Blaguarro Town Blaguarro Outskirts

[Inkedust]

In the face of the battering elements, between crooked, dust-covered craigs, stood the unwelcoming features of Blaguarro Town.

Rusted metal and worn wood composed most of Blaguarro's features. From the many hovels that lined the wide dirt road that cleaved the town in two, to the pair of moonlight towers that doubled as lookouts standing on opposite ends, marking the town's, otherwise fuzzy perimeter. A skarmory sat on the eastern tower, watching the outskirts with a wary glare before flying away to perch on the western one to repeat the process.
It was hard to do worse. Even the hardiest of 'mons struggled to find reasons to live within, the remaining descending from a more prosperous time; a time before the wealth of precious ore had been mined away into a desolate pit, and were too stupid, stubborn, or both to leave.

Yet the open space and the ease of attaining cheap labour made it the ideal place to construct the transcontinental railway through. Like an iron vein, grafted into the central road, the railway pumped a new sense of purpose and liveliness into the town. But alongside the local labour, more experienced workers from the eastern cities were also outsourced which left the town's residents more on-edge than usual.

If Blaguarro Town wasn't welcoming to strangers before, it certainly wouldn't be now.

<><><>​

 

[Inkedust]

And it just so happened that strangers, interdimensional ones, would arrive when tensions were just starting to run high.

It was a dusty, otherwise mundane, afternoon when everyone was too busy taking a siesta or working the railway to witness something extraordinary that day. There was no sign or warning, just a flash of segmented light accompanied by the sound of a cracking whip that dumped six pokémon into a lot of construction materials to the audience of a single, wild murkrow.

Two landed on the hard ground in unceremonious fashion; one within a modest pile of coal, coating their fur with soot; another blipped in beneath a pile of old tracks that looked like it could be toppled over by a light breeze, ready to be repurposed for the railway; and one landed in the old minecart that the tracks were built for, the new weight of the sudden occupant sending the rusty thing on a runaway journey towards the town.

Whoever was responsible for the summoning was in need of practice— was that the sound of someone falling from far above?

The murkrow squawked at the pair out in the open with displeasure, shuffling closer to peck at the pale, ghostly zorua in an attempt to scare them off only to be batted away by the zorua's paws, flying off with a frightened caw.

"Shoo! Shoo!" Bellatrix growled, though it sounded more cute than intimidating given that her voice was one belonging to a pup. When it had flown out of sight, she turned her attention to the other pokémon, a blue rockruff, who'd landed beside her. She shoved him with her paws and a stern "Get up!" in an attempt to rouse him, only relenting when she was certain that she'd caught his attention.

She looked around but her ears fell and pinned to the sides of her head when she noticed the very conspicuous absence of the grand majority of spirits from the Nexus. With a deep sign and exasperated look in her eye, Bellatrix demanded, "Where are the others?"

 

[Butterfree]

Suddenly, everything was dark, something pressing in all around him. The shock of it had him taking a sharp breath, only to inhale a faceful of dust. He coughed and spluttered wildly, lungs burning, struggling to move in the pile of... coal?

Luckily it all came loose easily as he flailed, the pile collapsing messily around him. He crawled to his feet and shook himself, the doglike motion far too natural, still coughing up soot.

"Jesus," he managed when he'd finally caught his breath, warily opening his eyes. He was in... some kind of construction site? And the Zorua from the nexus place was there. "Hello." He looked around at the others present, none of whom appeared to have arrived comfortably. "So, uh, is the fucking cloud here with us? Because I have some feedback."

Was that a runaway minecart shuddering along the tracks? Was somebody in there?

 

[JFought]

Isidora blinked. When she closed her eyes last she had been expecting to wake up back in her dormitory from whatever crazy dream this was. Even though she knew it wasn't a dream, she was told it wasn't a dream, the possibility she was lied to just seemed more likely than waking up underneath a pile of wood and metal.

At least she didn't have a headache anymore?

How in Palkia's name did she even end up here? Was this some kind of prank? Her feathered ear twitched as she heard a voice from outside. Right, I shouldn't be the only one here. Isidora carefully turned onto her belly and coughed from the stuffy, hot air. She growled. Gonna test me, huh? I'll show you.

