[Pokémon] A Smell of Petroleum Pervades Throughout

[Raquira]

Hide in the pond. i'd like to see thatbeast catchwater on fire! There might even be a pokemon in there to use as a meatshield against the beast.

[Ragnia]

Save your gam-I mean life, yeah that's it...life. If something bad happens and you end up dead, you need a place to start back up from, right?

[Adin Terim]

Check out the fruit-bearing tree and go loot the Lonesome House

[Khawill]

Collect exactly 67 rocks to throw at the cyndaquil just in case. (No more, no less)

[Cutlerine]

> Hide in the pond. i'd like to see thatbeast catchwater on fire! There might even be a pokemon in there to use as a meatshield against the beast.

You look at the pond. It looks wet in there, and if you hide in it you too will probably become wet. This will be neither comfortable nor good for your Stylish Dress (to say nothing of your Flowery Wreath), and unless there's actually something around for you to hide from, you'd rather not go that far.

> Collect exactly 67 rocks to throw at the cyndaquil just in case. (No more, no less)

You try, you really do, but you can only find twelve.

Othodox found some Rocks! Othodox put the Rocks in the Items of Geological Interest Pocket.

> Save your gam-I mean life, yeah that's it...life. If something bad happens and you end up dead, you need a place to start back up from, right?

Error: code 92, invalid command. For further assistance, including a list of some common commands, type /help.

> Check out the fruit-bearing tree and go loot the Lonesome House

The tree contains one Berry, which confuses you because you thought they'd gone extinct and been replaced with Apricorn trees. Putting this comparatively trivial issue to one side, you enter the Lonesome House and are only mildly surprised to find it completely empty. Not just of people, mind – that wouldn't be surprising at all – but of everything else, too. It has four walls and a floor, and that's it: every single article of furniture, decoration and miscellaneous rubbish has been meticulously removed.

Someone has been here before, and they were either a God of Looting or certifiably insane.

[Raquira]

Go and find this God Of Looting, and beg to be his apprentice. he is one to look up to.

[Adin Terim]

Become a God of Looting, you are probably insane anyway ... Try and take the walls.

You should probably leave the Lonesome House and go up the path next to pond.

[Khawill]

Carve into a tree or sign "Food this way" and make sure it is pointing the opposite way you are going, maybe cyndaquil can't read, but there is another survivor and you don't know how hungry he is.

Also, burn the house down, arson relieves stress.

[Lopnis]

Check your inventory, how much stuff do you have stuffed in that bag?

[destinedjagold]

Check the Bad Egg.
Also, /help

[Cutlerine]

> Check your inventory, how much stuff do you have stuffed in that bag?

You check your inventory, and the Narrator wishes heartily he had been keeping track of this more effectively than he has been.

Inventory:
Beauteous Ring x1
Berry x1
Bloodstained Mail x1
Bulging Wallet x1
Dangerous Makeshift Knife x1
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
Lava Cookie x7
Lithium Batteries x4
Long-Range Scanner Attachment x1
Machine Pistol Magazine x6
Miracle Seed x1
Mysterious Note x1
Novelty Giraffe Shoe x1
Poké Ball x1
Potion x2
Powerless Tablet Computer x1
Rare Bone x1
Rocks x12
Shiny Stone x1
Stale Baguette x1
Stylish Dress x1
Togepi Egg Shard x2

> Check the Bad Egg.

The Egg Watch: It looks like this Egg will take a long time to hatch.

> Also, /help

Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting. Welcome to the world of Pokémon! My name is Nyarlathotep. People call me the crawling chaos.

This world is inhabited by creatures that we call Pokémon. Pokémon and people live together in a predator-prey relationship. Some people flee from Pokémon. Some try to fight back.

Let's see which you are, shall we?

Good God. That was simultaneously the least helpful and most threatening help screen you've ever seen.

> Go and find this God Of Looting, and beg to be his apprentice. he is one to look up to.
> Carve into a tree or sign "Food this way" and make sure it is pointing the opposite way you are going, maybe cyndaquil can't read, but there is another survivor and you don't know how hungry he is.
Also, burn the house down, arson relieves stress.
> You should probably leave the Lonesome House and go up the path next to pond.

You cannot leave the Lonesome House; there is an Eldritch Cyndaquil blocking your path!

