Foxside: The Temple of Inari 54 - Ten Years of Foxes

[Rebonack]

[Sanctuary]

Mewtwo was previously unaware of the fact that there are movies about him. He really hasn't looked into the usual fictitious stuff that surrounds various characters from various genres. He just came to the Nexus because he had heard rumors of mew spottings here.

And he wanted one.

Getting here required beating the Elite Four of the Toro region to gain access to the Victor's Cave.

And that's what Mewtwo did. It was simple, really. All he had to do was force his pokemon to fight mercilessly until they could destroy anything they encountered.

So he arrived and the Nexus was exactly as strange as the rumors. And it wasn't too long before he found his mew.

Unfortunately... the mew escaped.

To here.

And now he has to deal with...

He scowls at Delphie.

This.

I do not have time for your nonsense. Get out of my way.

And with that, he sweeps his hand to one side, aiming to shove aside poor Delphie with a wave of telekinetic power. He feels incredible powers at work here, but none are making themselves known. So he'll simply find where the mew is hiding and take her by force.

[WarKitty]

Sanctuary

Xun slips back into her native form and very quietly pads after MewTwo, trying to avoid being noticed. She rigs the portal so that it'll hopefully stay redirected until reset. Hopefully the priests won't be too mad...

This MewTwo is mean. Xun hopes she can keep some of the damage down though.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Delphie is cute, and sincere, and fluffy...

and is now swatted off to the side in an unceremonious heap, crying bitter tears over the rejection by her hero.

but Caroline hasn't exactly been quiet. And this is the tenth anniversary party.

Mewtwo now has (!s^@#4), Tamamo, Myobu, Myobi, Noriko, and Tsukiko (not to mention Keiko) all glaring at him.

And they all stand rather still and don't say a word.

Because there is now an apparently Human woman in a navy business suit who looks just the tiniest bit cross and has the most unsettling distortion in the air around her standing there now

Do you mind? I rather liked that song, actually... The ponies have great musical sense and a feel for lyrics that you don't get so much these days.

And Mewtwo will undoubtedly feel the difference that fourteen billion years of experience makes... and having more worshippers than there are electrons in the "normal" physical universe... when suddenly a musical number is so surprisingly important for no apparent reason, and the "most awesomest of Pokémon" is about the same as a plastic figurine.

So what excatly are you hoping to accomplish, Mewtwo?

[Deathkeeper]

Stables

Once she's done, she can meet back up with Jesse, grinning again.
"So, what now?" he asks her.

[Rebonack]

[Sanctuary]

Mewtwo feels nothing at the sound of Delphie crying. Or, well, that isn't true. He feels annoyed that she's making such an obnoxious sound. He's also feeling irritated that she distracted him for any length of time. But compassion? Empathy? No, he can't feel either of those things. The only thing that matters to Mewtwo are his own goals. Nothing more. Nothing less. And right now his goal is to acquire a mew.

He briefly spies Geneva peeking at him from behind the horderves table and begins moving toward her-

-only to have a woman in a smart navy blue suit appear in front of him.

And ask him a question.

It is apparent to him immediately that defeating her would be difficult, if not impossible, and therefore isn't worth the risk.

To acquire a mew for the purpose of creating another being like myself. I heard tales of three unique mews sighted in this 'Nexus' and concluded this would be the easiest location to capture one. Coming here required defeating the Elite Four of the Toro region, which was a simple task. I will not deny that beating the humans at their own game gave me some small measure of satisfaction, however it was only a means to an end. If this mew-

He gestures at Geneva.

-is beyond my reach, then I shall be forced to find another.

"I don't know the other two mews who live here," Geneva yells from behind a small pyramid of grapes. "But I can bet they aren't going to want to come with you either!"

What they desire is irrelevant. I was not given a choice in what I am. Nor shall they.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Inari blinks.

Yes... she really does.

and she looks around.

And frowns

That will never do at all. Tamamo: he's not that much different from you!

Tamamo does her best to not snarl at her boss - as clearly she does not agree. But the Mother of Rice and Foxes doesn't think like the rest of us. No... not a bit...

Tavlii can doubtless guess what's coming, but she's probably eating sweet poffins.

LET THERE BE FEMALE MEWTWO

And it was so. And it was... OMFG

Uh... hi?

There is much speechlessness among my characters... we'll see about the rest of you.

---

[Stables]

Stephanie comes back outside

Still no sign of 'em?

[Deathkeeper]

Stables

Jesse raises his eyebrow questioningly.
"No sign of who now?" he asks, confused.

[Fenric]

Stables

Stephanie giggles

Yer brothers, wasn't it? Four bags of sweet feed and eight of pine shavings? Sixteen bales of fresh hay? Six of dry straw? 's why I stopped by your shop this morning, remember?

