Magna City Shining Congress – Main Lobby

[Sinderella]

I’m late. I’m late. Fuck, I’m late.

As Odette scurried up the steps to the hall, she repeated this to herself on loop. Though, it was more to block out Guzma’s foolishness rather than remind herself that she was late because of his foolishness.

“I asked the shopkeep for assless chaps, and bro looked at me like I had testicles growing out of my ears,” the former Skull boss whined. “Pokemon have asses right? Therefore, you’d think assless chaps would exist in a place like this, but nOoOoO! That’s asking for way too much!”

She whipped around to face him, stopping him before he could continue. “Guzma,” she said sharply as she pointed up to the gargantuan structure. “This is where I’ll be for the next few hours or so. If you need me for any reason, just come in here and ask one of the nice non-Zoroark looking ‘mon to go find Odette.”

Guzma scoffed. “What am I, five?”

“Yes.”

“I’m older than you, you fucking dwarf!”

Odette pressed her lips into a tight line as she nodded. “And yet my answer remains the same. In the meantime, for the love of all that’s good and fucking holy here, stop asking innocent ‘mon for assless chaps. You already found a jacket and a hat, so please make better use of your time.”

Guzma rustled his shoulders beneath the yeehaw-ass jacket he made Odette buy for him the day before. Nike didn’t exist in this world, something he was still coming to terms with, so this was the next best thing. Though, he couldn’t lie—he did feel badass in the matching cowboy hat he picked out, too.

“Doing what? Chasing fucking tumbleweeds? Chewing on straw and spitting on things?”

Odette was already halfway through the threshold. “Sounds great, have a wonderful time!” she called back before pulling the door shut behind her. She barely had time to catch her breath before she had to hustle to find her group. Luckily, they weren’t too far ahead, and with little direction, she eventually made it to…Calyrex?

Well. That explained…things. She slipped into the room, careful to not make her presence too known as she took note of Kimiko, Mhynt, Owen (gods, fucking Owen), Laura, and…shit. Steven.

Instead of opting to insert herself into the conversation at hand, she made herself a little more sparse and managed to locate a sugar cube for Spectrier.

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt was about to grab a sugar cube herself, but nodded when Odette entered to handle it. She turned her attention to the conversation again while Owen silently contemplated his current lack of a corporeal ass. Zena seemed to be thinking of something similar while staring at Mhynt's shadow. They must have faintly overheard the conversation from a distance, being closer to the entryway.

"Forlas has been a culture shock at first," Mhynt said plainly. "I come from a land where the sun was lost to clouds and darkness ruled the land. I brought some of my troubles with me, but we took care of that problem as of now. As it stands, our main focus has been on the sources of imbalance that plague the land. For a time, that was some... rogue Legendary Pokemon."

Hey, Mhynt. This is their ruler? He's awfully... frail, huh? I'm gonna see if some of that is an act...

And from the darkness, Owen silently tried to get a read on the room, especially the bodies within...

 

[Ambyssin]

Odette and Guzma were not the latest ones. And they actually knew how to make a stealthy entrance. Because a crash from outside the office, followed by a couple of angry shouts, preceded Nova entering the office in a nowhere-near-stealthy manner. His dark memory was in, because given everything he'd heard about this building and recalled from last time why the hell wouldn't it be? Other memory drives were tucked away for good measure. He'd been working on trying to jury rig a device that'd help him swap the drives faster, but it wasn't ready yet.

"So, this is where you ran off to," Nova mainly addressed Mhynt. "I thought maybe you were looking for something to grow your fish into a noodle, but this seems," he paused and looked around the office, "decidedly not that."

He spotted the bulbous-headed guy lying in the bed. Nova didn't recognize the species whatsoever, so he shrugged.

 

[Namohysip]

"We're going to go for a beauty pageant later to trigger that," Mhynt replied, and it was utterly impossible to tell if she was serious or not. "But some important discussions come first."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova leaned over and whispered, "With an overgrown vegetable? Is that even a pokémon?"

 

[Shadow Serenity]

Kimiko turned as Odette slipped into the room, clearly trying to make herself as subtle as possible. She offered a quick smile and a nod before returning her attention to Arthur; no need to draw further unwanted attention to the late arrival by waving or calling out to her.

“Yes, Forlas was… quite different than tj home I came from, as well. All things considered, though, it’s a lovely place. Mayor Greasewood has been nothing but kind and welcoming, and I’ve enjoyed my time here. In fact-“

Her train of thought was interrupted by a not so distant crash and some shouting, and in the span of time it took to question what was going on, they were joined by Nova. Kimiko resisted making a grimace… sure that wasn’t he who had caused this commotion? No doubt that snotty “lucario” would say something about it later if so.

