It had been already a couple of weeks since they had left the Street Fighters' World and fallen quickly into a new routine. Or at least most did, Orange occupied her time guiding the ship, probing Worlds they came across and keeping the place clean and running.
They had come across a few small Worlds, but they had nothing of interest. Probing had shown they had no complex life going on, or were just uninhabited. They may have had the answer to all answers ever, but the chances of that happening were so small that entering the Worlds was just losing time.
Ruby ended up complementing Orange's roles in the ship. Her Magends had found various spots in the ship's roles, a couple of them usually hung in the kitchen, ready to take any order while experimenting in her free time. A few, because it was an always changing number, practically inhabited the Greenhouse, while the System had the place controlled, she enjoyed the open-air nature of the room. Finally one had also claimed the medical bay and was reading all she could find about medicine and the biology of other species. Not that any of them truly hurt themselves in any permanent fashion, practically everyone of them had some kind of regeneration.
This had come actually by the fact that not all her Magends were
human. It had started as half a hunch and half a curiosity, but Ruby had accidentally created a Wererat Magend when trying to stealth. Apparently there were a lot of races originating from their World. She had documented various elves, amazons, halflings, giants, dryads and others. They had honestly ran out of ideas to try before they ran out of races. Some races came more often when related to some goals, but Ruby's opinion had priority.
Having so many Magends hanging around had actually done wonders for her mood. Magnus couldn't deny the woman simply glowed with happiness; sometimes quite literally.
Team Maus, named by Moisha with Romeo's support and Lydia's scorn, had also been keeping up with the training he had set for them. Between spars with him and Ruby, training with the Hero-bands and their new weapons, the three of them were growing by leaps and bounds.
Magnus had to admit that Zero wasn't actually
that bad of a teacher. It was just that he found his training style to be stifling and restraining. In contrast, Magnus preferred to foster his student's strong points and help them shore up their weak points in addition to improving their team cooperation. The System's corrections did help a lot in this as the three always got a bit better each time they did well.
Of course it wasn't all training, he knew not everyone could follow a schedule like his own. So he pushed for them to find hobbies, and while they were technically restrained to the inside of the ship, there were plenty of things to do. The gaming room had gained a number of old-style pinball machines and similar arcade games.
Magnus wasn't holding back either, he worked to not only improve the armbands and produce Team Maus' weapons. But also a plethora of little tools and extras for the armbands and improving his own Forge Ants units, even if they weren't getting as much attention as before.
And since he had finished the weapons, it was time to present them to their users.
He entered the training room, the expanded space was filled with obstacles, targets and holographic drones as the three wererats were bouncing around, deep in their training. He patiently watched them for a bit as the timer for their current training finally ran out and everything came to a halt.
The three of them were left panting, a quick check showed they had been training for six hours, it was not a surprise they were exhausted after all that.
"Very impressive." He called out.
Lydia snorted. "We've been training five days a week, it would be weird if we're not impressive." She boasted, standing proud.
Moisha meanwhile hopped forward, actually looking unbothered by her exhaustion. "Oh! Are they done?" She guessed correctly.
"Already?" Romeo sounded impressed. "I thought these kinds of weapons took longer to make."
He rolled his eyes. "I thought that you understood that I don't follow the norm when it comes to crafting." He says lightheartedly. "Honestly, I had to take my time too."
"Show us!" Moisha said eagerly.
"Maybe you would prefer to take a shower first?" He joked, but knew the three of them didn't care much for that at the moment. "Okay, okay, no need to glare at me."
The room summoned a table for him to place the three boxes.
Lydia was the first to approach her own. The box was a particularly long rectangle, inside rested a Long Sword. The design was pretty simple, the few decorations it had rested on the hilt, an opal in the pommel to provide some fire-resistance and the refined Gleeok's eye at the center of the guard, which was shaped like a side-ways hourglass. The blade itself was a dull orange, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't stay that way once she claimed it properly.
