Pokémon: Tipping Point [IC]

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

With the rest of the panic going on, cragmite managed to walk around the pokemon center unoticed, waiting until the nurse left the room garbit was put in, being so inexperienced she left garbit's pokeball's on him, allowing the bug to access them and realease cowcow from his pokeball. The little bovine looked a little confused at first, until cragmite told him the situration, you could see the worry on both their faces as they watched over their trainer.

---

 Garbit finds himself in an open meadow, he has no Idea how he got there, not that he really cares, it's quite nice and peaceful. Garbit blinks and everything turns dark, a storm already in full swing. He became scared and worryed as his shadow grew and seperated into four. "Garbit? What a stupid name!" "Hey! Armpit Gobblela'!" "You'll never get any frenids!" "Move aside! Werido." The ground move rotates revealing a gaint red eye, differnt voices now enter the overload of insults, these not as intimadating, <<Duskull->> "Don't worry sweetie, your not like them." "It's said that Duskull stalks these woods ands kills any naughty children." "Garbit. Come out and talk to me, please..." The ground is now completely vertical, Garbit is holding as tighly as he can to stay there. The four shadows morth into one as he hears another voice this one clearer then the rest. "I don't care about your freind..." Garbit just lets go, allowing himself to fall into the red eye of his shadow...

[Htamret]

Ashley was caught off guard for a moment by the barrage of questions, mumbling something in a halfhearted attempt to explain Neos' status. The Nurse directed him and Neos to beds and took her Pokémon so that they could rest, then Ashley plopped down on one of the seats, using her bag as a pillow. The Nurse offered her a bed but she refused, not wanting to take one up in case someone else needed it more, though she didn't tell Nurse that. She was half conscious, resting but not fully able to sleep.

 

That is until she heard Neos' scream. Her feet barely hit the ground as she rushed over to his room. She was confronted by the false human's heavily scarred body.

"Are you... okay?" She asked nervously, her eyes falling on the 'R' gouged into his shoulder. This was her first time seeing his body, and it was clear that he had been through some cruel and unspeakable things.

[Draconus297]

The nurse immediately rushed into Neos's bedroom in response to his screams . . . and stared, dumbfounded, at his scarred human form. "Wh- what . . ." Raising an eyebrow at Ashley, she quietly asked, "did you know about this, miss? I had found a yellow Ditto weird, but one with a human form . . . That's downright disturbing."

 

======

 

Startling Cragmite and CowCow was a floating gray form with a single ominous red eye. Suddenly, a purple energy radiated around itself and Garbit, and the young boy went still.

 

<<Move identified: Dream Eater.>> Garbit's Pokédex chirruped.

 

Seemingly satisfied with itself, the Ghost-Type floated through the wall without incident.

[Htamret]

"Um, well..." Ashley mumbled. "I didn't know if he was comfortable with people knowing, and since I couldn't ask him I decided to not say anything. He isn't exactly open about it, I found out by accident."

It was true that she herself had never seen a yellow Ditto before, but it was possible that it was just a regional variation or something like that. The second part of her comment, however, didn't sit well with her.

"What's 'disturbing' about it exactly? You don't know what he's been through! He does it for a good reason!" She snapped, then much more quietly "At least I think he does."

She did wonder why he chose to assume the form of a person. She hoped he would tell her, but it seems that the reason is connected to his 'Mistress', which was probably a very powerful Pokémon. Based on the first time she asked about it, she might be better off not knowing. However, the curiosity gnawed at her whenever she thought about it, so she would try to ask again, if only she could find the right time to...

[Tesability Black]

After awakening, Neos had been balled up into himself while sitting up, arms around his legs while scanning the room with panicked eyes. For the moment, he had completely forgotten where he really was, his mind having traveled back through time to that horrible time, in a sense.

"Wh- what . . ."

