Ain't We Just [Pokemon Mystery Dungeon SI]
- Thread starter Dakkaface
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- pokemon self insert
I suspect that those possessions are less powers unique to them and more habits unique to them. Lots of ghost Pokemon can learn the same moves as vastly different ghost Pokemon so it wouldn't surprise me if Sableye turned out to be capable of emulating them.
Other Pokemon might be possession resistant though, they certainly seem to be phase resistant at least. (he keeps colliding with them instead of passing through but he hasn't seemed to have noticed that yet)
Also you forgot Rotom.
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Arrival 5
Dakkaface
Extra Shooty Wordsmith
Arrival 5 - Hero wanted.
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I resist the urge to spit take and deny loudly. Instead I chew slowly and use the moment to think. Possibly true, but he has no evidence, and I did find this in the dungeon. I can bullshit through this. I swallow and then speak. "Possible, I suppose. Do you have a detailed description of this stolen property?"
Justice is shaking in the archway. "Stolen gems! And you are eating them! Mocking me while you do so!"
I make a show of inspecting the bag. "This doesn't appear to have any maker's marks or patterns to it. I found it in the dungeon. Could you give a detailed account of the stolen gems so we could compare?"
The bird is shaking his head at me minutely. This is either his stolen stuff that he doesn't want recognized or he's warning me not to mess with Justice. I ignore him. Justice doesn't seem like the type that will let me off for even having stolen goods.
"I do not need an accounting of the gems! A Dark Pokemon was witnessed stealing the gems! You are in possession of them and are both Dark Pokemon! That is all the confirmation I require! I am taking you both in!" Justice strikes a fighting stance with his last sentence.
So a Fighting type then? I suppose 'Great Justice Fighter' should have given it away. I guess that might explain why the Murkrow is shaking in his boots, but aren't Flying types strong against Fighting as well? Maybe Justice Guy is strong enough for that to not matter? I hope I'm not making a big mistake. I laugh, my tone harshly mocking. "So you're just a corrupt cop then? No care for evidence or ensuring you have the right suspects, all you care about is that you have someone to haul in, something that might be the stolen property to recover for the glory? Or are you just another thief looking to steal from someone under the guise of authority?"
Apparently that was the last straw - Justice charges from the entryway at me, snarling the whole way. I step back into the shadows of the bend, keeping the wall behind me and wait.
He sprints straight past the Murkrow at me and I step back to put my back right against the wall. Once he's out of the cave arch I get a look at him without his sunlit backdrop. Dog-like humanoid, with gold and black coloration. The colors are wrong, but I think he's the little guy Lucario evolves from. Fighting type? This'll be a breeze.
He's predictable and stupid. He throws a truly beautiful punch into me, charge momentum behind it and like any good martial artist, he's not punching to hit me, he's punching to hit a point a foot past me. Which is to say, solid rock. I hear the rock shatter behind me and the look of shock on his face is just delicious. I flicker, executing Astonish, and he tries to stumble back, stumbling sideways as his fist catches in the rock.
His body plan is mostly human, and so are his weak points - I step into his open guard, fist already chambered, and counterpunch where the solar plexus would be on a human. I hear the breath woosh out of him as the blow lands, confirming what I already suspected. As he falls to the floor gasping for breath, I push out with a Night Shade, a giant spectral version of myself looming over him. I give him a shark-tooth smile and speak, my hollow voice bouncing off the cave walls.
"It's a bad idea to attack people you don't even know, for wrongs you haven't even confirmed they've committed. It could end badly for you." I had intended it to come off lightly, but with my new voice warped further by Night Shade, the echoes and circumstances, the line almost sounds like it's coming from the Joker or some other madman. His breath hitches when he's already gasping for breath, he tries to hyperventilate, but his abused diaphragm is not cooperating. He'll probably pass out.
I release the effect and step past him toward the cave exit and the gaping Murkrow. I'm almost all the way to the bird when I see him fixate on a point behind me with a strangled gasp. I turn and get to witness the gold mini-Anubis struggling to his feet.
"Monster. I. Will. Stop you." His breath comes in wheezing gasps, but he's on his feet.
I shake my head and laugh. "Who is the monster, Justice Fighter? The one who accuses and attacks, or the one who defends? The one who strikes in anger or the the one who disables and holds back?"
I apparently manage to push more than one button with that last and he makes a much slower charge at me. I recall that last attack I made in the dungeon, and lash forward at him. This time, with the sun at my back I see what's happening and my confusion over the attack last time is solved.
My long shadow deepens and I see him from where I'm standing as well as where my shadow's eyes would be, and my shadow sticks a leg into his pistoning feet, tripping him and sending him sprawling. Then I shift and my shadow executes a one-two punch, jabbing him viciously where the kidneys would be on a human before launching a hard right cross into the back of his head. His head lolls and his body goes limp. I release my hold and my shadow snaps back to normal.
I walk over to the loudmouth and look him over. He's still breathing, if insensate. I turn to the Murkrow. "We should probably leave."
The Murkrow's beak flaps a few times before my reply comes. "Uh, sure boss. Whatever you say."
We exit the cave to a rather unremarkable mountainside, the sun low on the horizon and bathing the side of the mountain in golden light. It must be early evening or late afternoon. I eye the area for paths before selecting one and heading off down the mountainside, bag on my shoulder. The Mukrow shoots looks at me and half opens his beak like he wants to say something, but stays silent while he follows along. He's also keeps eying my pack in a way he probably believes to be unobtrusive.
After we'd made some distance, and the sun fully set, I tossed my bag down and sat, turning to look at the Murkrow. "Alright, speak up." I said, "It's clear you want to say something to me."
The response is immediate and gushing. "Gotta say, that was pretty awesome boss. I thought I was a goner, but you just stepped in and- Wack! Pow! Smack!" The Murkrow flails in what's probably a bird's approximation of dodging and punch throwing. "And then the 'Great Justice Fighter' was down and we walked right on out of there, easy as ya please!"
It's hard with no pupils to emote with. Rolling my eyes is flat out impossible. But I'm hoping the look I'm giving him right now is 'get to the point please.'
"Anyway, do you mind if I keep traveling with you, it's probably safer…" his eyes drift from me to the bag as he trails off.
"And I still have your loot." I deadpan.
"What? No, I mean, It's not mine! I'm not a thief!" He's indignant.
"So you're what? The bagman? Going to collect it at the dead drop?" I keep my tone level and non-accusatory.
The Murkrow gives me an artfully composed confused look "Uh, no?"
I rub my brow with both hands before gesturing to him. "Look my feathered friend, I might have demanded an officer attempting arrest have some proof, but I can see you're shady, and I don't really need exacting proof to know you're up to something, even if you didn't steal these personally. If you're going to be at my back, I want to hear the story. And also to be assured you're not going to try and stick me in the back and make off with the goods, but hey, that's everyone."
Murkrow works his beak silently for a moment and I figure that maybe he's being more circumspect than I am. I sweep the woods briefly with my life sense to try and feel anything around, and I get nothing. "If you're really concerned, nobody's around but us."
He almost looks sheepish as he continues. "I guess I can't really sneak anything by you, huh boss? Yeah, the gems are stolen, I'm the thief. But it's okay, I stole 'em from Big Honch, and he stole 'em, so it's okay, right? Thieving from thieves is totally fine."
"But if you took them from another thief you should be getting enforcers or another thief after you, not 'the law.' Why would…." I facepalm as it hits me. "How long ago did he steal them?"
Murkrow cocks his head. "Uh, I dunno. They were in his loot room and they were just the most valuable stuff I spotted that was portable, so I took the whole lot."
"So, if Big Honch just stole them, and then you took off with them pretty much right away, all he had to do was let someone know that you were spotted at the scene of the original theft and the law goes after you. Heck, even if Honch himself was spotted - he's a Honchkrow, right? A Dark and Flying Pokemon just. like. you. You've set yourself up as the perfect patsy."
He looks like he wants to protest, but can't dispute the logic. He settles for hopping about in a circle and complaining. "Chaw! Even when I try to break off, Big Honch is still messing things up for me! I'm never gonna get out!"
I shrug. "I imagine we're in the same boat. Assuming Great Justice Fighter is an actual representative of the law, I'm likely in some hot water myself."
Actually... I frown and wave my hand back toward the mountain. "So, what is the story with Great Justice Fighter? He's not really the law where you're from, is he?"
Murkrow gives me a funny look. "Well, Great Justice isn't exactly famous, but she's been a real pain for Big Honch for a while. She came into town a while back, said she was gonna clean it up, and hasn't really had much success. I mean, she managed to get her paws on, and fists into some of the more careless Pokemon, but they kinda deserved that. I mean, Weavile was a big dummy anyway, but she knocked him out and dragged him off lickety-split after she caught him shaking unevolved Pokemon down for their Poke and items."
Oh. I guess I was just using the wrong pronoun. Great Justice Fighter is hardly a feminine name, and between the Batman impression and my lack of ability to spot a Pokemon's sex, I guess I made a bit of an error there.
Murkrow sighed and hopped onto a low branch before continuing. "I guess after I ran off with his stuff and put him down a worker, he might have put her on my trail to get ridda me and her at the same time."
He hops onto a low hanging branch and his feathers ripple and shake. I suspect he's agitated, but he settles down and looks at me again. "But then, if we're gonna be partners, we gotta know who we are, right? You can call me Shade."
I lament the lack of actual eyeballs to roll my eyes at that moniker. Oh well, I suppose it's not like any of my usual pseudonyms for MMO's are any better. "Okay Shade, nice to meet you."
I stop and think for a moment. I named all my Sableye clan in Sapphire after metals and gemstones, so lets just run with that. Everything with more than two syllables is out, so what's left? Jasper, Jade, Onyx…. Oh. It stands out as the only single syllable gemstone. That'll do.
I sketch a small bow. "Jet, at your service."
----------------
I resist the urge to spit take and deny loudly. Instead I chew slowly and use the moment to think. Possibly true, but he has no evidence, and I did find this in the dungeon. I can bullshit through this. I swallow and then speak. "Possible, I suppose. Do you have a detailed description of this stolen property?"
Justice is shaking in the archway. "Stolen gems! And you are eating them! Mocking me while you do so!"
I make a show of inspecting the bag. "This doesn't appear to have any maker's marks or patterns to it. I found it in the dungeon. Could you give a detailed account of the stolen gems so we could compare?"
