Destiny Colosseum ~ Training Rooms

[Dragonfree]

"I don't know how the foods are so similar. But a lot of things in Cibus are similar to things in other worlds for no reason. It doesn't make any sense either that they have all the same Pokémon as in our world, even ones that are just virtual or made up. It's weird."

Mia watched Rocky as she ate. "The way we absorb food is kind of like Gabriel," she said. "He's a Slugma Pokémorph and his skin makes slime. He eats sand by absorbing it into the slime and dissolving it."

 

[Negrek]

"Really?" Rocky grinned. "I bet we could eat sand, too!" He looked at the ground around his feet with interest. "It's kind of dusty here. I wonder if that would work?" He prodded at the cobblestones with a toe. "I can make slime..." His ectoplasm seemed to melt, adhering gooily to the ground.

Nate gave Mia and Rocky a sidelong look, but the discussion of slime apparently wasn't enough to put him off his food. His second hot dog disappeared in a couple bites.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave'd had a long morning of attempted research at the guild library. By lunchtime he was starving and exhausted and just wanted some fucking food and sleep. He cut through Pasta Plaza, hoping to find some form of suitable quick greasy option that he could grab.

Only as he looked down the stalls he found... Mia, by a hotdog stand. And Rocky and Nate with her, gorging on their own hotdogs.

For a moment he was oddly affronted. Like Mia couldn't get her own fucking hotdogs with whoever she wanted. He considered whether to just ignore them and walk away. Could do that, but now he kind of wanted hotdogs.

He'd barely seen Mia since the fight, too.

Dave took a deep breath and approached them. "Hey. Enjoying the hotdogs?"

"Hi," Mia said, unfazed. "These ones are good."

He glanced at Nate and Rocky with a vague nod before placing an order for one with everything. "What have you all been up to?"

 

[Negrek]

Nate was in the process of demolishing his third hot dog when Rocky suddenly went all tense and alert. Just like he did whenever--oh, fuck. It was that guy. Nate narrowed his eyes at the mightyena. He still looked like hell. What the fuck was he doing here, anyway? What have you all been up to? like, oh, clearly Nate wasn't running around searching for that other substitute like he said he would. Well, fucking excuse you, some of us prefer to sleep now and again and not end up looking like we got sat on by a tyranitar. God, the mightyena was such an ass. Like there was some kind of problem with grabbing a hot dog once in a while.

Rocky put on a strained smile. "Hi, Dave!" he said, much too cheerfully. "We were just having hot dogs."

Nate made some kind of indistinct grumbling noise through his mouthful of hot dog. Perhaps he was agreeing.

Rocky went on brightly. "Mia says she liked to eat them with you back in your world. Isn't it funny that they taste the same here? Anyway, how are you doing? Did you, umm, figure anything out about Soda yet?"

Oh, for fuck's sake. Actually the last fucking thing Nate wanted to be talking about right now.

 

[Dragonfree]

Nate looked like he'd just discovered his hotdog was full of spiders. It was probably too much to hope he'd ever just be fucking normal, wasn't it. Whatever. Just not insisting he was a pedophile was a very low bar, but he'd take it.

"I mean, yeah. Everything in Cibus is fucking weird. It's not like it's just that they taste the same. Why'd Cibusian Pokémon come up with all the exact same fucking foods as the humans in our world, and I guess yours too? There's some specific history behind why hotdogs are a thing and no way in hell did that just happen to happen exactly the same way in a world that's all fucking Pokémon. I gave up trying to make sense of any of this within weeks of getting here."

Mia frowned at him. "There must be a real explanation, though."

"At this point I don't even care anymore." Dave bit off a mouthful of hotdog. It really did taste like home. He chewed it and just imagined they were back at their favorite hotdog stand having a chat about nonsense alternate universes. Just for a moment.

He took a breath after swallowing, looking off down the street. "As for Soda," he said, "apparently if his Substitutes kill themselves it'll stun him."

 

[Negrek]

"That's what I said!" Rocky exclaimed with delight as Dave went on to talk about how the foods on Cibus were the same as on both of their own worlds. "Maybe our worlds are closer together than we thought. Or there's some kind of link between them." He gave Nate a hopeful look, but the marshtomp didn't notice.

"Whth?" he said, and then swallowed. "That a thing for, like, all substitutes, or are Soda's special somehow? I swear, if it's just that nobody bothered to mention that before..."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave quirked an eyebrow at Rocky's question. "What is your world like? Do Pokémon talk over there, or...?" He glanced at Mia. She'd been hanging out with them this whole time, right? She'd have told him if their worlds were near-identical or something, right?

"Apparently, it's called Substitute Shock. Based on what I read today, it's very rare. One in a million kind of deal. Need to have a Substitute master, with Substitutes that last long enough and wind up having significantly different experiences from the host, to a point where their minds diverge. Obviously we've got that with Soda, with Soda Prime going parasite-crazy and the subs realizing they need to stop him ending the world."

