PokAesop 5-E

01[12:58] <Botherer> Day 18. And what a day it must've been in the real world for Joshua that he arrived late in the Dream World. Upon getting word that the rest of his friends had taken off to investigate the Eternal Nightmare before his arrival, he resigned himself to make use of the mandated free time to have a little word with the captive Cosmoknight.
01[12:59] <Botherer> Joshua's led to a small house on the plains, wherein he's greeted by the ever irksome Edword. He opens the door up, stuffing his face with a bowl of ice cream. "Hello there, Joshua! I'm glad you came to see me! Honk!"
[12:59] <Joshua> "He still there?" Today is not a day where the young man is in any mood to kid around.
01[13:01] <Botherer> "We still have him here, and he seems to be looking better... But why would you wanna see him when you've got someone even better in every respect standing right before you? You don't even have to move your feet to be around the greatest thing in existence! Honk, honk!"
[13:02] <Joshua> "Then go back to your porridge and let me talk to him."
01[13:04] <Botherer> He stuffs a mouthful of icecream down his throat. "I'd love to be eating porridge, but ever since those jerks stole mine I've been cut off... Hoooonk..." ;_; Despite his sadness, if you have no other business with him, he'll drag you along inside, being an all depressed little Ducklett the whole time through as he trudges on and shuffles his feet.
06[13:04] * Joshua doesn't really care right now. He wants answers, and doesn't really have much else to lose at the moment. 1"close the door."
01[13:08] <Botherer> Edward does as bid. You're soon directed into a small bedroom... Well, sort of, anyways. The intended target, stripped of his armor and weaponry and lying asleep in bed, is right there, the only thing separating the two of you being space and a thick, plastic see through wall.
06[13:09] * Joshua raps on the wall
[13:09] <Joshua> "Hey. we need to talk
01[13:10] <Botherer> "If y'wanna talk to someone more worth your time later, I'll be right downstairs! Honk, honk!" Edward scrambles away afterwards. You see the boy begin to stir. He rolls over, and towards your direction, slowly opening his eyes.
01[13:12] <Botherer> "Nnnnghhh..." He takes a bit to get his vision lined up proper, but when he sees you, he springs right up and nearly out of the bed. "Oh, hey there, Josh!" To say he looks confused at your presence is a starting point.
[13:13] <Joshua> "You've got some explaining to do."
[13:13] <Joshua> "For starters, why you thought trying to kill me and some of my friends was a good idea."
01[13:15] <Botherer> If your presnece didn't make his head turn, then that accusation most certainly did. "What business would I have tryin'a kill ya?"
01[13:16] <Botherer> "We're friends now, aren't we?"
02[13:16] * Giantree (Giantree@sux-23689C41.dyn.centurytel.net) Quit (Ping timeout)
[13:16] <Joshua> "I thought so. But I wouldn't be asking if there wasn't anything to it."
06[13:17] * Joshua points to the armor and weapon
03[13:19] * Giantree (Giantree@sux-5E4DAD4D.dyn.centurytel.net) has joined #Dreamscape
01[13:20] <Botherer> Raven's attention follows to the equipment just about at your feet. "Yeah, that's armor an' stuff. What of it?"
[13:21] <Joshua> "Well, it was yours. We kinda took it from you after the whole 'trying to destroy us with unown walls' bit."
01[13:23] <Botherer> "Again, I gotta ask... What business would I have tryin'a kill you an' your friends? Already plenty lost with the duck that came in earlier, talkin' at me 'bout how great he is..."
[13:24] <Joshua> "Ignore the duck. Point is we ran into you wearing that armor, shouting about how you had to be rid of us. I'm here to figure out why, and what we're to do with you now."
01[13:26] <Botherer> Raven quirks an eyebrow. "That don't sound like somethin' I'd try an' do..."
[13:30] <Joshua> "YOu think I don't know that? Point is we had to beat you senseless in order to keep the unown wall you called up from ending the rest of us. So what DO you remember of this place?"
[13:31] <Joshua> in the meantime Josh is going to ancient pulse the armor and weapon, on the off-chance that it curses the wearer or whatever. And no, he's not stupid enough to put it on.
01[13:36] <Botherer> ( My apologies, dad's friend just walked through the door. )
01[13:37] <Botherer> Pulsing the Armor, you feel an unusual sensation... One that might not be too unfamiliar to you. As if the armor beared the very weight of the universe down upon you.
[13:38] <Joshua> "...oh." Josh stops doing that as he stands back up. "So yeah, what all do you remember?"
01[13:39] <Botherer> "What I remember, huh... Well, I remember just wakin' up in this black void... Nothin' anywhere but just... Darkness... Spent a long while just walkin' round there a bit..."
[13:40] <Joshua> "See anyone? anything?"
