thebastion | [185 and 186] The miles are getting longer, it seems, the closer I get to you [OPEN]

I think I'm alright.

[Bruised, but he wants to see this through.

So it's up the stairs, around the corner, past what used to be a small flat indoor pond of some sort that's all but broken now. The first set of big double doors they come across, N can't even begin to muscle open, and the small crack between them shows him why - there's way too much rubble in the way.

Huffing, he steps back and moves to the next, these ones opening in to a big meeting room style space with what were once plush, clean chairs and a very long table. It's all covered in dust now, and the gold fixtures all around are tarnished.]

[Golurk goes to move the doors, but AZ shakes his head. The meeting room makes him pause, though. He's never really asked for details of N's childhood, but there's a familiar feeling to this place. Set apart, dealing with things that children shouldn't have to. He stays quiet, not really knowing what to say to make N feel any better.]

[Colin inspects the meeting room, scanning discretely. Gold has its uses, even if its value is worthless. Given what he knows of N, however, he wouldn't be surprised if this was all just gold plating.]

Cheery place, a board room of some sort?

... we would hold meetings with the sages and Team Plasma here.

[There really wasn't much more to it than that. The other rooms probably had more detailed stories, but this was seemed fairly cut and dry.

In fact aside from the gold settings, there wasn't anything of interest in here.

On to the next room?]

[Sounds good to AZ, who shrugs. Team Plasma had never really made its way into Kalos.]

[Colin snags a couple of the gold settings and tucks them away in his bag. If they're solid gold, it'll be good to melt down into components. If they're not, well, he'll find a use for them.]

Sounds like this place is just made for collecting dust. Let's move on.

[Ghetsis did like his opulence. He called N a "King" with no real formal need to, and the castle was probably three times bigger than it really needed to be.

However fake certain things turned out to be in the end, chances were he would have had means of getting real gold in the place.

But N doesn't even bother telling Colin that, and he just nods, moving on down the hall.

The next room they're able to get in to isn't much different, though the table is smaller - a slightly more intimate setting closer to a break room. There's a dusty collection of Team Plasma "Join the liberation of Pokemon kind!" posters on a table against the wall, some scattered cups and a single Pokemon potion tucked away in a corner but nothing else useful.

So it's up to the second floor, and that's when N hears it.

You're not supposed to be here!]

... there is a Pokemon in here.

[AZ strains his ears a little bit almost on reflex, but of course he can't hear it as well as N can.]

... Do you know what kind?

[Colin tilts his head, and immediately starts a more active scan, looking for where this Pokemon could be.]

Has it been here all this time? It must be scared...

[It's tucked itself back in to a ruined corner in the dark hall, small enough to barely be seen where it's at.

No! Don't come any closer! You're not them-- they'll come back! They have to come back for me!]

... Woobat!

[N cried out loudly, charging forward in to the dark hall without thinking, which only startled the Woobat more. There was a return cry from it, a shriek before it launched an attack of Air Cutter, slamming in to N and sending him toppling backwards.

GO AWAY!]

W... Woobat... please... it's me, N!

[Golurk stepped in front of N, not attacking but trying to keep him safe.]

Golurk. Stand down.

[The large Pokemon turned its head to give AZ a disbelieving look, but stepped aside. If Woobat went to charge N again it would return to its position, though.]

[Colin looks at N, and he tries to smile at Woobat.]

Don't be afraid, young one.

We're not here to hurt you.

[His tone is soft, gentle. He's familiar enough with scared animals. He doesn't approach, but his does hold his hands out, palm up, to Woobat in offering. Never approach a scared animal. If they want to get closer, they'll come to you.]

N is worried about you. We're all worried for you.

[N... ? They said you were gone! They said you were never coming back!]

But I'm here now! And I can take you out of this place! Please, let me help you...

[B... but...

Woobat let out a sad noise, lowering herself down to one of the broken pillars.

... they're not coming back, are they? The others...]

... I'm sorry. They're gone. But they didn't abandon you. The world was destroyed, but we survived...

It's all right. We can take you to a place with food and places to rest.

[He doesn't want to scare her, but Golurk still looks somewhat suspicious of this.]

[Colin frowns slightly, looking between Woobat and Golurk. Sorry, N, but your body language and only half of the conversation only tells him so much.]

It's not going to be safe here for much longer, I'm afraid.

If there's anything we can do to help earn your trust, please.. Tell us. We want you to be safe.

[Yeah that's a problem he faces often...

Woobat certainly seems much less defensive now. So much so that the noises she's making are practically cries of sadness.

N quietly moves in, scooping her up and embracing her carefully. Woobat returns the embrace with her wings, burying her little face in his shoulder.]

I'm so sorry, Woobat...

[He rises then, turning to AZ and Colin.]

