pretend i actually posted this with the others shhh

[revolutionfalcon]

WHO: Shun and whoever is around to greet the firebirb
WHAT: A very late intro
WHEN: AT SOME POINT...we don't really have a calendar yet do we
WHERE: Entering Illumina
WARNINGS: None as yet, will edit if that changes.

[In the time he's had to deal with things like severe cold and exposure, Shun's never been particularly small. That and his coat meant he usually wasn't wanting for warmth, even on nights where the Resistance's supplies ran low and they were running out of places to hide. Unless he was lending it to Ruri, but then, he'd never had trouble enduring that either.

But sitting on a glacier with numb talons and numb wingtips, empty space between the Synchro Dimension and here and what the hell happened, he's realising what a disadvantage being small is here.]

What the hell--?

[He feels his mouth move, but it clicks like a beak, and when he sees himself in the glossy glacier he does a double-take before peering back into the ice, black and yellow eyes narrowed. He's a bird, certainly, and a bigger bird than any normal one in his world, but compared to his usual self he's miniscule. Even with his scarf wrapped around most of him, he can see himself tremoring slightly in the reflection, and he knows he has to find his way out of this cold or he'll die before he even gets to ask all the questions on his mind right now. Mind flipping between suspicion, confusion and trying to find what feels natural for this creature to move, he spreads his small wings - another two wing-like forms unfold beneath them, but even the most cursory glance at the thin, overfeathered joints would show they're not fit for flight themselves. They flail and shake as he tests them, just trying to get airborne to go towards that light in the distance, but his feet are numbing by the time he heaves himself into the sky and flaps towards the lights.

The chill is biting, though, and he finds himself stalling, fluttering downwards and having to recover far too often. The little body shakes again, like the feeling of something wanting to come up, but there's nothing in his lungs and nothing in his throat, and his wings don't seem to want to support him.

As he starts to dip again, the little bird's expression hardens, and the air almost seems to spark with its determination.]

It's not that easy to get rid of me.

[The bird's wings flare into heat and fire, melting a pit where he skims the ground and rises again, suddenly full of warmth and energy despite the situation he's been thrown into. Closer and closer to the city lights, the flame fades away but the new strength doesn't, and by the time he touches down neatly at the edge of the city, the cold tremors have faded like they were never there. He folds his wings with a lengthy, dismissive blink, gives the icy wastes one last look, and then hops through into the city proper.

He'll be approaching anyone who looks like a resident with a most sour look on his little birdly face.]

Explain what this is. Now.

Comments

[sakatree]

[When he woke up?

Oh there was some hell. There was some shouting-cursing at the pendulum, shouting for that 'snake' he was partnered with, yelling yelling yelling...

Until finally he's half in the ground on his back, covering his eye holes.] I'm a ghost.

I'm a tree and a ghost...

[...Maybe he should keep yelling. He sits up, 'hands' back down to his sides.] Damn it VELES..!

I know this isn't HELL! Because that place doesn't exist!! I think, [he mutters, suddenly crossing his arms in a moment of thought.]

...It probably doesn't...-

[And then suddenly something that looks like a 'comet' flies overhead and down a tunnel. Well.

That's one way to show him where the city is. The ghost floats over, and follows in silence-invisible, unnoticed as a native pokemon farther in the tunnel gets ready to answer the fletchling questioning them.

...Before looking behind him and bolting.

Hatsu's own response is to silently hold his hands in front of himself, mutely asking really-before realizing whose voice he heard.

Nooooo.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...it can't be...

...He's left squinting at the bird, who's probably going to be turning on him right that second.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Indeed it is - the initial expression is one of caution and challenge, because if something coming down the tunnel is making people run away, he assumes it's a danger. But it switches to something a little more blank as the little bird looks over the ghost, taking in the thing's face and the strange, dark form with the bearing of someone who's had their suspension of disbelief recently destroyed.

And then his eyes fall on the thing dangling from the creature's stumpy horn, and narrow in confusion.]

Yuya? [He doesn't use first names lightly, but things in Synchro have changed him quite a bit recently. It doesn't make him any more pleased to see that kid over Yuto, though, and he gives a dismissive huff.]

You probably don't know any more about this place, then.

[sakatree]

[He is silent with shock. Absolutely silent, his wooden jaw hanging agape as strangely green eyes stare.

...Damn that pendulum, he thinks idly, a number of seconds passing before he can so much as stammer.]

Oh hell it really is y...

[He coughs-and the voice that comes out more strongly is much older sounding than Yuuya's own.]

Nothing more than the fact that it apparently cuts the time barrier, [he laughs weakly, voice cracking a bit as he pushes himself on.]

