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.

Mocha: [Energy: 1 +1 (Page) = 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 1 +1 (Page) = 2]
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Maxie couldn’t say she wasn’t surprised when the blue zangoose rushed forward to try and attack Roi. She would have done something to stop him if she wasn’t busy tending to Mocha—that, and she was sure Roi could handle himself. Which, he demonstrated quite well that he could.

Mocha, upon seeing Zadira knocked back down, injured, tried to get closer to him, but Maxie put her massive horns in front of her to stop her. ”He’ll be alright, Mocha, just hold still.” Mocha complied, but less because of Maxie’s order and more because it hurt just to lean forward.

Maxie continued as if nothing happened. ”You decided to split up while trying to catch a Pokemon that can create illusions and mimic people.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Her voice remained calm and level, but it was clearly a criticism. Roi’s team splitting up was obviously a terrible strategy; splitting up is what lead to this whole situation She had to wonder if it was simply a lapse of judgement or overconfidence.

”Does this zoroark outlaw have a name?” She was asking more out of curiosity than anything else. She had not familiarized herself with any local outlaws yet—something she made a mental note to do the moment she got back to the guild hall. She supposed there was the slight chance Zadira might also know something about the outlaw. After all, he seemed strangely familiar with the whole illusion tricks thing.

Roi frowned at the critical attitude he was given. Well, it wasn't actually an attitude. It certainly felt like it though. "Yes, we decided to split up while trying to catch a pokemon that can do that kind of thing...because we have a plan and precautions for the others to take. I don't need it as much due to one of my abilities, but it still exists." His tone became a little defensive-perhaps even haughty.

"We don't know the Zoroark's true name, but the name written on the sheet is "Shrike." Look-I can even provide the papers for it." He turned towards his own satchel and flipped it open. He rummaged through the insides or a moment before pulling out a crinkled piece of paper. It was offered to the mawile, though it would be very easy to see the contents without taking it. The image of a zoroark was drawn in excellent detail onto the front-though some of the features seemed to be exaggerated, such as the wide toothy grin and a much longer nose. There was a scar along the dark type's lip with a missing chunk of ear towards the base.

The most noteworthy part about it, however, was the date on the paper. According to the paper, the mission was accepted one year ago. It's an easy detail to miss, but a cautious and close look would make it clear. Otherwise, the entire document was official. Nothing about it showed any signs of forgery...because it wasn't.

Zadira, in the meanwhile, slowly and steadily recovered from the hit. He could still hear what happened around him, what "Voix" was saying and how Maxie was responding...or was she even Maxie? What if she was an illusion too? The thought frustrated him. His heart raced as he began to tremble. He needed to get up. He needed to do something. The zangoose slowly tried to sit himself back up, but basic movement proved to be far too difficult. All he really succeeded in doing was flipping himself over onto his stomach, so he could smell the dirt of his defeat.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Maxie was finishing up Mocha’s dressing when Roi pulled out the paper. ”There, you’re good to go.” She patted Mocha gently on the shoulder, then turned to examine the document. She read the entire page, absorbing every detail. ”Seems genuine—wait…”

The date was wrong. That, or Roi’s team was trying to pick up a very cold case—which wasn’t very likely. Even if they were, why would they go off a year old lead? ”Roi, this mission is something like a year old.”

Mocha was not at all interested in the page Roi was showing off—in part because she wasn’t the best reader, but mostly because she was more concerned with Zadira. She slowly sidled up to the zangoose, looking to see how badly Roi had hit him. ”You’re bleeding,” she spoke softly, as if she didn’t want anyone but Zadira to hear her.

Mocha still felt uneasy—like something was going to attack her from out of nowhere. Her eyes actively avoided looking in the direction of either zoroark. This didn’t help her growing anxiety; if anything it might have been making it worse. Who knows what they could be setting up out of sight? But she just as well didn’t want to see them—she was scared of them. That only made her feel worse. She was supposed to be a strong, brave explorer, but right now? She felt weak and afraid. She almost wished she could be angry like Zadira was.

The mawile's statement baffled Roi. He blinked at the mawile before he twisted the paper around and took a look himself, making sure to squint as if to make sure he was reading it right. When he finished, he looked up to the mawile with a confused expression, "Uh...no...? This is today's date. We got approved for it literally this morning."

He glanced over at Mocha as he noticed her grow a little closer, "Uh, Mocha, I wouldn't get so close to him like this if I were you. He might lash out...then regret it, cry, and try to run away." He listed off his predictions as if they were a step-by-step process. He was familiar with it, he'd seen the worst it could get before after all. "He doesn't seem to be all that right in the head either..." the breloom added on more quietly, more of a mumble to himself than anything.

