Thread: PMD: True Strength - Start Up

Matthew heard the Scorpion Queen's impatience and, being fairly bored with waiting for the others himself, decided to run after her.

"Oh, hi," the Scorpion Queen greeted him. "Cave," she added, pointing out the obvious with her paw. "Are the others coming or not?"

"Maybe someday," Matthew joked, sighing.

"Hmm, well I'm bored. If anyone's coming, they can. Let's go check out this place while we wait," she said, and entered the cave. It was dark, and for some reason it was a little cooler than outside, which was confusing. This thing would normally be leading to the magma or something! It shouldn't have been any cooler than outside, but it was.
The Scorpion Queen's eyes could not adjust to the dark, which meant there was no light whatsoever. She had to rely fully on hearing and touch and smell. Great...
As they went through the darkness, a voice echoed through the cave. It was a nice voice, but its tone was perfectly serious, and the source was unknown. "Who are you?"

Dylan had shadowed Mathew into the cave with the Scorpion Queen. When he had heard the voice he stepped back out of instinct, immediately turning his body so he could run away at a moments notice. "Uh, j-just visitors. W-we don't mean any harm or anything..." he said sort of softly, but the cave seemed to amplify his voice.

"You sound awfully nervous for 'just visitors,'" the voice said.
"We're adventurers!..." the Scorpion Queen said. "On an adventure!" It had somehow sounded better in her head. "To collect Plates and stop Arceus!"
"Hmm? I do sense the presence of a plate..."
Behind them was the defined black outline of Max at the light-filled entrance to the cave. He had just arrived, and of course he carried the Fist Plate in his bag. He didn't know what this voice was, and he didn't like not knowing things. He decided not to spontaneously attack in case something like Rose's case happened, though, as he has learned his lesson. "That's right! And now that you know who we are, who are you?!"
"...You seem trustworthy," the voice said after a long pause. "You must be the ones I have been waiting for." A dim Flash lit up the cave. The place was grey, rocky, and they were in a small, circular cavern with a somewhat narrow tunnel leading outside that they had come through. There in the center of the Flash's light was a small, light grey pokemon. He was floating in midair and had some sort of yellow helmet/hair as well as two tails with a red, ovular gem in each. His eyes were closed. "I am Uxie, the being of knowledge. I know that you all have many questions, but for the sake of your quest, I can only give you some of the answers... You are all destined to awaken Arceus, and I am destined to help you in this quest... ask away..."

Harlo asks the first question.

"Uxie! Through word of mouth, I always thought you resided in Fogbound Lake when the Time Gears used to be scattered across the land. Why are you here in Mt. Magma?"

Matthew was dumbfounded at the sight of a legendary Pokemon such as Uxie, but after a few moments, he asked a question:

"If you are the legendary Pokemon Uxie, could you be responsible for the altered memory of some of the Pokemon in our group including myself? In my previous life, I heard that you had the power to alter memory, so it would make sense. No disrespect intended, of course."

"It is true that I am known as a part of the 'Lake Trio' and that I would normally guard Fogbound Lake. However, I am needed here at this moment. I was to see that nobody passed through this place but you. Others are currently taking over my duties at Fogbound," Uxie replied to Harlo, then looked at Matthew. "No, I do not have anything to do with your memories' loss..."
"Why are your eyes closed? Are they injured?" Rose asked.
"No, they are not injured, but if I opened them, you would all forget your own very identities and existences, let alone how to move and breath, resulting in all of you suffocating to death right before me. Of course I have other ways of erasing memories in smaller portions, as the Nidoran suggested."
"O-oh..." Rose trembled a little at the vivid picture that had formed in her head before smiling again in her creepy fashion.
"Why have we turned into pokemon?" the Scorpion Queen thought they'd better get to questions that would have useful answers.
"I cannot tell you everything, but... There is a simple law to the worlds. Yes, plural, 'worlds.' Each world can only contain its own type of inhabitants, or the balance of everything could collapse. There is a world where humans and pokemon live together. There is a world with only humans. In fact there are infinite worlds with many different inhabitants. Then there is this world, which only contains pokemon. Those of you who transformed started in a different world, but you have gotten into this one, and due to the laws, you cannot exist here as humans. Therefore you turned into pokemon, and your memories were twisted to fit this place, although the changing of your memories was less successful than the change to your bodies. You may experience similar experiences to when you were human, triggering certain limited memories to come back, though they will be suppressed and you will have trouble thinking about them because this very world tries to convince you otherwise... In fact, if you were to re-obtain your original memories completely ((OOC: Which by the way I am not allowing)), you would upset the balance of all worlds and perhaps erase your own existence and the existence of everyone whom you knew or your life affected completely from the timeline."
"Oh geez," the Scorpion Queen muttered. That was a lot to take in. "Wait... So how did we get here?"
"That, I cannot tell you. You may find out in time, but telling you would add to your memories and contribute to the imbalance... Which there is already a minor imbalance that would be best not to add to."
Willow finally got a chance to speak up. "Is there a way to cure Rose of the curse...?"
Uxie sighed deeply. "Yes, there are few ways to end Darkrai's curse over Rose. One, to kill Rose... Two, to completely obliterate Darkrai so that he is no longer existent... Three, to have Darkrai willingly remove the curse... Four, to change her into a form that would not have been affected by the curse if it had been cast upon her in that form."