Kurosaki Shun! ...Not who I expected, [he adds, nodding his head at the feathery bird and hoping that's ample distraction from the obvious.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[He's already ringing alarm bells at the indicator of the eyes, and as soon as the voice comes out, his expression gets more suspicious. This person doesn't sound like Yuya, or talk like Yuya - from what he's seen, the one he knows would be taking this a lot worse.]

That makes two of us. You don't sound like him, or speak like him. He'd be driving himself mad worrying about Hiiragi Yuzu, for starters.

[The little bird's eyes narrow further, into much less cute little slits of anger.] Who are you?

[He sounds enough like Yuya that it has to be some form of him, and isn't making any bones about knowing Shun, but this talk about the time barrier and the aged voice isn't helping Shun's misgivings.]

[sakatree]

[Your tolerance for the bizarre spikes after you start playing around with fire gods inhabiting corpses, he's pretty sure. The very mention of Yuzu seems to drive a stake through his heart though-making him flinch and pause, before shaking his head and pulling on a mask.

It's hard to be scared of a teensie robin.] Kashiwa Hatsu-at your service, [he adds with a mock bow, almost going to adjust glasses that are no longer there.]

The other name is just a bit 'old', see.

[revolutionfalcon]

"Old"?

[Well. There are a lot of questions he could be asking of an older Yuya, and the slightly questioning expression he gets at that realisation is telling enough. The way the strange stump ghost flinches at the mention of Hiiragi Yuzu isn't seeming like he'll get a particularly enjoyable answer to anything he asks of the future, though.]

...So you're from after the war.

[It's half question and half assumption, and said with a little wariness. On one hand, he's curious, but on the other, he's not entirely sure he wants to hear the kinds of things that might have happened.]

[sakatree]

Yes! [And while Yuzu isn't a topic he'll stick with, post-war?

Absolutely is.] Things come out great by the way! Really great.

[This sounds like a lie, but really, he's being honest this time.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[It does sound like a lie to Shun, if partially because despite all his determination, he can't imagine the war ending that well. He tries not to show his suspicions too much in this case, but he does still end up side-eying the plant a bit.]

In what way?

[Yeah, he's gonna need more specifics before he's convinced things went down remarkably "great".]

[sakatree]

....peace.

...There's peace, what else does great mean here?? [he asks, spirit bits flaring a bit.]

There's ups, there's downs and...then there's...Peace. [...Y ep.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun sighs, like he feels like he really shouldn't have to explain this, but at least when he actually speaks his tone is only slightly more agitated than usual.]

Peace is good, but it's also obvious if the war is over. I'm asking about other things. Like what became of what we were fighting for. Home, family - there are things other than peace we wanted from the war. I would have thought you'd know that.

[He might not have the highest opinion of Yuya, but it's pretty obvious to anyone around him for more than a few minutes that he values his friends and comrades.]

[sakatree]

And do you really want to know the details of what you haven't done yet?

[His voice takes a more serious tone, eyes glinting.]

What happens if I give you the truth, and you go back knowing 'all is well'..?

How does that change your drive for battle, huh?

Things are fine-Heartland's rebuilt.

How's that for more than peace, ah?

[revolutionfalcon]

I didn't ask for the details of what I did. I asked whether everyone made it out alive. That wouldn't change the fact that I'd need to fight for that outcome.

[He's not being thrown off the topic quite that easily, especially since Heartland being rebuilt is one thing, but the people are quite another. He's spent enough time around Reiji and his ilk by this point to recognise potential weasel wording.]

What about the civilians?

[Obviously he has some specific people in mind, but he should at least get a general idea of what happened to them from how willing this guy is to broach that topic.]

[sakatree]

They came out fine. [He says it plainly, and calmly, and he tells the truth. Where things went wrong...that came after, after all.] Yuuto, Ruri, everyone comes out fine.

You don't build a city without people.

[lazywater]

[It is my great misfortune to tell you that somehow you've found a lump of fur, loafing around, nibbling an apple. En has been doing his best to get used to his surroundings, but all he's done is figured out how to find free apples trapped in the glistening parts of the ice. Not that it's a bad thing...

It takes him a long tedious moment before he slowly looks up at the bird and even then he gives an apathetic shrug.]

. . . This is a very lazy sloth and a very red bird having a conversation... or at least the introduction to one.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Okay, he was trying to be reasonable, but that cute little bird face is scrunching into the driest, most displeased look possible to wear on a body like that. Laziness is one thing (that he's already not a fan of), but being deliberately obtuse is quite another, and that's how he's taking a reply like that right now.]

I don't need to be told you're lazy, that's obvious to anyone. Either answer the question seriously or don't waste my time.

[A very red bird, and a very brusque and rude bird. He's never been very good at the whole introducing himself thing.]

