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Had Raki made a list of all the things he could have expected to see as he neared the window, the spectacle he witnessed would have been as far as possible from qualifying for it, not even if someone had warned him in advance. In fact, even after seeing it with his own eyes, it probably wouldn't have made the cut. When he had entered the kitchen, the woman that had been so focused on her work moments before was nowhere to be found. This didn't catch his attention for more than a few moments. The missing knives, even less so. After all, who was he to know what nobles did with their cutlery. As for the missing woman, even if his... "questioning" from before hadn't been enough of an incentive to move into another room, then it was still no surprise that she had fled after a wyvern roared right out of the kitchen's window. Said window, so carelessly swung open, was much more interesting. It helped that Raki was already approaching it. Despite what some of the stories the people shared around at his uncle's village told, a wyvern's cry wasn't nearly enough to throw open doors and the like. Not even Garinphasia's. But wherever that train of thought was going, it ceased to be an issue as soon as he came close enough to peer down towards the street below. "Impossible..." Raki flinched back as if he had just seen Peaches open maws come in from the window, but even that would have made more sense. People... There was no way for a human to be able to do that, was there? He clenched the window frame, leaning forward as he stared in disbelief, blissfully unaware of the presence of the woman right above him. He had met many a wyvern in his young life. He had met many people who handled said wyverns daily, he himself had been one of them. He had yet to see someone capable of lifting one of those scaly beasts by muscle alone. Let alone throw them after that. Raki remained frozen on the window as the scene unfolded, as Edrick and Link dodged the throw, and the man who performed the deed took a bag near him and rushed towards a couple of horses. His muscles remained unwilling to move when the swordsman who he had met a few minutes before struggled to his feet, while the man made his escape with the sack on horseback. His focus was on the wyvern that he had almost been attacked by, thrashing on the ground in pain after having been made to fly against her will, and the crying rider that had rushed to her partner's side. His mind, however, was on Garinphasia. She is... Well outside the village Just as he had asked her Raki didn't want to assume it would have been impossible for her to come to him had he called. She had done it before. But by sheer distance, it functionally was. He would have had no aid were he to find himself in need. That... that was probably for the best. There was an arrow stuck in Peaches chest. Likely to also be that man's doing. An arrow, with that kind of strength behind it... Garinphasia would have not backed down against such an opponent. She just wasn't the type. Would that man be able to juggle her like that too? Surely... Surely not... "GASTON!" That single scream, as Link launched himself in pursuit, shook Raki out of his paralysis. Gaston. Lord Gaston, Hanikap said. He hadn't paid attention, distracted as he was by the event itself, but if that man who had escaped was the one... Raki's hand went to the handle of his axe. This was no time to be lost in thoughts. The man most responsible for what had happened to Timmy was escaping. that was all that he needed to know. "Where did she go? I believe she may be more dangerous than I had assumed." Almost all that he needed to know. The rest of the interrogation had finished while he was busy doing nothing, it seemed. Raki turned towards Gunther and Penelope. "Who?" It took a moment of watching the girl searching the kitchen with her eyes before Raki could guess of whom she may be talking about "If you're talking about the maid, she wasn't here when I arrived." He turned towards the window "However, That Gaston guy just threw a wyvern at your companions, so I think I'm going to go out." With that said, he jumped out the window, onto the street below. Now that he noticed, there was a conspicuous amount of knives on said street. A wild neigh caught his attention. Link was taming one of the horses, or about to be thrown off by it. It was the first one. The swordsman charged in hot pursuit, Raki did not need to guess of whom. Near him, the rider had finally calmed her wyvern, but she seemed to be in a sorry state herself. Raki could understand. If Garinphasia had been wounded beyond his abilities, he doubted he'd have felt much different. Raki made to pursue Link's trail He looked back to the wyvern. Calm as she was, he dared not to approach one that had already found reason to be hostile on the same day, and now she was wounded to boot. The wyvern didn't seem to have any broken bones, as far as he could tell. No part of the wings was bent the wrong way, and she didn't seem to be avoiding putting her weight on any limb. The only doubt was on the chest, but that was probably the arrow shaft still lodged inside. Besides, the rider was another Isaurian. She seemed a nice girl, and she had saved his behind when he had been so careless with peaches before, but the less he had to do with her the better it would have been for him. The arrow didn't look like it had hit a vital organ, but it went in pretty deep. How was it that they treated the fresh arrivals with arrow wounds again? His recent experience was mostly with wounds caused by Isaurian dark magic. He looked back to where the horses once stood. Gaston had long since left. Link was no longer in sight either. Raki really wanted to catch that guy. That guy on a horse. Raki picked up a knife. Clean knife, do not try to shake out the shaft, enlarge the edges... "She's a wyvern, she'll handle it." Raki closed his eyes, trying to recall the other handlers at work, and his few own works on the more surface-level wounds. How deep was it that one had to go? If the heart is... No, before that, how did you prepare a knife properly? He opened his eyes and looked at the blade, dirtied by the fall on the road. Water, fire... was he forgetting something? "We only need to take out that arrow properly." Still, even if he recalled how to perform the operation, one issue remained he may have not been able to solve. He could try what techniques he knew, but... Unless the wyvern decides to allow someone else to do it, he looked at Citron There is only one person who can get close enough to actually operate.

