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 Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 9:24 pm
Brixie looked at Eri intently, her head still spinning. It was really, really jumbled. Didn't I have a show tonight? No wait, I'm not in Flower City anymore, that was a long time ago. Suddenly, with no visual cue, Eri declared she was dizzy and looked unsteady before falling, her head tumbling over like one of those girls that had too many white wine Spritzees. Brixie, or was that Monique, knew the type and how to care for them, but she wasn't able to catch Eri before she hit the ground, able at bare minimum to prevent a concession.
Sub spoke up and looked at Brixie, causing her to tilt her head. He looked familiar, but with all her mental information shoved in bizarre compartments, she couldn't recall who this was. Mentally, she was going to the fork drawer in the kitchen and finding wood screws. And why was he calling her Monique? That was one of the other girls... "Can you take her to the nurse's office? Find a bed to lay her in and why don't you chill out there too? It looks like you need to take a rest yourself."
The idea resonated with Brixie's training, but the hybrid had to figure out how to carry the girl. She was thin and not too heavy but definitely tall, a couple heads taller than herself. Between her altered mental state and Eri's size, it was a couple of moments before the fainted Eri was secure in the dancer's arms. She walked unsteadily back toward the academy and, not wanting to carry this dead weight up the stairs, found a couch in the lobby-library, laying Eri's limp and tired head on her chest.
For a time, all felt okay. It was quiet here, even if "here" was weird. Brixie could rest, and nothing beat being snuggled with a girl, especially one so tall. It took her back to the days when someone would be so drunk and so out of it and they'd have to stay behind when Sub Rosa closed. The memories really belonged to Monique, of course, but they'd been shoved into other drawers by the Fairy allergy. She slept sitting back for a short while until Eri started to stir.
"...Ugh..." The toll of the Fairy fungal infection and Reno's deep mind read had sapped her of energy.
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Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 10:21 pm
Leslie would find herself being held upside down by Absinthe's Machamp, shaking off the dust and crumbled drywall from herself as she could finally hear Sub asking for her help. "Sure thing, Sub. I'll break it up and these two can haul it off. At least once that ape tells her nice Machamp to put me down." She said, shooting a quick glare over to Absinthe.
----
"Alright, so 'he' is separate from the Dark One. That's....certainly something." Reno said, about to attempt to asking more questions to figure out who exactly that he was when Eri's response to his statement came ringing through his little mental inspection. He felt like him? Like her mysterious infector or like....the other guy. He needed to know, had to have an answer to this one before things went even further off the rails today. So he plumbed deeper, finding himself awash in an excessively heightened sea of insecurities and fears. And while some of it seemed correct, the level of fear and anxiety for almost everything here was just completely out to lunch, this was the type of level you'd expect from a rampant paranoiac instead of a hormonal teenage girl.
And the biggest fear was of Snagem, a group that hadn't been in the region and whose one major news story here had been accidentally fighting a resident of renown. And even had an intense anger towards Snagem. This.....this was from that other voice he had found. He could practically hear him, the few coherent thoughts of anger towards Snagem having almost none of the verbiage that the other insecurities had been punctuated by and instead that pompous grandiosity he had been forced to listen to from his monologue. But there was no psychic trace here, nothing to indicate that her mind had been tampered with telepathically.
Looking down towards the Small Mushroom that was still in his hand, an idea struck him. What if it was a physical link instead of a psionic one that allowed him access? He had been still able to respond to Reno's telepathy, so he had some psychic powers but what if that was secondary? Instead, they were dealing with a Bug channeler of some variety. Then the mushrooms would be explained as something from channeling with a Parasect, a way to slave all of Team Star towards his desired outcome. But a physical link like this would've required physically seeing this man in some capacity. So he began to try and draw out any memories he could find from her of someone that typically had Bug Pokemon.
What he found instead was....himself? I mean, it was approximately two limbs and a good amount of years ago but he could still recognize his shock of red hair. And after his heart to heart with Sub, he could definitely recognize the Abra alongside him in the collapsed temple grounds of Snowpoint. Why was that here? How could this mysterious man have somehow seen all of that? And why was this memory hiding itself away in the depths of this girl's mind. Was it a response to their contact or maybe it was something else?
But there was no time to focus and see if he could find the root to this little mystery right now.
After all, he felt the presence of armageddon once again reasserting itself into reality.
The thoughts of how best to escape and potentially plot out a more formal attack were frantic, half-baked, and kept running into the problem of how to do any large-scale organizing without enough psionic power to alert it to something going down. But that train of thought quickly ran off the tracks as he heard Sub calling out for where Aile and Aden had gone and he visibly paled. He had been feeling a growing fear and anxiety in himself after he had felt the Ziton but had been chalking it up to unconscious response. But with the mention of Aden, Reno identified the source as not himself. No, he was somehow picking up on Aden's fear from across the region.