In sight was the slightest of gaps through this mess: she could likely squeeze through that. Just this once she thanked being a sneasel again, and crawled forward. And as soon as she did, she heard the metal creak. She froze, suddenly feeling a lot more claustrophobic. Careful. Claws first, she pushed her way through, trying her best not to panic, to keep her breath steady. She could feel the pile -- the tower? -- wobble above her, but she was almost there...

Her claws came out first, then her head, and she finally pulled her way into open air in front of the group. Isidora quickly got to her feet and brushed the dust and splinters from her fur. There, a better start. She was proud of herself.

The tower toppled behind her.

Isidora winced, then coughed slightly and crossed her arms. "So it's just us four? Wasn't there supposed to be a lot more?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

It took a moment for Gladion to realize that vertigo was not how the arrival was supposed to feel. No, he was just in the fucking air, crashing down from the heavens, the helmet's weight dragging him down faster, dragging him headfirst like a fucking lawn dart. Great! He was going to be the first one to find out exactly how dying worked here, wasn't he? The helmet made it uncomfortable trying to move his neck already. This was going to shatter his spine like glass. At least he probably wouldn't get the chance to feel— or remember what that would be like.

He felt icy-cold ennui wash over him. Whether this philosophically counted as another life, a branch off his real self, or what, it clearly wasn't worth much...

Except for one thing: A little blue point came into view beneath him, coming into focus as that guy who was snipping at the cloud. Which was bad. It would probably not be a great idea to pulverize him.

With almost no time to spare, he struggled to move, and managed to angle himself so that he landed on the Rockruff with his flank instead of his helmet. He braced for agony, but it didn't come. It hurt, sure, but he was expecting far worse. Even given that his species was engineered for high durability and pain tolerance alike, this was well beyond any reasonable expectation. He didn't even feel like he'd broken anything.

He tried to roll over to release the Rockruff, though under the protest of his decidedly difficult-to-roll spiked bolts of the mask, he settled for just shifting his weight off the poor guy instead.

"Some fucking start," He sputtered. "You dead?"

 

[Inkedust]

Thankfully, Bellatrix didn't need to wait long for an answer as it seemed that as soon as she asked her question, the others had started to shuffle their way out of their current predicaments. Towards the soot-covered poochyena, she shook her head. "Frankly, I would not be surprised if it decided to watch us from the realm we met it in. Even less so if it finds some twisted sense of humour in it." She looked out towards the rundown town in the distance. "At least it put us near some kind of civilisation."

When Isidora emerged from the pile of worn wood and rusted metal, it leaned towards the pile of coal for but a moment before it met it with a loud CRASH. A swift punch to the eardrums, especially towards those of sensitive hearing, and a massive haze of soot and dirt followed that was guaranteed to be noticed by the town. Indeed, it seemed that through the dust, one could just barely make out the metallic sheen of a skarmory flying overhead towards the settlement.

Isidora winced, then coughed slightly and crossed her arms. "So it's just us four? Wasn't there supposed to be a lot more?"

"I think so," Bellatrix answered between coughs. "Either something went wrong and we got separated, or the others simply didn't make it."

Seconds later, the large, helmeted chimera that was Gladion crashed right on top of Wes, earning a surprised yelp from Bellatrix and a scramble to regain her composure.

"...I think I have reasons to believe that it's the former, however."

 

[Butterfree]

Dave jumped to the side, flattening his ears as the tower of junk crashed onto the pile of coal. "Jesus fuck." This stuff all looked... suspiciously old. More like something out of an old movie than modern construction. Was this some kind of really low-tech world? They better at least have civilized fucking toilets. (...They were all Pokémon. Oh, Christ, he'd better not find out everyone here just used fucking litterboxes or something.)

He glanced at the minecart again; it was still rolling on, picking up speed. "Hey, uh, I'm pretty sure someone's in there. Where's that going?" After a moment's hesitation, he followed after it, breaking into a four-legged run. God, this was weird. And also weirdly energizing. Fucking dog brain.

 

[HelloYellow17]

Wes hadn’t exactly expected the cloud’s response to be an immediate teleport, but he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised at being jerked around every which way anymore. Really, it was starting to get downright comical.

He disliked the strange psychic sensation, but all things considered, it wasn’t too ba—aaaaagghhhh oh GODS now he was falling, falling, what was happening why were they so high up, why why WHY—

A million things went through his mind at once, like what was happening and why the HELL were they being dropped out of the gods-damned SKY, but panic removed his ability to put any of this into words and all that came out of his mouth was a shrill, frantic howl.

