PokeCharms RP: Aeon of Insanity

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

OOC: Whooooboy. I think it's time to start a new RP. I have a new PokeMon with a twist thing in mind, but I still need to work out the details - so in the meantime, here's a PokeCharms RP. ^_^

BIC:

The door of the Role Play room burst open, wind carrying the scents of another world drifting softly into the corridors before being sucked into one of the ventilation ducts. A humanoid figure garbed in a green and gold jacked, blue jeans with a silvery design, a headband, glasses and gloves with the fingers cut off and crystals embedded in them emerged from it and closed it behind him. He removed his glasses and cleaned them with a piece of blue fabric he pulled out of thin air, and put them back on, an animesque glare flashing over his warm brown eyes for a moment. StellarWind Elsydeon in his human form.

Walking briskly through the corridors, he made his way towards the basement - a place that he rarely visited. The basement, converted into a full-fledged staff room, was a room he rarely visited - mainly due to lack of time, but mostly because he was too busy lurking in the RP forum.

"Seems quiet in here." he said to himself softly when he noticed the lack of activity. Granted, there was the occasional PN clone chewing on the wires and getting shocked to death ("Alas for alternate dimensions..." he thought) He was also rather surprised at the lack of Katie (Who, as he knew, tended to work around here every once in a while), and not surprised at all due to the lack of Alex (a cardboard placeholder stood there in his place, a third of it blanked out by a huge tombstone with 'Alex's Laptop - R.I.P. until further notice' engraved on it).

"What this place needs is some life." he thought "And unfortunately, there's only one way of doing that..."

In a second, he drew - again, seemingly out of thin air - A rather nifty looking sword 'Time for a random, silly adventure!'

...

There was absolute stillness.

A cricket chirped.

Then a chirpet cricked.

The staff room was eeriely empty. So empty that he could hear the sound of the clock ticking. A pin dropped on the floor would make a noise as powerful as a herd of elephants stampeding in demanding equal rights in the division of the loot of the latest pirate raid on the shores of just-about-anywhere.

"Okay... Guess not... Well, so much for that idea." he sighed, throwing the sword back into whatever pocket dimension he pulled it out of in the first place. "No epic journeys for me, I guess... Ah well.

And with those words, he walked out of the staff room, to notice, oddly enough, that it wasn't only the Staff Room that was empty.

It was the entire PokeCharms complex. He was apparantly the only sentient creature in range.

"Something doesn't look right... Where IS everyone?"

OOC: Here's a picture of my human form, in case anyone wonders.

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: Man... This was made way back in November? I can't believe I was either busy with school work, away on a trip, or stranded with a crappy net connection for so long that I couldn't even take the time to reply to this. Random silliness is definitely something I could use right about now, especially when my ideas for the Hoenn RP won't really surface for awhile (as you can tell, I had NO inspiration for that last post aside from "getting it done" ;p).

But enough of my rambling. Hope you don't mind me reviving this from a pre-mature death ^^

BIC:

"People only love me because I'm the 'Princess', but they don't love me for me... They don't care about me. I'm just a 'title'... Blah blah blah..."

"God, do you EVER STOP COMPLAINING?! How dense can you be, Cecilia?!!" An angry growl floated through the ajar doorway of room titled "General Videogame Discussions". Inside was quite a spacious area decked out with couches, tables and chairs, and shelves covering every wall that were filled with rows upon rows of different video games - except any crappy titles, cheap movie/book/tv show-knock offs, or anything by EA. Around the room was also various stations for each of the major consoles and hand-helds from the present and past, including three empty spots for the next gen consoles. Yes, three. The staff was still too poor to afford X-Box 360.

Even with all the games and consoles, though, the room was almost void of all life except for the single figure who sat on a green couch before a huge, flat-screened TV. In her hands were a PS2 controller, and displayed on the screen was a game barely anyone would have recognized... partially because this game was fairly new, but mostly because the series itself was rather UNDERRATED! (Ahem)
Yet that wasn't the main thought on her mind right now. Aside from the annoyance she'd recently begun to develop towards one of the characters - not that she didn't love Cecilia, but the girl really had get over the whole "no one loves me" hang-up - the RPG had sparked a feverish glee in the girl that every game from the series tended to do.

"Yes... I've made up my mind," the long, brown haired girl smirked as she saved the game, getting up to shut off the large TV and PS2. She was dressed pretty casually, wearing baggy black cargo pants, a white t-shirt with a Pokecharm design in the center, and bronze rimmed glasses with an invisible bottom rim, yet most notable was her unmistakable green hat. Only a fool would dress in such a manner... That, or Katie.

"My adventure awaits me... I won't stop until I have an ARM of my very own!" Katie grinned brightly. ARMs were actually firearms from the Wild ARMs series that, according to the original game, synchronized with the host to draw its power from their will - stronger the will, more powerful the ARM. To be truthful the girl didn't really care much for guns ("Give me a sword over a gun any day!"), and there was a good chance she wouldn't be able to synchronize with an ARM at all (it was a rare gift), but she just had to have one. The obsessive fan-girl within her wouldn't allow otherwise!

"Now then, where to start looking?" she murmured as she walked back to the couch and stopped to stare at the sword resting quietly against it. It was the legendary OoT Master Sword to be exact; the prettiest of the lot. "Don't worry, old friend. I won't forget about you after I find an ARM. I'll just... rotate weapons! But first, where to find one... I wonder if we have any treasure maps lying around? Guess we'll see!"

The fact that she'd been talking to herself all this time didn't bother the girl in the least. Indeed, all she cared about now was finding her answers. Walking out of the Gaming area, she headed down the hallways towards the Staff room. If any random junk was lying around somewhere, it'd probably be there.