Team Plasma... attempted to start a revolution. Of liberating Pokemon from their trainers in the name of kindness. Their message was supposed to be one of compassion, that stated that Pokemon should not be forced to battle and that by doing so we were doing more harm than good.

I didn't realize at the time that my father was actually using Team Plasma for his own selfish ends, and that beyond that... not all trainers are cruel and abusive. Pokemon and humans... many of them have connections with one another that are stronger than what I had been led to believe growing up. That their bonds were as important as any friendship.

Team Plasma still convinced enough people to "liberate" their Pokemon to them, though, that ones like this Woobat were given over to them by trainers tricked in to believing their dogma. I left after Hilda defeated my father thinking it was the right thing to do, but I left those Pokemon in the care of Team Plasma.

That... that was a truly foolish thing to do. They were merely abandoned a second time...

[AZ sighs a little, shaking his head.]

You couldn't take everyone with you, N. You had enough to deal with, and enough to shoulder with yourself and your own Pokemon to try to save every Pokemon. You had no way of knowing about the Calamity either.

... You can't save everyone. You can only try to help them one at a time. You did what you could.

I'm not going to say it wasn't a mistake, but it's in the past now. You've gotta keep moving forward, and help who you can.

[He steps closer now that Woobat seems to have calmed.]

Is it all right to touch him or her? He slash she seems to need it.

Also, Woobat, was there anyone else still here? We found an egg, but if you've seen anyone else...

[She seems a little nervous with these other people she can't speak to coming near, but she doesn't shy away, still clinging to N.

There's an egg upstairs in a room at the end of the hall... but it's stuck in a box. I couldn't get it out!

At that, N pales, swallowing hard.

He knows that room.]

... there's an egg... upstairs.

[AZ nods. There must be something about it that N doesn't like, but they can't just leave a Pokemon here.]

... We're right behind you, N. All right?

[Colin decides not to press forward without an okay from N, so he'll leave Woobat alone for now. She's got comfort in N, that will have to do. N, on the other hand, looks like he could use some comfort of his own...]

Is there anything we should know, N? You're hesitating.

[Among other things...]

[There's no answer to either of them. He is dreading this, so much so that he feels sick to his stomach and his hands are even shaking.

But there's a part of him that has to see this through. He has to know what's left. He has to see his past in all it's ruined glory before leaving this place for good.

He shifts Woobat to his shoulder, a low, quiet "let's go" coming from him before he moves onward. Down the hall, up the stairs, around the corner. Silently he checks the other rooms up there as well, but as before they were ornately decorated but otherwise useless. A few items were stowed away, singles of potions and other things that were good for one time uses but little else.

And in some of the rooms, there seems to be piles of ash that have been left behind.

He makes a point to not look at them.

But then they get there, to that room at the end. Door a little different, slightly cracked open, a splash of much brighter colors that don't include that ivory and white motif from the others.

It's here that he hesitates again, but not long enough for either of them to force further worried questions on him. His thin hand pushes the cracked door open the rest of the way, showing a room that should have belonged to a child and not an adult. Bright, bold primary colors everywhere, toys, even a skate ramp and a basketball hoop.

But there's something very wrong about all of it. Not just the fact that this was a child's play room, but the fact that even though it clearly belonged to N once upon a time, it was in incredible disarray.

This had nothing to do with the ruins of the castle itself.

A train was in the basketball hoop. The tracks it belonged to scattered about. Building blocks thrown everywhere with no rhyme or reason. Plush toys discarded and left in corners and face down on the floor.

The mess doesn't faze N in the least. He takes a breath and strides through the room with the intent to find that egg and leave as soon as possible, walking across the skate ramp and turning to an area behind it where a box of toys had been left mostly untouched.

This was where he stopped, though. Where ashes has been left in other rooms, these two were intact and whole, worried faces etched in statues of ash.

Two women in what had once been long flowing gowns were huddled together. Not afraid, just... concerned. As if they had some how sensed what was about to happen but knew that they had no way of stopping it.]

Anthea... Concordia...

[AZ lingers near the door, just watching. He'd thankfully woken up without statues around him, but he was well aware that wasn't usually the case. Golurk makes a soft noise, its voice as quiet as it could make it.]

'Need help?' [It made its way into the room carefully, standing near N. It knew this place was important to N, but it was prepared to move people if it had to.]

[Colin, likewise, follows N in. Yeah, that's pretty much the worst case scenario realized here. Loved ones for N, someone who he actually knows the name of. Who he bothered to remember the names of. People in his sphere of memory.]

Take a moment, N. Take all the time you need.

[I'm sorry. Were you two expecting him to be calm and rational here?

Because that's not what's going to happen.

As soon as Golurk speaks to him, everything else is ignored.]

DON'T TOUCH THEM!

[N is not the kind of person to raise his voice. He speaks fast, but quietly most of the time. For him to be that emotionally charged, enough to actually scream...

This won't end well.]

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