ToT Intermission: Calm before the Storm

“Man, it feels to be outside again,” Keaton audibly inhaled the fresh air around him. After trekking through the scorching deserts of Ywaru Canyons and the swamps of Fever Flats, it was good to be back here. “Isn’t it a nice day? Birds are chirping, the weather is nice, and the girls–“

“Shut up Keaton,” Soleil grunted.

Keaton gave a hearty chuckle, walking in tandem with the newly evolved Combusken. Since they had returned from the battle with Gilgamarsh, a lot of injured Pokémon had been admitted into the guild’s care for treatment. While Keaton hadn’t taken any acidic burns from the marsh, he had taken a powerful Dragon Breath point blank. Honestly, a nap later he felt fine but the doctors (and Flora) insisted that he’d get rest and treatment regardless. It had been rather boring to be honest and he was genuinely happy to be out again.

Luckily it hadn’t been all bad. The nurses were cute and he had Soleil as a roommate at the time. She had suffered some injuries from that Thunder attack but he wouldn’t know given her attitude.

“Why so cold, Soleil? Don’t you think it’s a nice day?” He gave an innocent smile.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You left me behind after I tripped and fell!” Again.

“Okay, you have to admit it was kinda funny,” he chuckled to himself. Especially how she flailed around to try and grab something to hold onto. “And hey, I did offer to carry you around town.” If she hadn’t insisted she could handle this on her own he would have helped.

“In your dreams,” Soleil huffed.

She was still getting used to being a lot taller than she was before. And adjusting to having a torso now… And having arms instead of wings now. Okay, there was a lot for her to adjust now honestly. And it didn’t help that Keaton had taken advantage of her current predicament. At least, that’s how she saw it.

“If you say so,” Keaton shrugged. “Though it would help your balance if you didn’t have your arms tucked like that.” Keaton said with a raised brow as he glanced at her. Soleil was holding her arms tucked against her body as if they were wings. Again.

“Huh? Ugh, dammit!” Soleil growled as she relaxed her arms. “I can’t help it. It just feels… unnatural.”

“Just don’t think about it so much. You’ll get used to it eventually. Trust me, when I first evolved I had some trouble keeping myself balance.”

“You mean from all that body fat?” Soleil smirked as she took a jab at him.

“Hah! As if. What you see here is pure muscle,” Keaton smirked as he flexed an arm. He chuckled despite Soleil’s eye roll. “Anyways, we’d better hurry along now. Wouldn’t want to miss all the festivities.”

Ever since they had returned, the guilds had encourage them to relax and have fun for once. He missed the first couple of days thanks to his time being coped up in the clinic but no more! Now he could just kick back and relax for once. 

“Yeah, we don’t want to be late to meet up with the others.”

~~

“And that’s when I said, now that’s a katana!”

The patrons laughed some more to Saki’s story. Flora sipped her drink and smiled faintly alongside her. She honestly didn’t get the joke in the end but what did she know. As soon as the festivities started, the Wonder Room was one of the first place to be packed with patrons. Regulars and newcomers alike all joined in for the fun games and drinks. A piano was playing in the corner, people were around the bar drinking merrily, while the waiters and waitresses moved around with everyone’s orders.

Honestly it was a little too crowded for her tastes but this was where she was supposed to meet up with the others. As fun as it was to listen to Saki’s stories, she wished the others were here to join in the fun.

Speaking of which, she soon spotted Keaton and Soleil and waved towards them. She smiled as the two approached, though winced when Soleil almost lost her balance. “You okay?”

“I’ll live,” Soleil huffed as she approached. “You’re lucky not much changed for you.”

“Are you kidding me?” Flora looked at her with a raised brow. “I’m a lot bigger now and my neck wasn’t this long you know.” Sure she didn’t have trouble with her balance but there was much for her to adapt.

“Eh, fair enough.”

“Hey! You two made it!” Saki grinned.