 

[Prof. Cinders]

Suddenly, and quite out of the blue, a shortish girl fell through the window. Glass landed around her, smashing into tiny fragments that managed to miss her. A torrent of newly learned swear words filled the room (she'd obviously spent too long working with the good doctor) as she stood up, revealing her outfit - a lab coat stained by red blotches (remains of an old forum's colour scheme), covering a black t-shirt and trousers. The glasses resting on her nose were askew, and her long, dirty brown/golden hair was, miraculously, still in its poorly tied ponytail. Her eyes kept changing colour, switching between a dark blue, green and silver. Seeing Katie, she promptly stopped swearing and grinned. 'Katie! Thought I'd find you near the games. KI's been murder sorting out the skin, but I think it looks better now. Anyway! Which game received your usual screaming today?' she joked, brushing herself down.

 

[Linkachu]

"Wild Arms Alter Code: F, not that the name would mean anything to you," Katie smirked at the shortish girl's lost expression. "You caught me at a good time. I'm on a mission to find a treasure map, one that'll hopefully lead me to the prize I seek!" Katie's eyes gleamed brightly with determination. So what if the chance of finding the exact sort of map she needed was a million to one? A girl had to have faith!

"But enough about that. It's good to see you here, Rach. This place has been deserted for awhile now. Something needs to give it a jump-start to get the gears movin' again. I say an adventure's in order! Something random, fun, and entertaining enough for the more lazier members around here... They know who they are..." The girl then found herself glaring at the floor with her fist clenched and quickly shook out her arms with a loud, nervous laugh. "Yeaah... Anyways, feel like joining me? I could use someone like you to tor-I mean, for company," she smiled innocently, spinning on the balls of her feet and continuing on her way towards a staffroom with a hop in her step. Something in the air told her all this boring silence was about to change.

 

[Crabmeat]

Suddenly Damien jumped from the shadows. His clothes were a mess and his face looked pale and drawn. He had obviously spent many months without sunlight and very little food. The young man didn't appear hostile, shifty perhaps, but not hostile. His crazy expression was no surprise to Katie or Rachel, they were surprised to see him dressed for once but the crazyness was very un-surprising.

"Damien, what are you doing here?" Katie asked cautiously, she could sense a great deal of strangeness eminating from the pale faced crazy-man.

"DAMIEN IS NO MORE! Call me.....Crabmeat..." He screeched in reply

"Crabmeat, what are you doing here?" She repeated her question but this time with the requested name of Crabmeat in place of the name Damien which if you remember had been used earlier.

"I have spent the last few months attempting to crack the barrier which protects Project X. So far I have had no such luck but I shall not give up. Well, I might give up if someone who happened to be going on a random adventure and passed this way. Someone much like yourself. I'm in." Creabmeat told the girl.

"But..."

"NO! Don't thank me, just remember the greatness of Woodstock. Now let's move." Crabmeat shouted rolling down the hall toward the staffroom

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

The chirping of crickets was too much for him to take. That was one of the reason that every cricket in the area was thoroughly and systematically eliminated by small micro-drones called upon from an alternate dimension.

There remained the crickings of the chirpets, but he could handle those.

StellarWind Elsydeon leaned back in the azure hoverchair that he summoned from the same alternate dimension with a wine glass filled with Crystal Mint extract - a green liquid that had sparks of light dancing through it. It was one of his favorite created substances, which is why, naturally, he had a seemingly infinite supply of it.

If it was going to be a slow day, so be it.

His reveries were interrupted by a door bursting open and three figures - one of which he knew and loved, another he barely knew, and one he didn't know at all burst in.

"Hi, Katie." Gad smiled, turning in his hoverchair. "I know Rachel... barely... But who's the lunatic? ... Well, the one that actually looks like a lunatic... Nah, nevermind, I'll check out myself."

StellarWind closed his eyes and put his gloved hands on the armrests. The crystals on the gloves started shining, and mysterious lines on the hoverchair blazed to life.

"Hmmm. Specimen refers to itself as 'Crabmeat', formerly known as... Damien? Join date October 14th, 2004 in current iteration, previous iterations unknown. Classifies itself as 'Leet to the bone'. Danger Assessment: Relatively low." He spoke in an echo-y, monotonous voice. And then, the lights faded and he opened his eyes "Profile scan. Useful ability, that. Of course, everyone can do it, but only I can bring the right sense of drama into it."

He turned his eyes back to Katie, hovering towards her, and eventually jumping off the chair and giving her a completely and utterly random hug.

"So... Where the heck were you people? The place has been effing abandoned for way too long... And... Is that the Wild ARMS theme playing in the background?"

Indeed, the opening theme from the first Wild ARMS game seemed to play in the background, as tumbleweed rolled by.

"O...kay. Looks like adventure found us after all." he grinned, and resummoned the nifty sword mentioned in the first post "What's the quest THIS time?"

 

[Doctor Oak]

"Well it certainly isn't buy the Doc a new compy. You all failed on that quest."

Turning the corner into the room, Alex, Teh Doctor Oak, strode past the doorway with a white lab coat flowing behind him. At his feet, a Chikorita - cuter than all the rest and with a smile three times the size of the Humber Bridge.

"Miss me?" He exclaimed with a smile, not quite as big as Chikoritas - more like a wry smirk really. "Chika!" The Chikorita chirped down from below in much the same happy tone. Alex, along with the rest, looked down to the happy-clappy Chikorita infecting the room with it's cuteness.

"I managed to get myself one of these in my absence. Cute OR WHAT?"

Alex looked up to the small group forming in the forums (!!) and then specifically to Stel.

"So, what's this quest I've been hearing so much about?"

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

"Or what." StellarWind thought to himself "I like Chikoritas and all, but this is effing pushing it. I think I'm going to die of sugar poisoning."

Then he heard the Doc's question.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not sure." StellarWind found himself raising an eyebrow in spite of himself "Katie seems to have one, and I figured I might as well join in since it's so effing dead around here lately. But the background music tells me it has something to do with Wild ARMS."

