27 Chapter 23: Curious, curious
[General POV]
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Eli expected the interior of the house to be retro as well, but it was actually quite normal. As he entered, he saw a small silver blur tackle Marina. "Big sister! Where were you? It was so boring without you here," the rambunctious child shouted as Eli observed their interaction. The small girl in question resembled Marina with some differences; her eyes were a bright blue unlike the dull lilac Marina had, and her silver hair was brighter in comparison too. "Charolette, what did I tell you about tackling your sister? She must be tired; bring her and our guest in," Eli heard a voice from inside the house as the now identified Charolette looked abashed before introducing herself. "I'm Charolette. Nice to meet you. Please come inside." Charolette quickly gave an introduction before literally dragging her sister into the house. Eli could swear he saw some warmth in Marina's usually dead grey eyes, even if it was just for a second.
As they made their way into the spacious rooms, Eli couldn't really find a difference between the interior of normal houses and these ones, of course, excluding the stark difference in technology. He started to wonder what the citizens even eat? What could survive in this dark void? As he was lost in his thoughts, he saw a woman in front of him with the same silver hair he had seen with her other two children, except it seemed more pronounced; she had bright lilac eyes. "You must be Eli. Daan told me a lot about you, surviving in Wormhole Chaos for a week no less, considering most hardened recon captains couldn't survive there for even a few days," her soft voice rang out as Eli simply shrugged. "It was mostly luck and hiding, Ma'am. The conflict on the last day could have been avoided too, but I didn't know about the phenomenon." The woman chuckled, "Humans are inherently flawed. Most would have caved under the pressure you were under. Ah, where are my manners? I'm Anna, ex-Ultra Recon Squad captain." Eli nodded respectfully as he heard the door open, and Daan walked in, seeming tired as Charolette once again tackled him. She seems to like tackling people a lot, Eli thought dryly.
"How was training?" Daan asked Eli as he picked his daughter up, carrying her on his back as Eli just shrugged nonchalantly again, a habit he seemed to have picked up after facing death multiple times. "Good. I got some work done as well as got some TMs for my Pokémon," he heard Maria let out a soft snort when he said he got "some" TMs for his Pokémon, which he promptly chose to ignore. "I checked the records. The department is probably coughing out blood thanks to you. It's not our problem though," Daan chuckled as he took off his jacket, resting it on a chair. Eli had some questions he wanted to ask, especially about where to sell the Blood Moon Ursaluna, because, god forbid, he'd rather have half his body disintegrated again than have to reconcile with that monster. He didn't care if he would be much stronger if he had it on his team; he held grudges and didn't let them go easily. That's who he was, that's who Eli was. He sure as hell hadn't forgotten Adam; when the time came, he would have vengeance. Unbeknownst to the family, Eli's eyes had a sudden dark glint in them before he suppressed it.
As the family and Eli made their way to the kitchen, Eli saw some sort of green semi-solid substance. It looked like pea soup or spilled green paint, and he figured something like this would be the only edible thing in this place, but he still had some hopes, which were squashed just about now. "Not much can be grown here anymore, as you'd expect. The scientists are working on it, only if Reukra also contributed rather than doing god knows what in his lab," Daan sighed as he took a seat. "Now now, don't be too harsh on him, honey. He's the reason for us being protected from the cold of the void. Not to mention, he is the lead factor in our rapidly advancing technology," Anna softly chided her husband as she put down a serving of whatever the green paint-like "food" was for everyone. "It's a form of algae that doesn't need much of anything to grow. It gives enough nutrients for the body too, but as a trade-off, it doesn't taste like much of anything," Eli nearly jumped as he heard a soft whisper from behind him before quickly collecting himself as he turned to Marina and spoke exasperatedly, "You really have to stop doing that," to which Marina tilted her head "innocently" as the family laughed at the two's antics.
Eli tasted the algae, and as Marina had described it, it didn't taste like much of anything. While in his world people ate Pokémon, there were some who opposed it as well, just like vegans protesting against meat eaters, for an analogy. Eli found it funny how a world that kills then mutilates Pokémon body parts for their own monsters to devour draws the line at humans eating Pokémon. He was interrupted from his musings as he heard Daan ask, "So Eli, do you plan on staying here? The guest rooms are empty. We don't get many guests or many people in general at all after the calamity." Eli thought about it before politely declining the offer. "I'd like to stay in the training rooms of the Megalo Tower, if that were to be possible." Eli hesitated as he asked, as he didn't want to overstep his bounds and offend his host and the one who saved him. Daan quickly nodded, "That can be managed, but only if you don't go out of the rooms without permission. I may trust you, but the people in power are still wary of you," Daan warned as Eli took the warning to heart.