The invisible birds that twittered over his head just about drowned out the sound of Mocha's quiet voice. He heard, but it was still a struggle to string thoughts together. His thoughts slowly and steadily wove back together as he registered that he was told that he was bleeding. He blinked, the dots faded out one by one. "I...I'm bwuh...?"

Once again, he tried to struggle back up. He failed, but he could taste the blood in his mouth now. He shook again as his muscles tensed up. Everything seemed so confusing and hopeless now. His breathing grew deeper as his claws dug into the ground. This was supposed to be a simple dungeon crawl...

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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”Maybe his head would be a lot better if you hadn’t hit him,” Mocha practically growled the words, glaring back at Roi before turning her attention back to Zadira. She didn’t care if he was real or not; she had decided she didn’t like him. She put one paw on Zadira’s shoulder, offering to help him sit up. ”Come on, you shouldn’t lie in the dirt like that,” she was quiet again; gentle, even.

Maxie was bewildered by Roi insisting that the date on the page was today’s date. It certainly wasn’t. She was then caught by surprise when she heard Mocha’s sudden outburst toward Roi. ”Sounds like someone’s picked a side,” she said under her breath. Mocha didn’t seem to hear her. Maxie turned her attention back to Roi, taking the paper and pointing at the date. ”Anyway, Roi, I don’t know how to explain this really, but this date is not today’s date. This is a year old—wait,” She handed back the page and picked up her bag, digging through it until she found whatever it was she was looking for.

”Here, this is the document from my first mission from a few days ago. Compare the dates.” Just like Roi’s, the paper was genuine, though the details were obviously quite different; the most notable, however, was the date. Just as Maxie had said, it was nearly a year forward from Roi’s.

”I don’t know what this means—if you’re just confused or if something really strange is happening, but I assure you that document is real.”

Roi was taken aback by Mocha's hostility. He didn't see any reason for it, after all, Zadira was not only the one to start it, but was absolutely not going to let up until Roi did something. Sure there was spore, but then the process would just repeat itself. It's not like Zadira was going to die from it anyways...

His attention was drawn back to the mawile before he could make any further comment to defend himself. The mawile provided another document to him. He lowered his head down to look at the document, a concentrated squint focused on the page. He studied it for a good long moment, before he looked back up to the mawile with a concerned look. "It...says the same thing," he pointed out to the mawile.

Surely enough, the date on Maxie's document said the same thing. It absolutely was not what it was when the mawile last looked at it, but it certainly appeared so now and would remain if she were to look again. Roi glanced back to the zangoose duo before he stepped closer to the mawile and lowered his head to her level. He spoke quietly, words meant for the mawile's ears only, "Uh...look, if you're just trying to play along with him, it's...not helping. There's something very wrong with him here and we need to get him back before something happens like it getting worse. I won't lie, it's kind of like he's acting like one of those pokemon that just lose it one day..." His voice was low, but it held concern. Genuine concern. He looked to the mawile with pleading eyes, assuming and wishing the deceiver pokemon would stop...well, deceiving Zadira.

The zangoose felt a touch on his shoulder. His immediate instinctive reaction was to lash out at it, but all his claws did was dig into the ground. His vision blurred as his eyes turned watery. He tried to wipe the tears away, but his filthy fur didn't exactly help much. Covered in grime, blood, and dirt, he was awfully in need of a bath. He could hear Mocha's voice. All he could do was pray that she wasn't an illusion. He'd dared to let go, so now he wasn't sure any more. What did Voix even want from him?

He wobbled on his paws, not daring enough to hop onto his hind legs and stand. At the very least, he managed to somewhat contribute to the conversation in the form of hushed repetitive whispers, "H-He's dead. Roi's dead. Caritas too. He killed them both. They can't be alive. H-He's toying with me." Was this pathetic little display what that wretched zoroark wanted?

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Maxie turned the document back towards her. ”What—” It had changed. She was beginning to grow quite frustrated with the situation. She glanced at one zoroark, then the other. They both appeared unconscious, but how would she really know?

”Roi, listen. I agree that Zadira needs help—and I’d really like to get Mocha out of here, too. But I swear there is something else going on here. These dates are wrong.” She glanced over at Zadira and Mocha, then turned back to Roi and spoke in a hushed tone. ”... But even if we ignore the fact that something is still messing with us, what exactly is your plan? Mocha can maybe move on her own for a bit, but Zadira isn’t going to want to go anywhere with you.”

She wanted to get to the bottom of this situation; the confusion of it all was driving her mad. Still, though, Roi was right about the blue zangoose—at least in that he seemed quite off. She also wanted to get everyone alway from the zoroark, and get Mocha somewhere safe.

