Pokemon Roleplay Club of Awesomeness

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As Lychee and their mom were having their moment, Umbria noticed Lilli nodding off, their eyes drooping. Her eyebrows creased together in concern. "Lilli, are you okay?"

Lilli shook their head. "Oh, I'm fine," they said quietly.

Suddenly Lychee separated from their mom's hug. Umbria's attention shifted back to them. "f**k, if that's not the cheesiest thing I ever heard." They smiled, though there were tears in their eyes. "Thanks, mom. I didn't know it was because you worried about me."

Their mom smiled sadly. "Of course, sweetheart. I just get scared for your safety. I don't mean to be overbearing. I just get worried when you stay in your room all day."

She immediately got up and started to pick up people's plates.
"Here, help me get the plates. Let's go do the dishes."

Lychee gave a lazy half-smile. "Tch. 'Course." They got up and helped their mom get everyone's plates, then walked into the kitchen.

Then Gristle sprang out of his seat. "Okay, who's up for another round of Mario Kart?"

"Your mom is very special," Guinan said to Lychee before Lychee left for the kitchen. She got up, considering following them, but then she changed her mind, thinking Lychee might want a moment of privacy with her mother. Instead, she looked out the window, trying to see what Mars and Ki were up to.

~Flashback~

Mike floated weightlessly in a shipyard orbiting Earth looking over station inventory data on a computer. In the shipyard there was a large battleship docked covered in bullet holes visible out the window having barely survived a heated encounter and he was part of the hastily assembled repair crew. His mood was pretty bad considering that he had a trip to Mars planned on a space liner named the Angellica that he had to miss to be here, and his next opportunity to visit the Mars colony that his company created would be in 4 months when the Angellica came back to Earth.

As he works he overhears a conversation that catches his attention. "Wait, they are all dead? What was the cause? Oh no... This has to be the worst attack since 9/11." Mike stops what he is doing for a moment and hears a second voice: "Yep, all 2,000 passengers and 100 crew. The cause was some kind of nuclear detonation on the ship, and it was much too large to have been caused by the reactor." Mike's heart rate increases and he fills with dread as he speculates about what they could be talking about. Suddenly his AI Sam which is running on a computer on Earth establishes voice communications with Mike and says "You are going to want to hear this... The Angellica was destroyed by an explosion, the radiation alone was enough to kill everyone on board not to mention the blast, nobody could have survived that."

Mike's expression goes from worry to terror. He looks down at his robotic left hand remembering how he got it. "They were after me..." he mutters, "They still want me dead."

This was all my fault.

At the sound of the explosion, everyone got up from their seats and ran to the window to see what was going on. Lilli remained at the table. Gristle threw his hands up in the air as the others left him stranded by the TV. "Okay. So I'm guessing that's a no on the Mario Kart?"

"What the heck? Was that an explosion?" Umbria marveled. She pointed up at the ship in the sky right as a colorful fireball took a chunk out of its side. "What the heck even caused it?"

Meanwhile, Lilli was still sitting in their seat by themselves at the table. They hadn't moved at all since the explosion happened. Their eyes looked heavy. Their face looked... pallid.

"I knew those two were a disaster waiting to happen." says Mike, verifying that his gun is still in his pocket. When he arrives at the balcony he begins saying "Mars, what have you-" before noticing the crashing ball of fire in the sky. He noted that it appeared to be maneuvering a bit in an attempt to make a crash landing. Mars says "On the bright side, I can't think of any scenario in which that spacecraft could contain anyone we like." He then squeezes Ki and says "Also, you can keep your gun, I have something better now." much to the confusion of Mike.

~Meanwhile, on the crashing ship~

"What even was that?" says the alternate Mike, trying to regain control of the ship. "I have no idea, I've never encountered anything like it." replies one of the soldiers in the back wearing a compact Solar Alliance armored exosuit. Mike tries to get into a glide but since a wing is completely gone it just makes it spin faster. In an attempt to regain control he activates the thrusters, the left one just catches on fire from damage but the right one turns on and produces thrust. By gimballing the engine he manages to flip the ship around and burn at full thrust to slow down, turning off the safety and feeding more fuel into the engine then it was designed to safely handle to get just a bit more thrust.

The ship hits the ground rather fast, tumbling across the ground violently before sliding to a stop. Because of their armored exosuits the soldiers get only relatively minor injuries but Mike ended up being trapped under a piece of debris unconscious and quite hurt. The soldiers get him out and call in a medical shuttle from the orbital battleship.

(Bump. )

Ki looked up in the sky as an actual flame shot out of their fingers and went up and exploded against the ship in the sky. Then the ship started spiraling toward the ground. "Holy s**t. What the f**k was--?"

Their hand felt warm. They looked down. Their right were glowing orange... like heated metal. It felt like there was some kind of warm pulse pulsing through the right half of their body with each heartbeat, which originated at the ground and ran up through their leg and torso, up to their arm.

Ki's eyes widened. Why did this seem... familiar somehow? They couldn't remember where, but somewhere they remembered a voice that said: "Wayra."

~~Flashback~~

There was a heavy blanket of snow on the ground, and flakes continued to flutter down from the sky. Their younger self was kneeling by the ground, his gloved hands cupped together as he watched a tiny flicker of light floating above his palms. It seemed to dance back and forth in their hands, and the light grew bigger the more he concentrated on it.

Ki's entire being was concentrated on this tiny light, and he felt a warm pulse of heat run through his arms as he focused on the light.