This was just great. Not only was he, apparently all on his own, trying to punch out a floating rock of all things, but now he was being whipped around by some friggin wind. Why was there wind in this place anyway weren't they in a cave? Was this another Pokemon? Did god damn Tornadus decide to pay them a visit? Whatever it was it certainly wasn't anything friendly given it literally threw them against the walls. But then it was all gone. And he found himself once again waking up and on the ground. It was starting to become a habit at this point and Clobber wondered for a moment if he was just going to be in a constant cycle of being knocked out and waking face first in the, literal or figurative, dirt. However this time it was at least softer. Yet to Clobber's already soft body it didn't feel all that much different. It was sunnier too which wasn't necessarily good. Did he have to keep his skin moist like an octopus? Was he going to dry up if he lay out here for long? He didn't really know but he'd prefer not finding out the hard way. Which is why he decided that he probably should stand up. He felt one of his...arms sticking to the ground again but at least this time when he pulled it up it came off easier. Though there now was a clump of dirt attached to the end of it. He looked around at the scenery and found himself out of his element. Why was that? And why did he feel antsy at the lack of sound? There was a vague sense that this wasn't anything like what he was used to but he couldn't dig into it any more than that. It seemed that the others were waking up as well. And two of them immediately launched into action. Well, suppose it was good someone did. After all the floating thing was the only clue they had to what was going on but he wasn't about to bother a Mythical Pokemon when it was sleeping. That was.....Jirachi, right? They had something to do with wishes, he thought he remembered, which sounded like one hell of a lucky encounter unless it was actually incredibly unlucky. Despite intending to hang back Clobber couldn't stop himself from, in his grumpy state of mind, making a quip. “If so! Watch it, b-b-b-buddy! Unlike some of my friends here, I’ve got a br-brain, and can only t-t-t-take so many blows to the noggin!" "Oh yeah? Really coulda fooled me." he grumbled at the hyperactive electric ghost. "Surprised you don't think they're dead, too."

