[Pokémon] A Smell of Petroleum Pervades Throughout

[Cutlerine]

> Since you're safe within the borders of the town, let's go looting!

You're briefly distracted by the thought that there might be shiny things in some of the houses around here, but then you return to the matter at hand. You're a bit busy trying to get the key to saving the world to go looting right now.

Freaking klepto.

> Point out that Ghost-types were once humans as well

“Weren't you human once too?” you ask. “Don't you remember what it's like for us?”

I think you're mistaking us for regular ghosts, the Gengar replies. I hatched from an Egg in Sprout Tower. I have never been a mortal.

Oh yeah. How could you have forgotten that?

> Though this may not affect a ghost type point out that since the events has risen the stacks, so to speak, it's not longer fainting it's dying for everyone even him he's powerful but what if a pack of dark types come along what will happen to their haven than?

“You could still die, you know,” you say. “Even like this. What if – uh – what if a pack of Honchkrow came here? Or some hunting Weavile?”

The Gengar says nothing, but molecularly disassembles a house in front of your eyes.

You are really not all that certain that it's possible for anything to successfully attack this thing.

> Try pointing out that if you aren't able to fix whatever is wrong then everything will be stuck in a loop, repeating itself every time you die. (at least I think that's how the 'game' works)

You consider pointing out that if you don't save the world, everything will repeat every time you die – but then you realise that that isn't true. If that was how it worked, Falkner would have no idea what to tell you to do, and no recollection of your past incarnations. No, it seems that only a few things reset when you die – essentially, all the stuff in New Bark Town, you'd guess.

> Perhaps talk about Morty. This is his Gengar, after all - mustn't they have had some form of bond? Try to convince the Gengar that the companionship between humans and Pokémon is worth preserving, worth bringing back.

You think and think, and look around for ideas; your eyes fall on the remnants of Morty, face-down on the flagstones, and you pause.

“Morty,” you say softly.

What?

“Morty,” you repeat. “Don't you miss him?”

The Gengar does not reply.

“Maybe if I can fix things, I can bring him back,” you suggest. “Or perhaps at least give other people a chance to do as he did. To make friends.”

I do not miss Morty, replies the Gengar at length. Not any more.

“But you did once?” you persist.

Yes. The Gengar's voice is frank and emotionless. For seven hours after the Dreaming began. It pauses. He caught me in Sprout Tower, it says after a while. I was a Gastly.

“He was your friend,” you say.

No. Not then. There is no friendship between man and Ghost – not naturally. It took time.

“So he was your friend,” you tell it, but the Gengar is no longer listening; it's rambling on by itself, heedless of your presence.

We spent long years scrying. He wanted me to teach him to see the future. He wanted to see himself and Ho-oh... he wanted to restore Ecruteak to its old glory. Then, continues the Gengar, came Eusine.

Eusine. You remember him: the man who spent his entire life chasing after, and getting comprehensively beaten up by, the legendary Pokémon Suicune. He was perhaps the most persistent – and the most frequently hospitalised – stalker in Johtonian history.

Morty helped him all he could. He devoted years to him, at the expense of his own work. The Gengar's voice seems to have softened by just the tiniest amount. I watched. I helped. I did not understand. I had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years in me, but Morty had just seventy. How could he afford to waste so much of his short life on the dreams of others?

It sighs. A slow, sad breeze whistles in the empty streets.

It took years for me to understand, it says. The human mind. Compassion. Altruism. It makes so little sense from my point of view. But at length, I understood – and I, too...

It breaks off, and suddenly, impossibly, it begins to snow: fat, fluffy flakes drift down from the black sky and sink like burrowing worms into the ground.

Ah, says the Gengar, as if from a great distance. Ah, me... Those awful eyes blink once, slowly, and a black wind whisks the last of the falling snow from sight. All right, it says quietly. I will show you what I know.

“Thank you,” you say fervently. You're not wholly sure how it worked – the Gengar's mind is less human than you're used to, and its workings aren't entirely clear to you – but it has worked, and that's really all that matters.

Dream, commands the Gengar. Dream.

The wild Gengar used Hypnosis!