For Moisha he had ended up crafting a Scimitar. Similarly low-key in decoration, the refined Gleeok's eye had been encrusted in the broader area of the blade. Thankfully magic laughed at things like physics and putting such jewel-like objects there didn't impact the weapon in any disadvantageous way. Said blade was a dull yellow, almost mustard.
Finally Romeo's was a Broadsword, not as long as Lydia's own, but definitely wider and heavier. The Gleeok's eye had been placed in the blade's fuller just a bit above the hilt. The blade itself was a metallic gray that was almost blue.
"Now, they are very pretty
and strong weapons. Not only as weapons, but they also hold something that could be called a Will. You should be able to take and use them, but their true power won't be accessible until you either tame or prove yourself to the weapon." He explained as each took the weapon, their blades gaining a bit of color as the eyes gave the impression of focusing on their wielders. "I recommend you get used to them and take some time to meditate with them. I recommend you take turns and the other two support the one connecting with their weapons. Finally, you will have to name them."
The three weapons seemed to focus on him before rattling, the reaction made him chuckle.
"You say it like it's hard." Lydia snorted.
"It can be, but sometimes the name comes to you and it's perfect." He admitted.
"Ha! I will show you, it shall be… ehm…" The brunette instantly frowned. "It's like it's fighting my ideas for a name."
He nodded. "They have Wills, that means they will have a preference. So unless you wow them with a good name, it'll be something you work something out together." He noted.
The team nodded understandingly.
After that, it would be nine more days before they found an interesting World to visit.
"Okay sis, you've been keeping it under wraps for long enough, spill it." Magnus looked at his sister.
She gave him a grin, one that spoke of her getting something out of this.
"I think it's time to speak about another curious thing about Worlds." She adopted a teaching tone. "While the Outside is quite
hostile to people and objects, it doesn't mean that there are no things that can travel through. One of those is knowledge. Sometimes memories, experiences, even minds may travel through the Outside, the latter is the rarest. But the first two may lead to certain things being known as fiction in a World when it actually happened in another."
"Wait, you mean something like Transformers actually happened in another World?" Moisha prompted out loud, getting a curious look by her teammates.
The question caused Orange and Magnus to chuckle.
"Oh, it's not just possible, we know of a World like that already. Our parents and a few of our oldest siblings fought along Optimus Prime against Unicron." Orange answered. "We can show you the pictures later if you want." She smiled knowingly and resumed the subject. "Though I will note that this is
a World that does it, there's nothing that says that there are no
other Worlds out there that do the same, other Transformer Worlds, or even multiple versions of your own may exist. The Outside is truly infinite, though I wouldn't recommend hunting for such Worlds, you will most likely get lost or worse if you try."
"Why does that information give me a headache?" Lydia complained.
"Because it's along the lines of stuff mortals were not meant to know." Orange answered. "Anyways, going a long way around back to the original subject, the World we just found appears to be a Pokemon World, Pokemon are the general group that covers Magnus' furry form. And it's the closest thing you will find to a utopia in most Worlds."
"Really? A World based on a children's game?" Moisha asked.
"It's more of the other way around, those games were based on a version of this World." Orange corrected. "And yes, most versions of this World tend to be very safe, even with creatures capable of blowing off mountains and rewriting reality, they are
very stable. You may get an asshole from time to time, but the World has its many champions more than ready to stand up against them. They tend to be Worlds where the power of friendship will beat the odds most of the time."
Magnus nodded. "It's also a World with a lot of interesting technology." He mused.
"That's right, that's why I found an entrance straight to the region of Alola."
Lydia frowned. "I don't think I've heard of that region." Romeo and Moisha shook their heads.
"From what I remember checking, your World's a few years away from releasing that game, so congrats, you get to visit before anyone can play it." Orange claimed and summoned a series of images. "Alola's a group of islands, very tropical, lots of beaches and strangely varied biomes for being so close to each other."
