portalwalker

[portalwalker]

Maria hummed. "That sounds reasonable."

The android didn't doubt that Ichisada had not only seen the effects of alcohol in others, but also in herself, whenever she indulged.

"I know it can affect memory and overall mood the following morning -- plenty of fiction talks about being unable to remember the previous night, and there are all kinds of 'hangover cures' that are...debatable, in whether or not they work. Some of them, anyway."

Of course your body's gonna get you back for drinking something it doesn't want or need. That didn't surprise Maria in the least. It was what happened during the drinking she was a little less certain of.

@portalwalker || x

"Yeah, not being able to turn off that feeling sounds like hell. You probably made the right choice." Ichisada nods. "You want me to describe it to you? I won't use words that make it sound way better than it actually is. I promise."

Ichisada wasn't going to pressure Maria into trying anything she didn't want too, or hear what she didn't want too. Her honor as a bartender and brewer would be revoked if she pressured someone into drinking something they didn't want too.

[portalwalker]

"...can't say I've ever wanted to? Considering how my parents always talked about magnets messing with tech growing up, I didn't want to find out how that'd mess with me. I might be more advanced than those old TVs, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious."

Maria's expression scrunched into something annoyed. "Although, there was one time where an energy burst made my ability to see color become inverted for a while. That happened in the middle of a fight a long time ago, so I can't say I enjoyed it. I needed to get a mechanic to reverse it."

"You think that's bad?" Maria rests her head in a hand, pretending to look forlorn. There's a spark of amusement in her eyes that says otherwise. "Some of us can't get drunk. Don't have the organic parts to mess with. At least I don't have a liver to kill." (portalwalker)

@portalwalker

"You ever try to get drunk? Like, putting a magnet on your head or spinning around a whole lot until you can't stand upright anymore? Y'know, for the experience of it all?"

[portalwalker]

Maria glances down at her usual attire -- dark red shirt, orange jacket, jeans, red boots -- and shrugs.

"I could change the look of my gear, but green's not really my color."

[portalwalker]

With not much to do recently, Maria's taken to working her way through various forms of fictional media to research potential multiversal destinations.

Mostly by delving into the database her brother left behind and reading his "do not interact unless required" list.

"Yeesh, this place looks like a total mess. Constant time travel, alternate timelines that interfere with each other. It's a wonder that reality hasn't torn itself apart with all the time-based meddling." Maria frowned at the holographic screen. "If I ever end up in the reality this 'Another Eden' game is based on, I'm going to have to be careful. Don't want anyone following me out and messing with the timeline more."

[portalwalker]

"Hmmm." Maria tilted her head at the holographic screen floating in her hand. "Yeah, that one's definitely not someone I want to get on the bad side of...."

"What are you looking at?" Star poked her head over the back of the armchair, fairy wings flickering with subtle movements. The version of Mabel Pines tilted her head at the information Maria was looking at.

"Joshua's 'Do Not Interact' list." Maria lifted her hand a little to give the other a better look. "This fellow's a reincarnated demon king in his reality, apparently."

"Is he a bad guy?"

Maria chuckled. "Nah. Joshua's DNI is actually a 'Do not get on their bad side or else they'll kill you or worse' type of list. This Anos guy is technically the hero of his reality, but with the strength at his disposal, he'd make for a pretty strong enemy to run into."

"Oooh. That makes sense." Star nodded. "So, these are guys you'll only cross paths with if they ask for help?"

"If they need it, which I doubt it. They're pretty high up there in terms of strength -- definitely higher than me." Maria flicked her hand, making the hologram disappear. "Still, I don't want to be caught by surprise if they come here -- or if something goes weird in a way they weren't expecting. So studying up on them is a pretty good idea."

"Yeah!" Star perked up. "Do they have any source material, like us?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. Joshua had to get his information from somewhere. Lesse...." Maria flicked her wrist again, bringing back up the hologram. "Anos is...The Misfit of Demon Academy. Interesting."

"What kind of demon king is also a misfit?"

"Wouldn't hurt to find out."

[portalwalker]

The turning of the year from the old to the new wasn't that big a deal for Maria. She'd been around long enough that she could ignore most celebration traditions with the same kind of indifference as someone who didn't see the point in joining in.

