Game Week of the Multiverse: Togetic Arcade

[IFBench]

In one part of the Riverside Plaza was a large building, covered in the markings of the Togepi line. Inside was a large space, filled with various objects for entertainment.

There were several raised platforms around, covered in various game pieces. One table had a red and blue checkerboard on it, and several red and blue figurines, red on one side, blue on the other, resembling a board of chess. Another table had several sheets of paper on it, detailing aspects of made-up characters. Another had various cards on it, detailing various Pokemon, such as an Alakazam, a Kangaskhan, and a Whiscash.

In one corner, a group of Pokemon were gathered around in a circle. "Truth or dare?" one of them asked, immediately followed by another one of them shouting "Dare!" The first voice followed up with the words, "I dare you to duel Leafeon!" Several shocked gasps followed.

To the side, a doorway stood, leading to another room of the arcade. It was difficult to see what was inside purely by gazing through the entrance, but various clicks and taps were audible. On the opposite side of the arcade, another doorway stood. Music could be heard coming from within.

And at the entrance of the building, a Togetic stood, smiling as he watched the Pokemon having fun in their arcade.

 

[Luxray1000]

Dusk entered the arcade and looked around. The arcade seemed to be a nice place. Perhaps he could take his mind off his worries for an hour or two here.

Shame Kora wasn't feeling so good... he hoped the Zoroark was okay. Maybe he'd be well enough to show up later.

 

[IFBench]

An Oshawott, Chikorita, and a Charmander made their way to the corner of the arcade, and sat down.

"S-should we wait for the others to arrive, or should we start now?" Gen asked.

"I'd say we should wait for at least one other person. It's more fun with more people," Burhalla answered.

 

[Navar]

Brian arrived after the others, adjusting his goggles. He had a large smirk on his face, enough to show off his teeth. Of course, not to intimidate anyone, just to demonstrate how happy he was. After all, he reunited with his team, and they were about to play truth or dare! Well, that was fun.

Not to mention how pretty that arcade looked. Brian looked with sparkly bright-blue eyes, checking out every corner, every aspect of that place. Okay, all that was left was finding some snacks! Well, Kora did bake cookies, so that part was already taken care of. He strolled towards the Charmander, Oshawott and Chikorita trio, before someone poked his shoulder.

Meggie was giggly, floating in the air like usual, and shaked Brian's paw. They stared at each other and continued the walk, sitting down next to all the others with a bright smile on their faces.

 

[Fusion]

"S'cuse us!" A voice yipped as a tray piled surprisingly high with sugar cookies floated into the arcade, held up by reddish-purple psionics. Then came another tray with chocolate chip, another with double chocolate chip, and one with oatmeal raisin with noticeably less cookies than the others, until one pink-tinted Kora walked in the door. In his arms he carried Lance. "O-Oh, heya Togetic! I, uh, hope you don't mind I brought some snacks for my friends, hehe!"

As Kora walked over to the others, two more trays floated in behind him. One of snickerdoodles, and another with an assortment of berry-flavored cookies. "Hope we're not late! I mighta gotten a little ahead of myself, hehe!" he beamed, setting the cookies down on a free table. "We didn't miss anything, right?"

 

[Navar]

Lance pecked his boyfriend on the cheek and soon waved at the others. "Hello, everyone!"

He held one of the cookies on his free paw, and took a bite out of it, swallowing the cookie down his throat. Everyone was there! Oh, Gen was there! This was already shaping up to be a nice and relaxing session. Good, that was the intention. Lance smiled, wagging his tail.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Lillie smelled something good, and heard some music. She followed the sense until it lead her to the arcade.

A group of people was meeting there. They had cookies, but they probably weren't for her, she hadn't even known about it until she'd smelled them. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

 

[Fusion]

"Howdy Lillie!" Kora yipped happily, waving her over. "We were gonna do a few rounds of truth or dare, and I made cookies! Like... a lotta cookies, hehe..."

This might be his chance to make up with her! She'd be one less person hating him across the multiverse! "I dunno what everyone liked so I just made as many as I knew how too, you can try 'em if you wanna! Ya ain't even gotta play truth or dare with us either."

 

[Luxray1000]

Dusk noticed that the arcade was filling up fast. A couple of the people, he recognized, like Kora and Team Searchlights. Others, he didn't, like the Lucario, the Froslass, and the... strange, Mismagius-esque Pokemon. Yesterday I'd probably have questioned that. But after an actual Mew, a Zoroark that can actually transform instead of making illusions, a Lycanroc who owns a Time Gear... a strange-looking Mismagius doesn't seem at all odd by comparison.

"Hi, Kora!" he said. "Glad to see you're feeling better. And hello, everyone else. My name is Dusk, nice to meet you all!"

 

[Navar]

"I'm Lance. Lance Williams," the Lucario said, giving Dusk a thumbs-up, still on his boyfriend's arms. It was too good.

"Brian. I'm his brother!" the Zoroark pointed to Lance, and then to the Froslass. "We're a team. The three of us."

"Meggie here," she said. "Nice to meet you."

 

[Namohysip]

"It's here, it's here! C'mon, Slowpoke, keep it going!"

"Is this really necessary?" Barky growled, trying to get the Mew on his back off of him. It wasn't working, mostly because he refused to make any sudden movements that wouldn't be considered graceful.

