Destiny Village ~ Central Crossroads

[Spiteful Murkrow]

The team advanced, deciding to send some of them to aid the injured--aside from Toffee, there had been a few others as well--and the rest of them continued to the Northern Pines to investigate. Charizard was going fast, and S'more had landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Stuck the landing, however.

Arceus erected a golden barrier in front of the forest, and the Charizard suddenly spread out his wings to come to a halt. He turned back toward Arceus, snarling, and readied another blast of Blacklight--but before he could do anything, he suddenly looked surprised, like someone out of view had touched him on the back.

He disappeared in a flash of light, like he was never there. A Teleport.

Brisa pursued the fleeing charizard with Kate for a hot minute, then skidded to a halt as the bastard vanished.

"Well that's that," she said, spitting on the ground. "There's not much to be said fer conventional mobility in the face of fuckin' teleportation. Goddamnit."

She loped closer to the rest of the Team Spectrum group.

"Reckon that coulda been Diyem," she commented, loud enough for most to hear, particularly Starr who was okay thank goodness and those nearest her. "Captured and exposed to radiance and mind-control. Alternatively, it coulda been some other charizard, and gods know there's a few of 'em about. Salt and sand and spit, I don't like the smell of this."

Kate pulled her ears back and looked up at the empty sky with a furrowed brow.

"Not that Diyem would exactly be a normal Charizard, but can he teleport?" she asked. "That doesn't exactly seem like something Charizard can do, so is it possible at all that we're dealing with some sort of imposter?"

The Sneasel looked back towards the guild hall as smoke continued to curl up from its charred wreckage.

"Though either way, if the 'mon's already cut and run, we should try and learn more about what we're dealing with here," she said. "There's no telling when he'll be back."

 

[Ambyssin]

Esper had been trying to get in touch with Bahamut but had gotten what he could only assume was the telepathic equivalent of an answering machine. "Oh, for pity's sake... another char? Okay, so Diyem or not... that's Owen Eight." The poipole then noticed Kate.

"Speaking of redundancy... good grief." He floated into the sneasel's path. "You new or something? Great. Welcome to Team Unoriginality! Where a rock-type could steamroll the bulk of you without breaking a sweat."

 

[Namohysip]

Maple had appeared just a little too late, her fur smoldering. She must have woken up via explosives again due to her heavy sleeping habits. "What happened?" she said, immediately performing a head count. Most of the notable Pokemon were there, but it seemed like a lot of them were missing due to how much of a short notice it all was.

Toffee came to, but she was shaken up and disoriented. "What... what happened? I was--there was this explosion, a-and..."

Balm snarled, finally back to his feet. It still hurt, but the wounds were gone. "It was that Charizard... Who was... He came out of the Guild. He came from the Guild's direction..."

"Where is Shield?" Maple asked.

"shouldn't be still be in the Guild?" Cepa asked.

But just then, Shield emerged and blasted Toffee with a Heal Pulse, continuing to repair her wounds. There was a furious look in his eyes. "Where is it?" he said, looking left and right. "My Harmony Scarf. Someone--someone stole it."

 

[Virgil134]

"Wait that Charizard was wearing a blue scarf," Cabot said as he caught up with the group. "He must have attacked the guild to steal it."

"Eh? But why would he go through so much trouble just to steal someone's scarf?" Pleo asked.

 

[IFBench]

Oh.

Saltriv's eyes widened in realization.

 

[Virgil134]

"Huh?" Cabot looked at Saltriv in surprise. "Is something the matter?"

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Esper had been trying to get in touch with Bahamut but had gotten what he could only assume was the telepathic equivalent of an answering machine. "Oh, for pity's sake... another char? Okay, so Diyem or not... that's Owen Eight." The poipole then noticed Kate.

"Speaking of redundancy... good grief." He floated into the sneasel's path. "You new or something? Great. Welcome to Team Unoriginality! Where a rock-type could steamroll the bulk of you without breaking a sweat."

"I can't speak for the others, but meh," Kate scoffed. "I know Brick Break. I'm sure I'd live through that Rock-Type."

Maple had appeared just a little too late, her fur smoldering. She must have woken up via explosives again due to her heavy sleeping habits. "What happened?" she said, immediately performing a head count. Most of the notable Pokemon were there, but it seemed like a lot of them were missing due to how much of a short notice it all was.

Toffee came to, but she was shaken up and disoriented. "What... what happened? I was--there was this explosion, a-and..."

Balm snarled, finally back to his feet. It still hurt, but the wounds were gone. "It was that Charizard... Who was... He came out of the Guild. He came from the Guild's direction..."

