Lush Prairie

[Dragonfree]

"Come, now, there is no reason to look like Mergo!" Alice slithered closer to Dave. "We are like you, after all. Just... older. And more experienced. Who else in this entire world can understand your situation, how you might be feeling right now?"

The Unleashed Dragonair scrunched her brow. "Well, I suppose the legends, but... no. We're significantly stronger."

Dave rolled his eyes. "Well, I wouldn't have thought it'd take a legend to understand that I'm feeling like finishing my drink in peace, but here you fucking are to prove me wrong."

 

[Fusion]

Dave rolled his eyes. "Well, I wouldn't have thought it'd take a legend to understand that I'm feeling like finishing my drink in peace, but here you fucking are to prove me wrong."

Kora popped up next to Dave, deep in thought. "...Wow, it's like a canine mirror of Mergo, but I'm not Mergo so... A photo? A... drawing? A drunk haluccin... Hal hallucy... Fuck, what was that word?"

 

[TheLastRanger13]

“Hallucination, my samurai,” Gene replied, fiddling with her sword.

 

[Namohysip]

"I can still send you to the Voidlands when this is over," Miracle Diyem warned Kora.

 

[Flyg0n]

Icetales had already managed to hit it up with someone, Owen was gone talking to... himself. Or some version of that...

Koa.

The others were starting to mingle, talking and chatting, and moving about. His heart beat a little faster.

Koa.

He glanced around, his earlier fear only increasing. They seemed so confident, what would they-

KOA!

Echo's screech in his head brought his thoughts grinding to a halt.

Koa you're being silly. You're tired and you're thinking too much. No one here is your enemy.

Koa blinked. "Right," he mumbled softly, in a voice only Echo would hear. Besides, they'd just saved their own world. Or rather, their Cibus, he supposed. And he was freaking out over their interdimensional counterparts who'd fought the same enemy as them suddenly arriving from the apparent multiverse, not to mention duplicates of their leader, a reformed Dark Matter. No biggie, right?

That's more like it. No one here will understand you better than those guys, I bet. Just relax. Besides, he added with a knowing tone, You're just as cool as they are.

Smiling Koa walked back towards the group. He had no idea who he'd single out, but there couldn't be any harm in talking to the newcomers.

 

[Fusion]

"I can still send you to the Voidlands when this is over," Miracle Diyem warned Kora.

"Would ya really pops~!" Kora cooed. "It'd be fun to visit hell again!"

 

[Fusion]

“Hallucination, my samurai,” Gene replied, fiddling with her sword.

"Right, that, it was right on the tip of my tongue," Kora chirped, rubbing the back of his head. "I felt like it was gonna drive me crazy, hehe."

 

[Shadow of Antioch]

"I can still send you to the Voidlands when this is over," Miracle Diyem warned Kora.

"Please do. He's very annoying," Alice said, sticking her tongue out to Kora as a bonus.

Dave rolled his eyes. "Well, I wouldn't have thought it'd take a legend to understand that I'm feeling like finishing my drink in peace, but here you fucking are to prove me wrong."

Alice then hummed, scratching her snout with a ribbon as she thought. "Yes... yes, you remind me a lot of Sage when he's in a mood. You and him could certainly get along."

She floated closer still, whipping out the largest smile she could. "How about this—then I'll leave you alone. We can be your party buddies. Drink all together on some beach! Wouldn't that be lovely? Doesn't anyone want to party here?"

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan shivered at the word beach. "Oi, Alice, I don't wanna get wasted at the beach again, made a buffoon outta myself back then."

 

[Fusion]

"Please do. He's very annoying," Alice said, sticking her tongue out to Kora as a bonus.

Kora opened his mouth to refute, but... nothing came out. Damn... he lost that easily...

Defeated, he fell flat on the dirt.

Doesn't anyone want to party here?"

Then Kora instantly jumped right up, beaming brightly. "Hell yeah!"

 

[Namohysip]

Miracle Diyem groaned, rubbing his forehead. "I regret bringing some of you back."

"Aw, it's not that bad," Miracle Owen said, sampling one of the sandwiches that Spectrum Owen offered. "I even got to meet another me! Oh! We should totally spar!"

"We just got off a big fight a few weeks ago," Spectrum Owen said. "And we should save our strength for the actual fight! Besides, we probably need to get to know each other without giving away all our fighting secrets."

"Hmm, maybe..." Miracle Owen inspected Spectrum Owen, once more sizing him up. Their expressions firmed, becoming more serious. They were doing the same thing--analyzing the opponents... They were going to be gathering info, weren't they? A shame they looked so different, or they might have been able to impersonate one another.

 

[IFBench]

They took a deep breath, and the shadows around them dissipated. Now with a clear mind, they scanned the crowd.

There was a Bisharp, a Serperior, an Emolga, a strangely familiar Zororark...

Wait...hadn't they seen him before? In that campfire place, with Gen?

They began walking towards Kora, their tail beginning to wag slightly. "Hi!" they said, waving their leaf.

