#i would have used the silver crystal to open up a portal downward

[whippedcloudsofcream]

Sailor Moon S1E44

[dannyphantomisameme]

Not What I Want

~ Chapter 2 ~ 

(Click for prologue and chapter 1)

WARNING: AMATEUR WRITING SKILLZ + SOME MAY FIND CONTENT UNNERVING

Soaring through the green void, he kept an iron grip on his thermos. His hair flew behind him as if a gust of wind was blowing through it. Earlier, after laying on the couch for a couple of minutes, he decided to leave before Skulker resolved to come home. Getting up and trudging over to the corner, he shakily grabbed the thermos off the floor. In the corner of his eye he noticed Ember’s purple guitar smashed to pieces. He ran a finger along the guitar, tracing the outline of the flaming blue details.

‘Do you wanna hear a song?’ the young girl asked. Her bright green eyes shimmered under the swirling sky. ‘I love to sing! It’s my favorite thing in the world!’ she exclaimed as her flaming blue pigtails bounced up and down.

‘Sure.’ Danny replied. He sat down right next to her and listened to her voice. He was amazed at the talent this girl had. Ember, wasn’t it? He sat there, eyes closed and swaying along to the beat. It was as if god had sent an angel to him; her notes flowed together in beautiful harmony. The two sat there for some time, underneath the unusually vibrant tree. Her soothing tone was enough to make him almost forget about his job.

Almost.

He hadn’t realized he had stopped flying. Now consciously aware of his surroundings, he sped through the atmosphere, overpassing the millions of purple doors. He was always curious to see where some of the doors led to, but he had his fair share of mishaps. Like the time he opened a door only to intrude on Technus taking a shower. Yikes. His mind progressed to wander through many thoughts, until he landed on the elephant in the room.

Although he had accomplished what his father had asked of him, he wasn’t quite finished. Why did his father need Ember? What did she ever do to him? Daniel never understood the people his father chose; there was never a clear cut pattern between them.

With these questions in mind, he flew through the dimension at top speed. The quicker he finished, the less to remember. Finally he arrived at the closed portal. Hovering in front of the hexagonal entrance, he slipped off his backpack and opened the front pocket. He took out a small keychain with a red button on it, similar to a car-key. He pressed the button and returned the object back to his backpack, zipped it up, and waited for the doors to open.

Gradually, the trapezoidal doors tore apart from each other, revealing another swirling green vortex. Daniel flew right in, landing on gray marbled floor. The recurring panic swelled within him as he shuffled through the laboratory. Instead of exiting through the hall, he turned right and headed for an iron vault door. Once again he placed his trembling palm on a black scanner to his right. Once a beep resonated in the dismal lab, the circular door handle spun and opened on its own.

He trudged through the entrance and met with a desolate, square room. The walls and the floor were made of a dark grey stone. A lone chair similar to one in the laboratory sat in the center. The walls were completely empty, except for the sole shelf in the left corner. The air had a prison-like feel to it, cold and gloomy.

Closing the door behind him, he let his backpack fall to the floor and walked over to the chair. He unlatched the thermos from his belt with a grimace on his face. Sighing, he uncapped the thermos, unleashing a bright blue beam. Once the beam retreated back into the thermos, Ember sat in the chair, still tied up.

Her presence clenched his heart. The voices in his head began to gradually increase in amplitude. He felt like dropping onto the floor and curling up into a ball. But he couldn’t.

She squirmed in her seat, staring at Daniel with wide eyes. She was clueless as to what was happening and where she was.

Mustering up some courage to move, he began to untie the rope around her arms, holding her down with no chance of escape all the while. He knew the quickest way to get what he needed as a result of his previous experiences. He made mistakes along the way, but over the decade he got better.

Finally he reached under the chair and pressed a green button. Thick black straps began to move and wrap themselves around the unsuspecting ghost. Her scream was muffled as she writhed under the shackles grasp, yet she was too weak to fend it off. The straps automatically buckled her in and held her in place.

Daniel dropped his arms and shuffled over to the shelf in the left corner. He stopped mid-reach to the handle. Was he really going to do this? Turning back he looked at the girl. She continued to squirm in her chair. She was innocent; she didn’t deserve this shit. Her muffled cries echoed in his mind, prompting an oncoming migraine.

He continued to twist the handle of the shelf and swing the door open. Inside resided a myriad of weapons: guns, swords, rays, blasters, whips, building tools, vials of various potions, etc. He reached in and brought out a grappling hook. Its silver claws were sharp enough to kill one instantly. The body of the object was black with green accents and an assortment of buttons.

Shutting the shelf, the predator returned to his prey. Holding the grappling hook in his left hand, he slowly removed the green ectoplasmic gauze from her mouth which dissolved in his hand immediately.

Gasping, Ember screamed. Daniel shoved his hand in front of her mouth to silence her. He nodded his head in her direction and she nodded back, suggesting she keep quiet and he remove his hand. She stared at his eyes, but his gaze was focused behind her. He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eye. He felt terrible standing there with his only acquaintance shackled to a dentist chair.