The bird is shaking his head at me minutely. This is either his stolen stuff that he doesn't want recognized or he's warning me not to mess with Justice. I ignore him. Justice doesn't seem like the type that will let me off for even having stolen goods.
"I do not need an accounting of the gems! A Dark Pokemon was witnessed stealing the gems! You are in possession of them and are both Dark Pokemon! That is all the confirmation I require! I am taking you both in!" Justice strikes a fighting stance with his last sentence.
So a Fighting type then? I suppose 'Great Justice Fighter' should have given it away. I guess that might explain why the Murkrow is shaking in his boots, but aren't Flying types strong against Fighting as well? Maybe Justice Guy is strong enough for that to not matter? I hope I'm not making a big mistake. I laugh, my tone harshly mocking. "So you're just a corrupt cop then? No care for evidence or ensuring you have the right suspects, all you care about is that you have someone to haul in, something that might be the stolen property to recover for the glory? Or are you just another thief looking to steal from someone under the guise of authority?"
Apparently that was the last straw - Justice charges from the entryway at me, snarling the whole way. I step back into the shadows of the bend, keeping the wall behind me and wait.
He sprints straight past the Murkrow at me and I step back to put my back right against the wall. Once he's out of the cave arch I get a look at him without his sunlit backdrop. Dog-like humanoid, with gold and black coloration. The colors are wrong, but I think he's the little guy Lucario evolves from. Fighting type? This'll be a breeze.
He's predictable and stupid. He throws a truly beautiful punch into me, charge momentum behind it and like any good martial artist, he's not punching to hit me, he's punching to hit a point a foot past me. Which is to say, solid rock. I hear the rock shatter behind me and the look of shock on his face is just delicious. I flicker, executing Astonish, and he tries to stumble back, stumbling sideways as his fist catches in the rock.
His body plan is mostly human, and so are his weak points - I step into his open guard, fist already chambered, and counterpunch where the solar plexus would be on a human. I hear the breath woosh out of him as the blow lands, confirming what I already suspected. As he falls to the floor gasping for breath, I push out with a Night Shade, a giant spectral version of myself looming over him. I give him a shark-tooth smile and speak, my hollow voice bouncing off the cave walls.
"It's a bad idea to attack people you don't even know, for wrongs you haven't even confirmed they've committed. It could end badly for you." I had intended it to come off lightly, but with my new voice warped further by Night Shade, the echoes and circumstances, the line almost sounds like it's coming from the Joker or some other madman. His breath hitches when he's already gasping for breath, he tries to hyperventilate, but his abused diaphragm is not cooperating. He'll probably pass out.
I release the effect and step past him toward the cave exit and the gaping Murkrow. I'm almost all the way to the bird when I see him fixate on a point behind me with a strangled gasp. I turn and get to witness the gold mini-Anubis struggling to his feet.
"Monster. I. Will. Stop you." His breath comes in wheezing gasps, but he's on his feet.
I shake my head and laugh. "Who is the monster, Justice Fighter? The one who accuses and attacks, or the one who defends? The one who strikes in anger or the the one who disables and holds back?"
I apparently manage to push more than one button with that last and he makes a much slower charge at me. I recall that last attack I made in the dungeon, and lash forward at him. This time, with the sun at my back I see what's happening and my confusion over the attack last time is solved.
My long shadow deepens and I see him from where I'm standing as well as where my shadow's eyes would be, and my shadow sticks a leg into his pistoning feet, tripping him and sending him sprawling. Then I shift and my shadow executes a one-two punch, jabbing him viciously where the kidneys would be on a human before launching a hard right cross into the back of his head. His head lolls and his body goes limp. I release my hold and my shadow snaps back to normal.
I walk over to the loudmouth and look him over. He's still breathing, if insensate. I turn to the Murkrow. "We should probably leave."
The Murkrow's beak flaps a few times before my reply comes. "Uh, sure boss. Whatever you say."
We exit the cave to a rather unremarkable mountainside, the sun low on the horizon and bathing the side of the mountain in golden light. It must be early evening or late afternoon. I eye the area for paths before selecting one and heading off down the mountainside, bag on my shoulder. The Mukrow shoots looks at me and half opens his beak like he wants to say something, but stays silent while he follows along. He's also keeps eying my pack in a way he probably believes to be unobtrusive.
After we'd made some distance, and the sun fully set, I tossed my bag down and sat, turning to look at the Murkrow. "Alright, speak up." I said, "It's clear you want to say something to me."
The response is immediate and gushing. "Gotta say, that was pretty awesome boss. I thought I was a goner, but you just stepped in and- Wack! Pow! Smack!" The Murkrow flails in what's probably a bird's approximation of dodging and punch throwing. "And then the 'Great Justice Fighter' was down and we walked right on out of there, easy as ya please!"
It's hard with no pupils to emote with. Rolling my eyes is flat out impossible. But I'm hoping the look I'm giving him right now is 'get to the point please.'
"Anyway, do you mind if I keep traveling with you, it's probably safer…" his eyes drift from me to the bag as he trails off.
"And I still have your loot." I deadpan.
"What? No, I mean, It's not mine! I'm not a thief!" He's indignant.
"So you're what? The bagman? Going to collect it at the dead drop?" I keep my tone level and non-accusatory.
The Murkrow gives me an artfully composed confused look "Uh, no?"
I rub my brow with both hands before gesturing to him. "Look my feathered friend, I might have demanded an officer attempting arrest have some proof, but I can see you're shady, and I don't really need exacting proof to know you're up to something, even if you didn't steal these personally. If you're going to be at my back, I want to hear the story. And also to be assured you're not going to try and stick me in the back and make off with the goods, but hey, that's everyone."
Murkrow works his beak silently for a moment and I figure that maybe he's being more circumspect than I am. I sweep the woods briefly with my life sense to try and feel anything around, and I get nothing. "If you're really concerned, nobody's around but us."
He almost looks sheepish as he continues. "I guess I can't really sneak anything by you, huh boss? Yeah, the gems are stolen, I'm the thief. But it's okay, I stole 'em from Big Honch, and he stole 'em, so it's okay, right? Thieving from thieves is totally fine."
"But if you took them from another thief you should be getting enforcers or another thief after you, not 'the law.' Why would…." I facepalm as it hits me. "How long ago did he steal them?"
Murkrow cocks his head. "Uh, I dunno. They were in his loot room and they were just the most valuable stuff I spotted that was portable, so I took the whole lot."
"So, if Big Honch just stole them, and then you took off with them pretty much right away, all he had to do was let someone know that you were spotted at the scene of the original theft and the law goes after you. Heck, even if Honch himself was spotted - he's a Honchkrow, right? A Dark and Flying Pokemon just. like. you. You've set yourself up as the perfect patsy."
He looks like he wants to protest, but can't dispute the logic. He settles for hopping about in a circle and complaining. "Chaw! Even when I try to break off, Big Honch is still messing things up for me! I'm never gonna get out!"
I shrug. "I imagine we're in the same boat. Assuming Great Justice Fighter is an actual representative of the law, I'm likely in some hot water myself."
Actually... I frown and wave my hand back toward the mountain. "So, what is the story with Great Justice Fighter? He's not really the law where you're from, is he?"
Murkrow gives me a funny look. "Well, Great Justice isn't exactly famous, but she's been a real pain for Big Honch for a while. She came into town a while back, said she was gonna clean it up, and hasn't really had much success. I mean, she managed to get her paws on, and fists into some of the more careless Pokemon, but they kinda deserved that. I mean, Weavile was a big dummy anyway, but she knocked him out and dragged him off lickety-split after she caught him shaking unevolved Pokemon down for their Poke and items."
Oh. I guess I was just using the wrong pronoun. Great Justice Fighter is hardly a feminine name, and between the Batman impression and my lack of ability to spot a Pokemon's sex, I guess I made a bit of an error there.
Murkrow sighed and hopped onto a low branch before continuing. "I guess after I ran off with his stuff and put him down a worker, he might have put her on my trail to get ridda me and her at the same time."
He hops onto a low hanging branch and his feathers ripple and shake. I suspect he's agitated, but he settles down and looks at me again. "But then, if we're gonna be partners, we gotta know who we are, right? You can call me Shade."
I lament the lack of actual eyeballs to roll my eyes at that moniker. Oh well, I suppose it's not like any of my usual pseudonyms for MMO's are any better. "Okay Shade, nice to meet you."
I stop and think for a moment. I named all my Sableye clan in Sapphire after metals and gemstones, so lets just run with that. Everything with more than two syllables is out, so what's left? Jasper, Jade, Onyx…. Oh. It stands out as the only single syllable gemstone. That'll do.
I sketch a small bow. "Jet, at your service."
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Frakir's brother
Goodbye.
- Location
- The Sea of Trees
Ghosts are awesome.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
You don't get to 'choose' a specific pokemon in this rendition, instead being shoved into whichever one fits your character best. Least, that's the in-verse explanation. Meta was that we picked one we liked, I think.
...I pity the person stuck as a reincarnated magikarp.
cthulhu fartagn
Cthulhu in a suit. Bowties are cool.
- Location
- The East Coast of America.
my little brother got one of those freaking huge sets of pokemon cards for his birthday. there were like, 100+ of them in it. i spent a few minutes dividing them up, and we played with them for bit.
he had mega aggron. i had a tangela. he forgot to add any energy cards.
And here I was thinking you just liked tentacles a lot, I wasn't judging you... much.my little brother got one of those freaking huge sets of pokemon cards for his birthday. there were like, 100+ of them in it. i spent a few minutes dividing them up, and we played with them for bit.
he had mega aggron. i had a tangela. he forgot to add any energy cards.
>.> Magikarp was actually one of my favorite pokemon (and is still one of them) but I never did understand why Gyarados was a water/flying type, so I never got to use them much despite that. I'd've probably ended up as a Magikarp in this kind of thing actually.
I am really enjoying the ghost-type shenanigans, and the way it demonstrated why lowerlevel fighting-types before they get those elemental punches and such are nearly useless against the ghosts.
There's an old Japanese legend that if a Koi climbs a waterfall it becomes a dragon.
How Koi Become Dragons, Gyarados looks sort of like an eastern dragon and can learn waterfall.
How Koi Become Dragons, Gyarados looks sort of like an eastern dragon and can learn waterfall.
