Group RP Pokémon + Kirby: Fallen Stars (IC)

@Azelflover1 @122 Generation @ChocoChicken
(Again, sorry for the wait. Had a lot to write here.)

Spoiler: Tl;dr

• Susie explained to Flamberge that they're currently 890 light-years away from the fortress
• Taranza showed everyone the full map of Nightmare's fortress stored in the airship they're on
• Susie offered translator earpieces but had to modify one of them to accommodate Airin's limitations
• Blacky practically begged to, y'know, finish him off next time he's back to his majū phase

(Also, fun fact: Nova is the deity figure of Kirby-verse like Arceus is to Pokémon-verse.)

Seeing the attitudes of the recently arrived folks, Susie tried oh-so-hard not to laugh in an effort to maintain her composure. "Watakushi wa Sūjī desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," [I'm Susie. Pleased to meet you,] she politely introduced herself to them. And to address Flamberge's question, Susie replied, "Right now we're 890 light-years away from the fortress, so it will take awhile to get there. We can plan this out in the meantime." [Genzai, yōsai kara 890-kōnen hanarete iru tame, soko ni tōtatsu suru ni wa shibaraku jikan ga kakarimasu. Sonoaida ni kore o keikaku dekimasu.] It was quite unfortunate that she couldn't get any robotic allies, but eh.

"Now, everyone, take a look at this," [Sā, minna, mite kudasai,] Taranza pulled out a remote control from his pocket (Nova knew where said pocket was exactly). With a button press, a huge screen emerged from the wall near him. It showed the same map as Blacky's paw-written one but with much more details inside. This, in turn, prompted the dark-type knight to copy the details down in his own map (for which, once again, Airin happily lent him her quill). "This is a full map of Nightmare's fortress. We're lucky Susie and her crews could recover it," [Kore wa Naitomea no yōsai no zentai zudesu. Sūjī-san to kanojo no norikumiin ga kaishū dekita no wa kōundatta,] the young wizard explained with "her (Susie's) crews" referring to the Haltworkers on board.

"Since there's a high chance that we might have to part ways during the raid, I figured we can make use of these," [Reido-chū ni wakareru koto ni naru kanōsei ga takainode, kore o katsuyō shiyou to omoimashita,] Susie gestured at some Haltworkers to show up with two trays of earpieces -- just enough for everyone. One of the trays had "日本語 / Japanese" [Nihongo / Japanese] written on it and the other one had "English / 英語" [English / Eigo] instead. "These earpieces have a built-in translator made of my language database. Their default languages are set to the one you're familiar with. So no need to worry about translations once we're out there," [Korera no iyahon ni wa, watakushi no gengo dētabēsu kara sakusei sa reta hon'yaku kinō ga kumikoma rete imasu. Deforuto no gengo wa, tsukainareta gengo ni settei sa rete imasu. Hon'yaku ni tsuite shinpai suru hitsuyō wa arimasen] she explained. By this logic, Kirby's default language would be set to Japanese and Airin's would be set to English because those were the ones they were familiar with in spite of their (relative) inability to actually speak. However, this led to the next problem: the latter's communication would be one-sided.

"Can it record sign language?" [Shuwa o rokuon dekimasu ka?] Airin's spectral hands wrote down what her real ones signed. She was about to explain about her muteness when Susie shook her head in disappointment. "I don't have sign language in my database, sorry," [Dētabēsu ni shuwa ga arimasen. Mōshiwake arimasen,] the robot lady apologized. It was immediately followed up by a question, "Do you know morse, though?" [Demo, mōrusu tte shitteru ka?] to which the Decidueye girl nodded. Susie then picked up one of the earpieces on the "English / 英語" [English / Eigo] tray and brought it to her onboard workshop for additional tweaking ("Airin, right? I need to tweak your earpiece a little bit. I'll be right back." [Ērin-san, ne? Iyahon o sukoshi chōsei suru hitsuyō ga arimasu. Sugu modoru ne.]).

"Guys," [Minna,] it was Blacky's turn to get everyone's attention as soon as Susie went off. "I hate to say this, but promise me," [Kon'na ko to iitakunaikedo, yakusoku shite,] his heart raced wildly, fully knowing that what he's about to say next might sound confusing to those who weren't there during last night's skirmish (Kotone, Belle, Susie, Fumu, Bun, Sword Knight, Blade Knight). "Next time I turn into a majū again..." [Kondo mata majū ni nattara…] he sounded desperate at this point. "...just finish me off. Please!" [...todome o sashite. Onegai!]

 

"Finish you off? No way! Even if you go nuts, I can just-" Flamberge slammed the flat of her sword into her hand. "Nobody's dying on this mission, all right? Except that Nightmare guy maybe."