And like that, it became a few simple actions he had to take before the finale. Shooting a glance over to Tsuki, Reno quickly told the boy, "Tell her to get Eri and any of the other Team Star members around on something for fungus. I think they've all been infected and its messing with their minds."
Satisfied that he had done his due diligence for caring for his opponents, Reno's gaze would quickly flip to his first choice in companion for ripping a teleport across a nation to fight the unfathomable. He had just managed to catch snippets of Aile's call as he was running through the things he needed to do and mentally checked off informing the others about what had arrived. Unfortunately, he could see the effect the call had had on Crystal. There was no way in good conscious he could force her to fight that thing again.
Taking a breath, he would connect with her mind as he sprinted towards his second and third choices for backup in this fight. 'I know you want to keep existing. And you don't need to force yourself on this. But I need to. Because Aden needs to keep existing, a hell of a lot more than me.'
Reaching to where his chosen second and third was, he would clamp his right hand onto Sub's shoulder and his left on Sol's. "You! Going! Now!" Reno bellowed, erupting into a pink glow before his Pokemon, Sol, Sub, and himself were ripped across reality to where he could feel the Ziton and Aden were.
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Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 11:02 pm
What Sol would receive wasn't from GRAY, but instead Aile screaming into any and every SNAG that could receive her call. At once, he looked from his SNAG to the Fairy Ring again, then to Sub... and finally, to Crystal. The way she was acting all of a sudden, he had a sinking feeling he knew what Aile was talking about if it was going after Aden specifically. "...the Ziton." The dread in his tone spoke volumes, of a fear he spent too long (and many, many sleepless nights) being very familiar with. A fear that he naively thought would dissipate with Ein being dealt with.
Though he was trying to keep calm, it'd be readily apparent he was anything but. "GRAY, I need a read on their location. I'll get Xatu to take us there as soon as we- can?" He'd have a brief moment to look at the metallic hand on his shoulder and hear Reno's response before suddenly being teleported away, with no chance to brace himself for what was to come.
---
Cera would jump when her SNAG suddenly had Aile shouting through it, eyes growing wide as she suddenly grabbed it and started talking into it, forgetting that maybe the SNAG should be ready to translate the varied tones of 'Mew'. "Aile!? Where are you two!? What's chasing- oh..." She'd find herself staring out the window again, focusing more and mentally recoiling with how much the other presence she felt masked anything else. A yelp escaped her as she practically shook in place, looking to Atticus again. Team Star was attacking, but why? And were they in danger now? She was torn between trying to fly towards the presence, or staying back to ensure the folks from Team Star that were here were safe. If what she thought was out there was out and about, then going towards it would only cause more danger.
Paralyzed by her own thoughts and fears, she'd stay put and desperately try to calm herself lest she end up hindering things.
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 11:53 am
"Yeah that sounds right, they should have some kind of anti-fungal medicine here.” Tsuki said to Reno, having seen the weird mushroom circle and having a vague idea of what they could do to a person’s awareness and decision making abilities. They had a whole D.A.R.E. school assembly over it last year and a fungal infection being used by a Grass channeler or something wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. He nodded and moved over to Nurse Miriam, but stopped short once he saw the other redhead take Sub and Sol on a teleport jump somewhere. “What? Are they benching us?” He asked to no one in particular. A part of him wanted to tell GRAY to take him to them and help, but another part saw the looks the older ones had. He probably wouldn’t do that. To hit the point more on the head, he didn’t exactly have a way to trace and follow them any ways. Would he just hold them back?
Tsuki kicked a bit of Starmobile debris as hard as he could and as far as he could. Fine, he thought as he let out an exhale. He’d focus on what he could do here first. “Hey Nurse Miriam, the Team Star guys have some kind of fungal infection that’s making them act up! Lemme… the one in charge has it real bad!” he called out while swiveling his head to find Eri. After a moment, he found her on a bench being tended to by that Zoroark hybrid. That was an unwelcoming sign, if she had anything to do with the Zoroark shenanigans before. But he put that aside and approached them.
“Hey, I’m Tsuki and I’m with Snagem. We think we know how to get Eri to snap out but we gotta take her to the nurse.” Tsuki said, wanting to add ‘before any brain damage is permanent’ but choosing not to just in case either of them panicked. If Monique was any amount of aware underneath Brixie’s existence, she’d see the mid height redheaded boy with the tiniest of scars under his chin. The hair was different, the gender definitely was too, but that face was identical to that of Mitsuki Morita from the ‘ammonia’ universe where she had saved her sister.