The moment of impact sent stars through his vision. He lay still for a second, wheezing, and then it registered that he was actually alive after all of that. Alive and, miraculously, somehow, relatively uninjured, if a bit winded and shaky from adrenaline. Maybe this embarrassing, gods-awful form had its perks—

CRUNCH.

There was a split-second of massive, bone-crushing weight, the wheeeeze of air being forced out of his lungs for the second time in as many minutes, a smattering of lights dancing across Wes’s vision—and then blackness.

"Some fucking start," He sputtered. "You dead?"

Talk…talking…someone was talking…to him…? What…? He heard a distant groan and belatedly realized it was his own.

His eyes fluttered open. A blurred figure loomed over him, shifting in and out of focus until Wes’s eyes finally adjusted and he could make out a…a…well, he didn’t know what they were, but they were sure something, all right, with talons to rival a Skarmory and a terrifying metal mask that was way too close to his face for comfort.

Wes tried to breathe and ended up in a coughing fit. Mew’s marbles, he felt like shit. His whole body ached, with a particular stabbing pain radiating from his front leg—right, yeah, front leg, because he had four legs now for some godsforsaken reason—

He managed what he hoped was an intimidating glare at the chimera looking down at him. His addled brain rotated through a few different cordial greetings, like what are you and get away from me, but he ended up settling for the most diplomatic option.

“What…” he gasped, “the hell…is your problem?”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“What…” he gasped, “the hell…is your problem?”

Gladion couldn’t blame the guy for being annoyed, really, but also all things considered he was being a bit unfair.

He sighed. “Gravity, I’d say.”

Being stuck with this guy for the unforseeable future was going to suck. It had been only a few minutes and he’d already made his first enemy. And it wasn’t even his fault this time! Honestly! Now it was his job to figure out how to smooth things out with the pissiest guy in the hub, which was swell because his well-honed interpersonal skills were uniquely suited to rise to such a challenge. The guy picked a fight with a fucking cloud, what was he supposed to do…

Actually, he had an idea:

“Or, I don’t know, maybe my soul consented to being used as a ballistic projectile and I simply didn’t notice.”

There. Your move, hound dog.

 

[HelloYellow17]

“Or, I don’t know, maybe my soul consented to being used as a ballistic projectile and I simply didn’t notice.”

Oh, great. This one was a smart-ass. How utterly fantastic.

Wes struggled to his feet. Remarkably, all things considered, he didn’t seem to have any broken bones, though his left front leg didn’t seem to be too happy to support his weight. Spectacular. He agrees to play hero for five minutes and the damn cloud thanks him by dropping him out of the sky into gods know where. Figures, really. No good deed goes unpunished, or whatever, right?

He gave himself a moment to take in his surroundings and the other Pokémon around him. The one that gave him the opportunity to roleplay as a trampoline was definitely the most unique of the bunch, a species Wes had never seen in his life before. Speaking of which, what species had he been turned into? All he knew was that he was some kind of blue canine. A sturdy one, apparently, to have just tanked a full-body impact from someone who looked like a confused bird trying to be a dog and a fish all at once.

“Thanks for your concern,” Wes said bitingly to his would-be murderer. “Not like you nearly killed me just now, but it’s fine, I’ll just let it slide since you’re so worried.”

He glared at their surroundings. “Where are we?” he said to nobody in particular.

 

[Sinderella]

When Odette landed, she wasn't expecting to fall upon a bed of roses and swanna down. However, she was at least expecting a mat. When she landed head first into something hard, it knocked both the wind and lights out of her system. All she could focus on as she tried to come back to her senses were her own intermittent pissed-off thoughts.

I hate everything.

I'm gonna set everyone here, including myself, on fire.

Where the fuck even am I?

I crave the sweet sound of aggravated assault.

Blinking the stars out of her eyes, she could vaguely hear some others talking. Their words sounded like gibberish against her pounding head, and the sound of something...clicking. That was going to get annoying very shortly.

However, as seconds passed, it became clear to her that the voices were getting further away, and that clicking was only picking up speed.

Wait, was she moving?

The realization that she was not at all stagnant was her sobering moment. Her eyes snapped open, and she was met with the sight of the sky moving, all from the discomfort of a mine cart. As she wobbled to her stubby mawile feet, she poked her head over the front of it just in time to catch the sight of a rapidly approaching incline downward.

