Starscrape Heaves

[Jackie Cat]

The patterns of nature are found again and again, in all times and places. A tree's branches are like its roots, and in turn like the fork of lightning in the sky, the cracking of dry earth, the deltas of rivers, the airways of living lungs...

For the most part, the Kivaran tundra is a relatively flat expanse of snow and moss covered ground. But in the region of the Starscrape Heaves, the ground bucks and rolls, driven skyward in gentle mounds by the dungeon's ice as it swells upwards with each freeze. Even in summer, the dungeon’s many low, cave-like entrances contain a toothy array of icicles and frozen stalagmites, looking for all intents and purposes like the maws of the earth itself. Local tribes tell that they are the mouths of those poor souls who – in life – preyed on thinking 'mon, now cursed to a state of endless hunger.

Once past such icy barricades, the dungeon sprawls out in a wide series of caverns that despite the chill, feel warmer than the air outside. Perhaps it’s the humidity born from the bioluminescent mosses and lichens that cling to both floor and ceiling. On the higher dungeon levels, they’re more sparse, but as one descends further into the Heaves, the moss grows thicker, creating constellations of light across the cavern ceilings.

Though it’s never been formally documented, Kivaran delvers assert that the Heaves are in constant flux, closing old entrances and opening new ones throughout the seasons. These nomadic Sneasel and others in their culture consider the dungeon a sacred site, a place 'closer to the stars', where one can glean insights and even prophecies from its subsurface 'stars'. Tribal 'mon can sometimes be found there on a kind of pilgrimage, in an attempt to attain spiritual enlightenment, learn the future, or undergo a personal transformation.

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Many thanks to @Panoramic_Vacuum for her help with the writeup!

 

[Jackie Cat]

Once, when he was young – so, so very young – he had been a noibat. He had hung from cave rafters with others of his kind, and he had taken gnats on the wing, and he had seen the world in lunar silver and colourless echoes. He could remember these times only faintly, recalled less from memory than from base instinct, from the time when he had been wild and his consciousness bore only a meagre sapience.

Malachai opened his eyes, and saw cave-darkness and night-darkness together. He clicked out an ultrasonic pulse, and it returned an echo of cavern stone and cavern creatures. His pitch was off. He clicked again – again, his sonar sounded wrong.

He unfurled his wings, stretched out, as far as they would go, and realised with horror that this was not far at all. His wings... were small.

Somehow, though he could not yet determine by what means, he knew this to be the girl's fault.

<Where are you, girl?> he sent, uncertain that she would even be there to receive. <What is this place? This... Forlas?>

'Forlas'. That was the name of this world. He remembered this, somehow...

Malachai shuddered with grim dismay at his pathetic noibat body, to which he had been implausibly and inexplicably reduced. Then he took wing, clicking out pulses in search of Laura Weir of Circhester. Or, failing that, anyone else sapient enough for him to meaningfully castigate.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura groaned, shifted uncomfortably, pressed the pads of her paws into her eyes. Talk about groggy. She felt like shit. Augh.

Okay, she'd been unconscious. Sure. Did she get knocked out? She remembered the mission, she remembered...

Fuck.

She looked around herself, eyes painfully wide, her heart battering down her sternum hard enough to make her worry she was gonna have a panic attack, or a heart attack, or something. Howls, they'd fucked up, hadn't they? And now she was, where? Some kinda... midnight mountain place? She could see stars, kinda... unless that was just some sorta cave roof. Bioluminescence or something. Weird.

"Hey, Betel, where the hell did I end up?" she asked, wincing at the obvious nervousness in her voice.

No reply.

"Betel? Some kinda mystery dungeon, I'm guessing? That'd, uh, track with the 'rules', I guess. Seems intuitive to me, anyway."

Nothing.

"Betel, seriously, can you fucking hear me or what?"

She bit her paw. Yelped. That felt real. Okay. Okay.

