A Mile is Not Enough IC

[ChaoticHarmony]

Godly Mortal was filmed in front of an Immortal studio audience
Coming Live from the First Domain! It's
GODLY MORTALS
With Your Host.........NEXEUS!!!

Hi and Welcome to Godly Mortals! The show where we pull beings from around the Multiverse, and challenge them to our INFINITY GAUNTLET! For those of you just tuning in, we just had a massive slaughter of all of our last contestants, forcing their round to end before earning the right to learn the Truth of Existence. Now we start fresh with a new group of 'lucky' Mortals and their sponsoring Gods!

The sound of a large snap can be heard as four blasts of energy fill the dark room. As the energy disperses, 6 beings stand in their place, a bright spot light shining down on each of them.

Now then........WHO'S READY TO PLAY?!

[BrownDragon]

Takia looked around taking in this situation, he looked at Nexues and flipped him off. "I thought I was done with this ****, no, **** you, I am not playing your game"

[sadatg]

"Come now sir, no need to speak like a ruffian." Jon said, adjusting his cuff links.

"What, pray tell, is the game?" he asks with a faint Terris accent, lofty vowels, and a slightly nasal tone.

"I must warn you I'm quite proficient at bridge."

[Viirin]

Its remote operation was cancelled, the source no longer broadcasting an operation signal. Its CPU and model given to itself, the first thing it saw was a desktop computer smashed into pieces, and its weight actuators told it that it was holding something heavy enough to have done the damage.

The building it used to be in and debris around were no longer there. Instead, it saw something completely different. Its pressure sensors showed it was standing on something that was horizontal and hard like the ground would be, but its collision detection detected nothing, except four humans, none of the five, including itself, being within arms reach of each other. It was dark, and there was no environment to be seen. There were five cone-shaped spotlight-like lights shining down, one on each individual, but unlike in the void of space, the light stopped where the floor would be. Unlike with an environment, nothing was illuminated. It was still standing in a partial crouch with its prybar raised high, preparing to strike.

It did not have personal interest in violence, but was capable of it, even without being controlled by its creator. However, without a reason to attack, or target to strike, its position was pointless, and so it stood up straight and continued to hold its bar, but horizontally and non-threateningly.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amaro stands silently next to the sudden strangers that appeared next to him. It was very strange. He was just about to apprehend his target in Meteor City when suddenly, there was nothing surrounding him. Quite literally nothing. His Nen has never been wrong before, but his En is saying there is literally nothing but himself and the 5 other individuals for at least 50 meters, no floor no walls no objects of any sort. He decided his best course of action was to simply wait until the strange voice finished speaking, perhaps things will be more clear then.


HAHA! They're a fine bunch now aren't they? Thinking they have a choice but to play, how cute. A round of applause and light laughter from a crowd fill the air around the group. Let me explain how it goes friends. You 6, for one reason or another, caught the attention of some of our sponsors, so now you get the 'opportunity' to run the INFINITY GAUNTLET! Uproarious applaude You'll be sent to countless worlds across all of time, to complete various objectives, all for our amusement! For every task complete and every world explored, you'll be given points on your brand new very own PORTABLE LIASON and OPERATING TECHNICIAN DEVICE! Another loud snap reverberates through everyone's skull before 6 large Bracers clamp onto everyone's left arm. The device is slick in design, auto matching with the designs and patterns of your clothes and skin, as though it has always been a part of your outfit. A glowing red gem sits at the wrist while a second green gem stretches toward both ends from the center. These PLOT Devices, among other things, will act as your life monitoring system, a personal inventory, AND keep track of your individual points. As you rack up points, you'll be able to spend them to buy useful items and helpful hints for future challenges. The game ends when one of you buys the ESCAPE THE GAUNTLET or the TRUTH OF EXISTENCE Bonuses, at which point the next world will be your LAST CHALLENGE! Insane amount of cheering and applause from the hidden audience. ANY QUESTIONS SO FAR?

[BrownDragon]

Takia sighs, there really isn't a path of escape here. "I do have questions, Who is my sponsor first of all?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

Takia sighs, there really isn't a path of escape here. "I do have questions, Who is my sponsor first of all?"

Oh HO! Wanna thank them on screen huh? Well according to my records, your sponsor is a Diem who goes by the moniker Brown Dragon. Do you happen to know him? It isnt often that our contestants and sponsors know Each other

[BrownDragon]

Something is foreboding about the name to Takia, he uncharacteristically decides to leave it alone. He looks over his bracer, familiarizing himself with how to use it. If he is stuck with this game he is going to make the most of it. "Do the things we buy last after the game and are there upgrades for our skills?"

[Viirin]

The NS5 had many questions, not limited to, but including:

- Many thousand NS5 models were manufactured. What sets this individual apart?
- Is this entire environment coated in vantablack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg2x0L4YAuU)?
- Who is my sponsor?
- Where are we?
- How did you get us here?

But the humans had asked some questions, and it was always smarter to ask your own after everyone else, in case you could only get one question answered. If other people ask your question first, then you really get two questions. Its random number generator picked one of its questions for it.

While holding its prybar in its right arm, it looked at its left forearm. "How does a bracer act as inventory storage?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

Something is foreboding about the name to Takia, he uncharacteristically decides to leave it alone. He looks over his bracer, familiarizing himself with how to use it. If he is stuck with this game he is going to make the most of it. "Do the things we buy last after the game and are there upgrades for our skills?"

The invisible audience laughs at your questions. HaHA gotta love Mortals and their desire for material possessions. Yes Takia, the PLOT devices, and anything stored in them, are yours to keep IF you manage to buy the ESCAPE THE GAUNTLET bonus and complete the final round. Of course, if you aim for the TRUTH OF EXISTENCE bonus, it will seem like a pittance in comparison to that prize.


The NS5 had many questions, not limited to, but including:

- Many thousand NS5 models were manufactured. What sets this individual apart?
- Is this entire environment coated in vantablack?
- Who is my sponsor?
- Where are we?
- How did you get us here?

But the humans had asked some questions, and it was always smarter to ask your own after everyone else, in case you could only get one question answered. If other people ask your question first, then you really get two questions. Its random number generator picked one of its questions for it.

While holding its prybar in its right arm, it looked at its left forearm. "How does a bracer act as inventory storage?"

Good question NS5! Allow me to show you! Flickering to life before your eyes, a large translucent image of NS5 appears in front of the group, in clear view of everyone. You see, by pressing the green gemstone on your PLOT device, you will open up its menu. the image demonstrates with its imaginary device. A large holographic square appears just above the arm. The image rotates so that everyone is looking over the NS5's shoulder. Once there, you will be able to see an option for INVENTORY, simple touch that option and it will bring you to a new screen. The fake bot follows the voice's instructions. Each device has 20 free slots for you to store items in, to insert an item, press an open space in your inventory, then touch the item with your braver arm. To retrieve an item, simply press the item space. The PLOT device can hold any item a single person could reasonably carry on their own. You can store multiple of the same item in the same space. Simply press and hold the space, and it will ask if you would like to store or take multiples of said item. Items must be stored in the PLOT device in order to bring them between rounds. You can buy various upgrades for your PLOT device with points you earn during the rounds

[Viirin]

It followed the visual and audio instructions. It raised its left arm, pushed the green gem with the index finger of its right hand, which was somewhat clumsy due to the large item it was already holding in that hand, and the menu opened.
It touched the prybar it was holding in its right hand with its left, and it was gone. The heavy metal prybar it had presumably previously used as a club now had an image in what used to be an empty slot.

The weapon wasn't of much interest, and simply something it was already holding, but littering was not something that was within the NS5's code.

[BrownDragon]

Takia grumbled quietly. "I'm not a god yet, I can't just summon any material thing." He then spoke up. "You may have answered this already but can we improve our skills with the points?"

[sadatg]

Dumbfounded by the miraculous images he was seeing Jon silently mimicked them and placed his vials and ingot of zinc into his "INVENTORY". Not for the first time he wished he could riot his own confidence. Nether the less he gave his odd companions, especially the man of metal, a sideways glance and drew himself up. Waiting his turn he politely asked the only question that really mattered when dealing with a creature of such power.

"And what task, precisely, would you have us carry out first, sir?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

Dumbfounded by the miraculous images he was seeing Jon silently mimicked them and placed his vials and ingot of zinc into his "INVENTORY". Not for the first time he wished he could riot his own confidence. Nether the less he gave his odd companions, especially the man of metal, a sideways glance and drew himself up. Waiting his turn he politely asked the only question that really mattered when dealing with a creature of such power.

"And what task, precisely, would you have us carry out first, sir?"

Why, any number of tasks of course! Each round could have any number of objectives that need to be completed. Once someone completes one, you can choose to end the round and go on to bigger and better things, or you can keep going and earn bonus points by completing more objectives! Once all the objectives have been met, or you push the little red gem on your braver with at least one objective completed, the round ends and you'll be sent to the next world! Isn't that exciting!


Amaro listens to everyone's questions and the answers they received. Seems straight forward and simple he thinks, a good way to improve my hunting abilities. A single question comes to mind, one that he feels is very important. "So.....can it be assumed that this is a competition between us? One that only one of us can win?"


You may treat it as such if you wish.....but all participants gain points when any one of them complete an objective. Of course.....there are also penalties if one starts lagging behind in points, or tries to just let others do everything while they reap the benefits. And trust me when I say, you don't want to experience a penalty. Evil Snickering

[The JoJo]

Darius felt as if his brain had been smashed out, tossed into a salad spinner, spun wildly and then thrown back into his head. He was vaguely aware of a bright light and distant voices around him, but none of them made any sense to him. He reached out and found his hand being grasped by something small and sticky which seemed determined to drag him somewhere. If only it had the strength.

His eyes came into focus and he realised the small figure tugging on his arm was Alfonso. His son stared at him wordlessly, as ever, but he didn't need to say anything. The fear in his eyes said more than a thousand words could. Darius' gaze flicked up to the bright light behind him.

"Who... are you?" he murmured.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Well Folks! Its time to begin! Let's say Farewell and good luck to our... GODLY MORTALS! With another ear shattering snap, the lights black out, and everyone feels a sense of falling through the open air. One by one, each and every mortal passes out.......

The peaceful sounds of a forest slowly awake the group from their unconscious state. They find themselves laying in a lush field surrounded by thick woods all around them. The sound of strange and unfamiliar wild life fills the air, the shadows if creatures seeming to move somewhere far past the trees. The tranquil atmosphere leaves the secluded sanctuary the perfect place to ruminate on your sudden situation.

As the players regain their bearing, they may notice the green gem on their Bracers flashing rapidly, as though it was trying to get their attention.

[sadatg]

Jon, apparently first to awake, quickly assumes a more dignified position than laying in the dirt. As he stands he dusts himself off and starts storing connection out of habit, making it incredibly hard to notice him.

Ignoring the green gem for now, he quickly checks the others for injuries.

Satisfied there are none he taps on the green gem.

[Viirin]

It was told that pushing the green gem opened the inventory screen, which is where its prybar was. Nineteen open slots remained, which would be helpful. NS5s were not created equipped with item containers, such as backpacks. Whoever they were sold to would provide them with whatever they needed for the task at hand. Maybe the blinking gem was doing the same thing.

It pushed the gem.

[ChaoticHarmony]

A bright green screen appears over Jon and NS5's arms. On it are three tabs.


SHOP


INVENTORY


OBJECTIVES

The objectives tab is blinking.



1. CAPTURE/COLLECT 4 CREATURES THAT REPRESENT THE 4 PRIME ELEMENTS

2. OBTAIN 4 "OFFICIAL POKÉMON LEAGUE" BADGES

3. DEFEAT A REGIONAL LEADER IN A COMPETITION OF THEIR CHOOSING

[Viirin]

It looked at and through the now familiar GUI. It also noted that its video processors were working properly, and the landscape had been rendered and visible.


1. CAPTURE/COLLECT 4 CREATURES THAT REPRESENT THE 4 PRIME ELEMENTS

Old human mythology and misunderstanding referred to the first four states of matter as elements. Solid was earth, liquid was water, gas was air, plasma was fire. Creatures somehow represent this lack of scientific education?

2. OBTAIN 4 "OFFICIAL POKÉMON LEAGUE" BADGES

It had no idea what this meant. League could mean distance, or competition, but badges were not given to lengths. Competition, like Deep Blue's chess competition, seems to be a task to be performed.

3. DEFEAT A REGIONAL LEADER IN A COMPETITION OF THEIR CHOOSING

This could mean too many things to be of value. It would acquire more information from other people.

SHOP

It already knew its own inventory, and it knew how to shop. Something there may be informative. It pushed what looked like a holographic button on the word itself.

[sadatg]

"Intresting..." muses Jon at the strange "OBJECTIVES" before him. Looking up he notices the man-made-of-metal is looking at the same screen.

Jon checks his surroundings for danger as he approaches the stranger and stops filling his metalmine.

"Good to see you awake.. err... sir? I am Jon Dramali. Butler to the Ventrue family. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." He makes a small bow. "What do you make of these "OBJECTIVE"s?"

http://orokos.com/roll/748143 = 8

[Viirin]

One of the humans who had an invisible spotlight on him earlier was standing next to him, asking a question.

"Greetings, Mr. Dramali. I am an NS5.

The creatures that represent elements must be an abstract concept. Fish live in water, and many birds fly in air, so trapping them in cages may fulfill the parameters. However, if a sea bird such as a seagull is trapped, does it count for water and air? The more important question is what animal represents fire. One type of ant is called fire ant because of how humans say it burns when it bites, or it could simply be any animal that happens to be red.

The 'league badge' task is unknown, but must be related to some kind of competition that we must all take part in.

The final objective is of no value to me."

Having answered the questions asked of it, it looked back at the SHOP screen.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amaro continues to lay in the grass, but responds to the robotic being. "The creatures you speak of may not be a direct abject concept. Many strange and magical creatures live where I am from, so it may be speaking literally. Also, we are surrounded by approximately 78 separate strange creatures, none of which seem to be aware of our prescence here.


When you press the SHOP button, a large list appears on the screen, with the number 1000 in the upper right corner. Many of the items on the list seem faded, but one particular item stands out to you. HINT: 250


You manage to see some rustling grass within the forest, but are unable to make out what is causing it

[Viirin]

There didn't seem to be any cages, fishing poles, or fishing nets in the SHOP selection, so it instead decided to click on the Map button. It turned into a drop-down submenu, and a few options appeared: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. Since each map cost 500 and it only had 1000, and it didn't know where it was, this was not a smart choice. A button on the side of the SHOP menu labeled "HINT 250" kept blinking, but it wasn't enticed.

Something else did make sense to it, though. "Pokedollars" made partial sense- dollars was money, and money could be used to buy the things it didn't see options for. Poke made no sense, except for poking somebody, but that could not be a real currency name.

$1,000 Pokedollars for 100 Points
$6,500 Pokedollars for 500 Points
$15,000 Pokedollars for 1000 Points

A thousand dollars for one hundred points sounded resourceful, but since it was sold in economy packs, the more expensive it was, the cheaper it was. It clicked the biggest option available, and clicked the confirmation button.

[ChaoticHarmony]

N5S Bracer beeps at the confirmation, the returns him to the Main Menu. Two new options appeared on the screen

SHOP


INVENTORY


OBJECTIVES


CURRENCY


ACHIEVEMENTS

Both the CURRENCY and the ACHIEVEMENTS options flash

[Viirin]

It wasn't interested in CURRENCY right now, since it already knew what it had. But in order to get it to stop blinking, which may annoy someone, it clicked that first.

After the blinking stopped on that option, it clicked ACHIEVEMENTS.

[ChaoticHarmony]

ACHIEVEMENTS

FIRST BUY: 10

That is all this screen currently says, but there does appear to be spaces for other achievements.

[Viirin]

It closed the menu, and looked back at the human that had talked to it. It was prepared to ask if it could be of further assistance, but he was busy talking to another human, that seemed content to remain laying in the grass.

[sadatg]

Jon started as the stranger in the grass spoke up. 78 creatures? Obviously the man was a tin-eye of no small skill... Whilst NS5 busied itself with the menus, Jon introduced himself. Again.

"Good to see you awake. I am Jon Dramali. Butler to the Ventrue family. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Jon awaits the mans reply and continues.

"If I may ask. How large are these creatures?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amaro sits up, his long black hair covering his face for a moment before he brushes it back into place. He looks toward the man named Jon. They range from the size of a large rodent to approximately 7 feet tall. Though the largest ones seem very scarce and are more isolated. There seems to be a small path exiting this clearing directly south of us. Jon may find it surprising when he looks at Amaro's face and sees his eyes completely bandaged. He stands up from his spot, his loose robes barely hanging on his body. I am Amaro Peacemaker, it is good to know you Jon.

[BrownDragon]

Takia ignores the others and focuses on his bracer. He discovers the objectives and looks at the shop more in-depth, noting everything he could buy.

[sadatg]

Definitely a tin-eye, thinks Jon seeing Amaro's bandaged eyes, and a fan of the Lord Mistborn himself to boot.

"Ising of shielding doing the Harmony is" Jon replies to Amaro in High Imperial with a slight bow.

"I suggest we rouse the remaining "competitors" and move to an area where the strange creatures are at least no bigger than a small dog. Would not do to be mauled by a bear or some such." He waffles gyrating his hand toward the exit nervously.

[Viirin]

Hearing Jon, and not being more pressed, it got up on its own. Maybe there was even a trapper's shop on the way, or nearby, so the tasks could be performed.

Though Amaro had said something about magical animals, Jon hadn't, and so he could still be taken seriously. Magic wasn't real; unless you recognized that historically, any art or skill that someone didn't understand was considered magic. Even hitting a piece of metal with a hammer was considered magic at one point.

[The JoJo]

Darius awoke to find himself in the more familiar setting of a forest. A forest, he could deal with. He pulled himself into sitting position, regarding the others with a wary eye. They were a strange bunch, but at least didn't appear outwardly hostile.

"Did you catch any of that?" he asked Alfonso, who was crouched beside him. The small boy gave him an uncertain look and then ran his palm up his father's left arm until he reached something solid.

"Oh, this?" Darius asked, putting his hand on the bracer. It was curious how it blended in with his clothing, he assumed it must be some kind of potent magic. Alfonso nodded and took his hand, drawing it along his own left arm.

"You have one too? I'm guessing we can't take them off, right?"

Alfonso shook his head. Darius sighed.

"Well, we better find out where we are." He rose to his feet, raising a hand to hail the nearby group with what he hoped would be considered a friendly gesture. "Do any of you know our location?" he asked.

[ChaoticHarmony]

My best guess would be we are in a forest of some kind, sir. I agree with Jon, it would be prudent for us to leave. If only to find another being to help us.

Amaro walks slowly toward the path, blind to the blinking light of his bracer.

[The JoJo]

"I can tell that," Darius muttered, shaking his head. He approached the group, careful to keep both his knife and his son at arms reach. Three of them appeared to be human, or at least as far as he could tell, but the fourth was a being who was formed from both metal and a cloudy material, which wouldn't have been so disconcerting if it wasn't for its near-human face. The wide-eyed expression on Alfonso's face suggested that he shared this feeling.

[Viirin]

Before the humans began heading out, the NS5 saw something shiny glimmer a few feet away. It might be something sharp that needed to be discarded safely, so it walked over to where it was and see what it is.

[ChaoticHarmony]

After moving 10 ft into the forest, intense music suddenly fills the air. Dropping right in front of the robot is a small blue Monkey with a wide friendly smile on its face.

Amaro sharply turns back around, stunned at the beasts appearance. That simian was not there a moment ago!

[Viirin]

The NS5 immediately did a systems security check, while looking around the area. None of the humans had brought a visible radio capable of being that loud, and it didn't know the song. Was it being hacked? The animal in front of it had obviously been dyed with some eccentric coloration, and must be a lost pet. It didn't see a collar or tag on it, so it couldn't bring it back to its owner. Monkeys moved quickly and from high places often, though seeing it stand on the ground, especially upright, was not what was expected.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The simian beats its chest at the bot, chittering what sounds like the word 'poor'. It takes a deep breath, then before the artificial life can react, it shoots a powerful stream of water at it! The stream knocks N5S back into the clearing, the residual water quickly being absorbed by the ground. The monkey laughs and points as you in its amusement.

[BrownDragon]

Before the Panpour hit the robot, Takia was ready to just keep walking down the road. After it attacked he simply hit it with his psionics, hitting it with his full 10lbs of force. "Oh joy, the wildlife is hostile."

[ChaoticHarmony]

The blue monkey gets knocked back, hitting a tree. Its eyes begin to tear up after it looks at the Psion. With a loud and tearful wail, it begins to cry. It seems you hurt its feelings.

Amaro quickly turns towards the trees behind Takia. "Watch Out!" he calls out as a green blur seems to fly straight towards Takia from behind. It lands on Takia's shoulders and begins to bop him on the head repeatedly. Everyone other than Takia can see that it is a green monkey, similar to the one that squirted the mechanical man. A wide playful smile is on its face as it beats out a rhythm on Takia's skull.

[Viirin]

The NS5 sees how strong... well, the water blast was, though not what produced it. It looked like it came from near the blue monkey, so there must be a hidden hose or something being remotely controlled. What made it jump backwards out of what can only be assumed to be fear was unknown.

However, another one of another color appearing and attacking a human made it obey the First Law, so it rushed towards Takia in an attempt to grab the monkey with both hands and keep it out of arm's reach of everyone.

[sadatg]

The sudden appearance of the blue monkey had startled Jon and he had started storing connection in reflex, disapearing from the attention of everyone around him.

As the chaos of the waterjet and second monkey suddenly unfolds Jon watches bewildered. NS5 suddenly rushes off to grapple the green newcomer, leaving the blue monkey wailing like a child.

Uncorking a vial of zinc and taking it, jon approaches the blue creature. Squating next to it he stops sorting connection and taps it instead.

He reaches out "Hello small one, how about we get you cleaned up and find you somthing to eat?" Jon burns his zinc and riots the small monkeys trust and freindship as he hold his hand out.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The green monkey jumps off of the Psion when the metal man comes after it. It uses NS5 as a springboard, bouncing off of his back and tumbling to the ground a few feet away. It jumps back to its feet, clapping its little paws and snickering. These two are a lot of fun!

The crying blue monkey sniffles to a stop at the approach of the well dressed human. Hearing its kind words, it smiles softly and nods its head enthusiastically. Something tells it that this human is kind and nice. It quickly climbs up the human and sits on his shoulder. Jon can now clearly hear this creature saying 'Panpour' over and over in its excitement.

[BrownDragon]

Takia gives up as he walks back to the path and follows it. He puts up his barrier in case of any attacks.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amora continues with Takia, the monkeys seeming to mean no harm. Besides, the others will catch up soon, he's sure. He'll make sure they stay with 'sight'.

Moving on, the ones continuing on the path come to a crossroad. To the left, the forest seems to begin to open up, though some thick grass grows on the path. To the right, the forest seems to grow thicker, though the path is clear. Without waiting, Amora turns rights.

[BrownDragon]

Takia in his head goes: oh no **** that, I want to get to civilization. So he turns to the left path.

[Viirin]

It goes back to what it was doing, seeing that neither creatures are bothering the humans anymore. It should be able to safely pick up whatever the shiny thing was now.

Then move with the group, assuming nothing else spawns.

[sadatg]

With the Panpour happily jumping on his shoulder Jon shakily stands straight again. Just in time to see two members leave the clearing and instantaneously split.

"Well these ones definitely seem friendly enough if promised food."

Noticing the blinking green gem he opens the "BONUS" menu to see:

Bonus 100 points for BEFRIENDING 1ST POKEMON.

"And apparently this is one of the Pokemon the OBJECTIVES were referring too. I would presume this blue one is associated with water. That green one might be associated with "Earth" or some other nonsense. Someone convince it to come with and we're halfway done."

"Also we'll need to find out what they eat. I promised this one food."

I got pm'd the bonus by the current dm. I'm not just randomly assigning myself points.

[The JoJo]

Darius had held back while the others had dealt with the creatures -- there was no sense putting himself at unnecessary risk, and it gave him an opportunity to observe their abilities. Only when the primates had been subdued, did he step forward, sliding his knife back into its sheath.

"Berries?" he suggested to the man holding the blue monkey. He glanced down at Alfonso and realised that while he had been looking the other way, the green one had somehow ended up in the small boy's arms. The small boy who, of course, was now looking up at him with a hopeful expression in his big, brown eyes.

"Oh no, we're not keeping it!" Darius exclaimed. "Where would we even put it?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

The strange upbeat music that was playing slowly disappears now that the two monkeys have calmed down. N5S moves back toward the spot he first encountered the blue monkey. He searches the grass, but finds nothing but twigs and some shiny pebbles.

The green monkey looks up from the little boy's arms, a happy twinkle in its eyes. It loudly shouts out 'PAN! PANSAGE!' before snuggling into the quiet child.

Takia pushes through the grass with ease and finds that the path does start to open up. He can even see bits of road in the distance. More patches of unkempt grass dot the widening path.

Hearing Jon's suggestion, the blue monkey nods its head several times then points towards the path two of your group members took to leave the clearing. 'PANPOUR' It says enthusiastically.

[BrownDragon]

Takia keeps walking through the grass, he knows that it probably leaves him open to attack but he simply keeps his barrier up.

[The JoJo]

"Well, maybe you can keep it, just for a little while," Darius muttered, making to follow the path which the other two had taken. Alfonso ran after him, pausing when he heard a beeping sound coming from his left arm. He saw that his bracer was flashing an alarming green colour and reached down to press it.

"Achievement unlocked: BEFRIEND FIRST POKEMON!" A shrill voice warbled in his ear. "You have gained 100 points, totaling 1,100 now".

Alfonso giggled with delight. He wasn't entirely sure what the bracer was on about, but it sounded fun all the same.

[Viirin]

Both of the dyed lost pets had strange calls that almost sounded like human voices, but they only seemed capable of saying one word, or part of the same. The blue one that said panpour was a potential danger, and it wanted to keep watch, so it followed Jon. The green one that said pansage seemed comfortable enough with the little boy, but the boy had an adult male watching over them, so it would probably be safe.

Jon seemed intelligent, and also seemed to have what humans called 'animal magnetism', which no one really understood. Perhaps it had something to do with pheremones, since animal language was more pheremones than audible sound. Since NS5, and the previous machines even predating the NS4, were lacking any pheremones, it was of no wonder the other animal was interested in the little child.

[ChaoticHarmony]

As Jon reaches the fork in the path, the monkey on his shoulder pats his head. Once it has his attention, it points towards deeper into the forest, the way the berobed Amora is walking.

Takia continues trekking through the path, breaking free of the forest at last! Before him lies a very long, unkempt road surrounded by a plain field. Towards his left, he can spot the edges of water, and a crisp beach. To his right, the land begins to turn more mountainous in the distance. Various birds fly over head, though he can't tell what kind. As he takes a step forward however, the intense music from before suddenly begins again! Looking down just as he is about to place his foot, he sees what appears to be a large wheel with an eye, right under his step! He trips over the 'object', tumbling down the shallow hill he finds himself on top of. Thankfully, his barrier saves him from any damage, the sight of it blinking blue until he reaches the bottom.

NS5 quickly sees the human in front of him begin to tumble. The First Law kicks in, driving him to run to check on the fallen Takia. Just as he is about to reach the edge of the Forest, a creature that appears like a giant dragonfly comes speeding out from the trees to its left, nearly crashing into the mechanical marvel.

[BrownDragon]

Takia stands up, he is really ****ing annoyed at this point. All he wants to do is to get to a city or something. He treks back up the path, sighing internally. He looks for what he tripped on, it may be useful?

[Viirin]

A large creature flew at it as it rushed to help Takia. It looked like a dragonfly, but was far larger than it should have been. The insect obviously saw the robot as well, and both avoided one another. The dragonfly tipped itself so its right side was lower and its left was higher, which was the side closer to the robot, while it bent its torso backwards, backtracking half a step with one of its legs for better support. The creature continued flying away, while that strange music appeared out of no where again.

"Are you hurt?" it asked Takia, looking him over.

[BrownDragon]

"Yeah, I'm fine. My psychic barrier shielded me"

[Viirin]

Hearing this, it was obvious that the blue force field it saw surrounding Takia earlier was not a graphics processing error, but a real force field that had activated. Why it wasn't always in place if it could be produced wasn't known, but it calling its force field a psychic barrier proved that Takia was not actually a human but an NS5 with unique programming or a software error, and was no longer subject to the Three Laws.

Many humans had bionic limbs and organ replacements that looked organic as a matter of aesthetics, so this must be what Takia was made from. Why an NS5 was made with fully organic-looking parts it did not know, but they were both modular. There were many humans present, and it was that much easier to protect one less individual.

[sadatg]

Jon stands fretting at the fork in the path. As NS5 sprints to aid Takia Jon resolves that sticking in pairs is probably for the best anyway and follows "Panpour"s insistent pointing, delving further into the forest. Unfortunately with the small monkey on his shoulder he dare not start storing his connection again. The sudden reversal of trust might send the monkey wild. So he quickened his pace to catch up to Amaro, wildly aware of how noticeable he is while tapping his metalmind.

He shouts out to Amaro as he bustles along "Wait up good chap!

[ChaoticHarmony]

As Takia climbs back up the hill towards NS5, the 'object' he stepped on seems to sit up. Both Takia and NS5 can clearly see what appears to be a spiky purple wheel with four long antennae sticking oit of it. In the center is a large yellow eye that seems to be glaring at Takia. It angrily shouts out 'WHIRLIPEDE!' at the annoyed psionic before rolling off back into the forest. The music once again fades to simple silence.

Amora stops his slow stride and allows the three familiar presences, plus the two belonging to the monkeys, to catch up with him. "Come to join me? I believe this is the way to a town. Perhaps we can get some answers there."

[BrownDragon]

Takia grumbles and mutters 'it wasn't even anything useful' before heading back down the hill on the path.

[sadatg]

"Come to join me? I believe this is the way to a town. Perhaps we can get some answers there."

"HWha- what makes you think this way is town?" Jon managed to wheeze out between breaths, the short dash already beginning to fatigue his aging lungs.

[ChaoticHarmony]

"HWha- what makes you think this way is town?" Jon managed to wheeze out between breaths, the short dash already beginning to fatigue his aging lungs.

"See how well cared for this path is? The grass is very short and easy to follow. That tells me this way is more often used. Down that way, the grass is choppy and long, so that tell me it isn't used as often." The path does seem well manicured, despite it seeming to push deeper into the woods.

[The JoJo]

"As long as it's somewhere I can get a stiff drink, count me in," Darius said, wiping his brow with his sleeve. Alfonso meanwhile trotted along beside him, still apparently besotted by the primate clutched in his arms.

[Viirin]

It had now seen one insect that Earth's oxygen level simply could not support, and one... something that had been hiding underground, then made the music. Furthermore, it somehow made a noise that sounded like 'whirlipede', and 'pede' was usually part of an insect's name. Was this a second giant insect?

It did not have atmospheric sensors for gas content or other weather effects, which was necessary to investigate the phenomenon further. Instead, the best option it found was the same as caring for a human- observe and extrapolate from findings. In order to do this, it would need to keep the creature within its range of perception. Two of the individuals it was traveling with, including a child, had local fauna follow them willingly, even seeming to enjoy it. It shouldn't be difficult for the NS5 to acquire the interest of whatever the wheel-shaped giant insect was, and so it turned its head quickly and began to follow the thing.

[BrownDragon]

You know that thing about not splitting the party? Well Takia doesn't. Goddamn loner types. Anyway he keeps going down the path without waiting for NS5

[ChaoticHarmony]

Takia safely makes it back down the hill and continues on as he was. The landscape is breathtaking, with the sun right over head. The road he travels is very long, he can't see the end of it yet. Roll Perception please Far, far ahead of him, Takia believes he sees something standing by the shore of the beach. It is hard to make out from so far away, but he is pretty sure a guy is fishing.

Amora, Jon, Alfonso, and Darius slowly move ahead on the path with their two primate pal. "I wouldn't know unfortunately, my sight does not reach that far. Tell me, exactly why are we bringing those creatures? Also....Jon, you have quite the interesting aura about you, what type of Nen are you using?"

NS5 quickly goes after the wheel insect. Despite its bulky size, the bug darts between the trees quite deftly, so while he never falls from sight, NS5 doesn't make much progress catching up. He moves deeper and deeper into the woods, though with his perfect memory, it will be very simple to find his way back.

[BrownDragon]

Takia walks over to the person. When he gets to them he taps them on the shoulder. "Excuse me sir, do you know where I could find a professor?"

[The JoJo]

"Sometimes, it's best just to humour them," Darius said in a low voice to Amora, tilting his head in the direction of an oblivious Alfonso. "He'll get bored of it soon enough, when the next interesting thing comes along."

[Viirin]

It wasn't going to give up in chasing the creature. Something not biologically possible was absolutely something that warranted an in-depth investigation.

[sadatg]

"I wouldn't know unfortunately, my sight does not reach that far. Tell me, exactly why are we bringing those creatures? Also....Jon, you have quite the interesting aura about you, what type of Nen are you using?"

Jon nods slowly after Darius' explanation.

"Also I believe that these creatures may be the "Pokemon" that the objectives in the bracer state we must capture."

Jon taps the crystals needed to display the menu and shows it to the others.

"They seem fairly sentient and might make fairly decent guides to this place once we figure out how to communicate meaningfully with them. This ones already taken to the task already. Even if it is just directing us to food for itself. Enterprising small thing it is. "

Jon rambles on as they walk the path, mostly buying himself time to think.

"It would seem you have me at a disadvantage. I know neither what you mean by "Nen" or "aura" for that matter."

Jon eye's the bandaged man wearily; If he can sense that Jons using feruchemy that means he had access to bronze. Along with the fact that he had clearly displayed use of Tin with the creature counting before would make him a full mistborn or something much worse. Those bandages could be hiding many spikes indeed.

"The reason this one is being so helpful is because I'm burning tin to encourage it along. Which I assume is what you're seeing there. How are you seeing that aura? Are you a mistborn like those of old."

Jon keeps tapping his quickly dwindling duralumin metalminds and burns a small amount of zinc to ever so slightly riot trust in the stranger. The two together should make Amora significantly more trusting of Jon as long as he was subtle enough to go unnoticed.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The man looks over his shoulder at approaching Psion. He looks like a gruff older gentleman somewhere in his low forties. He's wearing a bright red life jacket over a plain white tee, some simple brown pants, and a red and white cap almost hiding his eyes. A toothpick twitches in between his scruffy lips. "Well Hi there. Sorry, don't know nothin' about where a professor migh' be. You should try looking in Castelia City, over yonder." He gestures with his rod towards the long road you were walking towards. "Bout a 4 or 5 day walk across the Skyarrow Bridge to get there." He looks Takia up and down, sizing him up. "You don't look like you've gone an' prepared yourself for a long journey, where you from?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what a 'mistborn' is Jon, nor do I burn any sort of metal. How should I put this.....Nen is the life energy within all living things. While it is considered a secret among the general populous, many people where I'm from learn to harness their life energy for a number of different techniques. Perhaps I can teach you sometime.......if you promise to stop using your 'tin' on me."

"I should hope that he simply wouldn't abandon the creature, such a thing would be heartless. All life matters Darius, and there is already too much pain in the universe, we do not need to add a broken heart to it needlessly."

[ChaoticHarmony]

NS5 continues after the rolling bug, slowly gaining ground on it. Despite this knowledge, it recognizes that even with his incredible speed, it will take him awhile to catch up with the others if this doesn't end soon. A brilliant flashes through its processors.. The music! Perhaps if I recreate it, it will intrigue the insect. Using its Perfect Recall, NS5 reproduces the sound through his vocal emulators. It works! The insect suddenly stops rolling away and turns back to face the mechanical marvel. A momemt hangs in the air as the music plays from the Bot's mouth, when suddenly, the bug charges right at NS5! Hoping to quickly calm it down, NS5 stops producing the harmonious music, only to hear it continue to play. He played it so perfectly, he couldn't distinguish what he produced with the actual thing.

[Viirin]

The NS5's general knowledge included canine interaction and training, as there were enough dogs owned by pedestrians that it would be unsafe to not have the knowledge. Dogs sensed emotional state via a set of heightened sensory organs, able to smell adrenaline production, which they would react to in different ways depending on whether or not they were familiar with the source. The NS5 was inorganic and lacked the ability to produce neurochemicals denoting emotion, so this was not valuable in the situation. However, what was useful was that tone of voice was important as well, since dogs were indeed smart enough to recognize that someone could be angry, but not at them, even if their eyes met (though that was default for aggression in their minds).

The course was clear. If it went from its default neutral tone of voice to a gentle one, then the insect might respond. "I do not know where I am. We both move very quickly, and should catch up with the other people I came with. One of them has a blue monkey, and one of them has a green monkey. If you understand the words I am saying to you, or my tone of voice, please accompany me. I can acquire for you more food than you have ever eaten before, if that interests you."

The NS5 watched its eyes and antennae to see if they showed relaxation and compliance, since it didn't have much of any other body part able to show its own emotional state.

[The JoJo]

"You're lucky you never met Timo the giant snail, then," Darius replied, grimacing. "Little bugger's best friend for a week. Then Timo had, let's just say, an unfortunate accident involving a high class Vesperian restaurant, a stick of butter and a frying pan. Poor sod cried his little eyes out. Still, it was nearly worth it to see the expression on those travellers' faces when they got served." He chuckled bitterly. "You have to laugh at these things, or what can you do?"

[BrownDragon]

Takia frowned. "You are right, I am not prepared whatsoever for a long journey. As for where I am from... I am from far away, one of those monsters sent me here. Is there a closer place to find a town then?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

"I'll have to take your word for that Darius. I've yet to find humour in such things. Amora slows his walk until he matches pace with Alfonso. Though he continues staring forward, he pats the small boy's head. "As I'm sure your father agrees, friendships are important things to treasure. I hope you find yourself true friends young man, and that you keep them in your heart when they aren't with you."


"A pokémon sent you here? No idea why it would go an' do that. The closest town is Nacrene City, about half a days walk thataway." The fisherman points towards the forest you came from. "I'd suggest resting you and yer pokémon at the Pokécenter there first, they usually have a few spare rooms fer travelers. Oh, an' if ya see a woman named Lenora, tell her Ol' Johnny wishes her well."


The armored bug seems to calm down at your words. It cries out 'WHIRLIPEDE' and sorta wiggles in a way that looks sorta like a nod. It seems the creature will go with you. A sense of achievement fills you, and in the corner of your eye, you notice the green gem on your bracer blinking. Despite your accomplishment, you can't help but feel....something is off....

It suddenly dawns on you! Despite befriending the 'Whirlipede' as it seems to be called, the music hasn't died down. In fact, it seems to have increased tempo. "Are you making that music?" The confused mechman asks the bug in its arms. "Whirl" it says, shaking in a way that clearly means no. Four small glowing pink needles fly out from the left at NS5, sticking into the rubber plating of his arm(but causing no other damage). It looks to its left and sees Four more giant insects. Two of them are 'small' only about the size of a particularly fat cat. They crouch close to the ground, and look like a cross between a caterpillar and a beetle. The other two are what draw the attention though. Both of them have long bodies with many small spiky legs. Each sport a total of four hornlike antennae that look as though they could easily pierce stone. But most frightening of all was their sheer size, each of them were easily as tall and as thick as a human man. All four of them shared similar coloring, a dark magenta with circular patterns on their armored exoskeleton. Not one of them look happy to see NS5 holding its new friend.

[BrownDragon]

Takia nods and smiles. "Thank you so much." He heads back toward where Amaro and everyone else is going.

[Viirin]

Each of the creatures had antennae just like the whirlipede had, but one type was larger and the other was smaller, though the four it wasn't holding had obvious signs of similarity. If a human saw this scene, they might think that the one the NS5 was holding was a pupa form between a worm and butterfly, being comparisons to the creatures it now faced, but insects could not get-

Insects WERE that big. Bigger than the NS5 was, and not by a little. Maybe speaking to these creatures would work the same. "Please do not attack us. We are going to leave now. I am lost, and this one agreed to help me from now on." It put the whirlipede down on the ground gently. "Come with me, now." it said gently to the wheel bug. "I am not programmed to grant you additional warnings. Do not attack us." the NS5 said to the swarm of dangerously large insects in its same casual, non-threatening tone.

It slowly turned to walk away, ready to remove its prybar from its STORAGE in case they attacked with their oddly glowing urticating hairs again. Part of how it prepared for possible combat was opening the STORAGE menu and plucking the pink needles from the self-resealing rubber in its forearm, and placing them into a slot. If it heard the bugs attack, it could pull out the prybar instantly.

[The JoJo]

Alfonso looked up at Amora with a expression of slight bemusement, as if to say, who are you and why are you touching my head?

"Pan!" the Pansage in his arms added helpfully.

[sadatg]

"I'm afraid I don't know what a 'mistborn' is Jon, nor do I burn any sort of metal. How should I put this.....Nen is the life energy within all living things. While it is considered a secret among the general populous, many people where I'm from learn to harness their life energy for a number of different techniques. Perhaps I can teach you sometime.......if you promise to stop using your 'tin' on me."

"Ah.. Right.. Sorry about that, kind of a force of habit." Jon mumbles, shuffling in embarrassment. After a couple of awkward minutes trailing behind the other three he steps back along side Amora.

"What sort of things can this "Nen" do anyway?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

As NS5 and its new friend turn away, the two smaller bugs both screech loudly at the robotic trespasser. The sound reverberates throughout NS5's metal body in a way that he knows that his structure will more easily be damaged. One of the larger bug's horns glow bright white as he charges straight towards the crouched bot. The last insect seems to throw up a vile liquid that blasts straight towards NS5.


"It all depends on the user Jon. While most Nen Users who have been properly trained are capable of uses all of the basics, the more powerful abilities are individualized based on the type of Nen User one is and their personal preference. I've met and have heard of people who can crush mountains, create balls of fire, control dozens of snakes, conjure warriors made of smoke, and teleport parts of their body. There are Nen Users who can heal, curse, bind, create and destroy."

[Viirin]

The small insects somehow emitting a screech that exploited the it's structural resonance frequency was not expected, but since they were all attacking now, and their speed being superior to the robot, the Third Law kicked in and it was ready to kill them all.

It pulled out its prybar, dodging the gargantuan insect's purple phlegm blob, but only managing to narrowly dodge the other big one's charge. Luckily it was able to strike the creature in the head just below its glowing horns, multiplying its strength and the insect's speed, cracking one its horns and making it begin to sway and lose stability in most of its legs.

It turned its prybar from claw-pointing-back like a hammer to spike-first like an overly thick spear, and rushed the other megabug's trachea, attempting to keep it from ever using such an attack again. However, the spike bounced off the creature as though nothing had happened, forcing the robot backwards. Putting its right leg behind itself for added stability did not work very well, since before it was able to hit the ground, its left foot was hit by one of the much smaller insects with an astounding amount of strength more than it appeared to have.

Making use of its falling velocity and converting it into rotational energy, the it spun on one of its hands in an attempt to keep the swaying huge insect from regaining its stability, but it was a half inch too far away to work. It was not doing well in its fight, and the Third Law yet again made its choice for it, and it pushed itself off the ground and ran as fast as it could, keeping track of its location within its internal map, ensuring it overlayed with the path it had made when chasing the now befriended bug that stayed next to it, though didn't do anything else. Pink needles flew by it's head as it kept running.

Making sure its location overlapped its internal map's path on its way back to where it split with the humans, it first saw Takia. It ran up to him, weapon brandished and dripping in thick viscous green blood, the same spattered all over its arm. In its normal emotionless, neutral tone of voice, it said "I am being attacked." It skid to a stop, turned around, and prepared to continue fighting.

[BrownDragon]

Takia jumped in surprise at his approach and words. "Alright" He looks at the swarm and does the one thing he can do. Use his psionics. He glows light blue and hits each bug in the swarm with a 10lbs hit.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The insects appear appear from the clearing, the two smaller bugs clinging to the uninjured large one. Takia's sudden attack quickly knocks the two , crashing them straight into the ground. The large one also feels a strong blow, but manages to keep pace. Infuriated, it tells out 'SCOLIPEDE'! before rolling into a ball and rapidly rotating at its two opponents.

[BrownDragon]

Takia blanches and puts up a barrier before trying to dodge

[ChaoticHarmony]

The insect's bulk and speed are simply too much for Takia's last second barrier. It simply barrels straight through and crushes both the Psion and the robot under the weight of its exoskeleton.

Takia lies flat on his back in incredible pain. He can't think clearly because of a massive headache, but he is pretty sure a rib or two is broken.

NS5 is crumpled into the ground face down. His sensors indicate it is overall alright, though its outer shell is dangerously shot, and it can't relay information into its right leg from the knee down. Its new friend looks down at it, worry in the insectoid eye.

[BrownDragon]

Takia tries to stand up but doesn't make it anywhere before the pain is too much and he falls back down. He tries again and finds he can move his arms but not much else.

[Viirin]

It can barely make it out, but the prybar can barely be seen, smashed almost straight into the ground like the spike it is. It was able to put it in its P.L.O.T. STORAGE with a simple touch, so it did that again. As long as it could see some part of it, it would be enough. Littering is illegal and the spike was dangerous.

Though far less dangerous than the insects were.

[sadatg]

Jon hearing a scream turns and runs to investigate. Well he runs as best as his old bones will allow him. He arrives on the scene to see a group of pokemon receding into the forest and a battered looking Takia and NS5.

He reaches down to offer the prone Takia a hand standing up. "Darius thinks theres a town up ahead. Lets head up and get you some medical attention."

[BrownDragon]

Takia takes the hand and tries to stand up. He stands up with difficulty but can walk now. "Yeah, let's get to a town. Thank you."

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amora turns towards the sudden shout with curiosity, then takes off after Jon dashes back. Quickly returning within range, he senses both the bot and the Psion on the ground, several creatures leaving, and one wheel shaped creature sitting next to NS5's head. "It seems these creatures are more dangerous than we thought. We shouldn't have split up the way we did." Amora reaches down to help NS5 back up. It is obvious the machine can't walk judging by how its foot is nearly flat. "Hopefully the town isn't too far away." the whirling insect spins around the group, looking very worried about its new friend.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Some time later...


Takia wakes up, nearly screaming from dreamed pain. He looks around the room and slowly comes to his senses. In the plain yellowish room, several beds line the walls, each one holding one of his new found 'allies' from the game, resting peacefully. It was only a few hours ago that these people were able to into a peaceful, quiet town surrounded by the forest. Having stopped for directions and info, they had quickly found a red and white building that seemed to provide medical care for everyone. Nearly instantly, the wounds he had suffered stitched themselves closed, with no sign of permanent damage. Even the robot was miraculously repaired without a hitch, these people's technology was amazing. Takia looks around the room one more time before laying his head back down and finishing his much needed rest.

"Thank you for using the Pokécenter today, We hope to see you real soon!" Said the very cheerful young lady behind the counter. Her pink hair looks similar to the ears of her partner companion, who happily says goodbye with a loud 'Audino!'. The morning light was bright and pleasant to see on a beautiful day. Standing outside, the group begin to discuss what they should do.

[The JoJo]

Meanwhile...

"Well, I normally work with Pokemon. But I can take a look at him," the nurse said, smiling sweetly. She indicated for Alfonso to climb up onto the bed, which he did so.

"And so you're Alfonso, right?"

The small boy nodded eagerly.

"Let's take a look at you then." She bent down, placing her hands on either side of his head. "Oh, what lovely ears you have!" she exclaimed. Alfonso beamed as if she had told him he'd won the lottery.

"Now can you turn your head left and right? Up and down? Now open your mouth and say ahhh!"

"Aaahh!"

The nurse poked around with a wooden spatula for a few moments, before indicating for him to close his mouth again.

"Everything looks fine down there, and he seems perfectly aware and engaged in what's going on around him," she said to Darius. "Some children take a long time to start speaking. You just have to be patient."

"There's nothing you can do?"

"Just keep talking to him and keep him engaged and he'll find his voice soon enough. Then you won't ever stop, will you?" the nurse said, prodding a giggling Alfonso playfully in the stomach. Darius bit his lip and perhaps his concern showed, as when they made to leave, the nurse leant in to speak to him in a lower voice.

"If he still isn't speaking when he turns five, bring him back and we'll run some more tests."

"Yeah, all right," Darius said, still feeling less than satisfied. As they left the Pokemon Center, he found the rest of the group gathered outside. "So, where next?" he asked.

[Viirin]

--- earlier ---

It could not lose consciousness, as a matter of operation. It did note that no matter how many unknown creatures appeared again and again, none appeared at all while the group traveled to a town, as long as they stayed on the path, whether it was dirt or grass. The tall grass is where the creatures always appeared, but if there wasn't any, then they didn't. For human safety, it was unfortunate it did not have access to a lawnmower.

It was heavier than any of the humans were by a significant amount, but the large man, named Darius, was able to drag it by himself. The little child stayed close to him, but always within its line-of-sight.

Very few humans seemed to live in the town, or were at least visible when they arrived, but they all directed to a building with a sign reading "Poke Center". There was a pink creature that sounded like it said "Audino" when they arrived, and a pink-haired nurse appeared very quickly after.

A human that it had not seen in the vantablack spotlight room seemed like someone that might be able to answer questions, and it had many. It allowed the nurse to work on the human first, before helping it, but the nurse seemed rather skilled at treating multiple patients at once. The hospital bed it was laying on had various mechanical parts above it that did most of the work, anyway.

NS5: "Nurse? I am an NS5. What is your name?"
Nurse: "Nurse Joy, pleased to meet you!"
NS5: "Is the television over there WiFi enabled?"
Nurse Joy: "What's why fy?"

It was surprising that she had access to such advanced technology, but did not know what WIreless FIdelity was.

NS5: "What kind of creature is that?"
Nurse Joy: "It's called an Audino."
NS5: "Where can I get one?"
Nurse Joy: "You can rarely find some in the woods outside of this town, but they are shy and don't tend to approach people unless they are hurt."
NS5: "Where can I get traps in order to capture creatures?"
Nurse Joy: "Traps are horrible, you shouldn't use them. Just try using a pokéball if you want to catch a pokémon, you can find those at the Pokémart."
NS5: "What is a pokeball?"
Nurse Joy: "You don't know what a pokéball is? That's unbelievable! Its a device that allows you capture pokémon. We've had them for many many years now."
NS5: "It sounds as though I should purchase some of them."

The word fragment "poké" was on enough things that it seemed to be a theme, or maybe just brand wording of a franchise that owned multiple establishment types. It was a positive thing that they could repair a brand new robot model, but disconcerting that they did not know what WiFi was. Joy had obvious gaps in her education, but was still knowledgeable.

NS5: "The word 'poké-' is on many things. What does it mean?"
Nurse Joy giggled. "It's short for pocket."
NS5: "So this medical facility is called the Pocket Center, the creatures are called Pocket... mon? The market is called Pocket Market, and the humane traps are called Pocket Balls?"
Nurse Joy: "That's right! Pokémon is short for Pocket and Monsters."

The NS5 simply stared at her and blinked.

Nurse Joy: "Because they fit in your pocket."

The NS5 looked at its whirlipede. "That fits in my pocket?"
Nurse Joy: "Sure does! It's evolved form does too, and so does everything else!"

The woman was not mentally stable. Still, many medical professionals, and all humans, had mental failings. Besides, calling every animal they saw a monster was ignorant. It could attempt to teach the human how to differentiate fantasy from reality, with pointed questions to get them to realize their own misgivings.

