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Destiny Village ~ Chip's Lab

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Chibi Pika

Stay positive
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somewhere in spacetime
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they/them
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Lexx glanced over his shoulder at the others while they talked, pretending not to pay attention while he fiddled with some disassembled bits of Pokeballs. At the very least they'd done their due diligence with the illusion-cancellers. To be honest, the main reason he didn't want to press too much harder on Chip was because he didn't want to risk getting thrown out of the lab...

Well, Luz could take the brunt of that; she probably wouldn't mind.
 

Namohysip

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"Well, eh--I don't really pay attention to all that spy business. I'm much too focused on inventing the next thing to help out the world, is all! And experiments. When they allow it. When they're approved. When I have time..." Chip seemed to drift lower to the ground.

The ground rumbled and the door opened. "Oh! Company." Zekrom greeted them with a friendly smile and nod. "Would you two mind leaving for a little bit? I need to speak with Chip for a little while."

Chip, somehow, looked pale, but it didn't seem like Lexx and Luz had a choice.
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
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they/she
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  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
"Alright, partner. Thank ye kindly fer yer time, an' good luck with yer inventions."

Luz gave a respectful nod to Zekrom and a lazy wave to Chip, and left, dragging Lexx along with her. That boy really was his own creature, huh?

Speaking to Chip had reassured her a little, but it was impossible to know anything much for sure in a world like Cibus. A few weeks ago, she'd have found that tremendous fun. Now, it just seemed like an opportunity to let the team down. Wind and weather...

On to the next lead.
 

Namohysip

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Once they were gone, Zekrom turned her attention to Chip, crossing her arms. "Now, Chip," she said, "I just wanted to--"

"I did it."

Zekrom blinked. "What?"

"I... I know you sent them, a-and I admit it, alright?! You caught me red-beaked, I--I did it!"

"Did... what, exactly?" Zekrom asked expectantly.

Chip buzzed out what might have been a whine. "I used the same hacking backdoor that Giovanni did to give myself approved days off without anybody realizing. A-and that's probably why the security backdoor was there to begin with, a-and I... I just didn't have enough time off! I couldn't take it! How am I supposed to say no to a Legend, I--"

"Chip," Zekrom said, eyes wide, "you don't have vacation days."

"I know! That's why I--took them! I--"

"No, Chip, honey, dear..." Zekrom knelt down by the Porygon-Z. "You don't have vacation days. You can just take them! As one of Cibus' best, we know that you wouldn't take one unless you needed a break!"

"I... I what?"

"You could have just asked, Chip. I'm sorry if our status was so imposing on you... but it's alright. We can talk about that backdoor later, but for now... why don't we just go out for some coffee?"

"I... I..."

Even as Lexx and Luz headed toward the guild, a buzzing wail seemed to echo from inside the lab. He must have been going through a serious grilling...

<><><>​
 
[R11] Flatlining (Nate, Astrid, and Blacklight Mewtwo)

Negrek

Play the Rain
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Apparently the weird mewtwo was being kept in Chip's lab, which was horrifying on a number of levels. First, even if Chip wasn't in Giovanni's pocket, he was probably taking advantage of the mewtwo's coma or whatever the fuck to do all kinds of sketchy shit to him. And then there was, second, that lingering possibility that Chip was on Giovanni's side, ready to let the mewtwo go the moment he got the nod. And third, even if neither of those were true--even if--they'd gone and stuck the pokémon most likely to have a direct link to Giovanni right in the middle of their tech and security department. If the mewtwo was some kind of fucked-up familiar like Sword appeared to be, he could be sending Giovanni everything he saw or heard by telepathy. Even if he wasn't, it would be easy enough for the asshole to have stuck some kind of listening device stuck on him, or have set up some kind of psychic link himself. This idea was all-around fucked.

It didn't help to have Rocky strolling along casually beside him, enjoying the evening breeze, while Nate was bounding forward as fast as he could go. He made a point to grumble, just to make it clear that he was pissed off and fucking storming over here, not taking a fucking walk.

