• Welcome to The Cave of Dragonflies forums, where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons.

    Guests are not able to post messages or even read certain areas of the forums. Now, that's boring, don't you think? Registration, on the other hand, is simple, completely free of charge, and does not require you to give out any personal information at all. As soon as you register, you can take part in some of the happy fun things at the forums such as posting messages, voting in polls, sending private messages to people and being told that this is where we drink tea and eat cod.

    Of course I'm not forcing you to do anything if you don't want to, but seriously, what have you got to lose? Five seconds of your life?

Frontier Town Grand Station Construction Site

Reader mode
Now it was Nip's turn to stare blankly. "You... Don't know about Dialga and Palkia?" Perhaps he shouldn't be too surprised. Nobody in Theran Village knew about Yveltal when he first mentioned her. "They're the keepers of time and space. Gods. Embodiments. They make sure our world works and make sure the mystery dungeons they caused get no worse." Or so the stories passed down through his tribe said. But after recent events, he couldn't be sure how much was fact and how much was fiction.
 
Nova's eyes dulled. "Gods?" He shook his head. "I understand divinity can be a thing, but gods don't exist where I'm from."
 
"No..." The sneasel tilted his head. "But... How does that work! Even if your world doesn't need God's to maintain it, surely there must have been a divine being that created it?"
 
"Nope." Nova wasn't sure whether to envy Nip's naivete or pity it. "Big explosion of energy made the universe. And there are plenty of universes out there that work the same way."
 
Nip couldn't help but squint, bringing a paw to his chin as he tried to figure out if Nova was joking or not. It certainly didn't seem like it, even if his words sounded fake. The idea that the universe just suddenly became something one day made no logical sense? Unless... That's something that a god could do, wasn't it? But then...

His ear flicked a couple times and he scratched at it. He felt a headache coming on. "I... But then..."
 
"Gods and divinity are mistakes if you ask me," Nova continued. He shifted around to stop the harness from pressing down to deep on his back. "The idea that a whole world could disappear if one single creature willed it to happen is what really doesn't make sense.

"Besides." His gaze drifted toward the ground. "If gods did their jobs correctly, we wouldn't need to be here, would we?" Nova could hear His voice in the back of his head. Nova should have stopped speaking there, but he didn't. "And what about your home? Is it a good place? Are you happy there? Because if not... why would you worship someone who's ignoring the suffering of their world?"
 
Nip felt the fur on the back of his neck prickle. That... That was blasphemous! The idea that they'd be better off without gods to guide them...

But then he remembered Celebi, and the worries the nonsensical little god instilled in him. The gods were real, but were they really guiding them? Or we're all their stories just fluff to remember them as better than they were?

He didn't like this line of questioning. "Perhaps that's true here," he concerned, ignoring the other part of Nova's questions.
 
Nova's gray eyes practically bore holes through the poisonous sneasel. "Your silence for back home speaks volumes." The mask muffled a cough.

"The person who summoned us is translating everything." Nova slowly turned, the harness and small cart following with him. "My advice? Use the library to look into that Entropic Crisis. Even if you can't read back home, you should be able to here. And whatever you learn could be relevant."
 
"I can read just fine, thank you. I've already spent some time in the library." Nip hadn't meant to sound so short. The comment wasn't likely meant as an insult, but paired with the previous statement of home, it set him on edge.

Taking a deep breath, he forced a more cordial tone. "I shouldn't keep you from your work any longer."
 
"Thanks." Nova was lucky no one had caught him and accused him of slacking off. He was still trying to make a good first impression, after all. "Sorry. Hard not to let home cloud my view of things here."

Well, really He was clouding Nova's view. But no one needed to know about that.

The null finished turning and started to walk off, pulling his cart behind him.
 
"I suppose it's the same for me," Nip admitted. There was still so many strange things about this world -not to mention himself. At times it felt easier to let himself believe what he was used to, rather than understand his current situation. Even if it wasn't a good idea to do so.

He dipped his head in Nova's direction. "I will see you later, sometime," he said. Then he scurried away.

<><><>​
 
Ch02: A Familiar, Friendly Face
  • Threadmarks
    • The aftermath of the Gala had become the talk of the town. Nobody could go three paces before they'd hear word of the offworlders, Sonora or the mayor.

    For the workers at the Grand Station, it was yet another day. A garganacl stood at the base of the stairs, arms firmly crossed, waiting for an update on the status of the rail. The worker who'd been sent should've been back by now, what was taking him so long?

    And, as luck would have it, a commotion began to ring out in the town. It moved quickly, heading right towards the station. The squawks of a pair of wild murkrow rang out, followed by the rapid flapping of wings. The source? A vigoroth wearing a construction vest they wore out east sprinted through the town, heedless of any obstacle or person causing enough of a fuss to distract the town from their talks of the Gala for just a moment.

