[FIN] Simple Swordplay

[Tymiko]

"I don't ever want to change," Ty hissed darkly, suddenly glaring at the ground for a minute as if lost in the shadows of her own thoughts. "No one can make me. I'll stay the same forever."

Turning back to Yuri, her expression calmed a bit, but it was somewhat stony. "It's a shame the Flynn you first knew is gone. I would have hoped bad things wouldn't have had to happen for you two to get along again. I can't imagine it would have been the same if he hadn't changed."

She shrugged, turning away. "But he's your friend, I guess."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri blinked with some surprise at Ty's initial reaction, but just shrugged it off.

"Change happens, and without it we can't grow as human beings."

He couldn't blame her or anyone for not liking change but well...

"Yeah it sucked, but we became better friends cause of it. It's not so bad. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Yuri paused as he observed the girl for a moment more.

"Anyway, enough of the boring stories."  

[Tymiko]

"Maybe I don't want to grow as a human being," she murmured under her breath. "Maybe what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, Yuri," Ty agreed, "But if what you become is a monster you can't face, what good will that do?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri looked at her in stunned silence for a moment. Not having expected this gloomy pessimism from a normally bubbly girl.

"What do you mean?"  

[Tymiko]

With a sigh, the girl's shoulders slumped and she appeared to deflate. All at once she seemed exhausted. "Don't worry about it," she told him, shaking her head as she waved her free hand as she trudged back to her pokemon. "If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's probably for the best. See you around, Yuri."  

[BlackPidgeot]

"It's not that I don't know..." Yuri started.

"I just can't figure out what could possibly make someone like you feel that way. I'm a criminal, and a monster in my own right. But you're still a kid. What the hell have you done to deserve that sort of label?"  

[Tymiko]

Stiffening, Tymiko halted in her tracks. "'Someone like me'?" she repeated, not turning to look at him. She clenched her fists, her grip tight on the wooden sword in her hand. "Sorry, Yuri, but I don't think you know as much about me as you might think." Taking a deep breath, she eased her grip a little.

"Kids are capable of horrible things, too. Besides, I'm not as much a kid as I'd like to be, no matter how I act. I'm growing more and more corrupt with each day that passes - older and more tainted. Learning and experiencing things that no one called a 'kid' would. But as you know, there's only one way to stop a person from changing and I haven't yet managed to come to terms with myself enough to do that."

She clenched her teeth in silent fury. "And since I haven't done what I should have done a long time ago, with each day that passes, I only give myself more and more reasons to hate me and what I've become." Another heavy sigh. "Sorry. You said enough of the boring stories. I'll spare you my ranting. It doesn't make much sense, anyway."  

[TRHQ Yuri Lowell]

Yuri folded his arms as he listened, waiting until she was done before giving his reply. "Corrupt, huh? I dunno what your definition of that word is, but you hardly seem corrupt to me."

He sighed and tilted his gaze up for a moment as if thinking. "Team Rocket, a government taking advantage of its citizens, a lack of justice, now that's corrupt. Anything less than that is just human."

He then turned his back to her and waved a hand dismissively, "But you're right, I don't really know you, and it's not really my problem. Can't say I blame you for not wanting to change though. It's not exactly my place to make you."

With that he started to walk away. "But no matter what you do, it doesn't mean there isn't a way out."  

[Tymiko]

Tymiko glanced back over her shoulder as Yuri began to walk away. Her smile was pained, her words quiet; almost whispered. "I know," she said, bringing up a hand to brush against her eyes, which were threatening to overflow. "I just don't want to be a coward to have to take it."