Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[SparklingEspeon]

"I'm Tricky." Everymon else was introducing themselves, so Tricky saw fit to do the same.

She got sand in her mouth from doing the same. Tricky gagged, trying to spit it out, then quickly pulled herself to sit upright. She shook the sand out of her coat, only then focusing on the litten that seemed to be having a panic attack of some kind-- And the litten ran off. Tricky tilted her head in confusion. "What happened?"

She had voiced that thought aloud without thinking.

 

[TheGOAT]

What? What was—?

Her ears flattened. Her heart thumped in her chest so hard it threatened to burst free onto the sand below. Like hell she wouldn’t worry about it.

She turned to Tricky, then Cuicatl—fire, then dragon. Oh, why did so many Pokémon here have biology that disagreed with hers?

“I-I don’t…”

Something had to be wrong with this new body. That must’ve been it. She’d owned it for about… how long had it been? Didn’t matter.

‘Diyem?’ she projected. ‘A-am I too cold?’

 

[Namohysip]

Do not worry, said Diyem nonchalantly. The issue is not related to you.

 

[TheGOAT]

Like hell it wasn’t related to her. Did he think she was ignorant or something? That wasn’t very nice of him.

“O-okay, well…” At least Cuicatl and the Fennekin, Tricky, were still here. Astrid turned to them and flashed the best smile she could muster. “I’m not really sure. It is what it is, I guess.”

In her periphery, she could see a variety of totem poles sticking just above the vegetation separating the beach from Treasure Town. Should she go over there and follow that human-turned-Litten? Something told her that would be a bad idea, but curiosity gnawed at her conscience nonetheless.

 

[Persephone]

That went poorly. Very poorly. Cuicatl was well aware what most Americans (and, apparently, Japanese people) thought about her religion. It was still weird to watch someone be so offended they worked themselves into a furor and ran off.

"I, um, I can answer more questions on human stuff, if you want...?"

 

[Ambyssin]

A solid half-hour after Nip left the forest, Necrozma too headed for clearer ground. Somewhere he could absorb light more easily. Less effort was good, after all. So he drifted aimlessly toward the beach. There were a few other people there, but he didn't mind them. He hovered out over the water. It took a great deal of effort and grunting, but he managed to strike the water with a pulse of Confusion. A geyser rose up and drenched him in ice-cold salt water. He shuddered.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian was wandering around aimlessly after everyone dispersed, and his stroll eventually led him to the beach. The salty sea air was refreshing, and it reminded him of an overseas trip he took once.

The sand felt warm and grainy under his feet. Not at all as comfortable as walking over the soil in grass meadows, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. Cynthian noticed others from the group were already there, and he arrived just in time to hear

"I, um, I can answer more questions on human stuff, if you want...?"

"Are you talking about those hairless primeapes?" Cynthian asked upon arrival.

 

[Shadow of Antioch]

Flame grumbled and cursed as he shuffled down the dirt slope to the beach. He wasn't used to such short legs, and each step he felt perilously close to tripping.

I can't wait to evolve. He stopped to stabilise himself; a small smile emerged through his scrunched face. 'Cute'... I'm supposed to be fierce! Menacing!

Soon he reached the sand, and with his stubby little Charmander legs—he shook his head; don't think about it—he surveyed the pokémon already here. There was the snow-white Vulpix, her mane standing out in the sand; there was the Roselia from earlier, the Deino, and the Necrozma floating above the water. Flame was quick to avert his gaze.

"You know," he smiled as he walked over to them, "most of you look way outside of your element right now." He glanced at the ice Vulpix. "I mean, look at you! Sunbathing?"

 

[TheGOAT]

A very distracted Astrid almost didn’t hear the voice beckoning her.

“Oh, Owen, hi,” she murmured. “I actually love the sun. Stabilizes my temperature a bit.”

It was pertinent in her mind to exercise social distancing from both Tricky and the Charmander. She didn’t quite trust that Charizard’s reassurance that her body temperature had nothing to do with it. Nonsense, it was. Besides, something about his tone was so… not reassuring.

