Week 16.

[azumods]

WEEK 16 The world continues to stagnate. It's an undeniable truth, one that's more or less a constant in your lives; you can see it in the people and the Pokémon both, even after you arrive in Oreburgh City. The same blank stares and behind-the-eyes deadness that Cyrus' new world brought with it are everywhere, difficult to ignore and impossible to escape. However little the people are interested in you, however, they are still present, and with Darkrai and Cresselia having agreed to help you, that has to count for something; with both dream deities and the Lake Guardians, perhaps hope hasn't faded - perhaps spirit can still be restored to the world, as long as there's a world left to restore it to. That isn't to say, however, that the city itself holds nothing for you; there's a fair amount to see here, and a few things to explore if you're so inclined to do so; the mines in particular are open to the south, and extends far beneath the region. Take care not get lost, should you venture in. CURRENT LOCATION: OREBURGH CITY POKEMON AVAILABLE: WITHIN CITIES SURROUNDING ROUTES: MOUNTAINS/ELEVATED AREAS / CAVES MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY [OOC: Welcome to week sixteen of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget that a write-up is due this weekend!]

Comments

MONDAY

[azumods]

[gekkaju]

[For once, Atsushi is glad to be away from the water. He's certain seeing it would dredge up some recent memories that he's still trying very hard to not dwell on.

Having since resolved not to let the state of things bother him too much, instead finding optimism in Darkrai and Cresselia's support, Atsushi plans on spending the day exploring Oreburgh once they arrive. But before that, he'd gotten his Pokemon healed up and had headed just past the Pokemon Center for some morning training when something happens...

Chazuke and Natto have been pitted against one another while Mizushi sits with Atsushi nibbling on an oran berry. Atsushi calls out commands to them both, watching as they bounce off of each other. As usual, Chazuke can't do a whole lot other than defend himself and struggle...and after a while this gets on Natto's nerves. So much so that she bites down on the little Wimpod and outright refuses to let go, forcing Atsushi to get up and rush over.]

Natto, you can't- bite like that, let him go!

[Atsushi starts to reach in to pry them apart when out of nowhere a flash of light from the Stunky's mouth startles them both, Atsushi staggering back and Natto dropping Chazuke from her mouth, skittering back towards Mizushi. Atsushi turns his attention to where Chazuke fell, watching as the light warps around and envelops him as his figure begins to change, and he gets bigger...and bigger........

And bigger.

Atsushi falls back onto his rear, staring up at Chazuke now as the light tapers off to reveal a hulking behemoth of a Pokemon that towers over Atsushi, staring down at him with slanted eyes and multiple arms. Atsushi scoots back, his mouth working with no sound escaping as the Pokemon stamps towards him, now distinctly bipedal as it walks.

He opens his mouth and starts to scream when its massive claws sweep down towards him-

-but that is pretty quickly cut off as Chazuke scoops Atsushi right up off the ground, cradling him in his Big Meaty Claws(tm) so he can give him the hug he's always wanted to, chittering happily with his big head pressed against Atsushi's and messing his hair all up.]

I- ...w...wh-

[He wanted to be bridal carried by a 6 foot tall bug today, sure]

[takestheblame]

[Kiryu and Shoga were some distance away, not paying much attention, at least until Shoga noticed the shining light of an evolution. Curious, he hurried to see what was going on, so obviously his trainer followed right behind him.

...ah. It was your turn now to deal with an evolved Pokemon, eh, Atsushi?]

...he's much larger than I thought he'd be.

[And...more threatening-looking, too. That'd be scary to encounter in the wild. But yeah, Chazuke is much larger than Shoga! Even taller than Kiryu! It's amazing]

[gekkaju]

[Chazuke chitters happily to Kiryu and Shoga when they approach, still not yet letting Atsushi go as he's pretty well resigned himself to his fate at this point.]

H-haha...I wasn't expecting this kind of growth spurt either, to be perfectly honest.

[enjoymyatelier]

[...oh, wow, that was not quite what he expected from that little thing, uh-]

...

Well, I guess it is a bit like Magikarp, then.

[gekkaju]

Doesn't e-even look like the same Pokemon, does he?

[Most of his features are similar, at least? But boy he's...he's a large boy.]

[eudaimonikos]

Holy shit!

[Here's Michael, making absolutely no move to help you with this!]

Congrats on the big bug, man, he could really rip a head off!

[gekkaju]

T-thanks Michael-san...

[He thinks that's probably a compliment, anyway. Chazuke sure seems to think so, despite having no intention of ever ripping anything's head off.]

I hope his personality doesn't change that much...

[Oh Atsushi, do you honestly think a Golisopod holding you like a baby and cuddling you isn't the exact same Pokemon he was before]

[semistableman]

[All of Bucky's Pokemon have stayed cute and small since he hasn't been training them, so he's had to live vicariously. It's been just fine, honestly. At least only a few evolutions have really surprised him.

But the tiny little bug evolving into a very big bug is one of those things that really does take him by surprise.]

He's... gotten really big.

[gekkaju]

Big is an understatement...

[Atsushi is half-smiling though despite the huge shock, a breathy chuckle escaping him.]

Not that I was....at all expecting this.

