24th Spell: [Video]

[friendyousohard]

Why is there no map for this place... You know, I think that's a project that really needs to be undertaken. Maps of all the various caaaaaaaaa- oof!

[Stepping onto one of the ice-covered floors that covers the ice path, Twilight is interrupted by suddenly slipping and sliding all the way over to the wall on the opposite side, which she crashes headlong into.]

Urgh... that was unpleasant. Alright, just need to pay a bit more attention, let's tryyyyyyy- argh!

[Another step has her legs slipping straight out from under her, and she slides across to another corner of the room on her knees, face first. After a highly unpleasant sounding crash, she lets out a low groan and slides down the wall until she's face down, making highly unhappy noises.]

I. Hate. This. Cave.

[As if to add insult to injury, the Pokemon who's been holding the gear this whole time proceeds to step out onto the ice and easily slide its way over to its hapless trainer, holding out the gear.]

What? Oh just... just shut it off, Champ. I don't even want to worry about that map idea until I'm out of this place, now. Oh, my head...

Comments

[friendyousohard]

That's not true! I mean, okay we didn't do much in Mahogany, but there wasn't really much to do there. The place made Ponyville look like a metropolis.

[friendyousohard]

I think I heard a bit about the Sinnoh region having more myths that dealt with the relationships between humans and Pokemon as a whole, but like most things from that region details are sketchy at best.

[bestofthebest]

Ha, yeah; it does make Ponyville look like a metropolis. But, we could hang out and do awesome stuff when we reach Blackthorn?

[friendyousohard]

Well despite being called a city, Blackthorn isn't all too big either. Mostly I just want to go there to get the Rising Badge. But we can go to the hot springs and check out the Dragon's Den. And once we're done we'll head back to Goldenrod, and to Saffron from there. There's a lot of things to do in those cities, as you well know.

[bestofthebest]

Hehe, I thought I was the pony who just went to cities to get Badges! But the hot springs and the Den sound like cool places to hit before we head back to Goldenrod! And you're right, but we should avoid going to the Gym in Goldenrod.

[friendyousohard]

Of course we aren't going back in there. Do I look insane?

[bestofthebest]

Not this time. Then again, we don't have to get the Rising Badge by Tuesday.

(Be grateful she didn't bring up the 'Want it, need it~' spell Twilight.)

[friendyousohard]

Oh shut up.

[Just gonna grump now.]

[bestofthebest]

Hehehe, c'mon Twi! You know I'd follow you into the gates of Tartarus if you needed me.

(Cue one-armed hug, complete with grin.)

[friendyousohard]

Yeah, teasing me the whole way, I bet.

[She returns the hug though, wrapping an arm around Rainbow's midsection.]

[bestofthebest]

Hehehe, better somepony like me than Trixie! Or we could talk the whole time about Daring Do.

[enjoymyatelier]

...There were quite a few of those in the castle, actually, mostly having to do with exacting tolls and generally providing a very unsettling picture of things.

[friendyousohard]

Tolls? That sounds... ominous, especially considering the rest of what you told me.

[enjoymyatelier]

No, it... really was, particularly after the place actively started trying to kill us.

...It didn't make its attempts with Pokemon, mind, which is really the strangest part.

[friendyousohard]

That is strange. Could whatever it did use have any sort of analogue to Pokemon attacks, at least? Or was this completely outside of the usual rules of this world?

[enjoymyatelier]

Not at all, actually. Honestly, the closest thing I could compare the... forces it sent against us to would be the Pokemon Zoroark, but even then, it was different. It seems as though they had illusionary forms that looked different to everyone who viewed them.

[friendyousohard]

They looked different to everyone... Given the time this happened, would I be correct in assuming they always resembled something the person in question would fear greatly?

[enjoymyatelier]

Not... universally, no. A friend I spoke to about it didn't seem terribly afraid of what hers turned into... they were just common enemies, I believe.

Mine were a bit unsettling, but they weren't terribly distinct. I couldn't exactly make out the shape of them.

[friendyousohard]

Huh. Odd. Unless it was attempting to make them frightening and just didn't always succeed. Which would imply mostly that it's not a psychic-type.

[enjoymyatelier]

Or it was just trying to, at the very least, mildly unnerve us via reminders of our own worlds, which I'd say it succeeded at.

...that, and the person I discussed most of it with didn't seem like she'd be afraid of much of anything short of things she couldn't bludgeon to death with a chair leg.

[friendyousohard]

Well, there are always those types. It's partly impressive, and partly worrying, because there's a reason for the fear response. Without it, I have to question a person's safety sometimes. Or a lot of the time.

[enjoymyatelier]

I think how worrying it is depends on what sort of mind it's coming from, really. Someone who can competently handle a situation and pick their battles... well, that wouldn't bother me too much.

With that said, I am certain there are individuals who would launch themselves into a hive of angry Beedrill on the basis that it would "be cool" or some nonsense like that.

[friendyousohard]

Or because the Beedrill did something to offend their pride and they don't know when to just walk away.

[Eye. Roll.]

So, you were all hunted by these things for a while, and there were threatening messages drawn all over the walls. Did you ever figure out why?

[enjoymyatelier]

...Yes, that seems similarly likely, unfortunately.

[says the pot about the kettles]

You know, I have absolutely no idea. The phrase that kept being repeated was something along the lines of "we will take a toll," which can have any number of implications, really.

[friendyousohard]

But in the end, nothing was taken from you before you left, right? So was the "toll" something immaterial?