There was a difference between being a couple decades into her life and a few centuries, after all.

Still, though, there had been something nice about the small party the Pines had put together with the townsfolk, shooting fireworks and having a feast in what used to be the Northwest Mansion.

Although the people who could get drunk were still suffering from hangovers. Maybe she should go around and start shoving Pecha berries down their throats to ease that...maybe mix in some Chesto berries for good measure.

It was something Maria could think about while she considered her options for what she could do in the new year. Should she try for a resolution? But a year was so short compared to a decade....

[portalwalker]

Maria's Christmas dessert treats have been eating into her Berry supply.

Which is good, because she's got so many Berry trees and so few options to actually use them, short of giving them to the local inventor to use in his attempts at winery.

[portalwalker]

With Christmas on the rise, Maria had settled back into her current home dimension with the intent of taking over the kitchen for...at least a few hours.

What better way to celebrate the season than sending those she'd interacted with across realities home-made treats?

...hopefully her choice of ingredients wouldn't set off anyone's allergies. Berries from the Pokemon realm didn't usually do that, in her experience, but it never hurt to be careful....

[portalwalker]

"It likely has -- or had -- a limited AI that had pre-programmed responses in case something like this happened," Maria said. "Which, considering their pokemon-like appearance, was probably a possibility when it comes to dealing with Trainers."

Benta's remark about her observation of the creature's color and Team Rocket's appearance had her nodding slightly. "Team Rocket are known poachers, so your assessment of hunters isn't that far off. The problem is that Giovanni wanted power, and in order to get that power, he looked to Legendary-class Pokemon. It wouldn't've ended well if he'd managed to get his hands on you."

She grabbed the page as the printer spat it out and frowned at the mess of ink at the bottom of the page. "Looks like this is the last bit of information we're getting, unless we give the printer some maintenance. Doubt we're going to find the parts we need here, though...let's see...."

Maria scanned the page for information once, twice. On the third read-through, she muttered. "Okay, this spread a lot faster than I was thinking. Area Zero in Paldea..." She spun her holographic globe and frowned at that region of the world. "Think that's the giant crater here, although I've never been." She put her finger through that part of the map. "Wonder how it looks now, if they were having trouble out there. And what kind of facility it was she'd managed to find."

She marked the crater in a different color from the recorded sightings of the pokemon lookalikes, signifying it as an area of interest, then handed the page over to Benta for him to inspect.

"She gave them a name -- Kornitek. At least we have something to call them, now. And she wanted Professor Birch to watch over Greavee. Considering the state of Unova, though, I'm worried what could've happened to Hoenn. Kyogre and Groudon can be grumpy on the best of days, even with Rayquaza keeping an eye on things. If these things disrupted the world to this extent, it could be completely underwater, nothing more than a desert, or a chaotic mix of weather systems by now. Or something worse."

Judging by Maria's furrowed brow, she really didn't want to think about what Hoenn could look like.

Benta watched in muted fascination as the map appeared. He was still in the process of learning that Maria was quite literally full of surprises, however theoretically mundane compared to her capacity for battle earlier.

And it certainly helped him follow along her additional train of thought.

"A disrupted connection might have certainly caused what amounts to an equivalent of desperation I suppose..." he ventured. Then he thought back. "Though, there is also the chance it wasn't as erratic as we consider it. After all, in spite of its state of existence, it did seem to know how to process things like anger and danger-sense. Which feels more than just hostile." He couldn't deny the anger especially. To be angry, one had to know what it meant to be frustrated at an obstacle. And what it meant to think. If their source of power was disconnected, would such a strangely synthetic thing still know the difference between stress, non-stress, and have its own volition of how to act? Or- like Maria suggested- would it spiral out of control for the sheer lack of direction?

She almost lost him at the "color scheme" statement though. "Unfortunately I did not retain enough of my encounter with them to know one way or another," he apologized. "I only thought they were hunters, until Hana clarified otherwise. She did mention they had a base in Kanto, but their reasons for being in Johto was admittedly unclear beyond their interest in me."

He raised a paw to his muzzle and gripped his chin with a frown. "Even so...these creatures were in Johto too..." he added in the midst of thought. Is there a connection between the two in that region as well..?