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 5:50 pm
Tsuki the Lunar Wind , they should have some kind of anti-fungal medicine here.” Tsuki said to Reno, having seen the weird mushroom circle and having a vague idea of what they could do to a person’s awareness and decision making abilities. They had a whole D.A.R.E. school assembly over it last year and a fungal infection being used by a Grass channeler or something wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. He nodded and moved over to Nurse Miriam, but stopped short once he saw the other redhead take Sub and Sol on a teleport jump somewhere. “What? Are they benching us?” He asked to no one in particular. A part of him wanted to tell GRAY to take him to them and help, but another part saw the looks the older ones had. He probably wouldn’t do that. To hit the point more on the head, he didn’t exactly have a way to trace and follow them any ways. Would he just hold them back? Tsuki kicked a bit of Starmobile debris as hard as he could and as far as he could. Fine, he thought as he let out an exhale. He’d focus on what he could do here first. “Hey Nurse Miriam, the Team Star guys have some kind of fungal infection that’s making them act up! Lemme… the one in charge has it real bad!” he called out while swiveling his head to find Eri. After a moment, he found her on a bench being tended to by that Zoroark hybrid. That was an unwelcoming sign, if she had anything to do with the Zoroark shenanigans before. But he put that aside and approached them. “Hey, I’m Tsuki and I’m with Snagem. We think we know how to get Eri to snap out but we gotta take her to the nurse.” Tsuki said, wanting to add ‘before any brain damage is permanent’ but choosing not to just in case either of them panicked. If Monique was any amount of aware underneath Brixie’s existence, she’d see the mid height redheaded boy with the tiniest of scars under his chin. The hair was different, the gender definitely was too, but that face was identical to that of Mitsuki Morita from the ‘ammonia’ universe where she had saved her sister. “Hey, I’m Tsuki and I’m with Snagem. We think we know how to get Eri to snap out but we gotta take her to the nurse.” Eri, still out of it, apparently not having heard what to her was tantamount to a curse word, tilted her head. Brixie, her brain cross-wired like cable spaghetti, looked the boy up and down. Redhead, average height... This face seemed familiar to her, but obviously not from somewhere in Sub Rosa. All she could think of was the Pokémon Elekid, like she knew someone who looked like this and had a little Electric-type in tow. With a dim memory to go on instead of "just some academy student", she decided she could trust his instructions. "That be a loooong chirp," she started, using a slang phrase for a message that in this time hadn't even been coined yet because there were still Pokémon that chirped. "Doll?" She looked at Eri, still very, very foggy. "Let's get you to a nurse."Eri, this time able to walk on her own two feet with Brixie's arm around her for support, walked unsteadily to the elevator, the pair making their way to the second floor. The conveyance brought back memories of always having to take the elevator down in Flower City, never up, to go to work. Girls like her weren't good enough to go up. No, they were Wastelanders. They— The ding of the elevator broke the reverie. The pair shuffled back toward Miriam's office in hopes that someone could help. "I'm not gonna leave you alone, now, ya hear?" Brixie told Eri. "We're all girls here." Her brain didn't process it, but she was talking like she was in the Sub Rosa backroom. "We're all girls here", after all, made more sense in an all-female workforce, the creche, or even a society with a 70:30 gender ratio than it did in Paldea.
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 7:05 pm
Aden would avoid capture by the Ziton by taking to the air, the Ziton forming an empty bubble as its prey avoided being ensnared. Now in bubble form the Ziton was an easy target for Aile's Flygon as it unleashed a fierce Dragon Breath upon the pink 'bubble' creature. The draconic flames would quickly engulf the Ziton and the next thing Aile knew the entire thing began to burn up, falling apart into pieces which would scatter into the wind and burn into nothing, like a piece of paper set aflame. In just seconds the fear inducing abomination that was the Ziton was burned away into nothingness, no trace of it left behind. Was that it? Did Aile just destroy the Ziton?
"Traitor." A familiar voice spoke in Aile's mind, the voice forced to the forefront of her mind making it impossible to focus on anything but it. "You abandoned those that cared most about you. And now you will do it again, and people will die because of it." The voice continued. It wasn't just one voice, no, it was several voices, all of them belonging to different Snagems and yet blended together in a cacophony of negativity as they lambasted them for her former treachery and cryptic dialogue that she will abandon and betray them again.
As the words echoed in Aile's mind and held fast to her focus little bubble-like bits of pink energy would 'boil' out of her mind and collect above her head rapidly as the Ziton reformed itself, having escaped into the woman's mind to avoid the brunt of the Dragon Breath. As one not attuned to mental powers she was highly vulnerable to such an intrusion. As the blob of energy hovered over Aile it didn't release its hold on her, instead it decided to weaponize her, her vision now forced to focus on Aden. However she did not see Aden, instead she saw a member of Team Flare, a grunt. The smirking grunt wouldn't remain long however as it shifted and warped into the image of Malva, the woman laughing at Aile. "Look at you, mentally and physically broken, what are you good for anymore?" The image of Malva taunted her, all of this in Aile's mind as the Ziton manipulated her.
