Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Negrek]

"I mean I was walking along, minding my own business, when this sceptile pops out of the bushes and tries to fucking stab me. Supposedly he was possessed or some shit and, like, time traveling from another dimension. There was a big fight down on the beach, and Celebi was there too, and something about some weird slug things people have been seeing around here. I think the Celebi and the sceptie and all them said they were going to the Guild, if you want to see for yourself." Even after all this time, Nate had to resist the urge to cross his arms. He didn't fucking have arms anymore, God. "So there you have it. What do you think? Good enough excuse? Am I fucking allowed to be here now?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave frowned. "Yeah, I was at the Guild. Hmm." Sceptile and Celebi... that was the two introduced as Balm and Cepa. They'd said something abut Balm being possessed. He guessed that meant the Mudkip had been here for that. He wished the time travel from another dimension shit was as ridiculous as it sounded, but after that history lesson the other day it seemed almost mundane. "How did that work? The brainslugs? I'm gathering we're the only people who can see them. Could you see he was possessed?"

 

[Negrek]

"I don't know, I didn't exactly get a good look at the guy, You might say it all happened kinda fast. Plus he was fucking invisible. But I guess he was breathing out some kind of dark smoke, like a fire-type except, you know, not." Nate wrestled briefly with his desire to get away from the poochyena--he'd answered more than enough questions already, he was perfectly justified in walking away at this point--and frustration at having been left out of the loop. Apparently they'd already had whatever shitty meet-and-greet at the Guild, and here he was, still completely in the dark about whatever was up with the slug things. "Why are you on my ass about this? Didn't they go over all this shit at the Guild?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"I mean, they briefly mentioned it, asked what we all knew, then this fucking ghost thing came out of nowhere and everyone was distracted by that, and then things fizzled out and they wanted us to search for these missing people." Dave scowled. "If you ask me looking into the brainslug thing is a lot more likely to get us somewhere. If we can just see when someone's possessed and nobody else can, we can find who's infected, right?"

 

[Negrek]

"Some 'fucking ghost thing?' What, like a gengar?" A gengar could be pretty fucking distracting, no question, but Nate kind of hoped that the Guild wouldn't let a rowdy ghost stop them from getting something done. Whatever actually needed to be done, here. Okay, yeah, that was a fucking joke, wasn't it? "I mean, yeah, that makes sense. You think there's other people around with one of those slug things? I ain't seen nobody. Today is the first day I'm hearing about this shit." Nate had almost forgotten the poochyena was there, deep in thought. "I don't suppose anybody at the Guild happened to mention why some Celebi from another fucking dimension decided to show up here all of a sudden, did they? Looking for some human hero or something?"

 

[Dragonfree]

"Not any Pokémon I've ever heard of. Looked a bit like... you know Mew, the diabetes-including pink legendary cat? Kind of like that, but creepier, fuzzy, half smoke. Probably the star of some picture book about Mew's evil twin." Dave tried to recall what'd been said at the Guild. "They didn't say much about Celebi, guess shiny fucking legendaries are just a daily occurrence over here. I mean, I guess the human hero is one of the missing people, then? A Meganium and a Feraligatr, apparently saved the world at some point because they've had three different world-threatening crises lately, yada yada. Maybe they knew each other. Why?"

 

[Negrek]

God, if only Nate didn't know fucking Mew. If he never had to hear about Mew again in his entire fucking life it would be too soon. Mew and Celebi. What a fucking day. Mew's evil twin didn't do fucking smoke, so far as he knew, but the Celebi was pink, after all. Who knew how many variations on the fucker were running around out there?

"I dunno. I mean, apparently interdimensional travel happens all the fucking time around here for some reason, but it seems like a big deal, you know, you don't just go hang out with your buddy in another timeline for no reason. So is shit going down in that Celebi's timeline and they came to ask for help, or did they catch on to what's going down here and show up to help? And if their world's getting fucked, too, does it have anything to do with what's going on here? What's the guy know that we don't, is what I'm saying."

