[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]“Ai-Ai, noooooo!” Concern cracked into laughter before she could finish feigning it. She had the sense to restrain herself to giggles soon after, so that her mockery couldn’t send her sliding off the edge as well. “Sorry, sorry. Don’t worry, I’m sure if happens to everybody. Hey, I bet the melee classes have better footing!” One of those had to excuse his fall, she hoped.

Special passive or not, Annie managed to make her way across the puzzle, albeit not without difficulty. A pattern of jumping, slipping, scrambling for balance and letting out a sigh of relief carried her across the room. When the gunslinger scaled the ladder, he would find her waiting with a sympathetic smile. “We both survived, and now that you’ve fallen over you can’t back out! Never let yourself get beaten by inanimate objects!” Especially if it was a Honedge. Its time would come.

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]In the real world, Annie had learned to embrace the raging sands. They were just another form of weather, albeit a harsh one, that the right Pokemon could manipulate to reach unparalleled potential. None of the classes in the game made use of a sandstorm, however, so it just sucked. Not only did the winds run an annoyingly consistent vibration through her body, but it made it hard to see who her next threat was – or where they would could from. Her armour’s protection didn’t make up for the lack of vision, but she couldn’t call herself a warrior if she let that scare her. Instead, she pressed on, trusting in her blade and a few new tricks to keep her alive.

Soon enough, it paid off for her. A mage hid behind a rock, waiting for easy pickings to pass by. The winds had covered her footsteps; the sands they carried, her figure. Good thing too, because the smirk she had on might not have gone down well. Nearby, another foe- no, a friend. Annie offered little more than a nod, a silent understanding of their shared goal.

Running up to strike him would have taken too long, with too many footsteps for him to hear… So she left her sword unsheathed, bent her knees and blitzed through the air. Accelerock granted her a sudden burst of speed in one straight shot, carrying her to meet the boy shoulder-first. Gavin would have to wait his turn to slice him up.

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]The blade was mocking her. She saw its piercing eye when she closed hers, sneering at her in a way only a single eye on a sword could. Well, not more! A stern-faced Ultimeite approached the sword yet again, refusing to learn her lesson. “I claim this blade in the name of the samurai!” With her declaration made, Annie made one more attempt to free the Honedge.

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]
Annie didn’t feel like she was making any progress. Probably because she wasn’t, as long as she was alone. The masked man’s words went unheeded, and between grunts she offered her retort. “I’ll have you know that my heart muscles are on another level!” She realised too late that that didn’t sound healthy, but whatever! They had other things to worry about.

Kazimir and his Pokemon inched the Wailord closer to safety (try as she might, Pocky may as well have been moral support). Fins splashed more and more water; it was either excited to be back in the water or desperate to speed up the process. The Dynamic Punch served as one last budge, enough to let the formerly-beached beast take control of its life again. After spending so long barely moving it, the ease with which the sea beast swam was almost a mockery to them.

Annie let it slide, knowing that she would be in a hurry to move too if she’d spent the day paralysed. Their new friend was smart enough to understand that its pain had a purpose, and overjoyed that it had paid off. Their reward was Wailord song – low tones that would be heard all across the beach, praising the party’s efforts.

A half-soaked junior hero rested her hands on her knees, ragged breaths interrupting her words. If not for the workout, she would have covered her ears; fortunately, the volume strayed just shy of damaging them. “You too, big dude! You have a great time diving out there. Maybe try not to get so close to land again, alright?” Even Amp offered a wave and a call as the Wailord turned to leave.

“I’d say that that was a job well done…! And a lesson learned for me: Bring more pushing Pokemon next time. You planned pretty well for this.”

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]The avatar knitted her brow, a light touch of confusion showing itself on her face. It was a testament to both the game’s graphics and Annie’s character creation that the character could hold such intricacies. “Well, we all start in the same area, and the main beats seem about the same. Walk from here to there, then try attacking these dummies. People start running off after they do this part, and then a mob spawns for them to beat up. After that they get a potion and go on their way.” She gestured to the two of them, directed to the same spot.

“I’ve been trying to figure this out for a while… But I’m pretty sure the quests don’t change all that much. So!” Her voice was injected with an extra bout of enthusiasm. Maybe that would convince the girl to give in, she thought. “If you tell me what your quests are, eventually you’ll get one that’s pretty close to mine, and I’ll be able to suss this out, get another message that I can actually see, and be on my way! Pretty simple, right?” The girl nodded to herself, quickly realising that she didn’t need the woman to confirm how clever her plan was.

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]A cheeky grin said what words would moments later: “Sure, sure… But there’s no way we’ll let it come to that! You look like somebody that likes keeping their pride intact! So we’ll just watch our backs, keep our weapons sharp an-“ She pointed her shield diagonally across her body, positioning it just in time to stop a flaming Darumaka’s efforts to knock her down. Had King’s Shield activated a moment sooner, she would’ve had a rough time.

“See how you like it!” In the absence of distance to cross, Accelerock granted its speed to her blade instead of her own body. Coated in jagged rocks, the katana-turned-mace was drawn back, only to rush into and meet the living fireball again. The super-effective hit was enough to send the thing flying. “…As I was saying. Give them hell.”

