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Reverse World ~ Downsideup City

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Negrek

Abscission Ascendant
Staff
Nate backed up as Starr approached, gathering water for a hydro pump. In the end, though, the incineroar's attack ended up going straight into the ground, shattering rock. Nate jumped. Holy shit, that one woulda hurt. At least it looked like Starr had mostly given up on trying to attack Joule. Marginal improvement. Now there was only... everything else.

Nate tried to relax, wavering between whether his work here was done or whether he ought to try and, like, help with the whole dead friend bit? Whatever the fuck kind of help there was for that. He was no fucking good at this kind of shit. "You ain't gonna do nothing," he said. "Just take a second and think this one through, huh? What d'you think Brisa woulda done, if she was here instead of you? Maybe you can start with that."
 

Dragonfree

Moderator
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Location
Iceland
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she/her/hers
Partners
  1. butterfree
  2. mightyena
  3. charizard
  4. scyther-mia
  5. vulpix
  6. slugma
  7. chinchou
Sizzling golden liquid sprayed onto Mia's face as she slashed, tasting of something fizzy and burning and entirely unlike real blood. Her gooey body seemed to boil where it had hit her. Mia snarled as she recoiled, spitting, half of her body shot or melted away; her wings couldn't carry her, and she tumbled to the ground. She sat up and stopped, frowning as she regenerated her form. Joule was falling after Bahamut had thrown part of himself at him, into a portal back to Cibus.

She spat out the last of the taste of the Radiant blood. This was annoying. It wasn't actually that fun to kill Joule. She wanted something better to eat. There'd be proper meat back in Destiny Village.

Dave wouldn't be there, though. She had never even managed to talk to him about getting his brain fixed. Was there anyone else here who made any sense? Dave hadn't even been making sense a lot of the time recently but she'd still rather just have him than look for somebody different.

She bared her teeth in frustration, looking around. The way this place defied physics was interesting, but she didn't really want to think about physics right now. Maybe later.

She took off towards the portal back to Destiny Village.
 

IFBench

Rescue Team Member
Location
Pokemon Paradise
Partners
  1. chikorita-saltriv
  2. bench-gen
  3. charmander
  4. snivy
  5. treecko
  6. tropius
  7. arctozolt
  8. wartortle
  9. zorua
Saltriv stared at the Pokeball. Their expression didn't change.

They felt so much sorrow, so much grief, so much anger, so much hopelessness. A quarter of the team was gone, just like that. Friends and allies that Saltriv had grown close to, now lost forever.

As much as they wanted to cry, no tears flowed. They were spent. Exhausted, in so many ways. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.

They looked around, seeing how everyone else was, hoping that no one else had been lost while they were looking away.

A distance away, Saltriv saw a white rose. They recognized it as one of Cynthian's.

They shot out a crimson vine, wrapping it around the flower, and pulled it towards them. This looked to be all that remained of Cynthian.

A memory ran through Saltriv's mind, of a day back in their home world long ago. The pecha bush outside their house had died, and their mother had told them to come with them.

With a single exhale from their mother, life returned to the bush, the withered stems and

"One day, once you're a Meganium, you'll be able to do this too," their mother had told them.

A tiny glimmer of hope appeared in their eyes.

Cynthian's rose in tow, they hurried into the portal, breathing onto the lone rose as much as they could. They weren't a Meganium yet, but soon...

Maybe, just maybe, one of those who had been lost can be saved.
 

TheGOAT

🗿
Location
Houston, Texas
Pronouns
Him/his
Partners
  1. serperior
  2. alolatales-goat
"Goddammit," she swore, surprising herself again, "come to yer senses, won't ya? We gotta do this right! We gotta be better than this–!"

[…]

She ran to the ninetales and took hold of her, desperate.

"Astrid, please. You promised her..."


Astrid couldn’t breathe.

That last attack was everything she had left. She’d gotten it off, in spite of fucking everything… but she didn’t witness it land. A boom went off in the distance that she felt and heard, but could not see.

I’m not done. I’m not…

She breathed in and felt her inhibitions lower; yes, there it was. This would all be over soon. It was all way too much, so she would simply release all of her energy and be done. That was what she always did when anything fucking happened, that was—

Something knocked her off balance and promptly steadied her. Or, someone. Someone grayish, soft, and strong. They were grabbing ahold of her, saying something…

Blinking only made her vision blurrier. A fourth Stored Power hovered malevolently above her backside, ready to fire.

