Maria smiled at the Amoonguss. "Come, I'll get you some food. We can talk over a meal." "Taranza-san, eh? I'm Maria, from... Larousse," Maria said. "That's my best friend Evergreen back over there." She hadn't counted on making another round of midnight snack but she suppose it couldn't be helped when there were wounded allies. She stirred the curry the way she liked it, which had no almost no spicy flavour in it at all. Now if only she had some antidote ingredients, she would have made a curry that could cure status ailments. Actually, if she had a chance to pop by Tuggle's market, maybe she could get something like that. Now that the noodles were cooked and the curry boiling, with apples added to make the flavour mild, Maria scooped bowls of curry noodle and passed them around to Amanita, Evergreen, and Snowy. Then there would be a bowl for the unconscious Umbreon. "Now, who is this Nightmare fellow, anyway? Sounds like a Pocket Monster I've heard before in the past," Maria said.
@Azelflover1 @122 Generation @ChocoChicken Now that Airin came back from tucking Blacky in a spare tent despite her type disadvantage, she went on to help passing the bowls of curry noodles for Amanita, Evergreen, and Snowy. "Thanks, Airin," the latter gratefully said and ate the curry right away. Remembering their (Snowy's and Airin's) aborted trip to a doctor, Snowy couldn't help but to mutter, "I wonder if the doctor's place is open at this hour..." Hearing Snowy's lament, Airin wrote "If y'all excuse me, I need to see if the doctor and/or stores are open 24/7," on her (formerly Flamberge's) notebook and passed it around for everyone to read. Although, for Japanese speakers like Whispy Woods and Meta Knight (though God knows when the latter even got there), they might need help with translation considering Evergreen's current condition. Taranza, meanwhile, jerked upon hearing Maria's question that was most likely directed to Amanita. Specifically, that one particular name the kid just mentioned: Nightmare. The very same guy who would've turned the People of the Sky into majū hadn't he (Taranza) and Sectonia came to the rescue. Regardless, Taranza decided to just shut up and wait for Amanita to say something. (I'll wait for the others to say something before moving on with my characters' parts.)
Nightmare. That name had come up more than once now - that definitely confirmed the suspicions of who was behind that majū attack. Flamberge wasn't the world's best mystery-solver, but as to what was to be done with this information... "So where do we find him, and when are we going to burn his living quarters down?"
@Azelflover1 (Had to nudge the host because I can't nudge Amanita myself.) With Blacky out of commission, Amanita became the only source of information about Nightmare for now. Taranza, Snowy, and the gijinkas (Airin hadn't gone yet until the notebook came back to her) turned to Amanita in case she wanna say something. That, or... was she still sobbing?
Amanita calms down with Gus' help, soon explaining Nightmare. "It seems that Nightmare's fortress is in space," she says. "Tengutake no seikaidesu. Naitomea no yōsai wa 900-kōnen hanareta uchū ni arimasu. Soko ni tadoritsuku yuiitsu no hōhō wa, kōnen de idō suru fune o teniireru ka, motte iru kotodesu," [Amanita's correct. Nightmare's fortress is in space, 900 lightyears away. The only way to get there is to get or have a ship that travels by lightyears,] Meta Knight clarifies.
Maria scratched her head. Communicating was so much harder when Evergreen wasn't around! Neither could she really understand what Meta Knight was saying. "A... space fortress? Is this what we're dealing with?" she said. From the sound of it, Flamberge was ready to take the fight to it. Turning to Airin, Maria said, "You sure you want to head out at this hour? It's really late. We should get some sleep." Evergreen was helping herself to a bowl of curry noodle to regain her strength. It would take time before the poison passed out of her body. As she ate the noodles, she listened in on Amanita's explanation on this Nightmare character. Unfortunately, her mind wasn’t strong enough yet to use the translator field again. The Umbreon was resting, Airin looked like she wanted to head out, and Amanita had calmed down at last.
@122 Generation @ChocoChicken (@Azelflover1 Where does the name "Tengutake" for Amanita come from? Just curious.) Like Maria, Snowy was confused. It was hard to understand what Meta Knight said without Evergreen's real-time translator field around. Seeing a potential language barrier ensuing (Taranza didn't know Evergreen and Brenna could do the translating), Taranza chimed in, "He- uh... Meta Knight, right? He said Nightmare's fortress is 900 lightyears away from here. We'll need a ship that travels by lightyears to get there. Although..." The puppeteer magician got lost in thought. "I do remember raiding one with Her Majesty..." By "Her Majesty", he meant Sectonia, though seems like no one knew about that yet. The notebook eventually reached Brenna who quickly turned to Airin as soon as she recognized the handwriting. She (Brenna) passed the book back to her (Airin) and signed, "Are you sure?" with her free hand. In response to both that and Maria's question, Airin nodded, accepted the notebook, and signed back, "The poison can't wait," which was translated for Maria to spoken English. "Take me with you," the older lady signed after standing up. Knowing that she would need some Japanese to get by, Airin had no choice but to comply. And hey, even with Brenna out and Evergreen being too weak to whip up her translator field, they still had Taranza. He probably could speak Japanese considering his origin. To those who don't know ASL like Snowy and Taranza, the whole series of signing could be seen as the gijinkas randomly flailing their hands around. Although, Snowy did know that they're basically "talking" with their hands.