01[13:42] <Botherer> "Not much, just this... Person or... Something. Can't remember quite what it was. Couldn't see much anythin' either, what with that cloak it was wearin'."
[13:44] <Joshua> "Well, that's something. Did it say or do anything?"
01[13:47] <Botherer> "... It asked me... If I wanted anythin'. An', well, you already know... Ain't nothin' I want more than just my mom back..."
[13:48] <Joshua> "...and that's it?"
01[13:49] <Botherer> "Said it could give me anythin' I wanted... Even her..."
[13:50] <Joshua> "...Okay. I'm gonna give you a piece of advice one of my sister's best friend gave me."
[13:50] <Joshua> "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is, and it's best to destroy it just in case."
01[13:55] <Botherer> "Y'think I didn't think that myself? Turned myself right back 'round when it said that... 'fore she did, told me t' look out for one a' them Eon Pokemon... When I woke up next mornin', there was one sittin' on my lap..."
[13:57] <Joshua> "...well that's odd. which one?"
01[14:02] <Botherer> "... Hold on, a sec... Said it should be right 'round..." He fumbles around beneath the sheets searching for something. He soon emerges with a PokeBall from his jeans pocket, and walks up to the plastic wall. "Dumb duck said it was somewhere around..."
01[14:03] <Botherer> He drops the ball down the hatch, and out emerges a doggy like creature, midnight black with glowing golden rings.
01[14:07] <Botherer> Err. pushes the ball through the wall, it flopping open like a doggy door as he does, and out from it**
[14:07] <Joshua> "Huh...that's certainly a strange gift..." Anything seem off about it?
01[14:09] <Botherer> It seems to be quick to run over to the wall to try and nuzzle up to Raven's side... But other than that, it at least seems normal.
[14:10] <Joshua> "Whatcha planning to do about it?"
03[14:12] * Kawaii_Nat-chan (Giantree@sux-80BF13E3.dyn.centurytel.net) has joined #Dreamscape
01[14:13] <Botherer> " 'bout the Pokemon? Dunno... I don't got time to be takin' care of anythin'... That cloaked person, though? ... Next time I went to bed, ended up seein' it again in that place..."
02[14:14] * Giantree (Giantree@sux-5E4DAD4D.dyn.centurytel.net) Quit (Ping timeout)
[14:15] <Joshua> "Hmm...I mean, if you're worried about this one having a good home, I might be able to take it in." He'll scratch it behind the ears as he says this. "As for the cloak guy...did he say anything the second time?"
03[14:17] * Kawaii_Nat-chan is now known as Giantree
01[14:18] <Botherer> Raven plops himself back down on the bed. "Next i saw 'em... Asked 'me bout that thing..." The Umbreon's fairly receptive to your petting it, and soon takes to your leg as its choice place of nudging.
[14:18] <Joshua> "Anything else?"
01[14:20] <Botherer> "Well, shit like that doesn't just happen... So obviously I had to ask... It said that it made that happen. That it could make anything happen!"
[14:20] <Joshua> "...and then you asked it to see your mom again, right?"
01[14:25] <Botherer> "... An' if that'd even be possible..." He rests a single hand to his head. "Said somethin' bout some code, that it could change it however it wanted... Make anythin' it wants real..."
[14:26] <Joshua> "The problem was how you said it."
01[14:29] <Botherer> "Problem?" He props his head up.
[14:29] <Joshua> "You told it you wanted to see your mom again, right?"
03[14:30] * Joshua (Charm@sux-BA479308.hsd1.in.comcast.net) has left #Dreamscape
03[14:30] * Joshua (Charm@sux-BA479308.hsd1.in.comcast.net) has joined #Dreamscape
01[14:30] <Botherer> "Well... Yeah. That I'd do anythin' to have her back..."
[14:30] <Joshua> "Yeah. So what you should have said is that you want her not dead and not sick with cancer anymore."
[14:31] <Joshua> "If you just said you wanted to see her, the thing could set things up to make it where you die. And then you'd see her again...in the afterlife."
[14:32] <Joshua> "The wish woulda been fulfilled. Just...not the way you wanted it."
[14:35] <Joshua> "I might be able to help you with the dark empty void you wake up to, though."
01[14:37] <Botherer> "It said I could have her back though... That it could gimme the power to bring her back, an'... Well, if it made that thing show up..." A hand goes over to the Umbreon, which, if you had chosen to take a seat, would've curled up into your lap... "... If it could do that, well, maybe what it was sayin' wasn't all that crazy..."
[14:39] <Joshua> "...you're about halfway through, then."
01[14:42] <Botherer> "I dunno what you're sayin' bout halfway... Either I got her... Or I don't."
[14:44] <Joshua> "Grief. There's 5 stages to it, most people go through it when they lose someone they really care about. You're in the third stage: bargaining. You're willing to give up anything to get her back, but the cold truth is that nothing is going to bring her back. Anything that says different wants to use you for their own ends."