[Khawill]

Burn the house, and then use a stick to burn cyndaquil, if all else fails make sure to have a pocketful of sand and/or rocks to throw at it

[Adin Terim]

Try and distract it by throwing the Hambone past it, when it turns around throw a Machine Pistol Magazine (I'd say the Lithium Batteries but you probably need them later) into the flames on its back, the explosion should hurt it. Chuck some of the rocks you have at it till you think you can catch it with your remaining pokeball.

[Daydream]

Try giving the Cyndaquil a berry. Maybe that's all it really wants. If that fails, scream like a harpy and KICK IT IN THE FACE.

[Lopnis]

Originally Posted by Adin Terim

Try and distract it by throwing the Hambone past it, when it turns around throw a Machine Pistol Magazine (I'd say the Lithium Batteries but you probably need them later) into the flames on its back, the explosion should hurt it. Chuck some of the rocks you have at it till you think you can catch it with your remaining pokeball.

I like this but stuff some glass shards in the hambone, Halloween Candy this thing if all else fails give it a lava cookie and escape while it's vomitting

[Cutlerine]

> Burn the house, and then use a stick to burn cyndaquil, if all else fails make sure to have a pocketful of sand and/or rocks to throw at it

The Lonesome House is about three seconds away from catching on fire, and you seriously doubt a monster whose back is perpetually aflame is going to mind being set on fire anyway.

Those Rocks are ready, though.

> Try giving the Cyndaquil a berry. Maybe that's all it really wants. If that fails, scream like a harpy and KICK IT IN THE FACE.

You hold out a Berry.

“Friends?” you ask diffidently.

Judging by the teeth embedded in your wrist, probably not.

Othodox is Wounded!

> Try and distract it by throwing the Hambone past it, when it turns around throw a Machine Pistol Magazine (I'd say the Lithium Batteries but you probably need them later) into the flames on its back, the explosion should hurt it. Chuck some of the rocks you have at it till you think you can catch it with your remaining pokeball.
> I like this but stuff some glass shards in the hambone, Halloween Candy this thing if all else fails give it a lava cookie and escape while it's vomitting

You would love to distract the Cyndaquil by rigging up an elaborate Glass-Studded Booby-Trapped Hambone, but it's pretty difficult with a pair of overgrown incisors sunk an inch into your wrist.

With your free hand, you whip the Hambone from your Bag and fling it past the Cyndaquil. As it sails over its head, it passes through the flames from its back and is immediately reduced to carbon.

The Cyndaquil slowly, deliberately lets go of your wrist and nudges you forwards with its snout. Go on, it seems to say. Back off. Have a moment to think.

You stare. Is this thing... toying with you?

Whatever the reason, it's just watching you at the moment, and you take the time to take a Machine Pistol Magazine from your Bag. You're willing to bet that whatever else it might be, this thing isn't bulletproof.

As if sensing you've chosen your weapon, the Cyndaquil suddenly lurches forward, barrelling towards you like a flaming bulldozer; you press yourself against the wall and watch it shoot past, taloned paws tearing ragged chunks from the floorboards. Those fire-spewing polyps on its back are, for a split second, right beneath you, and you drop the Magazine in place on them with ease.

Nothing happens for a moment; the Cyndaquil slams into the wall, sets it on fire and turns around to face you, all just like last time, back in New Bark.

Then the magazine explodes.

Shards of hot metal trace glowing lines through the air, puncturing plaster, shattering windows, tearing bloody streaks across the Cyndaquil's back; it shrieks and bucks wildly, trying to turn and see what new foe has attacked it from behind.

You'd feel satisfied if you hadn't got shot in the leg.

Othodox is Quite Badly Wounded! Othodox is Losing Blood!

You collapse, the chunks of lead in your thigh burning like hot coals. Any hope you had of running has gone out the window with the remnants of the Magazine; Lava Cookie or not, you're not going to be able to run. The Cyndaquil's back is peppered with bloody holes but it seems more pissed-off than hurt; you, on the other hand, are considerably less tough, and your weak attempts to crawl out of the door have not gone unnoticed.

Bloodshot eyes focus on you.

Synaptic flashes shoot through the abomination's brain, and you can almost see the gears grind into place behind those awful eyes: I was fighting you. You are the only one here.

Therefore you put that thing on my back.

The Cyndaquil stalks towards you, flame rolling off its back in reeking green waves. Distantly, you wonder what happened to turn it from something so timid into something so single-mindedly after your destruction; the mental change is at least as drastic as the physical. What would Elm say, you wonder? Perhaps he'd just wonder if it could breed... the man always did love a good Egg...