"Where is Shield?" Maple asked.

"shouldn't be still be in the Guild?" Cepa asked.

But just then, Shield emerged and blasted Toffee with a Heal Pulse, continuing to repair her wounds. There was a furious look in his eyes. "Where is it?" he said, looking left and right. "My Harmony Scarf. Someone--someone stole it."

"Can't help you there, toots. Since you Lucario are supposed to be able to sense other 'mons from clear across a town," the Sneasel piped. "Though I thought dogs were supposed to have a good sense of smell. If your wibbly-wobbly aura thing isn't helping you here, couldn't you just check if anything smelled funny at the last place you left it and track the thief down that way?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Not that Diyem would exactly be a normal Charizard, but can he teleport?"

"I've no goddamn clue. The fella has a number of powers no ordinary pokémon could hope to achieve. But you're right about a possible imposter, that could just as easily have been an illusion or a shapeshifter."

Brisa groaned under her breath at the arrival of confused, angry, powerful pokémon demanding answers. Also, the arrival of Fucking Esper. As she was thinking up a diplomatic way to address the situation, others answered for her. Including Kate, antagonising Shield for no reason that Brisa could discern. Gods.

"If the charizard took the scarf, we know at a minimum that they know why it's important, or work fer someone who does, namely Giovanni."

Brisa gave Shield a hard look. "Hey fella. Yer doppelganger's partner became a charizard in this world, name of Nutmeg. Did you ever know Sword as a charizard, or only as a mew?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Esper blinked at Kate. "Ohmygod Dork Matter is the worst recruiter ever."

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Okay, someone wanna start with why the hell that scarf is so important and why we should care that it got taken?" Starr asked with a huff. "I kind of doubt that it was taken for its sentimental value."

 

[IFBench]

"From what my uncle told me, the Harmony Scarves contained power of evolution and were connected to the Tree of Life! That Charizard might be heading there to do something to it!" Saltriv exclaimed.

 

[Virgil134]

Pleo tilted his head and gave Saltriv a puzzled look.

"Tree... of Life?" the young Lugia asked.

 

[IFBench]

"It's a tree that keeps the planet spinning, guarded by Xerneas. Dark Matter caused it to wither in my world to try and cause the planet to fall into the sun," Saltriv explained.

 

[Namohysip]

"Yes," Shield said. "It has the powers of the Tree of Life--maybe the last memory and keepsake I have of Telum. It saved Sword and I once and let us fully evolve, temporarily. Before I had truly evolved, I had used it when in a crisis... And now it's..." His aura sensors twitched, like they'd subconsciously taken Kate's advice, and he looked back. "Wait..."

And suddenly, he rushed back into the main building, destroyed as it was. A few more followed him, but most stayed outside. Maple skipped ahead, forming a portal where she had sensed Shield in the building to take a look from the outside.

"What..." Maple blinked.

They could all see it from the Crossroads, through Maple's portal. Shield was standing in the middle of one of the dorm rooms, staring at something, dumbfounded. Maple tried to angle her portal a little differently, and then flinched.

There, sleeping in bed, was Charmeleon Owen. A nasty looking welt blemished his right thigh. Wrapped around his neck was Shield's harmony scarf.

 

[Ambyssin]

"DUN DUN DAAAAAAAAAAA! The plot thickens!" Esper did jazz hands.

 

[Dragonfree]

"I don't think he teleported," Mia said. "I think someone else did."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Aw hell," said Brisa. "This blacklight corruption deal just gets worse by the fuckin' minute, don't it?"

 

[Namohysip]

Shield didn't think. He saw his scarf and he took it, lunging forward and yanking it off of Owen, who yelped in surprise and rolled over. "What? What--what happened? H-hello?" He scrambled to his feet, ready to fight, but only saw Shield staring back at him, eyes filled with fury.

"Shield...?"

"Ugh, what's all the noise?" Cal groaned, poking her head out from her Ultra Stone.

"Owen... Why did you have the Harmony Scarf?" Maple asked. "Did you..."

Owen was standing oddly, and he seemed perplexed by this at first, until he checked the back of his leg. It looked like it was injured by some kind of blunt force...

 

[Dragonfree]

"That looks like the injury S'more gave the Charizard who just flew around destroying things," Mia pointed out, helpfully.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Oh, oh, wait. I think I know how this story goes." Esper took a deep breath in and, in the most stoner-like voice he could manage, declared, "It's a conspiracy, maaaaaaaan!" He blew some Blacklight vapor in Mia's general direction.