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The thrill of the battle had worn off by now, leaving Devi feeling a bit a worn and battered, but they'd decided to continue travelling while still on a buzz and the wisps of mist announcing the Ruins were already coiling through the landscape around them as stray waysigns. She was still happy and she could make the trek, as could Batsen, no doubt, but the desire had morphed into wanting to have a nice sit down and a cup of tea rather than prolonged travel.
Mid-stride, Devi pauses, uttering a soft curse without losing her overall content composure, and a moment later sees her tug at one boot, grumbling quietly. “I swear, I have never understood how stones get into shoes,” she explains the brief interlude, shaking the boot until the offending nodule escapes it, only to tug it back onto the foot and straighten herself back out.
They haven't spoken about their battles yet - it seemed awkward at first for the sheer exhilaration it had brought them to have won and then it had become awkward because of the time that had passed, but now that she'd broken the silence…? “For that matter, I don't think I understand why Cecile was so irritated at you, either,” Devi comments, evidently staying on the 'things I don't understand' train of thought. “If she's willing to pull a REVERSAL on your Houndoom, it's a bit hypocritical of her to get up in arms about a FLAMETHROWER.”
Batsen cringes as he's reminded of that particular part of his battle with Cecile. “Can we not talk about that, please?” he asks. Evidently it's still something of a sore spot. Of course, now that the topic's been broached, there's not much for him to do but think about it - and a few moments later, he shakes his head and adds: “It makes sense. I nearly killed her pokémon, because… I don't even know why. Maybe I was just underestimating my chances of winning, so I used one of Jakuth's stronger moves to better my odds?”
“Did you honestly think the dragonfly would be anything but a thoroughly cooked crisp after a FLAMETHROWER?” Devi asks, evidently darkly bemused by the notion, but not to the point of holding it against him as Cecile seems to have done, shaking her head lightly. “But you've got the right idea - it's a competition, after all, and there's only one of two ways that can go: Either you win or you lose. And I see no reason to artificially increase your chance of losing by holding back. It's not like you told either of your pokémon to go back and kick the thing while it was down - that would be malicious. That I could understand getting her knickers in a twist about. But a single move?” She shakes her head. “Besides, she could have withdrawn the Yanma before the flames hit.” …that was undoubtedly true. The move had been wholly transparent, lest Cecile would not have instructed the Yanma to ENDURE the attack - and withdrawing was practically instantaneous. So… she'd been upset at him on a principle? Was that the subtext there?
Lips tug back in a light grimace at Devi's explanation - evidently there's something to it that doesn't quite sit right with him, though it's hard to find exactly what it is. Her final comment makes sense, though - he'd loudly broadcast what Jakuth was doing, and there'd been plenty of time for her to recall her Yanma. She'd had time to instruct it to ENDURE it, after all. “…yeah, maybe you're right,” he concedes, shrugging lightly. “Either way, though, it doesn't much matter now, does it? Jakuth's okay, her Yanma's okay, no harm done.”
Devi seems to have a token amusement at the notion that no harm was done, but it's fleeting and dissipates quickly, the soft hint of a chuckle coming with it dampened by the mists. Then, silence, her hands hooked against her trouser pockets as she saunters further along their path. They're sinking into the faded landscape, one step at a time. Her expression, capricious as it had been just before, slowly decides on a mood as her gaze dances through the landscape - one of concern. “…this place gives me the creeps,” she observes, though there's only marginal conviction behind it so far. Maybe they should have taken their chance with the mountain slopes or the river - not this exercise in mood lighting and horror movie set design. For a moment, that's her only reaction - then she's shrugging her rucksack off her shoulders and rummaging through it somewhat half-heartedly. Might as well grab the map and GPS, just in case.
As if prompted by Devi's observation, a shiver runs down Batsen's spine. “Yeah, tell me about it,” he remarks, hands burying themselves in his jacket pockets. “Remind me again, whose bright idea was it to keep going towards the Ruins?” he asks, shooting a mock-glare towards Devi.
As she stops to rummage through her rucksack, Batsen pauses, turning his gaze upwards. The sky's barely visible through the thick mists, and it's not long to sundown to boot. After a moment's thought, he pulls off his own rucksack, and starts searching through it, tugging out a small electric lantern. Given the stories about this place, they'll need it.
It takes her a few minutes to sort everything out, but then she's got her rucksack back on both shoulders, a slightly crinkled map of the Sehto in her left hand, and her hand-held device in the other, trying to gauge how realistic its current positional information was. Good so far.
They're quite a bit further into the Ruins so far, of course. Judging by the map, and the GPS, both, they've still got a longer, winding way to go. The urge to take a short-cut is strong, but easily combatted with the rational objection that they shouldn't do anything that puts them entirely at the whim of their tools out here. They might fail for any reason. They might be stolen. They might be damaged by pokémon. They might happen up on a nest of pokémon, for that matter, and then be in serious trouble.
With the subjective preliminaries finally sorted, something occurs to her. “…are you still writing that journal of yours?” Curiosity tinges her tone as she briefly peers across at Batsen as if he might be writing in it right now, ludicrous as that notion was, what with them being on foot and in motion, but her subconscious apparently won't have any of that logic business interfering with it.