[14:46] <Joshua> "I mean, I'm not trying to be mean...but you have to get over it. Eventually you will. It's not gonna be pretty, but you'll learn to go on without her, even if you'd rather not."
01[14:53] <Botherer> "But you see that thing right there, don't ya!? That thing is probably still curled up in my bed in the real world right now! That cloak thing... It said anythin' could be written if ya got the code... Written in... Written out... Written back! You already know there ain't nothin' I wouldn'ta done for her... To just let the chance walk past me without tryin'... That woulda just been dumb, givin' up that I've already gone through so much for her!"
[14:56] <Joshua> "They're lying! What part of that don't you get!?" Josh lets POTUS out of the ball, clearly exasperated. "You want code? There's the goddamned code, right there. That's all it is!"
01[15:03] <Botherer> "... So ya still don't believe me, do ya? ... Well, when they lemme out, I'ma go an' find that creature again... You're free to come with, just so I can prove you right!"
[15:05] <Joshua> "I know that you're digging your own grave. If you really want to learn about the code, find a girl named Sylvie and she'll tell you just how deluded you are." Josh returns the umbreon to its pokeball. "Now then...what do you want with this?"
01[15:10] <Botherer> Raven flops backwards, belly up on the bed, and lets out a defeated sigh. "Do what ya want with it... Hell, you can come an' take it off my hands when ya got the chance in the real world... Like I said, ain't got the time to care much for it!"
[15:11] <Joshua> "If you insist..."
01[15:17] <Botherer> "But yeah, when they lemme outta here, I'm goin' back... Like I said, you're free to come just so I can prove ya wrong."
[15:19] <Joshua> "I prefer living. If you're so damned willing to throw your life away, then go ahead. But I'm not going to be joining you."
[15:25] <Joshua> "When you wake up, the pokeball will be gone. Because I have it. This is more than just some lucid dream, Raven...this is as real as it gets. All I can say is try not to die..."
01[15:26] <Botherer> "No skin off my bones, then... But just watch, Josh... I'ma get my mom back! I just know I will!"
06[15:27] * Joshua sighs and pockets the pokeball, closing the door behind him. "Where's Mother, Edward?"
01[15:29] <Botherer> You see Edword, belly expanded to the size of your head, sprawled out on the couch and face completely and uttelry coated in all different colors of ice cream. "Mother Swanna's... Outside... Hooonk..."
[15:30] <Joshua> "..." Josh wants to say something, but just shakes his head and heads outside.
01[15:32] <Botherer> "Bring me... A glass a water if you could... Huuuuurrrggghhh..." He raises a feather to spit that out, but it flops back down far quicker than it was raised up.
01[15:33] <Botherer> Mother Swanna's out back, tending to some flowers if you wish to continue.
[15:33] <Joshua> "...We've got a problem." Josh says, not giving any sugary lead-in to his issues as he approaches the swanna.
01[15:35] <Botherer> "Is it about the boy we saw inside?" Mother Swanna removes herself from the ground, brushing herself off as she rises.
03[15:35] * Celeste (bardysseus@sux-6C546C99.sub-166-249-130.myvzw.com) has joined #Dreamscape
[15:36] <Joshua> "Yeah. He..." Josh tries to find the right words for it. "I think the best way to put it would be that he's deluded himself into thinking he can bring his mother back."
01[15:37] <Botherer> "Oh, dear... This could be serious... What do you think's gotten into him?"
[15:38] <Joshua> "Something that lives in a black nothingness, and promises to fulfill any wish. Least, that's what he says."
02[15:39] * Celeste (bardysseus@sux-6C546C99.sub-166-249-130.myvzw.com) Quit (Connection reset by peer)
02[15:40] * Giantree (Giantree@sux-80BF13E3.dyn.centurytel.net) Quit (Ping timeout)
01[15:40] <Botherer> A short gasp slips from Mother Swanna's mouth, quickly covered by a gloved hand. "A black nothingness... You don't think he means the Eternal Nightmare, do you? That's... That's where the others had set off to earlier!"
03[15:41] * Giantree (Giantree@sux-8DFC44A2.dyn.centurytel.net) has joined #Dreamscape
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[15:42] <Rainy> !dm9001 lastlines #50
[15:42] <Joshua> "...It really wouldn't surprise me. I mean, I haven't heard of anything that could do something like that - and my sister wouldn't either, and she knows about pretty much every mystical pokemon there is."
[15:43] <Joshua> "She likes pretending they're inside that weird top she's always playing with."
01[15:46] <Botherer> "This is quite disturbing... Not just because that's where your friends are, but the claims it makes are far from impossible!"
[15:47] <Joshua> "...what's the catch?"
