For Every Action, A Reaction

“So she’s an insane woman, why hasn’t anyone put her in an insane asylum? No offense to you, you seem decent but what kind of paracite can affect a person that much? Surely some of her personality must stem from her own way of viewing life. If so she is still partially to blame for any and all damage she did.”

“Oh yeah no, she still a shitty person, no doubt. But...Nihilego venom’s like a drug, it gets rid ‘a your inhibitions an’ gets you addicted so y’won’t try to escape while...the life gets slowly sucked outta you. It definitely didn’t help.”

     “ Gods, I missed you. ” The crooked grin blooms quick as she reaches for it, wiggling her fingers and eagerly digging her nails though gently into the skin of its shoulders and back.

     “ You don’t even know, man. There’s so much goin’ down and I dunno where for even put my eyes these days. ” Inhaling deeply as the last of the smile fades, she offers a shrug.

     She wants to fuse. It’s the first thing on her mind, tugging at her consciousness, reminding her always that she would feel better, stronger, more capable with a little more Nihilego toxin in her veins.

     Her body urges her to beg for it, but she stays quiet for now.

     “ You been good too? I know we see each other all the time. I just wanna check in, yeah? ”

     She can’t let it be more important. That’s the rule.

It scoffs, not at her but at whatever is exhausting her so much. “Grunts? Guzma?” 

Necrozma? Mania’s voice catches before it can speak the crystal god’s name, disgust rolling through it at the mere thought of him. No, none of this. It’s too nice an evening to think about the demon on the mountain. “...Your other friends?”

By the time it pulls back enough to look at her, something seems...slightly off. Even if only for a moment, it recognizes that look, that hesitation. That’s the look of a host.

No, not a host. That’s the parasite instinct talking. So much is different about how they combine, about the mutual willingness and trust involved that just isn’t there with a simple host. It’s different, even if there is venom. It is.

Mania blinks as Plumeria speaks again, taking a second to process her words before finding an answer.

“–ah, shit. Yeah. Goli punching that bastard’s stupid face would’ve been pretty badass.”

…

“–BUT THIS DOESN’T CHANGE A THING”

“AND NOODLE ARMS?! YOU’RE AWARE YOURS ARE FAR MORE NOODLY– –oh for Arceus’ sake that didn’t sound cool at all. I’m so fucking tired.”

“WE GOT THE SAME ARMS, STUPID, ONLY MINE CAN POISON PEOPLE AN’ SHOOT MAGIC ROCKS! YOURS JUST PUNCH!”

What are they even fighting about anymore. What is this.

“AH! OF COURSE!!” he’s moving both hands to the sky, so damn tired of this already “Guzma does something and he’s wrong, he doesn’t and he’s wrong neverthless!”

“I WAS MAD ALL RIGHT?! And when I get mad I DON’T THINK! I JUST PUNCH!! GET OFF OF MY DICK–”

“I mean the whole thing was dumb as hell anyway, but after all that buildup ya coulda at least gone through wit’ the battle! Golisopod punchin’ somebody’s ALWAYS more cool than you doin’ it wit’ ya lil’ human noodle arms!”

“I can tell…I didn’t want to resort to that, I just said it without thinking. I’m not even that type of person. Normally I can just speak to people with no issues but this was different.”

*A parasite? That’s what the being was, if so were there others like it in this universe? The two topics were being bounced around so he had to keep track of both of them.*

“So are there others like yourself out there? I just want to know.”

“Mh, there’s other Nihilego who ain’t got human bits, but there’s...” It trails off for a moment, staring at the dirt with something almost approaching fear.

Drip, drip, ink from a black smile. Mother knows, mother sees. Drip, drip...

“There’s none like me.”

“I see…well at least you explained it to me. If it were only him I doubt we would get anywhere. This is the type of conversation I wanted with him as well but you can see for yourself the results it achieved. Could you explain a bit more by what you meant by ‘ate him’? I’m guessing it’s more of an absorbing if I’m correct.”

“Well tha’s cuz you’re doin’ it wrong.” It points the stick at him like a teacher’s pointer. “He ain’t gonna respond great ta trash-talkin’ him or his people, ‘specially comin’ from somebody higher up.” It does air quotes with its free hand along with the last two words, clearly not holding much respect for positions of authority. “An’ neither will I, for that matter, but tha’s whatever for now.”

“Thanks for letting me know...wait, what are you? Are you a Pokemon of some sort or are you something else?”