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Mgunh1
Not an AI, honest!
- Location
- Northern Luna Base, Module 5, Sublevel 15
Yeah, pretty much that. Initially, both Gyarados and Charazard were slated to have Dragon secondary typing, but at the time of the first games, there was pretty much nothing that could stand against a Dragon or Psychic type.
It wasn't until the next generation that Ice types and their attacks became more common, thus eliminating much of the issue with Dragons.
They still reined as the premier typing even so, until the most recent generation. The introduction of Fairy types rounded everything out.
Hence why Charazard Y and Mega Gyarados have Dragon secondary typing.
It wasn't until the next generation that Ice types and their attacks became more common, thus eliminating much of the issue with Dragons.
They still reined as the premier typing even so, until the most recent generation. The introduction of Fairy types rounded everything out.
Hence why Charazard Y and Mega Gyarados have Dragon secondary typing.
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Mega Gyarados is a Dark secondary, not dragon. But that does make sense.
Adjust 1
Dakkaface
Extra Shooty Wordsmith
Adjust 1 - Get a move on.
Shade and I spent a quiet night moving through the forest. No fire was necessary - the night was warm enough, and both of us seemed to see fine in the dark. The night passed easily and we journeyed in a companionable silence. We put as much distance as we could between the mountain and Great Justice before our strength began to flag. I noticed Shade starting to nod off, head bobbing as he flew along, and even I found out something odd about my new body. I might not have muscles to tire, but apparently I need some rest after a day full of fighting and running. I felt fuzzy and sluggish. We started to slow down and I let Shade pick out a good looking perch in the lower branches before I dug partway into the ground at the base of the tree and let myself rest in a little hollow in the fork of its roots. It was an oddly reflexive action; my exhaustion had me operating on alien instinct. I lay immobile in the cool dirt and let sleep claim me.
My dreams are unsettling and odd. I dream of fathomless caverns of giant gems, and walking in caverns with roofs well beyond my sight. Endless walking amidst crystal columns and gem-studded stalagmites. eventually I stop at a round boulder, which cracks to reveal a geode framed mirror. Peering into it reveals my human reflection standing over me, and it grins with a mouth full of shining sharks teeth. I wake at that.
Dirt presses against my gemstone eyes as I return to consciousness. I try to consider the dream but I'm not sure what to make of it. I can't recall, are dreams important in the Pokemon world? The Pokemon who called me here, M-something - the pink blob. I remember it has something to do with dreams in its 'dex entry. Sadly I didn't bother to remember it. Hell I'm having trouble just recalling its name - Mullah? I think it ended with an 'a' sound.
Either way, I'm awake and I can feel the earth around me is warmer than it was. I shift in the loose soil and start to push myself up. I breach the surface and look about. It's morning. Well. 'morning-ish.' It's probably closer to noon. I crawl from my impromptu grave and glance about to see Shade still snoozing in the branches above.
"Shade!" I bark.
He starts awake, whipping his head around before focusing on me. "Oi, Jet. I coulda used some more shut-eye y'know!" he cries petulantly.
"I'm sure." I fire back. "We should probably keep putting distance between us and the cave. I had a thought - could you carry me?"
Shade gives me an appraising look as he stretches his wings. "Hard to say boss. Dunno how heavy you are. Probably not though. I know how to get myself places but I never learned the trick of flyin' under heavy load. Big Honch knew it, but he played his cards close to the vest."
I frown a bit. I had hoped partnering up with a Flying type would be useful for the mobility aspect, but I guess the Fly HM wasn't so much actual flight as it was the ability to fly fast, high, and with a ton of extra weight. "We'd better get moving then. Wouldn't want Great Justice to steal a march on us."
Shade gave me a funny look but gave a tentative nod as a I turned back to my meager possessions. The bag. I adjusted my bandanna a bit before extracting and hefting the gems.
The walk was long and boring. While I could hear the sounds of Pokemon moving around us, we were largely avoided, but kept our heading moving south, away from the cave and our pursuant lawwoman. Law-Pokemon? Not sure what to call her. Either way, we took a long walk, keeping to the shade of the trees as we went, though it was clear Shade wasn't moving as fast as he could have been, since he was holding back to pace me. He ranged out and came back with a few berries as I walked, handily keeping up with me. I munched a bit of gravel I still had from the cave as we went, to fill my own belly.
When Shade tosses up and snaps a berry out of the air I step away from him in surprise. As I did the gems in the bag shift, a dull tinkle sounding over my shoulder. We were still carting around hot goods.
"Where's the closest place we can offload these then? I don't fancy traveling with hot items, and while I could always eat the evidence I think your reaction when I DID indicates these are worth a fair bit."
Shade cocks his head and thinks. "Well, nearest big town is over the mountains to the east… but that's where I was comin' from. We'll prob'ly run into Great Justice and Big Honch too if we head there. There's little towns around here, to the west and south, but we'll hafta cross over those low mountains to get to the nearest city."
I reach back and pull a gem out of the top of the bag to inspect it. It's a deep purple all the way through, no violet to white shading like I'm used to with amethysts. Perfectly faceted gem cut, like a Chaos Emerald. Who cuts these in a world with few tools? Rock pokemon? Actually, now that I think about it they came out of the walls of the tunnels fully faceted in Pearl and Diamond. Maybe this is more of a My Little Pony thing, where they just come out of the ground like this?
It's not really relevant. "Could we sell these off in one of the towns? Or just string them out, paying for a bunch of stuff at each town?"
He answers with a waggling head motion. "We could. Be pretty easy for the folks in each town to finger us though. Give Justice a pretty clear trail to follow. Honch too, if'n he's feeling up to vengeance."
That's not comforting. I stash the gem back in the bag before commenting. "I get the feeling that most folks would point their fingers anyway, if Justice's attitude toward Dark Pokemon is widespread. Is it?"
"Chaw! Ain't supposed to, but yeah. Lots of Pokemon keep their guard around us." He looks pensive but that quickly passes and he looks back at me with curiosity. "Wouldn't you know? You're a Dark type too. And with the way you talked to Great Justice back there, you ain't from nowhere - that was some smooth talk you hit her with." He gives me a long, appraising look.
How to play this? If I'm not terribly trustworthy, it'll probably just be written off as a lie anyway, so… sure, drop the bomb. "Oh, I'm not from around here. I was human up until a day and a half ago."
"Hu… Chaw! You trying to say you're a human? You sure don't look anything like Blastoise or Empoleon, small fry." He fires back instantly. From his tone, I don't think he believes me. But Blastoise and Empoleon? My own curiosity is piqued.
"What do those Water-types have to do with anything?" I'm honestly curious, but I don't want to seem like a rube.
Shade looks at me askance, genuine confusion on his face. "Ya mean ya don't… How do you not? What kind of backwoods sticks-ville did you come from? Blastoise, of Rescue Team Go-getters? Helped save the world from a falling star?"
Not… really ringing a bell. And rube status apparently confirmed. I just turn my palms up and shrug.
His expression goes even more incredulous. "Empoleon? Leader of Exploration Team Poképals? Died and came back? Also saved the world?"
Wait… teams. The first set of Mystery Dungeon games was Blue & Red Rescue Team. I guess both that and the sequel happened here. I don't remember a lot about the plot other than that the first set of games ended with… Rayquaza? And the second had something to do with time travel. Either way I'm not really sure about them.
I cock my head apologetically. "Sorry…? I don't recognize the Teams or the Pokemon you're talking about."
Shade actually stops moving along side of me to gape at me. "Are ya actually a Diglet? Sure it were a while back, but the whole world saw it happen! A big explosion in the clouds after Team Go-Getters went up the Sky Tower!"
Well, now it's just getting fun to wind him up. I keep on walking and shrug. "Sableye live underground."
"It was two-hundred years ago!" squawks Shade indignantly, words shortening and running together as he got madder. "How couldya notta heard about it?!"
"Well, you said it yourself. Two-hundred years ago? That's ancient history. I'd hardly know anything about that." I give him the brush off and scan the road ahead. We're working on a hill now, should come to the crest in a bit and get a good look over the top at what lies beyond.
"KRGKK!" Comes the sound over my shoulder as the Murkrow descends into incoherent noises of disgust, rage and disbelief. I turn and he's given up following me, hopping in a circle, sputtering incoherently.
He looks totally ridiculous and I can't hold it in anymore. I let out a snort that just continues on, my shoulders shaking and my body rolling as I try to hold back and fail, laughter bubbling up. My explosive mirth cuts through his tirade and he gives me a gimlet eye with no words, waiting for me to elaborate.
I wave my hands apologetically. "Sorry! Sorry. They're not totally unknown to me - I vaguely recall some of the events about what happened both times the world was saved, but I honestly didn't know the names of the teams or their leaders til just now."
Well at least you're not a complete know-nothing." Shade huffs as he resumes our course of travel. "I swear, I was afraid I was going to have to teach ya everything, and-"
"You'll probably have to do that anyway." I interrupt. "I'm frankly worse than a know-nothing that lived under a rock, on account of I'm new to the world, as of yesterday."
Shade blinks, trying to figure out my angle. "You're… a new ghost?"
I angle my head a bit, not quite nodding. "Well, you can say that. Like I said - was human until recently, this Sableye form of mine must be new no matter how you slice it."
He ruffles his feathers, regarding me with one eye, cocking his head to look at me with the other. He doesn't say anything for a while, but then his beak splits in a grin. "Oh. Oh HO. That's the plan then? I gotcha, boss, I gotcha. Pretend to be a human, the next big savior of the world? Get help from all the rubes, who'll toss all sorts of stuff at ya 'cause you're the next hero of destiny!"
I want to facepalm. My partner thinks I'm faking the whole human thing. I... You know what? Sure. So long as he plays along, does it matter what he really thinks? "What are you talking about, Shade? I'm really human. Fell out of the sky yesterday and everything. Don't you believe me?" I drawl out in exaggerated tone which would seem sarcastic if not for my smile letting him know about the 'joke.'
"Gotcha gotcha! Righto boss. No talking about the secrets! Gotta make other folks believe otherwise the scam-" I shoot him an irritated glare and he instantly amends his words "-the team won't get any support!"
I smile. "Great! So long as we're always on the same page, right?"
"Sure boss! Sure. Only..." He trails off expectantly.
