You Wouldn't Pirate a Brodown

Oct 11 15:22:53 <Knox> Knox... has been relaxing in his hospital room since a certain Ululane left. Still introspective, but... not quite on the verge of a nervous  breakdown like before.
Oct 11 15:23:56 * Mackenzie knocks on Knox's door. This is after he visited Veronica and napped for a bit at her side.
Oct 11 15:27:21 <Knox> "...Come in." He doesn't have a clue who it is, this time.
Oct 11 15:30:23 * Mackenzie pokes his head in, then opens the door the rest of the way and slips in. Not sneakily, but just moving smoothly in. "Hey."
Oct 11 15:38:46 <Knox> "...Hey." He turns his head to look over at Mack. Knox seems more relaxed than he probably should be, but maybe he's had his time to grieve already. Mack would notice a handrail of Knox's bed being corroded over but other than that... everything seems okay.
Oct 11 15:39:40 <Mackenzie> "Well...  What kind of demeanor do you wanna hear?"
Oct 11 15:45:35 <Knox> "What the hell's that supposed to mean?" he asks a bit wearily, giving Mack an odd look.
Oct 11 15:52:10 <Mackenzie> "Well, I could give you a..."  He gives a half-hearted look.  "That's good.  Use that anger.  Just make them suffer even more for it."  Face turns back.  "Or maybe a..."  He gives a somewhat distant but sympathetic stare.  "There's nothing we could have done.  The bomb was in him before we even arrived.  He was dead the moment we showed up, and he probably knew it."  Face turns back
Oct 11 15:52:10 <Mackenzie> .  "Or perhaps just...  I'm glad you're alright, and you're welcome for picking up your squid."
Oct 11 15:53:40 <Knox> "You recalled Oscilla? ...Thanks." he leans his head back and stares at the ceiling for a moment. "How about what you genuinely think."
Oct 11 15:54:00 <Mackenzie> "Then go with the last one."
Oct 11 15:55:28 <Mackenzie> "But I feel some level truth in all of it."
Oct 11 15:59:19 <Knox> "...I've been having a lot of thoughts about what happened. You're not the first who's come by, either. ...even after all of this, I can't say with certainty that was my friend. ...For the past few hours I've been crying, raging, staring off into space, denying, trying to accept it...  but in the end... I don't even know what to feel because I don't have all the details. ...you could
Oct 11 15:59:19 <Knox> boil it down to 'they're screwing with me a little' or 'they're screwing with me a lot', though. ...and either way, they're going to regret what they've done. I can't let that happen again."
Oct 11 16:00:41 <Knox> "The guy I glued to the wall - we apparently brought him back. I'm going to interrogate him later."
Oct 11 16:04:43 <Mackenzie> "When the Kecleon exploded, it came half an inch from killing my Ninetales."  This never really got mentioned before, but Mack probably has bandages up his forearms.
Oct 11 16:07:53 <Knox> "So you've got every reason to be pissed, too. Good to hear she came out alright."
Oct 11 16:08:20 <Knox> "Oscilla turned out to be alright. About as alright as you can come out of something like that."
Oct 11 16:08:36 <Knox> "...no permanent damage, is there?"
Oct 11 16:10:25 <Mackenzie> "You know, even with my face on every magazine, movie screen, and teen girl's wall throughout Gennis, in the end, all I really have in my life that lasts is my relationship with my pokemon.  And i have no idea, because right now she's a fucking bandage mummy."
Oct 11 16:11:18 <Knox> "All you have is your relationship with them, huh... it's not that different from me."
Oct 11 16:13:33 <Knox> "My old crewmates... my pokemon, they were practically my family. And one year ago, Aether took them all from me. I've been lucky to be able to find as many as I have, again. But... they may have just taken someone I cared about from me for the second time. I may look calm on the outside, but inside, I'm livid. There is a slow-burning hatred coursing through my veins like you wouldn't
Oct 11 16:13:33 <Knox> know. Or maybe you do."
Oct 11 16:14:24 <Knox> "Well, they didn't take my pokemon, but you know what I meant."