Four islands appeared on
screen, each with a name under it: Melemele, Akala, Ula'ula, Poni.
"The idea is stepping out on Melemele, being the most touristic island around. But nothing says we can't visit the others, as long as nothing truly bad happens, I think we can take a pretty nice and long beach vacation." She turned to him. "Now, I'll be parking the ship in orbit, so I will need you to go talk with the large noodle in the sky to prevent them from attacking us."
Ruby blinked curiously. "Large noodle?"
Magnus sighed, but played along with his sister. "You will see." He told them.
"Anyways, I will create trainer licenses for all of you, just keep in mind that we are trying to not bring Pokemon with us on the way out. So try to not capture any. Also, remember that the System's Understanding Enchantment should work on most Pokemon, so you'll be able to communicate with most of them." Orange explained. "Also, try harder this time to not turn into your Were or full animal forms, people
will try to capture you and I honestly can't tell if pokeballs would actually work on you."
Team Maus' faces went through an interesting set of reactions that made the Metaloid chuckle.
"Now, I'll try to get you some money. But most of these Worlds can be a bit too clean to easily get the money. So I'll recommend selling a few products produced by the ship. Gold nuggets, diamond sand and a few other gemstones. Once that's done it'll be easier to make more money." She explained. "I think that's all." She looked towards Magnus.
"I don't think so, just the usual. Don't start trouble, remember you can call for help or information, have fun, it's practically a beach vacation." He noted and turned to Orange. "I think we can go in, I will head outside once the ship's through."
The ship entered the world. Once more the screens in the bridge appeared to show a starry void, a large moon on one side and an Earth-like planet on the other.
"So what was that about the sky noodle?" Romeo asked.
"Oh, that's simple, just watch." Orange pointed at the screen.
Right on the nose of the bridge stood Magnus, no sign of needing any kind of suit to survive the void of space; albeit his figure appeared to be wavering slowly as the Darkness of space reacted to his presence.
"I'm not seeing much." Lydia pointed out as she raised an eyebrow.
And suddenly he wasn't alone, the camera only managed to catch a quick sight of something incredibly large and immensely long zip past the camera. It appeared as barely a green blur at first. But it didn't stop there, it crossed the screen a few more times, coiling on itself until a massive Eastern-style dragon was visible on camera. So huge, that its body just kept on moving even as its head floated in place a dozen meters away from Magnus.
"What the…" Moisha squeaked. "How can it be so big?!"
Orange chuckled. "First time seeing a Legendary?" She teased. "Rayquaza, the Sky High Pokemon. As you can imagine, a pokemon in charge of the skies and keeping meteorites from impacting the planet must be large enough to carry out their job."
It was a huge beast, basically a god in its size and power. Nearly a hundred meters long with a head a tenth of that. It just floated in the void of space, completely unbothered by it. Meanwhile Magnus shifted into a Zoroark and started to speak with them.
"What's he doing?" Ruby asked, a bit worried.
"Basically presenting us, asking for permission and asking if he can help with anything." Orange answered. "Basic protocol for these kinds of situations. Don't worry, I doubt anything will go wrong."
And she was right, a moment later Rayquaza nodded their massive head and slithered away to do something else. Magnus stepped back into the ship.
"All done, we're free to stay. But they may prod you for help, if something truly comes up, Orange." He said. "Also they suggested we can harvest a few of the stones floating around, it would make their work easier and we can keep anything we find in them. Just make sure there's no Deoxys inside."
She nodded. "Sounds smart, I just finished your local identities, so you can go ahead and step through."
"Okay then, follow me." Magnus stepped through the portal that opened, followed by the three wererats and finally Ruby, who exchanged a look with Orange who just gave the woman a thumbs up. It wouldn't be like she wouldn't also be staying on the ship in a way.
