Poppin' Arms ~ Dorm Lounge

[Navar]

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?”

Shiron blinked a few times. Well, he had to get used to those things, apparently. Then he heard the Vulpix talking and turned around.

"Sure, I guess? I'm thirsty right now," he gave a faint smile. "Also, is this kind of thing normal around here?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“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."

Celeste scouled at Poipole, black paint still dripping off of him. “Regardless of wether he’s an artisan at best or not, at least he’s not you. Your were, at your best, a rock. You’ve been headed all downhill since then.”

 

[Cresselia92]

“We could…” Icetales turned to hear the mockery that the Poipole was making of him, and frowned, “say that…”

Petram wiggled itself free and hopped on Icetales’s back. It tapped his skin with a longer piece of its “body”, trying to emulate a reassuring pat or lick. Icetales sighed, still torn about everything, but showed a comforting smile at the rock, nonetheless.

“It takes some time getting used to… all of this,” he stated simply, before extending a cup filled with tea toward the Marshtomp. “There it is.”

After that, he started licking from his own cup, mindful to not make Petram fall from his back.

 

[Navar]

“We could…” Icetales turned to hear the mockery that the Poipole was making of him, and frowned, “say that…”

Petram wiggled itself free and hopped on Icetales’s back. It tapped his skin with a longer piece of its “body”, trying to emulate a reassuring pat or lick. Icetales sighed, still torn about everything, but showed a comforting smile at the rock, nonetheless.

“It takes some time getting used to… all of this,” he stated simply, before extending a cup filled with tea toward the Marshtomp. “There it is.”

After that, he started licking from his own cup, mindful to not make Petram fall from his back.

Shiron turned to see all the commotion again and gave a sigh, having given up on trying to make sense of it all.

"I see. Well, at least everyone seems nice," he picked the cup up, taking a sip of the tea, eyes widening. "Hey, this is pretty good!"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Ah, I see I have a 'hater.'" Poipole pat Celeste's shoulder. His monotone voice returned. "Don't worry. Your displeasure only makes me stron— ack!"

Bahamut crushed Poipole under a foreleg. "That will be enough of that." He glared at S'more. "When is Chip coming? I want an explanation. Preferably not a biased one like this piece of sorcery would provide."

 

[Namohysip]

"Shortly," S'more replied as Owen's call for assistance went unanswered. "In fact, I believe he will be here soon..."

"And they're safe?" Cepa asked. "I'm not sure if I should be worried..."

"Well, if you're just gonna assume that I'm evil because I used to try to eat angry emotions or whatever, then sure, call me evil." Owen's double shrugged. "No goop off my back."

"I think that'd be a lot of goop," Owen warned. "You behave yourself, alright?"

"Alright, dad."

Owen flinched. "Don't do that."

"What're you gonna do, ground me?"

"Nuh, I--"

"Okay, how about this. How about I call you Daddy?"

"You're doing this on purpose... a-and how'd you do that voice thing?!"

"I dunno, I think it's the Shade in me."

Why did he spawn something like this? "Can you please just... not cause any trouble in Cibus? We need to figure out how you guys can even be in public without, you know, scaring anyone."

"Okay, Daddy."

Owen rubbed at his eyes at around the same time Chip floated into the room. Despite his rigid face, he seemed to be beaming. "This is amazing!"

 

[Ambyssin]

"No, this is a travesty!" Bahamut growled.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“I’m with Bahamut on this one.”

Poipole was rapidly convincing him that perhaps it wasn’t so bad that his was ruined.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen's grinned a little wider than a normal face should allow. "Well, I owe being alive to it, so I say it's a great success!"

"Exactly! Oh, wonderful, wonderful!" Chip buzzed and circled around Owen, then the new addition associated with him. "They have similar properties to purified Shades... Cepa, would you say so?"

"Kind of..." The Celebi drifted closer. "Um, do you remember me at all?"

"Kinda," she replied, shrugging. "Hey, I don't have to sit in a boring office all day, right?"

"Observations are fine," Chip said, twitching. "I'll need time to get more research done, but... but my hypothesis is that the Shades must have reacted to your energy and whatever is in that stone. They gained attributes to their host from that psychic link... Impressionable little things. And now, this!"

"And now, this," Owen said, sighing. With the initial panic and flustered rush out of the way, he took the time to steady his breathing and close his eyes. She also was a Shade who came from Joule, apparently... The Shades, they look a lot like Joule without the crystals... I should have known...

Joule... Diyem translated that to be something else, I bet. But energy... and everyone here is named after food...

Oh, are you thinking about my name?

Owen flinched, glancing at his familiar, who was smiling innocently. How much did you hear?

Nothing. I can just tell. Girl's intuition.

So you're a girl.

May as well. Seems fun.

