• 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 Mayoral Residence – Upper Floors

Reader mode
“…What.”

A chilling dread seeped into his bones and his heart thumped in his chest, almost piercing his ribcage. Silver stared at the others in disbelief, as if he had just received the prognosis of a terminal illness.

“In-infected…” Silver turned to Archie with a snap motion, gnashing his fangs and narrowing his eyes, a dangerous red light glinting into them. “Everyone’s infected with shadows?!”

So, all his caution and carefully calculated risks with everything had been for naught?! Burning anger tingled in his skin, eager to pour out through some outlet. However, Silver didn’t really have anyone to unleash his anger on.

Who was to blame? Steven for being indirectly responsible for the first meeting with a Shadow Pokémon? Or Archie because he did something that spread the shadows to Betelgeuse? Or maybe himself for agreeing to try to help that world? But nobody could have predicted any of that, so what… how could he… augh!!

“Excuse me a sec… I… I gotta…” he growled, his voice trembling with barely restrained spite. Unable to hold back the surge of emotions anymore, he bolted out of the room and slammed the door shut.

And so he unloaded his frustration all at once. A rampage of furious screams, foul curses and quick slashes resonated from beyond the protection of the door. But soon, the yells turned into wails, and after a final slam of a fist, everything grew quiet.

The door opened once more. Despite holding the usual neutral expression, the lack of light in Silver’s eyes made him look like a criminal sent to the gallows. Sluggishly and emotionlessly, he slumped on the first seat he found and held his head in his paws, covering his face with his claws.

“Gods… oh, by the gods, and freezer, thunder and fire…”
 
Last edited:
The first part of what Archie said wasn't really a shock. It was a safe assumption that shadow corruption could be spread by contact with shadows. It's why Steven had been trying to be cautious around anyone he was unsure had had previous exposure with a shadow pokemon. (Though he wasn't entirely convinced getting mauled and horribly poisoned constituted opening his heart to them in any way...)

The next part, however...

"It... It spread to Betel? And to everyone?"

All his worry, all his efforts to contain it to just the unlucky few, and it had all been for naught? He pressed himself up against the wall behind where he sat, unable to get further away from Lucien than he already was.

A cold rush of fear gripped him.

Every last one of them was now a ticking time bomb, stuck waiting in uncertainty for the shadows to take over their minds and bodies. The issue with the Escarpas felt like it was lightyears away.

"Gods..."

What had they done?
 
Lucien looked a little pale, feathers notwithstanding.

"Should we be... Well, I mean, is that a serious concern? You mentioned lucid Shadow 'mon, thinking 'mon. Perhaps you will retain your faculties and good sense...?"

He gulped, apparently queasy. But there was also a bile fascination there.

"It occurs to me that this could be an excellent opportunity for investigative inquiry. Is this power something you have any control over, so far...?"
 
"It's possible," Nova said. Like his earlier muttering, there wasn't any anger or fear. Because Mewtwo's words were flowing through his head.

He had to make that power his own.

Nova doubted Mewtwo could've known it would have a deeper meaning, but here he was. "This was always going to happen—"

Because I'm here. That seal over me back home...

"—so now it's a matter of harnessing that power for ourselves." He shot a look at the ones with panicked expressions. "If you fear shadows or curse them out like they're a plague, then you're setting up to let them take hold of you. That's how it works."

I would know. I've always known. I just stayed quiet. But you can't fight fate.

He took a steady breath. There were choices here. There were choices here. This wasn't home. Things were different. "Self-fulfilling prophecies exist for a reason. If you choose to give in, you're laying down and accepting your fate."
 
The Oshawott fidgeted, suddenly aware he was the center of attention, and very much not liking it. He was an adult, damn it, he shouldn’t feel so ashamed of himself for something that was well and truly out of his control. Still, at the same time, he felt like he’d let everyone down somehow…

“We weren’t intentionally trying to hide anything,” Archie protested, turning first to the second Chimera. “It was all theory and conjecture until yesterday.”

Silver and Steven were also taking it bad – Silver especially. Nova seemed almost eerily quiet. Even Lucien seemed taken aback by the revelation… Which meant there was no one else in a position to lead on this subject right now but him. Thankfully, Nova soon rallied, and set a good example that Archie could follow! So, he needed to get it together and put the pity party aside. The Oshawott cleared his throat, tilting his hat back to its more normal angle. He just had to focus on the practical questions in front of them, and not get bogged down in the maybes. That started with answering the Prinplup’s questions.

