New Beginnings - A Passage to Galar (Team Mission 0) [Fin]

[DignityPower]

SubonicXP

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Abby’s Pokemon would beat and batter down the Skwovet with Kaya’s Pluto assisting any dazzling the bulk of them while Veronica protected herself. It wasn’t long before the horde of Pokemon were sent fleeing or knocked out completely.

While that was being taken care of Kaya’s Sylveon went after the Shadow Caterpie, the single Swift smacking into its back and sending it tumbling. Before the bug had a chance to do anything Cosmo jumped in and snatched it up in its jaws with Crunch. While a normal Caterpie would have fainted with the first Swift this one was fueled by the rage of and power of Shadow energy, pushing it beyond its limits.

With a vile cry the Shadow Caterpie unleashed an incredibly fast and impossibly long purple Shadow energy infused String Shot and aimed it at the largest target nearby; Fluffy the Bewear. The String Shot would connect and in the same moment the Shadow Caterpie snatched its self out of Cosmo’s jaws and in a blink of an eye pulled itself onto Fluffy. Scurrying onto its back the Shadow Caterpie weaved an entricat sprawl of Shadowy String Shot around Fluffy and finally weaved itself a temporarily ‘Shadow cocoon’ on her back. The whole thing happened fast and Fluffy would find herself quickly unable to resist or fight back against the Shadow Caterpie.

By the time it was all done Fluffy would go still for a few seconds, ignoring Abby if she called out to it. The next thing the Snagems knew Fluffy was coming at them, its eyes glowing red. Fluffy would snatch up an entire tree without any effort and hurled it, sending it spinning around violently as it flew at Kaya and Veronica and their Pokemon, big enough for the entire group. With them distracted it dashed towards Abby and leaped off the ground to jump over her Pokemon, Fluffy aiming a skyward dropped Hammer Arm upon its trainer. Fluffy was not in control, nor was it even angry like a Shadow Pokemon normally is, instead it appeared Shadow Caterpie was pulling the ‘strings’.

Requiem of Whyspers

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With the Shadow Caterpie moving as fast as it did to overtake Fluffy, Kaya drew Flourish from it’s scabbard on his hip and, wielding the epee with more skill than he ever had before, he dashed toward Fluffy as he called out to Serena. “Use Psyshock on my sword!” The Fairy fox’s bows glowed with a blue light for a moment before psychic lightning arced between the two, meeting in the middle and blasting toward Kaya. As his sword was struck, it began to spark with the energy as well. Knowing this wouldn’t last but for a moment, Kaya lashed out incredibly carefully and attempting to cut the Shadow String Shot and send the psionic electricity coursing through it toward it’s creator.

TerashiLeonGoken

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Abby was stuck in place, like a Deerling in front of the headlights of a moving vehicle, until Lykas plucked her from the grasp of her enraged, possibly infected Bewear. It took her a moment to realize what had happened, but Lykas's voice helped her snapped out of it. "Yeah, probably. The Caterpie everyone's looking for latched onto her using String Shot."

Abby stood up in shock when she realized that she hadn't recalled anyone yet. Fortunately, Angela had focused on combatting Fluffy, apparently having told Broly and Palladia that they needed to back off or risk getting infected as well because the two Fighting-types were standing next to each other just watching. Abby immediately recalled them, not wanting them to get caught up in the crossfire and get infected. Angela, however, she left alone. The purified Combusken could focus on drawing Fluffy's attention while Kaya and Leon attacked the Caterpie on her back. That was fine.

Cosmo immediately tried to jump at Fluffy to fight, but with one effortless swipe Cosmo was thrown back with incredible force. The slim Zoroark was no match for a straight power fight against the Bewear... despite how fluffy the pokemon seemed. With that swipe it was clear to see what the Caterpie had done. "What the..." Veronica sighed to herself, not believing what such a small creature had conjured up. She would had rather believed that the Caterpie was a machine doing the parasite-zombie thing than an actual pokemon acting in such a strange, malefic ways.