[radiantflame]

[She's just

staring

in awe of the size of this lad etc etc]

Good grief, he's massive.

[gekkaju]

[YEAH UH HE DOESN'T BLAME YOU AT ALL]

I'm a little surprised he's not more alarmed by his own change, honestly.

[You were so tiny before Chazuke what the hell]

[anythingforyou]

[...You know, Camilla was attracted by that ever familiar light while she was training her partners, so she and Eda wind up coming right up to see what on earth is going on and--

Hoooooly shit? Camilla's actually struck speechless at what she sees, but Eda comes hopping on up to Atsushi and Chazuke, just kind of. Jumping up and down and making a lot of excited noises, which is pretty much Wormadam-ese for "So cool, so cool, so cool!!"]

...Atsushi, dear, are you...going to be alright?

[gekkaju]

I-I'm okay!

[He...thinks? He's pretty sure he's fine. Chazuke is holding him, but not crushing him, and that's already a plus.]

I just uhhh...this just happened? Um...

investigation!

[enjoymyatelier]

[You know, Kayneth should really be investigating the Gym or the mines or something... but they've got time. Probably nothing but time. Unless Cyrus shows up and murders them all, but anyway, there's an attraction in Oreburgh that Kayneth is incredibly invested in visiting the second he realizes it exists, and thus he's going to spend the day at the museum. Sure, he wouldn't normally be interested in a plebian subject like coal mining, but hey, between the library in Canalave and a museum in Oreburgh? He's recharging, okay.

For what it's worth, he is paying pretty close attention to all the exhibits in case they'll tell them anything useful about leads on the mythology of the region or useful in general and ask the employees about the operations, but for the most part he's just chilling. So if you felt like paying admission or taking a free tour on Monday, well, you can chat him up.]

[eudaimonikos]

Hey, you seen if there's fossils in any of these?

[Michael is coming towards the display cases from the placard about how to revive fossils. At least he's not actively holding a lockpick or anything.]

[enjoymyatelier]

Not yet, unfortunately.

[...because, like, he definitely wants to try it out and might consider it, but...]

I think we might have to go hunting for them if we want to try out this resurrection thing.

[takestheblame]

[It's museum time, out of curiosity. Kiryu's team better behave. Once he reminds them etiquette is important -- everyone may be spiritless but it'd be rude as heck to possibly break stuff in a museum anyway. No battling! -- they go inside.

Turns out neither Kiryu nor anyone in his team is passionate about the intrincacies of mining.

What does get their attention is the part about fossils. They all stare at the fossils, and Kiryu finds the information about how Pokemon are revived]

...they can revive ancient Pokemon just by using...those? And it's treated like something normal?

How can this world be so advanced?

[Reviving fossils, teleportation, healing machines...science is amazing in the Pokemon world]

[eudaimonikos]

They could just be talking about cloning.

[He says like that's normal? Either way it's not super clear from this primer.]

museum

[enjoymyatelier]

It's highly improbable, but I'm really curious to get a fossil and see how it works.

[HE THINKS ABOUT IT...]

I know there was a film about cloning dinosaurs from DNA preserved in amber, but... hmm. I wonder if it would be different from our world just because Pokemon are so strange.

[radiantflame]

[You know this really isn't helping her view of "Pokemon = Blades"]

Perhaps there's something about these particular Pokemon that allow for it?

[hyruglyphics]

[ One would assume that Zelda would spend basically all of her time at the museum once they arrived in Oreburgh. ... And honestly, it's that's a fair assumption, she might do just that at a later point this week. But what catches her attention instead is that very soon after they arrive and she sends out Miphanus the Metang...? Well, it's in that moment that a light envelops the creature, as it examines under a particularly amusing looking stone. They evolve.

And in a flash, the floating creature with two arms thuds to the ground as a new, altogether quite large (over five feet tall not even counting all the horizontal bulk) and heavy (... as in over a thousand pounds and four times as heavy as Bosphoramus somehow) new form. And Zelda is--

Ecstatic, of course! She whips out the Sheikah Slate and sends out every other member of her team (Saber the Lickilicky and Bosphoramus the Onix seems interested, Urbin the Alolan Graveler seems mildly agitated, the Mime Jr is blank, and who even knows what Vah Daroh the Porygon2 is thinking) and begins to take photographs ]

Oh wow, wow! Just look at you! Oh, you so resemble a Guardian now it's uncanny, actually!

[discutio]

[Ignis, meanwhile, had to make a concentrated effort not to jump a mile in the air and snap into combat mode; luckily, Zelda not sounding remotely alarmed was enough to make him rethink that.]

Zelda, what was that sound?

[semistableman]

[The loud noise is what sends Bucky running towards Zelda, because it was heavy and who knows what that means-- definitely not something good, he figures.

It doesn't take him long-- just a visual headcount, and the fact that Zelda is taking photographs-- to calm down. He's looking incredibly impressed.]

That's one hell of an evolution.

[anythingforyou]

[Goodness, it seems that a lot of people are having fun with evolutions this week--Camilla was actually going to seek Zelda out, but seeing that telltale white light causes her to come running up to see--

Woah.]

Oh, Zelda! Is that Miphanus?!