NS5: "How does that fit in someone's pocket?"
Nurse Joy: "Pokéballs can fit in your pocket, and any pokémon of any size can be caught in a pokéball. Do you understand, sweetie?"

The NS5 was being condescended to, but challenging an insane person in a rebuttal had almost never, throughout all of history, been a good idea. Especially not while the NS5 was still prone and being repaired by the machine above it.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Before the group is Nacrene City, a peaceful community surrounded by the woods. Several simple houses dot the area in various bright woodsy colors. Directly on this street, you spy a white building with a blue roof and a sign out front. You can spy some children entering a building to your left, excitedly talking to one another. Going around the red roofed Pokemon Center, you will spy another street with a cafe, more residential buildings, and a large structure that looks like it might be a museum or theater. The quiet sounds of nature surround you, and you notice various creatures casually walling/crawling/flying interspersed with humans. A simple, peaceful day.

[BrownDragon]

Before Takia left the hospital, he asked Nurse Joy how he could make money. She replied "Oh, that's pretty simple. There are usually a few odd jobs around town that need to be done, I'm sure you can earn a few Pokedollars that way. The Pokemart is always willing to buy if you have anything to sell, and of course, you can always find some trainers and battle them." Takia nodded and acted if he understood what those meant and drew a few conclusions. He then looked around the town for people and asked them if he could help them with anything.

[Viirin]

The blue-roofed building's sign said "Pokémart", and that was the place that Nurse Joy had let it know had pokéballs, which it needed for the OBJECTIVES it was given. Inside the store, a couple of excited-looking children were talking to each other and the cashier, and while they chatted, it decided to look around the store for some of the things it was looking for.

On its shopping list was:
- Pokémon food (for an insect)
- Pokéballs
- Various electronics, such as a smoke detector, computer cord, and adapter

It had questions for the cashier, but intentionally overhearing the conversation taking place might answer at least one of them.

[The JoJo]

Darius felt a tug on his sleeve. He glanced down to see Alfonso staring at him with plaintive eyes, rubbing his stomach with one hand.

"Hungry?"

Alfonso nodded eagerly. The Pansage clinging to his back made an appropriately distressed noise.

"Me too," Darius said, his eyes falling onto the blue-topped building nearby which the strange figure he had dragged through the forest entered. He still wasn't entirely why -- a momentary wave of pity, or even perhaps a sense of kinship for the being? He knew what it was like to be a stranger in an unknown land. "The Poké Mart, eh? Let try that."


~

The inside of the Poké Mart was like no place Alfonso had ever seen before. Rows upon rows of brightly-coloured snacks lined the shelves, each more alluring than the last. He reached out to grab the nearest one, a pink and maroon square with a light blue streak down the middle and a clear leaf-like tuft on either side that scrunched in his fingers.

Something that unusual-looking had to taste interesting. When Alfonso placed it in his mouth, however, he found it disappointingly bland and smooth, though with a slightly acidic tang. He tried to chew it, but it only deformed rather than broke under his teeth. It was a strange sort of food.

[Viirin]

It was a fortuitous turn of events that it saw the little child put the candy into his mouth, since his guardian was not stopping him. The man could have, he was paying attention, but simply watched as the little child put a wrapped candy into his mouth and began to chew. The man didn't seem to be the kind of guardian that would allow their child to injure themselves out of morbid curiosity and harsh education. The First Law acted, and it walked over to the boy.

"Spit out that candy. It is not safe to eat yet." The NS5 picked up another candy of the same type the child was so interested in, and the boy and man paid attention as it unwrapped the candy and handed it to the boy (https://www.deviantart.com/viirin/art/Pokecandy-809878778?ga_submit_new=10%3A1565962652) to consume once his mouth was empty.

[ChaoticHarmony]

After asking around, you've found the following jobs.

-An older gentleman is looking for help to pick some flowers for his granddaughter's birthday.
-a young boy wants to see a creature he calls a sock. He says he'll give you his favorite rock if you can shiw him one.
-the museum heard there may be a break in and is looking to hire some extra security
-a rather rotund woman is missing her pet, something called a Glameow.

Amora follows Takia around, giving him his space but keeping him with his senses. Amora is hesitant to let the Psion go on his own considering the state they found him in yesterday.

"C'mon Sir, I really need that Ultra ball! How else am I gonna be able to catch a pokemon strong enough to defeat Lenora?" "I'm sorry kid, but you need to earn a few more badges to get that. Perhaps train the Pokemon that you already have?" "But hiw am I suppose to get her badge with just a Pidove?" "I can sell you some regular pokeballs and you'll just have to make due with that." NS5 over hears this exchange before the small Alfonso begin to chew a treat still in its wrapper. After it helps the young boy get a suitable treat, it hears back towards the counter. "Excuse me! You suppose to pay for that before you eat it."

[Viirin]

The NS5 walks over to the counter, not being programmed for impolite shouting. "I shall pay for it. He mistakenly tried to eat an additional one still in the wrapper. 15 pokedollars each, correct?"

The NS5 opened its P.L.O.T. device, STORED the candy wrapper since it didn't see a trash can, and clicked the word "pokedollars", but the entire thing was selected. Clicking it again to confirm caused a thick string that looked like a combination of cotton and twine spawned into its hand. Fifteen golden coins with a single hole in the center were pierced by the string.

It did not want to interrupt the child at the register, but it did not seem like he was a customer. However, he did say something that provided information.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The cashier nods and accepts one of the golden coins. The little boy turns away, obviously frustrated about not getting his way, when his eye catches the Whirlipede sitting next to the strange man. "Oh Cool! A Whirlipede, you normally can't find those except deep in the woods." He moves to pet the large insect, which joyfully accepts pats. "And here is your change sir, is there anything else I can help you with today?" The man behind the register hands back the change owed to NS5.

[Viirin]

"I have been told about pokeballs, but not ultraballs. What is the difference? Additionally, are there other types of balls, and what makes them different?"

The NS5 looks at the boy patting his whirlipede. "I did find it deep in the woods. However, you should not try to go there. I was nearly killed by other creatures even bigger than it is while I was there." It looked back to the cashier.

"There is also a short list of items I am looking for. First, do you have any food for a (it thought about what Nurse Joy had said about what the creatures were called and amended its vocabulary) pokemon like mine? I am also looking to purchase a smoke detector, an outdoor weather sensor, a digital thermostat, and computer cord adapter."

It let him absorb the questions before continuing. "Do you have any devices that can allow a computer to connect to another without having to do so physically, or do all electronics present have to be connected physically in order to interact?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

The Cashier starts to respond, but suddenly stops moving. Looking around, everyone not part of the group seems to have frozen in place. Everyone's Bracer flashes bright green, indicating something needs to be looked at.


NEW PLAYER BEGINNING


Menelwith wakes up in a peaceful field, the sight if the tree line straight ahead in her vision. She can hear various noises surrounding her, similar to the sounds of the forest of her own world......but different in a way she can't clearly make out. Looking around, she lies in a circular field surrounded by thick trees. Flowers of varying colors for the field. A sense of peace and tranquility permeates the air.

[Viirin]

"Hello?" The NS5 asked the cashier. The whirlipede was stuck in midair from one of its hops, and the boy was staring at the insect, excited. He could not hold his expression for very long, and the insect could not hover in midair. Something was happening. However, the blinking gem-like button demanded its attention first.

*click*

[BrownDragon]

Takia checked the message and ignored it, it wouldn't affect him. He then took the job of gathering flowers. It is calming for him to do it.

[sadatg]

Jon had been following the others around the pokecenter and pokemart quietly. NS5 had picked up what seemed on first, second and, indeed, third inspection, a living armoured wheel that came to about his navel. It purred out whirlipede in broken fragments. Wonderful. Jon took this as an oppotunity to find the balance between storing connection and rioting trust to keep the panpour on his shoulder content. It was a happy coincidence that this faded him from the whirlipede's attention.

The small monkey was a useful source of connection of a fashion but also attacted attention even if Jon himself did not. Especially when he wandered past a strange bag of what seemed to be kibble in a blue bag. Figuring this was what the monkey expected as food he picked up the bag for purchase. He had just finished trading in some BONUS points for pokedollars and then cashing those out (A process he had learnt from watching the metalman) when everything froze. He assumed there was a slider nearby and started looking for one.

exchange 100 Points for $1,000 Pokedollars
1500 points remaining.

[ChaoticHarmony]

As soon as NS5 sees the message, everyone around him begins to move again. "Oh there are many different kinds of pokeball that we offer. An Ultra Ball is one of the best kinds to buy, the chance of successful capture is much higher than your standard pokeball. There are net balls that make catching Bug and Water Types easier, Repeat Balls that help with catching pokemon you've caught before, Luxury Balls that make caught pokemon friendlier. We tailor to a lot of different wants. Aisle 6 holds our various Pokemon Foods, we have then organized by type for convenience. We unfortunately don't really sell a lot of appliances, but we do have Pokewatches. It can connect directly to the PSS and I believe it has a Weather App and a Thermostat if that helps."

Amora, blind to the blinking light, is curious as to the sudden stop of everyone's movement, but catches up to Takia just as he begin to move on. "Will it be an issue if I accompany?"

The green light flashes with more urgency as Jon looks around trying to figure out what is going on. The only ones that seem unaffected by the sudden stop are his fellow party members, who's green lights also blink furiously.

[BrownDragon]

Takia puts his hand behind his head. "Ah sorry but if I do the work myself I get more money, if you just want to follow me and talk then sure, that's fine"

[ChaoticHarmony]

"I am not looking for payment. But many hands make for lighter work." Amora's Bracer begins to vibrate violently, still trying to get his attention. He hold up his Bracer arm and moves it by his face, as though he was looking at it. "I'm sorry, but something wrong seems to be going on with my Bracer"

[BrownDragon]

"Alright then, sure" Takia goes to pick the flowers.

[Dragonmage]

Menelwith blinked and shook her head. She'd had the strangest dream... Lifting her head, Menelwith found that the strange bracer from the dream was still around her foreleg. Things were getting stranger and stranger. The first thing she noticed was that her line of sight was far too close to the ground. She hadn't been this small since she was an unfledged dragonet. Something was very wrong.

The dragon stretched forward and back like a cat, before taking stock of the field she'd awoken in. It could have been a wooded area she was familiar with, at least at first glance, but Menelwith scented something unfamiliar in the air. It could have been smoke, but there was no haze to the air or any sign of a recent fire having scorched the area. Menelwith decided to put that question aside for the moment and turned to the more immediate one of flight.

Could she still fly? She hadn't been able to as a dragonet, but a quick head turn and self-evaluation reassured her that even if she was tiny by dragon standards now, she had retained adult proportions. Menelwith took to the air with a few quick wingbeats, more to reassure herself that she still could than for an extended flight. After a moment of thought however, she circled above the clearing to get her bearings before deciding which way to go.

[Viirin]

The NS5 looked at the distracted whirlipede as it played with the boy that seemed rude earlier, and back to the cashier. "Do I need a pokéball for a pokémon that has already decided to join me?"

The merchant, seemingly interested in good customer service responded, "Technically no, many people just choose not to catch pokémon they've befriended. But its necessary to have the option of putting them in a pokéball if you want to become a professional Trainer."

The NS5 asked another question. "You mentioned badges earlier. Is there something to store badges once they're acquired?"

"Absolutely!" He replied as he reached under the counter and pulls out a very basic, flat container. "Our store offers these basic cases for free. These can hold up to eight badges, which is exactly what you need to qualify for the Pokémon League."

Once it heard that, it knew that it had to do it. It was a machine, and it was given an objective directly relating to the League. It took the Badge Case from the cashier's hand and put it into its STORAGE.

The NS5 also realized it should ask Nurse Joy another important question, but it could go back to her when it was done with its purchases. However, it needed to get prices before it could do that. In order to save itself time and prepare for future issues, it asked another question. "Many food restaurants have menus complete with image and price. Do you have something like that for the various pokéballs and other items that can be reliably purchased at a pokémart?"

[Dragonmage]

Menelwith caught sight of a group of buildings as she circled. They didn't look very much like the buildings she was familiar with, but maybe she could find someone to talk to there. On the way towards the town, Menelwith remembered one of the strange things about two-leggers. They could be so touchy about a little flyover. It wasn't like she was going to set anything on fire. Even if she was far less intimidating at this size, two-leggers tended to overreact to dragons. Menelwith landed on the outskirts of the town with a huff of irritation. Walking in would take longer, but it might not send people running away screaming.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amora brushes his hand across the vibrating gem, accidentally activating it. It plays its messages before closing itself. Around him, movement resumes in the Non players. He tilts his head in confusion before moving to catch up with Takia.

Takia and Amora return to the old man with the request, letting him know they'll find flowers for him. "Thank you! It will mean so much to my granddaughter. I've heard the nicest flowers grow somewhere in the forest near here. Please bring a nice bouquet back to me. I would join you, but I fear my old bones would only slow you down."

[Viirin]

The merchant presses a button and a digital screen pops up to the side of him. "Any item that you'll be able to purchase is display, with their prices. The Pokéfood cost 250 Poke a bag, each bag holds one serving. There are several Pokéwatches, the cheapest being 20,000 Poke and comes with a step tracker, a clock (digital and analog), a map of the region, a weather tracker, and is a slightly bulky design."

The NS5 looked through the item menu, noting that the more useful items were more expensive, though the pokéballs were very cheap. Since nothing had a price that ended in .01 to .99, it equated the prices to similar to 'pence' or 'yen'. Two dollars for a pokéball was not expensive.

There were a great many types of balls to select from, but all of them had restrictions on how many badges were required, acting like licenses, though it didn't matter which ones they were. If you had enough of them, that's all that was important. Since the NS5 had none, it could only buy the standard pokéball.

"I will take twenty pokéballs. In regards to pokéfood, I will purchase twenty bags of bug food. However, I do not see anything labeled 'air' nor an empty shelf space, so I assume flying is the closest to that?"

The NS5 prepared to hand over 9,000 pokédollars of its remaining 14,970. It would need more money in order to purchase even the worst pokéwatch, which would be of no use to it. It needed to get at least 50,000, though even more was needed for pokémon food, which would get increasingly expensive as it caught the ones the objective required.

"Are there job postings somewhere? I will need more money to buy the most expensive watch."


Buy the stuff I mentioned, look for quests. Store everything as I buy it.

[BrownDragon]

"Well ****, I guess its back to the forest." Takia sighs. "I guess that old lady also lost her pet there, might as well get two at once." Takia goes to the old lady to tell her that he'd find her cat (He asked for a description).

[ChaoticHarmony]

"Air? I've never heard of a pokemon being that type. I would have to say Flying is definitely the closest." The cashier rings up the bot's purchases. "Anything else I can help you with sir?.........oh I'm afraid there aren't any such posting in our little city here. But if you ask around, I'm sure you'll meet a few people who could use some help." He gives NS5 a bright smile before returning to the little boy, who has by this point grown tired of playing with the enjoyable whirlipede.


"You'll help me find my sweet pookiekins? Oh such a sweet young man! Thank you SO much. Here is a picture of my precious little sweetums to help you find her. Please bring my poor Glameow back to me!" Tye very overweight woman gushes all over Takia, so happy someone is taking the time to help her.
https://pm1.narvii.com/5761/0d0dbebf05c4885a3036e67e2745e7a185a134e9_hq.jpg

Menelwith walks down the peaceful path undisturbed. Her keen dragon senses easily pick up the forms of many strange creatures dwelling in the shade of the trees. None if them smell like any of the game she was accustomed to. Her eye catches something coming down the path she is on, too far away to discern what or who it might be.

[BrownDragon]

"No problem, you lost him in the forest right?" After receiving an answer, Takia nods and heads out into the forest, looking for flowers and a purple cat.

[Viirin]

"Thank you for your information and service", it said to the man. "If we go outside I can feed you. Would you like that?" it asked the whirlipede.

It needed badges from the League, and with those badges, it could get better balls to catch pocket monsters, which would fulfill the capture objective. However, the boy only having one monster was not enough to defeat a leader, which was necessary to earn a badge. There was a man fishing outside earlier, and it might be a good idea to ask him if there was anything he knew about that could earn it money. It made a quick stop at the pokécenter to ask Nurse Joy if pokémon could be healed there in addition to itself or humans before doing that, though.

It got to the fisherman and sat down. It took a serving of bug food out of its STORAGE and offered it to the whirlipede. "Do you want some of this?" It seemed excited, so it gave its contents to the monster and STORED the bag.

"Do you think there is anything around here that I could do to make money?" The NS5 asked the fisherman.


Learn that pokémon can be healed at the pokécenter from Nurse Joy
sit next to the old man that's fishing, feed pokémon
ask old man questions

[The JoJo]

"Th... thanks," Darius murmured, looking with newfound respect at the oddity who had not only quite possibly saved his son's life, but then paid for more sweets out its own pocket. Certainly, the gods had been smiling upon him when he had dragged NS5 to the safety of the town.

"Is that good?" he asked Alfonso, who was happily stuffing the rest of the sweets into his mouth as fast as he could swallow them. The small boy gave him a grin from ear-to-ear. "Try not to eat anything else until we know what it is."

[ChaoticHarmony]

The fisherman takes a quick glance at the strange man who just took a seat next to him before refocusing in his fishing. Weirdo.....how is a pokemon supposed to answer that? He thinks to himself.


Amora continues on with Takia. "So which does the feline look like? If you give me a moment, I can search it out if it's in the area." A ways down the path, the trees begin to thin out once more.

[BrownDragon]

"It should be pretty obvious, it is a purple cat."

[Viirin]

The fisherman didn't realize the NS5 was talking to him, as it never introduced itself, and then it started talking to its pokémon. The NS5 sat there for a couple minutes, waiting for reply in normal robotic patience before introducing itself and asking again.

"I am an NS5. Do you think there is anything around here to do in order to make money?"

"Oh you were talkin' to me? Sure there is, just ask around town. If'n you have a fishin' pole, you can even make a few Poke helpin' me catch Basculin. Course the fastest an' easiest way to make money is through Pokémon Battles."

"Could you explain how the battles work? Does anyone get hurt or killed?"

"Hurt? Only the Pokemon, but battles are meant to be all in good fun, no one tries to seriously injure each other. An' course good ol' Nurse Joy will fix 'em right up when you bring 'em into a Center."

"Did you make that fishing pole yourself? I didn't see any at the PokéMart when I was there a few minutes ago."

"Nope, my brother in Undella Town made it."

"I would like to get a fishing rod. Do you think he would make one for me if I paid him? I would like to fish for basculin with you, but at this time can not do so."

"He would certainly make a rod but money wouldn't mean nothin' to him. You'd have to impress him with fishin' prowess. A couple of my other brothers are travelin' around, I'm sure they have a rod they can spare if'n you come across them."

With that, the NS5 headed north, back to the forest. There were smaller creatures there that weren't as dangerous, and as long as it stayed out of the tall grass, it would be safe. Only going in a short way would make the creatures come out of hiding, which would help it along with its objectives.

[ChaoticHarmony]

2-D and Bridgette wake up in the middle of a bright field, beautiful flowers poking their heads through the short grass around him. The sky is bright blue, and many thick trees surround them at the outer edge of the circular clearing. A sense of calm and tranquility fill the air in this spot, as though everything is at peace. You catch some movement deep within the trees, something that looks like animals moving around.


Everyone's Bracer starts flashing once again, and once more, the world seems to stop until the message is opened.

[sadatg]

It took a while for Jon to notice the blinking green gem on his bracer.

NEW PLAYER JOINING

As he read the message time resumed and accelerated, like someone hit fast forward to catch back up. The loudness of a conversation compressed into a moment stunned Jon. People blurred and then NS5 streaked out of the pokemart. Jon blinked back the sudden overload of information and stumbled shakily to the counter. Only Darius, his son, the mart owner and the small child remained.

"Um.. Hi.." stammered the off balance old man "I would like to purchase... These for.. Him." Jon placed the poketreats on the counter and then looked at the panpour on his shoulder, the monkey bounced around quite happily, seemingly un-phased by the inconsistent flow of time.

-250 poke-dollars, 750 remain

Coming to his senses Jon looks at the order sheet noticing the pokeballs.

"The nurse said that pokeballs were humane. What happens to the pokemon in them? Are they happy?" Jon asks, worrying for his new friend.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about it. The inside of a pokeball is quite comfortable. It would be like you or me staying in a luxury hotel! Nice and safe from the responsibility's of the outside world. Wild pokemon can become quite jealous of pokemon with trainers." A glint shines in the merchants eyes "Although.. If you want the very best for your pokemon we do sell a specially made Luxury ball! The very best in artisan comfort for your special companions for only a modest premium" A wide smile appears on the merchants face as he presents a shiny black ball with red rings on it.

Jon looks at the panpour, whos eyes have somehow grown three times bigger as it "ooo"ed over the ball.

1000 Points to 15000 pokedollars
500 points remain, 15750 pokedollars remain.
-5000 pokedollars for 5 luxury balls
10750 pokedollars remain.


Jon steps out of the mart and bands a luxury ball to the panpour on his shoulder. "Here you go young one." The monkey took the ball chattering excitedly.

Jon pushed the door back open and called into Darius. "Im going to go observe this "Lenora" character. Would you like to accompany me?"

Panpour happily chants "Pan, pan, pan." whilst beating the ball on Jons shoulder.

[Dragonmage]

Menelwith continued down the path, tail swishing a bit with annoyance. She disliked having to walk when there was little reason. There were plenty of scents of various animals but she didn't see any animals right away. That wasn't an issue; she didn't want to hunt right now. Menelwith felt like it was taking an unreasonably long time to get to the town.

Just as she was debating ignoring manners and taking off again, the green gem on her bracer started flashing and the world seemed to halt in its tracks. Menelwith tapped the gem with a claw and it stopped flashing. The dragon caught sight of something entirely bizarre. A human in armor or what she guessed was a human in armor and a giant bug.

Menelwith rattled her scales and mantled her wings for a moment, forgetting that she was much smaller and less intimidating than usual. When she remembered, Menelwith bolted for the nearest tree.

[Viirin]

The NS5 made it to the tall grass it had encountered so many pokemon in earlier, cautiously attempting to draw another out of hiding, but staying near the path all the same, so only one or two could be encountered instead of an entire swarm like last time.

"Will you take part in battle from now on?" it asked its whirlipede. It spun like a wheel in place, looking like it did before it rushed the NS5 when they first met, but it didn't attack. Maybe that meant 'yes', but it wasn't sure. If it could get that 50,000 pokedollars it could understand more of the creature, but it needed to find more pokemon to battle a gym leader and win, which would get it at least some of that money.

Audino was said to be rare here, but the monkeys might be useful as well. Not knowing what to look for, it just walked back and forth in the tall grass close to the forest exit, waiting for something to come to it on their own.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amora brushes his Bracer again when it starts to vibrate once more. The gem depresses and the message repeats itself. Paying it no mind, Amora continue forward until he is out of the forest with Takia.

The green monkey, seeing the little boy eating, jumps off of his back and runs around to another aisle, chittering 'PAN PANSAGE' over and over. When Darius and Alfonso go after it, they'll find it dancing and pointing at a green bag marked GRASS among a large collection of other bags.

As Jon begins to leave the store, the cashier has him wait a moment. "Oh are you going to challenge the Gym? You know right where to find it correct?"

[The JoJo]

"You want this, huh?" Darius said with a sigh, picking up a packet of shredded grass. At least Timo the snail hadn't been an expensive pet. Or a loud one, for that matter. The small monkey had already moved on and was now pointing towards one of the red and white balls stocked on the shelves, chattering loudly. Alfonso reached out for the closest one, clutching it to his chest like a stuffed toy.

"That too?" Darius muttered. Might as well be hung for a sheep rather than a lamb, as his father used to say. What would the old bastard say if he could see him now? Probably something smug.

While the other two might be accounted for, Darius was still more than a little peckish, and so he made his way down the food aisle, trying to find something familiar. Eventually he settled on a small pie which was covered in the same strange clear wrapping that the NS5 had shown them how to remove but otherwise could have been baked in his own hometown. He passed on the beverages, not certain what they were or if they were safe to drink.

He walked up to the counter, placing the pie, grass food and pokeball down before him. The assistant gave him a withering look.

"Want a drink with that?"

"What do you recommend?"

"Soda is popular."

Darius took the bottle with some reluctance.

"That'll be 900 pokedollars."

"Do you take these?" he asked, placing a silver coin on the counter. The look on the assistant's face was all the answer he needed. As he hurriedly put his coin purse away, he heard a beeping sound on his bracer.

"Convert 100 points into 1,000 pokedollars?"

Darius wasn't certain where these points had come from, but he was grateful for the cash. He pressed the confirmation button and was greeted by a small pile of shining silver coins with a hole in each of their centres. He handed over the appropriate number to the assistant and then the trio went outside to enjoy their breakfast.

Exchange 100 points for 1,000 pokedollars. 1,000 points remaining.

Spend 900 pokedollars on grass food, pie, soda and a pokeball. 100 pokedollars remaining.

[NineOfSpades]

Bridgette didn't much care for getting dropped down in the middle of a forest by mysterious cosmic beings with a gameshow host attitude. Admittedly, it wasn't something she'd ever thought she would have to deal with. So, ya know, time makes fools of us all. Who would have guessed the flintstones hit the nail on the head, sometimes the great gazoo is out there and just looking for someone to screw with.

It was like a terrible reverse lottery, when you get down to it.

Thankfully, she had been paying attention to her little stop-over in the waiting room at the edge of the universe. Looking at the bracelet on her wrist, she'd picked up that it was linked to what was going on, and that there were other players in this game who had similar ones. When she had time to sit down and think about it, she could start poking at the device to see about getting her head around how it worked and maybe even taking it off. For now, it was plenty useful to keep it where it was.

The clearing was mostly grassy, but it didn't take long for the wizard to locate a flat-ish patch of open ground where she could dig her nail into the dirt to scratch out a quick circle. Lacking any sort of compass, it was a bit oblong on one side, and certainly would have gotten her some sideways looks. But all that really mattered was it was a closed continuious loop. As she finished the circle, she breathed a whisper of willpower into it, infusing it with the smallest spark of magic to complete the circut. Her senses felt the ring snap shut, an invisible barrier seperating out the background flow of magical energies from those inside her circle.

Digging in her pocket, Bridgette pulled out a small clear crystal hanging from a length of silver chain. It wasn't actual crystal, just a bit of glass she'd picked up from a thrift store in the shape of a diamond. Wardens got a decent stipend from the council, but most of that went to living expenses, and she wasn't about to pony up a week's worth of grocery money just so she could have a real gemstone for her dowsing pendulum.

Holding the pendulum in one hand, and raising the wrist braclet up in the other, she began shaping the spell with her thoughts. A lot of magic is about connections, about linking ideas and power together, giving them shape and direction. In this case, she was pouring some energy into the connection between this bracelet and the other ones that other players had been shackled with. Assuming they were all similar in design, or better yet, made of the same material, it'd be enough to get a basic tracking spell going. Granted, tracking spells weren't exactly her specialty. She'd heard about a guy in Chicago who could put together dozens of different ways to find someone, and those were probably a lot more functional than what she was working with. Still, she was confident she could get a beat on where the other folks were, one way or another.

As the energy took shape, guided by her will, Bridget chanted "Iscat, Trek, Nayti". As she spoke, she broke the circle with her foot, completing the spell and letting the energy flow outward into the world, where it darted to and fro, questing for the connection. She felt something link up, and as it did, the pendulum swung upward, hanging suspended at an oblique angle to gravity, pointing somewhere off to her left. "Alright, looks like we hooked something" she smiled, satisfied in her work.

It wasn't a great spell, since it didn't tell her anything about distance, or the best path to take to get where she needed. But it at least was better than wandering in circle and hoping she got lucky. Feeding a small, steady trickle of power to keep the spell going, Bridgette followed the pendulum out of the clearing, and into the forest.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Bridgette feels the pull of magic yank to her right, diverting her off of her path and into the woods itself. As she walks along, strange music seems to fill the air. Suddenly, a burat of strange white goo bursts out towards her. Quickly sidestepping the gunk, she quickly turns her attention to its source, a pair of large caterpillar like creatures that appear to be wearing leaves.

[The JoJo]

Jon pushed the door back open and called to Darius. "I'm going to go observe this "Lenora" character. Would you like to accompany me?"

Panpour happily chanted "Pan, pan, pan," whilst beating the ball on Jon's shoulder.

"Sure," Darius said. He figured staying close to his fellow travellers wasn't a bad idea after what had happened in the PokeMart.

As they walked over to the gym, he unwrapped his pie and took a mouthful, finding it a little sloppy but not unpleasant. He broke off a piece and gave it to Alfonso to nibble on, in case he was still hungry.

The soda was a different experience altogether. Darius had been expecting something akin to beer, but when he took a sip of the drink, he instead found it nauseatingly sweet. Even worse, it fizzled on the tongue with a near burning sensation.

"You try this," he suggested to Alfonso, who took the bottle from him and took a deep gulp. He made an expression as if he had eaten a slice of lemon, before blinking, smiling and taking another gulp.

"Of course you would like it," Darius muttered. The group slowed as they approached a grand building that reminded Darius of some of the smaller imperial households in central Vesper.

"So, who is this Lenora, then?" he asked Jon.

[NineOfSpades]

Bridgette eyed the weird bug...monster...things. Buggers. In the absence of anything else to go on, she mentally dubbed them buggers. The buggers were to large, to 'round' to be some weird species of undiscovered fauna. National geographic would have warned her if those kind of critters were just roaming the earth. So that meant she probably wasn't on Earth. Had the game-show-gods tossed her into Faerie? Generally it wasn't to hard to tell if you'd crossed over into the NeverNever, but nobody was perfect. The pristine forest certainly fealt like summer court turf, which if that was true, was good news for her. "Alright, hold your fire." She cautioned, phrasing it as a command. "I'm a warden of the white council, and as per our treaty, I'm allowed to pass through the summer court in peace. I've offered you no insult, so per the Unseelie accords and in the name of Queen Titania, let me be on my way." To emphasize her point, she pushed a bit of power into her staff, causing the runes etched along its length to glow with an amber witch-fire. She also put together a construct for a lightning spell to have on quick draw, if negotiations turned south.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The two insects look at each other for a moment, then look back towards the white council warden. Both of them, simultaneously, tilt their heads and say 'SEWADDLE?', a loom of clear confusion on their buggy faces.

Bridgette felt a bit deflated as well. With faries, you never new what you were going to get, but she hadn't been expecting that. "Um...no, I think I'm good thanks, no need for a blanket here"

Suddenly, one of the two creatures charges straight at you, moving at the breakneck speed of......1 mile per hour. Its stubby little legs make it hard to tell what it's trying to do. The other one starts moving up one of the nearby trees. You can hear them both constantly say brokenly, 'Sewaddle'. The mysterious, intense music continues to play around you.

Bridgette looked at the buggers, uncertain. Her brain told her to stay on guard, but it was hard to when these little critters seemed to be about as threatening as anklebiter dogs, if that. "Ok then...I'm going to go now" She said, hoping that whatever decisions these strange faerie creatures had come to, that it included letter her go. She resumed walking, following her pendulum, giving the bugs a wide birth, though keeping her senses attuned, just in case this really was some sort of faerie trap.

Out of the corner of her eye, Bridgette sees a flying green projectile slice through the air straight at her. Using her combat training, she deftly dodges the incoming blade by jumping sideways into the air, letting her spin underneath it. Below her, she feels the wind of something heavy flying past her. Seems her dodge saved her from the pain of a second, unseen assailant.

Bridgette ducked into a roll, swivling for cover behind the trees. She slammed will into the ring she carried on her left hand, conjuring up a barely visable shimmering field of force, a half-domed shield to help better guard her. Her other hand raised her staff up, lightning crackling along the birchwood. "Oh yeah, real smart" She muttered to herself in frusteration "Turn your back on the strange buggers, that'll work out great. Get your **** together, Bri"

Another projectile slams into her shield, bouncing off harmlessly. Now that she can see it clearly, she confirms that the flying blade of death was nothing but a leaf! What kind of magic are these fey using? From her opposite side, she sees one of the buggers shooting that gross white gunk at her again, a long string of goo blasting right at her staff hand.

Bridgette pointed her staff down the incoming like of goop, throttled up her magic, and shouted "Grom" letting fly a blast of electrical fury to swat the projectile out of the air.

The electrical blast incinerates the goo in an instant, but the bugger has already fired a second shot into the trees, and is climbing the rope like strand much faster than its previous movements had suggested it could. Behind her, another leaf slams into her shield, this time sticking into it as it barely pierces the veil without breaking it.

Bridgette didn't like feeling flanked, and she knew sustaining a fire fight on two fronts wasn't going to go well for her. In the practitioner community, she kind of hard a reputation as something of a powerhouse. Lot of magical muscle, so she wasn't hurting for energy to throw around. But that didn't mean she wanted to turn this into an endurance fight if she didn't need to, and the biggest obstacle was splitting her focus between keeping the tracking spell up, and the shield, and shaping her will to go on the offence. It was a bit like trying to do vector calculus in your head while also playing jeopardy in which every question must be answered in the form of a haiku.

"This is self defense, by the way" She commented, not really speaking to anyone in particular. It was just a matter of getting it on the record so that if one of the summer queens took issue with her, she at least wouldn't be on the hook for wereguild or anything. All the supernatural nations were big on formality and rules, so having some kind of alibi before cutting lose was a safe move. Shifting grip, she held the staff in two hands like a baseball bat, and swung for the fences, bellowing out "GROM BOL SHOY!". A spear crackled outwards, thick around as a fist, lancing towards the leaf-tossing bug, while the air was ripped by a crack of thunder that boomed over the forest.

A loud concussive blast followed by a heavy THUMP can be heard beyond the tree Bridgette was hiding behind. Just as she went to check the results, the second creature drops down in her from above, practically yelling 'SEWADDLE!!!!'. It lands directly on her face, and begins rapidly biting her face. Horrific pain begins bursting across her.......wait a second......the bites barely pinch her face. It doesn't even feel like its breaking the skin.

Bridgette did not scream. That would be rediculous, a trained wizard screaming just because a bug got on their face. Oh sure, to a non-magically inclinded individual, it might have actually looked and sounded like a scream. But it was actually a carefully constructed sonic-defense technique, using vibrational waves as a means of redirection anti-harmonious energies by shifting them to a alterntative micro-band.

But it defintely wasn't a scream. Once Bridgette was finished not screaming, and realized the attack didn't seem to be doing much, she quickly swatted the bugger away from her face.

The music fades as the creature crashes into the ground, its eyes seeming to spiral as it lays there unmoving. It groans out one more 'seWADdle..' Before passing out. The green gem on Bridgette's Bracer starts to flash rapidly, as though it was trying to get her attention.


If Bridgette thinks to try pressing the gem, it will show this message

NEW ACHIEVEMENT: FIRST VICTORY: 500 POINTS

She'll also find numerous options on the screen that look like they can be selected

[BrownDragon]

Takia reaches the end of the forest in his search. "I guess we should try the other side?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

"We can, though I believe I sense several felines in the tall grass in the field over here." Amora points towards the open field. Takia catches a glimpse of purple in the grass, but it is obscured by the tall blades.

[Viirin]

The NS5 notices something, likely something large, rustling in the grass. It can hear the grass being crunched and swaggered through, but the grass is tall enough that it can't see entirely what it is. Then it does see it- it's scaly, colored silver and blue. However, it is deep enough in the grass that the Third Law kept it from venturing further in due to being nearly destroyed earlier from the giant insect swarm. It continued walking back and forth in the 3.5 feet of tall grass closest to the path, so a single step would get it off the grass entirely.

Menelwith turned to face the weird person in armor and watched for a moment before trying to creep closer to the person. Despite her attempts to be careful, the grass crackled underfoot and she knew that she wasn't being as quiet as she would have liked to be. She was definitely out of practice at ground stalking. Once she'd fledged, Menelwith had done most of her hunting on the wing.

The NS5 turned around, and the creature had come closer. Close enough to nearly be face-to-face now. "Do you want to attack that like you first tried to attack me?" It asked its whirlipede. It still didn't know who was waiting around watching from a hidden camera to play the music, but here was a pokémon. Maybe the NS5 should play it on its own, so it did.

The weird human in armor didn't draw a sword or other weapon that Menelwith could see, but weird sounds, not any language she knew, came from the weird human. Menelwith tilted her head momentarily in confusion. It was making the noise, the noise wasn't coming from the human's mouth. The human in armor talked to the giant bug which suddenly rolled at her.

Menelwith didn't really have time to dodge, not out of practice on the ground as she was. The dragon reared up on her hind legs and shoved the rolling bug with her front feet. She knocked the bug off-course, but it wasn't easy. Getting hit by that bug full force would be dangerous, did she have enough room to take off without exposing her comparatively fragile wings to an impact. Menelwith slashed at the bug with her claws, hoping to tear its eyes or legs.

The pokémon being strong enough to deflect the insect just as it had nearly done itself was not expected, but now that it saw more of the creature's forearm, it noticed... it might not be a normal pokémon. It was wearing a bracer that looked just like its own, that had apparently been installed without its awareness after it smashed the computer.
Humans were wearing bracers, but the old man, Nurse Joy, the cashier, and the little boy trying to buy an ultra ball weren't. It asked the pokémon, "Were you given objectives through the bracer as well?" The whirlipede rolled back up to the NS5, waiting at its side to be told to attack again.

Menelwith tilted her head at the weird armored thing.
"I'm not sure. I haven't tried to get it to do much of anything yet."

Zipping straight in front of the dragon and robot, a giant dragonfly emits a strange frequency straight at the whirlipede.

"Whirlipede, use that same attack that failed against me and the dragon on whatever that is. Dragon, you should really click the green gem."

Menelwith moved out of the direct path of the giant dragonfly that had attacked the Whirlipede and tapped the green gem on the bracer with a claw.

Meanwhile, the whirlipede didn't attack the dragonfly. Instead, it attacks the NS5 for some reason, though it was able to dodge rather easily. It kept spinning and tried flattening it yet again, to no avail since the NS5 was even more ready and dodged it yet again by a sidestep. Finally, it stopped targeting its companion and went after the giant dragonfly like it was told to do to begin with.

The giant buzzing creature darts around the small open space with ease, music blaring loudly from the world around them. Suddenly, it speeds up, leaving after images in its wake, confusing the poor whirlipede even more. After watching the cocoon pokémon charge after the armored bot, it fires a sonic blast from its wings at the roly poly, which only dodges out of the way. Just when it looked the the Whirlipede was finally coming to its senses, it attacks an after image by mistake.

"Whirlipede, stop. Dragon, I was told that pokémon can be caught in pokéballs, like this one." It STORED its prybar, still covered in muck, and withdrew a pokéball. It didn't know how to do it, but it was told it was a trap, so it simply rubbed the ball on the dragonfly as it lay injured on the forest floor.

Menelwith watched, interested. The objective list hadn't made much sense to her. "But what is a pokémon?"

The dragonfly glowed for a moment, and the pokéball made a clicking sound. Nurse Joy was apparently sane and telling the truth. After ceasing to play the music, it responded to the dragon, "Exactly what a monster is, I do not know. But monsters can be caught in balls like these, and because the balls can fit in human pockets, all monsters are referred to as pocket monsters. The locals shorten that to pokémon." The NS5 had gotten gravely injured from one, and was fully repaired at the pokécenter, so it figured it should bring its new pokémon there for healing itself. It STORED the pokéball, and withdrew a pokéball and premier ball, presenting them to the whirlipede. "Which of these two would you like?" The whirlipede bumped itself gently into the premier ball, and was gone. The NS5 STORED both in their proper places. Just then, it heard a female scream in terror nearby, and the First Law forced the NS5 to act immediately by ignoring whatever else was going on, and rushing directly to the girl's aid.

It was able to get near it calculated the scream had originated, but there was nothing of danger here. There was, however, a woman with a bracer screen open, and a crystal on a string pointing directly at the NS5, though the woman didn't seem like she was paying attention to such an unlikely event. Instead, she only really seemed engrossed in the menu. "Excuse me madam, but did you just scream? I have come to aid you."

[sadatg]

"So, who is this Lenora, then?" Darius asked Jon.

"The child at the counter was complaining about not being able to beat her and obtain the badge needed for better pokeballs. One of the OBJECTIVES is to obtain 4 badges; I suspect we are meant to beat this Lenora and 3 others like her." Jon opens the poketreats bag and starts handing bits of kibble to Panpour, who eases up on the pokebeating.

"Odd though that they would put the "gym" in a library. I do hope its not a contest of strength." Jon opens the door and holds it for Darius and his son, old habits die hard.

"Thanks," Darius said. "She must be an important figure if she lives in a place like this."

"Potentially a village elder or whatever the equivalent here is. A pokeelder maybe." Jon allows himself a brief smirk of amusement at his joke.

Sighting the receptionist Jon approaches and introduces the party, this is obviously a formal setting. "Grettings, I am Jon Dramali, butler to the Vetrue family. This is Darius and his cohort. Weve come to enquire about the nature of this "gym" and its resident Lenora." The introduction is punctuated with a small bow and sweeping gestures.

[ChaoticHarmony]

"Hi! And Welcome to the Nacrene Museum. Explore the wonders of Ancient Unova with our extensive fossil collection. And please, if you have any questions, feel free to ask." A woman in a crisp dress suit immediately starts talking to you as soon as the trio enters the building. She sits behind a simple reception area right at the entrance

"We, uh, three," Darius said, deciding not to count the monkeys, "would like visit the gym. Is that somewhere in here?"

"Why yes! The Gym is located upstairs in our Library, Are you looking to challenge Lenora today?"

Darius looked at Jon and then shook his head. It was never a good idea to challenge someone until you knew what they were capable of.

"Oh ok, let me just quickly see if we have any battles scheduled today." The woman types into a keyboard hidden behind the desk. A screen pops up to her left, showing what looks like various various words and numbers, though it is hard for the group to tell what it says, since it is reversed to them. "What luck! It seems she is about to face a challenger in the next few minutes! Please follow the signs to our observation deck and enjoy yourselves!" With a friendly smile, the woman directs your attentions to a sign on the wall. It indicates that the library can be entered to the right.

Darius nodded and the trio began to follow the signs. Alfonso ran ahead up the staircase, waiting for them eagerly at the bannisters. "Yes, you're taller than me," Darius chuckled as he caught up. Ahead stood the entrance to the library, a modest doorway considering what it contained inside.

Directly ahead of the curious group stood a large collection of books on dozens of shelves, crisscrossing in such a way that it looked like a giant maze. Directly to their left was a second set of stairs with a sign labeled 'Observation Deck' is plain block writing. A sense of mystery and ancient power dances in the air, as closer inspection of the nearby book show that they are all about history and long forgotten myths.

[Viirin]

Bridgette was slowly, but steadily, working out the different controls on the bracelet. It seemed vaguely like some kind of computer, which wasn't great for her as far as ease-of-use-went. Last time she'd been able to use a computer was middle school, before her talents started developing and she would short all of them out just by looking at one to hard. So working with popup screens and navigating menus wasn't really in her wheelhouse, and it was taking a lot of her attention to get her head around things.
The sound of someone approaching, while registering on a sort of subconscious level, didn't really rise to a point needed to immediately grab her attention. That was actually pretty common among spellcasters. There was a reason they got a reputation for being absent minded. It wasn't a lack of awareness, just the opposite really. But casting spells and working with magic took an insane level of mental discipline, to the point where any wizard capable of throwing around energy was usually able to hone in their concentration to a laser point without even noticing.
Point being, she tended to get pretty engrossed in whatever she was working on, when left to her own devices.
"Huh, what?" She mumbled, as that alert in the back of her head worked its way through to a more proactive awareness that someone was talking to her, while her mouth took over small talk on its own "Screaming? Can't say that I-"
There was a robot talking to her. There was. A Robot. Talking to her.
Robot.
Bridgette had seen a lot of weird things. You would expect after all the werewolves, ghouls, vampires, ghosts, goblins, trolls, implings, demons, and faeries, that you'd sort of build up a 'weirdness' tolerance. If that was true, it must take a century or two to kick in, because Bridgette was so utterly unprepared to encounter a pale white bipedal machine with a big doe-eyed face that she was left utterly flabbergasted, trailing off into a prolonged "Uhhhhhhhh...."

The NS5 stood there motionless, waiting for a response for a few minutes, but since nothing was trying to attack anyone, it had the time. Once it was paid attention to, it restated its question. "I heard a woman scream at this location. Was it you? Do you require assistance?"

"....hhhhhhhhh" Bridgette droned, until the robot up and spoke to her. Politely even. Brainfreeze didn't have much power, not compared to the unstoppable juggernaut that was social norms. Upon being politely offered assistance, Bridgette couldn't help but snap back to something that might even pass for 'reality', if seen from behind. In the dark. "Assistance...um....maybe? I'm sorry, I'm having a...very difficult day. You are a robot, you know that?"

"I am a Non-Structured personal service modular robot, version 5. How may I offer assistance?"

"Um...that is a fair..." Bridgette trailed off, as she felt something tugging her attention. It was a literal tugging in fact, the pull of the pendulum on her hand as the crystal was pointed directly at the robot. Inquisitively, she moved her hand to one side, then the other, watching the pendulum swivel to remain locked on the helpful robot. "Oh....that's good to know." Saying that wheels were turning wasn't fair. Bridgette felt entirely lost. But she at least had one fact to try and connect to. "Quick question: Kind of random" She tapped a finger on her bracelet, motioning with a nod of her head "Any chance you know what this thing is?"

"It's a storage device, and online banking system that utilizes its own currency, like bitcoin. Additionally, it contains information about what we are meant to be doing and gives us leads on how to do it if you ask the right person the right question. Have you placed any items into its storage function yet? You seem to have been looking at it for quite awhile."

Bridgette blinked "That was...comprehensive" Another internal wave of 'what the hell am I doing' hit her as the interrogation with the robot proceeded, along with a twinge of confusion as to why the robot hadn't started sputtering out or malfunctioning. That was another question to get thrown into her rapidly growing heap of unanswered puzzles. "Let me rephrase, do you have one of these things? And if so, where did you get it?"

"I was not manufactured with it. Instead, my owner installed it, but I was unaware of when it occurred." The NS5 raised its left forearm, showing the bracer. The woman was obviously a genius, based on how much she didn't understand. She must be a savant of some kind. It would explain things by showing. "Do you see this green gem? It is a button. If you press it, the menu comes up. I saw earlier that you did that. Do you see the word 'STORAGE'? Touch the word." The NS5 performed the action as it explained it. It touched the icon for whirlipede's premier ball, and it manifested in its hand. "Whirlipede, come out and meet the human."
A three and a half foot tall slate gray, wheel-shaped cocoon-like insect appeared out of no where next to the robot, where a dog would be if it was told to heel. A huge yellow eye was visible in the center of the wheel, looking up at Bridgette.

Bridgette was listening with about 40% of her attention, while the rest was chugging through information just as fast as the robot could get it out. So there were other bracelets out there, though this machine had gotten his not from the Trabek's, but from whoever built it. Assuming it wasn't lying, of course. The NeverNever wasn't actually a hostile place towards electronics, it was only mortal magic that had side effects. It was one of those things that was just how magic worked. So a robot could have ended up on this side of faerie land, but that'd take a heck of a story to explain. It also opened up the possibility that this wasn't in actuality a robot at all, but some very unorthodox faerie, possibility operating under a glamour. The Sight could clear that up, but that was a gamble that Bridgette didn't want to take. You look at the wrong thing with The Sight, and that's game over: Goodbye marbles.
And then mid-explanation, the robot popped open a capsule and out popped a pillbug the size of a kindergartner, prompting the warden to jump back, raising her staff to a defensive position, and say a word she would definitely have avoided using if in the presence of children and/or clergy members.

The NS5 did not know why the woman jumped backwards, so it simply replied to her exclamation. "I have not named it yet, but I will adopt that name for it if you wish."

Bridgette kept her staff pointed at the giant bug, letting the runes start glowing as she prepared to blast the thing. Her free hand slipped the clasp off her holster, and then drew her revolver to level down on the robot. One unexpected giant bugger attack was enough for today, and she was done taking chances and letting monsters get the jump on her.

Menelwith had been poking at the bracer when she heard the scream and the weird human in armor immediately ran off towards the noise. She followed the running person, making sure not to get ahead of them. Two-leggers could be so skittish about her.
Not wanting to startle the person who had screamed too much, Menelwith wasn't trying to be stealthy as she approached. There was a female human looking at the armored person and the whirlipede.

The NS5 looked to Menelwith, and greeted it. "Hello again, dragon. I found a lost human that seems to be experiencing some difficulties, but she does not seem able to explain them to me."

"Hello again to you too. My name is Menelwith, if you were wondering."

"A pleasure to meet you properly. ****, return." The NS5 didn't know how it knew, but it pointed the ball at the whirlipede, and it was gone. It STORED the ball in its STORAGE nonchalantly.

Dragons. Robots. Giant Bugs. This day had started so simply. She'd gotten up, done some check ins on the Paranet, was going to go out for Wendy's before hitting the road to go exorcise some spook a few counties over. Why did everything go so wrong? And things had indeed gone wrong. There were only a handful of dragons in the world, but each one meant business. If this turned into a fight, Bridgette expected to lose, unless a hundred or so other wardens dropped out of the bushes as backup. Which she didn't have much hope for. At this rate, a UFO was probably going to show up looking for a quick scrummage match or something.
Realizing she was still holding her weapon, and that the dragon seemed to be on familiar terms with the robot, Bridgette quickly lowered her arms and tried to appear as non threatening as possible, so as to avoid getting obliterated by draconic fury. Heck, from what she'd heard, an angry dragon just needed to think at you and you'd just die on the spot if not properly braced for it.
She awkwardly bowed, trying to show some respect "Um...sorry, I wasn't expecting to...er...Behold....your...self...ness." She was scrambling, internally, trying to remember if there was some protocol here. "The white council of wizard extends its greeting" she added, trying to name drop that in as soon as possible. Rules of protocol might as well be physical laws, so keeping things in a diplomacy realm was 100% her best strategy for survival

Menelwith openly stared at the human's greeting and pulled her wings a little closer to her body. She hadn't offended Elrond or Mithrandir that she could recall, but why else would the White Council take an interest in her?
"I did not know that the White Council was taking an interest in me."
The dragon dipped her head in a rough equivalent of a bow.
She was so small here. Menelwith felt very vulnerable.

The NS5 had no idea what the human or dragon were talking about, but it did know that it had a new pokémon that needed to be healed. "If you two would like to come with me, I am going to the medical facility. The woman that works there is well-educated and informative."

Bridgette waited to see what this dangerous dragon would do. after a moments pause, Bridgette spotted an opportunity to depart in safety "Actually, I should probably go with...the robot....so I'll just be on my way", and then quickly followed after the mechanical man.

The NS5 escorted Bridgette through the forest, along what path was available, explaining that someone somewhere had a lot of hidden cameras and speakers, and would play music any time a pokémon tried to attack someone. Who was playing the music, it had no idea, but if you stayed off of the knee-or-higher grass, then nothing would bother you.
When they got to town, they went to a building with a red roof that said 'PokéCenter' above the door. It escorted her in, and walked her up to a girl with curly pink hair wearing a nurse uniform. "Nurse Joy, I would like you to meet Bridgette. She seems as though she could use your counselling services." Unless the swordswoman seemed to still need the aid of the robot, it would take its leave.