[lazywater]

Why thank you.

[En shut up.]

This is Illumina City. The only actual town you're gonna find on this continent. Just gonna go out on a limb here, but I'm gonna assume you used to be human too, right?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun squints at him for the snarky comment, but this is more answers than he's gotten from anyone else so far, so he'll let it slide this time. Especially for that little piece of information saying he's not the only person in this situation.]

So this isn't just some one-off weirdness. [But the fact that one of them's a bird and one of them's a sloth raises more questions.] What are these things? They're not like any animals I've ever seen, even in Duel Monsters.

[lazywater]

[What do you mean snark? That's genuine thanks for a man who appreciates his sleep.]

Nope, I've met three other guys and a woman who've all been turned into Pokemon. It doesn't get any easier from here, let me tell you. Pokemon... is hard to explain.

...

[squint]

What's a duel monster?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun looks around pointedly, then back to the sloth.]

Unless you have some pressing commitment other than sleeping on the floor, I'm sure you can manage explaining.

[Being asked what a duel monster is prompts the closest thing to a frown Shun can really make with the beak, though. All the dimensions he knows of have them, so it's almost absurd meeting someone who hasn't heard of the game.]

Duel Monsters are cards, not actual monsters. At least, not until we summon them. Some people use them for entertainment. [There's a mite of distaste in his tone at that, and it only gets worse as he goes on.] Some people use them for other things. It's irrelevant here anyway, since I don't have my duel disk.

[lazywater]

[He shrugs.]

Sure. If there's one other thing I can do, it's running my mouth. I tend to be good at elaborating things.

[En rolls onto his back, puts the apple on his belly and stretches out tiredly. Man, being in this body took out a lot more than he liked to admit]

Cards, huh? Haven't seen any cards here. What I have seen though, is a whole lot of Pokemon. You and I have been turned into these... elemental animals, is the best way I can describe it. This entire city is filled with Pokemon only, no humans. So far, the six of us are the only humans who've transformed. So far, no one knows why we're here...

[revolutionfalcon]

[Running his mouth is fine as long as it's running something useful, so Shun lets him ramble about the city to his heart's content. Mostly, it's things he could have figured out with some time regardless, but this speeds things along nicely.]

Explains how I apparently set myself on fire coming in here. [He doesn't sound or look particularly distressed about that.] Who are the other four, if there's only six of us? Or if you don't have names, tell me what they are.

[These creatures seem to parallel normal animals, from what he's seen so far, so surely they can be described in terms he'll understand even without having seen many of them.]

[lazywater]

Wow, really? I dunno what I can do besides make others sleepy.

[Whether by boredom or an actual power, even En doesn't know.]

Let's see... Well there's Amanda Ripley... she's this small, black fuzzy thing with a long, second head attached to the back of hers. She's very tough... seems used to dangerous situations. She doesn't keep to herself, but compared to the other three, she might as well. Finn, Chow and Ratso are like... always together, as far as I know. I dunno which one is which, honestly, but one is a black bird, another is a tall, bipedal chicken with sunglasses and the other is a green rat. They're very hard to miss, really.

And that's everyone I know. There might be more humans, but I haven't met them yet.

[revolutionfalcon]

[If Shun had any suspension of disbelief left, that probably would have destroyed it. Sounds like he's not even the worst off of the group here - having a second head doesn't sound remotely pleasant, and "bipedal chicken with sunglasses" sounds even more ridiculous than whatever he's supposed to be.

The result is that his expression settles somewhere in the range of mildly perturbed.]

This sounds completely ridiculous, but I suppose I can't do much but believe it at this point. [He gives an annoyed huff that comes out a little like a chirrup, and it doesn't improve his mood any.] Strange that there's so few, though. If something here needed us, that's not enough to rely on. If this is some kind of attack or punishment, then we can't be the only people they want.

[lazywater]

[With how Amanda was just glaring at the head, En wonders if she has a history with something that looks like that. It's rather worrying, actually.

And wait until Shun sees the chicken... the dick chicken.]

Yep... welcome to Illumina. Hope you left normality elsewhere, because this place doesn't have a lot of it. [En yawns] I'd think we'd know if it was an attack or punishment but... If... something here needs us? Like summoned us with magic for a mission?

... Wombat...

[revolutionfalcon]

Illumina. [He says it to himself, as if committing the name to memory, and then inclines his head. It's more information than he came into this conversation with, at least, and it'll give him something to think about.

He does side-eye the sloth a bit at that last little murmur, though. If he still had proper eyebrows to raise, rest assured he'd be raising them.]

What are you talking about?

[Seriously, to him that sounded like the most complete non-sequitur ever spouted.]