Fading Aria [KtK RP Thread: Mission 2]

[Eal Tides]

There was something else that didn't belong here, though. Some kind of poison was seeping into the garden's soil, toxins spreading underground. A close inspection of the flowerbeds would find small purple crystals growing in them, hidden beneath the leaves of plants. They looked as poisonous as the crystal that Clink had had to fracture to get them into Meloetta's realm in the first place, and there had to be hundreds of them in the garden--but all small, poking no more than an inch out of the earth, and concealed in obscure and shadowy places.

The plants were growing well for now, but surely that couldn't continue in the face of the corruption leaking from the crystals all around.

[[OOC: Can we respond to individual observations like these, or should we wait for the person who did the observing to mention it first?]]

 

[ShiniGojira]

"Oh, by Taurus lookalike you mean Potdeer? I'm... not really sure," he said putting a hand on the back of his head as he looked at the ting-lu. "It appeared through a portal one day and said it wanted to be my friend. It's really strong!" There was a pause, as if he was considering something, unsure of what information to add. And then: "To be honest, I don't understand a lot of the stuff it says. So I guess it's always been 'exotic'."

Potdeer snorted and scraped its foot against the ground.

"Pot... deer? That's... certainly a name," Rachel murmured, looking back at the Ting-Lu. Personally, she thought it looked more like a bull than a deer.

She raised a brow when he mentioned its origin. "Hold up, a portal? This thing came from a portal?" The girl paused and refrained herself from interrogating them further – y'know, on the off chance that this thing was another Legend in disguise – instead eying it with suspicion, no more nor less than what she usually gave to a stranger.

Offending one Legend was already more than her heart could take. She didn't want to know what it would look like if she upset a less benevolent one.

"My name's Tomomichi," he added. "I'm from Azalea Town!"

Swallowing her hesitation, she introduced herself. "Rachel Leda. Jubilife City."

Her finger started idling tapping her arm. "So you're from Johto. The town with the bug gym, right?" she asked. "What's it like? Never really been to any other regions before so I'm curious."

Tomomichi waffled a bit, then started to follow Rachel. "You seem really nice," he said. Potdeer began to follow as well, saying in a stilted but normal-volume voice, "TO FOLLOW THE POWERFUL IS ONLY NATURAL."

"Well, you don't seem too bad yourself, kid," she said with uncertainty in her eyes. Ugh, losing her empath powers made understanding people so much harder. How did other people deal with only having body language to go off?

It was so limited.

When Potdeer spoke its Potdeer things, Rachel couldn't help but give it and the kid a side-eye, filing down the odd choice of words in her head.

Powerful wasn't the word she'd used to describe a bug catcher especially someone this young. Was he even an official trainer yet or was his world's laws a bit more lenient in the age thing?

Well, she had nothing to lose if she asked. That and Luni was taking an especially long time talking to that Kricketot so she had time to kill.

"So, how many badges do you have, kid? It must be a lot if Potdeer's praising you so much."

Joey stood up and put his hand on the Kricketot's head with a reassuring smile. "Hey. We gotchu, little fella. You can come with us."

"Yeah, that's right!" Luni nodded to Joey's words with a smile. "You've already worked up more courage than the others since you confronted us. As the bravest person I'd known once said, facing things without fear doesn't mean you're courageous. True bravery only arises once you confront your fears even if you're still afraid. If you join us, you can help us save your friend, Kricketot! I'm sure Meloetta would be grateful knowing one of her friends came to rescue her!"

 

[MegaAbsolOfDespair]

"And Volo? 'Kay. So we got us some o' them humans. Lessee watchu got."

He jabbed a thumb at himself before speaking again. "Jo-Jo, by the by."

Volo looked for a moment at JoJo, as the Floatzel seemed to be one of the few pokemon he could actually recognize. He had seen some Buizel and Floatzel back in Hisui during his duties with the Ginkgo Guild, after all. "Nice to meet you, JoJo. My name's Volo, as you might already know."

"Yeah, that’s me. Short for Melody.”

"Nice to meet you too, Mel." He stated, before looking at the roads again. Since JoJo had suggested the north path, he decided to point in that direction. "We are Mel, Ichiro, JoJo, and Volo! Let's go north and see what awaits there!"

 

[Negrek]

[[OOC: Can we respond to individual observations like these, or should we wait for the person who did the observing to mention it first?]]

[[ Usually when characters make discoveries like these, I prefer to give them the opportunity to raise them with the group however their character would like. However, if it's important information, I'll make sure to make it available IC for everyone if the discoverer isn't able to bring it up themselves (except in edge cases e.g. the discoverer wants to keep it a secret from the group--not applicable here).

