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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Union of Stars [IC/Not Accepting]

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It seemed to work perfectly, just as he hoped it would! With the combined efforts of all those there, aside from Z. and Es, they moved the pillar to use as a makeshift bridge...though...at the same time...it was sort of...not all good with the latter part of it...considering it never reached the other side.

"Ah, hell, you gotta be kidding me is it not long enough? .... God...damn...stupid suction cups!"
“How’s it hanging? Bet you feel like a sucker, don’t you? You pull a mussel or something?”
"Hang on, we'll get ya down! Or the pillar at least, sorta on you to let go of it."
“Urgh… Everyone… okay?”

Marv watched this all play out the way it did, and he couldn't help but sigh heavily from it. ...at least, the plan sorta worked... On one hand, they actually had a thing of team work going on and they did something good. Downside, the pillar didn't reach the other side and then...of course, he heard Es speak up.

“...Though, it’s not like that would matter, given that there’s nnnnowhere to go in that direction.”

"...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Marv exclaimed, his hand now smacking his forehead. "...Arceus...damnit..." he muttered. All that hard work and rallying a group just to try and do this, all in vain to find out that there wasn't anything even over there. All because someone decided to forge ahead in the wrong direction and then everyone else followed suit. Naturally, he had the thought before of just going in the opposite direction, but in a place like this...who would even think of splitting apart from the group?

"Anyone else think we should just go the way that doesn't make us do a buncha pointless crap?"

Marv let out a huge sigh of defeat, lowering his head and his upper body to the point of it just hanging down in front of him. "...I mean...do we even have a choice at this point? Cause if Z.'s way was a bust...then it means all this could've just been avoided if we..." he let out a groan, stopping himself before he said anything else. He didn't want to dig himself a grave, especially right now in the body of a Treecko. He then began to wave his hand in defeat. "I guess we may as well." Finally standing back upright, Marv looked at the others and sighed. "I'm sorry about that everyone, it was an idea at least..." And yet the story of my life...or...is it? the Treecko held his head for a moment, that part did sort of hurt if he tried thinking on it too hard.

Honestly, even without him thinking hard on things past that forum, Marv's head was hurting...must've just been the fact of the constant attempts of trying to figure out puzzles. Now that he remembered: he wasn't too fond of em.

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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 Clobbopus 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 Clobbopus, 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!" 

Edited by Skaia

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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.  

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The pillar plan fell through pretty quickly but at least Z.’s contribution worked out just as intended, so things were going pretty well, all things considered. They even got some laughs and a few extra contributions to the Clobbopus Pun Fund. Even the (ex-)mods desperately trying to hold things together couldn’t help but chuckle along. Any further wisecracks were cut short, though, by two things happening, the first being Hector/Newie/whatever they were supposed to call the Falinks doing some sort of acrobatic trick that was only 83% successful (and, looking at the Newies who did land on the pillar, probably even less than that), which, frankly, shifted all the attention from one mostly-helpless Pokémon to another, and the second being Clobbopus peeling himself off the pillar, rendering, like, half of Z.’s remaining jokes moot anyway.

Only half, though. “Oh, don’t be such a sourpus,” Z. said as they slid down the pillar and back down to the ground. They stumbled a bit on the landing, probably a consequence of a new body and misjudging exactly the scope of what they’d been trying to do, but nothing worth drawing attention to themselves over. “Ol’ Spark Plug over there didn’t say it was a bust, she said there wasn’t anywhere to go. And that’s only mostly right anyway, there’s just a big ass-locked door in the way of all the other interesting stuff.”

Ex-moderator Appletun the Chespin seemed to agree as well, going on about how it wasn’t actually a failed endeavor, which Z. appreciated -- “See, even the mods agree with me for once,” they said -- though then Appletun started waxing lyrical about the value of teamwork or whatever, which Z. immediately tuned out. “I mean, I even said I could be wrong,” they said instead. “I was like, ‘If I’m going the wrong way, sucks, but then at least we’ll know.’”

A weird feeling hit them, just then. It kind of felt like, when their mental image of themselves shifted to the past version of them, so did their presentation, even though, obviously, the only thing that would have realistically changed was that past Z. was still dripping after their swim. It only took a second or two to figure out what it was, though. “Right, Zorua can do that.”

A wry smile crossed Z.’s face as they realized the possibilities of such an ability, but, when they focused on Clobbopus, the only new sensation that they got was that something came out wrong. Maybe it was the color, maybe it was the texture and not accounting for the light, the point was, whatever it was, Z. dismissed it quickly their face turned to a hard grimace. Fuck, they hated being bad at stuff! And yet, again, the best way to deal with it right that second was to ignore it. As Es had said, Z. had to keep moving, so they just grit their teeth, mumbled, “Something to work on, I guess,” and did exactly that -- they moved on to the room’s other exit.

The other room was pretty similar to the room Z. and Es had explored. It was similar in shape, for example, and there was water encircling a wall that itself encircled a landmark clearly demarking the place as more artificial and ruinous than naturally cavernous, though the water stretched out further than simply acting as a moat around a locked door, and, for that matter, there wasn’t a locked door at all. There were stairs where the door would be instead, ones stretching upwards into a now-customary inky blackness. “Ftairs! We have found ftairs!” Z. said, half remembering an old reference they’d made on the forum, and half actually calling back to everyone else, but, again, they never stopped moving. 

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"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."

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Es had expected a bit more of an immediate reaction from the veritable bomb she had dropped. At least she had expected that people would a bit more curious, or insistent on not going somewhere useless after they found out… That they were going somewhere useless, at least now. But she couldn’t really say she was disappointed either, given what it was that happened next. The person that had been made into six soldiers-- He was the one to make the next action, as he leapt up high into the sky to stop the pillar’s descent! And he succeeded, too!

Well, mostly.

Es had to stifle a laugh, a digital smile plastering itself across the glossy front of her orange body as she watched the orbs waddle around like toddlers, with a tiny chuckle escaping as her eyes followed the one that missed, slamming into the ground instead with a heavy thunk. Even as she stifled her laugher, Es couldn’t help but bounce up and down in a visible chuckle as she shut her eyes; digital readings turning to arrows pointing inwards as the ghost jittered in place, before coming to a pause as she refocused on the situation, once again taking stock of everything. The clobbopus moved next, finally getting free as the others allowed him to touch down, and then…

Well, the next part was less funny.

The Clobbopus, he talked a lot. Like, a lot-a lot. He seemed extremely angry, and not just in a frustrated way, but in an inflammatory way; as if he had the world’s biggest chip on his shoulder. As soon as he was able he launched into accusations, and while the Zorua seemed a bit mean-spirited, this seemed a disproportionate reaction. “Woah, h-h-h-h-hey, lighten up-” Es began, cutting herself off as the Clobbopus continued to throw what looked, at least to her, like a tantrum amongst the others, before loudly demanding that they go the only other other route that was available to them. 

It was hard to judge, really; they were all thrown into this with little warning, so that sort of reaction could have come from any of them. It was natural to be frustrated, after all. What made it hard for Es to really understand was the volatile-nature of it. Clearly, given that they were all having the same difficulties, none of them were responsible; so why the harsh reaction? It wasn’t like any of them weren’t going through the same issues. Even those poking fun were clearly only doing so as a way to deflect from their own feelings; what was the harm in letting them try to ease their own tensions, as long as it wasn’t anything truly hurtful? It just seemed unnecessary.