"Kill her...it's what you want... A faint distant voice whispered in her mind, it commanded her to kill 'Malva'.
Just after the Ziton attempted to sink its talons into Aile Reno appeared along with Sub and Sol, the Dark specialist of the group looking around dazed and confused for several seconds as he was not prepared for the sudden teleportation trip. Scanning the area he spotted the knocked out Star grunts littering the ground, Ortega who was staring at Aile with eyes as big as Pokeballs, and Aden who just landed back on the ground after his Heat Wave induced flight. Settling his eyes on Aile who seemed to just be standing there and staring at Aden the Dark One cocked his head. "Aile? What's that above your head?"
Sub asked as he pointed at the large blob of pink energy writhing around. He had never seen the Ziton in person before, of course heard of it but his lack of experience with it outside of it being inside of Crystal, coupled with his brain still trying to keep up with the sudden change in scenery, Sub was slow on the uptake. Giving it another second the pieces quickly fell into place for the man, the fear induced by staring at it having no effect on him due to his natural immunity to Psychic effects. "The Ziton..." He muttered, reaching for a Pokeball slowly, unsure how it would react, looking to Reno who no doubt had a better handle on this situation, waiting to see what he'd do.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:58 am
Aden would look back as the Ziton formed a bubble behind him, narrowly escaping the attempt at capturing him from the heat-induced flight and using a hard flap of his wings to fling himself that little bit further. As he landed and spun around to keep an eye on the Ziton, he'd watch it simply ignite from Tati's Dragon Breath and visually vanish. The feelings of fear and dread still clung to him, their grip refusing to falter; there's no way it was that simple, he could still feel something that told him it was still there. But he couldn't get anything resembling a good read on it, his suspicions only being confirmed when he saw the pink energy bubbles coming out of Aile's head before forming itself into a blobby crown. He froze in that instant, the exact thing he feared and was trying to avoid happening.
The Ziton had captured someone. But it wasn't him. "Aile...?" He spoke out, his voice soft. Weak. Scared. "Aile!?" This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. This had to be some twisted dream and maybe he just banged his head on something around a bunch of Unown again. "Aile, please tell me you're still in there..." He didn't dare try to peer into her mind, doubting the safety of doing so, taking a step back and fearing what might come next. His own mind hadn't even considered the idea that reinforcements would or had come; as it was, he didn't even notice their presence when they suddenly appeared.
Speaking of them, Sol wouldn't have the same fortitude Sub appeared to have. As soon as he saw the pink blob on Aile's head, the fears already striking him at the academy burst forth into the forefront of his mind and saw to it that he'd stay fixated on them. "P-por la llama limpiadora..." Between it and his mind failing to get its bearings from the scenery's abrupt change, he wouldn't be able to look away. Somehow, he wasn't totally paralyzed by fear, but as a hand went to the hilt of his blade, Sub and Reno would notice his movements were much more sluggish and unsure. Throughout the hybrid's travels and all the things he'd seen and experienced, nothing- nothing prepared him for encountering anything like the Ziton, and it was like his mind was struggling not to shatter in an instant from failing to comprehend it.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 9:44 am
Aile was elated for a second as the Dragon Breath seemed to hit the Ziton and dissipate it. Then she frowned. That felt too easy. Why hadn’t it just broken down with the Earth Power back in the Fairy Realm if it was that weak? Then came the accusation. Plural, in fact, seemingly from everyone from Snagem, all familiar voices, even though no one else was there. “No… Shut up, shut up! I-I was scared, I didn’t know how you all would react. I won’t do it again!” She slammed her eyes shut and shook her head as she spoke, sounding more and more panicked over time. “Please stop!” Her remaining hand would pull on her hair now, wanting the voices to stop. Tatooine would come over to attempt to comfort her trainer, extremely concerned when she noticed, along with everyone else there, the psychic bubbles floating out of her causing the Flygon to back up, fear starting to affect her again between her trainer’s spiraling emotions and the Ziton’s effect again.
Another, more distinct voice would snap her out of her spiral, at least in so much that she would stop having a panic attack. Her eyes would snap open to see an unfortunately familiar face, standing where Aden should have been. “Malva? How the hell are you here,” she quietly asked, the smug b***h’s laugh starting to grate on her. How dare she mock her! That damned laugh! And then she had the gall to call her useless and pointless, effectively. All the remnants of the earlier panic attack would be washed away as something seemed to snap in her. “What good am I?” There was a newfound sense of calm around Aile now as she continued to speak softly, though her eyes reflected contempt, hatred, and disgust for the person in front of her. And then she charged.