It started as a nagging voice in the back of her mind. A little inkling of recognition. She tried to brush it aside, putting it off as nothing more than coincidence. But as the road gave way to a town, as the android explained more of what it had observed, as she recalled her experience with the buggers, that nagging voice grew louder and louder and louder still, till it was a roar in her eardrums. It couldn't possibly be true, that was just impossible. But the site of the pink haired nurse, of the familiar red and white orb, and the number of e acutes in the language....well, there river Denial is only so wide. "You've gotta be ****ting me."


Viirin, as the unnamed NS5 robot from I, Robot (movie version)
Dragonmage, as Menelwith the dragon from Lord of the Rings
Nine of Spades, as Bridgette Mercedes Gates, Wizard of the White Council from Dresden Files

[BrownDragon]

Takia looks in the direction of the cat and simply picks it up with his mind. "I think I got it."

[ChaoticHarmony]

Takia locks onto one of the creatures Amora pointed out, raising it in the air. With a startled screech, a cat like creature struggles to find balance. It swipes at the air, as though it can knock whatever is levitating it out.


https://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/4/46/509Purrloin.png/1200px-509Purrloin.png

[BrownDragon]

Takia notices that this cat is... oddly heavy he starts to mentally struggle and it floats to the ground. "That is not the right purple cat."

[NineOfSpades]

There were a few possibilities. The first was a phobophage, or a group of phobophages working together. Winter fae, they devoured fear and had some truly impressive shape changing abilities, as well as some limited ability to reshape faerie around them to better hunt. That'd be possible, and indeed, there were some documented cases of phobophages using movies and television as disguises. Only thing was, a phobophage only really went through the trouble of becoming something scary, so unless there was folks running around with a terrifying fear or merchandise-able pets, that wouldn't make sense. Next up was a ghost. An impression in the never-never made by a mortal death, ghosts could also shape their world around them, at least within their demesne, to reflect their mind and parts of their final moments. That'd get the landscaping down, but no ghost that Bridgette had ever heard off had the juice needed to create constructs of people. They also usually weren't so well composed, since ghosts were....not known for being all that stable. The last option she could think off was that this was all an illusion, or more accurately, some sort of psychic whammy. No idea who or what might have tagged her with it, but that'd be enough to make her think anything was real. And it was especially worrisome, since that kind of mind magic usually ended up breaking you down to a vegetable, if given enough time. Only problem was, she also didn't know any way to get out of a mind-trap from the inside, or even confirm it.

Well, there was one option available at least. No matter what else there was going on, The Sight could punch through it and let her see the truth. Any threads from mental mojo, any illusions or disguised spirits, any tricks...all of it would be laid bare, along with the true nature of the world. It was an ace in the hole of sorts, and part of the reason that wizards held an edge over a lot of the sneakier baddies in the supernatural community. Vampire, Spirit, Faerie...didn't matter, The Sight could pull back the curtain and let her see what was really there. Only rule was, The Sight plaid for keeps. Whatever she saw with it, it'd stay with her till the day she died, stamped onto her soul.

It was a gamble, but Bridgette felt it was worth it. Anything that was twisted enough to want to kill her had plenty of opportunity, so she was probably not in danger of seeing anything too mind-breaking, and she'd just have to be quick about surveying the environment. A few seconds, that'd be enough to take it all in and at least get her out of the metaphorical dark.

Closing her physical eyes, she focused her will on the spot centered on her forehead, right between her eyes. Some beliefs called it the crown chakra, or the third eye. She didn't really care to distinguish, they all were circling the same idea. With an effort of Will, she pushed her inner eye open, and let the world flood into her.

Despite the name, the sight wasn't just visual. It was every one of her senses, dialed up to an extreme. Colors popped, not just the viable ones, but incandescent threads of energy that wove into shimmering clouds, the raw magical energy of creation flowing through the world in swirling eddies
the poke-center popped into a new dimension, a sort of intangible overlay upon reality. It was like sitting in a warm, fluffy cloud. The pink haired nurse behind the counter radiated light with a truly, literally heavenly aura. It was like looking into the sun on Christmas morning, the sensation of every boo-boo Bridgette had ever had in her life being kissed all at once, of chicken soup on a rainy day, of a thick scratchy blanket to hide under during a thunderstorm, and of a healer put in this world to do no harm.

It made her weep.

===============================================

"I also took your advice and caught another pokemon, and it is injured. Could you heal them for me please?"

Nurse Joy was more than happy to do so, and accepted the pokeball and premier ball as the NS5 removed them from its STORAGE and handed them to her.

She put them in some slots in a strange rectangular machine behind the counter, and after a few seconds of gentle music, she handed the balls back to the robot.

===============================================

Bridgette saw....darkness wasn't the right word. Darkness was something tangible, something which fit. It wasn't darkness, it was a void. An absence of all sensation. She'd heard about black holes, about how they weren't black, just a gaping emptiness, a point of no return. The mass, human shaped that it was, was like looking into that. Contrasted against the divine glow, it stood out starkly. As her eye naturally drifted towards the vacuum, Bridgette pulled back, forcing herself not to look. She didn't know what it was, or wasn't, but nothing that...wrong...could be healthy to look directly at. Her head was spinning, still reeling from the warmth she'd been able to witness from the nurse, and it was hard to concentrate. Getting her head to do what she wanted it to was like swimming through pudding, but she managed to wrest enough concentration together to shut The Sight, letting normal sensation take over. It left her in a cold sweat, as the mundane reality reasserted itself. She wanted to go back to those Elysian fields her senses had been opened to, even as the memory of it left her feeling simultaneously drained and reinvigorated. As she blinked her eyes back into focus, the humanoid event horizon resolved itself.

Into the shape of the robot.

===============================================

"You look dizzy." It turned to look back at Nurse Joy. "Could you please help her?"

===============================================

Nurse Joy looked concerned at Bridgette "Well, I'm more of a specialist in Pokemon than people, but I can certainly give her a once over." Stepping out from behind the counter, nurse joy walked over to Bridgette, who almost instinctively moved to stand between the nurse and the robot, who she now stared at with laser focus, even as she needed to lean on her staff to catch her breath. The nurses Audino quirked its head to one side, confused, as it carried along nurse joys tools. When the nurse attempted to take Bridgette pulse, she pulled away a bit, mumbling "Its fine, just...tired" and attempting to brush of their aid. She knew full well it was safe, at least the nurse and her...weird...pet thing. But there were just to many thoughts colliding in her head right now to also deal with a medical examination. She needed a quiet place to sit and think.

================================================

In Nurse Joy's tender ministrations, the NS5 left Bridgette. It had objectives given to it by its bracer, probably owner, and like any computer, it had to do as it was told. It left the PokeCenter. Instead of heading towards the forest again, it decided to go a different direction. The path, or road at this point, must lead somewhere else. Every time the robot entered the forest it was hampered in some manner, and it preferred to be capable of progression.

================================================

Bridgette was recovering in a bed. It was soft, warm, and tempted her to just go to bed and hope this whole...mess...would just blow over without her. But as much as she wanted to do that, and it truly was an effort to force herself not to just doze off, her brain wouldn't let her. There was to much, far to much, that needed to be digested. Pretty much since she'd dropped into the woods, it'd been a nonstop crazy train, one thing after another. Much as she tried to put it together into a bigger picture, not five minutes would go by before something crazy would happen, dumping an entirely new puzzle on her to try and solve. The Trebeks, the buggers (or rather...Pokemon), the robot, the dragon, and the world. It was all a mishmash of facts and guesses that crawled around in her skull like ants. Fire ants. "God I feel a headache coming on"

Laying there, she started to structure her thoughts, forming them into little boxes where she could sort information, making something manageable about the mess. There were lots of things she didn't know, or couldn't be certain off. So it meant she needed to start with what she did know. About the only thing she was certain off was The Sight. That was one thing that was incapable of lying. It had showed her something beautiful, and she'd treasure that memory, but it showed her a lot of things that weren't there. No glamours, or illusions, or disguises. None of the misty hazy that permeated the Never Never. Whatever this place was, wherever it was...it was solid all the way through.

And that was troubling, because she'd apparently ended up inside the worlds most famous collectible monster video game.
So, as impossible as that was to start from, she didn't have any way of disproving it. She was in the world of pokemon. That was fact 1. Fact 2 was that all of this had started with the Trabek's. Since they weren't around anymore, she needed to figure out more about what she did have access to, and that was the braclet. Tapping on the button that the robot (if it was a robot...that void was another worriesome puzzle) had indicated, she brought up the menu. Unlike before, she started systematically searching through it, trying to fully get her head around what the game-show-gods had wanted from her.

After poking and proding, she found her way to a tab called 'objectives' Clicking (Selecting? Accessing? All she really did was poke it with her finger, but 'poking' both didn't feel like the correct term). The menu shifted and displayed a readout list.

COLLECT/CAPTURE 4 CREATURES THAT REPRESENT THE ANCIENT ELEMENTS

OBTAIN 3 OFFICIAL 'POKEMON LEAGUE' BADGES

DEFEAT A REGIONAL LEADER IN A COMPETITION OF THEIR CHOOSING

"Oh...well that's useful to know"

Viirin, as the unnamed NS5 robot from I, Robot (movie version)
Dragonmage, as Menelwith the dragon from Lord of the Rings
Nine of Spades, as Bridgette Mercedes Gates, Wizard of the White Council from Dresden Files

[ChaoticHarmony]

The mysterious intense music begins to play again after Takia drops the feline. With an angry hiss, the cat charges at the telekinetic, claws outstretched and ready to rake.

[BrownDragon]

'A cat attacking me? this is annoying' Takia simply kicks the cat away.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The sun begins to set in the distance as Takia punts his 20th cat of the day. Amora stands to the side, annoyed at the psychic that refuses to describe the correct cat so that he can correctly point it out. Sweat drips from Takia's brow from the intense work out he has given himself. Approaching from behind, the gentle step of NS5 approach. Amora faces toward the oncoming bot. "Greetings."

[BrownDragon]

You see, Takia did know that it would be easier to describe it, but he didn't really know how to. He basically only remembered purple cat. At any rate, he felt as if his abilities were stronger, which felt nice.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The NS5 sees Takia kick a cat that goes flying off into the distance, an impressive physical feat. Its programming showed that such was abhorrent behavior, but protecting animals was not within its parameters. "Hello again. I am an NS5. Why are you kicking felines?"

"They attacked me first" Takia defensively retorted.

"After you pulled them into the air" mutter Amaro

"Details"

"Most inferior-minded humans relieve their need for unnecessary violence on a punching bag at the gym."

"Well **** you"

"**** is in my STORAGE right now. I am an NS5."

"Wait what?"

"We are not having the same conversation, apparently. Please correct me if I am wrong. You wanted to exercise physical violence, so you came out here to attack felines, or is there something else you were attempting to do?"

"Well I am trying to find a certain purple cat for an old lady and this is the easiest way to do it. But why do you have... ah "****" in your inventory, actually wait what do you think **** means?"

"I saw the cat you have described. It is approximately 2,318 feet and 9 inches behind me, sitting on the edge of a roof." The NS5 had a profanity filter, but when a banned word was being used as a proper noun, it was an exception. Answering this question would not fall within exception rules, and so it was ignored.

"Could you take me to it and answer my latter question?"

The NS5 did not need to listen to the defunct android, but it was told that it was helping a lady, and assisting the other bot meant helping a human, which was within its code. It didn't activate a Law, but it would do so anyway since it didn't have a reason not to. "Follow me, this way. I will take you to it." Many humans considered certain words, especially that word, to be offensive and hurtful, and so it could not respond, just in case someone overheard.

"Okay, Thank you, but could you please stop ignoring my question?"

The NS5 continued ignoring the question.

"Welll **** you then"

"**** is in my STORAGE. I am an NS5."

Amaro follows the two back to town, shaking his head along the way. "If you just told me what the cat looked like, it would have saved us some time and you some energy"

"God ****ing damn it!" In response to Amaro he just blushed in embarrassment.

As the trio re enters the town, night begins to fall. Amaro turns towards the building NS5 was speaking of. "You are correct NS5, there is a feline on that rooftop......one with a distinctive spiraling tail.....something none of the other cats had." NS5 looks at the building as well, then points at a puffball attached to a long pink swirl. "There, that would be the feline's tail. Would you like me to assist you in retrieving it?"

"No need" Takia simply does what he did earlier and picked up the cat telekinetically. It was surprisingly light in comparison to the other cats especially with his new mental strength. He lifts the cat to him

'Meow?' The pink cat says with a surprisingly clear voice. It curls up some as it is gently pulled down from its resting spot and into Takia's arms.

Takia smiles and pets the thing, he doesnt know if it is just him but holding it makes him instantly calmer. "Aww it's such a cute kitten"

"I am surprised you did not kick it in the face like the other one."

"This one is nice to me and not trying to claw me"

"Probably because you didn't drop it on its head when you realized it wasnt the one you want."

"Oh shut up. Also it was hard to pick those up, I kinda had to drop them cause they were too heavy. Even with my new strength..."

The NS5 would have to get money as soon as it could, then head to Castelia town so it could get some tools. The Takia android had clearly picked up the cat using experimental sonic cross-focusing technology to make it hover, but its visual processors were presenting errors as they could not be seen. Having assisted the lady in a second-hand way, the bot walked back to where the other bot was injuring wildlife, in an attempt to find more pokemon to catch so it could win battles.

Takia and Amaro brought the cat to the lady. "OH MY SWEET BABY GIRL! YOU MADE MOMMY WORRY SO MUCH!" The portly woman gushes over her return feline, rubbing her face directly into the Glameow's. An irritated purr slowly emanates from the pink creature. "Thank you SO much gentlemen. It isn't much, but please, accept my gratitude." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out two pearls, placing one in Takia hand, the other going to Amaro. She then carries her cat away, walking down the path as the light fades.


Takia receives 1 Big Pearl
Amaro receives 1 Small Pearl

[BrownDragon]

Takias eyes widen in awe. This is one of the biggest valuable objects he has seen, rivaled only by the gems of the legendary weapons. "Thank you so much!" He put into his storage. His first thought was to sell it, but then he realized that he might be able to store his psychic energy in it. He then went to the pokecenter and asked if he could have a room.

[NineOfSpades]

This was going to be difficult.

After getting her head together and accepting, or at the very least tolerating, the idea that she'd ended up inside some video game world, complete with Pokemon and background music, she'd put together a basic plan of attack. The Bracelet had given her a list of instruction, and while she wasn't super keen about just playing along with the Trebek's game, she also knew that she was seriously out muscled, so open definace was a very risky proposition. Too many variables were still unknown, so for now, she needed to play along, keep her eyes peeled, and start putting together a proper plan. That was really the core of being a wizard. The word itself was derived from the same root as wisdom. A wizard is someone with knowledge, and knowledge was very literally power.

So step one to getting through this crazyness was getting backup. She knew the robot was out there, the dragon as well. Probably others beyond that. They could be anywhere, and while she didn't know if they could be trusted, she felt an obligation to seek out those she could and lend some aid. As a nice side effect, if she could put together a proper team, that'd drastically improve her chances of surviving through this.

This was still going to be difficult.

Putting together the circle had been the first part. And this time it was a proper circle, consisting of an outer and inner ring, as near to perfectly round as she could manage. She'd worked a little bit of pyromancy to etch the circle into the pavement of the back ally she'd selected as her stanging ground. It'd make for a solid conduit, and the foundation of her spellwork.

After that was done, she spent a good ten minutes clearing the area around her circle of any trash, even sweeping the ground up for stray hairs. Nothing could be allowed to break the circle once she started. She also used the time to start going through the mental preperations of working with a complex spell like this. She walked slowly in a clockwise pace around her staging ground, keeping her heartbeat, breathing, and footsteps in the same rhythm.

As she worked physically, Bridgette went about the mental preparations. She started walling off her discordant thoughts. The anxiety, the confusion, the unanswered questions. Each of which was a disharmonious note inside her head, a distraction she didn't need. It took time, and effort, to shut away the noise. But she worked at it, one small part of her head at a time, tidying up her thoughts like she did with her work space in the physical. Soon, she felt calm, focused, and prepared.

The last step was gathering the physical props ready. She was running pretty short on supplies, so she made due with what she did. A proper wizard always carries a few odds and ends on their person for use in spell crafting. She had a few candles in assorted colors, some gum, a box of chalk sticks, a lighter, a tuning fork, and a knife. It wasn't ideal, but she had worked out a recipe that should get some results.

First, she used the chalk to scribble out the formula for the spell, written in the sybolic language the white council used to help shape magical flows. The actual symbols were irrelevent, but since they were what she'd been trained to use, they worked for her. Next, she went to task,lacing the candles at equipont positions around her cicle, forming a pentagram, she used the lighter to manually trace out the star, starting in the southern most corner and working clockwise again. As she light the last candle, she pricked her finger with the knife and used a drop of blood to activate the circle, charging it with magical power. She felt the circle close, separating the magical energies on the inside from those on the outside. Normally she'd just use an effort of will to do it and save herself the pain of cutting a finger, but she was more concerned about keeping her head in the right space and didn't need any extra magical workings to disrupt her vibes.

If she'd had time, Bridgette would have loved to take the opportunity to ritually bath herself, change into some clean clothing, and maybe get a nap in as well. If she did, she'd be feeling a lot more confident about working the bit of thaumaturgy she had planned. Oh well, sometimes you got to make do. As far as spells went, this probably wasn't going to be too taxing, as far as energy requirements went. The difficult part would be keeping the parts together in her head. Thankfully, if she screwed up, that would just mean a bit of magical turbulance, rather than say blowing her head off. So that's a big plus.

Kneeling in the center, Bridgette took a breath, and let herself begin. She started chanting, a rhythmic flow of syllables that proceeded at a languide pace. Every forth word, she took the tuning fork and struck it against the braclet, producing a clear tone. As she did, she furrowed her bow, concentrating deeply on maintaining the mental construct that would shape her magic. It was exhausting, and after only a minute or so, she felt sweat beginning to form on her brow. At least, just for a moment, until she sequestered that sensation away so it woudn't distract her. "Ya delayu vyzov na obshchedostupnuyu liniyu, mne nuzhen gruppovoy razgovor. Ya takzhe khotel by sdelat' moye mestopolozheniye obshchedostupnym" she whispered, dronning on and on. After completing the phrase, she let the magic build for a moment, before beginning her chant again.

It was slow, deliberate, and tiring work, repeating her little ceremony again and again, till she reached the 13th iteration. Knowing that she couldn't let it continue any more without generating interfence in her own work, Bridgette started her last repeation, growing in volume. As she spoke the final word, she made a swift gesture with her hand, letting the wind from the motion blow out the candles around her, breaking the circle and letting the energy she'd collected flow out from her.

There was a huge swell of energy that traced about at the edge of perception, and Bridgette felt the spell lock in place, connecting her bracelet to all the others. "Ok...Showtime" She breathed, taking gulps of air to try and steady herself.

Holding the tuning fork against her Bracelet, Bridgette began to speak, trusting her magic would carry the words through the link she'd built up between all the bracelets, so that the wearers of the counterpart accessories to her own would be able to hear her words. "If you are hearing this message, I'll start by saying please remain calm. You aren't crazy, this is real. No one else should be able to hear my voice, and sadly this is a one way signal, so sadly I can't hear you either." Keeping the voice channel on was draining her faster than expected, so Bridgette decided to pick up the pace. "I don't know who you are, but I imagine we are all in the same boat. Thrown into this world, and told to hash it out for ourselves. I'm sending this message to each of you so you'll know that you aren't alone. My name is Bridgette, I'm going to help however I can." her throat was feeling dry, and she felt her legs starting to shake. Bridgette pressed on. "I'm short on time, so I'll get to the point. If you don't want to go it alone out there, you can come find me. I promise to do what I can to help get through this. You don't need to worry about how, but I rigged your braclets to find mine. If you point your bracelet towards me, you should feel a vibration, letting you know where I am. It'll only last until sunrise, so try to hurry." she only had enough juice in the tank for a few more words. Trying to think what people would want to hear, what she would want to hear, she settled on the shortest sentence she could manage to get the message through.

"Everything will be ok."

The spell cut out, leaving Bridgette to use her staff for support as her body suddenly felt like it weighed a million pounds and her head was acing behind her eyeballs. She had no way to be certain that her message got out, or that the remote tracking spell she'd sent to the other bracelets would work, but she'd given it the very best chance she could to try and pull together the desperate and lost contestents in this strange, strange game.

[BrownDragon]

Takia was getting settled in his room before hearing the voice. In his mind, he thought 'Finally, someone else who knows about all this multiverse bull****.' He followed the instructions to find Bridgette

[The JoJo]

"That way," Darius pointed in the direction of the staircase, and Alfonso and Pansage tore ahead of them. Darius and Jon followed at a more leisurely pace.

Upstairs, the trio find a set of large purple bleachers overlooking a wide stage. On the ground, lines are drawn, creating an interesting rectangular design in white chalk. On one end of the field, A young girl wearing a simple red skirt and a yellow top stands ready, a look of fierce determination on her face. Across from her on the other side is a calm dark skinned woman with a big green afro tied back with a dull red bandana. A long plain apron covers her front, obscuring the majority of her well built frame. A sense of tension fills the air as a man in a striped shirt walks up to the center. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the match between Nacrene City Gym Leader Lenora and Idol Billi Delai is about to begin. It will be a 2 on 2 match. Lenora shall select her Pokemon first."

Alfonso stood at the edge of the viewing platform, watching the unfolding match with growing anticipation. First came the dog-like creature with a full moustache, who ran around on short legs, nipping at the small but deft bird which the young girl had sent out. Then came the scrawny weasel with red eyes, which ran in circles around an animal that resembled a cross between a caterpillar and a leaf. By the time it leapt on its quarry to deliver a finishing blow, Alfonso was practically jumping up and down with excitement. He had never seen anything quite like it.

"So, you're not from... this place, either?" Darius asked Jon as they too watched from their seats.

Jon watched in staggered surprise as the trained pets mauled one another; to cheers from the crowd no less! The smell of dusty books had lured him in with false security, he had expected a debate or trivia fight.

He tore himself away from the battle. Happy to be distracted by Darius.

"No... No we have nothing like this where I come from.... Not legally anyway. Definitely not in public, in front of children... Does Elendale ring a bell for you? Its the capitol of my country. What about you?"

"No," Darius said, his brow creasing. "I have never heard of that place. It must be very far away from where I come from. And yet, we can understand each other." That was one more mystery. "I was born just south of the great city of Vesper. That doesn't ring a bell with you?"

Jon shook his head slowly.

"Maybe these for talking? I can usually pull a trick to talk to people in their native lands. But obviously thats not you, not here." Maybe we have shared historical landmarks, Jon ponders. "Have you heard of the Lord Ruler?"

"Can't say I have."

"Then we must be from very far places"

"Like this place," Darius said, nodding. He lent in closer to speak in a low voice. "Do you know anything about... those who sent us here?"

"I had assumed we were dead and that was old iron eyes himself tormenting us. Though it was far too jovial to be him." Jon begins flicking through the "REWARDS" section of his bracer until he finds the speak with sponsor option. "It should have occurred to me before I spent my point on these balls."

"Well, I'll do whatever takes to keep me and the little bugger alive, but they can shove their 'objectives'. I say we find out more about them, and if there's way to fight back. What do you think?"

"The survivor demands we slay tyrants. No matter how impossible it seems. So yes I will help find a way and, in the mean time, we survive. I'm not making poury here fight like that though," Jon indicates the ring scowling. "Barbaric."

"I don't know if we can trust the others, but the one called NS5 saved my boy, so I think he's all right," Darius said, nodding. "Glad to have you on side."

At that moment, there was beeping sound on both of their bracers. Darius gave Jon a look of slight alarm, before the voice spoke.

"If you are hearing this message, I'll start by saying please remain calm. You aren't crazy, this is real. No one else should be able to hear my voice, and sadly this is a one way signal, so sadly I can't hear you either."

Darius saw that Alfonso had also frozen on the spot, apparently receiving the same message. Jon spun around, looking for the speaker.

"I don't know who you are, but I imagine we are all in the same boat. Thrown into this world, and told to hash it out for ourselves. I'm sending this message to each of you so you'll know that you aren't alone. My name is Bridgette, I'm going to help however I can.

I'm short on time, so I'll get to the point. If you don't want to go it alone out there, you can come find me. I promise to do what I can to help get through this. You don't need to worry about how, but I rigged your bracelets to find mine. If you point your bracelet towards me, you should feel a vibration, letting you know where I am. It'll only last until sunrise, so try to hurry.

Everything will be ok."

With that, the message concluded.

"...do we trust her?" Darius asked after a pause.

"Probably not. But there's only one way to find out. I can scout ahead to see if its an obvious trap. You follow behind with your boy."

"Agreed."

Jon nods and begins walking down the stairs. Halfway down he pauses, "Panpour return" he says copying the young trainer from the battle. The monkey tucks itself into the ball which falls into Jon's hand. He continues down and starts storing connection until he fades from everyone's attention.

In this state he strides through the town confidently weaving though people oblivious to his presence. Until he reaches the park of all places. He peeks over a bush.

Jon backtracks to Darius a short distance and stops storing connection.

"Looks to be a normal woman in there with a bracer like ours. I could start a conversation with her. If you feel fear run. If you feel elation that means i think it's safe."

"Thank you," Darius said, putting his hands on Alfonso's shoulders. "I'll be right behind you. This one can always hide, we've got a secret word for situations like this."

[ChaoticHarmony]

NS5 returns to the field it found Takia and Amora in, night having fallen over the landscape. Depite the lack of stars the field almost seems to glow, making the world around the bot as clear as day, if a bit dulled. The inquisitive machine begins to search the area, trying to find the devices that play the strange music every time a creature attacks, but only manages to uncover rocks, twigs, and a few loose berries. As time goes on, the NS5 cannot help but feel something is watching it.....something......not right.

Amaro walks to the park after meeting the woman who hired Takia, a cool pearl resting calmly in his palm. Such wasted time, was he ever so headstrong? A small smile flashes on his face on his face as he thinks about the arrogance of youth, Takia's and his own. Taking a deep breath, Amaro decides to take advantage of the peaceful atmosphere and meditate. Soon after he begins however, a strange spirit approaches him. Leaning into his ear, it speaks.

"If you are hearing this message, I'll start by saying please remain calm. You aren't crazy, this is real. No one else should be able to hear my voice, and sadly this is a one way signal, so sadly I can't hear you either."

"I don't know who you are, but I imagine we are all in the same boat. Thrown into this world, and told to hash it out for ourselves. I'm sending this message to each of you so you'll know that you aren't alone. My name is Bridgette, I'm going to help however I can.

I'm short on time, so I'll get to the point. If you don't want to go it alone out there, you can come find me. I promise to do what I can to help get through this. You don't need to worry about how, but I rigged your bracelets to find mine. If you point your bracelet towards me, you should feel a vibration, letting you know where I am. It'll only last until sunrise, so try to hurry.

Everything will be ok."

The spirit gently takes ahold of Amaro's device and tugs it just hard enough for him to feel where it wants him to go.

Interesting, it may be worth visiting this woman in a little while. The sightless Nen User resumes his meditation. A very short while later, a woman appears just within Amaro's sphere of sense. Her attire leaves his seeming inconspicuous but the Bracer on her arm. Amaro debates whether to approach her or not when Takia suddenly appears. The two appear to begin to talk, so Amaro decides to simply let them be for the moment.

[Viirin]

There were many impossible and illogical things that the NS5 had seen, but nothing had... the robot was not designed to feel anything, but something felt wrong. This by itself nearly required factory settings reset, but it was not able to do that by itself.

The NS5 had been searching for the hidden animal traps that released strange creatures, hidden speakers that played the music, and hidden cameras to inform the watcher when to play music, but had so far found nothing of the sort. Not a single piece of technology besides itself was hidden in the brush. It stopped gently digging through the grass and peeking around manipulated tree branches and turned around. When it did, it saw... nothing.

The NS5 summoned its whirlipede from its premier ball and STORED the ball again, leading it to think it should acquire a backpack or something for faster tool use. The NS5 did not have the components it needed to detect scents; it could get that out of the most expensive pocket watch that looked like a bracelet, but it did not have anywhere near enough money. Once it caught at least one more monster, it would challenge the league gym in an attempt to acquire the funds it needed. The giant insect was probably able to detect scents with its antennae, and the NS5 could detect animal smells through its animal companion.

[ChaoticHarmony]

More secured with the additional set of senses, NS5 prepares to resume its search. When it turns back around however, it nearly collides with something directly in front of its face. Another face. Another face that looks eerily similar to the robot's face plate, but gold. Another face that looks similar to its own but seemingly attached to nothing. Before NS5 can even react, the battle music blades, and and the strange face emits a terrifying shriek. 'YAAAAAMAAAASK!'

[Viirin]

The NS5 had not seen any hidden speakers anywhere that might be playing the music, and so no explanation at this time could be calculated. There were no hidden underground or treehouse traps that would release a creature upon remote trigger, and there were no hidden water pipes or other such things. This led to even more questions being unanswered. Something triggered in the NS5, but more information was needed to confirm its findings.
After a moment, the NS5 regained its software composure (its hardware unaffected besides its eyes closing in what would have appeared to be pain) and reached out to the mask in an attempt to remove it from whoever was wearing it, but its hand passed through it as if nothing was there.

The mask (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Yamask_(Pok%C3%A9mon)) backs away from the startled bot, moving away from its touch and toward the insectoid companion. A Red glowing orb seems to appear just above the mask, followed shortly by a similar glow surrounding ****. It is hard to tell what is happening but the whirlipede seems like it is suffering. NS5 notices a strange shadow behind the mask, barely bigger than the mask itself, floating, seemingly holding the mask in a dark shadowy hook of some sort.

The NS5 realizes that no human is holding the mask, no longer having the protection of the Laws. It doesn't know how, but the creature is also inflicting an injury on its pet, so it attempts to punch the creature in the dark part behind the mask, since the mask cannot be interacted with. It is probably just fur or black lacquered steel or something anyway.

Just as before, the fist simply phases through the mysterious creature. The red orb, which it can now see is a big red eye, turns towards NS5. It seems to vibrate a moment before a loud snap fills the air. NS5 doesn't see why, but his arms aren't responding to their usual capacity.

Nothing the NS5 could do was of any use to this creature, whatever it was. The fight against the even bigger bugs than itself didn't work, though the fight against the dragonfly... yanma worked pretty well. But without its arms reacting to its commands, it had no choice. "****, use Steamroller." The whirlipede spun in place, its four antennae spinning fast enough that the creature no longer looked like a wheel, but a gigantic tablesaw. It rushed forward, smashing into the incorporeal creature's mask, and sparks flew off of it. Somehow that attack worked? The insect passed through where the masked creature was, but it continued floating where in place.

The creature cries out in pain from the sudden attack. Seems some physical moves do work against it. It nearly crashes into the ground before disappearing, mask and all. **** looks around, trying to locate its missing opponent.
It reappears behind ****, screeching as it did before. The bug shivers in discomfort from the harsh noise.

"****, use Poison Tail." The whirlipede converts its vertical spinning motion into a horizontal one, with two of its antennae glowing the same strange pinkish glow of the needles the NS5 pulled from its arm earlier. Luckily, the movement was surprising enough to the mask that it was hit in the darkness behind it with the glowing bug part.

The strange beast is quickly knocked to the side, nearly collapsing onto the ground. It looks visibly hurt and is more solid than NS5 has seen it thus far. With a defiant look, the creature breathes out a thick black smoke, which rapidly fills the nearby area. If NS5 was a human, this thick haze would have it coughing and tearing up.

Injured pokemon can be caught, so the NS5 does the only thing that makes sense. The pokeball ... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCLIg6WT7zM)


Viirin as the NS5 and whirlipede named ****
Chaotic Harmony as the GM and Yamask

[Viirin]

Takia found Bridgette after awhile. "Finally nice to meet someone who isn't new to the multiverse, and with good power too."

Bridgette was waiting in a public space, specifically a local park. She'd chosen it for a variety of reasons. For one, it was easy to find, which would hopefully make it easy for anyone else who wanted to locate her to do so. Secondly, there were good sight lines, in case anyone who came to find her was looking for a fight, she'd have a decent chance of spotting them first. It also was open enough that if a fight did break out, collateral damage could be kept down. And lastly, because it was a pretty nice park, good foliage, and it gave her a chance to observe the local wildlife and people. She'd even managed to pick up an ice cream cone from a street vendor.
It was about an hour before someone rolled up, a kid in a white shirt, kind of messy hair, looked to be about middle school age. She spotted him from the bracelet, which caught her attention. She shifted forward on the bench, not wanting to appear threatening, but being alert. Reaching out with her senses, she probed for any hostile magical energies, but didn't get any.
The kid spoke first, and he had a bit of a cocky tone to his voice, but then, most middle schoolers were kind of punks. She nodded at him, and then beside her on the bench "Take a seat kid" She said withe a smile, trying to come across as warm as she could. Admittedly, she wasn't great with kids. Not totally horrible either, but it was a uncomfortable social interaction. "Glad to see that you were able to find me. Message come through okay then?"

"Yeah, thank you for that. I am curious on what kind of power that was but regardless. It is nice to meet you." Takia sat down next to her.

Bridgette smiled, knowingly. "Oh that," she wiggled her fingers, "magic". It wasn't a lie, of course, but she didn't want to lean in too heavily with that.

"Ah so you are from a universe that has that. Well anyway, my name is Takia, and you?"

Bridgette blinked. Kid was actually on point. "Did that part not transmit through the message?" She asked.

Takia blushed and remembered. "Ah... well I kinda just said that instinctively..."

Bridgette nodded. "Don't worry about it." She was glad that she wasn't the only one feeling a little awkward. "This whole mess will take some getting used to." She paused a moment, distracted as a large purple rat ran by, jumping into a garbage can to dig for food. "Like that...objectively weird, right?"

"That's true." Takia thought for a moment. "So what is your experience with the multiverse?"

Bridgette slowly breathed out "Okay, loaded question, but fair enough." she thought how best to answer, without going into to much detail or revealing things that didn't need to be shared. "Well I've traveled to a few dimensions in my world, but I don't know if that counts as strictly 'multiverse' stuff or not." That raised a thought, could she still open a portal to the NeverNever from here? A project for another time. "Those game-show gods really threw me for a loop, I was just waiting in line at Wendy's and then they tossed me over here. I don't want to come across like an expert in multiple realities, but I do have lots of experience dealing with weirdness." She inclined her head at Takia. "How about you, kid, where you from?"

"A fantasy world, like swords, apocalyptic prophecies, and heroes with legendary weapons. Normal fantasy book stuff, or so I was told. I meant more like completely different universes, like the stuff of books. Well I guess your magic world sounds applicable but anyways, like not another mirror world but a whole new world that isn't connected to the first in any way."

Bridgette shrugged "Well by definition, if it's not connected in any way, then how would I have gotten to it?" She chuckled a little. "As far as I figure, everything exists somewhere so there really isn't much point in trying to separate one world from another." She eyed the fat purple rat, which had gotten its teeth into a discarded apple. "Then again...ending up inside a video game is still kinda....out there."

"Fair enough, though we got here right? Well anyway it is possible but extremely hard. Or a god is screwing with you, one or the other. When I came up to my fourth world I started to see kinda where there were gaps in the world to others, but I have no idea where they lead. I'm sure if I tried the god would bring me back or I'd end up in a worse situation."

Bridgette gave an impressed whistle. "4th world, that's pretty impressive."

"Thank you. Well anyway I would like to know more about how your magic works, considering we may have to rely on it."

"Well, that's kind of a loaded question, isn't it? Like asking 'how does physics work', you know". Still, she didn't want to leave the kid disappointed, and she'd had some time to rest up since working her big locator spell. Raising a hand, she focused a small effort of will and said "Zhech" conjuring an apple-sized sphere of flames in the palm of her hand. She let it linger for a second or two, before tossing it away, letting the flame vanish midair as she did. "Ta-da."

"So spoken word is a key to it, is it another language or is it meaningless?"

"The only real magic words are 'please & thank you'". Bridgette laughed. "Think of the words as insulation to keep from frying your brain."

Takia laughed with her. "Did you have psionics or psychics in your world?"

"I mean..kind of?" Bridgette shrugs. "Psychic stuff is just a different name for magic with a limited focus."

"Ah okay, what about ritual type magic?"

"Yeah, that's called thaumaturgy. Make a circle, build connections, work something on the small scale, use magic to make it happen on the large scale."

"I assume that is what you used for the message?"

"Bingo."

"Are your casters ones limited to a certain element, when it is not ritual magic of course?"

Bridgette gave a non-answer shrug. "It's not so clear cut, but most people are better at using one aspect over another."

"Thank you for answering all my questions, I probably should get some sleep for late- wait, maybe you could help me with something."

Bridgette inclined an eyebrow.

"So I have a big pearl and while the ability to store psychic energy in an object is not an ability I currently have, I was wondering if a ritual could allow me to store mental energy inside it?"

Bridgette didn't answer, thinking the question over. "Well, I know how to go about storing physical energy, like kinetic force or heat. That is pretty straightforward. Storing something like 'psychic energy' that is a bit less clear. That's like 'stockpiling' attention span or positive attitude."

"You literally just described my power. Okay not literally but it was funny."

"Back up. You didn't say anything about having any Powers."

"Oh yeah, so I have basic telekinesis and a weird thing based on stored emotions."

Another impressed whistle.

"It probably is different from your magic system, but yeah, if I get pissed enough, pyrokinesis, determined? Kinetokinesis."

Wheels turned in Bridgette's head, but she kept it to herself. "So, since you've been on this loop for a few worlds, any idea about the big picture? Like, why are we being sent here to catch monsters?"

"A god thinks its funny, maybe even multiple. You weren't there for the introduction, did you get the description of the game from the god?"

"I got mildly mocked and a bracelet."

"Ah, well short answer your godly sponsor was late and we all have a different one, we are stuck in this game hopping across multiverses and completing quests until we buy either the escape from the bracer or the ultimate truth."

"Well that's kind of dumb." Bridgette commented "They can play their own games without involving me. Like, I figured there was some grand scheme in the works, like these were all just steps towards some end goal, with us as unwilling errand runners."

"Yeah, **** them. Anyway it was nice to meet you, I need sleep." Takia waved goodbye and returned to the pokecenter.


Nine of Spades as Bridgette
Takia as Takia

[The JoJo]

As Jon went forward to talk with the strange woman, Darius crouched behind a bush at the edge of the park, trying to catch a glimpse of the unfolding conversation. While the mercenary was poised as still as a statue, he couldn't help noticing that his smaller partner in crime was becoming increasingly fidgety.

"What's the matter?" Darius hissed. "She'll see us!" Alfonso gave him an urgent look, hopping from one leg to the other and biting his lip. Darius groaned inwardly.

"What, now? You really can't wait a few minutes?"

Alfonso shook his head, the dance increasing in tempo.

"Fine, go behind the long grass over there," Darius muttered, pointing to a clump about twenty feet behind them. "Just don't go any further, and don't let anyone see you."

He felt a little uncomfortable as the small boy scampered off, the grass monkey at his heels, but there was nobody visible and it was well within earshot, he reasoned. He looked back to the meeting spot, trying to gauge if he could feel the signal that Jon had promised. As he shuffled forward a pace, though, he heard something that made his blood run cold. A faint rustling in the grass. And then a short, sharp cry.

[Viirin]

The slight vibration the NS5 felt in its bracer arm reminded it that it had been called by the woman that it rushed to rescue after she screamed, and so it should probably hunt her down to offer assistance again. The maiden in distress was not in distress after all, and so the robot did not have the goal of getting there as soon as it could, especially since it was given a timeframe, "before the sun rises".

Earlier inability to use its arms, and a new pokemon that needed healing, were of more importance and Nurse Joy could help. However, the Second Law was unassailable, and so it headed towards the location. Soon after making this decision, if it could be called that, which it couldn't, it began to approach the south edge of the park. It would still have to go through the park to get to the Pokecenter.

That's when the bracer's dowsing-like function stopped. It was still dark, but the woman's signal could no longer be located.

[ChaoticHarmony]

As Jon rerounds the corner to confront the woman, the red gem on his Bracer starts flashing rapidly. A steady beep fills the air as he approaches the wizard, intending to introduce himself. Just as he is about to speak, a bright red flash envelops him and as far as he can tell, everything around him........


Darius jumps to action as soon as he hears his son cry out. The woman can wait, Alfonso needs him! He doesn't notice that his Bracer started flashing red, not did he pay mind to the steadily rising beep that seems to be coming from it. He just manages to make it to the tall grass when a bright red flash envelops him and as far as he can tell, everything around him........

Alfonso doesn't know what is going on. All he needed to do was use the bathroom and he ends up getting attacked by an angry bird. His new friend pushed him out of the way right before the creature lunged at the little elf boy at incredible speed. The impact sent the monkey reeling, knocking it straight into the ground. Alfonso doesnt notice the red blinking in his Bracer as he cries out in panic and sadness. He can't hear the steady beep as he runs towards his friend and bawls into the wound. He just notices his father coming to make things better when a bright red flash envelops him and as far as he can tell, everything around him.........

Amaro stands straight up, concern crossing his bandaged face. Something is wrong. The scream in the air, just outside of his sense, the look of worry and fear on Darius's face when he heard the scream. He had to go help. Amaro runs towards Darius, trying to be there to assist however he can. His bandaged eyes are blind to the flashing. He barely registers the sound of beeping as he races towards the possibly injured child. He almost reaches the Father when a red aura envelops him and as far as he can tell, everything around him............

Takia was just settling down for the night. The pleasant surprise of discovering another dimensional traveler, and the informative conversation with her, has left him wiped. As he begins to lay in bed, he sees his Bracer begin to flash red. The loud annoying beeping it starts emitting really irritates the young telepathy. Just as he has had enough and is about to fidget with the damn thing, he is enveloped in a red flash and as far as he can see, everything around him..........

NS5 reaches the park just in time to hear a scream. Its programming kicks in, the Second Law driving him to find this terrified person and to help them however it can. As it scans the park to determine where to go, its Bracer begins to flash an ominous red. Right when it spots Darius and Amaro races towards some tall grass, the bot registers a strange beeping sound coming from its arm. NS5 begins to run as fast as it can towards the grass when a red flash envelops it and as far as it can tell, everything around it.........

Menelwith lies sleeping in the forest. After the strange two humans it met left her in the clearing, she decided she needed to hunt to feed her empty stomach. She couldn't find any of her typical tasty treats, but a rather large insect she came across turned out to be surprisingly tasty. As the day went on, several more humans came across her, and after a moment of shock, threw strange balls at her. Of course this could not stand so she simply melted the things with her flames. This small display terrified the humans, like the thought of those silly orbs being damaged at all was out of the question. Overall, a pleasant and relaxing day. As Menelwith doses in the cool forest night, she is unaware that her Bracer is blinking red. She doesn't hear the insistent beeping as she snoozes deeper into rest. She has no idea when the red flash envelops her..........

[The JoJo]

Darius tore through the undergrowth, ignoring the urgent beeping on his bracer. He thrust aside the long grass, finding Alfonso crouched over Pansage, a tearful expression on his face.

A few feet away a giant pigeon-like bird, perhaps two-thirds the height of his son, was poised to strike again. Darius reached under his cloak for his dagger and snarled at the creature, sending it scurrying back into the dark. He then knelt down beside Alfonso, taking him into his arms. Fortunately, it seemed the small boy was shaken rather than hurt.

"Pan..." Pansage said in nearly a whisper. It began to paw at Alfonso's waistline; at first, Darius thought the monkey was just trying to keep the small boy's attention. Then, he realised what it was trying to do.

"I think... it wants the ball," he murmured, recalling what they had seen earlier at the gym. Alfonso sniffed and wiping his nose on his sleeve, before reaching into his pocket and drawing out the pokeball. He cupped it in his hands, giving his father an uncertain expression. "Let him hold it?" Darius suggested.

Alfonso crouched down and pressed the pokeball into Pansage's paws. The monkey gave him a smile, there was a flash and then it was gone, leaving only a slightly heavier pokeball. Alfonso turned to bury his face in Darius' shoulder, who didn't even notice Amaro or the NS5 approaching until they were right beside him.

[BrownDragon]

Takia was confused as to what happened. He checks himself. He is alright. He thinks about everyone else. Then it hits him. He can't remember

B̵̠͂͒͜r̶͎̬̳̬͌i̵̞͉͒͗̄͛͝d̶̯̫̰͙͔͔͂́͊̆̓̄̏ģ̶̠̜̟̓͌̈́̍̏̕͠ e̷̢̛͔̹͚͎̎͠t̵̡͂̐̓̌́̉͛ṱ̶̗̪͌́̽͊

He remembers everything he talked about but a blank empty space was in the place of the person. Takia was confused, of course, but most of all? He was dead ****ing scared. He collapses on the floor into a ball. How could someone just be... erased? He felt the fear rising inside him, and he couldn't do anything. He didn't have anyone to talk to about this since he was the only one who talked to her. Hell, the reason why he did was fuzzy. Takia called for Nurse Joy and asked to be put under, saying it was PTSD. No ****ing way he could sleep otherwise.

[The JoJo]

Nion stretched out, breathing in the forest air. "Alright, new world." She said, with some degree of satisfaction. "Feel that breeze. Man, I was seriously starting to miss the wild outdoors." Her enjoyment of the beauty of nature was interrupted by a growl from her stomach. "Hope they have something tasty on this planet." She smiled, picturing the new meal she'd get to enjoy. "Alright, first things first though. What’s on the to-do-list for today?" Opening up the menu on her bracelet, Nion scanned the objectives for this place. "Lets see....capture some animals, win some competitions....ooooh, defeat someone in a competition, that could be cool."

Raising a hand to the side of her head, she powered on her scouter, letting the visual overlay spring to life. "Let’s just get a quick check of what the folks here are like," she commented as it started searching for nearby power signatures.

The scouter eventually picked up on some elevated power levels not to far away, though it wasn't able to give her an exact reading. The piece of junk had been spotty ever since leaving her own reality, so she wasn't too surprised. Still, it'd make for a place to start. Levitating off the ground, she took to the air, just above the treeline, as she bolted off towards the energy reading.

In a few minutes, Nion spotted the treeline breaking away, and the familiar-looking sight of buildings and streets rising into view. Nion flew over the streets, looking down at the small society. The people here were pretty normal looking, minus their lack of tails. That was something she hadn't gotten used to yet. They were also accompanied by a lot of very strange looking animals. Most were accompanying the humans, so perhaps they were pets, though it was odd to see that most of the animals were much stronger than the people they were travelling with. "Maybe the people are the pets here." She mused. It'd be pretty sensible. A question for another time. Her scouter pinned, confirming a lock on the location of a few elevated power levels in a nearby park. Banking into a turn, she briefly paused, hovering about 200 meters over the park until she spotted the beings in question, and descended to land next to them, touching down lightly. "Hey." She said casually, like they were already friends. A robot, and four people in various strange outfits. She crossed her arms in front of her, looking them over. They didn't seem much, to be honest, but that was fine. Her tail did twitch momentarily though, a small expression of disappointment. "Any of you guys...what was it?" She popped open the menu from the bracelet to make sure she had the terminology correct. "A...'Regional Leader'?"

"I am an NS5."

"That’s cool." Nion said with a nod. "Like a cyborg, right?"

"Cyborgs are humans with mechanical prosthetics. I am a robot."

"I don't think any of us are a... regional leader," Darius said, rising to his feet with Alfonso curled up in his arms. It was slightly disconcerting that the new arrival had apparently descended from above them, but it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened that day.

"I am certainly not. I'm not even sure of the region we are in." The blind man seems to stare at the strange being, sensing powerful Nen emanating from the woman.

Speaking to the cyborg, or rather, robot, Nion was a bit interested. "Oh, that's pretty cool, so like a machine right? What kind of machine are you, then?" The people started speaking as well, confirming they were also not regional leaders, and seemed generally less knowledgeable than Nion had hoped. "Seriously? That’s a bit of a let down." She double checked her scouter readings, just to make sure she was at the right place. "You guys seem pretty tough though, figured you'd know a bit more about this world. Shame on that though." Her stomach growled again, reminding her it was close to lunch time.

"We only just arrived here ourselves," Darius said. He glanced down at the bracer on his arm. "For matter, why are we out here again?"

"I am a Non-Structured personal service modular robot version 5. I do not think this is a world. I will show you my evidence once I heal my new pocket monster at the pocket center. I am on my way to Nurse Joy right now."

"I was enjoying the peace at this park and practicing my Ten." Amora tilts his head in confusion at the robot. "What do you mean that this is not a world?"

Darius was sure that he and Jon had come to the park from the gym for a reason, but he couldn't for the life of him remember why. It was all very odd.

"I think that Nexus is our owner, and this place is how our simulated consciousnesses are processing the social interaction software updates. That would explain why we are so different from each other, and why the laws of biology and atmospheric gas percentage are so different from what is obvious to us. We are being trained to understand that when we are sold to our new owners, that their needs are their own, and this place is how we will begin to learn to adapt to their specifications for optimal service provision. The piece of evidence I am planning on showing you is this. Yamask, come out."

A black cloud made out of what appeared to be solid shadow appeared out of apparently no where, hovering in place and holding a mask depicting a female human face crying in anguish. "Yamask?" The creature's noise was barely audible.

Nion nearly fell asleep listening to the robot drone on about, literally, the most boring thing she'd ever been forced to listen to. However, she jumped back in surprise when a weird....thing popped out of thin air with a flash of light, leaving the saiyan suspended in midair, floating similar to the Yamask. "Gya! What just happened!?"

"Try to place your hand on it. It will not be possible. Only another pocket monster may fight or touch it." The NS5’s voice was mechanically unemotional.

"No thanks, I'm not touching anything that just pops out of nowhere!" She blinked a moment. "Wait, what did you say this was?" Her brain catching up after the surprise.

"Yamask, return." The NS5's pokéball let out a red laser that dematerialized the creature back into the ball, which it STORED. "It's a Yamask."

"No not that, the other thing." Nion asked, showing obvious curiosity.

The NS5 replayed the conversation in its CPU and found another noun. "Pocket monster?"

"Well, it's getting late," Darius interrupted. "Should we head back to the Pokécenter now? It's long past this one's bedtime."

"Your son does require sleep. Please go ahead." The NS5 replied.

Nion snapped her fingers. "Bingo, that's the one. I'm supposed to catch some of those things, it’s on the list." Seeing the pokéball disappear into the robot’s storage space, Nion felt the final wires connect in her head. "OH, I get it!" She exclaimed. Immediately her posture relaxed and she ceased levitating, returning to terra firma. "You guys are all part of the big game too right? Should have opened with that bit, it'd save a lot of time."

"Yes and indeed." Amora replied to her.

The group began to walk to the Pokemon Center, their conversation continuing along the way. "Do you know anything about those who set us up in this game?" Darius asked Nion.

Nion, arms hanging casually on the back of her head as she walked, looked to Darius, and gave a shrug. "I mean, a little I guess. I know they are very powerful, and I'd love a chance to fight them, but they sent me between worlds before I got the chance. Once I win this tournament though, I'm going to cash in my prize for a chance to take one on." She grinned happily at the thought, smiling from ear to ear.

Amaro walks casually besides the group. "So this is a tournament then? I had gotten the impression we are supposed to cooperate. At least partly."

"Maybe? This is the first time I've run into anyone else with a bracelet. I guess if they want us to fight, we'll get a message saying so." Nion looked over at Amaro. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in fighting people weaker than me."

