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

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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?”
 

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“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!"

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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."

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It was a blur, in more ways than one. Marv heard the howling wind, felt it…it was intense, like he was experiencing a massive tornado or even a hurricane. It came out of nowhere but practically ravaged them all like a wild animal, feral and bloodthirsty. To say Marv's heart was beating miles a minute was an understatement…he honestly felt like he was going to collapse from a heart-attack.

Everything else was fuzzy, as his vision played tricks on him…or did it? He could've swore he saw a portal open and…a Pokémon of some sort…and a human? He reached out for it, didn't he? Cause that was -----...he did want to at least make sure that ----- was alright... But was that what he was doing? Then…it all went black for Marv.


The wind was the thing that caused Marv to stir, though it was a calm awakening versus the monstrous beast that whisked them from their previous location. No, this seemed more like a parent's tender touch to wake their child. It was something Marv did not mind, as he stirred himself awake.

The surroundings seemed more colorful than the stone dungeon that had been their first awakening experience. The hot sun, the soft grass, the cool breeze, a blue sky and a few palm trees stretching above them. It was a beautiful picture that lay before them, at least, from what Marv could see. There wasn't any urban noise, which meant civilization wasn't around much…which was both a plus and a negative. The plus being, it was more peaceful and quiet. The negative being, they didn't know how far civilization was…and they needed that at least, especially if they wanted food.

Marv finally began to sit up, no longer wishing to stare up at the blue sky, as he rubbed a hand over his face. He paused, looking at his hand. It was a white hand with blue…that…was right, right? He shuffled himself upward and began to hop…wait…hop? Regardless, he hopped until he found himself a small spot where water was. Looking down, he saw his reflection: a Froakie. He recognized the Kalosian starter, but was he always a-... His eyes went blank, his thoughts began to mist over. It was like he went into a sort of trance-like state. It lasted a bit before finally snapping out of it, though Marv then ended up wondering just one thing. …what…was I just thinking about?

Once he got himself situated, he noticed Hector, Es and the aptly named Clobber (he at least remembered the little brawling octopus requested to be named that) looking at a… "Wait…is that…?" Marv muttered, tilting his head, looking at the white and yellow Pokémon. There wasn't any mistake. Once again, he hopped in the direction of the others, trying to make sense of the strange thing.

“Hello? Are you awake? Did you bring us here?”
“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. Surprised you don't think they're dead, too."

"Seemed like a bit of an insult…but maybe was meant as a compliment?" Marv shrugged. He looked at the three, before looking at the sleeping Pokémon. "And I'm not sure this little guy did it…unless they wished us out." The Froakie looked at the others, before explaining. "...they did a whole Poll back on the forum. Was a popularity contest…I think…but this little guy popped up. It's Jirachi. Soooo the odds of meeting a Mythical are…kinda high." He glanced at Clobber, seeing his face basically still covered in dirt. "By the way…yooooou want me to clean you up? Got something…right about here…" Marv motioned with his hand over his whole face, showing Clobber where the dirt happened to be.

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Chester had Hi'd his last "yah" as he successfully punched the Cleffa, only to be immediately be interrupted by something of an incredible wind storm. The phenomena defied all forms of logic that the Chespin was aware of, and to make matters worse he felt an incredible sense of dread as he was picked up by the wind. Not the regular kind that any normal person would feel being violently rag dolled by a spontaneous raging gale. No this was something more instinctual. Something akin to his very genes telling him that anything to do with wind would be a time for his species. Though, of course, he definitely felt the first kind of dread too. 

He had his own wind knocked out of him as his back slammed against the wall. Then, being picked up again he was tossed into an entirely different wall, slamming his arm against that. Then a third gale picked up and tossed him once more. He could see his own demise coming as he knew he was going headfirst into a wall, and that typically slamming one's head into something was considered fatal. However, as his head smashed against the rocky surface he felt...nothing? His head felt fully intact and he wasn't even suffering from a headache of some kind. If anything, he felt more sorry for the wall, though these feelings were interrupted once more as the wind continued toss him about like a chew toy. 

 


 

Chester's body ached all over as he awoke to the sound of a gentle wind blowing through the area. Pushing himself off the ground, Chester muttered, "what happened?" Looking around and taking note of the scenery, the boy said, "where...this certainly isn't a cave." The Chespin was shocked by the sudden six voices shouting at him, essentially expressing his own thoughts. Albeit louder. Looking to Hector the Chespin cleared his throat saying, "that is certainly the question of the hour." 

Everyone's attention was then drawn to the pokemon that, as Marv - someone who had most assuredly always been a Froakie - had pointed out, was the Mythical Pokemon Jirachi. "That would certainly not be the thing I'd have expected to meet here. But," Chester looked back to the rest of the group, taking stock of them and making sure they were alright. As the moderator it was his job to ensure the safety of everyone in the group. Though, as the de facto leader as a result, it was also his job to take charge in the conversation of getting info from the wish granting pokemon. Though it seemed to be asleep and two people were already asking it questions, and as such it would be rude of Chester to interject. Though also the first set of pokemon they met that weren't them were also immediately hostile so Chester wasn't sure if conversing was even in the cards with this pokemon. Though it was also a mythical pokemon and they were not in a cave so perhaps such a thing wasn't a worry he should've been having. Though every time they had come across something new or dangerous thus far that one sided voice would warn them about it, and it certainly wasn't doing such a thing now. 

The Chespin was lost in thought and decision paralysis for a moment before saying, "alright everyone make sure you aren't injured and keep your hostilities in check until this pokemon wakes up. One question at a time too!" The moderator had almost told everyone to form a single file line to ensure that they each went in a proper order, but stopped himself short before looking at the Jirachi.

Edited by Skaia

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For the second time today Noibat felt herself abruptly coming to consciousness in a place she didn't recognize. For a moment she let hope fill her chest that everything she'd experienced had simply been a nightmare. After all, how could she have possibly turned into a Pokemon and woken up in a cave surrounded by other people that had also turned into Pokemon and also just so happened to frequent the same cringe Pokemon custom card making forum she'd wasted most of her life on? Well unfortunately for her she was still very much a Noibat and surrounded by other people-turned-Pokemon. This time outside at least, but that still didnt change the absurdity of the situation. Adding to all this the confusion surrounding their exit of the cave: flashes of seeing a human figure, the feeling they were missing someone and yet not missing someone, and the fact someone was a frog now who maybe hadn't always been one but that felt weird and wrong. All she could really do in this moment was ping the surroundings with her ears as if trying to cool the processor that was her overwhelmed brain.