With the lantern found and the buckles on his rucksack tightly secured, Batsen hefts it back onto his shoulders, and after a few minor adjustments for comfort and a quick flick of the lantern's power switch, they're off again. So far the lantern's probably not strictly necessary, but it's certainly better than the ambient light, even if it gives the mists that much more of a creepy vibe.
Batsen nods, and lifts his left hand to tap at the right side of his jacket, over his chest, where the journal and a mechanical pencil are stashed in an inside pocket. “Yep, it's right here. I wrote a quick entry in it while we were waiting in the pokécenter, I was thinking of writing a longer one the next time we rest.” His gaze turns to Devi, head tilting slightly in curiosity. “Why do you ask?”
The question prompts a grin in his travel companion. “You're making me wish I'd brought one along. Do you have a epic tale of our struggle against the Njoty gym leader yet, then?” she asks. “Because that was entirely epic, you realise. If this continues, you can write something that easily beats the dramaturgy of Lord of The Rings.” There's both humour and conviction in her tone.
Batsen cackles at the comparison. “Ehhh, I dunno. Tolkien was layering it on pretty thick, I dunno if I could beat out the master of 'dramaturgy',” he replies with a wide grin. “…but yeah, you're right, that was pretty epic, wasn't it?” he adds a moment later, gaze turning back to the path in front of them. “I mean, even if I just wrote about the struggle between Kirin and her Arbok it'd probably make a good story. 'So there Kirin was, trapped in the coils of his foe, the jaws of defeat closing around him…'” A pause. “Ooh, I like that, I should write that down.” After a bit of struggling with uncooperative pockets and trying to hold three things at once, he's jotted down a note in his journal - 'KIRIN - JAWS OF DEFEAT' - and stashed it away again.
“You realize, of course, that this means now we have to do the whole circuit, right?” he comments, grinning excitedly. “If for no other reason than so I have something suitably epic to write about in each city.”
“Honestly, I'd have harassed you into that if you'd dropped the ball, anyway,” Devi reveals with amusement. “I can do it on my own, but it's infinitely nicer to share the experience.” A pause. “So, what's the story on the gym leaders in our epic tale, anyway? They're clearly antagonists, so they should be just that, simply… more epically so. Demons? Crime lords? Evil overlords?” she muses, not at all bothered by the silliness of the conversation at this point. They were travelling to have fun and she wasn't going to let something as mundane as maturity get in the way of that.
The wide grin slowly shifts form, turning to a warm, sincere smile. That's really what all this is about, isn't it - taking a journey together, seeing the world, and taking delight in sharing the experience of it all. There's a pang of sadness to that thought too, wishing that Dejan could be here too, travelling with them, exploring the world, sharing their stories…
Thankfully, Devi's comments pull him away from those thoughts before they can drag him into morose cycles. “I like the evil overlords one,” he comments, a hint of a chuckle in his voice. “Maybe that's what the story's about, us freeing oppressed citizens from the tyrannical rule of the gym leaders!”
“Oh dear,” Devi responds, her tone one of exaggerated concern. “What evil ploy do we have to uncover? What clues have we found?” she asks, dramatically, passing the question to Batsen with a fond smirk on her face. Briefly, the expression is interrupted by another gaze down at the map and her GPS, then it resumes. “Clearly we should rest and hash this out right now,” she muses. So much for her token concern about Vereheq being creepy. Looks like she's all fired up again.
Batsen snickers. “I dunno, I hadn't thought there was an overarching evil ploy. Plan to take over the world, maybe?” he replies with a shrug. “It's suitably over-the-top, if a bit bland and generic.” He considers Devi's proposal to rest for a few moments, then shrugs non-committally. “Eh. I could rest or keep going for a bit longer, honestly, and hashing it out while walking is more fun. I can always write notes down later.”
Her expression morphs to a disappointed pout for an instant, then back into a grin. “All right,” she concedes. It was certainly more sane to keep moving. “In that case, let me see what I can come up with,” she announces enthusiastically and faux-dramatically. “Let's see, what do we know? There are eight gyms. There's no League on Sehto as on Kanto and Johto. We're on an extinct volcanic island. Vereheq is smothered in a permanent mist. You get little shiny badges for winning against a gym leader. I don't know. The badges are fragments of some legendary item of lore that can return Vereheq to its former glory or something along those lines?” she thinks aloud.
A glint of excitement sparks in Batsen's eye. “Ooh. I like that - or maybe the badges are the key to a secret shrine in the middle of the Crystal Sea, that… does something with the volcano somehow?” he ponders. “…though the only thing I can think of would be 'waking it back up', which would be pretty bad,” he adds after a pause. “Ooh, or maybe the badges combine into a legendary secret weapon that they don't want to fall into anyone's hands, lest they lose power over their cities?” This is getting sillier by the minute.
“Legendary secret weapon?” Devi asks, much as if he were saying something bland and boring, only to idle pluck the whip, inactive as it is, its strands curled up somewhere within its technological innards, out of her left pocket, serving as a make-shift hilt as it does - and a moment later, it comes to life, lightly glowing strands dragging across the uneven ground of the ruins, trailing mostly behind her as she walks. “Already have that,” she comments, darkly, lightly lashing it against the ground confidently a few times to animate the currently emerald-coloured, luminescent, but ultimately lifeless strands a little. A moment later and at firm press of a button, the strands withdraw back into the device much like a measuring tape.
✘ IN PROGRESS