Obstinea Mountains Westward Trails

[Butterfree]

Dave raised his eyebrows. Odette's world had full-on monotheism except with Arceus?

"Huh. I mean, my world has some hippie neopagans who believe in legendaries, or profess to believe in legendaries so they can have an excuse to meet up and engage in fertility rituals, and some of them treat Arceus as the prime god of the pantheon or whatever, but the original religion they're emulating died out like a thousand years ago. Not really relevant anymore."

Laura was back to looking awkward at all the more talkative personalities there. "So, uh, you a journalist back home too, or what?" he asked.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Nah," she replied, grateful for a straightforward question she had an answer for. "I guess I could be, but all I am back home is a uni dropout on the League circuit several years too late. That, and, uh... Trying to infiltrate a shady corporation I think abducted my fucking cat."

She'd spent long enough on Forlas, fighting and writing and striving, that talking about it stung a good deal less. It was almost kinda fun saying it flatly this way. Despite herself, she couldn't help but crack an ironic smile.

 

[Butterfree]

Shady corporation abducted her fucking cat? Dave raised an amused eyebrow. "Well, that sounds like a fucking story and a half. What happened?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Uh... That's a long and kinda dumb story."

Laura chuckled awkwardly, and tried to explain.

Salem, her purrloin, her partner. Leaving for uni, not wanting to, dread eating her alive until she came home for the winter holidays. No Salem when she got home – gone, under her parents' watch. During an epidemic of missing 'mon, no less. Laura, storming out, angry enough to burn off the cold were it not for her chilling guilt, going straight to the local shelter to start looking. Finding out that her goddamn cat had been there until a Perihelion rep had taken her – and being fobbed off and lied to when she tried contacting them.

"I'm still at it. Just, uh. Taking a detour through the wild west everyone's-a-pokémon dimension first. Can't hurt, right?"

She hiked her bag up on her shoulder and tried to play it off like she wasn't terribly, embarrassingly, hopelessly out of her depth.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Well, damn, shit, Odette thought as she flexed the corners of her lips. If she'd have known she was going to get interrogated about this, she'd have kept her fucking mouth shut.

"Well, simply put, I think he's the god of all self-righteous pricks and dickheads. But more people seem convinced he's just the god of the universe. That's neither here nor there."

So, now Arceus was the hot topic? Hm, such an intriguing shift in conversation. Silver relaxed slightly, and his internal guard lowered a bit. It sure comforted him that some things were similar across multiple worlds, no matter how utterly different they might be, and to know that other people shared similar views to his own.

“Oh, yeah, there are legends about Arceus where I come from, too,” said Silver, joining the conversation. “It’s said that they are an amalgamation of all forces of nature and the architect who wrote the laws of time, space and gravity. In some cultures and continents, they’re also known as the Original One.

“However, nobody has ever seen their true appearance. In recorded history, the most famous apparition happened in a region called Ransei, where their avatar ‘descended from the heavens’ or whatever, and stopped a war that raged for years.” He chuckled softly and crossed his arms, amused by a sudden thought. “Though, if they’re so almighty, I wonder why they chose an avatar that resembles some creature stuck in a golden fence!”

Lyle cocked a brow at the pair. They sure had really different ideas of what this 'Arceus' would be like, but still, even if he didn't recognize the name or the description of it apparently looking like a creature stuck in a golden fence, the rest of it did sound like something he'd heard of before.

"I think I might know what you're talking about. In my world, there's myths and folk tales about a being that created the world in the very distant past," he explained. "In my world, I usually heard it called the 'God of Creation', and I think I saw a book call it the 'Great Monad' once."

He trailed off, before shaking his head.

"It's just... nobody can really agree what it's specifically like or even if it exists. Or existed for that matter," he said. "There was a great disaster that affected my entire world a little over a thousand years ago, and we admittedly don't know a whole lot about the way things used to be before it. But our gods were supposed to have had lives before and after it... except I've never heard of any stories of this God of Creation, or 'Arceus' as you call it, ever appearing afterwards."

"Nah," she replied, grateful for a straightforward question she had an answer for. "I guess I could be, but all I am back home is a uni dropout on the League circuit several years too late. That, and, uh... Trying to infiltrate a shady corporation I think abducted my fucking cat."

"... Okay, I realize that your world is probably really different from mine, but what is a corporation anyways?" Lyle asked. "Is it some kind of government or something?"