Well, one bright side, maybe. All this talk about spies and shit recently, and keeping the mewtwo out here was such a bad idea--maybe he oughta ask whose idea that was, huh? "Hey, Chip?" he called when he'd finally made it down all the lab's fucking stupid stairs. "You got some kind of fucked-up mewtwo thing around here?"

Rocky was already looking around the lab, wondering what weird toys he might find. He brightened, tail lashing excitedly when he found another member of the team already checking things out. "Hey! Look who's here!"
 

Namohysip

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"Oh, Nate! Hey!" Chip bobbed his way to them and waved one of his appendages their way. "I'm not allowed to do anything with that guy, but he's in one of the far rooms in a sealing chamber. Not really sure what you can do with the guy right now, but he's totally unresponsive to just about everything..."

Chip led them down the hall and into a room that required not only a password to enter, but a scan of Chip, too. When the door slid open, it revealed a large, empty room separated by a thick pane of glass that seemed to be glowing with a soft light. It vaguely resembled the energy from a Protect. On the opposite side, standing in the middle with his arms limp and tail haze like a frozen flame, was that corrupted Mewtwo. Eyes open, staring directly ahead, yet totally unresponsive otherwise. There wasn't a clear way past the glass plane...
 

TheGOAT

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Houston, Texas
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What Myles did in his spare time was hardly a concern for Astrid. They’d talked a fair bit after he’d saved her freaking life against Joule. She owed him as much, and supposed that this wasn’t her brother after all, and that the awkward sibling tension was mostly a figment of her imagination. But he was still… similar to Myles, and that wouldn’t change. Talking only gave him more opportunities to fuck with her, act like a smartass, and recently, help himself her badge to take pictures of everything under the sun.

“If I’m gonna help solve this mystery, I need information,” Myles touted, waving Astrid’s only means of communication around like a pocket knife. “Which means we have to take unsolicited photos of everything we can. Who knows when it’ll come in handy!”

Astrid, who’d grown increasingly frustrated in her attempts to follow him, wasn’t so sure. Taking photos of lampposts and the remnants of the moon and destiny tower from afar were hardly investigating. His most recent endeavor—spying on Cream and Puff—was somehow a step up and a step down at the same time, and he hadn’t come up with anything substantial anyway. Fool.

“Just,” in one swift motion, Astrid snatched the badge from one of his tails, “let me see that back, alright? Ask next time, sheesh.” Scrolling through the gallery made her eyes pop. “Dude, there are thousands of pictures here!”

She got to deleting the extraneous ones (most of them were; she’d have to worry about it again later) while Myles harrumphed. “What? You took a dozen. And you weren’t even investigating, you were just posing with your friends. You think battling is everything?”

“We don’t even know if there’s anything to investigate!” Astrid shot back, realizing that wasn’t entirely true. She’d hoped to get a better look at that strange Mewtwo ever since she’d heard of its capture. Giovanni could take a hike for all she cared, but maybe this strange creature desperately trying to be her stupid brother had a valid reason to be here after all. “…Okay, you know what, take this, and take essential pictures. You already know where I’m going. After you get them, I want you to process them so I can take them to someone and ask them a few questions. They need to be quality. Can you do that?”

Myles took the badge back and pursed his lips. “But of course. And hey, you’ll credit me, right?”

“Sure thing.”

That was the end of Myles’ objections, though Astrid had to hold in one of her own when she heard the camera click away yet again, probably capturing nothing of interest off in the distance. She hated how their conversations usually spiraled like this, but at least it had eased up lately. At least this was a brother she could coexist with.

What a thought to have. She shook her head and swallowed the sour taste in her mouth, raising a paw to open the lab’s doors before flinching back as it opened for her. Seemed they’d arrived during business hours.

