Planeside

[Earl of Purple]

Yggdrasil- Trading Post

Either the hagraven can see invisible things, or she's a good judge of character. One hand projects a blast of thick green magical flames in Arlen's direction, though she wants the boy alive and unburnt. The flames should ignite the oil on Fixer's legs. The other hand is projecting a shimmering field of force in the same direction she sprays the flames, in case they also bounce off magical wards.

The nearest stalls have set up their own wards and fields to protect the storeholders and their wares.

[Holy-hunter]

From amongst the bundle of items in Arlen's hand a small ball of light energy had been cast hastefully into the air, within a second it exploded with a bright flash. To simply say it was a bright light is inaccurate, while bright it was it floods everything nearby in a mystical white light, acting like the total opposite of darkness. Everything the light from the explosion touched glowed just as brightly vanishing into a gentle sea of white nothingness.

Obviously it didn't last long at all, a momentary distraction until colours and shapes seeped back through.
But Arlen who seemingly came to his senses, was already mid motion, having hastefully skidded around the invisible Fixer he stepped into the line of 'fire' to wear the full grunt off the fiery blast on his back.

As soon as the green flames touch his oil soaked clothing it bursts, igniting into a brilliant fierce display, Arlen, who is silent amongst the roar of the fire, only stammers to the ground in the middle of the flames... only to rise tall, leaving his small buckler rocking on the hard floor, filled with his food now slightly burnt.

The boy turns around as the flames begin to lower, he faces the Hagraven with a big evil smile, his young form silhouetted by flames and smoke.
"He said I'm not for sale!"
Arlen yells most angrily at the monster. Completely unaffected by the flames on his back.

"Why do you do this? People aren't just, just.. Items!..."
"And now you have ruined my friends food!"
His voice descending as it changes from anger to confusion then just dissapointment.

Eventually Arlen just starts mumbling, although his words indiscernible they resonate with a firey passion, his voice almost replicating and lost in the soft whoosh, roars, and cracks of the whispering flames around him.

[Cyber Punk]

Yggdrasil- Trading Post

Fixer's eyes widen as Arlen moves faster than he thought... in an attempt to block the flames. "Arlen, no!"

And then Arlen takes the force of the flames, and comes out unaffected. "What the heck?" Fixer watches, surprised, as he watches Arlen. If he had been told that the kid would be protecting him, he wouldn't have believed it for a second, and now here we are.

Fixer finds he has mixed feelings about it. On one hand he's looking forward to patting the boy on the back afterwards and asking questions, on the other hand, though he has a magic shield, there's still residual distrust of magic.

Fixer decides he'll back Arlen, but first he fires a flare at the sky so that Cleo can find them more easily. Then he uncloaks and absorbs the oil into his body. It offers minor sustenance, but hey, it's natural. Why didn't it occur to him that he can eat things by absorbing them?

"So if I were to consume the hag-raven..." Fixer wonders aloud.

[Recaiden]

[Yggdrasil - Trading Post]

Cleo raises a hand towards the ball, -"shield"- a wispy barrier pushing it away and around. Here, there will be normal illumination.

Fixer's mistrust of magic is going to get awkward.

She walks carefully towards the fire and the flare, sharpening and raising her voice to call over the flames and the blasts and the confusion.
"No one is killing anyone."

[Rebonack]

[Somewhere... confusing?]

The fire burns away the world, the scenery around Jace, Zebes, and Fortuna melting like wax.

Apparently that advice to build a fire helped! Or at the very least it did... something?

The melting scenery gives way to cave walls illuminated by phosphorescent blue mushrooms. The melting floor dissolves away into sharp smelling pine needles, blown in through cracks in the ceiling through which daylight and the sounds of a forest stream. And the two humanoids? They'll probably melt away into a Mew and a Victini.

Zebes will probably be a lot bigger all of a sudden.

The fire is still burning between Fortuna and Jace, the pine needles cleared away to expose the limestone floor warn smooth by countless little feet crossing it.

Fortuna blinks.

Then glances back at her tail. Then rubs her little Mew paws across her face. "What?"

[Deathkeeper]

Somewhere Confusing?

Zebes flops to the ground with a bumping sound about as loud as you'd expect from such a heavy shape hitting the floor.