"Hey!" she shouted, before immediately regretting called attention to herself in a strange, dark place, potentially full of wild 'mon. Goddamnit.

Then, quieter, "Is anyone there...?"

Please, anyone, be there.

 

[Cresselia92]

Silver had no idea how it felt like to be chewed thoroughly by some kaiju and spat right out, but the ringing pain in all his bones and muscles definitely felt very close to that mental image. He groaned as he dug his face out of the hard ground and shook himself, suppressing a wince when another jolt ran through his body.

“Oow, what…?”

The Sneasel looked around, trying to gather his bearings. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t at the Congress anymore. But then… where was he?

Then, he heard some voice. It sounded familiar, but at the same time, there was something off about it?

"B**el, se***us**, *** you ******* he** me ** *hat?"

Silver squinted his eyes, confused. Gods, did he get a concussion or something when he landed… wherever he was? Nonetheless, he followed the voice until he found a familiar dark Meowth.

"Is ***one ***re...?"

“Hey, Laura! I’m here!” he yelled back, running up to her. He did all he could to ignore the jolts of pain. “Keep your voice down, will ya? We don’t know what kinda ‘mons are here! Are you okay?”

 

[Jackie Cat]

“Oi, Rōra! Koko ni iru yo!” he yelled back, running up to her. He did all he could to ignore the jolts of pain. “Koe o shizukani shite ne! Don'na pokemon ga iru ka wakaranai nda! Daijōbu?”

Oh, that sounded like... Silver? Laura hadn't the foggiest what he was saying, though. She cleaned out her ears with a claw just in case it'd help.

"Wh-what? Say again?"

Then it clicked. No telepathic network, no autotranslation...

"Hey there, Silver," she said, sighing from her bones.

So, she was 'Rōra', now. Oh, boy. This was gonna be fucking fantastic.

 

[canisaries]

Ben was... somewhere else.

A cave. A cave with some glowing stuff on the ceiling. It looked really pretty, but Ben couldn't dwell too much on that. He had to figure out where he was.

Forlas.

What? He knew he was... someplace named Forlas. How did he know that?

He racked his brain for the answer, and he found traces of memory of some kind of voice speaking to him, but he couldn't remember what about. It had felt like a dream. This... seemed like a dream, with the magical view and the fact that he was somewhere entirely new, but it felt real. Despite everything.

There was also something else. The floor did not seem like it was as far away as it should be, and his fur seemed to be the wrong shade from what he could tell from the glowing moss's light. It reminded him of when he'd been young, a teddi. Was he a teddi again...?

Immediately, this frightened Ben. He wasn't strong anymore. And he was all alone.

Or...

There was shouting around the corner.

Ben swallowed, hoping the people these voices belonged to were friendly, and made his way there. There was an Alolan meowth and a... strange kind of sneasel with what looked like red hair. Okay. They didn't seem hostile, at least.

Ben cleared his throat. "Uh, hi. Do you know where we are? I mean, I feel like this is someplace called Forlas, but... more specifically."

---

Andre was tired. So tired.

He wanted to keep lying where he was, on a cool, hard surface, eyes closed - but then he recalled his last memories. Being in the CDE. The Radiance doohickey. The scream he had to cover up for. The sudden storm of vertigo, the memories, the Shadow and Radiance and then...

Then, this moment.

He opened his eyes and tried to get up as fast as he could, but his muscles were jelly. He had to stop, anyway, as he saw what was around him. Some sort of cave... with something glowing above. Bioluminescent moss? It was supremely beautiful, but Andre couldn't get lost in that now. He thought about his options and then decided to reach out to Betel.

Betel? What happened?

No response. Did he have to think harder?

Betel? What happened?

Still nothing. Oh no.

It seemed like he'd have to get up. He did so, quite arduously, but he was able to stand. Even slowly walk.

He thought about yelling out for someone, but then decided against it. Wild mon could be in these caves, and Andre was in no condition to fight. Well, are you ever? Not helping.

