Destiny Village ~ Pasta Plaza

[Dragonfree]

Dave exited the X-Eye Cauldron into the cold night air, making sure Mia was following behind. "All right, you want training, let's fucking go. Kept you waiting long enough."

"It was interesting," Mia said. She seemed lost in thought for now, which was maybe to be expected. She'd probably start asking questions later while he watched her train, idly interrogating him about why Soda would make the decisions he did or something in between whatever the latest Pokémon move she'd decided to perfect was. It'd be... it'd be weird and he was probably not in the best state to make sense to her but it'd be familiar and it'd be her, and that sounded good right about now. Maybe he'd wind up dozing off over her exercises but she wouldn't care.

 

[Adamhuarts]

In an alleyway between all the food stalls, restaurants and commuting pokemon, a garbage can rattled back and forth as though possessed by a phantom. The shaking got intense enough that the can toppled over and out came rolling a dark grew figure.

Ivy stood up right with a grin, having bested the confines of the metal can. She turned back to look at it and slammed her claw against its side.

"No prisons can hold Ivy. Adventure awaits, huzzah!"

 

[SparklingEspeon]

The sky was purple, but Tricky was trying not to think about that. That was becoming a running theme ever since she'd been pulled into this--what's that, black shade creatures were running around and corrupting pokemon? Don't think about it. The shades were corrupting legendaries now, and some guy called Giovanni was pulling the strings? Don't think about it. Darkwhite was somehow three different pokemon, and now there was a big dragon in the sky that was going to wipe them all out soon? It isn't your problem. Just don't think about it and go have fun.

So that's why she went to Pasta Plaza. This place was supposed to be bustling with things to do and distractions to catch her attention on any normal day, but today it was quieter than usual. She supposed she should have seen it coming, given that thing she wasn't supposed to think about, but that didn't mean she had to happy about it. She folded her arms, sat down in some random nook of the square, and watched the pokemon in the square attend to their business in front of her. She grew weary of that quicker than she'd sat down to do it.

"This is boring..." she couldn't help but sigh.

 

[Virgil134]

While Cabot had gone back to the guild, Pleo ventured further into town to look for the supplies they'd need for their fight against Joule. His curiosity eventually lead him to Pasta Plaza: Destiny Village's infamous entertainment district. He'd heard some less than flattering things about the place, but with a name like that and all the pretty lights around it surely couldn't be that bad, right?

It didn't take long before Pleo had found a Kecleon shop, and after only a few minutes, he'd managed to buy all the items he and Cabot needed. It was easier than he'd expected. All he had to do was ask the shopkeepers about the items that Cabot had written down for him, and thanks to the tab Team Spectrum had with the guild, they'd give it to him!

The young Lugia soon made his way back for the guild, proud that he'd managed to buy everything all by himself, when the smell of food caught his attention. He looked over and noticed a stand selling some sort of pastry in a variety of colors. Red, blue, purple, green, yellow... Whatever it was, if buying it was as easy as the supplies he got earlier he wouldn't mind getting some yummy snacks for him and Cabot! With that in mind, the shadowy bird walked over to the stand.

"Oh! What sort of food is that?" Pleo asked the shopkeeper. "It smells really nice!"

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Mochi, Mochi, life is better with MOCHI!" Ivy sang to herself, browsing through the various food stands at the plaza with as many mochi sticks could fit in her flowers.

"Mochi, Mochi, uhhh, what rhymes with Mochi?" Ivy tilted her head, then she popped another into her mouth. "Mochi, Mochi, Ivy doesn't rhyme with Mochi!"

 

[Navar]

Shiron thought he was well enough to get back to his dorm after drinking, but to his shock, he dound out that it was all too spinny for his tastes, and so he tried to walk, or rather, stumble across the village, not really sure where he was going, or who was seeing him like that.

This stroll ended up taking him to a shady area that he never saw before, and to make sure that wasn't just the alcohol speaking, the Swampert rubbed his eyes. Nope, that was the place. A plaza...?

"Okay. I'm not going crazy. Now how the hell do I get back?"

 

[Namohysip]

It was nice to be a Charizard again. But ultimately, Diyem couldn't trust Owen with getting the right kinds of ingredients or takeout for his 'night' with Xerneas, so he elected to go by himself after some convincing toward the Lifebringer. The shady part of town was pleasant to him, in a roundabout way. "Yes. I want that," the Charizard said, no longer hiding his shadowy flame. "If you swindle me, I'm the king of darkness. Now go." He gestured for the rather unnerved front desk to put the order out.