To Aile, she was transported to a different place, where she had never lost her arm in Hisui. Where she had never damaged her wrist in Orre for refusing to take some metal shackles off until they were beginning to do said damage. She was fully healed here, and she was charging one of the people she found to be insufferable, even before Snagem. As she was running, she pulled out a punching dagger, determining that Malva’s chest would make a much better sheath as she impaled her with it. “Malva, you should have been there with the rest of Flare in Unova, and died there with Lysandre as well. Better late than never, though, salope,” Aile growled in her ear, driving the blade in deeper in the process.
For the onlookers, they would see something incredible happen, and possibly something worth cheering if the situation was different. The left sleeve that was flapping as Aile ran looked to be filling up somehow. Aden would even see that the staff head the channeller threaded through a belt loop seemed to be disintegrating to sand as it flowed into Aile’s sleeve, filling it to replace her arm. As it neared her wrist, though, it began to widen unnaturally, the shape beginning to look like a horizontal blade once the appendage reared back to punch the hybrid. By the point it was about to plunge into Aden’s chest, it fully looked like a punching dagger’s blade at the end of her new arm, a few flecks of green showing. “Malva, you should have been there with the rest of Flare in Unova, and died there with Lysandre as well. Better late than never, though, salope,” she snarled to Aden, shoving her arm in deeper as she did.
Tatooine, poor Tati. She was horrendously confused at what was going on with her trainer, and all the more startled when Aile sprang like a coil to attack Aden. While Flygon finally made a move to stop her trainer, it came too late, as she had only started to lift off when Aile had reached Aden. “GOOOOOOOOOON,” was all Tati could do or say as she watched a weaponized Aile impale her teammate on her newly created appendage.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 3:18 pm
Reno had been hoping his two companions would be able to spring straight into action against the Ziton once they had gotten there. Unfortuantely, he forgotten to account for the fact neither one of them had contended with the thing in its full form in any way compared to his repeated exposures to how it generally looked and felt when it was fully exposed to regular causality. So once his Metagross-granted brain calculated out that Sub was waiting and Sol was getting a crash course in what Reno had first felt way back when, he settled into immediately going for the energy ball above Aile's head. After all, while she was starting forward, her movements indicated some kind of motion with her left hand. And the Ziton must have been playing this take-over fast and dirty, since it had apparently missed the fact that there was no left hand to be doing anything with.
"Ziton! Hows about round 3!?" Reno barked, already glowing pink again before teleporting himself in to intercept the energy bubble as it moved along with Aile. Taking a swing with the left arm, more pink energy blazing around the limb as he swung his arm beneath him to uppercut through the thing and break the connection it had to Aile. However, he would be able to see what exactly had happened beneath him while he was tunnel visioned onto what he presumed was the biggest threat. It hadn't been the one in control of Aile, it was just altering her perception. Which meant she was free to get as creative with her channeling as she could without any constraints the minds in the construct would inadvertently place on her, and she had as she formed a new arm with a blade at the end to stab into Aden, or whoever she saw him as.
But it was too late. He had fully committed to his swing at the Ziton before seeing this. And without any of his other Pokemon out, all he could do was hope for the luck that one of his flailing legs might catch Aile's arm. There wasn't enough time for him to calculate or figure out any other plan for this.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 4:47 pm
In the face of some eldritch horror, not many could really stand up to it. Even the strongest this world, rather it be mental or physical, could provide would flail defiantly against something like the likes of the Ziton. It wasn’t to insinuate the meager mortals weren’t going to try anyways…
As Reno defiantly tried to stand against the likes of the psychic entity, the skies only briefly turned to an inky darkness and it seemed like the winds from the nearby mountain range was sweeping the fields. That wasn’t all there was there was to it, however. The Ziton would receive a rather familiar greeting from the last known appearance of it. A massive, dense mass of power practically drops down upon the Ziton: A Sheer Cold.
”Guys, get it together for God’s sake! You guys been through tougher than this sentient piece of crap!” A voice rang out over the SNAGs, trying to rally the Snagems to their senses.
