Fading Aria [KtK RP Thread: Mission 2]

[Shiny Phantump]

The music had a subtle power to it; anyone listening to it for more than a couple bars would feel a strong desire to sing along with it rising up in them.

Mel, despite being more resistant to most bodily pulls, found himself humming along to the melodica without thinking about it.

"Cinnabar? Yeah, I'm from Pallet," said Ichiro. "As for news, though, I wouldn't say I recall anything that big happening there recently. 'Course, if you stretch the definition of 'recently', there was the eruption of 146 After Burning. That was about a decade ago for me."

"Hold that thought for a bit," he said to Mel. "Where should we head? I think the melodica might be worth bringing back to the others, and I'm not seeing much of anything else that's interesting around these woods."

Mel nodded and turned to exit the clearing in implicit agreement. Was 146 AB a calendar system? Wasn't one from any of the human cultures Mel was from, even if Pallet was another place she was familiar with. If there was any relationship between Ichiro's reality and her own, then Ichiro was in her future. Possibly the far future. But possibly not.

No matter how far off it was, the volcano was bound to go at some point in Mel's timeline. It was a tale as old as human civilizations. Fertile andisol and proximity to waterways lured in human developments, then the volcano claimed its due. Cinnabar wasn't even the first community to built on its island. One day, it was bound to join the strata of buried communities it was built on. Ichiro wasn't describing his eruption as a major disaster, but it was bad enough to remember. And even if it got a stay of execution, it would be no more than that. Its personal significance it held to the human called Melody, and by extension all of Mew, would not spare it from going the way of all the civilizations they observed. The stories of her capture and Mewtwo's creation would be washed away by the flow of volcanic rock one day.

"If the events of our worlds align, then you're well ahead of me. Anything I'm asking about is probably history to you, probably before you were born."

It was unlike them to to be this blunt, to directly admit to what they wanted, to show their own throat. Asking this question after transforming in front of him was paramount to telling him exactly who they were. On the other hand, it was probably clear already. If Ichiro had some insight into even one possible future, they wanted to know.

"Does your world have a Mewtwo? Where I'm from, they broke free from a place they were being held in Cinnabar. Even if it came at a cost in blood, I still wish them to know freedom and peace."

 

[ShiniGojira]

And the harmonica... came out of the niche, easily, and rested innocently in Rachel's hand. It continued to hum away, sending up irregular spurts of bubbles. If Rachel brought it into the bubble with her, it would sound loud and clear in the pocket of air. Its tune hadn't changed.

Is that it? All that fuss for this? Tomomichi's tentacool asked. How'd that thing even get down here, anyway?

Maybe it's always been down here, the other tentacool said. It's ancient treasure!

Rachel blinked. That was it?

All that paranoia and distrust for something that she could've just had Luni teleport in and grab? That was it?

Still... She looked at the instrument in her hands. Maybe something would happen if they brought it back to the surface? She was sorta tempted to just have Luni teleport them back to the surface instead of swimming back manually, just in case there was some secret malicious creature waiting for them to let their guard down.

In the meantime, she thanked the Tentacool for their help and swam, holding the harmonica tightly. "Alright, Tomomichi, Luni, Kricketot. Let's head back. I think we're done here?"

 

[canisaries]

"If the events of our worlds align, then you're well ahead of me. Anything I'm asking about is probably history to you, probably before you were born."

Ichiro eyed Mel. Her previous appearance as a human hadn't struck him as especially historical, but he supposed the MP3 player was outdated. How outdated, he couldn't say for sure, as he'd never been an avid follower of tech, and he hadn't exactly had any friends at school growing up.

"Does your world have a Mewtwo? Where I'm from, they broke free from a place they were being held in Cinnabar. Even if it came at a cost in blood, I still wish them to know freedom and peace."

"Ah... maybe?" Ichiro said. "Mewtwo's kind of an urban legend where I come from, and not one I'm that familiar with. I think it's got to do with some kind of explosion at a Cinnabar lab that killed a lot of scientists. The official story is that it was some accident with highly reactive compounds, but cryptid enthusiasts say that it's a coverup. Myself, I don't really have an opinion. Didn't even..." He paused. Should I tell them this? It could lead to some uncomfortable follow-up questions...

Ah, whatever. I can always refuse to answer if anything becomes too incriminating.

"Didn't even ask Arceus himself when I met him," he said. "Though, well, I also had other things on my mind at the moment." He cleared his throat. "So, what's up with the shapeshifting, anyway? You seem too tangible to be a zoroark, and I don't think ditto get as smart as you..."

A realization flashed in his mind, and he felt stupid. "Oh. A mew? The mew that they said Mewtwo was made from, even?"