[attr="class","hoennstarconstellation"]ALEXEI IVANOV

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[attr="class","text-area"]There was a reason I answered that instead of the other choice I had in my mind, he thought to himself as he went through the portal.[break][break]

It felt… weird, to say the least. Like having one’s insides compressed for the margin of just a few seconds, before passing through who knew how many alternate worlds in the blink of an eye.[break][break]

“Ugh,” he grumbled once he’d managed to pop out in one piece—were his senses faking him out, or did he actually have his own physical form flattened to nothing thinner than a sheet of paper as he passed through what felt like an infinite number of universes before being returned back to his normal dimensions.[break][break]

(Shame it didn’t get rid of his cursed blood, but what the hell.)[break][break]

“Where…the fuck, am I,” he hissed as he righted himself and looked around. Shit, why was the place so dark—it took several minutes for his eyes to adjust.[break][break]

This… he clearly wasn’t above-ground anymore. Blinking several times, he then decided to get some illumination going—and sent out his Charizard, Ravana in a burst of red light.[break][break]

As the pseudo-draconid unfurled herself to full height (and offered more light to pierce the darkness) he saw… strange things.[break][break]

Mining carts? Abandoned tracks? Overturned lamps?[break][break]

Clearly this wasn’t any… wait… wait a second…[break][break]

His mind then flew back to the multitude of possibilities discussed with him by the djinni, so it was—possible, he couldn’t rule out the fact that this potentially may be another reality not too far from the one he knew.[break][break]

And so, they decided to take a walk, attempting to gain an understanding of just where the hell they were.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc-area"]#2: alphabet orienteering — tag1, tag2

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[attr="class","text-area"]Is there a way to the surface, even?[break][break]

He’d been walking around for some time now, sticking close to Ravana as she flexed her wings from time to time and intensified the heat of her tail-flame. What the hell was up with the darkness, why was it literally pressing down on his eyeballs? What was up?[break][break]

Maybe he wasn’t used to the darkness literally imprinting on him—but all manner of quiet exploration was shattered the moment he heard something roaring. Wait, roaring?![break][break]

“Oh, come on!” he hissed as he quickly whistled a sharp note, and the Charizard then got ready to take off, hunching down to allow him enough time to get onto her back before they took off.[break][break]

And then the roaring became louder.[break][break]

“Go, go!” he continued, slapping the neck of his Charizard as she took flight—at least the ceiling didn’t seem to be extremely low. In fact the darkness spread up above, and try as he might to squint, there was no making shit out.[break][break]

The pull of familiarity though… like the place felt like ‘home’ to him.[break][break]

(Despite his home being up in the open sky, the open world, the canopy of the forested trees that he called in his Fortree home.)[break][break]

The roaring noise grew in intensity, and the darkness was then pierced by a sudden heat haze—and the sight of a Pokémon he’d encountered exactly once before—when Zac Ramsay had tried to build that tower, which eventually ended up becoming a ramp to space instead, due to the wrath of what they’d accidentally summoned.[break][break]

“Der'mo,” he growled as a full-on Heatran unfurled themselves from the source of the heat haze, summoning vast pillars of flame and bellowing—the loud bellowing that shook the cave and caused the ceiling far above them to quake.[break][break]

At least the damned place wasn’t that dark anymore![break][break]

As more illumination provided light, there were more familiar details coming to light—shit, this had to be some twisted, warped iteration of Fortree—but instead of the open air and wind he came to associate with home, it was dark, dank, damp, and worst of all, musty.[break][break]

(As you expect from an underground cavern.)[break][break]

And why were there so many other Pokémon following after the Heatran? Had they summoned their minions?![break][break]

“Faster, faster!” he continued as an engulfing Lava Plume bloomed from the edges, sent airbornbe not just by the Heatran, but by several of their minions as well.[break][break]

The Charizard could only dodge so much, even if she was ‘immune’ to the flames—after ten minutes of back-and-forthing, he knew that the only way to make some progress was to either catch the damned thing or quell the flames.[break][break]

And thankfully, he had a lot of part-Water flying-types.[break][break]

Pulling out several containment units at random, five bursts of red light materialized into the silhouettes, then the forms of his Gyarados, Pelipper, Swanna, Flygon, and—[break][break]

“Zelle, get back here!” he shouted, quickly making a grab for the Phione as she attempted to make a bid for freedom; but was scared at the sudden wall of heat coming from the Heatran.[break][break]

“Mike, Cy, make it rain! Hera, follow right after with Hydro Pump! Mau, stay close to them—when you feel it’s safe, try to juggle with your Earth Power!”[break][break]