“What the fuck is going on?! Let me go!” She screeched trying to move her arms to no avail. Tears pricked her eyes as they streamed across downward.  

Instead of replying, a bright flash emitted from Daniels waist, producing 2 blue rings that traveled over his body. When he opened his eyes, crystal blue gazed back at neon green. Embers mouth hung open, eyes still wide.

“Y-your… human!” she clamored as her eyes traveled up and down his figure. “B-but, I thought you were a ghost…” Terror was evident in her facial expression. That face would be imprinted in his memory forever.

“I’m both.” he said straight-faced, still avoiding eye-contact.

“What are you gonna do to me?...” she uttered quickly.

“It won’t hurt. I promise.” he whispered, eyes glazed over.

Daniel slowly raised his arm, grappling hook ready to shoot. His cocked the weapon, claws sharpened to inflict pain. Ember kept shaking her head in disbelief, not fully comprehending the intensity of the situation. Suddenly he went invisible and the shot went off. Ember shrieked at the startling boom, squeezing her eyes shut, awaiting the pain.

Yet, nothing came.

Slowly she opened one eye, and noticed Daniel in the top corner of the wall, ripping a camera off the wall. She hadn’t even noticed the devices. She was still focused on the fact that this boy was half-human.

Daniel jumped from his position and onto the floor, sparking camera in hand. He threw it to the corner and ran up to Ember. Crouching down, he pressed a red button on the bottom of the chair. The straps around Embers limbs began to recede back into the chair. Ember sat up, confused, rubbing her wrists that ached from the shackles taut grip.

“We don’t have much time. Come on.” Daniel hastily said, eyebrows furrowed nervously. His facial expressions illustrated true concern. He glanced behind him and simultaneously grabbed Embers hand. Ember held on tight as he pulled her off the chair and the two scurried towards the door.

“The walls are ghost proof, but once we’re out, fly. Okay?” he said as he twisted the handle to the door, swinging it open. Before she could reply, the two were blasted back into the shelf. Ember yelped at the impact from her back hitting the wall. They were still holding hands.

Vlad Masters stood in front of the door, hands manifesting pink ecto energy. His face displayed pure outrage. His teeth were barred shut with a hint of fangs peeking out.

“Don’t hurt her! She did nothing wrong.” Daniel said standing up into a protective position. His fists were balled up and ready to fight. A trickle of blood began to run down his face. His head hurt after striking the wall vigorously. Vlad erupted into maniacal laughter.

“You think this bitch did nothing wrong? You’re so gullible.” he bellowed taking a step forward. Ember shivered behind Daniel at the sheer chaotic aura.  

“You just enjoy hurting the innocent!” Daniel screamed at his father. His hands were now radiating ecto-energy, ready to shoot at any moment. Swiftly, Vlad let go of his powers, blasting his son and Ember. Their skin writhed under the fiery heat of his brute force.

Vlad simultaneously formed a pink ectoplasm hand that wrapped around Daniel and placed Ember back into the chair, restraining both of them from moving. Daniel grunted and squirmed to be free, using all his strength and only exhausting himself further. Ember on the other hand was screaming her lungs out. Now she understood that she was in the human realm. She understood that she was in grave danger.

“Please stop! I-I didn’t do anything Vlad!” Ember screeched wide eyed. Although she recognized the elder man, she didn’t know he was half-human. Or that his son was Babypop.

“On the contrary. You helped my son.” he smiled broadly and whipped to look at Daniel. The outright desperateness on Daniel’s face should have been enough to convince any man of the error in his actions. But Vlad was no man. “You think I didn’t know she was assisting you?! I have eyes EVERYWHERE Daniel. I’m always watching.”

Daniel couldn’t believe it. He was played, just like a chess piece. That’s all he was in his father’s eyes. A pawn. “... I’m sorry…” he whispered.

“What was that?!” Vlad said while telekinetically bringing the pink restraint Daniel was caught in closer to him.

“I’m sorry father.” Daniel said a little louder. Vlad chuckled and released his son from the ectoplasmic hand. He fell on his knees, lungs gasping for a breath after being severely compressed.

“Now, finish the job.” Vlad smoothly said as he retrieved a long hammer from the weapon shelf. Placing it into his sons hand, he smiled psychotically and returned his hands to his sides.

Daniel glared at the hammer. Too much was going on his mind, disorganization among the biggest of them. He felt the world spin, round, and round, and round. He considered rejecting his father’s demand and swinging the hammer at his moronic smirk instead.

Walking towards Ember, his entire body trembled. Vlad stood behind and smirked at the scene. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to rid himself of the excess noise. He had done this several times. Only, this time he was forced to.

Reopening his eyes, he halted in front of the chair where Ember sat. She again made an effort to flee, but the shackles were too tight to allow much movement.

You can’t do this.

Daniel held the bottom of the hammer with two hands, gripping it firmly.

You won’t do this.

The now suspended tool glinted under the illumination of a single light bulb.

stop.

With a swift motion, the hammer plunged down and into the poor, unsuspecting ghost. Ectoplasm splattered everywhere, some falling onto Daniel’s face, some onto his clothes. Ember’s ear splitting scream echoed throughout the bleak, stone room.