Ruby stepped onto the beaten path, taking a deep breath and surprising herself at how sweet the air smelled. There was a hint of the ocean in the distance, but the sheer presence of the jungle just a few meters away overpowered it. There wasn't a hint of pollution in the air, it
felt cleaner and healthier.
"Uh, I expected to see some Pokemons already." Lydia mused.
"With me around?" Magnus joked and retrieved a bracelet. "I made this for a reason." He slid it on and instantly there was noise in the area.
Ruby blinked surprised, having not noticed the silence outside of the wind.
"I still expect at least one Legendary to come and look around, my presence won't go unnoticed. But hopefully this will keep people from overreacting." He laughed.
Ruby giggled, as did a few of the other hers in her head. One of the Magends on the ship was talking with Orange and watching the Metaloid's extra bodies walking on the moon to collect pretty stones.
"Anyways, we should start walking, Orange will need that money if we want to do anything with capital." He stated, and they started moving towards what the Metaloid had marked as Hau'oli city.
Ruby followed, just enjoying the view. It was obvious that the people of the island loved the place. The path was made of compacted dirt, but it was also obvious people had seen to remove all rocks before the constant use had turned it into a proper road. People and Pokemon certainly used it daily.
It was a few minutes before they saw their first one, they hadn't reached the city yet when a small, little rat passed by. It surprised her when the System quickly marked it as Rattata and even mentioned the dark-color was because of a local variant.
The small animal turned and froze when it saw the three wererats, definitely feeling some kind of likeness between them. But before anyone could say anything it scampered off.
"That's… totally going to come back later, no?" Romeo asked, knowingly.
"Ah, you're learning." Magnus said humorously. "But yes, most likely by the afternoon every rodent in the island will know about you three and be very curious."
Ruby giggled as the three of them looked troubled by it.
"Don't worry, just take it as a learning opportunity and leave it clear if you don't want to fight." He explained. "The System's translation should work well enough with most Pokemon since they are usually as intelligent as any other person."
She nodded, she had heard the whispers coming from the bushes. Though they hadn't been completely understandable unless she focused, from what she had studied in her own time, it was due to a lot of the communication in such species going through body language.
Shortly after the little encounter they reached the city, it was very well developed, the dirt road gave way to paved ground and the five of them moved onto the sidewalk as there was actually some traffic going around.
"Okay, first step, finding a place to sell the large golden nuggets and the diamond dust. If questions come up, our story is that we acquired them by exchanging some food and snacks with some Pokemon we met on the way here, evading answering more. But if truly pushed just admit that it was an abandoned shipwreck on a sandbank and we only stopped out of curiosity, and you don't want anyone else bothering the spot. That should be enough, it's okay if it doesn't truly exist, there's plenty of mysteries on the sea and a lucky find of a sandbank may not be the strangest." Magnus explained.
In her opinion it was overthinking it. But there was some sense of at least sharing the same story once they were asked. She followed them, but mainly looked around. It wasn't like they stood around much, there were plenty of people dressed much more extravagantly. There were also Pokemon hanging around and going through their day almost anywhere she looked.
A few birds pecking the ground over there, a few bugs scooting through some decorative bushes, a couple of bunnies putting on a little show for the people who stopped to watch, a few more rats peering at Team Maus. She giggled at the last one as they reached a shop and she simply stood back.
Magnus haggled a bit, but soon he had sold everything they had prepared and divided the money between them all before leaving the shop.
"Remember, have fun, don't start problems." He waved to the three of them before turning to her. "How about we wander around a bit? Or would you like to head over to the beach?"
"We could wander through the beach, it's a lovely day." She offered and he nodded.
They stopped on their way to the beach to change clothes into a much more fitting attire. Orange had given her a hand in deciding for a bikini and a light sarong, she did her hair in a ponytail and came out of the changing room.
She blushed when Magnus gave her a very appreciative look, not like she didn't do the same to him. He just wore a pair of dark-purple swimsuit trunks, his hair still done in the usual braid that practically mystified her.