"Only what?"
"Only, what's the team name gonna be?"
"Well… I got a couple of ideas." I honestly do, even if it's just a few. "Even with the human story, you think they'll trust us?"
His eye rolls up, and he doesn't spit his reply, but it's close. "Not likely."
"Team Hope is out then. We can be Team... Rogue or Rebel."
"I'm not feelin' terribly good about either of those names, boss."
I shrug. "If we outright tell them we're rogues, and they think we've got an angle… are they going to keep looking for the second angle?"
He looks a bit confused. "Angle?"
"Well, if we think we're scamming them on the human thing, that's all they'll expect, and they'll throw us jobs to 'prove our sincerity.' They won't hand out any freebies since they won't believe us, but since they're not expecting us to get the job done anyway, we'll still get work and contacts." At least, I hope. We'll see how it all pans out when we make our pitch.
Shade's eyes furrow as he thinks. "Oh. So, no easy Poke then?"
I shrug. "No. But probably enough of a foot in the door that we can get some jobs."
Shade looks so disappointed at the prospect having to do of actual work that I start laughing again.
------
A/N: Holy crap, this isn't dead. Had a recent surge of ideas for this, will be writing more.
Shade and I spent a quiet night moving through the forest. No fire was necessary - the night was warm enough, and both of us seemed to see fine in the dark. The night passed easily and we journeyed in a companionable silence. We put as much distance as we could between the mountain and Great Justice before our strength began to flag. I noticed Shade starting to nod off, head bobbing as he flew along, and even I found out something odd about my new body. I might not have muscles to tire, but apparently I need some rest after a day full of fighting and running. I felt fuzzy and sluggish. We started to slow down and I let Shade pick out a good looking perch in the lower branches before I dug partway into the ground at the base of the tree and let myself rest in a little hollow in the fork of its roots. It was an oddly reflexive action; my exhaustion had me operating on alien instinct. I lay immobile in the cool dirt and let sleep claim me.
My dreams are unsettling and odd. I dream of fathomless caverns of giant gems, and walking in caverns with roofs well beyond my sight. Endless walking amidst crystal columns and gem-studded stalagmites. eventually I stop at a round boulder, which cracks to reveal a geode framed mirror. Peering into it reveals my human reflection standing over me, and it grins with a mouth full of shining sharks teeth. I wake at that.
Dirt presses against my gemstone eyes as I return to consciousness. I try to consider the dream but I'm not sure what to make of it. I can't recall, are dreams important in the Pokemon world? The Pokemon who called me here, M-something - the pink blob. I remember it has something to do with dreams in its 'dex entry. Sadly I didn't bother to remember it. Hell I'm having trouble just recalling its name - Mullah? I think it ended with an 'a' sound.
Either way, I'm awake and I can feel the earth around me is warmer than it was. I shift in the loose soil and start to push myself up. I breach the surface and look about. It's morning. Well. 'morning-ish.' It's probably closer to noon. I crawl from my impromptu grave and glance about to see Shade still snoozing in the branches above.
"Shade!" I bark.
He starts awake, whipping his head around before focusing on me. "Oi, Jet. I coulda used some more shut-eye y'know!" he cries petulantly.
"I'm sure." I fire back. "We should probably keep putting distance between us and the cave. I had a thought - could you carry me?"
Shade gives me an appraising look as he stretches his wings. "Hard to say boss. Dunno how heavy you are. Probably not though. I know how to get myself places but I never learned the trick of flyin' under heavy load. Big Honch knew it, but he played his cards close to the vest."
I frown a bit. I had hoped partnering up with a Flying type would be useful for the mobility aspect, but I guess the Fly HM wasn't so much actual flight as it was the ability to fly fast, high, and with a ton of extra weight. "We'd better get moving then. Wouldn't want Great Justice to steal a march on us."
Shade gave me a funny look but gave a tentative nod as a I turned back to my meager possessions. The bag. I adjusted my bandanna a bit before extracting and hefting the gems.
The walk was long and boring. While I could hear the sounds of Pokemon moving around us, we were largely avoided, but kept our heading moving south, away from the cave and our pursuant lawwoman. Law-Pokemon? Not sure what to call her. Either way, we took a long walk, keeping to the shade of the trees as we went, though it was clear Shade wasn't moving as fast as he could have been, since he was holding back to pace me. He ranged out and came back with a few berries as I walked, handily keeping up with me. I munched a bit of gravel I still had from the cave as we went, to fill my own belly.
When Shade tosses up and snaps a berry out of the air I step away from him in surprise. As I did the gems in the bag shift, a dull tinkle sounding over my shoulder. We were still carting around hot goods.
"Where's the closest place we can offload these then? I don't fancy traveling with hot items, and while I could always eat the evidence I think your reaction when I DID indicates these are worth a fair bit."
Shade cocks his head and thinks. "Well, nearest big town is over the mountains to the east… but that's where I was comin' from. We'll prob'ly run into Great Justice and Big Honch too if we head there. There's little towns around here, to the west and south, but we'll hafta cross over those low mountains to get to the nearest city."
I reach back and pull a gem out of the top of the bag to inspect it. It's a deep purple all the way through, no violet to white shading like I'm used to with amethysts. Perfectly faceted gem cut, like a Chaos Emerald. Who cuts these in a world with few tools? Rock pokemon? Actually, now that I think about it they came out of the walls of the tunnels fully faceted in Pearl and Diamond. Maybe this is more of a My Little Pony thing, where they just come out of the ground like this?
It's not really relevant. "Could we sell these off in one of the towns? Or just string them out, paying for a bunch of stuff at each town?"
He answers with a waggling head motion. "We could. Be pretty easy for the folks in each town to finger us though. Give Justice a pretty clear trail to follow. Honch too, if'n he's feeling up to vengeance."
That's not comforting. I stash the gem back in the bag before commenting. "I get the feeling that most folks would point their fingers anyway, if Justice's attitude toward Dark Pokemon is widespread. Is it?"
"Chaw! Ain't supposed to, but yeah. Lots of Pokemon keep their guard around us." He looks pensive but that quickly passes and he looks back at me with curiosity. "Wouldn't you know? You're a Dark type too. And with the way you talked to Great Justice back there, you ain't from nowhere - that was some smooth talk you hit her with." He gives me a long, appraising look.
How to play this? If I'm not terribly trustworthy, it'll probably just be written off as a lie anyway, so… sure, drop the bomb. "Oh, I'm not from around here. I was human up until a day and a half ago."
"Hu… Chaw! You trying to say you're a human? You sure don't look anything like Blastoise or Empoleon, small fry." He fires back instantly. From his tone, I don't think he believes me. But Blastoise and Empoleon? My own curiosity is piqued.
"What do those Water-types have to do with anything?" I'm honestly curious, but I don't want to seem like a rube.
Shade looks at me askance, genuine confusion on his face. "Ya mean ya don't… How do you not? What kind of backwoods sticks-ville did you come from? Blastoise, of Rescue Team Go-getters? Helped save the world from a falling star?"
Not… really ringing a bell. And rube status apparently confirmed. I just turn my palms up and shrug.
His expression goes even more incredulous. "Empoleon? Leader of Exploration Team Poképals? Died and came back? Also saved the world?"
Wait… teams. The first set of Mystery Dungeon games was Blue & Red Rescue Team. I guess both that and the sequel happened here. I don't remember a lot about the plot other than that the first set of games ended with… Rayquaza? And the second had something to do with time travel. Either way I'm not really sure about them.
I cock my head apologetically. "Sorry…? I don't recognize the Teams or the Pokemon you're talking about."
Shade actually stops moving along side of me to gape at me. "Are ya actually a Diglet? Sure it were a while back, but the whole world saw it happen! A big explosion in the clouds after Team Go-Getters went up the Sky Tower!"
Well, now it's just getting fun to wind him up. I keep on walking and shrug. "Sableye live underground."
"It was two-hundred years ago!" squawks Shade indignantly, words shortening and running together as he got madder. "How couldya notta heard about it?!"
"Well, you said it yourself. Two-hundred years ago? That's ancient history. I'd hardly know anything about that." I give him the brush off and scan the road ahead. We're working on a hill now, should come to the crest in a bit and get a good look over the top at what lies beyond.
"KRGKK!" Comes the sound over my shoulder as the Murkrow descends into incoherent noises of disgust, rage and disbelief. I turn and he's given up following me, hopping in a circle, sputtering incoherently.
He looks totally ridiculous and I can't hold it in anymore. I let out a snort that just continues on, my shoulders shaking and my body rolling as I try to hold back and fail, laughter bubbling up. My explosive mirth cuts through his tirade and he gives me a gimlet eye with no words, waiting for me to elaborate.
I wave my hands apologetically. "Sorry! Sorry. They're not totally unknown to me - I vaguely recall some of the events about what happened both times the world was saved, but I honestly didn't know the names of the teams or their leaders til just now."
Well at least you're not a complete know-nothing." Shade huffs as he resumes our course of travel. "I swear, I was afraid I was going to have to teach ya everything, and-"
"You'll probably have to do that anyway." I interrupt. "I'm frankly worse than a know-nothing that lived under a rock, on account of I'm new to the world, as of yesterday."
Shade blinks, trying to figure out my angle. "You're… a new ghost?"
I angle my head a bit, not quite nodding. "Well, you can say that. Like I said - was human until recently, this Sableye form of mine must be new no matter how you slice it."
He ruffles his feathers, regarding me with one eye, cocking his head to look at me with the other. He doesn't say anything for a while, but then his beak splits in a grin. "Oh. Oh HO. That's the plan then? I gotcha, boss, I gotcha. Pretend to be a human, the next big savior of the world? Get help from all the rubes, who'll toss all sorts of stuff at ya 'cause you're the next hero of destiny!"
I want to facepalm. My partner thinks I'm faking the whole human thing. I... You know what? Sure. So long as he plays along, does it matter what he really thinks? "What are you talking about, Shade? I'm really human. Fell out of the sky yesterday and everything. Don't you believe me?" I drawl out in exaggerated tone which would seem sarcastic if not for my smile letting him know about the 'joke.'
"Gotcha gotcha! Righto boss. No talking about the secrets! Gotta make other folks believe otherwise the scam-" I shoot him an irritated glare and he instantly amends his words "-the team won't get any support!"
I smile. "Great! So long as we're always on the same page, right?"