Her thoughts on the subject, however, didn’t ultimately matter as more and more began to reaction to the news that they had gone on a wild-goose-chase in the first place. Reactions were varied, but the general consensus was to go along with the Angrypus; something Es could at least agree with. As various people got movie, the Treecko began to apologize for the idea of the pillar not working out - something that others were quick to reassure them on, so Es didn’t have to. It was when Zed began to speak again that Es found it easiest to worm her way into the conversation; taking particular note of the way they brought up the door she had omitted.

“Ah, my bad! I had omitted that part so that no-one tr-tr-tried to climb into it, getting themselves stuck like a Clo---Octillery!” She ‘explained’, having to rethink her joke a moment too late, so as to try and avoid setting off the Clobbopus again, even doing her best to fake a spasm int he held "o". “But yeah, I guess there was a door, if we’re bringing it up.” She’d ‘shrug’, herwings fluttering higher for just a second as she continued to float mostly in place, absentmindedly twirling in circles as the others continued; keeping just behind Zed as they trailed forwards, seeing as they were at the front of the group. 

It was an interesting feeling, just having to passively ‘want’ to near someone and her body trailed off on it. It wasn’t like walking at all, she was coming to realize. It was more a passive thing; if she thought about them or focused on someone, the plasma that comprised her outer-layer would do its best to get nearer to them, and the orange core would be naturally drug along. Other than that, most movement was involuntary; and even that wasn’t an exact science. Take now, for example, where since her thoughts were a bit split, she was stuck between the Clobbopus and the Zorua, even though she should have no trouble keeping pace with the fox-like pokemon. To make matters worse, the more she tried to force herself to move faster, the more erratic and disconnected her movements became; zigzagging in sudden bursts before stopping, or even going backwards. None of this was an exact science at all.

But more pressing all the same, was their arrival to the new room… Which seemed exactly like the second room they had found, just with a slightly different water-pattern. Before she could even say anything, Es was surprised to hear the Zorua shouting something out; it was clearly a reference, given the excitement with which they said it, but… Well, Es didn’t get it, that’s for sure. Even having binged half of the site nightly, nothing really came to mind, so she was stuck just replying to the base statement. “I see I’m not the only one who has t-t-t-t-trouble speaking in this form!” She poked a bit of fun at the Zorua, purposefully trying to add an extra-layer of sarcasm to her staticy voice, as she followed the fox-like pokemon towards the stairs.

Edited by Tiamat's Circus

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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. 

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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.

unknown.png

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

Spoiler

Hello! This is the start of the third round? Fifth round? Zth round? Ahh, whatever, we're not even doing rounds, so I suppose it doesn't matter.

Also, in case it wasn't clear, you all somehow arrived on this floor at the same time, no matter what order you came up in. For example, Z. came up first, but as soon as they came up, they saw everybody else there too. There was no teleportation involved, but it does seem a little strange, timeline-wise.

There is also a voice talking to you all in your heads for some reason. React and stuff.

Edited by Sethera

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It took Hector a few moments to recover from the most extreme roller coaster ride of his life. He had only just managed to suppress the urge to throw up and climb back onto his feet—with some help from Chester that he was very thankful for—before they were all on the move once again. “Just call me Hector. Feels weird to go by a username when we can see each other,” he told the Chespin. Then, he organized himself into what was becoming standard marching formation, a tight-knit straight line headed by the Brass. “Right. Better hurry before they all kill each other or something.” So far he really felt like one of the only level-headed people in a room full of extreme impulse and hot tempers. 

He waddled forward into the next room. Cross met him at some point and took hold of a spike on the trooper bringing up the rear of the line. Hector had no idea how old the boy actually was, but it was apparent that he had probably lied about his age to get onto the forums. “Look, stairs. Just like Z. said,” he said to the Cubone. “Bet whatever’s up there is a step up from what we saw down here. Get it?” The soft metallic sound of the troop laughing filled the staircase as Hector guided Cross up.

The next room was more of the same. Smaller, with a pool in front of them, but still very much a ruinous area with dim lightning. Nothing that different from what he had come to expect. What was strange was that he had expected to have to hustle to catch up to the others. Z. and the Clobbopus had both made it known they weren’t going to wait up for anyone, yet when he glanced around, they were still studying the room the same as he was. The change of heart was nice to see. He was going to speak up and thank the two when his mind was once again filled with someone else’s voice.

Hello? Are you there? Can you hear me? The voice was cheerful and young. It reminded Hector of… of someone. He thought they might be important to him. He wasn’t sure. 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 power. 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. ♪ They were inside a mystery dungeon. Apparently said dungeon was full of angry monsters that would attack them without hesitation, which was frightening, but at least they apparently had a guide watching over them. Can you hear me? …Who are you? Where are you? Did you bring us here? Hector fired a verbal onslaught of questions at the voice in his head. There was no response; either the voice couldn’t hear him or it chose not to answer him. 

That was frustrating but the implication that there was someone out there trying to help them still gave him renewed hope. Finally, they had a clue. All that he needed to do was keep pressing forward.

“You heard the voice. There’s Pokémon in here that are going to attack us. I don’t have a reason to think they would lie about something like that so I’m just gonna take their word for it.” Hector glanced around at the others. “I’m not your boss here. I’m just another one of you guys, but I still think it’s important we stick together. None of us are gonna be that good at fighting right now, but we have an idea of our strengths and weaknesses. We’ve all played the games, right?” Hector H (the Brass) knocked his shield against his armor to prove his point. “I have armor and shields. I should be able to tank a few hits, just in case we get caught off guard, so I’m gonna take point. Not fully in control of all these, uh, bodies yet, but I can stand in front of things while you guys take them down.”

Hector shuffled toward the front and started towards the bottom of the room. As he did, some of the troopers glanced at Z. and the Clobbopus in particular, though they addressed everyone. “I trust you all to have my back.” Then they all fell back into formation and marched forward, the Brass having lowered his shields to guard his face with some difficulty. 

Hector immediately bumped into a wall and stumbled backwards. "Good news. No bad guys this way," he said, backing up and steadying his balance. "Watch out for the wall though." Then he turned right and headed into the tunnel.

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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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.

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"Oh what is this witchcraft baloney." Shawn said as they all sort of...ended up on the next floor all together and spread out as if they had all come in at once. It was bad enough he barely knew how to move without getting stuck but now he couldn't even trust stairs anymore! Speaking of stairs the damn things up and vanished on them! Asshole structures moving around as they wanted.

And then there was this fucker in his head. Mystery dungeon did they say? That rang a bell to Shawn but it was only vague memories. Didn't people play something with a name like that? He remembered some of the Role-Playing nerds really geeked out about it for some reason but he never really bothered with it. Maybe he should have. Probably a lot of things he should have done if he was going to end up like this...

He shook his head and refocused on what was going on.

“You heard the voice."

"I think you're kinda skipping over something important there champ." Shawn said. They were just gonna gloss over that like it didn't make a difference? Just gonna charge out head first, literally, and hope for the best?

"What's this crap about dangerous Pokemon anyway? Do they expect us to fight when we don't even know how to move right? Any of you happen to know how to use attacks? I sure as hell don't. What am I gonna do if one comes up, bop em in the face with these...okay, I guess that'd work, but even so!"

Still, he wasn't one to seek out a fight....wait wasn't he? He remembered getting into plenty of arguments on the forum so wouldn't that mean he should be fine with some scraps now and then? And yet, try as he might, he couldn't squash this feeling that he really, really, wanted to avoid actually getting into it with anyone.

This was giving him a headache. He didn't know what he was supposed to think.