 

[Fusion]

"We just got off a big fight a few weeks ago," Spectrum Owen said. "And we should save our strength for the actual fight! Besides, we probably need to get to know each other without giving away all our fighting secrets."

Kora's ears perked at the mention of sparring, and he popped right over to the source. He also might have snagged a sandwich or two. "If we somehow do end up sparring, I wanna be a part of it! It's all boring fighting fakes of everyone to pass the time."

They began walking towards Kora, their tail beginning to wag slightly. "Hi!" they said, waving their leaf.

Kora spun right around to see the big plant dino from earlier. His brian did that thing again... the uh... turning thing? The thing Klangs do! He tilted his head his is head tried to remember something... something important... hrrrrrrrmmmmmmmm... A name? Something with... S?

Eventually, Kora sputtered, giving up. "Sorry, Saltriv, I think I'm forgetting something..."

...

OH WAIT A SECOND!

Kora suddenly gave the Meganium a snug hug, with red and black sparks dancing off him excitedly. "S-Saltriv! Oh my god, it's been ages! You got so big and strong, and... you evolved?!"

 

[Cresselia92]

“I am a Queen, my friend,” she shook her head. “And my relationship with my father was… tense, to say the least.”

Icetales flashed a smile full of sympathy. He idly considered inquiring about that, but he deemed better to not pry into such delicate matters.

“Then thou must understand my plight…”

She shook her head.

“Do not let your legacy hang over you too much, your destiny is your own,” She gave a bit of advice. “Be your own being.”

She looked at the couple and smiled.

“I’m glad you found you found love,” She held her cheek. “A single lumen in the dark shines like a star in comparison.”

Danithan nodded. "Aye, go with what gene is sayin. Don't let your old man drag you down."

Icetales didn’t say anything at first, letting those words sink in. Then, he beamed a bright smile. “I very much appreciate your words, good folks. I shall not let my lineage bring me down, you can be certain of that.”

He glanced fleetingly at Nero, then again at the duo. “Well, would you be so kind to introduce this Lucius to yours truly?”

 

[Negrek]

Oh, great. Exactly what this fucking stupid picnic needed. More people and more interdimensional bullshit. Nate made a quick check of the new arrivals, looking out for any other marshtomp kind of guys--looking very closely, in case perhaps there was someone smaller on their team. But no. No counterpart for him at all. That at least was a positive.

It looked like that was true of everybody for the most part. The only true doubles there appeared to be were the charizard, Diyem and Owen both.

It looked like the Owens were thinking of fighting each other. Of fucking course they were.

Rocky didn't look too happy about not having another version of himself to hang out with. He looked at the Potluck-looking guy who'd mentioned the shades. "But if there are familiars in your world, too, where... are all of them?" he asked anxiously.

Nate was more concerned with the people who were here. He gave them another once-over, suspicious. "So you all fought some kind of Blacklight whatever too, huh?" he said. "The fuck happened with that? One and done, it's gone for good now, is that it?"

 

[Readerlove]

Danithan noticed Rocky and waved at the familiar. "Most of eien's kids either stayed with her or followed us to a crossroads with Diyem." He looked off to the side. "I sorta miss em."

 

[Namohysip]

"We were told not to explain too much about your final battle, but it seems it is very similar to ours, what is coming," Miracle Diyem said quickly, crossing his arms. "But as for the familiars, mm. I would have brought them with us, but they have gone to other duties."

Miracle Owen nodded. "Yeah, Cal is helping with restoring the Water Continent after Eien put a storm over it."

Spectrum Owen leaned forward, as did his Cal. "Water Continent? Eien did it right in the Tree of Life for us."

"Oh, wow! That's lucky--The Water Continent was, um, almost completely destroyed. We evacuated mostly everyone, but..."

"So, your version of me is okay?" Cal asked, hesitating.

Miracle Owen grinned. "Totally! And you remind me a lot of her, too. You'll be fine."

"H-huh. That's... that's good." Her golden embers brightened and she looked at Spectrum Owen, who beamed.

 

[TheLastRanger13]

“Heh, Lucius, a man my vocabulary cannot express,” She held her cheeks and blushed. “Not just because of my less than… perfect grasp of this language, hmph!”

She giggled, motioning the ninetales over.

 

[IFBench]

"Kora!" they said with a bright smile, hugging the Zororark back with their vines. "It's so nice to see you again! And yep, I evolved!"

 

[Ambyssin]

And just like that, people were already grouping up. Nero looked around. People were heading to their counterparts. Or going to their polar opposites. No, wait, that was just Kora. Because the guy didn't do personal space. Oh dear. Nero had expected Mergo to break off. It was his style, after all. The necrozma was another matter. Couldn't be an alternate Joule, right? No, he was too acquainted with Team Spectrum. That just made him more like the one Nero disliked than the two he liked. But if Team Spectrum was like Nero, there were some heroic instincts in the guy, right?

At least most people were content, which was all Nero could ask for. He padded away and sat down on his haunches. His white crest rippled slightly in the breeze.