"Sure boss! Sure. Only..." He trails off expectantly.
"Only what?"
"Only, what's the team name gonna be?"
"Well… I got a couple of ideas." I honestly do, even if it's just a few. "Even with the human story, you think they'll trust us?"
His eye rolls up, and he doesn't spit his reply, but it's close. "Not likely."
"Team Hope is out then. We can be Team... Rogue or Rebel."
"I'm not feelin' terribly good about either of those names, boss."
I shrug. "If we outright tell them we're rogues, and they think we've got an angle… are they going to keep looking for the second angle?"
He looks a bit confused. "Angle?"
"Well, if we think we're scamming them on the human thing, that's all they'll expect, and they'll throw us jobs to 'prove our sincerity.' They won't hand out any freebies since they won't believe us, but since they're not expecting us to get the job done anyway, we'll still get work and contacts." At least, I hope. We'll see how it all pans out when we make our pitch.
Shade's eyes furrow as he thinks. "Oh. So, no easy Poke then?"
I shrug. "No. But probably enough of a foot in the door that we can get some jobs."
Shade looks so disappointed at the prospect having to do of actual work that I start laughing again.
------
A/N: Holy crap, this isn't dead. Had a recent surge of ideas for this, will be writing more.
Last edited:
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
BRILLIANT as always!
well worth the wait.
...imagine if there is a way to share memories...and our little birdy friend finds out the truth..
...also, there should be ways to get yourself flying....or at the very least slowing your decent....
you.could always grind up shadow claw to Susano'oo levels...
well worth the wait.
...imagine if there is a way to share memories...and our little birdy friend finds out the truth..
...also, there should be ways to get yourself flying....or at the very least slowing your decent....
you.could always grind up shadow claw to Susano'oo levels...
Adjust 2
Dakkaface
Extra Shooty Wordsmith
Adjust 2 - A destination.
When we crested the hill, we could see a settlement of some sort in the distance. It was a fair bit away, but it was easy enough to make out a few blocky buildings in a clearing set into the next hillside. We could also spot a dirt road at the base of our hill leading off in that direction.
I could make out the tops of buildings, but didn't see much else - the forest still closed around the building - too close for a firebreak or a wall that I would expect to see. My new eyesight was amazing, but it wasn't telescopic and didn't do anything about intervening trees. All I could see was the wooden roofs.
"Any idea who lives there?" I ask Shade after looking it over.
"Chaw. No idea. It's just a couple buildings, boss. I'd wouldn't even call it a village. Not someplace I'd ever heard of."
I shrug, and point to the road. "Well it seems to have an entrance. Let's go say hello."
Shade hopped back and forth nervously."Okay, boss. If you're sure. You are sure, right?"
"I'm not sure at all. But we have to start somewhere."
It's true, after all. I don't really have any knowledge of the world other than some hazy memories of things that apparently happened a couple hundred years ago to the locals. I could just hide, but if the reason I've been brought here is anything like the plots of the old games I don't have much of a choice. World ending meteor strike, time unravelling or something like that - humans don't show up unless things are really going FUBAR. I've probably got some very big boots to fill, but the possibility of what happens if I don't even try is likely apocalyptic.
Some of that concern might have shown on my face. Shade gives me a worried look but doesn't say anything, and wings his way down the hill ahead of me.
I pick my way down the slope, down to the dirt road and start following it toward the buildings. In short order, there's a very different 'feel' to the forest than the woods Shade and I walked through over the past day. This area of the forest is darker and the trees grow closer together, making it hard to see past the path that the little road cuts. Between my small size and the large, dark trees, I'm reminded of Mirkwood Forest. If not for the fact that the canopy is green, and light filters through in spots, the scenery could double for any of the Mirkwood bits in the old Rankin and Bass version of the Hobbit.
Time's harder for me to judge here - the sun is out there beyond the canopy somewhere, and I sure as hell don't have a watch. I walk alone for quite some time before Shade finally flaps back to me.
"Boss, we have a problem." is the first thing he says, worriedly.
"What's going on?"
"I tried checkin' ahead since I'm a bit faster'n you, but I started looping around - we've hit another mystery dungeon here.'"
I frowned. This doesn't jive with what I remember from the game maps - the dungeons were pretty far apart, not a couple days walk between. Of course, as I recall there was a small dungeon right next to the starting town in the first game… maybe the majority of dungeons can be dealt with by most Pokemon, and the scattered ones are just major dungeons? One way to find out.
"Shade, is this unusual?"
The bird shakes his head. "Sorry boss, I don't know this dungeon, but if there's a couple buildings up there, it's prob'ly not too big. Most Pokemon wouldn't want to live close to a dungeon they couldn't handle."
"Well, at least the decor makes sense," I temporize as I glance around. This is not ideal at all. It's one more oddity on top of everything else about my arrival that doesn't jive with the games. I'm supposed to show up and immediately get a companion, then we do a tiny dungeon and head for a nearby town… I facepalm as I realize my mistake..
Shade takes note of my sudden movement. "Somethin' wrong?"
"No just realized something I should have guessed. Think we can handle it?"
"Probably, yeah. Looks like a Grass-type dungeon, by my guess. Shouldn't be hard."
I nod, and we head deeper into the twisted space that pulled us off the road. I shake my head slightly as I contemplate my little revelation. Stupid assumption on my part - while the big events of the old games seem to have borne out, and humans in Pokemon bodies saved the world a couple times, the beginning of each game is structured as a tutorial. The companion, the three floor mini-dungeon, the town nearby - those are all likely conceits to the player, and don't accurately represent what happened here.
Hell, for all I know Blastoise arrived as a Squirtle, begged on the streets for a couple years, became an entertainer, and THEN met his companion, formed a rescue team and started on the world-saving. He... or she, even, could have a whole serious backstory that didn't get related in the games. I fiddle with my power scarf where the oran berry is tucked away - that's another thing I've been wrong about. I've been led astray more than once by assumptions. At this point, don't think I can count on anything but my knowledge of type interactions here.
The air ripples, and I can tell we're in the dungeon proper now. I look behind us and the path has vanished - the packed earth of the road has spread out, and the trees press into each other so close as to be a functional wall - not a perfect one, as I can spot shadows of movement beyond them, Pokemon wandering under the dungeon's sway.
Shade ruffles his feathers nervously. "If it's all the same to you, boss, I'm gonna stick close and let you take the lead, okay?"
I nod, then motion for him to follow.
I can 'feel' some of the Pokemon around, but unlike in the cave, everything feels fuzzy, and I don't get a clear sense of numbers or direction, only that we aren't alone. All we can do is venture forward. Unlike the previous dungeon, this one doesn't seem to feature particularly long and winding hallways, instead favoring medium sized clearings connected by S-shaped connecting corridors.
The first Pokemon we run into is a Bellsprout, which drops to a diving Peck from Shade before I can open my mouth. Flying is super-effective vs Grass, so at least that part seems to be holding up. I throw a brief thumbs up to Shade and we move on.
We clear the floor easily. I admit that Shade does most of the work, and his type advantage makes short work of the Grass types. We also see a couple Digletts and some rabbit looking Pokemon that take more than a hit to go down, and briefly surprise me by being immune to the terrifying effects of Astonish and Night Shade. Thankfully, the rabbits seem to have nothing but normal physical attacks, and I suffer no retaliation for leaving myself open. There's nothing the rabbits can do to affect me and the Digletts have problems affecting either of us between ground and normal attacks.
Shade gets cheerier and cheerier as we move through the floor and realizes that between the two of us, we're immune to several types of damage. The exit room has an apple and a small amount of Poke on the floor, which I scoop up and tuck away.
Next floor is 'down' though oddly, upon descending the stairs, we are again walking on dirt paths separated by densely packed tree trunks, with the sun above. Shade looks unphased, but it's still a moment of sharp confusion for me. I would have thought the next level down would be underground. I glance back up the staircase, and there's a moment of vertigo as my brain tries to process the portal-esque hole that the stairs cut before the stairway vanishes and I'm left on dirt again.
"Shade?" I query.
"What's up boss?"
"Are all dungeons like this?"
"Like…?"
"We went down. We should be underground. Instead the sun's still shining through the trees above us...."
Shade cocks his head. "Eh. I dunno? I've never been on a rescue team, and I mostly fly everywhere, and don't get caught in 'em."
I shake my head and continue on. That was about as clear as mud. I guess space is just really weird inside the dungeons. Without answers, there's nothing left but to push forward and fight our way through.
This floor isn't any harder. In fact, it's considerably easier than the fights I had in the lapis cave, though I'm sure that it's partly because Shade's here lending a… wing? Claw? The Pokemon feel weaker too. While we are double-teaming some enemy Pokemon, we're also occasionally forced to take on some alone, and my physical attacks are more than enough to put them down with ease.
In fact the floor is so easy, I start to worry. Shade picks up on it as he happily snaps up a bit of Poke from the floor and turns back to notice me scanning the area.
"What's wrong boss? You've been really cautious the last few rooms."
I shake my head. "It's nothing, Shade. It's just been so easy I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? "
"Shoe…?" Shade looks confused.
I guess I'm going to have to watch my idioms. "I'm just worried that things have been too easy, and something bad is about to happen." I clarify.
"Nah, this dungeon is easy." Shade chuffs, quite sure of himself. "It's all grass and ground Pokemon - easy pickings for me, and nothing dangerous for you. We'll get out of this easy enough, and a little bit richer for it!"
"I guess so, Shade. But I'm suspicious of anything being this easy. Even if the typing just happens to be good and the dungeon ends up being short, I feel like Murphy's Law is going to strike."
"Who's Murphy and why's his law matter?" Shade looks askance at me.
I grimace. Idioms again. I drop a bit of folk etymology on my partner as Shade spots the stairs in a tiny side chamber and we start heading over. "Just a human who knew that nothing's ever great forever, and if something could go wrong, it probably would sooner or later. He got proven right so much they called things tending to go wrong Murphy's law."
"Sounds like Rapidash leaves to me." snorts my companion. "If the going's good, it's good, if the going is bad, it's bad. Good things being a sign that everything is about to go bad is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
I sigh, but before I can attempt to explain justified caution, Shade's already moving past that into a new rant as we descend the stairs.