So the Clobbopus ended up trailing behind those heading out as he tried to figure out what it was he actually believed and felt. Regardless of what he looked like he was himself still right? So why should some missing memories make him so confused?

"This place sucks," he concluded with a grumble.

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With the pillar plan a bust, though the octopus guy at least rescued, Noibat was somewhat irritated to learn the way they'd been trying to go was a dead end anyway. But that didn't leave much else to do but follow the rest of the group with the only other direction they could go. She could feel her body fighting itself as she tried to take off again. Her mind didn't have a grip on it but her body seemed to know what to do well enough. So long as she didn't overcorrect she was thinking she might be able to actually get around like this. At least flying the straight line back the other way toward a flight of stairs was uneventful enough. Turning and going up proved a bit more difficult to the point she had to land and resituate. At first she even tried to walk up the stairs like a normal person. But normal person behaviors didn't line up bat anatomy. Once again flying was going to be the only way to keep up with everyone, so a concerted effort to fly not just straight but up began.

Despite not being the first up the stairs, Noibat had to blink several times to make sure she was seeing correctly. She was in a new room, not all too dissimilar from the ones previous despite sounding smaller, but she was standing right beside the rest of the Pokemon she'd shown up with. That can't have been right given they all went up the stairs at different times but there wasn't much time to linger on the idea before a voice distinctly not her own entered Noibat's mind. It had to not be her own voice because it was too happy to be here. Happily warning them of the dangers of the mystery dungeon, including hostile Pokemon attacks, the voice left as soon as it came after teasing some kind of reward at the end of the dungeon.

"What kinda creep just puts their voice in your head like that?" Noibat muttered as she tried get a better feel for her surroundings. The Zorua seemed to think she had been the source of the voice which only confused her. "Huh? I haven't gotten my ears to do anything other than squeak so high I might need to invent new words for it." she replied to Z. as she instinctively tried to grab one of her ears. The effort got another squeak too high for anyone but her to hear out of it with a reaffirmation of the size of the current room and the shape of the individuals currently inside it.

The others didn't seem quite as disturbed, almost like they had experience with someone else being in their heads. Or at the least the motivation to get out was overpowering immediate concerns. For her own part Noibat was growing increasingly irritated at the growing number of things she realized she had a vague knowledge of from the forums. So many random topics, mystery dungeons among them, but no actual experience with any of the things to go with it. She knew enough to know she had been dropped into the plot of a video game and that just brought back thinking this had to be a sick twisted dream of some kind. But for the moment she could stifle her doubts she felt. The octo-boy however voiced a doubt for their combat abilities, one Noibat couldn't help but share once it was raised. But that hadn't stopped some of the braver souls from pressing on quickly and finding walls.

"Eight on one should turn out alright." Noibat tried to muse to the Clobbopus, clearly trying to ignore the possibility they might encounter more than one aggressive Pokemon at a time. She began flapping her wings again and was soon on her way, passing over the octopus' head and the Falinks army not long after. Now the real challenge, ninety degree turn. With some panic Noibat tried to lean into the turn and lost some height in the process. Some panicked flapping took over and her body twisted in middair, regaining the lost height and mostly reorienting her correctly. There was barely time to have a nervous laugh as another sharp turn was near immediately upon her. Not entirely sure she could manage this aerial maneuver again, Noibat found herself flapping faster and accelerating forward. She just barely avoided clipping the wall of the corridor and soon was sailing overhead of Z. which she took moment to look down and get a look at. Not looking where she was flying proved an unwise course as another turn was directly in front of her. Some panicked large flaps tried to slow her path and she pointed her feet toward the wall.

"Am I dead?" Noibat asked no one, perhaps herself. Her nose was barely a centimeter off of the wall and upon leaning back it appeared she'd managed to catch herself in time to grip onto the wall with her claws and feet. "H-heh... easy as pie this flying stuff. Totally meant to do that." she said still taking in the fact she wasn't at least concussed from the botched flight. Her limbs were hesitant to let go of the wall at this point and from her perch she took to looking down the next corridor. But soon sounds from up ahead registered, eliciting another short high pitched noise from her ears. Within seconds she suddenly had a grasp of the shape and size of the corridors she'd just flown down. Only now did she think she could have much more easily navigated the path. Too little too late but helpful for future flights. She let go of the wall and plopped down relatively gently just ahead of Z.

"You hear that thing up ahead?" Noibat asked the Zorua behind her. "It's kinda... wow how to describe that? It sounds like it's a baseball bat on two little legs?" the human-turned-bat started unsure how to convey what exactly she was hearing. In general she still wasn't used to the kinds of details her ears were giving her about things around her. "It's standing up straight but it's like narrow at its feet and really fat at the top of its head. I can't think of an exact Pokemon that might be but nothing gross is coming to mind."

Edited by Doggo

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Chester, for his part, was also confused at the sudden ordering of the group as they had come up the stairs. From what he had seen they did in fact walk up the stairs in a spread of eight people side by side. Yet, somehow, that was how they ended up when they arrived here. On top of that, as he looked up trying to understand how this had happened at all, he realized that there were no stairs to speak of. His growing confusion at the situation was brought to a halt as a, what he could swear was, familiar voice had spoken out to them. Well, spoken wasn't quite right as this was more messaged directly into his head, a feeling that he was becoming uncomfortably familiar with in this short span of being a pokemon.

But, as it had turned out they were in some sort of Mystery Dungeon and were likely to encounter hostile pokemon as well. Chester was familiar with the genre of game himself, much to his surprise in fact, and had a general understanding of how these things worked. And things were certainly lining up with his understanding, though here actually experiencing them as reality he had been unsettled by things he had taken for granted as general game mechanics. As Clobbopus had spoken up about the situation with dangerous pokemon, Chester spoke up agreeing with the Noibat. "We certainly do have numbers advantage, and just think back not moments ago. Without a single move we had managed to work together to push such a large and heavy object a distance. So surely we have the strength to at the very least ward off anything that would try and hurt us. But it's true we are at a great disadvantage not knowing anything about what we can do as pokemon."

Chester had a general idea of what it was that each of them could theoretically do, moveset wise. But  he had no idea how a pokemon actually did what they did. If he were to have an attack such as Mega Punch, would he simply have to clench his fist and punch really hard or was there some deeper thought process to it? And with Razor leaf, where did the leaves even come from, never mind how were they fired at such high speeds to begin with. As the world around them had seem to coincide with that of a game's were they also bound by similar rules with their moves? Did they have both a set number of times they could use it and could they only know a set number at once? "Well, all the same, none of us seemed to be an evolved pokemon in any way. So, perhaps it would be safe to say that we should stick to the basics of attacks for now. Like, Scratch, Pound, Tackle. Those sort of things."

The Chespin walked forward, not going past Clobbopus as he looked back to everyone else. Though Chester was as curious as anyone as to what was ahead he still had his job as mod to fulfill, however meaningless it might've sounded under the current situation. Which meant he had a duty to keep things orderly and keep the well being of all the community members in mind, which to that end made him stand in the middle of the group. Here he would have the best position to view everyone at once. Of course, Z. and Noibat had already gone beyond where he could see but as a former mod Chester had faith in Hector to see to their safety as well. 

Edited by Skaia

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Hello? Are you there? Can you hear me? 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. ♪

Marv and the others seemed to arrive up on the top of the stairs to this next floor around the same time, which he found odd...but what was even odder was the voice they now heard. And more so than that...well, the one phrase it said: mystery dungeon. While the others seemed to be already in the process of moving (namely Hector, Z., the Clobbopus, the Noibat and Chester), Marv found him rubbing his chin slightly.