STOP.

He raised the hammer once more and swung down with all his strength. This time, silence was the only noise.

Daniel dropped the hammer onto the floor, an audible clunk rang throughout the room. He fell down onto his knees as his tears fell down his cheeks. He sat there sobbing into his green-stained clothes while his father cackled behind him.

Vlad exited the room as the core-shattered ghost that once sat in the chair decomposed into a pile of ectoplasm. The green substance oozed from the chair and onto the floor, dropping onto Daniel’s hands.

The sorrowful boy continued to sit there, encompassed by the darkness and the weight of his actions.

[theflashdriver]

Reunited

It is said that time will heal all wounds, that a thread of fate will slowly stitch the broken pieces back together to make something stronger and new. Time doesn’t normally work like this, she’s a far crueller mistress; more often she withers and ages, decays rather than heals. What would once be a bump of regret can smooth out, or it can grow into a mountain thousands of times more treacherous than it had once been. Time may have healed the wound, but through healing, other distortions were worsened.

Silver had never truly understood time travel; it’d always just been something he’d used. Chaos emeralds, phantom portals or even machines left by those of prior generations; just things that let him travel from one space, or rather time, into another in order to help out with issues of the time. Finding such objects was always difficult in a flaming, devastated, world but with a further understanding of chaos control had come a greater understanding of travel and aptitude for it. Granted… things weren’t perfect, Silver was perhaps a little too confident in his own capabilities, and so he’d often end up arriving much earlier or later than he was required; hanging around for Birthday parties or allowing Eggman to take over a little more land than he was comfortable with before arriving. Still, it was this very overconfidence that would reopen one of the aforementioned wounds time had thought long sealed.

It had started with what Silver had thought a chaos emerald, given the energy the stone gave off and the fact that it was well… undeniably a giant hunk of coloured crystal; grey to be precise. Taking it in his hands it felt a little heavier and there was certainly something off about it when compared to the crystals he had handled prior, passing it from one hand to another as he hovered over the lava covered wasteland; part singing and part humming one of the many songs he’d heard back in Sonic’s time… only half remembering the words. It had something to do with romance getting old, some old invention from that time Silver couldn’t recall the name of, but it kept him chipper in this lonely environment… well… almost. His brow furrowed as he reached a point in the song he had no chance of recalling, tried to think back to prior lines in order to regain his bearings, but now the words were completely gone.

Alone in a flame-filled world, a song stuck in your head that you can’t even remember. “Well,” Silver looked to the gleaming crystal in his hand, “I suppose a quick jump wouldn’t do too much harm, listen to it a couple more times just to get it out of my head.” He held the grey crystal aloft, body wrapped in his psychokinetic energy, focused on a time he’d like to be in and gave the command; “Chaos control!” The crystal began to pulse and gleam, radiating brightness.

Yet Silver remained exactly where he had been, now much brighter crystal in hand. He cringed a little; glad this hadn’t happened when he left Sonic’s time last. He lowered himself onto the roof a decrepit apartment complex, slightly off angle, closed his eyes again and made the command; “Chaos… Control!”

He could feel the crystal grow warm in his palm; the brightness was almost beginning to tend a strange orange, yet Silver remained stood where he had been. His brow furrowed, he looked to the bizarre crystal, his pride wounded by its refusal… now he was super glad this hadn’t happened in Sonic’s time; he was making mistakes even he hadn’t seen. He figured he’d give it one more go, focusing on a time, raising the crystal aloft, but before he could even say the Chaos a great hole opened before him; edged in flame and shaking uncontrollably, growing smaller and larger and rippling like water. Unable to see through to the other side, only darkness visible, he was about to back away when some great force pulled him in. He was falling forward, through the portal and out the other side.

Silver held his breath and dared not open his eyes, he could feel himself falling but had no clue whether it be through space or otherwise; cold wind lashing at him as he tumbled downward. He dared to open his eyes just as he plunged into the raging sea, swallowed in the wake of a giant wave; unable to create an air bubble for himself before passing out, crystal in hand.

Blaze had been awoken by a disturbance in the Sol Emeralds; the eight crystals were under lock and key, embedded in the wall of her bedchamber for the optimum protection. Rising from her bed, throwing back the covers, she approached the display, her large ears twitching at the peculiar sound. As she approached she was able to identify the cause, it was not that all the crystals were sounding but only the central one; teal in colouration. She brought her hand to it, attempting to push it deeper into its slot only to find it pushed back as though some magnet were pulling it in. Deeply puzzled but more so concerned she donned her regular attire, taking the keys and unlocking the teal sol emerald; grasping it before it could fly to the opposing wall.

She set off without hesitation, more than prepared for a fight as she vaulted and dashed her way through the city. She quickly discerned that the crystal was pulling her toward the north beach, the beach closest to the Castle, though she was unsure whether it wished her to take it to another island. Regardless she was sure Marine would aid her if it was truly required, this was serious business after all and the Racoon had an ever-present thirst for adventure.

