Chapter 0 - The Game

"No," Shossk answers simply. "I will attemmpt the training now."

He proceeds to do so, directing the dartrix towards the training dummies again. As before, Shossk instructs the owl to strike where the enemy is weakest. The head and neck are usually a safe bet, but the dartrix should also look for gaps in his opponents' armor to bypass their defenses. Shossk drills the lesson into his bird's head over the next hour, even teaching by example at times with his bow.

As time passes the dummies accumulate more and more cuts, arrows, and razor-edged leaves.

"Hm?" Iris was a little surprised by the request coming from Yoko after the two went right over to their own thing. However, she was quick to smile and answer, "Of course I'll be glad to help, Yoko. Do you remember your first try at giving an order to Bang? That sort of pep talk is great for training, either at the start or the beginning, or even both. In between that would be putting what you say into practice." The explanation given was more specific than what she had said at first, but still quite generic. It was difficult for Iris to find that middle ground, but she tried anyways, "So why don't we try that? Let's give Bang a little talk about what he should think about while training and if anything strikes you as a good follow-up, then just go ahead and do that. Try whatever you feel like. Look at the others if you feel like you need some inspiration, and don't worry. I'll be right here to stop you if it looks like you're doing anything wrong."

"Target for aiming practice?" Iris asked, mostly rhetorically, as she squinted an eye in thought. That was certainly sort of vague, but she guessed that if Yoko didn't want a vaguely humanoid target, then that must mean she wanted a circle, instead. Iris thought of it and Yoko's target changed in response. The once dummy was now a circular, bullseye target, the kind usually used for archery practice. Except instead of four spindly legs that would no doubt give under the pressure of even one of the Remoraid's blasts, the base and frame of the target was solid stone that melded into the ground. The middle was... whatever the middle of such targets were made of. Iris didn't really know. She just knew it was sort of soft but mostly firm material that gave way under the pressure of blasts so that no one got hurt by ricocheting attacks. Once the edits had been made, Iris asked, this time not rhetorically, "Is this what you wanted?".

Yoko had been expecting Iris to create a human silhouette target, but the bulls-eye target would serve her needs just as well. "It's close enough," she replied, and she returned her attention to Bang. "Okay, Bang, see that target over there? I want you to practice your Water Guns on it. See if you can hit the center part of it consistently," she explained to Bang while pointing towards the bulls-eye target, glancing back occasionally at Iris and seeing her reaction.

Shossk and the dartrix simultaneously turn their heads to look at Layl, who was flipping out about a missing blade?

Shossk simply looks at her, looks at the exit, then back to her. "Did you lleave it in another room?" Shossk asks directly, not understanding the significance of a lost keyblade.

Shossk blinks. Was this human of noble birth? Was she accustomed to having servants fetch her belongings? He saw no reason she could not, even carrying her fox creature, search for her blade herself.

"Conntinue," Shossk orders his dartrix, before exiting the room.

It didn't take long to find it - the giant key on the otherwise bare floor would be difficult to miss. Picking it up by the stem, he took a couple moments to consider it. It seemed a very ornate, yet unwieldy and inefficient weapon, as though it were more ceremonial than functional. It had plenty of jagged spikes on the cutting end that seemed they would frequently get caught or tangled on armor, clothing, flesh, or bone. The dual knuckle guards seemed very impractical as well in that it would inhibit the user's range of motion. The human had called it a keyblade? Did its form serve some function he was unaware of, such as opening a giant lock?

Shossk inwardly shrugs, then returns to the 'field' room with the keyblade in hand. He holds it out to Layl. "You sshould not forget your weapon inn the future. It could be a ffatal mistake."

Layl smiled widely at Shossk as he came back with her Keyblade, He had assuaged her fears by getting it, the fear of it possibly not being there had made her nervous to fetch it herself. "Thank you Shossk, I was so worried I had lost it, normally I don't need to worry about that at all, but Al messed with my ability to summon it" As she explained that, she held out her hand and beckoned it to her own, The blade flying out of Shossk's hand and into hers.

She felt elated when it came back into her grip, giving it a test swing to make the familiar blade feel right at home. She then placed the fox back on the ground and looked over at Yoko. Eager to move on were we? She felt the same though. "I have no complaints about moving on, I had kinda a big scare while we tried training so I think it's best we move on and I try again later, so if no one has complaints maybe we should start the Zones, or whatever they are" Layl honestly just wanted to get to a point where she could experiment with her own abilities, and combat itself is the best teacher.