They made their way down the flights of stairs, Astrid dead-set on progress while Myles lingered back here and there to take more probably-illegal pictures. Astrid couldn’t wait to explain why her gallery looked the way it did should someone from Cibus gain access to her badge. She supposed if anyone would do some hacker shenanigans like that, it may be Chip. Go figure.

“Hey,” she called in greeting at a familiar face: the one who was still a Mudkip. “Nnnnnate, right? And Rocky, and Chip?”

The Blacklit Mewtwo looked far too peaceful. He’d escaped the radius of her ill-timed blast when they’d fought on opposite sides weeks ago… she supposed she was grateful for that. The creature hardly looked capable of making its own decisions, and she didn’t think Giovanni was the type to allow for such a liberty anyway.

“Wow,” was all she said as she ran her eyes over the numerous bulbs and curves along its body. Myles quietly began snapping pictures.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
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"Hi Astrid! Hi Myles!" Rocky chirped. "Yeah, that's us!" He seemed completely unperturbed by the mewtwo standing silent in the holding cell.

"Hey," Nate grunted. What were those two doing here? He'd seen the familiar out and about, taking photos of all kinds of shit, but the ninetales herself? They hadn't really crossed paths. So why the fuck were they meeting up now? If they were planning to bust the mewtwo out--okay, maybe that was too paranoid. Diyem had said he was sure nobody on the team was in on Giovanni's scheme and all. But still. It wasn't like Nate had been looking for company.

He reared up on his hind legs, putting his paws up on the glowing window. It tingled faintly under his fingers. "Any way to get in there?" he asked Chip. "I know you did your scans and all, but I was hoping to get a closer look."

And now the familiar was taking a whole bunch of pictures of the Mewtwo, too. Nate squirmed aside, trying not to get caught in them.

"Does your world have a mewtwo?" Rocky asked Astrid. "It seems like it's mostly just ones with humans, but... Well, there are people like Karat, too!"
 

Namohysip

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"Well, um." Chip buzzed nervously. "If you go in there, you'll be subject to the same seals. A-and you also won't be able to escape if that thing becomes active. Is that something you want to risk? M-maybe we can get Maple, or something, or..."

All the while, Blacklight Mewtwo made no movements. The scans showed no changes. Completely and utterly motionless.

"The way in is if you press that switch," Chip said. "It will take you into a middle-room that will seal itself and then open to the main chamber. From there, I... won't be able to help you."
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
"Eh, well. If he wakes up, that's better for us, ain't it? Maybe we'll learn a thing or two." Nate glanced back into the chamber but made no move towards the switch, at least not yet. That cloudy tail thing, and the way the mewtwo had moved back when he was stealing Owen's familiar... There was no way he was a proper mewtwo, right? "So all those scans you've been doing, they say this guy ain't got no brain activity or whatever, right? What about the rest of him? All... normal? Like he got a heart and lungs and all the normal mewtwo parts, or no?" Was he even breathing? Had he ever been breathing? Nate scowled through the window, looking for some hint of motion.
 

Namohysip

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"We, um, didn't want to get too close to do those tests. Or cut him open. We tried to get Cream to take a look at his insides with her see-through vision, but she said she couldn't really tell what was going on with it. Like it was obscured. Then I asked Owen to take a look and he said the same thing. Then he felt sick, so I let him go... B-but! yes. No heartbeat. No breathing. Just... there."
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
Yeah, that tracked. Owen had already been here, huh? The guy sure got around.

"Okay, well. I'm gonna see what's up. Come on, Rocky." Nate reached for the switch.

So of course the familiar turned to the randos who'd just showed up here for whatever reason and said, "Do you want to come in, too?" Fuck's actual sake.
 

TheGOAT

🗿
Location
Houston, Texas
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Him/his
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  1. serperior
  2. alolatales-goat
They were already trodding over. Myles made an obscene gesture with his paw at the figure behind the glass (he couldn’t get hurt here, after all), while Astrid met Rocky’s gaze.

