Sojaveña Wilds Timeless Oasis

[HelloYellow17]

Wes had watched the whole display with Steven and Ridley carefully, hoping neither one of them would get hurt. At first he raised an eyebrow at the Mimikyu, but he seemed…a lot more thoughtful about volunteering this time, not like he was in the Powehi dream. Wes decided to give him a little bit of credit, though he hoped for both their sakes that nothing would go horribly wrong. He let out a small breath of relief when the moment passed and their goal was successfully achieved.

“Right,” he said, “let’s move on—”

Then the voices started. At first, he snapped his head around to Kimiko, completely caught off guard by the sheer vitriol in her voice—but her mouth wasn’t moving. The words floated all around them as if coming from invisible speakers. What was this? An illusion of some sort? Why did Kimiko look so mortified? What was this about ghost types, all of a sudden? Wes shot a glance at Ridley and wondered what he was making of this.

Then Archie spoke. A fairly normal statement, all things considered, but again, it wasn’t coming from him directly, not at the moment. What—?

Then Koa’s voice reverberated around them, and Wes flinched and jerked back as if he’d been burned.

Those words. He knew those words, the same ones that played on repeat in his head, over and over and over—they weren’t new when he’d first heard them in Koa’s voice, oh no—the kid had simply given the thoughts in Wes’s own head a physical voice. Before he could convince himself not to, he glanced at Koa, saw the way he shuffled away from Archie and ducked his head.

In one slightly unhinged moment, Wes almost laughed. What, was he ashamed of those words, now? Give me a break. There was not an ounce of regret in the kid’s eyes ever since that day, not a godsdamn inkling of remorse. The only shame he could possibly be feeling right now was the shame of being exposed. As if to confirm Wes’s suspicions, Koa muttered something about the dungeon pulling a trick. This time, he couldn’t hold back his bitter, sharp bark of a laugh.

“A trick. Right. We’ll go with that,” he spat. The little bastard didn’t even have the gall to look Wes in the eye, and he wasn’t sure what made him angrier: the fact that he was putting on this pathetic little act of remorse, or that he was trying to claim that none of this was true or real.

Wes very suddenly and very forcefully wanted to be anywhere but here. He swung around to face Sybil. “Where to next?” He didn’t want to get into it with Koa, not here, not now, not ever. He just wanted to get through this damn dungeon and put as much space between himself and the snot-nosed brat as soon as possible.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

"Right. Right," said Steven, glancing around the clearing as if to confirm what Archie said. Everything was back to normal now. As normal as this dungeon was, at least.

"We should keep moving, then," he began, giving Ridley a reassuring look, perhaps seeking a second opinion that things were normal, or maybe as thanks for volunteering, despite their rocky last meeting.

But then things were definitely not normal, and Archie started speaking to him, playing back a conversation they'd had without moving his mouth. At the riverside, before he'd evolved, when he brushed Archie off and ran away.

Steven's eyes widened, trying to find the source of the echoing voices. "What's happening?" he asked, gaze darting to Kimiko, then... Koa?

"It's not a trick," he said, shaking his head. "It's almost like the dungeon is... accessing our individual timelines?"

It was just a guess, but who had Koa said that to? Why would the dungeon want to dredge up their pasts?

 

[Shadow Serenity]

The whispering fell silent and Sybil's eyes widened ever so slightly, allowing the past words of Kimiko, Archie and Koa to echo through the clearing.

Kimiko froze at the sound of her own voice. That was... was that what she sounded like, snarling at Odette in that clearing? She knew she'd been angry, but that voice had been laced with venom...

She could only stand and blink as eyes landed on her, her words echoing around them while she sputtered, struggling and failing to form words. She just closed her mouth then; no better way to prove she wasn't currently speaking if her mouth wasn't moving. She looked down, up, around at the surrounding trees, anywhere but at her colleagues... she'd been struggling to make connections already, and this certainly wasn't going to help. And there wasn't anywhere she could really... hide. Not that that would be a solution anyway, but... anything to get the attention off her in this moment. Anything. She and Odette had come to an understanding after that. She'd made things right again. Why was that what the dungeon decided to taunt her with?

