Grass Continent ~ Treasure Town Beach

[Cresselia92]

Icetales narrowed his eyes and stared at the entity, before taking a quick glance at everyone around. If not even a Lugia — someone considered akin to a deity in his world — could take down that daemon, then did they really stand a chance?

He admired the bravery of the Cranidos and that… prism entity… were they Sir Bahamut, by chance? They looked familiar…

Anyway, he knew from personal experience that daemons were tricky beings with powers above regular Pokémon. If they were to defeat that entity now, they needed to focus more strategy that actual firepower. Perhaps distracting the entity would have made her more vulnerable to attacks?

“Hmph! A dare, hm? And what stunt are thee trying to pull off here, lady?” asked Icetales, before showing a taunting smirk. “Is this just a game for thee? A good-natured ‘chase and beat’? And what happens if we refuse to entertain thy challenge?”

 

[Namohysip]

"Uhuhu... you're right! Pfufufu... yes! I would! Except not Ho-Oh. I'm still looking. But Lugia! Yes, yes, yes! I already got Meringue's Mom!"

"She's not--"

"Aww, you think she's your master? Come on! I see the way you look at her!"

"With reverence and respect at my teacher?" Meringue growled lowly. "I'm getting very sick and tired of--"

Darkwhite sang and danced in the air, spinning and twirling--any attempts at striking her, such as Cabot's rocks, were be met with well-timed Teleports and doges. "Meringue and Lugia, sitting in a tree, N-U-R-S-I-N-G!"

"THAT ISN'T EVEN HOW THAT WORKS!" Meringue attempted an Aeroblast, but it came off as a weak swirl of wind instead, kicking up sand and obscuring his own view.

"Oh, but if you refuse?" Darkwhite said, completely ignoring Meringue. "Well, then I suppose your mom will be oh, so, so saaaad!" Her face contorted into a mocking frown, complete with glowing, white tears that fell from her face and evaporated into nothing. "But don't you want to saaave her? I went through all this trouble to get her, and now you're just gonna make her wait like an old, old mon whose family doesn't visit anymore?"

"That's..." For some reason that seemed to work on Meringue, and he hesitated. "How--how do I know you aren't lying?"

"I dunno!" Darkwhite shrugged. "But I'll at least tell you this: I'm gonna be at the Silver Trench in five days! You better not miss it!" She said the last part in a sing-song voice.

 

[Negrek]

Well, wasn't exactly lightning-quick service from the fucking God Squad, was it? And the mew was clearly out of the league of anyone here. Fucking wake up! Nate thought as hard as he could at the badge and kept the button pressed down in case it was still transmitting. Maybe some screaming and explosions and shit would get the smeargle moving.

To the mew thing he said, "I still ain't getting why the fuck we'd waste our time battling a pissant like you. Some of us got actual important shit to do. You got the Lugia--" another fucking Lugia? "--prove it or get lost. Or, I dunno, try to come up with something more interesting than traveling to whateverthefuck cave to fight some idiot who can't battle for shit. If I wanted a preschool slapfight there's plenty of worthy opponents around this place."

 

[Namohysip]

"Fine, fiiine," Darkwhite said, digging into her own thighs like they were pockets. "I know I have something here that'll prove it... Oh! here!" She tossed something toward Meringue, but it disappeared in a portal seconds later. "Eh?"

A sweeping blast of light, more like a crescent shockwave, cut through Darkwhite, doing nothing but it was enough to startle her into a brief silence.

"Hmm," Maple said, turning over what she had snatched in mid-air. She stood beside Meringue--when did she get there? For some reason, her body smelled of smoke and some of her fur was singed. "This is one of Lugia's scales."

"Scales?" Owen repeated. "But Meringue has feathers."

"As Lugia strengthen, they lose their feathers and become more water-worthy as their elemental powers make up for their flight feathers," Maple explained. "Their bodies become tough and scaly, more resistant to attacks, though I do believe they can still conjure feathers if necessary." She turned the silvery scale over again. "This is Lugia's. Authentic. I do not think you can replicate the traces of elemental energy I can feel from it."

"Yup!"

"Where is she now?"

"I won't tell," Darkwhite sang.

She blipped out of view just in time to dodge a downward slash from Soda, who landed with a curse on the ground.

"But maybe if you show up to fight, you'll get to see her! She got a really nice makeover, you know..."