 

[Butterfree]

Laura's story was... Huh. She'd spent her time at college just pining to reunite with a fucking cat? In a world where it was literally just a cat, a pet? How lonely was this girl?

On the other hand, she'd apparently been pushed into a major she hated by her control-freak parents, so at least the being fucking miserable and not wanting to be there made sense. And then they'd gone on to let the Purrloin escape and then just not tell her, like she'd just come home and fail to notice they'd fucked up the one thing they'd been expected to do in exchange for molding their child in their own image. Fuck these people.

"Jesus. Well, congrats on getting out from under your parents' thumb; sounds like they don't deserve you. What the fuck would this tech company want with your goddamn cat?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Arceus would have been just another legendary 'mon to Laura, save for that RKS Chimeras were supposedly made in the image of Arceus. Not just an amalgamation of different parts, or a mutant, but made from genetic scraps of a creature the indiginous people of northern Nihon held to be the original creator of the universe. Notably, one of the oldest monotheist belief systems in the world, and very nearly extinct.

"... Okay, I realize that your world is probably really different from mine, but what is a corporation anyways? Is it some kind of government or something?"

"You have governments, but not corporations...? A corporation is just a large enough business to need its own legal status, I think?"

Howls, and she'd just been talking about how much she hated her fucking finance course she'd never wanted to take. Why did it have to be useful here of all places?

"It's a company, group, or organisation authorised by the state to act as a single entity, that's all. Implicitly, though, it's a big company."

Wasn't Lyle from some medieval world? His idea of 'big' might be a little understated...

"Perihelion has, like, tens of thousands of employees. It's not even that big a corporation."

"Jesus. Well, congrats on getting out from under your parents' thumb; sounds like they don't deserve you. What the fuck would this tech company want with your goddamn cat?"

Laura drew a complete blank on replying to Dave's earnest sympathy (if it was sympathy – it mostly sounded like he was mad at her parents) and just nodded vaguely, wondering herself what the fuck would they want with my goddamn cat? She could throw out her insane theories about pokémorph hybrids but really what she wanted to say was something plausible and mundane but still fucked up and true-enough.

"Probably pokémon testing," she said, settling on an answer. "They're into pokémon health and rehab, and biotech, and it's the kind of thing they'd want to do without drawing any attention."

 

[Butterfree]

Entire worlds without corporations. Magical.

"Huh. I mean... Surely there are better, less conspicuous ways to obtain Pokémon for research than grabbing people's lost pets out of shelters and off the streets. You said there was a whole epidemic of Pokémon going missing? Are there no lab breeding programs or whatever over there?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura shrugged, and looked askance at Dave, her tail thrashing a little against the ground.

"I mean, most cognitively sophisticated 'mon just... won't breed just 'cause you want them to. Pokémon are weird, there're all sorts of aura-related reasons why you can't just have lab-bred control groups and whatnot the way you can with, say, mice."

She was about to try to elaborate, assuming that like many Wayfarers, Dave's world had its own 'rules' different to her own.

She didn't get the chance.

The ground shook beneath the travellers – no, not shook. It moved. Flowed, even – like the contents of a sandbox being relocated in its entirety by gargantuan hands. Gravity seemed to alter, decreasing and increasing in pulses that unsettled the gut. The atmosphere thickened, giving each 'mon an excessive awareness of how it filled their lungs, of how their tongues rested in their mouths, of the flow of air across their limbs.

...Had the sun been in that position in the sky a moment ago...?

...Oh.

That is most unusual.​

 

[AdamArtDraws]

The air tasted of of earth and dust. Felin found it a touch amusing how she could feel every twitch of movement in her digits as she reached for her pommel.

Felin grinned, welcoming what she had thought was a second sun rising above. "I think we've found our wandering light. Must say, it's impressive to behold in person."

A small corner of Felin's gremlin of a mind wondered if they could take on the sun. They'd die trying but wouldn't it be fun to try? Luckily, sense took over and she tucked that gremlin thought to bed and promised it a turn to shine later.

 

[RJr3:2]

With few conventional ways to feel the change, Aige felt the changing gravity keenly, losing her focus as she stood still.

Years of experience, almost a quarter century of ingrained response, and nothing to show for it.

When you're attacked by an unknown assailant or believe such is the case, first, ascertain the vector and force of the attack and escape the area of fire... then... then...