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]'Don’t cannonball into the hot spring. It’s a terrible idea. People will get hurt. Nobody will like you.'

The words echoed through her head as she charged towards the bath, her common sense in a desperate struggle with her compulsion to complicate every encounter. In the end, it’s unclear what winds out: logic, or the sight of familiar faces stopping her as she neared the jumping point. No doubt they would recognise her too – her face was unchanged, but her samurai armour had been swapped for a sleeveless cotton dress. To nobody’s surprise it was red, with a black strip at its base featuring a floral pattern.

“Oh! These are mixed? Well, I guess I can’t complain.” She dipped her foot in before either of them could correct her. It seemed that the game would save her the trouble of having to adjust to the temperate; a second’s worth of discomfort sped her through the process, and so she stepped in.

A relieved sigh escaped the girl as she strolled through. “I can’t remember the last time I went to a hot spring. …Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a hot spring! I’ll have to add that to my list.”

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"][player]https://www.mboxdrive.com/The%20Path%20of%20Justice%20%20CrossCode%20(Original%20Game%20Soundtrack).mp3[/player]
He’d brought a whole team to do the job. In hindsight, maybe she should have as well. The Pokemon she’d brought along were versatile, but her mega-boosted Ampharos aside, she doubted any of them would show the strength they’d need to get the Wailord back where it belonged. A lot was riding on one last shot.

“Thanks, Scrambles! Everybody else, let’s get ready for one big shove!” Team Pokkenger did the heavy lifting, as far as she was concerned. While her Pokemon strained itself to be the strongest, their cooperation, timing, eagerness to help one another… It was hard for her to ignore the hard work of her fellow trainer. If only it didn’t come at the cost of a behemoth being pummelled, but hey, its blubber would spare it a great deal of pain. As they prepared their attacks, so did Amp, the last of his Focus Blasts amassing between his arms.

Seeing a fifteen-metre beast being forced into the air was always an impressive sight, and even moreso with some assistance. As their target reached the peak of its (admittedly) small arc upwards, the fighting sphere shot forward to bolster their efforts. Having been spared the trouble of having to get off the ground, the Wailord gained the power of flight!

…Very temporary, uncontrollable flight still counted as flight, right?

The beached beast landed… back in the sand. Mostly. Its front end touched the sea, and kept touching it even as the waves drew in. The Pokemon flapped its flippers, trying to overcome the final hurdle alone. A futile effort, but they were so close that one final push could have let it swim once more.

The push couldn’t come from Amp. Evolution energy solidified and shattered off his body, dispersing his luscious mane and tale. Annie offered a hand on his back, knowing that he would be fine after a few breaths. “That was some great stuff, Amp! There’s no way we would’ve finished this today without you. I’m gonna go finish up, alright?”

She took his nod as his blessing and jogged off, beckoning for the team to follow. “Can’t believe we got that close… But now’s not the time to be grumpy about it!” Finally, it seemed, she deemed the task worthy of her hands. To nobody’s surprise, her pushing against the Wailord did absolutely nothing, but at least she was trying.

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]Annie, on the other hand, had appealed to her narcissism at every stage of character creation. It would take months, at least, for the woman to realise that Ultimeite was but a facsimile of the young trainer. “Not a problem, Bebe! You can call me Ultimeite!” The username hovered above her head as she spoke.

“In return, I’ll ask a favour of you! See, funny story. I’ve had this tutorial quest open for a while… And I can’t really see what the quest is. I think the message box’s stuck in a really awkward spot where I can’t drag it out.” Folded arms betrayed her frustration, however slight it might have been. “I just want to make sure I haven’t missed anything crucial – that’s why I’m back here… But I’ll need you to go through the quest and tell me what it says! I figure between the two of us, we can figure out how that translates for a warrior, right?”

template by kay

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]Just as the rogue had predicted, a poor sap took the bait. A girl in the corner of her vision might have been hidden, if Annie had truly been distracted. The ellipsis disappeared, but the only warning of her attack was a bend of her knees. Then-

“Ultimeeeeeite Greeting!” Accelerock propelled the girl off the ground, wild winds dispersed as she blitzed through the air. Her sword stayed sheathed as her body became the weapon, glowing white as she rammed shoulder-first into their would-be attacker.

template by kay

[attr="class","GROUPNAMEHERE"]

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","athread"]Fishing was the one art that had eluded Annie in real life. A lack of funds often stopped her from buying the right equipment, the idea of murdering her own meals made her queasy, she lacked the patience to sit still and catch a bite…

But most importantly, she kept trying to improve on a skill that had already been perfected.

Somewhere between trying to fish and raring for a fight, Annie had an epiphany. Why did fishing and fighting have to be separate? She had a weapon that could stab, and that was basically was a fishing rod, right? Her million-dollar idea took her to the water’s edge, crouching down so that she could angle her katana into the water. Perhaps unsurprisingly, no Pokemon nibbled on a blade breaching gentle waves, but several slammed into it as they tried to swim out to mind their own business.

Eventually, one would hit the sword the wrong way, lose a sliver of health, and start a fight to the death.

template by kay