Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Torchic]

"Nhh," he shook his head, "I don't think he's gonna be the saviour of our world. He's... uh, he hasn't done anything yet. He's just as powerless as every other Pokemon in our world against that threat. Though..." Cino thought for a moment. Ever since they had met, Xunie was... an anomaly. He knew instinctively that something was different about him. It could just be the human thing, but Cino wasn't sure. What if it was something else? "Hmm, no, nevermind. Yeah he's just like us in terms of strength. Nothing abnormal or anything."

 

[Adamhuarts]

"Hmm, well maybe he just hasn't been presented the opportunity for his potential to reveal itself!" Cynthian said with a smirk. He sighed and stood back up. After dusting himself off with his flowers, he gestured to Cino.

"I think the lunch party should be starting soon. You coming?"

 

[Torchic]

"Lunch sounds nice, yeah!" He stood up and tried to free himself of the sand that got trapped in his fur. "Oh." His tail dripped of sand. He tried cleaning himself with it, but it only spread it around more. "Oh no. Uh, you can go ahead, I need a moment to- ngh... get rid of this sand. I think I have to jump into the water for a bit. See you at lunch, alright?"

And with a wave of his paw, he jumped into the ocean.

<><><><><>

 

[Ambyssin]

Despite their blindness to its presence, Jelly was with the God Squad now. There wasn't much Necrozma could do about that. He remembered hearing about a lunch, but that just weighed him down further. Stars above, he missed having a mouth. Not that he could really taste things in his true form, per se. He still had no organs. But he could eat stuff nonetheless.

Rather than showing up and dragging the mood down, Necrozma floated off to the beach with the light ball still in his hand. "I remember the first time you ran across the water, Io." He spoke to the light ball. "You were so pleased with yourself, you forgot about your levitation and fell right in." A chuckle rumbled in his core, but faded as his arms sagged.

 

[RJR Basimilus]

Seyka was balancing on one leg when he spotted the crystal creature crossing the beach aimlessly. He watched him for a moment before noticing the orb in his hand, frowning.

"Are you going to start a fire with that thing?" the Skarmory shouted, "That's very dangerous, but I won't stop you." He lost his concentration and pitched forward, hopping around a few times to regain his balance.

 

[Ambyssin]

Necrozma pivoted. "This is just a ball of light. I can't start a fire with it." He looked toward the ground. "Not that you could make much of a fire against sand and water." He paused. "Did you need me for something?"

 

[RJR Basimilus]

Seyka paused, thinking about it.

"I'm sure you could make a fire if you really wanted to. Like, you could light me one fire right? That would be exciting!"

He scratched at the ground with a talon. "If you're offering though, let's dig a hole and bury me in the sand - up to my head. I haven't done that in a long time."

 

[Ambyssin]

Skarmory wanted to bury himself in sand? "Hmm. I've heard of people meditating to grow closer with the earth... but that strikes me as a bit too literal." He looked at the light orb. "And I can't set I— err, Miss Maple wants me to continue to hold this." Necrozma raised his right hand. "Though I suppose I could try with one hand. At the very least, it might help with my stamina a bit." He pointed his right hand at the sand next to Skarmory. It sparked pink. A small hole appeared, pushing sand away. A start, but not nearly deep enough. And it made his hand hurt, though the orb was helping alleviate that.

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"That's okay! Even a little bit helps," Seyka said, jumping into the tiny hole. He began digging using both feet, occasionally craning his neck down to pick up extra sand with his mouth, spitting out to his side.

"It's not a meditation thing, it just reminds me of someone," the Skarmory said, making a face. "Anyway, why do you have to hold that thing? Is it like a test?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"This form I'm in now... is incredibly painful. I'm leaking energy— precious light." He squeezed the orb. "This gives me light. Minimizes the pain. Else I'd be more likely to lash out and attack."

Did that explanation even make sense? He could try rephrasing it. "Imagine that, rather than keeping the food you ate, it would constantly leak out of your body before you could harness the nutrients. Your body would rust and you would scarcely want to do more than lie around." Necrozma squeezed the orb again. "That is what I'm dealing with. Not that it matters much." A loud sigh.

"You say burying yourself reminds you of someone. Are you friends with a hippowdon or something?"

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"Not quite," Seyka said, laughing. "It's just something we did for fun."