"I hope you don't cause any accidents." He teased her and her blush returned with force.
She huffed. "This is just more comfortable." She leaned to hug his arm against her body as they approached the beach.
It was impossible for them not to get some looks, Ruby had accepted long ago that this was always going to happen and gave it little to no thought. Instead simply enjoying the sensation of sand between her toes, the warm sun coming down and the sound of the ocean and the people.
"…it's so different from the last two Worlds." She mused.
"It's usually like that." He agreed. "Not all Worlds follow the same…" He bit his lip and mulled on a word. "...rules. It's hard to explain, much easier to experience like you're doing. It's not just the magic in the air, but there's other things. In some Worlds basic things just go differently, in Worlds like this you may use your Willpower to hit harder, while in others that is impossible."
"I see why you say it's hard to explain."
"Oh, it's not hard, I'm just being lazy." He admitted and made her laugh. "It's just that a lot of the terms and concepts aren't normal so it's a pretty long lecture to set up the basics." He explained calmly before sitting down and inviting her.
She happily leaned on him and watched the ocean. It wasn't all she was doing, she was also watching Orange hack some criminal organizations' bank accounts to fatten their own. Also she was watching over a few of the plants one of the Metaloid's extra bodies had collected from the world. She was also wandering through the city and watching the sights.
Though her attention was also caught as a small group of Mantykes surfed a large wave, all of them following a Mantine. The small manta rays playing around were completely adorable, especially as they weren't as experienced as the older specimen and failed to get off the wave before it crashed down, sending them tumbling.
If she concentrated she could hear giggles and other sounds of happiness mixed with the chittering as the Mantine, who appeared to be their mother, scolded them for allowing it to happen.
They weren't the only Pokemon around. A few Seels were sunbathing down the beach, Wingulls floated on the rising air currents, there was even a dark-colored Meowth sweeping at the water trying to catch one of the many fishes swimming by.
A sound made her turn, finding a Rockruff running towards her as a young boy who appeared to be its trainer ran after him.
"Rocky, stop already." The kid called out, but the puppy reached her before and started to sniff at her.
"
Nurse Joy?" The puppy Pokemon barked curiously.
"Sorry, little one, I think you've confused me with someone else." She reached to pet the friendly creature.
"I'm so sorry." The kid apologized as he finally reached them, leaning onto his knees as he panted to recover.
"It's okay, nothing happened." She told him with full honesty as Magnus sat up. "I think this little one just confused me for someone else."
The boy bowed in apology and picked the Pokemon. "Come on, Rockruff, we have to train if we want to do the Island trial." He quickly wished them well before running off.
"Who's Nurse Joy?" She asked Magnus.
"I don't know the specifics, but it's a sort of title slash family slash job, they are Pokemon nurses. There's basically one in every center, and there's one center in basically any large enough city or town. They are pretty recognizable by their pink hair and similar uniform." He looked at her and grinned. "And before you ask, no, I can't say if they are your local alternate. Though it would be a funny thing." He joked and dragged her back down on the sand.
She shook her head and giggled as he continued. "I'm sure we'll cross paths at least once with one of them in the time we're here." She nodded to his words and relaxed.
There was something in this World that just made her happy, and it wasn't just her current company.
eath Iron and Dark Copper, Life Gold and Soul Silver. Metals created by the esteemed dhampir Vandalieu using his Death magic and raw metals, changing the metals into more powerful forms on par with adamantite and Mythril, or into rare and unique metals capable of influencing the soul and body themselves. While this option does not give you said metal, what you are instead given is a guide on how to imbue Attribute mana into metals to create entirely new forms. These new metals will each be unique in some way, such as being liquid until heated a great deal, and will in turn each possess powerful and useful abilities related to their element. A liquid metal that heals those who eat it and metal that somehow affects the soul itself, this and other effects unknown and untold are yours for the discovering. Just note, however, that a great deal of mana will be required, and perhaps a method to speed it all along.