He was not going to risk anything else.[break][break]

Time to put out the fire, they said.[break][break]

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[break]
While all this was going on; torrential downpour caused by two instances of Rain Dance happening with Hydro Pump from the Gyarados and Earth Power from the Flygon, he wondered if it was going to be possible to catch—[break][break]

There was nothing else to it![break][break]

By now a vast majority of the minions had been driven back; only the Heatran remained, still bellowing as it continued to conjure up vast Storming pillars of Magma—[break][break]

“Don’t let up!” he shouted at the four that were doing their valiant best; while the Phione rode atop his head, hanging on for dear life and watching the madness unfurl below.[break][break]

It looked like the Heatran was weakening, so hoping for the best, he then plucked out an empty Pokéball at random, before attempting to lob it at the raging, bellowing… flaming spider and watching as the red beam attempted to suck in the beast in a flash of light.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc-area"]#1: strong pkmn, weak pkmn pt.1 — tag1, tag2

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[attr="class","text-area"]Unfortunately the Pokéball wouldn’t hold; incinerated after one measly attempt at shaking as wayward chunks of magma rendered it into ashes, then nothingness.[break][break]

“Der’mo!” he grumbled, snarling for a few moments before another loud roar sent shockwaves through the air, batting back all of his airborne Pokémon—had they even made a singular dent on the damned thing?![break][break]

Apparently not.[break][break]

At the same time that they were forced back, a chunk of something came hurtling dangerously close and almost hitting his face had the Phione not suddenly squirmed out and caught it with her thumbless limbs.[break][break]

“Zelle! What did you catch?!”[break][break]

“Phi!” was all she replied, dropping the chunk into his outstretched hand—it was…[break][break]

What kind of luck was this? It was very similar to the ones he already had—one for Idun, for Terra, for Gabriel, and that pilfered one from the secret bases being incinerated…[break][break]

But whose was this?![break][break]

Right then and there another flaming Storm of Magma came screaming towards the four fliers, and all reacted accordingly—Flygon swooping down low and attempting to throw off the Heatran’s concentration with a desperate Earth Power; while up in the air alternating shots of Hydro Pump from the Pelipper and Gyarados intermingled with the Swanna’s Bubble Beam valiantly wore on, still trying to wear down the mighty beast of magma.[break][break]

“Why is this not working?!” he hissed as another powerful heat haze drove all four attackers back. The color scheme of the marble didn’t match any of the—wait—[break][break]

[break]

“Hera!” he shouted as he tossed the marble her way—and for some weird, crazy, unbelievable coincidence—the Gyarados caught it with one of her tail fins.[break][break]

How—just how, Hera?! What even?![break][break]

“GO!”[break][break]

Without thinking, he pulled out the pair of dog tags and quite literally, wrapped his hand around them, where an oft-forgotten Key Stone was inlaid amongst the metal.[break][break]

At first, nothing happened. But then—[break][break]

A sudden explosion of bright light engulfed his angry, angry Gyarados—and once the light show was over; there she was. He knew it was still Hera; but at the same time she had also changed—[break][break]

“Hydro Pump!” he shouted, hoping for the best as he then urged Ravana to dart around—fly around the battle as the tempura powered-up Gyarados unleashed a powerful blast with the other Pokémon joining in as the Charizard flew around the edge of the battlefield and caught sight of something—[break][break]

Was that a—drum?[break][break]

Either way, it looked out of place, strange—and while the Heatran was distracted with the multitude of Pokémon flying around and attacking relentlessly, providing Alexei enough time to cover and grab the strange, out of place musical instrument—[break][break]

Soaring off, just as the final wave of water drove the Heatran back, and away.[break][break]

“Let’s go!” he shouted, and all the airborne Pokémon followed; glad to have survived that battle for the ages.[break][break]

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fiery drum acquired! used gyaradosite on hera the gyarados!

