Poppin' Arms ~ Dorm Lounge

[IFBench]

Saltriv stared in shock at the sight before them. Was that what these stones were truly like?

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste glanced at the rock he’d been keeping at the bottom of his bag for the last month.

They’re like eggs, then. Nothing wrong with keeping an egg at the bottom of a bag... Or at least, in this case it’s fine because it can’t crack. It’s not like that means it’s sapient now. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s like an egg. Just like an egg.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot stared slack-jawed when Poipole popped out from Bahamut's stone. What... just happened? Did Bahamut's Shade just somehow transform into someone he knew from his own world?

The Cranidos looked down at his stone, which was now rolling around his feet, wondering if something similar would happen soon. Ever since his talk with Lugia and Meringue a few weeks ago he'd tried to bond more with his Shade whenever he was alone. While his Shade had become energetic and he could swear he could feel some of its emotions at times, did that really mean it would transform into a Pokémon? Let alone one from his world?

 

[Phoenixsong]

The problem with the concept of restoring physical mobility was that it assumed there was a level of mobility that could be restored in the first place. Unless Balm and Cepa's therapy could magically crack this shell around her without killing her and she could step out as a nice, wriggly little grubbin again, that wasn't happening. "Limbs held stiffly in place" was standard operating procedure until further notice.

At least the active static crackling had subsided into a low, background hum, so she could tune it out while sitting in the lounge and doing absolutely nothing.

Everyone else's shade seemed to be wobbling in a loose approximation of their holder's exercises. Limax, peeking out from the opening of the satchel, wobbled occasionally as well, in turn trying to imitate them. Every so often it would stop and burble little question-feelings at her, as if wondering why she wasn't participating. It got only frustration-feelings back, and finally offered its condolences with a sympathetic fuck. Yeah. No kidding.

So more watching, more nothing, a few glances at the two newcomers—she really ought to go introduce herself, but, well, that involved going so for now more nothing instead—and then Bahamut's stone exploded.

Limax wobbled frantically (fuck!) for a few seconds, doing enough startled jumping for the both of them. What now? Goo or mist or whatever it was oozed out of several others; one shifted into the dark approximation of another charmander. The charjabug's eyes darted from side to side, watching. Not all of the shade-stones were reacting. Not yet, at least. A tentative mental poke at Limax received one last surprised swear, but otherwise nothing of substance. Bemusement, mostly? Possibly more startled than unaware. So would it eventually change, too...?

Limax remained silent, curious, interested. Its wobbling slowed back down again, eventually, settling into a steady, relaxed rhythm. Not unlike the contented wagging of a tail.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Aww, what's the matter, Grumpy Gus?" Having evaded Bahamut's ESP, Poipole was now in front of Celeste. "Oh, wait, I think I get it. The pointy horn. The scowl. You're one of those edgelord absol!"

He put his right hand up by his head and crossed his left arm over to the right side of his waist. "Nobody understands me. The world is just waiting to disappoint you at every turn." Poipole did a shockingly good job sounding miserable. But he abruptly ended the pose and turned upside down. "You and Baha Blast would get along great! Could suck all the fun out of the room. Just gotta make you look more dour."

And he sprayed Celeste with black paint.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste staggered back from the paint.

“I’m normally quite fine, thank you very much... It’s just that witnessing your behaviour has me feeling quite off-kilter. Your remind me of someone... Except that you appear to be all dark and no white.”

That was the truth. Some of it was only truth by technicality, but it was truth nonetheless.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Oh? You mean Darkwhite?" Poipole put his nubs against his face and rubbed vigorously. He suddenly had much brighter eyes with tiny purple bishie sparkles and a bigger smile.

"I knoooow, right! At first, Baha Blast was so grumpity-grump I thought I was gonna turn into Braixen to make him more miserable! But then he kept thinking about Darkwhite and how kawaii-desu she is and those thoughts fed into the stone."

Poipole grabbed hold of his chin and stretched it out. "And thus... I AM HERE! ... in doppelganger form!" He laughed heartily.

 

[Namohysip]

"...I'm kind of surprised someone like that was in your head, to be honest," Owen admitted, picking Shady up. "By the way, did anybody happen to hear someone answer me last time?"

"I think I did," Balm said.

"Yeah, so did I," the other voice said.

Okay, this time she spoke too long and Owen knew where it came from. But when Owen looked down, he realized that he was not holding a stone sphere, but a black, amorphous head that strongly resembled his own. The only difference, aside from the black colors, were the two golden embers that it had for eyes.

