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Post by frozenlake on Aug 28, 2023 10:30:49 GMT -8
"...Alright. If we happen to get near the Ditto when we go up the mountain, even if they are inside Pokeballs, we should be able to find them."
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Post by powerkitten on Aug 28, 2023 10:32:14 GMT -8
"Oh, are we heading out then?" Clearly she did, in fact, fall asleep standing up. LUKE just nods. |
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SJmun
Eggministrator 
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Post by SJmun on Aug 28, 2023 10:43:05 GMT -8
"looks like it, yeah."
"Good luck out there. Your pokemon look strong enough to handle anything. Here's my number if you have anything to report."
Kyle scrawls his phone number on a scrap of paper and hands it over to Charles. It should be call-able from whatever phone call device you might have.
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Post by frozenlake on Aug 28, 2023 10:52:17 GMT -8
"Thanks, I'll..."
Charles pauses, taking the paper scrap, and looking at the Phone Number.
"I'm sorry, I've been rude. My name is Charles. I'm one of Nick's friends."
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SJmun
Eggministrator
Posts: 1,445
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Post by SJmun on Aug 28, 2023 11:22:03 GMT -8
"Hello Charles. I'm honestly still confused about Nick. Like, I saw them the other day and they looked familiar, but... somehow I forgotten the person they reminded me of has been dead for years now." Kyle turns to face Nick.
"I called up your mom the other day and she explained you're like, some other version of that person or something? Apparently from another world?"
"uhh... sortakinda. Where I'm from isn't really important, but I am trying to complete the journey that my late other self never got a chance to go on."
Kyle is definitely having an emotional response to this. He looks Nick in the eyes.
"...Be careful out there please."
"uh... sure?" Nick blinks, not exactly registering the gravity of the situation.
"As for the rest of you, make sure that your friend here stays safe."
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Post by powerkitten on Aug 28, 2023 11:24:26 GMT -8
HAZEL and LUKE just nod, determined.
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Post by frozenlake on Aug 28, 2023 11:35:52 GMT -8
Charles exhales a breath they didn't realize they were holding.
"Honestly, its kinda a huge relief that you already know. I'm terrible at keeping these sort of secrets, and I thought I blew it, even with me only using tech from the alternate Unova where I trained my Pokemon. But since you know, it means I don't have to worry nearly as much. Seriously, I have to pretend that my adoptive sibling's- nevermind."
Lucario facepalms at this, before returning himself to the Pokeball. He could keep watch out from in there.
"But yeah, I promise I'll keep an eye on Nick. Even if they can take care of themselves. Especially since they know they can take care of themselves."
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SJmun
Eggministrator
Posts: 1,445
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Post by SJmun on Aug 28, 2023 12:16:00 GMT -8
"Thank you. I've heard a lot of strange stories since becoming a professor, so something like this... Its something I think I can believe safely."
"I think we should get going now. Getting kinda intense here." Nick starts towards the door, empty rootbeer in hand.
"...sorry." Kyle tries to retain his composure.
"Its alright. I'll, try to keep in touch."
Nick opens the door.
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Post by frozenlake on Aug 28, 2023 12:17:43 GMT -8
Charles finishes their own Rootbeer, before it disappears into thin air. They follow Nick, waving back at Kyle.
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Post by powerkitten on Aug 28, 2023 12:18:30 GMT -8
HAZEL and LUKE follow, stretching.
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SJmun
Eggministrator
Posts: 1,445
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Post by SJmun on Aug 28, 2023 13:10:19 GMT -8
Nick leads the party out of the office.
"Dang, sometimes I forget there was another me that lived here... I wonder how many other people used to know them..."
They keep walking towards the exit of the building.
Remembering the general spot on the map, Nick leads the group back towards the bridge. Its a relatively quiet walk up a handful of blocks, though Nick does do a lot of thinking about Kyle.
Chapter 13: Oh my thighs.
Soon enough, after crossing the main road, they arrive at the front entrance to Mt. Arbor park. As expected, it has quite a few trees along the side of the well paved walkway, and has a rather notable incline.
"Here it is, Mt. Arbor. Honestly, this place was never in the original story, so I'm not sure what to expect here, aside from possibly being like Mt. Tabor? Not sure how familiar either of you are with Portland, Oregon, but a lot of stuff around here seems similar to that city."
Nick takes a deep breath.
"so, are we ready to do some uphill walking?"
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Post by flightlessicarus on Aug 29, 2023 19:09:09 GMT -8
Meanwhile, at some point in the recent past, a day or two after last time...
Diamond is mostly getting to know the territory. Doing research, taking notes, downloading data on their devices with a sufficient amount of proxies... It's a lot of work, but it's important for the mission.
However, one day they fell asleep at the beigeblock library while reading tales about the location often referred to as "Bill's secret garden"...
Diamond looked around. They appeared to be in a metallic chamber with glowing arrows etched into the walls. It felt almost... familiar to them.
They walked into the chamber and saw many roads. One in particular seemed to glow in a different color than usual.
Diamond walked towards that path.
the path split two ways. one appeared to continue the same, while the other appeared to resemble a grassy path through a meadow somehow.
There was a sense of somebody else's distress...?
Diamond could sense it from the far metallic path, travelling towards the meadow path. It resonated similar to their own past distress.
Memories they'd rather forget.
Whoever may reside at the end of the meadow path... they aren't ready to bear this pain yet.
Diamond summoned a door to block the meadow path from the fork.
Upon the door, facing the meadow path, they wrote this:
"Only open when you are prepared to face greater suffering."
They then closed the door. Only the one meant to be Connected across the bounds will be able to open this.
Diamond walked away, back to the center. Why did they do this?
It just seemed like the right thing to do.
Dreams are weird like that...
Diamond wakes up face-first in a book, their headband slightly out of place.
They look at the clock. It's getting late. They better get back to the hotel soon.
Diamond leaves the library, only vaguely remembering that strange dream. what was that place...?
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Post by frozenlake on Aug 30, 2023 5:14:21 GMT -8
Charles experimentally takes a few steps, touching the ground less and less for some of them, before reaching a point where they can reasonably touch the ground with their feet, and appear to be walking, while still lifting a good amount of their own body weight with partial god-tier flight.
"Yeah, I'm ready to go uphill."
Charles inadvertently skips a little bit, before decreasing the force of his flight, tuning it just that last bit.
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Post by powerkitten on Aug 30, 2023 11:22:34 GMT -8
HAZEL unfolds the Mach Bike, and LUKE climbs onto the back precariously as she starts to bike up the mountain.
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SJmun
Eggministrator
Posts: 1,445
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Post by SJmun on Aug 30, 2023 15:24:02 GMT -8
Nick blinks. Charles floating slightly isn't much of a surprise, but HAZEL having the leg power to mach bike uphill?
They take a moment to check the digital captchalogue camera in their bag for something potentially useful.
It's mostly Minecraft items and snacks.
Nick pulls out a razz berry smoothie and breaks into a run.
Gotta keep up somehow.
Upwards the party continues upon the paved path, numerous trainers and park-goers around. It's certainly a nice day to go to the park, that's for sure.
Unfortunately, the only dittos that can be sensed are those that already were given to budding trainers beforehand.
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