"Uh, guys?"

She was suddenly preoccupied with trying to find the brake. A lever, a button, something. She was so absorbed in her search that when her obnoxious set of jaws moved, she didn't even notice it until they spoke.

"̶̥̰̔Ḫ̴̒ư̶̭͊ͅh̷̘͊̎ͅ. T̵̤͘h̵͉̐ͅa̸̝̔̿t̵̜̱̐'̴̞͒s̸͇̆ͅ ̷̝̦͑a̷̘̠͌͘ ̵̞̚m̵͇̜̆̽i̸͇͑g̷̰̟͆̔h̵͍̉ͅẗ̸͈͕ỵ̵́ ̸̛̮̬̒f̵̣͙̐́i̴̙̅̑ͅn̶̻̙̍ĕ̸͓̬̍ ̷̗̂̒l̶͈̰͘ȍ̵̖̫͂ŏ̴͖k̴̰͜͠î̷̭̺n̶̢͕͒̀g̸̣͋͋ ̷̢̧͠c̸͎̟͑l̸̨͗̑ĩ̸̮̳f̴̧͇́͠f̸̩̳͋̅.̶̙̈́̿

"No. No. No. No. No. I'm getting off this shit," she spat. She tried to hoist herself up over the side of the cart to jump out, but found that it was just slightly too high for her legs. Oh my gods, she thought, her distress rising.

"̵̖̙̈́D̷͕̺͝͠ó̸̜̎ṇ̸̜̀'̷̛̮̄t̶̩͎̔ ̶̞̅b̴͔̉ë̷͙́͗ ̸̱͊̓ä̶̡̠́ ̸̺͌̆p̴̢̺̔ű̸͓s̵̘͂͝ͅṡ̴̹̻͘y̵͚͊̓,̷̢̑̋ ̴̘͙͊́Y̴̟͑̏O̵̳̽̈Ļ̵̮̊͋Ǒ̴̻͘,̷͍͋̌ ̴͚̐́w̵̗͑̐e̶͉̽ ̶͙͐̔d̸̩͗̎į̷̮̈́̈́e̷̥̞̿ ̸̣̜̎͝l̸͎̾i̶͖̩͌̚k̷̟͝e̷̮͚̋͑ ̵̗͂̒M̸̛͙̓E̵̜̤̾N̷̲̲̓.̶͔͊̒"̵̲̀̕ͅ

Odette grit her teeth. "There are no fucking men here, this does not look--"

She couldn't get her words out. The cart hit a mechanism in the track, one designed to give it some speed, and with a shrill DING, it was launched forward over the dip. Odette was knocked off her feet, her back hitting one of the walls of the cart as the sudden G-force sent her stomach dropping into her legs.

"MOTHER FUCKER," she shrieked over her cackling jaws.

 

[Butterfree]

Oh yeah, someone was definitely in there.

Dave put on speed, pulling up by the side of the cart, still unsure what the fuck to do to stop it, and then, as the cart tipped over an incline to pick up even more speed, some Poochyena instinct took over. Unthinkingly, he launched himself into the side of the cart in a desperate bid to topple it off the track.

(This might be a terrible fucking idea, he thought in mid-air.)

 

[Inkedust]

“Thanks for your concern,” Wes said bitingly to his would-be murderer. “Not like you nearly killed me just now, but it’s fine, I’ll just let it slide since you’re so worried.”

He glared at their surroundings. “Where are we?” he said to nobody in particular.

"Such admirable concern you two have for each other," Bellatrix drily said towards the rockruff and helmeted beast. "Clearly, whoever that cloud was picked out only the most altruistic of individuals."

She took a few steps towards the direction the cart was heading to get a better lay of the land, spotting the skarmory from before flying towards them with a pair of land bound silhouettes in tow. "Your guess is as good as mine," she replied with a sigh. "Obviously, not in whatever world you hailed from. But something tells me that we haven't ended up in the most friendly of places," she added with a grimace when appraising the town before them.

If Wes were to look more closely, he would've gotten a particular sense of deja vu when looking at the town. Indeed, it seemed this particular town wasn't that far removed from the Pyrite of his world.

"Either way," Bellatrix continued, "There doesn't seem to be anything for us here. So it's in our best interest to— where are you going?"