Arriving at the beach she felt the tug of the emerald weaken, suggesting to her that she’d drawn close to its goal. She halted, setting her hands alight to aid in her scanning of the beach… she quickly noticed something by the water’s edge gleaming back. She initially advanced with caution, there was a mass next to the crystal that she struggled to identify; “Show yourself, rise! You are in the presence of the princess.” But noting the lack of response and upon closer inspection, the position of the body, face down in the sand, she approached far faster; aware of the other reality’s chaos emeralds she anticipated some mishap may have happened. Arriving at the body she gently turned it over, immediately recognising the figure in the firelight.

They had met perhaps a handful of times, once at an amusement park and secondly at one of Sonic’s birthdays, made idle chatter well… as well as Blaze made idle chatter, he’d mostly taken the lead. Regardless, outside her initial surprise to see him, she didn’t hesitate; pocketing the teal sol emerald she was set a flame around herself in an attempt to maintain light and begun an attempt to resuscitate the hedgehog. Pushing down on his chest she realised that under the fur he was much thinner than she’d anticipated, bordering on unhealthily, having pushed on his chest enough she felt over his mouth… no breath. She’d have to continue.

Prying open his jaw, giving it a cursory glance to be sure there were no signs of poison or potential for infection, she heaved a breath and administered the kiss of life; pushing air back into his lungs through mouth to mouth. Though there was some redness on her cheeks, it was a stretch more gross than romantic. He was cold and very wet, not to mention on death’s door.

There came a splutter from beneath her as she pulled back, eyelids opened but refused to focus upon her. A faint blue began to light the surrounding area, radiating out from Silver’s gloves as he regained consciousness. Immediately he attempted to sit up but Blaze placed a heavy hand atop his chest fur, her brows lowered, as she looked him in the eye. “It’s in your best interests to remain still and regain your breath, you’re lucky the emerald called out to you otherwise you could be dead. Take rest for now, try not to hurt yourself.”

Blaze kept her eyes glued to Silver, she kept her ears pointed and a hand on his chest. She did all this in an attempt to appear commanding, as it was for his own good… yet while she would have done this for any of her citizens, passed out on the beach, there was something nagging at her. More than it usually did around this Silver, a hedgehog from the future; a fact the kept creeping into her mind. Her hand was lingering on his chest in an attempt to dominate the situation, and yet… rather than pressing hard if felt relaxed atop his chest fur. Far more soothing than she intended it to be, it wasn’t as though she was still trying to care for him. Snatching her hand away she reached down, collecting the emerald that lay next to him.

Silver’s head was still spinning, the world around him was pitch black sans the glowing exception before him; a purple cat he had met once or twice but had always seemed familiar. He knew her name was Blaze, that had stuck in his head and refused to leave, but… was she a princess? He was quite certain he’d heard that she was a princess, but that always seemed to slip his mind, unlike the fact that she was from another dimension than he and Sonic’s own. He guessed she just didn’t look like a princess to him, despite her apparently being one. Her hand had just been on his chest, had she kissed him? Was… could princesses bring people back form the dead by kissing them? He had so many questions, most importantly whether he was in another dimension… but currently he was much too full of seawater to even try and ask them. He felt himself about to fall back again, not only backward but back into unconsciousness, only to feel a hand on his back; propping him up straight.

“Just keep breathing, I’ve got some questions for you so I’d rather you didn’t die please.” Blaze was rubbing circles on his back, being so close to another person (let alone this person in particular he already felt a weird connection with) was certainly keeping him conscious.

With a splutter and a cough he responded; “I’d rather not die to, so hey we can work together on this one. Then again you can just kiss me and bring me back right?”

He felt a heat on his back, the rubbing paused momentarily, “It was simply CPR, and I hope you did not get the wrong idea but yes, by blowing air back into someone’s mouth you can sometimes bring back the unconscious. It’s not a good kind of kiss so please, lets avoid it if we can, it’d be naïve of you to seek out such kisses. If you feel up to it I do have some questions for you.”

There was another splutter from Silver but he nodded the go ahead, giving her a thumbs up. His fur was starting to dry from the heat that surrounded her, he thought he’d be more scared of fire being from a burning future but her flames were almost comforting.

“First of all, why did you come here?”

“I didn’t really mean to, I was trying to get back to the past… there’s this song I had stuck in my head that I forgot so I thought I’d just go back there to remember it and well… something went wrong, please don’t tell the others. They seem to think I have a handle on things.” Silver was now almost completely returned to his senses; he could see Blaze clearly in the firelight; shooting a glance to the sky above and the hanging stars. “Sure is pretty out here though, is the sky always like this? It’s so… well it’s a lot of space.”

That was certainly one way to put it. The island kingdom was dark at night, with low levels of light pollution, and so the sky above was awash in spirals and simmering orbs. A crescent moon hung above them, consolations Silver didn’t even know of forming in his mind like connect the dots puzzles.

“You’re… very naïve you know that? You’ve just drowned, apparently been flung into a world parallel to your own, and yet immediately you’re looking to the stars?” Blaze frowned, her hand moving from his back to supporting him via shoulder.

