Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[unrepentantAuthor]

Oh, right. Yeah, she shoulda seen that comin'.

"Ah, well, I," she started to say, then went quiet for a moment.

What was there to say? Nothin', less she mentioned Gil. And Gil... Well. They weren't exactly close, yet. They counted as a friend, though, right? That weren't a lie.

"I got this one pal, I suppose," she said at last. "Dug 'em up outta the ground not long ago. They're a golett, name of Gil, been in some kinda century-long slumber. We don't have too much in common, and we ain't known each other so long, but... I'm their only friend livin'."

Brisa felt a pang of guilt for wishing she could just stay here and not go home when the mission was done, and a flash of anger at the idea that Gil's expectations for her, a near-stranger, were the only thing keeping her from trying.

"Besides them, I guess not too many folks where I'm from are keen on an acquaintance with a gal like me," she finished, some bitterness in her voice.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot tilted his head in confusion.

"Huh? Why wouldn't they wanna be friends with you?" the Cranidos asked. "You seem like a really nice Pokémon and sparring with you has been a lot of fun!"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa nearly defaulted to the terse, short reply she sometimes gave strangers, and indeed had given to a few local vendors and passersby. Human pa, feral ma, weird kid who don't fit in. Figures.

But... Cabot was so earnest, and she'd opened up to a person at a time, here and there. Dave, Curio, Owen, Astrid. She took a slightly shuddering breath and steeled herself.

"My pa was a transformed human, like some fellas in our posse. My ma was feral— I mean, from a different culture to most folks around where I grew up. You might say other mon were predisposed not to trust me. Well, I never learned how to fit in, and I was a dab paw at fightin', so I got better at dustin' folks than talkin' to 'em. Give that circumstance a decade to simmer, and you got yerself a recipe for solitude."

She huffed. "It is what it is, and I learned not to expect much more than a polite how-do-ye-do, if that. Got used to bein' lonely. Figured it was just what I was meant for."

Brisa felt Astrid's body shift against hers, and her heart jumped in her chest. "'Course, now I'm thinkin' maybe I was meant to be with folks like y'all," she said, her face only heating up a little.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot blinked in surprise. While it was true that ferals tended to be a little weird at times, surely it wasn't that strange for someone's mother to be born as one. After all, back home it happened all the time that a feral would give up life in the wild to join a town. Was that not the case in Brisa's world? Besides, if her father was a human that transformed into a Pokémon, wouldn't that be more of a reason to want to get to know her?

"Well, I can't say that I understand why those things would be a reason for other 'mons in your world to avoid you, but it's certainly not gonna make us avoid you," he said, giving a friendly nod. "We're here for you."

 

[TheGOAT]

Brisa felt Astrid's body shift against hers, and her heart jumped in her chest. "'Course, now I'm thinkin' maybe I was meant to be with folks like y'all," she said, her face only heating up a little.

Something tickled inside Astrid’s chest, deep enough to where she couldn’t quite reach. She’d barely known Brisa like this for a day, but… she was still able to help make her feel happy. And although she didn’t entirely understand such a concept herself, maybe that on its own made her happy as well. Maybe she’d needed this too.

“Nobody should be alone,” Astrid said, plain as day. “We’re a team and you can count on us.”

Her face was starting to hurt from all the smiling. Perhaps the only thing keeping it from holding fast was a final, lingering thought that everything said here might not matter in the end.

But just as soon as it appeared, she had snuffed it out. There would be no more thinking like that, she decided. Yes, there would be no more…

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"We're here for you."

“We’re a team and you can count on us.”

She wasn't alone any more.

It was a new idea for Brisa, one that felt too good to be true. But just for a few minutes, walking back to town propped up by her...—her friends, yes, her friends—Brisa actually believed it.

They made it back up from the beach before too long, and although Brisa felt well enough to walk unaided well before they got back to the town square, she allowed herself to lean on her friends a little longer all the same. She said a couple slightly awkward goodbyes, which at least weren't as terse as her usual fare, and watched them head on for a minute, Cabot to the dojo and Astrid to someplace else.