Stunned, Bellatrix watched Dave bolt after the runaway cart on the belief that someone was in there. Was there? She didn't think there was someone in there—

"MOTHER FUCKER," she shrieked over her cackling jaws.

—there was someone in there. And it absolutely caught the attention of the three distant figures who now picked up their pace. Had it been left to run the cart would've barrelled straight into them but Dave's tackle caused the already unstable cart to lose its balance, throwing both it and its occupant off to the side. A rough landing for sure, but by the standards set by Wes and Gladion, Odette took home the gold in the competition of graceful arrivals.

 

[JFought]

"I think so," Bellatrix answered between coughs. "Either something went wrong and we got separated, or the others simply didn't make it."

Seconds later, the large, helmeted chimera that was Gladion crashed right on top of Wes, earning a surprised yelp from Bellatrix and a scramble to regain her composure.

"...I think I have reasons to believe that it's the former, however."

Isidora jumped back, claws unsheathed and fur bristling. F-five. There's five.

She just stood there, stunned as the two understandably bickered. She couldn't even process what kind of pokémon had just fallen, but the rockruff seemed okay. She tried to massage the fur on her arms flat, when she realized someone was missing...

"Either way," Bellatrix continued, "There doesn't seem to be anything for us here. So it's in our best interest to— where are you going?"

"MOTHER FUCKER," she shrieked over her cackling jaws.

Make that six. Isidora started scratching her arms. There was way too much going on. And -- she squinted at the horizon -- were those pokémon coming towards them?!

After watching poocheyena successfully tip the cart over and free its occupant, Isidora snapped. "Look, we have way more pressing matters right now! We need to get over there!" And bolted towards the scene.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Thanks for your concern,” Wes said bitingly to his would-be murderer. “Not like you nearly killed me just now, but it’s fine, I’ll just let it slide since you’re so worried.”

He glared at their surroundings. “Where are we?” he said to nobody in particular.

Gladion sighed lougly enough he figured the Rockruff could hear. "How generous of you not to hold me culpable for appearing above you. In turn, I won't reprimand you for appearing beneath me. I'm glad we're making a mutual effort to find healthier outlets for our anger than each other. As for where we are, I don't have the field of vision to have gotten a good look from there, but based on the ungodly amount of sand I'm going to guess it's either Orre, or the next-closest thing in Cloud's Cuckoo Land. Which is just great. Famously the best part of the world to be in."

 

[HelloYellow17]

"How generous of you not to hold me culpable for appearing above you. In turn, I won't reprimand you for appearing beneath me. I'm glad we're making a mutual effort to find healthier outlets for our anger than each other. As for where we are, I don't have the field of vision to have gotten a good look from there, but based on the ungodly amount of sand I'm going to guess it's either Orre, or the next-closest thing in Cloud's Cuckoo Land. Which is just great. Famously the best part of the world to be in."

Wes was fully prepared to bite back with an equally snarky reply, but paused at the mention of Orre. He blinked, then looked around again.

Well…damn, it did look like Orre. He’d been so used to the endless sand that it hadn’t even occurred to him that a desert would be unusual for anyone else to find themselves in. His eyes followed the runaway mine cart and the Poochyena chasing after it, then the town not far beyond that, and got a sense of deja vu. Even the towns here looked like his homeland…

He couldn’t hold back a bitter snort. “No. This isn’t Orre.” But gods above, this place was doing a disturbingly good impression of it. Figures that even when he went dimension hopping, Wes couldn’t escape the desert.

"Such admirable concern you two have for each other," Bellatrix drily said towards the rockruff and helmeted beast. "Clearly, whoever that cloud was picked out only the most altruistic of individuals."

He fired the little wispy fox his most withering glare. “And who the hell are you? I don’t seem to remember asking for your opinion, Princess.”

A little voice in the back of his mind, one that sounded awfully similar to Rui, nagged at him to cool his jets a little. Finding himself in a strange (and yet somehow not strange enough) place with strange people—strange talking Pokémon, no less—and in a strange (now injured) new body was probably not the best time to be picking fights. But then again, he’d tried to humor the shy cloud before, and look where that got him.