The background music faded into "Donna Toki Demo, Hitori Ja Nai", the Wild ARMS: 2nd Ignition opening theme.

"I suppose that's supposed to be the heroic theme that states that the quest is about to begin. Either that or the SFX people only know two songs from the series."

 

[Prof. Cinders]

'I don't know any,' put in Rachel, thinking aloud. 'But then again, I wouldn't know, being everything-deprived. As usual. No comments, please, Katie.' She strode over to the Doc, and poked him in the chest. 'When-do-you-want-your-picture-done?' she asked, a word a poke. 'Because-I-have-tech-homework-due. Anyway! Do I get a sword? I like swords.'

Then, she realised that Dami was standing next to her. 'Er... Hey Crabby, when did you buy clothes?' she muttered, grinning. 'Last time I saw you you were running around screaming about the world about to end, as usual.'

 

[Crabmeat]

"I only scream when I'm in danger." Crabmeat said quietly, his statement didn't quite make sense but nobody cared. Suddenly Crabmeat dropped to the ground and began rolling across the room.

"PARIMETER CHECK!" He shouted while poking a random wall. "ALL IS SAFE!" Then the crazyman turned his attention to Katie. Though he looked at Dr. Oak while talking it was obvious that he was talking to Katie.....on account of he used her name and not the Doctors'

"Katie, where to? Where can I get something sharp and pointy and why does the water go the wrong way down the toilet in australia?"

Katie didn't really get a chance to answer as Crabmeat had moved over to the window where he proceded to do a rain dance. With it he hoped to draw some of the waters power in to himself.

OOC:

Name: Crabmeat
Age: 16
Powers: Magic dances that can lend him elemential powers for an unknown period of time.

XD

Don't worry, he won't be so random and crazy forever. It's hard work.

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: Eh-heh... If it seems like I'm taking over your plot with this, Stel, feel free to drag it back onto your path ^^

BIC:

"Uh... right," Katie murmured, staring across the room at Crabby's slightly disturbing dance before looking back to the others, acknowledging them one at a time as she spoke, "Yes, Rach, you get a sword. Just check the broom closet in the back - beware of falling maces, though... Doc, your Chikorita is so cute I could eat it. Chikorita pizza! ... And you'd be right, Gad. The SFX people are on the ball today, though I might have to shove the rest of the Wild ARMs OSTs in their faces..." she said dryly as the original Wild ARMs theme started up again.
"Ahem. ANYways, I plan to head off on a wild and silly adventure to break more copy right laws. ARMs are niiice, especially going by their purpose in the original game. A power said to bring nothing but destruction... Whee! Gimmie now!" the girl grinned brightly. Winking at Gad, she added, "It's my girly-side shining through. Gotta love accessories! But anyways... No idea where to start this adventure, so..."

The Master Sword lugging female trailed off as she broke away from the others and headed towards her desk. Purposely ignoring the piles of paperwork covering her desktop, she bent down to stare at her various labeled drawers. "Random Pokemon stuff... Random Anime stuff... Junk food... More annoying paperwork... Weapons of mass destruction... Ah, here we go! Random Treasure Maps!"

Katie pulled the drawer wide open and gazed at the rolls upon rolls of dusty, smelly, crinkled, and often times burnt papers. "Let's see..." Shoving her arm deep into the sea of maps, she felt around aimlessly before finally grabbing one and pulling it out. "There we go! One treasure map!" the girl laughed, staring down at her chosen pick.

While it smelt musty and old, the paper was smooth and gave off an odd shimmer, a slim golden rope tied tightly around it. The most interesting part about the map, though, was the small, golden pendent attached to the rope. Staring hard at its engravings, Katie was able to make out what appeared to be a phoenix and a dragon surrounding a gem of sorts. Dragony-goodness!

"Sweet! This looks like a great one!" she cheered, shoving her drawer shut and pushing off to her feet. Holding out the map so everyone could see - even Crabby, who was still preoccupied with his "dance" - the girl proceeded to slip off the golden rope and pendant and pocket both, carefully unrolling the map and holding it open to find-

"Hey! What gives! This isn't a map at all!" she exclaimed with a frown. "All it has is a few lines of text... 'Where the sun's morning rays blaze through the mountainous peaks like a phoenix, casting the shadow of a dragon upon the earth like a scar... There you will find the heart of the world, which will lead you to the sanctuary of Nightmares and Dreams' ... Uh-huh... Sounds like a messed up RPG quest to me."

Katie fell silent as she slowly rolled up the map, gazing down at it in her clenched fist with a pained and melodramatic expression... Which immediately transformed into a giddy smile when she gave a hop and laughed, "This sounds great! A mindless adventure of good and evil! Might even encounter some random enemy who's planning to destroy the world for no good reason. Who's with me?!"

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

"You should know that I'm ALWAYS with you on those things. I need a change of pace." StellarWind grinned "And besides, I love cryptic dramatic riddles. I just hope they don't want us to look through the... Heyyyy... This gives me an idea."

And saying this, he sat down again, removed his glasses and pulled out another pair - a pair of black goggles of sorts, that seemed to have some kind of a computer cable interface - and put it on, connecting the cable to the hoverchair. A keyboard panel suddenly emerged from one of its armrests and placed itself at a convenient position for him to type. He hovered by Katie, staring at the random treasure map.

"Okay..." he said to himself, the lines on the hoverchair bursting to life again and his voice assuming the creepy echo again as he typed the word "SOURCE" on the keyboard. He read the resulting information on the screen of his goggles.

"Whoa... This thing has a freaky source code." Gad said "But it has coordinates in it, and... Hold the phone. Why is the image titled QuestScroll_a?"

He typed a few more words, and suddenly, the scroll changed. Now it had a very detailed map, except for the fact it was scrambled. A bit more typing and the map unfurled itself. A few more clicks and the map separated itself from the scroll, which seemed to remain utterly untouched as the map became a scroll of its own.