Jace twitches his giant ears, and after a moment, comes to the conclusion that he won't be accessing his human shape any time soon. He adjusts his cloak, which oddly transformed with him for once, though it seems a lot...smaller. Still blue though, and still very stylish.
Don't tell him otherwise.
"Looks like we're in another pokemon world. It's a more pleasure option than the one we had before, I think." he says.
"Yeah, but it looks like it's back to no more rides for me." says Zebes sadly, rubbing his belly.

Huh. The punctuation of pokemon speak has switched to that of normal dialogue. Wonder if that means anything?

[Rebonack]

[Dark Cave?]

"I guess so?" Fortuna replies, unconsciously reaching down and flicking on her PIP- eerr... PokeGear's flashlight function. A little light appears hovering near her, certainly not FLASH! levels, but enough to see a little better buy. "Was that other place just an illusion? What would the point be?"

Nearby, a rock clunks against another rock, sending Fortuna's little cat-like ears a twitchin'.

"Hello? Is someone else there?" she calls out into the dark. "We won't hurt you."

A beat.

"Assuming you don't try to eat us, then we might hurt you a little until you stop."

Always good to be clear on things!

Jace's silly ears should be able to pick up the sound of someone moving around in the dark.

[Deathkeeper]

Dark Cave?

Jace crosses his little furry arms, annoyed that he never learned Flash.
"I can hear you, you know, even if this fire and the mushrooms aren't enough to see you by." he says, walking around the small room confidently. He's a careful person by nature when there's something to risk, but generally when things seem to be under control he tends to be willing to put himself in the line of fire a bit. After all, they're in a cave with strong pokemon around at worst. It's not like there's going to be a person to shoot him when he steps away from the fire.

[Rebonack]

[Dark Cave?]

After a few tense, hesitant moments there comes a little gulp from the dark before someone small walks into the light. Of course, Jace and Fortuna are pretty small themselves right now, so that's kind of relative.

A little black fox with red highlights.

A Zorua.

"I... umm... you all appeared out of nowhere and I got scared and made an illusion," the fox pokemon confesses. "But then you kind of broke it and I was afraid so I hid..." He glances at those gathered, tears in his little eyes. "You aren't mad at me, are you? The illusion wasn't anything bad?"

Okay, now Fortuna is letting her guard down. "Hey, no. We aren't mad at you. We were just surprised is all."

The lil' fox brightens slightly. "Are... are you really a Mew? And you're a Victini? And I know you're a Dragonite! You're all really strong pokemon, right? Umm... maybe you can help?"

[Deathkeeper]

Dark Cave?

This was a pretty fancy illusion to properly simulate their non-pokemon forms.
Whatever.

"We are indeed all of those things. What do you need help with?" Jace asks, relaxing at the sight of the small, harmless-looking pokemon. Of course he's not surprised it can talk. Otherwise would be dumb.

[Rebonack]

[Dark Cave?]

Imagine it as a spike of power. The little fox pokemon is still young and unexperienced, and the illusion he threw up was little more than a wild surge. It has left him feeling quite weak and vulnerable. If it came down to a fight, he might be able to struggle but that's about it.

Anywho!

The little Zorua has a fire in his eyes, now! He has hope!

"Everyone in the village has been acting weird. Some pokemon are being mean! And others... they've just wandered off and went... they've gone..." he tries to stammer out, sniffling a bit.

He can't even bring himself to say it.

"Gone feral?" Fortuna offers.

The little Zorua nods his head. "No one knows why..."

[Lost_Deep]

Forest?

Someone comes to, slowly.

"What... crud. This doesn't feel like the fairy land. It feels..."

Wrong

Kate jumps up from where she was apparently dumped on her face. She stumbles a bit, and quickly concludes that her spine is no longer balanced for standing straight up. Thankfully she doesn't seem to be quadrupedal, either, but some kind of funny-shaped red lizard.

"Crud. At least I still have hand... things."

She takes a few deep breaths, and then screams a bit to clear her head.

[Rebonack]

[Forest?]

Lizard screaming!

There are a few startled bird calls that ring through the forest in reply, but otherwise Kate is left to herself.

For now.

Given a bit of time, though, who knows what kinds of awful things might find her? She is, after all, a very small lizard. Large predators are quite likely to eat small lizards.

