"Oh it's the bullshit forest. Why didn't you say so?" Maybe not the best way to word it, but he was from Johto and knew the war same as anyone else. He just hadn't realized – well. Blackthorn still had sticks up their asses about it even now.
Zoro huffs, turning another scowl on his legendary friend before looking around for a moment. "Well, that doesn't help me get out of here does it? I still need to get to Vermilion."
And flight on the bird was no help, they still got turned around a bunch. "No way we're gettin' there before sundown now."
The term 'bullshit forest' gets mouthed over beneath her breath with furrowed brows, but eventually Mona shrugs. At least he understood what she meant now..?
"No.. no it doesn't. In fact it means you went in the complete opposite direction—" That line of thought gets cutoff abruptly, hoping to spare Zoro any more turmoil over the apparent lack of direction both he and Articuno suffer from. Of all the pokemon to get him lost...
Mona's head tilts and she hums, thinking over their options. "I can walk you through the forest to Viridian, see if there's a motel or something with vacancy?" They could backtrack to Pewter if he preferred, but she needs to get home, too. Worst case scenario he ends up staying with them for the night, for his own apparent safety needs.
"I'm not having a tantrum –" He might be, a little bit. She continues speaking, and the legendary behind him leans down to scruff him by the collar in his beak, almost urgently. Zoro scowls when he gets shook by the bird, head tilting back to glare.
"If her directions didn't suck then were you leading us the wrong way?" he accuses, though there's no heat in it. The bird drops him at that, looking deeply offended right before he's smacked with an annoyed wing.
"Ow! Damn it – what do you mean the forest doesn't like that?"
It's a bunch of trees and dirt. Unless she means the pokemon inside?
There's no need for her to interject at first when he's being reprimanded by a legendary of all things, so Mona takes the opportunity to observe the dynamic between the two.
Now that he's calmed some, she can actually articulate better. "The forest is sort of.... like it's own living, breathing organism, I guess you could say..?" God, Mona is not the one to explain it to someone who doesn't even have a base level instinct to fear it. She has to peel back the layers of knowledge to reach back and remember how she first learned about it, face scrunching as she thinks.
"One might call it magical almost but I never like using that term. There was problems with people mistreating pokemon and nature in general in the area in the past, so the forest has become pretty insular to protect both. It needs to be respected. The paths are the paths, follow them and you won't have any trouble."
"I was following your directions!" Zoro scowls, crossing his arms as Artichoke looms behind him, looking both embarrassed and contrite. It's not an expression one sees often on an articuno. "Tell her," Zoro demands of the bird, who simply shrugs his wings sheepishly.
"See? We were following your directions."
So if he's turned around, it's her fault! "Did you give me shitty directions, then?"
Behind him, the articuno pressed the edge of his wing to his face, making a distinctly sighing sort of sound. It still looks sheepish.
"Wh— Excuse me?" She had attempted holding in the scolding mother attitude at first, but with his insistence that she was in the wrong, all bets are now off. Arms crossed, brows furrowed, not at all phased at the fact that she's having to look up at Zoro instead of down.
It doesn't take much to piece together that something went wrong somewhere with how the Articuno is reacting, Mona flipping between the two of them as she formulates what to say, still holding firm in front of Zoro. "How about we take a deep fucking breath before you devolve into a full on tantrum, okay?"
The action is demonstrated, inhaling slow herself as her fingers flex and relax before continuing. "Let me get this part settled now: this is Viridian Forest. You do not walk into Viridian Forest off of the path, or you will for sure get lost for an indiscriminate amount of time because the forest does not like people just waltzing around in it. And before you object—!" Because she can feel the urge from him to protest her knowing better radiating like heat off of a Magmar. "I know because I live right at the edge of it, and have for years."
A finger taps at her arm, allowing him a moment to absorb the information, sighing. "Now then, can we have a civil conversation about this or do I have to keep gentle parenting you like my 2-year-old?"
Chrysalis Long-Term Care Facility
Castelia City, Unova
There's an air of warmth and life in this building, a sense of healing — truly — that the limping of December's cheapest could never compare to. No hounding of a next payment, nor the question of whether or not it is worth if for her to be here, equipment consistently failing and needing replacement.
It's a bit nauseating, in truth. Perhaps that's what is accounting for Mona's restlessness, nipping and insistent like a hungry Toma chick.
"Mona Analise Coulter — for the love of God — please, sit down—"
The words aren't angry. Exasperated, perhaps; a touch of concern and disappointment mixing in as well. She had been flitting with the curtains again, fussing over her mother's sheets, refilled her water pitcher for the third time since she had arrived not even an hour ago. A wound ball of nerves and anxiety, used to having to provide assistance. A hand reaches out, cool, but firm.
You don't have to do that anymore... She had already been told that thrice, this time the words not even needing to fall from her mother's lips. A touch and a look, and Mona's shoulders are lowering, exhaling a breath that had clogged her lungs longer than she had realized before she's sitting. Knees pressed together, posture straight with her lip pulled between her teeth as if scolded. Her butterfree reaches to nuzzle against her folded hands on her lap, comforting, inquiring. Cora — her mother — chuckles softly. "See? Even your friend is worried." A pat against her knee. There's a murmured apology that is waved off, returning to their previous topic of conversation instead.
"I'm still shocked they let you come all the way out here for this, with how ragged they've been running you." The Earth Forces, requesting research and demanding answers regularly. Two months into this new detail and she is exhausted.