[attr="class","ooc-area"]#1: strong pkmn, weak pkmn pt.2 + #3: mega discovery — tag1, tag2

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[attr="class","text-area"]Still wandering in the underground version of Fortree—the part that hadn’t been consumed by molten lava, at least—he realized that there was something terribly off.[break][break]

Why was everyone he would see running away from him? It was like they—it was like they’d seen a ghost, even if he’d already tried to be his friendliest, yet everyone he would meet would put as much distance between him and themselves.[break][break]

…even someone he recognized to be a one-eyed version of Claire had flung a knife at him like she’d seen someone from the dead.[break][break]

“Wait!” he called out at her retreating form. She was probably still with Ethan, just like where he originally came from.[break][break]

He continued looking for answers, and it didn’t take too long for someone to finally, finally approach him and not fucking run away like everyone else.[break][break]

Although… the one who’d approached him…[break][break]

“A…Alex?”[break][break]

That voice made him stop, and his own blood run cold.[break][break]

Alexei didn’t turn around. He just had to make sure.[break][break]

Hopefully his ears weren’t deceiving him.[break][break]

“How… how are you… alive? Didn’t… didn’t you… didn’t you die, when you saved me…”[break][break]

Those words made him turn around.[break][break]

“M… Mattie…?” he choked out, covering his mouth with one hand at the sight of the other.[break][break]

“What… what happened down here?”

[attr="class","ooc-area"]#4: death stranding + #5: another pt.1 — tag1, tag2

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[attr="class","text-area"]That question alone was enough to throw the bluenette off, because how would he ever forget that scene burned into his subconscious (it still haunted him from time to time, especially on days when he was feeling particularly restless).[break][break]

“Wait. You’re…” he trailed off, before quickly grabbing Alexei’s arm and taking him somewhere private where they could talk.[break][break]

There was something that had clicked in his mind, and all the blonde could do was follow the other as he was led through the twists and turns of the underground version of home. His—their home.[break][break]

It was really confusing down here, at least—however fact of the matter was that when they started climbing upward, he realized something: was he going to get answers at last? The two then came to a heavy metal door, and after looking around to make sure they weren’t being followed, the bluenette threw his weight against the metal, where it creaked for a few moments.[break][break]

“Let me help,” he chipped in, and after a few minutes of maneuvering, the heavy door finally swung upward—upward? Wait, why upward?[break][break]

As the two climbed into the new ‘room’, it took a while for him to realize where they were—and then, it hit him.[break][break]

“I have no idea how much time has passed since we all fled underground. Coming back up here is hard. But… look for yourself,” the other urged him, tilting his head in the direction of what appeared to be a boarded-up window.[break][break]

“Matt, this… is this…”[break][break]

“The flat? What’s left of it anyway.”[break][break]

“What—happened out there?”[break][break]

“…you wouldn’t want to know.”[break][break]

However, curiosity killed the Purrloin, and so the blonde wandered to the boarded-up window to sneak a peek outside.[break][break]

He had to squint, but what little he could see was—he then turned around to face the other, faintly outlined in what little light was pouring into the room.[break][break]

Or was it like a fallout shelter at this point?[break][break]

“How… did everyone end up underground?”[break][break]

“Long story, but. I didn’t know you built that,” the bluenette gestured to the opening that led underground.[break][break]

“I… I built that?”[break][break]

“Most of this region’s blasted. Gone. Whatever cities are left are now all underground.”[break][break]

“…Mattie, are you telling me that we’re literally in the middle of Fallout Shelter, the game? Only instead of the game, it’s all real…?”[break][break]

That elicited a chuckle from the other. A dry one, if Alexei was being honest with himself.[break][break]

“…pretty much. Didn’t know that most of the League had left everyone out to die.”[break][break]

“Wait. What?!”

[attr="class","ooc-area"]#4: death stranding + #5: another pt.2 — tag1, tag2

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[attr="class","text-area"]It had taken some time for the blonde to get the story from the bluenette—about how the rifts caused by the breaking of ‘reality’ (otherwise known as contact with the Interdream Zone) had spun out of control, and how great many beasts came pouring out of them.[break][break]

Going off by the descriptions the bluenette gave, he recognized a couple of them (namely Balcephalon and Nihilego; how could one forget an exploding clown and a tentacle hentai monster that easily) and then there were also sightings of that big, rocket-shaped one that he knew (back in his world at least) that a certain ex-Gym Leader owned.[break][break]

And then there were the terrifying ones, the ones that had maws capable of destroying entire buildings in one instant; of the same… not the big, buff bugs too—just how many of them were there?[break][break]

And how were they able to overtake the world, drive everyone into hiding (but at the same time left a vast majority of people to die on the surface)?[break][break]

This was some next-level sci-fi fucked up shit…[break][break]

“So… yeah. I’ve been the one keeping everyone in underground Fortree together, ever since… you know… you did that.”[break][break]

“What… Mattie, what exactly did… what did… I do here? That ended up with me dead?”[break][break]

The look the bluenette gave him was distant.[break][break]

“Matt…?” he ventured quietly, before watching as the other reached for something that he hadn’t noticed until now, observing as the bluenette pulled out an object that made him stop quiet for a few moments.[break][break]