Something about the conversation of gods, then corporations, had left her feeling mixed up in a way she wasn't ready to put into words. She could almost feel her rational process tapping against the inside of her head, explaining away everything that was happening.

Hallucinations are a trademark of psychic energy foremost, but can also be attributed to factors such as a high concentration of poison-

The Roggenrola hoped that the group was witnessing a god, or at least something like it. Something she couldn't explain, something that could act beyond reasonable expectations or blunt doubt.

Felin's comments snapped her back to the present. Again she was thankful that she didn't have a face that could be immediately pinned as dumbfounded.

"Huh. W-well, if this is a god, I'll defer our actions to anyone with more experience with this," she said, a little unsteady. "Any ideas?"

 

[Virgil134]

Rodion tensed up as he looked around in confusion, when his mind turned back to his visit to the Silver Ravine. Unlike in his world, where the entrances of Mystery Dungeons were covered with a thick layer of fog, it was entirely possible in Forlas to wander into a Mystery Dungeon without even being aware of it... or at least, not until it was too late. Could that have happened to them here?

"I'm not sure if this is the work of the Wandering Light... Betel, is there any chance we walked into a Mystery Dungeon by accident?"

 

[Cresselia92]

Silver quietly took in the conversation about Pokémon and biotech, not bothering to hold back a displeased scowl. He knew from experience that when those words were mashed in the same sentence, it often meant terrible news.

Between the destruction of the lab in Cinnabar and the mysterious shutdown of the lab in that area in Unova he couldn’t remember — which, interestingly enough, both claimed to be looking for solutions to fully unlock the potential of Pokémon and find solutions to untreatable conditions through bioengineering — it was clear that their agendas didn’t coincide with what they revealed publicly. Or rather, he knew that the ‘incident’ in Cinnabar wasn’t really accidental but a coverup to hide something far more sinister.

But before he could ponder the matter further, Silver felt the drastic change in the atmosphere. Alarmed by the shift, he unsheathed his claws and glanced warily at their surroundings. What was happening?

“Well, it seems like chitchat time’s over.” He glanced briefly at Rodion and nodded, before resuming looking around. “Right. What’re we dealing with?”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura grit her teeth and planted herself as firmly as she could, one paw reaching for the nearest rocky surface to cling to, the other still on her improvised walking stick. What the fuck was going on? Some dungeon shit? It had to be.

"Betel, what's happening, and can you fix it?" she managed, through sudden nausea.

I believe... the nearest rift just expanded. Temple Falls' shallows – that is, the outer edge of the mystery dungeon – have grown to incorporate parts of the mountainside route you are travelling.

I cannot reverse this process, but fortunately, it should not adversely affect your journey to any significant degree... The only serious risk at this point is that local wild pokémon are disturbed by the environmental change and become aggressively territorial.
​

"I'm just going to assume that's exactly what will happen," said Laura, despairing of anything ever being straightforward. "What species are found in the area, Betel...?"

Numerous birds, reptiles, Rock-, Ground- and Fighting-types of several kinds, other burrowing species, some dragons, and certain fish. The biodiversity here is too great to list quickly. If you are concerned about dangerous species you may be threatened by, then you may anticipate encounters with gyarados, tyranitar, kleavor, steel-shelled goodra, and—
​

The mountainside ahead burst open like a crushed melon, and a bellowing, silver-armoured skull emerged from the opening.

​

"Aggron?"

Yes, you may encounter aggron! Do try to avoid attracting the attention of one.

...Ah.
​

Wild aggron appeared! ​

 

[Butterfree]

What the fuck? Everything shifted and tightened and squeezed, and Dave swayed on his feet, stumbling toward the rock wall to support himself. For a moment he thought he'd just eaten something strange, but everyone else seemed to be feeling it too.

At Betel's explanation that a dungeon was expanding around them, he had the worst suspicion this was whatever Powehi had been talking about. Destabilizing the boundaries. Walking past a rift and just growing it by their presence, nothing they could do about it. Typical.

Then the face of an Aggron burst through the wall, and he jumped, hackles rising. "Uhh... Hi?" he said, wary. Just in case it was a sapient. If not, ready to hightail it out of here.

 

[Sinderella]

Fertility rituals, huh? That got a chuckle out of her.