Well above the battlefield that was the Star base, I was there in the air as the skies returned to its normal state. Last time the Ziton was around, it took a Sheer Cold and had it to shirk back into whatever space between dimensions it came from and by the way it wailed back then in Galar, it didn’t necessarily care for the damage that much. Unfortunately, the Sheer Cold came far too late to actually save anyone. Crystal ended up taken then and it left Tristen feeling guilty that he couldn’t help anyone, let alone save who mattered. “That’s for making me run like mad across the mountain range to find a Pokémon Center just to get a Pokémon to get me here in short order, you b*****d. God, once again, I state this is why vacations are a waste of time…” I said. “Man, you got a vaguely familiar feel about you. Didn’t really noticed it too much other than the overwhelming pressure of it, that is. You know Celcius by chance?” I asked, not really expecting an answer, let alone be heard so high up by the abomination or anyone else for that matter. I had to admit though…I didn’t have too much of an idea as to what to do beyond dropping a surprise Sheer Cold. If this thing was like Celcius, it can be grievously hurt, perhaps maybe killed. Drained for certain. But to do that to a literal force of nature? It was probably going to take a lot more than what we had on hand right now. We had to repulse this thing again…regroup. Maybe the psychics of the group can figure out something for later. We have to see later first, though.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 5:22 pm
As Monique and Tsuki got Eri to the nurse's office they'd find a quintet of Pokemon busily moving around taking care of wounded students. Three of them, Chimecho, Blissey, and female Indeedee, doing all the healing as Miriam's Hypno was busy coordinating everything and helping with more physical tasks. The room was full without a single empty bed but as they entered with Eri the Hypno would give them a nod before turning to the nearby Kirlia that just appeared, its part time 'assistant'. After speaking to it in Pokespeak the Kirlia would teleport away but soon return with a folded up cot, Hypno immediately going about setting it up to put Eri on.
"No hypno hyp." Hypno spoke to Tsuki, the translation ringing out in his mind as the Psychic spoke to him telepathically. "Go fetch Brassius." It ordered Tsuki, having got the information it needed from Tsuki's mind. They were dealing with a fungal infection and the Pokemon could only think of one person who could help in this chaotic moment and it was the Artazon Gym Leader.
Turning to Monique, who it couldn't speak to mentally, the Hypno would instead rely on physical cues as it pointed to a cabinet marked 'blankets' and then at Eri and some other students. Guess it wanted her to help out with caring for the students. Might as well, Eri didn't look like she was going to wake up any time soon anyways.
As for nurse Miriam herself she was still in the courtyard helping with the injured students, Kirlia popping in and out to teleport them away to the nurse's office. She would eventually stumble upon Crystal, putting a hand on her from behind. "Are you okay, miss?" She asked.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 6:02 pm
The Chaos in his head finally subsided. Seeing a mess of the place, he would do what he had to. Seeing where piles of stuff were, he would pick up what he could and the heavier stuff too. From there he would place it in piles and continue to help clean. Phyiscally stiff but ok. Mentally a wreck, it would take only a person asking if he was ok to set him off. He signed up for snagem to find answers and support to his hybridization. He never signed up to fight a world ending item.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 8:17 pm
"How we'd react? Aile, what's going on? Who's Malva?" Confused and fighting the fear still threatening to stop his tracks, Aden backed up another step. Aile's calming stance with her question, alongside it being clearly obvious she was seeing someone else where he stood, made him try to keep some semblance of distance until her sudden charge took him by surprise. The staff she had seemed to disintegrate as Aile rushed him, but the energy he felt told him a different story.
It was reforming to a shape Aile deemed more appropriate, the Ziton taking full advantage of the channeling link she and her Flygon had. It came all too late that it was forming into a dagger to stab through him, piercing through and stabbing him with ease. "A...a...." His mouth agape, the shine in his eyes dulled in an instant as an overwhelming cold blanketed him and his vision grew dark. 'Malva' would finally get the chance to join Lysandre, as Aden's body went limp and he fell against Aile.
Sol's delay in getting his bearings back gave all the hesitation required to keep him from rushing in, but with how quickly it came, he wouldn't have had enough time to get between them. Instead, he'd get to bear witness to the flame in another of his family being extinguished as the grip on his sword tightened, flames spilling out of its scabbard as the skies began to darken. The fear struck in him by the circumstances and the Ziton wouldn't dissolve, but instead add much more to the mix. Grief. Anger. He failed the team.
He failed his son.
He failed himself.
Staring at Ziton bubbling from Aile, he'd brandish his sword in both hands as the area grew intensely warm.
"ADEN!!!"
---
"How we'd react? Aile, what's going on? Who's Malva?"
Aden backed up another step. Aile's calming stance with her question meant she didn't see him. The Ziton bubbling on her had to be causing a hallucination. He tried to keep his distance, but her sudden charge made that difficult as he saw her staff disintegrate. She was channeling with it through her Flygon, and it'd only take a few seconds to form an arm and how she intended to deal with 'Malva'.
"Aile, I'm not her, you need to listen and break free!" He screamed as he jumped back, trying to delay things as much as he could. But his words fell on deaf ears. All she saw was 'Malva' as the sand dagger found itself through his chest. "A...a..." His mouth agape, the shine in his eyes dulled in an instant as an overwhelming cold blanketed him and his vision grew dark. His body would soon go limp as he fell against Aile.