She took a few steps towards the direction the cart was heading to get a better lay of the land, spotting the skarmory from before flying towards them with a pair of land bound silhouettes in tow. "Your guess is as good as mine," she replied with a sigh. "Obviously, not in whatever world you hailed from. But something tells me that we haven't ended up in the most friendly of places," she added with a grimace when appraising the town before them.

Despite his initial dislike of this fox lady, Wes had to agree with that. “If it’s anything like Orre, then no, it’s not friendly at all,” he said warily. “Probably best if we’re on our guard when we—”

He broke off when he followed the fox’s gaze to the sky. He couldn’t make out what Pokémon were heading towards them on foot, but in the sky, there was no mistaking that silhouette, or the way the sun glinted off those steel wings.

No. No.

Wes went numb with terror. Without fully realizing it, he found himself inching backwards, albeit a little clumsily with his injured leg. Too familiar. Too familiar and not familiar enough and yet too similar to Orre in all the worst possible ways and suddenly it was hard to breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he was alone and stranded and surrounded by strangers and he couldn’t breathe—

Calm down. Calm down. Shut up and get your act together. Wes closed his eyes and dug his claws into the sand. Then he opened them again and rasped, “We should be prepared in case those guys are trouble.”

Despite his efforts, he’d failed to keep the tremor out of his voice.

 

[Sinderella]

Dave put on speed, pulling up by the side of the cart, still unsure what the fuck to do to stop it, and then, as the cart tipped over an incline to pick up even more speed, some Poochyena instinct took over. Unthinkingly, he launched himself into the side of the cart in a desperate bid to topple it off the track.

She braced to dive. Braced for whatever broken track lay ahead. Braced for impact. Maybe it would be like riding a motorcycle, and she could ride it out to the end and it would be fine. Not that riding a motorcycle was the same as getting unwittingly stuck on a runaway mine cart headed down a rusty set of rails, but surely once she got her bearings it would be similar.

She needn't have bothered considering that option, though, because she was suddenly flying again. A jolt from the cart's right side sent her airborne to the left, and she only had a split second to catch herself. In that split second, though, all she could think about was her absolute rage.

If I don't break my neck in the next three seconds, I am going to commit ACTS OF VIOLENCE against whoever dropped me here.

She hit the ground rolling, the impact against the sand sending a dull throb through her shoulder. She tumbled and twisted over her body, before successfully making it to her feet and standing upright on the tips of her toes. She stumbled once, but by holding her arms out to her sides, she stayed straight. Her dancer reflexes transferred into this body, it seemed.

Relief washed over her in that second. She was alive. Nothing hurt. Her head was still on her body.

"Safe," she shouted.

"̷̺̀̿N̵͍̳͌̚o̸̰̕p̷̡̣̾̏e̶͉͠.̴̘̞̀"̷̫̀ said the jaws.

"HUH?"

Odette bristled, and turned just in time to see the cart flying straight at her. She let out a shrill shriek before the cart struck her, and her graceful landing was obliterated in one go.

As she tumbled for the second time, she was too dazed to try and right herself again. When she finally stopped, face down in a pile of sand, she didn't move. She laid there, still, as if she'd been knocked unconscious. Just when it seemed like she had been, her secondary set of jaws rose, turned on the destroyed cart that landed at her side, and began to violently chomp away at it, sending pieces of metal and splinters of wood in every direction as it feasted.

