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"Hey, did you read the paper today? Seems there was a freak accident a couple of days ago in the subway..." Quick and Dirty version of the Application (But please watch the video, it took a lot of work): Colored Character Images

Penelope smiled at Citron. She almost felt bad making her worry over her. Almost. But at the suggestion they head out and search for elsewhere to go she had to shake her head. "No, no, I think I've moved around enough today. Now that today's excitement is all over I think it best I stay in one place." "I've never need to write much of anything." "Well, that should certainly change! I'm sure you'll have plenty of people to write to by journey's end. But, to the point, I may have some ink for you to use, Citron..." She paused in her speaking as both her and Alois heard the noises outside at the same time. He got there first and began to speak to people who seemed to be Gunther and the rest, plus some extra. Growing curious Penelope moved towards the door and, as Alois was still near the doorway, squeezed up next to him to poke her head out and examine the group. "We - my town - it borders Galtea right?" "Mhm, but yes it seems this place is becoming quite the melting pot in its own right." Penelope smiled as she looked at the newcomers. She didn't know what to make of them but as Gunther had brought them she was sure they were safe. Still, she had to wonder what it was that was bringing all these people here. Her eyes settled on Gunther and noticed the expression on his face. "Is something the matter?" Gunther hesitated when Raki asked his question. Still unsure what he should say or keep to himself. Though it was apparent Tsetseg had no qualms about going over every detail. Despite the situation he smiled as she told the story from her own...unique perspective. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about what he could reveal. "Yes, that sums it up rather well I'd say." Gunther nodded along with what Tsetseg had said. The trip back didn't take overly long for which Gunther was thankful for. None seemed to stop them and question who Raki was and where they were going in such a hurry. He didn't think it a good idea to worry the villagers so soon after this incident. Not before talking to Penelope and Catriona at the very least. Though as they got back and exchanged information with Mene his face paled. Catriona was with that man? Sure, Link had gone as well but...Edrick and Ciela too? It was wave after wave of thoughts that struck him as he considered things. Catriona was surely capable but he didn't know what this man could do. Link being with was a relief but Edrick having gone only made him more nervous of what plot might be afoot. He didn't wish to think ill of Ciela but he also was unsure her presence would help or hinder Catriona's situation. "Is something the matter?" Penelope's voice cut through his conflicting thoughts and he looked up and felt immediate relief upon seeing her face. He gave a short nod. "There seems to be some trouble and Catriona may be right in the middle of it." "There seems to be some trouble and Catriona may be right in the middle of it." The young tactician sighed and shook her head, "of course she is. Why am I not surprised this happens when we part ways." Penelope listened as Gunther explained the situation, pursing her lips in annoyance as she learned of the evident treachery of Pylauses. She had a feeling he was not to be trusted and yet this knowledge hadn't helped. Still, this was a perfect time to remedy the situation. "Alright, then I suppose there's only one thing to do. We shall go and confront this man. Alois, come along, we might have to break his door down if he refuses us entry." She smiled, "after all if it turns out to be nothing I'm sure no one would take his complaints seriously. Yes, I think a frontal assault shall serve us nicely in this situation." Gunther was relieved at how quickly Penelope made her decision. Though he couldn't help but be a bit nervous at how...excited she seemed to be about the prospect he couldn't deny that he, too, was eager to head there immediately and demand answers from this man. "As you say, then we should be on our way as soon as possible." He looked towards Phai. "Ah, er, I hope you don't mind any...mess you may have to help clean up when you've gathered the rest." Penelope gave a nod, realizing this young lady must be from the guard, and said "of course we'll do our best to keep any disturbance solely to that oily snake." It was true she had wished to rest but she couldn't say this wasn't a distraction from boredom. Not to mention if she were to rescue her sister perhaps the older girl would lose any notion that Penelope shouldn't be on this journey with them. And she really wanted to see Pylauses's reaction to them storming his home.

Tsetseg tapped her chin for a moment as Rocky had asked for context, thinking back on all that had happened since they arrived here. "Hm, hm, hm. Well...So, so see," the girl had started her long winded explanation. "When we first got here we were gonna go ask people about stuff but then, there weren't people and just animals instead. Lots of animals like dogs, badgers, beavers - oh yeah yeah, before we got here we were also attacked by beavers. And so we looked allll around for people and found one and he was actually an animal the whole time, and so we kept looking and stuff. And so then someone was like, "let's go to the Mayor's house" so we did. Oh, oh we also met this really nice girl named Cora and she had a horse which I think was also a horse the whole time. And there was also another Isaurian who wet met before that and she had a really scary wyvern that was pink!" The girl exclaimed this emphatically, seeming to shudder at her recollection of her first encounter with Citron, her tone noticeably getting less excited as she recalled that specific part. Yet, it bounced back as she continued. "So then we were in the Mayor's house and then we had a fun scavenger hunt! So, like, the mayor did a whole bunch of carvings around the house and we had to find where and what they were! It was really fun but I couldn't really understand what it was we were looking for. Oh, I also made friends with a rat in the basement! There was also this door there and someone was like, "click click click" on the door and woosh it went open! And then there was a whole passage and a ladder and then we were in a building with a really big stone wyvern thing. And then it came to life and tried to kill us but we killed it first! And then we met all of you guys and that was all today." The girl nodded as she finished her story, pleased with her summary of the events. Once they had made their way over to Mene's house, Tsetseg listened to the woman and Timmy speak. As it had turned out, most of her companions that already weren't with her had gone to investigate the house of the baddies. Nodding to herself, thinking that something was afoot herself with no idea what that could possibly be. Still, she didn't seem too concerned as she said, "well, well, if it's Catry and Green Guy then they're probably all good. Those two are real cool and helpful and reliable and stuff. Mhm. But, but...hmm..." The girl's growing sense of curiosity was getting the better of her, and as Phai asked if she wanted to come along the girl smiled enthusiastically, "of course! The more people the better, especially when dealing with baddies." The girl nodded. "I've been sleeping outside for the past few weeks, I think I won't die of cold for a night," the boy joked back to his mother. Though, as he turned back to look at her, he had seen the folly in his timing as the woman didn't seem to be in a joking mood at the moment. Though now feeling slightly awkward as she went to silently clean Alois attempted to still push through the atmosphere as he looked to Penelope. "Well excuse me, not every house can have a treasure hunt or living statue in it. I'm sure there's a book or two I never returned in here though, if you're really itching to kill the time." As Citron made her second comment, Alois felt a twitch in his brow as if annoyed for some reason by what she said, and then moved out of the way of his mother as she made way to clean outside. Letting out a sigh of relief as she did so, the boy feeling a weight lifted as she did so, he muttered, "oh man I did not miss those moments." Looking back to Citron he addressed her last comment saying, "well, if what you just saw was anything to go by no one's going to be sleeping outside tonight. Even if we all have to pack in only here in one big sleeping bundle or something. And we might have some ink lying around here, maybe around town or something I don't know. I've never need to write much of anything." The boy's ears perked up though, as he could hear through the walls something outside. "Well, looks like we don't have to go far to find trouble here. Go figure." Opening the door he looked out to see a large group of people, most of whom were not part of the party he came into this town with. "Well, you guys look like you've made some friends," he spoke to his companions. Giving a wave he said, "hey Timmy. They didn't have to fish you out of some hole did they?" And to the other he examined her and smiled saying, "and Phai, well that's surprising. I didn't think you knew what end to swing a sword from when I left." Though his usual snark came through, Alois couldn't help but feel happy for the always earnest girl and said, "but well, good job." Clearing his throat, he looked to the third newcomer he paused and furrowed his brow in confusion. "This is third one today." Once Penelope had made it outside he turned to her. "We - my town - it borders Galtea right?"

Well, nobody else got the reference, but then again, it was really just for Z. and Z. alone. That was fine. What was less fine was Es the Rotom deciding to make fun of them. “Oh my god, read a…” No, hold on. “Go watch a…” They paused and realized that they weren’t actually sure what the reference was, just that it was one they’d made. The gap in their memory extended to that too. That was even more frustrating than the original slight, honestly, even if Z. still had to respond to it all the same. “Just get some culture into that traffic cone of a head, why don’t you?” they said as they ascended into the void waiting for them higher up the stairs. Unlike the previous black-fogged thresholds Z. had crossed so far in their new life as a Zorua, this one actually took a while to get through. It didn’t feel like Z. was moving at all, or perhaps they were moving but not under their own power. Perhaps that ambiguity was part of the point. Z. didn’t take too much stock in any of that, though, instead they spent the time trying to parse some of the more “out there” moments in a past hour that had already been pretty “out there.” They were a Zorua now. Sure, that was, like, the first coherent thought they’d had as soon as they woke up but that didn’t mean it hadn’t taken this long to actually process what that meant. Now there was a whole bunch of stuff they had to figure out about themselves all over again. The illusion thing was one such example. They hadn’t even thought of that as a thing they could do until they’d actually gone and done it, probably because they hadn’t internalized it, and still really hadn’t. It stood to reason that they “knew” some moves too, would they be able to use those when the chips came down? Then again, their brain certainly hadn’t rejected any of those ideas either, unlike the time, say, that Cubone tried to imply Z. was something they weren’t, so it wasn’t all bad. Of course, if they allowed themselves to have some fucking empathy (as they once told Summer, a phrase they then followed with “you ignominious twat”), that probably meant everyone else was going through something similar. And yeah, they’d seen some of that too. Since they were thinking about abilities, all those intrusive thoughts they’d been getting were probably the Noibat’s fault. Z. figured they’d probably have to push her to figure those out as well. Plus whatever was going on with Es, plus the Clobbopus getting stuck to a pillar like he did (no matter how funny it was in the moment)... Hopefully, they all knew this too, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The void finally dissipated, and despite, you know, making it up the stairs first, Z. still found themselves surrounded by everyone else, faced with a new set of twisting passages, all alike. The group was slightly less alone than they were on the previous floor, though. Someone was trying to make contact with them, to encourage them onwards and upwards. This would have been all well and good, though the sing-song musical way the voice in their head phrased themselves grated a bit. “That better not be you, ears,” Z. said. Noibat had proven she could joke, but there was a stark difference between puns and snarks and whatever this was if it was indeed a joke. “You heard the voice,” Hector said, though Z. wasn’t sure how he figured that out without, you know, asking about it. He went on to say the same stuff the other ex-mod had, all stuff that was barely worth listening to the first time, though at least he ended with something interesting. “I’ll take point,” he said, as he walked off and immediately into a wall. “Okay, counterpoint,” Z. said once they’d composed themself after a few quick chuckles. “I hear you. I see you. But why doesn’t someone who has figured out how to move properly go first?” They pushed through the crowd just in time to make it to the exit to their right, and, unlike Hector, managed to stop themselves before they hit the wall that appeared in the way. At least, they did for a moment, before six Hectors ran into Z. from behind and forced them into it face first. “Fatherfucker,” was Z.’s immediate reaction, both to the obvious stimuli and the immediate realization of the consequences of their actions, though, muffled by unidentifiable stone, it came out more like “Ffffkuh.” When they popped back out, they had more. “Yeah, changed my mind. Gonna stay as far away as possible. Give me a shout if something stupid happens again, I guess, but otherwise, yeah. Or don’t. Whatever.” The way left seemed to stretch onwards, winding around the corner and out of sight, an opportunity Z. relished, even as the sounds of movement up ahead grew more and more pronounced and the strange voice’s warning about hostile Pokémon came back to the forefront of Z.’s thoughts.

