Marowak Dojo ~ Living Quarters

[Namohysip]

Celebi heard Skara's explanation and floated over to Cino with a berry in hand. "Are you having trouble with yours or something?" she asked. While she couldn't see the Shade, she could see Cino's struggle, and handed a berry over. "Maybe you can try that..."

"Pop, huh. Pop. So you think he created the universe? Has he always been so friendly and approachable?"

"I don't think he's always been that way," Chip said, meandering close to Karat, but not too close that it would upset him.

Karat was done looking over Owen's Shade, but said nothing and moved to Nip, demanding he take a look at the stone next. There, he sat and closed his eyes again.

"Apparently, Pop modernizes himself every few eras so he doesn't seem too ancient, or something. So he makes sure he keeps up with things like modern lingo, language, mannerisms... He's a little traditionalist, but occasionally has bouts of deciding to adjust for the world's changes. It's kinda cute." Chip buzzed, twitching in thought. "If you want to call him, I can send a message over now! I have his number."

"Wait, were you fucking infected, or...? Why the hell is that thing on your head?"

"Oh, no, I caught him a while ago," Owen explained to Nate. "Helped train him to the point where it would be safe to let him out and about. I felt bad when he was all cramped in his jar, y'know?"

"...Hm. All right." Karat stood up. "I've read the thoughts of the Shade with Owen and the Shade in Nip's stone."

"How come both?" Owen asked.

"I'm assuming that as the same species, they would have similar thought patterns. If they do not, then that means the stone did something to change it. As far as I can tell, it has not. The Shade with Nip and the Shade with Owen have similar thoughts, similar thought signatures..." He closed his eyes, thoughtful. "I do not sense anything hostile from either of them. But... Chip. You said that these stones can help them in battle?"

"Yes!"

"You are correct. Though, what makes me curious..." Karat glanced at Nip's stone, narrowing his eyes. "...It's like a..." He shook his head. "Regardless, as far as I care, it's fine for them. Who knows. Maybe you'll find a release mechanism later, but the Shade is in no rush for it.

"I made one other discovery," Karat stated. "Nip, and Owen, too. Your Shade can hear your thoughts and sense your emotions. And you may not have realized it, but I think you are sensing theirs, too. That may be how you are able to communicate with one another. Perhaps that is also how you were able to convince them to stay with you or, in Nip's case, fight alongside you."

 

[Dragonfree]

"You are correct. Though, what makes me curious..." Karat glanced at Nip's stone, narrowing his eyes. "...It's like a..." He shook his head.

Dave narrowed his eyes at Karat. "...A Pokéball? Is that what you were going to say?"

 

[Torchic]

"Apparently the shades can be docile if you feed them berries,"

So it was true? Well then, now the only thing he needed was a berry.

Celebi heard Skara's explanation and floated over to Cino with a berry in hand. "Are you having trouble with yours or something?" she asked. While she couldn't see the Shade, she could see Cino's struggle, and handed a berry over. "Maybe you can try that..."

Oh, where did she come from? Her name was... Cepa, right? What kind of food was Cepa? He wasn't sure what it was, as he was busy dealing with Mr. Hisses over here. "Oh, thank you so much, Ce... Celebi. I'll try to give it to him." He wasn't sure what would come out of his mouth if he accidentally called her by the wrong name.

Cino held the berry near enough that his slug would see it, but also far enough that it wouldn't be able to easily bite him again. After a few seconds, it started to smell something, as it moved its head a little towards the berry. Perhaps talking to it would help? "Hey, do you want a berry? I have one for you. You must be starving, right?"

A low hiss came from it, but nothing more. It now was concentrated on the berry. "If I give you this berry, will you let me take the stone?"

It switched glances between Cino and the berry. Another hiss came from it. Cino didn't know what it meant, but he hoped it was a yes. He dropped the berry into the cage, and the slug catched it, freeing the stone. Cino quickly grabbed it.

And what now? Touch the slug with the stone? He tried it after his slug finished the berry.