"Why are you doing boring adult talk?" Charolette whined playfully as she looked at the Pokéballs on Eli's belt excitedly. "What Pokémon do you have, Mr. Eli? Are they strong?" Eli just smiled as he thought back to the first day of his journey. It had been months now since his journey began. "Strong, real strong," Eli said, still reminiscing as he started telling Charolette about his team. With nothing better to do, the adults and Marina also listened as they ate. "Then Skeledirge let out continuous Torch Songs from range as Gallade started completely destroying their backline with his Teleports, with Kubfu and Corviknight close behind. Kubfu let loose a bunch of moves as Corviknight picked off the stragglers of the herd," Eli made a point to leave out the more nitty-gritty details, as Charolette was probably 9-10 years old. As he finished the last story, he saw Daan look at him calculatingly with his one remaining eye, which had an electric blue hue to it. "I think it's time we move on. Though our sense of time is lost and we don't have a scheduled sleep pattern per se, your body needs rest. I will accompany you to the training rooms," Daan got up, taking his jacket as Eli bade the family goodbye before leaving with Daan.
"What do you make of my eldest daughter?" Daan suddenly asked on the way to the tower, leaving Eli startled. "Well... no offense, Mr. Daan, but she seems ghostly, for lack of a better word. She barely shows any emotions, and it's just that something feels off about her. No offense, once again," Eli replied carefully, observing Daan's facial expression, which was blank as an empty sheet of paper. "So I was thinking of buying that Blood Moon Ursaluna off of you. I, as in the council, deem it a perfect Pokémon for me to have," Daan switched topics, and Eli was more than happy to comply. "What will I get in return?" Eli asked, going into business mode. He wasn't missing an opportunity to gain more profit. "Well, the hospitality of the items, training, and TMs are something we have given you and will continue to give you the hospitality. But there's also another thing: the council wishes to sponsor you," Daan smirked as Eli looked a bit bewildered. Eli didn't know what it entailed, but he knew that it would give a lot of benefits. "Why me?" Eli asked, suspicious as to why they would do such a thing. "We saw all of your activities in Wormhole: Chaos. You display tactics and battle knowledge well above your age; you could probably beat some Lieutenants of the Ultra Recon Squad if you used Pokémon of relatively equal strength. What you lack is time. You are young; you have to grow more, but there is a distinct lack of time right now, so the council chose you," everything Daan said made sense, but Eli still frowned as he felt something was off. As he still looked at Daan questioningly, "There are many more reasons why we have chosen to sponsor you. All will be revealed soon enough," Daan said with a smile at Eli's questioning look.
They made their way into the tower but not to the training rooms, not that Eli would know. This whole tower was more like a maze to him than anything; he just followed Daan like a lost puppy before they made their way into one of the countless chambers in a hall somewhere in the seemingly infinitely expanding tower. As Daan opened the door, a foul stench hit them as they entered the huge room, which was barely lit. The room was a vaguely mushroom-shaped structure draped in strands resembling spider silk, with interior chambers that had hexagonal-patterned walls and luminescent needles hanging from the ceiling. In the chamber were a countless number of purple and dark pink alien-like creatures with big heads. They all had three lavender needle-like horns on their heads and cyan eyes. Their mouths were small, and they had small arms; their necks were extremely skinny. Except for in the center, there was a huge Pokémon with both dragon and insect-like characteristics. Its upper body was very slim, with slender arms and a long neck. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was a Naganadel's nest, or at least an artificial one.
