~~~ Chapter 60 - Fun ~~~

Cresselia and Darkrai both stepped into their cart, slowly moving with a consistent certainty. The cart wobbled with their weight. The cart door closed shut, and the attendant they'd ignored took a breath of relief as the door was shut. The way it wobbled as they moved in was disconcerting to both—forcing them to rest on the bench, as their levitations caused them to slip in unnatural ways.

Cresselia, aware of additional attention they'd garnered as the would-be capturer had been tended to by others, held her human form as the duo's carriage was pulled up into the air with mechanical confidence. The experiment of their lives—live a little in the moment, soaking in the experiences for what they were or would be. She could feel the budding excitement of their so-called followers pushing themselves into her realm. As they always did any time either of them were spotted publicly.

Putting those thoughts and feelings away as they were lifted out above the water, her human form, with its full neutral, unpracticed expressions, leaned over to Darkrai, resting her head on his shoulder, feeling his dark, shadowy form through his illusion. The park would send someone, who would be waiting for them when they disembarked. That was for future Cresselia.

Lifted up above the city, up above all but save two attractions of the park, the wheel extended, carrying them further out, overlooking the water features of the lake. The light of the moon reflected off their human-like forms, leaving a glittering yellow-gold spattering in the waves of the watery lake. The gold glinting off the water met the shining neon and rippling water of the reverberating bass of the concert hall. They managed to tune out the vibrations of the carriage window and the waters.

The bass drops and blasts of beats over the air disturbed the water of Nimbasa's artificial lake as they admired the sight of the waning moon. They were lifted up, reaching the crest of the rotation of the man-made contraption, before being pulled back. Sliding away from the moon and the lake and taking their descent, the carriages of those who had gotten on the ride after them rose up and entered their view. As it had carried them up, the mechanical certainty of the rotating wheel also carried them down.

The beat of the concert hall grew somewhat stronger, though it was felt more than heard. For a minute, they had rested undisturbed, the constant turn of the wheel felt as inevitable as the progression of time. The door was latched open by an attendant, and they were beckoned out, where they stepped, taking a split second to reorient themselves on the stable, unmoving ground once more.

Darkrai had held his illusion—the form of a fit, twenty-something-year-old man, not unlike an amalgamation of some of the older fellows they had seen walking into the park earlier, stepped off their car first. Cresselia, still in her form of a pink-and-gold woman of approximately the same age, followed behind her partner, stepping down the platform, off the ride departure section. Cresselia noted that both Tyler and Selene had their arms locked, walking slowly, aimlessly out to a small line of food stands. The other couple was taking their time.

"I hope you two enjoyed the Nimbasa Ferris Wheel," said a tall, light-skinned man with broad shoulders and a goatee, meeting them seconds after they walked off the platform and down the steps. Emblazoned upon the man's suit, was the badge of Nimbasa Gym. Three pokeballs sat on the belt around the man's waist. There was a lack of pulsing static in the air of the beats from the concert hall that had been there a half-hour prior.

Cresselia turned her face and looked over at the guy, practicing the human emotion of surprise in her somewhat-unfamiliar human form. She chose to speak this time. "My partner and I did enjoy the ride, yes," she said, her face transitioning into a smile. She'd not felt the need to assume a human-like form in order to interact with humans. Not that she had ever felt the need to interact with humans directly.

With confidence, the duo strode off, away from the ferris wheel. The man, despite his calm demeanor, had an incredibly high heart rate. Far higher than Selene's had been. "Can we help you?" Darkrai asked, goosebumps popping out of the guy's neck as he spoke.

"Name's Jacob. And you can help me, actually." The man spoke. His voice held firm, despite his heart rate. "I have been assigned to help you, and uh, as someone who's followed your uh followers for a whi—"

"We brook no followers," Darkrai said, cutting the man off.

Cresselia feigned a look at Darkrai for being so "harsh". She didn't play it up, her face quickly reverting to its more neutral form. She was, and would be careful—as fun as the masquerade was, lying, even if they were fun lies, she didn't care to experience first-hand the results of mixing too much of her own cultivations with dark matter. She'd already seen what happened to others. Instead, she dipped into the man's surface. A soft touch of her psychic power as both her and Darkrai began to walk in the direction of their next challenge.

"I knew that you both rejected active followers," the man said, his thoughts complaining about getting his hopes up, internally cursing his leaders who had issued their warning to him. The guard was under no compunctions about who he was dealing with.

"Anyway, I'm a staff member that's been sent here to help you navigate the park. And hopefully prevent anyone from making any… untoward or distasteful decisions," he said, looking about for kids who may or may not have had a pokeball in their hands. He waved a few along who had taken to staring. The concert hall had, for all practical purposes, consumed all but a few hundred residents that were capitalizing on the reduced number of guests in queues for each of the rides.

"You know that following us is not necessary," Cresselia said, as they wound around the ferris wheel, passing an ice cream stand, approaching their next conquest—a tall, three-sided, silver tower. The ride was currently operating. Four rider's legs dangled out from above, extending from their seats. The ride was not anywhere near its maximum capacity, and the line was even shorter than when they'd passed it earlier. The ride paused, slowly inching their way up, before pausing at the very top.

"Are you sure you want to ride this one?" the man asked. Standing at the end of the short queue, Cresselia and Darkrai held one another close, the ride completed its pause, the riders dropped in controlled freefall, one girl's voice screaming from above. Selene and Tyler rounded around the corner, forcing themselves not to stare, though that did nothing for Tyler's espurr, fixated on Cresselia once again.

"We are sure," Darkrai said, the voice he projected much smoother than his typical verbalizations. This "roller coaster" presented them with the kind of open challenge they had been promised. They would not leave that night, until they had the opportunity to conquer all said challenges. Nor would Cresselia send Darkrai away so that some children would receive better sleep. Children were prone to nightmares. They had made enough decisions in attempts to help others to afford a night of indulgence.

"If you are to protect your guests," Cresselia said, "then we suggest teaching them not to ruin other guest's nights."

The man's face went pale. "Dear Cresselia," Darkrai said, his human face smiling into hers. "Whatever do you mean? They simply found themselves asleep. I'm afraid they may have a bit of trouble getting a restful night until they learn proper manners," Darkrai said.

Cresselia's human form threw her hair back behind her face, laughing at Darkrai's joke. Tyler and Selene both laughed nervously, frowning in realization. It was nice to have the recharge from having a vanity night of their own for the first time.

"Forgive us, Tyler and Selene, for my crass joke," Darkrai said, turning his head to the young couple, ignoring the man who'd tried to follow them along.

"I don't think I've had a night on the town," Cresselia confided.

"Looks like it's our time to get on, Love," Darkrai said, before waving at both Tyler and Serene, who were a lot more intrepid than before. "Come, join us." Darkrai demanded. They shuffled forward, Tyler pulling out a pokeball, tapping his espurr with it, as Selene's heart practically pounded in her chest.

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"Come now, Selene," Cresselia said, her smiling creeping larger, her eyes still as empty as the espurr's stare. "We don't bite. That's a promise."

"It is so much more fun in person, isn't it, love?" Darkrai said, turning back to Cresselia as they sat down in their seats on the ride, pulling down the straps, cinching them in together. Attendants' eyes lingered on the couples as they took seats on the same side. Selene and Tyler nodded in each other's eyes.

"It is nice to be in person for once," Cresselia said, as the carriage inched upwards. She waved at the man. She estimated about four or so trainers who had found themselves asleep. Granted, they were either in the process of sneaking up to them with a pokeball in-hand, or attempting to throw one at them from some unseen direction. Before the night was done, there would be more. Her grin was natural. The feeling—the excitement in her chest as her temporary legs dangled in the air.

For the first time in her life, Cresselia could say she was having fun.