Alois, Penelope, and Citron "I'll just sleep outside tonight." "Oh, no ye ain't," Mene said. "You'll catch yer death o'cold out there. I ain't lettin' no one be asleepin' outside." She would've said more, but stopped upon hearing Penelope's quiet comment. The words took the wind from her sails as easily as puncturing a hole through them. But whether Alois's mother was dispirited or else remained to be seen. Her shoulders sagged, mouth softening, but her eyes had narrowed into sharpened brittle. The woman said nothing as she busied herself with cleaning, eventually leaving the house and shutting the door behind her to let the trio talk amongst themselves. Until the others arrived. Gunther, Tsetseg, and Raki "Oh, yes, that. You know them well?" "By hecky I do—weel, nae really." Timmy scratched his head. "They're, uhh, whaddaya call it, infamous." He glanced around, as if fearing the trees and bushes would carry away his words. "A'body in town knows o' em. Pylauses is as highfalutin' as ye can get, thinks the sun comes up jest to 'ear him crow. An' Hanikap jest does whate'er Pylauses asks o' him." He then moved on to his explanation of how he ended up in the quarry pit. — Phai's expression, which had sunk further into a hangdog frown, lifted slightly as she listened to Tsetseg. "Oh, so that's where you must have met the fluffy foxes then. Where was that again?" However, Gunther's words brought her back to painful reality. "I still can't believe they would do that. How could anybody do such a thing? When we're all suffering, trying to work together… Why would they do something like this?!" "'Cause they're grown-ups, and sometimes grown-ups are bad'uns," Timmy explained with the simple wisdom of a child. After Raki asked his question, were the others to expand upon what happened, both Phai and Timmy would listen, though Phai would seem much more interested. Timmy, in contrast to Phai's rising panic, beamed like nothing was wrong when they passed his father Paulos, giving a giant wave. The man waved back, unsurprised to see the group he has sent after Timmy had grown from Gunther, Tsetseg, and Lassie to include Sienna, Raki, Phai, and Icleias. Or he just didn't care. It was hard to tell. Alois, Penelope, Gunther, Tsetseg, Citron, and Raki Eventually, the crowd reached Mene's house, with the woman outside sweeping away stray debris with a broom. Every so often she would lean over to pat a nearby peach-colored wyvern who was sleeping nearby. "Heyo Mene, it's Timmy! Ah've got some news fer ya." The boy's shout was loud enough to be heard even from inside the house. "Timmy." Mene set the broom aside, wiping her hands off on her apron as she approached. "What can I do ye for?" Her smile widened when she noticed the wyvern rider with him. "And Raki too! What a surprise. Not that I'm complainin', mind." She winked. "Hopefully, with everythin' going on, the mayor won't mind an extra face or two." Timmy pointed at Raki. "Me an' Raki, we were oot in the woods, an' 'eard some real nasty business." He explained what the Isaurian had gone over earlier to the group. "Ah reckon they're fixin' to pull off some grand ol' scheme o' sorts. Ah knows fer sure it's bad, cuz when Hanikap saw me, he pushed me inter the quarry pit all apanicked, so's at least it's summat ah wasnae supposed t'hear." Mene clucked her tongue in worry. "That Edrick boy an' the girl with the horse jest left recently fer Pylauses's house. Tweren't long afore that an' they were mightily injured." She frowned. "Come t'think of it, that young man in green headed out afore them. An' that young lady too… methinks 'er name was Cat somethin'." She paled. "Dear Dragon… Mayhap the mayor was right 'bout Pylauses. He never did trust 'im. But I never paid him much mind. Fact is, he could do with a little more trustin'." Timmy nodded. "Ah always thought they were strangelike, though I ain't never was 'spectin' them to go pushin' me inter holes an' such." Phai paled, before firming her expression. "I'm…I'm gonna go grab Acantha. And maybe Cora, if I can find her. We need to get this straightened out, especially if they're up to no good! I-If it's nothing though…" she trailed off. "We can just…apologize. Yeah! …Hopefully that'll work." She glanced at Tsetseg. "D-Do you wanna come with? Or not… Whichever you decide, I'm fine with." Edrick and Ciela Hanikap sputtered out some protests when Edrick slipped past him. "Oi, I mean, hey, wait! Please, uhh, stay in the parlor, good sir!" When nothing happened, the man sighed, but continued to climb the stairs, chasing after the others with exhausted desperation. "Oh, rats, Lord Gaston is going to kill me," he muttered. Link The door opened, only for Pylauses to slam it shut immediately. "What in the azure blazes?!" he shouted. "Demned animals!" The door swung open again. This time, the man marched inside in high dudgeon, shooing the pigeons back to their holes. During all of this, he neither noticed Link nor was he paying attention to the doorway. OOC

With the effort of most of the Pokemon forum members, the group had successfully managed to shove the pillar from its original resting place to across the water. As they started, Chester heard a thought in his head that was most certainly not his own yet one that he assumed was common amongst the general forum. Muttering, "well perhaps if they did we'd have much less problems." Then, as they had continued to do so it had seemed that physics had caught up with them; gravity deciding to be their foe as it shoved the pillar into the water. As this disaster was starting to take place, Chester started to do all he could to yank the pillar backwards and with the combined effort of just about everyone they had managed to keep the worst happening. For now. Startled as a Falinx had fallen from the sky right next to him, the thud it landed it with making Chester rub his head in discomfort at the thought of it landing on top of him, the Chespin looked at their surroundings. Chester, for his own part, found neither the pun spoken nor the one that had somehow found its way into his head - the same voice that was not his own still - amusing. In fact, as he took stock of everything he emphatically pointed to Z. saying, "NG-Plus is correct." The Chespin paused briefly as he said the name of the Falinks. He was certain that he had referred to the man as nothing but that for most of the time that he knew him but saying it aloud seemed to not have the same ease or flow he had remembered it having. New Game Plus was far too much of a mouthful to say easily though. New Game? Plus? New? None of these seemed like a proper name to actually call someone either. Nick or otherwise. Continuing his thought, he added, "now is not the time to berate one another with vicious and petty sarcasm. Not when Clobber proved himself quite immaculately in our efforts!" The Chespin furrowed his brow and said, "that being said, this was not a worthless endeavor!" Looking between Clobber, Es, and Z. he added, "even if this path ultimately leads to a dead end, we learned many valuable things about our bodies and capabilities thus far in this exercise. Furthermore!" He looked over to the Treecko. "We have learned what we are able to accomplish when we all - mostly - work together! See, we were able to create a path across this stream. That's something to take pride in of itself, and something to keep in mind for later. Good work all the same on the plan Shadow!" Clearing his throat he added, "but well, yes, if Z.'s excursion truly proved to be nothing but a dead end then we should probably head elsewhere. As a group!"

Alois, Penelope, and Citron To look at Mene, one would think her earlier exhaustion a lie. She moved with the determined stomp of a mother on a mission, the back-and-forth flitter of a robin feathering her nest, removing what bits she found wanting, her veil fluttering behind her like a wing. "Alois! I cannot believe you would be so quick to send her away. We do not even know yet if Edrick will return to rest here. Do not tell me you are hoping to spend the night here with just me, are you?" The woman's frenzied dance came to a halt, a beat out of sync. She turned her head to stare at first Penelope, and then Alois. Her eyes revealed a flicker of wariness that was quickly extinguished by a tide of disapproval. "Now, Alois, if'n Miss Penelope's words be true, then I 'ave to say as I'm mightily disappointed in ye. I thought I'd raised ye better." She pursed her lips. "Still, mightn't be the worst idea to look around, maybe take a peek at the house down the road. Alois can show ye. Just be sure to either come back or bed down afore dark." Gunther, Tsetseg, and Raki Phai nodded along in a rare understanding of Tsetseg's impassioned litany. "Fluffy foxes that were growling? Where did you meet those? They sound a little scary…unless, of course, they were friendly, then that would be a different story." She straightened up at the archer's last sentence. "Baddies? In our village? How could that be?" The militia girl listened to Raki's explanation, expression stiffening further with every word. "Pylauses and Hanikap," she muttered in a quiet voice tinged with disbelief. The group followed a worn-down hunting trail that wound through the forest like a snake as they started the return journey back to the village. "Aye, t'was them," Timmy agreed, stretching his arms as he moved to the front of the pack, surefooted and confident. "I stayed t'listen longer, but ah didna hear much else. Hanikap caught me whiles I was still fixin' to do summat, shoved me down inter this 'ere hole, an' there ye 'ave it." His cheerful tone clashed with the heaviness of his words. The boy walked as if he were on a daytime stroll, hopping over rivulets of water and fallen logs. "That's unbelievable," Phai muttered, pushing a stray tree branch aside for the rest of the group to pass before taking up the rear. Unlike Timmy's jaunty skips, her steps sank into the ground, heavy with dread. "How could Hanikap push you down a well—quarry like that?" she corrected herself. "And what's this about a secret passage?" "Reminds me o' summat my papa said," Timmy replied. "Said the mayor must've been in high cotton wool cuz he 'ad some fancy schmancy secret passage. Course, he shut up when ah asked him 'bout that." He shook his head. "Haven't ye noticed it, Phai? There's somefing we ain't knowin', but the grown-ups do, an' they ain't tellin'." "I…" the girl's silver eyes glazed over in thought. "Yeah. You're right. But I don't know what it could be. I think Acantha does, but she won't tell me either." She glanced at the rest of the group. "S-Sorry, this must all sound so strange…" She laughed nervously. "U-Unless it's not. Maybe you've seen weirder on your travels?" Edrick and Ciela "Huh?" Hanikap scratched his head. "I thought I saw a wolfydog." He turned to look behind him, at Rohns climbing up the stairs. "I did, I did saw a wolfydog!" A pause, and then, "Oh, no! I can't let that thing get near Lord Pylauses." The man waddled after Rohns like an ungainly duck. He stumbled, almost tripping once more, but caught himself and resumed the chase with renewed vigor. Meanwhile, Edrick and Ciela stood alone at the front of the house. Through the open door, they would see what looked like a large parlor, all polished wood flooring and upholstered red velvet furniture. Patterned rugs created a bizarre mosaic, and paintings of various hunting scenes took up every spare inch of wall space. A door stood on each end of the opposite wall, an enormous staircase sandwiched between them. The same staircase Hanikap was currently scaling, huffing and puffing with every step. Link The birds approached Link like a troop of soldiers surrounding a single enemy. A few cocked their heads to the side and cooed curiously. Others just stared straight at him with empty eyes. Meanwhile, above the noise of the birds, the mercenary would hear footsteps approaching his room, along with a muttered voice. "Blasted avianators! They must be insatiated. I shall have to nourish them before dispatching my memorandum." Shortly after, he could hear the creak of the door opening. OOC