"Huh?" She mumbled. Hearing outside was a fair bit different. For a moment it almost felt like she was hearing normal again and not instantly perceiving the shape of things around her with her ears. But the sensation didn't last long. Though less pronounced than in the cave, soundwaves still bounced back and she could tell the number of Pokemon directly around her before she finished turning herself about. "Oh great another one..." she complained at the sight of the new, apparently sleeping, arrival. As long as this one didn't want to fight she wasn't going to immediately interact with it. All the more reason not to as the others who had been stirring began talking, to each other and it. A bit too much noise for her taste all at once after waking up with super hearing. Though at least Marv had identified the new Pokemon as Jirachi. Noibat knew that, totally hadn't forgotten it. Still, she instead focused on the sound of gently crashing waves to ground herself and more fully realized what kind of place they were in.

"Looks like y'all got things well in hand here." She commented to the queue Chester was trying to form. "If you need anything just shout... no wait don't, just talk I'll hear you anyway. But I'll be up there looking around." Noibat tried pointing to the top of the nearest palm tree with the finger like claws on her right wing, and looked a little annoyed that her entire wing had moved with the motion. Still a bat. Still trying to figure that out. At least she'd mostly gotten a hang of flying in the cave as she took to the air again with little trouble.

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THE VOID
A PLAY IN ONE ACT

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

Z.

C-ko

Moderators of Yanma’s Custom Monsters forum

Girls of the Chorus

THE VOID was originally performed at the Kashira Shadow Playhouse as part of the PMDUOS event on the evening of June 2, 2023.

SCENE

Z. is alone on an empty stage.

Z.: Oh, what fresh hell is this? Is this even allowed? Fuck, you would think I’d have been granted the decency of being free from extra bullshit at this point. Okay, no, I would have accepted one of two things happening when I fell asleep: The dungeon bullshit would have been all a dream and I’d just wake up to a normal life, or my subconscious would pull from memories my conscious mind could not, and I could get desperate flashes of another me that doesn’t exist anymore. But this is neither. I’m still a Zorua, though. Fuck me. [They move to the front of the stage] Hey, anyone watching this? No? Typical.

Stage lights dim, save a lone spotlight center stage, where Z. was just standing.

Z. (turning around): No. [The spotlight reluctantly moves to where Z. is now. Z. turns back around]

(Sound Cue #1)

Z.: I guess I do remember some things. It’s dumb forum drama, because of course it is, but a forum update made YCM’s mod forum available to the general user base. It got fixed, but basically, any sort of gossip anyone could get their hands on got posted to the miscellaneous forum. The posters got banned and the threads were deleted pretty quickly, but some people’s download buttons were even faster.

The voices of the YCM MODERATORS recount their posts from offstage

Moderator 1: Oh my God would Zeta just shut up?

Moderator 2: Decides they're a they now and makes it their whole personality lmao

Moderator 1: Not even that just like... I’ll dock them for calling Summer a bitch ass-cunt or whatever and that’ll put them on their best behavior for a bit but then the warning points go away and they’re back on their bullshit again.

Moderator 3: Summer is a bitch ass-cunt to be fair

Moderator 1: That’s besides the point.[trails off]

Z.: That was a fun two weeks. It all got derailed into some bullshit about mod transparency that went nowhere, and I never got an apology or anything, but I wasn’t really asking for one. The point was, for a hot second there, everyone was on my side. And the thing about people being on your side, they tend to question you a lot less.

(Sound Cue #2)

The spotlight dims to a barely-noticeable circle on the floor and the back wall of the stage is illuminated.

Z.: What now?

(Sound Cue #3)

The shadow of C-KO appears crossing the back wall from right to left and back again. She is carrying a gramophone.

C-ko: Extra! Extra!

The CHORUS is represented by more shadows cast on the back wall in the shape of accusatory finger-pointing. C-KO no longer has her gramophone, and her clothing shifts as the accusations continue. This would make sense in, like, a shooting script instead of a stageplay but technically this is neither -- it’s a dream sequence -- so you figure it out.

Chorus Girl 1: Aha! You’ve got fox paws for hands. You’re not human, you’re a foxgirl!

C-ko: Nope! I’m a human! These are just gloves -- it’s getting kind of cold.

Chorus Girl 2: Aha! You’ve got hooves for feet. You’re not human, you’re a horsegirl!

C-ko: I see why you’d think that, but these are just very fashionable shoes. They’re all the rage in Paris.

Chorus Girl 3: Aha! You’ve got rabbit ears. You’re not human, you’re a bunnygirl!

C-ko: No! No! These are just, uh, wearable antennae for my phone so I can get better reception. I promise I’m human!

Z: Why do you want to be human so badly?

C-ko: [screams]

CURTAIN


After a dream that felt like it could have lasted either five minutes or nine months, Z. woke up in an entirely new place with no sign of the conflict that had rendered them comatose in the first place. On the one hand, they were glad to not be fighting anymore, especially with the embarrassing showing that had gotten them put to sleep in the first place, but, on the other hand, that Cleffa had something coming to them, and Z. wanted to be the one to do it. There was a zero percent chance that they were ever going to see that particular Cleffa ever again, so their frustration was entirely empty, which really made it all even worse. Their Oran Berry was missing too, a crime that had too many mundane explanations (it fell out somewhere, someone needed it in an emergency, that fucking Cleffa took it) to really blame anyone currently present, so that only compounded everything. “Fuck,” Z. said for want of anything else to say.

Almost everyone else was crowding some other Pokémon that was sleeping nearby. Z. couldn’t remember the exact specifics, but they were pretty sure that most anyone would be mad if they woke up to a sudden horde of people clamoring for attention, especially if one of those people looked like he was six people. It was a Jirachi too, so it had the power to back that anger up. Even Es the Rotom had gone over to pester the thing, and Z. had been pretty sure that if any of them were going to wait for them to wake up and cheer when it happened, it was her.

Z. huffed and pulled themself to their feet. It felt incredibly natural to do that downward-facing dog to upward-facing dog yoga stretch thing, but it felt weird that it felt natural, if that made sense. Like, it made sense that it felt normal, but- “It doesn’t really matter,” Z. said. It was kind of to that and the previous thought wrapped all into one.

Of all the humans-turned-Pokémon, Ears the Noibat had the right idea. If the Jirachi was going to be helpful, it was going to be helpful regardless of whether it was being pestered with an extra meaningless question. Of course, Ears was better at getting a view from higher up, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t do the same thing, but on the ground. “I’m going this way,” Z. said, pointing in the opposite direction the Noibat was looking.

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In the air, the land below and the Pokémon there would grow smaller. Like the view from an airplane, lifting off from the ground, nose tilted toward the sky. Mixed vegetation ran amok between deciduous trees, caught mid-curtsy in dresses of emerald green. Towering palm trees stretched out their fronds in supplication toward the sun.

A rind of golden sand bordered the greenery, protecting it from the encroaching blue of the sea. Both sand and sea glittered as if made up of diamonds. Here and there, driftwood logs lay on their sides, some bleached white by fungus, while others kept their original woodsy hues.