"̶̯̻̓F̸̨͐U̵͈̼̇̚C̷͔͒̚Ḵ̵͖̍ ̵̡͚̃T̸̮͐H̵̨͈̅͘Ì̴͔͇͊S̶̭͓̚̚ ̴̨̫͐̿B̶͎͇͠I̸͍͒T̵̲͌͠C̷̙̗͒̓Ĥ̷͇ ̴͎͚̈́̓A̸̠͙͌̉S̴̬̲̈̓S̶̬̎͛ ̷̢͔̃̕C̶̯̰̀̿A̴̗̪̍Ȑ̴̗Ṭ̴̪͂͘ ̸͎̽À̶͎̻̊N̸͍͇͋͒Ḓ̵̝̂̂ ̴̭̘̓F̵̗̒Ū̴̲̖́C̷̰͌͜K̶̨̞͊ ̵͍͂T̸͔̉͝Ḥ̵̇I̶̡͌S̶̼͐ ̵̟͂B̴̞͂̔I̸̩͐̓T̶̝̋C̵̡̟̈́Ḫ̴͒̋ ̸̣͕̋A̶̤͈̒S̵̬͑̎S̶̩͔̋͒ ̵̬̙̔̊S̴̘̲̿͐A̷͇͍̕͠N̵̜̍̅D̷̑͜;̸̺̂͌ ̶͔̑ͅC̶̞͎̚A̴̘̋̃͜N̵̼̈́'̶̢̜͠T̸̻̿̓ ̸̪̑̌G̶̯͆̄E̵͈̓͝T̴͘͜ ̸̫̌͌Ä̴̬̚N̸͙̜̕Ỳ̸̺̯T̸͚̏H̶̬͑̀I̵͕̔N̵̠̈́Ģ̵͈͗͘ ̵̯̋F̵̥̩͋U̶̱̫̿͋C̷̗̏̚K̶̗̑̋I̶͇͠N̷͉̔G̶̣̻̾ ̵͉̾͆N̴͎͒I̴̖̫̍͛C̶͇̺̑̈́E̵̢͊ ̴̱̳̑͠Â̷͙̐R̶̮̠̈͊Ǒ̵̡Ṷ̶̧̀N̶̜̼̊Ḍ̴̨͑̓ ̶̟̥͒H̷̪̬̒Ȅ̶͙̟͝R̷̟̎̈Ě̵̺ ̸̜̍Ċ̴̩A̷̧̬̾N̸̦͓̔̏ ̸̳͆̾ͅĪ̴̙?̶̺̾́"̵̰͎͊͠

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“We should be prepared in case those guys are trouble.”

Gladion lowered his voice to a serious whisper. "What guys? I can't look around properly..."

It was great to have some other people screaming nearby. Surely that would make things better and not worse.

"Unless we know where we can find decent people, we should also at least talk to them. Even if they don't want us here, they might point us in a better direction just because it's the safest way to be rid of us. We'll... make it work. Won't even be the weirdest thing we've survived today."

All things considered, he didn't know if it was entirely true. But if he was wrong, well, there were limits to how wrong it could go.

 

[Inkedust]

He fired the little wispy fox his most withering glare. “And who the hell are you? I don’t seem to remember asking for your opinion, Princess.”

Wes' glare was met with the mildest indifference. In a tone that reflected her expression, she answered, "Bellatrix, since you so politely asked."

With a sigh, she padded after Isidora towards the cart's crashsite but halted in her tracks when the skarmory landed right in front of her.

Part of skarmory's metal was covered in rust and had been eroded away by the elements. Besides her was a was a gabite with a nick on his snout and a vigoroth wearing a worker's vest. None looked particularly pleased.

"The fuck are you lot playing at?" growled the gabite, shoving his way to the front of the group and pointing an accusatory claw. "Here I was, taking the siesta of my life until I swear I hear the fuckin' world endin' outside and Erva here screaming bloody murder. Outsiders, always dragging in trouble with them, I swear," he added in a low growl.

The skarmory, Erva, opened a wing and began to speak but before she could get a word in the vigoroth let out a panicked cry.

"The materials! They're wrecked! How are we going to finish the railway now?"

"Why don'tcha shut it, city boy and let the locals handle this?" Gabite growled. He stepped forwards threateningly but stopped as soon as he caught a glimpse of Gladion. His gaze held for a moment. Then another moment longer until it became an awkward staring contest.

"The fuck are you supposed 'ta be?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"The fuck are you supposed 'ta be?"

"Good question," Gladion laughed. "Given there's more pressing matter at hand let's say 'chimera' and leave it at that for now. My name is—" (He considered lying. It could keep the other Null from figuring out more about him, and make sure nobody from another world could recognize his name. Or he could get caught out on it, make himself look worse somehow. In the end, the deciding factor was just not being able to think of anything in the split-second before it became awkward.) "—Gladion. Not that you're hurting for unique identifiers for me, I guess. All of us here are connected only by happenstance, we don't know each other but ended caught in the same..."

Some bitterness crept into his voice, his eyes narrowing, "teleportation mishap. In spite of that, given we don't have any conceivable way home for the forseeable future we're probably going to end up sticking together for the most part."

He didn't need to change his field of view to be able to tell something was happening with the others in the distance, but he made a point of looking that way and sighing anyways.

"That being said, I would much rather not be associated too closely with that Mawile, if at all possible. You can probably imagine why."