 

[Negrek]

Nate couldn't deny that the food was better at the X-Eye Cauldron. And the booze. But chowing down on some shitty greasy burger was a lot more homey, and you never knew when you'd run into somebody you really didn't want to see. Much easier to get lost in the plaza, and there were plenty of people on the team who avoided it because of its reputation or whatever the fuck. That suited Nate fine.

Rocky had run off somewhere, and Nate got the sense that this time it wasn't just because the familiar was mad at him again. No point going after him if he didn't want to talk, but he was going to have to deal with that at some point. Jesus. Nate grimaced and took another swig of his beer. How the fuck was he even supposed to deal with Rocky's... realization that he was mortal, or something. Good Christ.

Pasta Plaza was fairly lively even at this time of night, but Nate was still surprised to catch sight of someone he knew. That was Starr, wasn't it? There was that other incineroar guy around, but with that scarf--yeah, had to be.

For a moment he hesitated. The whole Giovanni thing... how was she handling it? He'd heard she'd been spending a lot of time around the guy, trying to stop him busting out. Which, honestly, good idea, but he couldn't imagine it being anything approaching a good time.

But fuck it. What, was he actually going to pass up talking to the only person who had some sense of how crazy this Giovanni shit actually was? Hell fucking no. "Hey, Starr!" he called. "Over here!"

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa fluttered about the plaza, taking in all the strange sights and sounds. The place was one of favorite spots, aside from the X-Eye, and the Hero, and the Cafeteria, and Sundae Park, and a few other spots. Pasta Plaza always had tons of great food and interesting things to see. The only downside was there were no fans around, as far as he could see.

Something below caught his eye and he looked to see a biped feline looking shade. His eyes lit up. That had to be the one Koa told him about! Based on a legend or something, which was pretty neat. He swooped down to greet her.

"Hey Luz! I'm Echo! Koa's new familiar." He hovered a few feet away from her face, giving a friendly grin.

 

[Disco]

In the time after the disastrous ending to what was supposed to be a simple recon mission, Raven was not seen or heard from by a majority of the team. The only ones that she perhaps talked with at all were the ones she was closest too. Even then, it was briefly and only to say that she regret what she had done...

For the moment the Shade was sitting outside of one of the other restaurants to be found in Pasta Plaza. Some food of unknown origin and content was on her plate; it was barely touched but still fresh. She herself seemed as if she wasn't that interested in it anyways. Raven poked at it with a fork and sighed. A thoughtful yet pensive expression was on her face...

 

[Negrek]

Another night, another visit to Pasta Plaza to find some grub. For some reason Nate was always fucking hungry, lately. It had to be the evolution, but that was fucking stupid--like the most anticlimactic evolution ever. At least marshtomp had fucking hands.

What was worse, the evolution hadn't gone unnoticed, or indeed unremarked-upon, by some of Pasta Plaza's other frequent visitors. Nate had had to shut a couple jokesters up, but at least by now it seemed like people had gotten the picture. He was able to get some pizza unmolested, at least.

Perhaps people were just distracted tonight. There was another recently-evolved pokémon--or something--around to gawk at, and he was a lot harder to overlook than a marshtomp. Nate watched him for a little while before ultimately flagging him down. "Hey, Owen. Over here."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Soul was getting better at being in public as she changed. For a while after speaking with Luz, her rate of change hade accelerated. Her false fur had become false chitin. Her tails had become plated and bony instead of soft. Her chest was receding, leaving a ribcage like a normal Eternatus.

Combined with her Ninetales shape, it looked far more morbid than she may have preferred. If anyone saw her body without getting a good look at her head, they could well mistake her for a skeleton. Soul thought that unfortunate. This was a beginning, not a death.

Awkward though her current state was, her progress in changing had stalled out again. The shape of a Ninetales was familiar to her. For one thing, last time she’d tried to fly, she’d failed. That was something she’d preferably learn before giving up her legs.

Still, she couldn’t hide at home forever. She’d tried that a long time ago, and it hadn’t been the most pleasant experience. She noticed people eyeballing her sometimes, a few asked if she was okay, but she dealt with it.

For once, it seemed nothing of interest was happening in the plaza. Perhaps it was around time to retreat to the comfort and relative privacy of the library.

