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May 31, 2023 21:25:23 GMT
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Post by Raven on May 21, 2018 18:30:36 GMT
"Please, remain calm, Miss. I do not have all the answers you seek. I know only what I have been told. I shall endeavor to answer your questions to the best of my ability. First, the original Dreamers were chosen because it was felt they had the most amount of room to grow. To the enemy, they were an unknown quantity, and thus they could be molded into the saviors the world needed. You, Miss Leeda, and Miss Holly, were added because the enemy somehow found two of your number and eliminated them. Lord Darkrai's method of communication is... difficult to grasp, yes. It is unfortunate that you have been so negatively affected by the nightmares, it was not the intent. It was meant as a warning and nothing more." Her expression seems almost sympathetic. "For what little it may be worth, you are Chosen because The Creator believes in you; because The Time Traveler has been to a place where the Usurper was stopped, and you were there. If we did not believe you capable, we would never have laid this burden upon you. Our Creator does not wish for humanity to end. Humanity is destined to continue for ages to come yet, to work with many different Pokemon and bring our worlds closer together. For this to happen, however, the Usurper, whomever they may be, must be stopped. It is of vital importance."
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Nov 23, 2023 19:11:09 GMT
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Post by lichlord on May 21, 2018 20:48:17 GMT
That is... a LOT of information to process. She mentally skips over the first point and sticks to note that the Usurper and her allies found and 'eliminated' the first two chosen. She had not known Divini at all, but Clay and Tiki were friends with her, at least for a time. But the other is Sano...
"...Eliminated? Sano is... gone?"
Rei slumps down onto her knees. She had thought Sano was just doing his own thing for a while or got caught up with something. Or maybe that he grew tired of her like everyone else... Not... gone. She didn't even notice. She felt horrible. A tear streaks down her face, and her combination anger and sorrow makes the tear feel like ice and her face feel like fire. The moisture should have evaporated in an instant.
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Post by Raven on May 21, 2018 21:00:43 GMT
Celeste nods solemnly. "He and any others claimed by her can still be restored, but only if the Usurper is defeated. Only once her hold upon their souls has been broken can they be restored to life by Xerneas. I am truly sorry to have to deliver this news to you in such a manner, but now you know what is at stake here. Not just strangers out there in the great wide world, but also friends. Loved ones. I wish I could offer you more than these small words of comfort, but alas I cannot. I know only that you must seek out Xerneas, the Life Giver. Only their blessing can protect you from the Usurper's stolen power."
She looks as if she wants to perhaps offer comfort through a gentle touch, but Holly's now ghostly appearance combined with the malicious aura she's exuding as she clutches Honedge's hilt seems to make her think better of approaching further.
Holly: "You made Rei hurt again. Leave. Now. Before I make you leave. Nobody hurts Rei. Not Tiki, not this 'Usurper', and definitely not you." Holly's voice is tempered with barely contained rage. She seems like she's about to burst into action at any moment.
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Post by lichlord on May 21, 2018 21:21:54 GMT
Rei lifts up as more tears appear in her eyes.
"How?! How am I expected to do this? This 'Time Traveler' must have been mistaken! I can't even protect myself anymore, let alone any others! If can't have been chosen like the others... 'Room to grow?' I haven't grown at all! The nightmare was one of many things just piled on me and when it was too much I broke! Holly is the only thing keeping me together anymore! I've fallen to pieces and I've shrunk since the beginning! I feel even more trapped so much that I'm not fighting anymore and the second I head back I'm quitting my branch because I can't deal with the pressure of just THAT."
Rei just buries her face in her hands.
"Maybe at the beginning, when I was more confident, when I had everything ahead of me, when I hadn't realize my entire life before the guild was just SO more messed up then I could ever have known, when I hadn't failed everyone I've known... Maybe at that point I would have been ok with this responsibility. Now? If you are relying on me, then you are relying on a failure."
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May 31, 2023 21:25:23 GMT
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Post by Raven on May 21, 2018 22:12:29 GMT
Celeste continues to stay far away from Holly and her sword as she tries to calm Rei. "Please.. you're the only ones we can rely on. If there were anyone else, don't you think we'd have asked them by now? I can agree that Lord Darkrai's method of attempting to frighten you into taking action was a poor decision, but we can't change the past. I-we don't want to force you into doing anything, and I hate to re-iterate this, but if you do not act, if you choose to do nothing, then the Usurper wins and everyone suffers. I can tell you are in emotional turmoil from all of this pressure, but truly there is nobody else to turn to!" She sighs heavily. "Please. Please to do this. If not for others, then for yourself. You can do this. You can and you must fight. At least once more. After that, when the Usurper is defeated, then I pray you are able to lay down your arms once more and forever if that is your desire."
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Post by lichlord on May 21, 2018 22:25:11 GMT
"There 'must' be someone else! If I'm the only one then they will win anyway!"
Rei rubs her temples, trying to force her mind to calm as she's shaking now.
"I'm not quitting fighting myself because I don't want to, but because I 'know' it will get me seriously injuried or worse, even before I would reach any usurper. Everything is outpacing me and all my training is for protecting others. And eventually I won't be able to protect anything, and if I can't be relied on there..."
Rei looks down in sorrow.
"Then something tragic will happen and it'll be all my fault."
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Post by Raven on May 21, 2018 22:42:15 GMT
"I'm afraid there is no one else. I'm not trying to suggest that you must throw yourself recklessly into battle, only that you must stop the Usurper by any means necessary."
Holly still looks really pissed that this strange, Rei-hurting woman is still here. She reiterates her demand for Celeste to leave immediately.