With the group gathered around the newcomer, the coast was right behind them. Noibat had flown up toward their left, and further that way, the shore wrapped around and slid into the sea. On the far side, a small island rose out of the waves.

 To the right, however, where Z. struck out, ran a fast-flowing stream that made crossing difficult for any but a water or flying type. The Zorua would soon find their way barred by the powerful current.

Meanwhile, the strange Pokémon still hadn't opened its eyes, instead muttering responses in a voice everybody there would have heard before. "Hrngh… Am I awake? I guess not… Bring you here? Storm? Hmm…" It trailed off. "Dead asleep… Question… Are you here for that… or a wish? Sorry, I already used them earlier…"

An awkward pause seemed to show it would drift back to sleep. But then it continued to speak. "By the way… I've been told I toss and turn in my sleep… Zzz… Snorf… So, if you're nearby… I will probably attack you… Sorry if I do…" It let out a snore.

BGM: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon OST - Legendary Boss Battle: Rock Version!

And with that, it turned on its side, releasing a Confusion attack. Miraculously, the attack targeted neither of the two fighting types nearby, hitting Es instead.


OOC: Battle time! This will also be the start of my new idea of mixing NCM with a VTT (virtual tabletop) and partially Discord to get a fuller, more streamlined experience! The link will be in Discord.

Edited by Sethera

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Hector stared at the Jirachi. His initial hope was dashed; if it had already used its wish, then if he remembered right it would not be able to wish them back to their home. The memory was fuzzy but he swore there was some kind of rule about ‘every 10,000 years’ or something. “You can get back to napping soon. Despite what some of us said, we don’t mean any harm. We were just wondering if—wait, what did you say?” Hector had barely processed what the Jirachi had said before the battle instincts of his new body took over. All six tiny orb-shaped soldiers rushed forward and locked their shields together, but it was unnecessary as it turned out.

The attack sailed over his head and crashed into the zealous Ghost-type that had threatened it. "Es! Hey, leave them alone!"

If he were still a human he would have shoved Jirachi. His new body took that information and ran with it. The troopers surrounded the Brass and he pushed off of their shields with his stout little legs, sailing higher into the air than he had any right to. Hector’s stomach flipped but he did his best to keep focused on the brass. His kaleidoscope visioned faded until he was seeing out of only one pair of eyes—the eyes of the Brass who was currently several feet in the air.

Then gravity kicked in and he started to fall. Hector brought both his shields down onto the head of the Jirachi as he did, using all his strength and velocity to try and smash the mythical Pokémon into the ground.

It lost maybe an inch of height. Otherwise, it remained asleep.

The Brass hit the ground behind Jirachi and bounced. Hector dug his shields into the ground to bring himself to a stop and summoned the rest of the troop to his side. Instantly, his kaleidoscope vision returned. "If you wanna fight, fight me!"

That was the best choice. Jirachi was a steel-type. Fighting trumped Steel. Except… wait… in the games, had Jirachi had a second type?
 

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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"By the way…yooooou want me to clean you up? Got something…right about here…"

"No, no I do not. I don't want your weird frog bubbles anywhere near me actually." Clobber said, waving one arm, clump of dirt clinging onto it, at the Froakie. Froakie? Yeah, he was a Froakie, why would that give him pause?

Besides the obvious weirdness of a talking Froakie who supposedly used to be a person. Eventually he'd have to get over that wouldn't he?

"I'd be more worried bout what those guys are up to. What do they think they're doin' over there?"

"alright everyone make sure you aren't injured and keep your hostilities in check until this pokemon wakes up. One question at a time too!"

Clobber laughed when he realized that no one was listening. Two of the others had just...fucked off somewhere. And then the other two were still crowding around the sleeping Pokemon who....

"Aw, heck."

He hadn't been paying attention but it looked like the Jirachi had attacked the annoying ghost, probably cause they were being annoying, which made the former mod soldier-boy...boys get all uppity and decide that this meant that the fight was on. "What a damn idiot, frickin' white knighting dumbass." He grumbled. "Well I ain't gonna save your butt...butts from a freaking legendary Pokemon got that!" He shouted and threw his arms up in the air before moving away from the fighting. His heart thumped as an uncomfortably familiar fear crept in which caused him to quicken his pace away from  the battle. He wasn't about to fight for no reason, he had every reason to assume that thing was a lot stronger than them, and he really didn't feel like getting beat up first thing on waking up again. That wasn't his fight ain't no way no how.

He noticed the Noibat nearby where he had wandered and awkwardly asked, "See any uh, berries or somethin' up there?"

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Z. regarded the stream in a sort of mock disbelief. “Everywhere we go, more water, huh?” they said. “There’s always something in the way.” They didn’t try swimming in it; the current looked a bit too fast and the consequences of getting swept out to sea were a bit too dangerous for a Zorua still getting used to their body, but they did go up and stick their paw in it just to test it all the same. It was cold, but it was a different sort of cold than the stream they had swum through in the dungeon. It wasn’t uncomfortable, either, probably because it was so fucking hot! Who knew that being covered toe-to-tip in fox fur was a real damper on a body that was supposed to self-regulate its temperature?

Still, the existence of one wet paw with a dry rest of the body also wasn’t ideal, and Z. dried it again, alternating between shaking it wildly and rubbing it in the streamside grass before returning to the water and pondering it some more. The whole experience reminded them of another moment early in the cave, after drying off, yes, but how they recalled the appearance of a wet Zorua while arguing with the Clobbopus. Yes, they’d also failed at imitating said Clobbopus right after, but the only point of dwelling on that memory was cringing on it later after they’d figured this shit out. They still had to focus on what worked.

They stared down at their reflection and tried to pull that memory out again, of actually swimming, of water still hanging onto their fur as they pulled themselves out on the other side. It was hard to tell if it worked by sight alone -- The stream didn’t provide the best reflective surface, what with all the rushing water in the way -- but that feeling returned, and now that they were by themselves, they could actually analyze what that feeling meant.

It was a weird one, to be sure. Z. simultaneously felt soaked and not-soaked at the same time, or maybe it was just that they felt the water but knew it was fake. Little globules of water fell off their fur and disappeared in the grass. It also didn’t require as much mental upkeep as they expected, like, there was the initial effort, yeah, and there was still some maintenance, but if someone asked them to rub their stomach and pat their head at the same time, they could probably manage. Still, being able to be “a wetter version of themself” wasn’t wholly useful at the moment, so Z. switched to trying to remember an actual Pokémon. Of the Pokémon they had encountered thus far, they settled on Treeko, and closed their eyes.

