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Merah: <What are we waiting for? We should see what's going on.>

Eva: Wait, they seem to be throwing transformation items around.

Merah: <I wish I had telepathy so I could tell which of the two possibilities you're thinking of...>

-Eva takes out her scarf and turns into a shiny Metang. She then floats towards the gathering of people.-

Eva: ~Hi! What's going on here?~

The Slumbering Weald

(Elton suddenly notices the Shiny Metang and runs towards it.)

Elton: <It's a SHINY METANG—! They're adorable! 'Ello, Shiny Metang! You are about to witness 'istory, as my chap 'Oops is about to turn themselves into a Pokemon and finally be able to understand the language of Monese!>

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Eva: ~Yeah, cool!~

Borealis: <You know Eva's actually a human too right?>

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Hoops takes the choker and, after a moment's hesitation, puts it on. They take a deep breath, and look at Kec as though for reassurance. Kec says something in Monese, which they don't understand.

"This will help me get stronger," Hoops assures themself, and taps the centre three times.

There's a short and almost underwhelming poof, and where Hoops had been standing there is instead a Magikarp flopping on the ground. After a moment, it realises that it can't breath, and tries to tap the choker again, but doesn't know how to and begins to thrash desperately.

<Hoops? Hoops!?> Kec cries. In some part of their mind that isn't panicking, Hoop realises they can understand their partner, but it's not enough to stop the waves of panic.

<It's okay> the Colour Change pokemon says, and approaches the Magikarp. He takes hold of one of the whsipers and brings it around to the choker, helping them to tap it to the choker three times.

There is another small poof, and the once again human Hoops is lying on the ground, coughing and retching. They reach up and tear the choker off, throwing it on the ground in fear.

"I... don't make me do that again. Please," they gasp, then retch again. Kec glares at the choker, and rubs his trainer's arm reassuringly.

<If it makes you feel better, you made a very good Magikarp> he says.

"Thanks," Hoops mutters. Then realises. "I can understand you! It worked!"

<It did> Kec replies. <I've wanted to say since you were a kid. I'm Kec. Nice to meet you.>

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"Yeah, I'm just not gonna bother." She decided. "I can only imagine how much more cacophonic it'd be if I could understand more than half the participants."

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Elton: <Yes, I know tha—> (beat) <Wait, EVA?! You're a girl?! I'm so sorry! I misgendered you and thought you were an enby... since you know... Metang are mostly genderless...>

(He chuckles nervously.)

Elton: <But! No matter! The transformation is about to begi—>

(He turns and suddenly sees a Magikarp. Within a few moments the transformation ends and Hoops turns back to a human. Elton pauses.)

Elton: <Oh... Well, at least you can understand us now! Besides, if you get stronger, you may evolve into a GYARADOS! One of the most powerful Pokemon in existence!>

Edited by OPALGARNET16 on Sep 11th 2020 at 4:15:47 AM

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Eva: ~I really don't mind.~

Merah: <Guys, you missed the transformation.>

Borealis: <Wait, what transformation?>

Edited by QuantumMelody29 on Sep 11th 2020 at 8:17:09 AM

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Hoops points at Elton and shakes their head. "No. I said I'm not doing that again, and I mean it. Whether I evolve or not."

<So leave them alone about it> Kec adds, defending his trainer.

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-Ian and Evelyn blink as they see Hoops transform into a Magikarp.-

Me: What just happened?

Evelyn: I wish I knew...

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Borealis: <Why not go in a river or something?>

-A Phantump floats over. A Blipbug is sitting on his stump.-

Danny: <Eva? You're here too?>

Eva: ~Danny? Wow, it's been a while. Who's the Blipbug?~

Danny: <This is Nick. He's my partner now!>

Eva: Cool!

-Merah meanwhile looks over at Ian.-

Merah: <Wait, I remember you. Weren't you one of those magical people who fought that glitch a while back?>

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-Ian starts to get flustered as he listens to the question.-

Me: -panicky- Wh-what? Magical People? Where and when? I sure would've loved to see them!

-Ian thinks to himself... How did they know? I thought only Tamamo-sama, the contracting Pokémon and other Magical Girls knew of their allies... Maybe that Cinccino is one of Eva's Pokémon... so, like my Pokémon, she would know that I'm one of her allies...

Me: -trying to stay calm- H-Hey, Eva... Long time, no see...

The Slumbering Weald

Elton: (nervously) <Oh... you meant that...> (then, immediately brightening) <Right! Well, then, in that case, you do not 'ave to worry about anything! I won't bother you about it anymore, then. Incidentally, my name's Elton!> (he turns to Geddy) <This is Geddy...>

Geddy: (blushing) <Hi there. I'm sorry about that.>

Elton: (turning to Freddie) <...and this is Freddie!>

Freddie: (hides and squeaks) <um... h-hello there...>

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Danny: <Wait, who are we talking about here?>

Eva: <Oh, right, he's Ian. there was this one time when we made contracts with some fae people to get powers and save Hearthome from some glitches. Good times.>

Danny: <Huh.>

Nick: <You people are peculiar.>

-Eva uses psychic to take off her scarf and return to human form. Danny just poofs into his human form.-

Danny: Nice to meet you guys!