But then further voices came in. Archie's voice. Admitting openly to being human with whoever he'd been talking to... and a former ranger, on top of that. With the attention off her, she was able to look in his direction with curiosity. It made sense, she figured... he had a lot of the qualities she figured the rangers would value. He always seemed to be doing his best to forge connections between the group, and not with himself. He'd tried to help Koa soothe that shadow drapion. He was the one who stuck by her when they first landed and Gerome had singled her out.

Why couldn't the dungeon have picked something that painted her in that kind of light, she wondered, somewhat jealously.

Because Archie was just that kind of guy, always doing his best to help people, that's why.

And then, Koa's voice. Also sounding angry. At... he'd glanced first at Wes, of all people. Had this been during one of their shouting matches? Wes' reaction seemed to confirm it, too. And yet, Koa was the one who looked ashamed? Why? Kimiko felt more keen on his argument, if anything. She looked angrily at Wes now. Who would just abandon their pokemon?

You did.

That's not true, she argued with herself. This was a temporary arrangement. She knew that. She'd be going back to them when this was all over.

She shook her head. Very much not the time for this. "Koa's right," she agreed quietly to silence the argument in her head, belatedly realizing this would draw the spotlight back to her again instead. Too late now; she pressed on, trying to shove the feelings back down. "Whatever these voices are, whatever reason we're being treated to them... they're in the past. And they're not... There's more important... We should keep moving."

 

[Weazel]

Alright, crisis averted. Steven was fine, and everyone was getting ready to get a move on. And then Kimiko’s voice rang out across the clearing, full of venom. Was she arguing with someone? Archie glanced back towards the main body of the group, but she seemed just as surprised as everyone else did, looking around everywhere, and there certainly didn’t seem to be anyone she could possibly be arguing with.

Then his own voice rang out. The Oshawott’s paw went up to his mouth, but it wasn’t moving. Those were undoubtedly his words, but he wasn’t the one saying them. Then he remembered, that was what he’d said to Steven, as a last ditch effort to get the then-Beldum to open up to him and not run away. But that had been days ago and miles away, on the banks of Silver River. Was this another one of the Dungeon’s abilities? Just what were Mystery Dungeons in this world, to have access to this kind of information?

The last voice was Koa’s, unmistakably. The snarling hatred to it made the Oshawott’s blood run cold. He looked towards the Electrike, but the Electric Type wouldn’t meet his eye. But Archie didn’t need Koa to answer the question on the tip of his tongue, because Wes answered it for him, simply in the way the Lycanroc’s voice distorted with the obvious first signs of Shadow. That was what Koa had said to Wes, what he’d been too ashamed to tell Archie about. Surely the Electrike hadn’t meant it, it had been a product of his anger and the influence of the Shadow. But why couldn’t Koa just say that? Just apologize, Wes wasn’t unreasonable!

The Oshawott looked between the two blue dogs, his two closest friends in this world. What was he supposed to do now? He felt like they both clearly needed his support, but they wouldn’t accept any attempt by him to pull all three of them together. Moreover, given how badly they fought, Archie felt like any attempt to comfort one would be seen as a betrayal by the other. At the same time, he hated the thought of doing nothing.

“Koa-” he began, but the Electrike still wasn’t looking at him. He wanted to shout at the Electric Type, tell him to just apologize already, say he hadn’t meant it, anything. But instead the Electrike was pretending like nothing had ever happened, and the Oshawott’s words failed him.

“Wes-” he tried again, but what could he even say? He couldn’t apologize on Koa’s behalf, and of all of them Wes least needed to hear about how Shadow enhanced your worst impulses. And the Lycanroc was talking to Sybil now, already trying to rush them on to the next objective.

Still, he’d heard the way Wes’s voice distorted, between the two canines, the Lycanroc seemed to be in the more emotionally volatile space. Plus, he’d been sticking close to the Electrike most of the journey, simply due to the threat of Alex, and likewise avoiding approaching Wes while he still had his Razor Shell in use for similar reasons. He had good reasons for it, but Wes didn’t know them, and Archie dreaded the thought that, through all his efforts to avoid hurting Wes physically, he’d just end up hurting him emotionally instead.