A barely-familiar voice prompted him to slowly turn his head towards the voice, his mind trying to put two and two together. He saw a woman, one he's seen before in various areas before, though the name escaped him at the moment. She was turned towards another, much smaller and younger person, a girl that seemed older than he actually was. The feeling that he knew her gnawed slightly at him as he tried to think of a name, but none came. "Did you know about this, miss?"

"Um, well... I didn't know if he was comfortable with people knowing, and since I couldn't ask him, I decided to not say anything. He isn't exactly open about it, I found out by accident."

Neos slightly narrowed his eyes at the pair, the thought of one thinking that he belonged to another crossing his mind as to why the exchange was happening. "I had found a yellow Ditto weird, but one with a human form...that's downright disturbing."

"I did not choose this," he faintly muttered under his breath, faint enough that even he questioned if he had really said anything.

"What's 'disturbing' about it exactly? You don't know what he's been through! He does it for a good reason," he heard the younger girl snap before saying more quietly, "at least I think he does."

This had him lowering his gaze, closer to his feet since he was tall enough in this form to look over his knees unhindered before closing his eyes. "Just know that curiosity can often have more consequences than you are prepared for," he said loudly enough to be heard. "It certainly did for me," he added after raising a hand to cover completely the 'R' on his right arm and gripping it tightly.

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

The boy's two pokemon gained even more worry as garbit started fideting harder becurse of his nightmare, soon being startled by the thing from eariler. They could only wacth as it surrouned itself and their trainer with the purple energy then leave though the wall. The duo soon noticed that Garbit was no longer moving, almost instinctively, both run out of the room, but in two differnt directions. While Cowcow chased after the gray form, Cragmite burst into Neos's room and started rattle on about what happened to everyone else, but becurse he was panicking, he want way to fast, it being lucky if a poke heard anything other then 'Garbit' and 'Red eye'.

[Draconus297]

"The disturbing part," the nurse said softly, noting that Neos was awake and evidently freaking out, "is that Ditto don't typically take on human form. They're usually limited to transformations into Pokémon and inanimate objects . . . I wonder if its human form is smart enough to fool a Pokéball . . ." She muttered. "A Pokéball is programmed to be capable of catching any Pokémon, or storing various registered inanimate objects for safekeeping-,ergo why you sometimes find a ball with a Potion or other helpful item in it- they fell out of someone's bag. However, if this Ditto can take human shape, it might be able to fool a Pokéball into thinking it is human, and therefore uncatchable."

 

Turning away, she bit her lip. "Disturbing indeed." Her Warmink, as well as a Furmine and a Happiny, toddled into the room, sensing the nurse's general unease. The Happiny, however, was quickly distracted by the unsettled Cragmite, and conversed in Poké:

 

{Red Eye? Where?}

 

======

 

The Duskull floated from room to room. Perhaps, if it hurried, it could munch on that particularly tasty dream it had caught on to from those people it followed here . . .

 

Full of pain.

 

Full of loss.

 

Fully delicious.

[Tesability Black]

"Never figured out how to do that trick, or I wouldn't need one of my own," Neos remarked as a shudder went up his spine, half-paying attention to the conversation before shaking his head and covering his face with his hands. "F*ck the Rockets," he meant to say under his breath, though he could be heard quietly by those in the room. After a moment, he got off the bed on his own power, heading towards one of the human bathrooms. Locking the door behind himself, Neos looked over himself and shuddered before transforming, making sure he had all his clothes manifest this time as he leaned over the sink with his hands over the edges.

 

"I'm not there, I am free.
I'm not there, they're not after me."

 

These two lines he kept repeating to himself quietly, only loud enough for his own ears to calm himself down. After two or three times of this, however, his neck started to hurt, making him wince before raising a hand to the spot on the right hand side, where neck met the rest of him. "Damn, how did I not snap my neck on that crash?"

[Htamret]

As the nurse and Neos talked, Ashley simply listened, though she winced when she heard Neos swear at the infamous criminal group.