Though Ryia was aware that magic could affect the forest she hadn't been expecting the degree or manner in which it had already done so. She couldn't help but feel like she had stepped into some kind of old folk story of a realm of pure magic and whimsical creatures with how oddly shaped and bent the trees were and how the colors shifted all around where they were. The forest itself seemed to be alive at that, with the spinning mushrooms and the arcs of water coming out from the water seemingly on their own. Taken aback by the whole wondrous sight of it, the girl stood still for a moment as Reinaan had begun his own investigation. Ryia didn't have much of an idea as to what would be considered strange or out of place in an area already so foreign as this, so she decided to go to the biggest point of interest. The lake. Walking over to the edge, the girl looked down into the water, noting that it the surface of it was incredibly clear and could see deeper into the bottom. But that was where the clarity ended. The bottom of the lake had an everchanging cloud of colors formed that she couldn't make much sense of. And further away from them, the girl had also noticed some kind of dark patch in the water as well as more water arcing off the surface. Without much knowledge to go on, Ryia turned to the people she believed to be the two more learned individuals and asked, "would, um, well, either of you know what's up with uh, that?" She gestured to the body of water. Madelyn refused to get too close to the water, though when she squinted at where Ryia gestured she waved her off. "Those clouds are just excess magic." Keres added, having gotten closer, about the dark spot "It's something large." "Do uh, you think it's dangerous?" She'll ask Keres. Keres shrugged. Then, a moment later, said "Sorry..." "Oh, no, there's nothing to be sorry about or anything. I uh, I don't really know where to start with it but...hmmm...maybe..." Ryia didn't really know what to make of the dark spot. It could've been a creature of some kind. It could've been some kind of amalgam of magic quite like cloud below, but dark instead of rainbowy. It could even be some kind of large object that was just hiding beneath the water. She wanted to figure out what it was but, jumping into the water to go directly to it seemed like a terrible idea to her. Next, she had the thought of having Keres pull it closer to them via magic, but given how the forest already was with magic she didn't want to warp the area any more then it already had been. And she didn't know if there would be any other consequences of it as well. So it finally brought her to her final idea. The girl pulled out her bow, and drew an arrow. Worried about whether the elves would mind an arrow littering this lake or not, the girl said, "I uh, I hope they don't mind this," and shot the arrow towards the dark spot. Her arrow sank into the water, and whether she actually hit her mark or not was unclear to her. What was clear, however, was that she had certainly gotten its attention. "Oh..." The girl said as the dark spot began moving towards the shore, and realizing she hadn't actually thought that far ahead in her plan. Thinking that it would be dangerou to stay, and worried about the water itself at that, Ryia looked to the others saying, "we should uh, probably back away now."

Crash 2, done.

Raki shrugged with a smile "Wouldn't be here if you hadn't rescued us before. And yes." He placed a hand on Garinphasia's neck as she received Gunther and Timmy's praise. He supposed that the comment on not having eaten Timmy also counted as a compliment? Kind of? "Yes she is." Especially since she appeared to have been satisfied with her staring contest. And on the other group's side, the girl had ceased her challenge as well. 'And thank the Goddess they have.' In exchange, she soon began to stare at him. Oh well, can't win 'em all. "Naow… whaddaya says to us all gittin' back to the village? Ah gots sum things to tell Missus Mene. You too, Raki. Ahm thinkin' ye shoold come along this time. I donts want tae leave ye oot 'ere by yerself if'n one of those pair o'baddies comes back." "Oh, oh well let's take you - escort you! there. Especially if there are baddies out. Baddies are no good but we're really good at fighting baddies, mhm, mhm." "Yeah, I suppose..." The boy turned in the direction of the village. He had sneaked around to not be seen until a moment ago, but he had just revealed himself to a bunch more people, there wasn't much point in continuing to hide. "Wait a moment. You mentioned a pair of, er, baddies? What is that all about? Is there someone else out here we should be worried about?" "Uh, yeah." He turned towards Timmy, meaning to ask him... though, thinking about it, the whole reason he sneaked into the village was to find someone whom he could tell what happened. Phai wasn't Amas, but Timmy just told him he could trust her, and if these people were the ones that managed to break the transformation, maybe they could have found it useful. "We can explain while we return, I think? Phasia, follow us, but remain hidden unless I call for you, I don't want to cause panic." The wyvern showed no immediate reaction to his words, but as he turned towards the village, she didn't move to follow, limiting herself to keeping her gaze on his back. "So, me and Timmy were there at the quarry, back to being humans and all." He pointed roughly to the place near the quarry where they were hiding. "And we heard those two guys discussing, I think their names are Hanikap and... Platelets? Pilates? Er... how was the name?" "Anyway, It was mostly Hanikap telling stuff that happened in a secret passage or something to... to that other one. He answered, I think, but I couldn't for my life repeat you what he was saying, something about moving forward plans... probably." He turned towards the others "Anyway, Polases then went away, and I tried to sneak into the village to find someone to tell about it. I, ahem, didn't manage to, so I was coming back when I found you all there."

With Noibat's help, some semi-hearty cheering and encouragement without moving, the team was able to start moving the pillar across the stream. The path for the less water-worthy Pokemon among them was becoming clear. That was until they had almost reached their goal. The pillar proved short enough to start dipping down into the stream before it finished bridging the gap. A dip of her toes into the cold water was enough to prompt some movement on Noibat's part, primarily scooting up some on the pillar before her lower half got submerged with it. The other side of the pillar was raising into the air with the Clobbopus who had decided to help too still stuck to it. If she wasn't about to take a freezing bath she might have laughed at the situation. The feeling almost left with Zeta's arrival back on the scene after being so adamant about leaving everyone behind. But go figure no one could be that heartless and here the Zorua was looking to help. They addressed Noibat directly though, telling her to move her butt out of the way which prompted Noibat to finally stand up and maybe start moving. Weighing down the end that was tipping up was certainly an idea, one that made enough sense. Noibat wasn't sure how much weight she had to offer to the situation but in the worst case scenario she could just get off the pillar and cheer the gang on again. That'd do it for sure. But first Zeta started a slew of puns about the Clobbopus' situation. Noibat snorted, trying to stifle a laugh but failing miserably. "No, come on." She started berating herself mentally. "Puns are stupid, don't laugh at that." she thought again while her body clearly disagreed. She raised a wing to her lips as if trying to stop herself from saying something. "He looks a little octopied." Noibat thought again against her own attempt at better judgement. This pun however did not stay in her own mind. Like her mod comment before it she unknowingly broadcast it into the minds of everyone nearby. Still oblivious to this new power the bat couldn't stop herself from actually laughing now that she had joined in mentally with Zeta. "God I needed that." Noibat managed to say as she calmed down and continued walking toward the other end of the pillar to aid in the effort of weighing it down. Of course she soon cleared her throat briefly as if to say that was over now and she had regained her composure. "Not that it's cool to laugh at his misfortune" she started saying to Z. while trying to keep a straight face. She was a bit uncertain which side of this she landed on despite how good laughing like that had felt for her nerves. She was trying to garner favor with the Zorua but not alienate herself from anyone who may have disapproved. A losing battle no doubt but nothing a little extra good faith couldn't aid with. "Hang on, we'll get ya down! Or the pillar at least, sorta on you to let go of it." she called to the dangling Clobbopus before having to stifle another chuckle at the absurdity of the situation she found herself in. It was almost enough to forget the dread of being ripped away from her proper life as a human and turned into a bat. At least for a little bit. OOC

"This tastes weird." It wasn't all that great as final thoughts went. Of course many people don't have the luxury of choosing what they'd last think before the end but Sabrina would have hoped for something a bit better than that. Then again, was that her last thought? After all wasn't she thinking right now? Sabrina hadn't really considered much about any sort of afterlife. Honestly she avoided giving it too much thought. Especially as, if there was one, a heaven and hell and all that, she had a terrible thought she knew which one she'd go to. Especially given... But, really, what was happening? It all felt...hazy. And the there was a noise. A bell? Alarm? She hadn't been dreaming, she knew that, but this sure felt similar to waking up. Sabrina looked around at the...church? It kind of seemed like one but not exactly. The floors were in disrepair, bits of grass sticking from it in clumps, and there wasn't any sort of entrance nor exit. She heard voices and soon realized she wasn't alone in the...building. Several others, some of them rather huge men, and one...in a deer costume, were also there with her. She considered the moments that led up to this, that odd feeling from before, as her eye scanned the room again. This time seeing the rather specific and unusual images that were on the windows. Finally her gaze stopped at the most prominent one. Some strange fantastic beast curled around an orb. All of it hit her in a rush. The death. The nothingness. Waking up here in this strange, almost otherworldly feeling, place. A single word came to mind and she let out a soft gasp. "Isekai" Sabrina jolted to her feet then while her heart began to rapidly pound and she gave a couple excited hops as her emotions overflowed. She overheard one of the men saying something, "...so does this make this heaven then?" Before she knew it she was hurrying up in front of everyone. Shaking her head Sabrina spoke up, or rather laughed, "Fufufu...That's not it at all." She said. Then, turning to the others, she raised an arm to put one hand up over her face and outstretched her other arm. "I know exactly what this is! For it was prophesied since my birth! We were sent to save this world from a great evil. Specially chosen to fulfill a grand destiny!" As she looked at the group she grew nervous, and a slight blush appeared on her face, realizing just how many there were. "I...wouldn't have thought there to be so many but that doesn't change the truth! And the truth is, all of us," her eye looked towards the deer and she hesitated a moment before continuing, "a-all of us, were brought here. Brought here to be...heroes!"

Hector resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Zee. He was fairly sure of at least two things; one, they were being an immature brat, and two, the presence of a stream that all signs indicated was man-made was not really a clue on their location. Arguing with them won’t solve anything though. The saying ‘don’t feed the trolls’ sprang to mind. He remembered telling people that all the time on YCM and NCM. They’ll drag you down to their level and then they’ll beat you with experience, so the only way to win is to not take the bait. That probably meant it was time for him to sink-or-swim, in the literal sense. "That guy's really mean..." Cross said. Hector was happy to see that his tears had dried. "What's his deal anyway? Is he a toddler?" “Not he. They,” Hector corrected the Cubone softly. He was very gradually starting to get a handle on talking. “Z. goes by they, okay?” Hector had no idea why he felt the need to correct such a mistake. He could remember them informing the forum, and there being a certain degree of controversy, but he had not been personally informed. There’s gotta be some kinda social connotation I don’t remember. I just know it’s important to get it right. “I’m sure they’re just stressed. We all are. Don’t take anything anyone says right now all that personally.” It was the second time he had told Cross that, but that was because the fact remained they were all probably various degrees of panicked and none of them (him included) were in their right minds. It wasn then that Marv—should I use real names or usernames?—had an excellent idea. They could take a fallen pillar and push it over to make a bridge. The moderator, Chester the Chespin, was quick to endorse the idea. “Good catch Marv.” Hector waddled over to the Treecko. Walking still proved to be a real battle, a tiresome endeavor that required him to try and keep six pairs of legs in-sync so that no one got stepped on. At the moment his most effective strategy was to envision a clumsy Scolipede. Move the six right legs forward, then the six left legs forward, all while accounting for the fact that the Big Guy had slightly longer stubs-for-legs so his gait was different than the troopers. He was more than relieved to stop when he made it to Marv. "High-five my man," he said, raising a polished golden shield into the air. The five troopers behind him did the same. "Uh, thanks...you guys? Guy? Jeez this is a little much..." Marv chuckled nervously, high-fiving the golden shield Hector rose up. Hector moved the shield forward to meet the high-five. “Heh, don’t sweat it. If you have a—ow! Ow ow ow… ow!” The five troopers mimicked the motion; each one hit the other in the back of the helmet with their shield, filling the cavern with the sounds of clanging metal and soft shouts of pain. “. . .” Hector’s ears were ringing. His head hurt, and also he probably seemed like a huge idiot. Oh well. Learned something at least. Apparently I feel every bit of pain all six of… well, all six of ME do. Also that he needed to be sure to only act as the Big Guy and not all six of them. God, he had his work cut out for him. He brushed it off and precariously waddled over to the pillar the others were pushing. It took some very careful finagling, but he managed to get in position to help by switching from a straight line to a horizontal line where they were shoulder-to-shoulder. “We won’t get very far if we don’t work together,” he said, being very deliberate with his focus. “On three, push as hard as you can for a few seconds and then stop. That okay with you all? Alright. One… two… thre—whoa!” Suddenly there was a voice inside of his head. With his mind already such a mess, it cut through all the weaker thoughts like butter. “Since when do we listen to mo--did… did you just talk in my head? Did anyone else hear that? Did you mean to do that?” Hector fired off questions rapid fire, almost all of them probably hard to understand in the jumble of his voices. Hector calmed himself down after the surprise. “You get mind powers and I turn into a team of uncoordinated toddlers in helmets? And you can fly too! Could you be any cooler?” “Sorry. Sorry. I can ask later. We gotta get moving right now, before we get left behind.” Hector braced his stubby little feet on the ground and pressed his shields flat against the pillar. “On three! One… two… three!” He pushed with all his might, as did—hopefully—the others. The pillar groaned before it began to roll, loose chips of stone flaking off and falling to the floor. “Woo! We got this! One… two… three!” It rolled further. Hector enjoyed the physical labor and teamwork. It grounded him and made it easier to focus than when he had just been standing around; the Brass seemed to naturally draw most of his attention when it came to working together. Though he swore that second trooper was a few seconds out of sync. What was going on with that?