So, Archie approached the Lycanroc, slowly, and gingerly put a paw on Wes’s foreleg, trying to offer some modicum of comfort with his presence. He should be doing more, and he knew it. But once again, a moment had presented itself to him, and he’d found himself unable to rise to the challenge.

 

[Inkedust]

Sybil was very quick to distract herself with the lycanroc. Was any of this her business? No, she decided. "Forward," she answered with a nod. "Brace yourselves, however, there's no telling what we may see down there if the dungeon has already begun to dive further into our pasts."

The wyrdeer took a few steps forward then continued to walk further down the path, expecting the others to follow. The further along the path they went, the louder the whisperings of the group's own voices became, what was said, what was being said, and what would be said blended together, make out any clear words from the flurry of voices. Was the dungeon digging deep to judge their characters to scrutinise their worthiness?

The path continued with little turns, its length almost made it feel like some kind of walk of shame designed to bring questions of self-doubt to the forefront of the mind. Just how much was it weighing on each of them? There didn't seem to be much more time (or perhaps they still had all the time in the world) to linger on the question, no matter how much it was considered, as when Sybil turned the corner, the party would find themselves face to face with...

A murkrow. Sitting on a low branch. An odd sight considering that there had been no sign of dungeon apparitions or wild pokémon prior to this point. Just what would this one say?

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova looked at the murkrow. They could kind of be mimics, couldn't they? And hadn't some Wayfarers gotten news about the Escarpa and the trains from a flock of cawing murkrow?

Well, his helmet was off now and he was kinda bird in the head. So Nova tilted his head slightly and chirped a greeting as if he was some sort of feral.

 

[Tetra]

Koa forced himself to ignore Wes, not to mind Archie, not to pay mind to timbre of Wes's voice. Old annoyance kindled, but he quashed it. Even more proof that nothing he did would change anything, and he didn't care anyway. Stiff-legged, he moved forward, following Sybil.

Except every step felt harder than the last. The voices seemed to grow and the more they did the more his enthusiasm dwindled into nothing. He wanted to leave, teleport out or run until he escaped. What would happen when they reached the heart? What would the dungeon see?The truth. He shifted, trying to move to the back of the group, or at least not directly close to anyone.

At the sight of the Murkrow he paused, his hackles rising slightly. He didn't trust anything about dungeons anymore, least of all this one. Part of him wanted to shoot some lightning at it to scare it off, but he held himself back. Maybe it would go away.

 

[Namohysip]

"...Didn't some of us also happen upon Murkrow in odd places recently?" Mhynt mused aloud, crossing her arms. "It's been quite lonely in here since we entered..."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Oh, what now.

It was beyond jarring for this peaceful little pocket of green to fill up with snarling and muttering and frustration out of nowhere. That echo of Sybil had just been a simple nothing-question, but now it was other people, angry and sad and... what were they even talking about? Who'd they been talking to? Most of the group seemed even more on-edge than they'd been before. Did they know what all this was about? Had she missed something? Again?

Koa definitely didn't look so hot, that was for sure. Whatever he'd been so angry about must've really been bothering him, the way he was starting to drag behind. Had he been arguing with Kimiko or something? Didn't seem like there'd been anything between them when they'd been traveling a little while ago. Someone else?

"You want a ride?" Leaf asked, nudging him just a little. "It's no trouble, honest." If he accepted she'd go ahead and lift him onto her back; if not, well, she'd at least try to hang back with him. They couldn't leave anyone behind by themselves. Not here, not with all this.

Now there was a murkrow sitting in front of them. First living(?) thing they'd seen that wasn't them(?) since they'd gotten here. Was the dungeon trying to get cute with a theme—a pretty shaky one given this was supposed to be about time but was mostly just being an ass and messing with their heads instead—or if it was it actually related to whatever was going on with all these whispers? How would it even know?

Everyone else was mostly just dancing around actually doing anything with it, aside from Nova, sort of; sure didn't look like it was going anywhere anytime soon, though, so they might as well try something.

"D'you want something?" she asked it. Tried to keep her tone firm but even, and maybe even mostly succeeded in keeping some exasperation out of it.

 

[Tetra]

As tempted as he was to deny it, just to avoid having to hang around anyone, Koa didn't really want to. It was something, at least, and he appreciated Leaf too much to ignore the offer. At least she didn't say anything about the voices.