"This is where we conduct research on all sorts of Pokémon. This is UB Adhesive, commonly known as Poipole by us. It is the only Ultra Beast we know that has an evolution, as you see in the center; it's their "Queen," UB Stinger, commonly known as Naganadel. They serve as great starter Pokémon here at Ultra Megalopolis, but that's about it. There are very few Naganadel, as the requirements for its evolution are very demanding. As you can see, Naganadel are quite draconic. Poipole does have these draconic genes too, but to tap into them, they must get the Dragon Type move Dragon Pulse to master rank, and it may be due to this reason that Poipole are one of, if not the only pre-evolved first-stage Pokémon to be able to get to SS-ranking in its Potential," Daan explained in detail as Eli realized their tech was advanced enough to check a more detailed grade for the Pokémon, just like his system, which he lamented was equal to some tech he could do what any machine could do, Eli thought sardonically."While there have never been reports of any Poipole being born with SS-rank Potential, we have some born with S+ potential. We will help you get the S+ potential Poipole to SS-rank before you leave. That, along with the rest of the things we've offered you, should be enough to pay for the price of the Blood Moon Ursaluna," Daan explained as Eli had one question, "Why do so much for a single Pokémon? Will he even listen to you?" Daan chuckled, "Well, it isn't just any Pokémon; it's the emissary of the Blood Moon God. He is plenty strong. I don't think I need to describe it to you of all people," Eli shook his head as he remembered caressing his right torso as he did. "From what our scientists have been able to research, this one is much faster, stronger, and larger than any other Blood Moon Ursaluna we've seen, not that we've seen a lot of them, but that's something. He also seems to have never even come in contact with a potential-boosting item in his long life, and being a Pokémon with no evolutions, as he is more of a mutation, if you will, born from the blessings of a god, he is a separate Pokémon. As such, he will benefit more from potential-raising items. I doubt he will be anything lower than SS-rank in the future. As for the insubordination part, we have ways to make Pokémon and people both break," Daan said with a sinister chuckle, which Eli was a bit terrified of knowing their power. But now that Daan put it like that, it did seem that the Blood Moon Ursaluna would be a colossal asset to any team. Too bad if given the chance, he would mutilate that thing beyond recognition.
"We have 3 Poipole of S+ rank available now; pick one," Daan gave a small signal as 3 Poipole zoomed towards him in purple blurs. Eli got to work inspecting them to see which would be the best one for his team.
Pokémon: Poipole
Lvl: 15
Type: Poison
Ability: Beast Boost
Gender: Genderless
Potential: Deep Gold
Moves: Peck, Growl, Helping Hand, Acid, Fury Attack, Fell Stinger
(Innate Talent) Dragon Pulse (Innate Talent) Sludge Wave
Pokémon: Poipole
Lvl: 20
Type: Poison
Ability: Beast Boost
Gender: Genderless
Potential: Deep Gold
Moves: Peck, Growl, Helping Hand, Acid, Fury Attack, Fell Stinger
(Innate Talent) Dragon Pulse (Innate Talent) Sludge Bomb
Pokémon: Poipole
Lvl: 18
Type: Poison
Ability: Beast Boost
Gender: Genderless
Potential: Deep Gold
Moves: Peck, Growl, Helping Hand, Acid, Fury Attack, Fell Stinger
(Innate Talent) Dragon Pulse (Innate Talent) Gunk Shot
Of the three, Eli already knew which one he would be choosing. He ruled out the third one immediately, as it had a wasted Innate Talent move in Gunk Shot, which was pretty useless, as Naganadel's physical attack was atrocious. He was leaning towards the first one as it was a lower level, which allowed Eli to lay down a better foundation, as well as it having Sludge Wave as its Innate Talent made Eli consider it even more. It was a bit more powerful than Sludge Bomb, and he wouldn't be needing the high poison chance if nothing could even live the move. Eli decided to check all the other Poipole in the nest, and they all had Dragon Pulse as one of their Innate Talents. It seemed like it was a law that every Poipole had to have it as an Innate talent.
"I want this one," Eli pointed to the first Poipole as Daan nodded, retrieving its Pokéball and swapping it with a regular Pokéball. From what Eli had described about his world, they didn't seem to have Beast Balls or Ultra Beasts for that matter. Eli took the Pokéball as his mind began to run at a million miles an hour, planning how to train his new Ultra Beast. Poison Dragon was an amazing offensive typing; he had his Dragon killer and Fairy killer in one Pokémon. He would have to do some research on how Beast Boost worked, as well as about this world's history because he knew so damn little. It annoyed Eli that he was unaware of so many things here. "Alright, I'll be taking the Blood Moon Emissary off of your hands now. I'll give you access to a special training ground, which is also close to our library, as you have continuously shown interest in our history." Eli nodded as he handed Daan the wretch's Pokéball, Daan retrieved it before they again traveled through god knows where. Eli wondered how Daan even memorized all the paths of the seemingly infinite tower.
