Game Week of the Multiverse: Togetic Arcade

[Shiny Phantump]

Pastries... Think, what are some pastries... Do malasadas count?

"I choose malasadas."

Lillie paused for a moment. Okay, good, nobody's disagreeing.

"On one of my birthdays, when Mother wasn't able to do anything for it, the person who cared for me when she was busy gave me a big malasada. It was delicious! I would never have been allowed to eat anything like that with Mother around, so it was special."

 

[Fusion]

"...Don't challenge me, hun."

"Aye!" Brian cheered.

"It's not a challenge, it's a warning," Cora replied, an innocent smile on their face.

"On one of my birthdays, when Mother wasn't able to do anything for it, the person who cared for me when she was busy gave me a big malasada. It was delicious! I would never have been allowed to eat anything like that with Mother around, so it was special."

"Malasadas... Malasadas..." Coras 2 and 3 rested their head on the other's paw, tilting their heads on each other as they thought. "Have we had Malasadas before? They sound familiar..."

Cora shook their head and shrugged. "Not yet, me thinks. Still tryin' to decipher that human cookbook we found, so maybe it's in there?" They then looked back to Lillie, curious. "You have, like two moms then? That's pretty neat, since this other mom sounds a whole lot nicer than the first."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"You have, like two moms then? That's pretty neat, since this other mom sounds a whole lot nicer than the first."

Lillie felt her face warm. "N-no, it's not like that! Wicke is Mother's employee. They're not married. Wicke is nice, but she isn't my parent. She was hired to fill the administrative position when my father... passed away." 'Passed away' wasn't quite the right word for what had happened to Father, but that was a whole other story.

 

[Fusion]

Cora blinked, then let out a nervous cough. "N-No, that's not what I meant! I-I just mean, like, uh... you have another mom-like lady is all!"

"N-Not that it'd be wrong to have two Moms, I'd love to have another one! And love is love or whatever I said earlier, right?" Cora 2 tittered.

"Would sure beat not havin' a dad, honestly," Cora 3 muttered, flattening onto the ground, then jammed a claw into their other self. "And you didn't say that, I think the original did."

"Did I?" Cora tilted their head. "I don't remember sayin' anything like that. Then again I don't want to remember anything I said thanks to that last dare..." they shuddered, as did their copies.

"I can still feel the sin..." Cora 2 whined.

"It's like a bug crawling on our backs..." Cora 3 groaned, causing all three to shudder again.

 

[Navar]

"You're too dramatic..." Lance sighed. "For what is worth, I never met my actual mother either."

Brian nodded, looking down. "Dad married a Gardevoir, she kinda takes care of us..."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Lillie looked around, and noticed Odette had been quiet this whole time. Oh, right, she'd been dared to speak only in rhymes, hadn't she? That would've made it really hard to talk at all.

"Uhh, Odette? I can ask you now, so you can stop having to rhyme."

 

[Sinderella]

Lillie looked around, and noticed Odette had been quiet this whole time. Oh, right, she'd been dared to speak only in rhymes, hadn't she? That would've made it really hard to talk at all.

"Uhh, Odette? I can ask you now, so you can stop having to rhyme."

She sighed in relief. She felt like she’d lost brain cells from having to comb through the two languages in her head, trying to think of adequate responses to everyone. All it did was make her tired. And she was already in exhausted from watching Brian do his strip tease.

“Thanks gods,” she huffed. “I’m going to go out on a limb and choose truth, lest I get another speaking based dare...”

 

[Fusion]

"Wow, so she's spared of her talk funny dare early, while we had to suffer for what felt like weeks..." Cora pouted, shooting Meggie a sideways glare.

"Maybe even several days," Cora 2 grumbled.

"I think we wasted our entire lives talking like sinners for y'all..." Cora 3 huffed.

 

[Navar]

"Not my fault Saltriv didn't ask you to stop!" Meggie stuck out her tongue.

"Meggie, stop..." Lance sighed, scooting next to the original Kora and hugging him. "At least it's over now."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“I’m going to go out on a limb and choose truth, lest I get another speaking based dare...”

"I, uhh, ask you to tell us..."

Augh. We just had to bring up romance stuff before this seed wore off right before I had to come up with a question. Come on, Lillie, think of something normal to ask about. Something that won't weird her out.

"What was your life like before you ended up here?"

 

[Fusion]

"Not my fault Saltriv didn't ask you to stop!" Meggie stuck out her tongue.

"Meggie, stop..." Lance sighed, scooting next to the original Kora and hugging him. "At least it's over now."

Cora stuck out their tongue, adding a bit of angry flare by sending little black lightning bolts off of it. "You're gonna get it and then I'm gonna be the one who's laughin,'" they huffed, petting Lance on the head.

"No need to get so protective of us, Meggie's bullying only makes us stronger," Cora 2 snickered, also petting Lance.

"Every misdeed against us is locked away in a chamber for us to pay 'em all back in full!" Cora 3 cheered, also also petting Lance. "There's like three kids in Azure that owe us pies, for example."