“Well I mean… look at it; it’s beautiful.” Silver smiled clambering to his feet, he felt the half tug of Blaze try to keep him down but (despite the very slight change in distance) it was as though he wanted to get a better look. He extended a hand to help her up, almost subconsciously, still looking up to it. “It’s the kind of sky I like to look upon.”

There was a pause but Blaze did eventually take his hand, pulling herself to her feet. “I do suppose it is quite a nice skyline, but I have looked upon it all my life. I suppose that luxury isn’t afforded in the future?”

“It’s uhh… cloudier.”

“I see…” Silver was pulled from his star watching by a rustling coming from Blaze, the emerald he had used to travel here in one hand she reached into her pocket and produced another holding them before her body. “When you-

There was a sudden shift in Blaze stance, as though the emeralds themselves had forced it, her hands went from being held palm up to palm down; her wrists crossed. Fire began to radiate from the two emeralds, looping in a figure eight around her hands; a look of fright crossed her face, ears flattened, she tried to pull away and tried to shift but it was as though her hands were locked in place; stuck atop the emeralds as they hovered in the air. Without hesitation Silver lunged forward, psychokinetic energy glowing around the pair he attempted to force a shift but regardless of his attempts the hands refused to budge. He tried to pull back, prepared to use a blast of psychokinetic energy, only to find his hands were now stuck atop hers. The fire now raged around them, the sand beneath turning to glass, they looked into each other’s eyes.

From each of them, coloured in bright gold, a projection of some kind emerged, a version of themselves similar to themselves… but not quite the same. From Blaze came a Silver, from Silver came a Blaze. They passed over the Sol emeralds between them and into their respective counterparts and immediately the flames were snuffed, a detonation from the emeralds freeing them and throwing them backwards.

There was a beat of silence as the two recovered from the shock, physical, mental… and eventually emotional.

Blaze was first to rise; Silver still quite waterlogged slowly pulled himself up, tears in his eyes and a wide smile beneath. His face was raw,  It was a look with meaning behind it, but in practice, his face was very red and it was a struggle to stay on his feet. Blaze saw to it that this was a struggle he’d lose; sweeping him off them. Being around the same height this was quite the feat, Silver ending up raised by his legs with his back supported; a mix of his own tears coating his chest fur… and quite a lot of hers.

“It feels like its been so long… it feels like I’ve been missing a part of me without knowing.” She was trying to hold back her emotions, but there were cracks Silver now knew far too well. The shaking, the lip biting, the way the flames that surrounded her seemed to be blowing in a gale; flickering back and forth.

He threw his arms around her, and much less eloquently shouted; “IT’S BEEN TOO LONG I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Before bawling his eyes out into her, “I WAS ALONE AND TH-THE FUTURE’S STILL RUINED AND-AND-

He broke down into a sobbing mess, slowly but surely overcoming the drowning spell, Blaze to dropping to her knees as they settled into a hugging position. “I-It’s alright Silver, you can come with me now. W-We can be together again, I’ve got so much to show you. Th-There’s so much we can do.” But a thought lingered in her mind, the emeralds in her hands… one had been grey and yet the grey sol emerald remained on her wall. “It seems like we’ll have work to do… but we don’t have to do it alone this time. I’m not leaving again, I promise.”

And with that the two truly broke down, clinging to each other lest the world pull them apart again.

[askpokemoncrossover]

Light of the Past

“Saisei… Sai… please wake up.” Suisei’s voice echoed through my head and I opened my eyes… I was still leaning against a tree but Anastasia wasn’t there and I’m in an unfamiliar, yet beautiful place… I was in a giant garden, flowers of many kinds bloomed in all sorts of directions. I looked behind me and I saw Suisei’s form: a female mega-lucario dressed with clothing fit for a priestess of Japanese origin. She was sitting on the edge of the garden with her legs swaying slowly. I slowly approached her and below us I saw something that made me drop my jaw in awe: it was a city unlike anything I've ever seen on earth… the skyscrapers’s design and architecture are different than the ones I'm familiar with. There’s also some fireworks going off and I looked up and saw something strange: the sky itself is split between night and day. On the night-side of the sky, which is my left side: many stars are swirling together in a circular motion like a whirlpool and on my right side the sun’s rays are going between a strange giant portal. “Beautiful world, isn’t it? Almost like a dream… this place...is where... I was born…” Suisei said in a sad voice. I was half-expecting her to say that but not in that kind of tone… That’s when I realized that this IS a dream and she’s currently homesick.

“Why are you showing me this?” I asked her as I sat down next to her in the dream-simulated garden. Suisei took a deep breath before sighing and gave me her answer: “well… In order to truly harness the power of the comet you called Sentinel… you must learn about what happened here before I was sent to your world.” She said before the scenery drastically changed I was in some kind of palace, in a throne room by the looks of it… Sui’s no longer right next to me and I looked around to find out where she went. I was near the doors to the room when I looked toward the far end and found out I was facing three groups of sixteen people. Each group had two rows of eight people and were separated by a five-foot gap. Despite having white clothing and hoods which concealed their appearance they all had blue furry tails that’s similar to mine. That’s when it hit me: every single being in this room are Lucarios like me.

