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Mystery Continent ~ Northern Pines

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windskull

Bidoof Fan
Staff
Partners
  1. sneasel-nip
  2. bidoof
  3. absol
  4. kirlia
  5. windskull-bidoof
  6. little-guy-windskull
  7. purugly
  8. mawile
  9. manectric
"Ah, you know where the guild is, right? Maple said we have rooms to stay in there, I stopped by for a moment but left left shortly after. If I'm not mistaken, they've got two to three people to a room. Much more private than our previous arrangements."
 

windskull

Bidoof Fan
Staff
Partners
  1. sneasel-nip
  2. bidoof
  3. absol
  4. kirlia
  5. windskull-bidoof
  6. little-guy-windskull
  7. purugly
  8. mawile
  9. manectric
"I could be wrong, but I believe they were giving us options on who to room with."

He hesitated a few heartbeats. "Would... would you be interested in sharing a room? I don't know about you, but I can't think of anyone else I'd be more comfortable sharing with."
 
R5 - Mellow plays Minecraft the game

Disco

Ace Trainer
Pronouns
They/Them
Let's see, there's rows for each kind of Berry, a side plot for the Apricorn trees, and enough dirt to grow the Mint... May need to think about building a shelter to keep the snow off... Maybe if I had something to warm up the soil a bit so the roots wouldn't freeze...

Mellow stood and gazed at her work so far. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the Sneasel or the Absol, either of the times they passed her by.

...

It was a few days before she climbed up the hill overlooking the work she had put into landscaping the environment. It wasn't perfect by any means; the climate was cold and so was the soil. But she wasn't one to give up and had come up with what was at least a temporary solution. Jars filled with light that was amplified by the glass, almost like little beacons, were placed strategically in the dirt. They all gave off a warmth that would keep the plants from dying. It certainly made the move Will-o-Wisp worth learning! Mellow smiled, mentally patted herself on the back, and then dug through her pack to get out her badge to check her messages.

She raised a brow at a certain specific notice in the Team Spectrum group chat, then sighed and trotted back into Destiny Village. She should probably check out the rooms that were built. Probably. If nothing else, it would at least be good storage. She'd have to put all those jars of dried berries and other plants somewhere, after all.

<><><><>
 
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R5 - Nate, Cino, and his Shadow

Torchic

Torchic Hugger
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns
he
It wasn't getting any better.

Maple told him to focus, to empty his mind of these wretched thoughts. To breath in deeply, to let the cold air enter his body and cleanse him. To take a walk around town. A walk into the forest, surely this would help Cino to calm down from his shadows.

You're a fool.

Nothing had worked thus far. The thoughts are still there, as present as they had been since the fight against that otherworldly machine.

A nobody.

It felt like the parasite that had entered his body back home came back to do it once more. Diyem said that it wouldn't be able to follow him here, but... he was starting to doubt the black Charizard's words. No, Dark Matter's words. Lies. Deception. Like the Dark Matter from this world here, so would their 'leader' start to drag this world into doom. How can a being made of negativity do good? It didn't make sense.

Just get it over with.

"Shut up!" Cino finally snapped, screamed at himself, and the voice inside his head. He couldn't take it anymore, it was draining his sanity. With every step he took deeper into the forest, the heavier his head felt. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! Leave me alone!"

Oh, Cino. My poor little Cino.

"Go away!"

Look at you, you pathetic little worm. Broken down just by mere words.

Cino banged his head against the bark of a tree. "Get out of my head, you monster! Leave me alone! Why won't you just go?!"

Four monochrome tendrils appeared behind him, seemingly out of his neck, followed by two black, rectangle eyes. Its face had a black vertical stripe in the center of its face, and two rectangle growths on the left and right of its head, acting as ears. Its torso was almost glowing black, somehow.

He squeaked after he felt the tendrils touch his shoulders What... what was that monochrome looking monster?

Hitting yourself isn't going to help. Nobody would want to help you, anyway.

He scurried backwards until his back was against another tree. The ground was cold, but he tried to ignore it. "What- what are you?! Where did you come from?!"

You know me well, Cino. From the day we have met, until today... we have never parted ways.

"Wh- what?" Was this really the same creature that had nested itself inside him? Since when...? "What- what are yo- you?!"

The shadow hovered over to Cino, who was cowering from the giant monster above him.

You're pathetic. Everyone would be better off without you.
 

Negrek

The One Star
Staff
The snowy forest outside Destiny Village seemed like the perfect spot to be alone for a while. Nate had barely glanced around at the town on his way out here, but at least it looked like more of a proper town than Treasure Town did. The biggest pokémon settlement he'd seen, probably. Maybe it actually wouldn't be complete shit.