“If we can take Alex at his word, control isn’t impossible. In fact, we’ll have to learn how to control it if we don’t want it to consume us,” Archie said, nodding along with what Nova was saying. He was actually kind of happy the chimera was talking again. “We’ll know more for sure after we meet with him. Obviously, everyone here’s invited to come along. And… To spread the word as they see fit.”

He looked around the room again. Hopefully he could trust everyone here not to accidentally cause a mass panic…

“Even the lucid ones can still give in to the Shadow then they let their emotions run amok,” he continued, “Alex is able to bypass the worst of the effects by centralizing his own corruption within Xander, but The Wolf had no such luck. The angrier he got, the more the Shadow took him over.”

“And… As to your last question,” the Oshawott began, looking down at his paw momentarily, “In order to call upon the power of a Shadow Pokemon, you have to stew in your negativity, call to mind every bit of hurt, sadness, anger, all of it, and then focus it into your attacks. That, I’ve done, so I could probably do it again. It’s the part that comes next, withstanding it and preventing yourself from going too deep into the Shadow, that’s what we’re still working on.”
 
Silver didn’t react at first, holding fistfuls of red fur in his clawed paws. He took heavy breaths through his nostrils, slowly leashing his anxiety and pulling it in the back of his mind. As the emotional storm quieted down, his more pragmatic side echoed loud and clear.

Okay, enough of this! Pull yourself together, Silver! You ARE strong! You managed to escape the clutches of death many times, so you’re gonna get through this shadow zombie sickness, too! You must do it! Because you can do it!

And just like that, clarity and serenity flooded once more in Silver’s spirit, the tension evaporating out of his body. Right. That behavior was stupid and fruitless. The whole shadow sickness happened and they all were going to learn how to live with it, in a way or another.

“…Alright. I’m fine now,” he said, his voice energetic once more, and he gazed at the others with eyes shining with renewed fervor. “I only needed a few seconds to… process everything, that’s all. This reveal, well, there was a lot to take in.”

Silver shook his head, dusting off whatever traces of doubt that still lingered in the back of his mind. He needed to stay strong and steely, now more than ever! And he did so by crossing his arms and sneering at his own shadow, unconsciously wishing to prove who was the stronger of the two.

“…Hmph, fine! Whatever! It’s not like my life has ever been a cakewalk, so what’s one extra pitfall?” He laughed heartily, pumping himself up with every single spark of overconfidence he could muster, and flashed a smug smirk. “It’s just a challenge like any other! Besides, nobody’s gonna solve anything by whining and despairing. And if we must train hard to control our shadows, then darn it! Let’s do that!”
 
Last edited:
If Nova had a thermometer, it would've undoubtedly dropped a degree or two from the other null's comment. "Don't oversell it, kid." Nova looked at Silver as he spoke. "The things that shadows can latch onto... they're a part of everyone."

He glanced at Steven and Lucien. "Fear." Then at Gladion. "Anger."

Nova looked at the ceiling. Sadness.

He blinked a few times. "Others, too." Nova jostled his helmet. "It's part of living. The good with the bad. There's a balance to all of it." He pivoted right. "The way this world works... pokémon understand one another through battle. It's got to be the same way with shadows. At the end of the day, they're still people, too. They just might need their closed-off spirits opened up. Whether it's fighting, magic Saint juice, or some combination.

"I don't know if we can really get those concrete answers before things get testy around the railroad, though. So, yeah, some punches might have to be rolled with."

He glanced around the room. "Maybe that's why not all of us brought here were once human. To give you all a little balance... to roll with those punches."
 
Archie stared at the second chimera, more confused than anything. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the obvious frustration, this wasn’t an ideal situation for any of them, but… There was just something, ever so slightly off, some kind of disconnect that wasn’t quite making sense with how he was responding. And then Nova said it. ‘Kid.’

