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Post by birdy51 on Oct 21, 2021 14:53:05 GMT
The girl awakes as she usually does, hating the world and staring at a bleary, burning sun. But she didn’t always wake like that. Right? It was just today. Not any indication of a pattern.
“Guess… Guess we were both just tired, huh Monolith?” She whispers faintly. Her body was wracked with chills. Like she was cold, but inside. This was odd. Unsettling. A new, wretched sensation. Her body was failing and she did not know why. She had no desire to get up. The setting sun meant it was not a time for Starly. She had missed her chance today.
She bends her head downwards and clings tighter to the still form of Monolith, waiting for a new rest, one that might be mercifully absent of the never-ending, ceaseless violence.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Oct 21, 2021 20:08:08 GMT
Muku woke again and felt nothing. Not tired, or ill. Not weak, sore, nor infirm. Monolith watched her quietly, but the Splitmount Crag was empty save her, the Aerodactyl, and Xatu. Her beloved friend consumed, whole and quietly contemplating the night sky.
There were no Pokeballs on her person. Only a single of Talon's blades.
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 21, 2021 20:59:09 GMT
Confusion grips her heart as the bird girl rises up off of the ground. This was a weird dream. Mostly because it was weirdly pleasant? Not crushingly awful. Nothing was trying to kill her, and she wasn’t having to kill anyone else. That was a refreshing feeling. Plus, Talon was with her, and that wasn’t bad. The rest of her plock was absent, a void where there should be friends. It was fine. Probably.
Maybe? Monolith was there. That made it fine. A fine dream.
Still. Unsettlingly… tangible? She rolls over and grips her hand open and closed. She takes stock, looking and finding Monolith and… Xatu. This made a sense. Good dream logic. Xatu was dead, and therefore could only live here in the depths of her dreams.
Xatu was terrible at therapy, but they were a good friend. She could say hello. So she did, getting up slowly. She stumbles slightly, not because she had to, but because it felt right. Her body was fine now. This made sense, for this was a dream.
All a dream.
“Xatu. It’s good to see you.” She says with a faint smile. “You are there… Right? Not just a memory?”
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Oct 21, 2021 21:16:42 GMT
"I am.". Xatu gave an appreciative dip of his head and folded a wing over his front as he bowed forward. "I saw, you did very well in the battle against water and sky. I didn't expect to see you again so soon, but I can only look backwards now. Not forward. I can live in the moment, and rest."
Monolith sniffed heavily and clawed at the rocks with a foot, leaving rents in his perch. Whatever brought the action around, he seems satisfied.
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 21, 2021 22:03:45 GMT
"Yeah. Must be nice, I think." Muku mutters. Leaving Monolith to his astral inspections, Muku sits down next to Xatu. Her hands entwine, twisting into a nervous bundle in her lap. "I think I'd like to rest too. At some point."
Her breath lapses, sucking deep air into her lungs as she stares downcast. "I don't... I don't know what to do with myself. Before I had the whole gym thing, but now it's like... I don't see a place for myself. Not after watching you die and having almost died myself or having to fight so much, so much that I just can't- I can't think. I never could think, but now it's even harder to think and I don't like it. It's awful. Maybe with time I could found something... Anything. But there's this damn bug and until I squash it and squash it and squash it nothing is safe because it'll hurt my friends because it has hurt my friends and if I have to hurt people to hurt it I will."
She breaks, cradling her frought brain in her hands. "I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't care. You shouldn't. You're dead and I'm still blathering on about things I don't really understand. Normal for me, I know. I just don't have many Pokémon I can talk to. I don't think most humans get me and I'm not one of them. I'm a Starly damn it, even if I'm just covered in flesh and have to wear a coat to keep out the cold."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Oct 21, 2021 23:01:25 GMT
"Muku, you are a Starly trying to be a Staraptor.". Xatu patted one of her shoulders with a feather-light touch. "You are the most powerful Starly anyone has ever met, but they must grow up. Experience. Be free. We are birds. We learn by doing, not thinking. If all you do is fight and also fight, how will others learn to fight? When will you find time to make the flock bigger. Build a nest. Find the most delicious Kingterpie.". He smiled wisely.
