Poppin' Arms ~ Cafeteria

[Namohysip]

The heartiest, healthiest foods were the main staple of the Poppin' Arms Guild. Fresh ingredients, the latest advancements of conjured meats and foodstuffs, and of course the usual, vibrant foods that you'd normally expect from a fancy restaurant. It seemed that along with having some of the best fighters, explorers, and rescuers in the world, Poppin' Arms also hired some of the best chefs.

The cafeteria itself was on the ground floor of the Guild, near the back and far past the main rooms. The idle buzzing of Pokemon filled the large room during mealtimes, several of them only vaguely recognizable to Team Spectrum. It seemed that Poppin' Arms was roughly a hundred strong, though they only knew a handful of the Guild prominently--mostly their elite of elites.

Chairs of all kinds lined the walls, which allowed anyone to pick the most suitable ones for the tables they had to sit in, as was customary. Far in the back were other tables and cafeteria workers dutifully serving out the days' meals. In the back, a Typhlosion and Machamp dutifully cooked as a master-class tag-team. Occasionally, they surveyed the tables from afar, glowing at any happy expressions they saw.

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"I'm glad that some of you were able to make it to lunch," S'more commented, smiling. "I might not have put the invitations in the proper place--a bit short notice, more a proposal from Protein, actually..."

The Salamence in question grinned. "Well, I just wanted to meet our little world-savers, is all." He curled his tail around and sat without a seat by the main, white table. "Team building! And nothing builds a better bond than good food and a fun time, right?" His voice and tone was jolly, but there was an undercutting growl with every word he said. A little scary to anyone who didn't know him.

 

[Navar]

The Marshtomp was having his meal in silence, having decided to keep his mouth shut until spoken to. Big crowds were always his enemies anyway.

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Yup. World-savers, that's us," Starr replied dryly in between bites of some kind of stir-fry. Well, she couldn't really argue with his point about using food for teambuilding. "What've you heard about us, anyway?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Oh, nothing much, only that you took down two of the four Omen Legends in three months, is all!" Protein grinned again, then took a huge bite of his slab of meat, which was comically stuck on a huge metal rod.

"He means Dialga and Rayquaza, to be specific," S'more said. "Thankfully, Kyurem is safe in Destiny Village, and Yveltal is, too. Otherwise we'd be worried about them attacking as well, like some sort of targeted assault..."

Another of the elites came by next, this one a Goodra with a perpetual, dark purple blush on her cheeks. She silently nodded at the two of them and sat next to Protein.

"Sure you got enough food, Zinc?" Protein asked with a playful headbutt.

Zinc giggled and took the first apple of what appeared to be thirty.

 

[SparklingEspeon]

Evolution wasn't enough to dampen Tricky's appetite. She wordlessly stuffed her face with glorious cake, quickly pausing to make sure she wasn't getting any weird looks before downing another slice.

"You said Kyurem and Yveltal," she said through a full mouth. It barely came out intelligible. "How many more of these guys exist? Are we going to have to fight them again?" As much as she'd taken a liking to sticking her nose in places she probably shouldn't, battling yet another crazy monster-sized pokemon wasn't on her list of things to do while vacationing here. She had decided at some point that this was a vacation, and she was going to treat it like a vacation no matter how many overpowered monsters wreaked havoc on this place.

 

[Namohysip]

"Uhhh..." Protein and Zinc exchanged uncertain looks. "Well, hopefully you won't have to fight too many of them. I mean, think about it, you guys already took down Dialga, Palkia, Rayquaza... how much worse can it get, right?"

"Heeeeere's Darkwhiiiite!"

Appearing from nowhere, Darkwhite popped into existence above their table, getting several incredulous stares from other diners. In Darkwhite's hands were bunches of berries and breads and some unidentified meat slice.

"You won't believe the stuff they have back there! All perfect for borrowing!"

"Mm, borrowing," S'more repeated. "That would be stealing, had you not already been given Arceus' graces for being here, Darkwhite."

Darkwhite was too busy stuffing her face with food to reply or listen. Her head stretched impossibly to accommodate more.

 

[SparklingEspeon]

Tricky choked on her cake and just barely stopped herself from falling backwards out of her seat. She leapt up and brandished a wand that used to be the leg of a broken chair in the garbage, but no-mon else had to know that.

"Wait, what is she doing here?? Isn't she one of the bad guys?"

 

[Cresselia92]

Having nine tails and a bigger brain were two elements that Icetales really appreciated about evolution, all things considered. He could hold multiple items with more ease and dexterity and process things faster, which were a treat for a multi-tasker like him.

Holding six different books at the same time? Check.

Holding a cup of tea in another tail? Check.

Holding the plate in yet another tail? Check.

And there was still a spare tail for anything else.

