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 Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:55 am
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 4:01 pm
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 4:05 pm
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 6:13 pm
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Crystal blinked, but otherwise stood completely still, almost like her brain was trying to reboot. The creature Monique was talking about… That was literally what she had just been talking about with what Cera had transformed into. And now here Monique was, describing exactly how it looked. Finally, after the reboot finished, she spoke up, just stunned. “Uh… First off, let’s start with how you’re here after encountering a Guzzlord. That thing can eat anything and everything and I would not be surprised if it’s stomach led to a black hole. Also is gigantic and, again, a glutton that can immediately put a Snorlax to shame.” She took a deep breath to refocus, going through what else Monique had mentioned. “A-Anyways… What you’re mentioning to me doesn’t sound familiar at all… Though, it sounds like… well, sounds like.. Well, if Guzzlord shows up in a reality, that’s probably an apocalyptic event if not dealt with, and I don’t know about that Smog, but it probably help. So… It might be the reason? But I’ve never been around for anything like that in any reality I visited before. I’ve seen aftermath once or twice. But never been around during.”
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 6:19 pm
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:30 pm
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Crystal clearly had a pulse on some of what was going on, just like Monique had suspected she would.
"G...Guzzlord?" The name rolled with unfamiliarity off her tongue. "Well, it sure sounds ominous. But...I can't tell you as much about that as about my world."
She let out a sigh. "Basically, the world grew so polluted that a nasty Smog came to envelop most of it, and that seems to also have attracted some of these... Guzzlord. I come from the last bastion of civilization in my world, a place called Aether Island but which here is still known by its natural name of Poni Island. It survives—or, maybe, survived—because it had this big dome constructed. The Dome blocked out the harshness of the outside world and kept the Smog and these Guzzlord at bay. The reading I've done indicates it's very undeveloped here...not so in my time. There was a large planned city known as Flower City on one end of the island, a walled scruffy town known as New Po Town where I came from, and a few people lived down at these old rotted pre-Dome docks. The rest was wastelands where the undesirables went. Flower City maintained the Dome."
Crystal's words echoed through and through in her head. If the arrival of a Guzzlord was an apocalyptic event even for a reality like this one...for a world that had already been ravaged by one, it meant certain doom.
"...I'm already talking about the future in past tense... How strange. Not that it's a future anyone wants."
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 7:51 pm
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Cera would find herself in a hug before she could answer Doc Owl's questions, and if it wasn't for knowing she needed to hold it together for a bit longer, she would've broken down then and there. She'd move her head to look at the Noctowl hybrid and Crystal, otherwise content to stay in the hug for the moment."I'm not sure if you would've. Sub couldn't be sensed or reached at all, so once Gardy sent us there, we probably couldn't be either. Don't know if it was the usual machinations of the labyrinth at work or because of... Stakataka, you just said? Anyway, the cracks around it might've disrupted things. That's the first time I've ever been inside the place."
"I can confirm that," Aden added. "GRAY was alerting us to that after another situation was handled. They weren't able to reach several of you, and I can usually sense you without focusing. I wasn't able to, but I thought maybe it was just the situation making it hard."
"...what situation?"
"Uh... for the sake of the parties involved, maybe you should just do a quick mind read for once."
"Never mind, I don't think I need to."
Suddenly, Freth and the mental hitchhiker in her mind would hear Cera speaking to them exclusively. "Hi, I don't think we've met? Freth feels really different, but I don't recognize your mental signature at all. I can hear you clearly, though."
Aden wanted to remark about how it seemed like Cera was going through the motions a bit, like something was eating at her pretty badly, but with everyone else around, he decided to ask about it later and avoid a potential scene.
"Anyway... as for the other questions, five were infected. Think it was a Machop, Pincurchin, and Turtonator among the others'. And Sub's Sableye and weird Weezing. Far as I can tell, the Gardevoir isn't among them. I don't know about any vaccination status for any of them either-" Cera went on, going from her private telepathy to the usual broadcasted sort without skipping a beat.. until she couldn't, Crystal's remark seeming to break her for a moment. Again.