A lot happened next, to be honest; a Zorua jumping into the water, a Chespin running after them to call out… It seemed everyone else was awake; that was what Es had picked up on as she idly floated in circles, still trying to focus on moving. It was so weird, it wasn’t anything like walking, instead it was more like instinct than anything else. Even as she had told herself she wasn’t going to think about it, even that seemed easier said than done, but this moving thing was even stranger. She had thought about trying to turn her ‘wings’, though they seemed to be made for decoration at best, into feet, but… Why was she so sure walking would be easier? Had she ever walked before? She sure couldn’t remember walking. Though, walking wasn’t the only thing she couldn’t remember. In fact, she couldn’t come up with any reason why she should know how to walk; even if she distinctly remembered being a human before, she didn’t remember anything about what being a ‘human’ meant, or was. Did humans walk? If so, how did they walk? Two feet? Three? Four? Two seemed the easiest, but was that just because she only had two wings now? There was just so much to think about. And even then, it wasn’t so much that she was bothered by it all, that she was curious; just what did she know, that she didn’t know? What secrets were locked within her mind? What- Oh, hey, she had made it to the edge of the river. When had that happened? “Wo-a--a-a-h ho! Stop right there!” Es cried out to herself as she came to a stop just at the edge; voice ringing out as the Rotom tilted backwards, plasma flickering with each syllable of her ‘woah’. It was only after she stopped speaking that she came to listen to everything everyone had to say, rotating in place to face the majority of the group. Or at least, pretending to as the Falinks began to speak. He said a lot, an awful lot, but from what she was able to tune into, he brought up some good points. Primarily, that it would be easier for the most of them to go the way that wasn’t covered in water; a predicament that she might have thought more about had the Zorua, Zed, Es thought their name was? Fired back. By now, the Zorua had made it over to the other side of the river, and so- Oh, she was crossing the river, or stream now, herself, wasn’t she? And at a good clip too, huh? It was so weird, floating in place wherever one thought she should go, even if there was no… Physical component to it. It was made worse by the fact that it seemed subconscious at best, given that she wasn’t consciously trying to move over the river. Yet, still, the Rotom jittered seemingly along the river towards the Zorua, all while still facing the others, doing her best to pay attention to at least their plan as she subconsciously moved to follow the one furthest along. It was about then that the Treecko (Marge?) among them, came to suggest that they use the broken pillars to cross, though, they expected that it would take most of them working together to do that. And it was because she came to rest beside the now-dry Zorua as she heard this, that she came to a simple conclusion. “N-N-N-Nope, sorry! Looks l-l-l-ike I won’t be able to help you with that one, gang!” She called out to the other side, voice jittering as she, in a triangle position, zipped in a circle with each repeated syllable, an almost comical grinning mouth appearing as the Rotom seemed to laugh in place. “Mostly because if I stop moving, I might die like a Sharpedo!” She joked, before coming to a rather sudden stop, even plasma halting and pausing in the air for a moment as her eyes came to stare at the group. “That means that since I still have so much to learn about my body, you guys probably do too! So it’s probably best that you all work this one out on your own, to practice, right?” She asked, her tone dropping a bit more than was intentional, as the plasma began to flow around her again, rather than stagnantly pause around her. “Don’t you agree?” She’d turn to face the Zorua, as she tried to cover for the fact that she likely wouldn’t have been any help to begin with, as weak as this body felt.

If you can truly find anything why haven't you found any bitches

What've you been up to while in the void that is "not around"?

5. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 6. Wii Play 7. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The first to reach the stairs was the Zorua, bounding up with surprising agility. Coming after, a Clobbopus, as clumsy as the Zorua was graceful, limbs sticking to the floor with every awkward step. Third, a Rotom, floated over, every so often pausing with a static shiver before whizzing in a zigzag pattern. The fourth, a Chespin, walked on two legs, tail dragging behind him. Finally, the others approached the steps in single file, save for a Cubone clutching a spike from a Falinks trooper. Yet, strangely, it seemed they all arrived at the next floor at the same time. Each Pokémon, upon reaching the top, would notice the rest of the group with them as soon as they surveyed their surroundings. BGM: Tiny Woods | Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team The party found themselves in a smaller room than the previous one. Walls hemmed them in from three sides, the remaining side being mostly open, with multiple corridors branching off like spindly legs into the shadows. A small pool of water lay calm and still nearby. A cheerful voice rang in each of their heads, breaking the silence while they regained their bearings. Hello? Are you there? Can you hear me? There was a pause. If you can hear me, I should tell you, you're in a mystery dungeon right now! A mystery dungeon is a strange and dangerous place filled with Pokémon who won't hesitate to attack you. You could say it's a side effect of the dungeon's powers. You might have trouble adapting, but with your numbers, I think you'll be fine. I'll try to give you tips from my end as well, so good luck! If you can reach the end, there'll be a prize…maybe. ♪ OOC

Dragon Sign OOC Thread It had been the end in one way or another. Stabbed. Smashed. Poisoned. Burned. Shot. Though it had come in all shapes and forms the end had come to you in one way or another. And there was little waiting for you on the other side. Simply the ever present sensation of floating. Drifting. Sinking. You try to hear. You try to feel. You try to think. But there is little to make sense of, little to understand, and nothing that you can fully comprehend. Time presses on but you can not figure out how long this goes on for. An eternity? An instant? As you drift in this oblivion a voice speaks to you. Perhaps you speak back to it. But you cannot decipher its words nor meaning, and thus any reply you might have made can be equally as understood. Yet, the voice continues. And it finishes. You begin moving. Rushing. Rising. And then - BGM Bong. Bong. Bong The ringing of loud bells echoed throughout the ancient church, signaling that it was time to awaken to all those who had found themselves in it. Those individuals found themselves resting, sitting, in a wooden pew. The seats were all scattered about the floor, not lined up in any particular order though all facing forward. Once they opened their eyes they would be able to take note of several features of the building. One, the floor. Old, dark and wooden, same as the pews, with clumps of large, thick grass scattered about. Second the walls, shimmering as the light reflected off of the multicolored agate stone that made them up. Third, the stained glass window ahead of them. The window ahead of them looked as if sunlight were flooding through it, shining downward into the room. And bizarrely so too did the other six windows, three on either side, in the room. Each had a blue background to it and each depicted some sort of creature or object. To the left; a white bird with the edges of its wings shining like a prism, a gray wolf with arcs of yellow on and around it, and a purple orca with black where one would expect white. To the right; a tree with brown trunk and green leaves, a silver gear with lines of green converging onto its center, and a black stone with cracks of red. In the center at the head of the room it depicted a serpentine creature with antlers protruding from its head, coiled around a golden orb with a black center. The final thing to note was there were no other rooms in this small building. And were they to look backward, they would see no door they could've entered from. OOC

File 6 - A Dewford Trip Pt. 2 ~ The Long Awaited

Chester's eye twitched a bit as he repeated the phrase, "fake internet cop?" His frustration on his face from the expression was very evident, and in fact one could briefly hear him muttering about his trials and tribulations on a daily basis at high speeds if they were paying attention, but he managed to recollect himself before paying attention to the other part of what Z. had said. "Oh, so there was a door back there then? Well, all the better! I'm sure this pillar will prove invaluable if ever we have to come back here!" Chester hit his fist against the stone column, pride and a twinge of pain on his face he did so. He had no idea how this cave was outlined even remotely, and no idea why a locked door would be here as well. As such, there was no guarantee that they would ever come back to this door and truthfully Chester was very much hoping that they would be able to get their bearings in wherever it was they were without much adversity. Though, with some of the people and the strange situation they were in in general, there was no shortage of adversity to go around to begin with. All the same, he said, "so, well, let's all move out! Together!" He had emphasized that last part, full well knowing that there were already those that were either not going to listen to him or had already blazed ahead. Yet nevertheless, Chester wore his fake internet cop badge with pride and would try to act as at least try to bring some sense of order and teamwork to their motely crew. As he began to walk away, he stopped himself. "Oh, right." Turning around, the Chespin, with some degree of effort, managed to lift the stray Falinks that had nearly hit him square in the head. "There we go. Right as rain. Good work in trying to weigh down the pillar, uh, Gamer? No...that's not quite - I'll work on it." Clearing his throat after speaking directly to FalinCs, he repeated, "onward!" And walked into the next room. The sight there was familiar to the one that they had just come from, being a cavernous room with water flowing through it. But this one had stairs as well! With luck they would find some answers in the room above. Though, Chester couldn't help but look past the water before ascending just to make certain there were no passages or the like beyond it. He was curious to get information quickly, but of course there was something within that told him that it was always important to check everything but the path of least resistance in a cave first before taking it. Assured that there was nothing of note and with some already on the staircase, Chester made his way onto them as well.