"And another thing, you're going to need to come up with more than just a couple goofy expressions if we're going to sell this human thing. I mean, what is a 'shu' anyway? Use words that make sense. I mean-"
I cut Shade off with a claw wrapping around his beak, and then draw his eye, pointing with my other hand.
A couple of grass types nearly three times our height were duking it out in a large chamber without an exit. I recognize Nuzleaf, with it's pointed nose and leaf headpiece. His opponent, a lizard-kangaroo hybrid with a mushroom on it's head, is irritatingly familiar but a name doesn't come to mind. I should know this one, but the name escapes me.
Nuzleaf was losing badly. It's movements were sluggish and the kangaroo thing was fast, and was landing some very hard punches and kicks.
"No! Don't lose bro!" came a shout from the far wall, where I spotted a pair of Seedots cowering in the corner.
"Damn! It's a Breloom," mutters Shade to my left, suddenly worried. His comment jogs my memory.
Shroomish evolution… and Grass/Fighting. It's Fighting moves that are just demolishing the Nuzleaf. The Nuzleaf drops to the ground in a pile of wood flakes where it's arms and torso have chipped away under the assault, clearly down. The Breloom turns away, toward the unevolved Pokemon.
Thankfully, I think I've got a rough plan. I nudge Shade, who looks nervous, and give him a quick set of instructions. "Gimme a little gust for theatrics sake, and I'll draw his attention. You nail him when he's focused on me."
He looks like he doesn't want to for a moment, but there's no time for arguing. I give him a verbal push.
"Yeah, he can hurt you, but you're gonna hurt him worse, and I'll tank it. Time to be heroes."
I drop the bag, freeing up my left hand, and step forward.
When we crested the hill, we could see a settlement of some sort in the distance. It was a fair bit away, but it was easy enough to make out a few blocky buildings in a clearing set into the next hillside. We could also spot a dirt road at the base of our hill leading off in that direction.
I could make out the tops of buildings, but didn't see much else - the forest still closed around the building - too close for a firebreak or a wall that I would expect to see. My new eyesight was amazing, but it wasn't telescopic and didn't do anything about intervening trees. All I could see was the wooden roofs.
"Any idea who lives there?" I ask Shade after looking it over.
"Chaw. No idea. It's just a couple buildings, boss. I'd wouldn't even call it a village. Not someplace I'd ever heard of."
I shrug, and point to the road. "Well it seems to have an entrance. Let's go say hello."
Shade hopped back and forth nervously."Okay, boss. If you're sure. You are sure, right?"
"I'm not sure at all. But we have to start somewhere."
It's true, after all. I don't really have any knowledge of the world other than some hazy memories of things that apparently happened a couple hundred years ago to the locals. I could just hide, but if the reason I've been brought here is anything like the plots of the old games I don't have much of a choice. World ending meteor strike, time unravelling or something like that - humans don't show up unless things are really going FUBAR. I've probably got some very big boots to fill, but the possibility of what happens if I don't even try is likely apocalyptic.
Some of that concern might have shown on my face. Shade gives me a worried look but doesn't say anything, and wings his way down the hill ahead of me.
I pick my way down the slope, down to the dirt road and start following it toward the buildings. In short order, there's a very different 'feel' to the forest than the woods Shade and I walked through over the past day. This area of the forest is darker and the trees grow closer together, making it hard to see past the path that the little road cuts. Between my small size and the large, dark trees, I'm reminded of Mirkwood Forest. If not for the fact that the canopy is green, and light filters through in spots, the scenery could double for any of the Mirkwood bits in the old Rankin and Bass version of the Hobbit.
Time's harder for me to judge here - the sun is out there beyond the canopy somewhere, and I sure as hell don't have a watch. I walk alone for quite some time before Shade finally flaps back to me.
"Boss, we have a problem." is the first thing he says, worriedly.
"What's going on?"
"I tried checkin' ahead since I'm a bit faster'n you, but I started looping around - we've hit another mystery dungeon here.'"
I frowned. This doesn't jive with what I remember from the game maps - the dungeons were pretty far apart, not a couple days walk between. Of course, as I recall there was a small dungeon right next to the starting town in the first game… maybe the majority of dungeons can be dealt with by most Pokemon, and the scattered ones are just major dungeons? One way to find out.
"Shade, is this unusual?"
The bird shakes his head. "Sorry boss, I don't know this dungeon, but if there's a couple buildings up there, it's prob'ly not too big. Most Pokemon wouldn't want to live close to a dungeon they couldn't handle."
"Well, at least the decor makes sense," I temporize as I glance around. This is not ideal at all. It's one more oddity on top of everything else about my arrival that doesn't jive with the games. I'm supposed to show up and immediately get a companion, then we do a tiny dungeon and head for a nearby town… I facepalm as I realize my mistake..
Shade takes note of my sudden movement. "Somethin' wrong?"
"No just realized something I should have guessed. Think we can handle it?"
"Probably, yeah. Looks like a Grass-type dungeon, by my guess. Shouldn't be hard."
I nod, and we head deeper into the twisted space that pulled us off the road. I shake my head slightly as I contemplate my little revelation. Stupid assumption on my part - while the big events of the old games seem to have borne out, and humans in Pokemon bodies saved the world a couple times, the beginning of each game is structured as a tutorial. The companion, the three floor mini-dungeon, the town nearby - those are all likely conceits to the player, and don't accurately represent what happened here.
Hell, for all I know Blastoise arrived as a Squirtle, begged on the streets for a couple years, became an entertainer, and THEN met his companion, formed a rescue team and started on the world-saving. He... or she, even, could have a whole serious backstory that didn't get related in the games. I fiddle with my power scarf where the oran berry is tucked away - that's another thing I've been wrong about. I've been led astray more than once by assumptions. At this point, don't think I can count on anything but my knowledge of type interactions here.
The air ripples, and I can tell we're in the dungeon proper now. I look behind us and the path has vanished - the packed earth of the road has spread out, and the trees press into each other so close as to be a functional wall - not a perfect one, as I can spot shadows of movement beyond them, Pokemon wandering under the dungeon's sway.
Shade ruffles his feathers nervously. "If it's all the same to you, boss, I'm gonna stick close and let you take the lead, okay?"
I nod, then motion for him to follow.
I can 'feel' some of the Pokemon around, but unlike in the cave, everything feels fuzzy, and I don't get a clear sense of numbers or direction, only that we aren't alone. All we can do is venture forward. Unlike the previous dungeon, this one doesn't seem to feature particularly long and winding hallways, instead favoring medium sized clearings connected by S-shaped connecting corridors.
The first Pokemon we run into is a Bellsprout, which drops to a diving Peck from Shade before I can open my mouth. Flying is super-effective vs Grass, so at least that part seems to be holding up. I throw a brief thumbs up to Shade and we move on.
We clear the floor easily. I admit that Shade does most of the work, and his type advantage makes short work of the Grass types. We also see a couple Digletts and some rabbit looking Pokemon that take more than a hit to go down, and briefly surprise me by being immune to the terrifying effects of Astonish and Night Shade. Thankfully, the rabbits seem to have nothing but normal physical attacks, and I suffer no retaliation for leaving myself open. There's nothing the rabbits can do to affect me and the Digletts have problems affecting either of us between ground and normal attacks.
Shade gets cheerier and cheerier as we move through the floor and realizes that between the two of us, we're immune to several types of damage. The exit room has an apple and a small amount of Poke on the floor, which I scoop up and tuck away.
Next floor is 'down' though oddly, upon descending the stairs, we are again walking on dirt paths separated by densely packed tree trunks, with the sun above. Shade looks unphased, but it's still a moment of sharp confusion for me. I would have thought the next level down would be underground. I glance back up the staircase, and there's a moment of vertigo as my brain tries to process the portal-esque hole that the stairs cut before the stairway vanishes and I'm left on dirt again.
"Shade?" I query.
"What's up boss?"
"Are all dungeons like this?"
"Like…?"
"We went down. We should be underground. Instead the sun's still shining through the trees above us...."
Shade cocks his head. "Eh. I dunno? I've never been on a rescue team, and I mostly fly everywhere, and don't get caught in 'em."
I shake my head and continue on. That was about as clear as mud. I guess space is just really weird inside the dungeons. Without answers, there's nothing left but to push forward and fight our way through.
This floor isn't any harder. In fact, it's considerably easier than the fights I had in the lapis cave, though I'm sure that it's partly because Shade's here lending a… wing? Claw? The Pokemon feel weaker too. While we are double-teaming some enemy Pokemon, we're also occasionally forced to take on some alone, and my physical attacks are more than enough to put them down with ease.
In fact the floor is so easy, I start to worry. Shade picks up on it as he happily snaps up a bit of Poke from the floor and turns back to notice me scanning the area.
"What's wrong boss? You've been really cautious the last few rooms."
I shake my head. "It's nothing, Shade. It's just been so easy I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? "
"Shoe…?" Shade looks confused.
I guess I'm going to have to watch my idioms. "I'm just worried that things have been too easy, and something bad is about to happen." I clarify.
"Nah, this dungeon is easy." Shade chuffs, quite sure of himself. "It's all grass and ground Pokemon - easy pickings for me, and nothing dangerous for you. We'll get out of this easy enough, and a little bit richer for it!"
"I guess so, Shade. But I'm suspicious of anything being this easy. Even if the typing just happens to be good and the dungeon ends up being short, I feel like Murphy's Law is going to strike."
"Who's Murphy and why's his law matter?" Shade looks askance at me.
I grimace. Idioms again. I drop a bit of folk etymology on my partner as Shade spots the stairs in a tiny side chamber and we start heading over. "Just a human who knew that nothing's ever great forever, and if something could go wrong, it probably would sooner or later. He got proven right so much they called things tending to go wrong Murphy's law."
"Sounds like Rapidash leaves to me." snorts my companion. "If the going's good, it's good, if the going is bad, it's bad. Good things being a sign that everything is about to go bad is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
I sigh, but before I can attempt to explain justified caution, Shade's already moving past that into a new rant as we descend the stairs.
"And another thing, you're going to need to come up with more than just a couple goofy expressions if we're going to sell this human thing. I mean, what is a 'shu' anyway? Use words that make sense. I mean-"
I cut Shade off with a claw wrapping around his beak, and then draw his eye, pointing with my other hand.