It was a purple-tipped green feather.[break][break]

“You… you gave me this. Before you went off and—Alex, look, it’s madness stepping out into the blasted world beyond here. Normally people don’t go out into the over world now, because everything’s supposedly safer underground, but supplies ran low, and—Alex, we were cornered by one of those things!”[break][break]

“Which one?”[break][break]

“The—the big one!” the bluenette gestured, waving out his arms as far as he could. “The building-eater! That one came after us, they love eating humans! That’s why everyone’s all underground now and terrified of coming back up here… but you saved me from that one!”[break][break]

The name eluded Alexei at the moment, but the fact of the matter was that it was the one with the big, gaping mouth that could destroy buildings in a single chomp, he had his suspicions which one the other was referring to.[break][break]

“And… and you flew away… you flew away. You flew away. Just—”[break][break]

Wait. Wait, wait, wait a second, hold up.[break][break]

“Mattie. What do you mean, ‘I flew away’?”[break][break]

“You—you just did!”[break][break]

It was too much to hope. Far, far too much to hope.[break][break]

“Are you telling me I—”[break][break]

“The wind. That wind. That was the last I ever saw of you that time. You said. You promised me you’d come back. But… you didn’t.”[break][break]

The implications—[break][break]

Did he actually succeed? Well, the version of himself in this Arceus-forsaken wasteland, at least? Succeeded with communing with one of the three djinni from home?

[attr="class","ooc-area"]#4: death stranding + #5: another pt.3 — tag1, tag2

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[attr="class","text-area"]“You never break your promises, Alex. Never. It’s just this one time that—” the bluenette began to ramble, before he cut the other man off by engulfing him in a hug.[break][break]

“Matt… I… I may not be the same Alex from this world, but… I’m sorry for what happened to you. For… all this. For leaving you like that,” he muttered quietly, so quietly it was almost a whisper.[break][break]

“I may not have the words you may be looking for, but… I can’t stay here,” he continued, throat dry. “People freaked out when they saw me, you know. Hell, Claire chucked a fucking knife at me. Has she always been one-eyed though?”[break][break]

“Pft, don’t remind me, she’s always been a bitter little shit ever since Ethan died—”[break][break]

Oh.[break][break]

“Ethan too?”[break][break]

“Yeah.”[break][break]

They couldn’t just catch a break out here, could they?[break][break]

Alexei then got an idea. A crazy one, but it was still an idea nonetheless.[break][break]

Rummaging around in his pockets, he searched until he found what he was looking for—pulling it out by the extremely tacky Wooloo keychain it dangled from, he then bade the other to hold out his open hand.[break][break]

[break]

“That’s a familiar sight. How’s Will?”[break][break]

“Being an idiot, as usual,” he replied without blinking, before the barest hint of a smile crossed the blonde’s face. Some things never did change across universes, after all.[break][break]

“Here. Take it. I know it may not be much, but if this place is what I think it is, then that door over there,” Alexei gestured, pointing to one of two within the room, “…this key should open that door. I should know, because that’s your room.”[break][break]

“I can’t—”[break][break]

“Matt. I insist. Take it. It… it’s the least I can do. After… after what my other self did out here. Left you alone… broke his promise to you…”[break][break]

“You know I can’t—”[break][break]

“Mattis,” Alexei continued, and that made the bluenette go quiet.[break][break]

“You never call me that.”[break][break]

“I don’t. That’s when you know I’m being dead serious when I say it. You can have it. And, again… I’m sorry… if I was such a reckless idiot.”[break][break]

Another hug exchanged between the two.[break][break]

“I can’t stay here, you know this… everyone’s freaked out at the sight of me, because they know I’m dead. If you can… keep everyone alive as long as you can. I… I don’t know if you two can meet again, but… there’s that.”[break][break]

Before his own reckless bravado faded, he reached over and ruffled the bluenette’s hair fondly.[break][break]

“Hey,” the other said, the shadow of a smile crossing his tired features.[break][break]

“Look. Don’t have the dead version of me haunt you later in your dreams, don’t do anything too stupid because I know you, okay? Just. Do what you can for everyone, as long as you can. I’m sure he’ll… forgive you for taking a while to join him. Wherever he is.”[break][break]

For once, the bluenette smiled. A weary one, but it was there.[break][break]

“I’m sure that he loves you so much.”[break][break]

One final kiss on the forehead, for good luck.[break][break]

“I know it’s not from your Alex, but… yeah. I… have to go now.”

[attr="class","ooc-area"]#4: death stranding + #5: another pt.4 — tag1, tag2