"Yes, it is! We've just been lounging around for two days at this point! Your meditation is boring and you won't let me go anywhere alone, so you know what, I'm dragging you here instead!" Star prodded at Barky to go faster. "Now, if anybody sees you and screams, what do you do?"

"Tell them I'm a Ditto stuck in this form because of a curse?"

"No! That was a joke!"

"What was your serious answer?" the foreign Creator growled.

"Just say it's a party trick!"

"...I will just say I'm from another realm."

Star rolled her eyes, but said nothing as they stepped inside and headed toward one of the few that they recognized in town--Lance.

 

[Fusion]

Kora shot the two gods a wave. "Nice of y'all to come! I made cookies~!" he said, nodding his head over to the table with the sweets. "This is gonna be so much fun, I can feel it!"

Yeah, there were quite a few of them here, but Kora like there wasn't enough. He snapped his claws, creating several copies of himself. "Alright Are-Mes, I need y'all to quickly and stealthtig... Stealkth..." Kora cleared his throat. "Quick and steath-- fuck it, just go find as many of us as you can."

One of the copies looked around, then grabbed another one and pointed excited at it. "Found one!"

"No... I mean more of the people that dropped in here, like us," Kora deadpanned. All his copies let out an "Ooooooooooooooooh," and left the arcade. Kora shook his head, the floated a snickerdoodle over to himself. "The things I gotta deal with..."

 

[Navar]

Lance's aura sensors picked up and he recognized immediately: the Creator Himself, and Mew. Oh no.

He began to panic, eyes darting around, until Lance grabbed Kora's paw and held it tight. It was an anchor, something that helped him calm down.

 

[Flyg0n]

Koa had spent the last two days holed away in his house with a headache, coming to terms with the wild situation he was in. He'd watched a bit from outside his window in the strange house, but otherwise kept to himself, not even speaking with his roommates. Eventually, he resigned himself to his fate in this strange world.

He'd find a way home eventually, but for now all he could do was try to get a handle on things. With some hesitance, he finally wandered out of the house and through the little village. Eventually, a delicious scent caught his nose. He followed it to what he assumed was this world's version of some kind of arcade.

Inside, he could see many pokemon gathered. He crept, but remained quiet, taking in the new sights, and staying towards the back.

 

[IFBench]

"O-Oh, heya Togetic! I, uh, hope you don't mind I brought some snacks for my friends, hehe!"

"It's no problem!" the Togetic said with a smile. "Anything done to spread happiness is appreciated!"

=
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Saltriv waved to the arrivals with their leaf. "Hi! You're just in time for truth or dare!"

The double chocolate cookies caught Gen's eye. He hadn't had any of those since he was a human! He almost reached for one, before stopping himself.

What if they're not for me, and they're for Kora or Lance or someone else? Then taking one might make them upset with me...

It couldn't hurt to ask, though...right?

"C-can I have one of those, please?" Gen asked, pointing at a double chocolate cookie. "I-"

He cut himself off with a startled gasp as he saw someone arrive. Arceus. And Mew, too! An extremely powerful psychic, and the creator of pretty much everything.

He gripped tightly onto his reunion cape, turning back towards the group, though kept making nervous glances towards the two mythicals.

Please, please don't expose me...

"Looks like we have enough people to start!" Burhalla said, turning towards Lillie. "How about you begin? Truth or dare?"

 

[Fusion]

"C-can I have one of those, please?" Gen asked, pointing at a double chocolate cookie. "I-"

Kora yipped and nodded, waving a claw to pick up a cookie and send it over to Gen. "Have as many as you wanna, lil buddy! I made 'em for everyone."

He felt that familiar "oh heck oh frick" energy from Gen, then furrowed his brow as he tried to figure out why. Was it all the Pokemon showing up? Gen did kinda look like the kinda guy that'd be scared in crowds, but there wasn't all too many 'mon here... Maybe someone was scaring him? He did kinda look like he was gonna die when uh... uhhhhhhh... Arceus and Star showed up, right? The hell would Gen be scared about them for though?

Oh well, Kora would just have to ask, somehow. But they're in public, how would Kora talk to Gen about what's bothering him in a discrete and sneaky way? Where no one else would hear them? They'd have to like... think into each others heads or whatever. Yeah, like that was possible. The fox shrugged and focused back on the game, eagerly waiting for Lillie to do whatever she'd do.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Looks like we have enough people to start!" Burhalla said, turning towards Lillie. "How about you begin? Truth or dare?"

"M-Me? I..."

Lillie hadn't come here for this. She hadn't even played Truth or Dare before because it required more people her age than she'd ever seen outside of the occasional trip.

She didn't want people to know that, though.

"Truth."

That was less dangerous than dare, from what she'd read. People in books got dared to, like, kiss each other and things.

 

[Namohysip]

"Truth?!" Star spat a raspberry. "Lame! Who starts off truth or dare with a truth?!"

"The game title," Barky muttered.

 

[Navar]

Lance blinked. "Honestly I can agree with starting by asking the truth. Dares can be a bit, uh... weird."

Brian was too busy eating the cookies to notice the two legends, while Meggie chattered with him.

 

[Flyg0n]

Truth or dare? Oh no... He could back out now, go home. But there was no real home. Might as well stick around. Besides, a game might take his mind off the existential crises he was trying to avoid.

Koa scooted closer, to hear what the strange ghost-lloking being would say.