Alright. Owen sighed. Well, that narrowed his options down by a little, at least. Joule must have had a very foreign name... it wasn't like Blade, or Maple. Food... energy... Owen trailed off. ...Calorie. Valerie? Cal. ...Cal!

Owen beamed. "I know your name," he said.

"Oh?" she tilted her head. "Giving me a name already? I thought I was gonna wait a while for one. Okay, let's hear it."

"Cal. Short for Calorie."

Silence between them. Owen was smiling hopefully; the familiar was staring, straight-faced. For a few seconds, nothing was said. And then...

Cal frowned. "Shit, that's good."

 

[Ambyssin]

It was not good. But Owen had taken enough of a verbal shellacking for one morning, so he pocketed that thought.

 

[Jedi Shulk]

“Is there any spare ultra stones? Also I what's the tryout some radiant and shadow moves.“ Fay asked Chip.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot tilted his head and warily approached Cal.

"So, you really are the Shade that Owen captured then?" he asked. "How much do you still remember from before you went into that stone?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Uhh... Well, I don't remember a whole lot..." Cal shrugged. "I remember I was running around a lot... probably something I possessed, or was affecting, and I was seeing through their eyes for a little bit. After that, I dunno. Eventually I was just with the guy and sitting on his head. I had pretty simple thoughts back then, I think."

"You could understand us, though, right?"

"Kinda. More like I got the gist of what you were asking. Maybe it's telepathy or whatever."

"You can't remember at all?"

"Gimme a break! Do you remember what you ate for breakfast when you were two days old?"

 

[Cresselia92]

"I see. Well, at least everyone seems nice," he picked the cup up, taking a sip of the tea, eyes widening. "Hey, this is pretty good!"

Icetales beamed a grin. “Ah, I am very much pleased to hear that thou appreciate my special blend. And yes, indeed, folks here are a lovely company,” he replied, before extending his cup toward Petram, who simply… fell inside. “…Huh, thou art supposed to drink in tea, not swim.”

And then, the tea evaporated, leaving behind Petram wiggling inside the cup.

“…Or thou can just use whatever sorcery to absorb thy drink, I suppose.” He laughed in amusement, before looking at Shiron. “Ah! I am afraid I did not catch thy name earlier. Who are thee?”

He stared at the Marshtomp, but his ears flicked when he picked up pieces of Cal’s retelling. If Petram was going to turn into some daemon as well… what did it think about Icetales? The Vulpix couldn’t deny to be both intrigued and scared to find out.

 

[Navar]

Icetales beamed a grin. “Ah, I am very much pleased to hear that thou appreciate my special blend. And yes, indeed, folks here are a lovely company,” he replied, before extending his cup toward Petram, who simply… fell inside. “…Huh, thou art supposed to drink in tea, not swim.”

And then, the tea evaporated, leaving behind Petram wiggling inside the cup.

“…Or thou can just use whatever sorcery to absorb thy drink, I suppose.” He laughed in amusement, before looking at Shiron. “Ah! I am afraid I did not catch thy name earlier. Who are thee?”

He stared at the Marshtomp, but his ears flicked when he picked up pieces of Cal’s retelling. If Petram was going to turn into some daemon as well… what did it think about Icetales? The Vulpix couldn’t deny to be both intrigued and scared to find out.

"Not a problem, my name is Shiron. And yours?" the Marshtomp grinned. Despite the weird things happening, it felt nice to talk with new people, well, Pokémon. He took another sip of the tea. "I gotta say, I'm not a fan of tea, but I guess yours is an exception!"

 

[IFBench]

Saltriv frowned as many of the people ignored or yelled at their new friends. Was there a reason for that that they just didn't know?

They then gasped as one of the stones was sent flying out of the room! It could get hurt! They ran out to go try and catch it.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste tried to flag down Chip’s attention. “Do you know what happened to mine?”

Please, don’t say it’s my fault...

 

[Namohysip]

Chip buzzed and inspected the lump that Celeste gave him. "Hmmm... That is a good question," he said. "It seems that he is trying to form into something, but does not know what? Or perhaps that simply is his form... If they're tied to their hosts and how much information they have... My hypothesis would be that they did not get enough information yet!"

"Hmm..." Balm looked uncertain. "If Shades are doing this now, what exactly would that mean for those who have been infected for longer?"

"I don't want to find out," Cepa said. "We've been curing them, right?"

"Yes, we have... so far." Balm frowned.

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot gave Chip, Balm, and Cepa a worried look.

"You don't think it's possible that Pokémon who've been infected for longer can be corrupted permanently, do you?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Celeste sighed. Being at the bottom of a bag for a month, with the one you’re connected to trying to ignore your mental link indeed did not seem very informative. Still, even if it was his fault, the “yet” made it sound like it wasn’t too late.

“Can you hear me?”

It wiggled in response, but still didn’t speak. Did it not know how to speak? Did it choose not to speak?