"...I'm sorry, I transformed into a what?"
Her train of thought was promptly derailed alongside, and it took her a moment to regain enough composure to try to explain what caused that one. "Erm... yeah, so when we were fighting that huge Kingler, it did an attack that was getting really dangerous and I tried to transform into something strong enough to handle it. I was trying to transform into the Kingler itself, but I guess my mind was on the weird claw some of us saw the day before and I tried to transform into that instead. I don't know how accurate it was, just that I couldn't stop trying to suck everything in once I transformed until it ended."
Aden tried to think of something to say, but he was at a loss after the sheer information dump. "I mean, none of this is exactly familiar to me either. Though, uh. If that thing showed like a claw or whatever, would that mean...?"
"Um. Me managing to transform into that isn't anything bad, is it?"
"Sis, I think the only apocalypse you'd ever willingly do involves a lot more plushies than you have lining up your room," he said, hoping to reassure the Mew in some sense. "Anyways, uh, I don't think I caught your name, but none of that sounds familiar to me?"
Whatever Monique was talking about, he had no ideas. Context gave him the feeling that maybe it was another reality or something, but that was about it. After knowing one who'd been reality hopping, another coming from one didn't sound terribly farfetched anymore. |
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 6:17 am
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Crystal looked between everyone there, patiently listening until everyone’s piece had been said. Finally, when everyone else had said their bit and had paused for a moment, she chimed in. “Alright. First, I like the idea of not crowding the med bay doors. Let’s hit the main room, where people can sit down.” Somewhere in the back of her head, she knew of a potential of a nearby Blizz again, but he could join in if he wanted or go hunker down in the kitchen or his room or wherever he wanted if he wanted to avoid talking about more Ultra Space weirdness. She figured they needed more room, though, and the main room would do well enough. The hybrid would go ahead and do so, finding an unobstructive place to make herself another hard light seat and sit down, still keeping Cera in her arms.
Once everyone else would arrive, she’d start in again, turning to Monique first. “Alright, so you’re from a future where pollution’s pretty much destroyed the world, sans a Poni Island that got turned into the final bastion of civilization. And to my knowledge of this reality, it being underdeveloped tracks, other than a gigantic tree where some powerful trainers gather to test themselves and their Pokémon. I’ve been there in other realities, too, it’s a nice place.Most of the time, I’m on that island for the shrine there, but it’s also not a bad place to train, either.” She blinked, realizing she was going off topic. “Aaaaaanyways. Interesting, still. And while it might be -a- future, it’s not set in stone it’ll be this place’s future, and you’re lucky in that you can consider a place like that the past for you. And, Light willing, you won’t have to watch it come to fruition.”
Her attention then turned to the Mew she held onto still, a small smile on her face. “Unless you also take on the ravenous hunger of a Guzzlord, it’s fine. Still impressive you managed to take on the form of one, even after only… Wait, that -was- an arm of it that popped out of that hole the Ziton punched during all of that, wasn’t it? Huh. Considering everything else then, I forgot about that… Anyways, I’d take a plushiepocalypse. At least it’ll be cute. And soft.” A chuckle would come out of the hybrid before a sigh, shaking her head slightly. “Anyways, I’m confident you merely transforming into one for a brief period isn’t going to signal the end times. Nor is merely an arm of Guzzlord appearing before the wormhole closed.” -With me going through it, too,- she thought to herself, slightly shaking her head before finally turning her attention back to Freth.
“Circling back to Monique’s memories…. You know what she’s talking about?” There was visible confusion on her face, considering that she hadn’t thought that there would be some sort of overlap between members and Ultra Space. “How?” Ultra Space was going to turn out to be a smaller place than she thought, wasn’t it? |
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 8:07 am
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 11:14 am
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 4:30 pm
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The main room was a bit of a weird spot to actually spill her guts, but at the very least it was no worse than just standing out in the middle of the hallway. At the very least, it wasn't under threat of getting blasted by a Claydol. If nothing else, since word of her unfortunate mental tenant got out between those she really didn't want to let on initially, word of it was bound to spread like wildfire, so she might as well come to terms with it. As she sat down, she started to listen to Monique and Crystal about this odd future that Monique claims she hails from. While at any other time, one would claim this to be too odd for this world, there's been a lot of that going on lately. Present company not excluded.
As soon as she was addressed however, Freth sighed out. "Truthfully, I don't know what to make of it. What she said kind of matches what...I guess I seen." Freth started. "This started shortly after...well...losing you, Crystal. It was the tail end of the tournament, there were still a couple of Snagems still in the running, but the rest of us that were still out in Galar got word of something weird going on around the southern, country looking parts to it. Postwick, I think the area was called. There was some disappearance that apparently happened...and when we went to look, I guess...we all blacked out...somehow. Don't know how or why."
"And how does this relate to a Guzzlord?" the hunter asked.
"Shut up, I'm getting there..." Freth growled out. "Anyways, I guess while I was out, I dreamed up something. Or at least, at the time I thought I was dreaming. I was...in some sort of area, I believe it was the Alola region, around that ginormous tree. It was like...a giant dome that spanned for miles." Freth tried to recall. "I didn't recognize anyone that I saw there...except, well...you Crystal, near the end, but you were still an Espeon hybrid...and really old. Oh, and Zac! Zac was there, too. In fact, we had to help him to have him save us, I think." she said. "The world out of the dome was...basically hell. It was some toxic hellscape not out of a place in some B-movie, the only thing separating people at large from out there was that dome.
"Toxic hellscape?" The hunter chimed in. "I already can't believe this. This world was on the fast track of Blizzard doing everything in. Not some poison or anything of the sorts."
"Blizzard was already dead. Same with Tristen." Freth snapped.
"Guess one good thing that came out of it. I guess I succeeded in her dreams."
"No, I believe I still take you out too. Because I...looked like this..." she said, pointing to herself, indicating that she too was the Galarian Articuno variant instead of her Kantonian self. "And this new 'guest' here..." she then points up to her mind. "...was also around in my mind...though she was a lot more amicable than she is now. Anyways, I lived alone, barring her, in...well, it wasn't that great, but it was apparently a great deal better than what...I think this dome had lower levels, you know, kind of underbelly looking places. I was...perhaps in some 'upper class' areas, I think?"
Freth would then shake her head. "Alright, getting to the point, I remember that at some point I was trying to talk to someone and then a massive explosion happened of some kind. A Guzzlord crashed through the dome. Me and the few others that were around me went off to some sort of castle."
"There was a castle in the dome? You really did go off into la-la land when you blacked out."
"I said this didn't involve you. Shut up." she growled out, probably to the confusion of Monique. She wasn't around for the revelation in the hallway, as Freth knew. There was probably more to catch up in other regards, but problems for later. "The Guzzlord crashed into the castle, and me and a few others were trying...to help Zac fight off the Guzzlord. Zac wasn't whole...so we had to gather his parts which were in the castle. We succeeded, but it...was a phyrric victory. We got rid of the Guzzlord, but then shortly after, we...would perish from the toxic fumes outside the dome making its way in through the entrance the Guzzlord made. And that is when I found myself back in Postwick, on the ground with everyone else coming to about the same time."
She sat up, getting comfortable in her seat, only then to lean over on the arm of the seat. "We went to go get ourselves checked out, no one could explain our sudden black out, and any investigations by a second party came back to nothing. At the time I thought of it to be a dream I had. Something my mind cooked up while I was baking under the sun. But after I ended up getting changed into this, and the whole talks that I had about psychics and stuff as of late, I kind of wondered if she did something to me. Got me to see some sort of weird prophecy or something."
"It wasn't me." the hunter said. "Blaming me for all your problems seems to be the trend for you as of late, isn't it? It took everything I had to just get in here to start doing my work in here to get you converted over and for me to take over, and I didn't gain consciousness in here until about the time you were getting checked out in that Galarian hospital. Though I guess that explains why you seemed to be unnerved back then. So I guess that was the thing on your mind the entire time for a while there, huh? That said, I suppose there's the possibility of foreseeing the future, especially one like that, but even though Galarian Articuno, and by extension yourself, can possibly realize the power of Future Sight, we can only see at most a couple of minutes into advance...nothing like...what you were describing, which I presume is a absurd amount of time."
"It also doesn't explain, if what she is saying is true..." Freth points to Monique. "...why she is here? The way she talks, she's not even supposed to be a Zoroark hybrid, let alone be here."
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 6:59 pm
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 11:03 pm
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Hearing Freth talk drove Monique nuts. It sounded like she was trying to simultaneously speak to someone in her head, but she was not a Psychic-type and had no way of hearing both sides of the conversation. Indeed, like most Dark-types, and unbeknownst to her, Monique tended to put some static in the psychic air, making it harder for them to parse messages. Whoever this second person was, they definitely seemed interested in the fate of Blizzard, and they were getting the straight facts from Freth.
"Your description...fits a lot of the jumbled pieces in my head. I'm not sure how you woke up in Galar, though. I haven't yet had a chance to visit there...or Alola here," she sighed.
"It also doesn't explain, if what she is saying is true..." Freth points to Monique. "...why she is here? The way she talks, she's not even supposed to be a Zoroark hybrid, let alone be here."
"Those are answers I'll never get at this point, doll." She crossed her arms and sighed.. "I just presume something happened in...Ultra Space between there and here. I know I'm lucky, but the way you're talking, I'm crazy lucky."
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2022 6:46 am
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Normally, Cera might protest being carried around like this, but being as out of sorts as she was, she'd take it for what it was for now. Besides, she knew Crystal meant well, and she had a point about not crowding the medbay. Even if she wanted to make sure Sub and the others were okay. And it let her keep her mind off the ordeal, if only for a bit.
She was, however, relieved that she hadn't also inadvertently brought about the end times or anything. Or that an arm of that thing also wasn't anything to worry about. She looked at Monique for a second too, then at Crystal and shook her head. None of it was anything she knew of, though it wasn't like she was the one being asked here.
Then she and Aden heard everything Freth talked about. And Cera got the extra fancy director's cut with commentary courtesy of the hunter, while also being bugged to hell and back about what apparently went down back at Postwick.
"Excuse me, I need a minute because all I remember about the incident in Postwick was going to check it out, saw... something I guess, and I don't remember anything else other than waking up around the rest that came along. No dreams or anything. Also, uh, headmate?" Unlike the other psychics, Cera hadn't really had the luxury of learning anything to call the hunter yet, but she was picking up on her remarks quite well. "Sorry for butting in, I tend to pick up on a lot of stray thoughts as it is and everything out of you's like a stray thought of Freth's to me, so... anyway, based on everything you're saying that you've done, I can't say I blame her. I mean, who wakes up one day and decide they want to be a different Articuno all of a sudden? Between that, the dreams and your sudden presence, it's easy to see why the blame would be pinned on you. And, yanno, the whole trying to take over thing, no one likes that."
"If it's like anything else that Crystal's explained, maybe something happened en route to here. She has said traveling around Ultra Space is pretty dangerous, so I doubt involuntary travel's any safer. As for why, hell if I know." Aden replied, giving a shrug.
"Also, just to have a little privacy and tact, what's this about Blizz ending the world or whatever? Don't worry, Freth and I are the only ones that'd hear. And maybe the other psychics, it's hard for us to totally tune out this sort of stuff." She wasn't sure if she'd get an answer, but it was worth a shot.
"Anyways... going off that dream, Freth, and what little bits Monique's been saying, you don't think..." For a moment, Aden wondered if maybe there was some relation. But, having not been there and deducing he probably wouldn't remember anything even if he was, discarded the idea like another of Reno's crazy theories. "Uh, never mind." |
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2022 8:43 am
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