It probably wasn't worth speculating about right now. If those two weren't talking, they weren't talking, and there wasn't much to be done about it at the moment. But if Celebi was mixed up in it, there was probably some fucking bullshit that was going to blow up in their face eventually. "But whatever. So are people going out and looking for more of those slug things?'

 

[Dragonfree]

“We should. Probably best to gather up some people for it, since it sounds like they had to fight the thing.”

He considered the Mudkip’s points about the Sceptile and Celebi, irritated he hadn’t been there for when all this was going down; it was hard to judge if he was right or talking entirely out of his ass without knowing exactly what he was talking about. But on the face of it... “Yeah. Yeah, that does seem pretty weird. Could go interrogate them on what’s going on when we get the chance.”

 

[Negrek]

"Yeah, well. Problem is it ain't easy to get a Celebi of all things to talk, not if they don't want to. And the sceptile could take any one of us out in a couple seconds, too." Nate sighed and dug one of his hands deeper into the sand, letting it run down between his fingers (or toes. whatever). "Probably have to figure out what's up some way other than straight asking. But it ain't the most important thing right now."

Nate felt himself getting perilously close to volunteering for something. Of fucking course. Not like anybody else could just do their fucking jobs, no, he'd have to show up to deal with their shit for them or it wouldn't get fucking done. "Yeah, I guess if the God Squad or whoever the fuck is gonna do fuckall about it, it'll be on us. I dunno." He looked off in the direction of Treasure Town, thinking. "I guess maybe we could use that psychic hotline or whatever to let people know what's up, maybe say meet at the dojo..." It was late afternoon, shading towards evening. Probably not the best time to get people organized, when they'd all be thinking about dinner. "...tomorrow? See who shows up?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave nodded slowly. The Sceptile had seemed perfectly friendly and cooperative at the guild, and nobody had even really seemed to treat the Celebi like any kind of all-important deity at all. Either the Mudkip knew more, or he was just paranoid.

"Yeah. Let's shoot for tomorrow." He was about to turn and go, find a better place to practice, but stopped. "Didn't catch your name."

 

[Negrek]

Oh, good. At least the poochyena was leaving. Nate might have gotten saddled with an obligation he didn't want, but being out of the loop would piss him off more than going on whatever search, probably. Evidently all kind of shit had been going on without him realizing, which might have been good to know before he actually, you know, ran into some possessed bastard. "Nate," he told the poochyena shortly. "That all?"

 

[Dragonfree]

Just "Nate". That was somehow anticlimactic. (Was this kid a human, too?) "Right. Dave." He gave a brief nod. "Tomorrow."

At least, he thought as he headed towards town, they were maybe getting somewhere.

 

[Ambyssin]

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Necrozma wasn't flying straight. His path was shaky and zigzagging. Though he didn't really know why. The light ball Maple showed wasn't much different from the one he had held onto last week. Yet it stirred a deep gnawing sensation inside of him that the previous orb hadn't. What had changed? Some halfhearted meditation throughout the week... and fighting Team Spice. Though he used "fighting" loosely. The only blow his useless self struck was with a blast seed and the explorers considered him so worthless they didn't even bother attacking him.

It didn't matter. He was never much of a fighter. He doubted he would be in this world. That light... it wasn't about getting stronger. It was about being able to feel... somewhat more whole than he did now.

 

[Namohysip]

"Necrozma," said Maple, looking him over. "I had a feeling this would get a reaction out of you in this way. Though, I did not know that you were so starved for energy as you are now... You hold yourself well."

Even while she spoke, Maple made sure it was clear to Necrozma that she was conjuring another, smaller ball for him, though it seemed more because it was meant for one person, rather than for a group, than anything else. A calculated amount.

"I do not know what will happen specifically when you take this," Maple said. "But I do know that it will be generally good... but not complete. I suspect you will not be able to sustain whatever form you may take, if you do take one, during battle. You will likely need to choose between maintaining that form or fighting in battle, at least until you become stronger. You may not change forms at all... though I suspect you will feel much better" Maple looked him over. "...You may also be smaller than your kind usually is, but... perhaps that is for the best."