The forest is the deciduous sort, the warmth of spring seeping into it. There's new growth everywhere and strange, fragrant smelling berry bushes abound. It sounds like there's a small creek nearby. And most importantly? Kate is standing on a trail of well-packed forest duff leading off in either direction. It's looks pretty wide, but then again Kate is much smaller than she was before, so the size of things might be difficult to judge. There's a stone statue of a strange, fairy like creature to one side of the trail with a little shrine built in front of it. To the other side is a rough-hewn wooden sign with slats pointing in either direction.

[Lost_Deep]

Forest?

Kate takes a few deep breaths. "Okay. Forest path. Creek noises... why couldn't I have been turned into a pixie? I know what to do when I'm a pixie. I'm a huge ditz, sure, but I know what to do." She sighs. "How about... that way." She chooses a random direction on the path and heads down it. She hopes this isn't just a game trail that leads to a salt lick or some nonsense.

[Rebonack]

[Forest?]

Kate could have ended up as a pixie.

But the cruel forces of fate decided that she's a lizard.

Down the trail she goes, having totally missed the sign. The sign probably would have provided her with useful directions, but alas it was not meant to be. As she walks (waddles?) the forest grows steadily denser, the calls of birds muted as a heavy sense of almost oppressive pressure settles over the forest. Right about the time when she might start to question the direction she took, Kate will come to a fork in the trail.

With another statue right in the middle.

It's that strange pixie-like creature again, sitting in front of a little shrine.

This statue looks like it has been defaced by someone, part of its face broken off and grown over with greasy blackish brown liverwart. The remains of a sign lay next to the statue, smashed beyond legibility.

[Lost_Deep]

Forest?

Kate feels like she's seen this movie before. She turns right around, and heads back the way she came with significantly more hurry than she used to get here.

She was never fond of this sort of movie.

[Deathkeeper]

[Dark Cave?]

Imagine it as a spike of power. The little fox pokemon is still young and unexperienced, and the illusion he threw up was little more than a wild surge. It has left him feeling quite weak and vulnerable. If it came down to a fight, he might be able to struggle but that's about it.

Anywho!

The little Zorua has a fire in his eyes, now! He has hope!

"Everyone in the village has been acting weird. Some pokemon are being mean! And others... they've just wandered off and went... they've gone..." he tries to stammer out, sniffling a bit.

He can't even bring himself to say it.

"Gone feral?" Fortuna offers.

The little Zorua nods his head. "No one knows why..."

Jace nods, balling a paw into a fist in front of him.
"Don't worry, we'll see what we can do while we're here. But just so you know, we're not from around here. I don't think that we'll get thrown back home in the middle of something, but we do need to find a way back there while we're here. So we'll just have a little side project while we're solving your mystery. And you might need to explain some things to us, too." he says gently.

Zebes suppresses a snicker. Yeah, he's pretty sure he knows what's going on and what this will entail, but he'll let the kid give Jace his exposition.

[Rebonack]

[Forest?]

Kate turns around.

There's a monster standing in the pathway some distance ahead of her.

Of course there is.

It's pretty darn large, a hulking purple quadruped with large ears and a dangerous looking horn on its forehead. A strange, oily blackness clings to the beast, crawling over it like a cloak of vermin.

The monster snorts, pawing at the ground with one foreleg.

That's probably bad.

Really bad!

[Lost_Deep]

Forest?

"...I want it on the record that I tried. I tried, Genre Savy Guide."

Kate takes off running... toward the beast? That... doesn't seem smart.

[Rebonack]

[Forest?]

The nidorino seems confused about this action as well.

With a snort, the purple beast charges back toward Kate, aiming to gore her with his horn!

Kate should probably avoid getting gored.

Those horns are poisonous!

[Dark Cave?]

The little fox pokemon nods. "That's happened before! Or... at least I've heard stories about it. People who got brought here from another world to solve mysteries in the dungeons!"

How's that for a title drop?

"We'll be happy to help," Fortuna replies with a kind smile. "But... why are you here alone in the dark again?"

"Oh... well... one of my friends went... crazy while we were in the woods together. I had to run away and hide."

That sure is awful.

[Deathkeeper]

Dark Cave?

Zebes gets up, lumbering over to Jace's side.
"Well, how about we all start by you leading us there? Maybe we can help your friend." he says.
Chances are their way of helping will involve hitting him, but that's just how these things work. They'll make sure to have a semi-dramatic confrontation beforepaw, though. Just to make sure.

[Lost_Deep]

Forest?