"GAH!" Owen dropped the stone and the head rolled on the ground.

The head giggled and rolled more, a neck forming next as the stone descended into where the goopy Charmander's torso would have been. "That was great!" she said as her left arm formed. It reached to her right shoulder and pulled out her right arm. "This is pretty cool! I can actually move around and stuff!" She reached forward and grabbed at her hips, then dug into the lower left and pulled out little toes. With a long, strained tug, the rest of her foot, ankle, and then leg popped out and into place. She did the same with her other leg. "There! All done. ...Wait, I feel off-balance."

All the while, Owen stared in quiet awe. She was a little smaller than Owen, perhaps a head shorter, but was otherwise a Charmander in shape.

"Oh! Tail. Right." She reached back toward her rear, pinched, and pulled. At the very end, a third golden ember sprouted. "All done! How do I look, eh? Eh?" She turned her head a full 180 degrees, forgetting that she had to turn the rest of her body to look normal.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Unoriginal. Don't we have enough charmander here already?" Despite floating, Poipole lay on his side and yawned into his hand.

 

[Navar]

Shiron just kept staring at that... situation, without much of a reaction, as he didn't know what to do.. It was really odd.

"I could really use a drink right now..."

 

[Namohysip]

"Well excuuuuse me for being from this dude." She pointed a thumb back at Owen, who sputtered.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I mean, what, you're proud of your species, is all! Of course I'd become another, or something. I dunno, I kinda just started existing, more or less. Well, as this. Give me a second to get my head on straight."

"Y-yeah, speaking about that, can you get your head back to normal?"

"What? Oh right, bones, you have those." She put her hands on either side of her head, then pushed. It popped off, Owen yelped in surprise, and then she flipped it around and plunked it back on. "Better?"

Owen's tail slumped and the flame dimmed. "How are you from me...?"

"You tell me," she replied, smirking. "Say, speaking of which, I need a name. If I'm gonna be a boring and unoriginal species, I may as well get a better name than Shady."

 

[Disco]

Mellow and the Charmander- Not Raven- exchanged a look, before looking back at the creature flitting around the room. Neither felt to impressed. Mellow wondered how a creature like that could ever come from Bahamut. The other Charmander shrugged and began to leave. It was getting to loud here for her- it- them. After living in solitude with Mellow as a rock, they preferred it now. Plus, after "hatching", they really felt like they could use an oran or two.

Mellow sighed and followed after them wordlessly, while trying to figure out what to think about the doppelganger of her sister, who currently chose to remain nameless. It looked like Owen was having the same problem with his that Bahamut was. Hopefully it wouldn't end up the same way between her and the doppelganger...

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste’s lump wobbled once. Then twice. Suddenly, a formless black void spilled forth from it. It looked almost like a faceless Ditto.

“Hello?”

It didn’t respond. Celeste’s heart started beating faster. Did I break it somehow? R-Ruin it? Why isn’t it like the others? Did I kill it somehow? Leave it neglected of what it needed?

He sighed. The others treated theirs like a friend, and they got what they wanted. He’d treated his like nothing... and he suppose he couldn’t say he didn’t get what he’d wanted, either.

He felt a pang of disappointment.

 

[Namohysip]

"Now, what do we have here?" called a serene, high voice--Marshadow S'more.

"Good, you're here," Balm said. "Looks like all those Ultra Stones were just waiting to become something else. They seem friendly, but..."

"They're all little... little demons just... just hatching or something!" Cepa pointed at them all.

"Demon? I'm a demon?" Owen's smaller, female double tilted her head. "Well, that's mean."

"I--I mean, not a demon, but... but you practically remind me of... what are those creatures called... Void Shadows! With the colors, but..."

"Nu-uh, I'm not like that." She pointed to her face, jabbing her fingers into her eye sockets. "See? I have gold embers and stuff. These are my eyes. Those things don't have eyes."

"I mean, yes, but... well..."

S'more seemed amused and let out a little "Hm!" of interest. "I suppose this will be something Chip will be happy to hear, one way or another. Interesting."

"So?" she turned around. "Have a name for me yet?"

"I can't--I can't come up with a name just like that!"

"You sure?" she asked. "I think you have a name for me."

Owen blinked, but then a bit of realization flashed in his eyes. They darkened, just barely, and he said, "No, I'm going to think of a name for you. Maybe one that... blends in more here."

She looked at Owen for a little longer, her own embers dimming. "...So that's how you want it to be?"