"Pylauses and Hanikap," "Oh, yes, that." Raki dared not to repeat the name himself "You know them well?" Then Timmy revealed what had happened. "He... threw you into the pit?" That certainly explained the situation. All while he was busy getting himself lost, that is. He began to regret not telling Phasia to just follow him directly to the village. He clenched his teeth. Timmy was putting it lightly, but Raki could imagine the results had he hit one of the edges of the quarry, or landed wrong... He didn't even have an helmet! Almost tripping over a nearby root dragged his attention back to the conversation at hand. His arms spinning wildly to regain his balance, least he end up face first on the ground. It sounded like Timmy and Phai had some idea about what the two were referring to. "S-Sorry, this must all sound so strange… U-Unless it's not. Maybe you've seen weirder on your travels?" "I haven't been to many places since I left Locris but this seems just as normal as the last place we went to. Mhm, mhm. People that become lovable fluffy animals and secret passages. All normal, yup! Oh, hm, hm. Maybe all Histian villages have secret passages?" "You don't know the half of it. I might know what they meant by passage in fact...but that's not the problem here. These, er, fellows might be setting a plan in motion as we speak and using all the confusion of the day to get away with it. We'd best get back as soon as we can, I have...friends who might be in trouble if there's foul business afoot. Might it be a good idea to gather some of the others...just in case?" Those two... Where had they been traveling through, exactly? Wherever it was, it didn't prevent them to give nearly opposite answers. Then the girl glanced at him while talking about a defeated wyvern. Was she referring to Garinphasia? He shook his head. If the girl felt like the previous... confrontation, for lack of a better word, had ended with her victory, he wouldn't be the one to reopen that page, but... No, she'd mentioned something about dark magic and rock wyverns before, hadn't she? As they kept moving under the trees, he turned towards the two "For me it's fine, it's not like I have other places to go." Also, didn't the girl mention something about being a patrol member? But they also had just arrived... oh, whatever "And if you guys are really the ones who made me stand on two feet again, I owe you one anyway. Speaking of which, care to tell me exactly what happened? I feel like I'm missing pieces here."

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Super Mario Galaxy 2 Mario Kart Wii The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Aduain passed some time with Morgan, swapping stories about the respective missions. Enough time as it happened that he'd recovered enough nen to power his gills outside of water again. Though it took a few minutes to actually realize this. As he withdrew from the icy bath and got to hopping on his fins again it was something of a relief. Still he'd have to properly thank Fen somehow later as her quick thinking had quite literally saved his life. No gift could really pay that debt but a good meal never hurt. That was certainly something to work with. Now free to move the boy eventually withdrew from his fellow hunter and the other members of the team still dealing with the new pet. The room he'd been given looked the same as always. Out of curiosity Aduain knocked on the wall just in case any more angry old men in castles felt like threatening him tonight. While relieving he couldn't shake some sense of disappointment when nothing responded. Knowing all these other worlds existed just meant he had a lot more places to explore after the ocean floor in his own world. But while further dimension hopping wasn't on the agenda, the fish did still have a screen to play with. Sitting down with the device the days events had him wandering over to something he could hold water in. Beds were nice and comfy as long as his gills were working. But nothing beat sleeping with that weightless feeling underwater. To his excitement there was a great offering of aquariums though at first they all seemed a bit small for a catch of his stature. But eventually the scrolling started getting him places and the tanks started getting bigger and more sophisticated. "Wonder if I can get one the size of the room itself." Aduain mused as he continued browsing. Sure enough there were eventually things as big, and bigger even, than the room he was in. None of which the system seemed to let him buy. If the stuff he bought just appeared in the room that probably made sense. Some scaling back was necessary. Eventually he settled on a tank about twice the size of the bed he'd been given and nearly as tall as the room. Though it seemed there were still size problems. With some frustrated swiping and checking Aduain was eventually presented with a prompt to sell his bed. Curious, he accepted and the bed in his room disappeared almost instantly. Now his tank wasn't presenting any issues and before the hunter knew what was happening it was now occupying most of the space in his room. "Woooow look at that!" the fish exclaimed his excitement building as he checked out the features. Colorful rocks lined the bottom of the massive tank and the included rock formations provided some nooks big enough for him to hide out or sleep. The thing even had a pretty hefty looking filter and aeration system. The one thing his new bed alternative lacked was the actual water. Sitting down on the ground to think a bit the hunter eventually also ordered a bucket. For most of the early evening Aduain would go back and forth from the showers to his room depositing at most ten gallons of water at a time. It took a lot of work but that just made the completion of the project all the more satisfying. With delight he settled in for the night adjusting the air in his body to settle comfortably underwater without sinking or bobbing up. Now he could really call this his room. Waking up completely submerged was a feeling Aduain had nearly forgotten and while he would have loved to be lazy most of the day several things were important enough to get him to get out of the giant tank. First was a message from Mauvache. Apparently they were to do some training in the later afternoon. That was all well and good but since it was so much later in the day the fish put that on the back log. There was a much more important mission at hand so early in the morning. Breakfast! The rain was a welcome addition to the journey as the young hunter rushed out of the building early in the morning before the others had awoken. With trident in hand there was only one task. Aduain needed to find a fishing spot. Navigating on land never was one of the boy's strong suits, much less this foreign world he'd barely spent any time in. But that didn't deter him from jogging around in search of any body of water. The first answer to the search was a pet shop not terribly far from the apartment complex. But catching fish already caught didn't sit right with the boy. If he didn't make the catch himself it wouldn't be much of a gift for the others. Still it was an acceptable last resort. So on the fish went in search of other fish, gathering curious glances from other early risers. Eventually the search bore fruit as Aduain found himself in a park with sizeable ponds. "Where there's water there's fish!" he declared inaccurately but confidently as he took to inspecting the waters. There were definitely fish in there but there was only so much looking at them from above the water at pond's edge would do. Light refraction and all that. No the best way to inspect was to get in the water with and in Aduain went with a splash. To his amazement the fish in the pond shone with every color of the rainbow. For a time the hunter swam around with them trying to get a sense for how they moved and reacted to his presence. Naturally they were hesitant of the much bigger fish. It was only right Aduain thought for these small fry to fear a mighty shark. Wanting to preserve the beauty of the scales the boy decided against skewering his quarry and with some swift swimming of his own eventually had three of the things tails in his hand. A triumphant surfacing and shaking of his tentacles and a cheer signaled the end of the hunt as the boy began his journey home. The others had begun stirring by this point, and unknown to Aduain even a reporter had come seeking information on the new group. Still dripping wet from the dive into the pond and the persistent rain, the hunter came in through the front door, his catch still flopping around in his deceptively strong grip. "Hey guys! I got breakfast!" he declared unsure where exactly everyone had gotten off to. There was a woman he didn't recognize not all that far from the entrance but he made no advance to address her specifically. She wasn't part of the team so she didn't get any of the fish, that was just common sense. Besides, these fish probably had all sorts of crazy flavors for each color. Maybe the red bits were spicy. That'd be crazy and definitely not something to spread thinner by inviting strangers. For now he needed to get the food to the kitchen. A knife better served the task at hand than his trident.

You could say she's a sweetheart

Super Smash Bros Brawl (Someone had to nominate it) Marvel Ultimate Alliance WarioWare: Smooth Moves Just Dance 2020 (I needed at least one "shitpost"y nomination)

Probably anything that tries to generalize an issue that's more complicated than what the writer makes it out to be. Like, say the writer believes one thing can be achieved a certain way, but it would only be viable in a perfect world while in reality there is so much more to consider that they either don't seem to know or refuse to try and understand.

"I'm sorry about that everyone, it was an idea at least..." Shawn would have rolled his eyes if he knew HOW to roll his eyes in this form. As it was he just gave him a Look that would hopefully show he thought he was being an idiot. This Treecko (what was his name again? Barf?) wasn't going to get pity from him that's for sure. If he was going to get all mopey when his idea didn't work out then he shouldn't give them in the first place. And anyway he was still feeling on edge due to Z. "Whatever, don't have to be so damn defensive." Shawn grumbled in response to the Zorua's response. They really just couldn't simply let themselves be wrong, could they? He never liked that sort of attitude but Shawn supposed he wasn't one to talk. Rubbing in that the mods, or at least mod, agreed ticked Shawn off though. "And so what? Just cause some fancy fake-internet cop thinks you're right doesn't make your argument any better. God, as if there wasn't enough of that back..." He stopped himself. He was close to complaining about similar situations back on the forum. Where a moderator would side with one person in an argument and that person would lord it over him like it meant they won. But that might give too much information and Shawn still didn't want these people knowing who he was. "Oh to hell with this let's just keep going." He was frustrated at how much faster, easier, Z. could move as a Zorua than he could. Therefore they made it to the next room first and...the hell are they talking about? Shawn looked at the stairs trying to figure out what was 'f' about them but they looked like normal stairs to him. "Well, whatever, I'm going up there then anyone got a problem with it can shove it."

As Alois was getting ready to leave the house, in search of other lodgings, he stopped as Penelope started to speak up. As she insinuated that he was trying to kick the wyvern rider out of his house, the boy raised an eyebrow. She wasn't wrong, per se; he did want to kick her out of the house and Edrick's status of lodging wasn't something he was really considering in that regard. If anything, he wanted all of them out of his house. Heck, he wanted himself out of his house too but it seemed that they were staying in the village for the night so it was more just a matter of course then anything else. "Sure but - " the boy was cut off as the princess continued speaking before making her final accusation against his behavior. "Wait, wait. Wait." The boy was trying to keep the situation under control as he could see the situation devolving against him, trying to clear up any misunderstanding that was going on. The boy's defense however came to a screeching halt. He didn't quite understand why, but it took him a moment to process the words that she had said, Something he didn't quite understand that made him pause. It wasn't the words themselves or even the intent behind them, but something about it definitely stuck out to him. As a result, he seemed to more contemplating this then actively trying to defend himself, which left him staring into space only to then return to see that his mother had seemed to have to want a word with him now. Uncharacteristically, in spite of his generally flippant behavior, Alois seemed to shrink back from his mother's stern disapproving gaze. "I mean yeah, that's all I was doing. Trying to, you know, show them all the places around town." Letting out a resigned sigh, Alois opened the door and said, "I'll just sleep outside tonight." Though Tsetseg kept up her conflicted glare towards Rocky it soon broke way to curiosity as the boy explained what he had overheard between the two town villagers. The girl didn't really recognize the names given, but she almost certainly remembered a secret passage. She hadn't been in many secret passages in her life, but was caught wondering if there was more than one passage in this village. As she thought about it more, the girl then looked to Phai and assured her with a smile. "I haven't been to many places since I left Locris but this seems just as normal as the last place we went to. Mhm, mhm. People that become lovable fluffy animals and secret passages. All normal, yup!" The girl nodded and smiled before looking lost in thought, "oh, hm, hm. Maybe all Histian villages have secret passages?" As she mused about this, Gunther then spoke up as well, causing the girl to nod with a more serious look on her face. "We can't just sit by if there are still more baddies around the town. Even if the big rocky wyvern - " the girl paused again, glancing over to the Isaurian again before back to Gunther, "was defeated, that's no reason for a patrol member to stop until all the baddies are taken care of!" The girl emphatically declared, puffing her chest out with pride. "So, let's go meet up with the others."

With most of the group pushing against the pillar, it finally fell! Cross could feel that he put in his fair share of muscle into the endeavor, surprised at his own strength when doing so! However, he could tell that Hector and The Sassopuss had put in the most. Sadly, things didn't seem to go as plan, as their bridge was now dead in the water. With no bridge, and no way to get across, it looked like it was all over. “...Though, it’s not like that would matter, given that there’s nnnnowhere to go in that direction.” nowhere to go? Was there nothing in the room at all? So were they all stuck in here with nowhere to go? He was about to ask the question, when the scary cephalopod spoke up. "Anyone else think we should just go the way that doesn't make us do a buncha pointless crap?" He raised an eyebrow, and put a finger to his chin. There was another way? He turned around completely, realizing there was another way out of this part of the cavern. Cross could almost cry out in relief. His field of vision was so small with this helmet on that he hadn't taken in his surroundings fully. He plopped onto the ground and began to tear up. "I thought we were goners!" Sniffling, he looked to Marv, who agreed with the Clobbopus. Cross nodded at the Treecko with a smile. "You know, in my head it was a really good idea! Don't worry too much!" "but well, yes, if Z.'s excursion truly proved to be nothing but a dead end then we should probably head elsewhere. As a group!" Cross nodded, as he picked himself up and waddled over to one of Hector's smaller Phalinx. He grabbed a hold to a spike, and waited to move on into the other area.

all of them, of course. i for one welcome our eviolite dunsparce overlords.

Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, a sinner Wipe away my transgressions, and let me be reborn anew in your glory Help me turn away from sin and move towards your eternal light. Lord, perhaps I am weak of faith, but I need some reassurance that your light shines here as well. I am asking for your help tomorrow The tasks I am meant to perform are slowly becoming clear to me. Zadkiel and Sandalphon were quiet even after Melissa left Mauvache’s room and returned to the apartment. It was only that night in her dreams that they even spoke again. They did not bother to manifest. Instead, Melissa found herself alone on a beach, kneeling on the shore doodling in the sand with her finger, and the conversation was punctuated by the waves crashing in. “Did you get to hear anything in there?” Melissa asked. No, was the reply. We did not spend our time idly, however. We have been working on the task you assigned to us, and we found new questions to explore in future meetings -- if Mauvache permits such things. “I- okay,” Melissa stopped drawing and watched as a wave came in to take all her progress away. The answer shouldn’t have surprised her, but she had still been hoping for something, like… Well, “coherent” was the wrong word. Especially after coming back from Mauvache, the angels’ response was direct and comprehensible. It was so to the point, actually, that Melissa was pretty sure there was a deeper meaning they were hiding behind it all the same, though instead of trying to dig in, she instead followed the path of least resistance. “What else did you want to ask her?” We wanted to ask if there was something similar to ADMIN on Prana. The response physically knocked Melissa back and she just managed to catch herself, ending up in some sort of reclined position, propped up by her hands, arms rigid. “Do you want to be rid of me?” Far from it. There are several reasons why we do not, even putting aside your initial kindness to us. We desire to know because it simply interested us. If something like that existed, it would be interesting to study. We similarly wanted to know if there was a way to access the assembly code of your watch or any other sort of documentation. It is true that we dismissed it as primitive, but that does not mean it is not interesting. Melissa nodded, but the answer still wasn’t quite satisfying to her. The angels hadn’t provided any actual reasons, for example, save the one that they were already disregarding. Worse still, the source of her discomfort was coming into clear focus. With all these conversations they’d had over the past few days, it was weird that she hadn’t noticed it already, really, but maybe her mind had been elsewhere, or maybe her encounter with Mauvache, as she thought earlier, really put things into sharp focus. “Am I anthropomorphizing you too much?” she said. “Or… angelicizing? I don’t know if that’s a word. But is that a problem I’m having? That I keep thinking you’re something you’re not? It’s only been a few days and ‘the voices in my head’ and ‘my angels’ got interchangeable real quick.” We chose these forms based on forms already in your mind. “Sure, but I have expectations of what angels are like also,” Melissa said, “and while you’ve been my glorious protectors on more than one occasion, you don’t always act the part. I’m just saying I don’t think you have to change that. I’m wondering if that’s a me problem.” Another wave swept the shore, and while Melissa pulled her hands back in front of her and returned to a neutral posture, the voices said, We have endeavored to be courteous guests. “And I want to be a courteous host!” Melissa shot back. “I mean, I guess that was why I wanted you to talk more outside of these dreams you’ve been giving me. You’re just as lost as I am, after all. I don’t know if Mauvache is going to want to see us again anytime soon after I talked her ear off about the sacraments I can’t do, but I can try to find you the things you need. I can try to make you more comfortable.” She reached out with a finger and drew an arc in the sand. “I don’t know if you’ve probed my memories enough to find this, but this is an old shibboleth of my faith. If the person you’re meeting with sees this and does the same, it means they’re among friends. It was necessary when it was created -- it’s just symbolic now -- but I would like to put it to you as well.” Slowly, the image of Zadkiel materialized before her, and, with its leg, added a mirror of Melissa’s arc, completing the ichthys fish. As soon as it was completed, a wave came in and wiped it away, though Melissa could still see a faint outline where it had once been. “Tomorrow, if we have time, we can start looking for these things you want,” she said. “Or anything else.” Thank you, the voices said, and Melissa’s dream slowly faded away into the void of sleep.“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” -2 Timothy 2:15-16 (NIV)Melissa went downstairs still in pyjamas and immediately wished she hadn’t. Fen had gotten their first (that wasn’t the worrisome part) and had let in whoever had been ringing the doorbell waking everyone up. From the look of the new occupant’s demeanor and classic notebook that was drier than the rest of her person, it was clear they were some sort of reporter and, if she got her way, was bound to try and interview every occupant of the building, even probably the Slakoth if she thought it could talk (that was). She nearly threw herself into the laundry room to stay out of sight, but just managed to avoid such theatrics, and walked in instead. You seemed to do okay with that photographer, is this any different? “I didn’t have to talk to the photographer, and they also got me about as far away as you could get from whatever was happening in that clothing store,” Melissa hissed. “And did you see how close she got to Fen? I don’t want that, especially this early in the morning.” Would you rather us speak to the reporter in your stead? A wave of realization hit Melissa as she realized that it wasn’t so different from the photographer at all. That was right, she wasn’t in this alone anymore. “Only if you’re willing,” she said. “And maybe she’ll leave after talking to Fen. So I’ll call on you if she approaches?” With that sorted, Melissa came back out of the laundry room and made her way over to the rec room to check on the Slakoth. Breakfast would be after that. Or maybe someone else was already making it. If that were true, Melissa just hoped it wouldn’t be spicy.

Someone give me a rep so I hit 69 ty

Thanks to the Voting Gauntlet, my 5th 5* exclusive and favourite Blue Lion is now done. Am tempted to try and get a copy of Fallen Lilith when the new banner drops because Spd Smoke 4 granting Dodge is really nice. Now time decide which of my +9 5* exclusive will become number 6: B!Eirika, (has the advantage of currently being on a banner), Adrift F!Corrin (will appear on a weekly banner in August), or Naga (probably any where from July to September depending on whether they keep the Remix banners to 1 Legendary/Mythic per month or swap back to 2).

It seemed more people were waking up. That was what Marshall could tell as she held her hat’s brim close to her eyes, and her eyes trained upon the ground, simply… Listening, as they began to talk amongst themselves. One person seemed concerned about one of their friends, and then seemed to be… Disappointed, with their location; a feeling she figured that many of them were beginning to echo. This first figure then came to the same conclusion she had, given this wasn’t a dream. He wasn’t the only one, either. As he asked if they had all died as well, another replied almost immediately asking if that meant this was heaven. Another still replied, going off on their own tangent as they determined this to be some alternative world they were supposed to save. This is when she would have spoken up, under normal circumstances; maybe suggesting that they lower their expectations, however, given that the speaker appeared to be a child, or at least young-spirited, that didn’t seem the… Kindest, response. Especially given the fact that, as they went on, they seemed to grow less and less sure of their surroundings. They were clearly stressed; the kind of rider that she might have asked a staff-member to keep an eye on, or to make sure they got to their destination safely. After all, it was of the utmost priority that subway rules and safety be prioritized at all costs during a shift. But this isn't a shift. She had to remind herself that, as she continued listening to the group speak. Or perhaps, this was just the beginning of another kind of shift. The longest shift of my life, if you will. After all, there was no telling why they had been brought here together. It wasn’t out of the question that, in her after-life, she had been potentially brought along to act as a sort of guiding hand, or Charon-esque figure to make sure these souls pass along safely… Though, she doubted that was the case. Either way, it stood firm in her mind that she needed to remain focused and vigilant, as if this was a shift. It was then that the strangest of the voices she heard came to speak. He was calm. Deathly so, she might add. It was an odd comment he made, murmuring something about becoming a born-again Christian; though, it wasn’t so much the content that made it odd, so much as his delivery. The actual content of it was amusing, even if a smile was the furthest thing from the expression on her face. No, it was the dry, detached way with which he approached the comment that made him stick out. His next comment was the one that worked doubly so to mark him as strange, his tone shifting to one a bit more analytical, more involved, more alive, even as he explained that he was dead; that he was the one to have offed himself. It was a strange comment, yet stranger still was it a way to phrase a question; especially as an introduction. Truly, Marshall may have found the only person less adept at dealing with people than she herself was. She wasn’t the only one to come to this conclusion, as first the man who wondered if this was heaven spoke up, followed by one of the others, who she hadn’t heard speak yet, called out; exclaiming with a bit of distress for the previous speaker, who, judging by her address, was a doctor’s, own mental health. Marshall carefully raised the brim of her hat for a moment, catching a glimpse of the strange, scraggly, giant of a man who had shot himself, so as to confirm the newest speaker’s assessment: which was, of course, correct. She was then reminded why she had held the hat against her eyes to begin with, as her eyes once again expressed their disdain for the light, prompting her to tug the hat back into place as she returned to thinking. The two speakers - the newest stranger and the man who wondered if this was heaven - spoke up again, each one giving their own causes of death. They also gave themselves names: Abby, who had been hit by a truck, and Gene, who had been stabbed to death by a mugger. Neither one of those deaths seemed glamourous, though one seemed a bit faster than the other; at least, on paper. She had to hope that, in either case, neither one of them suffered too terrible long. It was then that a short silence followed. Normally, a silence such as this wouldn’t have bothered Marshall. After all, silences like these came all the time while she was working, namely when things were going well. But the Doctor, who hadn’t introduced himself, had asked a question; and judging by the other’s reactions, they were all expected to reply. “Marshall Wilton. I died… Doing my duty, I suppose.” She slowly lifted her hat, doing her best to work through the light as she came to stare towards the Doctor. “An older woman began to fall from the platform in the subway station as I was resting after a shift. A train was arriving, so I moved to catch her. I succeeded in doing so, but fell in myself, and arrived at this station as a result.” She explained, as if giving a report to the Good Doctor.

Not that Paprika, silly. We're wrapping up our discussion on Satoshi Kon with his adaptation of the novel.