Othodox fell asleep!

---

You are under the sea again, drifting in the emerald deeps. There is the same current as before, dragging you slowly down inch by inexorable inch, and the same total, unshakeable silence.

Minutes pass, or perhaps hours. The water darkens so gradually as to be imperceptible except over extended periods of time; green fades to blue fades to indigo and, at last, to black. Fish appear, every once in a while: white flashes of scything jaws and unearthly phosphorescence.

And now you are deeper than the fish, and there is a strange light growing beneath you.

You look down. You would rather not – in fact, you couldn't do it if it were up to your own will – but this is not your dream, this is Morty's, and at this point Morty looks down.

There are buildings beneath you – vast, Cyclopean halls wrought of stone not to be found in any earthly mine; terrible houses whose architecture conforms to no human geometry; towering, outsize temples whose black windows seem to leer at you like the eyes of demons. The doors are choked with weed and crusts of black coral have spread across the surface of the masonry – but the corners of the stones are still sharp, unnaturally so given their obvious antiquity, and as you drift closer you see that there are still carvings to be seen on many of the buildings, carvings that fill you with a nameless dread and dreams no mortal has ever dared to dream before.

And in those streets, those immeasurably vast roads of fluted stone, something stirs.

Morty screams, and, even though the horror is filtered through his consciousness and diluted before it reaches you, you scream with him.

You could accept it all – accept the strange architecture, accept the evil windows and the horrendous carvings, accept the unnatural stone and the inhuman scale – but you cannot accept the creatures in the street.

Frog-like, fish-like, ridged of back and slimy of skin; their eyes start permanently from their sockets, and their necks palpitate continually with the rush of water through their gills; pale gold hangs from their wrists and ankles, and they croak and bay as they see you, kicking through the water at astonishing speed—

You wake.

For a long moment, all you can do is breathe – breathe, without the water dragging at your lungs, without the fear of the blasphemous amphibian things flapping and kicking beneath you – and then, by slow degrees, your wits return.

You sit up, and look around. Everything is just as it was before you fell asleep; the Gengar stares down from above, the Gym is ruined and Morty lies crumpled before you.

Go to Olivine, the Gengar says impassively. I see only a little more than I have shown you in the dream, and all it says is that there is someone alive there. Someone who knows about the dead city of unnatural dreams.

“Th-thank you,” you say, finally finding your voice again. “So much.”

I did not do it for you, the Gengar replies. I did it for her.

“Her?”

The fire.

What? Vesta?

“This?” You hold her out.

Yes. The Gengar's eyes close, slowly. She does not understand, not yet. But perhaps one day you will make her see, as Morty made me... I do what I do for her.

The last traces of white disappear in the dark, and you stand alone and cold amidst the wreck of the Gym.

Well, not entirely alone. There's someone else, after all. Someone you're beginning to think might be more important than you'd thought.

sss, says Vesta happily, flaring up from her embers again. allgonebaddeadcoldgone...

“Yeah,” you mutter, still looking up at the sky. “All gone...”

> I think you should go to the dance theatre and see if the Kimono Girls are still alive. If so, they may be able to help since they always seemed to have an exceptionally strong bond with Pokemon. Might be wise to check out the legendary towers too, Tabiti might have possessed Ho-oh; how helpful would that be if it'd join you?

Since you're here, you might as well check the towers out. You walk north, but on seeing it decide not to enter the Burned Tower; it's being a bit weird, and flickering in and out of existence like the glow of a faulty lightbulb. You aren't sure what would happen if you were inside it when it vanishes, but you're not especially keen to put it to the test.

As for the other tower... You look out across the sea of trees, but can't see it beyond the black dome. You're not sure if it's OK or not, but the door of the gatehouse leading to the Bellchime Trail is bolted shut. Perhaps you could get in if you had a mind to, but you'd need to be more determined than you are now.

Returning to the southern end of town, you glance into the theatre and very quickly back out again. You've had more than enough gore for today with the whole Mr. Pokémon under the TV incident, thank you, and seeing the decomposing corpses of the Kimono girls hanging like puppets from the rafters is not conducive to a good night's sleep. Not that you're likely to get that tonight, anyway – not with these dreams.