I heard the sound of wood creaking and I looked behind me to see an unfamiliar male lucario. Like the others, he had a white hood that covered most of his body, but since he was facing me I saw his appearance. But I only had a brief moment before he went through me like I was a ghost… but it didn’t matter: I know what he looked like the moment I laid eyes on him.

He looks just like me

He had emerald green eyes, a medium length hairstyle with the right side of his hair being longer than the left. He had metal armor like a medieval knight had under the cloak and I could've sworn I saw a sword tucked away on the left side of his leg. He was walking at a normal pace and the group of lucarios in the middle of the room split apart to make way for this new warrior. Realizing that I needed to see where this was going, I followed my look-alike across the room. As I walked towards the end of the throne room I saw an aged lucario wearing clothing that’s fit for a king. “Shawn. As heir to the throne, the time has come for your final test to become a true light-strider. You may select your opponent of choice…” The man said before the Lucario called Shawn threw a dagger to his right at no one in peculiar but there peeking behind another door were a set silver eyes as the knife hit the wood.

Shawn’s hand was still outstretched as his index finger was pointed at the one spying on the ceremony. “I wish to fight… her.” Shawn said and whispers and murmurs filled the room before the king looked at his son with shock. “No… it’s forbidden!! Despite her gift and talent for fighting, she’s of impure blood! Challenging her would be a violation of our laws since ancient times!” Shawn looked at his old man before he smiled and took off his hood. “This isn’t our first skirmish and it won’t be the last.” He told the elderly lucario and the king was lost for words. The silver-eyed spy eyes glimmered and Shawn’s head turned towards her. “Will you face me in this hallowed arena, Suisei?” I was not expecting this… Suisei, an outcast in this world? The door opened and the silver-eyed maiden stepped forward. She was already in her mega-lucario form and was holding a fighting-staff that’s similar to the one I received from Iris. She was wearing steel armor as well and had a smile on her face. “Well… if I must. But I assume i’ll get rewarded if i beat you or gave you a hard time afterwards, right?” Suisei asked as she stopped at least six feet away from Shawn and she entered a stance with her staff ready in both hands. “Depends, IF you can give me a good time as well.” Shawn said as he unsheathed his blade, threw away his cloak and entered a two-handed sword stance himself.

The king just sighed and sat on his throne while the group of Lucarios other than Shawn and Suisei left the room and the king’s hand was raised in the air. “Ready? BEGIN!” At the signal the two fighters jumped into the air and with the clang of metal, the scenery suddenly changed again. This time the throne room was in shambles, the king and his knights were dead on the ground and I saw Suisei’s body being held in a wounded Shawn’s arms. “They dare break the treaty? And for what? To obtain Suisei’s raw power of the light? … no it can’t end here… there’s a way to save her… *cough* *cough*... while there’s still time…” He said as he slowly stood up. He went to the throne itself and whispered some kind of incantation before the seat moved downward into the floor and revealed a secret passageway that was hidden behind the chair. The surviving knight, still carrying the body of the mega-lucario female entered without looking back and I followed the two. “Suisei… none of this is your fault… *cough* my father and I knew the risks of taking you in… you have more power than any of us light-striders. Perhaps the strongest in all of our history….*cough**cough* It’s too soon for you to die like this… it may be too late for your body… but not your soul.” Shawn said as we continued to descend.

It took at least three minutes for us to reach the end of our destination. When I saw what lay at the end of the tunnel I was not ready for it: A giant crystal at least the size of the base of a skyscraper was radiating a soft and calm light. “This… will change every living thing on an entire planet into pokemon like us… But it’s just a small price to pay… and I'm willing to pay with my life...” Shawn said as he set Suisei’s body next to the crystal and he whispered another incantation before Suisei’s eyes fluttered open. “Shawn… don’t.” She whispered and Shawn's incantation was interrupted. “It’s OK, Sui. I promised you didn’t i? I promised that I will protect you… no matter the cost.” Shawn said as Suisei’s body glowed faintly and the crystal resonated with her. “Even if I die and reincarnate… no matter what shape or form I take next when I’m reborn: I will protect you…” Shawn whispered and he kissed her lips before some kind of mist emitted from Suisei’s body and it entered the crystal before it radiated a bright light. “SHAWN!!” Suisei’s voice echoed throughout the room before the crystal disappeared and I looked out the only window to see a new comet that circled this world for a brief moment before it disappeared… “I love you…” I heard Shawn say before I heard something collapsed and I turned around to see him on the floor, lifeless… he gave his life to save the one he truly cared about.

I woke up in cold sweat to see myself still leaning against the tree in the forest. It was night time and Anastasia was already curled up and asleep on the forest floor… I could hear someone crying in my head and I saw my comet-shard was glowing faintly. Suisei… I think I know now… the reason why you chose me out of all people:

I’m Shawn’s reincarnation, aren’t I?

[donegeonsndragons]

Narratuary: Session 18 Highlights

Traps are tricky, magic is rebellious, and a little girl is found.