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 21, 2021 23:14:40 GMT
"So what I'm hearing... Is that I need to find the muscle bug, convince it to visit the Pokémon Center, and make the nurse fight it?" Muku replies, a bit of that old spark entering her eyes. Yes. Yes! That would be one way to make her see! See that she could fight the bug if she wasn't so busy being a jerk! But then another idea nagged at her. A more important one. "You're not saying I shouldn't be a Staraptor though, are you? I kinda always thought that was the goal. To be cool. Distant. Stuff like that."
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Post by Robot on Oct 21, 2021 23:26:14 GMT
"I am saying that you should be something uniquely you. Staraptor might be part of that, it might not. That is only for you to decide. A happy life is not a wasted one. Are you happy, Muku?" Xatu folded his wings against his front and rocked in place, thinking. Xatu looked off in the direction the ocean would be, were they outside.
"Thel faces a challenge not unlike yours, soon. Is there anything you would say to him?"
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 21, 2021 23:51:12 GMT
"I'm not unique though." Muku replies, puzzled by the very idea of uniqueness. What a strange, awful word, unique. To be unique is to invite the owl to take you and snatch you away. But Muku was not so afraid of owls now. Maybe? It was hard to undo that kind of fear. And all this thinking was keeping her from listening.
Because... Was she happy? There were moments she could be happy. When she was deep into a fight with a friend. When she cuddled Mmip. When she had triumphed over a challenge with her plock. When she spent a quiet moment watching a friend doing friend things with another friend while she snooped in on them from a tower.
But it was all so fleeting. Small moments that pass by so quickly it felt like she didn't really have time to process them all. "I'll need time to think on that... Alone time I think. Maybe, semi-alone time? Happiness and uniqueness is weird. I haven't gotten the hang of either. And then, the things that make me happy; they're so different it's scary. I like to fight. I like being a friend. But it's so hard to do and be both..."
She shakes her head. "Anyways. To the last question. Tell him not to die. The main thing is that if you're in a fight, you don't want to die. So as long as he's not dying, he's fine."
Huh. That's a thought, isn't it? Thel in a fight? "You know, if he's about to go fight something like I did, he could probably use a hand. Thel is thin and bony. Not a fighter. I should be waking up to go help him, right?" She asks. Sure it was a day ago she had to go fight a sky bird, but maybe she could go do it again.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Oct 25, 2021 20:02:02 GMT
"You won't make it in time, I'm afraid. By the time you have woken the fight will be over.". Xatu fluffed his wings pointedly. "Em is with him, and Natu will bring Kursz to help too. Thel has been growing his family, though he is weak he is never without others."
The bird settles for a moment, looking skyward. "You won't wake until we have taken another journey together. The same thing that brought me to this dream, brought you here too. It would be nice to travel with you again, too, Muku."
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 26, 2021 0:58:06 GMT
Well. At least Thel had friends. "I'm glad he's recruited a few more partners to his team. He's so... Bad about that. I worry about that too. Not often, but often enough, you know? Ya gotta worry about Thel. So frail. So breakable..."
Pursing her lips, Muku finally takes full notice at the single blade at her hip, cocking her eye as they now see a lone Talon. "Huh. Yeah. This really must be a weird dream already. Usually, there are two Talons, not one. Something kinda nostalgic about that I guess." She glances over at Xatu, a grin manifesting on her lips. "I know it's not been long... But I'd be happy to travel with you again as well. Monolith too, I'm sure."
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Post by Robot on Oct 26, 2021 1:24:55 GMT
Xatu put a wing around Muku. "Do you remember the tall building that was black with fire and soot, that creaked and groaned, and looked like it might fall over at any time, far to the north?"
He waited for her reply.
"At the bottom of that tower there is a doorway that leads to a place called the Distortion World. I must go, because of what happened with Zapdos. It is not a fate I can argue, or fight. I would be honored if you would be my guide as I was yours."
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 26, 2021 1:53:06 GMT
"Yeah. I think I remember that place. Not a good place for birds. Now I think I know why." She pauses, before looking Xatu in the eyes. "If you've got a place to go, I'll go with you. Don't need to know, just need to do. If you'd like, I'll even go through the door too."