Speaking of which, you're not sure what time it is, but you're very hungry. You haven't eaten since last night.

[Lopnis]

Search for food for your and Vesta ghosts have no real need for the stuff so check the pokemart there's a good chance there's some jerky or something left on rotted or stolen. Also try talking to Vesta see if she knows anything.

ooc/I just want to say, that I love the traces of Lovecraft Horror and creatures in your work, it really ties the whole Eldritch end of the world thing together for me. I can't wait to see where this goes, as long as we can keep Othodox long enough to see

[Daydream]

Are there not some meaty scraps left from the Hambone? Eat those, if so.

[StinkomanFan]

Loot the Pokecenter as well... and FINALLY figure out what's underneath Nurse Joy's desk.

[Cutlerine]

> Are there not some meaty scraps left from the Hambone? Eat those, if so.

You nom on the Delicious Meat Bits. Hot or cold, served with vegetables or as a meal in itself, a Hambone makes a delicious snack any time of the day.

That's you sorted. What about Vesta?

> Search for food for your and Vesta ghosts have no real need for the stuff so check the pokemart there's a good chance there's some jerky or something left on rotted or stolen. Also try talking to Vesta see if she knows anything.
>Loot the Pokecenter as well... and FINALLY figure out what's underneath Nurse Joy's desk.

The Pokémon Mart is mostly empty – perhaps there was a struggle when the Ghosts seized the town, and they needed Potions to heal themselves or something – but there is an old wooden crate full of unfilled glass Potion bottles behind the counter, and a splintered plank of that does Vesta just fine.

That done, you head over to the Pokémon Centre, where a little rooting around under the desk turns up a couple of interesting items.

Othodox found a Jar of Fish Eggs! Othodox put the Jar of Fish Eggs in the Ammo Pocket.

Othodox found a Broken Knife! Othodox put the Broken Knife in the Key Items Pocket.

The knife is mostly handle; the blade's snapped off about an inch down its length. The Jar of Fish Eggs, however, is completely intact, and looks like it would form an excellent meatwell for the Portable Spratchery. Which you haven't investigated yet, despite it having the most bizarre name of any single thing you've encountered so far.

Some people have no sense of curiosity.

In fact, so incurious are you that even now you fail to investigate it, choosing instead to talk to your Jar of Sentient Fire. I mean, her babbling speech has started to get a little more coherent of late, but still. Gah. The Narrator is wasted on you.

“Hello, Vesta,” you begin.

sss...vesssta? she queries.

“That's you,” you tell her. “That's your name.”

name? namenamesswhatname? She does not appear to understand the concept.

“You,” you say. “You're Vesta.”

vessta... She mulls it over. vesstanamenamevesta... me?

“You,” you confirm. “You're Vesta.”

vesssta...

You're not certain how long she could keep this up, but it's probably considerably longer than your patience will stretch.

OOC: Yes, Lopnis, I'm a big Lovecraft fan. This story was started as I finished my deliciously shiny volume of his complete works, hence the influence. However, there is significantly more Lovecraft in here than dreams of the Deep Ones and my gratuitous use of the words 'eldritch' and 'Cyclopean': if Othodox can find the answers, there is plenty more cosmic horror to be uncovered.

[Lopnis]

Okay I sence the narrator us to examine the Portable Spratchery, from the subtle clues he gave and maybe that pip detector what if we need to detect pips later? also I think we should try combining the poison needle with the broken knife see if we could make some sort of weapon

[Daydream]

Combining knife and needle sounds like an excellent idea. Definitely do that. Also, if there's nothing left to do in Ecruteak, I suggest we head off to Olivine quickly.

[StinkomanFan]

Don't forget to feed Vesta! Get some firewood from some old, broken houses

[TheTimetraveler.]

Check your inventory. Might find stuff you can combine.

[Cutlerine]

> Don't forget to feed Vesta! Get some firewood from some old, broken houses

You haven't forgotten to feed Vesta. In fact, you just did that. But you collect up the rest of the broken crate anyway, and put it in your Bag to give her later, when she gets hungry. Well, she's always hungry, but... you know what I mean.