Nacht had denied Iris entry. Alright then, fine. She wouldn’t force it, not when Shossk seemed to reach the right conclusion. With the return of her exotic weapon, Layl seemed to return to normal. Shossk was good from the get-go. All that was left was Yoko, and she didn’t take long to get into the hang of training once she started. <Good. Really good,> Iris thought as she quietly backed away, <It looks like everyone will do fine by themselves.> Not wanting to interrupt anyone, Iris left the field room without a word and closed the door just as silently. Back in the circular hub, she surveyed her choices. The bathroom continued to steadily flood, so Iris tried closing the door and hoping that would reset the place. She didn’t bother to check, and instead made for the room designated with a picture of a bed. Back when she was most lost, she had found the beach a nice place to think and relax. Well, she couldn’t do that here. The others were taking up the training room, so creating a beach environment wasn’t an option. Not like it really mattered, though, any sort of resting area would do.

Once Iris walked into the bedroom, she closed the door behind her to ensure herself some sort of privacy. Within, the only fixture was a large, circular bed. It looked like a great place to sleep, but Iris wasn’t here for a nap. A little hesitantly, she fishes out the one filled Moon Ball among her belongings and with a practiced movement tosses the sphere onto the bed. Upon impact, the capsule releases its inhabitant and bounces back into Iris’s hand, where it remained, ready and waiting for an emergency return should things go south.

Curled up in front of her and just released from the ball, a timid black fox carefully surveyed her trainer.

Iris kept her lips firmly sealed and carefully gulped, bringing out all of her feelings so she could to terms with them and get over it while she was safe: the inner turmoil and latent fear of the Zorua seated boefre her. It was strange. She had been fine with Nacht, but every time she saw her own Zorua, released from a ball that looked so much like the one that used to hold her dearest partners, unease welled up in her. Maybe it was because of the Moon Ball. Maybe it was because she unconsciously held back from thinking bad of another trainer’s Pokemon. She didn’t know why. Just that two out of two times, she couldn’t help but but feel like this Zorua had done something terrible to the Pokemon it replaced. She always did have eerily accurate feelings, so it was strange to have to convince herself that the feeling of dread was just a feeling, but she had to. Everything else pointed in that direction, but just for a moment, Iris indulged in the inconsistencies her mind was so wrongly eager to accept.

So what if the thing wasn’t that? So what if the thing still had to evolve before it became that? So what if it was wrong to think of the entire evolutionary line as that just because she had some severely traumatizing experiences with one individual of the whole group? It was a conditioned reflex for a good reason. Actually, now that Iris thought about it, it was entirely possible that the thing she was supposed to just accept as a starter could be it. The it that threatened to kill her, her friends, and did everything in its power to manipulate Iris and her group. How many times had Iris been fooled by it? How many times had it been willing to sink to any depth?

Except, it would be wrong to continue thinking like such. <But that’s not it. That’s not the case,> Iris tried to clear her head, finding it much easier to set aside her fears once she had sifted through them <Turk and Amy are safe. The others… I don’t know but I couldn’t have expected to know what they’re up to now. There’s another Zorua out there. Am I just going to be cautious about half of our starters? If I start there, then where will I stop? I wouldn’t be able to do anything.>

Forgetting that oh-so-satisfied smirk on the Zoroark’s face when it picked its teeth clean after claiming to have eaten her friend and then the sadistic smile as it enjoyed watching her and her party jump at the slightest hopes and opportunities that it may have been lying was… an impossible feat. Iris had no choice but to acknowledge that she would forget. However, just the same, Iris had no choice but to acknowledge that if she didn’t change the way she saw the Zorua in front of her, then she would be deadweight in an unknown game. If she dwelled on the suspicion and fear ingrained within her, made no better by her certain knowledge that Zorua were well prepared for the kind of long con she feared, then she would be too traumatized to think of the tiny little Zorua before her as anything less than absolutely terrifying.

The tiny little Zorua, meanwhile, waited patiently. She was just a little scared of how her new trainer had reacted towards her on their first meeting and the silence that stretched between them now.

If Iris channeled it, she might gain some confidence in the Zorua’s complete innocence. The idea crossed her mind. It crossed several times, in fact, especially when Iris was around the starters of the others. Still, she felt nervous about it, abnormally so for someone who thought of channeling as like a second form of speech, a second language she had spoken since she could remember. Still she couldn’t hold it off. As she had thought before, <If this was a fight, then my hesitation could have killed me.> All uncertainties aside, this Zorua was most certainly her starter. Iris couldn’t see a way to change it, so she could only work with what she had.

Still, the Zorua waited patiently. She didn’t make a move towards or away from Iris. She just watched and gave her trainer the time she needed.

