[S][C/Alicia] Almighty

Josh still did not understand a word between Alicia and Venex until they started speaking in plain, but broken, English. Perhaps it was a quirk of that new Contact class that Josh had yet to even read the UI description of. From the title alone, it sounded dangerous, and his BYTES were tied up mastering Ironsmith, and eventually Aviator. He already had Storm's growth covered with Bolter, but not Thunder's.

"I noticed some changes in Izoni and Apollo, too," Josh interrupted Alicia as Twilight passed by, refusing to stop at his command. "Come on, Twilight, behave! What's gotten into you?" The two swerved back and forth, narrowly avoiding Venex and Tikani until the game was satisfied enough to close the tutorial and let the boy ride where he wanted... or in this case, wherever she wanted. Shaking his head, he slid down from the back of his Absol and walked alongside her, reuniting with Alicia.

"Yes... about her..." he trailed off, black and red wisps concentrated around the dark-type's horn.

Josh nodded upon hearing Alicia's friendly point of advice. "I would if I could, but my BYTES are tied up for a while," he answered in a regretful tone. "I've got to master Ironsmith to be able to equip another class, then I need to master Aviator for the little ones to grow up. Some thing that makes legendary Pokémon harder to raise. I love Thunder and Storm too much. As much as I'd love to talk to Izoni and Apollo, we're talking 2,200 BYTES for all of that." It was a huge slog -- one that took him months last time he had to come up with that kind of money to be able to change his avatar's age.

The conversation quickly shifted to Twilight, who would attempt to leave a paper cut-like mark on her hand when she attempted to pet her. Whether it was her personality, the Corruption, or a combination of both (she was a Creed Pokémon before this, after all), she was one moody Absol. "I have. It didn't do a thing. I even tried exposing her to radiation from the Crystal of Confidence. It did nothing."

There was clearly some kind of puzzle he had to piece together to stop the Corruption. "In the meantime, it makes her one hell of a combatant. How much research have you done into this... non-elemental typing, for the lack of a better term?"

For Josh, losing access to Player attacks was a bigger concern... not to mention how many fire-type and electric-type Pokémon were speed demons. Losing all that damage in Colossal Battles was a huge problem... not to mention the Mechanical Combat tournaments Josh would no doubt need to attend to continue to look good in his guildmaster's eyes.

"So what you're saying is those non-elemental attacks... more accurately, Corruption attacks, don't have a cost to them?" he asked. "That sounds... really broken." His evaluation practices had changed since joining the guild he did, something Alicia may have been able to pick up on. "But I'm not sure it's worth Twilight acting up like this. She was completely loyal to me before, and now she's... really hard to control." Twilight scowled at Josh and Alicia, but treated Tikani like a friend. A comrade in arms, standing next to her and gently bumping into her if she allowed it... like two humans would fist-bump.

Josh continued to listen to Tikani's explanation of how the power worked. "...Yeah, that's busted in half," he reiterated. "I want her to conquer it. But the Corruption is controlling her. Making her into a murder machine that wants to do nothing but fight. I expected her to be that way, coming from the competitive battling guild, but she was amicable until passing through that Corruption chamber in Hearteater's lair. Now, all I can get her to do is battle." As if to prove a point, Josh sat on the Absol's back again, only to get an even more acute reaction: a prompt buck-off that made him groan.

"What... is it?" Josh asked as he struggled to get to his feet.

Power, at any cost. It was the Creed's mantra, and it scared him the deeper he got into UNOVR's lore and mechanics. Was the way to advance in the guild really just a numbers game? He didn't want it to be. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. The number Josh wanted to see go up was miles per hour, not damage per second.

Josh looked confused as Twilight seemed more cordial with Tikani than her own trainer. He was more confused, and even terrified, when he saw the ichor seep through her arms, threatening to burst from beneath her skin. It already looked painful before drawing Twilight's and Tikani's Corruption into herself.

He couldn't allow his friend to suffer like this.

"No. Stop," the boy would attempt to halt her. "I know we're both willing to bend over backwards for one another. And I can't permit you to sacrifice yourself for me. We'll find another way." With how many hidden dungeons, crypts, castles, and Instances there were throughout UNOVR, doing enough of them would surely lead to a solution. "If you can get through to Venex and I can get through to Izoni, despite Hearteater's control, then I can get through to Twilight. It'll be like starting from square one. But I'm sure the means are there."

Alicia was about to enter a very dark era, wasn't she...?

Being a Contact looked stressful on one's body; after seeing the class in action, Josh was happy to stick with Therian and Ironsmith, as he planned. Therian plans would have to wait, though. He couldn't bear his two Zapdos growing at different rates, and their final stage would be blockaded by mastery of the Aviator class. He already had it unlocked; it was just a matter of securing the funds. He might even need to roll Ironsmith back some... something he really didn't want to do. Barding up his Pokémon made them look even more heroic than they already were.

"Glad to have you as a friend I can depend on, Alicia," Josh answered her, feeling much the same way about the raid. Despite him being wet behind the ears, not yet celebrating a birthday in the game world, he had been a major contributor. He had not one, but two legendary Pokémon at his side.

Hearing Venex and Tikani's namedrop made Josh clam up. Had her Pokémon just doxxed her? How was that even possible? Was there a remnant of Hearteater somewhere within her? It made no sense. Someone as smart as her wouldn't put her real name out there. Josh wasn't so smart in that regard; he was an idealized version of his real world self, name and all.

"Alicia, can I get your ear in some place secluded? Not here, but sometime later. Preferably in a private room. Just with the two of us." To anyone else, that was a flag for a romantic interaction. Alicia knew that Josh was different; he was not interested in romance. What did he want?