The printer let off a shrill whine as it finally finished printing the next paper. As suspected, it was much longer in terms of text unlike the previous pages. This had been written from scratch and was more thought out as opposed to the abrupt sentences of the S.O.S reports.

------------------

URGENT NOTICE

Name: Hana Baker

From: [UNKNOWN OR REDACTED] PALDEA

To: Pokémon Trade Center UNOVA

Recipient: [UNSPECIFIED]

I'm sending this message in regard to the reports of the dangerous pokémon being spotted in multiple regions across the world. As a fellow researcher we can all agree it's typically our duty to investigate these things and find out what they are and why they're behaving so rashly, but I think it's too late to look at this matter as carefully as we would have any other day. I've lost contact with the rest of my team who left to investigate Area Zero on a potential lead, and I'm still on the surface looking into the other half of the suspicious documents we found. Unfortunately, after uncovering something alarming, I've come to a total impasse. To be perfectly blunt, the situation has gone from bad to utterly insane. I'm at my wits end and I have to move fast.

These things are spreading like wildfire and taking whole cities down with them. I've barely been able to find a place with sustainable power, but- considering who it belongs to- if I stay here too long and get spotted I'm going to be in serious trouble. For better or worse this facility is outfitted with a GTS, so before I leave I'm going to take advantage of the situation and send my pokémon to your trade center since it is currently within one of the few designated safe zones.

The monsters that have been terrorizing the other regions are akin to the picture I uploaded from my surveillance camera. Keep in mind however that they don't all look alike and can change shape at any given moment even though the image of Porygon appears to be their default. Their bodies move like sand and are entirely weaponized. Due to the nature of their attacks and general makeup, I've decided to call these creatures "Kornetik". And to be clear in absolution- we cannot fight them. These are beyond what anyone can fend off. If you do happen to spot them your best chance is to run. Don't cross them. Don't engage them. Normal pokéballs don't work on them either, so it is effectively useless to waste resources attempting to catch one without the proper tools. In the short time I have had I've been able to create a pokéball with magnetic countermeasures to contain at least one, and it should hold out if handled soon enough. I'm sending it to your lab for further research, but trust me when I tell you- DO NOT LET IT OUT. Get help from the Pokémon Center to scan it from the inside of the ball and compile whatever information you can. There should be something we can do if we can just figure out what fuels their energy and what gives them all this power. We MUST find the answers before everything is wiped out. It is my deepest regret I have to leave that task to you. If it weren't for the horrible things I've found during the investigation, and the disappearance of my team, I would do it myself. Just do what you can.

In the meantime, you could say I have a date with another bunch of monsters fixing to solve the Kornetik infestation by throwing an even bigger problem at it. Considering we're out of options I'll have to try sneaking into their apparently recent headquarters in [REDACTED] and handling it myself. The region is a long way off. But if I don't do something, anyone left would be lucky to get out of this mess alive.

I will update as often as I can. Contact Professor Birch and tell him to take care of Greavee for me. Above all, be safe.

[SEND F-Ax? : C̴̜͠onfiŕ̴̭m ̸̦̂Can̶͍͆c̴̯̎cë̷̜l ]

-----------------

Smudges of ink lined the bottom of the paper. And in spite of its continued shrill whining and backlog of other numbered faxes, the printer was malfunctioning and running out of ink. This was likely the last thing it was going to print out.

[portalwalker]

"If we mapped them out, we might have a pattern," Maria said. "Depending on how much data there is still coming, we might be able to get a pretty clear picture. Or a foggy one. But at least it's a start."

She inclined her head and considered the data she'd just read through, then flicked her wrist, summoning a holographic map of the Pokemon world. "Celadon in Kanto, Driftveil and Castelia with Route 21 as a point of focus...that's out near Humilau, east of here."

Small red dots manifest on the map, pinpointing the current spots of interest. Whenever that page finished printing, they could look it over and add more.

"Considering that creature wasn't technically alive, it probably is a drone of some kind that is being controlled by someone else," Maria agreed. She paused. Frowned. "Hm. I wonder how being in a PokeBall would've affected its connection back to its source...or host. It could be that the forced stasis caused its erratic behavior -- or maybe it was functioning on previously-given instructions, and that's why it came out hostile."