"Okay. So, now we have both files. All we have to do is figured out just how exactly they both give us the hint for the next screen... And hope it works."

He sighed, taking off the goggles and rolling his eyes. "Notpron logic. I should have known."

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: Y'know what? I figure even if this comes down to just you and me, Stel, that's fine. This topic could turn into something fun, and I wanna do more with it ^^

BIC:

"Well, seeing as I have no idea what you're doing, you figure that out while I go grab my backpack," Katie said, heading across the room to a closed closet door and throwing it open. It had quite a bit of random stuff in it: jackets, shoes, various weapons, a box of empty PokeBalls, Chibi Tai's desk, and of course, Katie's backpack.

The red and black backpack looked fairly average and not too fill, but in reality it was jam-packed with so much stuff it could fill a small room. Many a person had asked the girl how this was possible, but the answer was quite simple. A wizard did it.

"All ready when you are!" she called over her shoulder as she slipped on the backpack, whirling around to face the others. "Anyone else gonna join us? Speak now or the plot's moving on without ye."

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

A chirpet cricked, but nothing otherwise.

"Looks like the plot will go on without them, my dear." StellarWind chuckled softly, stretching. He was fully equipped to handle anything that fell on him. Being a shapeshifter had its perks.

"So... I believe it's time to make the first step towards adventure!" he said "The only question is... What IS that step?"

 

[Linkachu]

Katie looked over her shoulder at the calender on the wall. "Well, that only took two months of utter silence. What were we talking about again...? Oh. Right. Cryptic riddles that lead to adventure!"

She pondered what Stel had said, "Well, going by my knowledge of the standard RPG, we start off by shaking down random people and drilling them for info. Then we journey on, fight some monsters, beat some big baddies, more walking... talking... Etcetera , etcetera ... Then, once we finally actually FIND the location we're looking for, we find out that there's some big twist behind it all and get hurled into a war of darkness and death and end up as the last hope for the planet." Katie gave a sagely nod. "And somewhere a long the way, I find an ARM and blast the heck out of everything. Sound like a plan?"

She slipped off her backpack and zipped it open, digging around inside it for a few moments before pulling out yet another rolled up piece of paper. "Here's a map of the general area surrounding 'Charms. If my creative memory is correct, there's a town of magic folk about half a days walk from here. They tend to be weary of strangers just showing up on their doorsteps, but I'm sure they'll understand the situation once we explain it's for a soon-to-be journey to save the world. We'll leave out the part about my greedy ambitions to find treasure, eh?"

Throwing the map back where it'd come from, she shouldered her bag once more and checked to make sure her cap was in place. "Guess that's that. The town is to the North, but we'll have to go through a forest and cross a few rivers to get there. Either way, ready when you are."

OOC: If anyone wants to throw out a name for the town, forest, etc. be my guest. I don't have the energy to do so myself XD

 

[Prof. Cinders]

Rachel suddenly shivered out of her web silence, a long broom pole clutched in her hands and the lab coat replaced with an ankle-length black leather coat. Not exactly the best thing for a summer day, but the air conditioning unit hidden somewhere inside helped. Looking around, she realised that she'd been completely stock-still for several months. 'Damn parents...' she muttered, and looked at the others. 'Hey... Woo! Map scroll thingy! Where're we going?' she asked, ever enthusiastic, and a sword silently materialised at her back. She shifted to hold the weight better, and grinned a rather insane grin. She'd been testing her extremely limited programming skills on a random weapon generator, and it seemed to be working, as long as it didn't overload her connection with the various equipment.

 

[Linkachu]

"Another one returns to the fold from intarnet deadness!" Katie cheered. She felt one of those 'break out into song' feelings coming on but stifled it for the sake of everyone's ears. "Anyways... Crytic message. Good and evil. Journey across the world. Magic folk. That more or less covers it," she replied, leaning towards the less.

"Pack a bag. Bring lots of food. Get your best set of wings or travel boots. We're going on an adventure! ... And we're going the snail way. No random teleporting or airships or whatnot. This plot needs to develop, and what better way to do that then have us aimlessly walking where we can meet all sorts of fun nasties?"

She had this down pat. All those years of playing RPGs had really paid off. Some might call it "obsessive" or "insane", but they were just jaded. There was a natural order of things, and the mindless quest for justice, puppies, and Christmas was part of it! ... Ooo. Presents.

"Well then, without further ado I say we head off - to adventure!" With a skip and a hop and a jaunty tune the admin waved goodbye to all who'd mysteriously died on them and exited the room, heading down the hallway towards the north gate. This would be a journey to remember! ... one way or another.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

"Well, then." StellarWind grinned bemusedly, "I think I might as well go in my humanoid form on this one. Unless if things call for a transformation. And knowing RPGs, they always do."

He really wasn't sure which weapon to take along, but he figured that he might as well improvise.

"Lead the way then, Katie." he said with a smile, wondering about what sort of mutated plot developments this would undergo...

 

[Prof. Cinders]

Rachel's grin stayed firmly fixed in place, before the connection speed caught up with her and suddenly she was several feet in front of Katie. Looking back, she swore, and stamped around a bit. 'If I freeze, blame parents,' she said, for about the umpteenth time it seemed, and walked out of the gate. The vast fields beyond Pokecharms were filled with various monsters and NPCs, as well as various other forums and RPGs. However, Pokecharms was quite isolated compared to the, ahem, more popular forums, so the landscape was unobstructed by ugly structures. Not that forums are ugly. Well, maybe some. Whatever.

Looking back at the others, she pointed her sword out to the various adventures they would inevitably face. 'To infinity and- Scrap that. To insanity and beyond!'

 

[Linkachu]

"The group has finally left PokeCharms and is heading north."

"Towards 'that' forest?"

"Yes... 'that' forest. We'll be ready for them at the heart of it."

