Blaguarro Town Blaguarro Outskirts

[Shadow Serenity]

"Other tower's already been lit," she said. "Don't think it matters much given that I don't see any wings on ya, but that's protocol. Best of luck."

Kimiko offered a nod in wordless thanks. Even if none of the others could, she probably could have reached it with her vines (well, this tower's light, anyway), but it was one less thing they had to worry about now.

Then their guide left them and further silence followed. The creaking of the tower sent shivers down Kimiko's spine as she and two others looked out from their perch. This was no haunted forest, but the chills she got from being here weren't a far cry. There was something in the air, something familiar that she couldn't shake. The rickety tower was only fueling her nerves. Or, well, no... (possibly) playing bait was what had her anxious. The haunting creaking sound just added a familiar trigger to it that certainly didn't help.

Maybe this was a mistake... she was here for answers, to help be useful somehow, and this seemed like the most straightforward way - even if they didn't find anything out of the ordinary to report, they still would have completed an important job come morning. If she lasted that long.

She thanked whatever gods were in this world that Odette had joined her. She wasn't familiar with the somewhat unusual-looking cleffa (not a pokemon she'd have chosen for any kind of guard duty, but she supposed playing lookout was safer than playing security.) Having a familiar presence nearby in the mawile helped counteract her growing jitters.

But as much as she wanted to talk to Odette - discuss work or music, anything to break the silence... well, silence was somewhat important to their job, wasn't it? Her options were to just talk anyway, or to go insane from the imaginary scenarios full of ghosts that insisted on bombarding her brain.

But then Odette struck up a relevant conversation with Ridley - the cleffa - and so, thankful just to have some background noise, Kimiko listened in. He had been in the wagon group?

Where I come from, wild pokemon don't - they don't act like that. If they attack it's about territory or defence, not... but it was like it wanted to hurt us. It... it felt sadistic."

A pokemon that wanted to hurt its target... and then a voice (but not their Voice) in a nightmare...

"Sounds like a ghost to me," Kimiko chimed in, her voice low and flat. She looked about to expand on that, but then thought better of it and turned away again.

Then, after a few seconds, she asked, "How likely is it that the voice in your nightmare came from the charmeleon?"

 

[Inkedust]

As the sky darkened and the lights of Blaguarro began dotting the skyline, there appeared to be little of note out in the distance. Being so high up allowed them a great field of vision. Idle chatter allowed the three to pass the time without wasting away into boredom. However, fortunately (or unfortunately) for them, after a half an hour or so, they head something: the sound of clicking mandibles and something scurrying could be heard out in the distance, somewhere out towards the left...

 

[Sinderella]

Of course it was strong, of course it hurt them really badly. Did she even have to ask that much? She thought back to what Bellatrix had been hypothesizing about earlier, how it was possible the charmeleon had been sent, and suddenly Ridley's reminiscing struck a bit of a harsher cord.

If it was indeed sent, of fucking course it wanted to hurt them. It wanted them dead.

She had half a mind to turn around and reiterate how utterly braindead she thought it was that he'd gone on that trip, but she supposed there was a part of him that knew that, judging by the subtle-yet-not waver in his voice. Even without looking at him, she got the gist he was still shaken by the encounter. Maybe that was the only consequence any of them really needed.

Upon hearing he'd had a dream after the fact, however, left Odette quirking her brow and turning her head to look at him from over her shoulder. "Wait, another Voice?" she asked. She couldn't picture who Koa was, but that didn't matter. "Did it sound similar to our Friendly Neighborhood Cloud's voice, or...?"

After a beat, she shook her head. "Could have been the charmeleon itself, could have been whoever's causing things like it to appear, could even be our Cloud's Mr. Hyde. However that would fucking make sense. None of it really does right now," she said. Mostly to herself. She would have continued muttering under her breath, but Kimiko's question caused her to stop short and whip her head around.

"What ghosts are you fraternizing with?" she said, her tone a tad more accusing than she intended it to be. With a breath, she internally checked herself before continuing. "I mean...the indication that the thing wanted to hurt them doesn't automatically pinpoint a ghost type."

She wanted to say more, but the sound of clicking had her staring wide-eyed back out at the horizon. She raised a finger to her lips, willing absolute silence as she tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

"...sounds like we have company," she whispered almost inaudibly.