"How'd she spot me?" Soda hissed, dropping his illusion.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot grimaced, the part about this world's Lugia having scales instead of feathers barely registrering in his mind. After what happened to Team Spice and the other infected Pokémon, any "makeover" from Darkwhite would surely prove to be disastrous. Both for them and Lugia.

"What did you do to her?!" he demanded.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Maple, please drop this poor excuse for a comedian into a portal and shut it around her midsection. I think that would shut her up quite nicely."

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales growled, while studying the patterns of Darkwhite. Teleportation… typical trick used by dodgy Psychic-types. From what he knew about that technique, it was very costly in terms of energy and stamina, but the entity didn’t seem tired nor fazed at all?

Heavens… That daemon must be way more powerful than how she seems. What can be done to stop her on her tracks?

“Makeover… My, I wouldn’t have labeled thyself as a stylist, my lady fiend.”

He glared at Darkwhite and gathered some more cold energy in his mouth. He knew there was the very concrete possibility that his attack would have been for nothing, but if he got at least one shot and distracted her somehow, then perhaps those newcomers could do something?

“…I am most curious. Pray tell, what delightful surprise such an interesting subject as thyself has crafted for us?”

He was ready. If Darkwhite teleported again, he would have needed to locate her new position as fast as he could and fire an attack. All he required was to stay calm and focused.

“Enucleate.”

 

[Disco]

Mellow had been watching from a safe distance.

Even though there was nowhere truly safe, it seemed...

This creature was toying with them. Mellow glared and held back, trying to listen instead of attack with the others or argue with her. She had to be infected...

Wait.

"...Lugia got a makeover...", she repeated, and thought. Then it occured to her; the infected Garchomp- She looked different! Was that what that creature meant!? "You infected her!?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Aaaww, now why would I do thaaat?" Darkwhite spun and spun, but then flashed a glare at Bahamut. "Obviously SOMEONE doesn't like my routine. But guess what? Smeargle over there can't split people in half with her portals! They're too soft! It'll just push you one way or the other!"

Maple hissed. "I can still cut you in other ways," she growled, forging her Radiant blade from her left paw.

"Oooh, big words for someone that does zero damage on me!" Darkwhite cackled. "Now, obviously you guys are really, really raring for a fight... but I don't really want to do that right now! So, just remember what I said. Five days! Maybe four, maybe six, I dunno, you guys are gonna be spying on that area anyway, so whenever you see me there, that's when I want to fight!"

"And what about my master?" Meringue spat.

"Oh, she'll be there, too!" Darkwhite assured. "She'll VERY be there... fuhuhu... uhu... Bye for now!"

And just like that, she disappeared, leaving behind nothing but her haze for a few ominous seconds. No chance to strike, no openings to exploit--she simply disappeared after sending her message.

Owen was already rushing for Celeste to tend to his wounds.

 

[Disco]

Mellow glared at the remnants of the creature, but once it was obvious she was gone, the Charmander rushed closer to the scene herself. The Lugia and the Absol were clearly exhausted and needed all the help they could get. The others probably did too. It was unfortunate that her bag was left at her stand, her tools included. She could have given them something right then instead of making them have to wait...

While giving Maple a wide berth and glancing warily at her, Mellow walked up to the Legend since Owen had their team member handled.

"Do you need anything?", she asked gently. "I make medicinal tea. It should help..."

 

[Ambyssin]

Slowly light trickled back into Bahamut's broken body and it reclaimed its dragon form. "What a fool." His tail lashed at the air. "If she intends to draw this out... then the retribution shall be that much nastier." Purple pushed the other colors in his eyes aside. Such... lackadaisical recklessness would be dealt with whether or not she was freed from whatever parasites had turned her into her current form.

Perhaps he'd restrain her and force her to listen to Cabot's optimism-laded declarations. Over. And over. And over... until she finally broke.

 

[Negrek]

Nate relaxed a bit and took his hand off his badge when the smeargle and zoroark showed up. Well, what did you know? They were good for something after all.

The relief couldn't last, though, not when even the smeargle's most powerful attacks couldn't connect. If they were going to fight that thing, and if they didn't now they certainly would later, they'd be totally fucked if they couldn't even hit the damn thing. And if the fucking God Squad was having trouble, all the rest of them were looking pretty damn hosed.

"So what's the deal with this Silver Trench place?" he asked. "That's where Lugia... the other Lugia... and Ho-Oh normally hang out?"