 

[Namohysip]

"I want some of those spicy rice cake soup bowls," Cal said, pointing at one of the dishes with a popping, red broth. "And I'll also have the deep fried rolls, too. Oh! And are those ones fresh? Yeah, those barbecue fish. Yeah, that! Okay, and Luz, I think we can also go to that other place to try their burgers, and I think next to that place had pizza or something, and . . . "

Pasta Plaza had a small crowd gathered that Cal was largely ignoring. The Charizard, now coreless and a little more opaque than before, had bags of food over her arms, ready to eat one after the other. She didn't really have a stomach, after all, and she was presumably a growing girl. She didn't really get hungry, but food. Food! She could taste food! As a core, she had a dull sense of it, but now...

 

[Adamhuarts]

There existed many things in life that came to Ivy as new and bizarre. Whether it be the feeling of air going in and out of her lungs or the feeling of the morning sunrise on her skin. No wonder Cynthian coveted such a luxury. However, none quite threw her down a rabboot hole as deep as taste did.

The hotdog isn't as good as the hotdogs I liked in my world.

The deep wisdom behind those words Mia once spoke to her finally rang true. No matter how hard she tried, the cafeteria hot dogs tasted remarkably unsatisfying. She almost envied her old self who could eat entire barrels of the cheaply prepared snack. With evolution came a rise in standards. Ivy needed something new to satisfy her heightened cravings.

While it would be easy to stroll into the fanciest restaurant to have a meal, Ivy was thinking farther ahead. They can't keep living off their parents expenses forever. She needed to establish a foothold in her independence. What better way to start than by learning how to make gourmet food on her own?

So, off she went to the downtown pasta plaza. She began her quest to find ingredients, however tame or bizarre the source of such things might be. To an observer she appeared to be a little floette and her parasol flower. A bit out of place in the city's underbellies. However, Ivy's eyes blazed in concentration as she memorized the scenery around her.

"Would you look at that," Ivy muttered, eying a familiar mochi stall. "Isn't that the place I first met Cal?"

Slowly, she drifted towards the stall. With any luck, she might not have lost taste for the mochi snacks too.

 

[Flyg0n]

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Koa wandered through the Plaza, feeling restless as always. He still wasn't quite back to strength enough to fight, but he was more than rested enough to feel incredibly anxious and ready for some kind of excitement. Maybe he'd run into someone at the Plaza, or try some weird food from one of the many vendors...

 

[MadderJacker]

It was real. A faded memory from a past life, little more than a dream, now stood on the other end of the street. The Grace looked so different in the daylight. Elegant still, the architecture was sleek with walls of ivy to give it that splash of color, but without the romantic lighting of the evening and the atmosphere of the dinner crowd. Like everything else, it was an altered copy. Different. Nothing had happened here.

Nothing had happened at the original either.

Mergo, a Gardevoir, sat on a street bench a little bit down the road as he stared dimly at the restaurant. For the past few days he hadn't known what he would have done when he'd found it again, and he still didn't know now. A loose fist occasionally tensed as violet star formed in his palm, which he treated like a stress ball, letting it break apart and spill between his fingers like a Shuckle before he eased up and let it reform.

'Burn it' had been a joke answer he'd prepared if someone found out and asked him why. If he didn't have any other ideas... Mm. Maybe later.

Someone now dead remembered something, and he had passed it on. Now Mergo was the only one who knew everything. It could have merely been a passing dream, or an unwelcomed thought put into his head by everyone's insistent teasing. It would be a lie, of course, but how difficult would it be to make that the truth?

Kill Owen. That's what he'd do. Totally. And he knew how to do it this time, too.

Mergo hummed, then let out a sigh. That wouldn't do.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

All things considered, it was a nice day. They'd had a lot of nice days, lately. The weather gods' appreciative send-off, perhaps? In any case, life seemed almost normal in the Plaza. Like there hadn't just been a near-apocalypse, at all.

"Alright, kid. I woulda waited a li'l longer fer this, since most folks' worlds apparently have somethin' 'gainst lettin' kids sip anythin' but water, but I'm not gonna get another chance. So... I'm buyin' you yer first drink. It's... It's just a li'l gesture that'd mean somethin' t'me."

She grinned at Koa's surprised expression. "Don't worry, nothin' hard or bitter. Cibuseans love a fruity light beer."

 

[Dragonfree]

On the last day, Dave took Mia for some hotdogs. Just like old times.