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Oct 26, 2021 2:19:57 GMT
"Please Muku, with me until my journey ends, wherever that may be.". Xatu rested his forehead against hers, a PokeBall lightly dropping into Muku's hand.
Mentor (Level 60 Male Spirit Xatu [Ghost/Psychic]) [Dodge, Probability Control, Keen Eye, Magic Coat] (Future Sight, Shadow Ball, Teleport, Cosmic Power, Stored Power, Air Slash)
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 26, 2021 2:46:05 GMT
"Don't mention it." She whispers fondly. The Pokeball collapses in her hand. This wasn't going to be easy. She did after all have to kill that bug first.
...Was that bug even around in this world?
Marching to the lip of the cave, Muku takes a good, long look at her surroundings for the first time.
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Post by Robot on Oct 26, 2021 18:00:37 GMT
Outside the landscape was somber blues under a dull sun through an overcast sky. The forest, once lush and green, is patchy. Dead trees and ruined live ones fade in and out of existence, crowding one another for space. It is hard to tell where one ends and another begins sometimes.
From the crag, Muku can see Ironfist Hill, and Cianwood, though the town is drastically different from her memory. Half constructed homes, rubble, and dilapidated structures huddle on the beach and some even out into the ocean itself. Some distance off shore the sea and sky disappear into a starry abyss, the waters falling away into nothingness, not even mists.
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 27, 2021 0:29:21 GMT
And so it is that Muku is once more caught off-guard by the alien landscape. No bird would possibly be comfortable with this place's desolate trees and barren crags. She finds herself sniffing at the sky bitterly, hoping to catch the sea breeze. No. Only decay that wrinkled the nose. This was no place for Starly. This was a place only meant for Owls. Not even they, if they perhaps found themselves of limited intelligence. At least she knew with utmost certainty that she would not find the bug here now. After all. How could anything live here?
Whistling sharply towards the Monolith, she slides down from the crumbling cliffs and walks toward the now desolate Cianwood.
This was such a creepy dream. Really, all she needed to be doing was to hop on Monolith and flying straight to the tower. But if she was here... May as well do at least a little sight seeing, right?
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Post by Robot on Oct 27, 2021 18:01:16 GMT
In her descent towards Cianwood, something caught her attention wandering the patchy forest. Bright red, the color of blood. When it moved it left a trail of color behind it, as though it smeared its presence across creation itself. Every shade Muku could name, and some she couldn't for they had none.
On closer inspection, it was the bug she sought. It stood like a man, on four thick, spiked legs with an impossible physique, beady eyes and a long, sharp looking nose. It moved along unawares of her. When she struck, it seemed to have no effect though it paused after a few such attempts. Turning slowly in place, as though seeking something it could not see.
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Post by birdy51 on Oct 27, 2021 18:17:32 GMT
Another rock soars through the creature’s skull, clearly piercing the beast, but doing nothing of note. Whatever rules this strange dreamland abided by, they meant she couldn’t hurt it. This creature; this stain upon the world, it defied all logic and sense. No bug should be so muscular.
At once, she felt validated and terrified. If such a creature were to grow stronger, there was a good chance she couldn’t defeat it alone. At once she was both vindicated and bound; correct in her urgency to fight the creature, but wrong in thinking that just her flock could take care of this problem.
Maybe, maybe if she found Gallade and the sword horse; maybe they could defeat such a creature together. But for now, that wasn’t a possibility. Unless…
“I don’t suppose you can hurt this creature, can you Xatu?” She asks, pressing his spectral Pokeball to her lips. “I can’t do anything, but you have those mind powers right? Can you do the brain thing to it?”
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Post by Robot on Oct 27, 2021 18:31:03 GMT
"There is nothing we can do to it here.". Xatu stated placidly, staring up at the monstrous creature. "To avoid making your head hurt, it is in many places right now. We are just here. If it takes full notice of us, that would be very bad."
The Buzzwole lurched forward and took a blind swipe where Muku had been a short while prior, as though it were tracing where she was. Each second that passes, those movements become more swift and certain.
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