Treasure Town ~ Crossroads

[Namohysip]

East of town, the Crossroads was where many Pokémon passed a day, at least, when it was populated. West was Treasure Town proper, while south led to the beach. Up north was the looming building of Wigglytuff’s Guild that headed into the mountain, and finally, to the east, a long line of specialized Warp Tiles dotted the path on the left and right.

Each one had a signpost that indicated where the tile would lead. Several of them looked dusty from lack of use. Ever since Dungeons started fading, the need to go to several locations had dropped dramatically, and were often used instead for convenient travel across the continent.

The roads themselves were of packed, light-colored dirt and grass on the fringes. A watering hole sat at the northeast corner of the crossroads, while several trees decorated the other corners. A strange boulder made its home in the southwest portion of the plus-shaped path, looking well-traveled. Spinda Cave was beyond, but was currently abandoned due to the giant fish just east.

<><><>​

The team was hastily gathered and guided to the Crossroads.

“Ah, crap,” Soda shouted when the dual Magikarp landed just at the edge of Waypoint Road’s easternmost warps. “C’mon, guys!” Soda shouted. “If we take too long, chances are they’re gonna flop all the way in town! And then we’ll have a lot more property damage to deal with when this is over!”

If, Diyem groaned. Get ready, everyone.

Truffle flew over the two Magikarp—each one was several times the size of Wigglytuff’s Guild, though probably not as large as the internals within the cliff. Still, a single bad flop would mean crushing several buildings behind them.

Owen felt his breathing quicken, his fight with just one finally coming back to him at just that moment. “If either of them get mad, they might use Hydro Pump again—b-be careful!”

Magikarp Sushi and Sashimi are attacking!
Sushi: 500
Sashimi: 500
They seem a little weaker than last time… are they tired from all the traveling?

“We have to hold them back!” Truffle declared. “If we leave one alone for even an instant, they might wind up to splash all the way into town! Never let up! Rotate your strikes!”

Special condition: Deal damage to all enemies every turn!

Everyone, we have a precious few seconds to prepare. I am going to give you one more power, but it is not something that is very intuitive, so listen closely. When you are all battling as one against a common enemy, you may feel more in-tune with one another than usual, even without a word spoken. Trust your instincts; I am widening the connection between you all to maximize subconscious coordination. Please, do everything you can to stop them so we can finally gather our bearings…

 

[Virgil134]

Cabot panted out of exhaustion as he looked around the crossroads. A good portion of the team had fallen from Sashimi's last attack, including Nip and the Farfetch'd who had just protected him earlier. Yet in spite of it all, Sashimi was looking visibly weak as well. When he heard Owen's call, he used every bit of strength left to charge forward one more time, getting ready to ram Sashimi with one final headbutt.

"It's over!" he shouted

 

[Persephone]

Cuicatl stumbled into the crossroads. (It was the crossroads, right?) She came to a stop abruptly, tripped, and decided that it was a good time and place to take a breather. Deino were prone to moving too fast, doing too much, and wearing themselves out.

She was pretty sure that Astrid had got her message. And maybe... yeah. She also fired one off to Starr, suitably cryptic, to meet her at the crossroads “to talk about something important.”

Yeah. That would do.

She lowered her head to the ground and started to rest. She’d pull herself up whenever Astrid or Starr came by.

 

[Tanuki]

Now, Zane definitely hadn’t had too much to drink that simply belied belief. The one “good” part about this body seemed to be some immunity whatever the bartender mentioned a few hours ago sometime after Zane had entered half an hour ago. He’d thank Diyem some time after he left—left because he wanted to! He’d tipped the tender handsomely so as to not cause a scene (and so that he could take his fifth bottle along).

Right, he was leaving with bottle in tow. Some drink. The pretentious brand decided to make their label blurry, but Zane remembered ordering the Salazzle x Seviper Scotch. The seviper wrapped around the salazzle, their heads meeting to make a cute little heart. It reminded Zane of friends—shit.

Zane was trying to not be reminded of friendships. Not that he wanted to drink to forget or anything, he just intended for the alcohol to make it harder to remember certain things for a while. Now, he was lonely.

He pouted, took another drink, then saw something moving just out of eyesight. Dark. Goopy. Shadowy. Determined not to feel lonely, Zane took another drink while casually reaching for that jar they gave him.

Bottle empty, jar open, he dropped his scotch and pounced towards the shadowy whatever. The best friends were captive friends, after all. If Jolt had taught Zane nothing else, he’d taught Zane that.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa stood in front of the portal to Destiny Village, bags hefted, and waited on Curio to arrive.

She thought about how Curio was her first friend in Cibus, and the one to go with her to their new home. She thought about how many friends she had waiting for her there. She thought about how she still needed to work things out with her Shadow. She thought about how a month in Treasure Town had changed her more than four years back home. She thought about how she didn't really want to leave.

"Oh, wind and thunder," she muttered. "Didn't it used to be so simple?"

...but she didn't miss simple. Not really.