01[15:48] <Botherer> She beckons you to follow her. She brings you back to the Book of Dreams, as massive as always. "Do you recall earlier how I said that the world you lived in was being altered?"
[15:49] <Joshua> "Yeah. Is the thing that's in the Eternal Nightmare the one altering it?"
01[15:50] <Botherer> "I'm afraid it, amongst other things, may very well be... And if it possesses that power, then bringing someone back from the dead is far from the worst of claims it could be making!"
[15:51] <Joshua> "...but why would it bring her back? I mean, that doesn't make much sense for it to do."
01[15:52] <Botherer> "Because doing so alters the flow of time, often with terrible, unintended consequences..."
[15:54] <Joshua> "Well that's lovely..." Obvious sarcasm there.
01[15:55] <Botherer> She opens the book, and directs your attention to a particular line. It reads 'The falling sun painted the grassy meadows golden with its fiery embrace.'
[15:56] <Joshua> "...just from looking at it, I'd think it was a poetic sunset. But there's more to it than that, isn't there?"
01[15:58] <Botherer> "If you would observe for a moment..." Mother Swanna drops to her knees, and swipes her hand over the ground. A "keyboard" of sorts pops up.
01[15:58] <Botherer> She begins typing into it, and before your eyes, the scene begins to transform.
01[15:59] <Botherer> The sunkissed meadows rapidly, almost instantaneously, turn into a barren, craggy, lifeless wasteland, skeletons of all sorts littering the mess. A crater where an obvious meteor explosion happened is in its place.
[16:00] <Joshua> "...what is this place?"
01[16:01] <Botherer> "This is the Imaginary Plains. If you would direct your attention to the book once more, please..."
06[16:01] * Joshua looks, though he thinks he can see some of the comparisons, but not all of them.
01[16:02] <Botherer> Inside, you can see all the contents on the page shifting, glowing different colors, and changing shapes to different Unown and letters and the like.
[16:02] <Joshua> What does it say now?
[16:03] <Joshua> (I have wordsmith so screw BS languages I can read it)
[16:04] <Rainy> (You might be able to read arcane languages, but you can't understand Rainyspeak. Weakling.)
01[16:04] <Botherer> The line you were previously directed to now says 'The sun, much like the meteor which had wiped out all that once existed upon these plains, set upon the wasteland, now devoid of all life.'
[16:04] <Joshua> (He's figured out most of the signs, not all of them)
[16:04] <Joshua> "...well that's certainly freaky. And you did that?"
01[16:08] <Botherer> Mother Swanna gives a grim nod. "While certainly dark, I hope it properly illustrates my point, does it not? All I had done was change the direction a comet was travelling in by but a single degree, and this is the resultant effect." She returns to the keyboard, and presses two keys. Ctrl+Z. And as quickly as the plains were devastated...
01[16:08] <Botherer> They're back to normal, as if what you had seen never occured.
[16:09] <Joshua> "And if such a small change can do that..." big change means everything gets screwed up eight different ways to sunday, and that's assuming sunday still exists.
[16:10] <Joshua> "...so what can we do?"
01[16:12] <Botherer> "If the creature responsible has anything to gain from restoring his mom to the real world... It must be stopped before whatever ill effects it has can come to fruition."
01[16:13] <Botherer> his mother**
[16:14] <Joshua> "Well, then maybe you'll have better luck than I did. Raven refuses to see that he's being made a pawn. In the meantime...what can I do?"
01[16:17] <Botherer> "What you can do... Do whatever you can do. There are no doubt other things that have gone astray in the Dream World! Help those who are in need of help, gather information wherever you think it to be found..."
[16:17] <Joshua> "That...really doesn't help much."
01[16:19] <Botherer> "I'm afraid it doesn't, but the Eternal Nightmare is an ever increasing expanse... Until we have a more solid lead, the best we can do is to simply correct all that it's wrought about here..."
[16:19] <Joshua> "I mean, they're all down there fighting...whatever the heck this thing is, and what am i supposed to do? sit here and pester strangers for clues? Clues of what, exactly?"
01[16:24] <Botherer> "Of what this creature is... Where it comes from... How it has the ability to manipulate Alphic Code... I'm afraid to say it, but all we know at the moment is that the creature was manipulating the Code from within the Eternal Nightmare. Anything you can find out is of use, Joshua!"
[16:26] <Joshua> "...of course. it's not like I can actually help them get out of there alive, that'd be too much..." Josh mutters under his breath. "I'll see what I can do, I suppose."
01[16:30] <Botherer> Mother Swanna proceeds towards joshua and rests a hand upon his shoulder. "I know the tasks lying before you and your friends are daunting, Joshua... But I have faith that you and the others would be able to pull through. I believe that you have the potential to make things right. That is why I asked you for your help."
[16:30] <Joshua> "I know."