The Unova populace doesn't make much of this new Champion. She's young- and just as soft as the last one- look where Alder's softness got them; up to the elbows in another ongoing national emergency. There's no way this tiny little slip of a ex-gym leader would have the heart to enact what really needs doing.
And then the Plasma Frigate looms over Opelucid City, blocking out the sun and chilling the air around it- and then the city itself is under ice- alongside Black-White City too- frozen solid under meter thick ice kept far too cold to melt.
Someone is fairly certain they see Drayden shed tears, privately. But the real change is in that new Champion. A old woman sees her storming across Opelucid almost wholly unhindered by the icy ground.
A new-made widow sees the girl lock eyes with the Gym leader- a man well into his sixties- and tell- no, order him to leave. A young trainer who'd quite literally just gotten their Legend Badge watches Iris take off once more- chasing after the old man in purple ranting about ice.
Drayden watches the girl down a grown man his own age with a swift kick to the knees- and then near enough hold Zinzolin down with her own bodyweight- and proceed to silently bash the man's head into the ice until the frozen ground under him stains red with his own blood. He catches sight of someone recording- and he doesn't quite know why- but he stops Iris. She cusses, screams and kicks up a fit- but she listens. She leaves the man face down in a growing puddle of his own blood - crouches down and speaks a promise into his ear- and then stands, doing the crumpled heap of a old man one final indignity by spitting directly on him, and then stalking off once more.
Soon, the Unovan populace learn to fear this child. Iris likes that.
I was brainrotting over this post at the fatigue carousel so here, have a lil drabble.
"It wasn't even hard, Arcadia- Galactic did half the work for me towards finding the Lake Guardians."
Iris's fist is still clenched at her side as the child who... gods love them, decided they wanted to pit themselves against her.
A difference in ideals, she supposes. But it's got to be done.
"I'm sorry. Really. But if you'd seen the kind of things I saw back then you'd see things from my point of view. We're all rotten to the core, and humans will only end up tearing each other apart the second they start having differences-"
A hand is raised, and Baby-Girl draws herself up to her full height behind Iris.
"Though it is really sweet that you're trying to stop me. But listen properly when I say this - You will have to kill me to stop me."
Abel has always envied his sisters. They've got everything he's ever wanted almost naturally. Power, fame, respect...
But that deep-rooted jealousy doesn't change the fact that he knows his siblings inside and out. Orion's propensity for sour foods, Cain's soft, pacifistic nature, Mwindo's volumes upon volumes of handwritten fables... Athena's unattainable love for contact sports...
And then there's Iris. He doesn't see her in person often- but she used to be a carefree kid who'd rather spend her days helping dad in the gardens than in school. Emphasis on used to be. Iris scares him nowadays. She's still small and deceptively delicate looking, but there's something... horrifying behind those bright red eyes. Sure, it's always viscerally uncomfortable trying to hold eye contact with someone who has HESD - always has been, but... it's weird.
There's a cold, unfeeling sort of focus in her eyes. A look that tells him that this is not the same girl he grew up hauling out of blackberry bushes. Something that tells him that this girl... woman, he supposes, could watch the light fade from someone's eyes and feel nothing. According to Athena? He might be right.
Baseless hunch or not... He's got to be wary of his little sister now.
It's been four days since the disaster, and it is still icy cold in Opelucid City.
Iris has not slept since. She's tired, sure - but that doesn't matter. She wouldn't be much of a Champion if she gave up whilst her people were in the midst of a man-made ecological disaster.
tw for under the cut; mentioned animal death
You haven't seen Cherish since the blast hit- you've had a League Battle since - against that strange girl with the sailor moon buns and dodgy yellow shorts - and you'd really wanted him then.
The young Haxorus had always been prone to wandering off, you remember. A part of you knows what happened, deep down, hidden under layers of handmade apathy, wound just tight enough to keep you functional.
"Iris."
Drayden's hand weighs heavy on your shoulder, and you rotate a little in your chair. He looks... defeated. A look you rarely see in the grouchy old man's eyes.
"You should know. They found Cherish this morning-"
You can see it in his heart, mixed in amongst all of the expected emotions - Sadness. Grief. You reach out, internally, and pull at the threads there, uprooting the abject misery from his heart and tucking it away into the back of your mind for later use. It barely makes a dent.
