2024-01-23: A Visitor's New Journey
- Log: 2024-01-23: A Visitor's New Journey
- Cast: Timu Guado, Arisugawa Joy
- Where: Pallet Town
- Date: January 23, 2024
- Summary: Two young women connect over life circumstances that pushed into careers of being carers over their own dreams. One on the cusp of a journey of strength formerly unthinkable to the peaceful world of Energy Nede helps see a Visitor from a distant argent sphere embark on her own Pokémon Journey. Both their own self-determined paths begin in earnest.
===============================<* Pallet Town *>================================ Pallet Town is the southernmost major city in the Emerald Cape region. It's a quaint, laid-back town with an enjoyable pastoral atmosphere suitable to the elderly Nedean population. Pallet Town embraced the individual house and suburbia more than other cities in Nede, and some of its detractors call it a forgettable stop on the way to Viridian City and the Indigo Plateau. However, the sleepy town has developed a culture of developing Champion-ranked trainers, many citing the famous Pokemon Lab headed by Professor Oak as an inspiration when they were youths. BGM: Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee & Pikachu! - Pallet Town - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTXevD9ephA
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Pallet Town is having a quiet one. This promises not to last, what with the excitement about the rifts transferring some sort of energy to Phynal (the Ley, the Visitors would call it - and yes it's very, very, very bad that they're doing this). Relative to the general peace on the surface of Energy Nede (which is *all* surface), though, Pallet Town is indeed having a quiet one.
Timu Guado, one of the Visitors, is out by one of its pastures at sunrise. A wild Arcmene group spooked some of the local newly-hatched Psychic-type Pokemon they were raising over yonder overnight - which is a challenge with that part of the Pokemon ecosystem - and it's taken a few hands to get everyone calmer (and/or locate the two Abra that simply teleported away to parts unknown but infinitely more dangerous).
Timu has found one of them, having taken up the task in order to get some FOL, and that particular Abra has already suffered a handful of Tackles by a Pidgey in a Spearow-esque mood. Already, her staff is in her hands as she channels sorcery foreign to Energy Nede as a whole, subjecting the comforting warmth of the hearth to ease their wounds until someone catches up (and/or the Abra ends up Teleporting again, as is their wont).
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Pallet Town is something of a melancholic place for Joy; at one point, she did arrive here during her journey, and during said journey she also acted as an aide for Professor Oak in capacity, to help fill the Pokedex as is often the wont of Trainers on a journey.
Since her last meeting with Oak, since participating in the Rocket attack, those days feel like an era has passed and will never come back.
Joy arrives at sunrise to meet Timu, having promised to discuss the path of Training should she be interested in it. She's not dressed in the Rocket jacket, just her regular white one. But it looks like Timu's undertaking a duty as well, to help calm Pokemon in a shared ecosystem.
"... Abra are typically skittish, as they can peer into the hearts of people. The moment they sense any anxiety or threat, they teleport away. That they are still here..."
Joy smiles quietly.
"It speaks a lot to the care you offer to these Pokemon, Timu."
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Bit by bit, the Spiran spell of Regen gently brings the lost Abra's health back from the cusp of unconsciousness as Timu keeps her eyes closed for sake of not letting color and light cloud her spellcasting focus. Timu's applied technique is a credit to what training she did achieve before she took off from her homeland. The Guado may not be aware of the nature that determines an Abra's willingness to stay where they are, but it's almost as though it's not her first time doing it.
Joy appears, and Timu's eyes open. "Joy?"
Beyond the name, she doesn't interrupt her explanation. She opens her eyes to a snoozing, docile newborn Abra finding enough comfort to stay where they are, and how much that means in the big picture.
"I didn't know that," she humbly admits, her voice quieter when she hears the Abra snoozing peacefully as if in fear of waking them up. "Where I'm from, I'm one of the few of my people who can use this kind of magic." That didn't mean all with this capability were kind, of course.
Her father, an unknown example to Energy Nede but a vivid portrait of what someone so gifted yet capable of cruelty could do with their craft.