He managed a nod, murmuring his thanks and riding in silence until they reached the Murkrow.

 

[HelloYellow17]

Wes felt someone brush against him, and for the tiniest sliver of a second, with his jaw clenched and all his muscles taught, he felt an almost primal urge to whirl and snap at whoever it was. But as soon as he caught sight of Archie’s blue fur, the feeling vanished, and he let out a tense huff.

“I’m fine,” he muttered wearily to the Oshawott. “But thank you.” He really didn’t want to get into it right here, but he got the sense that Archie wasn’t looking to push or pry. The simple show of concern helped him feel at least marginally better.

Wes then narrowed his eyes at the Murkrow. He was at least grateful for Sybil’s willingness to avoid commenting on what she’d just heard—not a nosy mon, which he appreciated. But Murkrow…well, Wes didn’t exactly have a good opinion of them, from his experiences in this world. They always seemed to spell trouble. Was this Murkrow responsible for repeating the strange past snippets they’d all just heard

“What do you want?” he said curtly to the black bird.

 

[Hap]

Well, this was shit.

Only a few minutes ago the party had been, if not exactly in harmony, then at least united in their common goal to explore the dungeon. Now that was all thrown into disarray, as people shifted and eyed each other uneasily. Much as Ridley would have liked to pretend otherwise, he wasn't immune to the new tensions forming within their group. (What fucking problem did Kimiko have with ghost-types, huh?)

More than anything, though, it was what the voices had said in general rather than specific terms which bothered him. He couldn't believe that they'd been random, not when so much of what was said every day were nothing-much trivialities: hello, how are you, oh shit I forgot to buy milk again.

These lines felt specifically-selected to unsettle people, to bring up feelings of distrust and shame. Was that a reflection of how people already felt - if Mhynt's musing about memories was correct, then perhaps these moments in time had already been at the forefront of people's minds - or was there some directing force in the dungeon trying to set the Wayfarers against each other?

And now the murkrow, the first other creature Ridley had seen in this place. They had a habit of showing up at unexpected times and in unexpected places, didn't they?

Ridley waved hello at it.

 

[Weazel]

Wes insisted he was fine, in a way that did not come across as particularly convincing. Still, the Oshawott couldn't hear the shadow in the Lycanroc's voice anymore, and that was probably the best he could hope for right now. They were getting a move on anyway, and Archie had to agree that the sooner they got to the heart of this dungeon, the better.

He drifted a foot or so away from the Lycanroc, giving him a little space, but staying relatively nearby. He still didn't entirely trust himself, but at least he wasn't actively armed at the moment. Every so often while they walked he glanced back at Koa, but hadn't yet caught the Electrike's eye. He'd ended up with Leaf at some point, and it was nice to see someone comforting the Electric Type. Hopefully he'd approach Archie of his own accord at some point. If not, then Archie would have to try and catch him somewhere a little more private. Seemed like almost everyone was on edge at this point though. Was that the point of the statements that had been brought to light? To twist the knife, and divide them?

But then, why had his been so generic, compared to Kimiko and Koa? Maybe to make them seem somehow worse in comparison? Sure, he'd be cagey about his humanity, but compared to the amount of venom Kimiko and Koa had displayed, and the amount of shame both seemed to feel, his own little reveal felt like nothing. And, honestly, after the forced reveal as part of Lumirror Forest's heart quest, he was kind of desensitized to that secret being revealed before he was ready to reveal it.

The cacophony of voices threatened to bring back his headache, and thinking about this wasn't helping any either. He couldn't really make out what any specific voice was saying, or even really recognize who they were meant to belong to. But he could feel the fur at the base of his neck raise anyway, as he waited, like he imagined they all were, for another one of their voices to cut through the din. Every minute they walked, the tension increased even more.

... So when they came upon a Murkrow, of all things, Archie actually felt himself deflate a little. Was it real? Was it a construct? Did it really matter? It seemed like everyone else was treating it like their next obstacle regardless. It honestly all felt a little silly after the whole stopped time thing.

"Maybe it's got a riddle for us," the Oshawott mused, trying to lighten the mood a little. The Lumirror Dungeon Floettes had had a few of those, after all!