Othodox found some Splintery Planks! Othodox put the Splintery Planks in the Fuel Pocket.

>Check your inventory. Might find stuff you can combine.

Inventory:
Adamantine Spider Silk x7
Badly Cracked Dangerous Makeshift Knife x1
Beauteous Ring x1
Berry x1
Bloodstained Mail x1
Broken Knife x1
Bulging Wallet x1
Decayed Potion x1
Delicious Meat Bits x2
Elm's Key x1
Flowery Wreath x1
Glass Shards x5
Green Apricorn x1
Half a Cup of Cold Coffee x1
Half a Roll of Gaffer Tape x1
Hambone x1
Hyper Potion x2
Jar of Fish Eggs x1
Jar of Sentient Fire x1
Lava Cookie x7
Lithium Batteries x4
Long-Range Scanner Attachment x1
Machine for Predicting the Number of Pips in an Unopened Orange x1
Machine Pistol Magazine x6
Miracle Seed x1
My First Tri-Beam Laser GunTM x1
Mysterious Note x1
Novelty Giraffe Shoe x1
Poisonous Needle x1
Poké Ball x1
Portable Spratchery x1
Potion x2
Powerless Tablet Computer x1
Rare Bone x1
Rocks x12
Sealed Box of Dustox Powder x1
Shiny Stone x1
Splintery Planks x5
Stale Baguette x1
Stylish Dress x1
Togepi Egg Shard x3
Weird Shrivelled Thing x1

> Okay I sence the narrator us to examine the Portable Spratchery, from the subtle clues he gave and maybe that pip detector what if we need to detect pips later? also I think we should try combining the poison needle with the broken knife see if we could make some sort of weapon

The Portable Spratchery looks a bit like a blunderbuss revolver, if such a thing existed – it consists of a flared barrel as thick as your forearm, connected to a revolving six-chambered drum the size of a small cat. There's a stock and trigger, like your average everyday blunderbuss, but there are also a bewildering array of LEDs flashing intermittently on its flanks.

Thankfully, there are also instructions.

Hey! So you've purchased a Portable Spratchery. Congratulations! You've taken the first step on your way to total culinary independence.

Before we go any further, there is one thing you must absolutely take care to do before starting up your Spratchery for the first time, and that is

Here, unfortunately, the instructions appear to have become mired in blood, and you have to skip a few sentences.

at the first sign of sentience. Now, on to the actual operation!

The Spratchery can contain the full genetic code of any one species of fish at a time. By default, this is set to be that of the sprat, but you can purchase and download different species from our e-shop at www.fishspawn.jto/spratchery/buy. The other component it requires to function is ammunition, and for this any organic material will suffice, as long as you have enough of it. (Please note that vegetable material will be required in greater quantities to produce the same effects as animal.) Simply fill one or more of the barrels, take aim at a suitable spot (we suggest a pond, if only to prevent your fish being tenderised on impact) and fire!

The Portable Spratchery. Never be without fresh fish again!

Right. Why did Mr. Pokémon have this, exactly? And how on earth does it not constitute cruelty to animals? You can't answer either of these questions, but it seems like you'll be able to generate an almost endless quantity of food with this thing, provided you can find enough stuff to load it with.
The Machine for Predicting the Number of Pips in an Unopened Orange requires no explanation. A beautiful crystalline lens projects from its burnished bronze side on a little arm; you place an orange under that and a set of brass numerals revolve into place to tell you how many pips are in the subject under examination.

You weep for a little while over its exquisite beauty, then put it away and jam the Broken Knife into the base of the Poisonous Needle. It's a little wobbly, so you finish up the roll of Gaffer Tape in securing it further.

Othodox crafted one Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing! Othodox put the Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing in the Weapons Pocket.

Aw, yeah.

> Combining knife and needle sounds like an excellent idea. Definitely do that. Also, if there's nothing left to do in Ecruteak, I suggest we head off to Olivine quickly.