"Cora never forgetssssssss," Cora hissed, their tongue shifting to a snake tongue for even more added flare.

 

[Sinderella]

"I, uhh, ask you to tell us..."

Augh. We just had to bring up romance stuff before this seed wore off right before I had to come up with a question. Come on, Lillie, think of something normal to ask about. Something that won't weird her out.

"What was your life like before you ended up here?"

Oh. That was reasonably tame. She knew most truth or dare games usually really got down to the nitty gritty, but that was...somewhat easy to put an answer together for. She could keep it simple, not reveal too much...

She sucked her teeth. Thoughtfully.

“Mm, well...monotonous.” She scratched her cheek. “I was—“ she paused. “—am,” she corrected. This state wasn’t permanent, right?“An assistant stage manager at a theater venue, and am taking classes to be a Pokemon trainer.” She wondered how that would go off, considering it had been established that some of her acquaintances here were just...actual sentient Pokemon. Maybe she shouldn’t have gone there.

“I was a trained triple threat but I’ve...taken a step back off the stage for now.”

 

[Fusion]

"Another Pokemon trainer?" Cora tilted their head, then grinned and chuckled. "That's pretty rad, honestly. Pretty sure Pokemon trainers get to travel the world with their Pokemon and fight a bunch, right? Not a whole lot different from bein' a leader of an exploration team, really."

"A few of my other human friends are trainers, or were for the few that didn't wanna go back to being a human," Cora 2 nodded. "Humans that stick around with Pokemon are usually really strong!"

"Just thinking about it makes me wanna fight someone, hehe!" Cora 3 beamed.

 

[Navar]

"Shoot, I don't remember that being a thing..." Meggie rolled her eyes. "Then again, I barely remember being a human anymore. Oh well."

Lance crossed his arms. "That sounds... Interesting, to say the least. I suppose that's the way things work for you."

"Ha! Maybe one day I'll finish my dimension hopping machine and we'll get to check that out!" Brian beamed, giggling.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Oh, that sounds great... T-That's what you call monotonous? You get to make, like, plays and things? A that sounds fun to me..." Or, at least, it would be fun for most people. I'd have a panic attack onstage and screw it all up.

"And you're going to get to be a trainer, too. That's great! You get to be free and explore the world. You seem pretty great." No, wait, don't phrase it like that...

 

[IFBench]

Gen kept silent during the family discussion, gripping tightly onto his reunion cape.

I miss my family...

Burhalla looked down at the ground, frowning, his tail flame shrinking slightly.

"What's a Pokemon trainer?" Saltriv asked.

 

[Sinderella]

"Another Pokemon trainer?" Cora tilted their head, then grinned and chuckled. "That's pretty rad, honestly. Pretty sure Pokemon trainers get to travel the world with their Pokemon and fight a bunch, right? Not a whole lot different from bein' a leader of an exploration team, really."

"Shoot, I don't remember that being a thing..." Meggie rolled her eyes. "Then again, I barely remember being a human anymore. Oh well."

Huh. A better response than she was expecting. Though, Meggie commenting on how she barely remembered being a human before...that threw her for a loop. She had to keep reminding herself that worlds had literally collided here—some of these mon weren’t humans to begin with, some were, and some were just...thing she didn’t know could exist.

"Oh, that sounds great... T-That's what you call monotonous? You get to make, like, plays and things? A that sounds fun to me..."

She offered a tentative smile to this. “Somewhat? I don’t write them...I just help them run smoothly when they’re being performed. It’s fun at first, but when you’re running the same show every night for a month...it kind of becomes repetitive.”

"What's a Pokemon trainer?" Saltriv asked.

Aaaaand there it was.

She pursed her lips, trying to consider how to answer correctly.

“Well...” she began. “Just...somebody who partners with Pokemon. To go on adventures, to do everyday things...with the goal of the person and pokemon becoming stronger together?”

Yeah. She guessed that about summed it up. It was a nice way to put it.

She exhaled deeply, realizing it was now her turn again. She scanned the group, trying to decide who to go for next. Her eyes fell on Houndoom Dusk, and she pointed.

“You. Truth or dare?”

 

[Luxray1000]

"Oh?" Dusk was still a little shaken, and it took him a moment to realize that the Indeedee was talking to him. "Oh, uh... truth, I suppose."

 

[IFBench]

"...person and pokemon..."

Saltriv's eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean by 'person and pokemon'?"

 

[Sinderella]

"Oh?" Dusk was still a little shaken, and it took him a moment to realize that the Indeedee was talking to him. "Oh, uh... truth, I suppose."

She took into account how shaken Dusk looked, and decided to keep things simple for it. She didn't want to be responsible for any added stress.

"What's your favorite hobby?"

Saltriv's eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean by 'person and pokemon'?"

Uh oh. Had she struck a nerve?

"Like...humans...and Pokemon? They work together? And...get stronger while doing that?" she explained tentatively. She moved tp push her glasses up on her face, only to realize she didn't have them, nor did she even need them, in this form. So instead, she took to tugging at her ear.

"I'm not sure how much better I can explain it."