Kate gasps as she recognizes it, but doesn't let that get to her: When the two are getting worryingly close, Kate jumps to the side, intending to go into the woods a little bit, and then move forward along the path in the woods. Hopefully the Nidrino will get tried of moving through the underbrush.

[Rebonack]

[Dark Cave? ==> Forest?]

"Oh... well... alright..." the little fox pokemon replies before leading our heroes out of the cave. Before long, they'll be stepping up out of a cave and coming up along side an ancient statue of Celebi.

...or maybe a really new statue of Celebi that she grabbed from the far future.

You never really know for sure when Celebi is involved.

All around is a forest glade and behind is the entrance to the cave hidden away under a fallen log. Our heroes may have the strangest feeling that they just left a dungeon...

Regardless of mysterious feelings, there don't appear to be any other pokemon nearby, feral or otherwise. Zorua seems puzzled! "I thought for sure my friend would be up here... He's a lot bigger than me, but he's very nice. Normally..."

"What kind of pokemon is he?" Fortuna asks-

-moments before a little red and black lizard comes bursting through the underbrush with an angry, shadow-choked nidorino right behind her!

[Deathkeeper]

Forest?

Zebes immediately steps forward, arms pumping as he readies for a fight.
"Stay back! We're professionals!" he booms.

Jace hops up into the path of the Nidorino (but not squarely, because then he'd be in the lizard's way) and concentrates, ears twitching.
STAND DOWN comes his Psychic command, attempting to shock the pokemon's brain into having its motor functions (but obviously not its organs) freeze up and have it harmlessly fall over.
Jace used Psychic!

[Lost_Deep]

Forest?

What the-just roll with it! Kate will try to turn hard, to get behind the Dragonite. She's not sure what's going on, but the heroes have arrived and that's what's important.

[Earl of Purple]

Yggdrasil- Trading Post

The hagraven shrieks as she is blinded, her spells dropping. "Why? Why? I did it because I need your youth to extend my life! I'm dying, and that's not what I want. I sacrificed so much for this. My humanity, my parents, that pathetic priest. I was promised great magic, and a long life. The magic could be better- I shouldn't be foiled by simple trinkets- but that doesn't matter. I can practice and study and get better. It's only been three hundred years, and I want more. Oh, so much more!"

[Rebonack]

[Forest?]

The nidorino stumbles under the effect of Jace's mental assault, staggering slightly before squaring his legs and snarling.

Looks like he's still up!

But then he gets clobbered across the face by a fun-noodle shaped psyshock field, spinning him around and causing him to flop over as Jace had commanded.

Ka-POW!

Fortuna has his back!

The little fox pokemon quickly hurries over to his friend and begins trying to rouse him even as the spooky gloom clinging to him quickly evaporates. "Come on, Nidorino! Wake up!" he pleads, glancing over at Fortuna hopefully. The Mew frowns before drifting over and forming an egg-shaped orb of psychic energy between her little paws and touches it to the poison pokemon.

Nidorino begins to stir...

While that's going down, that weird lizard should have a chat with the heroes. Clearly the Mew and the Victini must be the heroes. One is wearing a scarf and the other has a tiny flight jacket! Everyone knows that pokemon wearing clothing in these games are important.

[Deathkeeper]

Forest?

"Are you okay?" asks Zebes to the small lizard. Oh, so small.
"Yeah, our friend said the guy's not normally like that. Did you see him acting weird, or did he basically just attack you?" asks Jace.

Kate might remember these two. She met both of them. Though at the time she couldn't understand Zebes' pokespeak, and Jace was using his telepathy, so his voice would have been a bit less high.

[Lost_Deep]

Forest?

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay, and I'm not sure, I might have provo-wait a second." Dragonite, fuzzy warm bunny, Mew? She's seen this array before. "My name is Kate Kyland, and until a short time ago, I was a human, have we met?"

[Fenric]

[Orochi's Palace]

Steven is perfectly happy to be led about the palace. Even in the temple, he doesn't really get a sense of royalty. It's interesting to experience it here.
"Is that yours, Helen? Wow." he says, before letting the undoubtedly reptilian servant do his measuring.

Yep: long and lean with delicate horns and various decorative whiskers and tufts of fluff. The tailor finishes quickly and sinuously departs, moving rapidly and gracefully.

They're so cool. I wonder if that's what Kenji will look like when he gets older...