    Jaak approached the garganacl, panting, with a thumbs-up. "Everythin' looks to be in order, though I think I gotta warn you about some logistic troubles up the line. You see–"

    Garganacl held up a large, blocky hand to stop Jaak in his tracks, pointing behind him.

    "Eh? Behind me? What's behind me?"
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Ridley hadn't been on his way to anywhere in particular when the vigoroth's passage through town came to his notice. It was not, honestly, something Ridley could have avoided noticing, considering that in his haste the vigoroth was almost entirely oblivious to anything - or anyone - in his way, and Ridley had only narrowly avoided being stepped on.

    Sometimes he really hated how small his mimikyu body was. Sure, it might come in useful for sneaking around unnoticed, but he'd managed that just fine when he was six foot tall and all without the risk of being trampled underfoot.

    Still - that guy had seemed like he was in a pretty serious hurry.

    Ridley's curiosity was easily piqued. And, well, it wasn't like he had anywhere important to be right now. He could afford to follow the trail of chaos left in the vigoroth's wake and see where he ended up.
     
    Ghaspius floated along holding onto a roll of bandages as he trailed the Vigoroth. Seeing him finally stop, the Misdreavus let out a sigh and said, "You know, when most people start barrelling through people in front of a doctor's place yellin' and flounderin' about, that's usually bad news."

    His ghostly form fluttered as he added, "But it looks like the only bloody murder I'm seeing were those Murkrow that scattered about. What's all the ruckus about? Anyone hurt?"
     
    Last edited:
    "Hey." Eco greeted them from a respectable distance.

    To be honest with herself, it was very much unlike her to follow after another Pokémon in haste, let alone while she only had pathetic excuses for legs to move with. She really could not tell why she had, either. Intuition, she supposed?

    In either case, she hoped that this commotion would lead to something. She wasted a lot of time already.
     
    Wes had been wandering past the Station when a solid blur of white blasted past him, moving so quickly it nearly knocked him over.

    “Hey!” he snapped, fur bristling in surprise. He shot a glare at the rushed passerby, wondering what on earth could be so urgent—

    Wait. He recognized that form and that vest…Jaak? What was he doing here, and what had him in such a frantic hurry?

    Wes dawdled for a moment. He had things to do today, and a certain Marshal to go chat with…oh, screw it. He was too curious. He followed after Jaak and found him chatting with a massive stack of rocks that was apparently a Pokémon. He cautiously stepped forward to see what was up, and spotted a familiar face—Ridley, the Mimi-whatsit from the night before.

    “Hi,” he said hesitantly the little pink mon. “Any idea what’s happening here?”
     
    Jaak jumped as soon as he heard the voices behind him. Swiveling around on a foot he was met with the sight of several small, unevolved pokémon each wearing varying degrees of unimpressed stares. "Oh, uh, hey!" he greeted, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry, in a bit of a rush here. On orders from the boss to get updates on the rail construction and update these fellows on the state of the rail out in the east."

    He turned back to address the garganacl with a pensive shake of the head. "It ain't good," he began. "Not only are the guys up top still scrambling since that train got derailed but now the folks over at Blaguarro are antsier than ever and won't even let a train through their station. Been that way for a few days since some strangers showed up on the outskirts and they ain't keen to take any more chances."

    Garganacl's only reply was a small grunt of acknowledgement.

    "Yeah, the guys over in Magna City are trying to get this resolved as quickly as possible. Been trying to talk to the Blaguarro locals myself since I was there when..." Jaak suddenly trailed off and turned to face the group again. He looked at Wes, beaming. "You lot showed up! Long time, no see, how've you been?"
     
    Ghaspius scratched his cheek. "Sounds like a whole lot of people are hurt, but not over here then." He perked his head up as the words registered. "Hang on, 'strangers'? We talkin' like more off-worlders, or more like robbers?"

    He shook his head anticipating that the Vigoroth might not have an answer. Instead, he looked between the blue pup with the look of a pack rebel and the sloth. "How far out's Blaguarro, anyways? Might somethin' we ought to check out now that the mayor situation's all wrapped up here." He twiddled with the roll of bandages in his tassels.
     
    After the battle at the Gala, Kimiko decided to take a walk to try to sort her feelings on the matter (once it was clear the group wasn't about to be kicked out of town). Her idle wandering took her to the construction site - somewhere she'd not yet felt the need to explore.

    She'd kept back, watching from a distance as the workers did their jobs... until a certain loud group appeared. Kimiko recognized a handful of them from the Gala... so she decided to approach and see what was going on, lingering nearby and listening intently.

    Strangers showing up on the outskirts of Blaguarro... why did that name sound familiar?

    Oh. Right. That's where those caravans were heading. Or, at least in that general direction.
     
    Dave stepped out warily from behind the others. Seeing Jaak yelling in the middle of town had definitely gotten his attention, especially after all the fucking context about Pokémon who were too enthusiastic about humans. “A train got derailed, huh?” He tilted his head. “And… by ‘some strangers’, you mean us?”
     
    Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Back
    Top Bottom