… And maybe away from Zadira, just in case.

The red zangoose listened to Zadira, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. She believed him when he said Caritas was dead, and based on what hse was hearing from Maxie’s conversation with Roi, she was starting to suspect Roi—the Roi that was with them—was at the very least not the one Zadira knew. This worried her. If the breloom turned on them, they wouldn’t be able to do much about it. Maxie was in the best shape of any of them and, while quite strong, Mocha suspected Roi was stronger.

She did have to wonder who this “he” was that Zadira was whispering about. Anther zoroark, she imagined. He seemed all too familiar with them. She almost brought herself to ask, but refrained. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Roi's expression was all kinds of twisted with confusion and concern. He listened to the mawile, but he had a hard time believing. He glanced back to Mocha and Zadira as the mawile did before he looked back and met the mawile's gaze. His response was swift, "My plan is that I could carry Mocha. It might not be all that fun for her, but it'll get us moving. We can't stay here with those zoroark around, they could wake up...and I don't know about you two, but i'm no killer."

"If we find either of my teammates, we could get you home-no matter which we find first. My fearow partner could definitely find Couper faster than us and finding Couper cuts out the middle man. You three use an escape orb-..." He paused, as he suddenly noticed some error in his plan. He gave a thoughtful hum as his gaze drifted off in thought. He looked back up to the mawile, "You two use an escape orb. Z can stay with us until we finish the mission. We can handle him, we've done it before-plenty of times. You get your friend help and when we're done with the mission, I'll bring Z back to Caritas...then a psychiatric."

"We're just going to have to prove it to him that there's something wrong with him and that I'm me and I'm here. Which shouldn't be too hard. He hardly listens when he's angry, but it's not like he's deaf...and feeding into whatever delusion he's got going on isn't going to help." The breloom frowned, uncertain himself of the situation. He looked to the mawile with hopeful eyes, praying that despite her apparent belief that the date was wrong, that she'd be cooperative.

The ferret didn't move. He fell silent, but he wasn't exactly listening to the mawile and breloom's conversation any more. They were deemed unimportant now that he was no longer certain of whether they were real or not. "Mocha" was still touching him. He didn't know if she was real or not, but he had no choice but to take the gamble that she was. He leaned into her, not really remembering just how injured she was. If it really was Voix then he was just going to have to accept whatever the zoroark wanted to do with him. There wasn't any way he could fight it.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Mocha beared the weight of Zadira leaning against her. It definitely didn’t help her, physically; it caused a bit of aching. Still, she was more than willing to help him—the other two didn’t seem very interested in doing so. She didn’t want to be upset with Maxie—she was her friend, after all—but the mawile seemed to be completely unconcerned for Zadira, perhaps even resentful towards him.

As Zadira grew quiet, she listened in to the conversation between the breloom and the mawile. She had no intention of letting the breloom try and carry her. When Roi mentioned that Zadira would be staying with him and his supposed team, she scowled. She definitely wasn’t leaving Zadira with him. The mere suggestion only caused her suspicion in the breloom to grow significantly.

Maxie glanced at the two zangoose. Upon seeing the two leaning against each other, and the look Mocha was giving Roi, she turned back to the breloom, her expression something resembling annoyance. ”Yeah, something tells me that plan’s not going to go well with the rest of the group.” After a brief pause for Roi to hopefully pick up on what she was saying she added sternly, ”And don’t you start thinking I’m losing it, too. Zadira’s fears are actually founded in reality, in case you forgot.” She nodded her head toward the zoroark to their side.

”And if this mission of yours is legitimate, that leaves a potential third zoroark on the loose. We’re not necessarily out of the illusionary woods yet.” Maxie didn’t fully trust Zadira; he had thus far not been the most reliable, and he had certainly attacked the wrong people. But given the situation, she could understand why he’d be as shaken up as he was—not to mention whatever messed him up before he even got to the mountains. Something involving this Caritas’s death, she had to imagine.

Roi, on the other hand… She wanted to trust him, but everything involving him seemed to come with a reasonable degree of doubt. The documents alone puzzled her, and while she didn’t think he had anything to do with that directly, she was sure it was somehow connected to him.

If his mission was legitimate?! Roi was shocked to hear this from the mawile's mouth. His head popped up as a look of disbelief overcame him. He was primed and ready to retaliate with some ramblings about his dignity as an explorer and how Faye was certainly going to hear about this mawile's "poor" behavior, but ultimately decided that arguing was not going to help his case. He had to remind himself that these three didn't have what he had. They weren't prepared like he and his team were.