Brisa, meanwhile, set her mind to a new occupation. She was done turning to single malt to deal with her heart's riolu-shaped troubles. It was time to ask her enigmatic benefactor some pointed questions about her other troubles. And where better to get the privacy for it, than the woods?

<><><><><><><>

 

[Namohysip]

Nighttime​

Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up.

It was like an incessant ringing in their ears, but it was somehow both monotone and urgent. It was perhaps equidistant from morning and evening, only the stars and a bright moon to accompany them as several of Diyem's misfits shuffled around in the living quarters. But he was urging them instead to go outside and to the beach.

There were strange flashes coming from below, suggesting that something was happening near or at the beach shores. Thunder churned in the air and struck below, making the first boom of the night--it wasn't natural thunder. That was a technique.

It was faint, and it was very far away, but they could all hear it. Familiar, ethereal, warped laughter, and the glowing, white eyes of Darkwhite near the beach. A Lugia that was too small compared to the literature was blasting several Weather Balls toward Darkwhite, but every single strike bounced uselessly off of her, and Darkwhite countered with strange, black-white attacks and countless normal moves in seemingly random order. Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Energy Ball, Dark Pulse--Darkwhite didn't care. She threw anything she wanted at Meringue, who, inevitably, looked like he was going to be too tired to continue.

Grasped in her tiny paws with a surprisingly strong grip... was Celeste, limp and unconscious, held by the horn.

The way the sand of the shores was completely upturned, with no place level or tranquil like it was supposed to be, suggested this battle had been going on for quite some time.

 

[Virgil134]

As Cabot got closer to the beach, a wave of shock washed over him as he saw that Darkwhite was not only bombaring an injured Meringue with attacks left and right, but that she was also holding Celeste limply by his horn.

"H-Hey! Leave them alone!"

He concentrated and his body soon began to glow bright, several small stones forming all around him. Not wasting any time, Cabot dashed towards Meringue as fast as he could, intending to shield him from whatever Darkwhite's next attack was.

 

[SparklingEspeon]

...What was this??

Like, what was that thing? It didn't look like any pokemon Tricky had ever seen, but it laughed like a maniac as it unleashed attacks upon that lugia and the poor beach. Clearly so evil. Tricky took off in the direction that Cabot had run, looking at the chaos that was unfolding the whole way.

Once they had gotten close enough, she saw Celeste's limp body hanging from the strange creature's paw. A bout of dizziness hit her suddenly, this wasn't happening again...

...That wasn't going to happen again. Not ever again. Tricky steeled herself, and ran the rest of the way there.

"Hey!!" she yelled over the ruckus at whatever was hurling all those attacks. "What's your deal?! Get away!"

 

[Cresselia92]

“Goodness gracious! What disturbance is befalling at the beach?” grumbled Icetales, his fur puffy and unkempt, before stifling a yawn.

The urgent tone of the telepathic command made it clear that he had no time to take care of his fur or anything else, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be frustrated about the situation. If there was something the Vulpix hated more than anything else — after Father, of course — was going around with a messy fur.

“Ugh! Could that be a Shug attack? Or something else entirely?”

Then, sand brushed against his paws as he reached the shore. He grunted as the grains latched into his fur: getting rid of all that sand was going to be a massive pain in his flanks.

…Pah. That wasn’t a priority, he needed to focus on the more urgent matter first. And speaking of that…

A flash, and a sphere of meteorological energy cut through the air. Then, another sphere. And another. And then, a cacophonous mishmash of attacks of all kinds, made of fire, electricity, ice, darkness…

Icetales slowed down as he processed what he was seeing, his blood going cold almost instantly. It seemed that a ferocious battle was unfolding, with the beach as the chosen field.

A battle… Uh oh.