Sol's delay in getting his bearings kept him from moving easily, but he tried to once Aden jumped back. But he wouldn't have enough time to get between them. He'd be among the witnesses to watching Aden's flame be extinguished, tightening the grip on his sword as flames spilled out of its scabbard and the skies darkened. Fear allowed grief, anger and the sense of failure to overtake him. He failed the team. His son. Himself.
Staring at Ziton bubbling from Aile, he'd brandish his sword in both hands as the area grew intensely warm.
---
"How we'd react? Aile, what's going on? Who's Malva?"
Aden backed up a few steps. Aile didn't see him, the Ziton made sure of that. She'd start charging at him almost as soon as he asked his question, and her staff would disintegrate. The arm was already forming as she channeled with her artifact. Five seconds. He'd jump back, using his wings to get even more distance. "Aile, it's in the past! We're fine now, you-" Too slow, too many words. Aile caught up with him to deliver her scathing remark to 'Malva', and Aden would receive the dagger again, the cold feelings and darkening vision starting to become familiar feelings to him. His body went limp and leaned against Aile.
Sol tried to race in despite his bearings and the Ziton making it difficult to do so. There was still not enough time, stopping in his tracks as Aden fell. The grip on his sword was tighter than ever, flames spilling out its scabbard from the intense power and emotions enveloping him. Fear, grief and anger gripped him even tighter. He'd failed his son and himself, staring at the Ziton bubbling and brandishing his sword. Despite the darkening skies, the area felt extremely warm as his scream rang into the heavens.
---
"Aile, whatever you're seeing isn't real! I'm not her!"
Aden's words sounded oddly winded. He backed up and away, knowing the Ziton was causing Aile to see 'Malva' instead. Someone who'd caused her a lot of harm and turmoil alongside Lysandre and Team Flare. Someone she wanted dead and wouldn't hesitate to ensure if given the chance. The Ziton and her artifact ensured she had that chance now, channeling with her Flygon to let the staff become whatever she needed. Right now, that was an arm and a dagger to strike through the chest and enact her revenge. He needed to keep his distance since she'd spring forth, try and stop her long enough to get through to her. If he could. He tried to move to the side to evade Aile.
She didn't stop. "I don't know what that thing's making you see, but you- Reno?" He'd pick up on other presences being around, but this delay meant Aile would catch up to him. Growing cold, he'd get a glimpse of Reno appearing to swing at the Ziton just as his vision blurred.
The loop continued unimpeded, the skies darkened, and Sol was beside himself with some of the worst feelings of his life. Unable to bear it, the flames spewing forth from his sword's scabbard provided an apt indicator of how wild his emotions were running, as the area grew ever warmer.
---
Eight seconds.
In that timeframe, Aile would form a new left arm from her artifact, a punching dagger forming where her hand would be to fatally stab Aden. The Ziton didn't capture her, it was twisting her perception and saw him as Malva. He wouldn't be able to get through her in eight seconds, and he was much more winded than he was less than a minute ago, having cheated death several times and cheating being clocked in the head by a door or Aile's artifact in the academy basement. In three seconds, Aile would charge at him as the sand filled in the lack of left arm, but other presences would arrive. But it'd be sudden, likely too sudden to act quickly enough. The one presence that'd have a chance was Reno, who would teleport in with Alakazam around the time the stab would happen and throw an uppercut to try and force the Ziton off and away. As is, it'd be too late to save anyone but maybe Aile.
He had to stall Aile long enough for Reno to attempt his attack and let anyone else try and do something. Anything. Break the loop, break the cycle... before it broke him.
Aile started her charge, the sand started forming her arm as the hourglass flipped. Five seconds. Reno, Sub and Sol would arrive on the scene, as the wrist of Aile's sand arm widened and closed in. Two seconds.
Aden stood his ground, hands imbued with psychic energy as he gripped Aile's arm. The punching dagger had formed, managing to still puncture the skin, but just barely. It'd take all his strength to try and stall her as much as he could, the psychic energy trying to keep the sand still, lest it sift on him. Though it might buy the precious few seconds Reno needed to teleport in, Aile might notice this wasn't the first stab wound Aden had around the chest. Or second, or third. At least. "Aile, stop! The Ziton's messing with you!" He finally shouted, hoping to delay her assault that little bit longer.
