Treasure Town ~ Crossroads

[Disco]

Mellow jumped back a bit at the now mindlessly rampaging Gyrados. This was bad. Very very bad. There was no way she could get in close at this rate! She'd have to do something else... "Think, Mellow, think... what can I do now? Ugh...."

The frustration built inside of her. Half the team was out... But what could she do? Mellow held her head, getting angrier and angrier at the massive Pokemon and at the whole situation, until she clenched her fists and screamed-

But it wasn't just a scream. A flame shot from her mouth and hit the Gyrados's side.

Mellow blinked. She had not really meant to do that at all.

 

[Namohysip]

Dave howled to power up his teammates. Celeste tried to recover, but he was simply too exhausted!

Cabot's Iron Thorn dealt a CRITICAL 111 damage!
Brisa's Strike II dealt 15 damage!
Nip's double Ice Shard dealt a total of 86 damage!
Ashwood's Mega Punch dealt 72 damage!
Starr's strike dealt 16 damage!
Cuicatl's strike dealt 18 damage with 1 recoil!
Curio's Iron Thorn dealt 44 damage!
Mellow's Ember dealt 7 damage!

Sashimi: 74

Soda and Owen both watched with bated breath, everyone else chipping in with as much damage as they could. Yet, despite everything they had tried to do... "O-oh, no," Owen said. "We--everyone! Watch out! Brave yourselves!"

Owen reflexively tried to cross his arms, but then remembered something--why was he crossing his arms? Something in the back of his mind was telling him that a golden shield should have formed by now. Protect... Protect! He used to know Prot--

Sashimi's tail fit smashed into Owen's face, pinwheeling him into a tree.

Sashimi is thrashing about and attacked Nip, Celeste, and Cabot!
Nip: 62
Celeste: 37
Cabot: 0 (Lauchs: 59)

Total recoil: 33

Cabot's shield broke! Celeste and Nip were knocked out!

Sashimi continued thrashing about and attacked Dave, Curio, and Starr!
Dave: 46
Curio: 47
Starr: 56

Dave's and Starr's Revivers Seed brought them back with 1 HP!

Total recoil: 59

She kept flailing, getting weaker and weaker, until the thunderous red sparks slowed and crackled around her. It practically looked painful, the way she was tiring herself out...

"Damn it," Soda hissed, looking around. The damage didn't get to Treasure Town, but even if they'd finished her off in time, the whole western side of the field was trashed.

Sashimi twitched weakly, still trying to right herself while flopped on the ground. She still had some fight in her... "She ain't done! Get going!"

Truffle was tending to Owen, hoping he didn't suffer from another bout of amnesia from this. His flame was dim but stable. Meanwhile, Soda was tending to the others who had fallen, seeing if they were still able to fight back.

Owen opened one eye, his voice a soft groan. "She's almost finished... just... take her down!"

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot panted out of exhaustion as he looked around the crossroads. A good portion of the team had fallen from Sashimi's last attack, including Nip and the Farfetch'd who had just protected him earlier. Yet in spite of it all, Sashimi was looking visibly weak as well. When he heard Owen's call, he used every bit of strength left to charge forward one more time, getting ready to ram Sashimi with one final headbutt.

"It's over!" he shouted

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Cabot, you did it! No, we all did it!" Cynthian ran up to Cabot and hugged him by the neck with one arm and held the other up. The battle was chaotic and frightening, but it was all over now.

"We've slain the beasts and this world is now saved!" Cynthian exclaimed.

"And we're all alive!" He glanced at some of the others who'd been knocked out cold. "For the most part," he added.

 

[NebulaDreams]

Curio fell on her knees. She could finally rest at last after that group effort to beat the stuffing out of that big smelly fish. Some of her allies had fallen, but she was sure they'd be back up to speed in a few days time. She almost joined them as well.

Her belly rumbled. Suddenly, she had a huge craving for Magikarp. "Does anyone wanna try cookin' that thing? I could murder some fish n'chips. Well, even more than we murdered it already."

 

[windskull]

Nip did not react to their victory, because he was unconscious.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave dragged himself to his feet as Cabot took down the Gyarados. His legs were wobbling; he could only just about stand.

