"Oh... huh," Vix hummed, floating down towards the Sneasel. "Are you alright?"
"Hrmph. I suppose it could be
worse," the Sneasel harrumphed. "But suddenly waking up in some podunk town with my bag and scarf snatched isn't my idea of a good time!"
"Those felt like Diyem's Shadows," Cal remarked. "Hey! Where were you before you showed up here?"
"Well, the last thing I remember from what was
definitely my world was that I was at a tavern taking a break and talking with some partners about..."
The Sneasel trailed off a moment, before biting her tongue and continuing on with a dismissive wave.
"Eh, business. You know, grunt work getting items together, selling them off for some coin. Normal, boring stuff, eh? Anyhow, I'd crashed for the night after that and woke up in some trippy place with glass boxes everywhere called 'Veritas City'. I'd spent some time trying to find a way back when I crossed paths with some Charizard who called himself 'Diyem', who offered me a tip for a job in some place called 'Cibus'."
The Dark-Type trailed off and looked around at her surroundings warily.
"Which is what I'm assuming this two-bit village is. Anyhow, I started to get second thoughts after he was coy about how I'd get back
home from it, when there was suddenly this tremor and then he jumped me! I dunno how hard he hit me or how long I've been out, but I remember him pulling me under his wings and the next thing I remember is being trapped in some dark haze with...
things moving about in it."
The Sneasel shook her head before giving a sour frown back.
"Anyhow, if you all happen to have a map, I'll gladly get moving along. Whatever job Diyem had in mind, I'm out if this was his idea of a debriefing!"
"How d'you do?" said Luz, beaming at the opportunity to make a new friend. Or nemesis, as it may be! "I'm Zeraora Luz, ultra shade and member of Team Spectrum. Welcome to Cibus, it's a pleasure t'make yer acquaintance!"
She proffered a massive black paw for a shake.
The Sneasel looked over to Luz and tensed up, getting the sense that perhaps this 'Cibus', much like Veritas City, was not in the same world as her native Varhyde. She hadn't kept tabs of mythology
that closely, though she knew that she'd heard in passing that 'Zeraora' to be the name of some manner of Legendary that watched over a faraway land. All the ones within spitting distance of Varhyde and its surroundings were busy pushing up daisies thanks to offing each other in battle years ago, and unlike the tales of impending rebirth that sometimes went about the commonfolk, had stayed that way as far as anyone could tell.
So then was this 'Zeraora' the real thing? Or was it a Ditto pulling a fast one on her? Either way, one thing was for certain, she wasn't
named like anyone she was familiar with...
"'Zeraora Luz'? As in that's supposed to be your name? Isn't the 'Zeraora' part a bit redundant given that's just the Pokémon you are? For instance, I'm 'Kate' back where I'm from. And if gods forbid I'm stuck with another 'mon called 'Kate', I'd be 'Kate the Quickpaw' to make it a bit clearer."
Kate pawed at her shoulder, giving a wary glance about the gathered Pokémon as her thoughts turned back towards what she remembered of her conversation with Diyem before her nightmare... assuming it
was one, anyways.
"Not that I'd
normally go blurting that out loud to random strangers, but I get the feeling that you're not all just here to dust me off and send me away out of the goodness of your hearts."