"-He's gone-"
You saw it coming, really. But that doesn't stop how your heart twists, even under the tightly woven layers of protection. You want to scream - cry- do anything but sit here mutely as your world collapses around you.
"You can take some time off-"
"No. Nobody else here is resting. I'll keep working until I drop down dead. We've all lost something."
Something your mother said to you a while ago comes to you suddenly.
"You can't be lead by your emotions in times of crisis. You have to be heartless, over all. You must become a monster to protect what really matters to you, sometimes."
Nobody else is going to do your jobs for you, you suppose.
Siebold makes a mock concerned face, and hands her a fourth flute of champagne.
Diantha Hates social functions. She'd rather be in bed, asleep, ideally. Especially these dolled up events that she's apparently got to do for... Ugh, she doesn't know. She tuned out of the discussion twenty minutes ago, and she's decided she's going to try and get just tipsy enough to remember none of this tomorrow.
It'll take a lot of alcohol to get her remotely tipsy, but it's the thought that counts. "Sieb, do you reckon it's worth talking to Geeta about that exchange program?"
He shrugs. "We got a lukewarm answer last time... so I reckon your chances aren't high." Diantha does kinda feel sorry for dragging Siebold to this event, but all the Champions need at least one Elite with them. Which is why she also brought Drasna- but she's... uh, just spotted Drasna across the hall, arm in arm with her granddaughter Cynthia, conversing at very high speed in Sinnohan.
Well. "I'm going to pitch it to Iris as well."
Siebold pauses, nursing his first champagne. "You'd have better luck with Lance-" Diantha makes a dissatisfied face. "...or Leon..." Another dissatisfied scrunch. "Steven would probably take it?"
Eh, she supposes old Steve'o's interesting enough conversation, but she's more interested in breaking ground in Unova. She turns-scanning the hall for any sign of purple hair, and catches sight of Iris quite literally just walk up to Raihan, make... apparent eye contact, and say nothing at all.
The trainer across the pitch from her is probably... double her age and size, and his records said he was a fighting specialist? Someone's something Black Belt Kevin or something. She knows his name is something beginning in K, and that it's one of those jock type names.
"You know exactly what High level battling is like, and that's still the best you've got? There's no excuse here. Your records say you've been a professional battler for decades and the team you roll up with is three Machop. You applied for a Ace Trainer title, you do know that?"
Iris would go easy if he were a kid - but a grown man isn't getting a inch of leeway.
"Do yourself a favour, and go back to the drawing board. There's a program for adult trainers who need experience I'll refer you for. Follow me. I'll walk you out."
Iris can hear the man following behind her a bit too closely as she walks- and she can see it in.... Kodie's heart. Resentment. Anger, all coming to the boil like a pot on the stove. She knows he wants to fight her now.
She stops dead in her tracks, and reaches inwards- pulling at her own strings and weaving together something from the leftover scraps she's carried with her since the Crisis. Her eyes snap open, eyes sparkling with flecks of white.
One of the Patrol Trainers at the doorway recoils as Iris lets the air soak through with malaise, layered thick and seeping into the cracks in the floor
"If you lay a hand on me I can claim self defense."
A shaky nod, in response. She can see the trainer sweating bullets.
Public opinion of the Champion is quite mixed, as she expects.
"She's totally harmless, really - It's her pokemon that have all the power"
"She wasn't even that strong when she was 8th gym leader- I beat her easily"
"Oh? Iris? Yeah, chihuahua logic. She's small and compact so she probably packs more of a punch than she should."
"That "Little sister" act is totally sickening. What does she think she's achieving by acting soft? Dragon specialists aren't meant to be cute-"
But she expects that none of theese people on social media actually, like, know her - or as much as one can know their next door neighbour. She's had the flat next to Iris for years now - and she'd like to think she sees somewhat behind the "Champion of Unova" act she has going most of the time. Sometimes Iris doesn't leave her flat for weeks - only to tumble out with dark circles etched under her eyes and a few new bruises.
She caught her like this yesterday - when she was taking the bins out, she thinks, and when she called out to the young woman she's fairly certain Iris jumps halfway out of her skin, and when she turns around to face her there's...a odd sort of unreadable cold fury in her red eyes for a split second - and then it's gone. She's beaming when she greets her, apparently mustering the last dregs of her energy.
She sees Iris again in the morning when she leaves for the day, and it's like a whole different person. Put together, braids fixed, no more slept-in makeup.