Merah: <Come on, we hardly know these people. We need to be more careful!>

-Merah continues to eye everyone suspiciously.-

Edited by QuantumMelody29 on Sep 11th 2020 at 8:40:49 AM

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Me: H-Hey, Eva. Been a while...

Evelyn: It's a pleasure to meet you, Eva. I'm Evelyn.

Hat?: <It's a pleasure to meet you...>

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Merah: <You're a Hattrem, right? I'm not falling for your tricks.>

Eva: Sorry about her, she's a bit of a grump. Nice to meet you!

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Hatty: <Yeah, you got me... I'm Hatty, Evelyn's friend.>

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Merah: <Hi, Hatty.>

Eva: Nice to meet you!

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Evelyn: So, what brings you here?

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Eva: We were just enjoying the scenery.

Danny: Same. It's quite nice to get out in a forest every once in a while. I've also been looking for good spots to train Nick.

Villa Macraul, The Distant Past

Theodora gave a rather eloquent translation of Gale's spiel. Quintus and his fellow officials and soldiers were enraptured by the insinuation. Food, as magic? This must be seen to be believed. They murmured among themselves in [Latin] and [Greek], wondering what it could possibly be.

Quintus in particular seems intrigued. There was a mention of special spices. Perhaps this was the thing these visitors came to trade with. Theodora was ecstatic. This situation could turn itself around; the family had a lack of spices, and peppercorns and ground pepper was a very expensive

Theodora: Our friend's sorcerous cuisine shall tantalize your tongues.

Quintus turns to Sylvestra and begins speaking in... Gaulish?

Quintus: Grandmother. This witch and her companion appear to have brought rare spices. We could be the only people in the Empire with spices that rare.

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Me: Evelyn and I came here with Kim to try and find Zacian and Zamazenta.

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???: Hello? Is someone there?

A click could be heard, a dim beam of light appearing and shining on the group through the fog.

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Evelyn: -gets an idea- Heheh... watch this...

-Evelyn begins to sing an eerie melody.-

Evelyn: ♪In sleep, he sang to me... In dreams, he came...♪
♫That voice which calls to me and speaks my name...♪
♫And do I dream again? For now I find...♫
♪The Phaaaaaantom of Opera is here...♫
♫Inside my mind...♪

Edited by AnimeboyIanpower on Sep 11th 2020 at 7:53:08 AM

Villa Macraul

-Gale had this absolutely manic smile as she strode towards the food prep, drawing her spice rack from her bag. As she walked, she decided if she was going to give these folks the concept of food and magic and tastes that may not return for centuries, she was going to go all out on the aesthetic-

-Obscura wove around her, threads of black sewing through her peplos in arcane (and meaningless aside three words in English on her front) patterns as a nice wide-brimmed and floppy magi's hat manifested on her head. Once she reached the stewpot she set the spice rack down and got to work as thin tendrils of obscura fetched tinned tomatoes and the sourdough she had on the prep-

Shame to use this a bit early but hey it shouldn't be terrible.

-Seasoning the stew was a simple matter: garlic flakes, a little chilli powder for the kick and a bit of pepper. Gale was honest with herself, the stew was alright but most of her effort was on creating the modern pizza a millennium early. As she went she described her ingredients in turn: "in this prison of metal unwrought by mortal hands is the roiling blood of an unknown herbal monster", "the yeast in this dough have been sated, now I reap the harvest", "this is a berry from a strange land, they call it Pinap. Its sweetness shall temper this creation". This was basically just like one of her cooking streams, except in a slightly more tense context-

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(During this next conversation, the fog around the group grows thicker and denser.)

Kim: (looks over at Evelyn and smiles) "Ah. Phantom. Interesting." (She turns to face Elton, Geddy, and Freddie.) "Well, I suppose that we should head forth into the Slumbering Weald by this point. My research is-"

Freddie: <U-um... Kim...?>

Kim: "Yes, Freddie?"

Freddie: <I-is it just me... or did it suddenly get a lot more foggy out here...?!>

(Kim suddenly looks around— and realizes that the fog around them has grown so thick and so dense that none of them can see a thing.)

Kim: "Oh, dear."

Elton: <Well... I certainly didn't expect to see this. Ah, well. I'm sure the fog will clear up soon.>

Geddy: <Actually... I think it's only getting thicker.>

Elton: <W-what?!>

Freddie: <H-he's right...!> (then, tearing up) <I can't see my gripper in front of my face...! I can't see any of you...!>

Kim: (looking around) "Ian? Evelyn? Hoops? Firien? Everyone else? Where are you?"