Air Continent ~ Pokemon Square

[Namohysip]

The Air Continent was, as the name implied, a drier, less humid place than the Grass Continent, yet it somehow seemed easier to breathe because of it. Gentle breezes were inescapable here, and the dirt was fine and light. The main hub of civilization on this continent--though there were many--was in a tautologically named village named Pokemon Square. While not very grand in terms of its size nor its structure, it was deceptively complex in its systems over the years.

It had similar facilities to Treasure Town. Banks, shops, residential districts, training areas, and of course, rescue facilities. While the need for rescues was slowly waning with the lowered Dungeon presence, that did not mean there was no longer a need for Rescue Teams at all. Danger would always be present, and as such, the smaller but still respectable systems were in place, and made their central planning for the continent here.

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In the square, several Pokemon gathered to mingle, socialize, and unwind after a hard day's work. The Air Continent shared a similar time zone to the Grass Continent, and it was, too, late in the afternoon when the others all appeared. It was a hasty retreat; the badges could not take them all the way to the Grass Continent, and Maple must not have wanted them to leave in parts, so she had brought them to where the badges would have sent them upon exiting.

The first thing Owen did when he came to was a headcount, as did several others on the team to cross-check for anybody missing. Thankfully, there were only a few who were, and they were certainly accounted for and fine: Maple, Lugia, and Meringue. Maple was unquestionably strong, and the other two were built for the sea.

But they counted and counted and something still wasn't adding up. After a little more deduction, it became clear...

Brisa and Starr were missing.

 

[Virgil134]

"Wait, what happened to Brisa and Starr?!" Cabot exclaimed, looking around the square to make sure they didn't just get teleported somewhere else nearby. "They didn't get left behind did they?"

 

[Torchic]

Cino looked around curiously after hearing they were missing, and did another check. His heart skipped a beat when he realized they were truly missing. "Oh no... oh- did they not manage to escape...?" His ears drooped. "Are they still down there?"

 

[Persephone]

“Maybe they died,” Cuicatl muttered. “Then they’d just be reborn and come back here. If they’re alive, they’re probably trapped on the ocean floor with no food or fresh water.”

 

[Adamhuarts]

"How did this happen? We have to go back for them!" Cynthian said, worry blanketing his face.

 

[Fusion]

"Maybe we should call the boss man and see if he knows?" Vix suggested. "He'd probably be the only one who could now anyway."

 

[Virgil134]

"Oh right! That's a good idea," Cabot replied.

Diyem? Can you sense where Starr and Brisa are?

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave looked around. The two Lugia weren't there, but they'd presumably be fine underwater. Maple was nowhere to be seen either. It was probably too much to hope she'd drowned, wasn't it. She'd summoned... Giratina? Wasn't that like the devil in the legendarian mythology, or something? Ruled an underworld? Was she secretly some kind of nutty Pokémon Satanist? He tried to remember what he'd read on this hippie religion. It wasn't all that much; it was a pretty dead and irrelevant one, in his universe. And yet here he was, in a cartoon, with a bunch of unicorns casually running around, no big deal.

He started as someone pointed out two more people were missing. Brisa...? Shit.

And... oh. Yeah. Curio had told him Diyem was that Dark Matter thing, hadn't she. That was a thing. He was some kind of weird monstrosity that'd destroyed worlds, and was trying to 'make up for' it?

...Honestly, more trustworthy than Maple.

More importantly, he realized with a pang of cold dread in his stomach, the moment Maple found out, they were dead.

Please let her have fucking drowned.

 

[Ambyssin]

Things had gone by so fast it was tough for Bahamut to understand what was going on. But he caught a glimpse of a giratina... and promptly became catatonic to everything going on around him.

He had no idea where the group ended up. Nor did he seem to notice the missing cats. Instead he just stared off into space.

 

[Persephone]

Cuicatl caught Necrozma's distinctive scent of stone and ozone. She walked closer before realizing that the dragon's heat seemed to be gone now.

"You want to talk about stuff, Necrozma?" She asked, quietly, trying not to draw attention to this corner of the group.

 

[windskull]

For the third (fourth? He needed to stop making a habit of this) time, Nip found himself in an unfamiliar civilized area. Everything had been so chaotic, he hadn't had time to process everything that had happened since the bubble began collapsing. All he knew was that two of their number were missing, as well as Maple and the two lugia. The lugia were likely fine. Maple's disappearence was concerning, though less so. Brisa and Starr, on the other hand...

"Maybe we should call the boss man and see if he knows?" Vix suggested. "He'd probably be the only one who could now anyway."

"The ghost has a point," Nip said, before sending a thought Diyem's way. Any sign of them? Or did they maybe... Are they with you?

Out loud, he said, "Anyone have a clue where we are? Should we get in contact with Truffle or Soda?"

 

[Fusion]

"The ghost has a point," Nip said, before sending a thought Diyem's way. Any sign of them? Or did they maybe... Are they with you?

"I'm Vix. I'm more candle than ghost actually," Vix corrected, but she didn't really take offense in the first place. She also happened to forget that she could have mind-shouted at Diyem herself, but she was pretty sure someone else already did it.