Even before they opened them, they knew something was wrong, and opening them again just confirmed it. “That looks more like a Froakie,” they said. Even in their ever-morphing reflection the water provided, they could tell that much at least. “And a really shitty one at that.” But it was still progress -- Z. felt good about that. They’d have to take a better look at things to see what they could pull from now.

Speaking of paying more attention, Z. was just able to hear all the clamor over by the Jirachi, including at least two attacks and they rolled their eyes. “I know beating things unconscious is how Pokémon are supposed to interact with the world,” Z. said, “but how are you planning to do that to a Pokémon that’s already unconscious?” No, they wouldn’t be participating in that little scuffle. At the same time, there wasn’t really any more to glean just hanging out by the water, so they made their way back over to the Noibat. Clobbopus was also there, an impressive decision by him given how much of a fool he’d made of himself a few floors down.

That said, he was talking about Jirachi being legendary, which gave Z.’s pedantry a free opening. “Isn’t Jirachi a mythical Pokémon, not a legendary one?” Z. said. “Totally different thing, right? There’s more water that way, if you’re curious. Freshwater, I mean. Maybe you could use it to clean yourself off or something. Jeeezus, you’re dirty.” They looked up at the Noibat too. “Hey, Ears, how’s the weather? Get a load of all this.”

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Es’ mind spun around in the back of her core before she even had a second to process anything; the last few seconds instead fading from her memory and into yet-another, further buffer, as she was thrust to the present. Warning sirens blared within her cognition, as status reports from systems damaged but not inoperable rang out, an unpleasant purple haze accompanying the noise. It was like a sound-wave, in a way, bouncing from section to section in the back of her mind as she struggled to pull herself together. It was like a wave that drew in and out, painfully crashing into and flooding every inch of her systems, every carefully constructed mental analog: every log, queue, and terminal falling to pieces around her all at once---

Until it stopped.

The pain was still there, but the psychic force which propelled it was not; and her systems were pulling themselves back together instinctively, as she had already written their continued existence into her boot-protocols. But she hadn’t shut-down yet, and she didn’t plan to, either. Were she able to remember what her life from before was like, she may have imagined herself as a marionette; the strings of her body and its’ systems being pulled taut by unseen hands, as she exerted a measure of full control over herself. In that moment, it was like a wave of calm had followed in the wake of the psychic storm that had clouded her mind, a wave which she was more than willing to ride as she once again took full control of her systems. Of course, she was still far from being able to write her own code; lord knows she would have liked to design a new attack, once which condensed all of her energy into a single strike, but…

Well, when writing your own code didn’t work, there was only one thing left to do:

Steal from those more experienced than you.

Es cycled through the stored lines of executed code which had once run through her systems; skimming lines once again until she found the marked code, highlighted in dark orange, that she had utilized as an attack before; that which she had stolen from the burst she had made in error during a previous fight. “You… Really t-t-ticked off the wrong ghost here, buddy…!” she began, murmuring, and stalling for time herself as she focused on the sleeping Pokémon  in front of her, locking on, so to-speak, as she let her plasma begin to dwindle ever-so-slightly. “...Because… Well…” she’d slow, her voice growing steady, for a moment as the volume dropped dramatically; plasma dimming as she began to drift idly backwards…

Only for this action itself to be interrupted, as she slammed the new-macro through her execution line and her voice turned into an abrupt screech of static which rang out at the maximum volume she could manage. In the same moment, her plasma flared to life around her; a dark shadow encompassing her form as she lunged forwards, and attempted to startle the sleeping-tyke. “----UNLIKE YOU, I’VE G-GOT FRIENDS TO BACK AN ATTACK LIKE THIS UP!” she’d call out, voice raised as it passed through her vocal processor in rapid bursts, as if racing to follow the burst of static. “LIKE MY B-B-BESTIE FROM THE END OF THE ALPHABET! WHO’S SURE TO BE AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE, J-J-JUST WAITING FOR A MOMENT TO T-T-AKE YOU DOWN!”

Her shouting came to an end as abruptly as it had begun; her plasma dimming as it reduced itself back to a normal, manageable level. In the wake of her attack, faint wisps of shadow trailed from the outline of the sleeping Pokémon, as they...

Paid her no mind, really.

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"No, no I do not. I don't want your weird frog bubbles anywhere near me actually. I'd be more worried bout what those guys are up to. What do they think they're doin' over there?"

Marv shrugged a bit at Clobber. "It was just an offer..." he said, before looking in the direction that Clobber was directing him, and he wasn't too thrilled at seeing what he was seeing. Both the legion of Hector and Es was...attacking...the sleeping Jirachi. He had that phrase go through his mind again: ATTACKING a sleeping MYTHICAL Pokémon. His hand met his face, letting out a bit of a sigh. "...you can't be serious...I can't be seeing that..."

But alas...he WAS seeing this. Things weren't doing any favors for the pair of them either. Hector was a Falinks, meaning he was a Fighting Type. Es was a Rotom, an Electric/Ghost. Meanwhile, Jirachi the Wish Granter, was Steel and Psychic. The Psychic typing countered the Fighting type, while the Ghost typing countered the Psychic typing. Out of the two of them, Es was the perfect fit for this, but at the same time...it was a Mythical Pokémon, they had no business just attacking it when it was doing absolutely nothing. And it seemed like the two here were the only ones going for this...as the others were already moving away towards a tree. Marv sighed heavily again before figuring it was time to shout at the two.

"HEY!!!" Marv yelled, apparently having his voice mid-croak in the process. He cleared his throat after it, not expecting that. "Are you two really going to attack a SLEEPING MYTHICAL Pokémon? C'mon!! First off...Hector, you're doing jack all to it! It's Steel/Psychic!" He rubbed the sides of his head some, just shaking his head. "And second of all, why are you fighting Jirachi? Do you want the Mythical Pokémon to be against us? Hell, if this goes awry, the Legendaries might be on our tails!"

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While Noibat felt she had the gist of flying by this point she was still caught off guard at trying to perch atop the tree of her choice. The combination of grabbing something below her with her foot while trying to stop flying was a bit less than graceful but that seemed to be the name of the game with this whole turning into a Pokemon thing. Still, she'd managed to actually perch and not fall out of the tree so that was progress. It was strange to be up this high purely from her own exertion but the view captivated her before she could think much more about that. Her feet gripped the branch below her tightly as her eyes traced the coastline and the island off the shore. Trying to take in the ambience almost distracted her from a concerning thought.

"There's no structures anywhere... really in the middle of no where huh..." Noibat muttered to herself, her heart sinking a bit as she continued her look out. Perhaps thankfully she wasn't given too long to sulk. There were sounds down below, as she'd stated she was quite capable of keeping track of what was going on. And while the noises around the Jirachi were concerning, what first caught her attention was a much closer Clobber addressing her directly. "No berries here, might be an unripe coconut if you want that." the bat replied to the octopus' question. There were several jokes about coconuts running through her head at this point. Most of them included someone rapping about a group of monkeys and while she loved it she couldn't well let anyone know she did in case they thought that was crazy or worse, cringe. But if the chance was ever presented to her Noibat silently vowed to fashion a coconut gun. Not like there was much else for her to be doing, like fighting a random Pokemon or something.