Mia squinted at the toppings and picked an inscrutable selection as usual. He wasn't really hungry but ordered one with everything anyway.

"So, uh," he began after they'd had a couple of bites in silence, sitting at the small table next to the stand, "what are your plans for when we're all gone?"

Mia thought for a moment, chewing. She'd casually transformed her scythe into a human hand to hold the hotdog, and after so long in a universe with only Pokémon it was an almost uncanny sight. "Rocky will still be around," she said. "So I can keep training with him. Although he also says he wants to travel to other universes."

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe you can go with him to check out some other universes," he said, and then immediately regretted it. Mia and Rocky were not exactly the right people to keep each other in check.

"Maybe," Mia said. "It sounds like a lot of universes are similar to Cibus. That probably means people like battling in them. And I could see if there's a pattern in what kinds of universes there are. It would be interesting."

"Well, if you ever go to different universes, try to be careful."

"We're almost indestructible," Mia pointed out. "There aren't many things that could hurt us."

Dave sucked in a breath. "Well, in other universes, who the fuck knows what exists. Apparently the multiverse is full of evil creator gods with torture dimensions."

Mia nodded slowly. "It's weird that those exist. I don't think Rocky would want to go there, though."

He took another bite of his hotdog, watching her. "I told Sod-- Ionys to check on you," he said after a moment. "Just, make sure you're okay. If you do any universe-hopping, at least try to at least check back in with him in Cibus or Telum now and then, all right?"

Mia tilted her head. "Why? That doesn't sound like it would change anything. If I don't check in because I went to a universe where something killed me, then I'm already dead when he finds out."

Dave glanced away. "Well, maybe you're not dead yet. Maybe you're trapped."

"He probably couldn't even come to get me," she pressed. "He's tied to Maple, and she's a Voice of Life. They said normally Voices of Life can't go outside their universe."

He waved a paw in agitation. "I don't know. It's just a peace of mind thing."

Mia looked at him for a moment. "You're not going to remember anyway, though. And he wouldn't be able to tell you whether I checked in or not even if you could."

"Yeah, I know, Mia," he snapped before looking away. "Fuck."

Her expression didn't even change; she didn't give a shit and never would. But still.

"Look, yeah, I know you're looking forward to running around out there without me or him or anybody holding you back, and I'm never going to know if you run straight from here into a hell-dimension and get yourself killed, but just..." He stopped, took a breath. Jesus. "If you just let him know where you're going, and how long you're going to be there, he could talk to Joule or somebody if you don't show up, right? And you want to keep living. Having a backup plan is good for living."

Mia didn't answer for a little while, frowning as she finished her hotdog. "I'm not looking forward to when you're gone," she said.

Dave looked at her, silent. Half of his hotdog was still lying on the table, the wrapping paper flapping in the cold breeze.

"I want you to be here," she said, annoyed, like it was obvious. "I didn't like it when you were dead and I don't want you to go now."

He blinked rapidly. "Mia, that's... I can't stay here."

"I know," Mia said, eyes narrowed. "That doesn't mean I want it. You were saying you thought I was looking forward to you being gone. That's dumb."

Dave exhaled slowly, his throat tightening. "Okay. Yeah. Sorry."

He reached for his hotdog again and took a large bite, looking away.

"It is good to have a backup plan if I'm going to a universe where I could get killed," Mia said after a moment. "But it would have to be a real plan and not just telling him I'm alive sometimes. Maybe we can talk about it."

Dave nodded. The mouthful of hotdog wasn't helping much. He swallowed a few times, trying to make it go away.

"You went to therapy again," she said. "Did it fix your brain?"

He took a deep breath. "No," he said. "But it reminded me why I have to go home."

Mia frowned. "You already knew that."

"Yeah, but..." He stopped, looking at her. "I kind of wanted to stay. Same way you want me to, even though it's not happening. But Jean needs me back home, and the others. And in the end, I mean, you're practically fucking invincible. You'll be fine without me." At least if she didn't go to any horrid death universes.

"Yes. That's why I knew you'd want to go back."

He just looked at her for a long moment. The blockage in his throat was back.

"I hope you do have a fucking blast without me when I'm gone," he managed at last.

"Probably. I like Cibus, and if I don't like a universe I'd just go back. I'm not going to die."

He cracked a smile despite everything, picking up the rest of his hotdog again. "Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

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