The air was cold, and the snow on the ground muffled all sound, on top of the usual eerie silence of a forest without animals. Nate found a likely rock and set his pack down next to it, then fished Rocky out and set him on top of the stone. The thin layer of snow cushioned Rocky a little, but Nate could still see him shaking, slowly digging himself a hole in the powder.

Nate sighed and sat down facing the rock, watching Rocky anxiously shiver. "Well, here we fucking are," he said. The stone kept shaking. "I ain't mad at you or nothing. Promise. It wasn't your fault." Maybe it wasn't really anybody's fucking fault. Or maybe that zoroark had an idea the whole time and had just conveniently failed to mention it.

Not important. He could worry about that later. Nate sighed again. Right now, he needed to have a heart-to-heart with his anxious psychic soulbonded rock. Apparently.

In the end, he got maybe fifteen minutes of peace before someone started shouting. Fucking fantastic. Was there literally nowhere in this hellhole world you could go to get a bit of peace and quiet? Nate squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore it, but the yells only got more frantic--and closer too. It sounded like this was going to become his problem no matter what the fuck he did.

What a fucking day. Nate scooped Rocky back into his bag, shrugged it onto his back, and headed off to see whatever stupid shit was in store for him now.

"What- what are you?! Where did you come from?!" he heard, and sped up. Not good, not good. There was some kind of shit going down, one way or another. There was some small gray-white pokémon up ahead, and a, a dark cloud... oh, fuck.

The shadow loomed over the minccino on the ground, weird and distorted-looking and menacing. Oh, fuck, not again. Not more fucking shadows. Nate froze, staring hopelessly while the minccino rolled around on the ground, yelling. It didn't look like the shadow thing was even doing anything, but, the guy was having an absolute fit.

Well, wait. None of those... those other shadows had ever attacked anybody, right? At least not... directly. And they always at least kinda like whatever pokémon they were coming from, and this one sure as hell fucking didn't. So this had to be something different. Like maybe another Darkwhite thing. Or some kind of infected wild pokémon that had gone looking for trouble? Yeah. It was probably something like that. And at least it should be pretty easy to deal with.

"Hey, fuck off!" he yelled at the weirdass shadow-thing, and spat a water gun at it.
 
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Torchic

Torchic Hugger
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns
he
"Huh?" The voice was familiar, but Cino didn't know who it was exactly. Oh, the Mudkip! "Ah, please, get it off me!"

The shadow shrugged off the water gun, and looked at Nate. If you think that I'll be gone when you defeat me, you're dead wrong. The monochrome Deoxys went inside Cino, leaving only a cowering Minccino and the Mudkip in this part of the forest.

"Wh- is... is it gone?" Cino looked around, and eyed Nate. "Where... where did it go? Did you get rid of it?"
 

Negrek

The One Star
Staff
The shadowy creature obviously didn't think much of the attack, but it backed off anyway. Actually, it looked like it went--nope. Definitely not. Probably it was a dark-type or something and had decided to hitch a ride in the minccino's shadow. That would make sense.

"I think it's gone for now, but I definitely didn't knock it out or anything," Nate said. He moved in closer to the minccino, doing a quick scan for injuries. "Are you hurt? We probably want to get out of here in case that thing comes back." If it was planning to hang around the minccino, then they needed to get back to someplace with more people so they'd have backup when it showed up again. Given the shadow-thing's reaction to the water gun and the way the minccino was acting earlier, Nate didn't have high hopes for their ability to take it on as just the two of them.
 

Torchic

Torchic Hugger
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns
he
"No, I'm not hurt. At least I think I'm not. It's my shadow... acting up. I came here to calm myself, but..." It was still there, Cino could feel it inside his head. It's just like back home now. He was so happy when he found out that it couldn't come with him, but... why was it here? "But it wouldn't go away. Everyone has their shadows under control by now, but me? It's terrorizing me. It's trying to bring me down by saying that I'm weak, and- and useless. I'm not weak! It won't shut up!"

Cino clutched his head like he just got a migraine. He breathed in deeply, and massaged his temples. "It's... it's a parasite from my home. Back home it already nested itself into me, but... but it's not nearly as aggressive. I thought I needed a quiet place to calm down, but it seems to only make it worse.

"I don't know what to do anymore. It won't leave me alone, doesn't matter what I try to do."
 

Negrek

The One Star
Staff
Oh, Jesus. So the minccino claimed it was a shadow, but then something to do with a parasite? Either way, it sounded like a whole fuckton of bad news.