Mystery...Dungeon...? Now why do I feel like I've heard that phrase before? he thought, racking his Treecko brain for an answer and reason to why he was feeling a sense of dejá vú with that phrase. Then it hit him for a split second... The forum that he was once apart of, YCM and NCM, of course there was something that popped into his mind from it. "Mystery Dungeon...like those games?" he muttered silently to himself, his face now having the dawning of realization on it now.

It all added up now, at least some things did. They were all humans turned into Pokémon, they couldn't remember anything else except the forums which was the connecting tissue to all of this, the strange locations they now found themselves in...it all was adding up. But aside from this, he knew that things most likely were going to get worse than it could...especially if he remembered his Mystery Dungeon knowledge... Same time, he felt...a bit of pride for another reason.

...somehow, I became a Treecko...stuck in a Mystery Dungeon world...heh...isn't that a bit ironic... Marv thought, smiling lightly. "Hey, wait up guys!" he said, trying to motion for the Rotom and Cross to hurry up and follow them. Though Marv wanted to try something. He was a Treecko after all...he ran forward to the wall ahead of him, stopping just right at it before attempting to crawl up and along the wall. Hopefully it would all work...

"Well, all the same, none of us seemed to be an evolved Pokémon in any way. So, perhaps it would be safe to say that we should stick to the basics of attacks for now. Like, Scratch, Pound, Tackle. Those sort of things."

"You may need to also take into consideration..." Marv called to Chester. "...the possibility of maybe Egg Moves. It's a long shot, but maybe we also have a special Egg Move in our arsenal too...never know. Won't lie though, the idea of being in the body of a Squirtle with the Egg Move of Aura Sphere wouldn't be a bad thing at all."

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Es’ smile shifted to a frown as they climbed the stairs, though it wasn’t for any specific reason related to the stairs themselves, but rather those that had set to climb it. It was Zed.’s comment, or reaction to her light-hearted joke that really caught her off guard, shifting the smile off of her face in the process. She had expected them to react like she had, letting it wash over them and firing back with a joke, but their annoyed tone and the comparison to a ‘traffic cone’ seemed… Well, annoyed at best, hostile at worst. She had thought about opening her mouth, or… Well, speaking either way to apologize, but as they climbed that final step, zipping up it with a speed that was difficult to match…

She didn’t.

In fact, she didn’t really do anything. Es stopped, for the first time completely, and purposefully, as they all arrived at the next floor simultaneously. For a single second, as the orange ball’s eyes seemed to rotate in a circle, observing the others and their surroundings, she kept both her static and ‘core’ completely still for an eerily long moment. Tiny white dots moved in the black portion of her eyes, making a circle, as if her very form was attempting to give hints at the fact that she was… Processing, what had just happened, as despite not waiting for anyone… They were all here, with her.

Finally, however, her static would once again begin moving, sporadically jumping in place as she shifted from processing to… Watching, or observing for a moment, all the while listening to everything going on. Listening to the sound of a new voice into the mix. According to this voice, she was in a ‘Mystery Dungeon’ whatever that was. The more important part, is that she - and the rest of the group - were in danger of being attacked. That being said, though alone that was a scary thought, there was something to the way it was said, a musical quality of it that made it feel… Well, not so terrifying. 

The others, also evidently heard the voice, as they all, for the most part, sprang into various actions; actions that led Es to feel content, for a moment, to watch as she floated around idly in a circle. The one-that-became-six, for example, gave a rousing speech, truly an inspiration to everyone, before moving outwards and… Slamming into a wall, bouncing backwards like toddlers. It took all of her self control for Es not to comment; as luckily, she didn’t have to, as Zed was next to speak as they began to move off in another direction. The hardest moment, for her to keep her composure during, however, was as Zed was walked into from behind by the Falinks, prompting Es to fully begin closing off her plasma in an attempt not to bust out laughing, lest she erode any more of the good-will that she had gained with the Zorua. Instead, as her plasma sputtered for a moment, the orange core would falter for a second until Zed and the Falinks had fully popped out of view, prompting Es to realize that…

Well, everyone else was moving pretty quickly, too, weren’t they?

She’d focused so much on the spectacle that she wasn’t expecting to suddenly look around and realize she was, for the most part, alone. Chester, as he spoke, and already started moving, and the sour-pus had already moved on. Even the Treecko had begun moving, trying to climb a wall, which seemed… Well, she wasn’t sure why, but that seemed right. Maybe he remembered more about the form he was given than she did. Either way, everyone else was doing something. Moving. Making progress and…  leaving her behind.

Well, that probably wouldn’t result in anything good.

She wasn’t sure at what point during this realization she had begun moving, per-say; it was a bit of a blur when she got moving at full speed, but here she was. Sputtering plasma that had tried not to laugh gave way to a small burst of electricity around her as she shot forwards. Zigging-and-zagging, she shot right over the small body of water, jutting to the right in a zig-zag just before hitting the Clobbopus, only to just barely squeeze between the Chespin as she moved in another flash of plasma, zagging back to the right around the Chespin this time, before coming to a slight… Halt, behind the Falinks for a split-second.

She’d pause there, in that moment, as she stared at the wall in front of them, and then turned for just a moment, moving again sporadically as she continued to zig-zag towards her ultimate location. Just behind Zed looked like a good spot, though she had to figure out how to get there, she realized, as she continued to hold the same momentum. The rotom zigged-over the last of the Falinks as she then doubled back towards the wall, using her remaining momentum up as she spiraled upwards in three bursts of blue plasma. “...Aaaaand h-h-h-here!” She called out, announcing her arrival mid-spiral while completely oblivious to everything that the Noibat had just said about a potential pokemon being on the way. “Also buddy, p-p-p-pal, friend,” the Rotom paused, plasma halting as she began to fall from the height she had risen to, before suddenly catching herself just above the ground, at a normal height, as the Plasma resumed. “Sorry if my joke earlier was uncalled for, was just tr-tr-tr-trying to lighten the mood!” She explained, voice equally as cheery as ever as she seemed to bounce from side to side with each repeated syllable.

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Z. probably would have kept going had the Noibat not careened around the corner to attach herself to the upcoming wall, only avoiding an actual crash by millimeters, instead latching on to the wall with her claws and flumphing down to the ground. “Cute trick,” Z. said. “Now do it again and it’ll be really impressive.”

Noibat wasn’t particularly interested in responding to that, though -- she was more interested in the sounds up ahead. “Do you hear that?” she said, which, of course Z. fucking had, their inner narrative had been going on and on about it, hadn’t it? “It kinda sounds like a baseball bat on two legs? I can’t think of an exact Pokémon that might be but nothing gross comes to mind.”

Okay, so it made sense that she was a bat now and picking up on extra stuff even Zorua ears couldn’t hear, but also, “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Z. said. “Just say fucking Wobboffet if that’s what you’re hearing.” An evolved Pokémon was bad news, even if it was something like Wobbuffet. Still, “Alright, but we’re only hearing -”

“Hey! Buddy, pal, friend…” If it weren’t Es the Rotom, Z. would have been surprised to hear any of those words referring to them, much less strung together like that. As it stood, all Z. was really surprised about was how Es managed to tack and jibe around everyone else to plop right behind them, though the hovering probably helped. “Sorry if my joke earlier was uncalled for. I was just trying to lighten the mood!” she said.

