KaBling

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

Gonna post tomorrow or so.

Last 3 days of my holidays were spent on relaxing, though now I gotta start my final year of high school with a cold.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

Hm... this is certainly taking some time.

I only got 5 days or so until I gotta start my final year of high school.

Table of Monsters

As it turned out, Dorisma was in fact trailing us quietly. She was somehow subtle for a giant ogre. "Oh, apologies! I thought you were a while back, Dorsima." Wasting no time, I moved on ahead with Trey as he flew over objects that stood in our way. We were after all in the stronghold, where things got more cramped what with the dragons taking up so much space, and the inflow of refugees just making things more crowded. Seemed as if we all looked out of place as shanty-towns took up any available space (we Kobold (I still consider myself one (I know it's strange when I'm physically a Drake, but you realise I wasn't always like this (I wonder how many brackets I can use)) no matter how others think) aren't known to be master craftsmen, what with being nomads and all) beside majestic marble buildings, drawing the ire of the local Drake population who spent years here away from their ancestral enemies.

One spot in particular struck me out - two buildings of same size built beside each other, one being an elegantly carved marble inn filled with stylish Drake patrons, right next to a hastily-assembled Kobold pub that seemed to be brewing its own alcohol- a stark contrast when it came to our cultures. It was interesting to see the rather drunken insults being thrown around, such as 'go back to being begging nomads' and 'traitors to the draconian line.'

Er, let me get back to the story. World-building's always a long pain in the arse, but someone's gotta do it. Trust me, nothing's better than mixing fantasy with realism. Anyway, we stumbled across the petrified statue earlier. Looking at it gave me chills, and I intended to move forwards just to be safe. I admittedly got jealous of the fact that Trey could just avoid all the stupid obstacles in his way, while Dorisma and I had to brush past numerous drunken mobs, carts and dragon legs. It was certainly painful and bruising to run over malformed paths and rubble paths, while also crossing through lines of busy walkways and commotions. We could hear the voices of our party over the busy sprawl, and sooner than later we reached an enclosed area surrounded by wooden shacks. Briefly skidding on the paths, there we spotted Trey reuniting with the group, casting a shadow on the figure on the floor.

"There you are lads! What's all this then?" Whilst we apparently found the egg, we also had an unarmed troll on the floor. He certainly looked mad with bloodshot eyes though, upon moving closer to the group and noting the pungent smell of wine. Everyone seemed to crowd around him whilst Deravan (or someone else, I only made a guess) swiped the egg of him and left him in the dirt. I was annoyed that we had to spend roughly a month- I mean half a day looking for an egg, but at least we'd probably get some award out of this. Weapons? Family heirloom? Money? First two I can sell for money, depending who's around in the black market. I know an ogre who's willing to swap his (spare) golden teeth for an intricate dagger. Don't ask how I know this.

So then, we wandered outside the enclosure and made it out into sunlight, though longer shadows meant a degree of time had passed. "Okay, so we have to return the egg now without breaking it. Then we go check up on our gear and investigate the prog ress of the dust." Whilst saying that, I saw a child ogre behind us (roughly the size of myself) throwing a nasty punch into another ogre and knocking him down, apparently as 'play-fighting.' I brushed it off with a sore expression and decided not to remark on it, as to avoid offending Dorisma. (In fact, just narrating about it might've insulted her; I hope she can't read this.) I slipped my hand into my pocket and brushed the cold handles of my knives, noting their existence while the group and I went ahead to turn in our quest. A pretty boring one at that.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

That was the closest I had come to death, at least until now. Spruce told me his side of the story the first time I was crippled. The second and my last is now, is it not? Don't worry, we'll get there. We'll get there alright. You just gotta be patient and... need to know the entire story.

So, I rolled around and got comfortable on the ground, preferring to rest against the warmth of the ground as it poured into me. It was certainly painful but I couldn't complain forever, and I had to suck it up like any other Pokemon in this world. There were all sorts of injustices around us, but it was better to shut up about it because every solution took time. Maybe my suffering would be ended by another fire attack. Maybe I'd find some food in there to get me properly healed up. Right now I was starving and... if Davis were to scan me, he'd be horrified at the slither of life I still had. He also probably wouldn't expect the appearance of feathers and other interesting developments on my body - although in all honesty, they seemed a lot less pronounced and noticeable than before. Maybe they had something to do with my mindset or emotions...