Nate shrugged out from under his pack again and flipped it open. "Here. I know you said you ain't hurt, but you want a berry anyway? Maybe you'll feel better after you eat something." God, why did he have to be the one here for this? There were like a dozen little rays of sunshine on the team who could give whatever shitty pep talk to make the problem all go away. Believe in yourself, blah blah, whatever the fuck. There was no way Nate could pull saccharine shit like that off without it sounding exactly as stupid as it actually was. "So, uh, that parasite thing, how long has it been bugging you? In this world, I mean. Maybe if you can figure out what got it started, that'll give you an idea of what could make it stop."
 

Torchic

Torchic Hugger
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns
he
"It started to happen after we fought that otherworldly machine. That... black thing. In the Shaymin Village." Even thinking about that ball gives him the creeps. "Not immediately, but I felt there was something else that had talked to me... a new voice. It turned out to be that thing. And... that shadow just now. I can't calm down when this thing is constantly talking to me and insulting me like I..." Cino groaned. "I dunno, made it so our team lost, or something."

Cino leaned onto the same tree he had cowered under, and sat down. The snow bothered him little with his thick fur. "Maple told me to calm down, to breath in deeply a couple times to empty the mind. Yeah, sure, just breath out the corrupted thoughts off your mind, why don't you? It's easy!" Cino sighed.

"It's not as easy as she thinks. This thing... this thing was a part of me since I can remember. Since I was born. It has been there since the very beginning. But this... this shadow thing... it's not the same. It's been corrupted by that machine. That... that stupid machine. It did this to me. It corrupted a being that may even be equal to Arceus."

He looked at Nate. He didn't even know what he was talking about, did he? "Its name is Xylie. That's what it told me when I asked it if it had a name. It helped me through everything since I left home to travel the continent. And this shadow is not Xylie. Definitely not."

Cino leaned his head onto the tree and deeply breathed in and out again. "I know it sounds weird, but it's not evil. It never was."
 

Negrek

The One Star
Staff
Well, fuck. The heavy shit just didn't end, did it? It was one thing if the minccino'd gotten zapped and the shadow thing had only shown up then, but if this was something he'd been dealing with since he was back in his own world, and it'd followed him over here somehow, that was a whole other level of shit to be dealing with. "Yeah, telling you to calm down and expecting everything to go away is pretty bullshit," he said. "I dunno that there's even one fucking time that somebody told another person to calm the fuck down and it did even a single bit of good."

Nate rummaged through his bag for a moment before finding an oran berry. That was a safe bet, right? Who didn't love a nice oran berry? And a nanab berry for himself.

Nate sat down next to Cino and put the oran berry down by the minccino, in case he changed his mind and wanted something to eat after all. "Ain't that fucking weird," he said meditatively. "Or, well, it's kind of weird, no offense. But compared to some of the shit I seen, it doesn't even rate, honestly." He broke one of the lobes off the nanab berry and scarfed it down to give himself a moment to think. "Well, so far I guess we've pretty much dealt with these shadow things three different ways. One, beating the shit out of whoever got one stuck to them. Two, using that radiance shit on them. And three, like, talking shit out. I can't do the radiance thing, sorry. So, uh, assuming you don't want nobody to beat you up... I guess if it didn't used to be evil, you could try figuring out what its deal is. Like, it's pretty shit for it to just be telling you you're shit and all, but maybe it's pissed about something and will lay off if you can figure out what." Just please dear God don't ask him to say anything positive and life-affirming, he might just fucking evaporate on the spot.
 

Torchic

Torchic Hugger
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns
he
Trying to figure out what its deal is with him? It had been silent since Cino arrived here in Cibus, even tried to find out if it was really gone. He never got any answer to anything he was asking it, so Cino assumed it really was gone for good. He eyed the oran berry next to him, maybe this would help just a little bit? He hoped it would. "Well," he picked up the berry, "the only thing my Radiance is good for is protecting myself from attacks. I don't think that's gonna help at all." He bit off a piece. The chilly and fruity taste let his body soothe, but not his mind. "Talking to it, uh... I'll be honest, it scares the fur out of me. Every time I see it... my body just refuses to listen, and everything inside me screams to run away from it. I tried, but, yeah. Didn't work." He ate the rest of the oran.

The only other way was for someone to beat him up? Surely that couldn't be it. He got beaten up pretty good by those Shaymin, and even though their attack didn't hurt anymore, Cino kept thinking about when they attacked him and his team. Even with his Radiant protecting him, they just barraged him with their attacks. The feeling of being on the edge of passing out after his tiny reviver seed brought him back on his legs was not a pleasant one.

You let yourself get defeated by those tiny flowers? Pathetic.

Cino was about to scream again, but something clicked.

Every time he thought back to the fight, the shadow's voice intensified.