"We don't have creatures like this in Spira," she continues, coming down to a kneel with care not to move too quickly to disturb the snoozing Psychic-type. "The closest we have to them are called Fiends. They're born from the spirits of those who die in Spira, and most... they hate and envy the living."
"Even the few I've seen like that here," she must mean Ghost-types, "aren't much like that."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Joy thinks, as the spell takes effect, of how Timu is a healer; much like how she was meant to be a healer, but entirely chafed against it. Still, it is pleasing to see any living being's discomfort fade in favour of comfort...
"Do... people, or your family, pressure you into that role?" Joy finds herself asking, since it's on her mind. "That you have to be a healer, that you have to use your prayer magic for the benefit of others."
Timu shares the story of how creatures in Spira are made from the spirits of those who die, and they resent the living.
"There... are some Pokemon with that characteristic, but not to the extent that you describe it, I do not think," Joy admits.
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Timu keeps her eyes firmly on the sleeping Abra rather than in the direction of Joy, as if gauging the possibility of any sudden movement or discomfort. Even knowing some of the hubbub and danger that faces Energy Nede and everything she's ever known (and much that she has not come to know yet), there's a moment of peace here that not even the Eternal Calm has been able to impart.
'Do... people, or your family, pressure you into that role?'
Timu's shoulders square a bit. 'That you have to be a healer, that you have to use your prayer magic for the benefit of others.'
After the explanation about how some Pokemon bear that same characteristic as Fiends, Timu turns her head in Joy's direction, and nods her head.
"My people chose to do terrible things under a leader that threatened to destroy my homeland, and... so many others." She has never known the full details of what exactly he did in Filgaia, but she knows he did something just as rancid as what he intended for the Ronso and the Al Bhed.
"There's not much love for them in Spira, so... my father, one of the greatest masters of prayer magic, insisted I train further in my magic."
The Abra starts to wake, a subtle cue that Joy would recognize but Timu might not given how squinted their eyes always are.
"Just... even after all that happened, when that crisis passed, I didn't feel I had a place with my own people, or any part of Spira, so... I left."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Timu shares the story of her people, and Joy's eyes widen a bit. Her lips purse very gently. "I... won't pretend I even understand how it is, but it feels-- wrong to blame a whole people because of the actions of a bad leader, even if they were swayed under him," Joy finds herself expressing her thoughts, perhaps because it touches uncomfortably close with how much she looks up to Giovanni.
But then Timu expresses how, to make up for that, her father urged her to train further in her magic. And how... she didn't feel like she had a place with her own people.
"... doubtless, you now know of the journey a lot of Nedian children take. To travel around the Kanto region, befriend Pokemon, and challenge the gyms."
Joy takes her hat off for once; it's a bit peculiar to see her with her full head of pink, lightly wavy hair, tied to one side, perhaps.
"I undertook my journey five years ago, and I excelled at it. I became Champion of the League, after triumphing at all trials. But..."
She closes her eyes.
"One day later, I received a strong request from the main branch of my family -- the Joy family -- to resign and begin an education in nursing. Because... all Joys are known to be nurses, in Nede."
There's a sad little smile as she says, "I was only ten then. I didn't have the power or the knowledge of how to argue against an adult. But... since you are here now, under your own power, able to make your own dreams come true..."
She bobs her head. "What would you like to do, Timu? I'll help make that dream a reality."
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
When Joy tkaes off her hat, there's a flash of recognition in Timu's eyes. She never noticed how much Joy resembled the nurse here in Pallet Town's Center, or in a few other places as well. She's a captive audience as Joy relates her own feelings about her own recent history.
She's speaking to one of the very best Pokemon Trainers in all of Energy Nede, who ultimately didn't get to keep the path she wanted to choose for herself. (...At ten! Her younger sister was roughly around that age, if likely a bit past it, when the two of them made that heroic trek up Mt. Gagazet to stop their own father.)
"Just like all Guado are seen for their connection to the Farplane, and Fiends," she says with a bowed head. There's a quick appending. "The Farplane is where the dead of Spira go to rest. My people live where one enters it."
She might have a likeness to Damian, there, and maybe the people of Lavender Town at that.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't interrupt--" Timu catches herself. She's here under her own power, able to make her own dreams come true. One dream's already gone, in that no one plays Blitzball outside of Spira. (The Al Bhed like to mess around in Sylvaland's waters when they visit, and play Blitzball with slightly different rules due to certain physical realities of how long one can hold one's breath in Filgaian waters... but it's, obviously, not an organized thing.)
'What would you like to do, Timu?' A question she asks herself. 'I'll help make that dream a reality.'
It takes a few moments, but Timu starts to stand up to that spindly height she possesses as a Guado, but she's trying her best to keep a level look to Joy and not overshadow her. That's something her parents - and really, a lot of adult Guado - subtly did to impart a sense of superiority over youngsters going out of line. (Which, in turn, carried over to some inter-species snootiness since they were taller than most in Spira.)
"I can't go back, but sometimes I don't know where I'm looking," she admits. "I don't know how long I can even be here. The rifts that everyone's talking about are bad news, so... if, when, they go away, then..."
She shakes her head, steadying herself as both of her hands grasp her staff closely. She walked away from Spira, but not her gift proper.
"This isn't a world held in fear or mourning. Maybe that's about to change," it already has, with the Ten Wise Men's return spreading like wildfire, "but the Guado are known for bending Fiends to their whim. Turning all the envy and hatred against the enemies of the Guado, or... for those who just like watching them fight, rather than see them to their rest."
A talent she did not quite develop, compared to her father and especially her younger sister.
"Joy... I..." She stammers, some, to someone who might be slightly younger than she is if the math checks out. Her left hand parts from her staff to go to her chest. "I want to be part of a kinder world than Spira's, than..." Than what she saw of Ignas, with some of the venom thrown her way that Rille helped protect her from. "Than any I've seen."
Abra's still there, looking up to her. Alert, but not yet taking their leave. She takes in her breath, reflecting on all she's seen here - and the ghastly sights no one her age should have ever born witness to in Bevelle on that fateful day the Red Priestess struck, then levels her gaze to Joy
"...I want to go on my own Journey too."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Joy is rapt at attention too, as she listens to Timu explain the Guado and the connection to the Farplane. Where the dead of Spira go to rest.
"... the town I am from, Lavender Town, is also one where a lot of our departed go to rest -- both Nedians and Pokemon. Mia's family is intricately tied to that history... with all the pressures that comes with it too."
There's a shake of her head as Timu apologises for interrupting. "No, no. I'm fine with it." She doesn't know of Blitzball at all; if she did witness Timu play, she might be in awe all over again.
And she does notice, the conscious effort Timu has to keep level with her -- but she doesn't understand that there's gestures behind the merit. She thinks Timu is being polite, when she admires her full height, but doesn't urge her to do so.
But Timu expresses her fears of how the rifts might not last forever, but that she doesn't know where she's looking too...
"... I didn't even think about that. But it's true. Such portals might not be open forever," Joy admits. She's been so taken with the excitement of adventure she didn't realise it.
Timu speaks to the nature of the world -- how it's not held in fear, or mourning. Maybe it's about to change, but... given the qualities of the Guado with Fiends, she wants to be part of a kinder world. A kinder world than Spira, than Ignas...
Joy takes the full weight of these considerations in, and then she eventually calls Rotom Phone, and accesses what looks like a holographic UI. The images of various Pokemon, some of which Timu has seen, others she has not, come into view. Then she rests her eyes on one in particular and takes it out -- and out comes a Pokeball, physically, in manifest.
She gently sets the ball, and out comes a Fuecoco -- a red little apple-like dinosaur being.
"I am not a professor, and this is not exactly standard for Nedian customs... but... if it is true that our worlds might not be connected forever, then would you accept a gift of a Pokemon of mine, to raise?"