He preferred to opt for silence unless talked to as he was way too focused on his study, but when Darkwhite appeared out of nowhere he perked up. Hey, perhaps that was his chance to check his progress!

So he lowered all six books, took a deep breath and smiled at the strange Mew.

“Sup, pal! What brings ya here?”

 

[Namohysip]

"Well like I said, I'm supposed to work with you guys now because we're entering the second act!"

"The what now?" Protein asked, tilting his head. "Last I checked, you were busy corrupting Legendaries."

"Oh, I still do that, but it's the same as before! I'm just stealing it from the party pooper! I tried saying hi to Lugia but she blasted me into a wall." Darkwhite stuck her tongue out and winked. "Oh well! Maybe next time."

Zinc took another apple, frowning. "Um, so, you're... not here to attack, then?"

"Nah, Owen told me I had to go to the Colosseum if I wanted to fight. I already got a few good ones in! None of my opponents could hit me, though."

"Preeetty sure that's because you've got that immunity thing for Cibus people," Protein theorized.

"Oh, you're right! The only one I could get hurt by was Owen!"

"Owen fought you?" Protein said.

"Well, tried. Huhu."

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales narrowed his eyes, checked a book titled “Slang for Dummies” and looked again at the strange Mew.

“Welp! Good to hear ya’re lendin’ a paw here, aye? We’d appreciate all the help we can get,” he checked his book once more, “…cuz we may have tougher butts to kick in the future, yeah!”

He blinked and looked around the place. “Golly! How can you confer in such way? Mine own tongue is starting to twist in unimaginable shapes!” He winced. “Huh, I mean… gosh! This food is the bomb! Don’t y’all agree?”

 

[TheGOAT]

Astrid dug into her sushi. It was spicy, but bearably so.

“Bomb indeed,” she commented when she had a moment to breathe.

 

[Ambyssin]

Esper looked up at Icetales from his plate of decadent waffles. "Dude, did Pop write that? You sound like an old geezer trying to fit in with hip youngsters."

 

[Cresselia92]

“Old geezer…?” Icetales blinked slowly. “I have barely hit my 70’s! I have an entire life ahead of me… um, dude!” He placed a paw on his chin. “Or should have I said ‘duuude’, with more ‘u’? I have yet to understand that concept…”

He shrugged and took a sip of his tea. “And no, Petram wrote most of my notes. Nothing’s wrong in refreshing my vocabulary, aye? Wanna blend in, be cool, and all that stuff.”

 

[Ambyssin]

Esper leaned his head on his nubby hand. "Yeah, you're blending in about as well as a snorlax at an all-you-can-eat buffet. You know that badge of yours can record things, right? Why not record the rest of us speaking to each other so you have actual frames of reference about what normal conversation sounds like."

He wondered if anyone would be surprised he actually had a good idea. It's not like he couldn't come up with them. It was just more fun not to. But this was agonizing to watch and listen to. Icetales' dignity needed to be preserved so Esper could snatch it from him.

 

[TheGOAT]

“That’s so extra,” Astrid giggled. “Why record when ⬥♏ ♍♋■ 🙰◆⬧⧫ ♒♋❖♏ ♋ ♍□■❖♏❒⬧♋⧫♓□■ ❒♓♑♒⧫ ♒♏❒♏📬 ☟♏⮹📪 ◆♒📬 🕈♒♋⧫ ⧫♒♏✍”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste arrived late... Aaaand there was Darkwhite. Perhaps he should act like he was just passing by and continue on his way...

Still, he couldn't help but hesitate at the entrance.

 

[Namohysip]

S'more, Protein, and Zinc all looked at one another confusedly, and then back at Astrid. S'more cleared his throat, then said, with what might have been concern, " ✡□◆ ♋●❒♓♑♒⧫✍"

Darkwhite said something next, but it was just as unintelligible. Suddenly all the writing on the wall was illegible. Their badges had the key symbols all incorrect; the interface was impossible to interpret beyond the basic symbols.

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales huffed. “I do not require ❒︎♏︎♍︎□︎❒︎♎︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎♑︎⬧︎📬︎ 💣︎⍓︎ ❍︎♏︎❍︎□︎❒︎⍓︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ♓︎❍︎◻︎♏︎♍︎♍︎♋︎♌︎●︎♏︎📬︎.” He cocked an eyebrow. Something about the reactions of the others puzzled him. “☟︎❍︎✍︎”

 

[Namohysip]

A confused silence followed, and S'more mumbled something to Protein. Zinc had all but forgotten about her apples. And then, as quickly as it had come, it left.

"This ain't good..." S'more stood up. "Alright, you guys... stay... here. Alright?" The Marshadow made wide gestures for them to stay put, but now, he was perfectly understandable again.

 

[Ambyssin]

Esper looked down at his hand, then at Icetales, then at his hand again. "I... must use this power... for evil!" A long pause, then, "Kidding, kidding!"