“Yep. Just, um. We don’t know how stable he is, so you guy be ready to…” She paused; Shadow Isolation was certainly one option if things went bad, but she didn’t want to take any chances. If she had to, she’d do what she did best, the lab be damned. “Be ready to run, I guess. I don’t think this guy is capable of thinking for himself right now, i-if he’s ever been able to in the first place…” Another cursory glance at his ever-still figure. She swore he had to be sleeping. “It’ll probably be fine. Hopefully Giovanni can’t… can’t reach him here. However that even works.” She didn’t imagine he’d answer truthfully if she asked.

“Myles, c’mon,” she continued with a paw-gesture of her own. “I want to get that starfish thing on his chest on record.”

Myles clicked his tongue as he walked, almost bumping into Rocky. “Mewtwo, from Astrid’s world? Shiiit. Based on her memories, nah. She’s a big nerd and has somehow never heard of it. How about Nate’s?” He asked the question as if Nate wasn’t in the room; Astrid frowned at that but said nothing as the chamber’s door closed.
 
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Namohysip

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  1. flygon
  2. charizard
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  4. zoroark-soda
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  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
And then, they made their way into the between chamber, a short, sterile room that seemed to vacuum itself shut when they entered, and then released with a soft hiss as the other door opened. It seemed like perhaps even Poffin would struggle to so much as leave a dent in these walls...

The inner chamber was just as featureless, yet somehow it felt hopeless and isolated on the other side of the window, which, as it turned out, was a one-sided mirror. They could not see through the other side from within; whether Chip was still there or not was a mystery, at least until his buzzing voice sounded from the top corner of the room.

"He-hello? Can you guys hear me? He, um, what is he doing now?"

Blacklight Mewtwo hadn't moved at all.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
Staff
The door to the chamber ground open, and Nate immediately stepped inside, hoping the others wouldn't follow. But of course they did, and the ninetales... was actually talking sense. Nate considered giving her the cold shoulder purely ought of spite, but after a few seconds of righteous annoyance, he sighed. "Dunno if I'd bank on Giovanni not being able to reach the guy in here, but at least he don't really seem to do much without orders. Don't think we've got to worry too much about him murdering us or whatever the fuck. Wouldn't be surprised if Giovanni told him to play dead, and that's why we're getting all this weird shit."

"Oh, yeah! Mudkip's world has a mewtwo," Rocky said, bringing up the rear with Myles. "But he's, umm, not very nice. I guess the mewtwo we met here haven't been very nice, either, but, umm. I mean really not nice."

Nate ignored them in favor of sizing up the strange mewtwo. It was hard not to feel nervous with the guy right there, looming and all. The fact that he wasn't moving made it worse, honestly--made the situation feel even more surreal and fucked-up, with the lingering anxiety over what if he did move, all of a sudden? Like some kind of fucking horror movie.

Stupid. What was even the worst that could happen? The mewtwo exploded them all or whatever the fuck. Fine, whatever, hang out in the Voidlands for a bit and then they could go another round. The goddamn mightyena had gotten through that shit fine, so it couldn't be a big deal. Nate shook himself, harrumphing, and scowled at the mewtwo.

"Yeah, we can hear you, Chip," he called. "He ain't doing shit."

It didn't seem likely that he'd be able to figure anything out if Owen'd already been here and come up empty, but whatever. Might as well get a sense of what they were dealing with before they got started.

Nate used foresight!
 

Namohysip

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It seemed that Blacklight Mewtwo's strength hadn't changed much since the last time they had interacted with him. Though, curiously enough, it also didn't look like there had been any harm done to it, either. Had it healed up over time?

No breathing, no pulse. Anything that one could expect to be a function of some normal creature with flesh and blood did not seem to be operating. It was like Darkwhite, but frozen; a still-image of chaos. And, indeed, it did not react.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
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"Well, that was a whole lot of nothing," Nate grumbled. On the flip side, he didn't really see whatever the others had found so strange about it. The mewtwo seemed the same as ever. He trotted closer, then reached out to prod the mewtwo sharply in the leg. He had a hunch that whatever was covering the mewtwo's body wouldn't behave like normal skin.
 