Occasionally, a fanfic author would put something like, “Sorry this is so bad!” at the top of their header, and, if Z. saw it, that was the leading focus of their scorn. It was okay if it was preceded by “English isn’t my first language,” or something equivalent, mostly because most of the things leading with that actually had impeccable English and just fell apart in other areas, but just apologizing for the sake of apologizing really wasn’t great. It primed people for a failure, Z. argued, and never rose above it. Besides, if you knew it was bad, why didn’t you try to fix it? Es wasn’t doing that, of course, but that’s still where Z.’s mind went, and their response was basically a muted version. “You don’t have to apologize,” Z. said. “It’s all water under the column-turned-into-a-bridge. Just do better next time.”

There was probably more that could be done in preparation for the Wobbuffet around the corner, but Z. wasn’t particularly in the mood. They moved past Noibat and up breaching the darkness into the next room.

A few problems came up. First, there wasn’t just one Pokémon, there were three of them, and second, none of them looked like Wobbuffet, the closest one that did was a Staryu of all things, and even that was a stretch. “I think your ears need their eyes checked!” Z. called back down the hall. At least it was understandable to not hear the other two given how far away they were from the door -- there were two Staryu and a Cleffa in total -- but still, how do you mess that up? There was also a berry on the ground, a blue one with some of the green stem sticking out on top, and Z. dove towards it before the Staryu could, snatching it up and pocketing it in their fur.

The Staryu, meanwhile, didn’t do anything but turn to face Z. The other Pokémon in the room did even less. “Well, what the fuck are you looking at, you cyclopean sand dollar?” Z. said. “You know, at least the cyclops thought Nobody could beat him, what’s gonna be going through your head twelve seconds from now when you’re lying eye-first in the dirt?”

A strange sensation overtook Z. It was similar to when they’d inadvertently discovered their Illusion stuff, but it was different in some pretty key ways. For one, it was focused on Z.’s face in general and their eyes in specific. It felt like they were shooting daggers right into the Staryu’s gem of an eye, and it shuddered under that effect, the gem losing a bit of its luster. Again, it only took a moment for Z. to realize what was up. Leer, huh? Alright, that was useful to know.

The Staryu shuddered a second time, but this time in a way that seemed to restore the gem, and the rest of its body briefly glistened in the dim light as well. “Oh, well that’s just cheating,” Z. said. “But at least we’re starting to figure out what we can do.”

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As it turned out, while he was slowly starting to become accustomed to walking, walking with his shields raised was another matter entirely. His field-of-view was cut down to the slot at the top of his shields where the two overlapped. That and the fact that the tunnel was nearly devoid of light meant that Hector could only see a small window about a foot in front of his face, which was unnerving. It was the total opposite of what he had been going through when he first woke up. Six sets of eyes was sensory overload, but seeing only a tiny spot, in a cramped tunnel, with no sound aside from the pounding of his own feet on the stone was a type of deprivational torture that would drive anyone insane. Needless to say Hector was hoping someone caught up to him sooner rather than later. 

That was probably what caused him to round the bend in a hurry and slam directly into the furry ball of snark he had come to know as Z. “Oh God. Sorry, Z.,” Hector awkwardly scooched back a few feet to give them more room. “Guess corners are sort of a blind spot for me.” Of course that was only a problem because the Zorua had apparently insisted on running off on their own again. But Hector pushed that feeling down and apologized, because it remained true that he still had a lot of work to do when it came to piloting his body. “I’ll keep some distance between us to make sure it doesn’t happen a--… and they’re gone. Awesome.” 

Hector sighed and shook his head—or he did the Falinks equivalent, at least, which was to bristle the plumage on his helmet like a displeased bird—before trudging after the Zorua. Then a Noibat suddenly flew over his head and almost plowed into the wall. “Watch out!” he shouted a warning, which thankfully proved unnecessary as she executed a clumsy turn and avoided becoming paste stuck to the stone. At least I’m not the only one struggling with this whole body thing. 

A moment later Es passed him as well in a series of bright blue bursts of light. Hector focused on the trooper bringing up the rear of the group (Hector R as he had taken to calling him), and after some effort the trooper turned around and looked behind him. Chester seemed to be catching up to him. When he squinted he could make out Clobbopus and… why is he on the wall? Marv seemed to be hanging off the wall beside Chester. You’d think I would be getting used to all this by now. Hector wondered if he would ever get used to the fact that his body was now a combination of six robotic spartan blobs, or that telepathy was a thing, or that he was seeing a Treecko that was actually not a Treecko climb across a wall like Spider-Man. 

Wait… what's Spider-Man? He chalked it up to another memory that had been stolen from him.

“I’m gonna try and catch up to the others. Don’t let anyone fall too far behind, okay? I’ll do what I can to keep an eye out behind me,” Hector called back to Chester and the others. Hector R was the one facing them but the voice came out of Hector H from several feet back. He was surprised to find that the voice of the Brass seemed to carry very well. 

Hector R about-faced and the troop marched off after the three that had raced ahead. It was just a few moments for him to get eyes on them again, but in that time, Z. had apparently gone even further ahead. “Sorry, ‘scuse me, sorry!” Hector said as he squeezed past Noibat and Es. It was a tight fit but he managed to rush past without bumping or shoving them very hard. Hector rushed around the corner and into a room that was significantly more well lit and... full of wild Pokémon. He spotted Z. engaged in what he could only describe as an intense staring competition with one of the Pokémon. The name Staryu materialized from somewhere inside the mysterious depths of his brain. A Water-type that was very often associated with Psychic-type moves, meaning that it was a terrible match-up for a pure Fighting-type like him. Challenging it to a fight was probably a terrible idea.

“Hey ugly! Over here!” The Staryu froze, then shuffled around to face him, gem blinking rapidly. Right. Who needed good ideas anyways? Hector stormed forward and what followed was hard for him to describe.

Controlling his body had been an uphill battle since he woke up in the body of a Falinks troop. The moment he entered combat, the training weights came off and everything suddenly came easier to him. The troop formed a phalanx-formation centered around Hector H (the brass) as they charged. He thought to raise his shields and all six sets snapped up to shelter their faces from projectiles. If before his brain and his body had been dealing with a laggy connection, it suddenly felt like he had switched to LAN. 

Chester had reminded them to stick to basics. Hector figured he would just try and tackle Staryu, and that proved to work out just fine. Hector R lunged from the end of the formation and bashed the Staryu with his shield. It stumbled backwards and shuddered. The red gem in its core flashed a whole lot brighter and then it threw itself at the trooper.

Instinctively, Hector H (the Brass) jumped in front of the smaller trooper. The Staryu collided with him but the impact was dulled significantly by the thick armor he wore. They struggled for a few seconds and then both fell back. 

Hector gathered the troop back into formation. Combat was an exhilarating feeling; a rush of fear and adrenaline that had his brain running a mile a minute. What was that about? Whatever it was he decided he should try and learn from it and not get distracted during the fight. The Brass seemed like he was the tank of the troop, with his heavier armor and larger size. The troopers would dart in and out in attacks with their lighter armor and he would cover the retreat. That was what Hector had gathered at least, which meant that was the way he was going to play it for now. 

The Staryu was seemingly sizing him up now. Hesitating to act. “What? Don’t like your odds as much when it’s 7-to-3?”

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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Perhaps Hector’s words were enough to goad the Staryu into motion. The water type ignored Z. and threw itself at the Falinks. However, it didn’t fall back like before. This time, it wrapped its appendages around Hector H’s shadowed face. The Brass could see nothing except for a core glowing with an eerie red light.

The other Staryu did nothing, seemingly unaffected by the surrounding activity. However, the Cleffa inched forward with small steps, stopping to stare at either Z. or Hector with wide eyes, mouth quivering in a tiny frown. The fluff on its head bobbed gently as its body rotated from one to the other.