Before long Z. had joined this makeshift conversation addressing Noibat as Ears. She almost wanted to be offended at the nickname but it was her most prominent feature now and anything was better than these people knowing who she was on the website she couldn't get out of her head. Noibat began a descent to more directly speak with the two that had spoken to her. Landing on the ground was a bit easier than catching a swaying branch in the wind which thankfully let her not make a fool of herself in front of the other cool kids on the block.

"I've heard most everything and I can't-" Noibat started only to be interrupted but Es and Marv screaming about the fight. It didn't hurt necessarily but she still instinctively grabbed her ears at how well she was hearing these louder noises. "I think your bestie's expecting you" Noibat summarized the outburst to the Zorua with a drip of sarcasm. "Not that I'd blame you sitting it out. Sounded like that thing's asleep and attacking anything that gets near it. Was kind of expecting Mr. Mod would get everyone away from it so we could just ignore it."

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Chester was unsure if the people here were born with a compulsion to split away from whatever group they were in as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Such a thing, in his long tenure of dealing with people both on and offline surely should not have surprised him and to an extent it did not, yet it certainly continued to get on his nerves. Of course it's not like he told them to all stay together, though he was certain they would have split off immediately anyway, and his other plan to ask questions and keep hostilities in check certainly had hit a bit of a snag as well as the Mythic Pokemon had failed to keep its own hostility in check. 

Chester looked over to see a blast of psychic energy flying to Es and two things had stuck out to him. One, that the being had told them that it was prone to thrashing about in its sleep. And two, that he was starting to believe his initial suspicion about the pokemon to be correct upon hearing its voice. Before he could think of how to react to the situation, Hector leaped into the fray and attacked the Mythic pokemon, much to Marv's dismay. Chester himself was a bit confused by the action but also didn't think Hector would leap into a fight without a real plan and seeing as Es had no plans on retreating either it seemed like the two had resolved to fight Jirachi themselves. Chester was at a stand still at what to do; on the one hand everyone was already far enough and way and it said that only being in close proximity to it would put them in danger. On the other hand it was only in its sleep that it posed a danger and perhaps striking it enough would get it to wake up, thus negating the danger entirely. Well, presuming it wasn't mad at them when it woke up. 

The more Chester thought about it the more he also realized the issue with the first. "It threw the first punch, Marv, though I don't typically condone responding to violence with violence, but the pokemon in the dungeon showed that they understand no other language. But, I think we have to worry about it being mad at us. Actually  I think we're in danger as long as we're on this island and it's asleep." Surely it was easy to define what was close to a normal person, but this was a being that could speak to them from virtually anywhere. To such a being with such an awareness the definition of "close" started to fall apart. "So the only way to keep us safe is to fight! Again! To arms!" Chester wasn't quite sure why he shouted that last part but he was certain it was something a person would say in this situation. And so following his own advice he readied his two arms. 

Chester couldn't tell what it was, perhaps his own typing at play here like what he attributed his fear of large gale storms to, but the grass certainly felt much easier to run across then the stone floor of the cavern. In fact, it was not only easier to move through but it was as if his body felt lighter and more responsive within the grass. Sprinting forward, Chester closed the gap between him and Jirachi bringing up his fist and striking the myth with it. As it did, Chester felt a surge of power flow through him, which he used to deliver a second punch against them. Feeling as though his two arms were growing stronger with each punch, Chester felt confident in his plan. Especially as, after the second, Jirachi seemed to look a little less asleep in its tossing and turning. 

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The sleeping Pokémon frowned after Chester's two-punch attack, the steady rise and fall of its chest quickening to a rapid staccato. Still, it did not open its eyes. Instead, it yawned, releasing with it another Confusion in a random direction, this one hitting the Falinks a little behind it.

The attack was stronger than last time, perhaps because the Pokémon was in less of a deep sleep than before. Not to mention, because of his typing, Hector could not stave off the move as effectively as Es. The attack incapacitated all five troopers, leaving the lone brass up front barely staying upright.

The sleeping Pokémon let out a "Hngh, sleepy," before settling back down into its doze. However, its breathing was lighter this time, as if one good hit might wake it up.


OOC: Sorry for the short post! But I will also be posting again once the fight is over, even if not everybody has posted yet for this "round." So, in that sense, you can consider this mini post to be a half host post or something, and the next post I do will be a full host post.

Edited by Sethera

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Hector would have screamed if he had been able to wrest even that little amount of control back from his mind. One moment he had been about to call out for Jirachi to wake up and cease the attacks. The next, there was a flash of light and his head exploded. To say that the pain was the result of a sordid affair between the nastiest migraine and the most evil of brain freezes would have been underselling the severity of it. It was like a hot iron was being jammed into his skull through his forehead, and every attempt to move his body or even so much as think was pouring fuel into the flames. What could only have been a few seconds dragged on for what felt to Hector like hours.

And then it stopped as suddenly as it had come. Every single trooper collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, the light fading from their bright eyes until the faces under each helmet were completely featureless.

Only the Brass kept his footing. Blood dripped from a spot beneath his eyes that must have been his nose, but he was still standing. Hector realized then that everything felt different than he was now accustomed to. He was hurt—in fact, it took everything he had to stop his sturdy little body from trembling like a chihuahua—but more than that was his mind. He could think clearly. There were no longer five extra streams of consciousness feeding him visual and auditory information to such a degree that it overwhelmed him. His vision was no longer a trippy kaleidoscope split that made it a herculean task to focus. Taking an unsteady step forward, he found that even his movements felt snappy and quick to respond to his urging.

For the first time since he woke up, Hector was whole. He would have cried from the sheer release of all the mental strain he had not realized was building up if it wasn’t for how terrible he felt.

No time to feel sorry for myself, he scolded. A skinned knee, a rolled ankle, a burnt hand—all of it was nothing but an inconvenience he had to push through. He could not remember the context but he knew that he had done it before. This was nothing different than any of that.  "Hey Jirachi!" he shouted, stepping forward on his own. He looked and felt positively tiny without his troop at his back, but he raised his shield in front of him anyways. A glowing barrier of gold spiderwebbed out from the center of the shield until it was large enough to protect his entire body. "Nap time is over, and you're being a real brat right now!"