Oh. Oh that made sense actually. The Oshawott had figured this second chimera to be somewhat closer to Nova in terms of age. It was kind of hard not to, to be honest, given how much the chimeras both towered over the rest of them – Lucien included. Hell, the two chimeras could easily give the former mayor run for his money in the height department, and Ignatius was a fully evolved – and physically mature – Pokemon! But if this chimera was a child… Oh no, suddenly Archie felt like he’d made a huge mistake being so free with information so early on. Well, too late to take it back now, and it wasn’t like Silver wasn’t young, too.

“Admittedly I’m maybe not the best at explaining things…” The Oshawott conceded, trying to be charitable. Still, he couldn’t help but chuckle a little, something about the way the second chimera voiced his opinion was actually kind of amusing. Still, Nova was right, this was still a serious situation, and they needed to treat it as such. “I think Nova’s right, though. It’s not just being pissed off. You have to work it, play it all back in your head over and over, identify every little thing that sets you off and magnify each and every one of them. You can’t just be angry, you have to be seething. And then you have to take all that raw emotion and do something with it.”

He put a paw over his chest. “It’s not a good feeling, when you let it all out. It feels like something cold is eating away at your heart.”
 
Gladion grimaced. Perhaps this was karma for the times he’d called island challengers kids to get under their skin. (Even when he wasn’t really older than them in any significant way.)

“Wait— I’m younger than the guy you know, but to be clear I’m not a child.”

And of course, the implication he was aching childishly wasn’t lost on him, in reality. He’d used the word that way before himself. That insinuation forced him to cool down and consider his next words more carefully.

He looked to address Archie. “Apologies for getting snippy with you. I’ve found my nerves fraying shorter the more time I spend in… this situation.”
 
Silver glanced at Gladion and offered a tiny smile, accompanied by a reassuring paw-wave. “Hey, now, don’t sweat it. I’m sure nobody’s blaming you or anyone else for feeling like that. It’s been a long chain of stressful events, and it’s normal to crack and snap under all this pressure.”

As he said so, Silver shot a worried glance at Steven. Between the whole wagon accident and the assault of the mad Skorupi, the now-Sneasel theorized that he must be going through a lot. Surely finding out that everyone was brimming with shadows must have been the Water Gun that broke the Camerupt’s back.

“And the same goes for you, Steven. If you’re blaming yourself for something…” His eyes narrowed slightly. “Don’t! You couldn’t have predicted any of that. Overthinking the past won’t erase anything nor make things any better; what we gotta do now is focus on the present and work from there. That’s something we can control.”
 
Lucien listened attentively, his anxious face fixed on the Shadow problem, all else forgotten. It seemed that unlike previous meetings with the Prinplup, he was far more emotionally expressive this time...

"Well, I do hope this meeting with Zweilous Alex is productive," he said, clearing his throat lightly, "but do be careful. It doesn't seem like you know anything about his background, his motivations, his credibility... I admit I fear the consequences of allowing him to influence the Wayfarers, should he turn out to be in any way malevolent."

He swallowed.

"But this 'Wolf'... He was already a concern, and what I'm hearing today is more concerning than ever. The Rangers are spreaad thin, and as I say, I cannot entrust his capture to the towns' security guards. I am doubtful I can allocate public funds to financing bounty hunters, either. So..."

He looked at the assembled offworlders with a grim expression.

"Wayfarers, for the sake of my town, can I ask you to handle him? Even if it's not possible to safely subdue him, could you at least look into his activities? Learn what it was that he was doing on the edge of town when you encountered him...?"
 
If he feared shadows? If? Choosing to not be afraid sounded a lot easier than it was in practice. Perhaps Nova hadn't had an encounter with one of the shadow creatures yet, but it certainly felt like a tall order for Steven to simply not fear them after what happened.

In a world that was very different, where he was very different, without his friends and pokemon, now faced with an enemy that infected him with the same malaise that turned most into bloodthirsty creatures, it was logical that he'd be scared. He was only human.

Then Archie said something about control. Steven blinked. Controlling the shadows? Right, control. Another thing that sounded easier said than done. There were no books to read, methods to research, techniques to study. Not that they knew of yet, anyway. How long did they have to gain control? He couldn't quite suppress a shiver.

And then Silver addressed him directly, and he turned his gaze to the Sneasel in surprise. "What? Blame myself? No, that's not--"

He grated out a frustrated noise and scowled at the ground. Was it really so simple? Just will yourself to take control, to be unafraid? Steven ducked further into his cloak, hardly hearing Lucien's words, but it offered no warmth.

