Chapter 1 [Group 2] - "Glass Canons and High Cliffs"

If it weren't for the massive electrical storm, the first thing the others would notice is probably the gigantic turtle collapsed belly-first on the cold stone. But as it is, the storm is probably the more notable feature. Giant as the turtle is, it's simply not going to compare. That said, the turtle in question would probably feel pretty swell about being introduced over the boom of thunder, lightning flashing bright light over his features.

If he were awake to see it, that is.

Luckily, he's not showing signs of consciousness yet, giving the others a chance to examine him without danger. If they decide to, which they may do at their leisure whenever they're over the startling storm, and perhaps their own selves.

He DOES look rather intimidating. His most recognizable features at the moment are the brown shell affixed to his back, featuring two recesses from which protrude sizable metallic cylinders. They strongly resemble the business end of a large firearm, and it seems wise to not stand directly in front of them.

The turtle's body is blue, featuring thick legs and arms with large claws. And... upon closer inspection, that blue surface does indeed consist of scales. All in all, it certainly LOOKS like a turtle beast to the rest of the people here. But wouldn't a turtle tuck his limbs inside his shell instead of splaying out all over the ground like that? Maybe he didn't have time to do so before whatever happened to him. His eyes are shut, expression pained.

Ghost's world was hazy for the first few moments as consciousness started to return to her. This state of mind didn't last for long though as certain details began to force themselves upon her consciousness. First of all the ground was cold... and not the kind of cold she was used to when she'd typically take over a robot's form. It wasn't a simulated sensation, constructed by her shell's programming and temp-sensors making a facsimile. It was the real deal.

As her mind came to, a few other oddities hit the mercenaries mind. Her body... it felt like she was missing a few parts, and still more of those familiar, almost organic senses tingling all over her form. The second thing to register with her was the storm in the distance... And then confusion. Absolute, utter, profound confusion.

Honestly that confusion only increased ten fold after she noticed exactly what was missing from her form. Main point being, her legs. What's more her hands were literally lightning bolt like protrusions!

'Alright, let's take a quick stock of the situation. I'm in unfamiliar territory, I'm in a new type of shell, and--,' She quietly thought to herself as she cast her gaze around the clearing, eyes falling upon the... the... '--I'm surrounded by some weird creatures.'


"What the heck--" She started, only to stop as she heard the sound of her voice -- or rather, the rather strange electrical noise that escaped from her mouth. What's more, she kinda felt like she understood her own words!

"... Yeah, totally not questioning it anymore," She muttered as she propped herself up on her gourd like body, content to save her questions for when they could actually help. Her eyes quickly traveling from creature to creature. Her eyes stayed on the titanic turtle for a few seconds longer than the other, before her eyes turned towards the strange beetle-like creature hiding in the woods. And... Wait, was that a fish? It certainly looked like a fish, although it had a definite fierceness to its visage. Considering it was on the land at that, she wasn't sure if it was even alive...

Ryota blinks several times as he awakens, his last memory being out on his boat in a storm. At first, when he opens his eyes, he figures he's just been thrown onto some distant shore. A few more blinks, though, and he notices that the distant storm is both too far away and doesn't resemble the one that threw him off. So...how long has he been out?

However, when he tries to get up, he quickly realizes that something's wrong. His limbs can't get a purchase on anything, and even the feeling of the stone against his skin is different. He tries to look down at himself, and that's when he realizes his eyes aren't even in the same position as before. He does manage to turn his head, although it feels more like his whole body shifting. And...what are those creatures?

One of them speaks.

"What happened to me?" he asks.

Ghost rocked around a little bit as the metallic beetle approached the fish, trying to figure out exactly how she was supposed to move in her new body. She supposed she could just drag herself around with her energy (plasma?) arms, but honestly that was just so cumbersome. Granted, it wasn't like she'd never had to drag herself around like that with her previous bodies. Not that she really liked it...  'Hmm, maybe that robot over there would be easier to explore the area with, or I could just go for a walk and get my... bearings--,' She started before attempting to vacate her current, rather awkward form... only for nothing to happen.

Okay, now she knew something wasn't right here.  Her arms quickly came up in front of her face so she could give herself one more look over. No, this... this had to be a robot of some kind right?  I mean, with all the plasma and glowyness all about her, this had to be some kind of ionized plasma field of some kind, so she should've been able to--

"Huh??"  She suddenly said, her head snapping upward as she heard the question. Oh... oh my gosh, did that fish just talk!? Without even pausing to think about it the electric ghost pokemon quickly rose into the air and floated towards the two creatures. She nearly stumbled as she realized - in shock - that she was legitimately levitating as if she were still in her spectral form, but brushed it off before she flew over to the fish.  "Waaaait a minute, did you just... talk?"  She asked, tilting her head to the side as she fell down beside him, opposite the strangely-sniffing metal bug.  "Huh, a talking fish... never seen that one before,"  She said softly... "Granted, given my present state and the other individuals here, I guess I'm one to talk." this next part was just a mutter, but she snapped a bit out of it as something dawned on her.

"... Wait, you weren't a fish before this were you?"  She asked, going out on a limb.

Honestly the weirdness of this situation called for a bit of leaping logic. And since the beetle thing seemed to be able to talk... "And... Play?" She asked questioningly, honestly a little bit confused. It sounded like a girl, maybe she was really young or something?

Alright, it looked like there was at least some sense to this madness... Oh, who was she kidding, she was a freakin ball of lightning talking to a fish. By this point, any sane person would've assumed they were in some kind of dream... But since up until she woke up a few moments prior, she hadn't even been capable of sleep, that pretty much ruled that out.