 

[Shadow Serenity]

As the group trudged forwards, Kimiko remained silent near the back. Business as usual to any casual observer, if not for the fact that she was hardly paying attention to her surroundings now.

Those whispers, visions, whatever they were... There was a tension thick in the air now that had nothing to do with the unfamiliarity of the dungeon. It was no secret that Koa and Wes had some kind of beef with each other. They'd gotten into that public scrap in the middle of town before the Wayfarers had even known if they were all accounted for.

But for Kimiko... she'd been keeping to herself a lot, yes, and that made making friends difficult, but she hadn't thought she'd been openly hostile to anyone, much less in public like that. Odette had been the only one there when it happened. And now, there was her outburst, albeit a fragment of it, played out in the open for everyone to see, where everyone could question her. She could only imagine what was going through their minds right now. She wondered how many of them considered her 'the quiet one who would snap one day' now.

In this particular moment, however, with the party's attention diverted to the Koa/Wes issue, she was more frustrated at the dungeon than anything. What was the point of showing that? She still didn't feel like there was anything... malicious at work, so then... why? Was it some sort of self-defense mechanism, perhaps? She had no idea how these things worked, but given what she'd seen of the ranger HQ, she wouldn't discount anything.

She hardly noticed when everyone stopped to observe a lone murkrow, but once she set her eyes on it, she wondered... maybe that had something to do with the sudden shift in vibes? If this truly was Celebi's domain... well, a murkrow, being dark-type, would probably be less affected by time shifting bullshit, or any other psychic-esque dungeon tricks, no? Could it possibly have had something to do with the visions? And, more importantly... why? Why was it even here?

"...Didn't some of us also happen upon Murkrow in odd places recently?" Mhynt mused aloud, crossing her arms. "It's been quite lonely in here since we entered..."

That was true, yeah. There were murkrow spouting stuff about Terminal Two not too long ago, at the very least. Maybe they were part of some sort of spy network. Frustrated as she was, Kimiko was half tempted to suggest just knocking it out and moving on.

Because yeah, that would be a great look to go with that vision of hers.

Still, she remained silent, but fixed her glare on the bird, waiting for some kind of reaction to the various prompts from the rest of the squad.

 

[Inkedust]

The murkrow tilted its head to the left, then the right, mirroring Sybil who had been making a similar motion while also repeating every sound and word the Wayfarers had said before it. However, it seemed to linger on Nova's chirping, repeating the sound over and over to create some kind of tune, then a statement. Each word was sourced from a different voice in the great cacophony of the dungeon.

'Sing at nesting tree. Once sung, each of you must speak of what lies invisible before you.'

The murkrow then cawed again, flying off deeper into the dungeon, followed by another dozen or so murkrow. How did an entire murder get in here or was it just itself at multiple points in time? Sybil looked thoughtful at the display, possibly considering that question herself, however, there was little time to think about the possibility of both the riddle or the murkrow's presence as...

“You’re supposed to know better than me! You’re supposed to be the one with more experience, more knowledge about what you’re dealing with! And you still can’t do a DAMN THING!”

“Even after all that!”

“WE’RE STILL USELESS!”

“It can only do so much. I don’t have friends. Don’t remember how to make them. There are more humans in this group. You guys can relate to one another. But I’m better off not bringing up home.”

“And I can’t fight. So Forlas’ whole ‘show your heart through battle’ takes me nowhere. Even the shield conjuring amounted to basically nothing with Seth.”

Another pair of Wayfarer voices echoing through, much further back than the prior set. How willing were they to relive them?

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova chirped a goodbye to the murkrow. "All right. Can't say I'm the most musically inclined guy around." He didn't think himself tone deaf, but Nova was no Odette. Provided the buzz around town was anything to go by. "I guess we gotta find this tree. Though I don't know what we'd be singing, exactly." He glanced at the others, mainly Sybil. "Don't suppose you know any hymns about time or the Saint here you'd like to teach us?"

What the dungeon said... wasn't worth acknowledging to Nova. Not out loud, anyway. Leaf and Archie had already assured him he was making a bit of difference. If the dungeon really thought that would shake his confidence... then it wasn't trying hard enough. He'd said and done way worse things on Forlas.

