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Treasure Town ~ Residential District

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Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
"What...?" Owen stepped forward, hesitant. "She isn't distorted by Shadows or anything..."

"Those felt like Diyem's Shadows," Cal remarked. "Hey! Where were you before you showed up here?"

"Is she safe?" Balm asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I think she is," Owen reported. "She might be one of us."

"Well, that explains why I don't feel any corruption off of her..." Cepa hummed.

"You can do that now?" Owen asked.

"It's really subtle," the pink Celebi explained. "But I'm starting to get a tiiiiny feel for it."
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
"How d'you do?" said Luz, beaming at the opportunity to make a new friend. Or nemesis, as it may be! "I'm Zeraora Luz, ultra shade and member of Team Spectrum. Welcome to Cibus, it's a pleasure t'make yer acquaintance!"

She proffered a massive black paw for a shake.
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
"Oh... huh," Vix hummed, floating down towards the Sneasel. "Are you alright?"

"Hrmph. I suppose it could be worse," the Sneasel harrumphed. "But suddenly waking up in some podunk town with my bag and scarf snatched isn't my idea of a good time!"

"Those felt like Diyem's Shadows," Cal remarked. "Hey! Where were you before you showed up here?"

"Well, the last thing I remember from what was definitely my world was that I was at a tavern taking a break and talking with some partners about..."

The Sneasel trailed off a moment, before biting her tongue and continuing on with a dismissive wave.

"Eh, business. You know, grunt work getting items together, selling them off for some coin. Normal, boring stuff, eh? Anyhow, I'd crashed for the night after that and woke up in some trippy place with glass boxes everywhere called 'Veritas City'. I'd spent some time trying to find a way back when I crossed paths with some Charizard who called himself 'Diyem', who offered me a tip for a job in some place called 'Cibus'."

The Dark-Type trailed off and looked around at her surroundings warily.

"Which is what I'm assuming this two-bit village is. Anyhow, I started to get second thoughts after he was coy about how I'd get back home from it, when there was suddenly this tremor and then he jumped me! I dunno how hard he hit me or how long I've been out, but I remember him pulling me under his wings and the next thing I remember is being trapped in some dark haze with... things moving about in it."

The Sneasel shook her head before giving a sour frown back.

"Anyhow, if you all happen to have a map, I'll gladly get moving along. Whatever job Diyem had in mind, I'm out if this was his idea of a debriefing!"

"How d'you do?" said Luz, beaming at the opportunity to make a new friend. Or nemesis, as it may be! "I'm Zeraora Luz, ultra shade and member of Team Spectrum. Welcome to Cibus, it's a pleasure t'make yer acquaintance!"

She proffered a massive black paw for a shake.

The Sneasel looked over to Luz and tensed up, getting the sense that perhaps this 'Cibus', much like Veritas City, was not in the same world as her native Varhyde. She hadn't kept tabs of mythology that closely, though she knew that she'd heard in passing that 'Zeraora' to be the name of some manner of Legendary that watched over a faraway land. All the ones within spitting distance of Varhyde and its surroundings were busy pushing up daisies thanks to offing each other in battle years ago, and unlike the tales of impending rebirth that sometimes went about the commonfolk, had stayed that way as far as anyone could tell.

So then was this 'Zeraora' the real thing? Or was it a Ditto pulling a fast one on her? Either way, one thing was for certain, she wasn't named like anyone she was familiar with...

"'Zeraora Luz'? As in that's supposed to be your name? Isn't the 'Zeraora' part a bit redundant given that's just the Pokémon you are? For instance, I'm 'Kate' back where I'm from. And if gods forbid I'm stuck with another 'mon called 'Kate', I'd be 'Kate the Quickpaw' to make it a bit clearer."

Kate pawed at her shoulder, giving a wary glance about the gathered Pokémon as her thoughts turned back towards what she remembered of her conversation with Diyem before her nightmare... assuming it was one, anyways.

"Not that I'd normally go blurting that out loud to random strangers, but I get the feeling that you're not all just here to dust me off and send me away out of the goodness of your hearts."
 