You leave Ecruteak with no small measure of relief; it's really not a nice place now that it's been filled with Ghosts and stuff. Just beyond the gatehouse to the west, you encounter the edge of the black dome, and emerge into a darkness scarcely less total: it seems to be quite late at night.

Huh. What Pokémon do you find on Route 38 at night?

Rattata. Meowth. Spinarak. Magnemite. Miltank. Tauros.

Tauros.

Tauros are mostly diurnal, you recall, but if you run into one, you really do want it to be in the light rather than the dark. And that rule, by the way, applies to regular Tauros.

An Eldritch Tauros is an entirely different matter.

You take the Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing out of your Bag and hold it at the ready. Eldritch or not, you're willing to bet that no Pokémon's going to enjoy an outsize Twineedle in the skull.

There are, as ever, three paths here. The high road, the low road, and the overgrown road.

You aren't, however, certain which one would be best to take.

[Daydream]

At first glance, the overgrown seems like the least sensible option. However, if the Eldritch Pokémon are used to stalking unwary trainers on the others the overgrown road might be best, and it may provide some cover for hiding. So use that one.

[Lopnis]

Three roads diverged into the horrorfying unknown and I, I took the one less traveled by.

Take the overgrown path if it's overgrown that means less traffic has been moving through it crushing down or eating vegetation. Plus load the Portable Spatchery before we forget it again.

[chaoticlapras]

Watch in wonder as the magical voice in your head known as ChaoticLapras sprinkles cooked porkchops and planks of wood around you. Pick all up. Go to overgrown path. Sit down. Spawn 1000000 fish. Try to sleep, let Vesta out to protect you. Sing lullabys till the day is over then fall asleep.

[Cutlerine]

> Watch in wonder as the magical voice in your head known as ChaoticLapras sprinkles cooked porkchops and planks of wood around you. Pick all up. Go to overgrown path. Sit down. Spawn 1000000 fish. Try to sleep, let Vesta out to protect you. Sing lullabys till the day is over then fall asleep.

Abruptly, it begins to rain pork and wood all around you; this does not strike you as odd, because the Spratchery is currently fountaining fish from its barrel like there's no tomorrow, and the sun is dancing a beautiful little waltz with the moon, only it's still night-time so you can't actually see the sun. But you know it's there.

You laugh maniacally and begin singing lullabies until you fall asleep on your feet; at this point, you discover you've just been revolving slowly on the spot for the past five minutes, in the grip of an exceptionally vivid hallucination.

That was either a mild bout of lunacy or a good acid trip. Based on everything that's happened so far, you're going to have to reluctantly say it must have been the former.

> Three roads diverged into the horrorfying unknown and I, I took the one less traveled by.
Take the overgrown path if it's overgrown that means less traffic has been moving through it crushing down or eating vegetation. Plus load the Portable Spatchery before we forget it again.
> At first glance, the overgrown seems like the least sensible option. However, if the Eldritch Pokémon are used to stalking unwary trainers on the others the overgrown road might be best, and it may provide some cover for hiding. So use that one.

You pop a wicked Frost quote that Vesta totally fails to get and decide to take the northernmost path, the overgrown one. While all three were pretty much equal in terms of Trainer quantity before the 'Dreaming', as the Gengar called it, happened, previous experience has shown that the tall grass is actually the safest place to be nowadays. Unlike in houses, on roads and other supposedly safe havens, you've never been attacked there – and besides, the grass is almost totally undisturbed; Eldritch Pokémon are much bigger than their regular counterparts, you've noticed, and you'd definitely see signs of their passage if they'd taken that route.

Before you start moving, you empty the Jar of Fish Eggs into one of the chambers of the Portable Spratchery's drum and click it into place. A bulb lights up red on the stock, then changes to green: it's ready to fire. Any time you need half a kilo of Sprattus sprattus, you just pull that trigger.

That done, you put it back in your Bag (somehow) and, taking up the Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing once more, set off down the overgrown path.

The tall grass is cold and silent as ever – like the waters above that ghastly city, you think with a shiver. The city that you need to investigate.

Actually, you've been thinking about that – about who it is that might know about the city. You're imagining it will be one of the sailors, but there are also a fair few gentlemen there, and they often seem to travel around the world. Plus, they all seem to be about sixty, so they've had time to learn about these things.