Andre sighed, picked a direction at random and made his way forward.

 

[Cresselia92]

"*** the**, Silver," she said, sighing from her bones.

Oh, finally! Something he could understand clearly, and it was his own freaking name. Seeing the confusion on Laura’s face only made his own confusion grow further. Did she have the same issue with understanding him, too?

He reached out to Betel, hoping that he could send his thought across, but much to his dismay, his message failed to reach Laura. Betel was missing or something, which meant…

“Damn,” he grumbled in realization. What the hell happened? Where was everyone? He had screwed up very badly, didn’t he?

"Uh, hi. ** you kno* wh**e we ***? I ****, I **** li** this ** so*****ce ****** Forlas, ***... mo** ***cifi***ly."

Silver turned to the new voice, trying but failing to not frown. Not at the Teddiursa, of course, but at his inability to make heads and tails of most of what the bear had just said.

Though, it wasn’t a totally unknown language for Silver since he could understand a few scattered pieces, and thinking of it, it was the same with Laura’s words. The only other language he knew was Unovan Galarish, albeit at beginner level, so perhaps that was what they were speaking now, albeit with some thick accent or variant?

“Um… hel-lo,” he said with a hesitant tone, waving his paw awkwardly. He stared back at Laura, hoping that she could understand what the Teddiursa was saying, at least.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Uh, hi. Do you know where we are? I mean, I feel like this is someplace called Forlas, but... more specifically."

“Um… hel-lo,”

Laura smiled sympathetically at each 'mon in turn – reassuring the bear cub, commiserating with Silver.

"Gomen," she managed to say in Silver's direction, feeling like a poor excuse for a weeb.

She turned to the new guy, and waved hello. "Hi, I'm Laura. This is Silver. He's, uh, from somewhere in Nihon, I think? Until today we had someone translating for us, but now it looks like we're gonna have to play charades to communicate."

She gestured around herself vaguely.

"Dunno where this place is, but I figure it's a Mystery Dungeon. Weird howling spacetime rift, full of wild 'mon and, like, supernatural shit. Sorry to, uh, dump that on you, but you sound like you're probably an adult back wherever you came from, so I'm hoping you can, uh, cope. You, uh, human or pokémon before you landed on this planet? You're speaking Galarish so I figure you're from an Earth, if not my Earth..."

Howls, there was a lot to catch up on.

 

[canisaries]

“Um… hel-lo,” he said with a hesitant tone, waving his paw awkwardly. He stared back at Laura, hoping that she could understand what the Teddiursa was saying, at least.

Ben hesitantly waved back.

She turned to the new guy, and waved hello. "Hi, I'm Laura. This is Silver. He's, uh, from somewhere in Nihon, I think? Until today we had someone translating for us, but now it looks like we're gonna have to play charades to communicate."

Nihon...?

She gestured around herself vaguely.

"Dunno where this place is, but I figure it's a Mystery Dungeon. Weird howling spacetime rift, full of wild 'mon and, like, supernatural shit. Sorry to, uh, dump that on you, but you sound like you're probably an adult back wherever you came from, so I'm hoping you can, uh, cope. You, uh, human or pokémon before you landed on this planet? You're speaking Galarish so I figure you're from an Earth, if not my Earth..."

Howls, there was a lot to catch up on.

"...Right," Ben said, trying to take it all in. A 'mystery dungeon'. Different Earths. "I was a pokémon. Ursaring. I am from Galar, and I am from Earth, or... an Earth. I don't know where your Nihon is, but I also don't know much about geography..." He scratched the back of his paw. "Thank you for explaining."

He looked around. Laura had said the place was full of wild mon. "Do you think the wild mon are... aggressive? I-I was strong back home in my old body, but now that I'm a cub, again, I don't..." He trailed off.

 

[JFought]

Isidora found herself on her back staring up at the starry night sky. The surrounding air and ground beneath her were colder than she last remembered. Did I fall unconscious...? she asked herself, until the lack of a real breeze against her ear feathers caused her to realize. She was not on the mesa anymore.