"Go on Spruce." I rasped, smothering myself on the baked dirt and pretending I was at home with Davis. All the stories he'd read in my sleep, about heroes and ancient history... just thinking about them made me sleepy. To be polite though, I let my thoughts run and avoided sleep to listen to Spruce, hearing out what he had to say for himself as the leader of our group. He went on about having a brother who always overshadowed him and made him feel unworthy, how he never had the chance to prove himself...

I listened to him as I coughed and my breath became dry. All the way to the end, I absorbed his words and realised what this was about: this Pokemon never got the chance to be a real adventurer until now. Problem was, it seemed as if we were caught up in something that was no longer about fame. Me? I didn't really care for anything. I would've be a drifter if it weren't for Spruce, aimlessly wandering the world for meaning. Now, here we are... risking our lives to save some village. Certainly better than plotting against a missing Pokemon, am I correct? "Spruce..." I cleared my voice with a heavy cough, spitting out dust as my magnets (though at this point they were barely magnets) spun in reaction. Must've blown into my mouth or something whilst listening to Spruce. "You did the right thing. If it weren't for you, I'd just be a loner without a purpose. Yet he we are: we're gonna overturn the wraith of a legendary, and stop the world from witnessing an old horror. Even if it doesn't mean I'll..." I frowned and looked away from Spruce, rolling my back to him. "My name's Miles." I dropped, preferring to entrust my respect for someone for once. "I used to have a peaceful life until my guardian left me. I really did think I wouldn't be any different to the Pokemon we're fighting until I joined you. Sure I got a nasty scar and you got greyed, but it really do think it was worth it."

Spruce didn't want me to mark out my own grave just yet, lifting me out of the dirt and into the air. Initially I almost slammed back into the dirt, until I kicked in my levitation (with great pain) and stabilised myself. I felt somewhat dizzy from the experience of being thrown into the air, but now was the time to act and not die. "Alright... let's go out with a bang, I guess." I said, grinning for the first time in a while. Maybe this was my resting place (a thought that remains true now as I lie bleeding), but I sure as hell wanted to know I wouldn't fall without a fight. The tower ahead of us was certainly tall and intimidating, a stark contrast to the relative flatness of the hot lands around us. This certainly seemed like Reshiram's place, a tower of various welded scrap metals and tied together with pipes. I could identify bikes, cars... and disturbingly a few Steel Pokemon in there. Steam billowed out of dark holes of the tower in a randomised loop that sometimes collided with other streams, and many ramparts of mashed metals surrounding the tower like . It certainly shone with a clean glare, with rust in a few places disrupting the painful view. Yes, the whole tower was made of ancient human artefacts, but it seemed as if someone had the time to layer the outside with bronze as to cover up any imperfections. Sunlight wasn't going to stop me now, however.

"Kamina, I don't appreciate being dragged off, alright? Also, apologies." I felt as if making amends was my next step. Wasn't fair to take my anger out on someone who had suffered as dearly as ourselves. Besides, he's helped us on many things, from tanking hits to leaping impossible distances with others. Speaking of which, I pretended to ignore a large gust of air that nearly threw me off-balance, knowing it was just a certain Pokemon's antics (that also saved the day). Stupidly though, he ended up drawing a fight already, something I was admittedly willing to staying away from. "Yes, I'm ready. Question is who isn't?" I asked, pointing to a fight ahead of us in the tower.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

poast hogia, poast

Table of Monsters

"What? Blimey, we just had to put on an act for those dragons." I exclaimed, peeved at what we did earlier just for some information. Considering we finally had a clear lead though, I smiled and brushed off earlier as just a part of our adventure. "Alright Trey, lead the way." I patted off coarse dust from my leggings (these weren't exactly cheap clothes) as Trey flew off, leaving me and Dorisma in the dry and rough lands. I tugged at a shirt of mine before jogging to the direction of the stronghold, not running since walking was hard enough as it was. Gotta get back at that ninja I guess, he took away my strength after all. There was definitely a sharp transition between parched land and lush growth of the valley, as well as an increasing amount of undisturbed rubble that littered the land. Come to think about it, it only took 10 minutes to walk from the stronghold to out here. I ended up stopping at the entrance of the stronghold, a big cracked arch held in place by a looming keystone. I was after all waiting for Dorisma to catch up to the rest of us, as I gripped my throwing knives in case things got nasty.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