 

[Shadow of Antioch]

"Who's—"

Flame's eye twitched. "We don't even have the same voice! How could you—" He stopped to breathe. Focus. "Oh, now you're in for it."

In a swift movement he kicked some sand onto her side. He stood there smirking, arms crossed as he stomped a foot down. "How about that, miss..." He averted his eyes. "Er, I... don't really know another Vulpix."

Or your actual name.

 

[Ambyssin]

With another light gathered, Necrozma splashed himself with more water. The salt seeped into the cracks in his body and an angered grunt echoed across the beach.

 

[Shadow of Antioch]

Flame flinched again at the sight, and had to resist the urge to hide behind Astrid.

"Has he even said anything?" he whispered. "Wait—can he hear..."

The worry on his snout morphed into a sheepish smile. "Hi again! Y-you know, you look..." Flame looked him up and down. "Important. At least compared to the rest of us."

 

[Ambyssin]

"And you look like the perfect spy for that fake charizard that sent us to be sacrificed," Necrozma said, not bothering to turn around and make eye contact. "Same with your two identical twins."

 

[TheGOAT]

“H-hey! Watch it!”

Now sand was in her fur for real. She scoffed and waded out into the water a bit, before spinning around to give Owen a proper—

That wasn’t Owen. Okay, alright, that explained it. How many Charmander were there exactly? She could’ve sworn there had only been two, but she hadn’t gotten the best of looks at that second group…

She opened her mouth to speak, but something else splashed water onto her.

After being caught off guard for the second time in a matter of seconds, she flattened her ears and growled in no particular direction. And maybe that was a good thing, because her heart just about leaped out of her chest when she actually bothered looking at the thing that dared challenge her with such a measly splash.

This large, black, pointed thing before her—was it one of those spaceships Cuicatl had mentioned? It certainly didn’t look like a Pokémon. Or alive, save for the unnatural glowing and shuddering.

“Uhh, hi!”

I’m surrounded by weirdossss.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Greetings, Moonchild. I apologize about your pelt." Necrozma bowed to her. "I'm subjecting myself to the ocean to prepare for that magikarp's Hydro Pumps."

 

[Shadow of Antioch]

"And you look like the perfect spy for that fake charizard that sent us to be sacrificed," Necrozma said, not bothering to turn around and make eye contact. "Same with your two identical twins."

"Way to take a compliment." Flame rolled his eyes theatrically. "Look, big guy, I was just thinking that if we're going to be teammates, we might as well start on good terms. You know?" He glanced behind him. "I thought you'd appreciate a walking light source."

Being a spy would make my life so much easier.

Flame sat down on the sand and glanced at the waves. He ran sand through his claws. "I like this mission already. Not half an hour in, and we're already relaxing at the beach."

 

[Ambyssin]

"It's not a compliment if it's not true. I'm not important." Necrozma kept eye— or, rather, core contact with Astrid. "I'm not interested in stealing your light when there's a perfectly free source right here." He pointed his left hand skyward. This fake wyrm certainly was a charmander, all right. Willing to do whatever if it meant getting into someone else's good graces.

 

[Shadow of Antioch]

Standing there with his arms crossed, Flame let free a sigh. "If you're strong, you're important to us. That's all you need to know. So no heroics. Got it?"

Please don't become a problem...

 

[Ambyssin]

"If I were in my real body, I could at least make an attempt at protecting the lot of you, but your boss stripped us of our powers." He still didn't make eye contact. "Let me ask you something, Charmander. If you needed to bring together a team of pokémon to stop a giant, rampaging water-type, what would you do?"

 

[SparklingEspeon]

Oh, the strange pokemon was back. Had he followed her? Tricky didn't think so, considering he was currently talking to that charmander that had seemingly taken a shine to him. Instinctively, Tricky slowly backed closer towards Astrid, just in case.