 

So that's what the 'R' stood for. That makes sense. She thought, trying not to think too much about what he must have gone through.

 

Neos left the room, leaving Ashley alone with the concerned Nurse. She thought about going after him but decided that would do more harm than good. She looked around for some sort of way to break the tense silence. She thought of asking about Garbit, but that might just make the mood even worse. Then she found a topic that was probably fairly safe to talk about.

 

"Excuse me, miss, is there a Pokémon Gym in this town? I'm planning on taking on the League and I might as well get my feet wet since we're here."

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Cragmite quickly blurted out everything he could remember. {Back where my trainer is, I was wacthing over him when this skull thing flew in though the wall. It surroneded itself and Garbit with this purple energy, and the next thing I knew he wasn't moving, he needs help.} The bug waited in the new silence had created, out of breath and waiting for a response.

---

The calf aimlessly ran around the center trying to catch the ghost. Even after seeing it multiple times, it still got away becurse of it's abillty to shift though walls, and Cowcow's unfamillarity with the setting. As he started to vist the same locations overe and over again, that's when he decided to give up looking and return to Garbit's room, if he could find it.

[Draconus297]

Quite unsettled by Neos, the nurse takes a while to respond . . . "Wh-what? Oh, a Pokémon Gym. Yes, we have one. The Thornbay City Gym, run by Fern, to be precise!"

 

Ashley's Pokédex is, as ever, quite helpful:

<<Fern, Gym Leader of the Thornbay City Gym. Age- 20. Gym Trainers- 2. Pokémon- 2. Specialty- Grass-Type. Not on the course recommended by Professor Pine.>>

 

The nurse's Warmink leaped into Neos's lap, staring at the Ditto-turned-human with wide eyes. It warbled softly, wrapping its fuzzy tail around his shoulders to comfort him.

 

Meanwhile, the Happiny and Furmine listen to Cragmite's story with interest. {That's very bad.} The Furmine quipped in Poké, immediately sniffing around to find the intruder. The Happiny, however, looked up . . .

 

<<Duskull, the Requiem Pokémon. Ghost-Type. While not active under the light of day, no walls can stop their approach in the dark. Evolves into Dusclops.>>

[Tesability Black]

There was a 'thunk' as Neos finally sat down on the closed toilet, the attempt to calm down from the nightmares usually enough to drain in of most of his energy for a few minutes, though not enough to fall back asleep. Placing his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands, he just sat there, trying not to let the images flood back into his head and just think on literally nothing.

 

He felt fur suddenly under his right arm, and was ignoring it for the moment...until he felt a furred head press through his arms, forcing his hands off his face, and causing him to blink in confusion upon finding himself staring back at the Warmink now in his lap. Soon after it started to wrap its tail around his shoulders, the Warmink most-likely let out some form of 'eep!' as Neos wrapped his long arms around it to bring it into a tight hug.

 

The poor Warmink just got conscripted into 'plushie service' as Neos stood up before walking out upon opening the door to see the scene in front of him. "...what did I miss?"

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Cragmite followed the Playhouse Pokemons gaze untill he saw Duskull, his first impulse was to beat the sh*t out of him, but he ignored that idea and just asked instead, the anger and sadness in his voice quite hearable by any pokemon that was listening. {What did you do to my trainer, I want to know now! Why isn't he moving, what did you even want from him?} The Bug-type pokemon waited impatiently for a response, ready to pounce if the skull gives the wrong answer.

 

===

 

 

Garbit softly awoke from his dreamstate he didn't expect there to be anyone tgere when he woke up, but it still managed to hurt him slightly, though, he had no idea why. Ehat he did have an idea of is what he needed to do first, after leaving the room he walked though the corridors looking for just one person, Ashley.

[Htamret]

"Thornbay? I was hoping this was Moplye City. That's where we're headed, but I suppose I should see what a Gym battle is like." She replied to the Nurse. Obviously she had barely any experience, but if she caught some Pokémon and trained her team, winning might not be too hard, or so she thought. As she was planning the best way to go about doing so, Neos entered the room holding a somewhat reluctant Warmink.