BGM: Growing Anxiety - (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Sky) The fight was raging, and things were looking grim for the group of Pokémon. Z. had fallen asleep, Clobber was overwhelmed, Es was panicking, Marv was attacking, Noibat was flying higher, Chester was defending Cross, Hector was holding up a barrier, and Cross was curled up into a ball. And then the wind picked up. In the heat of battle, it had already stirred through the tunnels, bringing with it an ominous scent and a low whistle. Now the wind charged through the mystery dungeon, growing claws and snarling at the Pokémon within. It howled and ravaged the fighters, tearing their meager possessions away and slamming them into the walls. The dungeon Pokémon vanished in flashes of light. All that remained were the humans, tossed around by the eddies like snowflakes in a winter storm. Cross was the first to leave. Behind him, the group could see a portal, and through it, a bedroom from the human world. The Cubone vanished through the portal and reappeared on the other side as a young boy who stared at his hands in disbelief before bursting into tears. The others had no time to process this, however. The portal snapped shut, sealing like a mouth. The human-Pokémon glowed much like the dungeon Pokémon had earlier. And then they, too, vanished. — BGM: Southern Island - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX The wind woke the group up first. Not the snarling beast from before, but a tamer, softer creature. It brushed over with a cooling hand and stirred the human-turned-Pokémon from their forced unconsciousness. Hot sunlight lanced down on their bodies, contrasting with the cool air of the mystery dungeon from before. No longer were they lying on hard stone, but on soft, sweet-smelling grass. By the fragrant air and the utter lack of urban noise, it was clear that they were nowhere near civilization. A few scattered palm trees stretched up above their heads toward a spotless blue sky. On one side, the ground turned to sand and slid down into a glittering turquoise sea. The two adjacent sides led to grassland, and on the opposite side stood a small copse of trees. As they inspected their bodies, the Pokémon would find most things about themselves remained the same. Any items or money they found in the dungeon had disappeared, however. And Marv discovered a completely unique transformation in himself. However, the more he or anybody else tried to remember if he had ever been anything but a Froakie, their thoughts would mist over and their eyes would turn blank before snapping out of it, wondering what they had just been thinking about. After gaining their bearings, each of them would immediately notice one thing. A small white-and-yellow Pokémon floated in place nearby. Its head ended in three points, like the top of a star. From each point hung a single teal-colored tag. Two yellow streamers fluttered behind its back. The most remarkable thing about it was its state of slumber. It somehow floated in the air while fast asleep. OOC I'm back! Let me know if you are confused or have any questions about the post.

Penelope didn't let it show but she was starting to feel bad for this pitiful creature. She glanced over at Gunther and almost sighed. He, it seemed, didn't have any qualms about letting it show. Gunther started to step closer, to perhaps put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and Penelope shook her head to stop him. He was scared and he needed to be scared. If he wasn't then he might realize that were they going to actually harm him they'd have done it already. "Go on then, tell me whatever you can." "G-Gaston, he ain't be trustin' me much. Jes' has me doing the odd jobs around." Hanikap sniveled. "I did so much fer 'im, an' he always took me fer granted!" The man sighed. "But I can tells ya what I do be knowin'. 'Specially now that he's left me behind." "He was sent here cuz of some 'Lord' or other nobleman. Said 'e was distantly related to him which made 'im a lord too. I jes' said yes cuz it made 'im happy. He never told me what the lord wanted him t'do, but I'm not stoopid. He kept askin' me t'watch the mayor. Said he wanted t'know if'n there was aught there. Well I was snuck into the house all stealthlike, but then I got turned into a rat. Followed y'all when ya found the secret tunnel, an' saw the fight with that stone wyvern." He shivered. "That thing was right scary. I told Pylauses 'bout it, an' he got all excited, sayin' he knew it! That the mayor was hidin' something all along. See, Lord Pylauses ain't never been invited to the secret meetings the mayor holds, an' me neither, though I've been born and bred here in Phar. I guess the mayor never trusted the likes of me." The man drooped. So there was, at least according to Gaston, some noble involved with this. Meaning they wanted something that this village was keeping hidden? She already had some idea what it could be but, if that was the case, then why would they resort to an idiot like Gaston of all things? "Pylauses, he said tha' the plans could move forward now, and he'd go sendin' off a bird as soon as he could t'report to that lord o' his. He also said he'd report 'bout some princess or other. Er, I think he meant your sister? Wait, does that make you a princess?" Penelope gave a tiny smile. Why yes being sister to a princess meant you were a princess well done. She didn't say anything and Hanikap began to stammer even more and ramble, "Er, beggin' yer pardon, yer Royal Tallness, er, no, Royal High Knees?" Despite