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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“Bestie?” Z. repeated the word once for every time someone said it to them. “Bestie?” Where was this coming from? They and Es had hung out, like, twice, maybe three times maximum, and one of those times was still tainted by Es not getting Z.’s sick reference. Even if Z. was charitable, that wasn’t really “bestie” material. The only other way it would work in Z.’s mind was if they’d had some sort of banter going on the forums since that was the only other point of memory, but Z. was pretty active and they were sure that, whoever Es was, she really hadn’t been.

So they weren’t besties and they hadn’t been besties. Those two matters were settled, then. The only other thing Z. could think of, aside from a jest (and Es didn't seem like the type to jest about this, it was either earnestness or a mistake) was that it was a claim about the future. They and Es were going to be besties. While Z. liked that sort of confidence and had seen how Es was receptive to some of Z.’s advice, Z. still felt like they needed a bit more before they could say the same, and floundering against a sleeping Pokémon wasn’t going to cut it.

It felt like a meme. “The fuck are they doing over there?” Aside from the bestie drama, Hector had been reduced to just an H, and Chester, the actual mod of the group, alternated between hitting Jirachi and arguing with Marv. Every fight they got into seemed to devolve into a mess, really, like, Z. didn’t know what was going on when they were asleep, but they figured if the fight had gone well in their absence, they probably would have woken up in the dungeon and kept going through that instead of waking up in some abandoned arboreal paradise. And when they put it like that, well, that just meant they’d have to whip everyone into shape later, but it also gave them a reason to respond to Es’ call for help without reinforcing narratives that were a bit more aspirational than others.

They left the Clobbopus with a “Seriously, go jump in a lake, and not, like, ‘go jump in a lake’ like ‘you’re pissing me off,’ go jump in a lake like ‘immerse yourself in water like the octopus you are until every last dirt molecule has been excised from your body.’ Scrub if you have to. I guess I’ve gotta go deal with this.” With that, they wheeled around and made their way past Marv and Chester, to a spot close to Es and especially close to the Jirachi.

“How do you not know how to wake someone up?” Z. said. “Don’t get the wrong idea, your way was just the closest.” They channeled all their effort into replicating the burst of energy -- and burst of noise -- that Es had produced, and leaped up.

When they were right next to the Jirachi’s ear, Z. screamed, “Hey, you little off-brand funko pop! You had a movie suck twenty years ago and decided to take it out on the only Pokémon who might know about that shit, huh?! If you’re going to pull a star command joke and then be asleep at the wheel the moment we pop out, why don’t you make like your shapesake and go burn up in the mesosphere?! At least then you’d cause a little bit of joy before you go!”

That did it. Whether because of the action or the actual words being spoken, the Jirachi stirred and actually blinked a few times. Even if it wanted to go back to sleep, it had already let the light of a tropical midday into its eyes. Z. landed back on the ground with a healthy amount of satisfaction; they couldn’t help but grin at their success. “That’s how it’s done,” they said.

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BGM: Awakening - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX

The Pokémon continued to blink, and for a few seconds, it looked like an owl. But then it stopped, revealing doll-black eyes. But unlike doll eyes, these shone with a light and life that could not belong to anybody but a living creature, and a happy one at that. A wide smile stretched its face as it cheered. "Whoa-a-a-a! Hey now! My eyes are wide open!" No longer mumbling, but using the full force of its vocal cords, everybody would realize where they had heard this voice before (if they hadn't already): their helpful guide in the mystery dungeon.

It stretched its arms then. First the left one, and then the right one. "Huh? Oh, you're all awake!" It paused. "You know, I just saw you in my dream! In my dream, you were… engaged in a heroic battle. Or some of you were." It bobbed up and down in the air. "Whoa! That's so strange… Feels like I've had this happen to me before. Where people from my dreams appear in front of me…" It giggled. "Fancy that! ♪"

In the brief (and likely dumbfounded) silence that followed, the Pokémon turned its attention to Z., "You know, in my dream, you said some pretty mean things. But… since it was a dream, I won't hold it against you!" Then it twirled in the air, catching sight of Es and Hector. "Whoa! You're not looking so great. But don't you worry, I'll Wish away your aches and sorrows."

The goofy grin disappeared then. And at that moment, the entire group would feel the lack of it, as if the sun's light had grown a little dimmer. But not just dimmer. The entire area darkened in a false night. Even the outside sounds disappeared as the Pokémon clasped its hands together and closed its eyes in concentration. Not long after, a single glowing yellow star descended from the heavens. It circled around Es and Hector, and then spread out to circle the entire group, but touched nobody. And if anybody reached for it, it would wink out of existence, reappearing in a twinkle as soon as they gave up.

Eventually, it stopped its spinning to climb back into the sky, stopping directly above everybody's heads. Then it exploded into multicolored lights, sizzling like a firework. But the flash of light brought with it not a searing burn as expected, but a gentle warmth like that of a candle in the darkness. At that moment, all pain evaporated, and all lost energy returned. The closest comparable feeling would be that of awakening from a long, restful sleep during a midsummer vacation, with no school or work to worry about.

The group could bask in that feeling for a few seconds. Then, as if beckoned by the star’s disappearance, the daylight and surrounding noise returned with a vengeance. The Pokémon opened its eyes, a slow smile spreading across its face, separating its hands to spread them wide. "All better now, right? All right! ♪" Not even waiting for them to reply, it twirled in the air again. "Before you all say anything, and I know you all must have a lot to say, I have a question of my own!" It turned to Marv. "Weren't you different before? And… wasn't there one more of you?" It paused, shaking its head. "Or… never mind. I wasn't actually there with you, so I must've… made a mistake?" Its bell-like voice rose in pitch from confusion. The entire group would share this confusion, their thoughts and memories scattered like dewdrops under the sun.

But the gloom didn't stick around for long. Because the next second, the Pokémon had returned to its beaming countenance. "Well, whatever! If I can't remember, it must not be that important." It giggled. "Before I forget this too, I'll introduce myself. My name is Jirachi! But you can call me… Jirachi! ♪"


OOC: Okay, this is the actual start of the round. I say round, but since there is no fighting, a round isn't really necessary. Just post what you want, when you want, and if you want to post again before I post, go for it! I also might not wait for everybody to post before posting since this is mostly interaction, and so my posts will probably be interaction posts.

Edited by Sethera

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Hector was determined to make sure his shield held no matter what the slumbering Pokémon threw at it. He was so focused on this that he nearly missed Z. swooping into finally join the fight—he vaguely remembered Es requesting their help, but he was still surprised to find that they had actually answered the request.

He had been part of plenty of teams, so he was good at spotting when someone wasn’t a team player. Z. had immediately triggered those alarm bells in his head.

Maybe he had misjudged them.