"Mmph... Yeah, probably could've been more tactful there... Look,  I'm sorry, but I'm thinking we're all in the same boat here.  I wasn't exactly a ball of floating lightning last time I checked either," she said, before her eyes quickly turned up towards the beetle. "And I'm guessing you're not in the right body either, right?"  She asked, more wanting to confirm her suspicions than anything else.  She bit her tongue just short of calling her a cutie - she always did have a soft spot for kids - but she didn't want to accidentally patronize the silver member of their team.

'I wonder what that guy's story is...?' She thought curiously, glancing over her shoulder. That guy was also unconscious so it was a safe bet he wasn't in his right skin too.

That's a lot of voices... prattling on about philosophical matters like who/what they are, and such things that Bowser's still-waking brain is only half processing.

A flex of his hand and a deep rumbling groan from the ground signals his awakening.  He brings one arm, then the other, under him to push his chest up from the ground.  Just by the sight of it, one can tell how much effort it takes to lift that kind of weight.  One eye cracks open.  A rumbly voice rolls out of his mouth.

"Man, I hate wakin' up on cold hard floors...  Gotta get some carpeting installed, or..."

His eye scrolls across the three animals standing nearby.  A crack of lightning and thunder pulls his attention upward, both eyes open.  Then his head turns toward the sea.  "Whoa!"  His body rolls to the side, flinching away from the sight of the giant weather phenomenon.

Slow, clunky gears in his head grind to life.

"That portal thing..." he remembers.  "Wait, THIS is where it spit me out?  Some crazy storm?" he asks himself aloud, before he starts pushing himself up to his feet, quickly interrupted by clutching a hand at his chest.  "OW, geez, I gotta start landing on my shell."  He glances up toward the sky again, standing up the rest of the way.   He can only guess he was dropped from above in some way.

Bowser looks toward the three animals again.   Err...  Ok, maybe one of them doesn't count as an animal.   He doesn't seem to have noticed just yet that his arms have changed colour.

"Hey!  No one ever told ya starin' is rude?"  Sniffing, too, if the Aron is still doing so.  "Who're you clowns, anyway?"

And with that single word her silver friend threw her completely through a loop. W-what, h-how-- How in the world did she know her name!?  That was... just... -- The startled feeling was just compounded when the beetle girl's mouth tried to bite in to the guy she was trying to talk to. Was she crazy or something!?  Honestly, this whole thing was throwing her through a loop. This girl was... just... Her eyes turned towards the retreating beetle with an utterly perplexed look on her face... only to notice their larger friend waking up. Quickly making sure her fishy friend was okay, she rushed between the two figures.

"Whoa whoa, hold up there miss!  Let's... not try to bite our new friend, alright?"  She asked, quickly interposing herself between the comparatively tiny creature and the hulking turtle.  Then his words hit her ears... and she was honestly put a bit on edge.  Slowly she turned towards the towering creature, looked him square in the eyes, and... all of a sudden a tiny voice in the back of her head reminded her that antagonizing someone when they hadn't exactly attacked you was the quickest way to get an unnecessary battle, so plan B would have to do.

"Greeting's sir, and sorry about that. We're all just kinda in the wrong head space at the moment... as in I'm pretty sure we're all kinda not where we're supposed to be. So, to answer your question, I am Ghost. And you are...?"  She asked, letting her question hang a little bit as she summoned up every ounce of diplomatic tact she had.  She could get answers from her silver friend later, and she didn't want to see this big guy's reaction if he knew the creature behind her was probably planning on trying to take a bite out of him.

"Really?"  The grand turtle sets his hands on his hips.   "You don't recognize me?  Huh, I must be really far out, then..."  This doesn't bode fantastically, and Bowser has a bad feeling that he's so far away from his castle that it'll be a royal pain to get back.

Hah.  Royal.  Speaking of, he should introduce himself.

"Guess I oughta let you in on how lucky you lot are, then!" he declares, setting his fists on his hips and standing up straighter, showing his full height and a big open grin.  Toothy!

"You fine chumps are standing in front of Bowser, King of the Koopas!" he booms in a big rumbly voice.

He allows his posture to relax a bit, but makes sure to maintain that prideful stance.  "Ghost huh?  I was wondering what you were.  Ya look particularly zappy."  As for Ryota, it's clear he's a fish.  An unfamiliar kind of fish, but a fish nonetheless, so less mystery there.  He's not sure what that critter covered in metal armour was, but it seems to have retreated for the moment.

But, the fish does ask him about a portal.  "Yeah, I'm not, uh, from here.  I was in my castle and..."  His face bends into a frown at the recollection.  "Someone abducted Peach.  Through a portal that just popped up outta nowhere, in MY castle.  I tried to grab her and the whole bed got pulled in, I think.  Me included.  The portal was suckin' like a vacuum or somethin'." he explains, though perhaps without the proper context.  

The turtle shrugs.  "That's the last thing I remember."  He hasn't yet gathered that the rest of them aren't native to this place.  "I wonder where the bed got to...  Would sure be a better landing spot." he murmurs, looking to and fro.

A king, huh? They're definitely far from home, then. Admittedly, Ryota doesn't know much about all these foreign countries and their monarchies, but he's pretty sure he'd have heard about a giant turtle king if they existed anywhere. Still, his attention is drawn to one part of Bowser's speech in particular.

"Peach? Is she your girlfriend?" Man, now he wishes his boat were here. Although sailing into the storm probably wouldn't be a good idea anyways.