As the others got going faster, Veronica sent out her Infernape. "While they focus on getting that thing off, let's try to make things easier for them to do so." Chi jumped forward with the intention of slowing the Bewear down. He grabbed onto the Bewear, ready to pull him down or push fist to fist in order for the others to get a better shot at the Caterpie. It was a risky move as he too could get hit by the incoming attacks.  

[KrystatheMewes]

Espeon_Commander

Aile would look to the ground at first, noticing the vibrations from the earth collapsing before the energy signature. Once she turned to see the beam, she groaned as Sub spoke up through the SNAG. “You have got to be kidding me… Can we -not- go anywhere without being in some way related to ruining the environment in some way? Just a peaceful day. Just one.” Aile rubbed her temples as she looked to Tatooine and Rancor. “Tati, let’s ride. Hopefully this isn’t too crazy.” She’d hop onto her Flygon’s back as tatooine took off for the red beam of light, with Aile getting a sinking feeling in her stomach.

As the trio approached the light, Aile’s gut feeling would be justified, as she could feel a tugging pull on them, pretty much keeping them from getting out any time soon. “Tati, you’re not able to really pull yourself away, can you?” With a shake of the Flygon’s head, Aile sighed and nodded. “Right then. Rancor, I need you to return until hopefully we can see how everything’s turning out. Tati… Well, let’s do this.” With a recall of the little Gible, Tatooine would instead of trying to resist the pull, went full speed into it, diving straight into the heart of the red light.

The next thing Aile saw after entering the red light would be the giant Shadow Metapod, both her and her Pokémon’s eyes widening at the height it had now. “I… That has got to be, without a doubt, the biggest Pokémon I’ve seen. Just… Holy crap.” Aile took a look around at the others that she had joined, including one unfamiliar one that was passed out against a wall. “Crap. Tati, use Flamethrower on that giant Metapod! Help out the others!” With the Flygon letting out a stream of flame on her command, Aile rushed over to the passed out girl. “Hey, hey, you okay?” She’d do the usual things to make sure that she was still alive, like checking her pulse on her neck and putting her hand near her nose to make sure she was still breathing. “Please don’t be dead or dying, please…”

The young girl; moves as if trying to get comfortable but appears to be still unconcious. she beggins muttering, "come on muse we gotta find the (incoherent) so we can make the professor happy. (more incoherent) noo leon don't take muse she is my best friend (more in chorent)" a small pool of saliva begins to pool around her fingers  

[Darksol88]

SubonicXP

"Wha- aaaaaaaaaah!" It had all happened so suddenly that the sudden loss of footing and ground to stand on didn't fully register in a way that might remind Aden that he could've flown or something, anything to lessen the descent thrust upon him. Instead, he'd land flat on his face in an even more unfamiliar place... and feel a vile energy so vast that he considered the idea that he wasn't actually conscious and was simply in some nightmare brought about by head trauma.

Slowly, he looked up at the Metapod. Surely that thing wasn't really that big... was it? The roar and subsequent fall right as he had gotten to his feet left him uncertain. "I'm sorry, does someone have the short version of what the hell I'm seeing here? Because I have a lot of questions, we probably don't have a lot of time for answers, and I'm not even sure how things flow in... whatever this place is!"

Figuring he didn't have the luxury of getting confirmation that everyone else was probably as confused as he was, he'd have to just fight and try to do something to this thing.

"Ampharos!" He called at once, tossing the ball and taking a step back for fear of being crushed by a giant shadowfied cocoon. "Power Gem!" Almost as soon as she emerged from the ball, she'd respond to the command with her head and tail's orbs glowing before unleashing the unusual ray of light at the giant Metapod before them.

---

Sol, Cera and Amaranth would eventually see the message, managing to regroup right around the beam they saw shooting skyward and peering down.

"They're down with WHAT!? I thought Pokemon couldn't evolve when they're shadowfied? Unless it infected a few others on the way..."

"That doesn't explain the size," Sol remarked.

"I'm, um. I'm not sure I want to know what's causing that if it's anything of this world."

"Um... is anyone else feeling like they're being sucked in?"