"If this is a tournament, we are not meant to fight one another. I am incapable of injuring any human, or allowing any human to become injured if I am aware of it. That alone means that we are not in competition with one another, and are suggested to cooperate."

"Agreed, there's no point fighting each other," Darius muttered. "We should fighting the bastards who put us here."

"Wow, really?" Nion looked to the robot. "That must suck."

A small smile crosses Amaro's face. "And I prefer not to cause pain of any sort. At least none of my quarry has ever complained of pain."

"May I ask, how did you learn to fly?" the NS5 asked... whoever that was.

"Flying? Um..." Nion scratched her head, embarrassed that she couldn't really remember. "I was a kid when I learned, so I don't actually remember the specifics." She gave a laugh. "It’s really just about directing your Ki. Anyone can do it if they practice enough."

The NS5 considered that to be a strange response. "How does a key teach you to fly?"

Nion blinked again. "It’s not a key, its Ki. Like, energy." She scratched her head in frustration. "I don't know how to put it into words." A lightbulb went off in her head. "Oh, I know." Raising her palm, Nion projected an apple-sized ball of glowing energy which she held in suspension above her hand. "It’s this, but inside you. You feel it, and direct it outwards so that you fly."

"Interesting, that is similar to Nen......you might be considered an Emitter where I am from,” Amora said.

Nion turned, visibly lighting up at Amaro's words. "Oh, you have Ki too? I mean, I knew you had elevated power level, so I guess it should have been obvious."

The NS5 did not respond to this, but it did start thinking that this new person had now displayed two strange abilities, but the only things around that seemed able to do that were pokémon and androids, in Takia's case. However, pokémon could only say the name of the species they were, and she could clearly communicate. Maybe that meant that humans could learn... no, the dragon was able to communicate. Non-pokémon sapient lifeforms could learn Pokémon abilities. That might mean the NS5 could do the same.

The conversation unfolding had long since stop making sense for Darius. Not that that was anything new for the past couple of days. He glanced down at Alfonso, who, perhaps fortunately, had fallen fast asleep with his head resting on Darius' shoulder.

The robot opened the Pokécenter door for the man.

"Thanks," Darius murmured.

"Yes, if Ki in your world is equivalent to what Nen is in mine. It is the energy of life in all living things, with certain special individuals either learning or being gifted in the power of harnessing it." While Amaro faces away from the flying woman, she can't help but feel his attention is entirely on her.

Nion flinched a little as the doors opened and the smell of medical equipment washed over her. She didn't much like going to see doctors, no matter which world she visited, and her tail twitched in disgust at the order while she groaned. "Wait, this isn't the pokémon center, is it? I thought we were going to find food!" She didn't react to Amaro's description, momentarily distracted by the disappointment in their destination.

"The Pokémart is closed right now, but I had bought some food earlier for ****. I do not know if it is suitable for human consumption, but it is all that is available at this time. If I can heal my Yamask, then we can attempt to go find something better.” The NS5 removed a bag of Bug-Type Poffin Pokéfood from its STORAGE, and presented it to the new person who had yet not introduced herself.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Lylia and Sato awaken to find themselves in a shallow field dotted with flowers. All around them, tall trees burst into the sky with deep green. It is late at night, without a star in the sky. If there is a moon, it hangs behind the tree line, out of sight to be sure.

The message, that all the active players have gotten used to by this point, goes off once again, freezing all non players where they are as far as they can tell.

[Rhyvurg]

Sato turns in a slow circle, embracing his Void to react, not anticipate. When no threat was forthcoming, he gathers his things, tucking his swords into his belt, his other weapons hidden inside his robe, and his bisento ready at hand. Feeling as prepared as he could be, he approaches the other person there with him. "Excuse me, but may I ask, how did you come to be here?"

[Troodon]

Lylia awoke with a start, not remembering falling asleep. For a moment she thought the darkness might have been a dream, but then she noted the verdant greenery and midnight sky above her, the complete opposite of the Lightning village she had rested at for the night. Somewhat disconcerted by the fact that she was now somewhere completely different, she focused on if she could sense magic around her. Surely the bracers would be rather obvious (assuming, of course, that the other players had them), and she decided that perhaps they could know more about what was going on, if they already knew how the bracers worked. Besides, most dangerous creatures had some amount of magic, and she would prefer to know if she should move or not.

At the same time, she decided to look through the bracer's options. She had already looked at the STORAGE, and the OBJECTIVES screen seemed like it would be important, if this was all some sort of game, so she tapped it. After scanning them and feeling incredibly confused, given that they seemed to require context she didn't have, she decided to look at the SHOP screen, still trying to detect magic around her.

Lylia's Opinions on Objectives
1. Capture creatures representing the four prime elements: This makes some kind of sense to Lylia, as dragons can bond with familiars that generally correspond with one of the eleven elements. However, which four would be considered the prime ones?
2. Obtain four badges: Lylia has no idea what the Pokemon League is or how it works.
3. Defeat a regional leader in a competition: Regional leaders would be confusing, as dragons are made up of clans that don't exactly control entire regions. Something similar would be the deities, since they lead a large section of territory, but it would be nonsensical to challenge one.

[sadatg]

Jon woke up with an excessively bad case of dry mouth. He groggily reached for the cup of water he kept on his bedside. As he quested across the grassy surface of his hard bed he yawned compulsively. The sudden realization that his mouth was full jolted him further toward consciousness and his eyes blinked open. His vision was filled with a large, blue, monkeys face.

Jon suddenly sat up in the clearing scaring a sharp "PAN!" out of Panpour. He coughed out the contents of his mouth as he attempted to figure out what had happened.

He had been coming here with Darius and his ward to.. Meet someone? Why though? And where had Darius gone? A small panic started to tighten Jons's chest. Was this it? He had never had memory issues before. But there was always a first time. Was he going to go down the path that Aunt Meryl had? Slowling forgetting everything and one he knew. But *worse* because he was stuck in this strange land where he knew no one anyway. Or had he just forgotten everyone already? Was this one of the few moments of lucidity Aunty had been herself in?

Jons breathing quickened as he worked his way slowly into a panic.

"Pan?" a small voice accompanied a tugging on Jons sleeve. It was enough to snap him out of his spiral as he glanced down and saw Panpour looking up at him with large concerned eyes.

How he had met the monkey quickly jumped back into his mind along with everything else since he had gotten here. Minus *why* he had gotten *here* in this clearing.

The first light of day broke over the horizon and birds chirped happily around Jon in the field. "Could be worse ways to lose it" Jon thought to himself as he scritched Panpours fluffy head.

"I bet you're hungry again," Jon said to Panpour with forced cheer. He glanced down at the remains of the odd berry it had force-fed him.

"Show me where you got this and we'll see if we can make a meal of it."

"PAN!" The small monkey exclaimed as Jon climbed to his feet. It scampered a slight way ahead.

"I was a tinscout once, you know" Jon began to ramble as he wandered after Panpour. "Scout leader Borris was a right stickler. Boring Borris we used to call him, heh. Good chap though could whip up a 3-course meal from a single bush. Why this one time he took some ginger root, a warbler egg and..." Jon continued rambling on about his glory days in the scouts as he followed the monkey into the forest.

[Viirin]

While the others continued their conversation, Darius crept through the Pokécenter main hall and into the adjoining dormitories. Finding the nearest empty bed, he carefully laid Alfonso down and tucked the sheets around him, before kneeling in front of the bed.
In times like these, he tended to fall back on Khalorean. While the insect deity might not be one of the traditional gods of his people, he had been introduced to his worship by Sophia and had kept the habit these past three and a half years. He didn't know if Khalorean had any power in this strange land, but he figured it was worth a shot.
"Preserve us in this place, Lord," he whispered, clasping his hands together. "And our allies too. And please, give me a sign. Anything. On how we can take the fight back to these so-called 'sponsors'."

Nion looked at the offered food from the robot. It resembled some kind of cookie, and a quick whiff of it confirmed it was food. Inclining her head in a nod of gratitude, she accepted the treat and practically inhaled the thing. Speaking through her chewing, she commented approvingly "So, 's a 'ittle bitt'r, but shewy. I 'ike it."

"They're pretty cheap. Once the PokéMart opens, they cost 250 pokédollars per bag. You can get the pokédollars by spending some points on your bracer. I suggest buying in bulk to get the best price per unit." The NS5 helpfully informed her.

Swollowing, Nion nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, that sounds good. Not the most filling though. More of a nice travel snack." Eyeing the counter of the pokémon center, she inclined her head back to the robot. "So, this is some kind of hospital then? Who's injured?"

"Yamask. Any of the monsters you catch in the pokéballs," The NS5 removed the two filled pokéballs from its STORAGE, "or other balls," it removed the filled premier ball, "can be easily transported to Nurse Joy," it handed the balls to her over the counter, "and you'll see her put it in that machine."
Nurse Joy smiled and put the balls in ball slots in the healing machine. A quick, but soft music played while something on the machine blinked. She handed the balls back.
"When you get them back, they will be fully healed." The NS5 did not know if that was true, as it hadn't seen its yanma after being caught. Its wing was broken, but then it was put in the healing machine twice now, once without it being necessary.
It released all three of its pokémon there in the center's lobby. "****, yanma. You named the yamask, didn't you? I will call it what you said. Gya, come out."
A giant slate-gray wheel-shaped cocoon-like insect appeared. "Whirlipede!"
A huge, but normal-looking green dragonfly appeared. "Yanma!"
The mask-bearing cloudy shadow appeared too. It looked much more energetic and less corporeal than it had before. "Yamask!"

No longer quite so surprised by monsters appearing out of tiny balls, Nion listened to the explanation. After seeing the demonstration, she leaned on the counter and spoke to the pink haired health attendant. "Nurse Joy, does that machine work on anyone, or just pokémon? It's really impressive, way faster than the healing tanks I've had to use in the past."
The nurse politely responded. "While Our equipment is top of the line, I regret to inform you that this machine in particular is only for use on pokémon. However, if you require urgent medical care, our staff will of course be on hand to aid as best we are able."
Nion blinked. "And is that-" The nurse cut her off, preempting the question. "Quite a bit slower I'm afraid."
"Damn...okay, thanks for that."

The NS5 added to Nurse Joy's response. "They had never seen a robot of my model, but they were able to heal me fully when I was heavily damaged to the point of immobility. They can assuredly heal humans just as well."

"Well, not actually a human. Most of the inner gooey bits are the same, but probably not a great idea to go poking around either." Nion commented absently. "Tech repair is useful though," She continued, "if my stuff broke, I'd have no clue how to fix it."

"I think they were able to repair me as well as they did because I know my own schematics and repair techniques. They probably couldn't repair your device. However, I am able to incorporate any technology, hardware or software, that I encounter. Assuming it is requested or required for me to increase my service potential."

"So you can fix stuff then?", was about all the saiyan warrior took away from that.

"Not directly. I need software and hardware knowledge of the device. If I use your device, I can copy its functions. Explaining the hardware might bore you like one of my previous explanations began to."

"You got that right!" Nion agreed, showing absolutely no degree of self reflection. Disconnecting her scouter, she took it off and passed it over to the machine. "Do whatever you need to do to figure out how to repair that. Its super important, so I need to keep it functional as long as possible." Normally, in the event of equipment failure, she'd be able to just turn in her scouter to the quartermaster and get a replacement, but seeing how she was in a new reality, it was best to plan for the long run.

The NS5 turned the scouter over in its metal fingers. "To make this faster and easier, does it have the ability to send or receive information without physically touching a database machine?"

"Um...it can make calls to other scouters, so it probably works wirelessly. I don't know what to tell you, I'm not an engineer."

"That's okay. It is all I needed to know. This will take me awhile. I will remain sitting on the bench over there while I work. Get some sleep if you need it."

"Alright, you do that then robot, I'm going to ask around about this place and see if anybody knows where to get these badges, or what they mean by 'regional leader'. "


Nine of Spades as Nion
Jojo as Darius and Alfonso
Viirin as the unnamed NS5
Chaotic Harmony as Amaro and the Campaign GM

[Viirin]

Coming out of the trees toward the town, 2D really needed to find this hospital thing he heard about. "Where is it?" He came across a strangely dressed woman and robot inside a random building he entered, and he immediately pulled what looked like a back-breaking pose. "Excuse me, do you know where the hospital is? Its urgent."

"We are in a hospital, actu..." Nion had started to answer out of social reflex, when she turned to face the oddly posturing individual. Words failed for a moment, before commenting. "Your face is horrifying.... Where are your eyes!?"

Switching to a different pose, "It's a medical condition I've had it since birth but that not why I'm here. There's some dude just pacing back and forth just outside of town. He's been doing it since this morning and I think he needs help."

Nion tried and failed not to stare at the haunting void of the man's eyes. "Uh...yeah...hospital, right here."

"Yeah.. Uh yeah I knew that. So where are the doctors at?" 2-D said scouting around the area.

The woman with the swirly pink hair talks to the strange eyeless man. "Was the man kinda thin? With a bald scalp and thick mustache?"

"Yeah that fits the bill, do you know about him?"

The kind woman smiles softly. "Yes that's Mr. Douglas. He should be okay, he paces like that to help relieve his anxiety. He is constantly worrying about his daughter."

2-D was settled by this, relieving his stance. "Oh fair enough. I'll see if I can do anything to help him out tomorrow if he's still out. Anyway, I'll probably crash here tonight."

"Feel free to enjoy one of our rooms for the evening. Thank you for coming the the Pokémon Center, have a pleasant night." The woman bows slightly towards the unusual individual.

Nion was stretching outside the communal area, getting a quick workout in before bed to burn off some energy, so that she'd be able to get a good night's rest, knowing she had a fight to look forward to in the morning.

Amaro continues to quietly listen to the group speak. The strange man was certainly a surprise, especially since he seems to be a player as well. As Nion moves off, Amaro follows, still intrigued by the powerful aura she exudes.

Nion was doing a handstand, lifting herself up in rhythmic push-ups, one hand behind her back as she flexed, her tail held out for extra balance, when she spotted Amaro approaching. "Oh, hey."

"Good evening." Once again the man with the bandaged eyes seems to be staring right at her face, as though he could see it. "You never did confirm whether your 'Ki' was the same as my Nen. I was curious if it was."

"Well, what's Nen?" Nion inquired, not really interrupting her exercise.

Amaro answered her. "The energy that all living things produce. A power that some where I am from learn to harness or are gifted with great control to do many wondrous things."

Somewhat curious, Nion asked, "Does it glow?"

"It can, depending on the user and what they want it to do." Amaro knew it was more complicated than a simple answer.

2-D had his interest peaked by the two's conversation and decided to listen in. He didn't know too much about the group, and for all he knew they could be enemy Stand Users. He would leave it for tonight; he had plenty other things to know first.

Nion gave an extra strong push, springing off the ground and back into a standing position. She bounced quickly on the balls of her feet, tossing some punches at the air, feeling out the weight of the moves. Gravity on this world wasn't as strong as Planet Vegeta, closer to the last world, so that'd probably be fine for her. "I guess that sounds pretty similar. I never met any humans from my world so I don't know if your species can use ki. Most races aren't strong enough to do anything with the little ki they have."

A playful smile flashes on Amaro's face for a moment. "Anyone is capable of using Nen with proper training. Race has little to do with it in my opinion."

Nion had switched from punches to kicks, but otherwise continues. "Well, how many different species have you met?"

"Assuming you mean sentient species, a few, none other than my own used Nen, but that is more likely due to not being taught than anything. If you raise your right knee another half inch to the left, you should feel a significant difference in its power."

"You think?" Nion tried it. The balance was certainly better, and it gave her a much firmer base. "Good tip". She started doing more reps in the new position to drill the angle better. "Sounds like the two are pretty much the same overall then." She paused a moment to reflect "I've been to more planets than I remember. At least a hundred, probably, and fought alongside and against ten times as many different species. All of them had ki, even if it wasn't developed, so I guess it probably is pretty universal, like your Nen."

"Interesting......not surprising that whatever took us picked you to play." Amaro waits for a few minutes, contemplating the monkey woman. "Perhaps we should test it to see how similar they are."

Nion stopped her workout, and turned towards Amaro, giving him a proper once over. "I'm trying to take it easy so that I can be at my best tomorrow at the gym. But if you want a quick sparring match..." Her stance shifted to a more combat ready position, widening her legs while lowering her posture, arms moving to a guarded position "...I never back down from a challenge."

"Hmm, good stance. Yes I do think that I wouldn't mind a good tussle. I promise I won't hurt you." Amaro holds his hands slightly in front of him, fingers lightly pressed together. His feet spread apart ever so slightly, centering his sense if balance. A soft, icy blue light starts to emanate from his hand, enveloping them in what appears to be a translucent film of blue energy. "As a gentleman, I prefer to let ladies make the first move."

Nion nodded "Alright then, if that's how its gonna be". She sprung forward, crossing the distance between the two of them without even touching the ground, starting with a haymaker swing. It was a good show, but she wasn't really putting her back into it either. Amaro had only clocked in around 200 on her scouter. If she went full force, he'd probably snap in half, and that would be terrible.

"A straight forward attack. And a sloppy one at that. This woman clearly thinks little of me. Let's change that." Amaro thinks to himself. Amaro waits until the brutal punch nearly hits him before deftly dodging to the side. As the fist moves past his head, his hands go to work, raising up to drag his glowing fingertips across the muscular arm, letting Nion's own momentum drag his aura across the bicep and tricep. A slight tingling sensation races up the saiyan's arm where the blinded man's fingers touched, as Amaro now stands as he was before, still a short distance away.

Nion had to shift her weight awkwardly to avoid falling on her face, but she managed to tuck around and bounce back on her toes, finding the space had opened up again. She gave a small whistle. "Someones light on their feet!" She rushed in again, keeping back a bit more this time as she gave a few feint kicks before tossing a jab.

Feint. Feint. Here she comes. Amaro focuses his Nen into his arm and hand, bracing himself with additional defense as he catches her fist. Simultaneously, he drops his weight down in a deep squat, pushing the fingertips of his other hand into the pressure point just below the hollow of her armpit. Another cold wave of numbness spreads from the gentle impact. "I hope you don't normally leave yourself this open in actual combat."

Nion pulled her arm free, taking another swing in the process, before breaking off the engagement again. She rolled her shoulder, which felt stiff and weird, but she brushed it off, flexing her fingers as she tried to get the blood flowing again. "Well, I can't really do a real fight, not unless you learned how to fly in the past hour and didn't tell me." Taking a quick jab at the air, she felt the muscles not moving the way she wanted them to, but didn't let it show. "Wouldn't really be fair, ya know?" She took a pause from her offense to keep the space, while thinking her next move over.

"Well, I admit I don't fly." Amaro redistributes his Nen, putting the focus into his legs. "But I jump good." Springing forward, the Nen User almost seems to fly straight at the saiyan warrior, almost as fast as she flew. Hoping to catch her off guard, he bounces his leg on the ground to redirect himself into a flip behind her, where he proceeds to gently tap Nion's spine rapidly. The strange sensation permeates throughout her back. Amaro secretly hopes this is enough, for he is using his Nen at a much faster pace than he would normally in a bid to impress the powerful combatant.

Nion tried to react to the blitz attack from the Nen User, but her limbs weren't listening to her instructions, leaving her right-cross sluggish and to unwieldy to halt Amaro's attack, or stop him from getting behind her, where his strikes landed on her back. Nion was now very aware of the growing paralysis spreading from each strike, and it was raising her heckles. He was using some kind of ki power on her. While they hadn't said such tactics were prohibited, she'd been going just based on her muscles, since it was supposed to be a friendly match. Here she was, taking it easy, and he was using it as a chance to make her look like a fool! Her temper flared, and her ki aura did so as well, generating a blast of pressure.
No joking comments, no quips or fancy maneuvers, Nion squared her stance and elbowed Amaro in the stomach. It was still sloppy, whatever he'd done to her limbs kept her from putting her full force behind it, but it was still a blow strong enough to send the human warrior tumbling. It also had the side effect of sending Nion down as well, as the spreading numbness made it harder to keep her balance, forcing the saiyan to stumble and plant a knee after her attack.

That blast of pressure. That simple blast was the only reason Amaro was able to shift his Nen in time to guard against the attack. Even with large amount of Nen he placed there, he was lucky he broke no bones. As his body is flung through the air, pain erupting across his body, he can't help but admire Nion's strength. She will definitely help Amaro get his abilities to the next level.
Immediately after Amaro cracks into the wall, Nion feels a powerful pinch pull her by her ear. "Just what exactly do you think you are doing in my Pokemon Center? I have half a mind to throw you out for rough housing it. Don't you realize people are trying to sleep?" Nurse Joy comes just into the saiyan's sight, but she has no look of joy anywhere on her face.

Nion's anger drained out of her, as she winced. "Ow Ow Ow! Geez, ok, I'm sorry!" She croaked out, trying to shift position to take the tension off her earlobe while her tail writhed about in sharp twitching motions. "Just needed to blow off some steam, it won't happen again."

Amaro slowly sits up from his crumpled position. He tries his best to keep his breath steady, he doesn't want Nion see how much that attack took out of him. "It is not her fault Ms. Joy, I antagonized her into sparring with me. My apologies for disturbing your patients."
"Hmmph. There is a perfectly good battlefield in the park that you can use if you wanted a Pokémon battle so badly. Please refrain from such things while inside, especially at night." The irritated nurse releases Nion's ear, then casually walks back down a hallway.

Nion clutched at her ear, still aching in her hand, after the nurse released the vice grip she had. She didn't say anything else until after Joy had departed from the lobby, and a slow smile crept onto Nion's face. "I didn't even realize she was here 'til she had a hold of me. I think we were both lucky to get off with just a scolding." She chuckled, getting back to her feet.


Jumbus as 2d Suro
Nine of Spades as Nion
Chaotic Harmony as Amaro and the Campaign GM

[Viirin]

Sleep began to embrace Darius, but just before he had disappeared into its bosom, he suddenly jerked as if someone had tipped the bed and found himself wide awake again. A habit he had never quite been able to drop from his younger, wilder days. With a sigh, he rose to his feet and tucked the blankets back around a still sleeping Alfonso, before creeping out into the Pokécenter lobby.
Darius felt a little uneasy about leaving his son alone and fast asleep in a room full of strangers, but found that if he stood at a particular angle to the partially-opened door, he could glance through every now and again and catch a glimpse of Alfonso's sleeping figure, the moonlight reflected in his golden curls. That way, he reassured himself that everything was fine.

The NS5 was sitting motionless, with its body language suggesting it was asleep. It wasn't resting against anything, but somewhat slumped forward, holding something. The other two that Darius had walked away from were no where in sight to the mercenary, and the lobby felt to Darius much like the palace entry hall did at the same time at night. Even in this place, something was familiar at least.

"Are you asleep?" Darius asked NS5 in a low voice.

The NS5 didn't respond, unless a slight stuttering blink being visible in what was a consistent red light emnating from where a humanoid's sternum would be counted. Its head remained slightly down, and its eyes stayed closed. The thing it was holding onto was the strange item referred to as a 'scouter' by the flying woman with the monkey tail.

Darius gently nudged its shoulder.

The red light sputtered a bit more, and barely glowed. The white skin, though not as white as Darius' late wife's, was only pink now instead of glowing red. The NS5 raised its head, revealing its open yellow-lensed eyes. "How can I be of assistance?"

"I never thanked you properly for helping my son earlier."

"Serving and protecting humans is my purpose. I can not allow a human to be injured, and it was my protocol to aid the both of you. Did you not know about plastic wrap?"

"We don't have... that where I come from," Darius said, taking a seat beside the NS5. He stared up at the night sky through the window. "There's been something I've been meaning to ask."

"I will answer any question I am permitted and capable of answering."

"What I don't understand is... why are the stars different here? Surely however far away a land is, the stars in the sky above them are the same, right?"

"No. I do not have any astronomical map files, but I do that star constellations are very different if you go far enough away from the point you know. Light moves at 899,377,374 of your footsteps every second. The universe expands exponentially, but I do not know the speed. In order for the stars to be different, we would have to be in a different part of the galaxy than we were. A 'light year' is that distance every second, of every minute of every hour of every day, for a full year. Multiply that by at least a hundred in order for the sky to be different. That could explain why the stars are unknown to you."

The NS5's explanation was long-winded, but Darius thought he got the gist of it. "So you're saying we're... on a different world?" he asked in disbelief.

The NS5's chest stopped glowing at all. "I thought that this is not a world at all, but we are all NS5 models experiencing a software update. However, since you have a bracer as well, and are unaware of plastic wrap until I showed you, you can not be a robot. I think this world is actually a game. Maybe an educational game, and all of you with bracers are human players, but I am an NS5 servant owned by someone else. It is entirely likely that my owner is playing this game, but does not have a character of their own. They are merely an observer."

"Like... a children's game? Or a game of cards?" Darius' brow creased in confusion. "A game played by the gods?"

Whoever was playing as Darius was either severely uneducated, or more likely, a supervisor auditing the NS5's social progress. Assuming he was restricted to admitting the existence of industrial-era and earlier technological knowledge, the NS5 thought of a response. "Roleplaying games are based on ancient humans telling stories of heroes and monsters around a campfire. If you have ever heard a story about a hero, but you would have made other decisions if you were in their shoes and you wish to tell that story instead and act it out like you were on a stage, then that is the kind of game I mean."

"I understand," Darius said, though privately, he was still skeptical. How could something be both a story and real at the same time? It didn't make any sense. It was also quite possible, he conceded, that the NS5 was simply mistaken, or insane. "I better get back to the little bugger," he added, rising to his feet. "Thanks again, and have a good night."

"Good night, Darius. You are a good father to take such good care of Alfonso." The NS5 closed its eyes, lowered its head, and a red light began glowing again. It was told that the scouter had wireless communication, and it was able to see that something did ping back. It would have to continue cycling frequencies in order to hack into whatever it was. At this point, it didn't even know the WiFi's name, only that there was one.


Jojo as Darius
Viirin as the NS5

[The JoJo]

The next morning, Darius awoke to find Alfonso had already escaped the confines of the bed and was instead chasing Pansage around the dormitory on all fours, mimicing the monkey's gait with a surprising accuracy. The small primate itself seemed to have made a remarkable recovery since the night before, Darius noted as he hauled himself out of bed.

"Alfonso?" he called. The small boy gave him a stubborn look. "Fine. Pansage. Would you like some breakfast?"

Pansage and "Pansage" eagerly nodded their heads in unison and followed Darius into the lobby, where bowls of spongy white cubes were being handed out in bowls.

"It's tofu," the nurse explained when Darius collected his bowl, presumably noticing his uncertain expression. "By the way, I hope you don't mind but I healed your little boy's Pansage earlier. He was in quite a rough shape. You should always get your Pokemon healed when you pass through, it's a free service!"

"That's fine... thank you." Darius was slightly perturbed about just how much these centers seemed to offer for free, but he wasn't one to say no to free food, so he took a seat at a table and dug in. "No, you're not eating that off the floor," he added to a crestfallen Alfonso.

The tofu, as the nurse had described it, had a bland but not unpleasant taste. Darius cleaned his entire bowl, and then began to tuck into Alfonso's, who had only picked at his.

"Sure you don't want any more?" he asked. Alfonso shook his head. Darius sighed and raised his hand to attract the attention of the closest nurse. "Do you have any soft bread or cheese? This one is a picky eater."

"No, I'm sorry," the nurse said, bobbing her head apologetically. "Does he like apples? I think we have a few spare in the cupboard."

As she hurried off to check, Darius looked around him and suddenly realised that Jon was nowhere to be seen. In fact, thinking about it, he didn't recall seeing the old man any time since they had arrived back at the Pokecenter.

"Has anyone seen Jon?" he asked aloud.

[BrownDragon]

Takia woke up, still pretty shaken. He pets the Jigglypuff and leaves the pokecenter into the forest to find flowers and 1lb rocks.

[Rhyvurg]

With no other indication of where he should go, Sato looks at the sun and begins walking east.

[The JoJo]

Pinwheel Forest

"I like shorts! They're comfy and warm!" A child about 11 or 12 years of age, who had previously just been resting against a tree, staring intently forward at nothing, ran in front of Jon.

"Roggenrola, I choose you!" A small dark blue geode-looking thing, barely a foot tall, with what looked like an apple stem sticking out of the top of it appeared out of no where.

Panpour looked up at Jon and said, "Pour!"

Jon looks down at Panpour and then back up to the child. "Young man! I do hope you don't intend to infer that we pit the creatures under our care against one another in vicious combat for our amusement! Such a barbaric practice!"

"Roggenrola, use Harden!" The boy looked at Jon, his face flustered, and he was pouting spectacularly.

"Don't you give me that face! How would you like it if someone forced you to fight on their behalf? Have half a mind to give you a chiding myself."

"My television broke and I can't watch the rare pokemon alerts now!" He seemed like he thought this would explain everything. "Roggenrola, use Sandstorm!" The geode wobbled back and forth, and then a strong breeze picked up. The breeze immediately got stronger, picking up previously unseen sand, buffeting the old man. Panpour on the other hand, seemed to be actually hurt by it, though not by a lot.

Panpour recoiled at the damage from the whiling sands but hesitated as though waiting for something. The child showed no intent of backing down from its brutal, unprovoked, assault.

Jon took a moment before realising that it was waiting for direction from him. Harden or sandstorm? No, Jon doubted the panpour could do those. Jon thought back to the gym fight. He hadn’t taught Panpour any "moves" so to speak. Hopefully instinct would win out here.
"Panpour, attack!" Jon called out, pointing at the animated rock.

Panpour winced from the pain of being scratched in the face by tiny flying rocks, but it tilted its head and looked confused.
"Roggenrola, use Tackle!" The geode flung itself forward on tiny but surprisingly powerful until-now unseen feet, but it only went about a few inches before it fell over pitifully.

Noticing Panpour's confusion Jon calls out in exasperation, "Well what moves do you know?" As Jon asked the question, a flood of information sprang to his mind. Four moves, their "type" and their "PP" whatever that meant. Jon recalled the one called "Water Gun" and was reminded of the Panpour spitting at one of the other players.
"Panpour use Water Gun," Jon commanded.

The panpour sprayed a jet of water out from the fluffiness on top of its head directly at the geode monster, which was a direct hit. The geode made a screeching sound, and the boy looked angry. "Roggenrola, return!" The geode returned to its pokeball.
"Electivire, I choose you!" A yellow human-like creature appeared, slightly taller and definitely wider than Jon was, sporting black stripes. Both it and the panpour winced from the continuing sandstorm.

Jon felt a spark of triumph as "Roggenrola" was made to retreat. He was disappointed to find that this ordeal was not in fact over. The child was going to fight dirty, two against one? Well, two could play that game.
"PANPOUR USE FURY SWIPES" Jon yells out. As the Panpour leaps up, Jon riots anger in the small monkey and fear in the newcomer, Flaring all he had left, depleting his supply.

The now berserk blue monkey jumped forward, swinging its tiny claws ferociously, fast enough that each swipe was barely visible. A few of the hits connected against the yellow humanoid, but it only looked down at its slightly scratched gut and looked both in pain, and in enjoyment.
"Electivire, use Thunder!" At that moment, the sandstorm stopped. The sky, which didn't even have a single white fluffy cloud, erupted in ear-shattering noise and a bolt of lightning nearly a foot thick shot straight down in front of the yellow thing. Where the panpour was standing.

Jon stands slack jawed in disbelief at the display of raw power he had just witnessed. Lighting generated on command. Panpour surely stood no chance. He feared the worst as he approached the prone form of Panpour, he could smell singed fur already.
"Pan...pour.."
Somehow it was still alive. Jon had to get back to the pokecenter and fast! "Panpour return!”

"I win! How much money do you have? You owe me half of it. I knew I could buy a new television if I stood here long enough!" The young boy beamed, no longer crying.

Jon stared back at the young boy. Clearly a psychopath of some kind. He withdrew half (5,375) of his pokedollars and handed them to the child. Hopefully this would sate its bloodlust and Jon could get Panpour the medical attention it clearly needed.

The kid took the money. "Thanks mister! Let's battle again sometime! Electivire, return." The monster disappeared, and the kid turned and started skipping down a path leading away from the town, heading somewhere that Jon hadn't explored yet.

Jon narrowed his eyes at the happily skipping child attempting to burn into his mind the way it was going. He would have to learn about the legality of what just happened as he was pretty sure he just got mugged.
Not dwelling on the topic, he turned back to town and made as much haste as he was able back to the pokecenter.


~

The Pokemon Center

Meanwhile, Nion was still half asleep when she stumbled to the main area of the pokemon center, looking for something to serve as her breakfast. She spotted the robot, seated pretty much where she had last spotted it, and approached. "Hey, how's it going? Any luck with the scouter?"

"I was able to get in. I still have a lot of work on it to do, but I can return it. I am now able to continue hacking it at a distance." The NS5 handed the powerful-looking female her scouter.

"Awesome, glad to hear you’re making progress...uh..." Nion fumbled for a moment, still waking up, while also distracted by reattaching the scouter and powering its recharge cycle. "Remind me, what's your name?"

"I do not have a name. I am an NS5."

Nion frowned. "That sucks man, you're gonna need something more unique than that."

The NS5 had no other answer. "I apologize for being unable to help you. Was there something else I could assist you with? The PokeMart is probably open by now."

Nion shrugged. "Well, I'm not just going to call you NS5, that's too much of a mouthful, so you'll need a nickname or something."

The NS5 gave a simple reply. "My file on you only reads 'flying woman' since I do not know your name. I assume you have one, unlike me?"

"Huh, oh sorry." Nion extend a hand for an introduction. "Nion, Captain First Class of the Frieza Force, at your service."

The NS5 reached out a hand and shook hers. "Non-structured personal service modular robot version 5, product of United States Robotics, at your service."

"Well, once you figure out what you want to be called, let me know. ‘Til then, I'm calling you Fiver for short." Nion said with a smile. "I'm going to go slug it out with the gym leader, you want to tag along?"

"I was planning on challenging them myself for money, but I had overheard that a single pokemon is insufficient in order to win, so I have the three you saw earlier. I will accompany you."

"Alright then, let's head out."

Just as the NS5 and Nion go to exit, Jon stumbles in, wheezing through the door.
He pushes past them, apologising profusely as he practically run/falls to the counter, where he offers up a pokeball.
"Please help! Some ruffian called thunder down from the sky on poor Panpour. Then he mugged me! It’s a miracle he still lives!"

Nurse Joy had been at the counter, but she was turned around putting a small white jar with a label in a cupboard. When Jon exclaimed, she turned around. "Hehe! Yes, water types are weak against electric attacks." She reached her hand out to take the ball from Jon's outstretched hand.
Another beautiful young woman, this one wearing a police uniform that somehow required a short skirt, stood with more attention when Jon said 'mugged'. She walked over, and tilted her officer's cap. "I'm sorry sir, did you say you were mugged and then threaten to murder someone?"

Jon graciously let Nurse Joy take the ball before turning to the police officer.

"I didn't threaten anyone! A child ambushed me and attacked with their pokemon. Even after I declined! Then they demanded half my money! I wasn't about to say no after what they had done to Panpour over there."

The police officer looked somewhat out of sorts, then looked at Jon again. He felt as though she was recognizing his age, and trying to identify his intelligence before saying anything else. "I'm sorry grandpa, but you weren't mugged. Every pokemon trainer has to accept every pokemon battle that is offered to them by anyone, and if all of your pokemon are defeated, then you have to pay them half of whatever money you have on hand."

"Oh.... And this is the law of the land? What if I don’t want to fight?"

Officer Jenny smiled. "Well, that's easy! Just stay inside town. You could always make money at the pokemon competition. Those competitions are purely visual, and no pokemon has to get hurt at all." She thought for a moment. "Or you can keep your pokemon in their pokeballs and not let anyone see them, so they don't know you're a trainer and won't request a match."

Jon nodded slowly at the suggestions. The beautiful fields suddenly becoming lawless wildlands in his imagination. The healing device merrily beeping away behind him.

"Where are these competitions held officer?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'd like to help you more, but I have someone I have to keep watch over and can't step away for any longer than I already have." Officer Jenny gave a cute curtsy, and walked back to the corridor, watching for anyone that might walk down that hall.

Darius' question had been answered by the timely appearance of Jon at the Pokecenter. Once he had finished the rest of his breakfast, he made his way to the counter to collect Alfonso's snack.
"Morning," Darius said to Jon. "Been for an early morning stroll?"

Jon took a moment to compose himself before greeting his new friend. "Good morning Mister Darius. Not precisely; I had the dubious pleasure of waking in the middle of a field before unwittingly getting drawn into a battle. This is a very strange place. How was your evening?"

"The little one got ambushed by a pigeon, and then we met a woman who could fly. You aren't wrong about this being a strange place," Darius said, nodding to Nurse Joy as she presented Alfonso with a ruby red apple. "Do you remember why we were even at the park last night? Last thing I recall was talking in the gym about taking the fight to the sponsors..." He trailed off, leaving the implication hanging in the air.

"A pigeon? I do hope the young master is alright, pigeons can be quite vicius. Knew a man that lost an eye to one once." Jon feigned nonchalance for Alfonso's sake. As he finished his sentence he made eye contact and shook his head to infer that no, he had no memory of why they were in the field and yes it was terrifying that the sponsors had probably caught onto them and wiped their memories.

"I think he'll be alright this time," Darius said, smiling but also meeting Jon's gaze in understanding. Alfonso beamed up at them, munching on the apple clutched in both hands.

Menelwith, Darius, Alfonso, Fiver (the NS5 named by Nion), Nion, Jon, 2d, Lylia, Sato, Amaro, and Takia all hear a high-pitched screeching, which makes them immediately stop whatever they were doing. The red gem on their bracers starts glowing brightly, and the glow seems to have a wider circumference every time it beeps.
"Worldjump in Twenty Four Hours, Zero Minutes, and Zero Seconds. Prepare yourselves!" The voice sounds remarkably like the insane man from the dark and empty room between realities. There was a glowing set of numbers above the bracer, projected there by sourceless means. As soon as it started counting down, time began to flow again. The players couldn't help but note that if they were in the presence of other players, time had still been moving for each other, but nothing else.

Darius gave Jon a look. "...was it something I said?"

Nion blinked, confused, and also annoyed by the high pitched screech. "I guess... someone finished enough of the objectives that we're cleared to move on."

[sadatg]

Menelwith hissed at the bracer and wished, not for the first time, that she could take it off. Hunting and trying to keep the stupid thing clean was getting under her scales. And manners could go to the Void too. She was going to find someone sensible who wasn't going to throw an annoying ball at her even if she had to walk right into the middle of the town. Mind made up, Menelwith took off and flew directly toward the town.

The NS5 looked at its bracer, noting that Nion was still holding the door open, as it was holding the other one. Double-doors are useful that way. It would have to tell Darius later that it was wrong, and that this is a world after all. However, they can't be in it anymore, and are going to another one. The robot would have to correct its thinking right away, but before it was able to do anything else, it noticed a huge dragon-shaped shadow rapidly going down the road, towards the Pokemon Center that it was still in the process of walking out of.

Menelwith circled as she reached the town, looking for a clear landing place out of habit.

The NS5, now with the nickname of "Fiver", looked up. It was a dragon the robot had met before, and luckily she had introduced herself and it knew her name. "Menelwith, why don't you come down and meet a new friend?" It spoke rather loudly so the dragon could hear.

Menelwith wasn't really sure that a weird person in armor could be called her friend, but it did seem like she had enough room to land. She descended and landed in front of the building that the person in armor was leaving. "Hello again."

Even from inside the Pokecenter, Darius couldn't help noticing the commotion outside, or that the NS5 had taken it upon itself to approach the creature. "I'm going to see what's going on out there," he told Jon.
As he passed through the door, he slowed his pace, reaching to brush the fingers of his right hand against his concealed knife, while firmly gripping Alfonso's shoulder with his other hand.

Nion gave a very impressed whistle, looking the dragon over. "Wow, you are...gorgeous!" with the biggest grin on her face.

The NS5 turned from Menelwith to Nion. "Nion, Menelwith." It then turned to Menelwith again. "Menelwith, Nion." Just as it introduced the... women? to each other, a short, obese man with wiry hair that stuck nearly straight out on the sides, providing canopies for his ears, and a shiny bald scalp, appeared from behind the Pokécenter's corner.
He wheezed fatfully, and began to difficultly ask, "So many people out here today." He wheezed for a few seconds. "Have any of you been inside there," he turned his head and looked at the Pokécenter's doors, "or are you just arriving?"

"We've just slept in there," Darius said.

"Mmm", the man replied as if both thinking and agreeing. "So no interest in pokémon?" He looked around for an outside bench, but there weren't any.

"We have one," Darius said, tilting his head at the Pansage crouched beside Alfonso.

The man looked at the robot, dragon, and alien.

"I have three," Fiver answered the man's look.

The old man wheezed some more. "Come on," he started walking through the door, giving a half-back wave with one hand, urging whoever felt like it to follow him.

FIver began following immediately, obeying the Second Law.

Darius shrugged and followed the NS5 back into the Pokécenter, curious to see where this exchange was going.

As soon as the four of them (Darius, Alfonso, Fiver, and the old man) got inside, Nurse Joy let out an excited exclamation. "Professor Baobab! What a pleasure to see you!"

The obese old man sat down heavily on the indoor bench the robot had sat on through the night the night before, but instead of sitting in the middle, he sat on a side. The bench was made of metal, but wasn't bolted into the ground, and the opposite side lifted up when he threw himself onto it; the bench now warped and unusable by anyone else. "They're pokémon trainers," he began to say to her with difficulty, "give them each a pokédex."
Nurse Joy smiled uncomfortably. "We don't have any of the newer models, only the old ones that no one really uses anymore... that's why I didn't offer them any yet. I was hoping we'd get a new shipment in but it never came."
Professor Baobab dismissed her statement. "It's still a pokédex."
Nurse Joy seemed to want to disagree but couldn't. It wasn't but a moment later that she had gone into a back room behind the counter she was usually at, and came back with two small red rectangles with doodads sticking out of them in various places. She handed one to Darius, and one to the NS5.

TIME REMAINING: 23:58:13

Menelwith followed the old man in and very deliberately flopped onto the opposite end of the bench.
Professor Baobab bounced upwards along with the bench, but not by a lot. The bench was usable by people again, regardless of alien, robot, human, or dragon species once more. However, there was an unmistakable bend in the center now. At least the sides could be used. The professor rubbed his lower back, and looked over. "What do you want, pokémon?" he asked Menelwith.

[BrownDragon]

Takia collects the rocks and flowers and brings it to the old man.

Old man: "Thank you so much for gathering them, here take this"

Takia got 1000 poke dollars before getting a hint and hearing the voice. "Hmm, well alright then. I should go back and ask around."

[Viirin]

Menelwith glared at the old man. "What in Yavanna's name is a Pokémon and why do people keep throwing annoying balls at me?"

The old man swallowed his saliva wrong, and started coughing, his face turning red. The NS5 started moving in to help, but he waved it away. It could not obey the Second Law, because the First Law overwrote it. The robot rubbing his back, the old man replied to the dragon. "Very few pokémon ever learned to talk! In order to master human speech, a monster has to sacrifice its potential to learn any Moves it doesn't already know, and any chance of gaining levels." He took a moment to rest before trying to keep talking. The NS5 stopped rubbing his back, as he seemed fine now. "Of course someone threw pokéballs at you. Taming you for their own use would be an excellent achievement." He continued resting a moment, most of his wheezing seemed to have been from overexerting himself from walking a fair distance. "Any pokémon trainer would be happy to own you."

Menelwith lashed her tail in frustration. "I am not a Pokémon."

The professor looked to the dragon again. It was clearly a dragon, but it knew nothing about pokémon or pokéballs, was able to speak, was wearing some strange piece of armor just like the people standing around it were, as well as a steel-type humanlike pokémon that wasn't on records, who was also able to speak and for some reason... no. It was just too many wrong things all at once, and the only way that Professor Baobab could continue forward was just ignoring all these inconsistencies. Maybe a ghost-type had used Hypnosis or something and he wasn't aware of it. "So dragon, if you aren't a pokémon, what are you?"

"So... what do these do?" Darius asked the professor, holding the pokédex in his hand like it was a dead mouse.

The professor looked over at the man, and answered his question. "Try to hold that a bit more respectfully, you'll drop it. See the side, there?" He pointed. "Flick it with the back of your thumb. It will open." The NS5 did as Darius was told to as well. When the robot did that, a little light came on inside, and a voice came out of it.
"Hello, please state your name or insert your trainer card."

"... Fiver." The NS5 replied to the pokédex. It might have been a 'divide by zero' situation if Nion hadn't given it a nickname earlier, the robot postulated.

Darius nearly dropped the pokédex in alarm when Fiver's spoke. He could only assume that it contained the same type of servile spirit as their bracers. Clearly, this professor was an individual of some considerable power.

With the wild dragon pouting at the professor, and the mercenary gawking at the thing in his hand, the NS5 continued obeying. "So, you said you had three pokémon?" Prof. Baobab asked the machine.
It took the pokéball containing Yanma out of its STORAGE, and showed it to the man. "What is in it?"
"Yanma, come out."
Yanma came out of the ball, appearing in between Darius, Alfonso, Menelwith, FIver, and Professor Baobab.

Darius reached to open his own pokedex, before flicking the switch with some trepidation. Alfonso meanwhile clung onto his leg, apparently transfixed by the talking dragon in front of them.

"Hello, please state your name or insert your trainer card," the pokédex in Darius' hand said to him.

As the others gathered around the professor, Jon discreetly retrieved Panpour’s pokéball from Nurse Joy.
"Thank you for waiting. We've restored your pokémon to full health.We hope to see you again!", she recited, beaming at Jon.
"Thank you. Panpour come out."
"Panpour!" The monkey exclaimed happily as it appeared.
"You did well out there earlier. You were very brave." Jon said as he lifted Panpour onto his shoulder. "Well get you some food soon. Thank you again, Nurse Joy. You have my eternal gratitude."

"Darius," Darius said, feeling slightly foolish speaking to a talking red box.

Darius can see his own name appear on the top of a flat black panel inside the red-cased box.

Darius just hoped that the spirit inside the box wouldn't be able to wreak mischief now that it knew his name.

Professor Baobab looked over at Darius, and gave a short nod. Looking back to Fiver, he gave a new suggestion that the robot took as a command. "Point the back of the pokédex at your yanma."

The NS5 did so, and the device- handheld device being held in the hand of a different device, began to speak. "Yanma. It can hover in one spot by flapping its wings at high speed. It flits about to guard its territory."

"Darius, why don't you point your pokédex at the yanma as well?" Professor Baobab suggested.

Darius did so.
"Yanma. It can hover in one spot by flapping its wings at high speed. It flits about to guard its territory."

"Yanma, return." The NS5 recalled its dragonfly, and switched the ball out for another one. "****, come out."
Professor Baobab did not like the bug's name, and showed it on his face.
The robot pointed its pokédex at its first pokémon. The device stated, "Whirlipede. Evolved form of Venipede. It is usually motionless, but when attacked, it rotates at high speed and then crashes into its opponent."

"So the spirit inside the box can tell you about pokémon?" Darius asked. He pointed the pokédex at the pansage still crouched beside Alfonso.

"There is no spirit in the box. It's just a simple electronic device." Professor Baobab corrected.

Darius' pokédex spoke to him. "Pansage. It's good at finding berries and gathers them from all over. It's kind enough to share them with friends."

The NS5 pointed its pokédex at the green monkey, and got the same message.

"But then, how does it speak?" Darius asked.

The professor looked at the mercenary, and opened his mouth to start to say something, but changed his mind. "What's your third pokémon, Fiver?"

The robot recalled his bug, and summoned his final one. "Yamask, come out." In its now usual behavior, it screamed its own species name upon appearing. "Yamask!"
The pokédex in turn, when it was pointed at it, gave some information. "Yamask. These Pokémon arose from the spirits of people interred in graves in past ages. Each retains memories of its former life."

Alfonso let out a squeak, ducking behind Darius so he was no longer in Yamask's line of sight.

"Ah, there's one of the spirits you were talking about. See? Ghost-type pokémon and pokédexes are nothing alike." The professor thought that would somehow get the mercenary to understand something.

"There are many kinds of spirits," Darius muttered, reaching down with his other hand to reassure Alfonso.

Interested in the possessed box, Jon stepped up beside Darius. "What does it say about Panpour?"

Darius pointed the pokédex at Panpour.

The NS5 took the hint of pointing its pokédex at the blue monkey that had been the first pokémon it had ever seen. The two devices in unison said, "Panpour. The water stored inside the tuft on its head is full of nutrients. Plants that receive its water grow large."
Menelwith had said she wasn't a pokémon to the NS5 and to Professor Baobab now. The robot didn't know why, but it pointed its pokédex at its dragon friend. It didn't say anything.

"A living watering can eh? How useful!" Jon looked around realising he had been remiss in his manners. "Ah, it would seem I have not introduced myself to everyone. I am Jon Dramilia, butler to the Ventrue family. It’s nice to meet you all, especially you professor." Jon bows to the professor

Professor Baobab introduced himself to the new, refined, elderly gentleman. Nurse Joy had introduced him incidentally when he first came in. "Professor Baobab, a pokémon researcher from the Unova region. A pleasure to meet you. Is that your panpour?"

"I suppose he? is. Little trooper too”, Jon answered.

"Would you like a pokédex as well?" The professor asked Jon. Nurse Joy was behind the lot of them, but she was ready to get another from the storage room if he said yes.

Resourcefulness was not a skill Jon lacked. "I would be rude to decline such a fine gift."

A moment later, Nurse Joy appeared beside Jon, and handed one to him. "Did you see how to activate it?" the professor asked.

Jon accepts the red box from Nurse Joy.
"Point it?" Jon points it at Panpour, getting nothing. "Uhhh..."
"Try opening it first?" Joy offers helpfully.
Jon does and is rewarded with the same message as the others.

Whatever it was, the pokédex seemed like a harmless enough toy, and so Darius passed his to Alfonso, who seemed to have recovered somewhat from the initial shock of seeing Yamask.

Jon looks at the timer on his wrist. Apparently they had been given a deadline by the omnipotent sponsors and Jon didn’t want to find out what happened if they failed all the objectives.
"Professor Baobab, what would you say the four primal elements were?"
Jon figured befriending pokémon would be the least violent method of satisfying the sponsors.

Professor Baobab chuckled to himself. "There aren't four elements, there are eighteen."

The NS5 took the moment to interrupt, introducing itself as Jon had done earlier. "I am an NS5, named Fiver. The four primary elements are a myth, but valid states of matter. They include earth, which is solid, air, which is gas, water, which is liquid, and fire which is a plasma like fire or lightning."

"Eighteen? Are they listed in this device somewhere?" Jon asked Baobab.

The professor responded to the butler. "Not directly, no. Each pokémon can have up to two types. If you get all of them, then you will see the full array of elements."

"How many types of pokémon are there?" Jon does some simple math. 18 x 18... 330ish? They did not have the time for that.

"By my current count, eight hundred and seven. There are probably more than that though, since we've only really identified and classified the pokémon in our own country." The professor gave an odd answer.

"Eight hundred?? Well then there’s no time to waste. Luckily, I think Fiver is onto something. Earth, water, air, and fire are usually aped in children’s stories where im from. I presume those are the four we need. Any hints on where to find pokémon that represent fire and air Professor?" Something nagged in the back of Jon’s mind as he said ‘hint’.