Straining and panting against exhaustion, the weavile forced herself into a slumped sitting position and took in her surroundings. Some weird ice cave. And I'm alone. She scraped a claw against the ground -- Moss? -- then squinted at the ceiling. Why's it glowing like that? Is this a Mystery Dungeon? How did I even get here?

She tried to remember what happened, and her eyes widened. How long has it been? The last thing she remembered was the strange experience of having her sense of time completely discombobulated, and she still couldn't make sense of it. For all she knew, it could've been anywhere from minutes to years since she was last awake. Betel? Are you there? What happened?

As she waited for an answer, she performed a quick inventory check. Her Expert Belt was still tied around her neck. Her other belt was still fastened around her waist. But when she checked for her bag at her side, it wasn't there, and when she glanced around, she couldn't find it. Food, water, money, orbs, her other scarves: all gone, just like that. "You're shittin' me..."

Isidora spent a few minutes sitting there breathing deeply, still waiting, both for Betel and for her tiredness to fade. Then when neither happened, she scratched a character into the cave floor -- 'Beginning' -- got unsteadily onto her feet, and started walking. Internally she was panicking (she could've been sent to the middle of nowhere far from civilization, and then what?), but she couldn't lose herself yet, not when there was still a chance she wasn't sent here alone. So, she stayed calm, and kept moving.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Then when neither happened, she scratched a character into the cave floor -- 'Beginning' -- got unsteadily onto her feet, and started walking.

There. A pokémon, walking alone through this section of cavern. A weavile, one who had just inscribed a rune or glyph into this cold ground. They must be at least modestly sapient, and it was possible they were even in the same circumstance as he had found himself. He would approach. Make contact. Reconnoitre.

He called a high-pitched warning laden with echo-clicks, and flew in a wide circle around the weavile, not wishing to draw ice-magic in his own direction. He was reasonably sure he could withdraw if necessary, and in any case, a lone weavile was not a hunting-pack.

<You, Weavile – do you talk? I wish to speak with you.>

He sighed internally at the lack of gravitas he could leverage in this form. And there was not telling if a Dark-type would even be receptive to his telepathy. He certainly didn't relish the thought of trying to speak out loud in this tiny, wretched form. Spoken language was challenging enough as a noivern. Damnation.

"Speak you the Galarish tongue?" he tried, wincing at his lofty pitch. "Parlez-vous la Kalosienne? Sprechen sie Sächsisch? Etrusce loquerisne?"

He clicked again. Even if this was a wild sneasel, even so...

<...Or have you Pokéspeech, at least?>

Well, it was worth a damned try, wasn't it?

 

[JFought]

Isidora watched the noibat circling around her wondering if they were native to this cave. Except, no, noibat avoided cold climates, at least according to what she understood.

Then, a telepathic message, followed by...

"Speak you the Galarish tongue? Parlez-vous la Kalosienne? Sprechen sie Sächsisch? Etrusce loquerisne?"

"...Or have you Pokéspeech, at least?"

Isidora's eyes darted around as she attempted to process everything that came out of his mouth. "Uh... Yeah. I think." What the fuck?

Then it came to her. She recognized something in there; he was pronouncing human language. But, she still should've been able to understand it, right? Hey Betel...?

...Oh.

Her eyes widened. Oh shit.

She hid her realization by rubbing them closed. "Sorry, you confused me. But yeah, I talk." Her mind kept racing, and her ears twitched. If he could speak in human, then that would mean... "Who are you?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Excellent – the weavile was articulate and non-aggressive. That was a considerable relief, at least. Malachai landed a short distance from her to conserve energy, and immediately regretted the immediate sense of height difference. Appalling.

"I am called Malachai," he declared, simmering with resentment at the loss of his usual imposing boom. "Until just moments ago, I was a noivern in the country of Galar... on the planet Earth. Some unaccountable intuition of mine insists that this world is called... Forlas. Are you a native of this 'Forlas'? I must situate myself and – if at all possible – reconvene with my master."