They weren't the ones who'd been caught in that Skorupi's jaws.
 
Archie waved the chimera off, still smiling slightly. “It’s alright, perfectly understandable. This isn’t… Ideal for any of us, I know.”

As for Lucien’s words… The Prinplup was right, it was a big risk they were undertaking even considering meeting with the Zweilous again. Archie was only considering it for lack of other options, and even then, if sufficient numbers of them didn’t agree to show, well, that might be one meeting he skipped out on, personally. Now, Seth, though. The Oshawott was more than willing to give it another shot. Maybe that was foolish, too, the Lycanroc was just too much Wes for Archie to want to just give up on him outright. At the very least, between the two, The Wolf seemed the less likely to bother engaging in mind games and long term manipulation. No, they knew exactly where they stood with Seth, for better or for worse.

“Seeking out The Wolf again is something I’m wanting to do,” Archie confirmed. “He’s volatile, unpredictable, but I think we can trust his motives as far as fighting the Shadows are concerned. Still, it won’t be easy. He’s got that five grand bounty for a reason, after all.”

Steven made a noise beside him, and the Oshawott turned to find the Beldum burying himself in his cloak. He reached out a paw, placing it on his best idea of where the Beldum’s ‘shoulder’ might be.

“Hey, Steven? Are you okay?” He said. Then he cringed, “Sorry, uh… Dumb question. Is there anything we can do to help?”

If his previous interaction with the Beldum proved anything, it was that he likely wasn't taking this whole situation well. But how even to begin reassuring him, when Archie wasn't so certain that he had any answers himself? Empty promises were meaningless, the Oshawott was only getting by, himself, by shoving all his worries off to the side to deal with later. He couldn't simply tell the Beldum not to worry. Steven was already well aware that stressing would only make things worse.

"We'll figure this out," he said, even though it sounded lame even to him. "We'll all put our heads together and think of something."

Really? They couldn't even trust all three dozen of them to remain on the same topic for more than a handful of minutes, let alone come to some kind of grand consensus... Archie just, really did not want to admit they were stuck.
 
Steven jumped slightly when he felt a paw against his side.

"Archie? I..." He searched the Oshawott's face for a moment, as if maybe there'd be an answer there, before his gaze fell. "I don't know."

A three word phrase he despised. Not because he expected to know everything-- he wasn't that conceited-- but because it felt like he didn't know anything. If there was anything he hated more than losing, it was feeling lost.

"Thank you," he murmured to Archie. "I just need some time." Which, currently, he didn't know if he even had. "You should focus on what Lucien is asking. I'll..."

Be fine? Certainly not. Catch up later? Perhaps. Steven really didn't know how to finish the thought, so he just let it hang and stared at the floor.
 
Last edited:
Okay, the atmosphere was getting more awkward and uncomfortable. Silver racked furiously his brains, trying to come up with something. Anything that could help lift some of that thick tension (was that even possible?) and move on. But what could he do? Was there something he could say?

Just get a grip already!

The now-Sneasel mentally winced. What the… No, no, even he knew he couldn’t say that. Not under these circumstances, anyway.

Perhaps his way of thinking wasn’t adequate. Yeah, that must be it! So, he pretended to be like those Newbark kids — huge smiles, cheery pep talks, and all that sickeningly sweet crap.

…But nothing sprang to mind. It turns out that trying to LARP as someone else didn’t magically grant better emotional skills. All he got out of that was flusterment and tingling overstretched cheeks, which promptly deflated.

After that fruitless attempt, Silver sighed in defeat and reluctantly let the matter go. It was painfully obvious that untangling other people’s feelings was way beyond his own capabilities. Really, why were people so dang complicated?

Maybe he would have had better luck with something else, like…

“…Oh. Err, right, the Wolf. Indeed. That fella.” Silver coughed in his paw as discreetly as possible and focused all his attention on Lucien, his expression turning serious and meaning business.

“Yeah, it might be worth tracking down that dude to figure out what’s his deal. Because seriously, first some random feral Skorupi barges into town, and then that shadowy Wolf guy appears outta nowhere for who-knows-what reason?” He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, contemplative. “Kinda suspicious, if you ask me! And if that guy can control the shadows and the shadows are infective, well… it’s not like we can be infected twice, no? We might be able to keep ‘im in check, without risks for more innocent folks to end up shadowed.”
 