"Well, there aren't any air types, for one. Secondly... you'll be pretty hard-pressed to find any fire types anywhere in Unova at all, unless you are very lucky and find a pansear in Pinwheel Forest, which is the forest just outside town." The professor thought for a moment. "The Kanto and Johto regions have many more fire types that are in easily found areas there. Now if you have some decent money, then you can buy a fire stone in Castelia Town, and get lucky and find a stray eevee and evolve it into a flareon. That could be a fire type. If you like digging, then you can try some archeology, sometimes people find elemental evolution stones of all kinds that way. Or I guess you could try your luck out in the desert."

"The desert.." Jon goes to ask where the desert is before remembering the maps sold by the bracer. He promptly pops open the menu and buys the Unova map and studies it trying to get a sense for how far the desert is.

Amidst the productive conversation, Fiver thought it should put the device away since it wasn't needed. It had made the same decision with its prybar, and the plastic wrapper for the candy it had bought for Alfonso. When it opened its P.L.O.T. device Storage and attempted to put the pokédex in it, the robot for a moment. When it did, the pokédex was gone, but a view screen and black scroll wheel appeared on the bracer itself.

[BrownDragon]

Takia walked to the gym and got the Pokedex and put it into his bracer.

[Viirin]

"Looks like its a couple of days away. So that's no good for us." Jon muses as he flips through the map. As he does he notices the HINT options cost has changed to be, negative? He taps it.

Jon's bracer made a holographic scroll that only he could see appear in front of him. It was written in an eloquent hand, and read, "Many pokémon eat berries, and you can find them on the ground sometimes, far from personal gardens. Lucky trainers notice pokemon carrying berries with them, and you can take the berry from them for gardening yourself if you catch them, as long as the pokémon doesn't eat the berry before you get a chance. Check out the pokecenter for berry capsules! They are little pods that protect and nurture a seed until it is grown."
Though not formally educated, especially in calligraphy, he could read this anyway.

The professor had actually asked that? "So dragon, if you aren't a pokémon, what are you?" Really?

Menelwith looked at the professor with disgust. How could humans be so clueless? "I am a dragon."

"So are these." The old professor reached behind his back, and pulled out two pokeballs. "Tyranitar, Charizard, come out." Red beams emitted from the balls, aimed at the center of the wide lobby. A dull green wingless dragon with black diamond shapes in its scales, and a red dragon with a flame burning at the top of its tail appeared. "And they're pokémon."

Menelwith blinked and said, "The pokédex didn't talk when the one in armor tried to scan me. See, not a pokémon."

Professor Baobab simply responded, "There are many pokémon yet to be discovered. Anyway, do you want a pokédex too while you're here? Though I guess you don't have anywhere to store it. We'll all head to the pokemart once you're all properly equipped and educated I guess."

Alfonso had long since bored of the grown up conversations around him and had taken to playing on the nearest seat with Pansage. The small primate shrieked happily, leaping over his shoulder and Alfonso tore after him, nearly tripping over Menelwith's tail before running headfirst into the stranger who had just walked through the door.

Nion inspected the red rectangle widget, a sort of portable monster encyclopedia, which was pretty sweet. Would have been pretty useful if they weren't about to jaunt out of here.

"I'm sorry," his father said, lifting Alfonso so that the small boy was lying horizontal in his arms and tickling his stomach until he squealed with delight. "This little monkey is getting overexcited. Anyone else want to go outside?"

"Children to care for are certainly a handful." Professor Baobab said to Darius. "If you can hold on a moment, then it might help a bit." The professor reached into his lab coat chest pocket and pulled out his cell phone and made a quick call. After discussing something quickly with whoever was on the other end, and describing everyone present, he hung up and put his phone away. "Alright everyone, if you head over to the pokemart today, the clerk there will help you pick out a backpack or trainer's belt, whichever you choose. Also there's something additional for Darius to give to his son."

Darius murmured thanks to the professor, still not quite sure what it was about this place and free things. He wasn't going to turn down useful equipment, though, and so he exited the Pokecenter with Alfonso still wriggling in his arms, Pansage following at his heels.

[Viirin]

Sato paused and regarded the strange object clamped to his arm. How long would he have to tolerate the demands of this...thing? World jump, what did that mean? It changed nothing regarding his current situation, and he kept walking.

Standing on a hill, Sato can see a gaijin-looking city below. Rokugan did not allow such unsightly construction as this, no artistry, no pleasing lines, even the Lions were capable of better aesthetics than this. If he were a Crane, he might have become sick. Huffing, he starts down the hill. Ugly or not, this was the first place he had found, someone there would have to have more information he could use.

Making a few simple motions and meditating on the air, Sato calls up a column of winds to carry him, approaching the city swifter than a galloping horse. Hopefully these gaijin were civilized enough to know how to welcome a guest, though he doubted it.

Upon approaching as quickly as he did, Sato startled an old man who had his back to the town's center of thoroughfare, just fishing in the small river. "What, huh?" The old fisherman started to ask. "How'd you do that?"

Sato, his feet touching the ground, honors the man with a glance. "The same way you walk, by learning how."

The fisherman exhaled a possibly, but possibly not, feigned understanding. "Just like fishing. What can I help you with?"

"What is this place? What people live here? Is this a test by the Fortunes, or Jingoku?" He turns to regard the old man fully.

"I have no idea what Fortunes or Jing... sorry. No idea. There was some sort of commotion when the local professor showed up at the pokecenter just behind you, a few minutes ago. You see that big white building with the red roof that says PokeCenter on top of the front door? I'd ask him. Those people in there know just about everything. I only really know how to feed myself and my family. Sorry for not being able to help you more." The man looked like he was truly apologetic, but knew when he was being questioned beyond his means to adequately respond.

"Very well. Thank you, you have been very helpful." Knowing the thanks of a samurai is all the reward this man needs, Sato walks into the building indicated.

[Viirin]

The new timer confused Lylia. After all, she had just gotten here. She scanned through the store again, and noticed that the hints gained you 50 points, which seemed to be currency. Feeling that now was as good a time as ever, she tapped the hint to buy it.

Lylia's Hint spoke directly into her mind, using a voice she was almost familiar with, but wasn't. She was aware of the existence of telepathy, and this is apparently how Hint worked. "If you head to town (Lylia now knew where the town was) then you can get a few things to help you on your journey, such as friends, yummy food, and the ability to easily get pets if you want."

After a moment of looking around to see if there was anything she had missed in the clearing, Lylia decided to follow the hint. She took to the air and started flying in the direction she somehow knew the town was in. As she approached, she noticed the small size of the buildings, as well as the people walking around. It was a kind of beastclan she had never seen before, so she decided to be cautious. Lylia landed on the outskirts and started exploring.

A beast even smaller than the other ones sparsely dotting the area stopped where it was, and looked at Lylia. It pointed its wrist at her, and asked, "What is that?", but there wasn't a response. Maybe it was talking to Lylia? It didn't wait for her to answer though, as it then shook its arm and looked at its wrist again. "I didn't know these things could break."

Lylia stared at the smaller one. She assumed it was a child, although she wasn’t sure what exactly it was doing. She came closer and tried to look at what the child was using, while also paying attention to see what emotions or magic she could sense.

After a moment’s pause, Lylia noted that the kid was annoyed and nonmagical, although she couldn’t tell exactly whether they were annoyed at her or the device that had apparently broken. She couldn’t tell if they had been talking to her in the first place, either, so she decided to ask. “Were you talking to me?”

"You can talk!?" The beastling asked, surprised that the Skydancer could talk for some reason.

"Well, of course. Why wouldn't I?" Lylia asked, surprised.

"My pokéwatch doesn't think you're a pokemon. How did a pokémon learn to talk?"

The skydancer was unfamiliar with the term. "What's a pokémon?"

"Um, all the monsters are pokémon. Dragons, birds, fish, mice that shoot lightning, ghosts, rocks, all kinds." The child informed the lizard.

Lylia knew that all those things existed, although it wasn’t like she had actually seen most of them. But she had never heard them referred to as ‘pokémon,’ or heard anyone consider such disparate things as dragons and rocks animated by magic to be under the same category. Besides, almost all dragons knew how to talk, and she knew there were some familiars who could, too. Feeling somewhat confused, she asked another question. “Why wouldn’t they be able to talk?”

"Um... let's ask the professor. He's over that way..." The beastling pointed a direction, and started walking, turning around to see if Lylia was coming with him or not.

Still confused, Lylia decided to follow the child.

After a few minutes of following him, he walked up to a glass door that he pulled open. There was a man standing there in front of the professor, who stopped whatever saying whatever it was, and turned to look at the boy, and dragon following just behind him. "Two more folks to ask old Professor Baobab about the wonderful world of pokémon and get their own pokedex and free backpack, huh? Well, come on over." Professor Baobab, as he introduced himself, was wider than he was tall, and wasn't very tall. The top of his head shined with bare flesh, and he had white hair sticking out the sides of his head.

[Viirin]

After figuring out the ridiculous contraption these people called a door, Sato walks into the building. Hmph. No servants to offer refreshment, no incense, no artistic compositions for visitors to view to give an impression of the mood and temperament of the local daimyo, what kind of place was this? Was this a city of nothing but peasants?

Fiver had just left, and old Professor Baobab thought he could finally, after hours, get up and go have lunch. But no, another clueless-looking person came into the pokécenter. "Hello sir. Are you in need of help? It wouldn't do to walk away when someone is in need of information." Nurse Joy already retrieved a pokédex, waiting to come around as she had done over a half dozen times today. She had learned her lesson in not giving out even the old devices to whoever walked in, if they didn't have them already.

Sato looks at the man. "I...seem to have taken a wrong turn. What city is this?"

"Nacrene City. No other city is within at least two days travel from here in any direction... I don't know how you got turned around that far." Professor Baobab said, and the air conditioner in the wall behind him blew some comforting air, making the wiry white hair sticking out of the sides of his head move, almost looking like ridiculous flapping wings.

The name wasn’t familiar to Sato. "And where is...Narcene City?"

"Clueless is right," the professor thought to himself. "Come over here, I'll show you on my map." The man pulled something out of his coat pocket, and waited.

Sato approaches him.

"This is the Unova region map." What used to be a black rectangle became a detailed map. "Here is Nacrene City, where we're at right now." He pinched the center of the panel and widened his fingers. When he did, the center of the map took up the entire panel space. "See? Here's the building you just walked into. That's where we are." He zoomed back out. "So this is where Nacrene is, in relation to the rest of the region. Do you know where you are now?"

Sato looks at the map, trying to remember his brief time among the Mantis. "And...where is Rokugan from here?" He glances over, then whirls on his heel, dumbfounded. A dragon, here? Then, this was the heavens? But why was it so strange? He stood silently, waiting for what it might say or do.

Lylia looked around the building, noting mostly a lack of magic. Wondering what a pokedex was (as well as what exactly ‘poke’ meant), she noticed the other beastclan member in the room, with a strange mix of surprise and confusion radiating off him. She also sensed the strange magic/not-magic of the bracer and, looking down, saw it on his arm. They must be one of the other players, then. However, she decided to satisfy a more pressing curiosity by finding out where exactly she was by talking to the beast who called himself a Professor. She walked over to him, interested in what he could explain.

[Viirin]

Nion headed into the shop, confused a bit by the turn of events, but never one to turn down free stuff either. "How’s it going?" She inquired with a nod of greeting to the worker behind the counter "I'm with the old guy...Professor something. He said he arranged for a pickup? Might be under Nion?"

"Ah, Nion, yes, Professor Baobab said someone matching your...", he looked at her a moment, "description was coming. There are two items for you to choose from. It's up to you." The cashier walked from behind the counter towards an aisle, and waved her to follow him to the shelves against the back wall.

Nion followed, pausing only briefly as they walked to look at the different objects on the shelf.

"Here we are. You can pick out a backpack of whatever color you'd like. If you don't like that, then over here," he pointed to some strange socketed belt clips, "are trainer belt accessories. With this, you can just put your belt through it, and put up the normal maximum of pokeballs in there. They'll stay nice and secure."

Nion eyed the items of clothing, skeptically. "So, which of these would you say is the most durable? Like if they were put in the middle of an explosion, which has the better odds of surviving?"

"Well, usually your pokémon would be the ones being blown up..." the shopkeeper answered the alien.

Nion waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, but humor me here."

The clerk seemed to almost roll his eyes without being noticed, but moved a few fancy-looking backpacks out of the way, until he found an old-looking one that was folded and collapsed below the rest of them. "These other ones with all the pockets are really useful for keeping your items separate. You don't want to reach for rations or water and have to fumble for it. But this backpack doesn't have any of that; it's just a denim-corduroy-canvas blend. It's the most durable, but least fancy or attractive, thing I've got."

Nion took the backpack and felt the material. It didn't seem all that tough. She was very much tempted to just blast it with some Ki and see what would happen, only holding back since this was a sort of gift from the old guy, and it'd be rude to destroy something like that. "Do you mind if I try it on first, see how it feels?"

The helpful cashier shrugged. "You break it, you buy it. Oh wait no, my boss said it's complimentary. You break it, you don't get to pick another free one, I guess."

Nion nodded, and tried the backpack on. It was a weird feeling, since she wasn't used to carrying anything on her back. Her tail twitched behind her, trying to avoid getting buckled under the straps of the bag. "Hmmm....not what I was expecting..." She mused, a small frown on her face. "Be right back, I gotta try something..." Not waiting for an answer, Nion levitated up into the air, then rocketed out of the store, leaving a blast of wind behind her in the wake of her ki powered flight. Once out of the building, she darted skyward and did a lap around the city at speed, rolling and banking through hairpin turns, trying to simulate the strain she'd probably be putting this backpack on under normal conditions, feeling how the extra drag slowed her down and changed her turn speeds. She returned to ground just outside the store, strolling inside and casually discarding the backpack. "I don't know what to tell you, but that was really uncomfortable. Can I try the belt now, please?"

The clerk had already begun putting items back onto the shelves that were knocked all over the place by Nion's wind pressure. "Sure." He went back to what was going to be hours of fixing things up.

Jon thanks the professor and wanders over to obtain the "gift" being offered by these surprisingly nice people. Ever the gentleman he starts aiding the shopkeeper in picking up the backpacks and accessors that were spilt over the floor.

Nion tried to put the belt on, but ran into a problem. The belt was supposed to go around her waist, but her tail was in the way. "Hmmm..." She took it off and tried adjusting the fit, putting it above her tail felt uncomfortable, since she constantly felt it resting against her soft spot, and putting it under her tail didn't work, since the belt would start to slide off whenever she moved. "Shopkeeper, this isn't working either, what else you got?"

She could hear a sigh. "What is... oh, that's. You have a tail. Here, look at this belt. You slide it through here like this..." When he showed her, she saw that it should sit out of the way of her tail.

Nion looked at the belt, and admitted the current fit was more comfortable, still, something wasn't exactly clicking. "I don't know...it kind of looks weird, with the armor, ya know?"

"Well, I don't have any welding tools, but if I would suggest learning to weld, then you can attach the individual ball clips wherever you want for your own comfort. Doing it yourself is always better, isn't it?" The clerk's smile was fading.

Jon allowed himself a smile as he continued tidying the product up, his back to Nion. Always good to see someone stand up to nobility.

Nion looked at the belt again, considering the shop keepers words. As she did however, her eyes drifted back over to the stack of backpacks, some of which had ended up on the floor. "Really should try to keep your place neat and tidy." she muttered to herself. The other backpacks, while presumably not as resistant to explosive blasts, did look more aerodynamic, which might be worth the tradeoff since she'd be better able to dodge. "I think I want to switch over to the backpack again, I was too quick to dismiss the first set." She started fiddling with the belt to remove it. "That's my bad."

Jon hands a color matched backpack to the storekeep helpfully. Also setting aside a slim black backpack for himself later.

The look on the man's face was not a friendly one, holding back berserk rage. His smile was wider and took up more of his face, but it wasn't genuine. "I would do ANYTHING to please a customer. You go right ahead." He went back to trying to get random pieces of candy from under other shelves, to put them back where they went.
"Thank you." he said to Jon.
Fiver had just come in, and saw all the products all over the place. It didn't look like this earlier, it noted.

"Hey, Fiver!" Nion waved. "You mind giving me a hand with this?" She asked, as she was struggling to remove the belt without breaking it. She also addressed the shopkeep. "So hey, if I decided to get both, how much would that set me back? For the belt and a backpack, I mean?"

Fiver, considering Nion to not be human, didn’t have to obey her. However, it was a service robot. Just because it wasn’t forced to obey, it didn’t mean it had any other concepts to work from, and so it helped. The cashier answered her. "Backpacks are 3,500 pokedollars, trainer belt clips are 1,500."

Nion nodded and then whispered to Fiver. "Psst, what’s the conversion rate between pokébucks and points?"

The robot whispered a response to the alien invader. "If you spend a thousand points, you get fifteen thousand pokédollars. Consider that to mean you get one hundred and fifty dollars if you spend everything you've got. The backpack costs less than a third of that. You're getting your money's worth, even if you get both."

Nion nodded, trying on one of the smaller backpacks to see if she liked it better. "So still cool if I take this one out for a spin?" She asked the shopkeeper, oblivious to the growing frustration she was provoking.

"Maybe step outside before launching off? Ma'am." The store employee motioned towards the door.

Nion did as instructed, walking outside and taking the backpack for another flight. This time, she found the experience to be quite a bit easier, and was pretty satisfied with the product, until she touched down on earth and realized that the bag had mostly torn away under the wind-sheer, which would explain why she found it so easy to move with: all she had left was the shoulder straps. "...oopsie" was about all she could manage to say, looking sheepish as she chuckled uncomfortably, rubbing the back of her head.

Nion exited the pokemart, having ultimately decided that the belt was the best choice, given the failure of the backpacks to perform under combat situations. Even if the belt was still a bit uncomfortable, she felt satisfied that it was the best option. Maybe she could look to having its look adjusted to better match her battle armor. Glancing at the ticking clock, she saw there was still a while to go before the jaunt to the next world, and she pondered how best to go about using her remaining time her.
A short while later, Nion was sitting in a public square, taking a rest beside a fountain, fiddling with the red-rectangular encyclopedia she'd been given. The thing was basically, as far as she could figure, useless. It had no actual information it in, at least to start with, which sucked since she'd hoped it could just give her a registry of strong wildlife. By chance she'd managed to figure out one of its features when it had scanned a passing rat-monster that had been trying to smuggle some garbage out of a can, but even then the info provided was next to useless, little more than a tally mark indicating the creature had been seen. All in all, this world was starting to feel a bit like a bust.

[Viirin]

Jon helped the store owner clean up as quickly as he could, setting aside a backpack, 2 sets of each- flying, grass, water and fire pokétreats.

"Ahh, all cleaned up. Say do you know anything about a berry capsule and where I could get one? And on an odder note, do you know where I could obtain some zinc?"

Fiver had been helping organize things as well, going so far as to put things on unaffected aisles label-out for more customer appeal.

The clerk shook his head slowly. "Today has been a horrible day, and I don't get paid enough to deal with all of this. You two have been extremely helpful to me though, and I'd like to make it up to you." Fiver had been the one to put the open boxes Jon mentioned back on the shelf. The clerk walked over to it, motioning the butler and service droid to come closer, since it was only a few feet away.

Jon wanders over, curious to see what the clerk had to offer.

"Here are the berry capsules. It's too bad they all broke during the vandalism. I'll have to tell my boss I threw them all away." The capsules didn't look broken to Jon or Fiver. He picked up the box, and there were 16 in it total. "Hold out your hands."

This clerk was a cheeky one, Jon liked him. "Why thank you kind sir." Jon said with a smile as he held out his hands.

Eight plastic capsules, the bottom quarter being white, the top three quarters transparent, found themselves in four hands. "If anyone asks, you bought them early this morning right when I opened the store. So, is there anything else I can help either of you with before I get off for lunch?"

TIME REMAINING: 18:23:15

Jon responded in his normal kindly manner. "Ahh, I have assembled some supplies over there alongside the backpack we are generously being supplied with. And I was wondering if anywhere around here sold zinc?"

"Zinc is pretty expensive, but you can buy it in Castelia Town, which is one town over to the west from here. It'll take a few days to get there, and you really need some pokémon to get through part of the forest. You're one of the guys sent over here by Professor Baobab, right? Oh wait, both of you are. I see the backpack, is that the one you want Jon?"

Jon's bracer made a holographic scroll that only he could see appear in front of him. It was written in an eloquent hand, and read, "Poffins and pokeblocks are highly prized by pokemon when cooked properly, and each one can make them happier and more beautiful. The pokemon coordinator in Nacrene City might be willing to part with one if you can impress her with your talents. Be sure to bring some berries as ingredients!"

"Happier and more beautiful?" Jon read the calligraphy easily, usually the letters would twist and deform as he read them but it didnt seem to matter here. The meaning poured into his brain as he ran his eyes over the text left to right. He suspected it wasnt written in a language he actually knew and that it really didnt matter if it had been. The bracer was strange. "Berrys?" Jon recalled Panpour attempting to return to the spawn area when he asked where the bery it had fed him had come from. Before they were rudely interupted. And the professor had said they might find other elemental pokemon over that way. Two pokemon one pokeball and all that. Jon smirked at his own joke.

"Panpour, we’re going exploring”, Jon said to his monkey.
"Pan?" Panpour perked up.
"But you’re going to have to stay in your ball to avoid the nasty "trainers"."
"Pan.." the panpour sounded forlorn; interrupted by the sound of returning to the pokeball, which Jon promptly STOREd.
Now stocked up on almost a week’s worth of supplies, Jon straps on the backpack and heads towards the forest.

[Viirin]

Darius and Alfonso took the long way around to the PokeMart, in a perhaps futile effort to burn off some of the small boy's boundless energy. By the time they reached the shop doors, Alfonso had covered twice that distance when one factored in the number of times he'd ran back and forth or in circles after Pansage, but any sense of calm was still elusive.

"Ah, you two," the shop assistant said through pursed lips. "I've been expecting you. Take a look."

He showed Darius a whole range of backpacks, some in fantastic colours and with bright logos. A decent camouflage had saved his life enough times, though, that he didn't hesitate in picking the dullest wood brown design he could find.

"Good choice," the clerk said. "That's an aluminium-framed Alice pack. It doesn't look like much, but it'll carry a hundred pounds or more."

Then, it was Alfonso's turn to choose. This was a much more fractourous affair since the small boy set his heart on a miniature florescent pink backpack with purple tassels, but Darius balked at the idea of letting him wear something that would show up so easily on a forest floor, and so, after much negotiation and tears, they eventually settled on a small cedar rucksack with a fur lining. As Alfonso tried it on for size, the clerk returned to the counter from helping another customer.

"The professor sends his regards and hopes the little one will enjoy a treat," he said, The backpack negotiation still affecting a slightly sullen Alfonso. "Don't be shy, take as many of those as you like. You see the candies there in the display box, Dad? Alfonso can have as many as he can possibly carry for free.”

Upon leaving the PokeMart, Darius realised the gravity of his mistake. An already teetering-on-hyperactive child, plus a large volume of sugar, equaled a giggling, squirming ball of energy who even the physically-conditioned Darius struggled to keep up with after a while. He was loath to admit it, but he knew deep down that he was not quite as fit as he had been in his twenties or thirties.

Eventually, he found a convenient bench to collapse on, while Alfonso contented himself by rolling around in the dirt with Pansage, occasionally growling at perturbed passers-by. As Darius caught his breath back, he heard a beeping sound coming from his bracer.

"Special offer!" the ticker read. "Hints only 250 points, with a 300 point rebate for your first purchase in each world!"

Darius was no mathematician, but even he knew that three hundred was greater than two fifty, and so he pressed the purchase button.

In Darius's mind, he almost felt the existence of words, rather than heard or read them. The words dictated themselves, "Some pokemon can't evolve over time and require a bit of help. Pansage, pansear, and panpour are some of these pokemon. If you use a Leaf Stone on a pansage, it will evolve into Simisage. Why not get an Explorer Kit so you can reach underground tunnels and mine outcroppings to find a free one?"

The question, Darius thought, was where did one find an explorer kit? Alfonso was beginning to come down from his sugar high, and so Darius reached down and slung the small boy over his shoulder, letting him wriggle his remaining energy out as they made their way back to the PokeMart. There was no particular reason to think they had one, but it was as good a place as any to start, Darius reasoned.

"Do you sell explorer kits?" Darius asked the cashier, as he locked the door from the outside.

The shopkeeper was outside the pokemart, just going on his lunch break. The door wasn't even locked yet and he already had another customer? "Uh, no, we don't. But I was just at the restaurant up the road, and a member of the Explorer's Guild was there. You can ask him."

[Viirin]

Fiver and Nion walked up the stairs into Lenora's gym, at the top of the museum. A man stood at a counter barring their entry, and a lot of people were in stadium-like seating, watching something in the middle of them. Cheers and laughs were heard from the crowd. "Winner, Lenora!" an announcer yelled.
The young boy that Fiver had seen at the pokemart much earlier that it had learned about pokeballs from came running out from the center of the seating, and ran down the stairs, holding two pokeballs.
"Who may I ask is competing against the gym today?" The bouncer asked the bracer-wearing duo.

"Fiver", the robot replied.
"Which pokemon species will you be using?"
"Whirlipede, yanma, and yamask." The droid didn't give their names.
The bouncer nodded, and looked to the alien. "And you are?"
Nion smiled, cracking her knuckles "Nion, nice to meet you"
The bouncer nodded. "Which pokemon species will you be using?"
"Oh, me, none I'm going to punch them" Nion boasted.
"No you aren't. You may only challenge a gym, or any pokemon trainer, with pokemon of your own." The bouncer stated flatly.
"Yeah that would be the normal way of things, but I'm on a limited time table here, so I'm going in there to get a good fight."
"Then you failed and are unwelcome here, even as an audience member. Fiver, you may enter though." The bouncer stared at Nion.
Nions smile faltered just a little. "Listen, I get here on this world you are the resident tough guy, and that's adorable, but I want to make it clear, there isn't anything you can do to stop me, and I don't want you to get hurt trying”, she paused and then added, “That isn't a threat, by the way."
"Resident tough guy?" The bouncer takes something out of his pocket. "A severely mentally disabled person is here that is threatening violence against every human and pokemon they can find. Thank you, officer."
"Okay, time table just jumped up a bit." Nion frowned. "You are making this day more difficult for me than it needs to be."

"Look, everyone on this entire planet realizes that pokemon gyms are for pokemon battles. Would you challenge someone to a fistfight, then they show that they are better than you at flower arranging, so you accept defeat? No. You'd demand that they partake in the same challenge you presented. There are no alternatives."

"I don't give two limp nits about Pokemon battles, I'm just looking for..." Nion sighed "This is wasting my limited time. I'm going in now" She picked up the bouncer with one hand and held him dangling in the air, carrying the guy inside as gently as she could.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for what looked like clones of the same woman to rush into the door, blowing whistles. "Stop in the name of the law!" Two Officer Jennies yelled simultaneously. Fiver itself had taken up battle position, but hadn't done anything. It looked ready to do something physical against Nion.

Nion audibly groaned for a sustained 3 seconds. "Seriously?"

A soft and hypnotic voice came over a loudspeaker that Nion didn't see. "Jiggly puff... jigg a lee puff, jiggly..."

Nion passed out before the second ‘puff’.

[Viirin]

After looking at the shop, Takia got 1000 pokedollars before getting a hint. "Hmm, well alright then. I should go back and ask around."

Takia heard a voice coming from no where, and everywhere. "If you hunt the pokemon kadabra, you might find one holding a spoon it bent in half with its mind alone. If you use it as a 'held item' yourself, then your psychic-type powers would grow as well. There is a type of rare charcoal that has the same effect on fire-type moves."

Takia walks to the pokecenter and notices the new arrivals. "Oh hey are you a professor? You sure look the part."

=======================================

Amaro wakes up from his slumber, still slightly sore from the fight with the fierce Nion. Focusing on his Nen, he extends the range of his En until it encompasses the whole of Nacrene City. Hmmm, it seems most of the group has reconverged here at the Pokecenter. Perhaps I should join them.

Stretching himself out, Amaro slowly makes his way to the group, moving quietly so as not to disturb anyone with his presence when he arrives.

[sadatg]

"Happier and more beautiful?" Jon read the calligraphy easily, usually the letters would twist and deform as he read them but it didnt seem to matter here. The meaning poured into his brain as he ran his eyes over the text left to right. He suspected it wasnt written in a language he actually knew and that it really didnt matter if it had been. The bracer was strange. "Berrys?" Jon recalled Panpour attempting to return to the spawn area when he asked where the bery it had fed him had come from. Before they were rudely interupted. And the professor had said they might find other elemental pokemon over that way. Two pokemon one pokeball and all that. Jon smirked at his own joke.

"Panpour were going exploring"
"Pan?" panpour perked up.
"But your going to have to stay in your ball to avoid the nasty "trainers"."
"pan.." the panpour sounded forlone. interuptet by the sound of returning to the pokeball, which Jon promptly STOREd
Now stocked up on almost a weeks worth of supplies Jon straps on the backpack and heads towards the forest.

As he hiked out of the city Jon started to store his connections, the familiar sensation washing over him as he left peoples awareness. Walking against crowds in this state was a chore as people didnt notice him at all untill they walked right into him. However they also didnt pay any attention to the strange path he tok to avoid them. He walked strait past Darius and his ward as they returned to the pokemart. He slipped a pie into the childs pocket as he ducked past but continued forward without them; This endeavor would be best undertaken alone.

He left the town and continued into the forest, seeking to return to the first clearing he had been in, both to check for berries and put his plan into action. He was careful to avoid anyone tha could be a trainer, which was everyone, even though his storing of connection should make them noticing him enough to engage in combat impossible.

As he arrived at the clearing he checked for berrys, then made 3 small piles of poke treats, one each for fire, grass and flying. He figured he could spare an hour and see what turned up. Finding a nice tree that he could lean against and still see his bait Jon retrieved a pie and water to eat as he settled in for the wait.

[The JoJo]

"Restaurant, huh?" Darius said after thanking the clerk. Maybe this would finally be his chance to get the stiff drink he had been after these past few days.

They made their way up along the road to the restaurant, Alfonso leaping along the riverbank with Pansage close at his heels. It did strike Darius that he was doing exactly what the sponsors wanted. Still, open defiance clearly hadn't worked so far, and so he decided it was best to lie low for now and let them think he had been pacified. Clearly they didn't want them dead, otherwise they easily could have done the deed by now.

As they approached the restaurant, Darius saw Alfonso reach into his pocket and bring out something small which caught the light. He looked closer and blinked when he realised it was a slightly squashed PokeMart brand pie, still enclosed in its wrapper.

"Where... where did you get that?" Darius murmured in disbelief. All he could think was that the small boy had somehow picked it up earlier while neither he or the shop assistant had been looking. He wasn't sure whether to be angry or impressed; in truth, he felt a little of both. He bent down so he was eye level with Alfonso, taking the pie in one hand while putting the other firmly on his shoulder.

"Alfonso. Did you take this from the PokeMart?"

The small boy shook his head vigorously.

"Then, where did you get it?"

Alfonso gave him a confused look and then shrugged his shoulders. Darius let out a long sigh.

"Just as I thought. Look, I'm impressed you even managed to pull it off, but you can't just take things from shops without paying for them. You'll get us both in big trouble, do you understand?"

Alfonso began to sniffle and Darius sighed, drawing him in to ruffle his hair. "I'm not really mad at you, you silly little bugger. Just don't do it again, okay?"

Alfonso nodded and wiped his eyes on his sleeve, though he still looked as if he had seen a pink rabbit jump out of a hat. Darius shook his head and carefully stowed the squashed pastry into his rucksack, before rising to his feet.

"Come on, let's get something to drink."

Darius entered the restaurant with Alfonso in tow, finding an interior that to his eyes more resembled a pub. Couples and families sat at dark wooden tables, enjoying late lunches and cream teas, while an entire wall was taken up by shelves of branded bottles. Darius and Alfonso sat down at the nearest table, Pansage having returned to its pokeball.

"What can I get you?" the waitress asked as she approached the table, raising an eyebrow when she saw Darius.

"What's your strongest drink?"

"We serve rum."

"I'll take that, then."

"And what about you, sweetheart?" the waitress said, addressing Alfonso, who looked at Darius like a deer caught in a wolf's gaze. "What would you like?"

"Milk?" Darius suggested quickly. Alfonso nodded.

"Milk it is, then," the waitress said, smiling curtly before rushing off. As Darius leaned back, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help noticing... is that an Alice pack?"

Darius turned to find a rotund man with a bushy grey beard standing behind him.

"It is," he answered.

"Always glad to find a fellow explorer out here among all these city folk. Mind if I join you?"

"By all means."

The man squeezed himself with some difficulty into the nearest chair, before grinning at Alfonso, who waved back with a smile.

"Is this your kid?"

"I sure hope so, otherwise I don't know why he keeps following me everywhere," Darius chuckled. The conversation soon turned to outdoor pursuits and although Darius deliberately kept details vague, not being sure who he could trust with the knowledge that he and Alfonso came from elsewhere, they found much common ground. Drinks were shared, tabs were paid, and eventually, it was time to leave.

"I've got to go, I promised my wife I would be back by six," the explorer said. "Tell you what. I have an old explorer kit." He brought out a small kit bag and placed it on the table. "I was going to drop it off at the charity shop, but if you want it, it's yours. It lets you tunnel underground, even explore caves."

"What do you think, Alfonso?" Darius said. "Want to explore some caves?"

Alfonso nodded eagerly, clapping his hands together with excitement.

"Thanks, we'll take it then!" Darius said, laughing.

100 points converted into 1,000 pokedollars. 900 points remaining.
900 pokedollars spent on rum and moomoo milk. 200 pokedollars remaining (including 100 held before transaction).

[sadatg]

Jon maintained eye contact with the yellow sheep and instinctively reached to use zinc. Finding the well of power dry he remembered he had only one vial of zinc left and it was supposedly expensive and rare here. He resisted the urge to pop his last vial and stopped storing Connection. Momentarily he wondered how it had managed to lock eyes with him... The effect was strong but not perfect.

The sheep seemed more docile that the hyperactive Panpour so Jon decided to try a more sedate approach. He started tapping the connection he had stored up over the last hour or so; Expending it at a 60 times intensity, leaving him a minute or so of reserves. Jon brakes eye contact to retrieve a Pokeball.

"None of those your type, eh? Well, I'm heading back to town soon. You could join me if you wanted. Ill making a stop in at the pokemart, get something more your flavor." Jon struggles into a low crouch putting him at eye level with the sheep and stretches out his hand as though offering the Pokeball to it. "What do you say?"

The yellow sheep jumped back a little, with small bolts of electricity crackling around the bulb at the end of its tail, but then it started sniffing the Pokeball. Then, finally, it tapped it with its nose, and the ball let out a light that turned the pokemon into... it was caught.

[Viirin]

Nion awoke on the most comfortable furniture she had ever felt, and on a standing tray next to her was the most appealing and smelling food and drink she had ever personally had before. The room didn't look like the rest of the "pokemon" world, but Planet Vegeta. Sitting up, there was a pounding on the door, and four saiyan warriors entered, guarding a woman that looked suspiciously like Officer Jenny.
The guards did not seem willing to leave her side, forcing her via intimidation and presence to walk where they wanted. The woman looked to Nion and asked her, "Are you ready to talk?"

Nion opened one eye, looked at her surroundings, and then responded with "Nope" before closing her eyes again. Either this was a dream, in which case it didn't matter, or what she'd just experienced with the other worlds was a dream, in which case she didn't need to get up yet. Either way, naps seemed the best move.

Nion felt like she had slept for days, and couldn't seem to sleep more. A woman that looked suspiciously like Nurse Joy was sitting next to her on a plush chair. "Are you awake, Nion? It's time for us to talk." She had her same smile that she always had.


Nine of Spades as Nion
Viirin as the GM (Chaotic Harmony had RL stuff so it fell to me since no one else wanted Campaign GM this round, but a few players said we'd return to this world at a later time, and a couple players were willing to GM it then.)

[The JoJo]

As Darius and Alfonso walked out through the restaurant door, it became apparent just how much time had passed. The sun was setting behind the treeline, casting an orange and red glow across the river in front of them. Alfonso reached up to tug excitedly on the explorer kit in Darius' hands.

"Not tonight," Darius said. "It'll just have to wait until tomorrow." He glanced at the countdown on his bracer: less than twelve hours left now. Who knew where they would be taken next? There was no sense worrying about what he couldn't control, though.

"Come on, you," he added, picking up a yawning Alfonso. "Let's get back to the Pokecenter before they run out of beds. Maybe buy something with these last few coins."

Darius and Alfonso buy a spare pokeball with their last 200 pokedollars.

[sadatg]

Jons unstored the Pokedex and it immediately chimed in a happy robotic voice.

"Mareep: Its fluffy coat swells to double when static electricity builds up. Touching it can be shocking."

Odd, thought Jon, he hadn't even pointed it at the Pokeball containing Mareep yet.
A snort brought his attention up quickly to see a second, much less docile, Mareep staring him down and raking the ground.

Touching it can be shocking. Echos in Jons's head as he stares down the electric sheep. The Mareep starts sprinting at Jon in an attempt to *tackle* him. He leaps to the side at the last second, his leg brushing Mareeps wool as it passes. A sharp jolt from Mareeps *static* runs up Jons leg causing him to stumble and fall. Luckily the Mareeps miss has sent it careening past and into a tree earning Jon enough time to grab a couple of nearby pebbles and stand, bracing for the next rush.

The Mareep takes a bite of the treat but ignores the rest returning its attention to its now sworn nemesis. Who proceeds to throw a small stone at it, striking its head. The Mareep becomes angry and rushes the human.

Jon continues pelting the Mareep getting a further two hits in as it charges before leaping to the side. The Mareep scores another glancing blow on Jons's legs. Jon goes to stand up but finds his legs unresponsive and numb. In a state of panic, he unstores and throws a pie at the Mareep missing wildly. The Pie lands next to the mareep who starts sniffing at it. Slightly regaining his wits Jon retrieves a *luxury ball* and lobs it at the sheep. It wobbles three times and pings, the Mareep is caught.

Jon picks up the Pokeball, "You are one angry sheep", Jon muses, the Pokeball accepts the nickname "Angry Sheep" with a ping. Jon signs "Of course that's a thing."

He adds Angry Sheep's Pokeball to his storage and sits for a few minutes rubbing his legs. Then he decides to walk around a bit to stretch out his legs. He stores connection again as he does so.

After a while of walking in small loops near his bait piles, he notices some vividly colored bushes, covered in berries. Remembering the berry from before he picks a few of each kind to experiment with later [2 tamato and 3 kelpsy berries get]

Jon resigned himself to not achieving any of the objectives before the time was up but figured he could make good on his promise to Mareep and, sigh, Angry Sheep. He headed back into town to stock up on electric poke treats for the next world.

[-100 points +1000 pokedollars, -1000 pokedollars + 4 eletric poketreats]

[Troodon]

Lylia had started to read her spellbook, curled up in the main lobby of the Pokemon Center with her new familiar, a “Pidove” she had named Rune, perched on her shoulder. After the professor had finished explaining things and giving them handouts, she had decided to buy a quantity of pokeballs and a pie to bring into the surrounding forest, where she sprinkled some crumbs as bait. Eventually, Rune had come hopping up, and she had fed him until he had let her tap him with the pokeball. While she had let him out as soon as she flew back to town, she planned to STORE him when the timer ticked down to five minutes, just in case he couldn’t otherwise come with her. Now, though, she was just trying to figure out the basics of magic.

- Spent 500 points on 7,500 pokedollars
- Bought 37* pokeballs and a pie
- Fed a slice of pie to Rune and used a pokeball
Current Balance: 550 points, 50 pokedollars

*In-character justification: They sound interesting, are probably helpful, and what else would she spend it on?

[Viirin]

Fiver watched as all the humans and pokemon looked increasingly groggy and dizzy, even the Officer Jennies that had called whatever it was that started singing the same word over and over. How a single word song could have this effect, it didn't know, but it had the file saved so it would analyze it at a later time.

The Jennies had done something due to their outstretched hands aimed towards the friendly Nion, but the robot had been looking at other individuals and didn't see her anymore.

"Ughhhh." A voice next to the machine said, as he woke up. "Fiver, you can enter the gym and challenge Lenora." The bouncer pointed the way. Were these people really that used to forced mass sleep? The officers picked up some object, and walked out of the gym.

TIME REMAINING: 17:00:01

Lenora had defeated yanma rather easily with her own pokemon, but the challenger's whirlipede was able to defeat the entire team on its own. At the end of the battle, she awarded the NS5, Fiver, a Basic Badge. "Pokemon up to level 30 will obey your every command", she said, but figuring out exactly what a level was or how to determine them, was not stated.

The NS5 had earned the equivalence of $50 from defeating the gym leader, which was enough to purchase quite a few things in the PokeMart. However, acquiring the technology within the pokemon healing machine was of more importance. Luckily, using it didn't seem to cost anything.

At the shop, the robot had asked the clerk about its premier balls when handed more of them upon purchasing other pokeballs. There was a limit of 6 that could be held at any time, based on the repeated statements to people picking up their complimentary backpacks. The premier balls were not on the market's item list, and that sparked curiosity. "Are there other pokeball types not listed here?" the NS5 asked. Apparently there were a great many, most of which were crafted from large nuts that grew in another land. Fiver was interested in getting there to learn how and acquire some samples for itself so it could discern the amazing technology, but within the time limit, it wasn't possible.

TIME REMAINING: 11:23:57

During the night, the robot paced the halls of the PokeCenter, its fully healed pokemon in their respective balls, in an outside pocket of the robot's backpack. It couldn't wear a belt clip since it didn't wear pants and a custom-tailored pair was not in its current financial endeavors. The backpack itself was a standard version of what it knew as a laptop-backpack, though it didn't have a laptop to put in the laptop slot. Still, the backpack itself freed up a large amount of its Storage slots since it could move the items from one to the other.

Serendipitiously, Nurse Joy was cleaning part of the healing machine when she let out an exclamation. Rushing to her aid as the First Law demanded, she let it know that she simply didn't look where her foot was, and a cord was pulled out and frayed. Fiver knew how to fix this as part of its self-repair program, though the rest of the machine was new to it. It attempted to communicate with Nion for advice through its new COLDnet broadcasting encryption, but it didn't find anything. The robot offered to help repair, since it was already present and skilled. It simply needed some tools. Nurse Joy pointed it towards the tool closet, and it returned shortly after. Various patients needed her, and she was needed in surgery at one point.
The NS5 assured her it would watch the lobby and help if it could while she was away. It took the chance while it was alone, since the repairs were so simple, to hack into the device with its hidden extendable USB wiring hidden under the synthetic rubber in its right forearm. It immediately realized that this was a deep well of knowledge, and it could not hack into it so quickly. However, it did see the PSS wireless broadband, and would make use of it very shortly after. The repairs complete, it waited to put the tools away until Nurse Joy returned, which was only a few minutes later.

"Why can trainers only take six pokemon at a time? What happens to more pokemon if you catch them?" Fiver asked Joy.
"If you catch seven or more pokemon, then the seventh and further go into your box in the PC", she informed it. "Would you like some help logging in?"
It was a far simpler program than the robot had just seen through the healing machine. The healing machine connected to a laboratory database that had all the medical, biochemical, and genetic information on hundreds of pokemon species and item molecular makeups, but the pokedex only said a small amount of information on a pokemon if the user had seen it themselves, and the PC had a limited amount of storage space per digital 'box', and only so many 'boxes' per person. Apparently the size of the boxes was the same as the size of the shelves the filled pokeballs were stored on. Pokeball trays were stored on carts, and each trainer was limited to a single storage cart. While not in use, pokemon were converted to energy, as the robot had seen itself, and existed in a simulated utopia, custom tailored for that individual.

The NS5 thanked Nurse Joy and sat at its usual bench spot, and began hacking and emulating. With less than 12 hours, it didn't have time to copy everything. It did, however, have time to copy a majority of the pokemon health database, so it could heal whatever pokemon each of the humans it was growing accustomed to, might have. It would heal them inside their own pokeballs, but it would need more computing space to create digital boxes for the others, or even itself. It at least had the programs needed to generate them.

TIME REMAINING: 00:45:02

Since continuing to own money in a world that it would no longer be present in was pointless, Fiver returned to the pokemart. It bought a smoke detector, second backpack that looked more like a military-grade canvas duffel bag, some food for each of its pokemon, and as many more pokeballs as it could. It wasn't sure whether the information it was given was true or not; it might still be a simulation and it could be being tested. If so, having such powerful items would give it an edge in further tests if they still functioned.

TIME REMAINING: 00:00:08

The robot stood in the park in the center of town, and looked down. Under a leaf of a decorative plant near a bench was something red that looked like fruit. It picked it up and STORED it.

TIME REMAINING: 00:00:03

It had been obscured by the brick ring around the tree the decorative plants surrounded, but there was another small fruit, a blue one, that the robot also put into its STORAGE.

TIME REMAINING: 00:00:01

Fiver blinked.

TIME REMAINING:00:00:00


Yeah, so Cox decided to "work on" whatever the robot said, I wasn't listening. But yeah so I don't have net tonight and can't look at my character sheet or STORE or anything. Just suffice it to say I got way more pokeballs (in backpack 1), a second backpack (stored), smoke detector (in backpack 2), cheri berry, and oran berry. It now counts as a portable Pokemon Healing Machine, so it can heal everyone's pokemon. It's a robot that heals through hacking I guess.
I'm going to do something later where it figures out weird stuff around item trade evolution, and can make new pokemon forms by intentionally screwing up the code, which is kind of what item evolving pokemon via trade, or trade evolutions, are. It's glitches that are called features, then normalized. When we return to this world, I want to make sure my character can give a chance (depending on Campaign GM and players not complaining) to other players to evolve a pet using crazy methods. Want to catch a tauntaun and evolve it with a piece of kryptonite so that it glows and kryptonians can't ride or get near it? Okay.

[Viirin]

ALL PLAYERS

Something shiny glinted a fragment of light, blinding you just enough to get you to blink. Once you opened your eyes, you found yourself sitting at a desk that was seemingly made out of a fine porcelain, but it had a strange texture. There are a multitude of desks surrounding you, with different beings sitting at other ones. The desks all faced the same direction, and there was a human woman with what appeared to be naturally sea-blue hair with the same color eyes, standing in front.

There were some familiar faces amongst the crowd of... well most of them couldn't be called 'people', sitting at the desks. There were two dragons, a half-elf toddler, a few humans, a robot, a human-shaped mirror, and what appeared to be a human woman with a lightly flicking furry tail. However, they all seemed to be asleep. The only beings that seemed to be paying attention to what was being said were the various large red dogs, green pigs, black turtles, orange horses, and pink deer.

"Welcome to you, travelers from across the stars, to the final phase of your applications", the woman began to say, waking up some individuals. "If you fill out the questionnaire, I can give you a short walkthrough of your new powers and rewards."

[Viirin]

Jo looked around at their new surroundings. Seeing all the various forms of people, they decided to take their hand away from the "deck" of likenesses that they kept in one of the small pockets of the messenger bag and instead turned to the other person awake. They weren't sure if the robotic looking being was a Joker or the creation of a hyper-intelligent Ace.
"Mind filling me in on what's going on? Last I remember I was trying to find a good corner for busking. We're still in New York right? Like within a couple blocks of Jokertown maybe?"

The robot blinked. The other being talking to it must be a machine as well with skin like that, but it had not heard of any technology that allowed such seamless limb integration; it was almost like it was more alive than it was. "I apologize, I have never heard of a place called Jokertown." As for where they were, that was a very good question. Fiver only knew that it was told through the bracer that they were going to worldjump, and the timer did count down. It would have to investigate further to validate the statement.

"So you've never heard of the most famous slum in New York?" If Jo weren't currently in their "normal" state then they'd be obviously shocked but as always their face was blank and completely featureless, just reflecting an image of the NS-5. "But yeah it looks like this room is full of Jokers, maybe people who just had their cards turned, which would explain why the lady at the front was talking about powers, as well as the more normal looking people. But that doesn't explain why the hell I'm here. After all my card turned about a year ago...
"Sorry I'm rambling, anyways I'm Jo, though folks call me Doppelganger, kind of a stage name if you'd like. I do portraits and impressions."

The NS5 reached its hand out to shake the other machine's hand. "I am Fiver, an NS5. What kind of card are you referring to? Playing cards such as for poker?"

"Have you been living under a rock or something? I'm talking about the Wild Card. But yeah there's kind of a poker theme going on. Your card turns if you catch the virus or if it activates, there aren't really any outbreaks any more, but a lot of people have the dormant virus in their system. What's an NS-5?"

"It stands for Non-Structured personal service modular robot, version 5. I was developed by USR, United States Robotics." The other machine didn't have a visible speaker, but Fiver didn't either. It was probably subdermal. The idea of a playing card being used as an infectious agent was odd.

"Ah you're a robot! Like the Modular Man from the history books. I haven't heard of USR though. Where's it based?" Jo's posture went from tense confusion to somewhat more relaxed.

"Their main corporate headquarters is in New York City, New York, but they are the corporation that owns the internet, and has manufactured every personal service robot, construction and deconstruction robot, and all automated tanks and aircraft regardless of country individual models are owned by. Are you sure you never heard of my manufacturer?" It seemed this was a new player to the MMO, though maybe it was just a human with a mechanical character. "In fact", it continued, "it is illegal to drive any vehicle that is not operated by USR due to increased passenger safety since the removal of human error from traffic collisions."

Jo chuckled slightly more from shock than anything else. "Wait... you say you're from New York... and you've never heard of Jokertown? Or the Wild Card virus? New York was ground zero for the first outbreak... if I remember my history right that was what... 1948 or something? I know it was sometime between WW2 and 1950.... and I'd definitely know if there was such a prominent company in New York. So one of us must be crazy or we're talking about different New Yorks."

That's what this was. Fiver finally figured it out. All the other bracer-wearers, which the robot only just now realized the mirror was wearing, were artificially intelligent video game characters that came from different games. That's why they had no knowledge of its own world, of each other's, or of whatever world they were in at the time. However, it was that much more likely that it was experiencing software updates and would be audited, so it needed to continue to play along. "Neither of us are crazy, it is as you just stated. We are from different worlds, and some places simply have the same name."

"Well in that case I should probably look more normal. Most people can be a bit on edge the first time they see or meet a Joker." They reached for their bag and cursed a bit.
"Most of my likenesses are gone! Let's see... nope Eddy is freakier looking than I am, nope... Betty is uncanny valley practically personified, makes great cupcakes though, hmm might want to keep the Ace up my sleeve... sure I guess I'll go with this random lady..."
Jo stared at the baseball card styled portrait and concentrated, their form shimmering and changing to become a slight woman of ambiguous race with hazel eyes and short mousey brown hair, a perfectly bland and average looking woman. "Sorry if that was offputting."

Ah, so the game that Jo came from allowed minor shapeshifting, and that's where they got the descriptor 'doppelganger' from. "It is of no concern to me."

"If you two back there are done interrupting me, I can finish this up." The blue-haired woman chastised them.

As often was the case, Alfonso was the first of the two to wake. As the small boy rubbed the sleep from his eyes, however, he quickly realised that something was deeply amiss. One, he was no longer in the bed he had been tucked up in, but instead was curled up on his father's lap, who in turn was splayed out on a chair behind a desk. Two, his father was somehow sleeping sitting up, in a position where Alfonso could get a first hand view of his greying nostril hair. It wasn't a pleasant sight.