Your vision is a little wobbly now, and you can no longer quite feel your leg.

Othodox is Really Quite Wounded! Othodox is Bleeding Out!

Perhaps, you think, you ought to have been checking the Radar Mode more often. You were probably given it for a reason...

The Cyndaquil's jaws are very close now, and the stink of rotting meat drips from its rodentine teeth. It has killed a great many creatures to be here right now, and as you stare up absently into its eyes, you know that none of them, none of them whatsoever, mattered.

It wants you, and it won't rest until you're dead.

Othodox is Pretty Seriously Wounded! Othodox is Bleeding Out!

There won't be any stopping it, you realise calmly. Not without a real weapon, or a powerful Pokémon, or both. It's just not that sort of enemy.

Cyndaquil lowers its head, and a long hot tongue licks across your face. You can see its throat now, just above you, a pale sliver of grey bobbing beneath the skinless armour of its skull.

Last chance, kid. You'd better think of something before those incisors meet around your cranium.

[destinedjagold]

It's mouth is close? Push a lava cookie inside!
If you die, then it was nice knowing you bud~!

[Lopnis]

Stuff the Rare Bone in it's maw vertically and pull your hand back quickly, you sometimes have the reaction time of a half asleep Turtwig but I assume since it's either kill or die your pretty high on adreneline so you should be quicker,even if that bones not strong take the time it takes for this thing to breake it to jab Your Dangerous Makeshift Knife in it's throat repeatedly and even if it seems like it's dead dose it's flames with the coffee cup, that usually kills Fire pokemon than drag yourself to back to the pokecenter or to Mr.Pokemon's house jam yourself in a healing machine and use it before you collapse and die

[Cutlerine]

>It's mouth is close? Push a lava cookie inside!
If you die, then it was nice knowing you bud~!

You reach for a cookie, but the Cyndaquil licks it from your hand, crunching it up and swallowing it in less than a second.

It's not a crocodile, it's a rodent. It can probably digest freaking steel; biscuit isn't exactly going to be a problem for it.

> Stuff the Rare Bone in it's maw vertically and pull your hand back quickly, you sometimes have the reaction time of a half asleep Turtwig but I assume since it's either kill or die your pretty high on adreneline so you should be quicker,even if that bones not strong take the time it takes for this thing to breake it to jab Your Dangerous Makeshift Knife in it's throat repeatedly and even if it seems like it's dead dose it's flames with the coffee cup, that usually kills Fire pokemon than drag yourself to back to the pokecenter or to Mr.Pokemon's house jam yourself in a healing machine and use it before you collapse and die

There's not quite enough time for the bone, but the Dangerous Makeshift Knife is right where you dropped it, and as the teeth brush your forehead—

—you ram its glass blade into the Cyndaquil's throat as hard as you can, then wrench it out and to the side, slicing it open to the vertebrae. Hot dark ichor spurts across your face, and all at once the Cyndaquil is sighing wheezily, sliding away to the left, breath bubbling through the hole in its neck, and all you can hear is the crackle of the flames as the world fades into warm, dark oblivion.

---

When you wake, you aren't dead.

Nor are you on fire.

Nor have you been eaten.

Since you were expecting at least one of the above, you consider this pretty good going.

Somehow, you sit up – and then stand up, and realise that your wounds are gone. Not just healed, but actually gone. You stare at yourself for a moment, then look around.

It seems to be close to night now, and you are standing at the top of the ledge to the left of what was once a Lonesome House and is now a Flaming Ruin. The fallen tree that would have allowed you to climb up here has been removed, and a note is pinned to the front of your Stylish Dress.

Don't stay still. You did well, but he's not dead. Not yet. You scared him off for now, and he'll be more cautious in future, but he'll be back soon enough. His sort always are.

You made it this far, but the road gets tougher ahead. They're lurking there, waiting for us to make a mistake, but they won't hesitate to come after you either if they find you. Keep your Radar close and your weapon closer.

Good luck. We're waiting for you.

There's no signature, but that scarcely seems to matter.

You're alive.

And someone is on your side.

It's the best news you've had all day.

[Daydream]

It might be useful to check the radar quickly for beasties, and then head as fast as you can in the opposite direction.

