Mark was, positively speechless, not only because for a second he had seemingly knocked the wild side out of control, not just because Firis seemed so uncharacteristically vulnerable right then, but mostly because Zera, whom he had realized was an illusionist, had just dragged him along to what the writers at pokestar studio would call a dive to the heart.<br/>A chain of memories depicting the lowest points in her life which he had no business knowing, times where she had been completely helpless, and the one person that showed her kindness inevitably had that little piece of doubt cast over herself, because she was a scientist... then there was the one boy that seemed to treat her well, he treated her well as what he figured would be his partner pokemon, not his partner on adventure... and the ball... no wonder she had avoided talking to him... no more than that, she really should have at least decked him for it.<br/>His attempt, well meaning though it may have been... it never crossed his mind that she'd have what amounts to the most traumatic experience of her life up to then tied to it.<br/>Moreover though he was starting to despise the voice of negativity, the manipulation attempts were not only blatant but also entirely shameless... and worse, they were put just right to be hard to disagree with.<br/>And then the most recent memory, when he had allowed himself to just lose faith in her. the voice had a point, except the entirely wrong one.<br/>"Toni will forgive you, mainly because it wasn't you. As for me... with all that happened, i am at best a real screwup of a friend... of i'm even still worth being called that."<br/>now that they had reached what was the two sides of Firis he gave a sorrowful look at the fennekin.<br/>"I can't say it enough even in a year, but i am sorry, every decision i made about you i rationalized not as right but as necessary... and every time all it did was hurt you and achieve nothing. As for you."<br/>he glared at the braixen side.<br/>"have you tried to pull apart her self esteem for all her life, or are you the new and inferior personality trying to destroy her? you are the one with the sad existance, because you literally cannot trust, you can never feel safe, and that's why you force the one person you see as unable to throw you aside to only have you, isn't it telling that you don't even let her appear as your equal? that you look like you're better than her? I am not her worst enemy... though i have certainly earned to be called her worst friend, you are her worst enemy, and if you were honest even to a minimum you would have the appearance of a human with a pokeball, you are trying to make her YOUR property."<br/><br/>Toni had by now calmed down enough to actually think rationally on the matter, and with what Joker said about fighting against herself... Pokemon sometimes changed their entire personality when evolving, some figured it was a completely different person replacing them, and in fire types the transition from shy to standoffish was common, and usually ended with a lot of midstage fire types being sidelined by their trainers for acting up. "if my kick sent the message that rape is wrong... i do hope the kiss before did get across that i care... that she isn't alone... times like this iwish i had learned to be a Ranger if i could really let her know..."<br/>She looked the enigmatic boy over.<br/>"your stoicism when faced with all this is really something else though, the only way you could look more nonchalant would be if youhad a teacup in your hand."<br/>Granted she wasn't expecting him to frantically look for any way he could help, but allowing the forehead to wrinkle as a sign of worry wasn't asking too much, was it?