 

Like Gus, Snowy and Brenna took an earpiece each from the "English / 英語" [English / Eigo] tray. However, Blacky's sudden plea stopped them from placing the earpieces in their ears. "Whoa, whoawhoawhoawhoa! What the hell are you thinking?!" [Oi, oioioioi! Ittai nani o kangaete iru no?!] Snowy made a face and Brenna sighed as she went up to the dark-type. "Look. Hadn't you fought the trance off, I would've killed you--" [Nē, Burakkī-san ga toransu o gekitai shite inakattara, watashitachi ga--] she sternly told him only for Kirby's "Īe!" [No!] to cut it off (she was going to say "Look. Hadn't you fought the trance off, I would've killed you when we first met."). Cue a brief pause and an amused chuckle on Brenna's part. "...yeah, right. Even our main actor can't let you die." [...sōda ne. Atashitachi no shuyakude sae, Burakkī-san o shina seru koto wa dekimasen.]

Airin and Taranza, meanwhile, simply gave each other a "WTH is going on here?" look before directing it to Meta Knight. "Kyō?" [Sir?] that's all Taranza could say in response to his (Meta Knight's) solemn confession. It sure was quite a heartache on its own, alright.

(This is how I'd imagine the dialogue (in English) goes:

Spoiler: Dialogues (?)

Snowy: "Whoa, whoawhoawhoawhoa! What the hell are you thinking?!"
Flamberge: "Finish you off? No way! Even if you go nuts, I can just-" (slams the flat of her sword into her hand) "Nobody's dying on this mission, all right? Except that Nightmare guy maybe."
Brenna: (goes up to Blacky) "Look. Hadn't you fought the trance off, I would've killed you--"
Kirby: "No!"
Brenna: (chuckles after a brief pause) "...yeah, right. Even our main actor can't let you die."
MK: "...that's what I had to do to Knuckle Joe's father."
Taranza: "Sir?"
MK: "Blacky.... hopefully something deep in your heart will keep you from fully becoming a majū. For Joe's father, it was the love he had for his son. I'm not sure what it might be for you."

That said, I'm waiting for @122 Generation to say something before I move on to Blacky's part.)

 

(@SAF Sorry... Fanfic mode has been going into overdrive for me this week )

Maria helped herself to one of Susie's translator devices. There was no need for Evergreen or Kotone to use one since they were both bilingual for all practical reasons, and whatever Belle needed to know, Evergreen could translate that for her.

The distance to Nightmare's fortress was so mind-boggling that Evergreen couldn't process it. Maria had no measure how far it was, and Kotone - predictably - thought it was closer than she thought ("890-kōnen? No problem! We'll get there before we know it!" she said).

And hearing Blacky's plea did no comfort to either Maria, Kotone, Evergreen, or Belle. Maria went up to the Umbreon. "Come now, Blacky-san! Don't say that! Flamberge is right. No one is dying today." (Then again, for Maria's age, she probably had little concept of death) "We can only hope that you don't turn into a majū. It's as simple as that."

Then Evergreen went up to Blacky to give him a hug (causing Kotone to squeal a bit in delight). "We will not finish you off! That's for sure." [Watashi tachi wa Burakkī-san wo owara se masen! Sore wa tashika na koto desu.]

"Man, Blacky-san sure is getting the attention of all the ladies..." Kotone smiled to herself.

Maria went over to Taranza to analyse the maps that Susie and Taranza had provided.

 

Yep, Airin noticed that. But unlike Kotone, she understood why Blacky got that much attention in the first place. That alone made the archer girl wonder, "Isn't that too harsh a redemption, though?" [Demo, sore wa amarini mo kibishī shōkande wa arimasen ka?] in both sign and writing. All while totally ignoring what the redhead might try to imply.

 

@Azelflover1 @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

While Evergreen's hug managed to somewhat calm Blacky down ("Hey! You're squishing me!"), the pang of guilt hit him again when Meta Knight apologized for bringing his own bitter past up. "Sir, I should be the one apologizing here. I don't know who this 'Knuckle Joe's dad' is, but you did what you had to do," [Kyō, koko de owabi suru no wa boku desu. Kono 'Nakkuru Jō no otōsan' ga dareda ka shiranai ga, yarubeki koto o yatta,] the Umbreon assured his fellow knight.

"I do agree with Airin though," [Ērin-san ni dōi shimasu yo,] Taranza chimed in with a reference to Airin's pop-up note. He also offered an earpiece (whose default language set to English) to Blacky while at it. "For someone who broke free of Nightmare's control, your idea's way too harsh, y'know," [Naitomea no shihai kara kaihō sa reta dareka ni totte, kimi no kangae wa amarini mo kakoku desu yo,] the young wizard added, much to Blacky's dismay.