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
"Nope," Cal said flatly. "You know Diyem, so you're with us. Welcome to the world-saving biz." The black-blob Charmander crossed her arms, and the golden flames she had for eyes flickered with interest.

"What Cal means," Owen said gently, and the Charmeleon tittered nervously in response, "is that until we can rescue Diyem and save Cibus, I don't think we can actually go back home. Um. So. Welcome to the team?" Nervously, he held out a hand.
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
Luz' fanged grin grew wider with every sentence she heard out of the newcomer. What an unexpected delight, to meet someone who'd yet to learn anything at all about Cibus.

"Well let's see," she said, counting off points on her digits. "My name is Luz Escarpa, the 'zeraora' bit is just a courtesy fer folks who ain't heard of the species. 'Course, I'm not even strictly one of 'em, I'm an ultra shade, but you'll find out about that soon enough. Cibus is this entire world, you're stuck here until the crisis here is done and dusted, and I sure hope yer fightin' acumen is somethin' to bet on, 'cause we've been fightin' gods 'n' all sorts."

She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "That Diyem fella fell outta touch with his posse down here some time ago. I figure you must be the very last of his volunteer heroes to arrive, if he got jumped by somethin' and had to send you in a hurry. We're fightin' interdimensional threats here, it's..."

Luz' bright and indefatigable face faltered for less than a second.

"It's rather a lot to contend with. ...We'd better get you up to speed."
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
"Nope," Cal said flatly. "You know Diyem, so you're with us. Welcome to the world-saving biz." The black-blob Charmander crossed her arms, and the golden flames she had for eyes flickered with interest.

"What Cal means," Owen said gently, and the Charmeleon tittered nervously in response, "is that until we can rescue Diyem and save Cibus, I don't think we can actually go back home. Um. So. Welcome to the team?" Nervously, he held out a hand.

Kate gave a brow raise back at the pair, before taking the Charmeleon's hand.

"Tch, I don't suppose someone could've told Diyem not to go full fairytale on us with this 'rescue the world before we go home' shtick," she sighed. "But it sounds like he's roped you all in under similar circumstances, so guess I don't have much of a choice here, huh?"

Luz' fanged grin grew wider with every sentence she heard out of the newcomer. What an unexpected delight, to meet someone who'd yet to learn anything at all about Cibus.

"Well let's see," she said, counting off points on her digits. "My name is Luz Escarpa, the 'zeraora' bit is just a courtesy fer folks who ain't heard of the species. 'Course, I'm not even strictly one of 'em, I'm an ultra shade, but you'll find out about that soon enough. Cibus is this entire world, you're stuck here until the crisis here is done and dusted, and I sure hope yer fightin' acumen is somethin' to bet on, 'cause we've been fightin' gods 'n' all sorts."

She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "That Diyem fella fell outta touch with his posse down here some time ago. I figure you must be the very last of his volunteer heroes to arrive, if he got jumped by somethin' and had to send you in a hurry. We're fightin' interdimensional threats here, it's..."

Luz' bright and indefatigable face faltered for less than a second.

"It's rather a lot to contend with. ...We'd better get you up to speed."

Kate flattened her ears at the mention of 'ultra shades', 'fighting gods', and 'interdimensional threats'. So Luz wasn't actually Zeraora... or a Pokémon for that matter. This was certainly a bit more to wrap her head around than ripping off dweebs in a Mystery Dungeon, but if she was offering to give her a primer...

"Try me. What have I been missing out on, and what exactly are we up against here?"

"Besides, being here is not so bad!" Pleo insisted. "We're a strong team and almost everyone is really nice, so I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends!"

The young Lugia gave Kate a cheery smile.

"I'm Pleo, by the way!"

Kate shot a glance over at Pleo puzzledly. She was unsure what to make of the bird that was the same shade of black as Luz... so he was an Ultra Shade too...?

"Are you supposed to be Lugia? Isn't it supposed to be a bit bigger than that? What exactly are you 'Ultra Shade' things anyways?"
 

