The land remains, the land endures

[stormkingofshepherds]

Arrival, Part 1

Anyone walking out on Stardust Beach might be surprised to see someone new, a young man with brown hair lying facedown in the sand, groaning. A Carnivine hovers over him worriedly, drifting back and forth in what looks like the equivalent of pacing. Finally, he turns over, looking up at her.

"Ugh, Macy...where are we?"

"Vine..." She sounds just as confused as he is.

Arrival, Part 2

Meanwhile, Turnbloom Gym now has a young teen hanging around outside, face pressed against the glass as they observe the gym interior. They're holding a carved walking stick that seems way too tall for them. After a bit, they try to wave down a passerby.

"Hey! Do you know where we are? And have you seen my dad?"

(Responses will come from loudvoiceloudbabybird!)

Comments

moving in to merge!

[domeinion]

[The shadow of an Altaria flies over and begins to grow. If they look up, it's Alice on Altareon with a kid, starting to descend nearby.]

This looks like what you described! Oh, ulsai, Evie! Did we get it right?

Re: moving in to merge!

[radleyslittleevie]

"Oh," says Evie. "I wish everyone could get along!"

She looks up at the shadow, fascinated. "That looks so fun!"

1/2

[loudvoiceloudbabybird]

"Yeah, that's my dad!" says Brinda. Even from here they can recognize Macy, still hovering protectively over him. They're about to simply leap off before remembering they're in human form, trying to stay incognito, so instead they simply cup their hands around their mouth. "Dad! I'm up here!"

Nathaniel's head shoots up.

2/2

[stormkingofshepherds]

"That's a nice wish," says Nathaniel softly, before noticing the shadow. His head shoots up when he hears the yell.

"Brinda!" he calls. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, don't worry!" the teen calls back. "Alice here helped me find you!"

Alice might notice, as she gets closer, that despite the weary look in his eyes Nathaniel only looks to be in his early 20s, far too young to be the biological parent of a teen.

[domeinion]

Huh. Time travel? Magic age-ups? Maybe he contracted with a god and doesn't age. Alice is already coming up with too many hypotheses as Altareon descends to the sidewalk and lands with a "vui!"

"Good afternoon!" Alice hops off her Altaria, who loafs on the ground, and offers Brinda a hand off. "Glad we were able to find you quickly enough."

[radleyslittleevie]

"Hi!" Evie happily greets them.

[stormkingofshepherds]

Brinda is already halfway to hopping off, taking the offered hand more out of courtesy than because they acutally need it. They immediately rush into Nathaniel's arms for a hug, and he obliges.

"I'm so glad you're here, Dad! Is everyone else okay?"

"They are. And you have my walking stick?"

"Yeah! It ended up with me for some reason! Alice and Altareon helped me find you!"

Nathaniel looks up, nodding politely in their direction. "Thank you," he says softly. "I'm sure we'd have found each other eventually, but I'm glad to be reunited faster."

"Same!" agrees Brinda, nuzzling into Nathaniel's shoulder while making slight birdlike chirps.

[domeinion]

Alice seems completely unbothered by this, and Altareon and Hyperbug just kind of mind their own business. Alice bows in response to the thanks.

"It wasn't a problem! I'm just glad you both came here at the same time, considering how worried your child was. The stream doesn't always take a whole group in."

[radleyslittleevie]

Evie has no idea what they're talking about, but she goes on two legs and puts up her front paws cutely.

"I don't know what's happening, but I'm glad you found each other too!" she says.

[stormkingofshepherds]

"This is Brinda, my child. I didn't realize they'd been dragged here separately from me, or I'd have sent someone to look for them," explains Nathaniel. "And this is Evie. She helped me get my bearings when I woke up on that beach." He gestures to where a slight human-sized depression might still be slightly visible.

Brinda winces, knowing that it must have been tiring for Nathaniel to make his way over there, before double-taking at how the others are reacting to Evie's words.

"They can understand you?" the teen exclaims, looking back and forth between Evie, the humans, and the other Pokemon.

[domeinion]

"Evie is special," Alice says, with Hyperbug buzzing an affirmation. "Ever since she came here, everyone can understand her, even the ones who don't understand other Pokémon. Right?"

Altareon chirps in that way that sounds like she's imitating an Eevee and tilts her head. So Brinda understands them normally! There aren't a lot of people here who can. That's nice to know! (She questions absolutely nothing about this.)

[radleyslittleevie]

"That's wonderful you found each other now!" Evie says.

She wags her tail. "I love talking people talk! I wish I could keep talking like this when I go home! I wonder if Pokemon can learn to talk people talk...."

[stormkingofshepherds]

Brinda nods, as they finally pull away from the hug. "That'd be nice!" they agree. "It'd be so much easier if trainers could just understand their Pokemon."

"I know some Psychic-types can basically do that," notes Nathaniel. "And some Legendaries."

[domeinion]

Alice hums and taps her chin. "It is easier to understand what your own Pokémon are trying to say, isn't it? After all, you know each other well, or theoretically you should."

[radleyslittleevie]

"I'd love to meet them!" Evie exclaims. "Maybe they could teach me!"

She nods happily. "Radley seemed like he could understand me!"

[stormkingofshepherds]

Nathaniel nods. "Yeah, Macy's been with me the longest, and I'm pretty good at understanding what she wants to tell me."

"Most of the time it's that she wants you to get some rest," adds Brinda quietly. Macy nods in agreement, while Nathaniel's face flushes slightly.

[domeinion]

Hyperbug buzzes and waves one of his cannon legs, apparently finding this relatable. Alice adjusts her glasses with a self-conscious laugh.

"When you're working on something important, sleep does fall to the wayside... a lot. Especially once you're used to it."

[radleyslittleevie]

"I wonder if Radley works a lot," Evie says. "I would want him to get rest too!"

[stormkingofshepherds]

"W-well," Nathaniel stammers a bit. "We used to have a lot to do, you know. Things just started settling down, after all."

Macy lets out a soft "...vine," that lets them know this isn't the whole story.

[domeinion]

"Unfortunately," Alice says with a shake of her head, "this place isn't always settled down. Though things are generally peaceful, you'll still see a few strange things. At least it isn't dangerous yet."

[radleyslittleevie]

"Yeah, it does get kind of scary sometimes," Evie says. "But not too many times!"

[stormkingofshepherds]

"Well, that's a relief, I suppose," says Nathaniel.

"Scary how?" asks Brinda, head tilted curiously.

[domeinion]

Given this predates the Malamar incident, Alice looks brighter when she mulls this over.

"Nothing too dangerous has happened yet, but sometimes you'll find strange phenomena coming through a portal and then leaving after a day or two."

[radleyslittleevie]

"One time something happened making the Pokemon get really big!" Evie says. "I didn't want to be big, so I hid! I was afraid I'd hurt someone."

[stormkingofshepherds]

The mention of "Pokemon getting really big" actually gets him to freeze up for a moment. "And-you don't know what caused it? Did they change in any way other than growing larger?"