[Deathkeeper]

Stables

"Oh. I figure they'da just dropped it off where we usually do: in the back where your trucks go. Then it's probably inspected before it comes in after you folks had that scare few years back. I didn't think we'd get news of it any time soon." he posits.

[Fenric]

Stables

Stephanie smiles gently

This is the "back", Jesse. Nobody checks my stuff but me: I'm in charge.

If the stuff was delivered, it'd be over 'cross the paddock... and it aint.

She looks at the rapidly darkening sky

Come on, let's get some dinner. Cafeteria's not far, and the food's pretty good.

she grins

And ya can't beat the price - I'm an employee: no charge.

[Rebonack]

[Party!!]

Geneva goggles at the second mewtwo.

"You made another one!?" she wails, pulling at her hair with her hands. She's so distraught that her disguise actually frazzles, mew-like facial features showing through. Given how large a mew's eyes are compared to a human's, it makes the face she's pulling look even more hilarious. "Why would you make another one!?"

It would appear as though the resident mew doesn't approve of this plan.

Of course, the Mewtwo here came from more of a main-line Pokemon universe.

Geneva came from a pokemon universe crossed over with Fallout.

The Mewtwo from her universe is much much MUCH worse. Considering she grew up on horror stories of what the humans used a single captured mew to accomplish, it's understandable why she would be pretty hesitant about a second mewtwo existing.

As for Mewtwo?

He just... stares at his counterpart for a moment.

I feel...

His expression hardens.

Nothing. It is as if I am looking into a mirror, and I feel nothing. I feel no less alone than I did previously. This whole endeavor was fruitless.

And with that, he turns on his toes and begins walking back toward the mirror portal.

There is nothing for me here. There is nothing for me ANYWHERE. My existence is an aberration, and a second aberration does nothing to change that.

As he stomps past Delphie, he reaches out one hand, aiming to snatch the photo from her with a telekinetic tug. Should he snag the picture, he'll press one palm again the white backing, searing it with a wave of pyrokinetic force. Juuuust enough to leave a blackened hand-print rather than totally incinerating it. For some inexplicable reason, this also burns 'Mewtwo' onto the front of the photo. Then he holds it out to her, his expression exactly as stony as it was previously.

[Recaiden]

Anima nods at the Espeon.
"Spicy at first, isn't it? But it's got so much flavor to it, and it really clears up your mind."
"Here!"
She offers Precious a glass of milk to go along with it.

---

Winds shakes his head.
"This is small, and so quickly resolved, I couldn't foresee it. I recommend you review history books to prepare. And also try these crisps. Delicious."

Cleo does her part glaring at Mewtwo along with the foxes and dragons.

---

"Um, boss, are you sure that's a good idea?"
Tavlii looks up a little late from coming in from the gardens.
"Isn't their species mono-gender? ... What changes did you make? What is she going to think about existing this way, for this reason? I'm sure you knew how he'd react, but from a mortal point of view it looks really lenient."
Marcie chimes in a question too.
"If he's not so different from Tamamo are we starting work on the dragon-nogitsune again soon?"

---

One character at least thinks we should see to the new Mewtwo. Hopefully she's more careful with her powers. Arlem is all for openness, but this other guy is mentally screaming at the top of his lungs, constantly. It's no good at all.
Greetings, neighbor. Blessing of Inari, Tamamo, and Keiko be upon you. Welcome to the Nexus, or, perhaps, welcome to existence!

[Deathkeeper]

Stables

Jesse shrugs.
"Guess they're late, then. Food sounds good to me." he says, following her.

[WarKitty]

Party!!

Well, the MewTwo situation seems to be handled. Xun trots into the party. Maybe there's sushi? Foxes like fish too, right?

[Fenric]

Frederick blinks

Oh. Ok...

Precious happily laps up the milk.

Meanwhile

Tavlii and Geneva are in good company as the entire cadre of Messengers and subordinate goddesses add their voices

(Tamamo) I don't think that's such a good idea
(Noriko) Seriously?
(Myobi) Mom!
(Myobu) Mother...
(Keiko) Oh come on, Inari! That's something I would do.
(Caroline) Your Holiness, I respectfully suggest that this course of action may not turn out entirely well...

And then...

well...

it totally works...

sort of.

Delphie doesn't resist as Mewtwo takes the picture and signs it. She sniffles

Thank you.

Inari herself just watches

The newly minted feminine Mewtwo tilts her head when she hears Arlem's mental voice

Hello... and thank you. Who was that guy? He seems kinda mean. And noisy. And emo.

As the others protest, her face falls

And uh... they don't seem to like me very much for some reason... Especially the pink one.