Fusion

Oh knee on
Location
Here, silly
Pronouns
Him/His
Partners
  1. zoroark
"I believe they're... uh..." Vix hummed, furrowing a brow she didn't have. "I can't remember. Something about our shade, I think." She held out her bag, opening it to show a puddle of shade-colored goop. "Mine hasn't fully formed, for some reason. I named him Puddle."

"Yo," Puddle popped.
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
"Try me. What have I been missing out on, and what exactly are we up against here?"
"Well let's see, maybe I can summarise," said Luz, folding her arms and tapping her chin with one claw. "But this is gonna be a rough ride even in condensed form, I tell ya! Get ready!"

She barely waited for Kate to mentally brace herself before launching into a prepared speech.

"You 'n' Team Spectrum are agents of Diyem, a.k.a. Dark Matter, a bein' of dark thoughts 'n' feelings who's tryin' to make recompense fer past misdeeds. We channel his power, called shadow, to outdo ourselves in battle. Also helpin' out are God Squad, a posse of pokémon usin' a fantastic power of light and life called radiance to save other worlds, and they've granted us that power too. You'll start feelin' it soon just from bein' around us! But Cibus is a world where emotions mess with yer aura, and folks are goin' walkabout from it! We're callin' it the Blacklight Crisis. Complicatin' matters even further, we think a world-eatin' entity called Eternatus is lookin' to make Cibus its next snack. With me so far, partner?"

Luz didn't wait for a 'yes'.

"Great! The God Squad and ourselves are teamin' up to take down a human fella from another world called Giovanni, who's taken the form of some legendary pokémon and wants to use the powers of shadow, radiance, and Eternatus to make himself a livin' weapon unlike any other. He's stolen a friend and ally of ours to put all that power into, and our next mission is to try and find and rescue her! Our recent fights were against higher legendaries, so we're expectin' to go up against the likes of which nobody's ever seen by the time we're done here. No worries, though. We've been takin' things as they come!"

She gave Kate two big thumbs up, unheeding of the effect her words were having on the newcomer. She'd be fine! Someone needed to break all that to her at some point, it may as well be now!

"What exactly are you 'Ultra Shade' things anyways?"
"Oh, and Ultra Shades are still pretty mysterious, but we're juvenile necrozma. We take forms inspired by the minds of the folks we're telepathically bonded to! I'm based on the folklore my host grew up with as a kid."

She leaned down with one oversized paw dramatically to one side of her mouth, to stage-whisper dramatically: "I'm her idea of a fearless hero! That's why I'm like this!"

She clapped Kate on the shoulder—fairly gently for her size—and gestured broadly to their surroundings.

"Happy to answer yer follow-up questions, partner. But if y'need a breather, that's mighty fine too."
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
"I believe they're... uh..." Vix hummed, furrowing a brow she didn't have. "I can't remember. Something about our shade, I think." She held out her bag, opening it to show a puddle of shade-colored goop. "Mine hasn't fully formed, for some reason. I named him Puddle."

"Yo," Puddle popped.

Kate raised a brow back at Vix at her mention of Puddle not 'being fully formed' and the puddle of black goop in her bag, casting a quick glance back at Pleo and Luz who were also supposed to be Shades, as she muttered to herself under her breath.

"Well, if these Shade things are Pokémon, they're certainly not one I've ever heard of," she said, when Luz cheerfully cut in.

She clapped Kate on the shoulder—fairly gently for her size—and gestured broadly to their surroundings.

"Happy to answer yer follow-up questions, partner. But if y'need a breather, that's mighty fine too."

Kate blinked at Luz's enthusiastic and... thorough answer to her questions. She was pretty sure she missed a step or two between 'Blacklight Crisis' and 'Giovanni', but for the sake of her ears, it was probably for the best to go along to get along and figure things out along the way.

"Er... yeah, I think that I can manage there, but thanks for the run-down," she said, before giving an impatient look about her surroundings.