Oct 11 16:31:14 <Mackenzie> "I really don't know if what I've felt is real.  You know that thing I do, where I start acting like a jackass and get new abilities?  It's because I'm using the Dream World to link to other worlds, and the heroes in them.  John Spearow?  He's real, but in his own actual world he's Jack Sparrow.  John is just the movie interpretation that our world got.  And when I channel him, I
Oct 11 16:31:14 <Mackenzie> don't just adopt his mannerisms, I might as well be that person.  I know what he knows, I've experienced what he's experienced.  It's all real.  Indigo Pokemontoya's father's murder.  Saxton Punch having the love of his life kidnapped.  All of it.  But at the same time, I haven't done shit.  Half of the experiences of my life are borrowed memories."
Oct 11 16:36:40 <Knox> He's quiet for a bit. "In other words... you feel like you're just a vessel for the feelings of others. Tch. Well, I honestly don't know how to console you there, I don't know that feeling at all. But... There are some things in this world we have to fight tooth and nail for. To that end... I need to get stronger. And I think what I want to do may also help you figure shit out, too."
Oct 11 16:37:48 <Knox> "After we leave Hermit, I'm going to push for visiting Lecia's lab in Conch, to check 'the other side'. The world unwritten."
Oct 11 16:39:34 <Knox> "There, we can discover who we would have been without Aether's dicking around in the book. In other words, potential in ourselves that's gone untapped in this timeline."
Oct 11 16:40:07 <Knox> "That's the impression I got, anyway."
Oct 11 16:44:52 <Knox> "If you feel empty, unfulfilled, just remember that it was Team Aether who stole that from you as well. It was all over that memo we got. We were handpicked."
Oct 11 16:51:47 <Mackenzie> "For a long time, it was just something I could do in my dreams, and it's what heelped me get into roles better.  But now, as of when Mele first awakened, I've been able to do it out here.  And it's like...  All I really know right now is that my abilities are strongly linked to the dream world, and...  That's where all this started.  Them getting into the book at all.  That's really
Oct 11 16:51:47 <Mackenzie> been my whole connection to this so far.  ...I mean, I've had the opportunity to do that with lecia before, but I've wanted to avoid it.  But now?  I can't possibly hide from it any more.  Especially now that they've resorted to suicide bombing my fucking pokemon, and putting almost all of my allies in the hospital.  They've beat us down before, but that was nowhere near as dirty as
Oct 11 16:51:47 <Mackenzie> this."
Oct 11 17:00:35 <Knox> "They're a bunch of shitheads. Our crew were a bunch of criminals too, but we were far more honest than these pricks. All they care about is power and control. Some of them might have some dumb moral justification for all of this but at the base level it's not only completely obvious but absolutely disgusting. ..." he's quiet again, and looks up. "I'm from Black City, by the way.
Oct 11 17:00:35 <Knox> East Unova, near White Forest? ...Never knew my mom, she ran out on Dad when I was two or so. Don't blame her. Dad was a drunk, and a cop on the take. Every bit of a criminal as any pirate, but he had the nerve to pretend he was doing people favors, that he was protecting them. And he got away with it because cops hate to snitch on other cops. Hypocrisy is what it is, Mack. I was
Oct 11 17:00:35 <Knox> disgusted with the entire system. So I decided to fuck everything, shipped out to Wakino, and became an honest criminal. These Aether shits aren't honest either. Implanted bombs, brainwashing, mind control, they're using every little bit they can to control people against their will for their own benefit. And I just can't fucking abide by that."
Oct 11 17:05:39 <Mackenzie> "I don't know why they're doing this, when they've succeeded in rewriting reality itself.  Why would they put themselves in a position where these measures would be necessary at all?  That's all I've been focusing on."
Oct 11 17:06:43 <Knox> "It seemed to be implied they only got to mess with the book a little bit before they had to give up, and all of this-" he waves around, meaning EXISTENCE. "Is just the extent of what they managed to fuck up in that short a time."
Oct 11 17:06:52 <Knox> "I don't imagine they changed everything they wanted to."
Oct 11 17:09:45 <Mackenzie> "That's been their base schtick.  They pay off small-scale pirates and such to do their shit for them, so they stay under the radar.  That's what happened to you, right?  They came to you, and at first you accepted, didn't seem too fishy, but after a while you started getting suspicious, and then they fucked you up before you even knew what was happening.  Something like that?"
Oct 11 17:10:32 <Knox> "Basically, yeah. We were on our way to checking out of the region and living on our loot for a while."