His head lowered and twisted, a leg reaching up to scratch the back of his head just under the cap as he struggled to think of what to do next. They could warp the zoroark away-but then Zadira was just going to claim it was an illusion. Both of these strangers seemed very unhappy with him now even though he'd done nothing but help them. His foot returned to the ground with a frustrated "thump" before he sighed.

"Why the hell does everything have to be so complicated these days?" he grumbled irritably. He shook his head, "The fear that i'm an illusion, yes, that's founded. Saying me and Caritas are dead when we're both very much alive and well is not."

"If my plan is so terrible, then what do you suppose we do? I can't just leave you three here with an A-Class Outlaw on the loose and Caritas would be the one to kill me if I didn't do what I could to help Z. Couper and Voler wouldn't know to trust you if you went out to look for them and that's not even mentioning the danger that would come if you were to step out on your own. These two wouldn't appreciate being near me either if they're still convinced I'm not me."

Zadira didn't really do much else besides freeze into the spot near Mocha. His eyes squeezed shut as he waited for Voix to eventually get bored and leave. He wouldn't know when the zoroark truly left, but he imagined that some extended time of silence would be a good enough time to even think of the event. He began to notice just how exhausted he felt, both emotionally and physically. In the span of an hour or two, he'd swung between so many different moods and modes on top of being physically beaten. He can't imagine that Mocha was any better, not after what he'd done to her.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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This whole situation was insane. Maxie was out of her depth. ”I’m not saying your plan is terrible—it would be a fine plan if it was feasible…” She surveyed the area around her. ”I don’t know what to do. This is all too much. Things aren’t making sense.” She started pacing, looking around at the two zangoose, at the two zoroark, at Roi.

She stopped, and in a low voice, spoke directly to Roi. ”I agree with you that the best thing to do is get out of here, as safely as possible. I agree that something is up with Zadira, and he needs help. But I mean, look at him.” It was obvious he was exhausted. Given the fight and everything else that had happened, it wasn’t a surprise he was so worn.

”He’s not going anywhere. I think—and I know you’re not going to like it, I don’t either—I think we just wait. Either until these two are feeling well enough to move on their own or until you team finds us. In the meantime, we figure out what to do with the unconscious hostiles. When and where is your team’s rendezvous?”

She knew Roi wasn’t going to like sitting around. She didn’t like the idea, either, but she didn’t want to push Mocha and she certainly didn’t want to do anything that might provoke Zadira. He was, in a way, calm at the moment, and she didn’t want to ruin that.

Mocha sat, still and quiet, listening to the conversation between her friend and the breloom as best as she could. It wasn’t that she was particularly interested in the conversation so much as it was the only thing happening at the moment. It was a distraction. She thought Zadira might have been falling asleep on her. That was okay, he deserved a rest after everything that had happened. She was tired too, but she was afraid that the moment she closed her eyes for too long, the zoroark would show up, or the other one—the one Roi was apparently after—would show up.

Maxie was right, Roi didn't like the plan. His expression visibly fell into an exasperated look, but he didn't object. He didn't have a better idea. Well, technically he did, but the requirements to meet it would involve potential violence-something he wanted to avoid. The breloom glanced over to the two exhausted zangoose. It was very clear that they both didn't appear to look as if they were going anywhere. He knew Zadira could still walk. It wasn't going to be pleasant, but he'd been through worse. The fact that he was still ready to try and fight him just moments before was a statement to that.

He had to worry about more than just Zadira here though. Roi took in a deep breath as his eyes glanced up the mountain. He didn't look back down to the mawile, "Halfway up the mountain, just by Black Spiral Staircase's entrance. If we didn't find anything, we were going to check the staircase and the peak all together. The top of this place has a natural trickery going on, so even with our precautions, it was for the best for all three of us to head up there together. "

"If we can get to there we're guaranteed to find them...I have a warp seed we can stuff into one of the zoroark's mouths. I don't know if it works this way, but if we pile one on top of the other then maybe it'll take both? I'm not exactly all that familiar with items. If the other stays...well, I could drag it off down the mountain. That way, when it wakes up it won't be near us...unless Zadira has something else in that bag of his that could help us. I don't remember what else I saw in there."

Words began to weave their way into Zadira's ears. It was too quiet for him to ignore and his mind settled just enough to let the conversation back into his attention. He stared on at the ground as he listened, using Caritas to keep himself upright even though she was probably the one who needed it more than him. The breloom wanted to go to the peak. It felt like something clenched around his heart.

He mumbled quietly, so that the breloom could not hear, "That's where he died. All three of them."