“Bri…sa?”
 
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Fusion

Oh knee on
Location
Here, silly
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Him/His
Partners
  1. zoroark
So they won in the end anyway, huh? The bad guy was beaten, his corruption was fixed, and only the Reverse World, Arceus, and half the fucking team got badly to fatally damaged from it! Some would see this as a huuuuuuuuuge win! They'd probably say some shit like, 'It could have been much worse!' , 'Casualties were minimized!' or, 'Those were noble sacrifices!'

"Fucking bullshit..." Puddle bubbled. Fewer members of the team attacked Joule than it would have liked. Hell, Puddle would have loved to have done it himself, but what could it have done being as... puddley as it was?

'None of this would've happened if I was stronger. Or strong at all.'

Whatever, at least this shit was over. Puddle made its way over to the the portal back to Destiny Village, hardly caring about any of the others it would have passed by.

A lone, battle-worn satchel was left behind...
 
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IFBench

Rescue Team Member
Location
Pokemon Paradise
Partners
  1. chikorita-saltriv
  2. bench-gen
  3. charmander
  4. snivy
  5. treecko
  6. tropius
  7. arctozolt
  8. wartortle
  9. zorua
"She's gone," Saltriv said, before the Bayleef walked into the portal back to Cibus.

But maybe, if they can evolve, they can bring her back.
 

unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
“Bri…sa?”

Luz didn't know what the right thing to say. Or to do. But she held Astrid tight and kept herself as steady as she could.

"Astrid, darlin', you need t'come back to earth now, y'hear? Remember you promised y'wouldn't throw yerself away no more, remember that Brisa wanted us to save Joule, remember how to let go of the power. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay."

Brisa had loved Astrid. And that meant that somewhere in Luz's core—though not in the same way—she cared for the ninetales too.

"I'll stay with you, Astrid. Stay with me."
 

Chibi Pika

Stay positive
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somewhere in spacetime
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they/them
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  1. pikachu-chibi
  2. lugia
  3. palkia
  4. lucario-shiny
  5. incineroar-starr
"You ain't gonna do nothing," he said. "Just take a second and think this one through, huh? What d'you think Brisa woulda done, if she was here instead of you? Maybe you can start with that."
Starr's whole body shook. Her fist was still pressed into the crater from her punch, dust slowly settling around it. A twisted, chaotic mess of emotions was splitting her head in two, and the mention of Brisa's name brought a wave of fresh anger because it doesn't fucking matter what she'd want because she's gone.

The back of her mind still ached with the burning urge to let loose all her power because who the fuck could stop her, but Joule wasn't even fucking here anymore and none of it was even his fault and--

Starr slowly lifted her arm and dragged a paw down her face, voice raspy as she said, "She'd be better than this because she's better than me."

She racked her brain, desperate for something, anything. What was it that Nate had said earlier? 'Diyem'll just make them some new bodies, same's he told us he would if shit went south.' Right, that was... the same thing she'd told herself earlier. The same thing she'd told herself when she and Brisa had wasted away in a cave in this exact same hellscape months ago.

"...'m gonna... find Diyem. Gonna make him fix this." He had to. He had to.

The Incineroar stood bolt upright and sprinted for the open portal without another word.
 

Negrek

Abscission Ascendant
Staff
"Yeah, good idea," Nate said to Starr's retreating form. Poor Diyem. Nate sure as hell wouldn't want to be there if the guy had to tell Starr anything other than that of course he would bring Brisa and the rest back, immediately, in fact he'd already done it look there they all are over there.

All the rest of that, though. "She's better than this because she's better than me?" There was clearly a lot going on there. Though Radiance and Shadow would sure as hell fuck with your head.

Nate sighed and turned back to where he'd left his bag, dragging it slowly over to the portal back to Cibus. Wasn't none of his business anyhow. Hopefully Diyem would have a good answer for Starr, and for everyone else on the team.
 

TheGOAT

🗿
Location
Houston, Texas
Pronouns
Him/his
Partners
  1. serperior
  2. alolatales-goat
"Astrid, darlin', you need t'come back to earth now, y'hear? Remember you promised y'wouldn't throw yerself away no more, remember that Brisa wanted us to save Joule, remember how to let go of the power. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay."