So many data points, so many variables. They knew too much and not enough at the same time.

"Considering the color scheme, I can't help but wonder if Celadon's the origin point. Team Rocket always preferred a black and red color scheme...."

Benta looked over the papers... and his fur began to stand on end with a chill.

This was eerily similar to what other pokémon had talked about, when he came across refugees. The vanishing pokemon was the only thing he had ever personally witnessed. And these logs certainly explained so much...

Empty streets, abandoned homes and buildings, haunted forests and deserted routes... Those were things he had seen everywhere. Although...he hadn't directly investigated a few of these places listed in the reports. "Do you think these things had a specific target they were looking for?" he asked half-rhetorically. "These places almost seem random, but...those creatures are very target-oriented from what I have heard from survivors."

"Rrrraff raff, grr-aff raff ra-raff," Greavee grumbled. Then she gave a disgruntled snort as another spatter of wax dripped over the floor from her ears.

"Greavee also says the few she recalls encountering with Hana were creepy. And they would typically stop and watch unless they were threatened, as though waiting to be told what to do otherwise. Unlike the one we just fought," he informed Maria. "So, if I were to wager a guess, I imagine they were anything but sporadic in spite of being so widespread."

The printer was still going, oddly the font size on this sheet being smaller and more precise. At the moment it was only halfway through. So Benta took a moment to collect his thoughts again.

Then after some extensive consideration he added, "That said, maybe they did have a goal in mind. Or rather, whoever controls them- assuming that person is still alive."

Such a prospect was certainly a frightening one, since no one seemed to know who it was.

[portalwalker]

"At the very least, when we're sure it won't turn books into pages of laughter repeating over and over again...and the book won't try to prick anyone's fingers to make a deal without the reader's consent."

Maria made a face. "I'm safe on the finger-pricking front, at least, but Stanford doesn't know if I'm safe on the knowledge corruption bit. Since I'm not human and my mind doesn't function quite the same way, he's worried the book'll try to do something weird if I open it myself. It didn't affect him or the human members of his family, but...he doesn't have any data on how the Book of Bill might affect computers or anything with digitized knowledge. He knows Bill dabbled in the internet for a while, so it might do something. We're not taking any chances."

The dragon tilted her head. She had to admit she was very curious as to what the book had in its pages.

"So how do you know when it's safe to open?"

[portalwalker]

Maria scanned over each page, looking for readable information and absorbing as much as she could. While they didn't give her a complete picture, they certainly gave her enough of one that she had an idea of what had happened.

"It looks like this is the start of what made the world look like it is now." Maria held the pages she'd read out to Benta, then reached for the fifth page, ready to grab it as soon as it was done. "It almost reads like snippets of a horror apocalypse novel -- they did what they could to try and prevent the porygon-wannabes from taking down people and pokemon, but they weren't able to stop them."

She really needed a proper name for those mindless drone weapons.

"The backlog suggests these things were making people and pokemon disappear -- and were making pokemon turn on their Trainers. They must have some kind of...possessive quality, to do something like that. Makes me worried for any of the people who might've stumbled onto these things alone, without the strength to take them down. It also makes me wonder if we're strong enough to handle one of those things on our own again, or if we got lucky."

It certainly didn't paint a pleasant picture.

"They're not mentioning anything about weaknesses or the like -- if anything, it looks like they spread and attacked without warning."

If she'd gotten here a little bit sooner, maybe she could've helped hold them back.

Or maybe she could've become a part of the problem, if her own mental defenses weren't enough. She wasn't eager to test that to find out.

He focused on the paper she offered, and floated it over to himself with psychic. The shift in focus upon seeing a photograph of that vile creature was gradual, but nevertheless it started to take his mind off the thundering weather.

Whoever took this picture and sent the report was likely the one who caught that thing in the pokeball. Had it really been Hana?

What happened to her? He approached the table with his eyes trained on the printer. "What else do these papers say?" he asked cautiously.

The next three papers were unusual and disturbing in their nature. However, they were oddly not a direct continuance of the first as if giving context with older reports that varied between a few weeks to a few months in progressed timing. And some of the letters were a mess as if it were processing through glitched and corrupted data. But there was at least enough for Maria to make out.