~~~

I started to nod—saying I was an alien would work. Kind of. But halfway through the nod I stopped. I didn't even bother looking at Lanky to see his expression. I still couldn't read. I still probably couldn't write, so putting out a complicated answer was out, but I wanted to answer with the most accurate answer I could. At first, being an alien seemed like a decent, true-enough statement. No? But mid-nod, I realized there were problems with that. But I was committed, and despite my trepidation, finished the nod after the awkward stall.

First, I kinda liked Lanky, and I figured I had a really good roll for what human I managed to pick up as a trainer. You could do worse than be the star pokemon of a gym leader, I figured. And while he was still a teen and I was likely just going to wind up using whatever special abilities I had in order to steamroll us through whatever the next sets of gyms we were going to take on… He still deserved a little better than a guess up the ass, yeah?

So yeah, I did nod, though it was a half-hearted one. Lanky's question was—it was too vague, and had too many assumptions. If I was really covered in Z-sauce or whatever, did it come from how I became a Leavanny, or did it come from that freak battle-dream-hell-time-thing that came from startling Lebi? Those rocks were covered in Z-sauce energy woo.

Was this body from a leavanny who didn't exist beforehand? One that had died and I was somehow inserted into? Was I commanding this leavanny's body as the original pokemon watched from the side? Was that what I called instinct really was? When I went to work on the leaves, sewing and weaving and using silk to patch them together, was that me, or was that the actual leavanny getting a chance to be in the front seat again?

If I said I was an alien, and then somehow, found out that wasn't the case? Were Leaf and the swadlies this body's children? Were they this body's siblings? If I said no, and then they did some kind of test—actually, that was a better question— Lanky would know if they had sequenced my DNA—assuming pokemon had DNA and not some magic other stuff going on—did they not sequence my DNA at the professor's lab or at any of my visits to the pokecenter? And if I said yes to this question, and that turns out to be wrong?

