Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Main Lobby

[Namohysip]

Far to the west of Destiny Village was the headquarters of the best of the best. This guild, despite its unprofessional name, was a worldwide gathering of talents of some of the strongest mortals to ever enter the Dungeon delving profession. And while Dungeons were rapidly fading--prior to the Blacklight crisis, at least--their roles were not.

Poppin' Arms had a main lobby that was more like a small assembly hall. The walls were lined with large seats meant to accommodate most body types, mostly beanbag-like, cheap but functional and comfortable. The walls were a silvery platinum, but dull and not too gaudy, and were riddled with letters and doodles from adults and children. The papers seemed to be cycled out regularly to make room for new ones that came in, featuring several Pokémon more prominently than others. They must have been the team. While some of the species were easy to recognize--Goodra, Salamence, Metagross, Slaking--there was one curious figure that seemed to be lesser known, yet somehow so important. A little creature that was mostly black, but with yellow eyes...

At the back of the room was the front desk. Often, a Corviknight stood behind it, and despite her intimidating appearance, she tried to greet everyone with a cheerful greeting and as good a smile as her beak could muster. To the left of the front desk was a hallway that led deeper into the guild, with a stairway to the second floor on either side, as well as stairs going down for an underground set of floors.

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"Oh, you must be the newcomers, ummm, Team Spectrum! Oh, it's so nice to meet you all in person!" The Corviknight stepped away from the front desk and opened her wings in greeting. "Though... you seem to be a lot smaller in number than I thought!"

"Oh, er, a lot of us split out to explore Destiny Village," Owen explained. His backpack was overflowing with supplies, practically as heavy and as large as he was. It was a wonder how it was staying up... "And some of us are still wrapping things up in Treasure Town, too."

"Ohh, that explains it." Corviknight nodded. "Well! It's a pleasure to meet some of you, then. My name is Toffee! I handle most front-desk and front-facing matters here in Poppin' Arms. If you ever have any questions about Destiny Village or this guild, you can come to me!"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot looked around the lobby as he entered the guild. Like most of Destiny Village, the guild's modern appearance felt strange to him, and if it wasn't for his prior visits to Veritas City, it might have even felt alien. Not that he minded it. Some of the buildings reminded him of the legends in his world about how humans used to build their cities before they disappeared. Normally he'd be over the moon to see this place and the rest of the village. Now however...

"Where are our rooms...?" he asked, his voice sounding deflated and lacking of its usual cheeriness.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen glanced toward Cabot, tilting his head; an apparition of a Charizard briefly poked its head out from behind him and mimicked the motion. Still, Owen said nothing for now.

"It's just up those stairs," Toffee explained, motioning with a massive, steely wing toward the left side of the room. "Second floor and then down the hall, you'll see a lot of empty rooms. Pick up your nameplates and slip them into the empty slots next to your door to claim your room! Oh, but would you like some orientation first, perhaps? Is there anything you'd like to know right away? That goes for everyone here!"

 

[Cresselia92]

“…Well, now that thou… huff… art asking, I have a… huff huff… pretty urgent query…”

Icetales dragged himself toward the giant bird, his breaths harsh and his fur disheveled. Tied on his waist was a rope, which was connected to cart brimming with packages of all sizes and shapes. He plopped to the floor just in front of the Corviknight, panting soft clouds of frost and his tongue hanging.

“W-Where can I… huff… store my purchases? Is there some… huff huff… deposit somewhere?” He glanced at his cart, mentally sweatdropping. “I might have… huff huff… exceeded a tad with a… huff huff… dozen or so of materials…”

 

[SparklingEspeon]

"Aww..." Tricky said, her voice brimming with disappointment. "I thought it was Poffin Arms..."

Miserable thoughts of lost poffins aside, that was her sole complaint with the place. She didn't know if this place existed back in her world - she certainly hadn't heard of it - but it looked more fancy than any other building she'd ever seen before! ...Except for the dozen other places she'd seen in the past couple of weeks, but she decided those didn't count. (Especially not that dumb curry bowl.) She was interested in adding a doodle to the wall, though, and that was more important anyway.

She couldn't help but not look at the white vulpix dragging a large cart of boxes up to the front desk.

"...Wow," she said aloud, flabbergasted.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot looked at the stairs, his gaze lingering on it a bit, before turning back to Toffee. Part of him wanted to just curl up in bed and avoid having to face anyone from the team, but with how low they probably thought of him right now, the last thing he wanted was to make a bad impression on the guild staff as well.

"Yeah, I guess orientation would be nice," Cabot murmured.

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, goodness," said Toffee, looking Icetales over. "Why don't you leave that here for now? We have a storage room to the right where a lot of extra supplies are kept, and we set off some space for your team...