"B-but... I don't want to go in there... You know what's in there!"

"Stop being a coward! This is the only way. We must cut off their path before they ever reach the Oracle!"

"Fine, fine... But I'll be expecting a pay raise after this!"

"Oiii... It's so hard to find good help these days..."

~*~​

And so, with Rachel's vialiant cry, the adventure had begun. As the trio left their home of Charms behind they looked forward to the vast rolling fields ahead of them. A huge, snowy mountain range could be seen on the horizon, but in reality it was more than three days away. Their current destination, the magic village, was still masked from sight by the hilly area, but they could make out the beginning of the large forest they'd be passing through.

Various creatures spotted the landscape: herds of various Pokemon, beasts thought to exist only in myth, and even critters nobody had ever seen before. That tended to happen a lot around these parts, though. Someone's imagination would pop out a random creature, often without a name. It may stay and begin to populate the land or simply vanish into the void it'd come from. At times the new creatures would even disrupt the balance of nature when someone's mind got a little too twisted, but generally the bigger, deadlier beasts were blocked out of civilized areas by barrier magic's. Who controlled these magic's nobody really knew, but something told Katie that after their journey they'd have all of those answers and more.

"It's a nice day for an adventure!" Katie grinned brightly, the sun's rays beaming down on them as a gentle breeze blew through their hair. High in the sky a flock of Pidgey passed them by, and even further up a small group of blue wyvern soared off towards the mountain range. Like the ground, the skies were filled with all sorts of interesting things. It was a Pokemon Trainer's dream… unless you attempted to catch a non-Pokemon. That'd probably lead to a swift death.

"That forest is our first destination," Katie pointed off into the distance. "Be prepared for anything. I've heard that recently strange creatures have begun to inhabit it. Probably nothing we can't handle, but best to be safe than sorry, eh?"

OOC: For the record - I don't have any solid plans. I'm just winging this XD

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

"Guess so." StellarWind Elsydeon nodded, the crystals on his gloves glowing softly. "There always ARE strange creatures. It's part of the RPGness of it all."

Saying so, he pulled a small, sharp chunk of crystal out of a pocket, scratched an alchemy array on a nearby tree and plunged the crystal into the middle of it. He clapped his hands together and touched the array, causing it to glow. A construct of vines, crystal and bark grew out of the tree and detached, resulting in a crystal-bladed, wood-and-vine handled Naginata, a few leaves growing on its side. He felt like doing Naginatas for some reason.

"Righty!" he said, taking a few highly-detailed cinematic swings with the Naginata, when suddenly something caught his eye.

He did a double take as he noticed, just out of a corner of his eyes, a small winged sillhouette.

"It can't be..." he gasped. But there was no mistaking it. the pinkish-white feathers and few peanut shells could have only meant one thing.

"Katie's going to die of cuteness overdose when she finds out what lives in this forest..."

 

[Prof. Cinders]

'There is nothing to do... Nothing, nothing, nothing to dooooo!' sang Rachel, rather out of tune as always. 'Not even a random battle! NOTHIIIIING!' An axe popped into existence at her side, but the teenager ignored it, walking on. A small winged creature fluttered past her field of vision, but as soon as she stopped singing, any sign of life - apart from the trees and trio, of course - vanished. 'Fun,' she noted, and fell silent. Soon she saw the shadow again, blocking the light briefly from between a couple of trees. After a few more times of this, she said rather quietly, 'Is anyone else seeing those things, or is it just me?'

 

[Linkachu]

OOC: w00t! Holy two months of nothing, batman. But it seems my fears of writing the plot a way that'd exclude you guys was all in my head, and Stel actually WANTS me to use my initial idea I put off for two months. Sowwie for the wait x.x

Oh, hey. Can you tell I love melodramatics?

BIC:

"Hmm? What do you mean, crazed axe-wielding girl?" Katie murmured, stepping up beside Rachel to follow her gaze. She scratched her temple and frowned at the quiet oak trees, "I don't see any 'things'. And what were you mumbling about before, Stel?"

"Honk!"

Katie went ridged. That noise... it'd seemed to echo around them. Unidentifiable, yet also strangely familiar at the same time.

"Honk!"

The girl's eyes went wide, a cold tingling running down her spine. There it was again! And this time, more familiar than ever. Could it be...? Of all things sacred in this deranged world, could it be the one creature which had haunted her imagination for yonks...?

Suddenly the fluttering of wings caught her ears and the girl snapped around to face it, catching nothing but the shadowed blurr of a small creature darting behind a tree. Katie held her breath as a single angelic feather drifted through the air towards her to land softy at her feet.

"Oh... my god..." her voice cracked as she slowly bent down to pick up the feather, but before the girl could straighten back up fully something barreled out of the trees to catch her roughly in the gut. The impact left her disoriented and winded, but she still managed to throw her arms out in time to grab hold of whatever'd struck her. Katie grasped it tightly, shaking her head and blinking a few times before taking a good long look at what she was hugging. It made her heart stop.

The tiny pink creature gazed up at the admin happily with its big, blue eyes, poking her on the cheek in a playful manner with its trunk. It titled its head curiously and rotated its large, flat ears, ruffling its delicate feathers against Katie's arms and wagging its short, tuff-ended tail side to side. Pulling its trunk back, it smiled with its eyes, "Honk!"

"M-mi-miniature fl-flying p-pink..." The admin stuttered, her eyes abnormally large. She could barely find the words whatsoever, and then... "OH MY GODZZZZZ - IT'S REAL! AN ACTUAL, LIVING, BREATHING MINIATURE FLYING PINK ELEPHANT! EEEHEEHEEEEE!"
It was certainly not one of her finest moments, but the girl simply could not contain her giddiness as she cheered and danced about, hugging the tiny creature tightly and refusing to let go. She'd never let go! Never, ever, ever-

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

The ground and trees literally shook as a booming roar tore through the forest, leaving the area around the three Charmers in an uproar of honking and wing-flapping. Dozens of miniature pink elephants frantically darted out of the trees past the trio to dive deeper for cover, not even paying the slightest attention to the humanoids.