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt tapped a claw on her chin, thinking that over. "Sybil, is there such a 'nesting tree' in this Dungeon, or anything that it may be referring to? Can we be sure it's even in the Dungeon they're talking about, or a new place to go for this twisted scavenger hunt?"

Similar to Nova, Mhynt was ignoring the Dungeon's antics otherwise.

 

[Shadow Serenity]

Two more voices. There was something odd about them, but the group was no closer to any answers. In fact, if not for the voices themselves being distinct, Kimiko wouldn't know who was even speaking. None of the party seemed to be reacting much to them, not like she or Koa had, anyway. Of course. Naturally, she and the child would be the ones openly disturbed by their examples.

But regardless, they were ignoring the voices, so Kimiko did her best to bite down her resentment at their ability to do so, turning her attention on the matter at hand...

'Sing at nesting tree. Once sung, each of you must speak of what lies invisible before you.'

What was that supposed to mean?

"I have a feeling it doesn't mean literal singing," Kimiko noted quietly. She wouldn't normally have a problem with that part, assuming it was actual singing. The only question there was, singing what?

But no, she had a sinking feeling that 'what lies invisible before you' might have some connection to these unpleasant visions they were being shown. She didn't want to think about what that connection might be... Or maybe Kimiko was just thinking too deeply on it. Maybe Nova had it right, and there was some song Celebi wanted to hear. Wasn't there something about the past shadow incident involving a flute...?

 

[Weazel]

As it turned out, the Murkrow did have a riddle for them after all. To be honest though, Archie didn’t really have any idea of what to make of this one. Was the nesting tree the one they’d found this Murkrow at, or the one it and all its – flockmates, alternate selves? Whichever – were headed towards. Presumably singing was metaphorical, though he had no evidence to support that other than gut feeling. But what did it mean by speaking of what lied invisible before them? He had no idea where to even start with that one.

Wes and Nova’s voices reverberating through the dungeon was another unwelcome surprise. Nova at least didn’t seem too perturbed by his own repeated words. But the, the Graydian hadn’t been much bothered by the previous round of them either, and seemed determined not to let the dungeon get to him. Losing that mask had done wonders for Nova’s mood, and the Oshawott was glad to see he continued to do well.

Wes’s voice, heavily distorted by shadow, Archie remembered very distinctly. When the Lycanroc had lost control and began his assault on Seth. The Oshawott watched the Lycanroc with some obvious concern, knowing he was already on edge due to the whole Koa situation. Maybe he should try to say something?

“You know, not being able to do something on your own, doesn’t make you useless,” he said, trying to keep quiet enough that only the Lycanroc could hear, “Remember, you’ve got all of us here to help you, and back home you’ve got your Pokemon, and your friend, too. Nothing wrong with relying on the people around you.”

 

[Tetra]

'Sing at nesting tree. Once sung, each of you must speak of what lies invisible before you.'

Koa tipped his head to the side, staring at the Murkrow as it vanished with awhole flock of them that appeared from nowhere. Sing? That better have been a metaphor... This whole mission was awful enough without actually singing. If it was, then what did the 'speak of what lies invisible' part mean?

There wasn't much time to think before another echoing of voices sounded around them.

Wes, and Nova this time. Wes's words brought him back in an instant to that night, to losing control, and then his own words not long after. Cringing inside, he pushed the thought aside, along with any pity for Wes. If Wes wanted to call himself useless that was none of Koa's business anymore. You share that much with him. You're both useless. And at least he has an excuse. Let Archie handle it. Wes had made his stance quite clear.

It was hard for his gaze not to drift to Nova instead. Did he really believe he had no friends? Hadn't he talked to anyone on the team or tried? Did he really not think he contributed anything? Nova didn't seem bothered though, so maybe that was just old news to him.

"Maybe singing just means making a noise or something? Like howling." He shrugged, then frowned. "Something invisible could mean something literally..." his voice trailed off. Or something worse. Metaphorically invisible? "Or tied to this time nonsense somehow." Shaking the thought aside, he glanced toward Sybil, tucking all his swirling doubts neatly away.

"Regardless we might as well walk while we think."