Last edited:
Lucien nodded solemnly, his eyes drifting to Steven. He said nothing – he likely had no idea what he could say.

Instead, he took a small key, and made to open a desk drawer, from which he withdrew a small, intricate-looking object. He spoke as he did this, his voice measured. "Well, please do retrace your steps to where you encountered the Wolf, at your earliest convenience, and investigate his activities. I would be entirely grateful to you all for it. I confess I'm unsure how to proceed with investigating Shadow itself, but perhaps we'll learn more soon. And of course, I understand that members of the Wayfarers will be looking into this Radiance business..."

He placed the object on the desk, and took a steadying breath.

"There is another matter I'd like to ask you about. Although not all of them remain in my posession, I have inherited a number of family heirlooms which I suspect... may originally come from another world. This is a matter about which I have not spoken to a soul before now, considering their provence to be irrelevant, and the notion of their being human artefacts fanciful. But I can no longer avoid thinking of it."

He opened the object's clasp, and parted its halves. It was some kind of pocket watch, it seemed, though when its interior unfolded, it clearly didn't operate on clockwork and ticking hands. Instead, one half supported a rose-hued crystal apparatus of some kind, inset with gold and hollow in the center. The other half held a complicated series of cocentric gold rings, which rotated out of the flat base, looking like nothing so much as an orrery – a model of a solar system.

"I believe this to be a timekeeping device, but I haven't the faintest idea how to read it," admitted Lucien, a little sheepishly. "All I really want... is to know the truth. So... Do any of you recognise it...?"
 
Nova eyed the inside of the pocket watch. He tilted his head. "It's... familiar. I think I've seen something like it. But it was such a long time ago, it's too fuzzy." And if it was that fuzzy and human related, it probably had to do with Earth.

"Like, I may not know specifically, but back in the day humans loooooved making little trinkets of fancy-looking tourist attractions." Nova leaned over like he meant to sniff the watch. "This thing has 'it's based on a real place' written all over it."
 
Gladion tilted his head to get a look at the... thing.

"It... does look familiar, though not as a device. It appears to be a model of a place in Kalos, the region the Voclain name sounds like it would have come from. But I'm not aware of any significance it has, or would have had. It seems too well-made to just be a tourist trap trinket. At the same time, I also can't see what purpose it would serve other than memorabilia. At the same time, I doubt the human Voclain was given time to go pack whatever he wanted before he ended up here. If it was brought here at random, I don't see why it would have been made. I can't shake the feeling it's got some kind of purpose, but I couldn't tell you why."

Once he was done examining it, he relaxed back to a more comfortable position. "It's as I said before: The more I learn, the less I seem to understand."
 
Archie frowned again. Spencer would probably have known what to say. The Treecko had that kind of magnetic personality, and was much more insightful when it came to other people. The Oshawott could only stand there, awkwardly, and hope that his presence offered some small comfort, at least. He patted Steven on the ‘shoulder’ again, then turned to face Lucien again, figuring the least he could do was give the Beldum the decency of not having eyes on him while he took the time he needed to recenter himself. Instead, he focused on what Silver was saying.

“Uh, it would make sense if they were related, yeah,” Archie nodded, “The Wolf is pursuing his own Shadow investigations. He could’ve been following the Drapion’s trail, or maybe that of who or whatever set it loose in the Haus.”

He still wasn’t fully sold on the idea that the Drapion had come all that way of its own volition. More likely to him something had to be behind it coming all the way from Blaguarro. But, before he could think on the subject more, Lucien had placed some kind of bauble before them. There was something vaguely familiar about it, and the chimera’s soon explained why. It was a kitschy touristy souvenir based on some Kalosian landmark. Looking at it certainly evoked that sort of odd familiarity, the feeling of something one had seen in pictures and film, but never in real life. But, frustratingly, any specifics evaded him.

“I’m sorry, my memory’s a little… Fuzzy,” he said, shaking his head, before gesturing at the second Chimera – he really had to ask this one’s name once he’d found a not-awkward time to do so. “But… I think it’s the same in my world as in his?”
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom