//------------------------------// // Twenty Fourth Move // Story: A New World - A New Game // by V-Oblivion //------------------------------// Twenty Fourth Move Game Stars Somewhere The quartz flashed images from Earth to Tlaloque as if itself was a quartz as well, not moving an inch away of them, assimilating all the information they displayed. The future. The present. The past. All dancing before the cloaked form. “To think so much creation could come from such violent creatures,” it said calmly, not referring to the Pokemon. “Even when their lives are a mere breath, they do nothing but war with one another over the smallest of things. Social status, beliefs, fate, jealousy, love, peace...” The creature kept quiet for a few seconds, only to erupt into a chuckle which quickly escalated into a sonorous yet somehow emotionless laughter. “To think there is a creature capable of waging war in the name of love and peace!” Tlaloque exclaimed sarcastically, an emotion still unknown to it, yet one it was growing fund of. “They will be of good use for us.” At this words the pillars stopped as Tlaloque began to look for something among its robes, a small gem. “But right now, somepony else is needed.” The hooded one then proceeded to infuse some magic into the gem, waiting for the spell to work. And then. “What is it?” said a more lively voice from the glowing gem. “I’m kind of busy right now, so I hope this is worth it.” “You know I always make it worth it for you,” it answered. There was a silence for a second, then the gem replied. “Well but if it isn’t mister ‘ex-lakey’ itself. Tell me, what can I do for one of my most annoying clients?” “There is something I need you to retrieve,” replied Tlaloque once again, not seeming to mind in the slightest the tone and words the gem was using. “Really… of all the things I can do, and undo, you want me to play courier for you?” “At first,” admitted Tlaloque. “And what can you possibly offer me to make it interesting besides the usual pay?” the gem asked once more. “A place among my servants,” replied the immortal. “Uh-huh…” said the voice from the gem, not too convinced. “Not to mention you could snatch said thing from none other than Daring Do…” “Why didn’t you say this was a treasure hunt in the first place?” the gem interrupted with a sarcastic tone. “Seriously, if there isn’t something worthy of my time, I am leaving!” “And her bodyguards.” “... goodbye!” “Pokemon bodyguards,” clarified Tlaloque. Las Pegasus Some shady alley. “Now that’s more like it,” said a white Unicorn levitating a green gem close to his head while turning his back to a bunch of thugs from varied races, Pokemon included. “Okay, enough is enough!” exclaimed one of the mentioned, a beefy looking Earth Pony. “You have used more than the minute you asked for, now you better give us those chips or else you ain’t leaving this alley!” “... I’ll call you back,” the Unicorn said to the gem with an annoyed tone as he looked back at the Pony. “I agreed to come because you’re staff members, so why do have I to surrender my chips to you?” “Look pal, nothing personal, but you arrive and leave table after table clean, so either you had help or you had help,” explained the thug, sort of. “Now hand over your bag, and don’t even try to call upon you Pokemon pals you hear me!” “First, I won these chips fair and square, is not my fault I know how to properly play.” The Unicorn began. “And second, what makes you think I have anyone, let alone Pokemon, assisting me?” The thugs didn’t mind the first part, it was something they were used to hear, but they really weren’t expecting the second half. “Well… there was this bunch of Pokemons who used some mental tricks to get their way around, it wasn’t long before other folks began to copy the trick. Now if you’re telling the truth, then we own you an apology.” The expression of the thugs, however, was not of regret. On the contrary, they seemed more at ease and far more menacing knowing now that they knew there were no overpowered creatures backing up their prey. “We’re sorry for calling you a Poke-pal, now give us those chips!” commanded the head thug. “I presume we can’t talk this out in a civilized manner, can we?” asked the Unicorn with little emotion, almost as if he was facing a trivial matter. “As you can see, I’m sort of in the middle of something right now.” “That depends of you, pal,” joked one of the thugs, an even beefier Minotaur, as they began to close the distance between themselves and the Unicorn. “Have it your way then,” calmly replied the Unicorn stallion as he looked at his aggressors with little contempt while adding “But don’t blame me for what comes next, I am in a hurry after all.” Las Pegasus Train Station A couple of hours later. “You all sure took your sweet time,” saluted Edge to her comrades as they arrived with a relieved look on their faces. “By Arceus’ grace! That was the longest time I’ve ever had to be still!” shouted Simon as he stretched his chubby body. “We are all grateful that is finally over,” commented Rouge as she keep a vine around Pancha’s waist, as the Wrestler Pokemon was even more eager to run free than her teammates. “Por favor! You simply can’t ask me to stay put any more than what I’ve already been through!” demanded Pancha. “And look at this place! It looks so awesome!!” she added while pointing at the magical neon lights shining all over the city. The group quickly noticing how similar the place was to Black City. “I overheard a Pony or two saying this place was a sort of gambler’s paradise,” began Weiss. “A place where one can let their vices break loose and kill your morals in the process, or so they said.” “A city where degeneration rules all night and day long…” added Char with a philosophical tone. “Sounds like our kind of city to me!” shouted Simon, causing a chuckling agreement from his comrades. “As fascinating as all of this is,” interrupted Daring as she too stretched her wings, “We have more important things to worry about; not to mention I’d prefer NOT having to pay off your debts before we can go see this guy.” “So job first, get hammered despues?” asked Pancha with shining eyes. “If we have the time,” the explorer said, after all, no trip to Las Pegasus was worth it without visiting any of its inviting Hells. “Sounds fair to me,” commented Weiss as he turned to his tactician. “Any luck finding little Vincent so far?” “Negative,” replied the Metagross with his usual monotone. “It seems he and his family are still traveling.” “Well, so much for having a place to sleep for free,” replied the leader. “Worry not!” commanded Daring with a smile. “There are hotels a-plenty in this place, but no first class this time, I don’t have discounts over here after all.” “As long the beds are clean, I don’t see any problem with that,” mentioned Valerie while carrying a sleep Sunkern, some of the mercenaries to make a ‘don’t count on it’ look behind her. “We’d better get going,” Gold stated as he propped Roa up; who also was a bit sleepy as well, a good thing considering the larger amount of Equuslings roaming around in comparison with Manehatten. “I agree, dear we are leaving!” Rouge said and shouted as she gently pulled on her vine in an effort to recall her friend from a nearby magazine stand. “This place is as feo as back home…” Pancha said to herself as she scanned the headlines of a newspaper, before she felt the tug on her waist and properly ran after her friends. “Hey, wait for me!” Meanwhile the shopkeeper gave her and her group an odd look as he pick his merchandize up to call it a night, starting with the same paper the Wrestling Pokemon had seen, which read Violence Alley: staff workers from local casino left on the verge of death, Pokemon thought to be responsible, foals discretion is advised. Pictures on pages 12 to 14. Las Pegasus Next day The team was lucky to find a rather decent place with enough room for them, however, their funds began to run low because of this. “I really need to start considering sending some of you guys back to the empire,” Weiss rationalized as he followed Daring on the now dull looking city’s streets. “The pirate’s money is running low yet we keep growing, at this peace we will have financial troubles in just a week.” “You can always sell off your gear,” calmly replied the mare. The former human was about to complain, but then he gave her idea some thought. Most of the knives he had gotten from his time with the air pirates were pretty useless, since most of them were over-accessorized and thus fairly impractical for his style of combat. “We could also ask for the empire for some lana,” proposed Pancha. “Out of the question!” said Weiss, Char, Rouge and Xavier at the same time. “Not only have we barely reached a week and are already at the verge of being broke,” began Weiss. “Which by itself gives us a bad enough reputation to cause doubt in our abilities,” Char continued. “But we agreed to go and serve Miss Do first, so we are technically not part of the Empire, at least not officially,” Rouge added as she tapped her white hat. “Not to mention there is the part when we assaulted the Princess of this land in her own bedchambers,” finished Xavier. “... You know Xavier, it sounds a lot more aggressive when you say it that way,” Weiss stated defensively before adding, “Doesn’t ‘express midnight visit’ sounds more proper?” “That is a fat lie and you know it,” scolded Daring from the front of the group. “Of course it’s a lie!” replied Weiss. “But at least it makes me feel better.” The explorer simply let out a tired sigh. “Why am I starting to hear those excuses as regular things?” she wonder herself before changing the topic. “Either way, if you bunch still want to get rid of some of your stuff to make some bits, now’s the time.” Then she pointed at a building at the other side of the street. “We’re here.” Their destination was anything but spectacular, its plain exterior contrasting with the flamboyance of the rest of the city. Truth be told, Las Pegasus was rather dull during the day, but the buildings still had the magic lights hanging on them, waiting for the lively night time. This one, however, did not. It was a simple, cream colored shop without any visible windows and a simple sign which said “Gems and Crystals Pawn Shop.” “This is it?” asked Simon with disbelief. “Esta horrible,” added Pancha. “Really guys?” asked Daring back. “You lot of all creatures should know not to be fooled by appearances.” “Point taken,” replied Char with a chuckle as they walked into the shop, which had a door and ceiling tall enough for all of them to walk comfortably inside, apparently so the other tallest races of Equus could buy and sell freely. The place was filled with customers, showcases and items of all kinds and all over it. The staff was ease to recognize, they all wear a simple black polo shirt with the same logo from outside. But by far what caught everyone’s attention was the sheer amount of items the place had at display. Antiques, rarenessess, toys, weapons. Anything a treasure hunter would love to sell was most likely there already. “Okay, this is quite the merchandise.” Admitted Weiss as he give some items a quick look. “Just don’t break anything okay.” Half joked Daring. “I am going to see the owner, you can come if you want. The rest wait here…” she said Weiss and went to talk with some shopkeeper. Meanwhile, the mercs received some odd looks from the shop’s security team, not that such a thing was new for them though. “There are a lot of things here,” admitted Simon as he keep his claws behind his back while looking at some of the nearby showcases which had a collection of expensive looking rings on display. “Indeed…” agreed Char as he did the same with his claws, and then he remembered. “Rouge, would you mind keeping her under check.” “Already on it dear,” replied the Roserade as she kept two vines on Pancha’s waist and claws while keeping the Hawlucha a good meter away from any of the merchandise. “Oh por favor!” exclaimed the now restrained one. “I only broke one thing!” “True, but said thing happened to be a museum’s major exposition!” Rogue kindly remind her. “... It wasn’t my fault the damn thing looked like a seat.” Back with Daring, the explorer had managed to ask for the shop’s owner and was now waiting for him. “I’ll warn you guys now,” she said to Weiss and Xavier, “This guy is quite… eccentric.” Weiss calmly chuckled, “It won’t be the first time we have deal with such characters. They love to look as mysterious and elegant as possible.” Daring didn’t said a thing and merely looked at the Bisharp while trying to hold her laugh. “I won’t spoil it, you’ll get it once he comes.” Shortly afterwards, a stallion arrived. He looked rather simple; a black polo shirt as the rest of the staff, a chubby yet muscular body with a semi buried treasure chest for a cutie marc, a closely shaven head and a short goatee to match. Even when not an average Earth Pony, this stallion could easily be lost as a face in a crowd, all the more shocking for Weiss when he introduced himself. “You were looking for the owner right?” the stallion said with a strong but friendly tone. “So what can I do for you?” “Hi Rich,” saluted Daring as she removed her tattered pith helmet and offered the owner a hoof. “Do! What brings you here?” the stallion now called Rich asked as he took the hoof in a brotherly way. “And who are your friends?” he asked while looking at the Pokemon. “They work for me,” Daring stated with pride. “For now,” clarified Xavier. “The big angry one is Xavier and the skinny black one is Weiss,” Daring stated as she introduced the two to the store-owner. “You two, this is Rich History, the most unlikely source of historical information on the continent.” “If I don’t know it, I’ll find someone who does,” said Rich as he offered a hoof an added n a joking manner. “And then will claim the info as mine.” Weiss and Rich have a quick hand/hoof shake while Xavier simply nodded, then the mercenary leader said. “Okay, it’s one thing is to create suspense and quite another to lie,” he began. “This guy seems pretty normal to me… no offence.” “None taken,” replied Rich with a chuckle and a smile. “These sort of things are normal when she’s around anyway.” Daring, on her end, didn’t say a thing as she simply waited for what she knew was going to happen. It didn’t take very long. Suddenly a couple of other Ponies’ appeared behind Rich. Neither of them seemed to be members of the shop, they seemed more like reporters and they kept quite close to the owner. One held a camera and the other a note pad. “And that is?” asked Weiss with a slight bit of confusion. “Just ignore them, they’re just doing their job,” Rich calmly replied, not minding much about the duo who was properly writing down anything he did or said and taking pictures of them. “Okaaaay… Daring, explain,” the former human commanded while pulling up the neck of his coat, not feeling to comfortable of having pictures of him been taken repeatedly. “It’s an stuff of his,” Daring obliged while pointing at the Rich. “He records most of his day and then sends it to the local news, then they edit and publish it. And before you said anything about how crazy it sounds, I’ve been there, I must said it’s actually quite popular.” “With over 500 visitors per day, and an estimated 10 of them bringing in something extremely rare, there was no way this could fail!” Rich proudly said with yet another of his laugh. “Our boasting charisma helps too,” said a chubby and tattooed Unicorn employee as he passed by. “Shut up Chum!” Rich immediately exclaimed. To Weiss it sounded like how he usually spoke to his team. “Please excuse him, loves to be in the spotlight. So what can I do for you?” “I wanted to trade some of my stuff in exchange of a favor,” Daring said, finally returning to her serious tone while also eyeing the camera colt. “In private of course.” “I can’t publish stuff if you don’t want me to,” Rich said with a polite tone. “But you have to at least let me publish what you have to show. I mean, it’s not everyday when one has the chance to look at items held by the famous Daring Do.” “So I can refuse too?” asked Weiss as he blocked the camera from the lent. “If that is what you want… but is a shame, I haven’t had a chance to make deals with Pokemon yet,” Rich admitted. “I’m really looking forward to having some publicity with these creatures, bad rep or not. It’s a whole new market waiting to be exploited and the first one who seals a deal will be the one with the biggest profits.” “... did he have to suddenly go to the back with them?” inquired Xavier. “I warned you didn't I?” was all explanation Daring gave with a chuckle. “But enough chit chat, let’s do business okay?” “Very well then,” the smiling Pony said as he trotted behind a counter. “So, what have you brought today?” What followed was a rather simple exchange of items and information about them, most information however came from Rich, who for the mercenary's credit did know his business very well. He recognised most, if not all, of Daring’s treasures with ease, while also sporting some info about them. “This jade idol is roughly 400 years old but the empire that inspired its design was from over 1000 years ago, so I’m afraid this a hoax. A very well-made and jewel-encrusted antique hoax, but a hoax none the less. Don’t take me wrong, this is still very valuable. I only need to call a friend of mine to know exactly how much. I say that with the proper time and wording, I can get a pretty good deal out of it.” Luckily, it was enough to get the information they were after. “Okay folks, take twenty,” Rich said to the ‘paparazzi’ Ponies as they moved to a section in the back of the store, away from peering ears and eyes. “So what info do you need know?” “We’re looking for Tlaloque,” Daring said, cutting to the case. “You’re really after that… thing?” asked Rich with surprise. “He only appears whenever he feels like it and does stuff so crazy it would leave even Ahuizotl ashamed.” “So it’s a ‘he’ then?” asked Weiss with curiosity. “Beats me, but I feel more comfortable calling it a he.” Explained Rich. “We ran into him right in the middle of yet another of his schemes, and it seems to have become a bit more bold nowadays,” Daring continued. “I’ve caught word that it wanted to do some sort of sacrifice ritual.” “The whole event in Griffonheim?” asked Rich with little surprise. “I heard a thing or two, but it’s not strange to reach such conclusion, I mean, Thirst and her despicable kind come from there after all.” “Thirst?” Xavier asked. “An old raven-like Griffon witch that I’ve ran into a couple of times; she uses a very ancient and forbidden form of dark magic and we’re not exactly on good terms,” Daring explained and continued to talk with Rich. “Tlaloque seemed very intent on having a coup as bloody as possible, so I would prefer to lose my time chasing after it instead of letting it get its way.” Rich remained silent for a few seconds, finally he said. “I’ll have to look at a few books and make a few calls to ask some old favors to see what I can get. Just give me a few minutes and I will be right back with you.” “No offense, but how can we trust in this information?” Weiss cut in. “I see where you are coming, son,” calmly chuckled back Rich. “... son?” “But I can’t let anyone get to know my sources, or else I’ll be out of the business. Daring can come with me though, so she can come to her own conclusions.” And with nothing else to say he left. “Pretty smooth,” said Daring as she gave Weiss a smack on the head. “Need I remind you that I have worked with him before?” “Well excuse me but I’m not from this world, remember?” replied Weiss, who seemed to have not felt her hoof in the slightest. “And it’s not like I don’t trust him. I just don’t trust anyone.” “He hasn’t lied so far,” Xavier added, “so there is no reason to doubt him.” “Oh yeah,” said Daring, “for a moment back there I thought you will grow tired of this and read his mind.” “It’s