Your musings are interrupted by a steep hill that requires more than usual effort to ascend; reaching the top, you can see the road leads down to Olivine in the south, although the city isn't visible in the dark, and that a sturdy fence separates you from the MooMoo Farm to the west.

To the south is the road to Olivine.

To the west is the MooMoo Farm.

[Lopnis]

As much as I'd like to see what the 'dreaming's affects on domesticated pokemon like Miltanks are I'd rather we not deal with Eldritch Rollouts, let's head south to Olivine.

[chaoticlapras]

Go to the farm, throw hambone in to see if safe inside. If safe go inside, if not, worship tabiti(or whatever called) and go in anyway. Ooc: loving the hallucinating pork

[Cutlerine]

> As much as I'd like to see what the 'dreaming's affects on domesticated pokemon like Miltanks are I'd rather we not deal with Eldritch Rollouts, let's head south to Olivine.
> Go to the farm, throw hambone in to see if safe inside. If safe go inside, if not, worship tabiti(or whatever called) and go in anyway.

You take a few steps down the road, then, thinking better of it, turn back and head for the Farm. Wait. No, let's go to Olivine.

Or maybe you should go to the Farm?

Damn it, you're so indecisive!

[Daydream]

There may be looting afoot! Go to the farm.

[Lopnis]

And my reason falls to the majority,Okay let's go to the farm, but kept your weapon in hand at all times also look for a stick Vesta could light to make a new torch

[Cutlerine]

> And my reason falls to the majority,Okay let's go to the farm, but kept your weapon in hand at all times also look for a stick Vesta could light to make a new torch

You're about to go right past the Farm when it occurs to you that there might be nice shiny things to steal in there. Or, failing that, perhaps some expired milk. You've taken so much stuff that by this point either prospect seems equally exciting, and you resolve to investigate. Quietly, though, in case of cows.

Vesta in one hand and Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing in the other, you creep through the gates and over to the farmhouse. There is a field to the south, but you suspect it's probably either empty or full of Eldritch Miltank. Either way, it doesn't seem worth visiting.

Inside the farmhouse it is dark – very, very dark. Even with Vesta, it is almost pitch black; you can't see anything apart from the foot immediately around your left hand, where the jar is.

Hm. It's dark. It's text-based.

You wonder how likely it is that you are going to be eaten by a grue.

You search around for something to set on fire to make a torch, but it's a bit hard in the dark.

Hm. Onwards, then... with caution.

No sooner have you decided this than you smash your shins into a heavy chair and almost fall over; after that, you back up, feel your way out of the door again and get a stick from the woods to the north. Once that's set on fire, you head back to the farmhouse and at last feel like you can see what you're doing.

A quick search turns up a few odds and ends.

Othodox found some MooMoo Milks! Othodox put the MooMoo Milks in the Medicines Pocket.

Othodox found one Bovine Horn! Othodox put the Bovine Horn in the Curiosities Pocket.

Othodox found one Human Ear! Othodox—

Aaaagh!

You take a few steps back, calm yourself, and approach again. OK... there's no sign of the rest of the body. Just an ear. You have a look around – even looking in the cupboards again – but... nope. Nothing.

The ear itself isn't rotten at all – in fact, it's still faintly pink. Someone – or something – removed it from its owner very, very recently.

You can't help thinking that this investigation has taken a somewhat ominous turn.

However, no sooner has this thought come into your head than you drop it, excited by the prospect of going to loot the byre. Your fear still, however, makes you cautious, and so you press your ear (the one on your head, not the one on the floor) against the door that leads into the cowshed. You hear rustling straw, the clink of something hard on stone, and heavy, laboured breathing.

There is something through there.

Something that may or may not remove people's ears.

Spooky Flaming Torch is 12% burned out.

[Daydream]

It could be an injured ear-less farmer, however! Go investigate.

[sepser]

Use the radar to determine how many pokemon are in the area. Then make up a plan about how to proceed. (On I side note I really like what you are doing. Not only is it a good concept but it the execution is fantastic.)