"Nate," the spontanious change in tone surprised even Cino, "I think I know why it's doing this. I think I know..."

You know nothing.

"It's... I'm not sure if it is, but... I think it has something to do with our last fight? Against the Shaymin."

Where you got quelled.

"Every time I think back, the shadow is telling me how pathetic I am."

Because you are.

"It's doing it right now. But what does it mean? Do I have to go back and defeat the Shaymin for it to shut up?"

Yes, go there so that they can finish you off. Your team does not need you. They will be better off without you. Just go.
 

Negrek

The One Star
Staff
Eh? The shadow thing was back again? Nate tensed, then crammed the rest of the nanab berry in his face and got it down in a couple of chews. He was ready to go if more water was needed, but he couldn't see anything this time. The only thing weird was the minccino seemed a little more distant than usual, like he was paying attention to something in his own head. If Nate hadn't seen "Xylie" earlier, he would have thought the guy was losing his marbles. Hearing things and shit.

He spoke cautiously, all the while keeping an eye out for the reappearance of some shadowy fuck. "Beat the shaymin? Nah, expecting you to beat an entire village of fucking legends would be stupid anyhow. Only person I could see managing that is maybe that fucking smeargle or something." That sounded kind of harsh, didn't it? Fuck. He wasn't a fucking psychologist, why the fuck was this one on him. "You said it's something to do with the fight, though, right? And the dick keeps calling you pathetic... Well, I know you said you're strong, but if you 100% didn't believe the guy, he probably wouldn't be getting to you with that, you know? It would just be kinda annoying. So, I dunno, what did you actually do during the battle? Was there something that happened that made you feel weak?" Fucking God please don't let the minccino be one of the people he... "I couldn't really, you know... see what was going on, with the miasma shit and all. I don't really, really know everything that happened."
 

Torchic

Torchic Hugger
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns
he
Was there something that happened that made you feel weak?
"The only thing that I'm remembering is when they hit me with their seed flare twice. It hurt. A lot."

A shame you didn't die then and there.

Cino tried to ignore the voice and continued like normal. "Not even my Radiant move had protected me. Everyone seemed unharmed by their attack, except for me."

Because they're not as weak as you.

"The only thing I really helped with is with giving others extra chances to attack."

Getting pushed around by your team, more like.

"I guess that's good too, but I wanted to actually help attacking that thing, you know? I think I'd be better off behind the front lines, like some others. Seems to work out just fine for them."

And then get pushed around by them.

Maybe talking about something else would silence it? Cino would try almost anything for it to shut up. "What's that word, by the way? You're saying 'fuck' a lot, what does it mean? The human back home sometimes uses it too, but he doesn't want to tell me."

Cino still felt the presence of it, but it was silent, finally. Maybe his theory worked? He just had to not think or talk about the fight.
 

Negrek

The One Star
Staff
(( lol, good question, Cino! ))

Nate didn't think it likely that nobody else had gotten hurt by the seed flares; from what he recalled, those had torn people up pretty bad. He wasn't about to go digging around in the old memories to try and dispute it, though. "Yeah, helping other people out in battle is a big deal. Support strats and all that. But it ain't very sexy, so I get not feeling like you contributed much, especially if nobody really, like, acknowledged that you saved their ass. But sure, why not mix it up and try more aggro next fight? If what you got ain't working out for you, might as well try something new."

As for that question... dear God, Nate had no idea how pokémon fucked in the minccino's world. He could have gone his whole life without having to contemplate that, actually. Just how old was this guy, anyway? "It's a human thing. Kind of a pain in the ass to explain, so I ain't surprised your human friend didn't want to go into it. Mostly it's just something to say when you're pissed off and done with the world's shit." Nate leaned back against the treetrunk, smirking. "Want to give it a try? This is a fucked situation if I ever saw one."
 

Torchic

Torchic Hugger
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Pronouns
he
"Ooh, I see. So it's a way of expressing that I'm angry? Or frustrated about something? Interesting." Now that he thought about it, the Shinx back home said that when he was angry too.

"I'm sick and tired of this fffuck... fucking shadow. Like this? Fuck the Shaymin, fuck the shadows, fuck Diyem, fuck the Darkwhite thing, uhm..." Cino breathed out again, that felt good. Very good. He was thinking about what else he was frustrated about, but couldn't find anything right now. "Did I say it right?"

Cursing them doesn't change anything.
 

Negrek

The One Star
Staff
"Yeah, like that," Nate said. "Fuck the shadows, seriously. And the shaymin, and that fucking machine, and that fucking smeargle and this whole fucking shitty world." Nate smiled, watching the words drift and fade away on the white steam of his breath. "Feel better?"
 
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