←Previous Post Movie Four -- Paprika Or: I Dreamt Of A Butterfly Who Dreamt It Was Me Content Warning: Aside from the obvious feeling of doubting one's own reality that permeates the movie, there is one moment I would like to point out specifically. There is a massive sexual-assault warning after Paprika gets captured by butterflies. Also, one of the main characters is overweight and spends a good portion of the movie dealing with fatphobia. I have seen people get (reasonably!) turned off of stories for less, so fair warning there as well. This is obviously not Satoshi Kon’s first foray into dream logic -- again, quite the opposite, unfortunately, as this would be his last -- but it is the first time it is dealt with so directly as to actually be dreams causing the surreality. Instead, Kon takes advantage of the decade of cultural change since Perfect Blue’s release in 1997 to go back to the well his first movie introduced and dig a little deeper. In this way, Paprika asks its questions: “How do we see ourselves? Through what lens?” Even without the characters spelling it out in the middle of the story, the fact that the movie brings them into such close contrast would be evidence enough. On the internet of 2006, you can be anyone you like, just as people often become other things in their dreams. But in both cases, that doesn’t make these creations “not you,” merely another facet. And this is true even when you try to deny it. To put in the perspective of a modern (at time of writing) meme trend, it would be like reading something you posted in some other character and being like, “This is nothing like me!” “My friend in Christ,” comes the reply, “You typed the words.” Or, for those who’ve played those games, I guess it’s like the Persona series. This is all probably getting a little complex, though, to be fair, we’ve dabbled in Jungian topics such as these before. Even still, it’s possible to pull back a bit and just enjoy the movie for what it is: a murder mystery straight out of Ghost in the Shell combined with a psychologist double-life story with a healthy dose of Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut thrown in there for good measure. That still makes it sound more complicated than it is, and, to be fair, I was being a little smarmy coming up with that combination, but really there are only three key themes at play here and we’ve already started talking about one of them. The murder mystery turns out to be part of a philosophical battle. The chairman is introduced with a long-winded monolog about how science is intruding on something sacred, with the culprit taking their own stand against what they perceive to be the natural order of things. This is especially apparent when it’s revealed that the machine in question, the DC Mini, was designed by genius inventor Kousaku Tokita for function first and safety… never. Given that this is a Japanese movie and similar circumstances led to the creation of the atomic bomb, well, I’ll leave the viewer to draw their own conclusions on the ending there. Suffice it to say, the nature of dreams and reality is the second key theme. To match the question motif I’ve been asking, this question would be “How do we see the world?” Finally, then, is “How do others see us?” The initial motive suggested is that the culprit was jealous of Tokita’s genius, which Tokita himself seems difficult to see, but, then again, he doesn’t fare well in social relationships anyway. Meanwhile, Doctor Osanai outright says that he’s jealous of our lead, Atsuko Chiba, but she doesn’t think anything of it until much later in the movie. I’m trying not to spoil this one because it is a mystery worth solving. Like with the Perfect Blue post, I’d like to just ask the questions to keep the viewer thinking throughout the movie. I will also add that the movie’s dream logic means it uses recurring motifs to draw the connections. When Detective Konakawa comes through that door or turns that hallway, he always moves the same way, for example, or how the parade always introduces itself with the same appliances at the front. Again, you can tune out and enjoy the gorgeous animation -- Kon and Madhouse were once again at the top of their game for this one -- but I would encourage you to keep thinking. In terms of a finale, I don’t have much for this one because I spent most of that at the end of Paranoia Agent. I don’t even have a happier ending besides enjoying myself much more in these movies than I did with the show. I don’t have a happy ending in real-life, either; Kon remains dead, his final unfinished work remains in development hell, and, to tell the truth, these movies did not make that much money in the theater anyway. They were successful, sure, and obviously they’re good or I wouldn’t be talking about them, but not to the degree that investors might have hoped. And yet, we remember them. Maybe that’s a happy ending enough. -r I don’t know what’s going on next. I’m definitely taking a month-long break again, but after that, I don’t know if I have something in mind or if I’ll throw up another poll. If anyone has suggestions, I may as well listen, but otherwise, keep on the lookout for any of that. ←Previous Post

Percy was rather interested in finding out that no one had been right about death. There was no God that judged him for his poor bedside manner (the many upset patients who had assured him there was would be so disappointed), no dog-headed scale-toting man to weigh his heart, and certainly no skeletal ferryman to carry him down into the land of the dead. He was still fully conscious and in possession of his mental faculties as well, so his own personal theory of oblivion had also been disproven. Of course there was also a chance that he was stuck in some form of purgatory. Perhaps the particular vehicle Percy had chosen to deliver himself to the afterlife had—as some religions believed—prevented him gaining access to whatever could be found beyond. Or maybe it was all bullshit. Percy wasn’t particularly bothered either way. The only thing that annoyed him was the fact that he was unable to share his findings and further delve into the matter, considering his formless state. A few hours passed. Or possibly a few hundred years. Percy was extremely bored by the time a voice finally broke through the monotony. It was a language he did not recognize. Which was strange considering he spoke four languages conversationally, four more that he could speak well enough to get by, and a dozen more that he could recognize just by the sound. Perhaps it was Papua New Guinea? His linguistic skills had always been a bit unpolished in that region, but still, it didn’t seem right. Maybe it was some kind of angel language. Something a human was never meant to understand; that would explain why he wasn’t able to find even a dipthong that he could recognize. “Hello? Are you capable of understanding me? You aren’t, are you? Unsurprising.” Percy felt motion for the first time in years. He was rising, up, up, and then… Bong. Bong. Bong. Percy woke up with a start. He was feeling things again. Stiffness in his fingers and toes; pins and needles prickling in his right temple. A lingering scent of blood and gunpowder that faded from existence almost as fast as he recognized it. “Interesting,” he murmured. “But just because you revived me in a Church does not mean I will consent to being one of those born again Christians.” He looked down at himself. He was wearing what he had died in: his lab coat and badge, a crumpled blue dress shirt with a loose yellow tie, and jeans and loafers. All the pockets he had were empty. That meant no cigarette, no lighter, and no cellphone. His hand wandered up to his temple and… his skin was completely smooth. No signs of a wound that could be attributed to an acne scar, much less the entry wound from a bullet. Percy pushed himself out of his seat. He noted that there were other people in the room. A tall man that looked like a body-builder with a smile that would keep an optometrist in business. Someone in a fursuit (he had once had to pull something out of the rectum of a man who had come into the ER wearing a fursuit so he knew the term), as well as a young woman in what looked to be the outfit of a civil servant of some kind. Then there was a relatively normal looking young-man being shouted at by a hyper little girl who had a very interesting take on the situation they were all in. Percy ignored their conversation to approach the stained glass window that displayed the serpent. He wondered what kind of symbolism was involved with the image. Percy had no recollection of any kind of horned serpent with a golden orb in theology, though he would be the first to admit that had never been his favorite subject. He turned to face the others. “I find it improbable that this is Heaven. More likely to be a form of Purgatory. Note the lack of doors and anyone to greet us.” Percy reached a hand into his lab coat pocket for a pack of cigarettes that wasn’t there. Drats. “Hmm… I wonder if there is a common thread between our deaths.” He pointed a finger at the person closest to him, the person in the fursuit. “I shot myself. How did you die?”

“Hey! Don’t talk to him like that,” "Whatever, just my luck getting yelled at cause someone else said something stupid offline too." Shawn grumbled. He was in a foul mood. He didn't have any better idea of what was happening and he still had no clue where they should be going. The others seemed to have their own thoughts on it but no solid answers. He really didn't like not knowing. It made him feel jumpy. As if this cavern was going to come crumbling down at any moment. Trying to shake off the feeling he listened in on what the others were planning. Apparently they were going to push a pillar across the stream. He couldn't help but laugh at the idea of the Zorua having got all wet only for them to make a bridge. So much for acting fast. Shawn never liked to do things on impulse....wait, he didn't? He wasn't sure what this was based on, what he experienced that made this the case, but it felt correct. So he supposed he should go with that? In any case with a sigh he moved to join the rest. "Fine, I'll do it, but don't boss me around or else." Shawn was the last one to join the pushing yet, at least he thought, it only really started moving when he joined. It was a weirdly prideful moment for the now-Clobbopus. He pushed with all he could, a lot more than he'd expect from such stubby arms (no, tentacles), and the pillar made steady progress. Now and then it would bounce and judder and yet, despite not having fingers to grip, Shawn never actually lost his hold. They managed to get it across but it was much too soon to celebrate. "Ah, hell, you gotta be kidding me is it not long enough?" The pillar looked to be about to fall in on one side which would defeat the whole point of this. "Guess someone gotta stop it huh?" Shawn said, knowing he probably should be the one given his apparent strength advantage. Yet when he went to pull back he found himself, once more, stuck. This time both tentacles were attached to the end of the pillar. And then the pillar began to slowly sink on the other side and lifted their end, along with Shawn, into the air. His legs....bottom tentacles were lifted up a few inches and left him dangling from the end of the pillar. He tried to pull off but, having just spent a lot of energy pushing the thing, and not having proper footing (tentacling? Ugh.), he couldn't quite get unattached. "God...damn...stupid suction cups!" he said, frustrated and panicked at his defenseless and useless position.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” -Matthew 7:7 (NIV)How many familiar and yet uncomfortable feelings was Melissa greeted with as she entered Mauvache’s chambers? The first was the overpowering scent of frankincense, something she’d experienced enough times during nativity for it to be permanently scarred into her brain. She remembered one time she wore it to school on the last day before winter break and, by the end of it, had given herself and everyone else around her a terrible headache. Thankfully, it had only been a half-day or she would have been even more mortified than normal then. The second was how casually Mauvache had ignored her apology. That one had even more recent memories to look back on. Was she supposed to repeat herself, like she had the other times? Or was this a tacit acceptance, that she was so forgiven that to even mention it again would be yet another slight? “What do you think?” she wondered to herself, hoping that Zadkiel and Sandalphon might provide some sort of recourse for dealing with this, but that led to a third sensation with those same “familiar and uncomfortable” descriptors: She was alone. Not literally, of course. Mauvache was still right there, after all. But amidst the heavy cloud of frankincense was something else -- there had to be -- and whatever that something else was, it meant she was facing one of the most important conversations of her life so far without the guidance of beings she had, in such a short time, come to rely on. Even besides the idea of constant companionship, her angels were with whom she had discussed and cataloged all her questions. She remembered most of them still since most of them had been weighing on her mind since she even found out she could make such an opportunity, but it was the principle of the thing. Even if she didn’t need to call on them, the fact that she couldn’t was still suffocating. And in the midst of all this was Mauvache’s invitation. Melissa was told to sit, and so she did. She sat in the way she did when feeling especially overwhelmed -- with her hands clutching her knees, which themselves were clamped together, trying to give herself as small a silhouette as possible. “Thank you for seeing me,” she managed. “I don’t know about the others, but something like this doesn’t really happen often, and since our last meeting got interrupted by those sharks, I’d like to know as much as I can. Last time I asked what you did to me, and I think I’ve mostly got a handle on that now, but you didn’t actually answer the question, so did you know what was going to happen, or did you choose me for some other reason?” Already, Mauvache was smiling. Well, she had been smiling before, but now she definitely was, if that made sense. “My my. Well, as bothersome as it may be I must answer with another question. What reasons do you think there may be?” “Um,” Melissa said. Her momentum had been thrown almost immediately, and she shrunk down even further. “I guess back home there’s a weird category of statistics called ‘intangibles,’ like, sometimes a duelist just always seems to draw the right card at the right time, and while it’s definitely just luck, because it’s data you can analyze and start to plan for it. So my guess would be you think I have intangibles. It’s either that or you thought you could tear off a piece of ADMIN with you, and there are a lot of reasons I don’t want to think about that.” She chuckled, eyes not leaving Melissa for a moment, expression, from what she could see, not changing. “Well, I suppose intangible is a good word for it. But you certainly have something about you that I believed would be of great help.” “Is ADMIN okay, then, without whatever functions Zadkiel and Sandalphon were providing? Are everyone else’s worlds okay in their absence?” “Now that is certainly an interesting question,” Mauvache said. “One with some rather… complicated answers. I suppose to make it simple, it would be right to say the world likely will barely miss their absence.” “Okay,” Melissa said. It didn’t actually make anything simpler, but also Melissa got the sense that she wasn’t going to get anywhere trying to push the issue, and she had bigger things to move on to. “I mean, I’m not sure I can say the same the other way around. There are a few things I don’t think can be replaced even in a place such as this…” Almost instinctively, she brought her hand up past her heart -- pausing there for just a moment -- and up to her crucifix necklace. “My faith, for example, is important to me. Not many people here seem to recognize it, and I get the sense the ones that do were summoned just like me. I met someone who tried to compare it to a great dragon. Is that the dominant religion here then?” For a moment, so brief that Melissa very nearly didn’t notice it, Mauvache’s eyes flashed something fierce, but when she blinked and leaned back, the change was gone. “Why, yes, the Great Dragon, who saved a war-torn world from… tearing itself apart. Though He may be gone, He still is honored, and He looks after the people here.” “I see. So I assume you’re sympathetic to my need for specific sacraments to be performed regularly then? I mean, I’ve accepted that I probably won’t get to mass anytime soon, but additional, smaller ceremonies besides that, I mean.” Mauvache raised an eyebrow. “And what would that entail?” she said. “What would you need, from me, for such a thing?” Melissa perked up. This, at least, she could respond to easily. “Well, there are seven sacraments in Catholocism -- that’s the sect that I follow. Most of them I don’t need to worry about because they only happen once and I’ve either done them already or not anticipating needing them any time soon. I’ve already been baptized and confirmed, I’m not nearly ready to receive holy orders or get married just yet so that just leaves three: the Eucharist, Penance, and, should I start dying while I’m here, Anointing the Sick. All of them need someone else to perform them, and all of them have a whole ceremony that they’d need to know.” “Ah, and we've come to the crux of the matter,” Mauvache said. “I’m not sure we have anyone who could be considered a priest in your world here.” “You’re right, and I don’t think there’s anyone to ordain them here even if someone was willing,” Melissa said. “But they can still be done with some validity with just laypeople. I’ll just have to remember to run to Father Gregory as soon as I can should I get the chance to go back home.” “Ah, Gregory, what a coincidental name,” Mauvache muttered. Then, to Melissa, she said, “I’m sure that you could find some willing of those who come from worlds… similar to your own. Though I’m unsure I should be the one to ask.” “I met Salvo,” Melissa said, affirming the first part of Mauvache’s statement. The second half, though, she dodged with “I can at least type up the steps to the ceremonies if you want to at least look at them.” That smile was back. “You don't have to worry, I can… find the information just fine. After all, I had to look into many worlds in the first place.” “Okay,” Melissa said. “Speaking of Salvo, she seems like the type to get a lot of attention and…” She immediately wilted. “I’ve started to notice a lot of attention my way from other people as well. I got a lot of stares as I made my way into the arena. Is that something that’s just going to happen? Does that happen to everyone you’ve called here?” That smile was even wider. “Well, it may not be the same as one of my Arena fighters but you all are in some way famous.” The answer struck Melissa right in the gut. Which was weird given her current, odd ambition of participation in Blue Yonder’s entertainment club, not to mention her current fame for, you know, being instrumental in saving the school that one time. In fairness, this time was a little bit different. This time it was at the whim of someone else. Of course she would help. She had the ability to, after all, and no reason not to. But it was still something to think about, what exactly the reward was. “How long do you expect us to be here, anyway? When exactly is the job done?” “Well, that's not entirely up to me. After all, I'm still finding where this began.” Melissa nodded, sighed, and stood up from her chair. “Alright,” she said. “Thank you for being so accommodating in the meantime. I had other questions- well, the angels had other questions, but we’ll have to find some other way to get those to you. I might just come back a different day so we can try again,” she said. “Right now, I guess I should probably get home before someone does something stupid with that Slakoth that just showed up today.”