It wasn’t her. It was her familiar. Astrid’s temporary moment of ludicrous hope was over.

Finally unraveling, her body convulsed into a sob, which became a gut-wrenching scream muffled partially by Luz’s form. She tore herself halfway out of her grasp to eject her Stored Power—the very last of her energy—towards where the Blacklight ball had once dominated the sky above. It zoomed through the empty space where her friends had spent their final moments on an infinite trajectory into the heavens.

This was really happening. She wasn’t missing anything; they were all actually dead. That’s how easy it was to defeat Team Spectrum.

They had lost the fucking battle. Astrid would recant the thought in due time—but in the moment, that was the only reality she could see. Where had Joule gone? She blinked again, wiping her eyes. It didn’t matter. He could be dead, he could be good as new… it didn’t matter.

Only one thing did.

"I'll stay with you, Astrid. Stay with me."

Luz was upon her again. Astrid did not resist.

“D—d-did she…” As her tears showed no signs of stopping, she forced her voice through them. “…m-m—mean it?”

And, suddenly, she decided she didn’t want to know. It was too much. She needed to… to do something first, and then be alone. For a long, long time.

So, without further hesitation, she shoved out of Luz’s grasp with another sob and dove into the portal.
 
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unrepentantAuthor

A cat that writes stories.
Location
UK
Pronouns
they/she
Partners
  1. purrloin-salem
  2. sneasel-dusk
  3. luz-companion
  4. brisa-companion
  5. meowth-laura
  6. delphox-jesse
  7. mewtwo
  8. zeraora
Did she mean it?

Astrid was talking about those last words before Brisa vanished. Astrid, I love you. Did she mean it? Yes, she had meant it, hadn't she? Was that something you just said 'yes' to?

But it was too late, Astrid was fleeing... Luz had, technically, achieved what she'd meant to, she supposed. Joule was saved.

Why was there no joy in it?

Luz walked slowly to the portal, lagging behind everyone else. She was vaguely aware of the notion that she should have done more. She wasn't sure what, or how, or why, but...

She should have done more.

The thought played in her head over and over as she left this strange plane for Cibus. Maybe that world would make more sense than this one.
 
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R11 -

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
  8. meganium
<><><>
"Ahhh, home sweet home..."

Giratina, the central head of the fused trio, looked around fondly while Dialga and Palkia exchanged wary glances with one another, looking past their sister.

"I hope we don't frighten the city folk too much," Dialga said, looking at one of the sideways buildings, where two young Pidgeot were wrestling with each other in the air while their Taillow and Pidgey grandparents kept an eye on them wearily.

"I had Pop let them know in advance a little," Giratina explained. "It should be okay."

Uhuhu... huhu...

"Wonderful." S'more frowned and crossed his arms. "It seems that Darkwhite's presence really is here, too."

"I think it's neat!" Potluck wagged his fishtails.

"We'll be here as backup in case things get hairy," Slaking Poffin said, hulking arms crossed. "Protein, you'll handle scouting from the skies, right?"

Next to Poffin was a Salamence, who squinted at Poffin before looking up. Then left. Then right. "Which sky?!"

"Er, uh. Point made." Poffin looked to S'more. "Which one is the sky?"

"Think like that and you'll only get lost," Giratina hummed. "Where should we begin investigating, I wonder..."
 

TheGOAT

🗿
Location
Houston, Texas
Pronouns
Him/his
Partners
  1. serperior
  2. alolatales-goat
This was no tourist visit, but it was enough to finally get a good look at the Reverse World. Without spending all her energy leaping from island to island or dodging Joule’s carpet bombing, the place place seemed quite peaceful amidst its usual chaos. Astrid clicked her tongue—she’d expected it to be weirder for some reason.

Getting used to the physics made her backtrack on that thought, just a bit. Gravity existed, sure, but it did as it pleased, affected who it wanted. The Reverse World common folk seemed to know all about where to jump, how to lean when mid-air, and places to step that would prevent tumbling into the void below. This would take some time.

Astrid only dared to look down once.


"Think like that and you'll only get lost," Giratina hummed. "Where should we begin investigating, I wonder..."


“Is there anywhere Sword’s spirit would be attracted towards?” Astrid said. “Like, a… ‘reverse’ amusement park or something? Something fun?” A shrug. “Or a particularly strong source of energy?”