---

[Cafeteria]

And so Stephanie leads Jessie around to the main cafeteria. Stephanie grabs a tray and gets in line

Maybe not as fancy as some places we've seen today, but the food's good.

It may seem redundant for her to say that yet again but it is a cafeteria, and those are not usually the most inspiring looking facilities.

[Deathkeeper]

Steven, who had been resting leaning on Eclipse, finally voiced his opinion.
I agree with them, Ma'am, but only because he has little emotions. He needs back what the scientists took from him to appreciate your gift.

Cafeteria

"Doesn't seem bad. I don't smell anything awful, which is a good sign. What's on the menu?"
It's unlikely it'll be as good as the food served at the Court, but that was actually magic. It just goes to show you should save stuff like that for last.

[Baeleck]

[Party!!]

Oh no! a second exclamation point has arrived!

And ponies are singing.

And random montages take over the world at random intervals.

And there's more magic in the whole thing than there's any right to be. All about friendship and letting go of the past and moving forward and finding that special someone...

---

Katrina nods to Urias

Oh, yeah. I've got a really great band this time: Dreamtail. They sing awesome fantasy metal story-albums, and ...

and then ponies start to sing

That's... not in the program...

Well, program or not, there is now music. Urias politely listens along, though it should be pretty obvious that it's not his preferred genre, paying far more attention to Katrina... the MewTwo situation... even his food.

See that? Urias has developed some sort of actual musical opinion!

In his distracted state, Urias also spots Felina! He'll give a little wave should she look in his direction. 'Well... it looks like Lady Felina is doing well... and the little one, too...' he will comment to Katrina, between mouthfuls of dumpling.

[Rebonack]

[PARTY!!]

Oh, Mewtwo has plenty of emotions. But they're just for him. He doesn't feel things for the sake of others. Case in point? He didn't just give Delphie an autograph because he wanted her to feel better. He gave her an autograph because he thinks that action will make it less likely that the temple guardians lash out at him. Unless the mirror is still being rerouted, he'll leave at this point. Suffice to say, if it DOES just lead him back to the temple, he's going to be irritated.

As for Geneva?

She's angrily eating grapes and trying to calm herself down. At the very least, she's managed to reign her disguise back in. That makes her look significantly less silly. She's watching the new mewtwo like a hawk. And... a couple things become obvious pretty quick. These new creature doesn't seem to share Mewtwo's utter lack of empathy. Is she even a pokemon? As in... really a pokemon? Or is she an attempt at one like that weird clockwork thing?

Or porygons.

Ugh... porygons.

Geneva feels slightly nauseous even thinking about them.

She has to be sure.

And so she lets out a deep breath, drops her Transform, and zips through the air toward the recently created being. It'll probably be a bit awkward for the newcomer, having a mew floating around examining her and poking at her with psychic probes. Probably tickles. Geneva's trying to figure out whether this new person is actually a mewtwo or just happens to look like one. That's a pretty important distinction.

"Don't mind me," Geneva says as she flits around in the newcomer's personal space.

Put in a slightly different fashion, Arceus owns the intellectual property rights to pokemon in much the same way that Inari owns the rights to rice and foxes. Geneva is trying to figure out whether or not NewTwo is a bootleg.

[WarKitty]

Sanctuary

Unfortunately, the mirror is still being rerouted. Hopefully MewTwo isn't too upest.

[Recaiden]

"I'm sure you can handle it. As far as foxes to give the fate of the world too, you're pretty good. Just a heads-up."
Winds steps off to refill his drink.

---

"See? They go well together, don't they little guy?"
Anima looks at Precious expectantly.

---

He was Mewtwo. Don't think he gave a name. Might not have had one. Anyway, he's had a hard life. Was just trying to carve the world you know? Don't hold it against him.

Marcie steps up to MewtwoTwo, offering an arm for a handshake. Pawshake?
"They're still upset at him, and other mews. But that doesn't make you any less beautiful and nice and, heh, not-emo, does it?"

Tavlii watches for Inari's eventual response, even if it's only leaving after a job 'well' done.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Frederick smiles weakly

Thanks... I think...

Precious nods... and then tentatively goes for another!

Katrina grins at Urias

Yep: she's up and about already! It's not really common practice to have a kit out in public before they're named, but I can understand why she'd want to show him off at the party. He's a cutie, certainly.

Inari notices the return of MewTwo

Xun dear: undo your changes to our mirror and let him go.

But otherwise she continues to watch what everyone else will do in response to her new creation.