"I had some leave. I made it very clear it had to be taken today." Other than lack of sleep being among the first down here did come with perks, such as calling down other members of the immigrating population if it was deemed needed. Mona had used certain strings she had implemented within the correct people to get her mother transferred planet-side early. A better facility, the best they could find, with fresh air that wasn't contaminated with sand or heavens-knows-what micro pollutants linger in a space-faring ship. One of the facility's many Chansey mosies her way about the room, attending to different things. Mona's hand clench against one another, physically fighting the urge to stand and assist.
"I have to ask; Why did you choose somewhere so far from where you're stationed?"
"Huh..?" Mona's head reorients to Cora, having fixated on the Chansey who is now cleaning up some dishes. Clearly, she was not paying attention, perhaps even disassociating for a moment.
"I had one of the aids bring me a map because I was curious. Kanto and Unova are no where near one another. You trying to keep me away~?" A jest. Her mother hasn't lost that little spark of teasing quite yet. In fact, it's been stronger ever since they boarded the ships and her condition improved in the better care protocols.
"I— n-no, of course not—"
"I'm not blaming you of course, you have a lot of work to do."
"This was the best." Her voice doesn't waver out of embarrassment, not a word. It's clear cut and sharp. "I made sure to research all the options I could. This facility is the best rated of the regions among our expedition."
"This was the best..." Cora parrots, as if feeling out the words, their intentions. "Of course it is. I'd expect nothing less." Mona's head tilts, a touch dramatic with the addition of knotted brows as she studies her mom's serene face, eyes closed as a sigh leaves her.
"I am very proud of you, Mona. You do know that, right?"
"Wh—" Her back straightens, having leaned slightly closer to the bed to hear Cora's soft voice easier. Confusion grows, a heavy stone in her chest as she tries to work out just why the tone has turned so sentimental. "Do you not like it here..? I can find somewhere closer.."
"Mona." Squiggle flutters to make room for Cora's hands, the woman having shot up from her bed to reach both of her daughter's hands and holding tight. Mona's attention flits between their entwined hands and their mirrored green eyes a few times over. "Silly girl. This place is perfect, that's not what I meant. Can I finish now?"
She nods, quiet, returning the hold. Cora laughs through her nose.
"You don't even see it, do you? You've done it."
"Done what?"
"What you've been trying to do, ever since you were little. You didn't think I would notice, did you? Mother's always know, bug."
Mona's lips part, thoughts swirling but held back. There's a point she's attempting to make here.
"You finally found us a soft place to land. Your work got you and I onto those colony ships. You made it so that the ships could make their voyage as far as they did, tending to the plants. It was you that volunteered first to come down to the surface, to make sure it was safe and accommodating down here. It's still early, but if they let me down here surely they're gaining intel enough that the others won't be too terribly behind us now." Her frail hands squeeze Mona's tighter, the younger blinking rapidly; an effort to dam up the tears beginning to well.
"You always had this strong sense of justice." It's said with a huff of laughter, fond. "You never could let go of your brothers' deaths, your father's... Even the Plant. You've been trying to prevent that from happening again all this time, and you did it." The elder now has her own tears, but is not ashamed of them, allowing them to fall freely with another tight squeeze of her daughter's hands.
"You. Did it."
She had noticed. Everything. Her mom had kept tabs on everything that Mona had thought only she could at the time. Through her illness, their travels, Mona's studies, being apart for so long... All the things that a younger, more naive version of herself had deemed her problem to solve, her weight to carry in lieu of her mother who had been suffering so gravely. The stone in her chest crumbles, obliterating into a warmth bubbling up into her throat in a tearful laugh as if she had been holding her breath the hold time her mom spoke. Squiggle nuzzles in closer, ruffling her hair and cooing. Aria, her jigglypuff who had been admiring the view out the window, hops onto the bed to join in the mirth.
Micah and Miles would have loved it here.
"I did, didn't I?"
—
Cora's assigned Chansey later arrived to find Mona slumped over the side of Cora's bed, fast asleep with a Butterfree and Jigglypuff cuddled close, Cora stroking her daughter's hair and humming quietly. Safe, healing, content. The pokemon wraps her up in a blanket before toddling off once more.
Years into her Poke.Crossover verse, once Mona settles and establishes herself there instead of identifying as a doctor in Plant Sciences, she helps found a Poke.mon rescue and rehab facility based in Kanto. They track down leads or tips for those that are abused, exploited, or have otherwise dubious means of ownership and rehabilitate them. Some can be released into the wild, but most end up being re-homed under great scrutiny, and a small few never leave the facility. Some of the scientists that arrived with her are part of the efforts, otherwise it's an eclectic mix of various people and some volunteers.
"Don't got any dragons." He considers it. His gyarados is enough water type really, even if more would have been good for emergencies. But it can learn some wet moves, so that's fine. Dragons are cool. "I can work with dragons."
"As far as dragons go, these guys are actually extremely friendly by nature. They make excellent first dragon types!" Mona encouragingly holds out the one in her hands, the small dragon letting out a soft 'Goo—!' as it gets closer to Zoro.
"You could even try bonding with this guy here! We don't put them in pokeballs here unless absolutely necessary, so they aren't claimed technically. He's attached to me but that's mostly because I'm the one that hatched him. We've got a lot so if we can get a start on homing some, that'll be a huge relief..!"