While this was happening, a familiar voice crackled in the group's heads. "Bzzt, hello? This is Star Command to Squad Beta. Do you read me?" They laughed, and it was a bright, infectious kind of laughter. "Haha, I've always wanted to do that! But... I suppose now isn't the time, is it?" The speaker trailed off, laughter dying, though they kept a certain amount of levity. "You're currently being attacked. If you're not used to fighting, or you're not sure what to do, try to think about what kind of Pokémon you are and what moves you might possess. Also, pick up any items you find. You never know what could be useful! Oran berries, for example, heal you when your health is low." The voice lowered. "And remember… Attacks can come at any moment, from any side.” The following words were soft, though they lacked the breathiness of a genuine whisper. “So please, be careful." There was one last static buzz, and then silence.


OOC

Spoiler

Not a ton going on, just the familiar voice interrupting our scheduled programming of fighting to give...advice? A warning? Something along those lines.

As I said before, rather than going by a biweekly, clockwork schedule of host posting for this RP, I'm mainly just going to post when I think it's necessary or something you all do triggers something to happen. I'm hoping that this ends up being a more organic method that also ends up working out for you all.

Also, since battling will be more anime-style, feel free to do more than just your regular attacks in your posts! The Staryu wrapping around Hector is an example of what you can do.

Edited by Sethera

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Z's suggestion of Wobbuffet made Noibat sheepishly retract some into herself. The idea seemed obvious with it pointed out like that. Still her assessment stood that a Wobbuffet didn't strike her as particularly dangerous. The Rotom arrived to exchange some words with the feisty Zorua before the latter took their leave to press on into the hopefully not much danger. That left Noibat back with the bundle of literal energy that was Es, uncertain how to address her fellow human-turned-pokemon. She had half a mind to simply continue following Z. But the immediate spirits to do that were soon dashed as she heard very plainly the Zorua calling back that whatever she had heard, the pokemon ahead did not match. As if aware off their new talents being doubted Noibat's ears drooped and she instinctively tried to stroke them as if they were long human hair. Something about it felt right. Did she have long hair normally?  Thinking about that wasn't going to get her anywhere. Moving forward seemed to be the only real option as the procession of Falinks passing by the hallway soon reaffirmed. With the sounds of more shouting she turned to Es.

"Guess we should get in there." Noibat said with something resembling confidence. Taking to the air once more Noibat flew a bit smoother this time through to the new room. The sight ahead of her was something to be sure. What she couldn't quite place. Z and Hector were in the middle of combat as the noises had indicated. But where was the Wobbuffet? Noibat's ears pinged the room, establishing its size firmly in her mind. And yet somehow there was the sound of two distinctly Wobboffet like shapes, exactly where the Staryu were. What's more the Cleffa Noibat could clearly see with her own eyes sounded like a little dinosaur plushie with a tail and everything.

"Just my luck I'd get the hypersensitive ears that don't work right." the bat groaned as the cheery voice from earlier sounded again in her head. Something about being Team Beta didn't feel right. But the more pressing matter was the aggressive pokemon in the room, one of the Staryu was even already latched onto one of the six faces of the Falinks. A menu to tell her her moves would have been helpful but Noibat wasn't finding any luck there. She was just behind Hector now though being in the air she had a good look at the attacking Staryu. 

"Obviously a flying type what would I knoooow...." Noibat tried to wrack her brain for a knowledge of pokemon move pools. For her troubles her wings picked up in intensity. Something about this felt right, like her body knew what to do already. It felt like her wings moved in slow motion as they reeled back more dramatically than they usually would to sustain her flight. With a single mighty flap Gust erupted from Noibat's position in the air, squarely striking the Staryu off of Hector's face and back into the Cleffa and knocking it away. The Staryu was clearly dazed and missed a water attack at Z and the Cleffa seemed even more worried after what had happened.

"D-did I do that?" Noibat started in disbelief. She was even still maintaining her position in the air and not crashing into a wall, or one of Hector's butts. This had to be her lucky day. Aside from the waking up as a Pokemon bit. "I mean hah! Take that! Totally planned!" she ultimately asserted, trying to convince herself more than anyone that this had always been her intention.

Edited by Doggo

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As Chester began to make his way down the corridor, he looked to the side of the wall and saw that Marv had taken to the capacities of his new body rather well. "Excellent work on figuring that out Marv," the Chespin congratulated him. He then looked to his own hand paws, trying to think of any special properties they may have had but realized how ridiculous that would be. As he was keeping to the middle of the group, keeping an eye on everyone, Chester eventually heard the escalating sounds of conflict going on up ahead. This was only confirmed by the now completely familiar feeling of someone talking in his head. 

The voice had affirmed what Chester had already thought on how to figure out what they could do as Pokemon and use that as a means of defense against whatever attackers were coming at them. He thought for a moment about what it was that he, as a grass starter, would be able to do in combat. The two primary moves he could think of were vine whip and absorb, yet Chester had no idea where such a whip would come from on his body. And he had no idea how absorb would even work to begin with. The Chespin tried to rationalize how these things would work in his head, yet with no progress getting made and his comrades still in trouble he decided to shove such thoughts to the side for the time being. 

Rushing into the room the others had gotten to, Chester saw that Z.m Hector and the Noibat were already engaged with one Staryu and saw a second one staring down the group. Chester, as a grass type, had the advantage against the Staryus. However Chester, as someone with no idea how to leverage being a grass type, was at a disadvantage here. So instead he relied on his sub standard de-escalation tactics. "Stop! We mean no harm to you and would very much appreciate not being harmed too!" Though his parley was lackluster, Chester's voice carried a certain weight to it, lessening the Staryu's ability to actually fight back. 

Edited by Skaia

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"Excellent work on figuring that out Marv,"

"Yeah...w-well...it's still...kinda slow going." Marv groaned a bit, definitely not being used to crawling along the wall like this, even wobbling a bit as he kept moving forward. "...how do the Bug types even do this...?" he muttered. Nevertheless, he followed the wall he was clung to, trying to get a bit of an advantage in whatever situation would come forth. That's about when he started hearing the rumblings of...a fight? No doubt Z. and Hector rushed off and got into something...

"Bzzt, hello? This is Star Command to Squad Beta. Do you read me? Haha, I've always wanted to do that! But... I suppose now isn't the time, is it? You're currently being attacked. If you're not used to fighting, or you're not sure what to do, try to think about what kind of Pokémon you are and what moves you might possess. Also, pick up any items you find. You never know what could be useful! Oran berries, for example, heal you when your health is low. And remember… Attacks can come at any moment, from any side. So please, be careful."

That didn't bode well, as he noticed Chester already rushing into ahead. "H-Hey! Don't rush in there like that!" Marv shouted, before sighing and calling back to the others. "Let's get moving! Sounds like they're in a bind!" he said, crawling the length of the wall and around to finally get in view of the room. There stood two Staryu and a Cleffa. ...my hunch was right...this is just like those Mystery Dungeon games. Luckily, I don't think we made it into an ambush...thankfully, otherwise we'd be surrounded by all sides. he thought, positioning himself slightly behind the Chespin.

"Stop! We mean no harm to you and would very much appreciate not being harmed too!"