Fun dungeoning! Never thought I’d say that, I’m personally not a huge fan of pure dungeon crawls. But this was interesting to design and it was really fun to see how the players navigated it. Because it is a dungeon, this will be a long one, but I promise it’s interesting (especially the end).

Premise: the PCs are headed up north, following reports of a mysterious building that appears and disappears and also seems to never have people return from its depths...

On their way north, the party stumbles across a recently abandoned camp and find an unfinished map detailing the forests and a lake on the way to the building

As they walk, Aurora is having a sense of deja-vu but she’s not sure how or why

Deeper into the forests, the trees seem to stretch upwards far beyond their sight and things get eerily quiet

Everyone can feel the increased presence of feyarc, though for the magic users it starts to feel like they’re walking through thick humid air

Out of the corner of their eyes, they see a blue flicker flitting through the trees, and Baldwin stops the party to be on guard

From the trees emerges a large raven made out of blue energy

Aurora immediately wants to befriend it

However, the raven stays behind the group, not getting too close

They camp for the night, and Aurora manages to coax the raven to come closer and eat 

The raven just pecks at the food without really eating it, tugs on her hair, and then flutters off

Aurora starts pulling up some long buried memories of spirit animals that live in these forests and that as long as they don’t mess with them, the party should be fine

Innchie sends Rupert to go and make friends with the raven

Innchie: any luck? Rupert: *dejectedly* no...

During his watch, Baldwin notices that to the north, in the direction they’re heading towards, there’s a faint glow in the sky 

The next day, the party continues on their way and come across the part of the forest with the lake

The trees show signs that this is the new growth after a forest fire

The area triggers memories in Aurora, who remembers this place as from her childhood

She remembers fire, her hair not being red before, figures that appears to be her parents, and a small girl that she was friends with 

The memories are fragmented, but she’s starting to piece together that this is where she lived, and whatever fire she survived changed her

The raven flutters down, perches on Aurora’s shoulder, tugs on her hair, then grabs the little silver raven trinket from her belt and flies off with it

Aurora feels a little betrayed, but feels a little better when she realizes the raven is keeping ahead of them but not trying to escape

The party reaches an unnaturally rectangular clearing, and the rangers confirm that this is the building footprint they found 

They investigate, finding that there appears to be an entranceway of sorts if the footprints leading to the foundation means anything, and they also find that the border of this foundation is covered in small archaic runes that none of them can read or recognize

They set up camp, and Baldwin’s followers all take watch while Aurora stays up 

The raven hops down and returns the trinket, surveying her with intelligent eyes

It then tugs on her hair until she pulls a strand out, and she watches as it turns from red to a dark brown in the raven’s beak

At this point, the clearing lights up with a faint glow

Aurora wakes everybody who isn’t already up and points out the clearing

There still isn’t a building, however Aurora, Innchie, Carlin, Igtbtgh, and Karn all head to the hypothesized entrance

Aurora sticks her hand out and feels that there’s nothing ahead of her

She steps forward, and she vanishes

The others quickly follow as Baldwin and his followers stay outside and keep watch

The party finds themselves inside of a building, the walls made out of white stone and there’s magical lighting 

Magic still feels weird in here, and every time the magic users use spells, they feel like they have to struggle with the forces of feyarc to make it cooperate

The raven, which was perched on Aurora’s shoulder, dissolves into light and disappears

There’s a door behind them, and three doors ahead of them

They try the door behind them (which they think they came through) and they realize that it doesn’t lead outside, but rather leads to a different room

The party is able to contact Baldwin outside with their stones of far speech, though the connection is a bit iffy 

They open up one of the 3 doors, which opens up into an identical room with 3 more doors

They open up one of those doors and there’s another identical room with 3 more doors

They try opening all of the doors before realizing there might be too many doors this way

So they double back and look at the room behind them 

Aurora confidently approached the door to check if it’s locked, and the door slams downwards onto her before snapping back into place 

Karn tries to investigate the door and is also slammed by the door

Aurora, her pride and her body injured, blasts the door but it seems resistant to the damage

She blasts the floor where the door slams downwards instead and discovers that there’s a secret stairway 

Carlin sneaks down the stairs and sees that it’s another room with a small easily jumpable gap with a door on the other side of the gap

He gets the others to come down the stairs, but the steps trigger and shift into a ramp

They all manage to keep themselves steady while Carlin and Igtbtgh construct a rope handhold 

They all notice that oil is pouring into the room, making the ramp and the floor very slippery

Aurora casts rope trick above the gap and swings over 

When she peeks down into the gap, it seems like it goes downward infinitely

Curious, she tosses down a feather, and then her bongos, seeing it fall and then get enveloped in the void

Outside, Baldwin watches as a feather floats down right next to him, and then the bongos fall right on his head

Innchie tries to grab onto Aurora’s rope and slips instead

She falls flat on her face and starts to slide towards the pit, and after she struggled to get up on her feet in time, Karn manages to get over to her and get her up

Everyone has managed to get on their feet and wobble close enough for Aurora to toss them the rope from the rope trick, and they all swung over (not trusting their abilities to jump on oiled up floors)