"Hey Diyem? Where are we?" Asking a totally different question shouldn't piss him off. Maybe.

 

[Namohysip]

It took a long time for Diyem to answer them, but calling out to him was enough.

I was trying to search for you until you reached me, but the same goes for Brisa and Starr. I cannot find them anywhere. Wait while I continue searching. They are not dead or they would be with me in Veritas City. Therefore I can only conclude they are trapped somewhere on Cibus... It will just take time for me to find them. They could also be unconscious, or didn't think to reach for me, or... any number of things.

"Then, they're just... gone for now? You'll--you'll find them, right?" Owen asked.

...I do not know. But I know where you are. You are on the Air Continent, in Pokemon Square. It is much like the Treasure Town of this region. Maple must have sent you here quickly to escape the collapsing bubble.

 

[Cresselia92]

Ah, so the new location was called Pokémon Square. Yes, Icetales got heavy Treasure Town vibes by just looking at the various stands. He could see that the new region had their own versions of Kecleon and Kangashkan, but he couldn’t help but wonder what were the odds of having “clone merchants” in a totally new region. Or was ‘shop keeper’ a renowned job among Kecleon and ‘storemon’ a typical job of all Kangaskhan?

Well, it did not matter much anyway. There was a more pressing issue at paw: two comrades were missing for reasons unknown, alongside the two Lugia and that weird Smeargle with arcane sorcery. Which were… comrades he didn’t know personally.

Regardless, they surely couldn’t stand there twiddling their tails and claws and wait for some miracle to happen, could they?

“Well then, what are we supposed to do now, good sir?” telepathed Icetales, keeping his mental voice calm and composed. “Should we gather some ‘mons for a research party? Explore the area? Restock supplies? Wait for some rescue team… which would be deliciously ironic, considering we are supposed to be rescuers as well, to some extent…?”

 

[windskull]

Nip shook his head. This was... real bad, to say the least. Though his thoughts were mostly aimed at Diyem, he also spoke them out loud to address the rest of the team.

"We have no idea where Maple is, nor how long it would take her to arrive. We can get in contact with the other members of her team, probably, but again, we're a long way away from them, if I understand correctly. At bare minimum, we should probably find someplace to shelter until they arrive, right?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Nip shook his head. This was... real bad, to say the least. Though his thoughts were mostly aimed at Diyem, he also spoke them out loud to address the rest of the team.

"We have no idea where Maple is, nor how long it would take her to arrive. We can get in contact with the other members of her team, probably, but again, we're a long way away from them, if I understand correctly. At bare minimum, we should probably find someplace to shelter until they arrive, right?"

"I mean," said Dave, "why do we want to wait for Maple? Or the 'God Squad'? For my parts, it's nice to not have those creeps watching our every move. Can't we just set out on our own and try to figure out where they've gone? How about that Giratina, did it get them? I read somewhere that it's supposed to rule some kind of underworld?" He paused. "Or, you know, if it does that here. In my world it doesn't actually exist."

 

[Persephone]

"At least one god can hear us right now," Cuicatl told Dave. "I would be more respectful, if only for that reason."

She stepped away from Necrozma. It didn't seem like she could reach him for now.

"But I think we should take some initiative while Diyem is busy. I suggest sticking together until we meet the locals and figure out if they're friendly or not."

 

[Namohysip]

"Actually, um..." Owen looked around. It seemed that several of the locals were already looking at them, appearing to be confused. There was a Gengar in particular who seemed to be hesitantly muttering to a nearby Gardevoir, who frowned and shrugged. They both left, though coming from the other side of the street were three Pokemon in a bit of a rush--they must have been informed of what had happened.

"What's going on?" called a Marowak.

"Is everything alright?" called a Blaziken right behind her.

"...I don't sense anything foreboding about them," an Absol finished, the third of their team.

Marowak frowned, tapping her bone club on the ground with anxiety. "...Hold on, this group... I heard about them. Didn't they show up a little under a month ago to save Team Spice?"

 

[SparklingEspeon]

All memories of Darkwhite were immediately forgotten when Tricky finally saw where they were. She recognized this place - how couldn't she? Any explorer worth their salt knew what this place was.

"I know where this place is!" she gleefully announced, leaping up from where she'd landed. "It's--"

You are on the Air Continent, in Pokemon Square.

Tricky's words died in her throat as soon as they'd bubbled up.

"...Not Pokemon Plaza?" she asked, her excitement replaced by confusion.

 

[Virgil134]

Air Continent? So they were in a different region entirely then... He'd heard back in Treasure Town about Cibus' various continents and had been curious to see them ever since. Unfortunately their mission hadn't left much room to go and explore Cibus, especially not anything this far out. However, if they were already here anyway...

When some of the locals approached the group, Cabot gave them a friendly wave in response.

"Hey there! We're indeed the group that saved Team Spice about a week ago. We were trying to do the same with Lugia at Silver Trench, but we had to leave the dungeon hurry, which is why we're all here."