 

"...what did I miss?"

 

"Not much. There's a Gym here, and I was thinking I'd see if I have what it takes to make my debut into the Pokémon League. My team might need a little bit more 'omph', but I bet we're pretty much there already." She boasted. "Are you okay? Between the crash and... other stuff. Oh, and thanks. Looks like you took most of-" she stopped. "Weird..."

 

She had just noticed a grey haze in the corner of the room, barely visible and only if she didn't quite look at it. She almost dismissed it if not for the fact that her PokéDex had gone off during their escape through the forest. Maybe the Pokémon had followed them for some reason? As unlikely as it seemed, she pulled out her PokéDex and set it to scan, pointing in the general direction of the blur.

[Draconus297]

<<Duskull, the Requiem Pokémon. Ghost-Type. While not active under the light of day, no walls can stop their approach in the dark. Evolves into Dusclops.>>

 

The nurse's Furmine backed away in fear as the Ghost-Type replied in Poké: {The human is fine. I ate its dream, no more or less. Its sleep is now dreamless, which means that it will still be dizzied and weak when it wakes, but it will no longer be suffering mentally. Suffering and nightmares are . . . delicious.} The Requiem Pokémon's piercing red eye examined the room with dull curiosity, before doing a quizzical midair somersault. {I had sensed more agony coming from here . . . where is it?}

 

The nurse, meanwhile, looked absolutely spooked. "A-a Duskull? A wild Duskull? Wild Pokémon do not belong in the Pokémon Center!"

 

The Warmink in Neos's arms growled at the intrusive Ghost-Type. {You do not belong here, and neither do your attitudes. Away with you, before I am forced to bite you.}

 

The Happiny, meanwhile, was fruitlessly attempting to tackle the Ghost-Type, but could not jump high enough to even attempt to touch it.

[Tesability Black]

"Not much. There's a Gym here---"

"...human...fine...ate...dream..." Neos stopped paying attention midway into Ashley's words after hearing Poke that he actually understood some of.
Slowly turning towards his head towards the source, he saw the Pokemon gathered around something... "...sensed...agony...here...where...?"

"Weird..." Neos watched as Ashley raised her dex, Neos tracing where it was pointing to a specific partially-hazed spot.

<<Duskull, the Requiem Pokémon. Ghost-Type. While not active under the light of day, no walls can stop their approach in the dark. Evolves into Dusclops.>>

"A-a Duskull? A wild Duskull? Wild Pokémon do not belong in the Pokémon Center!"

"Peachy," Neos muttered to himself, eyes falling upon the Duskull. Out of all the Pokemon types, he has noticed that Ghost types seem to change their dialects the least overall, allowing to understand some, if not all that it said.

Putting the Warmink down onto the ground while keeping eyes on the Duskull, he immediately bolted forward towards the spook, grabbing it by the top of the 'hood' and pinning it against the wall. Thankful he long learned how to hold the spectral pains in the ass a long time ago, Neos held it level with his face. "There's nothing else asleep as of now," he growled in Poke, his voice impossibly high in pitch now and sounding more like the Ditto he really was while hoping the spook understood him. "You missed your chance."

(Neos has Scrappy, so he can actually hold the Duskull without chance of a whiff.)

[Htamret]

The Nurse's reaction combined with Neos' sudden movement briefly startled Ashley, who reached for her PokéBall, but stopped. While the spectral Pokémon certainly looked menacing, it didn't seem to be hostile. From what little experience she had going through graveyards as a child during dares, most Ghost-type Pokémon weren't hostile unless angered. Though it normally didn't take much to set them off... Since the Pokémon had followed them, she decided it must have had a reason. She approached the Pokémon and tried to appear as friendly as possible, though she was a little unnerved despite her best efforts.