On solid non-oiled ground, Aurora swings down and opens up the next door

This room has a table in the middle with 5 small boxes and a door at the far end 

Aurora picks up one of the boxes with her mage hand, but doesn’t find anything inside of it

However, she and Innchie quickly realize that something’s wrong, as they can’t seem to speak or hear any sounds

However, Aurora is able to maneuver her mage hand to open up another box, and the party is engulfed in darkness

Thankfully, because she didn’t move the mage hand, she was able to close it, and the darkness disappeared

They close the silencing box, and then use the mage hand to rapidly open the rest 

One of them shoots out vines that don’t quite reach them and withers to the floor

Another is completely empty and nothing happens

The last one is a magical music box, which has a tiny crystal dancer spinning midair while a tune plays

Somewhere deep in her memories, Aurora recognizes this song as something that the small girl in her memories would sing

Aurora doesn’t remember the lyrics, but she hums along with the music box

The door at the other end of the room swings open

They venture through and enter into a room filled with dolls and teddy bears having a tea party

Everyone OOC and IC is creeped out

Carlin throws in a ball bearing, and all of the dolls and teddy bears heads snap in the direction of the party

Aurora panics and sets the whole room on fire

Among the ashes of the toys, they find a key, which they use to open the door

This room has four doors, one on each wall 

The noticeable thing about each of these doors (other than the one they just walked through) is that their handles are made out of crystal

Aurora asked Karn to take a look at the doors, but as he gets within 10 feet to the one on the left, he just suddenly vanishes (failing his charisma saving throw)

Innchie immediately rushes towards the door, also vanishing 

Karn and Innchie find themselves in a small room covered in a layer of crystal

They can see a door behind the crystal layer, but they would have to break it and neither of them are very strong

Their thoughts are interrupted by Carlin’s badger landing on Innchie as it was also transported

Innchie magically infuses her quarterstaff and hits the crystal, creating a small crack

However, her spell backfires as the feyarc rebels and causes a wildmagic surge, and suddenly Innchie is levitating

Karn points out that there seems to be a small hole appearing on the crystal wall, but not connected to the crack in the crystals

Instead, it seems like it’s the starting of a portal

They call for help using their stones of far speech, and Igtbtgh steps into the door, purposefully failing his save 

He strikes the crystal wall once, and the portal hole opens up exponentially, and they think that a couple of more failed attempts would make a portal that would swallow them up

Thankfully, on the next blow, the crystals shatter and the party members in the room scramble to the door

They call for Aurora and Carlin to follow, and so they pass through the door, through the crystal room, and into the new room

This room is very large, with a small waterfall cascading into a pool at the far end of the wall, an empty pedestal in the middle of the room, and what looks like children’s drawings all over the walls

Using Igtbtgh’s helmet, they pour water from the pool onto the pedestal, which causes the waterfall to part enough to see there’s another room

Aurora, Carlin, and Innchie all head inside

They see that this is a bedroom, and standing in front of a mirror is a small girl, probably around 10 years old

As she turns to face them, they notice she has dark almost black skin, which contrasts with the iridescent white hair that floats around her, her pale blue almost white eyes, and the blue crystal in her forehead

Even just standing in front of her, they can feel the pure magical energy emanating off of her

The little girl focuses on Aurora and Aurora is suddenly flooded with memories of spending time with this girl, Lucille, in the forests after Aurora’s home and family perished in flames

She also remembers that Lucille disappeared, and shortly afterwards Aurora moved to the parts of the forests that had more civilization

Aurora asks how Lucille is doing and what she’s doing here

Lucille explains that she is hiding in here away from the bad guys, and asks if these people with Aurora were bad guys

Aurora says that the party members are her friends and aren’t bad, and Lucille nods and seems to lose focus for a second

Baldwin is suddenly transported into the bedroom 

Aurora asks if the raven was Lucille, and Lucille says that it was a part of her energy

They ask more about who the bad guys are, and Lucille says that it’s the people her father warned about, people who would want to use her powers for bad things

The party, now realizing that Lucille is the magical item they’re tasked to bring back, try to convince her to come back with them as she’ll be safe with them

However, she refuses, as she’s been trying to reach her father, and tells them that she’ll only leave if the party can help her 

They ask her where her father is, and she says that she’s not on this plane, but she thinks she’s finally found a way to access him

Lucille gestures towards the mirror, and the image wavers to reveal that behind the reflection it looks like a window to another world

She says that she can’t open up the portal herself, as she can’t control her power, and every time she tries, she ends up shattering her form and has to expend energy and time reforming

She closes her eyes and focuses, and everyone in the room feels a surge of power as they watch her form flicker

The group talks among themselves, trying to figure out the best way to go about this, whether to actually help Lucille or take her by force

While this happens, Lucille asks why the other people (Igtbtgh and Karn) aren’t stepping into the bedroom

Before the question is answered, Lucille walks over to the entrance of her room and looks out

She makes eye contact with Karn, and Igtbtgh sees her face light up

Lucille: Father?