“And miss all the fun? Not a chance,” Keaton chuckled as he began to order a drink. “Hey, where’s Jezebel? Thought she’d be here.”

“She’s playing a game of cards at a table,” Flora answered.

“Well, I know where I’m heading now,” Keaton said as he took his drink and started to head off to find that table.

Soleil rolled her eyes. “Think we should keep an eye on him? We could play a game while we’re at it.”

“Probably for the best,” Flora smiled sheepishly.

~~

“Read ‘em and weep boys!” Jezebel declared triumphantly. She took a swing of her drink while the other players looked at the cards she had slapped down on the table with dropped jaws. A royal flush.

“Dang it!” Keaton slapped a paw on his forehead. He groaned as his hard earned coins were once again shoved away from him. That was the fourth time today. Lady luck defiantly wasn’t looking out for him today. Saki cheered behind her friend as she watched the game unfold.

“Keaton, I swear you’d better not lose any more of our money!” Soleil was standing behind him, wings firmly pressed against her waist. Keaton didn’t bother to look back to see how angry she was right now. Flora looked away awkwardly. Perhaps now wasn’t the best time to mention she had gone on a little buying spree recently.

“Settle down shorty, this is from my personal stash. Besides, I’m not out of the game just yet.” He chuckled nonchalantly as he slapped her shoulder. There was a bit of laughter as Soleil flailed her wings too keep her balance. She managed to catch onto a chair and glowered at the Quilladin. He ignored her took a swing of his drink as the cards were being collected.

“Whoa, you okay there?” Saki asked.

“I’m fine.” Soleil insisted as she slowly got back up. “And you!” She pointed an accusing claw at the Coragunk in front of her.

“Me?”

“That’s the third time in a row. What kind of trick are you using?” She asked with narrowed eyes.

“There’s no secret, I’m just good.” She chuckled as she began to shuffle the card once again. Good at hiding her tricky methods at the very least.

“If you’re so upset why don’t you join in? Might win back what your friend here lost.” Jezebel shrugged as he continued to shuffle the cards back into the deck.

 “What do you say shorty?” Keaton smirked.

The Combusken punched his arm for that nickname. “Don’t call me that. And… I’ve never played before.” She admitted softly. She had some idea from watching Keaton lose but she wouldn’t even know where to begin. “Besides, with my luck I’ll just end up losing more than he already has.”

“You’re loss,” Jezebel shrugged. “What about you?” She turned to Flora.

“H-Huh? N-no thanks, I’m good,” She smiled awkwardly. This wasn’t her kind of game after all. And she knew better than to bet money on a game like this.

“Neither of you two are any fun,” Jezebel teased as she set out another set of cards.

~~

Flora had gotten bored of watching Keaton lose some more and settled for sitting at a table to drink in peace. While she didn’t mind the festivities and actually had some fun, she needed some time for herself to clear her thoughts. She had enough excitement from the missions already. She sighed as she thought back to those missions and looked down at the table. There she goes again.

“Mind if I sit here?” Soleil asked as she approached.

Flora smiled faintly when she sat next to her. “Where’s Keaton?” she asked with a raised brow.

Soleil shrugged as she ordered a drink. “He found a game he could actually win.”

Flora looked back when she heard another thunderous cheer, punctuated by a loud thud. She looked back at the crowded table to find Keaton. He was grinning broadly and flexing his muscles. Opposite of him, a Poliwrath was ruefully rubbing his sore arm. Money was being exchanged through the crowd, obviously there had been more than a few bets on the outcome.

“Arm-wrestling for money. Why am I not surprised.” Soleil said as her drink was served.

“At least he’s having fun,” Flora offered with a sheepish grin.

“Yeah, I suppose,” Soleil shrugged.

Neither said anything for the next few minutes: Soleil was busy drinking, and Flora seemed to have found something very interesting about the wooden surface of the table. As Soleil set down her empty mug, Flora finally broke the silence.