And just what the hell was up with the two Lugia thing, anyhow? And why was the little one here being so weird about it? How did you even end up with two Lugia, anyway? Did they reproduce by, like, budding or some shit?

"And just what in the fuck was that Mew thing, anyway?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste drifted back into consciousness and opened his eyes...

The pain was awful. The fight had felt like an eternity... but now he was surrounded by his teammates.

“I... I’m back. Is everything... fine? Meringue?

 

[Namohysip]

Meringue shook his head at Mellow, as well as to Cabot, who had also gravitated toward him. "I should be fine," he said. "I had worse when I was running away the first time. I'll sleep it off and by just fine." Then, he looked to Nate and sighed. "The Silver Trench is somewhere that my master used to live before moving to the Sea of Wonders. Ho-Oh never went there--not either of them. And... no, we don't bud. She isn't my mother. She's my master. Stop... assuming that. Darkwhite's an idiot."

"Hey, don't move too much," Owen said gently, digging through his bag to pull out an Oran. "Here, have this first. You're hurt."

"How do Lugia even, um..." Owen knew of a Lugia back home, and the idea of her lopping off part of her body to make another one somehow filled him with more dread than anything he'd encountered so far. "Does she just... er..."

"Legendary Pokemon do not typically have offspring, Owen," Maple explained. "However, they can have successors. Mortal spirits given new life and a mind that can weather long lifespans. Meringue, were you not once a hero of an ancient Omen?"

"Yeah, long time ago. And my older brother was the other hero. He's on his way to becoming the next Ho-Oh." Meringue nodded, but then looked up, thoughtful.

"But what happens to the current Lugia?" Cabot asked.

"Once her power fully passes to me, she'll become a mortal Lugia," Meringue said. "And if I don't reach her standards, I'll remain a mortal Lugia and die off. She'll have to find another successor." He waved dismissively. "This sort of thing doesn't happen all that often. Whole eras can go without ever seeing one from a single Legend. It's just, during this era of peace, some of the Legends are looking to retire and give the world some fresh divine blood, y'know?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“During this era of...” Celeste hacked and coughed, like he was going to cough up his lungs. He must’ve suffered some kind of internal injury from the corrupted higher being who’d beaten the snot out of him before holding another seemingly equally corrupted higher being hostage. “Peace?”

 

[Namohysip]

"I mean." Meringue coughed, though it came out more like a chirp. "Before all this started. Y'know, with Dark Matter dead and all that."

 

[Cresselia92]

So, the entity was gone. Just like that. For some reason, Icetales wasn’t surprised at all, and limited himself to growl at the air.

It appears that from this perspective, our worlds aren’t that different… Pah! Daemons! Sanguinary folks! The worst of all!

He shook his head, not wanting to focus on that matter anymore, and walked toward the others. Some of them were already tending to the Lugia, and he listened with interest the conversation about legends, successors and the passing mention of Dark Matter — what was that? — when his attention shifted toward the Absol lying on the sand and coughing. He had no idea what that good fellow had gone through, but he felt it was his duty to assess the situation and damage. So, he strode toward Celeste and began checking on him.

“Sir, please, take things slowly. It is evident thou have suffered some major damage.” He frowned, trying to recall what his dear sister taught him. “Tell me, what are thee feeling? Dizziness? Numbness? Like being on fire?”

 

[Disco]

Mellow nodded at the Lugia, then went to see if the Absol would need any more assistance. An Oran berry would suffice for now, certainly, but it would probably be best to get him to the hospital... She looked up at the others that had gathered.

"Can anyone carry him? He probably shouldn't walk..."

 

[Namohysip]

"I'll handle it," Soda said before Maple could order him to. He hefted Celeste over his shoulders with an annoyed grunt and started toward Treasure Town.

"It's very late," Maple said. "We should leave for now and regroup. We have five days, according to Darkwhite, and she is also right that we will be sending scouts and backup to look into the area until then. Try to rest, everyone."

"Maple?" Owen asked. "Um... I don't think Darkwhite ever attacked you, so... why are you on fire?"

"What?" Maple looked to her sides. Part of her fur was still burned. "Mm, right. I was receiving several urgent messages on my badge. When that happens, and I do not answer, it is usually because I am asleep, so it triggered the explosives."

"...What?"

"I do not wake easily."

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot stared at Maple incredulously. Explosives? "... How are you not in the medical ward?"