A couple of grass types nearly three times our height were duking it out in a large chamber without an exit. I recognize Nuzleaf, with it's pointed nose and leaf headpiece. His opponent, a lizard-kangaroo hybrid with a mushroom on it's head, is irritatingly familiar but a name doesn't come to mind. I should know this one, but the name escapes me.
Nuzleaf was losing badly. It's movements were sluggish and the kangaroo thing was fast, and was landing some very hard punches and kicks.
"No! Don't lose bro!" came a shout from the far wall, where I spotted a pair of Seedots cowering in the corner.
"Damn! It's a Breloom," mutters Shade to my left, suddenly worried. His comment jogs my memory.
Shroomish evolution… and Grass/Fighting. It's Fighting moves that are just demolishing the Nuzleaf. The Nuzleaf drops to the ground in a pile of wood flakes where it's arms and torso have chipped away under the assault, clearly down. The Breloom turns away, toward the unevolved Pokemon.
Thankfully, I think I've got a rough plan. I nudge Shade, who looks nervous, and give him a quick set of instructions. "Gimme a little gust for theatrics sake, and I'll draw his attention. You nail him when he's focused on me."
He looks like he doesn't want to for a moment, but there's no time for arguing. I give him a verbal push.
"Yeah, he can hurt you, but you're gonna hurt him worse, and I'll tank it. Time to be heroes."
I drop the bag, freeing up my left hand, and step forward.
Adjust 3
Dakkaface
Extra Shooty Wordsmith
Adjust 3 - Timely intervention
The Breloom hasn't noticed me yet, continuing to slowly advance on the cowering Seedots. I cross my arms and pull at my power. Night Shade fountains up around me, my spectre pushing out, making me less a tiny goblin and more a vision of terror. I feel wind slip around me, tugging at my scarf as Shade fulfills my request. I have to trust that he'll loop around to get the drop on it after this.
I sweep the dark gaze of my attack across the faux-saurian's back, and I laugh. Not a normal chuckle, but a maniacal thing, pulled up through my belly that echoes menacingly around the room. I'm not sure if I have a diaphragm anymore, but I speak from my gut anyway.
The result is a voice that fills the clearing with echoes as I hold onto the vestiges of my ghostly power to lend it more reverb. I ham it up - if I'm the distraction, I might as well distract.
"So brave, villain. Is this your usual pastime? Scaring children and attacking your fellow Grass types?"
The Breloom turns, weaker opponents forgotten in the face of an actual attack. It's eyes are blank, unlike the terrified acorn Pokemon behind it, and I'm reassured that I'm not committing another mistake and jumping in on the wrong side.
This time, I push forward, and even though the light is wrong, my shadow pushes out and I slap him twice with my extended reach. "I am your opponent now, face me!"
The dead eyes and lack of expression don't give anything away, but the brown and green Pokemon lowers it's head and it charges at me. Clearly, I've managed to get it's attention.
I prepare another Night Shade at it as it closes, and I'm surprised as it abruptly accelerates toward me, a leafy fist extended in a charging punch. Reflexive ghostly phasing saves my bacon again, as the blow passes through my face harmlessly. I end up unleashing my attack at far closer range than I intended, my transparent image passing up and partly through it.
This close, I expected based on previous experience for my instincts to provide me with weak points to target, as it has done for most of the Pokemon I've run into thus far, but they fail me. It's not that Breloom has no weakpoints, it's that it has few, and it defends them well. It's eyes can be defended with a flick of the head and it's hard mushroom cap. It's arm structure is mostly pulled into it's body. Its legs have a thick fungal sheath, and the weak points on it are rear facing, exposing me to menace from it's clubbed tail.
It's also faster than me - in the moment I take to evaluate the fungus-saur, it drops it's head and charges right through me. I sidestep, letting it pass entirely through me before trying a claw strike at one of the leg joints as I step out behind and to the side of it. I tear into the leg sheath but do no serious damage, my claws coming away with stringy yellow fungal matter before I let it phase through me. It doesn't even turn it's yellow face to me as it suddenly vents a green cloud from it's head and back, and I'm forced to back away from what's no doubt some sort of spore attack.
It turns in the cloud and It's tail whips at me, giving me little time to react. I use my faux-Dig and drop down, below the earthen floor, giving me a moment of breathing room. Dammit, it's actually a good fighter - keeping up pressure, not letting me put any plan in, forcing me to react. Too bad for it, I can render myself un-hittable like this. Also too bad for me, I can't hit and run for this fight, I'm needed to tank and keep its attention. I focus my sense of where he is and at this distance he's clear - nothing is fuzzing out. I bound twice to get under him, and then leap out below his tail and strike at the rear of his joints with both claws. This time the fibrous flesh comes away with a puff of dust, leaving milky fluid running from the wound.
I have a brief moment of savage triumph and leap away before his tail can come down on my head. My dodge turns into a face-planting dive as my arms go dead and I plow into the ground, failing to catch myself. What? I stand, and my arms hang uselessly at my sides. From the elbow down, they're non-responsive.
Breloom turns, regarding me with dead eyes. I swear it's gloating, just staring at me and not bothering to press it's assault.
Of course even partly paralyzed, I have an ace up my metaphorical sleeve - one I'm reminded of as I spot movement behind it. I draw up my power again, voice distorting and my shade growing above me as I stand straight, arms limp at my sides. I speak again, meeting its dead gaze with my own pupil-less crystal one.
"Well, played. But with this stroke, you lose."
It cocks its head, then takes a step forward.
That's as far as it gets before a dark blur strikes it in the neck, and it recoils, whipping to it's left in an effort to find out who struck it. . A few black feathers floating to the ground are all that betray's Shade's presence as he wheels around to strike again, coming in from the opposite side this time. A second pass, and the Breloom drops to a knee, wildly whipping from side to side as Shade slides by him with a second wing strike, and then pulls up and over him.
I flick an Astonish into him, just a brief pulse of power to draw his attention at the right moment, and Shade strikes him a third time. The lizardlike pokemon goes down, and a dusty looking Shade alights next to me, looking woozy.
"I think I did pretty gooozzzz…." his sentence trails off as he falls over, asleep.
Well. Fuck.
I review the situation. Two cowering Seedots, The Breloom looks down, but so is the Nuzleaf and my only ally has spontaneously decided on napping. I phase briefly, removing the Breloom bits stuck to me, and it only takes a moment for feeling to begin creeping back into my limbs.
That's odd. I check my hands. The only difference is that they aren't covered in yellow brown goop and...dust… I glance back at Shade, and his wing edges are covered in dust. Oh, ho. Very sneaky Breloom. I regard it's fallen form with greater respect. That spore cloud hadn't just forced me to back off, it coated itself in it's own spores. Might have done it again while I was underground. Every time we struck it, we ran the risk of picking up some crippling side effects. I had probably best stop underestimating the dungeon Pokemon.
I nudged Shade with a foot. He kept sleeping. I guess it takes an actual attack to wake up… Dark types are strong against Ghost, right? I flick an Astonish at Shade, loathe to maybe get some spores on myself, and he jerked awake.
"What! What?" he squawked.
I jerked my head to the fallen Breloom, now just starting to fade. "You won, but he got you with some sleep powder at the last second. He put you to sleep, you put him down. Good job."
I don't think 'gobsmacked' is quite the level of shocked that Shade is, but he's definitely surprised. I push on. "I think next time we'll just both blitz attack whatever it is - better to have us swarm it, and I'm not too good at the tanking thing."
Shade looks pleased, but also a little confused. "Tanking, boss?"
Fucking idioms. I pause while I try to think of Pokemon equivalent. "Uh... playing the Steel type. Letting the enemy hit you with attacks that won't hurt much so you can hold their attention."
Shade looks contemplative. "Huh, yeah, maybe it would have been a bit quicker."
I look over at the The Seedots, who had overcome any fear of us and were now prodding at their fallen protector. Plaintive cries of "Big bro!" drifted from their little group.
I start heading over. Can't be a rescue team if our first unofficial rescue mission ends with failure. "Hey, Seedots!" I shout.
They cower a bit on our approach, but don't leave the Nuzleaf's side. "Big Bro's in bad shape." One squeaks out as we get to them. "Are you a rescue team?"
They aren't lying. The bigger Grass type looks like someone went after him with a hedge trimmer - his arms are mangled and missing chips and flakes of bark and heartwood, and his torso is cracked. He's still breathing, but the wood of his torso groans and rattles with every breath.
I hesitate a moment before replying truthfully. "Not officially, but we had just decided to make one earlier today when we stumbled onto this dungeon."
"Yeah, we don't have a badge or anything yet, but we're still gonna save you." Shade bobs his head at the two. "I dunno about him, though… he's pretty beat up and I haven't got a berry or anything."
"I think I've got one." I announce. "Shade, would you go grab the bag while I look for it?"
I dig about in my poncho, letting Shade wing back to the entrance of this room to grab our loot bag. After a moment, I pull out my remaining Oran berry. It's a good thing that I phase through physical attacks, or it might have been squished.
"Oh!" shouts the second Seedot. "Is that for big bro?"
I give an apologetic smile. "Yeah. I hope it's enough to fix him up."
I'm cautious about shoving a big chunk of food in a senseless person's mouth, but once we get him chewing he takes over, and his wounds vanish before our eyes, cracked wood reknitting and chipped arms sprouting fresh bark. His eyes flutter open, and the Seedots cheer. He jerks back for a moment before getting ahold of himself.
"Who are you?" is the first thing out of his mouth, and it's said thankfully, with no malice. Points toward him, but then if I recall right he's a Dark type too.
"I'm Jet, and this is my friend Shade," I indicate him as he returns with the bag. "We showed up just in time to see you go down, and fought the Breloom to rescue you and the twins there."
The Nuzleaf stands, and he towers over all of us. He's just as tall as the Breloom - how short am I? I think Sableye are around Pikachu sized? He looks bewildered, and his confused speech pulls me back to the matter at hand. "You knew we were here? How-"
I butt in before hew can get too far into his questions."We just happened upon the dungeon and came down to this level at just the right moment. We're not officially a rescue team yet."
"We'd like to be, though." adds Shade.
Nuzleaf shakes his head and looks at the Seedots. "Well… Thanks then. For saving me and the little ones. I'll introduce you to the Eldest. He'll... " He pauses, looking conflicted. "He'll probably want to ask you some things, but he'll be happy to help you."