 

"Yeah, got it? We're lookin' out for you." Her point made, Flamberge took an earpiece of her own and... did she have ears? Well, she tucked it under her hair, then turned her attention to the map.
"So the plan is... we're splitting up once we breach the fortress walls?"

 

For a moment, Kotone thought she saw Airin glancing at her. Hmm... She should try all kinds of matchmaking later. Maybe she could pair up the gijinkas with the Umbreon, even!

Evergreen quickly let go of Blacky. “Ah. So sorry!” she said, not realising that she was really squishing the Umbreon. "But you don't need us to execute you, though! You're being overdramatic." She turned to the her companions. "So what is the plan?"

Maria looked at the map again. "If we are splitting up, we need to make a rendezvous point. We have to regroup at some point to be extra safe. For now, we pick out our targets. Barracks, training room, and whatever we think that Nightmare may use. We attack."

Belle raised her small hand. [How about meeting in the command center? Or is that too risky if we might meet Nightmare?] she squeaked.

 

@Azelflover1 @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

Blacky's dilemma

Yeah. The others' persistence ultimately made Blacky concede. But that alone wasn't enough to fully assure him ("Okay, okay. Can't really promise anything, but I'll try." [Wakatta, wakatta. O yakusoku wa dekimasen ga, yatte mimasu yo.]) because deep down he still swore to himself that he would "kill his evil side" which could mean either keeping his majū state at bay or sacrificing himself once it goes beyond control and everyone has already exhausted their efforts to snap him out from the trance.

Airin's new AAC

Meanwhile, Susie came back with Airin's earpiece and some kind of wristwatch in hand. Said "wristwatch" only had four buttons: "dit" (dot), "dah" (dash), "slash" (the "space" between letters), and "space" (the space between words). Airin tried it out with a set of phrase she could think of ("Here, try it," [Hai, yatte miru ne,] Susie encouraged) and had Brenna check if everything went well. If it did, the English speakers would hear, "Can you hear me?" (Airin's morse was in English) and the Japanese speakers would hear, "Watashi no koe ga kikueru?"

(Yeah, I shamelessly stole PAFF's quote here. )

The actual planning

In response to Flamberge's question, Taranza nodded as a "yes". "We'll need someone to set up the bombs, someone to distract the majū..." [Dare ka bakudan o shikake tari, majū no ki o sorashi tari…] he explained only for Blacky to pick up where Taranza left off, "...and someone to raid the medic room." [...shinryōsho o shūgeki shitari.] This, in turn, earned him a lot of curious stares. "No, really. If I remember it right, there should be some berries we Pokémon can use. Pecha, Persim, Rawst, Cheri, Lum, and many more in there," [Sōda na. Boku no kioku ga tadashikereba, Pokémon-tachi ga shiyō dekiru kinomi ga ikutsu ka aru hazudesu. Momon ya Kī ya Chīgo ya Kurabo ya Rumu nado ga arimasu,] he explained. From there, more suggestions flowed in, some of which being Brenna's "Since Kirby and Fumu are gonna deal with Nightmare head-on, we'll need someone to guard them too," [Kābī to Fumu-san wa Naitomea ni makkōkara tachimukau node, futari o mamoru hito mo hitsuyōdesu,] and Snowy's "I think these two should stick together~" [Kono futari wa kuttsuku to īna~] with "these two" referring to Belle and Evergreen.

As for Belle's question which Airin translated in writing for those who couldn't understand Pokespeak ("Belle asked 'How about meeting in the command center? Or is that too risky if we might meet Nightmare?'" [Beru-san wa, 'Komandosentā de au no wa dōdesu ka? Soretomo, Naitomea ni aeru to shitara risuku ga taka sugimasu ka?' to tazunemashita.]), the dark-type warrior quickly warned, "Better don't. His right hand man and the transporter are in there." [Dame da. Naitomea no kataude to toransupōtā ga soko ni imasu.] By "his (Nightmare's) right hand man", he meant the Customer Service -- that "shady guy in a suit" ディアンシー talked about when she was with Brenna back in the castle.

(PS: Both "Blacky's dilemma" and "Airin's new AAC" happened concurrently, then followed by "The actual planning".)

 

(@SAF You really did put a lot into this post! Incidentally, I’m also about to write an evil side to Robyn in the fanfic similar to Blacky…)

Evergreen looked increasingly worried for the Umbreon. If anything, he looked as if he would be out for his own blood. He should be watched, Evergreen determined, just so he didn’t do anything rash or reckless.

Belle looked down amid the planning discussion. [Oh… okay. They sound dangerous, don’t they?]