 

"Hi there, you're from the forest, right?" She asked, giving a slight smile before turning to Neos. "Would you mind translating for me, Neos? I what to know why this little guy felt like following us here. Haven't seen a... Duskull before, so I don't really know much about them..." She admitted, her voice dropping off as she looked at the floor, returning her gaze to the Pokémon's singular eye a moment later.

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

Cragmite listened to the ghost-type's story, quite at rest at what is was hearing until, {Suffering and nightmares are... delicious.}.

 

{Why you...} The cragmite then jumped at the duskull, by missed due to Neos's own, intervension. Despite not hearing, exactly what Neos said, the peddle-sized poke could tell by his tone of voice, despite being unusually high, that he was angry as well.

 

---

 

Garbit aimlessy wondered though the walls of the Pokemon center, his slight dizziness making the passages seem longer then they were. He said one thing to himself over and over again, "Need to find ashley. Need to find Ashley." Though, in his current state, he didn't know wether he was saying it out lound or not, not that it mattered as the place seemed very empty. Before long, Garbit did find the rest of the group, not that he could make out anyone near the duskull. He started speaking to soft for anyone to hear, but was soon interupted by Cragmite bouncing on him, "Yah, yah, I glad to see you to, I just had the weirdest dream and..." Garbit's voice suddenly become lounder, "Where's Cowcow?" The child hang on to the side of the doorframe to keep balance, before feeling like he was going to throw up.

[Draconus297]

{That is . . . unfortunate. I had hoped for another large meal before returning to the forest.} The Duskull was entirely casual about the whole affair, its red eye watching Neos with dull interest. {A Pokémon, are you? You must be, to understand me . . . how bizarre. By the by, tell your human that I am indeed from the forest . . . and ask her if that's the only idiotic question I'll be hearing, or if she has more garbage for me.}

 

The nurse immediately dashed over to the weak, tottering Garbit. "What happened to you? You need to get back to bed, young man, it is almost midnight . . . Furmine. Locate his Bessiemer at once."

 

The thin white Pokémon dashed away in search of the little cow, its sleek body darting down the hallway to leave Ashley, Neos, and Happiny alone with the wild Duskull as the nurse led Garbit to bed with Cragmite in tow.

[Tesability Black]

Not once removing his gaze off the Duskull, he loosened his grip before lowering his hand. {...unfortunate...hoped...large meal...returning to the forest.} Neos pulled a slight double-take as the accent seemed to change to something that seemed more understandable for him. Did this particular spirit have relatives that come from elsewhere or result from a soul that knew the Kantoian dialects? He wasn't sure.

 

Upon hearing the questions, and before Neos can answer the ones he already had the answers for, the Duskull interjected. {A Pokémon, are you? You must be, to understand me . . . how bizarre. By the by, tell your human that I am indeed from the forest . . . and ask her if that's the only idiotic question I'll be hearing, or if she has more garbage for me.}

 

{...I've heard other humans that could speak to and like a Pokemon clearly before, I'm nothing that new,} Neos tried to play off, refusing to let himself slip up with a remark dealing with the 'his human' comment by choosing not to comment on it at all, all while remembering a particular old old man that could indeed at least make himself understood by other Pokemon, if not truly communicate with them. Turning towards Ashley while keeping one eye on the spook, he responded, "Yeah, it did follow us from the forest. It munched a recent dream of Garbit's and was trying to gun towards another's nightmare until just now...and it asked if you had more questions for it...in the most snarkiest of ways..."

[DEStroyer of worlds!]

After being escorted back to his room by the nurse, Garbit opened the door to find his calf sleeping on the bed, exhausted after his 'tour' of the Pokemon center from earlier. The boy laid down on the bed next to Cowcow, Cragmite also joining the duo before quickly falling asleep beside them. With his two Pokemon asleep, Garbit worried about the dream form earlier. It felt so terrifying, so explicit, so real. He stares up into nothingness, the dream slowing disappearing from his mind, with the his poke ons company making him feel safe, and with this feeling he to falls asleep.