The ball of golden light was nearly complete.

 

[Ambyssin]

"If I have to choose, then I will try my best to feel whole during our 'down time.'" Necrozma reached toward the light. "It's been too long. It would be so nice... so nice to feel wh—"

Thinking Maple had finished, Necrozma grabbed the light ball from her hand. The moment he did, his arm sucked it up like a beverage through a straw. He looked at his arm, which was now smoking. His core rattled for a few moments before he rasped, "... take cover."

Seconds later, every chunk of black crystal burst apart, scattering across the beach and landing in various mounds of sand. His core dropped to the ground with an unceremonious thud. Golden smoke trailed off of it, but it otherwise remained motionless.

 

[Namohysip]

Maple did not take cover, but she did take a step back. when his crystal form went flying in all directions. She tilted her head to the side when one piece narrowly beheaded her. However, with her quick but small motion, it missed.

For some reason, she had the strangest feeling that someone, somewhere far away, was suddenly panicking.

Maple realized that the explosion had left a small burn, singing patches of her fur. She didn't seem to mind. Then, she stood, counting the seconds.

 

[Ambyssin]

Almost a minute passed before Necrozma's core twitched. Then it twitched again. All of his scattered pieces flopped around in the sand, moving in different directions. This continued for another minute before his core rose into the air, glowing brighter than it had at any time during this bizarre adventure. At that point, the black crystals shot toward his core like it was a powerful magnet. What had been his bulky forearms positioned themselves down by the ground. The shards of his large forehead gathered behind his core. And his arms and stubby legs floated to either side of him.

His core vanished in a gold pillar alongside the black crystals. When the light faded, a golden dragon floated above Maple, though it wasn't any bigger than Necrozma had been previously. The tendrils of his star-shaped head twitched. Mismatched colors swirled around his eyes. Four ethereal wings spread out, then curled up around the three spikes protruding from his chest. It seemed to be... some kind of strange meditative pose?

"I... apologize. It has been so very, very long since I've taken this form." The mismatched eyes shut. He took a deep breath with his newly-acquired beak and shook his head. "As embarrassing as it sounds, it seems I needed time to remember how to properly compose myself.

"I am Aeon Bahamut, Luminary of the Stars." He tucked his head against his upper chest spike. "Though I am still quite weakened compared to what I'm used to, I hope I can be of some service to your world."

 

[Namohysip]

The physical transformation was not what Maple had been expecting. It was what came after that had Maple very briefly lose her composure, staring wide-eyed at the complete flip of his personality.

"...Aeon Bahamut," Maple said, quickly regaining her composure enough to cross her arms and nod.

What in... Diyem trailed off.

"Well. It's... good to meet the new you. I imagine quite a few others will be pleased that you are in less pain."

...Mm... Diyem sounded conflicted. ...Perhaps Maple really is trying to help...

 

[Ambyssin]

"Perhaps." Bahamut brought his right upper wing to the tip of his beak. "In my old world — my old life — I believed my continued pain was punishment wrought by the cosmos for my sins." He opened his eyes, revealing specks of mostly yellow and green. "But in that minute before I transformed... I heard the cosmos of this world and was reminded of an old adage: 'When you step into another's home, you leave your troubles with your coat by the door.'

"My past actions have no bearing on this new, temporary life in this strange new world." The yellow and green receded and the other colors in his eyes expanded. "If your cosmos have seen fit to grant me a brief reprieve from my broken state, it is only appropriate that I put a figurative lid on my sorrows."

 

[Namohysip]

"...Leave your troubles by the door..." Maple said, trailing off. She returned to the conversation at hand. "It is a reprieve, isn't it? Though I suppose it is one crisis into another..."

Still, she smiled, and while it was small, it also seemed genuine. "It's very good to see you looking like this, then. How should I refer to you now? Aeon, Bahamut?"