 

[windskull]

"I made one other discovery," Karat stated. "Nip, and Owen, too. Your Shade can hear your thoughts and sense your emotions. And you may not have realized it, but I think you are sensing theirs, too. That may be how you are able to communicate with one another. Perhaps that is also how you were able to convince them to stay with you or, in Nip's case, fight alongside you."

Nip had tuned out of the conversation, but perked up when he heard his name. "Oh? Hm... That... makes sense, I think? The pokemon that were possessed previously, the Shade's seemed to prey on their insecurities. It makes sense they'd be able to pick up on thoughts and emotions like that."

Dave narrowed his eyes at Karat. "...A Pokéball? Is that what you were going to say?"

A what, now?

 

[Namohysip]

Dave narrowed his eyes at Karat. "...A Pokéball? Is that what you were going to say?"

Karat stared at Dave for a long while, and there was a glint of familiarity in his eyes at the term. He glanced warily at Chip, then back at Dave. "It's not the same," Karat said to Dave, looking toward Owen again. "But it's... reminiscent. Either way, they're safe enough. That's my conclusion."

"Well, he said it's safe," Owen said, looking up at his Shade. "Want to give it a try?"

The Shade chirped, and it seemed their mutual curiosity was creating a feedback loop. "Oh," Owen added. "But Cepa, how come you were here, anyway? What was the experiment you wanted to try?"

"Oh, well." Cepa hummed. "See, one ability that I have, it's sort of a tiny thing, but aside from traveling through time, I can also have some... you know, purification powers. It's kind of an abstract thing, but I can help remind people of better times in the past, pull that past forward, and that sometimes has a strong effect on them. Maple thinks that's what helped Balm stay sane for so long despite being infected--because every time I touched him, it brought back that 'better past.' So, I was wondering, if I touched a Shade, would it help purify them, too? I never really tried before..."

Owen, meanwhile, watched the Shade with Cino, smiling. "I think it likes you now," he remarked to Cino.

 

[Negrek]

Nate blinked. God, why was being in this place such a fucking emotional rollercoaster all the time? So you could just fucking call God if you wanted to talk to the fucking manager? There was no way it could be that fucking easy. Or maybe the hard part was meant to be that somehow nobody thought to mention that calling God was a fucking option. "Uh, yeah," he said to Chip. "If you can call him, can you tell him that a couple of our people got lost when Giratina sent everybody to Treasure Town from the, uh, the trench with Lugia? A shinx and a litten. Can he find them? Can he send them back here?"

Owen's reply dampened his mood somewhat. "I mean, I was going to let the guy out," Nate muttered to himself, fishing his own shade in its jar out from his bag. It remained coiled in the bottom of the small container, twitching and raising its head when the light hit it. "But with all the fighting and stuff..." Yeah, because he'd been just so fucking busy that he couldn't spare a moment to let the thing out to get some air. I bet the pokémon that'd had hang out in a fucking jar hardly big enough to turn around in would be hella sympathetic about that excuse. Nate watched the shade morosely, wondering if he should let it out here or if it would just jump somebody and try to infect them--if it wasn't exactly feeling charitable towards the lot of them.

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, he already knows about that," Chip said. "He's looking around as well. Unfortunately he's already deduced that they're somewhere in the Reverse World, and searching around that place is... not as easy. Full of distortions even more than a Dungeon. So he's helping with Giratina to do it manually."

"Well, how about I try touching yours?" Cepa asked Owen, drifting toward him.

"...Only a little," Owen said. "If he seems stressed, I'm gonna pull away, alright?"

"That's fine."

Soda watched intently, not reacting one way or another. He only crossed his arms, looking bored.

Cepa gently reached toward the Shade... "It's right here?"

"Yeah." Owen held his arms out and the Shade plopped in them. Cepa reached out, brushing her little hand on its snout--

Suddenly, Cepa screamed and flew back. The Shade, in response, screeched and jumped toward Owen, curling around his neck and latching onto his shoulder. Owen yelped in surprise and held him steady, but Cepa pointed at the thing, hiding behind Soda, who only blinked, eyes wider than before.