---------

- Page 2

S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S.

S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S.

S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S.

S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S. S.O.S.

S.O.S. S.O.S. SsSSSs.O.S. S.O.S.

S.O.S. S.0oOøS. S.O

- Trade Center Origin: KANTO

-----------

Maximum Priority: CODE RED ALPHA

To anyone still at the Trade Center and research labs, do NOT engage this creature. We don't know what they are or what they are after, but THEY. ARE. DANGEROUS.

Should even one be spotted in your area, launch security measures. Keep everyone and their pokémon inside.

I repeat: DO NOT ENGAGE.

- Trade Center Origin: KALOS

---------

- Page 3

A.R.B. - All Region Bulletin.

R.A.P. - Recall All Pokémon.

SEND LOCKDOWN INSTRUCTION TO ALL FACILITIES AND POKÉMON CENTERS.

Notify authorities. Send Evacuation Warning to your local areas.

- Trade Center Origin: SINNOH

--------

Emergency Service Requested.

Strange black pokémon invading Celadon City with Porygon (?) swarm. Threat Level 8 and rising. Damage Level Unknown. Casualty Number Unknown. Status of Assistance Unknown.

Do Not Engage.

Do Not Engage.

DO NOT ENGAGE

- Pokémon Center Origin: KANTO

--------

- Page 4

Driftveil City and Castelia City requesting Emergency Assistance. Route 21 overtaken by Unown creatures and undergoing damage. Attacks frequent. Humans and pokémon suffering casualties.

Humans and pokémon reported to vanish upon battle encounter.

Partner pokémon reported turning on their trainers after taking damage.

Emergency Request. Emergency Request.

Unknown Threat Sighted on Route 21.

EMERGENCY REQUEST.

- Trade Center Origin: UNOVA

---------

The fifth page was still printing.

[portalwalker]

Maria snorted. "Sounds like Soundwave wanted blackmail."

She frowned at Dominic's confusion and nodded slightly. "That was part of my assumption, too. But considering that Cipher is usually doomed by the narrative to die at a Pine's hand and then be reborn by the Axolotl -- or so a lot of theories claim -- I was kinda ready for something like this to happen, but only if he thought he could do something to the Pines again, like revenge or something."

She motioned to the door behind her. "But Stanford said the book had been sent to them from beyond Cipher's grave, and the demon said as much in the pages. Trouble is, we don't know which Cipher it is -- other than Stanford's, anyway, since that one didn't come back from the Bottomless Pit -- so we're quarantining the book until it's safe to open, and then we'll figure out which Cipher sent it."

Ah, the chaos of having multiple Gravity Fallses merged togther.

"I was hoping that my cousin's database would have something on it, but I'm not digging up anything yet. Could be that I'm not using the right search terms." Maria frowned at the laptop.

"Oh it was and Soundwave made it worse cause he recorded me saying it and showed it to everyone." She admitted

She gave a confused look at the name of the book and Maria's explanation.

"I think I may have heard something regarding a book with Bill mentioning karaoke, but I didn't know it was actually from a living Bill. I thought he was dead."

[portalwalker]

Maria snorted at the mention of the appearance-focused Decepticon medic. "I won't ask, but it must've been something."

At Dominic's question, she hummed and drummed her fingers on the porch. "It's not Journal dangerous, but it could be Darkhold dangerous, I think. We're not entirely sure yet. Stanford identified it was 'the book of Bill' and had it quarantined immediately to keep it from infecting Journal and his collection of tomes downstairs. He was pretty startled that I hadn't heard of it before."

Considering Maria was attempting to do some digging, the knowledge had clearly thrown her off, too.

"Stanford said it's a Bill's way of reaching out to other dimensions as a last-ditch effort of finding somebody to help him. He tossed the last one down the Bottomless Pit with several warnings, but he thinks this one came from a different Bill. He wants to wait until we've neutralized the 'turns other books into nothing but pages of laughing' effect before we have a look at it."

"Not trouble per say... just me hiding out away in this dimension in embarrassment. I may have said something to Knockout that I really shouldn't have." Dominic admitted as she sat down next to the porch. "So what kind of book are we talking about?. Like Darkhold levels of danger or more like Ford's journals with the occasional bit of dangerous information?"