Oct 11 17:10:55 <Knox> "But they decided they didn't want to let us go once we had gotten in."
Oct 11 17:13:03 <Knox> "I'm not even sure how they found out, to be honest."
Oct 11 17:16:50 <Mackenzie> Mack looks disappointed for a brief moment, but covers it up.  "We need a lot out of that lab coat.  We're back to our last lead again.  Maybe we can just actually pick information out of his brain or something, instead of just punching him til he talks."
Oct 11 17:18:42 <Knox> "I won't be punching him." he says with that sort of tone of voice that lets you know Knox has much worse in store for the guy.
Oct 11 17:19:11 <Knox> "Oscilla will be assisting me either way."
Oct 11 17:24:06 <Mackenzie> "Do you have any idea where Melanie went?  I told her I wanted to help her get more of her crazy god-power somehow, then she got all weirdly excited and I haven't seen her since."
Oct 11 17:26:21 <Knox> "...really?" he stares at Mack a moment and then attempts to hide his amusement. "You should still be able to get in touch with her. Try Luna or her friend Lulu."
Oct 11 17:28:56 <Knox> "She hasn't abandoned us, if that's what you were wondering."
Oct 11 17:32:00 <Mackenzie> "Well it would have been nice to have her around for the hardest battle we didn't lose.  Hey, this time not all of us were bedridden for days!  Not that you were there for that one, but..."
Oct 11 17:33:37 <Knox> He's still not sure how this guy hasn't noticed the shaman woman with Mel's exact proportions, named the name she was given by Kaane, and participated in the battle to rescue Mirai by changing into a giant bone serpent could possibly have been Mel, but for now he leaves the joke running.
Oct 11 17:34:21 <Knox> "One of these days I'll whip you all into shape so losing isn't an option." he says. Maybe he means it! Soldier will have that possibility some day.
Oct 11 17:34:38 <Mackenzie> HE WAS BUSY BEING ONE OF THE ONLY TWO PEOPLE NOT SLOW AS FUCK, SORRY, GOD DAMN
Oct 11 17:34:41 <Mackenzie> I mean--
Oct 11 17:36:41 <Mackenzie> "I think you mean, one of these days we might duel and I might feel challenged by it."  There's the smartass side back.
Oct 11 17:37:56 <Knox> "Oh, you're starting to dig your grave, Frazier." he says, amused. "We'll see if you feel so confident in a few days."
Oct 11 17:40:18 <Knox> "Aaanyway."
Oct 11 17:40:44 <Knox> He pushes himself to sit up. "...Conch." he looks at Mack. "...A lot is riding on our visit there."
Oct 11 17:41:44 <Knox> "The faster I free myself and my pokemon of Team Aether's influence, the smoother this will go. ...Which reminds me. A little before you came, I managed to go for a walk long enough to purify Tenebrae at one of the hospital PCs."
Oct 11 17:46:49 <Mackenzie> "That's good, I'm glad he's finally free.  Must be hard for him, suddenly breaking out of what was clearly a very physically subduing curse."
Oct 11 17:47:12 <Knox> "...Are you kidding? As soon as he was out of his ball he started flexing and showing off."
Oct 11 17:48:17 <Mackenzie> "Maybe we ought to see how he does after teh change, once we're all out of bandages."
Oct 11 17:48:20 <Mackenzie> *the
Oct 11 17:48:41 <Knox> "..The gym? Maybe, yeah."
Oct 11 17:48:49 <Knox> "...I do need to get stronger. A lot stronger."
Oct 11 17:49:38 <Mackenzie> "Oh, I was talking about the two of them having another sparring match.  That grass gym sounds like a good stop too, though."
Oct 11 17:49:51 <Knox> He nods. "Either way..."
Oct 11 17:50:32 <Knox> "Think I just need to rest a little longer."
Oct 11 17:52:31 <Mackenzie> "Alright.  I'll be sitting with Veronica again.  If you decide to go over to the gym, text me and I'll go along."
Oct 11 17:52:49 <Knox> He nods. "Yeah... I will. Later, then." he lays back and relaxes.
Oct 11 17:53:30 * Mackenzie puts his hands in his pockets and wanders out.
Oct 11 17:53:56 <Knox> "Thanks for coming by..." Mack might hear him mutter on the way out.