Iris couldn’t relax, so while standing despite the large bed that her Zorua took up only a small portion of, Iris gives the innocent Zorua a chance to earn her trust. She cautiously channels the Pokemon, finding the link welcome and accepted. From the bond, Iris feels that the Zorua has been conditioned to act docilely towards her, to treat the trainer Iris as a friend and partner from the start. It was the sort of behaviour expected from an ideal starter. The Zorua holds no ill intent. Iris… still can’t bring herself to completely trust the Zorua, but she feels her mind ease a little.

Feeling Iris relax, the Zorua toddles up onto all fours and poking her little nose towards Iris. Iris, in return, slowly approaches the bed until she’s sitting on it. She gives the Zorua’s nose a gentle boop with the tip of her finger. Iris’s hand retracts for a moment. Then, after having gathered her resolve, she reaches back towards the little Zorua to scratch behind one of her ears, a motion that the vulpine Pokemon seems to enjoy. Slowly, the distance between the two closes as the Zorua walks towards Iris until she could cuddle right next to her trainer. Iris sits stiffly, clearly uncomfortable, but she accepts the contact.

<Your aura, pure white,> Iris notices, <Like the light that covered me before I found myself here.>

She thinks for a while. She had always named her Pokemon after the stones she adored, choosing a stone based off of the color of the aura. However, this one time, she had an exception that was too fitting. ”I’ll name you,” Iris declares, her thoughts flowing freely to and from the Zorua, ”I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can accept you so easily, but I will name you because even… even if it’s you, I don’t like leaving Pokemon behind, so we’ll be working together for a long time. To you, who reminds me of the shadows that wielded a blade of dark within lightless caverns, I’ll name you Light, for that pure white light at the beginning of this new story that your aura matches. Light, I wish I could say that you’re going to help me find my teams… I guess… our team, now, but that doesn’t seem possible. Instead, if you’re really here to help me, then I hope you’re ready to help me learn more about this place and why we’re here.”

Even just a glancing mention of her old party made IRis feel even more lost than ever. She had learned what had happened to them, or at least she had learned what AL wanted to think had happened to them, but that didn’t make her feen any less lonely. In a whisper, Iris promised to herself, ”Amy and Turk… wait for me and make sure to take care of yourselves.” It was a vulnerable moment for Iris, but she did not terminate the channel with Light. Enemy or not, Iris would be trusting Light with this and more for the foreseeable future. If Light really was an enemy, then he had succeeded in driving Iris into a corner.

White, of course, could hear and feel the promise. The Zorua tried to comfort her trainer by cuddling even deeper into Iris’s side. She was pushed away.

With a deep, tired breath, Iris stood up. She turned to look at the Zorua she has so rudely pushed away just a bit ago.

Light lay upon her back with her stomach exposed. Upon her titled face was a quizzical expression. Iris could feel her thoughts translated roughly to, “What will we do now?”.

To which, Iris replayed with thoughts about training.

Spreading her stance, Light crouched into a ready pose, all ready and eager for the session, which she understood was to take place in this room. A little cramped, but she trusted her trainer to do the right thing.

Iris started, channeling with Light just like she would channel with Amy or Turk. It was a free form flow of opinions and images that demanded both sides to receive and give a lot of information very quickly, which by consequence meant a lot of what Iris gave and expected to receive was contracted.

Light immediately tilted off-balance. Iris hadn’t been asking much, just ordering Light to jump off the bed and fury swipes the air before landing, but the orders had been given like they would have given mid-battle to Pokemon who had grown up with Iris. There were too many details for Light, completely new to this, and she ended up tripping over just the information about the bed.

It was hard to describe what Iris felt. Something like frustration and disappointment except this was the result Iris had expected, so it wasn’t like she was completely frustrated or disappointment. Maybe… depressed acceptance?

Light rolled back up, raring to go again and get this right.

Iris didn’t try to stop Light from working herself too hard.

After repeated attempts, it became clear that the problems were two-way. Iris couldn’t really find the same inspiration and motivation she would have when fighting alongside Amy and Black. She found even less will to adjust herself to Light, like what she had done the few times she had needed Dot to assist the team in-combat.

However, willing or unwilling, 40-some minutes did wonders in mistakes eventually fixing themselves. A big part of it no doubt had to do with Black being made to be compatible with Iris, but with lots of hard work on Black’s end and gradual self reflection on Iris’s, the two synced with each other by the end of the training session. Turned out that black just needed some getting used to and a little bit of help from Iris, who eventually did ease up on account of Black’s honest work. Iris, on her hand, came to realize about ten minutes in that she couldn’t expect to instantly connect with a Pokemon she yet held so many suspicions over. In fact, even if she hadn’t been so suspicious of Black, things really were too different without Amy and Turk. If she tried to command in her usual style, her orders jumbled with her emotions. What did that leave her with, then? Having to find a new style. She cut down on her orders, causing them to lose a lot of the inspiring affection they once had. In return, they were shorter, easier to understand, and the information provided helped Light move, not exactly faster, but sooner and more efficiently than if Iris hadn’t put thought into her orders.