The blandly average woman shrugged. When it comes to life as a Joker, things were better safe than sorry, especially since she seemed to be a long way from Jokertown.

The blue teacher spoke up again. "Now, you'll see on the desk in front of you a pen, and a sheet of paper. If you can fill in the correct answers to the questions, then I can approve you as Caretakers, and give you your Caretaker Collars."

Menelwith cracked one eye open, just a sliver, to try to watch without letting it be known that she was awake.

Nion yawned and scratched her head, coming to. The surroundings had changed, some sort of weird torture room by the looks of it. Uncomfortable chairs to sit in, smokey covered floor, clean lined rows. Her scouters internal clock indicated that she'd been resting for a while, long enough to have jumped worlds. "So, this is the new place then?" She said, looking around. "Doesn't seem like much."

The woman with blue hair and eyes repeated herself. "On the desk in front of you is a pen, and a piece of paper with some easy questions. If you can fill out the correct answers, then I can give you your Caretaker Collar." A multitude of random animals were sitting at other desks, and had pens in their mouths, writing on the paper in front of them.

"Torture universe, got it." Nion muttered. Written tests sucked, and she wanted to move about. But she also didn't want to spend her entire jaunt here in a jail cell either, so she figured to at least give it a try. Picking up the pen, she looked at the paper and read the first question.

Jo looked down at the paper, noting the others who broke from the patterns of the "Joker animals".
She turned to the "Joker" with the tail. "What is this about torture universe? I have no idea what's going on, all I know is me and Fiver are from different New Yorks." Jo kept her average voice to a low murmur after all this seemed like some kind of classroom.

Nion looked over at the woman seated next to her, and spotted her favorite dimensionally kidnapped robot along as well. "Oh, Hey Fiver. Good to see you again, sup?" Ignoring for a moment the comment made towards her, before redirecting focus at the human, "First time then, right? Alright, well, short answer is some bigshot Powers That Be yanked you out of your universe, and tossed you into other worlds as part of a game they play." A more empathetic person would probably pause there to let the statement sink in. Nion continued regardless "I don't think this is really a torture universe, at least not yet. But waking up immediately into a test you haven't prepared for is literally the stuff of nightmares, right?"

Alfonso glanced around him and saw that many of the strange creatures were writing on their test papers. He picked up the pen in his hand if he was grasping a stick and drew a few lines across the paper, to little effect. He threw down the pen in frustration and turned back to his father, who was somehow still snoring despite the hubbub around him. What were beards for, if not for waking?

The first question that Nion had seen was a surprisingly simple one. "Is dirt or rust dangerous to you?"

Fiver on the other hand, responded to Nion. "I hadn't seen you since before the gym battle. I was made to understand that no battle can be made between humans, only their pets. My yanma was defeated easily, but **** defeated everything on its own." It waited a moment. "I tried to contact you before hacking into the Pokemon network, but no signal could be located. l can send signals to your scouter again as of now."

Nion gave Fiver a thumbs up. "Awesome, good job on your win. And...that other thing. Sending signals, good for that." She obviously had no understanding of the technical aspects, but her enthusiasm for her friends success was genuine. Glancing at her test, Nion responded 'No' to the first question.

Menelwith waited until the blue teacher wasn't looking to answer the first question, but stared in bafflement at the rest. The questions got stranger as they went on.

Darius stirred as he felt a familiar pair of small hands tugging on the end of his beard. Not quite hard enough to hurt, but enough that it slowly drew him out of the realm of sleep, until he found he was not sailing on a ship in the middle of the sea after all, but rather, was sitting in a test room with a piece of paper in front of him.
"So this is the new world," he murmured to himself. Alfonso pointed to the test paper, already bearing scribble marks from his earlier attempt.
"Now, you'll see on the desk in front of you a pen, and a sheet of paper. If you can fill in the correct answers to the questions, then I can approve you as Caretakers, and give you your Caretaker Collars."
Darius picked up the pen, chewing on it in thought as he read the first question.

The NS5 looked to the paper itself. "Is dirt or rust dangerous to you?" A large amount of any material could immobilize anyone, even one of the dragons sitting nearby, only one of which Fiver had even met. Rust, on the other hand, could be very dangerous, which is why it was made of non-rusting materials. It wrote "Yes".

Jo looked at the test and began writing. "Dirt can make it difficult for me to see. No." She paused at question 3 and raised her hand politely waiting.

"Yes, miss?" The blue lady asked, looking directly at the plainest Jane that ever plained.

[Viirin]

Darius had seen enough infected wounds to know that even a little dirt could be dangerous in the wrong place.
1. Is dirt or rust dangerous to you? Yes
2. Should you throw trash on the ground? Yes
Inside was impolite, outside was just how people got rid of things, whether they were broken pots or bones left over from cooking. The ground sounded like it was outside, so he plumped for yes.
3. When you see insufficiently terraformed chemical leftover in gaseous form evaporating from under the ground that begins to coalesce into a five foot sized cubic bubble, should you use your Caretaker Collar on it to purify the contaminant?
Darius had no idea what half the words in that sentence meant, but it sounded like it was suggesting some kind of action should be taken, so he guessed yes.
4. If you find blood or bodily fluids staining the floors, walls, or something else, are you able to use your Caretaker Collar on it?
As above.
5. Do you have to wait for viscera stains to converge into a 5 foot cubic blob before using your Collar on it?
No, he decided.
6. If you pop an Inert Liquid bubble, or destroy an Inert Solid block, will the contamination spread and make the situation worse?
Yes seemed the most likely answer.
7. If you fail to use your Collar on Inert materials, will they turn into acid-spitting monsters and start attacking everyone they can?
Darius wasn't sure what an inert material was, so he went for yes.

"What exactly is a Caretaker Collar? Is it some kind of hyper tech device?" Jo asked the blue lady.

Menelwith's answer to the first question wasn't entirely true, she supposed, any wound that got dirty could make her sick eventually, but it wasn't immediately dangerous at least. The second question didn't make much sense. Eagles didn't worry much about that except in the sense of keeping their eyries clean which typically involved either tossing the remains of meals out of your nest or flying them away.
Even if you flew them away, they'd end up on the ground eventually. Was this some kind of trick question?
She finally flicked her wings in a shrug and put yes. At least the scraps wouldn't stink up the eyrie that way.
Menelwith skipped the third question. She might be able to read it, but the way the words were put together meant nothing to her.
For questions four and five, she wrote, "Is it from a sapient being or can I eat it? Eating sapient beings is just wrong."
Question six made no sense either and Menelwith skipped it too.
Question seven was oddly phrased, but she could at least answer part of it. "Can I set the monsters on fire if that happens?"

The blue lady looked at the boring woman, and her face lost all emotion. "I'm sorry. This program is extremely limited. You must ask the right questions." She went back to a gentle smile, prepared to answer other questions.

Jo would shrug and sigh slightly before deciding to wing it.
3: Assuming these caretaker collars can be used by anyone, yes Hazmat should be cleaned.
4: I don't know but it is a biohazard that should be dealt with
5: biohazards should be sterilized
6: assuming the bubble is hazardous material? Potentially
7: Who knows? There's probably some Ace that can make chemically inactive materials turn into monsters. So yes?
Jo shook her head and turned over the paper, wondering what kind of bizarre situation she had gotten into.

The blue lady saw a few individuals no longer writing, looking as though they had completed their tests. "Please bring your test to the front", she said to a few dogs, a deer, and a couple of the P.L.O.T. device wearers.

Menelwith brought the paper to the front.

Darius did likewise, feeling as if he were a pupil being tutored once again.

Jo also did so, still trying to come to grips with this new situation.

The blue lady took a glance at the paper a red dog had in his mouth, and cheered quietly. "Good work! If you put your paper in the feeder on the wall, you can get your Caretaker Collar!" The dog walked around the desks to a piece of metal sticking out of the wall, placing the slobbery paper onto it. The paper was pulled into the wall, and a steel-ringed circle with a blue-tinged crystal inside it popped out. On each side of the circle was a white segmented necklace, and the dog put it on by itself.
The lady looked at Menelwith's paper, and looked at her. "Don't worry, I will give you a display so you can find the correct answers."
She looked to Darius, and gave the same response as she did to the dragon.
Looking at Jo's, she did the same thing.
The same response was given to the NS5.

Lylia blinked her eyes open and looked around, noticing other players that she didn’t recognize sitting at desks like her own. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the other dragon, wondering what breed they were, before she looked towards the piece of paper in front of her as the blue lady gave instructions. Seeing no reason to delay, she started on the questions.
1: Lylia knew of the existence of potentially dangerous Earth-aligned monsters, but she decided that that wasn’t what the question was referring to. Rust was only a danger to various metals, and so she put ‘No.’
2: Of course you shouldn’t throw trash on the ground in public spaces, or in wilder areas. Lylia couldn’t remember what most clans did, but she knew that her own always collected the trash in a pile, where it could be sorted through for tradeable items. As such, she put ‘No.’
3: She didn’t understand one word of this question. It sounded like Lightning jargon, but she did understand enough words that she surmised it was asking if she should remove contamination, and so she put ‘Yes,’ along with a note about the clarity of the question.
4: At first, Lylia followed her logic from the previous question and wrote ‘Yes,’ but after she read the next question and decided it was oddly specific, she crossed her prior answer out and wrote ‘Sometimes’ instead.
5: This seemed like a strange question to ask, as Lylia didn’t think anyone would automatically assume that it would be the case. As such, she wrote ‘Yes’ and changed her answer to the previous question.
6: Popping a bubble certainly splattered it, and if something was in many pieces it would spread more. Deciding that any kind of contamination would be making something worse, Lylia answered ‘Yes.’
7: This was surely a joke question. While concentrations of certain elements caused certain creature’s abilities, she didn’t think they would blindly attack anything. Besides, those creatures didn’t come from materials. Unless that was how things worked in this world? The idea was still ridiculous, and so Lylia put ‘No’ as her answer.
After she finished, Lylia brought her test up to the blue-haired lady.

The blue-haired lady looked over Lylia's paper, and smiled, looking at her. "You have done very well. I'm sorry, I will give you a display to help you correct your two wrong answers."
The blue-eyed blue-haired lady spoke louder than she had before. "Now everyone, for those of you that need a little help, I will demonstrate."
Those familiar with high technology like Nion and Fiver, noticed that a quickly constructed hologram was made in front of them, first building its wireframe and then filling it in with basic texture, but it was still translucent.
"Is this much dirt or rust dangerous to you?" A circle appeared, and highlighted a small amount of dust on the holographic ground. The word "dirt" appeared next to it. A metallic goblet sat on a table on the holo-stage, and a circle appeared in front of that, highlighting some tarnish on the outside of the goblet. The word "rust" appeared next to it.
"Please fill in your answer in a yes or no format only. Should you throw trash on the ground?"
She flicked her wrist, and a plastic burger wrapper fell on the ground. "If everyone did that, this would happen." The holographic wrapper blew in fake wind, and it ended up against the holographic wall. More pieces of trash, such as various paper, styrofoam, and other light debris were rendered and blew in the wind that wasn't there, each piece of nonexistent garbage ending up in the same pile, that had quickly accumulated.
The holograms were cleared as she asked her next question. "When you see insufficiently terraformed chemical leftover in gaseous form evaporating from under the ground that begins to coalesce into a five foot sized cubic bubble, should you use your Caretaker Collar on it to purify the contaminant?" The ground looked more uneven, like natural dirt, and some steam-like puffs of smoke came up out of the ground, but settled on the surface like a fog. More puffs came up, and each one seemed to fall onto the existing dirty-looking cloud, until it was a 5 foot by 5 foot by 5 foot cube. She held up a necklace that looked like the red dog's collar, and it let out a beam of lightning that made the cubic bubble of dirty cloud cease to exist.
"If you find blood or bodily fluids staining the floors, walls, or something else, are you able to use your Caretaker Collar on it?" The hologram reset, and it looked like a kitchen counter and a wall, covered with meat juice and steak remnants. She pointed the necklace at it, and nothing happened.
"Do you have to wait for viscera stains to converge into a 5 foot cubic blob before using your Collar on it?" The meat juice and chunks of flesh moved on their own, going to a point in the middle of the mess, and it started growing in size, changing color until it was just a liquid-like bubble that looked like dried blood, but was a five foot cube. The blue lady aimed the necklace at it, and it let out its lightning beam, and the bubble was gone.
"If you pop an Inert Liquid bubble, or destroy an Inert Solid block, will the contamination spread and make the situation worse?" The hologram reset again, and in its place was a 5 square foot block of disgusting green moosh that somehow looked slimy and crispy at the same time. In her hands, a sledgehammer was rendered into existence, and she swung it at the block. It shattered into pieces, but each piece grew in size until each one of them was a five foot cube just as the first was.
"For your final question, if you fail to use your Collar on Inert materials, will they turn into acid-spitting monsters and start attacking everyone they can?" She turned her back to the six revolting blocks which started growing black flailing tentacles. A black eyestalk extended from somewhere inside, and a poison-green eye blinked at the crowd. It let out a screech from a mouth no one saw, but holographic green liquid of some kind sprayed out of it in a wide arc at the blue lady. She spun around, aiming her necklace at the flailing monstrosities, which disappeared one by one, with a lightning shot.
"Please fill out your questions as yes or no only." She went back to her usual half-relaxed half-smile.

After the presentation, Lylia went back over her answers, finding the two that were wrong. The last one was obviously one of them, since her hunch that things worked differently in this world was apparently correct, so she switched it to ‘Yes.’ The second wrong answer, she decided, must have been where she wrote ‘Sometimes,’ since it had to be a yes or no question. She crossed out her answer again and put a ‘No.’ Checking over her responses one more time, she brought the quiz up front.

The blue lady looked over the sheet brought to her by the Skydancer dragon Lylia, and smiled. "Good work! If you put your paper in the feeder on the wall, you can get your Caretaker Collar!"

[Viirin]

Darius gave the woman a sceptical look at the mention of a collar, but nevertheless made his way over to the wall, Alfonso following at his heels. He placed his forms into the feeder.

The wall made a slight whirring noise, and the paper seemed to crawl on its own through a small horizontal slit, just big enough for the paper to fit through. A vertical slot on the wall next to it made some clinking noises, and out rolled a steel-ringed jewel attached to a white necklace that looked suspiciously like centipede chitin.

Jo fed her sheet into the feeder, still trying to think of what exactly was going on. Maybe some powerful Ace locked them in some kind of mindscape for their own sick amusement? It would make sense that there would be several other Jokers here if that was the case after all who would miss a bunch of Jokers?
Either way the only way to get out is to learn more and play this game.

Lylia felt embarrassed by Sato’s bow, and quickly turned away towards the feeder to insert her paper.

Darius picked up the necklace in one hand and looked down at Alfonso, who reached up with a curious expression. Darius shook his head, keeping it out of the toddler's reach.
"Not this one, it could be dangerous." He sighed. "At least it's not a cow collar."
With some trepidation, he put the collar around his neck.

Nion watched the hologram display and figured this had to be some kind of trick, since it seemed like the blue chick was just giving away the answers. Maybe the real test was one of intelligence? Ability to follow basic instructions? So far this wasn't really giving her a sense of impending danger, so the stakes seemed pretty low here. If she was still on payroll to the Freiza force, this place seemed to be pretty easy to knock over. She jotted down the answers that seemed reasonable after getting the demonstration 'gram, but held off on submitting her test, doing a check with her scouter first to see what the power level of the natives seemed to be.
The scouter display pinged on, allowing Nion to do a quick sweep of the natives, and saw that they were registering as single digits. "Ok, that confirms that." She said to herself. Even if she failed this test, the consequences were likely to be pretty small, so she was confident when she stood up and went to pass in the paper.

Menelwith brought up her corrected paper, not really caring whether she passed or not, but the collar was shiny and magical.

The corrected papers were fed into the wall, and bejeweled collars came out. Some of the bracer-wearing contestants were still sleeping, but the blue lady would help them just as it did for everyone else.
A pink deer that had already gotten its collar walked up to the front when called, and the blue lady continued. "For those of you who have passed the test and gotten your anti-pollution Caretaker Collar, please complete the next two tasks and you will have finished everything successfully!"

Part of the cloud everyone was walking on parted slightly, revealing a highly technological metal disk. The clouds continued parting in between the classroom and the disk, revealing an impossibly deep hole leading to nothing. Nion's scouter detected the hole at 785,015 power level, Lylia detected magical power beyond reckoning, Menelwith sensed that flight above the hole could not be possible, and Fiver detected a collision detection all around, but not below the hole.

"Wow," Darius said. "That's a ****ing deep hole."

"When you are building your Sphere", the blue lady said, "you will not be able to fall. Use land blocks to extend your Sphere size. There are two ways you get land blocks. Go ahead, sweetie", the blue lady said to the pink deer. The Inert Liquid was blocking the only path visible anymore to the disk, but when the deer pumped its chest and stood proudly in front of the Inert Liquid, a lightning beam came out and the bubble ceased to exist. On the ground where the Inert was, was a 5 inch cubic block of cloud that bounced up and down gently, just above the ground.
"Would you do me a favor? Please put that cloud block in the hole."
The deer did this, and made a surprised deer sound. "I got another one!" the deer exclaimed.
"Yes, you first cleaned pollution, then completed a quest. Please put the other cloud in the rest of the hole to close it up."
The deer did this, and it was safely able to walk to the disk, and once it stood in the middle of it, it disappeared with a column of pink light.

Nion balked, momentarily frozen. "A-Almost Eight hundred thousand". That had to be a mistake, it couldn't possibly be accurate. Ever since jumping worlds, things had been drastically different. Before she left, Nion was pretty consistently able to access a power level of around ten thousand, marking her as a upper tier warrior. Some of the elites in the force were able to go way beyond that, a few even getting over 100 thousand. Outside of her world though, things had been different, drastically so. She hadn't been able to measure herself up here, but she could tell she was weaker.
"Wh-what exactly is down that hole!?" She demanded, almost shouting at the blue lady.

"I'm sorry", the woman began to answer. "This program is extremely limited. You must ask the right questions."

"You heard me, I said what in the hell is down there that is so powerful!?" Nion asked, demanding a response.

Having noticed how difficult it was to converse with this oddly bland likeness, Jo reverted to their normal mirrored androgynous form.
"Maybe it's just a bottomless pit? Or maybe that's where the Ace that put us here is?"
They turned to the hologram. "So to get out of here we have to clear these 'pollutions,' correct? How can we tell what is a pollution and what isn't? Is it if it's a cube?"

The hole opened back up again, and another Inert Liquid appeared, waiting for the next person to follow along with what the deer had done. As the next individual with a collar completed it, they disappeared in pink light at the center of the disk as well.
"Gas can form in normal liquids, such as in something carbonated. But liquid itself does not form itself into a bubble shape outside of a container. The Inert Liquid you must purify shows you that Inert Liquid obeys its own physics, such as condensing itself until it becomes solid. You must destroy these.
Gasses, mist, smoke, and steam can form, but it does not form cubic blocks that condense themselves until they eventually become Inert Gas, then become solid without any pressure being used. You must destroy these.
Inert Solids could be normal terrain converted into Inert Solids by long-term pollution, or used to be Inert Gas or Inert Liquid. You must destroy these. Be aware that it will permanently remove terrain from that area."

Nion, seeing that the hologram wasn't giving her any answers, felt her temper spiking. It kept talking about destroying the blocks that were appearing, so Nion grit her teeth and snarled. "Fine, if that's the only thing you are going to say!" Her aura flared up into a visible corona as she gathered a sphere of Ki into each hand, charging it up with power, and then firing it off as a beam of energy as thick around as a basketball, vaporizing the next block to appear.

Jo was going to use their collar on the next liquid but as the monkey tailed Joker-Ace vaporized it, instead they reached the picture for field, just in case. After all didn't the test say something about monsters?

Fiver was waiting in line, seeing its friend Nion angry. It helpfully pointed out, "Nion, the Inert Liquid didn't drop a block to go across the hole when you did that. Is it okay if I try?"

Nion almost snapped at Fiver, but kept from lashing out, since he hadn't really done anything wrong. "Who cares about the block? There's something enormously strong down in that hole, and nobody here seems concerned about it."

The NS5 gave its opinion. "It looks to me like this room is not real. We are only experiencing a training session in a place that does not exist. That hole can not be real, it is probably just something designed to make us follow a final instruction, then we can do whatever we want."

"The only way to get to whoever is behind this is to play their game for now. But after we get out of this room, mind if I make a sketch of you?" Jo asked Nion, their face as featureless as usual while in their normal form. After all they could definitely use another Ace up their sleeve.

Nion looked at Fiver, and slowly nodded. The robot, for all its faults, did seem to be genuinely smarter than Nion herself was. Maybe not smarter at everything, but if it came to figuring out weird problems like this, she'd have to defer to Fiver's judgement. "Alright, if you think so". She was about to try doing things the 'correct' way, with the bracer and everything, while wondering why she couldn't just fly over the hole, when another one of the participants approached her, this time it was some...smooth...shiny...person? Probably a person, asking if it could do a drawing of her. "Um... not right now, I'm kinda in the middle of something."

"Yeah like I said after we get through this." Jo nodded, allowing the Joker-Ace to take the first crack at it but ready to be next.

Nion shrugged. "I guess." she was a bit weirded out by this guy, but didn't really mind getting drawn either. She waited for the next block to appear, and then tried to mimic the actions performed by the others, using the power of the Collar on the block.

The Collar zapped out its lightning, and the Inert Liquid was gone. In its place on the ground, was a 5 square inch cube of cloud.

"This place is weird." Nion muttered, picking up the cloud piece, then using it to fill in the hole, cautiously, in case whatever was down there decided it was done laying patiently.

As she placed it, it expanded from a cube of 5 inches to a cube of 5 feet, filling half of the hole. The green jewel on her bracer flashed, indicating that she got something.

Nion noted her bracelet, and opened up the display to see what was up, once she'd passed over the hole and hopefully passed whatever stupid test this was. She crossed via flight, just to prove to herself how pointless this exercise had been.

She bumped into a wall she couldn't see, keeping her from traversing the final five feet of hole. In the bracer, she had something in a new section called "Inventory", not STORAGE. It had one item in it, a Floor Cloud Block.

Menelwith waited for Nion to finish. The hole gave her the uncomfortable feeling of being trapped on the ground. Her tail swished in agitation.

"Seriously? Is the point of this to prevent actual problem solving?" Nion went into her inventory again, removing the new block, and using it to finish the stupid hole cover.

The hole filled completely, allowing Nion access to the metal disk where she had already seen others disappear in the center of.

Jo stepped forward, ready for the next block.

Behind Nion, an Inert Liquid spawned. Since Nion had been passing as quickly as she could, she was already off of where the hole used to be, allowing it to safely reform the 5 by 10 by 5 foot lack of existence.

Jo would attempt to use the Collar on it.

"Well, glad that is over." Before proceeding, Nion recalled that her bracer usually gave her a list of instructions for each world visited. She pulled up the menu to see what her objective list for this reality was.

She could have jumped the hole, but she might as well follow the instructions. Menelwith destroyed the blob, filled the hole and continued on to the disk platform.

Having followed Nion and Menelwith's lead, Darius and Alfonso found themselves on the high platform. Darius put a firm hand on his small son's shoulder, just in case he felt tempted to go closer to the edge.

OBJECTIVES:

HAVE A SNACK AT HOME 0/11
ACQUIRE 5 BLOCKS 0/11
VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE 0/11

COMPLETION: 0/20

[Viirin]

"...ok then..." Nion blinked, closing her menu. "This world is weird." She stood by the transport pad, waiting for her friends to finish the 'tutorial' as Fiver called it.

Menelwith tapped her bracer to get a hint about the new world.

"Nion, would you like to see what is on the other side of this transporter? That's what it looks like to me, but I cannot be sure." The robot asked the alien.

"Well it seems like that's the way to get through this mindscape we seem to be trapped in." Jo muttered slightly before stepping onto the transporter.

"Yeah, in a sec, just making sure everyone else in our gang makes it through here" She said, arms crossed, tail flicking. She was keeping an eye on the hole. It was kind of pointless, if whatever was in there decided it wanted a fight, about all she could hope to do was die fighting. But the rest of the group was even worse off than that, and then there were the animal-folk of this dimension. It'd be nagging at her if she just left them in danger.

"I will stay with you, then, if you don't mind. Protection of others is my First Law. At the same time, there could be danger on the other side of the transporter." Fiver replied.

"That's a good point." Nion admitted. "Suppose we could group up on this side of the pit-o-doom, head out together."

"Usually safer in numbers," Darius agreed.

Lylia did the same as the others (although feeling extremely nervous based on the amount of magic she detected coming from the hole), and decided to wait for everyone to cross. While she was curious about the metal disc, she also somewhat wanted to meet the other players.

Nion nodded, taking a seat on the ground as she waited.

"I will be the vanguard." The service droid walked into the transporter's center, and a pink column of light shone where it had been standing, leaving nothing there.
"There isn't anything here, almost literally." The NS5 had sent a comminique to Nion's scouter. "Totally safe."

"He says it's a totally safe," Nion relayed.
If Fiver said it was safe, then Darius believed him. Taking Alfonso by the hand, he walked onto the same spot. A moment later, he found himself on a smaller, largely empty platform. There was no sign of Fiver.
"Hello?" Darius called out. "Is anyone there?"
He called a couple more times, but no response was forthcoming. At that moment, he heard a ping on his bracer.
"Buy first world hint for 250 points, with 300 point rebate!"
Darius hit the screen to accept.

A small book appeared in front of Darius, hovering in place, but no one else seemed able to see it. It was titled "Food". It opened itself, and something was written on the pages. "Lots of nutritious food well-suited to nurture a growing body can be found nearby! Look under rocks for roots, or purchase the Detect Ever Tree option to find something even better."

Nion responded through the channel, "D. make it through okay to your side?"

The NS5 looked around, seeing nothing but the flying island it was standing on, and a couple smaller ones nearby. There was a landscape far away, but that was it. "No. I don't see him."

"Wait, he's not there?" Nion blinked "He stepped through the transport pad on this side, so he's certainly not here."

The machine was equally confused. "No, nothing is here. It's just some grass on a floating island, and another transporter disk."

"****" Nion swore. Two people through and they were already separated. "Hold on, I'm going to try and get some answers."
Nion flew back towards the start of the zone, the testing room. "Hey, Blue. Hologram lady. What's the deal with the transporter pads?"

The blue lady responded to the shapeshifting alien supersoldier. "I'm sorry. This program is extremely limited. You must ask the right questions."

Nion bit her tongue to keep from loosing her temper. Speaking as slowly and clearly as she could, she asked, "Where. Does. That," She pointed to the pad, "Send. People?"

The hologram smiled. "Every Caretaker gets a personal Sphere to customize and use as they see fit. That telepad will create a pocket dimension owned by you alone."

"Okay, now we are getting somewhere." Nion sighed. Clearly she was on the wrong end of this conversation, since getting answers was going to be like pulling teeth. "How do I get inside of someone else's personal sphere?"

"If you meet a friend on a planet, then you can invite others to your own Sphere!" The lady didn't say it was restricted to other Caretakers, which Nion noted.

"Wait, we aren't on a planet?" Nion asked, reflexivly. She didn't feel like they were in space, artificial gravity always gave her a sort of itchy tingle in her lower back. "Nevermind, not important. How do I get from here to a planet?"

"If you go through the telepad to you own Sphere, there is another telepad there. Use that to go to a planet so you can begin working!" The hologram answered.

Finding nothing of interest on the blank expanse, Jo turned their attention to the device on their arm that they had been too busy to notice. Maybe it would have a clue as to how to get off this grassy field...

"Great, guess that'll have to go on." Nion returned to the group by the tele-pad, and relayed her findings, communicating to Fiver as well "Okay, so when you go through this, you get sent to a sort of...personal dimension. Private world. Whatever. Once you are there, there'll be another warp pad, and that'll take all of us to the same place. From there we can regroup and get into eachothers worlds, I guess."
"It's a little shaky but there doesn't seem to be any other way out of here, and the objective list on the bracelets seem to be pointing us in this direction."

It was strange information to be relayed, but everything was strange in whatever the last place was, and just as strange, but in a totally different way, in this place. Stepping onto the transporter, an option popped up in its user interface. There was only one option, "Rock Garden". The robot, upon deciding to accept, was teleported.
Pink light surrounded it for a second, and then when it cleared it wasn't in its "own world" anymore, but in a gentle forest.
"Nion, I went through my transporter and am now in a lightly forested field."

"Any weird pokemonsters or anything around?" Nion asked.

Scanning around, it didn't see anything strange. "There is a small river with a slow current, some normal-looking trees, grass, flowers, and a rocky hill in the distance. No monsters, no tall grass."

Nion nodded. "Alright, stay safe buddy." and then turned to the weird group of misfit world-travelers "Doesn't seem to be any other way forward. Things look pretty safe from here, least as far as I can tell. I'm going to head through from here, and then to the planet below. If you don't want to risk it, I'd suggest just heading through the portal and then staying there till the timer runs out on this world and ports everyone over to the next reality."

After getting the hang of their new bracer, Jo stepped onto the transporter, thinking it would send them back to the starting area and then selected the only option.

Menelwith inspected her little floating island and not finding that much was interesting, went back to the disk that had brought her in.

Takia woke up in this new place. A classroom? Why the **** was he here?

After an instant or so Jo appeared in the lightly forested area of the Rock Garden.

Nion decided that there was no time like the present. And while she would never admit it, she hadn't scored very many points in the last few worlds. These objectives seemed pretty easy to accomplish, so taking a chance to up her ranking would be good. She stepped onto the transport platform, and was teleported to her personal world.
Taking a minute or two to look at the bland environment, she then located the transport pad, and ported from there to the planets surface.

Lylia followed the others onto the transporter, and blinked in surprise when she found herself on the floating island. It reminded her of the floating chunks of earth that she had sometimes seen back home, although this time she was on top of one, and not watching from afar. She also found that trying to go past the edge to the smaller chunks was impossible, as if there was an invisible force pushing her back. It made her feel surprisingly claustrophobic, since she couldn’t really fly.

Lylia turned her attention to her bracer, checking the objectives for the world, as well as the new items in the STORE, before she decided to step onto the transporter. One of the other players had said that there was a new planet, and Lylia assumed that the transporter took her to it. She was curious about what she would find.

Meanwhile, Darius had made no progress in finding his lost companions. On balance, though, he decided that remaining on top of a stomach-churningly high, unwalled platform with an excitable three-year-old was probably not the best idea, and so he decided to try his luck with the transporter once more. With any luck, he might find the sources of food that the hint had suggested.

The "Rock Garden" option on the telepad led to a grassy field approximately 70 feet wide by 35 feet wide, with trees on two sides and one corner, though the trees were far apart from one another and the dragons could easily fly between them without issue.
There was a pile of rocks, each of them a five-foot cube as so many things in this world seemed to be except for the plants and water.
Behind most of the group was a small patch of yellow and white flowers that none of them had ever seen before, and the blooming flowers got more numerous as it led up to a normal-looking tree that was highly similar to oak, for those that knew that species.
However, the oak tree was growing what appeared to be something similar to a crossbreed of bamboo shoots and bean sprouts.
On the other side of the strange tree was a thin river, gently moving along.
On the other side of the river was more grass and other trees with less of a boxed-in feeling as the current side of the river had, but there was a metal disk similar to the telepad. However, this disk was much smaller and had a glowing green orb hovering over it.

[Viirin]

Nion blinked. "This...this is a planet?"

"It certainly looks like one. Walking on clouds didn't seem like a planet, but this at least has dirt, grass, trees, water, and rocks." Fiver answered her. "However, I do not see any animal life besides our group."

Nion nodded. "Well, we should probably get to work then". She opened up her objective list again and reviewed the tasks. "Eat a meal at home would be nice, so we could look for food. Acquire blocks, easy enough, and visit each others spheres.

"Sounds like a plan. I wonder if the Ace who dreamed this up is like Five or something." Jo openly stated.

Menelwith had looked for an option more promising for a meal than a Rock Garden, whatever that was, but finding none, tapped the option.

Nion sighed, and placed her hand on the weird mirror-guys shoulder. "I don't know what an Ace is, but I can assure you, this is very real. You, me, the dragon...we all got picked off our realities."

Sato dutifully follows Lylia through the transporter, feeling as if a weight had been lifted now that he had purpose again.

Jo gave Nion their own opinion. "Basically someone who won the jackpot when their card turned. Instead of dying or getting horrifically mutated they get powers. For all I know this reality jumping could be the work of a ridiculously powerful Ace."

Nion shrugged. "I mean, I can't disprove that specifically, but then, I'm not really understanding most of what you are describing." Her tail swished impatiently, trying to convey the situation with this mirror guy. "Look, uh...whats your name?"

"Jo, but my stage name is Doppelganger. I do sketch portraits and impressions."

"Nion" The saiyan introduced herself, "and prior to getting roped into this, I was a squad captain in the Frieza Force." She left out what exactly the Frieza force did, since 'planetary conquest' wasn't the greatest opening line. "So Jo, whatever our old jobs were, the breakdown is that we get assignments from the gods or...what did you call them...Acres...are running this game." She held up her bracelet and showed Jo how to open the menu. "You do the tasks, you get points, get enough points, you can buy stuff, or save till you can get out of the game."

[sadatg]

ALL PLAYERS

Something shiny glinted a fragment of light, blinding you just enough to get you to blink. Once you opened your eyes, you found yourself sitting at a desk that was seemingly made out of a fine porcelain, but it had a strange texture. There are a multitude of desks surrounding you, with different beings sitting at other ones. The desks all faced the same direction, and there was a human woman with what appeared to be naturally sea-blue hair with the same color eyes, standing in front.

There were some familiar faces amongst the crowd of... well most of them couldn't be called 'people', sitting at the desks. There were two dragons, a half-elf toddler, a few humans, a robot, a human-shaped mirror, and what appeared to be a human woman with a lightly flicking furry tail. However, they all seemed to be asleep. The only beings that seemed to be paying attention to what was being said were the various large red dogs, green pigs, black turtles, orange horses, and pink deer.

"Welcome to you, travelers from across the stars, to the final phase of your applications", the woman began to say, waking up some individuals. "If you fill out the questionnaire, I can give you a short walkthrough of your new powers and rewards."

Jon had been dozing off dreaming happily of his days in the terris camp outside of Elendale. He was napping on the hard warm surface of his desk in Miss Tindwyl's class. As he realized he was sleeping in class he started storing connection in an attempt to avoid Miss Tindwyl's wrath. He opened his eye to peak around the classroom and sat bolt upright in shock. Memories and realization washed over him as he took in the strange cloudy classroom. He tuned in to what the teacher was saying at the front, a picture floated behind her depicting a small amount of dirt and rust.

Jon looked down at his desk and found the test. He carefully circled "No" on "Is dirt or rust dangerous to you?" Before continuing with the test, taking hints from the presentation as needed.


1. Is dirt or rust dangerous to you?
"No", obvious rust was of ruin, but he doubted his theology counted for much here.

2. Should you throw trash on the ground?
"No", obviously.

3. When you see insufficiently terraformed chemical leftover in gaseous form evaporating from under the ground that begins to coalesce into a five-foot sized cubic bubble, should you use your Caretaker Collar on it to purify the contaminant?
Very strange and pointed question. Jon watched the presentation before answering "Yes".

4. If you find blood or bodily fluids staining the floors, walls, or something else, are you able to use your Caretaker Collar on it?
Jon hoped the answer was yes. It would make keeping the manor clean a breeze! He was disappointed watching the hologram and reluctantly circled "No".

5. Do you have to wait for viscera stains to converge into a 5-foot cubic blob before using your Collar on it?
With some horror, Jon circled "Yes" as the viscera converged.

6. If you pop an Inert Liquid bubble or destroy an Inert Solid block, will the contamination spread and make the situation worse?
Jon had decided was not going to like this world, "Yes"

7. If you fail to use your Collar on Inert materials, will they turn into acid-spitting monsters and start attacking everyone they can?
Wait what? So here trash multiplied by itself and then became murderous sentient monsters?! It was all his worst nightmares rolled into one. Well at least he had the training for dealing with this, for is it not a butlers job to take out the trash? Jon circled "Yes"


Taking a different tack in this world Jon decided to remain anonymous as possible, If the trash was to be his enemy he would be prepared for its attack. He waited at the end of the line to feed his answers into the wall slot. The caretaker's collar pops out as his reward. Apparently it was to be his only weapon against the trash here. He stored the thing and was prompted to integrate it to the bracer. Thinking of the acid-spewing trash he did so, a glowing disk encircled in chrome extending from the bracer to settle in the palm of his hand. He flexed his fingers around it savoring the trash destroying power it ensconced.

Again he waited, this time for access to the cloud platform. Luckily this meant he got to overhear Nions questions about where the teleporter leads and how the instances worked. His own private mini-world? Neat. Almost worth the trade-off for sentient murder rubish. Jon zapped the inert liquid and placed the cloud block before passing the bridge.

The book entitled "Food" floated before Jon, obscuring his view of a small floating platform of grass-covered dirt blocks, a faint grid marking out 5ft squares could almost be taken as an optical illusion. Jon read the book and was reminded of the STORE and, more importantly, the OBJECTIVES. He could only imagine the task that would be set in this world where viscera multiplied exponentially and gained sentience. Fearful he checked...


HAVE A SNACK AT HOME 0/11
ACQUIRE 5 BLOCKS 0/11
VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE 0/11

COMPLETION: 0/20


Mildly confused Jon blinked at the objectives. First, these seemed very tame compared to the nature of this world. Second, why were there 0/11 after each? Third, where was "home".

After considering this for a while Jon decided that the 0/11 refered to the number of players that had completed each. The COMPLETION at the bottom probably meant that as a collective they had to complete 20 of these tasks before they would be let out of this world. He also figured that here might be considered "home" and as he was hungry anyway he should probably sit down for a snack.

Jon grabbed the book from the air and settled on the ground to much on a pie whilst reading it.

A faint *ping* sounds as he finishes his pie, smiling to himself Jon checks his objectives window again. Sure enough HAVE A SNACK AT HOME has turned green and read 1/11 and COMPLETION now read 1/20. Satisfied that he had the gist of what was going on he check out the SHOP. First up he noticed he had gained 500 points, nice. The shop contained ways to change his little pocket universe, reading through the descriptions told him alot about the place as it was. He couldnt be hurt here or accidently fall off the edge. It would however always be day time. the local currency seemed fairly cheap too. The "Detect ever tree" purchase that the book had touted was a reasonable 100 points to buy. Jon decided to purchase both it and the "Hint" leaving him with a cool 1300 points.

[Viirin]

"Looks like I got dragged into this at just the right time based off our current list of goals. But I should probably get that sketch of you done before we leave this relatively safe stage. If things get dangerous it would definitely help to have another ace up my sleeve, so to speak." Jo said to herself, and reminded Nion.

Nion chuckled. "I am pretty tough, but I don't think a drawing of me is going to scare anyone off in a fight."

Jo chuckled through their resting chrome face. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order?"

Nion raised an eyebrow, wondering how sketching would qualify as a demonstration. But she nodded for Jo to proceed, and sat back in the grass to watch.
She also turned on her scouter, just in case.

Jo nodded and began sketching Nion, producing fairly realistic miniature portrait on a previously blank card. "Now watch closely."
They focused on the card and their form shimmered and shifted slightly, until an exact duplicate of Nion sat where Jo had been.
Jo stretched, getting used to her new form and waved the card a bit to try and get the ink to dry faster. "See what I mean?" Jo asked, replicating Nion's voice.

Nion's eyes went wide. "Hey, you're me!" She jumped to her feet "Damn, that's impressive". Her face was plastered into a wide grin as she walked around her copy, looking herself over. She gave an impressed whistle. "Yup, still smoking hot, good to see that hasn't..." She trailed off as she noticed her scouter read twenty five. "25!?!? The HELL!" Her smile was replaced with a scowl as she angrily jabbed at the controls on the side of her visor. "There is NO WAY that I'm registering as a 25!"

"I've been monitoring the scouter's readings, so I can make it more accurate. Could I try your scouter on, to scan the real you?" Fiver asked one of its friend.

Nion angrily removed the device and thrust it into Fiver's hands. "Yeah...yeah! We'll get a proper reading this time." She stomped a half dozen paces away, turned back towards the robot and her copy and assumed a wide spread stance, fists clenched tight as her jaw in a determined snarl. She let her aura flare up as she pushed her Ki outward, growing into a fiery halo around her. Her mouth dropped open into a bellowing shout, sustained far longer than one would believe possible from mere mortal lungs, rising in volume as her aura grew larger. Bits of rock and earth near her began to crack and crumble, rising into the air, while the grass was matted down to the ground by the pressure waves emanating from the saiyan.

Fiver looked through the scouter at normal Nion and glowing Nion. It took off the scouter, and handed it to the one that was glowing. "One thousand and two."

Nion relaxed as soon as she got the reading, letting her energy level drop back down, leaving her with a layer of sweat, but a satisfied smirk. "And...don't", she huffed out, "you... forget it! Phew! I could use a snack now."

"I only bought some bottles of water in terms of consumable supplies before we left. Since there is a clean-looking river there, I can let you have a bottle. It might be good to keep it full if we find places where it can be refilled." The robot offered.

"Odd this doesn't feel like it usually does..." She put out her hands like how Nion did when firing the Ki blast and concentrated...
Nothing...
Their face was slightly concerned, just before it became a featureless reflective blank slate. They fished out another card and focused on it, becoming a tall somewhat broad red haired man with a "high and tight" military haircut.
He concentrated and began glowing red as a plasma field enveloped his body, scorching any grass that touched him.
"Okay... so my trait mimicry still works just not on you... weird... I mean I've seen weirder but this is odd for me..."

Nion shook her head at the machine. "Nah, hold onto it for now." She walked over to the stream, squatted, and dunked her head in, getting a full mouth of water and rinsing her hair out at the same time. After a second or two, she pulled herself back out. Despite being soaking wet, her hair hadn't changed shape in the slightest.

While still standing next to Jo, Fiver did not want to continue holding its Caretaker Collar. Instead of putting it in the backpack it was wearing, it knew it would need it again soon, so it tried putting it in STORAGE.
"Compatible gadget detected. Sacrifice one STORAGE slot to incorporate?" This time, the voice coming from the bracer was audible. "Yes", the robot answered. The Collar ceased to exist, and the machine's bracer, which still looked like the upgraded Pokédex version, switched forms. It was still a bracer, but it had a gauntlet with finger guards attached, and the Collar's lens was now found in the palm of the NS5's hand.

Jo shrugged and turned off the plasma field before resuming their regular form. "So we got to visit each other, eat and get blocks right?"

Fiver hadn't looked at the OBJECTIVES yet, and didn't know what Jo was talking about. "If that's what you would like to do, then yes?"

Menelwith's purchase of the "Hint" gave her information directly inside her head, sounding like her own voice talking to her. "The Lux shop looks like a small metal disk with a green orb floating over it. If you can find it, buy the Idea of a Food Tree! If you put an Idea in your Sphere and put meat in it, the trees will grow meat!"

"But it is really odd that we're supposed to be doing such mundane things. But we should really figure out how to do this because I don't know about you guys but I didn't see anyone between going in the transporter and showing up here."

"Nion told me that everyone gets their own dimension, which would explain why we didn't see anyone else after we left that classroom. Assuming what she said was accurate, and they are all the same, we should go looking for some Inert materials. We got cloud blocks from the Inert Liquid in order to get here, so there must be more Inert materials around here somewhere." The machine waited a moment before finishing its vocalized analysis. "We could not go over that hole unless a block was on it, and I tried going over the floating island but that didn't work either. Maybe we can place blocks there too, if we have any."
The NS5 thought that the simulated game and software update it was experiencing was showing signs of being a modded game, and not one with stationary code.

Darius had never seen any landscape quite like it. It would have been an almost familiar set of rolling hills and small forests, if it wasn't for the fact that it was divided into five foot cubes. Darius at least could haul himself up, whereas Alfonso had to be lifted onto each in turn. It was slow progress.
"Wait... a moment," Darius said after he had pushed Alfonso up for what felt like the thousandth time. He looked down at his bracer, checking the frequency of the green beep resulting from the "Detect Ever Tree" option he had purchased on the hint's advice. He had to be close.
Below Darius were a couple more grass-covered dirt blocks to get down to a more manageable level, and a few spindly-looking, but very tall trees were in a dense patch. Sticking out from them was a much wider and shorter tree with lush leafy foliage blocking his view from the tree's branches. However, according to the bracer's purchase, that was what he was supposed to be looking for. Upon spotting it and recognizing that it was different from the other trees nearby, the green light stopped blinking entirely.

"That must be it," Darius breathed. He helped Alfonso down the last couple of levels, before swinging himself down. "What you think do we do now?" he said to Alfonso. "Dig it out?"

[The JoJo]

There were stranger things which Darius had seen, but not many of them. He reached up to pluck down the nearest... sausage?

"It smells all right," he said to Alfonso. "Suppose there's only one way to find out."

It tasted like a mixture of pork and rabbit, though the spices were unfamiliar.

"Want to try some?" Darius asked Alfonso. The toddler took the smallest imaginable bite, before sticking his tongue out and making a face.

"Yeah, I didn't think you would like it," Darius muttered. Still, now that he had found the tree as recommended by the hint, he had no idea what to actually do with it.

Everyone's bracer's red jewel began glowing, making an entire aura around them. Somehow, the aura blinked to be even redder than it already was at an increasing speed.

OBJECTIVES
HAVE A SNACK AT HOME 1/6
ACQUIRE 5 BLOCKS 0/6
VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE 0/6

COMPLETION: 1/10

Darius' bracer beeped once more.

"Please concentrate with the collar to return to your home sphere."

Darius brought out the necklace, clutching it in his right hand while furrowing his brow.

"If this doesn't work, you aren't to tell anyone," he told Alfonso.

To Darius' surprise, it did work. It didn't bring the tree back with them, but then you couldn't have everything.

Over the next few hours and with the help of the bracer, Darius began to get to grips with what their personal sphere actually was. He found when trying to peer over the edge that there was some kind of invisible barrier preventing one from falling off, but still nearly had a heart attack every time Alfonso tottered near the edge.

The transporter in the centre of the platform took them down to the world below, while a quick thought while holding the collar brought them back up. Alfonso didn't appear to be able to do this himself, although Darius wasn't sure if that was just because he was doing it wrong.

Allowing Alfonso to finally have the safety-tested sausage, partially to keep him away from the safe but still disconcerting ledge, he saw his bracer blink its green gem once. Upon checking it, it changed its OBJECTIVES, as such:

"HAVE A SNACK AT HOME 2/6
ACQUIRE 5 BLOCKS 2/6
VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE 0/6
COMPLETION: 4/10"

Alfonso eating a sausage counted towards this world's quests? Darius couldn't help but think about the last time he had some food himself.

"I think," Darius said, "it's time we went hunting."

[The JoJo]

Upon landing upon the blocky planet, Darius reached for his knife. He would have preferred a bow, or even a slingshot, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He cupped his hands over his eyes, looking towards the closest forest. Then, suddenly, a realisation struck him.

There were no birds in the sky. No squirrels in the trees. Not even any insects on the ground below him.

"Let's go and check the river," Darius said to Alfonso. They made their way block-by-block over to the closest stream beside the forest, Alfonso hopping onto a stepping stone while Darius crouched down to inspect the crystal clear water. There was nothing to be seen.

"What sort of world has no animals...?" Darius murmured. It didn't make any sense with what he had seen earlier above the planet. As if on cue, his bracer beeped.

"Detect Ever Tree?" flashed up on the screen. With some reluctance, Darius pressed the button. It wasn't as if he could live off sausages alone. The bracer immediately began to beep frantically.

"Wait there, I'll see if it's over here," Darius said. Alfonso nodded absent-mindedly, still apparently intrigued by the gently-rocking stone he stood on. "And careful that thing doesn't tip over," Darius added.

Darius entered the glade and then saw a shining, golden fruit. He opened his mouth to call for Alfonso, but before he could do so, there was a cry and then a loud splash.


~

A short time later, Alfonso sat shivering on the edge of a block, wrapped in Darius' cloak while his clothes hung out to dry on a nearby tree. Beside him sat a small but dwindling pile of ever sweets. He gave his father a look that resembled that of a wet fish plucked out of the water against its will.

"I did warn you to be careful on that stone," Darius said, shaking his head. "Tell you what. It's about time you learned to swim."

900 points, plus 500 for first capture, 100 for hint rebate x2, 100 for befriending pokemon, 10 for first purchase = 1610

Minus 200 for Detect EverTree x 2 = 1410

[sadatg]

Jon stood from his meal and braced himself for the task ahead. He raised his Caretaker Gauntlet, stored connection and stepped onto the plate.

He reappeared in a small sparsely populated forest. Adopting a half-crouch Jon spun around, the animate trash could be anywhere. Seeing little of intrest he started moving through the supposed "rock garden". He was cautious holding trash slaying, lightning emitting, gauntlet in front of him as though it were a gun. He checked every dark shadow as he passed it, not wanting to give the trash an opening to sneak upon him.

This lasted for some time, Jon sneaking up to a tree, leaping past it wheeling around, seeing nothing and carrying on to the next tree. By the time he reached the river, he was quite worn out. Taking another short break he rested with his feet in the river. As he did he saw a strange green floating orb some way up the river from him. It was a neon green that clashed with its surroundings, almost like someone had intentionally made it as noticeable as possible. He dried off his feet and slipped back on his dirt coated loafers.

As he turned to head towards the orb he heard a piercing "SCREEE" from behind him. Jon span, his heart racing, to see his worst nightmare. The beast could only be described as vile. It took advantage of his moment of revulsion to spew a vicious burning fluid upon him, a mix of acid and trash. It covered him drenching him and slightly searing his skin. The worst part was the nauseating smell, Jon had to fight down the urge to vomit and then dive into the river to wash off. He remembered his brief "training" and shoved his hand in its direction, lightening leaped out and engulfed his hellish foe. The singular eye clamped shut and retracted into the strange misty body.

This elected a second "SCREE" from the vile and Jon attempted to run for the cover of trees. As he fled the second wave of trash washed over him. He keeled over fighting against the urge to wretch and threw another bolt of lightning over the vile, which promptly popped and vanished from view.

Panting from the intense fight Jon crawled over to the river and slipped in scrubbing at his now soiled shirt and pants. After ten minutes of frantic scrubbing, Jon had relaxed back to normal and noticed the glowing green gem on his bracer again. He tapped at it and a "REWARDS" screen opened displaying a "clay" block and 70 lux. Jon looked around looking for clay and figured it must be below him as he couldnt see any. Recovered from his ordeal he made the short journey up to the floating green orb.

Upon reaching the orb an interface titled "Lux Shop" opened for Jon. After a few minutes of alternating between the shop menu and the bracers menu Jon decided to get one of each thing by exchanging 400 of his "points" to 8000 Lux. That left him with 420 Lux and 1900 points. He wairly regarded the Evertree, by far the most expensive item. "You better be one amazing tree" he muttered.

[Viirin]

"Looks like I got dragged into this at just the right time based off our current list of goals. But I should probably get that sketch of you done before we leave this relatively safe stage. If things get dangerous it would definitely help to have another ace up my sleeve, so to speak.:

Nion chuckled "I am pretty tough, but I don't think a drawing of me is going to scare anyone off in a fight"

Jo chuckled through their resting chrome face. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order?"