"And how're we supposed to know? Doesn't seem like any of us know anything does it?" Cross recoiled at the Clobbopus' response, worried that he would get more than just a tongue lashing. However, the Pokemon backed off. “Hey! Don’t talk to him like that,” Hector berated the quicktoangerpus. Cross sniffled a bit before waddling over to the group of Falinx. “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by that, Cross. None of us have any more answers than you do, sorry to say, but we’re gonna figure it out, alright? Just stick close to us.” Cross nodded, and came walked closer to him, eventually grabbing ahold of one of the smaller Hector's spikes. "Thanks NewGamePlus..." He said through some more tears, snot, and sniffles. “Come on, lets go catch up with the others. Maybe we can use me and the crew here to make a land bridge across the river, eh? Heheheh.” Cross followed closely behind the stumbling gaggle of soldiers. It was kinda funny watching them all clumsily walk about, it was starting to take his mind off the situation. But he made sure not to laugh too hardly. It must've been really hard for your original human body to be split up among all those little armored orbs. When he could, he made sure to help the one he held onto as it stumbled. As they came to the water, it was obvious that they needed a plan. Being a Cubone, that meant he was probably going to be weighed down by his helmet and club...practically a death sentence. With some more discussion, it was confirmed that somehow they had all been involved with NCM at some point in their lives, and now they were Pokemon. Rudely, across the river, Z began to hound some more. “And the ‘don’t go alone’ thing, that’s for you to solve. You don’t want me by myself? Better learn how to swim.” "That guy's really mean..." Cross noted. He had since stopped with the waterworks, and his voice was back to normal. "What's his deal anyway? Is he a toddler?" What did it matter now. He rolled the dice, and got a lucky pick of Pokemon...one that could actually traverse water. If he felt like the group wasn't needed, than phooey to him. Order of Shadow...or Marv, was the first one to come up with a plan "I think I have an idea! Though, it's probably going to take us all to do it..." He walked over to a pillar of stone in the cave, "If we can push this to the stream...it should be able to cover it and we use it as a bridge!" Nobody objected, so it sounded like a good enough plan. Cross' only idea was to have Hector float as some sort of bridge for everyone to ride on, but that would risk his life in that new couple of bodies of his. A no go indeed. "It's the only thing I can think of to make sure we all get over there..." The Treeko walked towards Cross, knelt down and gave him a thumbs up. "Cause I won't leave anyone behind." Cross smiled, and nodded. "Mhm!" Was all he could muster. Between Hector and Marv, he felt really safe! Chester the Chespin seconded the plan. "Let's get pushing everyone!" "Yeah! I'm in this with y'all!" Cross made his way to the pillar, before pushing with all of his might. "Together!"

“After all, it wouldn’t do for me not to repay you somehow for letting me rest here.” It was somewhat amusing seeing the girl so intent on repaying Mene given her condition. Perhaps she should have Ciela take a look at her too once she's determined her stance on healing magic. Mene was quick to deny Citron's help and Penelope felt the need to point something out to the girl. "You know, we did essentially save this town, you even got hurt during it, I think that's enough payment wouldn't you say?" She didn't raise any objections to Mene insisting on doing things herself. After all it was her own home so it wouldn't be proper to help without being asked. However, she couldn't extend such kindness to Alois as he went to the door intent on finding Citron another place to go for the night. She gasped and brought a hand to her mouth. "Alois! I cannot believe you would be so quick to send her away. We do not even know yet if Edrick will return to rest here." Her eyes darted over to Mene and then back to Alois with faux-concern on her face. "Do not tell me you are hoping to spend the night here with just me, are you?" Penelope moved over to Citron and put a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "I didn't expect this so suddenly, Alois." she said. The princess was unable to keep the amused smile from her face so she didn't move her other hand from in front of her mouth to cover it from Mene and Alois. "Don't worry Citron I won't let him toss you out like that." Gunther was relieved that things seemed to be settling down. It was still awkward, with Tsetseg on edge, but at least there was no worry about conflict. It was rather amusing, perhaps a bit frustrating, how easily the wyvern got the boy, who they had been struggling to think how to help, out from his situation. Gunther made sure to tell the wyvern "Good job!" for fulfilling this duty. "whaddaya says to us all gittin' back to the village? Ah gots sum things to tell Missus Mene. You too, Raki. Ahm thinkin' ye shoold come along this time. I donts want tae leave ye oot 'ere by yerself if'n one of those pair o'baddies comes back." Mene...ah, right, that was Alois's mother. Well that suited them fine he could report to Penelope all that he had seen while he was away. Though he also remembered he was meant to spend the night elsewhere so it felt slightly awkward going back. Gunther smiled, despite himself, at Tsetseg's antics. Even if she was worried she still kept her bright energy. Though the smile slipped a moment later. "Oh, oh well let's take you - escort you! there. Especially if there are baddies out. Baddies are no good but we're really good at fighting baddies, mhm, mhm." "Wait a moment." He said, face screwing up in thought, and looked towards Timmy and Raki. He knew there was the one who cursed the village but, as far as he knew, it was only one person. So then.... "You mentioned a pair of, er, baddies? What is that all about? Is there someone else out here we should be worried about?"

I feel like I should deny this on principle but alas I am a man bereft of them. As such once more if I have liked your posts then you're accepted and if you were already accepted before this post then congratulations you're on double secret acceptance. So yeah, with this app submissions are closed and the RP will start proper later this week. So look forward to that. Before this post ends though gonna go clear some things up and add new mechanical nonsense into this RP. First MP is an abstraction and a poor explanation as to what your casting limit, flavorfully is. In universe it would more so be referred to as "Focus" and is a more a measure of mental stamina then it is a pool of magic that you pull from. Therefore, when you run out of Focus nothing is physically wrong with you, your mind just can't focus on doing complex things (IE arts and magic) and so it just fails at them. This will re-explained in the opening post. Next up, I saw on two of these apps the notion of spending more MP on an art to make it better on cast. And rather than just keep it in total abstract I'm a man of rules and guidelines. And so I've decided to add in the "Overcharge" mechanic. Essentially this is useable on any Art or spell in the game. When used it doubles the Focus used when cast and increase the potency of the attack by 1.75x, essentially trading cost for time efficiency. When used, Overcharge will also make the attack look visually stronger. Arts can be upgraded to grant additional levels of Overcharge up to a max of Overcharge 4, increasing by +1,+.75 for each additional level. (Ie Overcharge 2 would be 3 times the cost and 2.5 times the effectiveness.) This will also be added to the opening at some point. Along with other gameplay nonsense you have to look forward to. So yeah.

Hands Rated E for Everyone

Percy Byron

The Shield

Cyber Jammer EARTH Warrior/Effect ATK 2000, DEF 2400 If a Fairy or Warrior monster made a direct attack this Battle Phase, you can (Quick Effect) reveal this card in your hand: Normal Summon 1 monster OR Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck using monsters from your hand or field as Fusion Material. You can only use this effect of "Cyber Jammer" once per turn. I hope you weren't expecting a Cyber Dragon card! The Cyber Girls are a group of mostly-EARTH Warrior monsters also originating from Yugioh GX that really never took off the way their successors, the Cyber Angels, eventually would. I felt like making one of my own to at least relate to what most of their effects did as several of the Cyber Girls have effects relating to direct attacks and their boss monster, Cyber Blader, happens to be a Fusion Monster. The Cyber Girls all have something to do with female sports or athletics, so for this one I felt like going with roller derby since I haven't really seen that used as an aesthetic for anything in the game to the best of my knowledge. Enjoy!

Going to avoid spoilers for everybody else's sake, but I absolutely loved this movie. I had high expectations going into this, and it blew them out of the water. This movie was a treat for a lifelong Spider-Man fan, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they could go from here.