 

[Negrek]

"They don't talk the way they do here, no," Rocky said. "Really powerful psychic pokémon can, sort of, but that's about it. Mostly it sounds like Marshtomp's world is pretty close to Starr's! She even speaks pretty much the same language as Marshtomp, her accent's just really funny. There's a mewtwo in her world, too. But a lot of the people are different. Like her world doesn't have a Red, I don't think. It definitely doesn't have a Silver."

"Mmm." Nate idly rubbed at his gills while he thought. "I mean, does that mean we could off that big ugly guy in Chip's lab to stun the Blacklight Whatever that's supposed to be controlling Soda? If those parasites are basically supposed to be substitutes, I mean. Like, yeah, I doubt the guy in the lab's changed his mind, based on how the other one was acting, but he must have had plenty of new experiences, running around in that mewtwo for however many months." He shrugged. "If it really is the Blacklight thing that's got ahold of Soda, maybe distracting it for a little bit would give you a chance to try and get through to him without it getting in the way."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave blinked. Christ, the ideas this guy came up with. "I'm sure it had plenty of experiences as Mewtwo and all, but somehow I doubt it's so different that the reconciliation would stun the host. Like, from what I read, that takes some form of major shift. It's a fucking parasite, not like it had some kind of grand personal enlightening while puppeting Mewtwo around."

Starr's world was definitely different enough from his that sharing the same foods was worth an eyebrow-raise even as a world with humans in it. "Well, my world definitely doesn't have a fucking Red or a Silver. Not real, anyway. Maybe they're cartoon characters. Don't pay that much attention to what Jean watches."

 

[Negrek]

"Maybe not," Nate said vaguely. He was still slowly pulling his gills through his fingers. "Gotta be something in there we can use, though."

"You think they might be cartoons?" Rocky said. "That would be so cool! Well, there's TV shows about Red in my world, too. And some of the others. But still." He gave Mia a somewhat sheepish look. "I don't think you like TV much, do you?"

(( Sharing similar foods, at least. Of course, if Nate had delved into it deeply enough with Starr, they could have figured out that bacon pancake emphatically does not exist in Salvage-world. ))

 

[Dragonfree]

"TV can be good," Mia said. "I like shows about science. Sometimes they have nature documentaries about Pokémon hunting. Those are good."

"Oh yeah," Dave said through another mouthful of hotdog. "She loves that stuff. Nature red in tooth and claw and all. Never a big fan of cartoons, though."

"Usually the cartoons are stupid," she agreed.

Dave looked at Nate for a moment, wondering whether to tell him more about Soda and what he'd been reading. Maybe he'd come up with something. Or maybe he'd just act like a fucking child. You could never know with him, could you.

 

[Negrek]

Nate laughed when Mia pronounced cartoons "usually stupid." "Damn, there's a refreshing take. Much rather hear all about pokémon facts than about which space pirate Captain Whatever-whatever blasted this week."

"What, like watching five thousand hours of battles is better?" Rocky asked. From the way Dave had talked about Red and Silver, he could tell he wasn't getting any help from that quarter. He folded his arms over his chest and raised his chin haughtily. "Cartoons are good. At least a lot of them. Even if the ones here on Cibus are kind of weird."

That was right. If he didn't go to Marshtomp's world, he'd never get to see any of the cool shows Marshtomp had heard his model talk about...

"Weird? Seems like they'd be even more into friendship and love and all that shit than the ones back home," Nate said. Ugh.

He considered going for another hot dog. It wasn't like he couldn't eat another one, or three, but there were an asston of hot dog stands in the world, and only one of them had the damn mightyena hanging around it. "Well, guess we'd better get going, then. Rocky, you got to try your hot dogs. Thanks for the idea, Mia. Now we got shit to do, substitutes to find, you know. All that."

 

[Dragonfree]

Oh. Right, he'd told him to look for the last Substitute, hadn't he. "Uh, I already found Blue last night. Was hanging out with Flesh. He's filled in. So no need to keep looking." Had he been looking? Fuck knew.

He hesitated a moment, looking away with a grimace. "If you get any other ideas, just... message me on the badge or something."

"Nate has a lot of good ideas," Mia said, helpfully.

"Cool. Let's go."

He waved vaguely at Nate and Rocky as he turned around.

"Thank you for the hotdogs," Mia said.

 

[Negrek]

"Sure," Nate said, raising a hand in response to Mia's thanks. He looked miffed. "What, he already found the guy? After like one day?"

"That's great! Sounds like you don't have to do anything," Rocky said.

"Yeah." Nate watched the mightyena depart with a grimace. "I was going to check on Flesh. I've been meaning to see that guy for ages," he grumbled.

Rocky grinned. "Well, you were right about where the substitute was! That's what matters, doesn't it?"

Nate just kept frowning for a few seconds. "That still counts, anyhow. I ain't doing that prick no more favors."

"Okay," Rocky said, still smiling. "That's two whole times you talked to him without getting in a fight!"

"Don't see what the big deal there is," Nate muttered. Rocky got another hot dog for the road, but Nate stayed where he was, only drifting vaguely after when his familiar decided to leave. Rocky was in high spirits the whole way along, bounding through the drifting petals and shoving bits of dripping hot dog in his face, just one bite at a time.