"Something tells me they don't think the same, as of right now, Chester." Marv admitted, looking at the Staryu that Chester was dealing with. Water Type...and they were both Grass Types. Razor Leaf would help in this situation, but then it occurred to Marv: Treecko didn't learn Razor Leaf. Okay Marv...run through the moves...what else did they have? Energy Ball? No, that's way later...Leaf Blade is Sceptile only... The Treecko began to rack his brain for an answer...until something popped in his mind, he didn't know where it came from, but it just popped in: Leafage.

"It's better than nothing..." Marv shrugged, still trying to maintain his wall-clung advantage as he took a deep breath and within a moment, launched a few leaves in the direction of the Staryu that Chester growled at. "Hey! It worked! I may not have Razor Leaf, but Leafage should work just fine!" he said proudly...only to feel his grip slipping and fell on the ground next to Chester. "...still gotta work on that...ow..."

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Everyone believed so strongly that they had the numbers but how could they know? They didn't know anything about this place for all they knew the next room they stepped into could have dozens of wild Pokemon waiting to....did Pokemon eat each other?

Even so Shawn decided to follow along. Though he made sure to keep his distance from the front of the pack. For one because the Falinks was insufferably insistent on being the leader and he didn't want to get into it with him but mostly because he still didn't know what to do when they ran into some enemies. Enemies who probably would actually know how to use their moves.

"You're currently being attacked. If you're not used to fighting, or you're not sure what to do, try to think about what kind of Pokémon you are and what moves you might possess. Also, pick up any items you find. You never know what could be useful! Oran berries, for example, heal you when your health is low."

The totally not suspicious voice decided to give them some advice and also a warning. If they really wanted to help why wouldn't they just tell them exactly what was ahead anyway? Stupid voice could talk in their minds but not anything else was that it?

And what moves would he know? He didn't really know much about movesets. As far as the games went he was more focused with how things looked than what they actually did. He probably could punch things? Maybe grab onto things with these tentacles? Whatever, he would just stay out of the fights unless he had to join in until he figured all this out.

This thought led him to be really, really, annoyed that a couple of them already figured out how to use some moves. Gust and...Leafage? How did they even find out they could do that does it just...come out of them? "That's real goddamn weird you know!"

Looking around in the room it seemed that the whole "outnumber" thing might actually be true. There was only three others in this room that had come at them. A couple Staryu and... "Okay I'm not going to beat up a baby." A Cleffa, really?

The others hadn't attacked it but surely they would once the others were down right? With a sigh Shawn moved his way past the others and stood by the little Fairy-type. "The hell you think you're doing? A little thing like you wants to try and fight all of us? Don't be stupid get outta here."

The Cleffa let out an angry noise and marched its way towards Shawn. It's little fists were raised as though it was about to attack him despite looking somewhat afraid as well. Regardless the stupid thing wasn't going to reply it seemed. "Jesus! Damn baby blob is trying to fight me now." He should've just stayed in the back.

As the Cleffa got near Shawn reached out and grabbed it on each side. He then proceeded to lift the Cleffa up as it flailed uselessly, unable to reach Shawn due to their size difference. Unfortunately all that wiggling, and Shawn not being used to holding things with these mitts, caused him to drop the baby. It landed on the ground and seemed to be in a daze but otherwise unharmed. "Just get outta here already before I really bop you one, dammit!"

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Despite appearances, Z. wasn’t ungrateful for the extra help, though perhaps what was offensive was how the Staryu they had been facing down decided Hector charging in was more of a threat than they were. “Hey, I was here first!” they said.

Z. wasn’t even mad at Hector; even the gaff of running into them in the hallway had been forgotten for the moment. They might have even helped him get the Staryu off of his brass Falinks if Noibat hadn’t come in and gusted it off first. They could still act smug about it, though, as the Staryu went flying off and landed right next to them. “Yeah, that’s what you get you pentagrammic parasite,” Z. said. “Why don’t you go shoot the moon and miss like you’re supposed to?”

A stream of water erupted from the Staryu’s central eye/gem thing, and even if Z. hadn’t whipped their head out of the way, it still would have missed them by a wide margin. “Yeah, exactly like that,” Z. said. Their smile, already cocksure, got even bigger. The numbers were pouring in -- in the background, the Clobbopus and Chester had started putting work on the Cleffa as soon as it had turned hostile, and up on the wall, Marv the Treeko was throwing a bundle of leaves at the other Staryu. When Z. saw that last one especially, a thought came to mind. It felt foreign, but it wasn’t the Noibat or the random voice that had already called out to them twice in the last few minutes. “I can do that too,” was that thought.

They didn’t have any leaves, but they could grab at a clump of fur and pretend. As they did that, their body started to glow, and indeed, when they looked down at the fur again it had turned into materials that almost but not quite resembled leaves. “More of a copyfox than a Copycat,” Z. said, “but it’ll do all the same. You’re in for it now.” They did a big wind-up and launched the leaves, aiming right at the Staryu’s eye.

The moment the leaves left their hand- paw, it was a paw now…

The moment the leaves left their paw, they shifted back into a fur clump, and, having lost any sort of Poké-move mojo behind them, glanced harmlessly off the Staryu and drifted to the ground. The Staryu shook again, this time not even using Harden, just vibrating in delight. It was laughing at them.

Before, even with the previous perceived slight, their attitude had been more, “provoke the thing that was hostile to them anyway,” but now it was closer to rage. Containable, maybe, but why bother containing it? There wasn’t even anything worth saying, no reason to tell the Staryu exactly how it had fucked up. Instead, Z. darted forward, raked a claw across the Staryu’s body, and watched as the thing collapsed before poofing into a state of “not here anymore.”

It took a few moments for Z. to catch their breath after that. Had they done that before? Was that part of who they were before all this? It didn’t matter right now, they decided. There were still things to fight.

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“Just do better next time.”

That was a straight forward, and simple suggestion on how to fix the problem in theory, but in practice it was a bit harder to keep track of. After all, what was ‘better’ in this case? It could be assumed that her joke hadn’t hit, so did it simply mean to be funnier? Or was she not to make a joke at all? That was the more boring of the two, but it was also the safer of the two. Regardless of what it actually meant though, getting a reply at all was better than nothing, as that mere sentence and reaction meant she had another chance; a fact that forced a smile to the Rotom’s face as she gave a quick salute with her wing. “You g-g-got it, pal!” She chimed out, bouncing idly to the side as she then turned to… 

Wait, and see what came next. See, Es knows she isn’t the most perceptive, especially when it comes to the body language of others, but even she can pick-up on a creature looking as if they were ready to pounce, or on edge about to attack… And that was vibe Zed was giving her, in this moment. This was almost assuredly confirmed as Zed dashed forwards, rounding the corners until they reached the other room, and were out of eyeshot-- But their yelling, that could be heard. Something about someone needing their ears checked, likely the Noibat? Either way, it didn’t sound great, around the corner.

Or, well, she got the impression it didn’t, based on what little she could hear in the distance. It sounded like Z. was berating someone, but in a less friendly manner than before, and if Es had to guess, that meant there were other Pokemon in that direction. “G-g-guess I better get a m-” she started off, before bringing herself to a halt, her form practically rubber-banding in place as she watched the six-pokemon special charge past her, prompting her to slowly begin drifting back into the corner to let the others through. 

“Hey, it’s alright! If you don’t get it right on your first try, that’s totally fine. This sort of thing is supposed to be fun more than anything. I might suggest giving it a thicker-base for the plastic to adhere to, but the important thing is that you take it at your own pace instead of trying to rush ahead with the pros.”