Geneva will find that while she very closely resembles MewTwo (except for being clearly female), but is otherwise a creature that has pretty much exactly nothing in common with Pokémon genetically. Tavlii would recognize the pattern as yet another of Inari's cut-and-paste jobs in Gene Workbench, and probably make snorting noises regarding it. Her personality is rather similar to Felina's little sister Melina overall: nothing like the dark and broody MewTwo. But for all that, Inari did maintain continuity in a way and made her an abomination of sorts: Meow-Too's powers are based on the dreadfully unbalanced 2nd Edition "Complete Psioniscist's Handbook", and her class level appears to be somewhere in the high twenties.

She starts to get uncomfortable with so much probing, and puts up a Tower of Iron Will, leaving communication open but abruptly ending any further inspection.

The others have been preparing a variety of defenses and contingencies... except for Keiko who has scurried up and is peering at Meow-Too curiously

She doesn't smell evil.

[Rebonack]

[Party!!]

Mewtwo will glower at Xun until the cat lets him leave. What a grump.

Geneva zips back a bit when the wall of mental shielding snaps into place. "Oh, ah, hehe. Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away?" she apologizes lamely. "I was just curious."

She was just wanting to make sure that Inari didn't create a second crime against pokemon existence. Geneva can certainly live with 'looks like a pokemon, but isn't'. That just means this newcomer only resembles a being that represents the darkest, most unethical tampering of humanity into things they have no right to toy with! Which is still kind of unsettling. But not as bad as it could be.

"Well... umm... I'm Geneva Fischer. Nice to meet you... um... person?" she glances over at Inari as if to say, 'Well, you made her. What's her name?'

And then Keiko provides vital commentary!

"How can someone smell evil?" Geneva asks, sounding baffled but curious.

Bafflious.

"Ethical dispositions aren't physical things. They shouldn't have a smell."

[Fenric]

Stephanie grins

Looks like the usual fare: rice, of course, prepared a couple different ways. Grilled chicken breast, fried chicken tenders, some bland looking white fish or other. "Steamed summer vegatables" over there is doubtless a mix of yellow squash, zucchini, and asparagus. Mashed potatoes with white gravy, dinner rolls that really aren't bad, and I think that's strawberry pie next to the gloopy looking yellow stuff that's hopefully vanilla pudding but might be banana. The lumpy white stuff is rice pudding.

You'll note the complete absence of anything even resembling grapes or chocolate, no avocados, and don't get your hopes up for onions to be in anything either. Anything that's supposed to be sweet will be less than you might expect, and nothing's as salty as you might like either - but at least there are salt shakers.

Not the she wants the foxes to get sick or anything... but their weird dietary restrictions are weird.

[Deathkeeper]

Cafeteria

Jesse does his best to return the grin. It doesn't seem too exciting. "Seems well enough. Only so much you can do at a public cafeteria." he says. He already feels bad enough that his brother can't eat half of the stuff he used to like without shapeshifting Magic, which he's apparently terrible at.

[Fenric]

Stephanie nods

Yup. You get the best variety here in the main cafeteria. The best service is at the Hospital, but the food's really bland for obvious reasons. If you want meat, you'll have to go to the school cafeteria - but you don't get much choice overall and they get a bit grumpy after dealing with kids all day - or the barracks... but watching the werefoxes eat can be unsettling.

She can't help but giggle a bit

Ever see "Fantastic Mister Fox?" Anyway, the priest's cafeteria isn't bad either but they can get preachy.

[Deathkeeper]

Cafeteria

Jesse raises an eyebrow.
"Worse than the rest? I've watched my brother eat, it wasn't that bad." he says, going to get food.

[Fenric]

Stephanie looks around to see how many clerical robes are in the immediate vicinity

Don't need another lecture...

the coast is clear, so she continues

Ok, so look over there. There's a red-furred guy who otherwise looks a lot like your brother does now. That's a Vulpan, and aside from some simple enough issues with how their mouth works they're no different than us.

Now over there, another one who you'd think by his size is maybe a teenager? And he's eating timidly like his plate's gonna fight back? He's a Kitsune. They get really self-conscious if people watch them eating and they always take leftovers home.

She looks around, and finally spots

Over there, but look fast or you'll miss it.

The lone soldier who's rounds ended up with him getting dinner in the main cafeteria looms a full head taller than the tallest Vulpans. He stacks three chicken breasts together and devours them all at once: chewing with his mouth open, but that only four or five times before gulping the meat down and smacking his lips.

Now imagine a hundred of them together, all at once, with meat cooked rather less than that chicken was.

[Deathkeeper]

Cafeteria

Jesse nods, going to get some chicken himself as to avoid anyone's notice of staring.
"Makes sense. I can see what you mean." he whispers.

[Fenric]

Food selections are made and Stephanie shows her ID badge at the register, getting them through without needing to pay anything.

There's a spot over there by the window.

[Deathkeeper]

Cafeteria

Jesse nods and goes to the window, and will presumably eat his dinner unless something strange happens.