 

[Shadow Serenity]

"What ghosts are you fraternizing with?" she said, her tone a tad more accusing than she intended it to be. With a breath, she internally checked herself before continuing. "I mean...the indication that the thing wanted to hurt them doesn't automatically pinpoint a ghost type."

Kimiko was sightly taken aback by the immediate harshness of her tone. "What other kind of pokemon tries to brutally murder an entirely non-threatening passerby?" she countered defensively, but Odette didn't seem to be paying attention anymore. She'd gotten a look on her face, but it wasn't until her finger went to her lips that Kimiko realized the mawile had heard something. She immediately returned her attention to the dark expanse ahead of them, on the defensive now for a different reason.

the sound of clicking mandibles and something scurrying could be heard out in the distance, somewhere out towards the left...

Now that she was straining to listen, she could hear it, too. The hell could that be? Didn't sound like any ghost she knew, anyway... didn't sound like a charmeleon, either. What were the three pokemon Anite had singled out earlier? Excadrill, zweilous... sandslash? Far as Kimiko knew, none of them could make a noise like this... it sounded more like a bug than something with claws. She sincerely hoped her memory wasn't confusing sandslash with ariados.

 

[Inkedust]

The scurrying grew ever so slightly louder for a moment before it sounded like it was headed away from the tower. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to like the light from the tower very much.

From Odette's hasty scan of the horizon, she would have seen a the shape of a smaller pokémon that looked like it was hissing and clicking its mandibles at the light's edge. Squinting harder, she would have been able to make out a clawed tail and a pair of stingers that it was constantly sharpening against itself. It twitched, chittering as it did.

 

[Hap]

Then, after a few seconds, she asked, "How likely is it that the voice in your nightmare came from the charmeleon?"

"I don't know," Ridley admitted. "The Voice mentioned being afraid that touching the charmeleon might... infect them, somehow, so it's possible. That's why I want to ask the other people from the wagon about it. I need to know whether it's actually linked, or just a coincidence of timing."

the sound of clicking mandibles and something scurrying could be heard out in the distance, somewhere out towards the left...

Oh, Ridley hated this. Anything which wanted to attack them would have to step into the light in order to do so, but Ridley still stared out into the darkness beyond, trying to catch a glimpse of - something. A shape, a motion, the flash of an eyeshine as something looked back. He'd never been afraid of the dark before, but now his imagination populated the night with monsters.

"What other kind of pokemon tries to brutally murder an entirely non-threatening passerby?" she countered defensively

That broke Ridley out of his trance. He abandoned his one-sided staring contest with the darkness and turned to Kimiko. "Ghosts are no more violent than any other type," he insisted, trying not to snap. "They may have a bad reputation, but just because idiots are scared of them doesn't mean they're actually dangerous."

No longer focused on his surroundings, he missed any glimpse of the chittering pokemon.

 

[Sinderella]

Don't yell. Don't yell. Don't yell. Don't yell.

Several thoughts passed through her brain at once. The urge to tongue-lash the shit out of Kimiko for whatever the hell just came out of her fucking mouth fought with her survivalist need to stay absolutely silent. She cringed through Ridley's defense, and while she completely understood where he was coming from, her "SHHHHHHHHHUT," was still harsh.

She could see, from her vantage point, that whatever this thing was was not too keen on the light. If it was a bug type like she was thinking it was, shouldn't it have been drawn to the light? What the hell did Guzma mansplain to her about bug types and their affinity for light? Was it just the flying ones, or all? Obviously this thing didn't fly, or it'd have been doing so already...maybe?

A charmeleon who's tail didn't exude light. A bug that didn't like light.

Was there something there?

"Watch where it goes. I'm going down a bit."

Without waiting for response from the other two, she plucked the key to her jaw's locks from her belt and vaulted herself over the top of the ladder. She climbed about half way to the bottom to get a better look, trying to remain as quiet as she could as she went, and stopping every now and then to watch it herself.

"What the fuck are you gonna do here, little bug?" she whispered to herself.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Odette?

What are you doing...?
​

I can sense something... abhorrent, not far from you.
​

Please... Be ever so careful.

 

[Shadow Serenity]

"They just have a bad reputation, but just because idiots are scared of them doesn't mean they're actually dangerous."