"Th-th-THAT'S what they look like?!" Cepa cried.

 

[Negrek]

"Oh, well, that's good, I guess." In the Reverse World was still a pretty big area to search, and not really where you wanted to end up, but at least it was better than "could be any-fucking-where." "Would have been nice to get some kind of fucking update on that." At least he got to laugh at the Celebi's little freak-out. It wasn't even like the shades were that weird-looking, as pokémon went.

Keeping tight hold of the shade's jar, Nate took a calculating look around at the others in the group. No one else was wearing their shades on their head, at least, but some of them had... Were those the things the fucking mewtwo said he thought were like pokéballs?

After a moment of consideration Nate sidled up to the sneasel and said, "Hey. Where'd you get that rock thing?"

 

[windskull]

Hm? Oh, it was the grumpy little mudkip he remembered seeing at the beach. "This?" Nip asked, holding up the lump. "I wasn't there when they found them, but I heard there were a bunch of them out where Owen first fought the giant magikarp. I'm... pretty sure they brought all of the stones back. The God Squad probably still has a bunch, if you need one."

 

[Dragonfree]

Oh, of course Arceus was out there personally searching for Starr and Brisa. Just eager to help these two particular people. Why didn't they just fucking call God for every problem. Not that he'd believe this was really Arceus and not Soda's illusions (fucking Christ, Pop, it was practically a wink to the audience) until he saw some damn good evidence otherwise.

If these were basically Pokéballs for shades, then things looked a little different. By all accounts Pokémon didn't mind Pokéballs - sought them out, even, when they wanted a good rest. Most importantly, Pokéballs opened. Maybe they didn't have a way to open these, exactly - but destroying a Pokéball would release the Pokémon healthy and happy. No problem. "Hey," he said after a moment, looking at Karat (God, it still felt ridiculous looking fucking Mewtwo in the face), "we've got a lot of these, right? Think they'd release the shade again if destroyed?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmmm..." Karat hummed at this. "I don't see why it wouldn't."

"They're pretty hard to destroy, though," Chip added. "Then again, they might have the same power-nullifying properties that your assignments have had, so that could be a factor..."

"You can get more of those in the back," Owen offered to Nate, motioning to a corner of the room that had a few bags. They looked like standard supplies, but opening one up would show, indeed, more of those lumps. They were so useless that nobody really bothered to hide them any more securely, and it didn't look like anybody else thought differently.

Meanwhile, Dave's badge made a single, soft beeping noise--he'd gotten a message from an unfamiliar caller.

[Pop > Scotch]: Sup? (/¯◡ ‿ ◡)/¯ Heard you were looking for me.

 

[Torchic]

Pokeballs? Pokeballs. Dave said something about the Lumps being similar to Pokeballs. What even were those? The Lumps would... store? Absorb? Whichever, Nip's slug was inside the Lump. Were Pokeballs for... storing items?

Then something about Arceus. Cino knew who that was, but his Arceus couldn't care less about his world. It's as if he didn't even know what was going on.

Cino shook his head. No more thinking back home. He kinda missed his two friends already, but he didn't want to go back yet. He was needed here.

Owen, meanwhile, watched the Shade with Cino, smiling. "I think it likes you now," he remarked to Cino.

"...You think? Earlier it had wanted to bite me. I don't think one berry would be enough to..."

The slug did some sort of Khrrrh noise... Cino held his paw into the cage, and the slug licked it. He suddenly jerked his paw outside, because he thought it would bite him again. "Ew... so slimy..." He touched the slug with his Lump, and...

 

[Namohysip]

It took a little pressure, but the Shade disappeared into the stone just like Nip's.

"Oh! So that's how it works..." Owen nodded, this time having a better look at the process, though not much more information had been revealed. "I guess... that means I should do the same with you, huh, buddy?" Owen looked toward the Shade in his arms. Cepa was still looking disgusted at what they had apparently been taking care of.