"Very good, March," a male voice said.

(March... perhaps that was my name? it occurred to the current Ki. Oh, well.)

March looked up to see a man who was much older, stout and heavyset, gray-skinned, cold eyes. He was already starting to develop wrinkles on his face from frowning so much. His father.

"That is called the Wayra, and you will learn more about it as you grow older. The Wayra is the energy which runs through every part of the earth, the foundation of our society. I expect you to master the ways of the Wayra over the next ten years. You have a long life ahead of you."

"...Wayra," Ki said softly. They still didn't have a complete grasp of what it was, but apparently that's what that stuff is. They looked down at their hands, perplexed. How could they forget something like this? They pronounced the word again, though it felt strange on their tongue. "...Wayra."

They looked up at Mars and tilted their head. "Apparently that's with this energy is called," they explained. "I remember now. ...But how could I forget something like this?"

They grinned. "I must've been pretty strong. Apparently it takes ten years to master it fully."

Bump.

"10 years, ayy? Well, my next question was going to be if you could teach me to do that but I don't have that kind of time." says Mars, still staring at the smoke trail left in the sky by the ship when it crashed as it slowly disperses. "Ya' know, memories are a weird thing." he says as a tear begins to roll down his check. "Sometimes you can't remember what you wish you could and instead just remember what you wish you could forget..." He quickly dries his face with his sleeve and says "Cure these pieces of dust that land in your eye."

As Mars said, "Curse these pieces of dust that landed in my eye," Ki's eyebrows creased together in concern. "Are you okay?" they asked. "You can tell me about it if you want."

They turned around and motioned to the hotel's front door. "Hey, we should probably get back inside. The others are probably wondering where we are." They were silent the whole way as they walked the up to the hotel room. Ki and Mars looked at each other, but didn't say anything.

As Ki opened the door to the hotel room, they silently waved to everybody. Ki gave them a look that said, "Maybe we shouldn't talk right now." Everyone stared as Ki grabbed Mars by the hand and disappeared down the hallway into the bonus room.

When they got into the bonus room, Ki down on the sofa next to Mars. Concern was reflected in their eyes. "Yo. What was eating you back there?"

They looked away. "I mean! If it's something personal you don't have to talk about it. But... I'm just curious to know."

This whole time, Lilli had been gradually slumping forward, their eyes struggling to stay open the whole time. Their eyes would start to droop closed, and then they would shake their head and perk up again. They had been nodding off like this for the past half hour.

Eventually Lilli's eyes fluttered shut, and their body gave way as their head slumped forward onto the table. Thump! Umbria turned around at the sound. She stared at Lilli. They looked rather normal... except breathing was uneven, and there was a slight red tinge around their cheeks.

Umbria's eyebrows creased together in concern. "Lilli, are you okay?" Lilli struggled to sit up from their slumped position, but then they sat up and yawned. "Ahh... yeah..." They gave a weak grin. "I'm just tired."

"Are you sure you're just tired? You look kind of pale..."

"I'm just tired." Lilli interrupted. They looked out the window to change the subject. "Say, what happened just now? It sounded like somethin' was going on..."

~Flashback - Mars~

6 year old Jason Cornell sat in the electric car as his parents were driving him back from school as they did every week day under a large glass and steel dome and a red sky. The pressurized dome surrounded a housing subdivision which also had a swimming pool and a park. his mom asks "Did you learn anything interesting in school today?" and Jay replies "We learned more about Earth history, did you know they don't even need air domes or space suits there? I want to go there some day."

Up above them a space plane spun out of control and crashed into the dome. The steel frame buckled under the force of the crash and the glass shattered causing air to begin violently escaping. "Mom, what's happening?" says Jay, his mom replies "Oh no... Get to a bunker!" People all around began getting into pressure sealed bunkers under their houses. His dad stops the car in the middle of the road and helps Jay and his mom out. Everything started becoming more quiet as the pressure dropped and they ran to the nearest pressure bunker. His dad went in first but then the pressure dropped low enough that the door began closing leaving only enough time for one more person to enter. With only Jay and his mom still outside, his mom quickly pushes Jay into the bunker right as the door seals.

Pressure returns inside the bunker leaving Jay and his dad looking outside the window at his mom who had collapsed onto the ground, her eyes turned red as they looked at Jay and her veins became more visible. She look over at her husband and mouthed the words "take care of him". Jay watches with tears streaming down his face as she looses consciousness.

~~~

After sitting down Mars says "My mom died when I was 6, I barely remember anything about her except her death which has been burned into my memory. I mentioned earlier that I have seen someone die from decompression, our dome lost pressure and my mom gave her life to save me, I helplessly watched the vacuum suck the life out of her. I guess a few of the things you said made me think of that."

"Oh." Ki went silent after hearing Mars' story. "Oh. ...I see."

"I..."

Their eyebrows creased together in confusion. "I can't entirely relate to that as I don't have parents-- you know, I was created, born from a soul--" They gestured to their heart. "But, um... I have seen a friend die before. I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to remind you of anything. I understand how difficult it can be." They looked up. "Would you accept my apology?"

They touched a hand to Mars' shoulder. "But, um... something that will never disappear is... me."

Oh god, that sounds so cheesy! Ki thought. Why would you say that?? It sounds simultaneously selfish and also like you're kinda disrespecting his mom and saying "Oh, it's all about me!!"

"Since I'm kinda immortal, that means I can live forever. I will never die. So if you ever need anything, or if you ever want someone to support you... I'm here for you." they said quietly.