<><><>​

 

[Cresselia92]

A silver blur, and a wide slash. The shadow-fueled ice sword cut through the training dummy as if it was made of butter. A clean cut, straight in the middle of the dummy, and its two halves fell to the floor. The dark smoke and black ice covered the unfortunate target.

Standing in front of them was Icetales, exhaling clouds of ice from his nostrils while a shadow aura enveloped both his body and his mind. Bright blue eyes stared intently at the dummy and shard shadowy claws coursed through them, with the Ninetales feeling proud of himself.

But then, that sense of pride waned, and Icetales turned around and moved toward his box with the ice swords. He put down the one he had in his jaws, which broke apart as soon as the shadows left its blade.

“Golly, I am running out of swords…”

Then forge more. It is not like thou hast a problem with budget nor time.

“Perhaps I should…” Icetales tilted his head and his tails flicked in thought. “Unless I manage to summon that scythe at will.”

It appears that it only appears whenever our desire of hope and our deepest darkness emerge at the same time. Quite the near impossible situation to recreate during a moment of relaxation.

“Hmm… Thou hast a good point.” With a deep breath, Icetales dispelled the aura surrounding his body, and turned toward his bag. “Speaking of relaxation, I could use some tea right now…”

As such, the Ninetales stride toward his own bag and produced his cup of mint tea. He sipped some of that fresh liquid, and felt most of his stamina being restored.

Ah, indeed! Nothing was better than some good tea! Pity that he had no company to share it with…

 

[TheLastRanger13]

“Good technique, friend!” A graceful voice called out to him. Entering the area was the Bisharp Queen, Genevieve. “I see you are well versed in the sword.”

She smiled warmly, her hands elegantly placed behind her back. Joining him, she sniffed around, her brown eyes focusing on his cup.

“Tea?” She grinned with razor sharp teeth. “My, I can see the resemblance to myself.”

she stood by him and held her sheathe, looking at his handiwork.

“I’ve seldom seen a quadruped with a blade, but I have seen it before,” She pondered and rubbed her chin. “Your technique is admirable. Who taught you?”

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales’ ears swiveled instantly in the direction of that refined voice, and the fox focused on the newcomer. His eyes widened and his tails wagged.

“Oh! Queen Gene!” The Ninetales bowed with respect, holding his forepaw in front of his chest. “What a wonderful surprise to see thee here. I am most honored.”

With that greeting out of the way, he stood back up, poised and elegant. “Many thanks for thy compliments. I have trained hard in my homeworld to refine my technique. Mayhaps I am not the most skilled of my family, but I can handle myself fairly well.” He smiled. “I have learned all I could from the teachings of Lady Zacian. The art of quadrupedal fencing started from her.”

The Ninetales glanced at his teapot, then at Gene. “Dost thou fancy some tea? I have brewed plenty.”

 

[TheLastRanger13]

“Please,” she smiled gracefully and knelt down by him, hands on her lap. The bisharp grinned at the prospects of teatime. “Zacian… wow. You are lucky to have such teachings in your world, I would jump at the chance to meet a legendary again.”

The queen laughed.

“I say, as the girl with a Suicune as a mother,” she caught herself before she could laugh too hard. “But yes, Ninetales. It is quite the pleasure to speak with you again.”

“How goes you?” She shot him a coy grin. “And your lady?”

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales blinked in surprise. "Oh? Suicune is thy mother?" He poured some tea on a clean cup, mindful to not spill a single drop. "How fascinating! I know very few 'mons who are directly related to legends."

Hm. Makes me wonder if Father is a legendary, in a way. After all, he isn't a regular 'mon, so...

Daemons and legends aren't the same, however.

Who knows? Mayhaps there are legends even among daemons.

...Mayhaps.

"But dost not get me wrong. Legends in my world are seldom seen, but they are revered in every country. Some of them even saved the world from a great apocalyspe."

Icetales extended the cup of tea with one of his tails. "How things go with my... lady..." He coughed and looked away, a bit shyly. "I wager they are doing... fairly well. We are taking matters easy because of, well, the fact that our departure is due, so..." He shook his head and grinned. "To mirror the question, how are things going with thy dear one?"

 

[TheLastRanger13]

“Things go well with my future king,” She held her cheek and subdued a blush. “Even if I’m still thinking on how my people would react to a non bisharp king, but…”

She shrugged and held her cup, smelling it, relishing it’s scent.

“I do think things will work out,” She sipper at her drink. “In due time.”

She then looked at the prince with a nostalgic gaze.

“Still… I had no idea that another similar world like the one I helped save existed,” She looked around the colosseum, eyes stumbling on a crack in the wall. “And had its own group of outlanders to save. It’s all quite… amusing. Especially when our existences find parallels with each other.”

She eyed up his blades.

“It’s not often you see the blade in a pokemon’s paw, most would choose their abilities or other weapons,” She sipped again. “Excellent brew, by the way… reminds me of the herbal remedies of home… what is yours like? Your home, I mean? I do like to hear of worlds beyond mine.”