"ADEN!!!" Sol shouted, managing to get his bearings enough to rush forward and try to force the two apart. He'd still be slow enough at going for it that he wouldn't have a chance to make it before Aden's efforts to slow Aile down. The Ziton's presence still filled him with fear, and a pang of guilt and grief that had an origin he wasn't certain about. But above those was the drive to protect his son, no matter how much he could handle himself. The skies darkened and the area grew cold as he sent a single flame at the bubbling mass on top of Aile. He didn't want to hurt either her or Aden, just get the Ziton's attention and force it off. "Aile, stay your hand, this isn't who you think it is!"
At this point was when Blizz's voice would be heard over the SNAGs, and Aden would notice his presence too. Though he was grateful to have that much more help at a time like this, he grunted as he kept trying to keep Aile's arm at bay. "You're not the one- gah- dealing with being stabbed several times and being chased by something that wants to assimilate me!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 9:00 pm
It all happened so fast, Aile had been possessed by the Ziton and went on the attack, lunging with her new sand blade of an 'arm' at the Time Traveler, piercing his skin but Aden using what Psychic power he could muster to hold her back from delivering a more grievous wound.
Reno would jump in at that same moment, making all kinds of calculations thanks to his bond with Metagross. While he aimed for the Ziton and had deduce the best path to take to strike it what Reno did not account for was a concerned father firing off a ball of fire at the Ziton, Reno's metal arm getting in the way as the flames connected with his arm. An explosion of flames went off however Reno trajectory stayed mostly the same as he punched through the Ziton, its body distorting slightly as he went through.
At the same time the skies darkened and a certain Cold One arrived on scene to aid them, not even the Noble Hybrid having the time to realize what Reno was going to do let alone Sol considering how chaotic everything was. As Reno and his hot metal arm were tumbling through the Ziton the mass of Ice energy was dropped on the Ziton as Blizzard executed a Sheer Cold. The fierce frigid power would fall upon the Ziton and by proxy Reno, Aile, and Aden too. A massive of explosion of raw power and ice would go off and send all affected parties flying in all directions. But it wasn't that simple.
The erupted energy and ice would suddenly freeze in midair and begin to recollect in a ball, the dust cloud that resulted from the former explosion disappearing as well to reveal the Ziton, and Aile, survived the blast and was now regathering the power behind the Sheer Cold, reforming the sphere. As the Ziton did its work Blizzard might see a familiar face in it, that of a certain Xatu hybrid named Horus. Without further warning the regathered Sheer Cold would be launched right back at Blizzard, with half the force of the original as some of the power was lost from the first explosion.
They would have several seconds to collect themselves, Sub running up to Aden as he turned out to be nearest to the young man once he hit the ground. "Aden!" Sub shouted as he ran up to Aden, attempting to life him off the ground. "Sol! Over...here..." Sub initially went to summon Sol over to tend to his son only for his vision to be locked on Aile who was still being possessed by the Ziton, then spotting Reno beyond her who was now missing his metal arm. "Blizz!" He shouted, looking up to notice the Sheer Cold heading for him.
Regardless of what became of Blizzard Sub took to his feet and clutched a Dusk Ball, deciding it was time to stop this madness. Tossing the ball out Valdemar the Hydreigon appeared with a roar, Sub extending his Snag Machine gloved had towards the dragon as he prepared himself. "Valdemar! Black Hole Eclipse!" Sub shouted as Dark energy flowed out from and around his Snag Machine, the Darkinium Z responding. Valdemar would bury its two side heads into the ground and raise the central head to the sky as it prepared to form the black hole, the Dark energy flowing from Sub to it until-
"Ack!" Sub grunted as he fell to his knees, clutching his Snag Machine hand to his chest, the gemstone embedded in his Snag Machine no longer glowing and the Dark energy no longer flowing as the Snagem leader gasped in pain. "W-what happened!?" Sub said to no one in particular.
"You've over done it. You already used Mega Evolution and Dynamax in the same twenty-four hour window and within the same thirty minutes no less. Most people can only handle using one of those in the same day and while you are unique in that you can handle two even the Dark One has his limitations. Such transformations do use energy from the trainer but it's a negligible amount when used normally." GRAY explained, though this was no comfort to Sub. From his knees he looked towards Aile and the Ziton.
"Dark Pulse!" Sub commanded his dragon. Valdemar would roar and sent a ball of Dark energy flying towards the Ziton.
As for Aile, she would still see Aden as Malva but now was allowed to visualize the other Snagems. Sol appeared as Chalmers, Reno looked like Xerosic, and Blizzard in the air a flying Lysandre. Strangely enough she could not see Sub. She could see his dragon but not the trainer. That was odd. More importantly though they were taunting her still, filling her mind with negative and hurtful words. Quickly their vile rhetoric would be the only thing she could focus on or even remember, all other thought or memories being drowned out as she risked losing herself to these dark thoughts. She was mentally drowning and needed to get back to the surface before it was too late.
The Ziton however wanted her to kill them all, the people that hurt her.
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