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Maxie was suddenly struck by a realization, her eyes lighting up as she remembered something that would help them deal with the zoroark—then her expression fell as she realised a fair bit of the trouble they had dealt with earlier might have been avoided if she had remembered sooner. She reached into her bag and pulled out a spherical object.

”Here.” She practically shoved the thing into the breloom’s grasp. ”Spurn Orb. I’m an idiot. Should have used this earlier. Please refrain from berating me for not doing so.” Her tone was entirely emotionless, but her overall demeanor indicated regret and shame. The entire fight could have been ended the moment they had arrived if she had stopped for just a moment to think things through. She avoided looking at anyone—especially Mocha.

By the time she and Roi arrived, the damage had already been done. Still, she felt responsible for all of it. If she hadn’t gone ahead, she could have used the orb the moment they got attacked. None of this would have happened.

"That's where he died. All three of them."

Mocha couldn’t help but think about it. Zadira was certain Roi was dead. Roi was sure Caritas was alive. Zadira knew Caritas was dead. The mission. Maxie said it was a year ago. Roi insisted it was today. The peak. Zadira said they died there. Roi said the outlaw they were looking for might be there. Zadira knew who killed them, he had to. Was it the same Pokemon who killed Caritas? A zoroark? An outlaw? The outlaw?

”Zadira, I’m sorry,” Mocha whispered just loud enough for the other zangoose to hear. ”When did they die?”

...She had a spurn orb this entire time. The breloom couldn't help but stare at the item, entirely dumbfounded by the fact that the mawile had this item. So many of their problems could have been solved with this. The mawile sounded just about as ashamed of herself as she should be. While the breloom remained quiet, internally, he screamed. He took in a long, deep, and tense breath. For a moment, it almost looked as if he were about to say something about it. Instead, out came a simple yet strained, "Okay."

He turned around and started towards the zoroark that wasn't rooted down without another word. He didn't hear a single one of Zadira's mumbles, both through lack of attention and ability to. The breloom stepped over to the unconscious figure and picked it up by a single arm. Steadily, he dragged the zoroark closer to the other one. A swift twirl and the zoroark was dropped right on top of the other. He could hear one of them give a pained groan from the movement, which meant that they were just in time for this.

He gave the orb a light toss and caught it in his hand as he decided just how he was going to throw it at these two. After a brief second, he pitched it...right into the frozen Zoroark's forehead. The glass shattered against the its forehead, but before they could even hear a reaction, the troublesome duo vanished. All that remained was the steadily melting husk of the zoroark's cast Maxie made.

"Alright. They're gone," he declared, "No more illusion troubles for now."

Caritas asked him something. His head may have felt clearer, but his thoughts were still jumbled and all over the place-it was like an organized chaos to him. He didn't look up, look away, or do much of anything. Instead, he responded, "A few weeks before her," he mumbled a date, just a year before that day, which meant that it was the day Roi currently thought they were in.

"They went up and they died. Then I went up a-and he was there a-and he brought me back down a-and then Caritas-" he was starting to tear up again. It'd been a full year since the incident, but he never really did have an opportunity for it to really set in. Prison wasn't exactly the safest place to mourn.

Mocha: [Energy: 2]
Maxie: [Energy: 2]
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Things were starting to make sense now. Well, no, actually things still didn’t make sense, really. But there was something that made sense—something consistent. But the realisation that Mocha had arrived at was immediately pushed to the side when Zadira started to break down again.

She wrapped him into a hug—her desire to comfort him far outweighing the pain the movement caused her. She immediately regretted asking him the question—she knew she would when she asked it. The answer she received, despite its usefulness in trying to make sense of Roi and Zadira’s inconsistent statements, was not worth the effect it had on the blue zangoose.

”I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. You shouldn’t have to relive it—you shouldn’t have had to live it in the first place…” Her voice never grew louder than a whisper. It was as if she thought speaking any louder would break the poor zangoose beside her.

She didn’t know who this he was that Zadira kept referencing, but she hated him. A part of her wanted to ask more questions, wanted to figure out who this he was—wanted to learn every single detail so she could track him down and make him pay for what he had done. But a bigger part of her knew that asking more questions would only hurt Zadira more, he was far too fragile at the moment.

A smaller part of her didn’t want to know anything about this he, because she knew he terrified her.

Maxie slumped to the ground, suddenly feeling very tired. She didn’t realise how on guard she was with the two zoroark about until they vanished from sight. She sighed. ”... Sorry.” She wasn’t sure what she was apologising for, or to who, exactly. Forgetting the spurn orb? Leaving Mocha and Zadira alone, leaving them to get attacked? Doubting Roi’s legitimacy? Generally doing a poor job all around in this little adventure? Perhaps all the above.