Owen fidgeted, glancing down. "Yeah, so you'll... you know, since we already get weird looks if I'm Owen, so..."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste looked at the pair of charmander with confusion. “Why would Owen pick out a name for you? Are you not able to name yourself?”

 

[Ambyssin]

"Isn't it obvious? She wants OwO to feel like a big boy!" Poipole snickered into his hands.

"Please stop," Bahamut growled.

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales stared in dumbfound as the stones turned magically into… small monochromatic creatures. And then, the mention of demons… Icetales felt a shiver going down his spine.

No, no more daemons. Heavens, no! As if he didn’t have enough of them in both his homeworld and in that brave new world.

He sat roughly on his haunches and stared at Petram. The psychic stone was wiggling much faster than usual. Perhaps it was excited at the idea of becoming some… dark daemon? But what about Icetales himself? Well, he surely wasn’t as enthused. It smelled like dark sorcery, very close to necromancy, and he didn’t like that at all.

However, Petram was a nice rock, and he sensed only joy and thrill being sent to his brain. He just… didn’t know what to think about any of this. Everything was so overwhelming.

Just… what was that world?

"I could really use a drink right now..."

Wordlessly, Icetales scooped up the stone in his tails — who kept wiggling excitedly — and approached the surprised Marshtomp. “Thou tell me about that, good sir. And this is nothing too bizarre in this world, I assure thee.”

He produced a couple of cups and a bottle of tea from his bag, before holding the two cups and the bottle in his left tails. “Fancy some fresh mint tea?”

 

[Chibi Pika]

It had been a perfectly fine day, which of course meant that it wasn't allowed to last and had to dissolve into more bullshit. This was definitely a new and unusual flavor of bullshit, though, even by Cibus standards.

First Bahamut's shade. Then a half-dozen others, sprouting bodies and talking, like they'd always been able to. Starr took it all in with a deadpan stare. The universe really, really didn't want to let her be able to ignore those things.

Bob wiggled. Starr snapped her attention to it and barked, "Don't start getting any ideas!"

Abruptly, Bob stopped wiggling. She glared at it for a few seconds and then, satisfied, turned back to watching the scene unfold.

"Is that really how it's gonna be the whole time we're here?"

Starr folded her ears back. God dammit that voice had come from exactly where Bob was sitting, hadn't it.

"If you think I'm gonna talk to you just because you can talk back now, you've got another thing coming," she said loudly, without looking at the shade.

Several seconds passed. Just when Starr found herself daring to hope that she'd just overheard someone else's shade, the voice went on, "Ah, c'monnn... you won't even talk to me back home, I was hoping we'd get to be pals here. Teamin' up, fightin' legends together, wouldn't that be fun?"

It was like someone had dumped a bucket of water over her head without warning. Starr jerked her head toward the shade--still in its lump--and stared at it with a dawning feeling of dread.

That voice. It... it couldn't be...

She could practically see the shit-eating grin when the shade went on to say, "Something wrong, sis?"

Seconds later, a lump could be seen hurtling through the air, across the lobby and out the front door.

 

[Namohysip]

The nameless Charmander scowled at Celeste, though it was hard to tell when her only facial feature was a pair of gold embers. It was mostly in the way she crossed her arms... even if they sank into each other. "Yeah, I could name myself, I guess," she said. "I was just hoping he would, is all. But then again, maybe I should be careful what I wish for."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Owen asked, frowning. While he tried to keep calm, his tail sparked a little.

"What do you think?" she asked. "You're bad with names."

Another spark at his tail. "Bad with names?! How?!"

"Shady."

"Okay, that's not fair, you, I mean, it was clever!"

"Yeah, I thought it was really clever, back when I was a Shade and didn't have a brain."

"Y--YOU STILL DON'T!"

"And now I think it's LAME! So how about that, huh? Someone who's literally brainless is saying it's dumb! That's how bad you are with names. That's how bad."

Owen sputtered over himself several more times, glancing at the others for backup.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut looked at Icetales. Oh no. Why did the kit have to open his mouth? He was priming himself for— no, wait, yup, Poipole was already in front of him. He puffed out his cheeks a gooey crown appeared on top of his middle needle.

"My goodness! Baha, you didn't tell me you were keeping rrrrroyal company!" Poipole had adopted a... horrid accent. A deliberate imitation of Icetales'. "Though your ensemble needs work. You look, at best, like an artisan. Two rungs above peasant on the social status ladder."