[portalwalker]

"Can't say I was expecting it, either," Maria said. "But if we could get the transfer system working, I guess it makes sense." She walked up to the printer and slipped the first page out of the bottom of the rapidly growing pile.

The blurry picture of the faint porygon and the warning directly underneath it made her frown. The year of the warning made her internal temperature drop a little. Maria didn't know the current year in this dimension -- she hadn't asked, and she hadn't tapped into the local satellites to see what they had recorded -- but considering the wear and tear of the lab and the state of the route outside, she could guess that the world had been like this for a while now.

"Looks like your friend tried to warn everyone what they were dealing with." Maria held the first page out to Benta with one hand and started working the next one out from under the still-printing batch. "I wonder if there's a timeline of events in here...."

Benta remained frozen for a minute, paralyzed by the rumble as his psychic energy coursed through the barrier. It might not have made him jump so much either if it hadn't been a trauma response- originating from the mine collapse he told Maria about earlier. That was the same reason he half thought of firing off an aura shot at whatever had made the other noise, but managed to stop himself short when he realized it was just another one of the lab devices.

Over a few moments, he was able to recollect himself, and lower his arms from his head to fully follow Maria's line of sight. Not that he could make his fur lie flat yet, or quite stop the internal shaking that he kept to himself.

"I didn't--" When his voice choked he restarted. The fact he switched back to audible speech was possibly an indicator he didn't want to be in his own head at the moment. It was a bit too frazzled. "I didn't think anything else in here was capable of working..." he commented, forcing himself to gradually let the barrier up. But he he expanded it over their heads instead. Just in case.

Greavee continued to growl though, her waxy fur dripping over the floor as the printer clicked and hummed in repetition, filing out one paper and was working on a second and third out of a set of five. Out of numerous missed faxes. And with initial inspection, Maria would see the first page sported a blurry in-motion photograph of the pokemon they just defeated.

The image- along with the printing file, was dated back to eight and a half years ago. And Hana's name was on it, along with a warning notice that was bring printed next.

"So...what is it..?" Benta asked as he stood up, retrieving his cloak and hat in the process and gripping them close like some manner of mental safety net.

He probably wasn't going to be happy about this.

[portalwalker]

"Research." Maria didn't look up from the hefty laptop on her lap. "Some nasty book got dropped on the porch a few weeks ago. We've got it in quarantine until we can get rid of some of the nastier curses, but I'm trying to figure out if someone from my past knew there was a chance it could show up." Her eyes scanned something on the screen for a moment, only for her to sigh and shake her head. "And I'm coming up with nothing. Looks like Joshua didn't know anything about that book, either."

She scowled at the screen, then relaxed her expression as she looked at Dominic with a tired, somewhat strained smile. "What brings you out here? No trouble back home, I hope."

Out in the Oregon woods, in a clearing just outside a small town, sat a larger-than-it-should-be wood cabin with a cursed sign on the roof -- no matter how many times it was fixed, "Mystery Shack" always turned into "Mystery Hack," which mostly amused the tourists who drove through every summer on road trips up and down the coast.

The tourist season was coming to an end as autumn approached, though, which meant that the people who lived in the large cabin could get to other business.

One of these inhabitants was sitting on the back porch with a brick of a laptop in her lap, one hand on her chin as she scrolled through something on the screen with her other hand. If it wasn't for the shift of energy that accompanied a portal opening, she might not have noticed the arrival of a familiar guest.

(( @white-fire-the-dragon ))

[portalwalker]

Out in the Oregon woods, in a clearing just outside a small town, sat a larger-than-it-should-be wood cabin with a cursed sign on the roof -- no matter how many times it was fixed, "Mystery Shack" always turned into "Mystery Hack," which mostly amused the tourists who drove through every summer on road trips up and down the coast.

The tourist season was coming to an end as autumn approached, though, which meant that the people who lived in the large cabin could get to other business.

One of these inhabitants was sitting on the back porch with a brick of a laptop in her lap, one hand on her chin as she scrolled through something on the screen with her other hand. If it wasn't for the shift of energy that accompanied a portal opening, she might not have noticed the arrival of a familiar guest.

(( @white-fire-the-dragon ))