Oneiromancy Is The Loneliest Number (Thel)

"You, like so many before you, have the ability to make the wrong decision. Some of it is the folly of youth, with a heaping sense of optimism and a dash of naiveté. If you will not shape this world one way, you will shape it another, and bear witness to the successes and failures your decision brought about."

Lysander reluctantly drew a PokeBall from inside the lapel of his suit and brought it to full size. "We don't belong here, so it was never my decision to make. Please be thankful for that much, Mizz Lucasta."

Lysander gave an assenting dip of his head at Thel's retort, into a half bow, his dominant arm swept across his front. "Show me that the strength of your conviction goes beyond words then, Mizz Lucasta. Rebuke me, if you can. Come, Xerneas."

The creature that appeared before Thel radiated a shimmering aura of colors as it revealed itself. A stark blue body with golden antlers that rippled with every color Thel could name and a few he couldn't. The world itself seemed to sigh happily at the creature's arrival, the wind picking up, grasses and trees becoming more lush and green, swelling with new growth.

Lysander smiles knowingly as Thel addresses his partners, but it quickly gives way to the profound sadness of someone that has seen far too much. "Xerneas, Misty Terrain and then Geomancy."

A wash of pleasant smelling pink fog ripples along the ground in all directions from the legend, through the boughs of the trees, along the spreading undergrowth. It rolled down the rocky outcroppings and settled over water as a morning mist might. Horns shining, the creature began drawing power into itself, strange luminescent bulbs, mushrooms in myriads of shapes and sizes, and lights of unexplainable origin appeared in the fog.

The fantastic terrain only continues to grow more ornate as the Pokemon finishes drawing the energies of the world into itself, firing a beam of coruscating light at Bliss, which she deftly bolts clear of, frost lining the grass where the attack passed.

Xerneas turned its proud horned head towards Thel, the sound of small, clear bells echoing through their link. Deep pools watch him steadily, pride in Thel, or perhaps of him, and a sense of kinship accompanying the stare.

Thel's apology, his concern is met with confusion, though its body is bathed in fire and subjected to the fiercest Bliss has to offer, that sense of love and pride only seems to grow. Flickers of memory, some Thel recognized, some he didn't, tickled along the link. Bliss' hatchday, her growing pains with her trainer and the love she had developed for him. Serenity's rescue from the spider and the battles they'd had.

It showed no sign of flagging despite the power of the assault, and playfully returned fire with two consecutive pink spheres of light, one that exploded behind the highly mobile Tsareena, and the second that caught her directly. (67 Fairy Special from Moonblast to Bliss)

Xerneas bows respectfully to Bliss, showing deference with a deep sense of respect and neither malice nor spite, walking the length of Serenity's stream of fire to consider Thel. A series of shimmering beams of light volleyed from the tips of its horns after Bliss, it once again drank deep from the earth. Bliss, despite her fatigue, manages to avoid the scorching rays of cold. Light gathers around the deer's body, swirling and dancing as it leans in to sniff at Thel.

(Type Refresh restores Geomancy, Power Herb makes it instant, Aurora Beam Misses as Splash's evasion boost remains till Bliss' turn. Xerneas activates Fairy Lights and gains 3 charges.)

Hesitation. It seems to be searching for something that isn't there. In the memories that came before there was a beginning, a middle, and now. The Pokemon cannot find where the life of Thel began. There is a low snort and it stands taller, staring down at him.

You are not of me. It seemed to sigh, attention sliding to Lysander, then the flower.

Every blow that lands, the creature clearly feels, and yet its vitality seems to be without limit. Its attention hardly wavers from Thel, even when its stance falters from Serenity's strike against its legs. The whimsy is gone from its emotions, replaced by pity and sadness.

The strange lights began to burst around it, and pleasant smelling winds lashed about and roiled the mist above the alien ground but none of the creature's attacks would find their mark. It knelt before Thel, head at eye level with him, laying as it now did.

Slowly it leaned in to rest its forehead against the boys, and closed its eyes. Lysander watched silently from nearby, making no comment on the sudden shift of things.

We know. To live is to fight. In life there is joy in success, and sorrow in failure.. The gist of the response came readily through the link, in flickers of memory. Courtship combats, pushing through sickness, scrounging food in the hard times, hunting mentalities. Guarding a nest from predators. Thel's own experiences are drawn on as paralells; Protecting Em from the Litwick, fighting Whitney for the status symbol, and Patience's trials with her new body.

To stop fighting, is to invite death. To surrender.

Xerneas cocked its head thoughtfully and rose, turning towards Lysander and picking a relaxed path towards the man. Thel had the impression some manner of conversation occurred by the shift in the man's expression. The link between the boy and Xerneas closed gently, as one might shut a door on a sleeping child's room.

"So it seems, Mizz Lucasta, I stood to learn a few things today.". Lysander turned on a heel and approached the device that would sweep the unworthy from the mortal coil. "Often enough, Xerneas shows me that of the two of us, I am ever the child. A test of strength is of no contest when one pits a mouse against a lion. Such encounters do not come to be, the meek so far below the notice of the strong."

He began to input buttons on the console, the top of the flower opening. "So then, with foreknowledge of what you face, you may have time, and my blessing."