Isn’t this Giratina’s domain? We’re in for one heck of an investigation if she doesn’t even know where to start…
 

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
  8. meganium
"Well, there are a few entertainment districts," Giratina said. "Maybe we can start there and speak with the residents if they happened to see anything strange?"

"What... does strange mean here?" Cal asked, frowning. In an effort to try to cover more ground between the Reverse World and Cibus itself, she'd separated from Owen and regularly conversed with him on what was happening, and she did the same in return.

"We'll have to see!" Giratina said cheerfully. "After all, it would just waste time to explain it all to you surface dwellers."

Palkia and Dialga gave one another an uncertain look. "That just means you don't know yourself," Dialga said.

"Let's go!" Giratina tried to wiggle an arm, but Palkia didn't cooperate. "Palkia, come on, step one step two."

"I thought you were going to fly. You control our flying," Palkia whispered back.

"Well, yes, but I needed it for dramatic effect, Pally."

"Let's just investigate the city itself first. Why don't we ask those citizens first?" Dialga gestured to the Taillow and Pidgey. "Giratina, from what you said, Reverse Pokemon... evolve in the opposite direction, right?"

"Yes," Giratina said. "Oh, and don't forget, affirmative answers and negative answers are reversed here as well. And typical elemental type interactions."

"...Wait, so that means I can punch S'more and it'll hurt?" Poffin asked.

"A lot. Please don't," S'more replied.

Poffin looked tempted, but held off.
 

Flyg0n

Flygon connoisseur
Pronouns
She/her
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. swampert
  3. ho-oh
  4. crobat
  5. orbeetle
  6. joltik
  7. salandit
  8. tyrantrum
  9. porygon
The Reverse World. He'd always heard about, always read theories about its existence. He knew it was real. Giratina's domain, a world opposite his own.

But to actually see it with his own eyes... Something he'd never thought he'd ever get to see. And to be here with Giratina (well, he used the term loosely. Somehow it was still fused with the other dragons, which freaked him out a little). Yet, if it wasn't his Giratina, this wasn't his Reverse World, right? He wouldn't see - No, no, sense pondering things he might or might not find.

Instead, he took in the landscape, though he tried not to move much at first. Who knew just how things worked here. Already he could see evolution didn't work the same, nor did gravity or anything else for that matter. Blinking, he focused instead on their mission. They were here for a reason. Trying to find someone called 'Sword', although he still didn't quite understand everything happening.

"But if we're in the Reverse World, would this Sword be attracted to something like... a weak energy source?" It was hard, trying to wrap his mind around how things worked here. Giratina didn't even seem like it knew. "I guess we can try talking to all the uh... unevolved pokemon? They'd be the oldest, so maybe they would be able to give us better answers?"
 

Virgil134

PMD Writer
Partners
  1. sylveon
  2. weavile
  3. kommo-o
  4. noivern
  5. mothim
Pleo shifted uneasily as he looked around the strange environment. Coming back to the place where had Cabot died last time was surreal to say the least, and the young Lugia had been extremely hesitant to go here in the first place. Even though Cabot had assured him that he'd be okay at the Worldcore and that it was important for someone to keep an eye on S'more, Pleo still couldn't help but wonder if he'd made the wrong decision coming here. At least he was here with some of his friends, like Melanie and Potluck, so it wasn't all bad...

"Have you ever visited any worlds like this one, Potluck?" he asked the Silvally.
 

Spiteful Murkrow

Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
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He/Him/His
Partners
  1. nidoran-f
  2. druddigon
  3. swellow
  4. lugia
  5. quilava-fobbie
  6. sneasel-kate
  7. heliolisk-fobbie
Melanie looked about the topsy-turvy town puzzledly as she tried to wrap her head around the explanation given to her about this strange place. A world where Pokémon evolved in reverse, she was strong against Fire, and no was yes and yes was no? What on earth would compel Cibus' gods to make such a place?

"There's other worlds like this one? Since everything that was explained about this place so far kinda gave me a headache. Everything's backwards from what it's supposed to be!"
 

TheGOAT

🗿
Location
Houston, Texas
Pronouns
Him/his
Partners
  1. serperior
  2. alolatales-goat
“Type matchups don’t concern me,” Astrid said, before pausing, eyes sparkling with clarity. “Or. Huh. I guess they should bother me now. Because I’m in the Reverse World. I have to reverse everything, including my feelings, uhh, yeah. So I should be worried when there’s nothing to actually worry about?”