Gods spare him, he sounded petulant in this form. He could hardly expect passing 'mon to freely give him aid if he sounded like a presumptious little whelp. He would have to be... ingratiating.

"Noble Weavile, I would be... deeply grateful... if you would see fit to lend me your kind assistance. Until I am no longer in jeopardy."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"...Right. I was a pokémon. Ursaring. I am from Galar, and I am from Earth, or... an Earth. I don't know where your Nihon is, but I also don't know much about geography..." He scratched the back of his paw. "Thank you for explaining."

He looked around. "Do you think the wild mon are... aggressive? I-I was strong back home in my old body, but now that I'm a cub, again, I don't..."

Laura opened her mouth to reassure him that she and Silver would handle any battling, then bit her lip. She wasn't sure she could stand up to angry wild 'mon right now, not if they were strong and numerous. She wasn't much of a striker, anyway – although Silver sure was.

"We'll just have to mind our business and not piss any of them off, if we can help it," she said.

So, this bear was a former pokémon, and Galarish of all possible origins, but probably not from her world. Howling multiverse....

"There were a lot more of us before we got scattered – like, teleported elsewhere, I guess – so maybe if Silver and I ended up here, so did some of our friends? I think we should go looking for them – you're welcome to stick with us, uh... Ursaring?"

She glanced at Silver, hoping the boy could follow along well enough. She signed some of what she'd said at him, just in case pokésign was in use in his world, or even if he could pick up the gist intuitively. It wasn't too hard to get the basic idea of [let's go look for the others], right?

She looked around the cavern with ears pricked, searching for a route that might take them out, threats to avoid, or indications their friends might be nearby. The false constellations above were distractingly beautiful...

 

[canisaries]

"We'll just have to mind our business and not piss any of them off, if we can help it," she said.

So, this bear was a former pokémon, and Galarish of all possible origins, but probably not from her world. Howling multiverse....

"There were a lot more of us before we got scattered – like, teleported elsewhere, I guess – so maybe if Silver and I ended up here, so did some of our friends? I think we should go looking for them – you're welcome to stick with us, uh... Ursaring?"

Ben flinched. "Ah! I'm sorry. My name is Ben. Ben Urgamor. Well, sometimes I'm Grizz, but..." He cleared his throat. "Ben is fine."

He wasn't entirely pleased with the answer about the wild mon, but it would have to suffice. In any case, he was safer now with company than he'd been alone.

 

[Cresselia92]

Whatever Laura and the Teddiursa were talking about was almost entirely lost to Silver, but he took some comfort in the fact that Laura could communicate with their new ‘pal.’

As he was completely alienated in terms of words, the Sneasel analyzed their body language: they seemed relaxed, if not nervous at times, until the Teddiursa showed signs of apprehension. A word in particular stood out to Silver: strong.

Did the Teddiursa think they weren’t strong or something? Pfft! What nonsense! Just because they were small it didn’t mean they were weak!

“Strong! Yes!” he huffed assuredly, puffing up his chest and pointing to himself. “Can battle!”

Granted, his muscles still felt like shredded cheese, but the Teddiursa didn’t need to know that. Not like he could tell him, anyway. He could still buy the others some time if they had to chase off some threat, however.

Then, the mysterious conversation shifted forward, and Laura made various motions in his way. Around; others; glance; eyes; that way… ah. Okay, so they wanted to leave? Yeah, it’s not like they would have done much by simply standing there in what might be some hostile place.

“…Go?” he mumbled, his ears flicking with interest, and he nodded. He pointed at a random direction and waved forward. “Yes. Let… huh, go.”

 

[JFought]

"Noble Weavile, I would be... deeply grateful... if you would see fit to lend me your kind assistance. Until I am no longer in jeopardy."