Space, nine hundred lightyears... Flamberge cringed internally. Calling the Jambastion for help was probably against her self-imposed journey rules. Then that Taranza fellow had chipped in with raiding one...? "Hey, mister, do you still remember where it is? We might need it soon. Very soon."
@Azelflover1 @ChocoChicken @122 Generation "Ossan," [Mister,] Taranza called out to Meta Knight with the intention of relaying Flamberge's question to him."Doko ni aru ka oboeteru? Sugu ni sore o hitsuyō to suru ka mo." [Do you remember where it is? We might need it soon.] One brief pause later, Taranza facepalmed. He didn't realize until much later that the question was directed at him. "Sorry," he sheepishly apologized. "It's deserted by the majū riding on it and now left alone near Floralia. I'll see if I can get that back up tomorrow." (I'm assuming Evergreen's translator field isn't active this time around. If you need Brenna and/or Taranza to do the translating, just gimme the word. Also, I hope I did Taranza's clumsiness justice...)
(Google Translate, unfortunately. I found out that "Amanita" translated into Japanese is "Tengutake")
"Nine hundred... lightyears? That sounds like a long ways away," Maria remarked. Maria nodded in Airin's direction. "You're right. I'll take care of the others here. If you could get us some ingredients for an antidote, I'll try my luck at another curry! Not too spicy, of course." Turning to Taranza, Maria said, "Let's talk about that tomorrow. We can form a better plan when we're all rested! For now, taking care of our wounded should come first." (Brenna could definitely do the translating in Evergreen's absence. But wow, having Evergreen around is so much easier.)
@Azelflover1 @ChocoChicken (Oh, yes. Evergreen's presence is so convenient. And yeah, Brenna definitely can do that. But Airin will specifically need her since she's the only one who knows sign, so I hope Taranza will suffice here.) To Maria, Airin gave her a thumbs up as a non-verbal "OK" before Brenna took her other hand. "Jaa, Ērin-chan to atashi wa sugu ni gedokuzai o te ni iremashō. Itte--" [Well then, Airin and I gonna get the antidote right away. See--] the latter said to the Japanese speakers among the group -- the English speakers should've heard her (and Airin's) interaction with Maria already. She was about to say "ittekimasu" ("see ya") when Taranza cut her off with a "Huh? Ērin?" Realizing that he hadn't properly introduced to the gijinkas yet, Brenna nodded at him and explained, "Yep. She's Airin and I'm Brenna." The half-humans, half-Pokémon duo waved their free hands with the older one saying "Ittekimasu," [See ya,] for real and went back to the village. All while wondering if the doctor's place and/or any stores there would be open 24/7 as Airin worded it earlier...
(Hopefully so, until Evergreen is back on her feet) With the gijinkas now on their way to the village, Maria decided to tend to the campfire and make sure the tents were secure in place. She wondered if the toys needed any form of heat to keep them warm. But they weren't warm-blooded, were they? Or did they need some kind of heat to keep them functional? Either way, Maria needed the warmth for herself too. Evergreen was quietly enjoying her curry noodles. It was doing its job right in keeping her strength up. Whether it was be enough to rid her of the poison was another story.
"Floralia... Then we shall set out at sunrise tomorrow!" Flamberge declared triumphantly before realizing that only like three people understood her and most of them were still recovering from the fight. "...But that's tomorrow."
Campsite "Leave that to me," Taranza raised one of his six hands at Flamberge. "You guys need to recover and investigate these rumored portals and..." he paused for a brief moment only to realize that most of the guys there might be the rumored aliens coming out from those random, otherworldly portals. "Actually, did you guys came from the same world?" Meanwhile, as with Evergreen, the curry noodle did its job right in keeping Snowy's strength up. Although... she had to pause upon hearing Taranza's last question. The blue Ninetales only looked at her fellow otherworldly foreigners, not entirely sure about: Where in Pokeworld Gus, Amanita, and Viridi came from; When an Umbreon started to walk upright and wield a weapon (as far as she knew, all Umbreon back home were quadrupedals); and How to explain about humans' existence in their home worlds, full-breed and gijinka alike. (I think we'll need someone from Pokémon world to explain what Pokémon is to Taranza...) Village (Quoting these from our OOC thread: And poking host @Azelflover1 because idk how to proceed from there. Actually, lemme try something.) Back in the village, the gijinkas started to roam around for a good while only to find out that none of the stores, not even Tuggle's, were open 24/7. They were about to take a break when Brenna noticed what looked like a clinic nearby (if the sign there was anything to go by). "Doctor?" she signed, to which Airin nodded and signed back, "Doctor." That said, the duo went to check the clinic out. Doc, whoever you are, please... Airin desperately thought. We need you ASAP.