 

[Torchic]

"Oh! It disappeared." Cino held up the stone, "It's in there now, huh?" He turned it to look at it from every angle. "How does that even work...? The stone's much smaller than the slug..."

He also saw Cepa cowering behind Soda for whatever reason. "Is everything ok? You had screamed earlier... what happened?"

 

[Negrek]

Nate looked over in surprise when the charmander mentioned there were more of the stones hanging out right in the dojo. "Thanks," he said to the charmander, or the sneasel, or both, and went over to dig one of the weird rocks out for himself. They really didn't look like much, just irregular hunks of rock. And these were supposed to store the shades somehow? Like proto-apricorns or some shit? Nate frowned down at the sack full of them. Surprising anybody'd bothered gathering them at all, honestly. After a few moments' consideration he shoveled a few into his bag, then took another to bring with him back to the group.

Watching the minccino, it did look pretty simple. And more or less like a pokéball, yeah. Nate still hesitated, the rock in one hand and the jar with his shade in the other. Well, he didn't have to do it now, but... what the fuck was he waiting for?

Meanwhile, the fucking celebi was still acting like the slugs were the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen. Had she never met a fucking grimer or nothing? "What, they ain't cute enough to get purified? What do you know, maybe you do your magic healing thing or whatever and they'll all turn into beautiful butterflies or some shit."

 

[Dragonfree]

Meanwhile, Dave's badge made a single, soft beeping noise--he'd gotten a message from an unfamiliar caller.

[Pop > Scotch]: Sup? (/¯◡ ‿ ◡)/¯ Heard you were looking for me.

Dave stared at the badge. "Wh--" He narrowed his eyes towards Soda, who was busily tapping at his own badge, but the holographic interface showed some kind of game (...was that Flappy Bird?), not the messaging app. Not that he couldn't make it look like he was playing a game while actually doing whatever he fucking pleased.

He scowled at the badge and started typing.

[Scotch > Pop]: I'm sorry, heard from who exactly?

 

[Namohysip]

[Pop > Scotch]: From Chip. You're at the Marowak Dojo in Treasure Town right now? I'm down to chill.

Meanwhile, Cepa was calming herself and sighing. "Those things are definitely not Pokemon, but... if they're friendly, I'll just have to accept that." She shook it off. "Fine, bring them to me if you want me to purify them, though it doesn't look like I made much of a difference aside from making them visible."

 

[Dragonfree]

[Pop > Scotch]: From Chip. You're at the Marowak Dojo in Treasure Town right now? I'm down to chill.

[Scotch > Pop]: Well, I don't recall saying anything of the sort, so that's a fail grade on the infallibility. Did you find Brisa and Starr, or are you just taking your time fucking around on your badge a bit first?

 

[Namohysip]

[Pop > Scotch]: Chances are they're in the Reverse World. Progress! \(´▽`)/
[Pop > Scotch]: But it's one giant distortion. Giratina would find them faster than I would. It's not my pad.
[Pop > Scotch]: Might take a few days. But they'll survive. They're strong.
[Pop > Scotch]: Sending good vibes. ~(^-^)~

 

[NebulaDreams]

Curio was totally here the whole time while this was going on. Yessiree. After watching everyone else's reactions to Diyem's reveal back there, she felt for Cynthian and regretted not checking up on him, but she didn't know if she'd do much to convince him about Dark Matter. After watching the whole Shade thing unfold here, Curio was glad she stuck around since she finally found a lead about Brisa and Starr's whereabouts.

"Okay, cool beans, Pop. Honestly, that's a huge weight off my mind." She sighed in relief. "Still, not knowing where they are exactly in the reverse world does kind of set me on edge." She glanced at Karat. "Oh, I remember playing against you in that Smashing Brothers game thingy. I never thought I'd see the real thing up close, but ah well, this journey has knocked all of the surprise out of me anyway."