Isidora leaned forward with her paws on her knees and gave Malachai her most deadpan look. "That doesn’t work on me. But you’re cute, so I’ll let it slide."

Galar was a new term to her (or, was it? She couldn’t remember), but 'Earth' confirmed her suspicions. Though with the way he spoke, she couldn’t tell if by 'master' he meant 'trainer' or 'lord of the estate.' Maybe it’s both. Either way, if he really was a noivern before, she had to wonder where he learned to speak like a human.

Also, he’d been summoned recently? She had no idea what was going on, but she knew it must've had something to do with how she got here herself. And with why Betel wasn't responding, too...

She stood back straight and crossed her arms. "Anyway, sure, why not, I'll help you. Though I'm not from here either: I'm also from Earth. Or, an Earth." She scratched her cheek. "I have no idea where I am or how I got here either, so I can't promise I can help you with finding your 'master' or whatever." Assuming they're even here, and you didn't get summoned on your own. "But as long as we're in similar boats, we might as well stick together for now."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Malachai wanted to vomit. This was not him, this was a crass pantomime, a nightmare he would terminate at the earliest opportunity. He would not be condescended to indefinitely.

"I... see. Then are you also newly-arrived here? Your composure suggests a... previous familiarity with your circumstance, and you are clearly undiminished in strength... unlike myself."

He would regain his strength. He would be mighty once more. He would become himself again.

He took flight again, sonar-scouting for a route elsewhere.

"Regardless, let us cooperate so long as it serves us both. I will discover our way out of this place."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Ben flinched. "Ah! I'm sorry. My name is Ben. Ben Urgamor. Well, sometimes I'm Grizz, but..." He cleared his throat. "Ben is fine."

“Strong! Yes!” he huffed assuredly, puffing up his chest and pointing to himself. “Can battle!”

“…Go? Yes. Let… huh, go.”

Laura stifled a chuckle at Silver's posturing – such a teenager, howls! – and nodded.

"Right. Ben. Nice to meet you, Ben! Like my friend here says, let's get the hell outta here. Between the two— the three of us, I'm pretty sure we can handle anything we run into."

Even if her satchel had vanished, at least she still had those heat-rock gloves Steven gave her. She put a little juice into them, got them warming up. Yet another cold place, huh? She could handle it. It was fine.

"C'mon."

She hit the ground in a direction that looked vaguely promising, wondering under her breath whether this dungeon had any expectations of them, as the rifts so often did. Maybe... something to do with the constellations...?

 

[Jackie Cat]

Well. This was not part of the plan.

Of course, he had general contingencies for almost any eventuality – even capture by the Wayfarers (whether authentic or feigned) – but he distinctly had not anticipated being flung across the planet to a remote mystery dungeon, alone and ill-equipped, likely in the imminent company of angry Wayfarers.

Heaven help him, the Wayfarers. Their own little mini-Covenant within the Covenant. Precious. And in their own way, rather more dangerous, depending on how things panned out in the future.

"Give me the wisdom to know how far to trust them," he prayed, softly, under his breath. "Give them the wisdom to walk a path that leads away from ruin."

He didn't know who he prayed to, only that it stilled his heart and breath whenever he did. So, he prayed.

And he walked, ignoring the pain in his miserable body, ignoring the damp chill in his flesh, ignoring the part of him that wished to swallow his own tongue and let it all be over.

It seemed like he'd have to get up. He did so, quite arduously, but he was able to stand. Even slowly walk.

He thought about yelling out for someone, but then decided against it. Wild mon could be in these caves, and Andre was in no condition to fight. Well, are you ever? Not helping.

Andre sighed, picked a direction at random and made his way forward.

It wasn't long before he found another out-of-place pokémon. Perhaps one of the more favourable possible Wayfarers to happen across – Andre Duval, the Deerling. Not a fighter, that one. More of... a listener? Perhaps.

"Hey, Andre," he called out, sotto voce. "Are you alright?"

"Yo, Andore-kun! Daijōbu ka?"