That didn’t sound quite right. Hopefully Giratina could help.

“Hnng. Is it just our answers that need to be reversed? Or like, our whole, y’know…?” Speaking about it out loud usually helped Astrid make sense of things. It wasn’t helping now. Par for the course, par for the course. “It’s just, I have a lot of experience with remote cultures, and ultra precise communication is always a really big part of—Myles, what are you doing?”

“Heyyy!” The Vulpix-shaped apparition was bounding towards a small crowd of middle-to-late evolutions… younger folk, in this case. “It’s the least of my pleasure to meet you all! I know of some possible information that my friends and I don’t want you to give us!”

He glanced back, smiling gleefully, and gave a thumbs down.
 
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Partners
  1. skiddo-steplively
  2. skiddo-px2
  3. skiddo-px3
  4. skiddo-iametrine
  5. skiddo-coolshades
  6. skiddo-rudolph
  7. skiddo-sleepytime
  8. snowskiddo
  9. skiddotina
  10. skiddengo
  11. skiddoyena
  12. skiddo-obs
Finally, finally, Araun had gotten his wish. It had taken entirely too long, in his opinion, for the group to redouble their efforts to find Sword, but now there were three whole search parties investigating the root of her strange manifestations, and with three solid leads to follow there was no way they weren't going to get to the bottom of it.

Skara didn't have to come along this time, of course, not now that she could actually move independently at speeds greater than "particularly lethargic and unmotivated snail". But even if she'd grown a little exasperated with her familiar's weird crusade, she'd been itching to get back to proper work somehow. And if something significant actually was happening with Sword, well, that was as good a jumping-off point as any.

She'd briefly considered following the group headed to that "Worldcore" place, but the shadowy little voice in the back of her head reminded her that the "ley lines" they'd been talking about probably had nothing to do with the sort she had back home. With nothing in particular to contribute, there was no reason to favor one line of investigation over another, then... at least, not until she heard who'd be accompanying the group returning to the Reverse World.

Truth be told, Skara hadn't paid all that much attention to S'more. He'd been involved in the investigations after Owen was framed for the attack on Destiny Village, if she recalled correctly, but the aftermath of the battle against Sword coupled with Araun's sudden emergence had rather distracted her from the details. Now, however, with Cynthian's discovery and Icetales's warning, she agreed that he definitely needed to be watched closely. Nothing had gone amiss so far during their trip through the portal, although she supposed that, even if he was the spy, Sword bouncing around all over the world was probably not in Giovanni's plans; he had plenty of incentive to figure this out as well.

So she stole glances at the marshadow and his security crew whenever she thought she could afford it, and then endeavored to keep stealing them even when she was hovering upside down and fluttering in circles. It was not easy, she had to admit as she tumbled uselessly past the chatty vulpix familiar and in entirely the wrong direction. Perhaps multitasking and getting in some flight practice during the mission had been ill-advised.

Araun kept his nose to the ground, for once not paying Skara's tribulations much mind. He had Sword's scent—well, whatever passed for scent when it was your core stone reacting to weird familiar ghost shit, whatever—and this time, he was gonna fuckin' find something.
 
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Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
  8. meganium
With senses as tuned as Araun's, he would find that Darkwhite's scent was vaguely here, too, as a lingering but constant presence no matter which way they looked.

"Have you ever visited any worlds like this one, Potluck?" he asked the Silvally.

"Yup! They're really fun! I once got stuck in a falling loop, though, and Maple had to figure out how to get me out of it by tackling me. It was really cool!" And he liked when Maple tackled him like that.

“Heyyy!” The Vulpix-shaped apparition was bounding towards a small crowd of middle-to-late evolutions… younger folk, in this case. “It’s the least of my pleasure to meet you all! I know of some possible information that my friends and I don’t want you to give us!”

After some time of bickering with each other, the Pidgey flew toward them and landed on top of Potluck's head-crest.

"Why, what strong-looking youngsters you all are..." Pidgey smiled fondly at them. "And it looks like our patron got herself a very wonderful makeover. Congratulations."

"Thank you," Giratina said, which only confused Dialga and Palkia further. "We had some questions to ask you, if you're fine with that."

"No," Pidgey said.
 
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