Marowak Dojo ~ Living Quarters

[Dragonfree]

God, his fucking obnoxious emoticons. If this was actually the creator of this universe and not Soda being a dick, maybe they should think twice about saving it.

[Scotch > Pop]: Cool. Thanks.

He put his badge away. "Well, 'Arceus' says he's doing fuck-all because it's all a distortion but Giratina'll probably find them in a few days. Very convenient. I don't suppose we've got anything better than that."

He sighed, his gaze sliding towards Squiggly in the jar. "Okay, let me just..." He grabbed his useless lump, put it on the floor, and focused his energy for an Assurance, attempting to break it.

 

[Namohysip]

The lump trembled at Dave's strike, but it didn't seem like it was going to budge at all to his attack. It was much harder than a typical boulder, that was for sure...

Strange Lump
Durability: 400
To break: Requires a single blow with destruction greater than 400 (square root of effective Attack * move base power)

"I don't think an attack like that is going to do it," Owen said to Dave, frowning. "Those things are really durable..."

Karat paused, then glared at Curio. "I refuse to believe my likeness is depicted in another world's games as well." And so, he chose to ignore her and forget she ever said that.

 

[NebulaDreams]

"I refuse to believe my likeness is depicted in another world's games as well." And so, he chose to ignore her and forget she ever said that.

"Oh no, they totally do. You're in games, movies, they've even made plushies of you. Hmm, I wonder, you could probably sue if it's damaging to your character or whatever, though don't quote me on that, I'm no lawyer. I don't even know if Pokemon can sue, so..."

 

[Namohysip]

Karat continued to ignore Curio, though it looked like a vein or two was bulging on his forehead. He was mumbling something about deranged fan clubs.

 

[Torchic]

Cino recently has stopped wondering how other worlds worked differently than his. It gave him a headache if he thought about it too much.

"Ok," he tried to change the subject back to those Lumps, "anything else? What happens now?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Well, now..." Owen hummed.

"I study those lumps! You'll let me see it from time to time, right? Please? Pretty please? What's your authentication password, I'll keep it a secret!" Chip buzzed around Owen, who sighed even as he shoved his Shade in his stone.

"Maybe, but only if I'm watching," Owen said to Chip with a stern frown. "I guess until then, we need to hope Starr and Brisa can be found in the Reverse World, and... until then, keep training and looking for more incidents to take care of." He sighed. "I think that's all we can do for now..."

His lump wiggled about in his palm, and he smiled. "Want to go out for a walk?" he asked. "Wiggle once for yes."

And it did, indeed, wiggle once.

 

[Negrek]

The celebi had actually purified the charmander's shade? Nate had thought she'd just touched it and immediately lost her shit. And it looked as though if anyone was going to try it out with their own, it was going to be him--the charmander's disappeared into one of the rocks even as he watched. Didn't look as though the process hurt any, at least, and making the shade visible was... maybe interesting. Not that he knew how his was going to react to anyone coming over to touch it.

"What makes you say they ain't pokémon?" he asked, setting the rock aside and carefully unscrewing the lid of his jar. "They don't got non-pokémon in your world either, right? Like, how would you even tell?" He reached slowly for the shade at the bottom of the jar, ready to yank his hand back if it looked like it was feeling feisty. Otherwise he would try holding it up for the celebi.

 

[Namohysip]

As Owen left the dojo to get some air, Cepa floated toward where some of the other Shades were apparently being held. "Well, I... They certainly don't seem like Pokemon, do they? It's... otherworldly! I mean--no offense, you're technically all otherworldly, too, but..."

Karat was already walking out.

"H-hey! Mewtwo, where are you going?"

"My assignment here is done. I'm leaving so I may get some peace." And in a flash of light, he was gone.

"Meh, got boring here anyway." Soda stood up and slipped his badge into his bag. "Good luck with your lump things. Who knows? Maybe they'll actually be helpful after all." He made some gesture of peace and faded away.

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave looked at Squiggly once again. "Well, let me know if you ever want to get into one of those, I guess." He paused. "If I let you out, I'm not carrying you on my head. Deal?"

He opened Squiggly's container, pulling out an Oran Berry to give him, still watching him closely. "Maybe you should purify him, just in case," he said, glancing at Cepa.

 

[Namohysip]

"...I guess so," Cepa agreed, floating toward Squiggly with some guidance. The Shade seemed more focused on the Oran than anything else, making occasional glances toward Dave, then at Cepa, as if asking if she was safe. The fact that Dave wasn't objecting meant she probably was...

With a touch, nothing changed to Dave, but Cepa recoiled a little. "Okay," she said. "maybe they aren't so bad up close... now that the shock wore off a little."

"Khhsss..." Squiggly flicked a tendril Cepa's way, then finished the Oran and glanced at the other stones. The way Owen's had gone in, it didn't seem all that bad. Squiggly then glanced toward Dave, and a vague sense of curiosity flowed from it into Dave, even as Squiggly felt Dave's own apprehension to the idea. After all, they could just break them out if something went wrong, right?