Startled by the revelation, the three quickly forced theirselves back as well as they could. Somehow, they were able to escape the pull, flung backwards from the effort as an apple rolled closer and closer to the hole; it'd end up being stopped on instinct by a timely telekinetic grab from Cera.

"That was a little too close... and I don't think they're gonna want an apple falling down there if it's gonna become giant-sized too- wait." A cursory bit of sensing almost had the Mew give a hard sigh, realizing she must've been followed. "Have you been following me after that scuffle earlier?"

A weird sound would come in response, its leaves blinking.

"...I. Ugh. You have to be kidding me right now."

"I'd suggest we jump in there, but I've a feeling all of us in there might mean none of us would be able to get out afterward. Much as I'm not keen on the idea, the more of us up here, the better... makes things less suspicious, too." Sol chimed in, feeling something brewing from that hole and doubting anyone would want much to do with it if it could be helped.

"So long as it doesn't pull us in again..." Amaranth was a bit less certain overall, torn between jumping in anyway and staying out where they could potentially rescue the others if- or more likely, when- it was needed.  

[RCCaughtem]

Ryan had barely any time to say anything before Lykas blasted off. Something tells him he should follow and recalls his Pokemon after a good thrashing of those Pokemon.

Once he arrives on the scene, he finds it a bit chaotic. He calls out Mite, his Frogadier, James, his Sobble, and one of his stronger water types, Theia, his special Milotic.

"All 3 of you, aim Water Pulses at the Cocoon on the back of that Pokemon!"
Ryan orders. All three nod and fire off the Water Pulses.

(rolling 3d 10 for confusion on all 3. Only 1's and 2's confuse)  

[Not a Noise]

blizzard120

Meanwhile, down below, Tristen was holding Rhyme close tight, trying to protect at least someone in all of this. It was sudden, near instinctive to play hero in some fashion even if it probably could have been fruitless. When he came to, he started to look around and let go of Rhyme, sitting up off the ground the two of them were laying on after they fell. Tristen couldn't figure out what was going on, only that he, Rhyme, and Darts weren't the only ones down here. Other Snagems got caught too, somehow. But...this wasn't all of them. Probably a third of them at best. And...some random someone who was also in the area. Uh-oh...

He then perked up, looking over what he presumed the source of the noise from earlier before getting dropped into this den. The metapod...and it was ginormous. The Manetric hybrid couldn't believe his eyes. And worse still, the sickening smell...that smell he knew all too well. A shadow Pokemon. This Metapod...was it really the Caterpie? Did it actually evolve? Was everything they all knew about Shadow Pokemon wrong? Or did the Caterpie infect a Metapod? Too many questions and no time to answer them. All he knew was that they were in trouble. He couldn't imagine what a Metapod this size could do, but then what could THEY do? This thing was huge! At least three, maybe four times larger than even a Wailord! And with the 'benefits' of Shadow Pokemon. Could they even fight that!? They all would have to try.

Tristen pulled out a Pokeball. "Magmar!" Tristen shouted, sending the living inferno out for battle. Once out, the Magmar looked at his opposition, staring in shock. That...was a really huge bug. "I know, Magmar! I don't know what's going on here! But we need to stand our ground! Fire Blast!" Tristen shouted.

The Magmar reared back and unleashed a powerful fireball, which unfurled out into a kanji-like state to blast this bug. Hopefully this thing also still followed the rules of type advantages...

Rhyme felt that energy. It felt odd, and dark, and dangerous, like it had when she was first pulled, like it had many times over. She almost felt like she was still new again, with Rotom tugging her to be used as a battery in the fridge--

She comes to with Tristen holding tight to her. Theres' no time to blush or even think about it--she realized she too was holding him tightly, protecting him as he was protecting her! She lets go about the same time, brushing off her clothes and climbing to her feet. Rises slowly, grimacing as limbs ache...but that...

...that couldn't be. She was wide eyed, frozen in shock at the gargantuan metapod. Well, thats where that shadow pokemon went. And its size....