Shade threw me a surreptitious wink and a smile, and I waved dismissively at Nuzleaf.
"Not a problem. We'll take any help we can get - is there anything else to be done or are we good to go?"
The Nuzleaf opened his mouth and was cut off again - this time by Shade's rumbling stomach, and all eyes turned to him.
"Hey," He blustered with some indignity, addressing me. "I can't eat rocks like you. I've only had a few berries since this morning."
A smile cracked his face for the first time, and Nuzleaf chuckled. "Okay, let's get out of here. We'll get you fed and then the Eldest will talk with you."
The Breloom hasn't noticed me yet, continuing to slowly advance on the cowering Seedots. I cross my arms and pull at my power. Night Shade fountains up around me, my spectre pushing out, making me less a tiny goblin and more a vision of terror. I feel wind slip around me, tugging at my scarf as Shade fulfills my request. I have to trust that he'll loop around to get the drop on it after this.
I sweep the dark gaze of my attack across the faux-saurian's back, and I laugh. Not a normal chuckle, but a maniacal thing, pulled up through my belly that echoes menacingly around the room. I'm not sure if I have a diaphragm anymore, but I speak from my gut anyway.
The result is a voice that fills the clearing with echoes as I hold onto the vestiges of my ghostly power to lend it more reverb. I ham it up - if I'm the distraction, I might as well distract.
"So brave, villain. Is this your usual pastime? Scaring children and attacking your fellow Grass types?"
The Breloom turns, weaker opponents forgotten in the face of an actual attack. It's eyes are blank, unlike the terrified acorn Pokemon behind it, and I'm reassured that I'm not committing another mistake and jumping in on the wrong side.
This time, I push forward, and even though the light is wrong, my shadow pushes out and I slap him twice with my extended reach. "I am your opponent now, face me!"
The dead eyes and lack of expression don't give anything away, but the brown and green Pokemon lowers it's head and it charges at me. Clearly, I've managed to get it's attention.
I prepare another Night Shade at it as it closes, and I'm surprised as it abruptly accelerates toward me, a leafy fist extended in a charging punch. Reflexive ghostly phasing saves my bacon again, as the blow passes through my face harmlessly. I end up unleashing my attack at far closer range than I intended, my transparent image passing up and partly through it.
This close, I expected based on previous experience for my instincts to provide me with weak points to target, as it has done for most of the Pokemon I've run into thus far, but they fail me. It's not that Breloom has no weakpoints, it's that it has few, and it defends them well. It's eyes can be defended with a flick of the head and it's hard mushroom cap. It's arm structure is mostly pulled into it's body. Its legs have a thick fungal sheath, and the weak points on it are rear facing, exposing me to menace from it's clubbed tail.
It's also faster than me - in the moment I take to evaluate the fungus-saur, it drops it's head and charges right through me. I sidestep, letting it pass entirely through me before trying a claw strike at one of the leg joints as I step out behind and to the side of it. I tear into the leg sheath but do no serious damage, my claws coming away with stringy yellow fungal matter before I let it phase through me. It doesn't even turn it's yellow face to me as it suddenly vents a green cloud from it's head and back, and I'm forced to back away from what's no doubt some sort of spore attack.
It turns in the cloud and It's tail whips at me, giving me little time to react. I use my faux-Dig and drop down, below the earthen floor, giving me a moment of breathing room. Dammit, it's actually a good fighter - keeping up pressure, not letting me put any plan in, forcing me to react. Too bad for it, I can render myself un-hittable like this. Also too bad for me, I can't hit and run for this fight, I'm needed to tank and keep its attention. I focus my sense of where he is and at this distance he's clear - nothing is fuzzing out. I bound twice to get under him, and then leap out below his tail and strike at the rear of his joints with both claws. This time the fibrous flesh comes away with a puff of dust, leaving milky fluid running from the wound.
I have a brief moment of savage triumph and leap away before his tail can come down on my head. My dodge turns into a face-planting dive as my arms go dead and I plow into the ground, failing to catch myself. What? I stand, and my arms hang uselessly at my sides. From the elbow down, they're non-responsive.
Breloom turns, regarding me with dead eyes. I swear it's gloating, just staring at me and not bothering to press it's assault.
Of course even partly paralyzed, I have an ace up my metaphorical sleeve - one I'm reminded of as I spot movement behind it. I draw up my power again, voice distorting and my shade growing above me as I stand straight, arms limp at my sides. I speak again, meeting its dead gaze with my own pupil-less crystal one.
"Well, played. But with this stroke, you lose."
It cocks its head, then takes a step forward.
That's as far as it gets before a dark blur strikes it in the neck, and it recoils, whipping to it's left in an effort to find out who struck it. . A few black feathers floating to the ground are all that betray's Shade's presence as he wheels around to strike again, coming in from the opposite side this time. A second pass, and the Breloom drops to a knee, wildly whipping from side to side as Shade slides by him with a second wing strike, and then pulls up and over him.
I flick an Astonish into him, just a brief pulse of power to draw his attention at the right moment, and Shade strikes him a third time. The lizardlike pokemon goes down, and a dusty looking Shade alights next to me, looking woozy.
"I think I did pretty gooozzzz…." his sentence trails off as he falls over, asleep.
Well. Fuck.
I review the situation. Two cowering Seedots, The Breloom looks down, but so is the Nuzleaf and my only ally has spontaneously decided on napping. I phase briefly, removing the Breloom bits stuck to me, and it only takes a moment for feeling to begin creeping back into my limbs.
That's odd. I check my hands. The only difference is that they aren't covered in yellow brown goop and...dust… I glance back at Shade, and his wing edges are covered in dust. Oh, ho. Very sneaky Breloom. I regard it's fallen form with greater respect. That spore cloud hadn't just forced me to back off, it coated itself in it's own spores. Might have done it again while I was underground. Every time we struck it, we ran the risk of picking up some crippling side effects. I had probably best stop underestimating the dungeon Pokemon.
I nudged Shade with a foot. He kept sleeping. I guess it takes an actual attack to wake up… Dark types are strong against Ghost, right? I flick an Astonish at Shade, loathe to maybe get some spores on myself, and he jerked awake.
"What! What?" he squawked.
I jerked my head to the fallen Breloom, now just starting to fade. "You won, but he got you with some sleep powder at the last second. He put you to sleep, you put him down. Good job."
I don't think 'gobsmacked' is quite the level of shocked that Shade is, but he's definitely surprised. I push on. "I think next time we'll just both blitz attack whatever it is - better to have us swarm it, and I'm not too good at the tanking thing."
Shade looks pleased, but also a little confused. "Tanking, boss?"
Fucking idioms. I pause while I try to think of Pokemon equivalent. "Uh... playing the Steel type. Letting the enemy hit you with attacks that won't hurt much so you can hold their attention."
Shade looks contemplative. "Huh, yeah, maybe it would have been a bit quicker."
I look over at the The Seedots, who had overcome any fear of us and were now prodding at their fallen protector. Plaintive cries of "Big bro!" drifted from their little group.
I start heading over. Can't be a rescue team if our first unofficial rescue mission ends with failure. "Hey, Seedots!" I shout.
They cower a bit on our approach, but don't leave the Nuzleaf's side. "Big Bro's in bad shape." One squeaks out as we get to them. "Are you a rescue team?"
They aren't lying. The bigger Grass type looks like someone went after him with a hedge trimmer - his arms are mangled and missing chips and flakes of bark and heartwood, and his torso is cracked. He's still breathing, but the wood of his torso groans and rattles with every breath.
I hesitate a moment before replying truthfully. "Not officially, but we had just decided to make one earlier today when we stumbled onto this dungeon."
"Yeah, we don't have a badge or anything yet, but we're still gonna save you." Shade bobs his head at the two. "I dunno about him, though… he's pretty beat up and I haven't got a berry or anything."
"I think I've got one." I announce. "Shade, would you go grab the bag while I look for it?"
I dig about in my poncho, letting Shade wing back to the entrance of this room to grab our loot bag. After a moment, I pull out my remaining Oran berry. It's a good thing that I phase through physical attacks, or it might have been squished.
"Oh!" shouts the second Seedot. "Is that for big bro?"
I give an apologetic smile. "Yeah. I hope it's enough to fix him up."
I'm cautious about shoving a big chunk of food in a senseless person's mouth, but once we get him chewing he takes over, and his wounds vanish before our eyes, cracked wood reknitting and chipped arms sprouting fresh bark. His eyes flutter open, and the Seedots cheer. He jerks back for a moment before getting ahold of himself.
"Who are you?" is the first thing out of his mouth, and it's said thankfully, with no malice. Points toward him, but then if I recall right he's a Dark type too.
"I'm Jet, and this is my friend Shade," I indicate him as he returns with the bag. "We showed up just in time to see you go down, and fought the Breloom to rescue you and the twins there."
The Nuzleaf stands, and he towers over all of us. He's just as tall as the Breloom - how short am I? I think Sableye are around Pikachu sized? He looks bewildered, and his confused speech pulls me back to the matter at hand. "You knew we were here? How-"
I butt in before hew can get too far into his questions."We just happened upon the dungeon and came down to this level at just the right moment. We're not officially a rescue team yet."
"We'd like to be, though." adds Shade.
Nuzleaf shakes his head and looks at the Seedots. "Well… Thanks then. For saving me and the little ones. I'll introduce you to the Eldest. He'll... " He pauses, looking conflicted. "He'll probably want to ask you some things, but he'll be happy to help you."
Shade threw me a surreptitious wink and a smile, and I waved dismissively at Nuzleaf.
"Not a problem. We'll take any help we can get - is there anything else to be done or are we good to go?"
The Nuzleaf opened his mouth and was cut off again - this time by Shade's rumbling stomach, and all eyes turned to him.
"Hey," He blustered with some indignity, addressing me. "I can't eat rocks like you. I've only had a few berries since this morning."
A smile cracked his face for the first time, and Nuzleaf chuckled. "Okay, let's get out of here. We'll get you fed and then the Eldest will talk with you."
krazy! Spoiler that, please! It is making my computer run slow!
I always found it odd how the magnemite line were very vulnerable to ground type moves despite the fact that they float above the surface and yet Doduo (the wingless, two-headed ostrich) is immune to ground moves.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Game logic! I'd personally have Earthquake and the like work regardless of Type if you're standing on the ground, and not work if not, respectively.