wiser to keep the heads of potential sources of information intact and friendly,” calmly replied the Metagross. “Besides, that would be an abuse of my abilities.” “Since when do you worry about abusing?” Asked Weiss with comical disbelieve. “You said it yourself, this isn’t our world,” explained Xavier. “So far I have felt little to no mental resistances from most Equuslings. If we are to give Pokemon a good name, we need to respect those we are importing with our presence.” “You sound very deep about this,” Weiss admitted. “I’ve had six years to think on the subject,” Xavier replied. “Well, thank you for that,” added Daring. “It’s good to know a cold-blooded mercenary can get to worry for others.” And so she followed after Rich. “... was that supposed to be a compliment?” asked the Iron Leg Pokemon. “Just say ‘thank you’ and nod, Xavier.” Weiss answered with a chuckle. Rich seemed to take longer than expected, so Weiss took the opportunity to get rid of some of his less useful knives. For his surprise, most of them had a very good value. Some of them seemed to be from old armies and historical stuff alike, which translated in good money. Not to mention the jewels encrusted in them. If only they were on better shape, and the owner’s son wasn’t so petty, Weiss would have gotten an even better deal out of them. In the end, Weiss still made a good deal. It wasn't a big amount of money what he got, but it was enough to last for about month. As long they didn’t had to pay for any major destruction. He could have gotten a bit more out of if it wasn't for the books Weiss had bought as well. “And why will that be of any good for us?” asked Char as he gave one of the books a glance. It didn’t seem that special. “It’s a magic book,” Weiss replied. “Like most stuff in this world,” dryly added Char. “What does this one does, tells you where you left?” Weiss chuckled as he explained. “These are special. You see, I write something here,” he made a small annotation on one of the pages, “And then that appears over there,” the same words appeared on the same page in the other book. “... I am not a snob.” Calmly replied Char. “Yes you are,” Weiss joked back. “I’ll send one of these to the Empire so we’ll be able to communicate a bit faster. But first...” As he said this, Weiss cut a couple of pages from one book and gave them to the Scizor. “Keep one of these and share the rest with the team. We might find ourselves in a situation where Xavier can’t keep us linked.” “That is very resourceful…” admitted Char as he folded one of the pages. “I wonder why such an item isn’t more valued?” “It’s mostly a trinket since mail is so trustworthy and all.” Theorized the leader. Char simply smiled at the thought and then began to share the rest of the pages. “So how’d it go?” asked Weiss as he saw Daring walking back towards him. “Are you bunch done?” she quickly inquired. “If you’re not then hurry up and finish, because we’re leaving.” Weiss didn’t say a thing as he simply gave Xavier a thought, then the Mercenaries stop what they were doing. “What’s the rush?” Simon asked, as he was the first one to follow behind Do. “One of the informants said that Tlaloque’s new approach to things isn’t that new,” she replied as she walked out the pawn shop, not waiting for everyone else as she suspected Xavier would keep them informed. For a second, she had to admit that she had found the Steel-type to be quite useful. “There are some reports of him wanting to do something bloody. Increasing conflicts in some places and stuff like that, but it doesn’t seem to be after any sort of power in particular. Like support or a country.” “And how does that work exactly?” asked Gold from within the mental link. “Last time I spied on someone, power was still something everyone was after.” “Whatever whatever power its after, it’s not going to find it in however the conflicts end, but in the conflict itself,” continued Daring. “Not to mention there are reports of it collecting relics from all over the globe.” “That is a rather known modus operandi in our world actually,” said Xavier. “Many corporations and countries have monstrous gains from the conflicts of others; trust me, we know about that.” “Not to mention some of said relics could be the same as the ones on our world,” Rouge added, a massive flower-like device flashed in the mercenaries’ memories at her commentary. “So he’s looking for forgotten weapons as well.” Weiss said, starting to speed up. “But I still don’t know what the sudden rush is about.” “There are some old ruins not far from here, some say it has some important relics lost within it since no one has ever been able to enter them. Some sort of magical seal or barrier. Trust me, I tried to explore them once.” “And those are important por que?” asked Pancha. “There’s a certain Pony who works for Tlaloque occasionally,” Daring continued without slowing down and confusing the team with the unexpected mention of an underling. “And last night, he left for those very same ruins.”