“A-anyway,” she continued, “most people we’ve come across have been very accommodating. It’s been a pleasant surprise all around.”

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Steven's eyes widened as a ghost horse materialized into the study. Because of course it would. His eyes widened even more when Odette appeared from almost the same amount of nowhere to give it a butterscotch cube. He let his gaze linger on her longer than he meant before averting back to the conversation at hand. It felt like forever since he'd last seen her. Everything was so different since he'd last seen her.

Composing himself, listened to his companions' replies to Arthur, musing that in all their time on Forlas, they'd had precious little time to discuss their thoughts on the place amongst themselves. What with all the dire circumstances, and world-threatening situations, and the whole vanishing for weeks at a time thing...

Still, he found himself humming in agreement with Kimiko. "Perhaps it's a little unfair of a question given the circumstances of our arrival and the types of situations we've found ourselves in because of that... But Forlas is a beautiful place, with landscapes as varied as her people. I can see why someone would want to do everything they could to protect and preserve that."

Was it a slightly leading response? Maybe. It certainly wasn't the first time the sentiment had shown up in the history of Forlas, though...

 

[Jackie Cat]

Hey, Mhynt. This is their ruler? He's awfully... frail, huh? I'm gonna see if some of that is an act...

And from the darkness, Owen silently tried to get a read on the room, especially the bodies within...

There were the other Wayfarers, of course, and Gladius – his Zoroark body perceptible to Owen with effort applied – and even Spectrier, whose aura signature was peculiar in its own way. (Incomplete, somehow. Torn away from something...) And then there was Arthur.

He hadn't been lying. He really was weakened – his soul struggled internally with flecks of exotic energy, poorly metabolised and eating away at his strength even as he fought to recover it. And then, not deeper – more surface level, too obvious to even see at first – was the sickness in his body. A burning toxin in his cells, sapping his strength, slowly but surely... Calyrex Arthur had been poisoned somehow, repeatedly, for a long time. Poisoned by something, or someone.

Despite this, he wasn't weak. Only weakened from what was a uniquely tremendous state of psionic power. If Arthur willed it, he could rise from his bed by psychic power alone, and collapse the building around him with a blink of his eyes.

"Forlas has been a culture shock at first," Mhynt said plainly. "I come from a land where the sun was lost to clouds and darkness ruled the land. I brought some of my troubles with me, but we took care of that problem as of now. As it stands, our main focus has been on the sources of imbalance that plague the land. For a time, that was some... rogue Legendary Pokemon."

“Yes, Forlas was… quite different than tj home I came from, as well. All things considered, though, it’s a lovely place. Mayor Greasewood has been nothing but kind and welcoming, and I’ve enjoyed my time here. In fact-“

"Perhaps it's a little unfair of a question given the circumstances of our arrival and the types of situations we've found ourselves in because of that... But Forlas is a beautiful place, with landscapes as varied as her people. I can see why someone would want to do everything they could to protect and preserve that."

Laura pawed at her mouth as others gave their answers. What kind of answer did Arthur want? What kind did he expect? What was the honest truth, anyway?

"It's more... 'fantastical' than my own world, in some ways," she said, carefully. "But in most ways, it's just the same. It's a world with both wonders and dangers, and it's a world with people – and, uh, people are people, I guess. Maybe shaped by different circumstances, but still people."

Betel said nothing, listening politely. Had they been quietly attentive to every Wayfarer this entire time, not offering their opinion until asked?

Arthur took all this in with an amiable smile.

"Well, I'm glad you've had worthy experiences, and more, that you've done worthy things! I can certainly relate to wishing to protect and preserve this world's goodness, and put a stop to the evils that harm it. I've striven for these goals ever since the first day I stepped foot here." His smile turned wistful. "I hardly remember my home world, of course. But I remember it being... perfect. A utopia. I should very much like to do my part in making Forlas more like that world, the place I came from."

He nodded to Gladius, at the door, saying, "You understand, don't you, my boy?"

The 'Lucario' shrugged. "I don't go in for all the bleeding heart cape shit. But sure. World's fucked up enough, I try not to fuck it up any worse."

"Provocative as ever, my boy!" chuckled Arthur, tutting mildly. "Matthias is much the same, you know. Just more, hm, presentable about it, eh? It's good to be polite, although that young lad can certainly turn virtue into vice, aha! I don't think you could get him to say a foul word if you slapped him. And I more or less did exactly that, I'm chagrined to admit! Ah, but he doesn't hold it against me. What a splendid fellow."

He clapped his hands together. They made a small, soft sound.

"Well! What a gathering we have. It's a little early in the day for it, otherwise I'd propose we toast to our future collaboration – in doing good works of heroism and worldy service together!"

Future collaboration worth toasting to? It sounded like he had something in mind.