She watched, alert, noticed the bubble. "Take the bubble out!! Avoid the butterflies! Its trying to guard itself while attacking us!!" Rhyme calls out to her friends, grabbing a pokeball and bringing out--
(Rhyme's party is labeled by me 1-6. Will edit with Pokemon and next move)

Aria! The Altaria pokemon appeared from his pokeball and stared briefly at his trainer, then at the other pokemon, and began to glow, which Rhyme knew quickly was him preparing for a Sky attack. He wasn't happy his poor Trainer looked scuffed.

She locates Mr. Mew's pokeball and summons the Pumpkaboo quickly, the ghost-type launching a round of Bullet Seed to aid with breaking the bubble's defense, not happy with the "game" the shadow pokemon was playing.  

[Reno Vantas]

Reno would finally find himself focusing back on the situation, GRAY's voice ringing in his ears giving him the moment to recenter himself properly. So, they were contending with a unique creature, empowered by some outside force that seemed to be native to Galar. A force with enough external power to push through the resistance of Shadow Pokemon to evolution and create this Metapod. And this force was a constant rather than a single event, based off the wave of explosive butterflies that were now streaking across the area that all of the Snagems were being confined to. He wasn't in the best condition due to those balls of fluff and he didn't even have the built-up energy that Harleen would give him as an offset, but he had an idea. Especially with Rhyme's Pokemon and move of choice.

Wheeling over to his two Pokemon, Reno would quickly take to his usual gunner position with Tesei before placing his only hand in a strange grip on one of the Cloyster's spines. "Alright. Tesei, fire an Icicle Crash towards that Metapod's eye. Harleen....time to fly." Reno said, popping his Wynaut into the air with his foot before gritting his teeth and swinging himself around Tesei's shell. Coming back around to the now-falling Wynaut as he finished his spin, Reno would land a two-footed dive kick to the small Pokemon, sending it flying through the air near Rhyme's Altaria, aimed to body block the flurry of butterflies and any other attacks that might come its way. As he continued to follow through with his spin, Reno would see the wave of butterflies finally descending on his position. Giving an annoyed grumble as he could see Tesei wasn't prepared to fire yet, Reno would use his leftover momentum to pop himself into the air and take a few explosions to his own body, the impact sending him sprawling even as Tesei finally unleashed a massive Icicle Crash that aimed to smash the Metapod, whatever was protecting it, and potentially everything behind it if it wasn't as solid as it looked.  

[RCCaughtem]

Ryan saw the small window and had to take his chances.

"Mite, to my left! James, to my right! Fire off Water Pulses!" Ryan orders. Mite, his Frogadier, and James, his Sobble, move accordingly, their attacks coming in on the target on the respective diagonals.

Ryan reaches up and pats Theia on the neck. "Now, Theia my dear, Ice Beam and delay it so it hits those Water Pulses as they reach the target." the channeler says to his Milotic.

Theia nods and waits for a few seconds before firing off her Ice Beam.

(I am rolling a D100 for this combo. given everything, I am going to give it a 35% chance to succeed. so 1-35 the combo goes off, but if 36-100, the moves hit with no extra flair)  

[Cecile Silverstone]

While Ulla was distracted as to where they were, Vulpix was crying out signaling the danger. Ulla looked up as she saw the massive energy of butterflies. She was about to act but then suddenly froze as this energy reminded her of the swarm of Shadow Pokemon. She hugged onto Velvet tightly as the fox started crying out to her Trainer to snap out of it. Before they knew it, Rala was infront of them. The child snapped out of her frozen state at the sight of a familiar Pokemon. She turned around to see her adopted parents. She looked back to see the giant Metapod as she took a deep breath and let the Vulpix down.

"I'm okay....We're okay." She said to calm herself down and to focus at the task at hand. Maybe her brother was right, she is getting soft. "Velvet. Lets go. Use Flamethrower!"

Meanwhile Leon's Rookidee was smacked away from Fluffy in the attempts to get the Shadow Caterpie off of its comrades back. The small bird threw a small tantrum telling the others to becareful. "Rookidee focus! Go again this confuse it before striking." The bird looked back at its trainer and simply nodded as it held its wings in the air as it then bursted into a fast flight close to the ground. It then made sharp turns here and there until it was close to the Caterpie to strike with peck again.