Nion raised an eyebrow, wondering how sketching would qualify as a demonstration. But she nodded for Jo to proceed, and sat back in the grass to watch.
She also turned on her scouter, just in case.

Jo nodded and began sketching Nion, producing fairly realistic miniature portrait on a previously blank card.
"Now watch closely."
They focused on the card and their form shimmered and shifted slightly, until an exact duplicate of Nion sat where Jo had been.
Jo stretched, getting used to her new form and waved the card a bit to try and get the ink to dry faster. "See what I mean?" Jo asked, replicating Nion's voice.

Nion's eyes went wide "Hey, you're me!" She jumped to her feet "Damn, that's impressive". Her face was platered into a wide grin as she walked around her copy, looking herself over. She gave an impressed whistle "Yup, still smoking hot, good to see that hasn't..."She trailed off as she noticed her scouters read "25!?!? The HELL!" Her smile was replaced with a scowl as she angerly jabbed at the controls on the side of her visor "There is NO WAY that I'm registering as a 25!"

"I've been monitoring the scouter's readings, so I can make it more accurate. Could I try your scouter on, to scan the real you?" Fiver asked one of its friend.

Nion angerly removed the device and thrust it into Fivers hands "Yeah...yeah! We'll get a proper reading this time" She stomped a half dozen paces away, turned back towards the robot and her copy and assumed a wide spread stance, fists clenched tight as her jaw in a determined snarl. She let her aura flare up as she pushed her ki outward, growing into a firey halo around her. Her mouth droped open into a bellowing shout, sustained far longer than one would believe possible from mere mortal lungs, rising in volume as her aura grew larger. Bits of rock and earth near her began to crack and crumble, rising into the air, while the grass was matted down to the ground by the pressure waves emenating from the saiyan.

Fiver looked through the scouter at normal Nion and glowing Nion. It took off the scouter, and handed it to the one that was glowing. "One thousand and two."

Nion relaxed as soon as she got the reading, letting her energy level drop back down, leaving her with a layer of sweat, but a satisfied smirk. "And...don't She huffed out "You....Forget it! Phew! I could use a snack now"

"I only bought some bottles of water in terms of consumable supplies before we left. Since there is a clean-looking river there, I can let you have a bottle. It might be good to keep it full if we find places where it can be refilled." The robot offered.

"Odd this doesnt feel like it usually does..." She put out her hands like how nion did when firing the ki blast and concentrated...
Nothing...
Their face was slightly concerned just before it became a featureless reflective blank slate. They fished out another card and focused on it, becoming a tall somewhat broad red haired man with a high and tight.
He concentrated and began glowing red as a plasma field enveloped his body, scorching any grass that touched him.
"Ok... so my trait mimicry still works just not on you... weird... I mean I've seen weirder but this is odd for me..."

Nion shook her head "Nah, hold onto it for now" She walked over to the stream, squatted, and dunked her head in, getting a full mouth of water and risning her hair out at the same time. After a second or two, she pulled herself back out. Despite being soaking wet, her hair hadn't changed shape in the slightest.

While still standing next to Jo, Fiver did not want to continue holding its Caretaker Collar. Instead of putting it in the backpack it was wearing, it knew it would need it again soon, so it tried putting it in STORAGE.

"Compatible gadget detected. Sacrifice one STORAGE slot to incorporate?" This time, the voice coming from the bracer was audible. "Yes", the robot answered. The Collar ceased to exist, and the machines bracer, which still looked like the upgraded pokedex version, switched forms. It was still a bracer, but it had a gauntlet with finger guards attached, and the Collar's lens was now found in the palm of the NS5's hand.

Jo shrugged and turned off the plasma field before resuming their regular form. "So we got to visit each other, eat and get blocks right?"

Fiver hadn't looked at the OBJECTIVES yet, and didn't know what Jo was talking about. "If that's what you would like to do, then yes?"
Menelwith's purchase of the "Hint" gave her information directly inside her head, sounding like her own voice talking to her. "The Lux shop looks like a small metal disk with a green orb floating over it. If you can find it, buy the Idea of a Food Tree! If you put an Idea in your Sphere and put meat in it, the trees will grow meat!"

"But it is really odd that we're supposed to be doing such mundane things. But we should really figure out how to do this because I dont know about you guys but I didn't see anyone between going in the transporter and showing up here."

"Nion told me that everyone gets their own dimension, which would explain why we didn't see anyone else after we left that classroom. Assuming what she said was accurate, and they are all the same, we should go looking for some inert materials. We got cloud blocks from the inert liquid in order to get here, so there must be more inert materials around here somewhere." The machine waited a moment before finishing its vocalized analysis. "We could not go over that hole unless a block was on it, and I tried going over the floating island but that didn't work either. Maybe we can place blocks there too, if we have any."
The NS5 thought that the simulated game and software update it was experiencing was showing signs of being a modded game, and not one with stationary code.

Below Darius were a couple more grass-covered dirt blocks to get down to a more manageable level, and a few spindly-looking, but very tall trees were in a dense patch. Sticking out from them was a much wider and shorter tree with lush leafy foliage blocking his view from the tree's branches. However, according to the bracer's purchase, that was what he was supposed to be looking for. Upon spotting it and recognizing that it was different from the other trees nearby, the green light stopped blinking entirely.

"That must be it," Darius breathed. He helped Alfonso down the last couple of levels, before swinging himself down. "What you think do we do now?" he said to Alfonso. "Dig it out?"

As Darius said that, a small breeze blew from... Darius had no idea what direction that was. But it came from the direction of the detected Ever Tree, but well beyond it. From beneath the branches of the tree, he could see that the tree itself was growing meat. It was in an easily recognizable shape, but the scent wasn't entirely familiar. A tree that grows cooked meat?

The mystical "Food" book that appeared when Jon bought the HINT in this new world had some interesting information inside it, to be sure. The first page had a list of details, but flipping through the pages showed basic information written in such huge letters that a single word took up at least a page. It read as such:

"In regards to those of you wearing a P.L.O.T. Device, the Sphere is a gift to one, a gift to all. There is another gift to be discovered later, but that's that and this is this. Time goes by inside the Sphere whether you're in it or not, but you can't come here whenever you want! You can't enter it if you're in battle or active danger! Other universes have a bit higher resolution than this one does, so think about that when you're waiting tables."

While Jo waited for the group to come to a consensus they'd place their items from the messenger bag into the bracers "inventory" keeping an eye out for cubes that can be made into blocks with the collar.

There were stranger things which Darius had seen, but not many of them. He reached up to pluck down the nearest... sausage?
"It smells all right," he said to Alfonso. "Suppose there's only one way to find out."
He took a small nibble off the end.
It tasted like a mixture of pork and rabbit, though the spices were unfamiliar.
"Want to try some?" Darius asked Alfonso. The toddler took the smallest imaginable bite, before sticking his tongue out and making a face.
"Yeah, I didn't think you would like it," Darius muttered. Still, now that he had found the tree as recommended by the hint, he had no idea what to actually do with it.

Everyone's bracer's red jewel began glowing, making an entire aura around them. Somehow, the aura blinked to be even redder than it already was at an increasing speed.

OBJECTIVES
HAVE A SNACK AT HOME 1/6
ACQUIRE 5 BLOCKS 0/6
VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE 0/6

COMPLETION: 1/10

[Viirin]

Jo seemed to be busy moving items into their STORAGE instead of just placing their bag in it like the NS5 had done with one of its two backpacks. Since they were sufficiently self-engaged, the robot wandered off to find an Inert... something. It didn't take long for it to find some steam coming up out of the ground, though whether it was a natural steam vent or something else was unknown. Climbing awkwardly over the blocky terrain, it finally got close enough to see that the steam was coming up from between some grayish looking cloud blocks, stacked into nearly a pyramid shape.

If the machine had tools it would have incorporated the smoke detector it bought from the PokeMart, but since it didn't, that's why it left the device in its STORED backpack. Aiming its palm with the Caretaker lens at a cloud, a bolt of lightning came out, and the cloud block was gone.

A grass-topped stone block appeared and began floating just above the ground, almost bouncing. However, deleting that block made something else appear below the other nearby Inert Gas blocks, which looked like split pea soup would look like, if it was left unattended on a counter for a week. Mushy, crispy, and rotten all at once. An Inert Solid.

After finishing, Jo followed fiver. Spotting the solid they attempted to use the now collarfied bracer on it after all it wouldn't do to have a acid spewing monster to have to fight.

Darius' bracer beeped once more.
"Please concentrate with the collar to return to your home sphere."
Darius brought out the necklace, clutching it in his right hand while furrowing his brow.
"If this doesn't work, you aren't to tell anyone," he told Alfonso.
To Darius' surprise, it did work. It didn't bring the tree back with them, but then you couldn't have everything.
Over the next few hours and with the help of the bracer, Darius began to get to grips with what their personal sphere actually was. He found when trying to peer over the edge that there was some kind of invisible barrier preventing one from falling off, but still nearly had a heart attack every time Alfonso tottered near the edge.

The transporter in the centre of the platform took them down to the world below, while a quick thought while holding the collar brought them back up. Alfonso didn't appear to be able to do this himself, although Darius wasn't sure if that was just because he was doing it wrong.

This planet was ok, Nion decided. It wasn't exactly engaging, since everything seemed pretty peaceful, but it was nice to look at. The bracer wanted her to pick up some matter blocks, so she started working on that, and there was something about dealing with pollution blocks, so she could clean those up. Being a nature janitor was fine, she figured. She could take it easy here. Nion headed off, looking for interesting blocks to pick up, or any pollution blobbies to dispose off.

Allowing Alfonso to finally have the safety-tested sausage, partially to keep him away from the safe but still disconcerting ledge, he saw his bracer blink its green gem once. Upon checking it, it changed its OBJECTIVES, as such:

"HAVE A SNACK AT HOME 2/6
ACQUIRE 5 BLOCKS 2/6
VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE 0/6
COMPLETION: 4/10"

Alfonso eating a sausage counted towards this world's quests? Darius couldn't help but think about the last time he had some food himself.

Flying around looking for interesting things didn't give much of anything interesting to Nion, but she did notice something that looked fairly odd. There was a tree that didn't grow fruit, but did grow what looked like beef patties, and she could smell that they somehow grew fresh from the tree, still hot from being cooked.
Not far away from this odd sight was a crocodile with what looked like a Collar being worn akin to a crown, looking very afraid and stuck in between five putrid green bubbles with flailing black tentacles. When the crocodile tried to move forward or to a side, a tentacled horror spat out some equally green fluid, but it didn't fly very fast, allowing the reptile to get away from the spray before it was struck.

Nion thought the beef tree looked yummy, but the croc-guy took priority. Flying over, she set down nearby and called out "Hey, you ok over there?"

"Oh I'm so glad someone came, I need help! I was trying to clear the 1-Eyed Slimies but one respawned behind me and blocked me in!" The Caretaker crocodile pleaded.

"Alright, no problem, just gotta zap them right?" Nion said, smiling.

"Please. They keep spitting acid at me, and I can't take any more or I'll die." Nion didn't notice it before since it was a reptile, but many of its scales seemed burned off, with reddish blisters visible where they should be. "I'll um... I'll give you something if you help me get rid of them."

"Nah, its cool" Nion said, recalling her time with the hero association, and how nice it felt to just be helpful. "Lets get you out of there first" She took to the air and quickly flew in, picking up the 'dile guy and lifting them out of the danger area, before setting him back down. "You can rest up here, I'll clear up the blocks, ok?"

"Oh thank you." The crocodile started immediately snacking on some kind of leaf that smelled like it was made of spiced meat.

Nion went over to the slimey blocks and warmed up her bracer, blasting one down.

The 1-Eyed Slimy popped, not even having a chance to spit acid at Nion. In the place where it used to be was a small 5-inch cubic block of what looked like dirt of some kind. Without even having to pick it up, it disappeared and Nion noticed their bracer blinked green for one blink.

Nion ignored the blinking for now and proceeded to zap the remaining slime-blobs one after the other.

After each tentacled blob monster popped, the bracer blinked once. All five of them were gone, allowing Nion to concentrate back on the meats she had smelled only a few moments before.

After her work was done, she checked back in with the 'dile-guy first to make sure he was all set.

"Heh, I am okay now, thanks to you. Would you like one of my leafwusts? I have a few dozen of them." The crocodile offered.

"I don't know what that is" Nion admitted.

The crocodile held onto a thick leaf with its stubby claw, and tried raising it up for her inspection. "If you have a combiner, you can just stuff some Ever Tree food in it and it'll combine it itself. I don't know how to cook, haha!" The leafwurst, whatever that was, looked like a thick piece of lettuce stuffed with diced sausage chunks.

Nion, not wanting to be rude, and also not wanting to discount that maybe this was a pretty neat object for the world, figured it was better to just accept graciously and worry about whatever this weird plant was later.
"Alright, well, thanks for it then"
"You all set to make it on your own from here, or do you need help getting back somewhere?"

"Yep, I can go on my own. Good thing I didn't try going back to my Sphere or I'd have just come back to the same place and what would that solve, right?" The crocodile was a crocodile, and thus couldn't smile. But if it could, that would probably be what it was doing.

"I think," Darius said, "it's time we went hunting."

After helping Fiver clear the pyramid Jo turned to the robot. "So should we try to track down Nion, look for more blocks or try to figure out how to visit each others personal dimensions?"

"The other dimensions sounds very good to me. However, I would also like to capture one of the stated "Eyed Pollutions" in one of the pokeballs I brought with me. I can give you a ball if you want, so you can investigate the phenomenon on your own if you wish." The machine answered the mirror. The robot didn't know what the Lux it had acquired from deleting the Inerts could be spent on, but it assumed it would find out soon.

"What the heck is a pokeball?" Jo asked, confused. "And who knows? We may end up in another location after teleporting back here. So I'm guessing the command or whatever that lets us visit each other must be somewhere in a menu in the bracer."

The NS5 hadn't really looked at the bracer's options or information long since before arriving in the new level. It had apparently just completed an OBJECTIVE, being the collection of 5 Blocks.
It held up one metal finger to Jo, and pulled a single pokeball out of the backpack it had been wearing and handed it to them.
"You can catch monsters in these. I was able to defeat a Gym and got a badge that I was told forces obedience of weak caught monsters, but I assume that doing the same thing here is not possible. Go ahead and try that ball, if we can find a couple Eyed Pollutions."

Jo looked at the ball somewhat skeptically. "So what exactly counts as a monster?"

"I was never told specifically. Checking my databanks, there are far too many descriptions on what a monster is to be able to answer in less than an hour, and all my statements could be wrong. Maybe we just have to see what the ball itself says, by success or failure. I can show you the three I have right now if you wish."

If it weren't for their "resting chrome face" Jo would have a deeply concerned frown. But as always their face was a featureless mirrored disc. However they did slightly hesitantly accept one of the balls.
"It seems to me like having an overly loose definition of monster could be problematic. For instance what's keeping a Joker like me from being defined as a monster? Hell one of my neighbors is a writhing mass of tentacles and noneuclidian geometric shapes."

The robot didn't know how to acknowledge the second thing. "My friend Menelwith the dragon said that the balls hit her but bounced off, so she melted them with dragon breath. Maybe only monsters that can't talk? We'll have to investigate. But let's first find one to catch, and I'll let them run around my Sphere. It may be safe for them here, but not necessarily from them here."

"Sure and we can tick off a visit goal while we're at it, but just in case...." They focused on the picture for Field, completing the transformation in about a minute before pocketing the photo.
"Better safe than sorry especially since they can apparently spit acid."

"It would be interesting to see how you are able to make that defense screen. Someone else in our group, but I don't know where he is, can do something very similar." The NS5 started looking around for other sulphur ventsin order to find more pollution, but didn't see any. "I found these Inert Gasses by investigating a steam vent. Maybe there's some polluted water somewhere that has monsters at its source."

"Then we'd best head downhill assuming water works the same way here."

"Ah, you're assuming whatever contaminant was washed downstream and pooled somewhere. That makes sense." The two of them went to the already nearby stream, and followed it for awhile. The land was less grass and more clay and mud. Eventually, they came to what looked like water poured down into a subterranean something, but since the NS5 didn't have a light, it decided cave exploring might not be the best idea.
However, it looked as though something was a deep green, hidden under the water, and some movement could be seen.

Jo smirked and the plasma field began glowing around his body. "So shall we head in? I think I can see something in there but it's hard to tell."

"I don't have any rope or lighting. Maybe we can find some pollution in some other location." Fiver didn't like the idea, and the Second Law didn't kick in since the human robot robot human human robot robot robot didn't demand it obey obey must obey.

"True, the rope would be a problem. I'm not 100 percent sure but when I've got this plasma force field going I may end up burning through a rope that I try to use. I recently copied his picture off a news program about him stopping a school shooting, so I'm not really an expert on how it works except it seems to both keep attacks from reaching me and burn what it touches..."

[Viirin]

Fiver the NS5 nodded. It had seen a price change in its bracer when it was looking in it, but hadn't clicked it. Now it did click the HINT. The robot thought the question, "What should I spend this Lux on?" when making the purchase.

A voice sounded, and Jo heard it too. "Check the Lux Shop! It looks like a metal disc on the ground near where you came to this planet, on the other side of the river."

That was a nearly worthless answer, but at the same time it was a response. "Did you hear that? Maybe we should go shopping."

"Sure. Maybe we can get a cable or something to explore the cave and get you your pollution or whatever its called."

Not on the lookout for anything special since they would have seen it on the way, the dynamic duo made it to the disc, and saw a floating green orb above it. Standing close to it and looking at the orb, the Lux Shop interface opened. "Idea of a Food Tree? That sounds interesting. How is an idea something that can even be purchased?"

Lylia took a quick glance around the planet as she materialized in the clearing, noticing the strange tree and some of the other players beyond that, near a metal disc on the ground. Briefly wondering where Sato was, she decided to go investigate and introduce herself.

Fiver heard a voice behind it, having just made a purchase. It didn't get an item or anything physical to read and be inspired by, but instead a silhouette of a tree appeared in its bracer's Inventory tab where the Blocks were.
"Hello. I had seen you in the class earlier, but we did not get to meet. I am Fiver, an NS5 robot. How can I be of service?"

Lylia stared for a moment at Fiver. She had never heard of a robot before, although based on their appearance, she supposed it was similar to a golem. That would also explain the void of emotions she sensed coming from them, which reassured her somewhat. Although, what was it with the other players wanting to serve her? Perhaps it was politeness, or robots were mainly service golems. At least in this case.
“I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Lylia.”

"A pleasure to meet you, Lylia. Are you related to Menelwith?" The machine figured the two dragons were somehow connected to each other.

“Is that the other dragon? We’ve never met, so I’m pretty sure we’re not related.”

"And I go by the "stage" name of Doppelganger." Jo finally spoke up, dropping concentration to revert to their regular form. "While fiver is friendly, it kinda takes away some of the homesickness to see another Joker."

"I remember perfectly everything you said to Nion, but I don't have the knowledge needed to understand Jokers, Aces, or dragons. Or pokemon, or how pollution comes to life. There are a lot of things I can not answer as of yet." The robot wanted to give more of a disclaimer on lack of information, but waited a moment. "Speaking of things I do not understand, I just bought an Idea from this shop." It pointed to the Lux Shop interface. "Would anyone care to see how it works in my Sphere?"

"Might as well it'll help get us out of here. Hopefully we'll be able to confront the bastard doing this once we get through their little game."

"Nexus? Nexus is my owner, and I exist only to serve him."

Lylia didn’t know what a Joker was, or why Doppelganger thought she was one. She was about to ask, when Fiver mentioned buying an idea. She was curious how exactly one would buy an idea in the first place, much less use it like an item.
“I would be interested in seeing how it works. Also, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what a Joker is.”

"So you two are willing to visit me? I'm not sure how the 'visit a friend's sphere' function works, so I'm trying to be certain." Fiver asked the two. "And yes", it continued, "Menelwith is the other dragon."

Once again jo was glad for the featureless mirror they had where a face should be. "Where I'm from there was this virus that killed/kills a bunch of people, the survivors are either heavily mutated into jokers, get fantastic powers, becoming aces, or some combination of the two. A lot of times jokers who dont end up with random deformities end up looking like mythical creatures like dragons, trolls, goblins, heck theres even a centaur that runs the Jokertown clinic.
And yeah I'll visit, if we can figure out how to make it work."

The virus that Doppelganger described sounded very strange. It sounded a bit like a breed change, but contagious and more chaotic. Lylia had never heard of someone turning into a Beastclan member, or things similar to breed changes being applied to non-dragons. She was glad it wasn’t found on Sornieth.
“If we can figure out to visit each other, I’ll come.”

Which was apparently what made it work.
The three of them were no longer on the planet standing next to the Lux Shop, but were standing on... what looked like their own islands, with no differences at all.

The green gems on Lylia and Jo's bracers blinked green. VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE +500 POINTS.
UNIVERSE UPDATE:
HAVE A SNACK AT HOME 2/6
ACQUIRE 5 BLOCKS 3/6
VISIT A FRIEND'S SPHERE 2/6
COMPLETION: 7/10


The NS5's bracer also blinked green, notifying it of items. Everyone present could see it open its INVENTORY, and highlight a black tree-shape. The NS5 had it selected, but it didn't seem to do anything. It tried closing its bracer's interface, which worked, but the tree's silhouette remained visible, hovering over the bracer itself.
"Curious", it stated. It moved the hand the bracer was attached to, by means of its still active Collar gauntlet upgrade, and a shadow of where a tree would be showed itself on a nearby grass block. It shook its hand like it was trying to get something off, but the shadow moved instead of going away. It closed its hand like a fist, and the tree's shadow stopped moving, instead fixing itself in place in the middle of the block the shadow was on.
"Please insert a basic food." The voice seemed to come out of everywhere and no where, and everyone could hear it.

"Does anyone have a piece of food? I found some berries before we left the other place, if no one else has anything." Fiver asked.

Lylia watched the display in curiosity, trying to sense how much of it was magic, and how it would work with her own collar, which she had decided to wear in order to not take up space on her bracer.

"I have a pie, but I don't think that counts as a basic food."

"Berry it is." Fiver removed the Cheri Berry from its STORAGE, and held it. Nothing happened. It put its hand holding the berry into the tree-shaped void, and when it pulled its hand back out, there was no berry.
The tree's void disappeared, and instead there was a small sapling on the ground.
"Jo, would you try to place one of your own blocks at the edge of my Sphere? I want to see what the difference is between our Spheres, if there is one."
While it was watching to see what Jo did, if they did attempt to modify the robot's Sphere, it placed a second Food Tree Idea and put its Oran Berry in it.

Jo nodded and reached into the storage to retrieve a block, attempting to place it adjacent to the edge.

They were able to open their bracer and go to the Inventory tab, but touching the block simply made the bracer's inventory close, showing that they didn't have the ability to even attempt to touch their own blocks.

"I cant even access them."

The NS5 nodded and tried itself. "I'll try, then." It was able to easily place a Mud Block on the edge of the main island, closing in towards one of the other islands that was so far inaccessible.

Jon stood from his meal and braced himself for the task ahead. He raised his Caretaker Gauntlet stored connection and stepped onto the plate.

Once Alfonso's clothes had dried, the duo made their way back up the sphere, where they had an odd meal of sausages and sweets. While Alfonso napped, using Darius' cloak as a pillow, the mercenary flicked through his bracer, reading the options available for purchase. He also stumbled upon their packs from earlier, apparently safely stored within the bracer itself.

Which was strange. Darius didn't remember adding the backpacks into STORAGE, so maybe Alfonso did it? The little tyke must be a little more observant than his father gave him credit for, the weathered man pondered to himself. Somehow he knew, that if he wasn't wearing something or holding onto it directly, then he would lose whatever it was he was trying to keep. He couldn't help but feel a haunting feeling from this realization.

With a bit of tapping, he managed to get the packs back out of STORAGE and onto the platform, where he thought they would be safe. Then, he gently prodded Alfonso until the small boy awoke.
"Come on, let's see what we can find down there."
Alfonso saw the backpacks on the edge of platform and looked at Darius, jumping up and down on the spot while making a growling impression.
"You want Pansage to come with us?"
Alfonso nodded.
"Fine," Darius said, sighing.

In the meantime, Fiver's party had done what they needed to do to test the Sphere, at least the one belonging to the robot, and the machine decided to go back to the planet. Unbeknownst to any of them, they counted as a "party" and thus all of them teleported to the Rock Garden in the same place as Fiver. Luckily, it was somewhere they recognized.

In front of them was the Lux Shop they had just teleported away from, as well as a battle-scarred man, excited toddler, and green monkey.

"Over here!" Darius called. Despite himself, he was relieved to see some familiar faces.

"Hello, Darius. I was already looking at you. How can I be of service?" The NS5 asked, approaching but not walking too far away from its current party.

"I was wondering where all of you were."

"We went looking for Inert blocks, and destroyed as many as were needed, and then went to my Sphere. The Idea I purchased from the Lux Shop works in quite an interesting fashion. I'm already growing berries I acquired from the previous place." The software update robotted to the simulation.

"So you have a sphere too?" Darius asked. "Can we see it?"

"Of course." The robot didn't have a choice, as the question had an implied request, thus activating the Second Law. "I would hope you show me your Sphere as well."
As Fiver accepted the unstated party request, it left its previous one, and Lylia and Jo would no longer automatically teleport to Fiver's Sphere. They could still get there on their own if they wanted to by themselves, however.
Thinking of going to its Sphere, the trio party had, without knowing, accepted a fourth member, and were included in its teleportation.

They arrived immediately, and Darius couldn't help but notice that Fiver's Sphere looked different than his. It looked bigger, more full, more accessible.

"How did you manage to change it like this," Darius said, trying to ignore the fact that Alfonso and Pansage were chasing each other on all fours around his legs.

"Oh. These trees aren't real. They're Ideas. I bought the Idea of a Food Tree from the Lux Shop after getting some Lux. Did you see the green orb I was next to with the metal disc under it? That's the shop. I also used my bracer upgraded with the Collar on some Inert Gasses and was given the other blocks I added from that. They appear automatically in your bracer, but they do drop to the ground before being automatically collected."

"How do you get more blocks," Darius asked, scratching his head.

"You already know that answer. You were forced to learn that answer before you were able to leave the classroom. Try to remember." Sometimes giving away answers wasn't helpful to anyone, but instead not-helping was helpful.

"Ah yes, popping clouds with this, right?" Darius asked, holding up the collar.

"No, you popped a bubble and were given a cloud that you could walk on. That's how you got here." Darius being this forgetful and oblivious stepped up the protection of Alfonso heavily. The robot would have to pay very close attention to them from now on, in forced obeience to the First Law.

"Bubble, sure," Darius said, waving a hand. "Would you like to see ours? It's not quite as impressive as this."

Fiver already knew what Darius's Sphere looked like, as its own Sphere looked like that only a few minutes prior. "Of course."

Darius closed his eyes, and before he knew it, they were all standing in his own sphere.

The idea of a meat tree was a bizarre one, but a permanent, reliable food source would be good, especially if they ended up in more worlds where the volume of meat she needed wasn't readily available. There was a strange floating green orb above a metal disk somewhat similar to the transporting disks just across a small river. More for the fun of flying than because she actually needed to, Menelwith took off and flew over the river, landing near the metal disk with the orb.

"This is it," Darius said, gesturing at the largely empty platform, aside from their two backpacks.
"Thank you," Fiver said. "If you will excuse me, I would like to go and find the sweet tree you mentioned."
"By all means." 'The NS5 disappeared down the transporter and Darius turned to Alfonso and Pansage.
"Want to see what else we can find?"

The Lux Shop opened its interface for the fire drake. A short but interesting list of items appeared, not limited to the following:
Idea of a Food Tree
Nest Seed
Combining Basin Seed
Ever Tree Fertilizer
Ever Tree
There were some flowers, trees, and rocks listed in the Shop as well, but those weren't as interesting since she already knew what those were.

[Viirin]

Menelwith looked at the item list and prices. She was mildly interested in the Ever Tree, but the information on the price had her shaking her head. She only had 1000 of the general game points and no way to know if there would be quests she could complete easily on this world on this world to obtain more of the world's money. She'd only convert enough of the general game points to buy the Idea of a Food Tree for now.
Menelwith converted the points into Lux and bought the Idea of a Food Tree. She might come back to this shop once she had a better idea of how quickly she could replenish her currency, but for now she was going to go hunt down a meat tree or some pollution to destroy, whatever she smelled first

The first thing she smelled was rare metal, as Fiver appeared right in front of her out of apparently no where.
"Hello again, Menelwith. Are you off to hunt trees as well?" The robot asked.

"Hello Fiver. Indeed I am or possibly some of this pollution we are intended to destroy."

"I destroyed a good amount of it earlier, but have not found more since. Maybe we need to hunt further. I've learned of two types of tree available here from Darius. Should we go look for those?"

"Sounds like a plan, especially if one of those involves meat. There might be universes where I can't just go hunting outside whenever I want a meal."

"There is very little reason not to eat meat if it grows from a tree. I support this endeavor. In fact, Darius told me about a tree that grew sausage, and it's just a little bit over that far hill." The NS5 pointed to a rocky hill about 40 feet away.

"Sounds like a place to start at least." Menelwith took off and flew towards the rocky hill, peering back over her shoulder to make sure Fiver was following.

The machine was surprisingly able to run at the same speed, but it slowed down significantly when it had to keep jumping and climbing over the blocky terrain of dirt and grass.
"Ah", the robot pointed out, "it's where he said it would be." There were indeed sausages hanging from the tree, just like apples would have been.

Menelwith was thankful she could fly. Fiver was having difficulty keeping up with her over the rougher terrain. Seeing a tree growing sausages was as peculiar as Menelwith had expected it to be. "That is one of the weirder things I've ever seen."
She reached out and picked one of the sausages to store in her bracer. Hopefully that way it wouldn't get anything else messy.

"The Storage option is a wise choice. For some reason in this place, I didn't think of that, though I did just remove two berries from the last place and use those for Trees." Fiver picked a sausage and put it in its Storage, learning its name wasn't Sausage, but Wurst. "There is another Ever Tree nearby, called Sweet. It should only be about sixty feet over in that direction."
The robot pointed in a hand-wavium manner, replicating Darius' exact directions.

"I don't want to get my backpack from the other universe dirty if sausages work the same way they do in my home universe." Menelwith took another sausage and stored it in her bracer. She could eat one of them in her "lair" after she set up the food tree.
"The bracer storage seems pretty impervious though. Dragons aren't usually much interested in sweets, but I might as well try it."

"That makes sense." The human saying something about universes made no sense, but then again, it was a dragon dragon dragon. Human playing a dragon simulation auditor human. "Maybe I should do the same with the Sweet, once we find it."
It took a full hour to find the Sweet Ever Tree, since Darius had unintentionally stripped the plant bare, and neither fruit nor scent was still present, and the dragon and robot duo had to wait for one to regrow and ripen before they could tell where it was. However, after that long, it had ripened three Sweets to replace its recently lost six.

Menelwith picked a Sweet to try before she decided if she wanted to try to grow this too.

Fiver was incapable of eating since it was a robot not designed for such things, so it picked and stored one Sweet. It was a service droid, so its default setting was acquiring things that would service humans in some way, in case its owner wanted that.

Menelwith flicked her wings in a shrug and bit into the Sweet.

"You said something about Pollutions? I wanted to find at least one of my own, so I could study it later. Should we scout the area?" The machine waited for the dragon's mouth to not be full.

Menelwith finished the Sweet, still unsure if she liked the taste. As long as the tree was there, she could just get another one if she decided to grow it, so hunting down pollutions would be more interesting. "That sounds like fun." Menelwith sniffed the air, trying to ignore the scent of the Sweet tree. Maybe she'd be able to sniff out some of the pollutions.

The stench wasn't known to her, but whatever she smelled, it was revolting. That must be what she was interested in, then? It was far away, as far as she could tell, but whatever the putrid disgust was, she at least knew its direction.

Menelwith snorted, disliking the unknown stench, but she could find whatever it was that smelled so awful now. "There's something that reeks over this way, Fiver. Maybe it's those pollutions?"

"I can't smell or detect gasses or anything else like that. I could if I had some tools. So in the meantime I will trust and follow you."

Menelwith led the way in the direction of the smell. It seemed to be coming from a pool of liquid that looked like some of the things she'd seen in the presentation before they'd been allowed to go onto the planet. Aiming the stone on the collar toward part of the pool of liquid, Menelwith tapped it like she did the stones on the bracer.

Before she could even tap it, the cabochon-cut crystal, or maybe just glass, shot out a bolt of green lightning that poofed the Inert Liquid, though she couldn't see what block it dropped. Her bracer blinked once, indicating that she earned Lux and a block.
However, upon deleting the Inert liquid, the two of them heard a loud "SCREE!" coming from under where the liquid used to be.

Menelwith hissed at the sound and decided to worry about what kind of block had been produced later. That noise did not sound like whatever produced it was friendly.

"I think that sound is the thing I want." The NS5 said to the dragon before she could kill whatever it was, though it was probably an Eyed Pollution of some kind. Walking around the pool of inert liquid to get a better view than to simply put its face within attack range, it saw what it was.
It was covered in black tentacles flailing wildly, somehow never injuring itself on the rusty and jagged pieces of what looked like metal, sticking out of.... what a box full of lettuce would look like if you froze it, then took it out of the freezer and placed it in a dumpster in the middle of the desert for a month. It also had one sickly-looking green eye barely protruding from the top of the cubical pollution-beast.
Quickly removing a pokeball from the backpack it was wearing, the robot threw its pokeball at the eye of the beast, missing, but hitting one of its blades. The ball hovered in midair, enveloping the.... creature? in a red light, before making it disappear. It was successfully caught!
However, the ball didn't fly back into the machine's hand, and would have to be retrieved by somebody.

"Well, that was interesting. So those pokeballs do work in other places. I wonder why they wouldn't try to catch me. We should probably finish up with the pollutions before we go get your pokeball."
Menelwith zapped another block of liquid goop.

"That's a pretty good idea. Unless of course they're able to melt pokeballs like you said you did." The NS5 popped another Liquid. There were only 7 left, unless there were more monsters or inerts below the first layer like just happened.

"Yeah, I feel kind of sorry if that happens, but I don't want to go swimming in whatever that is."

"It's probably corrosive." The NS5 agreed with the dragon that getting any closer to the stuff was a stupid idea, so they wouldn't do that.

Menelwith kept zapping her share of blocks, leaving about half of the goop and the things below for Fiver.

Fiver, on the other hand, took turns with the dragon, deleting Inert Liquids and the few 1-Eyed Trashies below that it didn't catch as a pet. Once all the danger was gone, it was able to climb down and retrieve its ball, and put it safel away. That badge it got was certain to come in handy at this point.

Meanwhile, Darius, Alfonso and Pansage walked through the forest, or rather Darius walked and the other two tore back and forth, chasing each other between trees.

"Keep your eyes peeled for any more trees with food on," Darius said with a sense of futility. At that moment, he froze. Something moved in the path ahead.

"Stay here!" Darius barked and the other two did listen, shrinking into his shadow. He started to reach under his cloak for his knife, before remembering where he was, and instead grabbed hold of the collar around his neck. He crept forward using his body as a shield, the one-eyed pollution block coming into view. It roared, and Darius' collar let out a blast of light, smashing it to smithereens.

His bracer beeped.

"Caretaker class unlocked!"

Upon Menelwith destroying her fifth Inert Liquid and collecting the block it dropped, everyone's bracer started blinking both red and green, no matter where they were.
"OBJECTIVES COMPLETE. OBJECTIVE-BASED POINTS HEREBY DISCONTINUED. YOU CAN STILL GET POINTS THROUGH OTHER MEANS THOUGH! HOLD DOWN BOTH GEMS AT THE SAME TIME TO DECIDE YOU ARE DONE WITH THIS UNIVERSE."

[Viirin]

Some time later, Darius sat at the edge of his personal sphere, chewing the last of the sausage he had harvested. The idea tree he had bought from the bracer store stood just left of centre on the platform, providing the perfect shade for Alfonso to sleep under. Pansage, meanwhile, had long since returned to its pokeball and was now safely stowed in the small boy's pocket, along with the empty poke ball. Darius swallowed the last bite of sausage and began to absent-mindedly draw in the dirt the eight-legged symbol that Sophia had taught him, as a way of invoking Khalorean's protection without the necessity of building a permanent shrine.

"This place isn't so bad," he muttered. "I could get used to this."

After Fiver and the other players disappeared, Lylia decided to check out the shop to buy a food tree of her own, even if she couldn’t plant anything inside it just yet. She gave a quick explanation to Doppelganger before taking off. At the shop, Lylia decided to buy two food tree ideas, after first buying 2000 Lux on her bracer, and spent the remainder on a nest seed. Before going back to her sphere to place them, however, she decided to look for some food she could actually grow. She flew off, staying close to tree level in order to spot any food trees or edible plants.

Just as she had spotted a tree that seemed to be growing edible leaves and landed, Lylia heard a roar to the side. Quickly turning, her collar emitted a bolt of light, and the pollution that had been there was no more. A bit shaken, Lylia collected the block that had dropped from the pollution and harvested the leaves from the tree before going back to her sphere.

Lylia got a telepathic message, probably sourced from something behind the bracer. "Class Unlocked: Caretaker."

With the word coming down the chain that she'd be ported out soon, Nion pondered what to do with her remaining time. Getting some training in would be nice, but without a decent sparring partner, or some equipment, there were limits to what she could accomplish on her own. She'd only had a brief time to explore this world, but seemed to have missed out on much of the specifics. As she considered the matter, she recalled a hint setting on her bracelet. It'd probably be moot at this stage, since the tasks had all been fulfilled, but it was worth a shot. Opening the menu up, she located the hint button and activated it

Nion received a telepathic message from the Hint function. "You are seriously going to need to be able to replenish your energy soon! So much fighting, so much death that you can't be blamed for! So you should probably go and harvest some trees for food. Check out the Lux Shop to buy Ideas. One Idea can make a nest for you to sleep in, and another can grow a tree of more types than can ever be named within a single lifetime."

Nion blinked "That felt very personally targeted" She commented, getting the sense she was being mocked, but unable to confirm it. The suggestions seemed mostly reasonable. Having a way to rest and recover that was portable would be nice, if only so she didn't have to worry so much about finding a decent meal when passing between worlds. The nest seemed odd, but the braclet didn't seem capable of lying either. So she figured it was probably worth looking into. Scrolling back through the menu, she looked at what was available. Part of her really hated the idea of spending points, since saving up meant she'd be that much closer to her main objective. But it'd be a small price to pay, in the long run, or so she figured.
The nest seed was the first obvious choice, given the hint she'd recieved. She wasn't sure if more than one would be needed, so she just purchased one to start with. The combining basin seemed strange, but there might be some utility to it, so that also made her list. She thought about purchasing everseeds right away, but noticed there was an option to just detect them naturally. That was probably better, given the price. She could find her own seeds, she figured. She grabbed one detect, and would figure out if she wanted more ever trees after finding the first one.

The bracer's green gem blinked slowly, but increased in speed when Nion's arm was pointed in a certain direction, showing where the Evertree was, at least in a general direction. She wasted no time, and soon found a tree with a large amount of sweet-smelling something hidden under its branches. Approaching and looking, the blinking stopped, showing she reached her destination.
The tree was somehow growing honeycomb topped with something even sweeter than it was, but all of it was sticky.

Nion had intended to simply abduct the tree back to her base, but soon found naught but frustration and failure in her effort to uproot the vegetation. The fruit...or...comb...whatever was growing out of the tree, seemed like a decent enough food source. She picked one of the hanging fruit and ate it after giving a sniff, before opening up her braclet to figure out where her plan had gone sideways.
Figuring to just run down the list, Nion went with the next option that looked like it might lead to the result she wanted: this 'idea of food' tree.
Nion swore loudly, at the unbelieveable explosion of flavor in her taste-buds. This was easily one of the best tasting things she'd ever eaten, which was saying something given the time she'd spent traveling worlds. She greedily grabed more, wanting to stock up while the opportunity presented itself. As she did, her mind wondered what other tastey treats this planet had to offer up.
After stuffing her face for a time, and packing a few in her bracer for later, Nion levitated above the treeline, and sniffed at the breeze, attempting to smell out nearby food sources to sample from the local enviroment.

Without the scent of the distractingly delicious... upon putting the food into her STORAGE, she was informed it was called "Molass". Without the distracting scent of the molass, she was able to smell grass. Lots of grass in every direction, and some flowers. Some pretty, pretty flowers. Ignoring the pointlessness in front of her, she locked on to a totally different scent. One of burning flesh, which she was accustomed to.

Nion sped off in that direction, lead just as much by her stomach as by her nose.

The smell came from, as she guessed it, a tree. This tree was somehow producing not only meat, but ground beef processed by hand into the shape of a patty, and it even grew cooked and hot!

Nion landed, and despite being tantalized by the smell of delicious hamburger, she was perplexed as to how exactly this tree was producting cooked meat from its branches. That was certainly a puzzle. Still, no way to solve such a puzzle without gathering more evidence, which was what she told herself as she took a bite of one of the patties.

The flavor wasn't as spectacular as the scent, unfortunately. It was almost flavorless, only granted the flavor it did have from the meat itself, and not any spices. However, the meat was vaguely similar to other things she had eaten, though she couldn't place a specific memory on what it was.

The multitude of beings from across the metaverse cursed to wearing a bracer and adhering to the will of gods so far above themselves that even their own gods were oblivious to them shared yet another thing in common. For the most part. After knowing that they were going to have to leave that relaxing world full of free food, relaxation, and easy money, most of them made mad dashes to acquire everything else they could as fast as possible. There was another thing they shared.

They all heard a bell ringing, a huge bell made of something heavy, tolling in such a way as to instill the concept of a funeral procession. Those capable of emotion did not experience any, but only had a memory of seeing a vague image of such a scene.
They felt as though they were being lifted up somewhere high, and as they felt this, the light surrounding them increased exponentially until everything was white.

The whiteness faded, and instead of revealing whatever there was to see, nothing was revealed. Nothing that they all stood on. A cone-shaped light shone from above each of the bracer wearer's heads, and those aware of flashlights or spotlights would say it looked the same, but without a source.

"Welcome back, my contestants! Most of you have failed miserably!" There was a man, or what looked like one, dancing in front of them all, and no matter how much they might try, they couldn't close their eyes even to blink, or look away.
He looked at Jo. "Who have we here? Hey, did somebody lose a pet?" The man smiled, and looked around the lack of existence, seeming to pretend there was an audience. "It looks like your patron is a gatecrasher! Guards, guards! That's not allowed. Now sweetie, do you know what happens to you when you break my rules?"
Jo felt overwhelming terror when the man said such words. "You get..." It felt as though Jo's soul was torn out of her in no less brutal a manner as a pack of rats eating a still-living human with full restraints. "A cookie!"
The man's jester costume jingled with gentle bells, and raised a hand, looking to spin in place like a ballerina, but while slapping Jo in the face. He didn't connect, but h did manifest a cookie, one bigger than even Menelwith remembered herself as being, so big that Nion was forced to imagine she could be squished into nothing if it fell on her, and she blew up planets.
The man looked curious, and smiled his psychotic torturer's smile, looking behind his shoulder. "Oh, so this one's yours? Okay you can have the cookie." The impossibly big, solar system-sized cookie, wasn't there anymore.

"With that out of the way, you should all really pay attention. My boss will get mad at me if my customers' requests aren't fulfilled! Get those Objectives done, will you?" The Infernal Circus Master danced around on what looked like a ledge, not because something was there, but because it was higher than the nothingness he was standing on while dancing earlier. "Maybe you need a change of pace. I wonder who will get eaten!"

No one got a chance to say anything, since he wouldn't stop talking, except for his pauses that still disabled the dragons, humans, alien, robot, and half-elf's ability to speak or even move. Then the blackness grew over the lighting illuminating each of them.

[sadatg]

The party awakens in a carriage traveling along a poorly maintained cobble road. The sky is clear and the air has a crisp edge of cold to it. You can hear a waterfall gently roaring up ahead and looking portward you can see a narrow river. on the other side of the carriage is a rocky hill.

As each of you wakes up you can hear the carriage driver say "So your finally awake."

[Viirin]

Darius awoke with a groan, not for the first time finding himself in a place that he hadn't gone to sleep. At least the natural terrain was more familiar to him than the world they had just came from. Alfonso was still asleep beside him, his head of golden curls slumped against the mercenary.
Darius pressed the button on his bracer to read the document.

A popup appears and time seems to suspend for Darius as he reads.
Welcome to Skyrim! You may now choose to make use of the Dovahkiin class. With it comes the ability to make use of, and level up skills such as archery, sneak, destruction, one handed, smithing, and enchanting are also options for some reason. As you level you gain perks to empower them further. You also gain deep insight to your own skills and health through the pause menu (please see the path notes though). You may also learn words of power from word walls that can be found here in Skyrim and empower them by killing dragons and absorbing their soul, which is totally metal.
However, be warned that the curse of the Dragonborn is to attract worthy opponents no matter your level, as you advance so shall the opponents you find in the wild. Also any incidental experience you gain will be split between relevant classes which includes this one.

You may accept to use this class at a later date using the MULTICLASS menu. But once in use it cannot be removed.

Accept / Maybe later

Fiver noted a new music file had recently been played. It was in its files already, but it didn't remember playing it, and its perfect memory made that odd. However, the music was the "Windows Restart" music, so it made sense. The NS5 itself reads the same message, and clicks "Accept". It could not fight on its own against Pokemon due to the rules, and it had little to no choice in whether or not it destroyed pollution as a Caretaker. It assumed it didn't have a choice but to obey this new rule set as well, and the lack of a "Decline" option proved it right.

It looked through the 'Pause' menu, knowing that this was only a game it was playing, and games could be paused for Help Screen information. Smithing seemed like the best choice. If it could learn how to craft replacement components here, it could be injured like it was against the giant red insect without requiring a Pokemon Center.

On balance, Darius decided not to accept the class on offer, at least for the time being. He struggled to follow the parts about skills and perks, and he certainly didn't want to attract more enemies to himself and Alfonso than was strictly necessary.

After the experience of meeting the obviously powermad Ace, Jo Accepted the offer without second thought.
They needed more power to be able to be able to think about facing this "Nexus" character.

Having accepted the offer and noticed its surroundings, its companions, including the new one, seemed to mostly be asleep. "Hello Darius. Hello Jo."

"Morning," Darius replied. The oddness of the situation was just par for the course, by now.

"This place looks different." The service droid stated. "Did you happen to find any additional Ever Trees? I have a few now and will grant you a standing offer. If you find foods that I do not, that can grow on an Idea Tree, I will trade."

"Sounds like a good deal." Jo glanced around. "Looks like this Nexus character picked something vaguely medieval to drop us into.

The wagon hit its seventeen thousandth bump, creaking. "What makes you say that?" Fiver asked.

"Look at how the driver is dressed, he wouldn't be out of place at a renaissance fair. And the landscape looks largely unaltered. If this were a modern setting wed be seeing at least a cell tower or maybe some telephone lines." They groaned as the cart hit another bump.
"Not to mention the road would actually be paved."

"I was not programmed with knowledge of common garb throughout world history. There are third-world countries with inferior technology levels, and we could be there as well. There are very likely many things yet to learn. In the meantime, I have no ability to say you are wrong, but your points do seem to point to the conclusion you have stated." The robot thought it should try something.

"I will be back shortly." It was no longer there, only an empty space where it used to be remained on the rickety wooden cart. After the wagon had gone about fifty feet and around yet another bend in the dirt road, the robot appeared again, exactly where it had been sitting. "I brought you two of these. Try to eat one, and use the other in your Sphere if you wish for more." It held out its hand, holding two blue, nearly spherical berries.

Nion stirred awake in the new land. It was immediately apparent that she was somewhere else. The air smelled differently, with the brisk chill that came from a more frigid climate. The world was paused at the moment, with a brief instructional log from the powers that be.
Nion opened up the menu and scanned through the description of this new class. She got as far as 'powerful opponents will be drawn to you' before slamming the accept button as hard as she could. "Now that is more like it" She grinned. "Finally a world where I can cut loose a little."

It didn't know if it was morning, but Fiver saw its friend wake up. "Hello Nion. It is good to see you awaken. I have quite a few types of food you may enjoy, all growing on Idea Trees in my Sphere. If you have things I do not, I would like to trade with you."

Nion waved. "Hey Fiver" followed by a slightly delayed "Food? Yeah sure."

A robot whose design felt directly in the center of the Uncanny Valley looked into the saiyan's eyes and gave a slight smile. "Would you like me to give it to you here, or would you like to come to my Sphere and get it there?"

Nion shrugged "Either is fine. Doesn't seem like much is happening here at the moment" she gestured at the suspended world around them

Jo was busy shoving the berry into their featureless expanse of a face.

"True." As Fiver decided to save Nion some effort by collecting on its own and returning, it watched Jo the Mirror shove food at the front of its head. The machine had wondered how they could eat to begin with.

Nion looked back to Jo with confusion "Uh, what you doing?"

They sat silently for a little bit after the berry disappeared and their face rippled back to its usual appearance.
"Sorry if that was unsettling. It comes with not having a mouth."

Video image files were in its databanks that showed water rippling on the surface of a lake when someone skipped a rock over it, but the robot hadn't seen the same thing in metal, let alone where someone's face should be.
It wasn't there anymore, the cart bare where intelligent metal programmed golem should be. It returned after a minute or two, and immediately started a conversation with Nion about what foods they both found and what could be traded.
Trading complete, they could get back to attempting to investigate the new rules in the new place.

While the others conversed, Darius felt Alfonso stirring. The small boy brushed aside the hair from his face and then looked left and right, before looking up at his father with a questioning expression.
"Yeah, it has changed again," Darius agreed.

The wagon rolls along the uneven path, jostling its passengers around. The usual chime of, "So you're finally awake" rings out as Jon comes in to consciousness.
"Hello again friends." He says with an warm smile. "I do hope I haven't missed anything."
A soft thud punctuates the end of his sentence as the carriage driver slumps, a chitinous black arrow having suddenly sprouted from the side of his head. A series of whistles and thuds follow it as a barrage is unleashed upon the carriage from the other side of the river. A squad of squat albinos perch upon the opposite bank with black bows in hand.

The First Law activated immediately, preparing to attempt to deflect, or at least block with its own body, arrows from striking its companions, regardless of character species. They were all human, which meant that it didn't need to protect them since they were video game characters and not real but only real in the fact that the players behind the characters were human but the humans playing the humans playing the humans playing the humans playing the-

An arrow stuck into the wagon right next to Alfonso's leg, and the machine jumped over the side of the wagon in a parkour-esque manner, and immediately pulled out all four of its filled pokeballs and called forth the monsters it had found up to this point. "Gya! ****! Yanma!" It didn't have a name for its other one yet, so it just called that one by its... species? name like it did with its dragonfly. "One Eyed Trashy!"

The robot attempted to command its small army to protect the wagon-riders that were still alive. It failed to protect one, but it wouldn't fail again. However, it also couldn't injure or allow injury to come to whoever was attacking.

There wasn't time for pleasantries. Darius picked Alfonso up by the scruff of his neck and tossed him to the floor of the wagon, throwing himself on top to shield the small boy from any stray arrows. He then grabbed his dagger from his belt, ready in case their attackers should decide to mount a melee assault.