"So what exactly were we doing here again? Or do we have places to be for this whole 'saving the world' thing?"
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
"So what exactly were we doing here again? Or do we have places to be for this whole 'saving the world' thing?"
Luz shrugged. "We just got finished with our last throwdown, and we're restin' up ready fer the next mission. As fer yer good self, you're free to turn it down, but there's a room at the guildhouse in Destiny Village if y'want it. Could get you set up with a team badge and communicator, yer own ultra stone so's you can have a familiar of yer own, all that sorta thing. If you'd rather have a stiff drink, that's fair enough too."

Luz would be available if Kate wanted, but it was all the same to her. As soon as the sneasel had had enough, she'd move on to the next sufficiently interesting interaction.
 

Fusion

Oh knee on
Location
Here, silly
Pronouns
Him/His
Partners
  1. zoroark
Vix nodded. "Yeah, you're pretty much free to do anything until another big fight comes along. It's pretty fun, honestly!"

"Sure is, when you're actually hanging out with people," Puddle cleared its non-existent throat. Vix slapped the side of her bag and huffed.
 

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
"All clear!" Cepa called, flying down from the other side of the town square. "It wasn't that hard to purify the folks here. The Shadows totally o erwhelmed them, but all it did was turn them into brooding grumps, not hostile."

"Well, that confirms it," Cal said flatly. "Those were Diyem's Shadows for sure. He's always a brooding grump!"

"Is it really that simple?" Balm frowned. The Sceptile sighed and thanked Cepa, then said to the others, "I think we should pay another visit to Destiny Village with you guys. It sounds like a lot happened since we left to spend time with Team Spice..."
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
Pronouns
He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. quilava-fobbie
  5. sneasel-kate
Luz shrugged. "We just got finished with our last throwdown, and we're restin' up ready fer the next mission. As fer yer good self, you're free to turn it down, but there's a room at the guildhouse in Destiny Village if y'want it. Could get you set up with a team badge and communicator, yer own ultra stone so's you can have a familiar of yer own, all that sorta thing. If you'd rather have a stiff drink, that's fair enough too."

Luz would be available if Kate wanted, but it was all the same to her. As soon as the sneasel had had enough, she'd move on to the next sufficiently interesting interaction.

Vix nodded. "Yeah, you're pretty much free to do anything until another big fight comes along. It's pretty fun, honestly!"

"Sure is, when you're actually hanging out with people," Puddle cleared its non-existent throat. Vix slapped the side of her bag and huffed.

Kate moved a claw to her mouth and thought the matter over before shrugging back with an impish grin.

"I mean, if we're not in any rush to get a move on. Once I get a replacement for my scarf, I could personally go for a nice, cold pilsner. I'll let you show me the ropes of this team thing afterwards, and I'll probably be sober for it."

"Is it really that simple?" Balm frowned. The Sceptile sighed and thanked Cepa, then said to the others, "I think we should pay another visit to Destiny Village with you guys. It sounds like a lot happened since we left to spend time with Team Spice..."

"Eh? Is that where you all set up shop?" Kate asked. "But I don't mind heading off, just show me around a bit when we get there."
 

Fusion

Oh knee on
Location
Here, silly
Pronouns
Him/His
Partners
  1. zoroark
"I mean, if we're not in any rush to get a move on. Once I get a replacement for my scarf, I could personally go for a nice, cold pilsner. I'll let you show me the ropes of this team thing afterwards, and I'll probably be sober for it."

"Ha, I like this one already," Puddle laughed.

"Weren't you against drinking last time I tried it?" Vix groaned, then shook her head and looked at Kate again. "I don't think anyone would mind showing you the ropes, sober or not."
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
Luz clapped her hands together in satisfaction. "Brilliant! There're some lovely drinkin' houses in Destiny Village and here, and I'll say this fer Cibus: the caterin' in this world is outstandin'. Better'n anythin' from my memories of Brisa's world, anyhow. Let me give y'all a little tour..."

The ultra shade lead Kate (and accompanying members of Team Spectrum) to the Spinda Cafe at a lazy stride, eager to fulfil the requests of their newest member, and learn a little about her world in the process, if possible. Gosh, everything was so interesting.

<><><><><>​
 
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