Poppin' Arms ~ Study

[Negrek]

"Hmm." Nate drummed his fingers against the floor. "We should probably try checking a couple of those places out first, then. No sense going back to Hell Dungeon unless we really have to." He glanced askance at Shield. "Sorry, I'm sure you've already gotten asked this a few times, but... When you showed up here on Cibus, where were you? Like, dropped in a random field all by yourself, or were you at this world's Tree of Life, or what?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I showed up in some random field in the Water Continent," Shield said. "From there, we traveled the continents trying to track down Giovanni and Dark Matter. That's... all I really know."

"And by we," Karat said, "he means Silver's team, and Team Drumstick. He couldn't bear to face his parallel on the Water Continent, so he sought after a different, more experienced team."

"I suppose that's the plan, then," Shield said. "Let's investigate what we can, and..." He glanced at what was likely another apparition. "...And see if we can save her after all."

 

[Negrek]

Really just rocking up in the middle of a field, huh? Pretty random. "But you, ah, don't remember everything, is that right? You've got some kind of psychic blocks like what Silver does? Sorry to kinda change the subject away from Sword for a minute, but if we knew a little more about what Giovanni's planning, we might have a better idea what in the hell is going on with all this."

 

[Namohysip]

Shield shook his head. "I don't really know any more than you do at this point," he said. "We knew he was gathering Legends and we know about what he was trying to develop, but not really anything else."

"I tried to look into his psychic block," Karat added, "but whatever it is, it's strong. But it feels like a seal on his memories. A small portion of it. Chances are, he had an encounter with Giovanni and learned something he shouldn't have."

 

[Negrek]

"Ah, yeah, I was gonna ask if you had any shot at removing those blocks," Nate said to Karat. "Send a mewtwo to undo a mewtwo's handiwork, you know? But it sounds like that ain't gonna work. Do you have any idea what might be able to break them? I mean, if you can't handle it, seems like there's not gonna be many more psychics out there who could manage."

 

[Namohysip]

"I'm... not sure," Karat said. "It feels like something I should be able to undo. Which makes me think that the force keeping it sealed is related to that same energy nullification as before." He paused. "But that begs the question... why is Shield only sealed, and not dead?"

Shield's expression darkened. "Well, they won't get much from me. I can't attack. If I'm somehow going to be controlled, they won't get much anymore. My powers from that Radiant Machine is gone."

"Maybe Darkwhite saved you," Karat theorized. "Stole you away from Giovanni but you don't remember."

 

[Negrek]

"Could be," Nate said in response to Karat's theory. Certainly could be. Or could be that Giovanni had been intending for Shield to "escape" the entire time. "That energy nullification sure is a bitch, though. There's got to be some way around it besides Team Spectrum coming in and doing whatever." Diyem said it was an Eternatus thing, right? So maybe exposing people to Eternatus a bit... which apparently "corrupted" them somehow, which sounded kinda bad, so perhaps not.

Nate hadn't thought of the memory modification being associated with the energy nullification thing, if Karat was right. Now that was a fucked-up thought. As was the other Nate declined to share with the other people in the room (unless somebody was peeking stop that): that if Shield wasn't dead, it was presumably because Giovanni thought he was still useful somehow, out here being alive. Same deal with Silver.

Ah, yeah. Silver. He had the same sort of memory issues going on. And also... "Say, Shield, you know Owen, right? One of the charmander... Well, I guess he's a charizard now. Have you ever seen that shadowy charizard he likes to keep around with him?"

 

[Namohysip]

"I have," Shield said, nodding.

Karat gave Shield an odd look, wondering what they were talking about.

"But I haven't seen him around lately. It was only when we'd fought each other..."

"Shadowy Charizard? How many of those things are there?" Karat said with a growl.

"It was this... gigantic thing that loomed over him. It disappeared not too long after I joined with you all, though. Was that some kind of curse?"

 

[Negrek]

"Ah. Yeah." Nate said. "It hasn't gone away, actually. It's kind of a curse, yeah, some kind of Dark Matter thing. A few people on the team have something like that, but Owen's the only one who lets his follow him around all the time. Anyhow, it ain't something people from Cibus can see. Or... that people without without some kind of Eternatus-vision can see, I guess, wherever they come from." He nodded at Karat. "Silver can see all that kind of stuff, so I was wondering if it was the same for you. Guess not. Whatever you had faded, but his didn't, seems like."

Nate sighed and tugged at his gills. Giovanni and his fucking plans. Nate was lucky he'd never had to work for the guy. The boss was plenty crafty, but she was at least more straightforward than this. And not fucking obsessed with genetic engineering.

"Ain't nothing we can do about it now, I guess. Well. I'll grab some stuff, and we can check out some of those smaller dungeons whenever you're ready. Thanks for your help," Nate said. And to Deoxys, "Good to see you again, too."

Out in the hallway, Nate paused, then glanced back towards the study. Probably far enough away.

"Sword?" he called to thin air. "You fucking watching me?"

Nate spun around abruptly and flipped off the empty hallway. No grinning charmander there, at least not one that he could see, but he smirked anyway. "We're coming to get you, huh? Wouldn't want you to be bored out there in your dungeons and all. Hang in there." And he set off down the hallway again, in strangely high spirits considering they might be going back to that place that had scared the piss out of Soda, of all people. Or he was, until the hallway ended.

Ah, right. The fucking stairs.

<><><>​

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut lay on the floor, leaning his head against a bookshelf. He had brought in a chalkboard, which was filled with a mixture of words and assorted doodles.