[Lopnis]

Well at least it wasn't a grue, Now be very careful if you're going into that cowshed be ready to strike, Also remember the fresh Moo Moo Milk and contemplate how it could be fresh without preservatives,unless it was milked within the week.

[Cutlerine]

> It could be an injured ear-less farmer, however! Go investigate.

Well, it could. But why would the farmer have gone to ground in the byre, when the house would be more easily defended? Does this imply some horrid monster in the house? There's certainly no sign of it.

The lack of sleep and that hallucination have started to weaken your mind, which arguably wasn't all that firm to begin with; you're beginning to scare yourself quite badly with these thoughts.

> Well at least it wasn't a grue, Now be very careful if you're going into that cowshed be ready to strike, Also remember the fresh Moo Moo Milk and contemplate how it could be fresh without preservatives,unless it was milked within the week.

It might still be fresh in the same way all these Potions are still fresh. They go off after eighteen months, you know, and from Falkner's apparent change in age you know that it's been longer than that since this all began. In fact, a lot of stuff is peculiarly new-looking. The buildings. The furniture. The electrical grid and the water supply. Everything is perfect, as if everyone just walked out; there isn't even any dust.

Everything except that building with the Spinarak and the Weird Shrivelled Thing in it. That had definitely been rotting for years, and you still don't know why.

You're not sure what all this means, but you do realise that this strange suspension of time indicates another method by which the MooMoo Milk could be kept fresh without resorting to preservatives.

> Use the radar to determine how many pokemon are in the area. Then make up a plan about how to proceed. (On I side note I really like what you are doing. Not only is it a good concept but it the execution is fantastic.)

Oh yeah! That radar you were given at the start, and which the Narrator repeatedly hinted it might be a good idea to start using! That one that would've saved you from a ton of potentially lethal encounters if you'd just thought to use it!

Man, you are such a moron.

You flip open the Pokédex, which seems to be working all right again, and hit the Radar Mode button; however, before you can get to the results, the Narrator takes the opportunity to thank the voice in your head for his compliments. Bastard.

Etefien:

rpuosktlsfé(15)Cmiittonna!

oheetnnollffdunkiudal(14)ooh!

ucre(1)fftmondrerduuedntrso!

OK. Fifteen Pokémon around. You're guessing that the fourteen must be Miltank – this did used to be a Miltank ranch, after all. As for the one... well. You never saw it before, but it seems clear to you that the farmers must have bred their cattle somehow.

Which means they must have had a Tauros.

You take a deep breath, and inch open the door to the stables. The green firelight falls through the crack, and you see a hulking, shadowy shape amid the straw, its features indistinguishable save for—

Pleasedon'tbeaTaurospleasedon'tbeaTauros—

—a pair of curving horns, silhouetted clearly above the bulk of the body.

Aw, crap.

The shape shudders and rumbles, and for a heart-stopping moment you think it's noticed you – but then it rumbles again, and again, and you realise that it's snoring. The monster's asleep.

Well, it is three in the morning. You probably should have expected that.

You ponder what to do next. You've solved the mystery of what was making those noises, but you're not sure if you should actually venture all the way into the byre. You are, you're coming to realise, close to the point of total exhaustion, very dehydrated and possibly slightly insane. (Or possibly completely insane, if this whole thing is actually one huge delusion – a possibility you still haven't dismissed yet.) This might prove to have unfortunate consequences.

Othodox's behaviour may become erratic and differ substantially from his commands if his Hunger, Wounds, Thirst or Fatigue are allowed to rise too high.

Spooky Torch is 14% burned out.

[sepser]

Make a fireplace around the Tauros. Then pour Vesta out over it! Proceed to jump around it manically while chanting and praying to your god. There is nothing to worry about. Of course the Tauros is not going to wake up before Vesta is finished with it, and if any of the Miltank come in Tabiti will protect you because of your devotion.

Or you could do the other thing and kill it with your Hideously Dangerous Stabby Thing, just a quick stroke to the throat. After all even the Eldritch pokemon need oxygen. Right? Then proceed to take out its meat and you can have a feast tonight. After that you go steal the treasure.