the situation Penelope couldn't help herself. She let the man ramble on for a while, coming up with increasingly odd, and unintentionally rude at times, titles for her. Finally Gunther gently tapped her "Er, Penelope...perhaps we should stop him? I worry he'll fall completely apart before he's told us everything at this rate." "Ah, yes, I suppose you're right. Too much fun can be a bad thing. Excuse me, but, you can stop that now. Please continue." "Er, if'n it's all right, then, uhh, well, yer Royalness, er, where was I?" He held his chin while squinting his eyes in thought. "Hmm, oh! Right! So Pylauses was goin' off about how he'd soon be able to end his stint 'ere and go off to bigger an' better things. That the lord would 'commend him to the king fer a knightship--no, lordship. Which I don't get, since he keeps callin' himself a lord an' all. An' then he was singing fer a while, goin' 'Mine, mine, mine!' I jes' let him sing. But then that's when Timmy came by. Pylauses wouldn't 'ear of lettin' him off, said he'd hafta kill the boy. Not sure if'n it was cuz he heard about the plans or heard Gaston's singing. So's I panicked and pushed 'im in the hole." He sighed. "Timmy's always been nice t'me. I didn't want 'im to die. I just did what I thought best. Told Lord Gaston that he weren't able to tell nobody now. An' Gaston were in a hurry anyhow so we just left him behind." Gunther stiffened at the mention of the boy. So this man truly would have killed a child just to prevent even a risk of being found out. It seemed that he wasn't just a fool but also a true villain. Gunther became more and more anxious about Catriona but he knew he couldn't afford to leave Penelope even if the only other person here was perhaps the least threatening person he had ever seen. Penelope for her part was more curious about the 'commend him to the king' part. It seemed ridiculous to think that his actions would be in any way commendable. Perhaps it was just Gaston's foolishness or... "Well, we got back an' Lord Pylauses sent off a bird to the lord. I don't think he expected yer sister t'come here but he was--er, static? He was static 'bout her. Said he'd get a good reward fer sure fer bringin' her to the lord. Sounded like she was e'en more important than his original job or whatnot. So right 'bout now, he's pro'lly plannin' to take her to the lord." Hanikap sniffled. "I asked 'im earlier if'n he was bringin' me too. All that talk o' gold an' riches, but ain't none fer me, I guess. An' here I worked me back off fer 'im too." Hanikap began to grumble which prompted Penelope to ask if that was everything, and if was absolutely certain. "Yeah, 'tis all!" he nodded frantically. "Swear on me mum's grave, an' that's a serious swear." He held his hand up to his heart. "Naow please don't be lettin' tha' scary man at me! He's... scary!" Penelope sighed. "One last thing and I'll be sure to, uh, keep the scary man away. That woman earlier, what does she have to do with all this?" Gunther looked over at Penelope, confused what involvement a simple maid might have in this situation. "What woman? Ya mean Dille?" Hanikap scratched his head. "I ain't be knowin' much 'bout her. She came wiv Pylauses. Guess she was 'is maid or summat? She ain't one fer talkin' though. I tried sayin' hello a few times, but she usually jes' ignored me. Feel bad fer her. She's always workin', always got her head down, never talks to nobody. Some o' the villagers gossip 'bout her. Say it ain't right fer a girl to live alone wiv a man, but I ain't never seen her do nothin' like that. She's a good girl. Jes' 'ere t'do her job." Gunther shook his head, "People do like to talk...If only they could just try and understand..." The answer brought a feeling of sympathy to Gunther. He knew well how rumors like this could spread and how they could affect someone. However Penelope seemed to get something else from it. She straightened suddenly. "Thank you for your help, I'll be sure to let my father know that you did what you could for me. Gunther, come." Gunther was startled by the suddenness. He turned towards Hanikap and gave him a shaky smile. "Just be sure to be careful...who you give your loyalty to, in the future." He then followed Penelope into the hallway. "Did you get what you needed?" "Not entirely. There are some...implications I have to think on. But more importantly, if that woman is someone that that man brought with him..." She burst into the kitchen, where Raki was, and saw that the maid was nowhere to be found. "Where did she go? I believe she may be more dangerous than I had assumed." "How much good do you expect to be without your horse?" Cora's eyes widened at the realization. "O-oh dear, oh gosh, y-yes that...that would be a problem." How had she even walked all this way without thinking about it? As soon as Acantha returned Cora nodded and took off as fast as she could. By the time they reached the house she was breathing heavy and stumbling a bit. She barely registered what her father had said, responding back with a "Oh, good, that's....good." before stumbling her way forward so that when her father brought Abel out she was able to take the reigns. Immediately upon touching them she seemed to relax. She brought a hand to the horse's face and said, "Alright, we got a job to do. Gonna really put ya through it so get ready to go all out." The horse seemed to understand and, as it snorted and stomped its hoof on the ground, Cora could tell he was ready. Upon getting up she looked to Tsetseg. "Come on, we've got a bad guy to catch."