His expression turned somber. "It's unfortunate that you're leaking like that though."

Seyka stopped digging momentarily to examine his hole, before looking up again. "Well, as is as will be. I think you'll be just fine, because you're nice." The Skarmory nodded to himself. "Plus you can get free light from um, Mappy or whoever it was you said. I haven't really been paying attention."

Seyka was finished with the hole. He wedged himself in and started trying to pull sand in with his beak. "I mean, I guess if you have that ball, sunlight doesn't really do it for you." His face brightened, "Hey, I'm metal right? What if you tried reflecting it off my head? If you can do something like that I mean."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Sunlight is sufficient. But it is a slower process." He looked skyward. "After all, the light has to travel a great distance to reach the planet." Necrozma's core flickered. "It makes all that stuff about Dark Matter dragging this planet toward the sun sound... very odd. It would be delightful for someone like me. But not so for anyone else. Even fire-types.

"Of course, the idea you can pull a planet through space effortlessly is nonsense, if you ask me."

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"The sun huh?" Seyka murmured, "Do you think Dark Matter had a reason for that? Why not drag the planet somewhere else? Although, I think visiting the sun would be fun."

Seyka had filled in the hole with sand. His neck and head stuck out, facing the water. "Have you ever tried pulling a planet through space? I don't know too much about that kind of thing, but there's always a possibility, don't you think?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"I'm given to understand the reason was to destroy the world and kill everyone on it." Necrozma tapped the light ball with his claws. "There was... something more to the motive. It's not like the daemon in my universe, who destroys worlds for no reason other than the fact that it is capable of doing so." He shook his head. "And I fear a similar manner of creature is the source of this world's recent problems."

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"Worlds ending, worlds beginning, it's all cyclical," Seyka said, sticking his tongue out. "Normally it wouldn't really be my problem, the world can end whenever it wants. But we're the heroes right? Save the world and whatnot- exciting isn't it?"

The Skarmory stared out over the water. "But your guy sounds kind of silly. Destroying the world for no reason sounds like a boring job. Do they really not have any other hobbies while they're working on that?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"You speak as if World Ender has thoughts. Logic." Necrozma was incapable of glowering without eyes, but he would if he could. And he wasn't going to acknowledge the hero bit. That was a lie spun by Diyem. "It does not think. Only acts. It is a titanic daemon that puts out limitless energy, destroying living things in the process."

 

[RJR Basimilus]

"Hmmm, does that make its existence an inevitability?" Seyka asked. "A divine destroyer maybe? If it doesn't think, then why does it destroy? Logical or not, it sounds like a forest fire; it hurts when it comes, but it's all part of the process."

Seyka made a face. "So the 'World Ender' is a bad thing allegedly. What happens when it destroys the world? Does it just disappear and leave behind nothing?"

"That doesn't sound that bad," the Skarmory added quietly.

 

[Ambyssin]

Necrozma's core sparked. Black energy crackled around it, in turn drawing white wisps from his light orb. "You would do best to keep thoughts like that to yourself. It is no inevitability. And I, like so many others, have suffered at its hands." He stared into the light orb. "Though someone as worthless as me deserves such suffering, the same is not true of the others. Life is sacred. No daemon should be allowed to cut innocent lives short. Nor is such a thing some simple process."

 

[RJR Basimilus]

Seyka smiled, resting his head on the sand. "You're right, life is sacred. It's just- just an interesting thing to think about for me. Don't worry about it."

The Skarmory seemed distracted by something. "I don't suppose it means anything to you, but I don't think you're worthless. You're talking to me, and you have things you believe in. So to me, that means you do have a value- of exactly one. But that's a big one, so save it up and one day, you can be a two!"

Seyka shook his head. "The sun is shining, so the world hasn't ended yet. I think we'll be fine."

 

[Ambyssin]

"... no. What we are looking at is the calm preceding the storm." Necrozma tapped a claw against his temple. "Perhaps we can withstand its onslaught. But to do so... we most follow one another and ignore the words of Diyem. There was good coordination against the magikarp, but there are rifts amongst the team. Take the litten and shinx." He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't even need the full extent of my ESP to sense the friction. It's enough to ignite an electric spark.

"Folks can choose to hate me. It's what a failure like me deserves. But the rest of the team needs to stay strong. Or else the coming storm will topple us like the straw house in The Three Little Tepig."