[//This post is offscreen! It takes place Yesterday (Nov. 25th) sometime in the late afternoon.]
Sol worked her way through a cave deep beneath one of Unova's impressive mountains. Her phone had been acting up since she entered, and her crutches seemed to want to stick to the earth beneath them.
Her feet crunched in the dirt as she pushed her way through the caves, ducking at the occasional Zubat or Golbat flying past the strange, glowing crystals that decorated the cave. Behind her she could hear Dashiela following her, silently examining the cave as they passed through it.
She cursed her luck. She was now lost, in a dark, damp tunnel, accompanied by the last person she wanted to talk to right now. She couldn't decide which part of that was worse.
How did she even get here? It was like everything simply stopped making sense. Earlier this year, she was still in school. She was on track to be set up for a full ride to a degree. She was among the smartest in her class, she had everything. Then the next she was homeless. She was constantly in and out of danger, constantly on the verge of death, constantly afraid, constantly tired. It was beginning to boil over, it was all too much. Though honestly, it probably boiled over a long long time ago.
At some point she turned around, after winding her way through endless repetitive caverns, and found that she'd lost Dashiela. Finally, a moment alone.
She pushed deeper into the cave, stumbling her way into a large opening, where, at the centre, the Black Dragon stood. It hadn't seemed to notice her, though it wouldn't take long for it to. She stepped closer, putting her crutches down, and grabbing a ball off her hip, carefully walking towards the beast.
"Don't try it.", a voice boomed, "I know you're there."
Sol stopped. Was- was it speaking? Could Legendaries speak? Sol had thought that was something only Guinivere could do.
The dragon turns, peering at her with one of its scornful red eyes. Sure enough, it opens its mouth and speaks, "What is it you want.?"
"Y- you..", Sol stammered, "You speak?"
"Of course I do!", it snarled, electricity crackled in its tail as it turns to face Sol fully, "I have spent countless centuries amongst you humans, it was only a matter of time before I figured out your languages."
Sol stood ready, her stance low and tense, and a Pokeball ready in her hand.
"You may ... relax.", it grumbled, "If I had wanted you dead, I would have killed you already."
"Not exactly reassuring. Besides, you've tried twice and failed."
"Twice? Hmm... I do remember you, yes. You're the same one who... that stone, it grants your Absol power, does it not?"
"The..", Sol looks down, holding the Absolite in her hand, "Y- Yes. Why?"
"I... am curious. I had not yet fought a 'Mega Evolved' Pokemon before your Absol. The phenomenon is new to me."
"Well she's in this Pokeball, and ready to-"
"Oh please, as if you weren't seeking me out. Defeating me is catharsis to you, but you want a fair fight, no? It wouldn't be a victory to fight an opponent who didn't want to fight you, would it?"
Sol gripped the ball in her hand tighter, "You... don't want to fight me?"
"Look at me!", it roars, "I am injured! Damaged! I am in no shape to claim victory. As much as the stones in this cave give me energy, I am a long way from a recovered state."
"Then... why not eliminate me now? Why let me get close to you, to a distance where I could reasonably pose a threat?"
"Hrmm...", it grumbles, stomping towards Sol, towering over her like a skyscraper. It bows its head lower, to meet her eyes, "And you would prefer I end you here? Now? In this sorrowful little place?"
Sol didn't say anything, but her eyes betrayed her emotions.
The dragon snorts, returning to its height and sighing, "You.. need me, do you not?"
"SOL!!", Dashiela called from some distance away. She'd heard the two talking, and had found Sol that way.
"Shit.", Sol grumbled as she turned to see her round the corner.
"Sol! S- Oh- oh my g- Sol-", Dashiela stopped dead in her , grabbing a ball off her hip and staring up at the titanic beast before her.
"Yeah. I know.", Sol sighed, "p- put the Pokeball down. He's... he's- chill."
"You know this girl..?", the dragon asked.
"Just- Traveling with me. That's all."
"Are you not... what is the word? Compatriots? Friends?"