“…Heavens, I-I hope my recent training suffices…”

And then, he reached the battlefield. He spotted a Cranidos rushing toward a downed Lugia — Downed? Lugia!? — and a Fennekin rushing toward them. However, the sight that horrified him most was the one of someone hovering above all of them.

An unknown purple being, surrounded by a malicious white and black aura and beaming a manic smirk. The entity flung attack after attack without any care or worry, while holding in their clutches a barely responsive Absol.

Icetales felt terror going through his tails and his ears flattening. That deranged expression and that dark energy…

A memory of Father flashed in his mind. The blackness in his eyes. The white fangs shining in the dark void. The lust for blood and power. The beautiful yet malicious aura of witchcraft.

…There was no doubt. Those were the unmistakable signs of a daemon.

…

Of all things he had to face in that new world, why a daemon? Oh, why?

He shut his eyes and took some deep breaths, trying to regain his composure and soothe his nerves. No. That was no time to think about home. No. That was no time to be afraid. No. He had the power, he knew it. Yes. He could be of assistance and face his demons. Yes. He was not a nullity, he was not a nullity, he was not a nullity, he was not a nullity, he was no a—

“Hey! Sirrah!” He bolted forward and lowered himself to the ground, snarling at the being and gathering frigid energy in his jaws and tails. “Let go of that Absol this instant, thou fiend!”

 

[Disco]

Mellow woke up.

There was yelling...

She stumbled her way out of the little space she'd made for herself and groggily turned towards the beach. ...Who would be battling like that in the middle of the night? Had followers of two sparring Legends had an encounter? Where was the Night Watch? Shouldn't they be breaking up the fight?

Mellow grumbled to herself and went to see what all the racket was about. The sight made her blood run cold and snapped her out of her haze in an instant. The Charmander didn't speak, but she also wasted no time in preparing her signature move and sending the ball of light high up into the air to illuminate their surroundings. It was hopefully enough to wake others up and get them to investigate. Hopefully quickly, at that.

In preparation for any kind of retaliation by the infected pokemon, Mellow whispered under her breath to summon a small but eerily bright flame in each hand. At the first sign of any further aggression, she'd launch them at the one who'd attacked the Lugia and Absol...

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut hadn't been sleeping. But he wasn't near the beach until he heard Diyem's sorry attempts at a klaxon. What was the issue now?

Oh, Celeste and the lugia were under seige.

Oh, that was probably bad.

With a resigned sigh, Bahamut's golden light faded and his body contorted back into its broken, prismatic form. He had a good amount of distance from Darkwhite and was blending in with the night sky. Keeping his distance and positioning himself behind Darkwhite, he brought his trembling hands together.

O mighty cosmos, shapers of the universe, lend me your strength so I may try and prevent further strife.

Bahamut pushed his hands forward. Tendrils of light shot out to grab Darkwhite by the tail. He'd then begin siphoning Darkwhite's stamina in an effort to reduce the onslaught of attacks she was unleashing.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

To say Celeste had been clinging onto consciousness would be a generous description. He had, at best, been in and out of consciousness... Though it had been much more out than in.

However, he was lucid enough that he was able to take advantage of Bahamut’s distraction to pry at Darkwhite’s grip a little, trying to free himself.

 

[Negrek]

Nate hadn't been asleep when Diyem's call went out, but he hadn't thought much of the distant sounds of battle until the charizard started yelling in his head about it. Of course it took him an actual age to get down to the beach, and by that point a few pokémon had already shown up, all of them staring down... whatever the fuck that thing was.

Nate moved closer as quietly as he could, trying to see through the dark and the haze and the uncertain flashes of attacks. Some kind of floating thing, but no wings... psychic, probably? Small and furryish. Kind of like Mew, maybe, but a really fucked-up Mew. Of course, he'd recently seen a pretty damn fucked-up typhlosion, so it was probably just another infected pokémon.