Kimiko rounded on Ridley almost immediately, opening her mouth to give him a piece of her mind. But thankfully, before she could lash out, the third member of their group had started to move. So at least one of them had their head on straight.

"Watch where it goes. I'm going down a bit."

Or maybe she didn't, either.

"What are you doing?" Kimiko asked frantically, putting her ghost argument on hold. "We're not supposed to engage, remember?" But Odette had already slid halfway down the ladder.

With an unrestrained, frustrated sigh, Kimiko darted to the edge to see what it was Odette had found. It was difficult to spot in the dark, but... there, a tail with claws. It was smaller than the 'mon she thought she recognized, so... possibly a pre-evolution? Or maybe it was just poor depth perception from how high up they were. It was hard to tell.

I can sense something... abhorrent, not far from you.

Up until now, Kimiko had been holding onto the slightest bit of hope that what they'd found had just been a wild feral that wandered too close to the settlement. But, well... so fucking much for that now.

If the Voice wasn't keen on this thing... Hey, Voice, Kimiko thought, hoping the connection was strong enough to respond to, are you saying this bug thing down there is like the charmeleon?

Not that she didn't already know the answer; the Voice wouldn't have spoken up if this was anything else.

 

[Hap]

"Watch where it goes. I'm going down a bit."

Wait wait wait what the fuck?

"Get back up here!" Ridley hissed, trying not to panic. What did Odette think she was doing? Had she somehow missed the part where Ridley's entire group had been torn to shreds by the Witching Beast they'd met? Because that seemed pretty hard to miss! Ridley was literally patchwork right now!

(Wait, shit, was this how Ridley's group had felt when he'd stepped out of the wagon? Except that none of them had known, at the time, exactly how bad the encounter would go. They hadn't had any easy route of escape, or a defensible position; Ridley still believed that those events would have played out much the same, regardless of what they did. Here and now, though, all they had to do was stay put and keep watch.)

Fortunately, Odette stopped climbing halfway down the tower. That wasn't enough to soothe Ridley's anxieties, not when he remembered how fast the charmeleon had moved. If whatever was out there was another Witching Beast...

Well, at least if it went after Odette Ridley would get to observe his second encounter from a safer distance.

I can sense something... abhorrent, not far from you.​

The whisper of the Voice brushed against Ridley's mind, and he seized gratefully on the distraction. He still didn't know how to contact the Voice himself; if he didn't take this opportunity, he didn't know how long it might be until he got another chance to speak with it.

He called back to them: "Voice! Hey, Voice! Are there other entities like you? I think I might've heard one."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Hey, Voice are you saying this bug thing down there is like the charmeleon?

The pokémon nearby...​

Its aura is polluted. It is distressing for me even to look at it.
​

Yes. Although every soul is unique... ​

It is like the Charmeleon.​

"Voice! Hey, Voice! Are there other entities like you? I think I might've heard one."

Others... like me?​

​

Ridley... What do you mean?​

 

[Shadow Serenity]

It is like the Charmeleon.

Fuck fuck fuuuuuuck

Okay okay, calm down. Breathe. Stop and think. Prioritize. What's most important?

They had to alert Anite, or the other tower, or somebody. But in the heat of the moment, Kimiko could not recall how they were supposed to do that. Also, no, that wasn't the most important detail right now. There was a more pressing concern.

"Odette, get back up here," Kimiko hissed, hoping she was loud enough for the mawil to hear, but quiet enough to not draw the attention of the shadow. "Please. Whatever it is, it's like the charmeleon. Do not get close to it! I'll pull you up myself if I have to," she added, prepping her vines to do just that.

 

[Sinderella]

Odette ignored both the snivy and mimikyu as she leaned out to get a better look at what was skittering around out there. She even lowered her glasses to allow herself to focus in on the last spot she had seen it; farsightedness apparently worked well for that. She wanted to snap back at them, ask them if they really thought she was going to go all the way to the fucking bottom and approach it, but she could do that later.

She wasn't sure what she saw before the Voice spoke to her, but when it did, the chill that ran up her back left her in a momentary stunned haze.

Define not far, she asked in response, turning back to grab the ladder with both her hands. I see a bug about a hundred feet from me. Is it further than that or is that what we're talking about here?