“B-B-Buddy, p-p-please, you c-c-c-can’t fail me now!” a buffered line ran through Es’ vocal processor as the electric-orb fluttered around; moving first from one location to the next, each movement jumpy and contorted; rapid, and unplanned as any movement the Rotom was able to make. Several more pre-determined statements fired out in a predetermined order, as Es herself took a proverbial step back, and let herself drift back into the mental buffer that kept her from the execution line, and seemed to grant her better clarity. Zed wasn’t waking up from anything she could do; so it was more than likely that this magical-sort-of-sleep wasn’t the kind that a simple shout would fix. Her mind continued to race despite this fact; trying to come up with other ways to possibly wake the Zorua up, a quick jolt of electricity straight to their temple was, of course, what came to mind first; and promptly being dashed away. She had already seen what attacking another Pokemon could result in down here, so attackings someone she considered a friend was straight out. Not to mention the fact that there was no guarantee she’d able to get the attack off in the first place. Something in the back of her skull- er- Orb, had bothered her since she had gotten here, and it was manifesting as the lack of true control she had over herself. She had arranged this body into compartments in her mind; the systems functioning more like an array of programs and queues than anything else, and that had helped and even allowed her to function as a Pokemon, but… There was still so much about it she didn’t know. Letting a few pre-determined, worried speeches sound out then was the perfect moment to observe the execution line, and the output log, to see if she could gleam anything about how it ticked, how it functioned, and how she could- Her attention was redirected as she was thrust back into full consciousness, in a single moment. The wind had picked up around her, and her audio-receptors were declaring a howling of winds; warning signs flashed in the corner of her vision, around the ‘screen’ through which she felt as if she perceived all. Another warning flashed as she realized she had been moved-- As she realized she was moving at all, electricity dissipating around her as she was thrown against a wall-- And then another, And another. Like a ball in a machine, they, and all the other Pokémon with them, were being thrown around the room; each impact accompanied by a mental warning she had set-up for herself without noticing, each painful slam accompanied by a new foreign sensation of damage. Her vision blurred. 1080p became 720p, 720p became 480p, and 480p became 360p as she tried to focus; tried to cling to consciousness, and remain in a conscious buffer-- As she tried to keep her systems from rebooting again, as she tried to send electricity back around her body, only to fail-- As for a brief moment, she was shoved back behind her buffer-input; frustration seizing her as she watched everything around her go dark, and even within her mind watched the various logs and queues she had habitually created for herself faltering-- Before she finally, fell into darkness completely, as she fell asleep even beyond that. --- The gentle-breeze was a nice contrast to everything that had preceded life prior. It was able to flow around the smooth, primarily-orb shaped Pokemon, giving her a sense of ease even as her systems slowly began to come online. In retrospect, it made sense that her mind was the first of her systems to become operational; as even during a minor reboot, her mind had stayed active. It only made sense that a total-reboot would have to bring her mind back online, before she could begin to get the rest of her systems in order. She made a few adjustments to the queue this time, though. The darkness of her body’s internal structure was nothing like she’d ever want to see again. Even if she and it were one, in a way, she felt as if she was still stuck inside of it more than that she was it; but perhaps that was just her nature as a Ghost-Type Pokémon. As such, she elected to make the first two systems she brought online her visual monitoring system, as well as the visual representation of the Logs and Queues she had manifested in her mind earlier. Superfluous as they were, the dim light she felt as if they gave off in her mind kept her company in the vast darkness, and to feel their light on her proverbial face… Her vision returned in the same fashion it had prior. The world had appeared pixelated and blocky to her at first, as the resolution steadily improved itself, but to find herself out in the open-- On grass, as the sun beat down upon her body, was a pleasant surprise. She made a move to speak, sending the command outwards, but found it trapped in her buffer as it came online. The command had nowhere to go; as her vocal processor and audio-receivers both had yet to power-on. Visual processing took up more time than the others to bring about. She deleted the exclamation of relief from her buffer as she took in a deep breath; or at least went through the motions of doing so in her mind. She could be patient. She’d have to be. The next system to return to her was that of scent; though, to be honest, she didn’t even realize this body had a sense of smell in the first place. It shouldn’t have surprised her as much as it did, but she wondered idly if she never noticed it due to the constant plasma which coated her body. The thought hung in her mind for a moment, before dissipating once again all at once; as another sense returned with alacrity. Hearing. She heard the crash of