Dr. Yabui soon wakes up, seeing visitors at his clinic. He walks over to where the gijinkas are, clearly not having gotten enough sleep. "Kimyōna eirian, nani ga hitsuyōdesu ka?" [What do you need, strange aliens?] he asks them without hesitation. "If you are asking if we are from other words, you would be correct, Taranza," Viridi says. "Amanita, Gus, and I are from the normal Pokémon universe, where Pokémon Trainers capture and train Pokémon to use them in battles with another Trainer's Pokémon, in Pokémon Contests (or Musicals, where I am from), or the Trainers and other humans simply have Pokémon as pets or companions," they continue, a small smile on their face. "Hey, we're from that world, too," says Volt. Mirage, Neptune, Blaze, Aaron, Miju, and フーパ all back him up on this.
Campsite @Azelflover1 @122 Generation @ChocoChicken "Trainers? You mean, people like Maria?" Snowy turned to the kid in question. According to Viridi's explanation about their home world, Maria's behaviour did imply that she was Evergreen's, uh, trainer. "I mean, my home world doesn't even have humans..." Taranza, meanwhile, was still busy processing what these, uh, Pokémon guys just said. Village @Azelflover1 (Whenever the gijinkas are interacting with the locals (in this case, Dr. Yabui), let's assume Brenna's doing the Japanese-ASL translation for everyone's sake. If Brenna herself needs to say something, she will speak and sign at the same time.) "Strange aliens". It no longer felt weird to the gijinkas at this point. After signing the doctor's question to Airin, Brenna turned to the doctor himself. "Shitsureishimasu, sensei. Kābī to atashitachi no yūjin no nan nin ka wa dokusatsu sare, sensei no tasuke ga hitsuyōdesu," [Sorry for intruding, Doc. Kirby and some of our friends are poisoned and (we) need your (Doctor's) help,] she explained the case with both spoken Japanese and sign language at the same time. "They're in Whispy Woods Forest right now. Should we bring them here? Or do you want us to take you there?" Airin asked via sign which was (obviously) translated to Japanese.
@Azelflover1 @SAF @ChocoChicken Maria looked up from her cooking to the Virizion. Wait, so that explanation meant that she and the Virizion came from the same world?! And the toys too? She added, “Well… I do manage a park that is dedicated to hosting Pokémon tournaments and Trainers who compete on them.” Although she was technically Evergreen’s Trainer, the Gardevoir was quite independent. If anything, Evergreen was more like Maria’s big sister.
"Koko ni motte kite moraitai nodesuga. Watashi wa karera o tasukeru koto ga dekinai kamo shiremasenga, watashi wa chiryō-hō o mitsukeru tame ni saizen o tsukushimasu," [I'd like to have them brought here, please. I may not be able to help them, but I'll do my best to find a cure,] says Dr. Yabui. "Yes, ma'am. We are from the Unova region," Viridi explains. "Volt and I were made in Kanto," says Mirage. "I was made in Johto," says Neptune. "I was made in Hoenn," says Blaze. "Miju," [Unova for me,] Miju says. "Watashi wa Shin'ō chihō de tsukura remashita," [I was made in the Sinnoh region,] says Aaron.
Village Airin gave the doctor a thumbs up (after getting the translation, of course) and Brenna nodded at him. "Wakarimashita," [Understood,] the latter said. The two then left the clinic and went back to the campsite, all while trying to memorize the route they just took. (Spoiler: the gijinkas will arrive at the campsite in my next post.) Campsite @Azelflover1 @122 Generation @ChocoChicken "I see..." Snowy looked thoughtful despite the poison seeping deeper into her body. As much as she wanted to shake it off, she just couldn't do it alone. And as much as she wanted to say something about the gijinkas' case, that had to wait until either the gijinkas themselves came back or Taranza asked about it. "So you guys are Pokémon and these guys are Pokémon toys, right?" Taranza wondered. It was the best conclusion he could draw so far. "How about that black guy? Is he a Pokémon too?" By "that black guy", Taranza meant Blacky, though he had no intention to be racist or anything. Blacky's body color was just mainly, uh, black. (Anyone wanna answer? Or should Snowy do that?)