Now her mind was going nuts. Bugs should like light, but this bug does not, she can't fucking see it, she doesn't know what it's doing out there, but going down any further would likely be suicide or some derivative of, but she needed info, she needed something to bring back to the group, something to supplement what the other jackasses already saw (though could she really call them jackasses now that she was dangling half way down a ladder trying to see something that could conceivably gut her?).

Though, it seemed like she got her answer. Whatever it was, it was the same as the charmeleon, somehow. And whatever that charmeleon was, it had completely shredded the group that tried to approach it. And, if Bellatrix was right, had likely been sicced on them purposely. Who's to say this wasn't the same?

If the others couldn't handle it as a group of six, how the fuck was she gonna manage something like that alone?

Abhorrent. You know better than to go toe-to-toe with something abhorrent without knowing any better.

Can you pick up on what the Pokemon is? she asked the Cloud.

With a breath, she shot one more look over her shoulder, and allowed herself one more hard survey of the immediate ground below her, before quietly starting to make her way back up the ladder. Only then did Kimiko speak down to her, and she glared up at the snivy from under her brow.

She had a couple choice words to say, but kept her mouth shut. She was in no position to argue when she was half way down the side of the tower.

 

[Hap]

Others... like me?​

​

Ridley... What do you mean?​

"After the charmeleon," Ridley said. "Koa and I both heard something similar to you, telling us we didn't belong here." Which, fair enough, was a pretty factual statement. "What are you, anyway?"

Below him, Odette started to climb back up the tower again. Ridley let out a sigh of relief.

 

[Inkedust]

As the group observed the bug-type further, they would notice it hissing, screeching and thrashing, like it was in immense pain, stinging itself as if it was trying to wriggle out of its own chitin. Odette would see it more clearly and would be able to tell its species: skorupi.

But the moment the skorupi caught a glimpse of Odette halfway down the tower, it went completely still and silent as its gaze locked onto her, her whispers seemed to guarantee that its attention remained on her. Several long moments of it doing nothing passed but then, not a millisecond later, it screeched and fired its stingers towards Odette. Once, twice, then thrice only stopping once it had fired its Pin Missile five times.

Moments before the attack found its mark, Odette may have noticed a corrosive tinge in the form of a shadowy aura to the attack. A tinge that pierced through her natural resistances, infecting her with its burn. It hurt but the light from the tower and Odette's height advantage graced her some some evasion, only causing the attack to graze, allowing her to keep her grip on the ladder.

Skorupi compulsively sharpened its regrown stingers, mandibles frothing with venom. It looked like it was about to fire off another attack but the light of the tower ensured that it would keep its range, it did not dare to get closer, Odette was free to climb back up to safety.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Define not far. I see a bug about a hundred feet from me. Is it further than that or is that what we're talking about here?

Can you pick up on what the Pokemon is?

Yes. That is the shadow pokémon. ​

​

It is a skorupi. It seems... feral. Or wild.​

​

It is hard to tell, when its aura is so... repulsive.​

"After the charmeleon, Koa and I both heard something similar to you, telling us we didn't belong here. What are you, anyway?"

​

Similar to me...? You mean, you were contacted in the same way?​

I am... What I am is hard to explain.​

​

​

Ridley, could it possibly wait until after this awful situation is resolved...??​

only causing the attack to graze

Skorupi's Shadow Pin Missile dealt a grazing 6, 7, 5, 6, 7 dmg! It's super-effective!

Aaaugh!!​

The voice's cry was distraught. Their distress – their terror – reached into any listeners' very hearts.

Odette!! Get to safety! At once! ...Please!!​

 

[Sinderella]

She was close to the top. She was so fucking close to the top. Of course, that was the appropriate time for the stupid thing to notice her.

When Odette realized she couldn’t hear skittering anymore, she paused. She wasn’t sure why, or how smart that was, but for a second, her limbs just didn’t work anymore. She looked over her shoulder just in time for the thing to shriek, causing her to flinch. Oh no, oh no, oh no, I fucked up, I’m dead, I’m dead, I died, I’m dead, I died—

Despite the thoughts, her sudden burst of adrenaline had her scrambling up the last ten or so feet she had to go. She was so close, she had to make it back up. It was then she felt a sharp burn graze her arm, her cheek, her neck, and the back of her ankle. She bit down the compulsive cry her body wanted to let out, knowing damn well the thing below would definitely take it as a warm welcome to keep fucking with her.

