whimper escaped him, but the lock tightened in response, claws digging past his fur and into his skin. "Shut it, Mog." she hissed, "Now come on." Forcefully, the zoroark turned the zangoose and forced him along. The two began to walk away from the mawile and company, Zadira completely incapable of responding.

Chevy caught sight of them, being an eye in the sky. His smirk faded. "Leavin' so soon?" he called out to the zoroark, though the question served more as a heads up to the mawile.

---

The gardevoir didn't respond to either of the Mocha. The only thing close was a quirk of an eyebrow as the zangoose suggested that the fairy type stay clear of poison. Yes, thank you very helpful. Despite that, Sana watched the duo depart. With another wave of her hand, the Gardevoir teleported out of the dungeon and into a much...safer environment.