Their shouting proved enough to wake Jirachi up, too, and the effect was immediate. The danger sense that seemed hard-wired into this new body of his and kept his mind sharp when he would otherwise falter seemed to somehow know that the fight was over. Jirachi giggled and twirled and started talking about strange dreams. Hector dropped his shield and turned to face Z., panting. “Hey… Z.…” his words came out slowly and with great effort. “Thanks for that.” Then his stubby legs buckled and he collapsed back into the pile of unconscious troopers.

Jirachi continued talking. It said something to him at one point, he was sure, but everything seemed very far away now that the adrenaline was leaving him.

Except the yellow star in the sky. Hector squinted. How bad did that fry my brain? Am I losing it? He wondered. The whole area had seemingly grown darker. And Jirachi was… is he praying? Who is he praying to? Arceus? The star had gotten closer during his musings. It swirled around him several times and then shot out to the rest of the group, like it was playing some weird game of tag. Then it shot into the sky and exploded like the most beautiful firework Hector had ever seen.

A tingling feeling of warmth spread from his head down to his toes, like he was wrapped up in a cozy blanket, and all his aches and pains seemed to fade. His mental strain even seemed to melt away like butter in a hot pan. He climbed to his feet and yawned, stretching. 

The entire troop was all back on their (his?) feet. His vision was split into a kaleidoscope again. Surprisingly, he welcomed the sensation. It had felt strange to not have it after growing used to it. "I..." his voice was thick with drowsiness. Not the exhausted kind, but the kind that comes after waking up from a long and wonderful rest. "I feel amazing. Thanks for that. Even if you are the one who blasted me."

Hector moved forward in a single-file line towards Jirachi. “My name is Hector. Sorry for that head stomping bit, but you're really not a morning person. We… I don’t know. None of us can seem to remember much. I was hoping you would have answers for us, actually.”
 

Edited by Cheshire Toon

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Even after her raucous call to arms that Es had been sure would end in success, as it played out, the six-pack of donut-holes and the nerdy-hedgehog had been the only ones to actually answer her call in the way she had intended; everyone else giving… Less than satisfactory answers. At worst, the replies they gave were infuriating; such as the idiotic frog who wanted to croak about how how stupid she and the living dango had been for ‘picking a fight’, despite the fact that she had been assaulted first. At best, they were… Disappointing: such as the apparent apathy of Zed, and their accusation that they ‘didn’t know how to wake someone up’, followed by an assertion that they were only copying her because she had been the closest to ‘right’-- Whatever that meant.

All in all, none of this was the reaction Es had intended; the seeds of division were still littering their group despite the life-or-death situations they had continually found themselves in, and she found herself… Admittedly frustrated, as she hung around in the back of her mind. Even as the events had unfolded in front of her, she had hoped to be able to bring the party together against a common foe; at least… Temporarily, but now this harmony seemed further than ever. On the bright side though, the oddball in front of them was awake now; and happier than ever. 

That was something Es could get behind.

Though she had been paying attention idly in her thoughts at first, what brought her back to full-consciousness from her habitual stay in the buffer was the bright light that echoed out all around her. A single star danced around her vision as she instinctively turned her core and eyes to follow it; rotating until she was dizzy, before… With a sudden burst of light, her plasma once again surged for a moment; non-mandatory systems that she had temporarily kneecapped for processing power turning back to full strength in an instant; a herald for things to come, as she felt all of her energy be restored.

Which meant it was the perfect time for her to speak up and show what she had learned about running her systems so far.

“Woah-ho-ho-ho! That’s awesome J-J-J-Jirachi!” Es would cry out with a perfect level of energy; electric core zipping over and around the Pokémon as she intentionally fed garbage data into vocal processor to reproduce the tic she had grown accustomed to. “With one wish, all our d-d-d-dreams come true!” she’d add in an approximation of a sing-song voice, doing her best to join in with the other Pokémon’s energy. “My name is Es!” she’d cry out with joy, before stopping; rather suddenly, and turning back to face Zed; continuing to feed speech-data through her buffer as she spoke, vigilant for any major mistakes.

“And this here’s my buddy and p-p-pal, Zed” she seemed to object to the very idea of pausing, instead zipping around the fox-Pokémon with surprising speed. “And just so you know-- Zeddy here’s the t-t-t-tough love kind’a person, so d-d-don’t take anything rude they say to heart; I know I don’t!” she’d give an animated laugh, before continuing. “They’re the kind’a person to tell you they’re not c-c-c-copying you because they like you, and then get all bashful and insulting when you take it as a compliment!”

Edited by Tiamat's Circus

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Z. stared at Hector like the Falinks had grown a third eye, or a thirteenth eye, as the case may be. It wasn’t that they were unused to receiving compliments or thanks (even if the whole “Pokémon” thing meant they couldn’t remember times they had), but Z. hadn’t woken up the Jirachi for anyone else but themselves. They certainly weren’t doing it to save a washed-up ex-mod who had run into them and pressed them against a wall only a few hours earlier. Being right about everything had put them in a good mood, though, so they didn’t do more than that. “Yeah,” they said.

Hearing the Jirachi’s voice was where things started to sour. It was a sing-song sort of voice and it talked in a way that implied it wasn’t about to take responsibility for any trouble it caused -- past, present, or future. It was also the sort of thing Z. just knew would be transcribed with a little tilde at the end, just to make sure everyone knew exactly how to read it as if actual god-given adjectives and learning how to write a proper patter weren’t enough tools already. For one particular sporking, Z. wrote, “The author has placed a marker in the dialog letting you know that this character is practically singing their lines. Unfortunately, like the character, the song only has one note.” Healing everyone was a first step toward getting over some of that, but Z. was pretty sure they could do that too now if they tried, so they just found the associated spectacle unnecessary.

And things just kept going wrong. Z. had still been ruminating on Jirachi’s non-forgiveness, responding to a potential apology from Z. that would never come when Es decided to continue the introductions -- when Es decided to reveal to the world that she didn’t actually know Z.’s name. “My pal Zed,” Es said. “Zeddy here.”

Okay.

So.

It was probably unhealthy, or at least said something about Z. that they saw so much red now instead of during one of their several fights, both as a Pokémon and as a human, but see red they did. Old forum drama came to mind. Four months after coming out as nonbinary, Z. had announced their name change, which reignited the drama that had flared up when they’d actually come out. It didn’t need to be relitigated here. They didn’t need to think about it again, but they’d had to fight for their name. They didn’t remember doing it in their human life, but they could feel it in their bones.

It translated into a different sort of Z. than they had been the past few hours. They were quieter and more deliberate as they spoke. “Cute trick,” they said, looking straight ahead -- not at Es or Jirachi or anyone else, “pre-empting me, saying I give out insults as a sort of compliment, daring me to respond with something else. I do threaten and insult a lot. Maybe they lose their effectiveness with each new jab. Sure. Alright. I’ll work with that.”