However, a sudden “thck!” jolted her, and she turned her head slightly to catch the sight of a pin lodged into the wood of the ladder. The unmistakable shadowy mist surrounding it left her blinking in brief confusion, but she didn’t have much higher brain function left to question it. She grabbed it and scrambled the rest of the way up, not coming to any sort of stop until she was laying on her back behind the cover of the barrier.

“Mhm, yep,” she said through her heavy breaths, still doing what she could to keep her volume at a mere whisper. “That’ll fucking teach me. Motherfucker.”

 

[Hap]

Despite his anxiety, Ridley thought the situation was low-stakes enough that he could alert the Voice about a situation that had been troubling him.

Ridley, could it possibly wait until after this awful situation is resolved...??​

He'd been wrong. He'd been so, so wrong.

Ridley's heart almost stopped as the second Witching Beast - the shadow skorupi - fired a pin missile barrage towards Odette.

For an awful second he was possessed by a sickening sense of dread, certain that her grip was about to slacken from pain or unconsciousness, that he'd see her body fall to the ground far below. Ridley forced himself to keep watching. It would be worse not to know; it was always worse not to know.

He watched as Odette reached a hand up, took hold of another rung, kept climbing. It's fine. She's safe. It only grazed her. Ridley forced his breathing to level out as Odette made her way up the last few feet of the tower.

He'd been mentally bracing himself for a second attack from the shadow skorupi, but none came. It still lurked in the darkness, at the edges of where the light from the tower could reach. It seemed reluctant to get closer

Its behaviour made sense for what Ridley expected from pokemon - a burst of aggression against an enemy, but not bothering to give chase once it was satisfied by seeing its enemy flee - but he couldn't reconcile that with the shadow charmeleon's sadistic behaviour. It wouldn't - hadn't been - satisfied simply by seeing its targets flee. It had wanted to hurt them.

Were they light-adverse? To that degree? It would explain why the attacks had only been coming at night.

They might be safe, then, as long as they remained in the tower. It already knew they were up there. How far could it be provoked before it would brave the light? Ridley steeled himself and called out to it: "Hey, are you a person? Can you talk?"

 

[Shadow Serenity]

For a moment, Kimiko waited tensely, trying to keep eyes on both the skorupi and Odette, until finally, whether due to the Voice, her own warning, or just common sense, the latter thought better of whatever she had been trying to do and started climbing back up the tower. Kimiko retracted her vines - she'd been offering backup, not an actual threat.

And then the thing attacked her.

A surge of panic shot through her, but Kimiko couldn't pull Odette up any faster than she was already climbing. So instead she leapt to the wall, prepping to launch some magically-guided leaves at the bug - the elemental typing disadvantage ensured they wouldn't hurt much, but if she could just get the skorupi to focus on her, just for a moment, just until Odette wasn't an exposed sitting duck... the odds of a counter-attack reaching her all the way up here were minimal if she herself jumped back down behind the wall after launching hers, right?

But the bug didn't attack again, instead distracted by sharpening it's claws. That allowed Odette to finish scrambling back onto the tower, and Kimiko let out a breath of relief.

They weren't out of danger yet, though. The skorupi hadn't gone anywhere. And the three of them alone weren't going to be able to take it down, not if twice their number couldn't handle one single charmeleon. Not with a heavily resisted attack causing Odette to flinch in pain like that, not with her own elemental disadvantage.

Just as she was about to leap down behind the wall... Ridley shouted down at it. He'd said earlier that he was with the wagon group. He knew firsthand how dangerous this creature was. Kimiko shot him an incredulous glare that clearly said 'are you insane??' She may as well have just launched her counter-attack without a second thought.

But she kept her mouth shut - it was done now, and while she wasn't expecting anything, she decided she may as well see if the cleffa got an answer.

 

[Inkedust]

Ridley would hear a feral hiss in response. It wanted to ascend the watchtower to continue its assault but the light stopped it. Forced to idle, the beast continued to pitifully writhe and convulse as it had no way of reaching the group on the watchtower. This appeared to have just been a local feral before whatever happened to reduce it to this sorry state. Was the simple act of not fighting enough to cause the bug-type's severe discomfort?