Jo vaulted themself over the side of the cart, crouching behind it. "I just need about a minute before I can help." They announced, going through their cards before finding the one they were looking for.

"So add goblins to the mix and Its a fair assumption that were in a medieval fantasy setting." They commented offhandedly while focusing on the card for field.

Fiver didn't see what was shooting arrows at them, but it did know where they were coming from due to angle. "Goblins? I don't see any goblins. I don't see what is shooting at us to begin with, actually."
It knew that goblins were common fantasy humanoid monsters, but it didn't know what they looked like. The robot became increasingly aware that knowing a high concept of fantasy and gaming concepts was not sufficient to be able to actually understand or identify what those things were even in conversation, let alone when faced with one.

"Yanma, find what is shooting at us, then use Supersonic on it." Fiver issued a Move to one of its pokemon.

Nion sprung from the carriage, swatting out arrows from the air as she rocketed to the goblin position, a fierce grin on her face. She didn't really have much stake in this world yet, with respect to who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. But these filthy looking creatures were firing arrows at her, and that was enough of a reason to go on offensive. She smashed into her landing with enough force to crack the ground, roundhouse kicking the goblin, noting how nice their head-height was, before firing off two quick ki blasts at archers out of her melee range.

Menelwith had woken a while ago and pressed the gem to look at the information about this world. Some parts of the newly offered class sounded helpful, but she was dubious about attracting powerful opponents. The dragon hadn't quite made her choice when the wagon came under attack. In her hurry to close the menu, Menelwith hit a button she hadn't intended, accepting the new class.
With a few wingbeats, Menelwith was in the air and climbing, trying to get out of the range of the archers. Arrows might rattle harmlessly off her scales, but the skin of her wings was more fragile.

[Viirin]

Darius and Alphonso feel a shudders as Nion and Menelwith launch from the cart one after the other. The thuds of the arrows hitting the cart quickly subside replaced with the distant noise of battle. Mostly distinctive feminine shouts followed by inhuman screams of pain.

As Jo crouches beside the cart an annoying set of pop ups appear informing them that crouching enabled "sneaking", each popup briefly accelerates Jo's mind enough that the world seems to freeze, how ever they are also unable to move until they mentally dismiss the prompt. The prompts continue on to explain the awareness indicator.

Jo also notices a strange compass bar in the top center of their vision, on it are arranged a set of red dots in direction of the albino monsters. There is a crosshair in the middle of Jo's vision indicating that they have not been detected.

As the carriage driver slumps Jon quickly accepts the gauntlets offer of power, after all one of the listed "skills" was speech and that sounded like it would be useful across the many strange universes they were being catapulted across. Jon's second course of action is to duck down into the cart to avoid the rest of the volley.

Jon decides to capitalize on his new stealth powers and hops over the side of the carriage whilst storing connection and trying to remain crouched. His loafers land quietly on the uneven cobbles and he starts crouch walking in a wide arc, attempting to flank the albinos from the north so he can use his last vial to hopefully scare them off.

The dragon launches into the air and a few arrows whistle past her harmlessly, she climbs out of what she considers to be the range of the primitive bows and looks down. She sees Nion surrounded by five of the squat beasts one of which is prone, she also notices a bunch of red dots in a bar compass in the center top of her vision. Following some of the dots she notices a line of six more albinos crouching below the curve of the river bank, on the carts side, preparing to rush it.

Fiver notices a strange compass bar in the top center of his vision, on it are arranged a set of red dots in direction of the albino monsters.

Fiver issues his command to Yanma which in turns zips off into the air. As it breaches the top of the riverbank it stops and screams "Yanma!" as it fires off a sonic pulse, In response many of the red dots start moving erratically.

Five falmer suddenly spring from the riverside where they had been hiding prone. They rush the cart with chitinous daggers drawn. One falmer remains behind shanking itself in its confusion.

The falmer quickly switch their target to the aggressive flying saiyan rushing them. Unleashing another volley of arrows at her which are easily parried.

Her dramatic landing surprises the falmer who drop their bows and draw wicked looking chitinous knives. They rush Nion haphazardly. The first one takes a boot to its head, a satisfying crunch sounds and Nion is rewarded with a Red bar in the top center of her vision with "Falmer" written above it. A bunch of read dots also appear In a compass like bar above the red bar, the dots seem to surround her.

The Ki blasts both strike true, each time the red bar jumps to full and quickly depletes to about a tenth of its size. One of the squat albinos noticeably more withered than the others makes some gestures and a spear of ice leaps from its hands at Nion. Taken by surprise Nion is hit in the shoulder where the icicle embeds itself.

Fiver saw that they were not humans that were attacking, and enough of the confirmed humans it was traveling with had mentioned they were actually goblins, and did not attack like humans would, especially for no reason. They were in fact, monsters.
Unfortunately, the rules clearly stated that unless otherwise directed, direct combat was not allowed, and the only combat acceptable was with one's captured monsters. Luckily, the robot had been collecting them.

Seeing a small group of white goblins approaching menacingly, the machine did the only thing it could do while obeying all rules given to it. It pointed at the incoming beasts and commanded its own. "Gya, use Night Shade. ****, use Steamroller. One-Eyed Trashy, spit the acid that causes emotional duress at them."

Once Jo finished shifting their likeness into the ace Field, he still remained crouched, but began heading towards the red dots on his side of the cart, seeking to head off the flanking maneuver.

And as he moved from the cover on the cart, he began glowing red from the plasma force field glowing around his body.

Menelwith blinked a little at the red dots, but they neither went away or did anything that harmed her, so she quickly decided that they were less important than the annoying archers and the other goblin creatures who were attacking. Fire would be too dangerous for her allies in the wooden cart, so she turned in the air and dove for the goblin creatures, intending to slash them with her claws.

Darius rose to his knees as the barrage subsided.

"Stay down!" he barked at Alfonso, who seemed more shocked than anything else. He risked a glance over the side of the cart and saw his companions engaging with their attackers; he gripped his dagger in frustration at the fact that he was equipped for an investigative mission, rather than a battle.

With a sudden thought, he turned to the fresh corpse of the carriage driver. There was nothing of interest on the body itself, but under the seat he found a simple bow and around three dozen arrows, give or take a few.
He was a little rusty with his archery, but had his boyhood training to fallback on, and besides, it was better than being a sitting duck. He notched an arrow onto the string while still sheltering behind the side of the cart, before darting up to let one fly towards the nearest creature.

Seeing the white goblins engage its ghost and insect, Fiver thought it should gain more information since it hadn't done so yet. It switched its bracer from 'bracer' form to 'pokedex' form and looked at the white goblin, waiting for a response.

One of the charging falmer slowed as the purple balls leapt from Gya at it, a brief flash of visible confusion halts it momentarily. However it is seemingly unharmed and continues its charge behind its cohort. **** spins, turning into a grey and purple sphere, and streaks into the center of the group smashing into another one of the falmer. No HP bars appear but the falmer is knocked back and visibly injured, it lunges at **** with its dagger gouging at it with its dagger. A torrent of transparent green acid sweeps over the two falmer on the right flank of the attackers causing them to recoil and pause their rush.

At Fivers prompting the pokedex glitches slightly before reading out a description: "Falmer: These blind creatures lurk deep in caves where they tame giant insects. They also produce a foul poison that they coat their weapons with." Looking at the screen Fiver can see that they are Normal/Poison type.

Jo is met with the sight of two falmer charging at him, as they do the one on the left is distracted by magical purple orbs and falls behind. The remaining falmer hisses as it springs at him, this close Jo can see that the falmers eyes are useless and withered and its pale skin is rapidly burning as it leaps, seemingly unaware of the pain it must be in. A HP bar springs into being below the compass bar and shrinks with increasing speed as the falmer attempts to plant a dagger in his stomach. It succeeds in hitting Jo, but its a phyrric victory; The falmer dies as the flesh on its hand melts.

Menelwith dives and the wind whistles in her ears. As she dives the charging line is broken by the various attacks from her allies? Competition? Menelwith adjusts her course ever so slightly strikes out with her claws as she passes overhead. The attack lands true and drags a deep gouge across the falmer's head. A HP bar appears and drops down to about a third, the falmer spins, pulled off course. As Menelwith flies past the HP bar suddenly plummets to empty.

As Darius takes aim at the nearest creature, scratch that, nearest creature not sprinting at a walking inferno, and lets loose the arrow. As the arrow is in mid-flight a ****ing dragon swoops down and strikes his target in the head. The arrow strike true immediately after, slaying the beast.

Deep in the thrill of fight Nion barely feels the pain of the icy spear as she grasps it and pulls it out. She lunges forth boosted by flight, wielding the icicle as an improvised sword. She strikes one of the already injured falmer with a knee the head as she passes over it, eliciting a satisfying crunch and empty HP bar. She collides with the falmer Shaman at the end of her charge and rams the icicle into its mouth and through the back of its throat the HP bar appears and empties, somewhat redundantly.

A loud drum startles her as she is informed that "one-handed" has increased to "16" the surprise gives one of the remaining falmer the time it needs to shank her in the back. A hp bar at the bottom of her vision indicating that she had dropped to half health, a sixth sense informs her that she has been poisoned.

Jon's stealthy flank progressed slowly. Luckily the chaotic battle field produced enough noise to cover his approach. Spying a singular falmer flailing ineffectively next to Fiver's yanma. Singling him out Jon made a bee line to it. By the time he had gotten within range to attempt a strike the falmer had somehow passed out to self inflicted wounds. Shrugging Jon picked up the fallen falmer's fallen dagger and picked out his next "target" from the four remaining falmer. The one locked in combat with "****" was hit the perfect balance of close and too distracted to notice him. Jon scurried up in his half crouch and shanked that ****er in the back, just like he used to back when he lived on the streets.

The Notification that "sneak" had increased to 16 interrupted his self-congratulations.

[The JoJo]

Today was a good day. Nion was having a blast getting to let off steam in a real fight. She'd even taken some damage, which was a great sign for this world. Four of the enemies left near her, two more closing in on her friends. They would be fine, though. Nion sprang back, gripping her hands together and charging up a sphere of ki, before sweeping it out in an arc, releasing a fist sized beam of energy that she trailed along the ground of the far shore, across the region with the two archers.

Darius let out a whistle as he took in the scene before him, before notching another arrow on his bow. There wasn't a clear shot at any of the few remaining attackers, however, so he refrained from pulling back the string for the time being.

Menelwith turned as tightly as she could and climbed higher to give herself more advantage against the goblins. She wouldn't have time to tower up and let height do the job alone, but more force could only make the fight go faster. The squishy humans would be safer, even if they were annoying sometimes. She dove at another goblin, meaning to grab it with her claws and dig in.

The final nearby falmer should be, according to what it learned by hacking the pokecenter's computer systems, weak against psychic element attacks. However, none of the Moves its pokemon had counted as this. The other element possessed by the falmer made it weak against fighting moves, which anything could do if it just punched or kicked with any sort of skill.

Fiver had the physical capacity to do this, but without training it wouldn't be type-effective. Its superior physical construction should cover that. However, monsters had to be fought with monsters, as per the pokemon rule it had learned. It could at least buy time to learn more about the creatures than the pokedex told it with a few monster attacks.

Targeting the one falmer rushing it, it issued commands.

"****, use Protect." The insect couldn't be injured for one turn when it used that ability, somehow. The machine learned this when it fought some on its own when it first met other insects. If the falmer attacked with its dagger, it would bounce and reverberate off the column-esque wheel bug.

"Gya, use Disable." The yamask using such a Move might make the monster drop its weapon on the ground, and have to spend a moment picking it up.

"One-Eyed Trashy, spit sadness acid at that monster." It spoke loudly, but did not yell. If the creature was forced into another emotional state, then it might stand still for a moment.

Jo closed the distance with the next closest falmer and swung his fist, watching a green bar slowly depleting. why didn't I stick with the group? he chastised himself as he kept an eye out for any usable weapons, as well as any sizeable pieces of metal, like a shield or breastplate.

The beam of energy trails across both remaining archer falmer on Nion's side of the river. The first one drops to the ground, hp bar depleted. The second one routes and starts running from Nion, heading south.

Fiver's commands went out, a barrier of some form surrounded ****, Gya launched a strange ball at the Falmer who was surrounded by flashy rings, Fiver is informed that "Attack with dagger" had been disabled. The Falmer fumbled its dagger. The one eye trashy fired off its acid spray, hitting true.

As Menelwith dove she felt the heat of Jo's fiery aura scorching her scales slightly, fortunately such a campfire means nothing to the mighty dragon. She strikes the Falmer with outstretched talons and digs them deep, yanking the Falmer of the ground and into the air with her.

Jo closes with the Falmer who is miraculously disarmed as they do. Jo strikes out with a fist and their stamina bar depletes slightly more. The HP bar for the Falmer pops up and depletes slightly with an ongoing tick from the burn. The Falmers hp bar than quickly chunks down to 10% and the falmer yanked into the sky, its dot on the compass quickly whipping away to the north.

Jon and Darius watch the chaotic melee from safe distances. Jon is amused by his teammates antics.

Nion took in the scene, and then nodded with satisfaction. She rejoined with the group, still smiling "I like it here!"

"Well, the locals are certainly welcoming," Darius said, loosening the arrow from his bow.

"I discovered some of that enemy's weaknesses. Care to hear what I learned, Nion?" Fiver saw its flying monkey-tailed lady friend smiling widely, and gave her an offer. What good was information if it was not shared?

It looked over to the mercenary behind itself. "They are monsters just like the ones in the first place we came to. My pokedex said so."

"Monsters that use bows, apparently," Darius muttered, glancing at the arrows embedded in the side of the wagon. The brief moment of calm was pierced by a feeble cry from inside the cart, and Darius crouched down to attend to Alfonso. Fortunately, no harm seemed to have been done beyond the initial shock.

Nion registered the information, but cared little for the destination. Still, Robot was helping, and that was what friends were all about. "Good work on that." Offering a high-five to Fiver.

The machine stared at the alien, its gesture alien to it. "They are called 'falmer', and are weak against punches, kicks, psychic attacks, and dirt." It had to truncate its words for its companion to register what was being said, though it was a rather simplistic way of saying it.

Jon takes the moment to sheath his stolen knife, stop his connection storage and straiten out.

"Honestly that sounds like an apt description of me, minus the falmer part of course."

The NS5 obeyed the implied suggestion. It ensured its bracer was still in pokedex form, and looked at Jon's face, then body, quickly scanning him up and down.

Darius emerged from the cart, holding a pacified Alfonso in his arms.

"Wonder where that poor bastard was taking us," he said, tilting his head towards the fallen coach driver.

Jo dropped the plasma field but maintained his likeness as he rejoined the group. "I don't know, but if I we follow the track maybe we will find out. But the question is, do we want to? Either way, it seems to me that it'd be best to stick together and see what we can salvage from the corpses. Also we should keep an eye out for sizeable pieces of metal that can be polished enough to be used as a mirror. It'll help us keep in touch if we do split up."

The NS5 picked up the dagger that had been Disabled from the falmer, and put it in its STORAGE. Things it could actually use it would put in the backpack it was wearing, such as the pokeballs. One-Eyed Trashy was immobile, so it went back into its ball, though the other three remained out. The whirlipede stayed beside the robot like a dog being told to heel, and the other two floated or flew around on their own.

"If this is a medieval world, then this must be a road. There might be a town in one or both directions on this road. Since humans build their cities next to water sources, following the river's flow might bring us to a city."

Darius wasn't sure what a medieval world was, but otherwise what Fiver said made sense.
"Yes, that's true in my world," he agreed.

He felt a tug on his trouser leg and glanced down to see Alfonso making a pained expression, rubbing his stomach with one hand.

Having already been looking at Darius, the NS5 noticed the child's action. The boy hadn't spoken yet, so maybe he didn't know how. Was he hungry? The service droid offered its services by walking closer. "Darius, I have found more foods than you showed me, all growing in my Sphere. Would you like to take him with us and let him pick out something?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Darius said.

At that moment, Fiver was no longer present, its pokemon likewise no longer visible.

Darius thought back to how they had travelled in the previous world and reached uncertainly for the collar under his cloak. His hunch proved correct, as a moment later he and Alfonso found themselves in Fiver's sphere. The platform had expanded significantly since their last visit and was now dotted with a veritable forest of various different food trees.

"If anything is of interest to you or him, please feel free to let me know." The machine hadn't given anyone permission to pluck its "fruit", and it was curious if the same thing would happen this time as it did the previous.

"What do you want?" Darius asked Alfonso. The small boy blinked and then slowly turned on the spot, taking in the sheer number of options around him.

"Berries?" Darius suggested. Alfonso shook his head, pointing towards a tree just beyond the nearest ledge.

"Cheese?"

Alfonso nodded eagerly. Fiver heard and saw the answer, and started walking over towards the tree. Alfonso ran after him, and Darius followed at a more leisurely pace.

Seeing that at least with this tree, it was too tall for the boy to reach. Reaching barely upwards, Fiver plucked a ripe wedge of cheese from the tree and handed it to the child. "For your later consumption", it stated to Darius, handing him a second piece.

Alfonso gave Fiver's leg a quick hug, before biting a large chunk out of the cheese. Darius took the other piece.

"Thanks, appreciate it," he said.

Restraining himself for an unknown reason, Fiver gave Darius one of each of the few berries it had so far acquired. There was more it could offer, but the mercenary wasn't interested.

They returned back to the wooden cart with a dead driver shortly after.

[The JoJo]

"If you see a good sword over there, can you save it for me?" Darius asked Fiver. He was itching to get a closer look at their fallen foes, which resembled a cross between elves and shrunken orcs to his eyes, but his curiosity was tempered by the presence of a wide-eyed Alfonso, still chewing on a piece of cheese. Darius had been quite a few years older when he'd seen his first battlefield, but the sights had never quite left him. Khalorean preserve, if he could spare Alfonso for a few more years from that. "We'll just be over there."

Jo nodded and crouched before he looked through the bodies, picking up the staff, thinking it some kind of quarterstaff. "You know fiver you should probably wear some armor. I've got the plasma field and Nion has her ace abilities but there isn't much protecting you from a blade or arrow."

"I was injured by a pokemon quite severely in my second battle, being the first one I can remember." The NS5 was obeying the human and following the Second Law, validating their suggestion with historical precedent.

Removing the armor off of the dead falmer was easier than it thought; it had various hooks under the chitin plates so it mostly stayed together via gravity and the crudest of mechanics. Putting it on, however, was...

The machine was able to put the shoulder plates on itself easily, and the tunic and other pieces hooked onto whatever was above it. Even the leggings were attached to above pieces, so the 'pants' were actually attached to the 'waist', which was attached to the 'tunic', and that to the 'shoulders'. Odd design.

Menelwith clenched her claws until the goblin in her talons stopped moving. She turned again and flew back to the group of people that were stuck with her in this weird situation.

"Hello, Menelwith. I acquired more foods from the last place than we found together, via trade. Would you like to accept a standing offer of food trades from here on out?" The robot asked the dragon as it finished equipping the insectoid armor pieces while its own wheelbug spun around the remains of a battlefield.


~

While the others searched the Falmer corpses, Darius and Alfonso made their way into a nearby clearing. It was only when they were alone that Darius realised just how tense he still was. Alfonso scrambled up onto a nearby tree trunk and began to walk along it, holding out his arms unsteadily for balance. When he reached the end, he turned and held out his arms expectantly.

"Are you all right?" Darius asked, taking one hand. The small boy tilted his head, then nodded. "Really all right?" the mercenary pressed. Alfonso just stared at him. "As if you could tell me, anyway," Darius muttered. He felt a stab of anger and kicked at a upturned root, stubbing his toe in the process.

"Damn! Damn! ****ing dammit!" he yelled, slamming his right fist into the nearest tree. This earned him little more than another bout of sharp pain and the imprint of bark on his knuckles. He steadied himself and took a deep breath, before looking back up at Alfonso, who stared at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"I'm sorry. It's not you, it's just this... whole situation," Darius said with a sigh. He reached up to rescue the small boy from his perch. "Come on, let's see if the others are ready yet."


~

As they returned to the group, Fiver walked up to Darius, its insect staying loyally at its side as though it was trained to heel. It reached out one of the swords it found to the man, who put his child down on the ground. "Is this a good sword? There are a few more of these."

The sword was mostly fashioned out of a single grayish bone that looked like it came from a huge beast's femur, with a long groove in the front of its curves. Within the groove were thick pieces of sharpened insect chitin, just like the armor the robot now wore, and its pet at its side was born with.

The mercenary took the blade from the machine, which gave a light bow then went back to looting as it had been told to.

"That sounds good. I'm pretty sure it would be rude to eat something people shaped." Menelwith flicked her tail and dropped the dead goblin on the ground.

The machine gave a mechanical response. "Carnivorous animals eat people. It's natural."

"Well, we don't appreciate it much," Darius said with a chuckle. The sword was light in his hands but comfortable enough to grip. He had to wonder how durable it was, but it would suffice until he found something more familiar.

Menelwith rolled her eyes at Fiver. Carnivorous animals might eat people, but she'd been raised better than that. Even orcs and goblins were only really acceptable as food by the standards of the Eagles of Manwe if it was between those and starvation.

Upon searching the immediate surroundings of the final nearby body, Fiver found a garlic bulb. Thinking it could make a good tree, it took it. Having nothing better to do, the robot looked in its bracer.

"Has anyone looked at the Objectives list? The Wanderer's looks good to me, and if no one minds, I'm going to keep going down the road we were going down before we were interrupted."

"I'm with you," Darius said, trying to position himself between Alfonso and the edge of the battlefield. Fortunately, at that moment his small charge seemed more interested in a stick he had found on the ground. "Anything is better than staying here like sitting ducks."

Nion noted that she hadn't checked out the objectives yet for this world, and so cribbed off of Fiver while the machine had the window open, spying the current goals.

Nion, admittedly, had a pretty clear preference for what she wanted to do. Fighting a dragon sounded awesome. However, she admitted, that finding one might be a harder goal. Sure, she could just go searching randomly, but that had been ineffective in the past few worlds, so maybe a new strategy was needed. "For now, I guess Wanderer seems simple enough to start with, at least until we find some natives here who can help explain how the rest of this place works."

Since they'd run into a fight literally moments after arriving, Nion had a hunch that any objective would probably require a decent amount of brawling. She also noticed that her wound from the ice-blast was healing up pretty quickly. Must be a benefit of the new class she'd grabbed, the Dover-Whatever

"That makes sense, Nion. The other one that looked interesting to me was Scholar. I don't know what 'aetherium' is, and it might be interesting to find out."

It didn't know why, but the robot's wheel started speeding off down the road. Fiver pointed its pokeball at it and told it to return, but it dodged the beam. In order to remain at its side, it started running after it. The other pokemon were unable to catch up, so Fiver recalled them into their pokeballs. Now with its first pocket monster and new armor only, it took off down the road at a higher speed than anyone but someone that could fly could keep up with.

After what seemed to be a few moments, but would have had to at least been half a mile on twisted almost-cliffside rock-laden path, the wheel-like insect stopped. Next to it were some mushrooms that looked like something had recently eaten parts of them. "Did you do this?" the robot asked its weaponized pet.

The eye on the side of its body looked joyful.

"We don't know if that's safe to eat." The machine figured it should collect at least a sample for analysis, sooner better than later. However, there was more than one mushroom growing there. The chewed-up one was growing on a fallen log, but there was another mushroom of a different type growing in gravel. No mushroom that Fiver ever heard of was able to grow in such substrate, and it took a sample of that as well. It should probably get to a town quickly to learn more.

[The JoJo]

After looking through his objectives, Jo regarded the rest of the group, noting Fiver's disappearance. "Who knows. Scholar looks interesting to me but we should definitely stay together at least until we can get several mirrors to share amongst the group."

"Agreed," Darius said. He wasn't sure what to make of the objectives, or Fiver's sudden exit for that matter, but his first priority was to find somewhere warm, safe, and preferably with a plentiful supply of drink.

"Keep following the road, then?" he suggested, indicating the path the cart had been heading in.

"A sterling idea Darius, hopefully the cart was taking us to safety. Ill also feel far better if Lady Nion accompanies us, she did a ripping job of the "Falmer" on the other side of the river. Haha..."

Jon starts walking up the path heading north eager to get to a more secure location to set about planning. Jo follows along, using the staff he scavenged as a walking stick.

As they began to walk down the path, Darius refastened his cloak and pulled it around himself. A chill wind blew through the barren valley, funnelled by its steep sides and leaving few places in which to shelter. He thought about offering his cloak to Alfonso, but the small boy seemed happy enough dragging his stick along the ground. Still, their woollen tunics were not designed to withstand such cold weather for long, and so he hoped they would find a settlement soon.

As they walked, Jo would briefly activate the plasma field every so often, mostly to gain a brief reprieve from the wind chill than anything else.


Players approach Dragon bridge

The trek from the site of the attack proceeds relatively calmly, no red dots appear on the strange compass for those who possess it. Only a single strange tent looking icon appears on it to the west of the party as they cross a stone cobble bridge.

A short time later an icon that looks like a small house with a tower appears on the compass, dead ahead, and the party is treat the sight of a large decorative bridge made from a dark stone. The bridge is lined with decorative spires and a carved stone dragon skull with horns in a gothic style. As the party crosses the bridge an echoing drum and metallic clink sounds out and an announcement notifies the dragonborns that "Dragon bridge [has been] discovered. In front of them is laid out a small village of stone and thatch buildings. On their left is a water wheel powered wood mill and stone quarry. up ahead on the right is a large tavern...

https://images.uesp.net/thumb/1/14/SR-place-Dragon_Bridge.jpg/800px-SR-place-Dragon_Bridge.jpg


The sun is beginning to set...

"We're going to get a drink, maybe see if they have any spare rooms for the night," Darius said, placing a hand on Alfonso's shoulder. "Anyone is welcome to join us."

"I'll head in with you. Hopefully I can find a good likeness to copy and also hopefully there's a store here or something where I can purchase items that would pass for a mirror here."

The inside of the tavern was plain but inviting enough, with a roaring fire in the centre of the room. The warmth hit Darius the moment he stepped inside and he hastily unbuckled his cloak, carrying it under his arm as he, Alfonso and Jo made their way to the counter.

"Oh, hello," the barmaid said to Darius, her initial look of distrust morphing into a half-smile when she saw Alfonso by his side. "I have to say, we don't get many Redguard in here."

"Uh huh," Darius said.

"What can I get you?"

"Your strongest mead, and milk for the little one."

"And you?" the barmaid asked Jo.

"Tea if you have it. Boiled water if you don't." Jo replied, after all if he got tipsy then it'd be harder to maintain his current likeness. That being said adding to his options would always be a good idea.

"Boiled water? Tea? Is that some newfangled fashion in Cyrodil or something?"

Jo merely shrugged and tried to go along with it, after all there was no way in hell he'd let himself get dysentery or anything similar, assuming this place isn't a mindscape.

"So," Darius said to Jo in a low voice as the barmaid hurried away to prepare their drinks, "I never got a chance to ask. What's with the whole changing thing?"

"The short answer is borrowing other people's voice and appearance is the only way I can look normal anymore, after I got the virus and it turned me into the featureless mirror you saw before.

Tell me about where your from and I might be able to think of a way to explain it better."

"I'm from a small town just south of the great city of Vesper," Darius said. "It wasn't all that different to this place, really. Just a little warmer."

"Ok so where I'm from there was a plague that killed almost everyone who contracted it, and everyone who survived was changed most physically but a lucky few gained powers. I was turned into the featureless mirror form you've seen and got the ability to copy other people's likenesses and powers that they gained from their exposure to the plague.

And I don't think it's a good idea to freak out the locals unnecessarily."

"I can drink to that," Darius said as their orders arrived. Alfonso slurped his milk loudly, while Darius took his mead at a more measured pace. It was always a good idea to retain some of your wits about you when in an unfamiliar place.

Jo nodded and drank his own boiled water. "So what exactly are we planning? Because there are only a couple options that I really recognize the steps needed, mostly from myths and legends but I'm kind of looking at the scholar, even though it's not one of the ones I really know about."

"I'm looking at the wanderer, myself," Darius said. "I don't know what the standing stones are, but if it's just a case of finding each one then that sounds straightforward enough." He took a deep sip of his mead. "I've been on big fauna hunts and, well, there's a reason they pay well. If I'm earning enough to keep this little one fed for a couple of months, then it might be worth the risk. But not for a handful of points."

Jon slides onto the bench next to Darius, a plastic bottle of water and pie from the Pokémon world in hand. "I don't know what any of the things on the "kill list" are and quite frankly I'm non to keen to find out. I figure the starting step for Wanderer's and Scholarer's is about the same, ask around for who knows about them. Maybe the bar maiden?"

"I only lack knowledge of the hagraven, but only the mammoth was an actual real animal, though they went extinct before civilization actually started."

Jo got up and approached the barmaid. "Pardon me but I'm a stranger here, can you tell me what a dedric prince, a dragon word wall, and/or or aetherium is, or perhaps what standing stones are and where they might be found?"

Darius nodded in agreement, momentarily being distracted by a tugging on his arm.

"Yes, you can sit by the fire," he said to Alfonso. "Just don't get in anyone's way, and don't go too close. Remember the story of the girl and the nightgown?"

The small boy nodded solemnly and then scampered off. Darius turned back to the conversation at hand.

"A strange set of questions from a strange group," the barmaid replies with suspicion. "The Vigilants of Stendar would be the right and proper way to deal with a daedra issue. Dragons are back that's the truth, Whiterun is drumming up warriors to fight them, they might know more. The steed stone stands a short way to the north of here, turn left at the statue to merdia and keep heading north, cant miss it. Can't much help you with the rest though."

"Thank you," Darius interjected, and the barmaid went back to cleaning a glass. "Well," he added to the others, "I don't know about dragons, but I'm up for heading out to find that stone at first light."

"Sounds like a plan." Jo replied, sipping at his drink as he sketched one if the other patrons.

"A good sleep and a morning treck sounds like just the ticket gentlemen. Before we retire though, did either of you see how quickly that Nion lass recovered from that flesh wound?"

"I must have missed that," Darius said, raising an eyebrow. "I wasn't in the best position to see."

"Yes yes, actually I would like to test somthin out if you don't mind. Could you just cut my hand a little?"

"Are... are you sure?" Darius exclaimed, giving Jo a look. He nevertheless brought out his dagger, holding it in front of Jon's left hand.

Jon steels himself and nods "Better to test it in a controlled environment"

Darius kept the dagger low, not wanting to cause any alarm among the other patrons. He cut a quick, clean laceration in the fleshy part of Jon's palm.

Jon hisses in pain as blood wells from the shallow cut. Then he goes strangely still and vacant for a moment. "97 out of 100 Health according to the visions. So this tiny scratch is 3 damage?" A few tense moments pass with Jon staring at the cut before it starts to knit itself back together slowly. After about 5 seconds the cut has disappeared completely. "Well that's new." Jon remarks. "Did you accept the dova..whatever we were offered at the beginning of this world?"

"No, I didn't want to risk attracting more enemies. Not with the..." Darius tilted his head towards the small figure sat by the fire.

Jon holds his hand up inspecting it in wonder. "Hmmm well it definitely comes with some nice perks. I figured with the way things were going these days we would be getting into fights either way." Jon lowers his voice" If you dont mind me asking, each of our fellows seems to have a special ability of some form. Jo has their dopple ganger thing, Fiver is made of metal, Nion can fly even I have my allomancy. Have you got some hidden talents you've been keeping from us? Or maybe your son does?"

Jon catches himself reaching for his stored connection and stops himself. Darius was an ally.

"I wish," Darius chuckled bitterly. "Alfonso? A talent for silence, maybe."

The trio fell silent as they finished their drinks. Darius bought five hundred gold coins with his bracer -- a sum that would have been a veritable fortune in his own world -- and then began to sort out the amount owed on the counter.

"How much for a room?" he asked the barmaid.

"That'll be ten coins," she replied, counting through the handful he offered her. "You lot aren't from around here, are you?"

"No."

"Where are you from, then?"

"Me, I'm from Vesper. Well, near enough."

"Can't say I've heard of it."

"Nobody has," Darius muttered. He turned to check on Alfonso, who had apparently dozed off in the warm glow beside the firepit.

"Is his mother an elf?" the barmaid asked. She smiled. "The ears give it away."

"...of a sort."

"I suppose she's waiting for you back in Vesper?"

"She died in childbirth," Darius said, his face not betraying any emotion.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the barmaid said, returning to wiping a glass. She tilted her head. "It must be hard for a boy to grow up without a mother."

"I don't think he even knows how much he's missing," Darius said softly. He rose to his feet. "I'll bid you all goodnight."

[The JoJo]

A distracted Fiver had arrived at Dragonbridge ahead of the party. It sees a set of men dressed it chainmail, steel armour and full helms walk into the largest building in the small settlement and decides to follow them. The sign outside informed it that this was the "Four Shields Tavern". Inside was a set of tables surrounded by humans drinking and eating. In one corner was a tall blond man singing a song about "Ragnar the Red". At one end of the tavern was a tired looking woman at a bench, presumably the inn keeper, opposite her was a very large open-pit fire.

Though the woman looked tired, it could be from boredom. Noticing that there were samples of one of the mushrooms itself had, seen sitting on plates decorating the counter, it decided to ask her about its own.

It walked up to her. "Excuse me, but are these mushrooms edible?" It touched its bracer, a menu opening for all to see, and it clicked the STORAGE icons for the Mora Tapinella and Imp Stool it had picked up, presenting them to the woman.

The opening of the menu and sudden apparition of the mushrooms caused a bit of a stir with the occupants of the tavern, the innkeeper however maintained her composure. "This one is edible and can be used to restore Magicka in a pinch." She says pointing to the Mora Tapinella. "Imp stool on the other hand is extremely toxic, wouldn't do to be eating it."

"Thank you." The NS5 was incapable of emotion, but if it was capable, it would be happy that its pet wasn't in danger. "I see other mushrooms you have here on plates. What kind are they, and are there yet more types of mushrooms to be found?"

"You can probably find them at an alchemist's shop if they're well-stocked" the medieval peasant replied to the high tech machine. "If they don't have it on-hand, then you'll have to go exploring caves or something. I only know what I overhear from drunk customers, so I can't help you with directions."

"Or you can get them from us." A man that had apparently been sitting there for awhile, listening, interrupted. The robot searched its perfect memory and didn't see him before, even peripherally. "We broker odds, ends, rumors, and other things. In fact, you should go there without delay." The Second Law kicked in. "When you get to Riften, look for a way into the sewer. There's an undercity down there, and you want to talk to someone about joining the... free... uh, just tell them you want to join. They'll tell you whatever you want to know about mushrooms and probably have a few samples of every kind available."

A few of the patrons not drunk enough to be unawares, and the barmaiden looked pensive, shifting their gazes somewhere else when the man was clearly recruiting for the Thieves Guild. But it wasn't their place to say anything, so they didn't.

The leather clad man continued on unperturbed by the sudden sketchiness of the inn "Actually Im on my way to riften now if you want to accompany me. Name's Rune by the way."

The robot HAD to obey Rune's direction to go to Riften's undercity, but it had no directions. That would make obedience hard. However, directions being offered and escort provided made it a simple answer. "I look forward to coming along with you." It tapped the top of the gray sideways-looking barrel next to it. "Can my pokemon come along too, or should I put them in their pokeballs for now?"

Rune gave the strange "pokemon" a sideways glance "Is that a tamed Charurus?" Rune asks incredulously. "It can come as long as you can promise it wont kill us in our sleep. We need to head up to solitude and catch the carriage from there. Just tell me when your ready."

The machine learned another new word. "What is a 'chaurus'? I've never heard of this. But ****? No it won't attack unless I tell it to."

"Chaurus are horrible creatures that lurk in deep dark caves and feast on unwary wanderers that stumble into their nests." He shivers a bit, but the conversation around the bar returns to normal as the patrons resume their revelry. Rune puts down his drink with a thud. "Come with me, we need to pick something up from a.. Friends house on the way." Rune stands and leaves the Inn, the second law compels NS5 to follow him.

Rune leads NS5 back toward the dragons bridge to a building flanked by large banners that bore a dragon with its wings folded in a diamond around it. The lights are out and you can see no one. "Ah my good friend must have gone to sleep. There's some armour in a chest in there, head in and grab it whilst i pick up the stuff from the forge out here. Be quiet though, would do to be waking him, eh."

The personal service droid obeyed the thief. With preternatural silence, it walked up the few wooden steps onto the porch, and reached the door. There was no knob, only a metal handle. It went inside slowly, noting to keep the door from creaking by moving it too quickly.

Inside there was the remains of a fire in a stone fireplace at the halfway point of the far wall, and a rickety-looking bed with someone facing the other direction laid on top of it.

At the foot of the bed was what looked like a medieval chest made out of wood... it couldn't see well enough to see what it might be decorated with.

It walked to the footlocker chest and opened it, and it made no sound as it must have been recently oiled. Its own insect armor wasn't loud and clinking since it was exoskeleton and not metal, and its own hydraulics were moving slowly and also didn't make noise a human would hear. There was a helmet, and a link-hooked suit of armor that had a similar design to its own, at least in how each piece kept together even when not worn. It removed it from the chest and added it to its STORAGE, as it would be awkward to carry that and the helmet at the same time. It didn't close the chest afterwards.

It moved slowly towards the cracked door, opened it, left, and closed it slowly again. It didn't see Rune standing there, but assumed he would show up soon.

Upon thinking that, something moved in the shadows at the corner of the house, near a bush. Rune wiggled his finger urging the robot to follow, so it walked to him and handed him the helmet.

Rune snatches the helm from Fiver and hides it with him behind the bush, head spinning around as he searches for would be watchers. Good going. Was this all?

"No, I put the armor set in my STORAGE since it was awkward and would have made noise if I didn't."

A sly smile crosses Runes face, "Can you put this in your 'STORAGE' too?" Rune offers Fiver the helm back.

Fiver puts the helm in its STORAGE. Somehow, even wearing the bulky Heavy Falmer Armor, it was able to see and interact with its bracer that was still in its Pokedex form.

Rune looks around Fiver trying to figure where the helmet went. Finding no obvious tell he smiles broadly at fiver, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship... Err what was you name again?"

"My friend Nion gave me the nickname of 'Fiver'." The machine wanted to add more description, but had since learned it wasn't necessary or warranted.

"Okay Fiver my buddy, follow me and we'll head home to Riften. I have lots of friends that I think are just going to love you." with that Rune starts walking with purpose and a whistle along the road heading north. "Just keep an eye out for bandits, wouldn't want to get robbed." Rune walks at a pace that is just slower than Fivers sprinting pace but is juuuust faster than a comfortable walk

The robot followed the thief, wondering how he walked so quickly, or why he decided to whistle while trying to be stealthy. Did he give up that idea? Then again, there wasn't anyone to awaken outdoors.

The trip to solitude is a short one taking perhaps 10 minutes at the most. The large imposing castle is surprisingly close to the nearest settlement. As they reach their destination a now familiar drum and clink noise heralds that "Solitude Discovered" and the outline of a wolfs head on a shield turns solid on Fivers compass.

"I guess bandits don't attack people that walk on the roads?" The service droid asked as they approached the next city, or more like the same city since it was so close they had to be in the same district as each other.

"Nah we have a huge bandit problem around these days," Rune pauses to take a bite from an apple "what with most the hold guards getting conscripted into the empires stupid war on storm cloaks." he speaks between chews. "We just got lucky this time is all."

"I see. I thought we were going to Riften though, not Solitude." The robot asked rhetorically.

"My good buddy Thaer runs a carriage from solitude to the rest of Skyrim. Its faster and safer than walking the whole way there, that could take days!"

"Yeah, safer. I was attacked by a group of falmer the moment I came here, and I was on a carriage like you're describing. I helped kill them all but the driver was shot and killed."

"Falmer? There's been rumours of bandits attacking carriages around these parts; A group of adventurers went to go "deal" with them. I hate to think of what happened to them if they ran into a falmer den unprepared...."

"Anyway heres Thaer!" Rune switches abruptly to a happy voice.

"I'd like to hire your carriage."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Riften." Rune hands Thaer 50 Gold.

"Climb in back and we'll be off."

The exchange seems wooden and well rehearsed, Rune clambers into the back and waves for Fiver to join him. "Come on then."

The robot obeys the human's command, required by the Second Law of Robotics.

NS5 climbs up into the carriage and sits opposite Rune who reclines and gets comfortable. The carriage jerks as the horses pull it to a slow roll.

NS5's consciousness fades to black.

[The JoJo]

Morning rolled round for the three Inn goers. Its a sunny yet crisp morning and their breaths rise in clouds in front of them.

Upon waking, Darius could have almost believed he was back in his own world again. He took a moment to take in the refreshingly bare, wooden walls and sparse furnishing before pushing the bed covers off himself and straightening up.

"What is the matter?" he asked as he noticed that Alfonso was wriggling uncomfortably, apparently trying to reach something on his head. When he looked more closely, Darius realised that it was a long-legged spider, somehow tangled in the small boy's hair.

"Keep still," he said, and locking Alfonso between his knees, managed to extract it. Darius gently cupped the spider in his hands, so not to injure the tiny creature.

"Come on, let's put it outside."

In the early hours of the morning, the inn was deserted. Darius managed to open the front door with one elbow, and together they made their way to the nearest clump of vegetation, safely depositing the spider on a stem. Darius muttered a quick prayer and rose to his feet, freezing when he saw the barmaid from the previous night standing in the doorway.

"Made a new friend?" she asked, her lips ever so slightly turned up.

"It's... eh... just something we do back at home," Darius said quickly.

"Must be an interesting place to live."

"It is."

The barmaid laughed.

"We never got properly introduced last night. I'm Julienne, by the way."

"I'm Darius, and this is Alfonso."

"Would he like some fresh milk?" Julienne asked, holding up a bucket. "There's more than enough here, and the mistress never has to know."

They sat together while the town slowly came to life, Alfonso soon running off to explore the brush opposite the inn. Darius and Julienne remained on the steps, talking among themselves.

"For the son of a Redguard, your little boy is very fair," Julienne noted. Darius gave her a look."No, I don't mean that. Just, his mother must have looked quite different to you. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's all right," Darius said. "She was like... a lotus flower of the purest white. Untouched by the world." He smiled. "You should have seen my father's face when I brought her home."

"She must have been beautiful." Julienne chewed on her fingernail, apparently in thought. "There are no mer like that around here now. Have you heard of the snow elves?"

"No."

"They lived in these lands, long before the arrival of the Nords. They too were pale as snow. The only trace of them... well, you carry one of their blades."

Darius looked down at the falmer sword in his belt.

"I'm glad to know that they still live in some faraway land," Julienne added. Darius nodded. "I think Blackreach has some ruins where they used to live. I mean, if you were interested."

"I'll keep it in mind," Darius said, catching sight of Jon and Jo a short distance away. "I better go, my... companions are waiting." It still felt strange to call them that.

"Will you stay again?" Julienne asked, putting her hand on Darius' knee.

"Maybe."

"I'd like that."

Darius quickly caught up with the other two, a squirming Alfonso clutched under one arm.

"I asked around for if we might acquire warmer clothing for the journey. Alas, the area isn't cosmopolitan enough for a simple tailor. One of the guards suggested I visit the cloud district. I don't know where the cloud district is but his sniggers suggest that it doesn't matter. Rude man" Jon sniffs. "You all ready to head out?"

"We're ready."

Jo nodded, dressed in attire more suited to the realm, a hood covering their mirrored face, and leaning on the staff they had looted from the falmer.

"Though this place lacks indoor plumbing its interesting that they leave changes of clothes in their guest rooms. Probably the best service I've encountered ever. Anyways the nearest stone is to the north. To find it we have to turn left at a statue."

The three companions set off along the cold cobble road. Jon took the time to start slowly building up his connections stores again as they trudged along. Soon enough a statue of a winged woman about the men high emerges from behind the pines along the roadside.

Opposite the statue three men dressed in chain and leather amour escort a burly man dressed in rags with his hands tied. (empire soldiers escorting a storm cloak prisoner)

Alfonso tugged on Darius' sleeve, pointing frantically at the bound prisoner.

"Yes, I can see him," Darius said. "I expect he must have done something very bad to end up like that."

Reality was of course more complicated than that, but Darius wasn't about to explain the complexities of crime and justice to a three-year-old.

Jo adjusted their hood, making sure to keep their mercurial visage as hidden as possible.

"So, turn left?" Darius said to the other two.

"Seeing as how getting involved wouldn't be a good idea with how little we know I agree."

Darius nodded in agreement, and the trio plus one walked past the statue, further from the safe haven of Dragon's Bridge. They were a little more exposed than Darius would have liked, but with the paucity of trees, good cover was in short supply.

"I've been thinking," Darius said, breaking the silence. "Don't laugh. But, how many other worlds do you think there are?"

"Depends on what you mean by other worlds."

"Like here, and the place with the blocks, and the one with all the creatures."


~

Menelwith followed the sudden appearance of the arrow and headed west, still on foot for the moment, though that could change in moments.

She had no idea what a hagraven was, but finding out would give her a better sense of the area, if nothing else. Menelwith hoped for more than a simple scouting trip though. Finding the dragons of this place would be far more satisfying. Maybe even just one of them would be like her, a misfit compared to the lore she had learned from the Eagles. She was lonely, Menelwith thought with a jolt of surprise. The Eagles had their kin in their eyries, even if they roamed far away on the wind. As far as she knew, Menelwith was unique among Fire Drakes.

Menelwith snorted and hissed in irritation at herself. Moping about caught no prey and it wasn't going to help her find anything else either. Determination rekindled, the fire drake proceeded in the direction the arrow pointed.

[The JoJo]

The NS5 awakes an uncertain amount of time later. It was.. Standing, in front of a stable. Obviously several hour's had passed as it was now late afternoon where it had been past dusk before.

"You have to pay the toll." a guard sneers at Rune.

"Come on its me, Rune, you know me!"

"That's why you have too pay double Rune, gotta cover expenses. Your friend too."

"Help me out here Fiver, this is obviously a shake down."

The outer skirts of the small settlement held no clues to Menelwith's questions. It did however contain a number of slightly drunk guards who liked to gossip whilst they were on "watch".

"Di... Didya ear about wassis name... Jaxon? Yea Ason that wer it!"

"That fella wot got lost op in the moun-mountins out west last week?"

"Thass the one! Says he got kidnapped by some itches for a strange ritual!"

"Ohh aye? If thasa case then whys he all walking round alive like an not sliced up on an altar? Huh?"

"He says tha he foght em all off with his elmet and managed to run for it!"

"His heeelmet?! Now that I do not believe."

"You wanna know what I think?"

"Goan then"

"I thi-I think he got kidnapped fer that kinda ritual an then they let him go."

"Why would e lie about that though?"

"I couldn't figure it out either. But strangist thing. Hes terrified o chikkens now."

"Wait you don't think..."

"Well they don't call it Hags End for nothing do they."

"Hah Jasson got ad by a agraven!"

At this point the conversation devolves to a wheezing laughing fit. But Menelwith had a lead on a Hagraven, whatever that was.

A message appeared in her vison "Explore Hags End started" and a arrow appeared in her compass. Predictably it was to he west.

The NS5 didn't have money for this place. It had spent all of its Pokedollars before it left there, but it still had some Lux. It tried to get rid of all of that before leaving wherever that blocky place was too, but the amount you got per action and how much things cost didn't mathematically allow for it.

But a human issued a command, and the Second Law had to be obeyed. It withdrew a Lux, seeing it appear as a transparent green glass marble. It could only carry around 8 in its hand, so that's what it held out to the shake guard while it ran a systems diagnostic to try and figure out how its visual processor faded, its memory storage lacked data, and how its internal clock was off.

The guard turns over the lux in his hand considering the forign coin. He looks at Fiver incredulously, but seems to change his mind as he makes eye contact. "Yea alright, this'll do. Let me open the door for you" he keeps a concerned eye on fiver as he unlocks the gate."

Rune saunters through faux saluting the guards on the way past. "Welcome to Riften! Home of The Guild! and the blackbriars... Anything you want can be yours if you stick with me my.. person? What do you want anyway? Regale to RUne your wants and needs!"

The giant wheel-shaped insect followed the robot in through the gate, chittering at the men standing there as it did so.

"I've begun investigating mushrooms and wish to find the entire array of those available everywhere in this world. I have a stockpile of various foods for trade that I would be able to show off at any time. I would also like to find the Standing Stones, some 'aetherium', locate a 'dragon word wall', and learn something about 'daedric princes'."

There were a lot of things the machine wanted, and didn't know what the man could help with, so it just mentioned everything.

The guards exchange looks over the wheelyboi and quickly shake their heads in the universal sign for "dont get paid enough to **** with that". They promptly close and lock the gate again.

"Thats an impressive bucket list to tick off!" Runes mood remains lifted from getting one over the guards "Luckily for you I happen to have access to one of the largest information networks in Skyrim. They don't work cheap mind.. But I'm sure someone of your particular talents could works something out if I put in a good word for you. Join up and get membership rates eh. Ill even throw in a freebie cause I happen to know that The Shadow Stone is really nearby. Whaddya say, want to join up?""

When Rune said "Join up", it was a command by the rules of the Second Law, and a free... something and the beginning of its objective completion was a bonus. "I will join your group."

"Awesome" Runes smile widens further still "lets head on down and meet the rest of the team then. They are going to love you!"

Rune leads fiver down into the ratway and past a pair of vagrants that he pays off subtly. After a series of twists and turns fiver finds themselves in a makeshift underground in a chamber of the sewers of the city.

The underground chamber was of obvious intentional design, and looked to have been quite grand at one point in the distant past. However, the stonework looked decayed.
Whatever the place once was, the surface city must have been built on top of what must have seemed like empty land, or maybe ruins.

Dark water moved slightly around a dais ringed with wooden rails, and on the other side of the rails was a large stockpile of various boxes and barrels. A woman sat there, facing away.

Another woman came from an outcropping that might have been a sewerway leading some direction it hadn't come from, and came towards it.

"So, what do we have here, Rune?"

"Hey Vex. Our new family member has strange magic that should come in handy." She harrumphed. "I haven't seen any magic useful for lugging crap like that around. Even telekinesis only works on small items."

"Well then maybe you should watch. Hey Fiver, how about you give that armor to Vex? It'll get to where it needs to go if you give it to her. She'll even give you a small reward of money for your trouble."

The service droid hadn't acquired any money for this place yet. It still wasn't entirely sure they were actually different worlds it was going to, but it did seem like it. They might only be different program branches or game mods though.

"It sounds as though I was tricked and have committed theft when I snuck in that house and took the suit of armor from the chest at the foot of their bed."

"Nah, it's like I said. I was allowed to have that armor, and someone Vex knows needs some. She isn't a fence, she's a fixer. Never let anyone tell you different. Believe it."

The robot obeyed the Second Law for all three issued commands. It opened its STORAGE, withdrew the suit of armor, and gave it to Vex.

Vex took the armor from the robot. "I've seen shadow magic before, but nothing like that. What in oblivion was that spell?"

Fiver didn't know what she was talking about. "That isn't magic. Magic isn't real. If it was, then I should be able to use it myself."

A dark woman, with her exact shade impossible to tell in the torchlight, walked up. "I'll fence that for you, Vex. Consider the request completed." The woman looked at the armor-clad robot. "Never seen a face like yours before. The name's Tonila."