They turned to Es and looked the Rotom square in the eye, catching her at the end of one of her zips. “Starting now, I will mean what I say. I will be exact, so you know if I say I’m going to hurt you, I am going to hurt you. My name is Z. It’s spelled with a z and then a period after that. If I ever hear you say otherwise again, I will seize upon you, find your asshole, and demonstrate why most things with a head like yours need a flared base. If you don’t have an asshole on account of being a ghost or whatever, I will give you one with my own claws.”

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Somewhere deep in the recesses of her mind, she could... Understand it, at least a little. The annoyance at the wrong name being used-- it resonated with some part of her that she couldn't quite remember. Like a stray piece of code in an endless sea, or a corrupted file at the end of a broken path, she felt something in the back of her mind struggling to escape the recesses of her cognition, only... To fail; as had anything else she had attempted to remember from her life outside of the forum. The path itself was as if it had been broken by an unseen force, as if the code she had attempted to call had been moved, and so instead her mind pulled nothing save for the scant few emotions that had once been tied to the code that had once been at the end of that file path.

Perhaps then, it was because of this unfamiliarity with who she once was, that the lingering trace of sympathy did little to excuse the aggression with which Z. had replied; instead allowing her annoyance to mix and mingle with the frustration that had been mounting since the beginning of their little operation.

She was thankful then, she decided, for the certain level of distance she kept between herself and her processors. A buffer here. A buffer there. Each command requiring a certain level of effort, each command and statement being able to be measured, and controlled. Even now she found herself taking yet another step backwards, further from the buffer, and into the formless sea of her mind that she had been attempting to make some sense of as she took a moment to think. So far, she had been so careful, she had done everything she could to be precise about what she said; to keep herself suitably cheery, bouncy, and easy to work with. She had learned long ago that this sort of outward bearing, this sort of free-spirited personality that could go with the flow was the kind of person that others found easy to work with, and so it had become a practiced tool in her arsenal. But now, now, it seemed, as was always the case, that there were those unsatisfied with her performance; and as with all tools, when placed under enough pressure...

They would break.

"...You're really insufferable to work with, you know that?" Es' voice would come out dulled, slightly, as the static in her voice and flow of electricity seemed to halt disconcertingly. Even the tell-tale glitch that had interrupted her voice failed to insert itself into her words as she spoke, a less enthusiastic tone permeating her every word. "...What a pathetic person you must have been before."

And with that, it was over, as her plasma surged back to its full speed, and as she once again began zipping around Jirachi; blue light coming off the electric-Pokémon, as if to accentuate her bright smile. "Anyhoo! Sorry you had t-t-t-to see that, Jiji," she'd chuckle, her voice once again taking a bouncy tone as her electric-coating spasmed with her words. "B-b-but you see what I mean now! Our Four-Legged-Friend here is a feisty one, for sure!"

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Coconuts, what the heck? "Why would, actually I probably could break it open..." His thoughts about coconuts, which was quickly going into trying to remember how people even ate coconuts, would soon be interrupted by Z. which wasn't the first time they had suddenly interjected themselves into a situation and Clobber was almost getting used to it.

"It's not really that bad.....right?" Clobber was growing self conscious about the apparent dirt on his face. He thought it was just stuck on his...sucker things but maybe his face also was stickier than a normal face. Clobber shook his head. "Lay off me why don't ya, so what if I got a bit of dirt on me I dunno if you've noticed but we're kinda in the frigging wilderness out here does it really matter?"

He was surprised to see Z. head off like that. "Tsk, guess they're just as reckless as the rest of them huh."

To Clobber's great surprise whatever it was they did seemed to have worked. "Are you kidding me, never heard of beating someone INTO consciousness before. Was that how it was in the games or somethin', thought sleep was one of those turn based things...." While he could remember the games themselves some details of the mechanics were a bit blurry. Maybe it'd be a good idea not to think too much about it in terms of video game logic after all.

It looked like Jirachi was more friendly than he would have guessed, and even more surprising was that the voice was familiar. Which meant this guy, gal, thing? This Pokemon must have something to do with what was going on.

He still was wary that it would suddenly attack again but Clobber started making his way towards the group to ask Jirachi some things....

And then the Rotom and Zorua started to argue. And Clobber found himself turning away once again from the group. He just didn't want to get involved in it is all, what if they wanted him to weigh in what the heck would he say? He certainly didn't think they might start lashing out and break out into a fight. And anyway he had to go wash up right? Just because they were in the wilderness didn't mean being clean didn't matter after all.

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Noibat was getting a strong fish out of water feeling as events around the sleeping visitor unfolded. Strange for a bat to feel maybe but then idioms didn't make sense as a person either thinking on it. Z. had departed to aid in the fight with the dangerously drowsy Jirachi which finally registered to Noibat that perhaps things were a bit more dangerous than the small star child knocking into people as it tossed and turned. Swallowing an imagined lump in her throat she felt bad she'd shirked the battle as long as she had but just prior to taking off to help in it the Jirachi had woken up with the Zorua's intervention. It would have been nice if that had resolved everything but Es and Z. soon took to arguing with other while the dirt-stuck Clobber had continued moving off on his own.

"Um... which, I, but..." Noibat stammered to herself as decision paralysis took hold. Jirachi had been speaking and inviting conversation and questions but given nearly everything they'd done since waking up had led to a fight Noibat felt it perhaps best to not leave one of their number alone. Taking to the air at least got her moving and before she could question her move for another hour she found her body moving to follow Clobber. Still this meant figuring out what to even try and say but thankfully she was rewarded with one of the coconuts she'd mentioned in passing. A welcome surprise especially after hearing Clobber wonder if he could break one open. She flew up to a tree nearby and as she hovered by it in the air began wondering how she could even dislodge it. Attempting to kick at it nearly destabilized her entire flight and in a panic she latched her entire body onto the coconut.

"Okay okay okay" Noibat tried to reassure herself as she caught her breath. "On a coconut... still not falling. These things glued or what?" She vented her frustrations before starting to bite at the stem connecting it to the tree. It was only when she'd succeeded she realized the poor decision she made as it began freefalling with her still grabbing it. Her noise-emitting ears took on the task of screaming for her, starting in a loud low hum rocketing up in frequency beyond most hearing ranges in an instant. The coconut landed, with accompanying Noibat, with a thud and solid grunt not far from Clobber. Noibat rolled off her secured treasure and onto the ground, wings splayed and attempting to catch her breath.

"H-hey! Guess they did have coconuts." She tried to play the whole misbegotten adventure off as planned though she wasn't fooling even herself. "Can see what we can do with it while things cool down over there." She said to Clobber while getting up and vaguely motioning toward the rest of the group. "If you like anyway." She added still a bit unsure how to approach this. Noibat and Clobber were the only ones who refrained from introducing their forum selves which was her only real basis on how to act around any of the other Pokemon here.

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