[Htamret]

Didn't expect it to be rude, but it's a good thing Neos told me. I guess being nice won't work. Ashley was surprised with this. Sure most Ghost Type Pokémon were mischievous, but they were normally fairly friendly once you got to know them. Evidently this one will need a different approach.

 

"Heh, ya got some sass do ya?" she replied, giving the spectral Pokémon a smirk before continuing. "As a matter of fact I do have a question, or rather an offer of sorts." She paused, hoping to peak the Pokémon's interest. "What do you think of joining me? It's bound to be more interesting than staying in that forest, and you might find... better... tasting dreams, who knows?" She asked, trying to sound as persuasive as possible. Hopefully the prospect of travelling and sampling 'foreign cuisine' was interesting to the Duskull, because a Ghost Type Pokémon would be a valuable asset to her as a Trainer. That and the fact that this Pokémon's apparent attitude amused her. It reminded her of some of her friends when she was much younger.

 

Then she turned to Neos, hoping that not too much would be lost in translation.

[Draconus297]

{Even if I believed you, that would still make you a rarity.} The Duskull was ever brusque and distrusting. {But I wonder why you see fit to make an attempt at subterfuge . . . I spent an uncomfortable amount of time with a human of ill repute. I can tell when you're lying, imbecile.} The Ghost-Type's gleaming red orb of an "eye" floated from one empty socket to the other, evidently bored. {As for the girl . . . if she wants me to join her little team, she'll need to defeat me first. I'll not have my honor sullied by being the personal pet of a half-wit trainer on their failure-filled journey through the Teno region. She must prove her competence.}

 

With Neos's grip loosened, Duskull floated to the center of the room menacingly and did a midair somersault. {Dawn is in five hours, so I suggest you hurry.}

 

The Nurse simply sighed as she returned to her post . . . all the Pokémon she'd been caring for today now slept in their balls, organized in neat boxes for their Trainers to pick them up in the morning. "I need some rest . . . Warmink?" As she put her head down to try to get some sleep, the white puffball laid down on the spot at her desk where her head went, forming a pillow for her. "Waaar," it warbled.

 

Garbit went undisturbed for the moment . . . free to get some rest.

[Tesability Black]

Neos kept his eyes on le spooky as it flew up through the wall, finding himself almost literally glaring a hole into the wall.

 

"You haven't seen 'ill-repute' yet, f*cker," Neos mumbled to himself before softening and turning his gaze towards Ashley. "It issued a challenge. If you want it to join you, you will have to defeat it in battle." After these words did Neos' gaze harden suddenly at her. "If it does join us and it winds up eating one of my nightmares, I'm yelling at both it and you," he added with a snarl in the second half. "Understand me?"

 

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes before standing to full height once more before looking out a window. "It said that dawn comes in five hours. I will come with you in case something goes wrong...but after this is said and done, I will probably be snoozing for a couple of days straight."

[Htamret]

"Yeah, I know. And thanks..." Ashley answered Neos in a way that suggested she wasn't too sure about the decision. "But I can't challenge a Gym with only two Pokémon. I just can't. And I'm sure I can get it to warm up to us, so hopefully it won't be too bad. I can always put it in its PokéBall, and if it has to eat someone's dreams... they'll be mine." She asserted, her uncertainty fairly noticeable. Then she turned to the Duskull.

 

"Okay, you have a deal. Just let me get my Pokémon first, then let's go." She said, looking it in the eye, mustering steely determination.

 

You can do this. You will win. You will get this Pokémon on your side. You have to. Anything else. Isn't. Good enough. Her thoughts wavered between self-motivating and self-loathing. This was going to be interesting. It almost seemed like the Duskull was... toying with her, seeing how she would react... She shook the thought away and went to get her Pokémon, hoping that the three of them would be able to succeed. She was as much a part of this as her two Pokémon, they were a team, and if everything went well that number would be one more.