He mustered a "What the fuck" at Curio when she made a bizarre joke about eating the Magikarp. His head spun with lightheaded dizziness as the battle hormones wore off.

They'd done it. Mostly by virtue of him standing back and powering up the others with Howl. He hadn't actually touched either of the opponents for the entire fight. It'd been the optimal strategy, and probably won the fight, but somehow nonetheless pretty unsatisfying. Restless instincts itched somewhere, bothering him. It didn't feel quite as much like a victory as he'd have liked.

But fuck it. They'd gotten it done, no problem.

Exhaustion was creeping up on him, craving food and rest. He suspected some bones might be broken, or cracked; his ribs ached horribly, and he couldn't quite put much weight on one of his hind legs. For the moment, he could note that abstractly as that pleasant battle afterglow buzzed in his veins, but he suspected it'd hurt like a motherfucker later if he didn't get some kind of healing in. His legs continued to wobble, urging him to get home and curl up somewhere before he collapsed.

"Back to the dojo?" he asked.

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Are you okay, Dave?! Take it easy." Cynthian's body was heavy, and the exhaustion from the battle was starting to sink in a bit. However, he still had more than enough energy to run up to Dave and extend his vines to help him back to his feet.

Cynthian smiled reassuringly. "You were amazing back there with those Howl techniques. I felt safer with you around."

 

[Namohysip]

The final strike sent Sashimi rolling, and a few moments later, that red smoke billowed out from the segments of Sashimi's tough form. She was shrinking, and Truffle flew toward her once the shrinking was finished. "Ahh... it seems that she's unconscious as well," he murmured, then turned to the others. "Everyone! Congratulations on a job well done."

...Yes, actually. Good work.

"I think you've all earned a good rest, er, and perhaps a very generous round of healing... yes?"

 

[Ambyssin]

So, in spite of Diyem definitely trying to screw the team over by evolving Sashimi, the group somehow held tough. The lack of any enthusiasm in Diyem's curt telepathic congratulatory statement told Necrozma everything he needed to know. And yet, between the successful shielding of Nip and the Charge Beams he had flung around, Necrozma was exhausted. But not so exhausted that he couldn't float over toward Sashimi. He'd seen the Max Strike happen. That kind of an attack could only mean that godawful daemon was responsible. Any answers he could get would be vital.

"Someone wake these ladies up." He struggled to stay in the air. "We need to know what happened to them."

 

[Adamhuarts]

Does that mean this world is saved now? That'd be quite great, because I was starting to think I signed up for something much bigger than I could ever imagine..., Cynthian thought to Diyem.

 

[Tanuki]

They did it. He actually survived. His sole contribution to the fight, soaking hits for apparently not Curio left him soaked and sore. He’d done nothing beyond letting Cabot push a little longer.

He actually needed this team. They could do without him, but he’d be dead on arrival without them. He tried to deny it but had to accept the awful consequences of this realization: he needed them to not hate him.

Given his already luminous reputation and actions, this was going to be hell. He didn’t even get to start from the bottom—he started in the negatives.

What did nice people do again? Jolt usually sewed people things, but Zane didn’t have time for that. He needed something nice, quick, while the heat of the battle still burned hot enough to forge his husk of status into usable material.

It hit him like a brick: Compliments! He just needed to compliment them. Should be easy enough. He scanned the crowd for his nearest target... only to see Dave.

Worthless little mut—no, he had to stay positive. Dave probably hated him the most out of everyone (despite his multiple acts of kindness), so he’d be his best shot. “Hey, Dave!” he shouted just loud enough to grab attention. He forced a smile as genuine as he could muster. “Nice howling. You helped our attackers actually damage the things.”

He felt ill. His stomach turned. Why would anyone do this if this is what kindness does to someone?

 

[Dragonfree]

"Are you okay, Dave?! Take it easy." Cynthian's body was heavy, and the exhaustion from the battle was starting to sink in a bit. However, he still had more than enough energy to run up to Dave and extend his vines to help him back to his feet.

Cynthian smiled reassuringly. "You were amazing back there with those Howl techniques. I felt safer with you around."

"Hah. Thanks." Dave grinned. "It's pretty great."