Sol looked at Dasheila, staring her down, "I.. I'm not sure."
Dashiela tensed her lips slightly.
"Alright. Then what is it you sought me out for?"
"Well... I wasn't looking for you, actually, but I-", she paused, "We need your help to handle your... twin? Other half?"
"Y- yes. We need you to-"
"Defeat it!? Bah! We are evenly matched, we have never bested eachother, not once in our thousands of years of separation."
"But this time you will have Me- uh- Us at your side. We can turn the tides! We can-"
"And to what goal?! To WHAT END?!?", it roared, the lines on its body glowing a deep blue, "I have been used by ENOUGH trainers like yourself, each one overzealous, each one fighting for an ideal they were too weak to achieve! What makes you any different?"
What made her any different? What was Sol doing all of this for? To appease some chaotic deity? To eternally imprison the two dragons for her own sake? To save her own skin? What made her different? What signified her as the righteous warrior, destined to wield a legendary power during a time of crisis? Nothing did. She knew that.
"Because she isn't fighting for an ideal", Dashiela stepped forward, "She's fighting to save herself, to save people she cares about, to save people she doesn't know, from my mistakes."
"Listen, I- ... I don't know what it'll take to convince you to help us, but surely ideally we're worth saving too, right? Ideally this battle doesn't have anymore innocent bystanders killed, right?"
The dragon stood tall and grumbled, it took a moment to think before letting out a deep sigh, "Alright. You have my strength."
"R- really?!", Dashiela said, jumping up with excitement.
"However... grant me the rest of this evening and until the morning to recover.", it boomed, "Neither of you may catch me, may own or control me. I am fighting to finally end our battle. That. Is. All."
"That's perfect with us. We will.. wait outside? Yes?", she said, turning to look at Sol, who was kneeling on the ground getting her crutches back in shape.
"That's fine.", Sol grumbled back as she rose to her feet and walked off without saying a word.
Outside the cave, Sol sat some distance away from Dashiela, tapping a small rock back and forth between her feet.
Dashiela stoked a small campfire, cooking some food in a small pot over the open flame. She would occasionally peer around the fire, staring at Sol. It'd been a while since she last saw her eat anything that wasn't a granola bar. In fact she wasn't sure when she'd last eaten at all.
She ladled some of the soup out of the pot and into a small bowl, steam rising past her fingers.
She walked the bowl to Sol, and held it out in-front of her, "Here. You need to eat something."
Sol looked into the soup before her. She knew better than to fight Dashiela on this. She took the soup in her hands, letting the warmth seep through the bowl and into her palms and fingers, feeling the steam hit her face. A refreshing respite from the cold, whipping wind.
"S- Sol", she started, "Look, I... I know you don't like me, but can- can we work together, here? Get all of this over with?"
Sol didn't look up, continuing to bat the rock back and forth.
"Listen, I- ... I am sorry, I- I just-"
"Why did you lie to it?.", Sol asked sternly.
"Well I dunno, it feels wrong to lead it into thinking we aren't doing this with the ultimate goal of letting Hoopa capture it."
"A- and I mean you heard it! It's very insistent on not being held captive."
"Just- I- ... I don't like that we're lying, okay? I- It- There has to be some way to .. to take that thing out. I-... I dunno."
"That... that could work."
She paused to think, pacing back and forth for a moment before continuing. "If we borrow Zekrom's strength to help us take Hoopa down, we could prevent either dragon from being captured in the first place!"
She jumped up excitedly, and reached to hug Sol, but stopped before doing so, "You're a ge- .. nius... Right, yeah s- sorry."
"Y- yeah... thanks. I guess.", Sol sighed.
Dashiela went back to her side of the campfire and poured herself a bowl of soup, silently eating it, occasionally looking across longingly at Sol, who herself was clearly trying to stare down into her bowl.
Sol finished her bowl, and got up and walked off to her sleeping bag, lying down on her side and wrapping her arms around herself. Pathetic once more.