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Post by lichlord on May 21, 2018 22:45:44 GMT
"Then I guess I'm just going to be tortured physically and mentally to do what others will of me. I suppose nothing has changed..."
Rei stands and turns from Celeste, unable to look at her anymore.
"This won't end well but I guess I just don't have a choice anymore..."
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Post by Raven on May 21, 2018 22:51:54 GMT
"For what it is worth, I am truly sorry that you had this burden placed upon your shoulders. Would that it was not necessary." Celeste vanishes, her task finished. Holly immediately drops Honedge (which merely floats in place) and rushes over to Rei, hugging her and trying to comfort her. She mutters something about hating these stupid 'Legendary Pokemon' and this whole thing. They had such a nice night last night and now it's all ruined.
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Post by lichlord on May 21, 2018 23:09:58 GMT
As she's hugged, Rei just sinks and the tears start flowing again.
"WHY?! WHY ME?! Why can't I make my own future?! This is just my father all over again, just someone stronger and above me saying 'you have to do this' regardless if I want it or not! And then I'm told my friend is dead and I didn't even know! I thought he was just busy with the poison branch..."
Rei closes her eyes and shakes her head back and forth like she's in denial.
"Couldn't they have at least waited!? Maybe just a day, even! I was feeling so much better after last night! I had the best sleep I've had in so long, and now I can't even think on it without remembering Tiki at the beginning, or this at the end! Does everyone just WANT to make me lose my mind!"
Rei wrenches herself violently out of Holly's grasp and leans head-first on a nearby tree.
"No. No, no, no... That's it right? This is just another bad dream! I'm still in bed with you right now and they are just messing with me. All I gotta do is wake up!"
Rei grips the tree and whaps her head into the bark.
"Wake up, Rei!"
And again, a bit harder this time.
"Wake up!"
Another two, hard enough so that the edges of the bark leaves red scratch marks.
"WAKE. UP."
Another one, a loud audible crack of some of the bark breaking on impact with Rei's head.
"WAKE THE HELL UP!"
When she draws her head back, a pretty decent sized cut has formed and blood is forming down Rei's face. Holly may want to stop this. NOW.
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Post by Raven on May 21, 2018 23:42:11 GMT
Holly quickly restrains Rei, holding her tight. "Rei! Stop it! You're hurting yourself!" She's on the verge of tears now, her blood boiling. "No, Rei. We'll stop this whatever-it-is, and then we'll hunt down these people for hurting you. We'll make them regret it. You'll see. They'll all pay for hurting you this way. We'll make sure of it, together."
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Post by lichlord on May 21, 2018 23:48:30 GMT
Rei tries to struggle in Holly grasp. Tears still streaming, flowing alongside the gash in her forehead.
"I just need to wake up! Let go! You are just part of the nightmare! There would be no way I wouldn't notice one of my friends was dead and that I was the only hope for humanity! I just need something to shock me awake! Then I'll wake up next to the real Holly like nothing happened! We'll laugh it off! Just another crazy nightmare! Hahahaha! Ha... ha... ha..."
Rei stops struggling.
"...This isn't a nightmare."
She just actively starts sobbing uncontrollably.
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Post by Raven on May 21, 2018 23:58:33 GMT
Holly hugs Rei tightly, stroking her hair, unable to do anything more for her emotionally. She briefly stops to fish through Rei's pack for bandages (barring that, she grabs the scraps of Rei's kimono to make them). After that, she returns to holding her until Rei either falls into an exhausted sleep or stops crying.
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Post by lichlord on May 22, 2018 1:09:01 GMT
After a while, Rei runs out of tears. She'd probably keep going, but she doesn't have any more to keep going. She gets up.
"Let's go. I don't want to be here anymore."
She leaves back to camp, and silently starts packing up.
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Post by Raven on May 22, 2018 1:12:11 GMT
Holly nods, collecting her ghosts that had apparently been surrounding the 'visitor/messenger' the entire time. Likely more than ready to rip her to shreds if she dared touch Holly or Holly's mate.
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Post by lichlord on May 22, 2018 1:32:23 GMT
Rei watches, and she cant help but stick on the last things Holly said. Rei feels the bandage on her head and sighs.
"You should have just let me bleed out. Then they'd need to find a new fourth. ...And maybe then I wouldn't be having these dark thoughts..."
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Post by Raven on May 22, 2018 1:57:07 GMT
Holly looks sympathetically at Rei. "But then.. what would I do? I can't live without you anymore, Rei. I love you way too much."
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Post by lichlord on May 22, 2018 3:01:59 GMT
Rei sighs again, finally finishing up and recalling all her worried pokemon save for Raido to carry her and the luggage back.
"...sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I don't want to leave you. I'm just.... not in a good place right now."
Then we'll hunt down these people for hurting you. We'll make them regret it. You'll see. They'll all pay for hurting you this way. We'll make sure of it, together.
Rei can't shake those words out of her head.
"Holly? What did you mean by what you said back there?"
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Post by Raven on May 22, 2018 3:20:10 GMT
Holly just looks at Rei. "I meant exactly what I said. If you want to, I'll help you hunt down and hurt everyone involved with these stupid dreams. Make them hurt the way they made you hurt. You asked me not to hurt Tiki, so I won't. If you ask me not to do this either, I won't. I just want everyone to stop hurting you."
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Post by lichlord on May 22, 2018 3:33:38 GMT
Rei stares off in thought for a while. She doesn't answer, just stays silent as she gets on Raido.
"Come on. Let's go back. Clay should know about Divini and Sano, at least."
With that, Rei starts heading back toward Saffron.
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