Worthless little mut—no, he had to stay positive. Dave probably hated him the most out of everyone (despite his multiple acts of kindness), so he’d be his best shot. “Hey, Dave!” he shouted just loud enough to grab attention. He forced a smile as genuine as he could muster. “Nice howling. You helped our attackers actually damage the things.”

Dave glanced back towards the Zangoose and his extremely forced grin. Ugh. Was he seriously trying to make Dave like him now? Good grief. He turned back to Cynthian and pretended not to have heard Zane.

 

[Disco]

Mellow tried to pace her breathing. The adrenaline rush was definitely starting to wear off... With exhaustion beginning to get to her, she looked around at the others. ...It looked like there were...

The Charmander shivered and grit her teeth. This was not what she signed up for. The reality of all this was really starting to dawn on her. ...Mellow turned and fled from the battlefield.

 

[Tanuki]

Good grief. He turned back to Cynthian and pretended not to have heard Zane

Waste of time. Disgusting. Kindness really was worthless, at least with someone despicable as Dave—who never even thanked him for the chocolate!

 

[Namohysip]

Truffle noticed a peculiar glow coming from his feathers and his eyes brightened. "Ahh, wonderful!" he declared. "The distorting aura has faded! Please!" He sprang up, still standing next to Owen. "Someone allow me to grant you some of my power!"

And with a grand, perhaps dramatic, flourish,golden energy enveloped the entire team, centralized around Truffle and radiating outward. Almost instantly, the group felt energized--yet there was still something off about their auras, a certain exhaustion that overtook them.Zane would find in familiar: It was the same exhaustion that came after that rough encounter with the strange, hazy creature. But now, it was at least ten times worse.

Still, at least everyone was conscious again, and the residual energy made moving possible... for now.

Sashimi groaned, blinking herself back to reality. "What... happened?" she said weakly.

"Don't move too much," Soda said, then nodded at Truffle. "Alright, looks like we should probably head back and--regroup for now. But... There is one thing that has me curious."

Soda pointed toward the east. "I think I'm gonna follow their path of destruction backwards. We might find something at the origin point."

"Ahh, I was thinking the same thing," Truffle said. "If anybody is interested in accompanying us for that, Maple should arrive soon to take us there swiftly. Everyone else... Rest at the dojo for now."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa hung her head and gasped.

Her body ached. Her fur was sodden. Her head was full of nothing but battle.

But of course, they had won. She'd expected it, even as Sashimi had evolved. Even as party members had gone down.

People were starting to talk, chattering about the battle and the state of themselves. The important thing was to tend to the casualties — and tell the others of the encounter she'd had in the woods alongside Celeste — but it would be necessary to ground eachother with ordinary talk. Not everyone here had been in so many battles as Brisa. She didn't need that. She just... needed to breathe.

She half expected another fight to spring up at any moment, after the escalation of the threat so far several times in two days. She had to stay ready. Always ready. All the time. Especially with the chance some of the party had fallen in the battle... she dared not think of whom or how many.

"Does anyone wanna try cookin' that thing? I could murder some fish n'chips. Well, even more than we murdered it already."

Curio—! Oh, thank gods Curio was okay. And cracking uncomfortable jokes! Of course she was okay, she was tough. Nothing to worry about. Brisa raised her head and looked around, trying to spot other familiar faces in the crowd. Celeste was down — hopefully not for good. Zane was up and about, to her surprise. Where was Starr...?

Where was Starr? (And what did she care, anyway?)

In any case, it was time to trudge back to the hidden quarters and sleep for a week. Maybe literally.

 

[Adamhuarts]

Cynthian meekly bounded to Truffle with his flowers held together. "I'll come with you!"

 

[Ambyssin]

Much as he wanted to question Sashimi, Necrozma floated toward Soda and Truffle. "Fine, then I'll go with you. But someone try to get something out of the gyarados. And chase after that charmander that ran off."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot stared in surprise as Truffle's light washed over him. One moment he had felt too tired to even reply to Cynthian, yet now he felt like he was ready to go on another adventure! ... Or a small one at least... Maybe. Nevertheless, he felt well enough to hold out on resting for a little longer. The Cranidos went forward and stopped next to Cynthian and Necrozma.

"I'll join you guys as well."