TheGOAT

🗿
Location
Houston, Texas
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Him/his
Partners
  1. serperior
  2. alolatales-goat
Astrid dared to get close. It had no overpowering aura or menacing stance to keep her at her distance, which unnerved her further.

Running a paw along the skin of its foot, she mumbled a bunch of nothing to herself about what might be its deal. Maybe it was some kind of cyborg Mewtwo unable to act on its own? They’d hardly beaten him into submission when they’d briefly fought—hell, he was hardly paid any attention. So he surely wasn’t too weak to move, unless something had gone and made him weak.

“What drives you…?” she whispered, gripping the bulb on his ankle, and pulling gently at whatever she could grip. Worth a shot. “What are you?”


Astrid used Shining Inspiration.


“I don’t like ‘em,” Myles admitted to Rocky. “I mean, Carrot is pretty badass. But I think they’re sketchy. Exactly why would Giovanni choose to become one? Why not like, a Charizard? Seemed to work for Red.”
 
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Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
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Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
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reached out to prod the mewtwo sharply in the leg. He had a hunch that whatever was covering the mewtwo's body wouldn't behave like normal skin.
Running a paw along the skin of its foot, she mumbled a bunch of nothing to herself about what might be its deal.

Astrid and Nate both would see a similar vision, yet neither would see one another in it.

Mewtwo's body felt stiff and similar to, but perhaps an imitation of, flesh. There was a vaguely static sensation to the touch, as if their very spirits were reeling and shrinking away at its presence. And then--everything would go dark.

Astrid or Nate, to their own perspectives and isolated from one another, stood in a great void that swirled with reds, purples, and flecks of white. It was like they were in the middle of a great vortex. A cyclone, a hurricane that went on for miles and miles around them. The ground was invisible and disorienting, but smooth. Their feet felt planted firmly in the ground; their legs were like jelly. If they tried to speak, it was like they were stuffed deep under the earth. An intense pressure gripped their chests.

And then there was Mewtwo, standing there, staring at them. His chest, the star-shaped symbol in it, glowed brighter than usual, and he reached out toward them. They couldn't even blink. They could only watch. Mewtwo drifted toward them, unblinking...

An intense pressure rose from their chests and their very core split open. A blackened wraith burst from them, taking on the vague shape of Diyem's upper body, which slashed at Mewtwo. He flinched and stepped away, deflecting the apparition.

Mewtwo's expression did not change. Instead, he drifted back into the vortex, fading from view.

The vision ended, and they were standing once again in the middle of the chamber. Blacklight Mewtwo hadn't changed at all. Chip hadn't said anything, and was probably still observing.
 

Negrek

Play the Rain
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Rocky giggled at Myles' reply. "Well, Giovanni couldn't be a charizard, too! Because like you said, Red already is--welll, I guess we have a lot of charizard anyhow. But still, it would be really confusing if Giovanni was the same kind of pokémon as Red!" Rocky hoped he'd get the chance to talk to Red again when he woke up. He seemed really nice! Mudkip didn't like him, but Mudkip was wrong about a lot of things. And now he was--wait, why was he acting weird?

Nate stumbled back from the mewtwo, landing hard on his tailfin. "What the fuck was that?" he gasped.

These goddamn mewthings. Why the fuck did they have to be so fucking creepy all the goddamn time? Nate stared up at the mewtwo's impassive form, heart pounding. That hadn't been real, had it? Like, they didn't get teleported into some kind of hell-dimension for a second there? It was just some kind of vision? By why the fuck would touching the guy give you fucking visions?

The ninetales looked shaken. "You see that?" Nate asked.

"What?" Rocky said. "Did something happen?"

"Chip, you see anything out there?" Nate called. "Weird energy spikes or anything?"
 
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