distant waves first; then processed the notification hanging in her buffer. The first thing she had actually heard was the tail-end of the Six-In-One: Swiss Army Orb asking someone a question. To be honest, the question itself didn’t matter much; but the fact that they had all made it there together, did. She waited for the rest of her systems to come online as she thought for a moment, making a quick list in the corner of her consciousness as to what would perhaps be a more optimal order, before - finally - she set her systems back to fully online. Plasma sputtered weakly (at first) from her core as it slowly, yet steadily, surged about to coat the orb. As it did so, it lifted her off the ground, white pixelated eyes coming into view as she began to get a good look at her surroundings. For the most part, everything was as she had suspected it to be from her other senses; the warmth of the sun and the blue sky being all she could have seen beforehand. The plasma itself stayed over the orb, pulsating upwards towards the bottom of her core, before in a single, electric moment of movement-- The two habitual wings flickered to life, and she surged forwards, towards the only thing she hadn’t deduced the existence of: A sleeping Pokémon. “Hey! H-h-h-h-hey! Was that y-y-you that whipped up that st-t-t-orm?” she asked, voice stammering with its habitual glitch as she forced the words through the processor despite its’ fervent pleas for her to use the proper syntax. Her body mimicked her voice in this manner; jolting forwards in diagonal patterns as she flew towards the slumbering-Pokemon, zooming with a high speed as she sought to observe the strange being from every angle. She felt like she vaguely knew what it was, but she couldn’t quite place it. “If so! Watch it, b-b-b-buddy! Unlike some of my friends here, I’ve got a br-brain, and can only t-t-t-take so many blows to the noggin!"

The words - or rather instructions - that had been shouted at her echoed around her as she stood, stock-still, watching events unfold in front of her. Despite everything, despite everything, as Citron had turned around to watch Lincoln surge into action-- as she had watched him take knives to the arm, as she had watched Edrick give chase with him, and Peaches continue to try and uphold her duty… She felt powerless, unable to get her legs moving beneath her, unable to move from her spot as she watched everything go wrong; even as the wolf-pup tugged and tore at her dress, trying to bring her to move. “N-No…” she murmured, voice catching in her throat as she brought a shaking hand to her mouth-- As she watched the man they had been chasing lift the Wyvern over his head, tearing his shirt to shreds in the process, as he began to foam at the mouth. For a second, she had hoped this would finally be what did him in; that, in some way, she and Peaches had been helpful, that they would have stopped him. But that second was over far too quickly, as with a strength she couldn’t even begin to fathom, he… Threw Peaches. In one fell swoop, in one motion, hurled the Wyvern forwards, and towards Edrick and Lincoln, as if she was no more than a heavy rock. Citron’s legs began to move before she was even aware of it, breaking from the wolf-pup's hold as the Wyvern soared through the air and over the two men, only to land, hard, on her side behind them with a loud and painful screech. “No!” Citron repeated as what had been a few unsteady steps, turned to a sprint past the two men as they moved, and to the Wyvern’s side, running a hand over the pained lizard’s side. “It’s- It’s okay,” she tried to comfort the Wyvern through her own tears, patting the side of her scales as she tried not to look at the arrow in her chest, blood oozing out from around the scales as she traced a hand over the Wyvern’s side. “It’s going to be okay, they’ll-- I’m sure someone can help me treat you, you’re going to be-” She was cut off, as the Wyvern began to thrash, scales contorting around muscle as the Wyvern began to thrash the wing that was against the ground outwards; trying to push herself into a roll, as she struggled to get up. “Scr… Ree…!” The Wyvern shrieked as loud as she could manage, as she tried to get back to her haunches-- to get back to her feet, as she sought to complete her goal still; heedless of the way the world spun around her, heedless of the way her chest ached, heedless of her own safety, as she had still failed to complete the task given to her- “Stop,” Citron managed to bark out, voice a mix of hoarse from tears, and firm; knowing it was the only way. “You’re done, alright? You- You did well,” she tried to force a smile to her face as she knelt down, and brought both hands to wrap around the Wyvern’s head, as she tried to restrain them. “You’ve done so well-- You just… I just need you to stop, and stay still,” she murmured. “I need you to be okay.” It took a moment. It took a few moments, even. But Peaches followed the order she was given, thrashing body coming to a slow, but steady, stop, as she laid on her side. The pain was clearer to the Wyvern now, as the Adrenaline began to wear off; as Citron did her best to soothe her, and as the pain of defeat sunk into the Wyvern’s pride. Citron could say she had won all she wanted; Citron could say a lot of things, and Peaches would generally understand their meaning. But here… All Peaches could truly understand was that she had failed-- That she was hurt, and to try and help while hurt, would cause Citron more trouble. And that was enough for her to settle for defeat this time, as she closed her eyes, and listened to the girl’s platitudes.