My mouth cracked open. Lanky was silent. Patient. Waiting for me to think. It wasn't just a lie of omission. Would Lanky know that I had lied and was just making shit up? The Z-stuff the quack was talking about? I swallowed that shit in some kind of time-space nightmare hop by complete accident because Alder's fiery moth of death from hell in a thing I still am not sure if it was a dream or timehop or reality hop or fucking what could melt fucking rocks, and that Z-shit came with me! Would I have had that Z-Energy-Stuff without that? How would I know? I didn't get attacked by or meet any powerful pokemon until after that!

My mouth was open and I took a breath. I clamped it shut. No need to start the panic even worse… I could feel the frustration building. The desire to roll around on the floor and just fucking struggle as the pressure was building in my head. All I had to do was nod or shake my head! Being an alien bug was as good an explanation as any. I could roll with it! I pulled my arms up, pressing the leaves together, beginning to rub them in a circular motion, like one sanding down a rough piece of wood.

If I actually was special… Visions in my mind flashed by, of being a leavanny, strapped down in a bed and getting dissected by nameless surgeons. What if I wound up sent to some pseudo-scientific mad labs? If mewtwo existed in this world, and I was pretty sure he did—it wasn't that far off of a fear, was it? Would Lanky leave me to some nameless lab coats when he learns this stuff out? I just needed to pick one! It shouldn't have been this bad for me!

Lanky's hand reached up and pushed my arm down. Stopped the anxious arm-rubbing before it could happen. I just wanted to live like a normal leavanny, go out and visit humans once in a while, and see the pokemon world. I wanted to be important. I wanted to—I wanted—I just wanted a friendly bean. Someone I could just sit next to and silently make stuff for! To grow a garden with—to have a little family of sewaddle and swadloon—to have a little fun! I could fight, I could be in a pokeball once in a while. I could team up! And yet, this pill. This particular pill was so, so, bitter.

I was still sitting on Lanky's lap. No, I had to remind myself. I had been under the scope and scanned multiple times. If there really was something wrong with my anatomy or truly alien about it compared to other leavanny, it would have been discovered by that point! Okay, I thought. I can work with that. Unfortunately, I still didn't have an actual answer for him. Wouldn't a leavanny from another world be different? So instead, I just clenched my gut and finished the nod.

I hoped, I prayed that this would be close enough. But then, as I was about to finish the nod. Then, the deal with the devil was signed, Lanky spoke up again. "All right, though I was starting to wonder if you might have forgotten… Because Lyra did say that Fallers lost their memory… And if what Lyra said about Fallers losing their memory was true… You might not even know what you are or what happened!" Lanky said.

My abdomen clenched, my jaw was getting sore, and my arms hung limp by my side. The amnesiac card. I nodded. There were certainly things from my human life I couldn't remember. Like, uh, my name as a human. Every time I thought about it—every instance of someone saying my name, all I could remember was Leah.

The pit in my stomach curled and shuddered at the thought. My actual, human name had felt so close in my mind but so far away. As far as the transition went, from human to pokemon? I only remembered the world turning gray. Other than that, I woke up as a Leavanny after closing my eyes in a hospital bed with instruments beeping.

We were working off of yes/no answers. Sue me for not trying to explain more. Yeah. Not my fault. Lanky can blame whatever god put me in this position for this. Even if all this turns out to be completely wrong somehow, it's not my fault. I just want to have fun. I just wanted to enjoy the extra lease on life. Whoever was at fault for this is to blame. They were the ones that had to make this pill so bitter. I swallowed medical issues, doctors visits, hospital stays my entire human life.

Try it. Blame me for trying to pretend to be a normal pokemon, whoever you were. Being a pokemon is great, being a human was just stress and nightmares and not knowing if a single panic attack was going to put me in the hospital. I could be the best, I could—no, I would be the best pokemon. I would eat up Darkrai's training nightmare curse, chew them up and spit them out. I would hop in front of every battle.

The air was getting warmer, the train car emitting an uncharacteristic stream of ultraviolet light. That's what it meant to be a normal partner pokemon, right? In and out of a fucking pokeball every day of your life, being thrown up against pokemon you don't know and fighting them and not knowing if they'll cut you down permanently? Grinding until you have the level and the skill to cut gods down? Beating up wild pokemon on mountains until you reach nirvana?

Lanky's hand was waving in front of my face in slow-motion. The world outside the train cars was moving a lot slower, and sounds were coming in a deeper tone. I wanted to punch something. I wanted to cut it apart. To chop it into pieces. The heat inside my thorax would not go away. My abdomen—the z-rocks were humming. I needed to release this energy, this building heat. I needed a punching bag. And Leaf—No, Fidget was staring at me from the other end of the car.

~~~