The words were hers, something her brain had spat out almost instinctively as she pulled herself back into the corner, letting each person by as her brain honed in on those last few words. These were things she had told people on the forum a lot, wasn't it? Take it at your own pace. That was something she had adhered to her entire life, wasn’t it? Advice she always stuck to, and gave when she saw others getting worried. It was a way not to get bogged down in how much further ahead someone was than you, while also moving to improve yourself. It was a key, a way to keep focused on tasks without getting discouraged, and yet… She found it was also key here, when she thought about it.

The others may have had an idea of what they were capable of in combat, but she didn’t have much to go off of herself. She was a ball of electricity, but how was she supposed to control it? She hardly knew how to control it when it was moving her body around, or rather, was it her body? That was part of the issue. She wasn’t sure where ‘Es’ started and ‘Harmful Electricity’ began in the first place, which made her more of a danger than anything else. All she could really think of was the fact that she was fast. Like, really fast. Maybe not consciously, but when she let her body move at it’s own pace, following the briefest of her ideals, that was fast. All she had to do was take her mind off of it, and it’d get to working. Which… Somehow made sense, didn’t it? “Work’s easier to get through when it’s not the only thing you’re focused on-” was something else she used to say, wasn’t it? But to who, and where-

A voice spoke, overpowering her own musing thoughts as she was made stock-still in shock, plasma halting for a brief second as she coagulated her thoughts into something she could to parse. The voice itself was a warning mixed with advice, asking them all to be careful-- and it confirmed for her that the others were, indeed, in a fight. She also noticed that even the Cubone had moved past her, quietly, without her noticing; marking her as, very likely, the last person to move from this corridor while she was thinking. Everyone else had already begun to leave her behind, and so…

It was finally time to move at her body’s pace.

Like lightning breaking free from a bottle, Plasma shot forwards, weaving around first the cubone quietly as it zigged and zagged through the air, a veritable blur as she shot under the Noibat, and then over the six-for-one special; coming to rest, for just a moment, above the Punchapus as she took stock of the situation, her eyes falling on… A creature that looked not unlike a star, with a single gem in the center of its being, which, at least to her, appeared to be in combat with her friends based on general poses. The target was locked, the question was what could she do? Information ran through her mind at a blinding speed, faster than she even moved really, as her form shot downwards on a trajectory, set to let her come to a stop just to the left of the Staryu, next to the Sourpus and the Chestnut King.

“Isn’t Astonish kind of a weird move, though? Only ghost types really get it, and even then, it’s just… Scaring your opponent? How do you do that in a fight?”

The words echoed through her mind, though she recalled reading them in her past-- Or had she said them? It was getting a bit muddy… But that could wait. She was a ghost, right? So surely… “...BZZZZT--! B-B-B-BOO!” She screamed as she came to a stop, practically screeching to a halt as she made her form spasm with electricity, surging forward to show herself as larger than she was, a tinge of purple coating her outline! Only for… Nothing to happen.

Well, except for the Staryu to turn, and look at her; red gem shimmering in the light, under which she found herself begin to shrink a bit. She didn’t shrink consciously, of course, but the orb started to drift back as the electricity around her got thinner and thinner. Her eyes narrowed on the red gem as her mind raced-- Her attack, Astonish, had failed. Or at least missed, maybe? She was sure she had done something, but what that ‘something’ was, was apparently ineffective, or didn’t work. Her heart, or at least closest approximation to where her heart may have been, froze as the Staryu began to move--

But her mind, and body, were faster in this moment. That same motion she had made to make herself larger, that same pouring of electricity that propelled herself forwards-- She needed to use that, now. Her Electricity, at first, began to spasm, even fizzling before… Blue plasma arced from the top of her orb, jumping forwards, and striking the Staryu directly in the gem! It spread over the enemy Pokemon, growing brighter and brighter until-- Well, it wasn’t there anymore. Lightning struck the ground in front of her for a solid second before she pulled it back, stopping her shocking display as she paused, rotating slightly with surprise. “Where d-d-did you g-g-g-go?!” She asked, frantically turning around until she was face to face with the Clobbopus, who seemed to have his own share of problems. “C-c-can Staryu use T-t-t-teleport?!”

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Hector felt a rush of adrenaline and confidence, a welcomed change from the cocktail of confusion and frustration he had been dealing with since opening his eyes to find himself in the body of a chibi-sized spartan troop. It coursed through his veins like the first sip of hot chocolate on a chilly day, making him feel tingly and warm all over, and causing such a massive surge of energy that the troopers practically vibrated. “You don’t even have to fight us. We’re just trying to pass through here. Don’t make us—blarghwwwhfg!”

The rest of what was surely a grand speech was lost when Staryu threw itself forward to latch onto the face of the Brass. Hector was completely disoriented. His vision became a blinding glow of red light, and dull pain exploded across his body in strips, like someone had lashed him with a fistful of belts. “Rgmhgh!” The voice of the Brass was muffled by something. The troopers spoke in a de-synced cacophony that made what he was trying to say incomprehensible. Another wave of pain came, this time much weaker, but still in five segments. The red light that consumed his vision flashed again. Hector tried to paw at his face with his shields to no avail. The troopers all started to move toward the Brass but bumped into each other and stumbled backwards. 

Calm down. I gotta calm down or I’m gonna end up knocking myself out at this rate. He was surprised to find how adept he was at calming himself. Hector H (the Brass) stopped squirming, and then the troopers climbed back to their feet and snapped their shields up into place, their eyes narrowed into thin little ice chips all locked onto the Brass. Hector’s vision suddenly shifted; everything he saw was like looking through a red lens, but now, he could look through the eyes of the troopers to see that Staryu had latched itself onto the Brass’ face. 

Guess that explains that. Still… The Staryu squeezed again. It was more annoying than it was painful. Hector H tried to peel one of the limbs off again to no avail. “Lgmg hmlp gr?” The Brass remained incomprehensible—the troopers, however, were once again synced. “Little help guys?” they chimed.

About that time Noibat launched a strong gust of wind at him. It threatened to lift all of them off the ground… but it was also peeling the Staryu’s tentacles off him. “Keep going!” he shouted. He rushed the troopers forward and dogpiled them onto the Brass, anchoring it to the ground, and finally Staryu was sent flying away. 

Hector sighed in relief. His senses cleared and the feeling of being squeezed and seeing an eerie red light stopped almost instantly. All these guys must be synced up somehow. Makes sense I guess. So one sprained ankle is actually six sprained ankles. The thought made him shudder. Sprained ankles were his arch-enemy. “Thanks Noibat. I owe you one. I was about to lose my mind,” Hector shouted up to the Flying-type as he untangled the pile of Falinks. He hurried and got ready to join the battle again, but found that it ended almost as fast as it started once the rest arrived. All that was left was the Cleffa that was engaging the Clobbopus. 

Hector waddled up to them. His face (the face of the Brass) was scratched up and dirty, but he tried to offer what passed for a Falinks smile. “Hey. We really don’t wanna fight you Cleffa,” he said. “You are a Cleffa, right? That means you must still be pretty young. Way too young to be fighting people. Fighting,” he gestured to his face with one of his shields, “sucks. And it hurts. So why don’t we just get along instead?”

Cleffa shrank back in fear and let out a warbling cry. It looked terrified, and Hector was unsure if it even understood him. His heart broke for the little Pokémon. He took a step back and had the rest of the troop put some distance between them. “You,” he gestured at the Cleffa with one shield very slowly. “Us,” he swept his other shield towards the rest of the group. “Ohana.” Then he once again tried to smile in a comforting manner. “It means family."

He really wished there was more he could do than reference Lilo & Stitch. Why did he so vividly remember that movie?
 

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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