[Khawill]

Take a stick that is on fire with you, I think nighttime is coming up and it will be hard to start a fire with your limited knowledge. (Says the condescending and demoralizing voice in your head)

[Raquira]

The fire might have accelerted the bad egg's hatching prosses! check it!

[Lopnis]

Thank your favorite deity you're still alive, than continue onward. If you can try to remember the last thing you remember before the world became the swirling madness it is now.

[destinedjagold]

Check the radar. If there are no signs of anything dangerous, head back to Cherrygrove, but be cautious and always check your radar. If the town is safe, head to the PokeCenter. Find anything that could charge your Powerless Tablet Computer.

If nothing, then continue your cautious journey~

[Cutlerine]

> The fire might have accelerted the bad egg's hatching prosses! check it!

The Egg Watch: It looks like this Egg will take a long time to hatch.

To be honest, you're probably lucky the fire didn't cook it.

> Thank your favorite deity you're still alive, than continue onward. If you can try to remember the last thing you remember before the world became the swirling madness it is now.

You thank Tabiti, Scythian goddess of fire, for her goodwill in bearing you safely out of the inferno. Tabiti makes no reply, but perhaps if you can find some way to make an appropriate devotion you'll get some kind of blessing. Then again, perhaps not. For one thing, you're pretty far from Scythia. For another, you're fairly certain Tabiti doesn't exist.

Othodox is now a Disciple of Tabiti!

You pause for a moment to think. What was the last thing you remember before you found yourself in this nightmare world? You remember choosing your starter Pokémon, getting your Badges, trying and almost succeeding in taking down Lance... But from that point, your memory abruptly ends. There is a long period of nothing between your failure then and your misadventures now.

Curious.

You think harder, and now you begin to realise that there are gaps even in those memories you do have. You remember the Safari Zone – but not how to get there. You remember getting your Zephyr Badge, but not the way to Falkner's Gym. Perhaps most disturbingly of all, you remember Mom – but not her face.

Just what is going on here?

> Take a stick that is on fire with you, I think nighttime is coming up and it will be hard to start a fire with your limited knowledge. (Says the condescending and demoralizing voice in your head)

You're a little hesitant about grabbing any of that unnatural fire, especially as it seems to lean hungrily towards you as you approach the Ruin. It's as if it wants to eat you as badly as the Cyndaquil did. Or does. You're not entirely sure.

Plucking up your courage, you grab a stick from the wreckage and back away hurriedly.

Othodox found one Spooky Flaming Torch! Othodox bore the Spooky Flaming Torch aloft.

Spooky Flaming Torch is 2% burned out. When Spooky Flaming Torch is 100% burned out it will no longer give out light, and may set fire to your hand.

It is getting darker.

> It might be useful to check the radar quickly for beasties, and then head as fast as you can in the opposite direction.

Sticking your Spooky Flaming Torch in the ground, you take out the Pokédex and are greeted by a critical warning screen:

SAFE OPERATING TEMPERATURE EXCEEDED

That does not sound good. The fact that part of the Long-Range Scanner Attachment has snapped off doesn't strike you as too positive, either. Nevertheless, you give it a go, pressing the button for the Radar and praying fervently to Tabiti under your breath.

The screen lights up, and for a moment you're overjoyed – the next, however, you're not sure whether you're confused or scared.

Esshritln:

riyetutpokném(39)nuofndo!

Yegteene(19)cdftlrnenihi uoidpenncad!

Ethaselrdfivou whtoesn(7)n!

Eeetflvdld irdct(12)herer ohsfin!

Stou(1)uendreactnr tatcdltro!

You can't help but feel like the Narrator is punishing you.

> Check the radar. If there are no signs of anything dangerous, head back to Cherrygrove, but be cautious and always check your radar. If the town is safe, head to the PokeCenter. Find anything that could charge your Powerless Tablet Computer.
If nothing, then continue your cautious journey~

You put the Pokédex away, take up your Spooky Flaming Torch and head back to Cherrygrove. It isn't far, and it is no more than half an hour before you arrive back in town, but by that time dusk is falling. You wonder if the normal patterns of daytime and night-time Pokémon still prevail, and almost wet yourself thinking about what an Eldritch Spinarak might possibly look like.

Dragging yourself back to the moment, you conduct a quick search of the buildings that reveals no apparent charger for the Powerless Tablet Computer, but which does remind you that you never looted the Pokémon Mart.

Spooky Flaming Torch is 6% burned out.

It is getting dark.