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the noise boomed again, this time much closer than before. The sound of crashing tree trunks soon filled the air, followed by thundering foot-steps moving nearer at a steady pace. Whatever was approaching, it sounded huge.

"Eeep! Maybe, with our luck, what we think is a big ol' monster is actually just be a tiny little kitty who's lost its mommy…" Katie chuckled nervously, staring off in the direction of the ever approaching beast. The mini elephant was still cradled in her arms, and even though the girl‘s grip had loosened slightly the tiny pink creature didn't attempt to escape. It simply cringed and followed the admin's gaze.

Suddenly the trees directly before the group buckled and snapped in two, crashing to the ground in opposite directions. With the last of the forest cover now gone, they gazed upon the enigma in all its glory.

"… Kitty?" Katie whimpered.

The beast towered in the sky - at least five, if not six meters tall - and stood hunched over on all fours, its left, razor-sharp claw crushing a fallen tree trunk beneath it like a twig. Two razor-sharp teeth jutted up at the sides of the creature's long, purple snout, its nostrils flaring as a low growl escaped its throat. Along the top of its head and down over its shoulders was a thick yellow and red-tinged mane, of which sharp-looking red spines jutted up through to run down along its deep purple body to the tip of its long, whipping tail. The beast's piercing yellow eyes glared viciously at the humanoids, its long, deadly red horns pointing straight towards them.

There was no mistaking it. Final Fantasy games were filled with them! (Though in all shapes and sizes)

"A behemoth… But how?" the green-hatted admin murmured in disbelief. By all laws of magic (including godmoding ‘wizards‘) no high-leveled monster such as this should've been able to breech the protective barriers surrounding the area. Yet here it was standing directly before them; ready to kill at any moment. "Gah! This is impossible! But if we don't act fast, we'll all be lunch! ... So leave this to me, guys! This looks like a job for Linkachu!"
Katie quickly whirled around and placed the mini pink elephant gently on the ground, smiling down at it and saying, "Don't worry. We'll defeat this thing before it destroys anymore of your home. After all, this land is sacred!"

It honked weakly and slowly nodded in return.

With that Katie turned back to face the ominous foe, adjusting her green cap and nodding determinedly. "Let's do this." She then unsheathed the Master Sword and held it high in the air. "I command thee, give me the strength to defeat this enemy! TRANSFORM NOW!"



As the smoke cleared, the human girl was nowhere to be found. In her place now stood the 0.8 meter tall, brown-furred electric rodent with a whipping, lightning bolt-tipped tail, a green Link-wannabe hat, Hylian shield, and the miniature-sized Master Sword: the one and only Linkachu. (Not a Pikachu!)

"Ooooh YEAH! You're going down!" she grinned devilishly as her yellow cheek patches began to crackle wildly with electricity. "Go go Thunder Bolt!"

The energy joined to create one vicious stream of electrical energy, shooting through the air at blinding speed to completely envelop the behemoth and--! … Or it should have. Instead it struck the beast in the chest and immediately fizzled out, to which the behemoth titled its head curiously and grunted as if to say "WTF was that?"

"Argh!" Linkachu trembled with anger (and utter embarrassment). "So, my electric-attacks are useless against your thick hide, eh? Well then, how about~ THIS!"

The wannabe-Raichu readied her sword and dashed forward, turning into a blurr from the added speed of her Agility; seemingly disappearing altogether only to re-appear high in the air above the behemoth's head with the Master Sword clutched tightly in both paws pointing straight down. "Eat this!"

But a split second before the sword could hit its mark - and drive straight through the beast's skull to bury itself deep into its brains, killing it once and for all! - the behemoth jerked backwards, leaving the rodent to fall helplessly through the air mere inches beyond the beast's snout. Just as the monster was about to chuckle at the pathetic display a sharp pain shot through its left foot. It gazed down to find Linkachu still clutching her sword, the blade lodged deep into the its foot with black blood gushing out around it.

"Well… That was unexpected… heh heh…" the rodent chuckled weakly.

The behemoth's reaction seemed to be delayed, continuing to gaze blankly at the tiny mouse, but then as if something snapped in its brain - "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The mighty beast roared and shook its left leg violently, giving one, two, three strong kicks until finally dislodging the sword and sending it and its wielder flying.

Linkachu crashed down several feet behind her companions, winded, dazed, and muttering incoherently about pizza. As the beast gave a second booming roar, though, this one more out of anger than pain, her mind snapped back to reality and she called out to the others, "Watch out, guys! Don't underestimate it, or we're all done for! That's not an everyday monster, so if all else fails - run for it!"

 

[Prof. Cinders]

'Oh, joy,' muttered the MPD-inflicted Prof, pulling another sword out of thin air. Instead of a blade, a thin, white hot tongue of fire raged in its place, almost scorching the teen's face. She looked back at the electric rodent, and winked. 'Original creation,' she boasted, then launched herself into the air. In the split seconds following, her lab coat darkened and changed, leaving a black leather cloak at her back, shortly followed by a completely black outfit - and a hair band to match. 'Eat fire, thingy!' she called out, not knowing what the hell it was, slicing the blade at its stomach - only to find that it had moved. The blade twanged into a tree, burning through it to leave a hole just small enough for the avid RPer to get stuck. 'Great! Just great!' she yelled, waving her feet about in an attempt to escape her woody prison. 'THis must be the best day I've ever had! In fact, this must be the best day anyone's ever had! Getting stuck in a tree. What fun!'

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

StellarWind Elsydeon couldn't help but sigh as he saw Katie and Rachel's attempts at attacking the Behemoth ('FFT Style' he rolled his eyes 'Definitely should have expected that. FFT things always happen around Katie'), the purple beast roaring and narrowing its eyes as he approached, planting his Naginata firmly in the ground and leaning against it.