He hung back a second, considering the situation. The Lugia looked pretty down for the count, and the Absol--Jesus. Somebody needed to get him away from that thing. A couple of pokémon were already flaring with golden light, that Radiance bullshit. Now would be a great time for him to manifest like a badass light-sword, but be real, there was no fucking chance of that actually happening.

Ordinarily Nate'd kind of expect the light dragon to have things under control, but if this thing was knocking even a weirdly tiny Lugia around without breaking a sweat, they probably wanted backup. Nate's hand went to his badge. Time to see if he actually had a clue how to work this thing. Who to call? The portaling smeargle would be able to get here the fastest, presumably. Pressing on his badge, Nate tried to make his thoughts really really loud. More psychic-y bullshit.

Hey! Wake up and get your ass to the beach! There's some kind of mew demon thing beating the shit out of Lugia!

 

[Namohysip]

"Uhuhu, you guys made it! I'm so glad!" Darkwhite spun around and held Celeste a little tighter, but then realized that he was trying to struggle out. She grinned and pulled Celeste up so they were staring at one another, face to face, no matter how impossibly she had to contort her arm to make that possible. "I told you," she said with a manic grin, "I would remember you."

She weaved out of the way of Bahamut's attack and then looked toward Mellow, her grin getting even wider at the sign of an incoming attack. She then heard a sound of something whipping through the air to her left, and she hadn't expected that, so she ducked quickly. Yet there was a second one nearby that smashed into her face--an explosive seed of some kind. It wasn't Seed Bomb, but it certainly felt reminiscent of it, and Darkwhite dropped Celeste onto the ground.

Owen panted, mentally praising himself for getting the attack off. Darkwhite hadn't seen him coming because his flame was a flower; perhaps she mistook the Charmander presence for Mellow, thanks to all the glowing she made.

Meringue skillfully beat his wings and created an updraft that slowed Celeste's fall enough to be harmless but rough.

Bahamut's strike, thanks to all the distractions, also slowed Darkwhite down, and none of her attacks could be cast in time with all the distractions that had happened.

"Yes, yes, yes!" She raised her arms and giggled, but then disappeared in a flicker of light. She reappeared several feet away, pointing ahead. "Now that I have you all here, I have an announcement to make!"

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales raised an eyebrow, staring skeptically at Darkwhite while still keeping his freezing energy flowing. “An announcement… Indeed, because causing a massive muddle is the most optimal way of sending a message, is it not? A regular mail was too mundane for a oh so powerful daemon like thee?”

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut silently approached and forcibly clamped his hands over Darkwhite's face.

"... leave."

 

[Namohysip]

Darkwhite didn't stop smiling. "No, you."

She disappeared and appeared on Bahamut's head, and then disappeared again to reappear in front of Owen. Owen yelped and crossed his arms, forming a Protect, but by the time it came up, Darkwhite was already flying over to Meringue, sending a false strike toward Cabot in the form of a Scald attack that struck only the sand. Meringue tried to slap Darkwhite out of the way, but she was fast, and she landed on top of his head. On reflex, Meringue froze in place, like she was some feral he didn't want to frighten and have her sting his scalp.

"Five days," Darkwhite said. "In five days, I want you guys to meet me where Lugia used to live long ago... the Silver Trench! Its Dungeon dissolved a long time ago, but the air bubble inside is still there, and I want to battle!"

"What?" Meringue said, finally swatting at her, but when he did, he only slapped his own head. Darkwhite appeared on top of Owen's Protect shield.

"Yep! I want you to fight me there in five days!"

 

[Ambyssin]

"And why would we do that instead of killing you now? If you scamper off, you'll grab Lugia and Ho-Oh and sic them on us."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot flinched as Darkwhite's Scald struck the sand near him, only to frown upon hearing her challenge. Knowing her, she was most likely trying to lure them into a trap, so letting her pick the time and place for a battle was probably the last thing that they should do right now.

"How about we fight you right now?!" he snapped.

Cabot called up several large rocks and flung them over towards Darkwhite.