“Yeah, the legendaries like Arceus are a little more profound than that where I’m from. We have a Pokemon pantheon, and what most colloquially call a human pantheon. With religions like Christianity, which, I’m sure you’re familiar with considering you’ve spoken the Lord’s name in vain before,” she chuckled. She immediately cut herself off, however, upon realizing that sounded a lot sillier in her head. Hopefully he wouldn’t take it a wrong way…

Thank gods for Laura. Talking about her purrloin getting fucking abducted under her parent’s watch; what on Earth? Hearing her refer to a purrloin like it was a house cat definitely threw Odette for another cultural loop, but it lit a small flame in her no less. Was that the shitty organization she was trying to infiltrate back in her world? She opened her mouth to inquire, but decided to hold back and instead made a mental note to try talking to her 1-on-1. Because she definitely wanted detail.

When the conversation shifted into more talk of Arceus and corporations and government, Odette glazed over in thought as her head traveled back to thoughts and anxieties over the Abbey. She was starting to get frustrated with just how knotted her being was about it. If it was going to be such a source of personal contention, then she was probably best off heading back—

Suddenly her vision swam, and her brain broke down into static. She grit her teeth as she doubled over to push up her glasses and press the heels of her hands into her eyes. “What the—“ she gasped.

Oh. Nope. Now she 100% wasn’t going anywhere.

Some mystery dungeon shit. Truth be told, she’d been so fucking jarred by that whole literal video game aspect of this world that she’d actively avoided anything having to do with dungeons. But, she’d come to realize they were a large part of this world, so she knew it was only a matter of time. Of course it had to happen on the way to the Abbey.

And to make matters even better, Betel was barely done warning them about the wildlife before one of those pains-in-her-fucking-ass aggrons ran up on them. She knew she was a steel type now, but she couldn’t help but stare at it in disdain.

“God fucking dammit.”

 

[Cresselia92]

And of course, just as soon as Betel finished giving them a swift rundown of the threats, a freaking (and positively not friendly!) Aggron had to pop into existence and stop the group in their tracks — like some kinda creature whose job is to jumpscare and maul the protagonists of a horror movie.

The appearance was so sudden that Silver took a startled jump back, his fur turning into tiny needles and venom pouring out his claws. He hissed back at the Aggron, unsure whether that was because of his anger for being taken off guard or nervousness because that Aggron was colossal compared to all of them.

Freezer, thunder and fire, why can’t things go smoothly for once? I swear to the deities — freaking deities must’ve jinxed it! — that the wackos who invented Murphy’s and Sod’s laws must be getting the biggest kick of their lives right now…

Shoving those thoughts out of the way, Silver mustered all the adrenaline he got in his body and held his claws forward as a defensive display, glaring defiantly as he did so. If that Aggron tried something funny, he would make his claws taste steel.

 

[RJr3:2]

Oh the world was such an easier place to live in when there was a clear and present danger. Aige could worry about all her questions later, sometime soon maybe, or whenever she got around to it.

"Is our way blocked?" she asked quietly, "I hope not."

She looked around to see if there was any way around the Aggron.

"If we decide to attack though, let's make it quick. If we're lucky, we can scare them away."

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Lyle jumped back and his vents came alight at the sight of the Aggron, and at first, he'd thought that Sheriff Mack had somehow fallen into Forlas to come and ruin his day.

But no, the 'mon wasn't wearing any of the attire that a Gendarm would have, and he wasn't even sure if the 'mon was saying any coherent words. Probably just a feral. A very big and angry-sounding feral who was right there in their path.

So, not much of a step up at all from running into Sheriff Mack after all, really.

"Tch, great, just what we needed right now."

 

[Virgil134]

Rodion grimaced as the Aggron burst through the mountainside. When he had wished that Hess could be here, this was not what he meant!

That said, if this wild Aggron could talk and was as prideful about his territory here in the mountains as Hess was about his ship, maybe they could use that to talk their way out of this situation... Maybe.

He held up his paws disarmingly as he slowly approached the Aggron...

"Alright, there's no need for a fight here. We're just as confused about what's going on as you are and want to get off your mountain as soon as we can."

… and got ready to use Protect the moment the Aggron showed any signs of aggression. There was a good chance this Aggron couldn't talk after all. With him having stepped ahead of the group, hopefully the Aggron would just target him, leaving the wild 'mon open for the rest of his teammates.