So, for now I would hold off on having your character react to the crystals; I will incorporate the information if Sind isn't able to post before people move on to a new area. ]]

"What happened to Meloetta? I know something's definitely up but can you tell me the details?" Volo asked, lowering his voice a little. The childlike enthusiasm faded from his voice almost completely, as his volume lowered to barely above a whisper.

Kricketot squeezed his eyes shut and shook his body again, as though trying to dispel a bad memory. Nobody knows. But we must have made them mad, right? What else could it be?

There really aren't any more details to tell. No one's seen them since that big fight. And we can't even fight anymore, so that must have been why Meloetta was angry.

"Aw, don't look down on yourself like that," Luni said, pointing at herself with a reassuring smile. "Just look at me, I'm barely bigger than you and I'm still going. You just gotta believe in yourself, Kricketot. There's a lot of things you can do if you grasp it and believe in it with all your heart."

Joey stood up and put his hand on the Kricketot's head with a reassuring smile. "Hey. We gotchu, little fella. You can come with us." He pointed a thumb at himself while he continued to speak. "Been to them Mystery Dungeons a bunch before. You want someone to lean on? You got Jo-Jo and the gang right here." He grinned and jabbed his thumb behind him to point and look at the group. "Right, guys?"

"Yeah, that's right!" Luni nodded to Joey's words with a smile. "You've already worked up more courage than the others since you confronted us. As the bravest person I'd known once said, facing things without fear doesn't mean you're courageous. True bravery only arises once you confront your fears even if you're still afraid. If you join us, you can help us save your friend, Kricketot! I'm sure Meloetta would be grateful knowing one of her friends came to rescue her!"

Kricketot looked somewhat taken aback by all the encouragement. He batted bashfully at one of his antennae, which made a faint tinkling sound. I... I do want to help, he admitted. But I've never left the garden before, and I'm really not very strong.

He looked back and forth between Jo-Jo and Luni, obviously conflicted. The two of them were committed to going different directions; even if he decided to leave with one of them, which way should he choose?

After a few seconds of dithering, the kricketot crept a bit closer to Luni. I can try, he said in his small voice. And I've heard the pokémon that live out this way aren't too scary.

--​

Groups were beginning to form among people interested in leaving the gardens, with most planning to head north. From within the garden it was difficult to get a sense of what lay down each, as they disappeared into dense forest. Searching around the garden's three exits would reveal subtle differences between them, however:

- The bushes at the mouth of the north path have been bent and torn apart, as though some violent force passed this way

- The shards of an ancient stone tablet lie scattered on the ground at the mouth of the east path. It was once carved with runes of some sort, though they are now largely unreadable

- Near the mouth of the west path are a large number of circular footprints of various diameters and depths. A large number of pokémon seem to have passed this way

 

[canisaries]

- The bushes at the mouth of the north path have been bent and torn apart, as though some violent force passed this way

The disheveled bushes bothered Ichiro on a purely aesthetic level before he realized their state might be relevant. "Hey, do you guys notice how these bushes are kind of bent out of whack?" he asked his group. "I think I'm gonna try and..."

He stepped up to the bushes and sniffed the damaged parts. He didn't know if he'd be able to recognize any of the smells, but it was worth a shot.

 

[Negrek]

Close up, Ichiro could see that the bushes showed signs of new growth--whatever had damaged them must have happened a while ago, as the plants were in the process of healing. The scents he could pick up were likewise old and a bit difficult to identify as a result. However, there were traces of a sort of sugary, glittering smell, associated with Fairy energy, as well as something more complex and poisonous. Ichiro would recognize it as similar to the smell of the crystal that had surrounded the gate to Meloetta's realm. Perhaps this was the smell of the corruption that had seeped into this domain.

 

[System Error]

There really aren't any more details to tell. No one's seen them since that big fight. And we can't even fight anymore, so that must have been why Meloetta was angry.

"Hold up, what do you mean you can't fight anymore?" Nori inquires, leaning forward and putting a single hand on his hip. That was really important information they didn't mention! "Like, do you mean literally? You try and you can't?"

---

The Demon twitches and growls. If she came all this way and couldn't fight, she was going to be pissed.

 

[Hanafuda]

After a few seconds of dithering, the kricketot crept a bit closer to Luni. I can try, he said in his small voice. And I've heard the pokémon that live out this way aren't too scary.

Joey gave a thumbs-up and a smile. "Stay safe, buddy." With that, he went ahead with Ichiro's group.

"Hey, do you guys notice how these bushes are kind of bent out of whack?"

He looked at the bent bushes after Ichiro made note of them. "Huh. Yeah. Someone had to have made a mess here." He squinted his eyes when the Houndoom sniffed the bushes, but before he made a snide remark, he realized what that was supposed to mean. "You lookin' to track the freak who did this?"