Moon laser problems
No atmosphere -> Rayquaza, Arceus(?)
Access -> Joule, Eternatus, Me
Unown -> warped terrain/environment; labyrinth? can they be separated?
Gravity -> extreme? not enough? both?
Subject to Soda's mental state?

"... pah." The necrozma crossed his legs. "Battling in outer space is much simpler when it doesn't involve other people. With solid organs."

And nauseating desires to make sure things turn out sunshine and rainbows for everyone.

 

[Cresselia92]

If there was another place that Icetales liked almost as much as the library, it was the study. Quiet, with plenty of books to read, and away from prying eyes — the ideal place to focus on his studies.

What happened during the Eterna storm had left him with more questions than answers, and he needed some time to work on a few theories and approaches to better study… himself.

As he walked down a corridor, he noticed Bahamut lying on the floor and staring at a bookshelf. There was also a chalkboard with some notes, but for the moment he preferred to focus on his teammate. It was weird to not see him sunbathing or meditating.

“Oh, greetings Sir Bahamut,” he said, holding the bag with his notes close to himself. “What brought thee to this place? Studies or some refreshing quietness?”

 

[Ambyssin]

Oh, wonderful. The only one of Spectrum who was more obnoxiously chipper than Owen. And at least the charizard didn't have a ridiculous dialect. They'd been here how many months, now? Surely the guy should've started to drop such tireless speech quirks. But apparently not.

"It has a chalkboard." Bahamut lazily pointed to it with his tail. "Just because I'm a psychic-type doesn't mean I like to keep everything in my head. And there are a lot of variables that need accounting for."

He levitated up a piece of chalk and scribbled something new on the board.

Cynicism vs. positivity.

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales tilted his head, his tails twitching subtly. “Well, of course. There is no harm in writing down matters on an agenda or notepad. I do that all the times.” He shook the bag full of documents, before focusing on the chalkboard. “And variables, huh.”

The Ninetales leaned closer and skimmed through the various notes. He shook his nose and flicked his ears when Bahamut wrote the last sentence, but didn’t let that bother him.

“Hmm… I see thou art considering what needs to be accounted for the journey to the moon. Dost thou need some help with brainstorming? I do not mind lending a paw.”

 

[Ambyssin]

“… not really,” Bahamut said. “Out of the entire team, I’m the one with experience in space travel.”

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales nodded unconsciously. “Hm, right, and from what I’ve gathered in a few books and sheafs of papers, space traveling is… a fairly grueling experience for the mind and body. At least, for folks who aren’t physically built to withstand such extreme conditions.”

He gazed intently at Bahamut, while his mind went back to his time as a daemon. Pity that he didn’t have his original body.

“It if most unfortunate that Sir Diyem didn’t craft all of us with space-fit bodies. It would not be such a dilemma, otherwise.” He paused as he considered his own words. “I wonder if he could grant us such abilities now by recreating our bodies, however…”

 

[Ambyssin]

"You are more likely to lose all the powers you've grown accustomed to if he has to allocate his power toward different resources for your body." Bahamut had a book beside him and flipped the page, not making eye contact. "And you lot have gotten quite snug and comfy with your blacklight powers. I daresay you'd all be in significant trouble without them."

 

[Cresselia92]

“Hmm… Perhaps. I can say that it would be most unfortunate to lose access to such powers, especially considering what opponent we are to face. Someone who accumulated every energy available in this world…” Icetales rubbed his cheek with his leftmost tail. “Such a frightening situation.”

…Mhmm. Right. But it is not like those Blacklight powers would be of much use to us if we expire by suffocation, no?

Icetales didn’t even blink upon hearing his darkness speaking, merely limiting himself to swivel his ears in the phantom’s direction. The shadowy fox stared hard at the chalkboard, his crimson eyes glowing with intrigue and interest.

Hmph. Truly unfortunate that our patron didn’t get the foresight of giving us bodies that could withstand anything before getting those dark light powers. But oh well, we get what we get, I reckon…

“Well, the past cannot be changed, so…” Icetales sat down, thumping his tails on the floor. “What dost thou suggest to better handle a gravity- and oxygen-less environment?”

 

[Ambyssin]

"Bring the means to undo that." Bahamut pointed to the chalk board, where he had drawn Arceus' wheel and Mega Rayquaza's delta symbol. "Assuming Soda hasn't set that up for himself already, just because it's familiar to him.

"Regardless, I'd expect the unown to warp the area to try and split us apart."

 

[Cresselia92]

Icetales frowned. “Hm, yes, indeed. It would not surprise me if Sir Soda used some ‘divide and conquer’ tactic to reduce our team’s effectiveness and have better chances to strike us down…”

Thinking about it, plenty of our last opponents seemed extremely keen in splitting us in smaller groups…

The wraith’s flames flickered with a red light.

It seems our reputation as saviors precedes us. Unsurprising, however. Why would they let us just… win? It would be counterproductive for their oh-so-rational master plans!

Yes. It made perfect sense.

“Dost thou know if Sir Pop is working on some plan?” asked Icetales to Bahamut. “I reckon that Sir Soda being busy rebuilding the moon would make it easier to sneak by and jammed his lunar cannon — or reduced the potency, at least — but I wonder what can be done about the… lack of oxygen.” He rolled his eyes. “Unless he might be thinking to give us some space suits…”

 

[Ambyssin]

"You really think sneaking up on a guy with potentially thousands of eyes in the form of unown would be easy?" Bahamut shook his head. "It wouldn't. The whole idea behind a supercharged portal is to get there instantly because anything else would be problematic."

He pointed at Rayquaza's sigil again. "And that's your atmosphere answer. Hopefully the space noodle can keep things stabilized."