“This,” <This,> Iris and Light thought in-sync when they reached that eureka moment and everything fell into place, <will work,> ”will work.” What followed after was just more work and training to get the muscles working. The room was small, but that was perfect. Light was small, and the lack of space in the room just made it that much more crucial that Light respond to order with swift precision. Sure, the bed and walls got messed up and torn, but Iris figured that the damage wouldn’t last. Things that weren’t part of the core structure didn’t seem to last in this place.

After enough time passed, Iris stopped Light’s training with the feeling that it was about time for them to regroup with the others.

First, though, Iris needed to make sure of one last thing. When she channeled her own Zorua, she had felt from Light vague animosity to Layl’s, which worried her.

Light misinterpreted this worry, which had been about the cohesiveness of the team, as worry over whether or not she would be able to stand up to her pack rival in a show of dominance. Therefore, she sat herself up on her haunches and puffed up her fur to make herself look as big and threatening as possible while she let out a low, “Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,” to show that she was plenty ready.

There was a twinge in Iris’s heart at how cute Light looked, but also the unmistakable feeling that this wasn’t what she was asking about.

Light’s “krrrr”ing stopped immediately and, embarrassed, she curled down into a little ball, face hiding in bushy tail.

Just to avoid any possible future drama, Iris recalled Light into her Pokeball. The little Zorua didn’t seem to mind it when asked if it was okay to do so.

Her side already feeling a little empty--whether or not she was wary of a Pokemon being out to kill her, a Pokemon by her side was still a Pokemon by her side--Iris walked back into the central hub, closing the door to the bedroom she had just walked out of. With no one present, she walked a small circle around the room, looking into each of the gates one more. She didn’t bother worrying or looking for anyone. She was sure they’d all be here eventually once they finished whatever they were doing in the fields room.

Besides, Iris wasn’t sure which gate she would want to go through herself. Some of the choices were immediatley crossed out. There was a risk that the dark level was perpetually dark, so that would be difficult to tackle without a couple Pokemon that gave off light. The level with what appeared to be a volcano would no doubt involve the volcano somehow, and Iris felt that was just really unfair to Yoko and Bang until Yoko got more Pokemon. Similarly but in reverse was the level of water. Maybe Iris was just overthinking it, but she would much prefer entering that zone with a few more fliers or swimmers. That left suspiciously bobbling jungle, probably haunted castle, complicated machine technology land, and precarious city as the choices Iris would suggest for the group to go through. Out of those… Iris felt most comfortable journeying through the…, <Jungle. The jungle first.>

Well, she had an opinion now. Now to wait for the others to come out to the central hub, whether it was because they had already made a decision, were looking to make a decision, or actually noticed that she was missing. Her stealth was pathetic, but Iris was short. She couldn’t blame them if they forgot to look down to make sure she was still there.

As if right on cue, that was when Shossk guided the others back into the central hub, mentioning his own preferences. From whatever other side of the room Iris happened to have stopped at, Iris piped in her agreement, "I also think the jungle level is the best place to start, especially since Shossk has experience with these places. Aside from the weird up and down motion it has, it seems like the safest bet."

((OOC: Because I forgot to note it down, Bang gained 12 exp from the Training Session, and is now Focused until the next Extended Rest.))

Seeing both Shossk and Layl turn to leave the room, Yoko quickly hurries after the two, picking her backpack back up as she went. Once back in the central room, Yoko was surprised to see that Iris was already waiting there. When did she even leave the other room? Was it while they were training? Was Yoko really that focused on Bang's training that she didn't even notice that the smaller girl had already left the room? Pushing that matter aside, Yoko listened to what everyone else had to say about each of the archways while she herself surveyed each archway. After a while, she developed her own opinion on each archway, then walked back to the others to share them. "I'm going to agree with Layl on the castle zone, and I wouldn't mind the coral reef zone. The one I'm really curious about, though, is that zone." Yoko paused to gesture over to the archway filled with many mystical artifacts. "I'm not the only one who thinks that's weird, right? I mean, look! There's a jungle...? forest...? Whatever. A beach with a lot of coral reef and a nearby port town. A really weird, almost nightmarish city. A machine assembly line. A desert. A probably haunted castle. And a volcanic region. Why is there a dusty attic among all of those fantasy landscapes? Doesn't anyone else want to check that out?" she asked the others, showing a little too much enthusiasm to check out that archway first.