Shields? Locked. Barrier? Erected. Plan? … Right. Hector desperately tried to keep his bodies in sync with each other. The barrier around him was obviously tied to the formation the troop had assumed; threads of red energy flowed from the center of their shields into the air in front of them, overlapping to form one much thicker red beam that the entire barrier had branched out from. Every time one of the Cleffa smacked into it, the force caused the troop to wobble, and when they wobbled the barrier wavered. A hole formed in the front of the barrier after one such attack caused the fourth trooper to fall out of formation. Hector tried to divert his attention to that trooper—his kaleidoscope vision momentarily shifted to only see out of one set of eyes—but trying to maneuver back onto his feet to rejoin rank, he felt extremely sluggish. Not for the first time he realized that his connection to this particular trooper was the weakest. It was an uphill battle every-time he tried to individually direct his fourth body (Hector O as he had taken to calling him). A Cleffa reached through the barrier and struck the Brass on the side of the head. Immediately, Hector’s head exploded with pain. The Brass stumbled and the barrier dissolved. The rest of the troopers sagged and the blue glowing orbs of their eyes dimmed until they were thin horizontal blue lines. Hector would have compared them to powered down robots if he hadn’t still been reeling from the blow. Cleffa surged forward to strike again. He heard something roaring in the distance; wind ruffled the plumage on his helmet, the Cleffa in front of him was ragdolled across the room. Hector tried to regain composure and check on the others. “Chester! Chester, where is Cro—” Everything went black. Hector groaned. All six of him. The echo startled him, and when he opened his eyes, he stumbled and fell back into the sand. His vision was split into six windows; five smaller windows all situated around one much larger and clearer window. What’s going on? What happened? I’m not sick. I can’t afford to be sick. Who would watch—...who? Who would watch who? Hector stared out at the ocean. The sand beneath him, the ebb and flow of the tide, it all felt like it was familiar but he had no idea why. Or where he was. Or what he had been thinking about a few seconds before. Right. He was a Pokémon now. He and several other members from the NCM forum. He had woken up in the body of a Falinks and they had been trying to escape a dungeon. The last thing he remembered was… A sudden panic seized him. Hector forced all of his bodies onto their feet. They leapt up with surprisingly agility and formed a fanned out battle formation, similar to what they had done when battling the Cleffa. "Cross!" he shouted with all of his voices. They merged together into one amplified bark. "Chester! What happened? Where is..." Hector trailed off. The light in the eyes of all but the largest Falinks faded, and even that one had a very far-off look. “Someone. No one, I guess. I could have sworn…” he shook his head, which in actuality was more like ruffling the plumage atop each helmet. “Never mind. Is everyone here?” He looked around and did a head count. They all seemed present though Marv looked… different. The same weird feeling overtook him. Hector thought it best to leave it alone. “Because we have company." Hector moved up to position himself between the group and the floating Pokémon. He thought he recognized it. “Hello? Are you awake? Did you bring us here?”

This topic is very interesting and i would like to see it alive again.