Fuecoco lets out a soft little noise, as Joy explains, "This is Fuecoco. They are very young, and I just received them from the daycare a few days ago. I'm certain they would be excited to be part of your world too, Timu. And in that way..."
She glances aside.
"If the time does come that we must part, then, perhaps, this can be a way we can remember each other."
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Timu is from a society where so many things can take solid form from pyreflies, and so many moments in time are captured to be replayed over and over by the same phenomena. Her freed hand goes up to her mouth as she watches Joy create that flat, moving, interactable image like it were a magic beyond her ken.
Moreso when a full red-and-white spherical object - a Pokeball - is set down on the ground, fully three-dimensional and existing in this shared physical space between them.
Timu gasps as the Pokemon that emerges, 0.4 meters tall, makes its little noise as the Guado locks eyes with it. She comes down to a kneel, setting her staff down and holding out her hands as if to--
She stops for a moment.
"Is it all right? Are you sure, Joy, I--- they're so cute." She coos, in that delighted way so many younger than herself have when they encountered their choice of their first Pokemon partner for their own Journey. Even though the Guado have never heard of Energy Nede, nor encountered creatures of this ilk... some things transcend cultural boundaries.
Traveling with Rille had imparted some difficult realities about the scarcity of food in the Ignasian Badlands (and much of 'Gaia' in general, as the people of Spira called the world), but these issues just don't rise past the novelty of looking upon something that isn't born of hatred and envy, but of a sincere desire to live and love alongside a world with so precious little left to defend.
Tears start to form in the teenaged Guado's eyes, having little frame of reference in how one reaches out and communicates to someone like this. It's instinctual, a raised hand out as if trying to pull from a string of sentiments cemented like an oath into being - but it's a nonsense gesture. Her hand is just too high for Fuecoco to reach.
She lowers it, both of them, down to the ground to invite them closer in a hug.
'If the time does come that we must part, then, perhaps, this can be a way we can remember each other.'
"...I'll... I'll do it. I'll take good care of them."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
There are many similarities between Spira and Nede, if one cares to look for it. The cycles that they are trapped in, borne from an ancient time of great violence; youths seeking to break out of it, and the society that was in control of it all. One more benevolent than the other, to be certain, but...
When Timu expressed the wish for an Eternal Calm for Nede, it meant a lot, certainly.
"Mmm. I've plenty to train and care for, and I wasn't certain who to take to this one, but... knowing the way you care for Hydreigon, I don't doubt you'll care for Fuecoco well," Joy explains.
She's quiet, for a moment, letting Timu work through a moment she knows is powerful and meaningful for her, as she kneels and embraces Fuecoco into a hug.
"I have no doubt you will, Timu," Joy smiles wider. "However you choose to be part of this world, I look forward to it. Nede is... Nede is kind to most people, allowing them to choose the pursuits that they'd like. I can scarce imagine the hardships you've been through, but, if it allows you to breathe and centre yourself for a time... then that'll be all worth it, in my view."
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
It's tears Timu wasn't aware she really needed to shed in the moment, as the little round crocodile-shaped creature ushers themselves into her hands.
"They're so warm," she says. Maybe a little too warm, but she doesn't dare drop them as she lifts them up off the ground into a hug. The firmer feel of the upper half of their face, like bone, doesn't dissuade her from treating them as something worth cherishing and being loved and held if they so desire. (In this instance, a few days old and looking for someone or something to imprint on, there is a desire.)
"Thank you, Joy, I---"
She has no idea where any of this is going to take her, but it's a Journey she wants to take. Meanwhile, Abra is still sitting there, and is starting to doze off again.
The sun's starting to climb higher, and with it, a new day with yet another Trainer ready to retrace the steps that someone here took five years ago to its ultimate conclusion.
Will it lead her to the same answer and desire Joy has? She's not thinking that far ahead. A part of her feels all right in not having to worry about that right now.
DC: Timu Guado switches forms to Pokemon Trainer Timu Guado!