Kotone was distracted by Airin enough she only heard half of the planning phase. “Ooh! Airin-chan! You can talk! Whoa! Wow!”

Maria raised her hand. “I’ll… drag Kotone with me to help with planting bombs in the armoury. That should lessen our worries about being attacked with weapons.” Even a girl like Maria’s age could tell Kotone needed to be watched.

Evergreen picked up Belle into her arms. “Um, where should we attack?” Evergreen said.

(Now if only Makoto was here to knock Kotone back to her senses

 

"If you're talkin' about a distraction, I'm your girl. A few explosions and scorches ought to get their attention, right?" Flamberge chipped in. "I can hold my own for a while, too, so don't worry about me!"

 

@Azelflover1 @ChocoChicken

(Whelp, thanks. Took me a lot of braincells for that one. And about Robyn's evil side, can she knock it off with external help like Blacky did?)

While Kotone's reaction to Airin's talking device was unexpected, it gave the younger gijinka a much appreciated additional feedback. Little did she know that the "wristwatch"-like thingy had a built-in speaker considering that Kotone could hear it without the earpiece (almost) everyone had. "Not really. This watch Susie gave me did the trick," [Sō ja nai yo. Sūjī-san ga kure tako no tokei wa umaku itta ne,] Airin slowly but steadily typed (?) on the aforementioned talking device. She needed to get used to it, after all.

Speaking of Susie, she immediately perked up at the mention of a transporter. "If I may, I can hack the transporter," [Kanōdeareba, toransupōtā o hakkingu dekimasu,] she raised a hand in an attempt to stay professional in spite of her apparent optimism. "Wait, hacking? As in messing with machines?" [Are? Hakkingu, ne? Kikai o ijiru no to onajiyōni?] while Brenna could see the results of Susie's previous works (namely the now-rebuilt Destrayer they're on and the translator earpiece Brenna's wearing despite being a multilingual herself), she just had to make sure. And yes, the resident tech whiz confirmed it herself. "But Blacky said Nightmare's right ha--" [Demo, Burakki-san wa Naitomea no kata--] "I'll deal with that," [Watashi ga taisho shimasu,] Brenna's worry was cut off by Snowy's offer just like that. "Nightmare's right hand man, right? They'll be frozen before they know it," [Naitomea no kataude ne? Sore o shiru mae ni tōketsu sa remasu yo,] the ice-type winked.

Meanwhile, Maria's offer to plant the bombs filled Airin with worry. "But you need an adult to protect you..." [Demo, mamotte kureru otona ga hitsuyō…] the gijinka voiced her concern, though the same could be said for Kirby's team too. This, in turn, surprised Blacky big time, for he believed that the humans in his home world's fairytales had some kind of superpowers (which was partially true for the gijinkas, by the way). "Wait, what? Don't you humans have superpowers?" [Oya? Ningen-tachi ni wa chō nōryoku ga arimasen ka?] he asked out of curiosity only for Airin to shake her head in denial. "Not the full-breed humans. Sis Brenna and I have it because we're half-Pokémon," [Zasshu no ningen de wa arimasen. Burenna-nēchan to watashi wa hāfu-Pokémon nanode motte imasu,] she explained. Took Blacky a good while to digest it, though.

 

(Robyn's evil side… Not really, even with help from her friends, she often can't get it out of her mind. In this chapter, she can barely resist it. I could give you a spoiler why - but it will be explained in the following chapter)

Maria laughed slightly at Blacky. "I thought they were really good cosplayers! No no, I definitely don't have any powers. That's what Evergreen is for." Then she turned to Airin to address the bomb concerns. "Um... If not me, I could always have Kotone do it. Or... Flamberge. She seems more fired up for it than anything."

After Kotone had enough of checking on Airin, she even went up close to her face. "Mondai nashi, Airin-chan! Watashi wa dekiru!" [No problem, Airin-chan! I can do it!] At that, Kotone put on a confident face - perhaps it looked more like overconfidence than anything.

Belle looked at Evergreen. [So... you and I are just attacking?]

 

Flamberge perked up again when Maria mentioned her. "Oh, I'm on the bomb planting team now? I can roll with that, too! Just give me the signal, and" - She mimed a huge explosion with her hands. "...though I can't promise that I'd be able to fight at full power if I have to keep them intact, but I can cover Sword, Blade and you while they're moving."

 

"In that case, you have my full confidence!" Maria replied to Flamberge. "Don't worry. You'll have Kotone to help you out if you can't fight at full strength." At that, Kotone, hearing her name, waved at Flamberge excitedly.

That left Evergreen worried. Would Maria actually be safe like this? That is, she was joined by what Evergreen thought were two loose cannons.