Daan left Eli alone to his devices as he sent out his Pokémon, "Everyone, this is Poipole. Poipole, this is Kubfu. Don't let his stoic mask fool you; he's a softie." The small ursine in question didn't take too kindly to Eli's remark as he had an annoyed look on his face, to which Eli winked in response. Poipole didn't quite get what was going on, but he giggled seeing their antics. "Next is Corviknight, my second oldest partner. You can't ask for a more reliable partner than him." Corviknight gave the bipedal alien-like Pokémon a curt nod as his cold red eyes kept on observing him. Poipole got scared and hid behind Eli, who chuckled before chiding Corviknight, who gave what Eli could only assume was the avian's form of a shrug. "Next is Gallade; he's a great fighter. You could learn a lot from him. Stick close to him if Kubfu or Corviknight give you trouble." Gallade gave a warm mental nudge to the bipedal alien, who was amazed at what he had just done as he started flying happily buzzing around Gallade. 'They'll probably get along just fine,' Eli thought as he introduced the final member to Poipole, "Lastly, this is Skeledirge. He's a ball of sunshine; you'll get along with him just fine." At his introduction, Skeledirge sang a soothing melody which excited Poipole as he started looping around the crocodilian.
"Alright, get to training, you guys. Poipole, do target practice with Skeledirge. Use Dragon Pulse as much as possible. I'll be nearby in the library." Eli, after making sure his Pokémon wouldn't slack off (not that he ever had to worry about them slacking off; he'd more so have to worry about them pushing themselves too hard), got inside the library. He expected there to be no books, just tablets with books on them, and he was correct... somewhat. Most books were in the form of tablets, but the ancient history of this civilization was still in the form of good old reliable books. On any normal occasion, he wouldn't have been allowed to come here as it was a restricted section of the library, but being sponsored by the council itself did seem to have its perks. 'Let's start from the beginning, then, shall we?' Eli readied himself for reading himself into the ground like it was finals.
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The fallen leaves, they tell a story of a nation prosperous, with the whole world under its feet thanks to its technology leagues better than their adversaries. Who could rival a weapon that could level a whole nation to nothing, not even dust? After winning the one-sided war, the king who had unmatched looks and was benevolent in his actions, ruthless in war to his enemies and with his distinct white hair won war after war; they began calling him the 'White Death' wherever he pointed his aggression, nations lay ruined. The king, called AZ, had a long and prosperous rule that would carry on to eternity. His weapon allowed him and his most trusted Pokémon, Floette, to be immortal. There were no qualms from the civilians; not when the king could have you killed with as much ease as breathing. But there grew a cult worshiping the 'Prism' as they'd dubbed him; his name held too much power to even utter it. AZ was not the perfect king the populous saw him as. As more and more of his followers went onto worship the 'Prism,' he grew more and more jealous, the jealousy burning him inside out.
AZ decided enough was enough as he fired the ultimate weapon on the 'God,' the colossal draconic entity mostly comprised of pure light. As the world watched in baited breath, the two titans fought; the being was fatally damaged, reverting into a pitch-black form in a last gambit. The 'Prism' absorbed all the light of the world; the last survivors of the clash dubbed it 'The Day the Sky Fell.' The land was encompassed in pitch black as there was no warmth, no light, just darkness. The entity, though at the brink of death, managed to live by taking the world's light as he later did something otherworldly; he opened a hole in the void as he jumped into it, never to be seen again. The King had finally been killed; his immortality couldn't save him nor his closest companion. The few survivors were the people of the capital city; not all hope was lost for humanity, however, where the sky fell, a part of the Draconic colossal fell, a prism, its light just bright enough to ward off the cold.
The survivors salvaged whatever they could of the Weapon and began to construct an early version of-
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"-Eli, Eli!" he heard a shout, which jolted him from his engrossed reading. "What?" Eli looked annoyed as he saw Marina, who had interrupted his reading. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he pressed on to which the ghostly pale girl just shrugged, "I don't need a lot of sleep besides Reukra just had a breakthrough with the scroll he urgently requested you to come to his lab, father would have done it himself, but he has been assigned a mission so he sent me instead." The ghost girl explained as he looked less annoyed as he marked the page then followed her to Reukra's Lab to find out whatever he had figured out.