Harlo looks at the Fist Plate Uxie is holding.

"Please tell me you have the other 15 Plates or know where they all are."

OOC: Uxie isn't holding any Plates... Max has the Fist Plate in his bag, though. There are no currently visible Plates right now.

"Other than the one the Riolu carries? There is only one here, the Flame Plate. The rest are scattered. You- some of you, the ones who came from the guild- should know two more locations, but the rest you must find on your own. You must be brave. It will not be easy or simple..."
"Where's the Plate?!" the Scorpion Queen demanded. It came out more harshly than she intended, but Uxie's wonderful, motivational speeches were filling her with the strong inspiration to panic and she felt like hurrying.
Uxie drifted to the side, revealing a tunnel that was previously not visible behind him. It was pretty narrow and hot and pitch black, as Uxie's Flash didn't reach very far through it. The Scorpion Queen, who was slightly claustrophobic and hated navigating in the dark and found hot places very irritating, immediately wriggled through. She could only just fit through well enough to pull herself forward as she went. It's amazing what fears you can overcome when you are panicking about a bigger one.
A minute later, her voice came through the narrow tunnel as a ghostly echo. "Hey! It's really dark in here, but it's this little tiny room- don't all come rushing in at once or we'll get stuck- and I need someone to come help me out. There's only one thing in the middle of the room and I assume it's the Flame Plate, 'cause it's burning hot and I can hardly touch it. So hopefully a fire type or rock type or someone like that who's small enough to fit through the tunnel. I'll burn myself doing it alone..."
"What a hasty child," Uxie murmured to himself with a sigh.
"I could if nobody else wants to," Rose volunteered, "Though I might not be the best one for the job overall..."

Talon walked into the room. He had followed the crew into the cave and had watched the conversation. He burst into the room. "Maybe Plasmina can help. Should I go get her?"

OOC: Yeah, since they're taking too long, let's say Jake is okay now and everyone is free to go into the cave.

"Sure," the Scorpion Queen said. "Just make sure she stays in her normal form the whole time because I think most of the other ones are too big to fit in here, and if she tries to transform from in here, she'll destroy the place and cause a collapse. But yeah. Send her in."

Dylan was in awe by the Uxie in front of him. Woah. Never in my life would I have believed I would see a legendary... He shook his head, trying to clear his mind from all of the thoughts reeling in it. Come on, focus. You have to ask him something. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity... After a bit of thought, he decided upon a simple question. "So, just to get this straight, some of these Pokemon WERE actually humans? And humans existed or do exist in some alternate timeframe?"

"You wait 'till now to tell us you didn't believe us this whole time?" the Scorpion Queen's voice echoed with a hint of annoyance.
"Yes, some of the pokemon here were humans when they were in their own worlds... I would not say 'timeframe' so much as... dimensions would be the best way to word it," Uxie said to Dylan, ignoring the Zorua in the wall. "As I said, some of their memories are twisted to fit their new forms in this new world, but what they say is the truth."