"As for the rest of you, well--welcome to Poppin' Arms! Best Guild in the world, usually meant for the biggest issues. Your, ah, God Squad are members of this very guild! Though, they were, of course, recent arrivals, honorary members, so to speak..."

 

[SparklingEspeon]

Recent arrivals? Tricky tilted her head at that. For recent arrivals, they seemed pretty important...

 

[Cresselia92]

“M-Much obliged, Miss Toffee…” panted Icetales, raising a paw in understanding.

After taking a quick breath, he craned his neck toward the rope tying him to the kart and bit into it. He began tugging and pulling, until he heard a snip and the piece of rope still in his mouth dangled uselessly from his jaws. He dropped the rope into the kart and shook himself, scattering some snowflakes around and readjusting some of his fur.

“Phew! That was quite the fatigue!” murmured Icetales, before turning toward the others and bowing with respect. “Apologies about that, but I could not leave that merchandise behind. It was imperative of me to bring it along.” He wagged his tails reassuringly. “But no point in heeding me anymore. Shall we get started?”

 

[Namohysip]

"Of course, I'll be here if you need anything else," Toffee said, stepping toward Icetales' inventory to move it to storage. Owen, meanwhile, led the way to the stairway and waved for the others to follow, but not before skidding to a stop when a huge, iron leg stepped into the hall.

"Ah! Sorry!" Owen said.

It was a Metagross who just barely fit through the halls with his extreme, wide stance. His voice, as he spoke, had a deep, metallic ring to it. "Hello."

 

[Ambyssin]

With Cosmog slowly bobbing in the lead, Bahamut entered the building. He stowed his badge away, thankful it did have a map installed.

"The little one wishes to read by himself," he announced. "Where can I take him?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh!" By now, Toffee had taken Icetales' items into storage and reemerged. "Goodness! You're a lot larger than the rest of your team, aren't you? Well, if you want him to be reading somewhere alone, perhaps he can have a room with someone quiet, or, hmm... Perhaps he can do some reading in one of the studies?"

"A study?" Cosmog quirked a nonexistent brow. "I'm interested."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I suppose that works." He nudged Cosmog forward with his nose. "Just tell him which way to go. He's learning to float."

 

[Namohysip]

"Aww, that's so--"

"I am not a child. I am a human."

"Oh! Another one." Toffee nodded, then gestured for Cosmog to go forward. "Thank you for your help," she added to Bahamut.

Owen glanced toward Bahamut and cleared his throat. "Um, and hi, Bahamut. Feeling better...?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut's eyes turned an inquisitive orange. "I believe I'm the one who should be asking you that." He walked over to Owen, his larger frame towering over the charmander. "For the machine to pull you into the darkness like that... perhaps it realized what I was hinting at before?"

His eyes turned back to blue. "Regardless. I hope you do not blame me if I choose to tear Darkwhite limb from limb from putting that child into the machine."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen smiled sadly. "About that..." With Toffee leaving to guide Cosmog to the study room, and the others shuffling off for one reason or another, Owen sighed and bowed deeply to Bahamut. "I know I said I'd listen to you, but I'm sorry I doubted you anyway." He rose up. "...I still don't agree with your philosophies... there's a lot that I question, but--one thing you were right about was how these Shadows can cut through any mask you try to put up. It attacks you from the inside. I don't think any of us would've been immune to it, if we got struck the way I did... And Cabot, Brisa, and Nate, too."

His gaze hardened. "But I'm stronger for it. Now I know what it feels like. Maybe now I can resist it. Back during that fight... I could have done a lot to hurt you, but I stalled. I convinced myself that stalling was the best option. I watched and observed you guys instead of fighting, and maybe if it happens again, I can figure it out again. Plus... my Shadow isn't too bad. I think I have him under control."

The looming Charizard peered out from behind Owen's shoulder, glaring.

"He... kinda reminds me of you, in a way," Owen said with a titter. "You know, the attitude, I mean."

 

[Ambyssin]

“You don’t have to agree with me. Our worlds are different. Perhaps your naive optimism serves you well at home.” Bahamut snort golden embers at Owen’s shadow. “But there is such a thing as ‘noble to a fault.’ Do not get too comfortable with that power. We’ve had enough allies traumatized by excessive use of radiance.”

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot made his way for the stairway with his head down, attempting to shuffle past Bahamut and Owen without as much as saying a word.

 

[Namohysip]

"Uh--Cabot?" Owen called. "Are you alright?"

The Charizard behind him rose from behind Owen, eyes flashing gold, and then sank back into Owen shoulders.

"You don't seem hurt," he murmured.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot paused and looked towards Owen, unsure what to say for a moment before hesitantly speaking up.

"N-No..."