“Hey, Soleil?”

“What is it?”

“D-do you ever… I d-don’t know… D-do you still think about what happened these last few months? All that w-we’ve been through?”

“Sometimes.”

Flora looked down and avoided eye contact. “I-I can’t stop t-thinking about what we’ve been t-through. And… what happened when we fought G-Gilgamarsh. About what c-could have happened if help hadn’t slowed up. Or if t-they had been even a l-little slower. We w-would have died, failed our mission, and y-you would have been hurt, and–“

“You shouldn’t dwell on it,” Soleil said. Flora must have had more to drink than she thought. Was there even any alcohol in her drink? There had to be, she wasn’t this vulnerable. Not anymore at least. She had been making great progress.

“I can’t h-help it.” Flora shook a little. “Ever since we left Ywaru Canyon I’ve been trying so hard. I knew you’d be in trouble when we fought Gilgamarsh and did everything I could to try and prevent that.”

What was she talking about? “Um… Flora…”

“I j-just…” Flora shook her head. “I couldn’t stand to see you or anyone else hurt. B-but it wasn’t enough. I worked hard to l-learn a strong move like Moonblast, l-learned how to make p-potions and even e-evolved! But… It wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stop Gilgamarsh. I couldn’t stop him from hurting Keaton or you. I t-tried so hard but I s-still couldn’t stop him.”

Alright, she’s heard enough. Soleil picked up her mug again and slammed it down on the table with a loud crack, making Flora start in surprise. “For goodness sakes, Flora, snap out of it. You’re better than this!”

“I – What?”

“We defeated a dragon together, Flora, a god damned magically powered dragon. So what if we had help? Nobody ever accomplished anything like that alone!” She glared at her friend. “You’ve accomplished incredible things. All of us have. Hell, as awesome as I am, I didn’t get here on my own. We’ve all had our parent’s training or someone to help us starting out. We’ve had each other, we even had a damn miracle given how bad things got there. So what if you couldn’t finish him on your own. I couldn’t! No one could! But that doesn’t devalue what we’ve done on our own one single bit. We gave everything that we were so we could succeed back there.”

“W-well… when you say it like that…”

“You’ve done amazing work with the guilds Flora. You’re learning how to be doctor, learning alchemy, and making this place a better place. Just because you’ve had or needed help doesn’t mean you’re not helping make a difference.”

There was another long, awkward pause, during which Flora looked down at the table. “You’re just getting like this because you’ve had too much to drink, aren’t you?” Soleil asked.

Flora laughed bitterly. “Maybe. I don’t know if there’s even alcohol in this drink.” She admitted.

“Well, enough of that then,” Soleil said in a more gentle voice as she pulled her drink away. “We’re supposed to be having fun, not getting all depressed. C’mon now,” she said as she got up. “There’s a karaoke machine set up on stage, what do you say?”

Flora winced at the offer. “I-I think I’ll pass.”

“C’mon Flora, there’s not need to be shy. We’re all here to loosen up and have fun.” She offered with a smile.

Being shy had nothing to do with Flora’s reasoning to want to go up and sing with her. She’d be lucky if they didn’t get kicked out for causing a disturbance to the other patrons. Soleil didn’t look like she was going to take no for an answer however. Flora sighed before she got up with a faint smile. “I’m probably going to regret this,” Flora said with a faint smile.

Soleil grinned as she led the way to the stage. Flora followed behind, though less eager than her friend. Still, she wasn’t wrong. This was supposed to be a time for them to be having fun. She looked around at the other patrons and guild members. All of them were enjoying the festivities one way or another. Despite coming back from a very dangerous mission, many of them getting hurt in the process, they were still trying to make the best of the situation.

She glanced back at Soleil and smiled faintly. Maybe she didn’t save her from getting hurt like she would have hoped. But she was here, they all were here, and that’s what mattered in the end.