 

[Dragonfree]

"You sure?" Dave tilted his head. "Whatever, fine. Wiggle a bunch if you want out." He pushed his useless lump towards Squiggly. If these were basically Pokéballs for shades, did this technically make him a trainer?

 

[Negrek]

Well, at least the shade didn't immediately go for his face after being let out, and it tolerated the celebi's touch well enough. Didn't look any different, though, or act like it much, still waving its tendrils around and all. Nate wondered whether it was weird for it to be in a room with so many other slugs. They didn't really seem like they ran in packs or anything.

"Dunno, seems like a normal enough pokémon to me," he said. "Not that I'm an expert. It's all the lot of you who're fucking weird. But thanks, I guess."

At this point even the poochyena had put his shade into one of the stones, but Nate still hesitated, looking down at the rock lying near his foot. Didn't seem like there was anything bad with it, but, if people could see the guy now... Well, it wasn't like anybody would be able to see the other ones coming once they knew what to look for. That didn't help. Didn't exactly seem likely that anybody would recognize the thing and suddenly have an idea of what to do about the shades, either. But it felt like there had to be something important there.

All the same, it would be a lot more convenient than keeping the guy in a fucking jar. "Well, go in there if you want, I guess," he said, setting the shade on the ground next to the stone. "But don't get too comfy, all right? I think there's some people who oughta see you when you're not, you know, inside a fucking rock."

 

[Namohysip]

The Shade with Nate pecked at the rock a few times, then tried to eat it again--but, of course, it didn't seem to work too well. It needed a boost to actually get inside the stone, and, trying to mimic what its brethren had done, it tried to press its head against the stone. It wiggled its rear toward Nate, perhaps unintentionally, unable to muster the force on its own to go inside.

 

[Dragonfree]

Squiggly happily disappeared into the lump. "Everything good?" Dave asked; the lump wiggled enthusiastically, but then stilled, without doing so again. "Well, okay." He could feel some psychic echo of giddy joy from within the lump. Who was he to question it at this point?

"Well, I guess that's me. See you around." He waved a paw briefly at Nate before exiting the dojo.

 

[Negrek]

Nate had to smile at the shade's antics. What the fuck was in these rocks, exactly? Cocaine?

"What, you need a boost or something?" he asked. He carefully picked the shade up and tried to... gently... smush it up against the side of the stone.

Preoccupied as he was, it took Nate a moment to register that the poochyena had been talking to him. Nate frowned after him as he left. What the fuck was that all about?

 

[NebulaDreams]

Curio wandered around for a bit to gather her thoughts after her meeting with Brisa. Sure, it was lovely seeing her, and it was nice to get some closure on that incident before, but it left her feeling... hollow, for whatever reason. Jesse's thoughts about Brisa still echoed in her mind, and how Curio had basically said the same things to her. She wasn't going to beat herself up over that when it was a mutual misunderstanding, but when she thought about her own dad...

Was he really as bad as Curio made him out to be?

She knew the answer was yes, absolutely. Using her as soccer practise was the last straw. But compared to Brisa, Curio had it much easier. He even said he loved her over the phone. He never thought of her as a violent animal. But that was different, and-- dammit.

She had better things to do than think about deadbeat dads all day. And besides, in her life, her dad was basically a fart in a windstorm. But that was also the problem. No, for realsies, enough.

Curio found her way to the dojo, remembering the damage Brisa's explosion did to it a while back. Aside from a few loose planks, it looked as good as new. She entered the living quarters and nosed around to see who was there.

 

[Namohysip]

The living quarters was largely empty this time around, with most of Team Spectrum already moving or abandoning their belongings here. They had mostly gone to Destiny Village, probably sick of sleeping on the floor or in the open in a place that was certainly not meant for long-term sleeping. It had been well over a month at this point, and perhaps they were getting stir crazy.

Yet there was still one person left, though what seemed to be following him was more than a little worrying. Owen, the little Charmander, sighed to himself and gathered several supplies... but there was a gigantic, looming Charizard standing just behind him, not doing anything much. Only staring.

And the giant, hazy Charizard--the very one that they had fought during the Shadow Machine--stared back at Curio with its empty, golden eyeholes.

"Hey, Curio," Owen called, not even looking back. "Don't mind him. I'm still trying to get it under control."

 

[NebulaDreams]

Curio gasped at the living flashlight that was the shadow Charizard. She entered a battle stance, prepared for another fight, until she came to her senses. "Arceus on a flaming bicycle, you scared me." She relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief. "How're you holdin' up, Owen? I guess we haven't really talked that much lately."

 

[Namohysip]

"I've been okay," Owen replied, and the Charizard behind him glared downward. "...Mostly okay." The glare continued. "...Okay, so maybe this whole Shadow stuff is starting to get to me a little." The Charizard eased up. Then, the little Charmander finally turned around, his arms full of books and other supplies that were almost comically as tall as he was. But Owen's eyes seemed... tired.

 

[NebulaDreams]

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Curio sighed, leaning against one of the wooden pillars. "I've dealt with Cynthian, I've dealt with Brisa. I've kind of become a shadow therapist at this point. Maybe I could make money off of it. But you could use a bit of R and R."