"Bad day at work again, Bob?" he raised an eyebrow, almost yawning out the question.
"You. Have no idea." growled the creature. "And my name is not Bob. That would be my brother-in-law. /He/ got promoted to Ancient Behemoth lately. You know the ordeal, craggy white-grey skin, huge claws, more bipedalism... Bastard. I should have gotten that promotion instead, but they said to me 'You're a great Behemoth, Ralph, it's just that we don't think that bipedalism is... You, you know! Nothing personal.' And furthermore... uh... I mean, GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

"Tragic fate. But what can you expect. Anyhow, what exactly are you doing around here, crossing seven quajillion types of magical barriers and violating the 752th rule of RPG continuity?" StellarWind sighed.

The beast rolled its eyes, looking embarassed, then, using its teeth, it pulled a white sign out of its mane that said "Look, I'm not supposed to be talking. let's just pretend this has never happened and get back to the battle, okay? Oprah's on at 4."

"Behemoths watch Oprah?!" Gad raised an eyebrow. "I thought y'all were into monster truck shows only."

That was too much for the Behemoth, who roared angrily "How dare you blame us for being that insensitive?! Simply because we're unavailable for combat every..."

Its eyes narrowed, and it bellowed out three words in determination.

"SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!"

The Behemoth lunged forward, horns pointed for collision. StellarWind pulled his Naginata out of the ground and did an impressive somersault, landing on the Behemoth's back, sitting down on its neck, leaning back against one of the spikes, and grinning at the beast's sudden realization that it had someone riding it, and attempts to shake it off."

"Now, now, Ralph. Take it easy. You've got to relax a bit, you know? Stomping about, breaking continuity rules, and roaring about it won't help you get that promotion any faster! Now, Bipedalism really ISN'T you, but have you considered taking a different evolutionary path?"

The beast paused. "But I like being a behemoth!" it whined. "I mean, look at me! I get to be PURPLE and still feared by the masses! Most purple monsters are ridiculed..."

StellarWind sighed "Yes, I know. I blame Barney, really."

"You got that right!" the Behemoth growled "And that bloody incompetent octopus, Ultros... And would you please get the heck off my back? I'm trying to maintain a professional image here!"

"Perfectly understood." StellarWind nodded, jumping off of the Beast's back, and landing gracefully on the ground, planting the Naginata within the ground again. "Look, If you want to be an awe-inspiring purple monster, this isn't the way to go, mate. I mean, acting all animal-like. REALLY memorable villains are usually intelligent crafty buggers, not 'Me crash, me smash' that sort of thing. That went out of style years ago. Look, I'll tell you what. If you leave quietly now, I'll make a few calls and see if I can get you any major roles as the adventure moves on, okay?"

"Like what?" the beast rolled its eyes.

"I'll see what I can do. Y'see, since you're talking, and you're obviously uber-high-levelled for something that's supposed to be around this area, it means that you're a scripted encounter, and that if you leave now, you'll come back stronger later on, but when the group is actually prepared to handle you. Unless if you have a death wish, or something. I'll just make a few calls and make sure that you are remembered when that actually happens. Looking at you makes me certain that you'll have some plot significance later, after all."

"You... Really think so?" replied the Behemoth.

"Absolutely!" StellarWind grinned.

"Well, in that case. I'll be off now. See you in... a few hours of gameplay?" replied the Behemoth.

"I'll see what we can do." StellarWind nodded.

"Thanks!" the beast nodded, and narrowed its eyes. "GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! YOU MAY HAVE WON THIS TIME, FOOLS, BUT I SHALL RETURN!" it bellowed, and dashed off, breaking a few more things as it went along.

~*~

"Poor Behemoths. So misunderstood." StellarWind sighed "He WILL be back, you know. Stronger, better, more intelligent, possibly as a boss monster with a few minions. But eh."

OOC: Feel free to bring him back if you so wish, I just felt like getting us out of that one in an amusing way before having to resort to unneeded violence. ^^;

 

[Sem]

"Ewww... What a nice summer day..." Sem thought to himself as he continued his way down a road. He had recently journeyed to the PokeSchool Forum. Even though it was an old, dilapidated building, almost devoid of life; Sem enjoyed checking up on the place as much as he could. He was now on his way to the PokeCharm's Forum, a more active forum full of people he had known since earlier days. Sem did not like being in the hot sun at all; his dark grey trench coat wasn't really helping either. Sem was holding his black, metal staff in his right hand and he had his two guns on his thighs and his two swords on his back. He also had his pack slung to his side. The hood of his coat covered his head, and on his left shoulder was Murkrow. Sem had many pokemon, though he usually only carried one at a time; the others were safe in a PC storage system back at PokeCharms.

Sem was about to reach another road onto which he would turn right and continue to PokeCharms, except something caught his eye. "What's this...?" Sem asked himself. There were a few people happily flitting down the road to what seemed to be the forest. He recognized the group of admins/mods as no other than Katie, StellarWind, and Miss Cinders. In the distance he saw PokeCharms. He stared at the group and then PokeCharms with shifty eyes. Sem finally decided that he would go with the traveling band of PokeCharmians. He was still quite a distance from them however so he was taking a while to catch up. They had reached the forest before he had and so Sem began to run to catch up.

Sem heard terrible noises as he entered the forest. It sounded like there was a large beast and he heard was seemed to be the sound of lightning. He rushed onto the scene to see a behemoth. Sem was surprised as he had never seen such a large and powerful creature. The creature however had suddenly stopped fighting and roaring and blundered off, no longer fighting. The beast left a trail of black blood. Sem walked out into the view of the other people, his eyes blinking with confusion and curiosity. Small beads of sweat poured down his forehead and onto his black hair which was now covering his eyes due to the running. Sem brushed the hair away and looked at everyone. Cinder's was up in a tree while Katie was actually… well… Linkachu, and Stellar just stood there looking as calm as ever.