"Heh... I'm already across? That's a relief." I said weakly, surprised to see how much closer I was to the tower. Seemed as if the heat was playing with me, the hot air filled my insides with malaise. Considering the warmth, it was definitely making me rather loopy and on the edge - well, I ended up floating erratically in the air and almost exposing myself to the chasm below, the abyss staring into me... and I stared back, slapping my head and trying to get my head straight. It was blowing hot air straight at me, and I had to move towards Spruce again on the dry crisp land to avoid making myself even more sick. I felt pained all over, but sooner or later I would end up forgetting about it. You know, you're exposed to the same thing then over time you'll get used to it. It was only partially true, but it was certainly better than constantly moaning. I just had to be quiet when Spruce had to bring some bad news when it came to food, hoping the tower would have some pots or... just about any containers that we could loot. They do exist right? Davis always told me about those things...

Just probably the heat getting to me. So parched, hostile and dry that a cactus would probably cringe here and die. In fact, up ahead towards the tower, it seemed as if the cacti around were all browned and decayed. Some tried to grow under the rotting piles of plant matter, but it seemed as if it was a repeating cycle here. Meanwhile, it seemed as if the horizon was just one single plane line, the flatness of the land being straighter than the Sunswept Plains. In fact, if you thought about it, this place was Sunswept Plains 2.0. How horrifying. At least the Plains didn't make me suffer the effects of a heatstroke, despite how murky the sun seemed in the sky. My metallic skin was dulled from our adventures together with the group, scratched up and producing blurred reflections of the world.

...

That didn't even have anything to do with what I was talking about. Like I said, almost everywhere hurt and I was barely able to catch any words being exchanged by the group.

"So, Spruce..." I asked, realising I still didn't even know much about our group about a week into our adventures. "What's your history? You know, before we had to find some Legendary... fight a screwed-up Pokemon... confront Anthony. Just asking 'cause it seems as if I'm not gonna last much longer without help."

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

<Snipped quote by KaBling>

I'll get around to it, eventually...

@lavulman

What happens if you switch around characters but retain the same roles?

You get some really odd stuff going on.

i.e. chara is [read no spoils]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Void

<Snipped quote by Lugia>

It's fine, I do that all the time.

@lavulman

Not if I procrastinate har

now go read some storyshift

Table of Monsters

I was surprised to know that Dorisma acted alongside me. I expected hesitation and reluctance, but it seemed as if she was really on-board for this quest. That or we were really tired and pissed over this. Could've at least given a check or fight; lack of tension meant we were about to be bored to death.

However, instead of a fight or some dice roll, we were given something rather unexpected... "Say what?" The dragons seemed to get rather defensive, rousing from their rest and paying attention to us. One of them was still rather confused, but the others were definitely willing to talk, surprisingly enough. "What sort of idiot would take a mother's egg?" One of the dragons with a shorter snout followed on from his friend's sentence. I forgot about the fact these dragons were in fact civilised (somewhat) and not just your regular wild variety, therefore they would have some sort of morals and standards - they were definitely concerned about the equivalent of a Kobold's egg being taken. I took a few steps back as they began stretching their wings and yawning loudly, much to my amusement. I kept a straight face though, listening and curious as to what they had to say. The first one spoke again, almost as if to breath fire at us, but rather just lowering its head to our level. They were in fact quite tall, after all.

"Drake, go back and study. The constabulary's going to catch that scumbag and get back your friend's egg, alright? We don't know anything about a lost egg, 'cause we haven't seen anyone around sorry." As colloquial as a giant dragon sounded, I felt defeated, but at least it meant there was lesser chance of an egg being found here. "Okay... thanks again." I said to all three of them, waving at them as they went back to sunbathing and relaxing. I looked back at Dorisma (who legitimately looked tired) and shrugged my shoulders, preferring to just return to the stronghold and look with the rest of our party. "Sorry Dorisma. Nothing out here in the dust. Let's go signal Robert and find something more useful to do."