"Hello…?" Sem greeted them.

 

[Prof. Cinders]

'I'M STILL IN THIS FLIPPING TREE!' howled Cinders, waving her legs around more to try to catch someone's attention. She managed to flip the sword round, vanishing it back into thin air, before struggling to plant her legs firmly on the bark. When they finally got there, she pushed with all her might, finally back-flipping away from the offending hole with a look of fury and extremely messy hair - which had, for some reason, gone a dirty white colour. She floated gently to the ground, dusting off her clothes as they returned to normal, settling on the soft leaves covering the forest floor with a 'humph!' The axe had grown slightly during the battle, now being strapped to her back, but other than that everything was as it had been. She glared at Gad. 'You cheated,' she accused, pointing rudely (and terribly melodramatically). She hadn't ignored the others entirely, but she wanted to get that out of the way first. 'And you,' she said, turning on Sem, before a look of confusion dawned on her face. 'Hm. You... I hardly know you. You wanted me to finish that thingy on KI, didn't you? Yes, that was it.' She grinned. 'Nice to meet you! I'm t3h Prof! Not that you didn't know that, of course.'

 

[Linkachu]

"Okay... That was rather anti-climatic," Linkachu murmured as she pushed to her feet, using the Master Sword for support. A twisted grin came over her furry face then, "But at least I drew first blood..." She then broke into a dark laughter, beginning as nothing more than a low chuckle but rising with every moment until the others couldn't help but notice the malevolent cackling. Quizzical stares made the Raichu abruptly snap out of it. "Derrr... Hey look! It's Sem! ... When did you get here? And what's with the emo look? ... Don't answer that."

She hobbled over the miniature pink elephant still sitting on the ground and smiled warmly down at it. "Your sanctuary should be safe now. That thing shouldn't be back for at least another few story arcs. Why it was here at all, though... You can bet we'll figure it all out in one big, melodramatic revelation - whether we want to or not. Teh fun!" A thought occurred to her then, and she added, "Might as well change back now."

And with a cartoony smoke "POOF!" the rodent was gone and the human female had replaced it, fully clothed (this isn't Animorphs ) and sporting the standard sized Master Sword. She adjusted her hat and looked to her companions. "Guess it's time we headed on to the mage village then. Let's-"

"WAIT!"

The girl reeled around in shock to find the tiny pink creature staring defiantly up at her.

"Was that incredibly high pitched and cute voice yours?!" she exclaimed.

"Yes! And there's no way in heck you're leaving this woods without me!" the miniature elephant trumpeted sternly. "That mixed up beast attacked MY home and MY people. I need to get to the bottom of this myself! … Except that I'd probably be killed the second I left the woods. No natural defenses n' all. We're just meant to look, be, and act cute… SO! So… I beg you, Oh Green Hated one. Take me with you!"

In this situation there was no dramatic pause, thoughtful consideration, or meaningful response on Katie's part.

"Hell yes I'll take you!" the girl grinned gleefully, bending down to quickly scoop up the creature and huggle it tightly. "Miniature pink elephant, GETTO DAZE!"

"Hey-hey! I'm not a pet! And I have a name!"

"Oh?" Katie stopped insanely hugging it for a moment and looked down to the creature, "What is it?"

"Pinkahu!"

"Pikachu?"

"No, Pin-ka-hu…"

"PIKACHU!"

"… Yes … Pikachu… Whatever floats your boat…" the creature replied dryly, murmuring under its breath, "Crazy humans…"

Katie grinned triumphantly. "You're going to be my very bestest friend, who never goes in its PokeBall-"

"What's a PokeBall?"

"And you'll always be my trump card in nasty situations-"

"But I can't fight!"

"-and get stolen every five seconds by a team of loveable delinquents-"

"NOW WAIT JUST A SECOND!"

But the girl's mind was made up. She placed the tiny pink life form on her shoulder and smiled brightly at it, to which Pinkahu sighed. "What am I getting myself into…?"

"Onward then, one and all! To the seemingly unnamed-and-cheap-plot-device mage village, and … more adventure!"

OOC: Please, for the sake of my sanity, someone describe the mage village for me... I don't have the energy to whip up any neat descriptions right now. I do, though, have a name for the place, which will come into play next month when I finally reply again (Just kidding. Or am I?) ^_^

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

It was a village. What else could one say? A typical RPG village on the edge of a typical RPG forest, with typical RPG houses with typical RPG people wandering about just /waiting/ for whatever protagonist the world would send at them to talk to them, for hours on end, just to see if they have anything new to say. Or at least so it seemed.

For one, most RPG villagers don't wear multicolored robes and hats, or travel about with strange creatures and various staffs. Most RPG houses didn't look like their roofs were made of mushrooms, either. But that wasn't the case here. After all, this was a MAGE village, and they had to keep SOME reputation.

But it seemed relatively peaceful, there was a bit of glitter to the fresh air, and only a few knew that this village was in fact, the historical homeland of the one who, after so long, became The Wizard Who Did It.

At the gates of the village stood two EXTREMELY lifelike stone statues of children, seemingly twins, and seemingly supporting the wall - even though it required no support. StellarWind had a sneaky suspicion that they were ported from the prop department of Final Fantasy IV. A second look confirmed his suspicions that whoever built this village must have been extremely high on Final Fantasy. Bird motifs adorned the gates. glittering chocobos with long tails and wings, looking more like some kind of phoenix than like a generic chocobo. What sort of animals were these people hybridizing, nobody knew.

"Peaceful, I suppose." he muttered softly under his breath.

Then he turned To Katie, smiling at her.

"Well, Katie dear, You're the leader of this little adventure - I think that by all laws of RPG Cliché you're supposed to lead us into this village."