Willy
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Post by Willy on Oct 7, 2012 18:28:03 GMT -5
Doug took a cautious first step off of the elevator, knowing full well that even if he fell, he was completely able to Levitate himself until he could find a secure location to Teleport. Still, the clouds seemed stable enough.
He took a good look around. An entire landscape made of islands of clouds. It looked like a whole new world up here. It was amazing.
But he didn't have time to just run amok on top of the clouds. He had a job to do. He had to find that castle that... defied gravity. What kind of place was that? This whole cloud defied gravity. Doug figured he should be falling to the earth by now.
So Doug figured all he really needed to do was find a castle.
But where were any castles on top of the clouds?
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Do you ever question your life? Do you ever wonder why? Do you ever see in your dreams.. all the castles in the sky. -Doomsayer, Billy Mays
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Oct 7, 2012 18:59:19 GMT -5
The cloudscape was vast and expansive, extending in all directions including some platforms upwards and downwards. The castle that Marlon mentioned could be in any of those directions from Doug's location, but the platform he was currently on stretched a bit farther to the north than any other, but the only thing in that direction was more cloud plains, one of which was shaped somewhat like a double-scooped ice cream cone. Or was it a snowman?
The largest cloud structure that was within his sight, however, was to the southwest, and it was also the most populated with the presumed dragon silhouettes. If one looked more closely, it could perhaps be seen as a series of actual buildings, like houses. A city in the clouds, perhaps? Or just a peculiar formation? They were clouds, after all, and they could literally take any shape. But at least one thing was certain, there was a lot of activity over there, so there had to be something to it.
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Oct 7, 2012 22:42:21 GMT -5
Doug took a good look around. It was so clear up here he could see shapes of things for what semed to be miles, but no sign of a castle of any kind. But... were those dragons in the distance? Maybe he could ask one of them about this castle. It was worth a shot.
Then Doug remembered what happened any time he visited a city of any kind: He froze. If he went to that city and something bad happened, he wouldn't stand a chance of escape. Oh well, it was his best lead. He would just have to be careful.
Doug pictured himself right on the edge of the cloud that had the buildings on it and teleported.
When he landed he stumbled a little bit, but stopped himself just shy of falling backwards off of the edge. Whew. I'll have to be more careful about warping around up here. It's kinda hard to judge distances with nothing but clouds up here. It's difficult to find a point of reference to determine depth. Ah well. Noted. May as well get a better look at this town.
Doug turned and faced the formation that from a distance had looked like houses. He hoped there was someone who could offer him help of any kind.
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Oct 8, 2012 3:06:29 GMT -5
From a distance, they looked like cloud houses. From close up, they were still houses - but made of a brick so white they could easily be mistaken for clouds from a distance. The sky city was composed mainly of this brick, for both the roads and the walls. Other than that, it looked like just another city, although some houses were particularly tall and resembled apartments, but with large balconies on each floor next to a door, most of which were left open. Well, this would seem like the practical option for a city populated mostly by Pokemon that can fly.
And there was indeed quite a population of dragon-types, flying in and out of buildings and generally doing the typical business of medium-sized-town dwellers. Thoughts flowed like the people, coming and going, generally in a relaxed or carefree state. It was difficult to tell whether it was the roads or the skies above the town that were more densely trafficked, but most of these Pokemon didn't seem to be in any hurry.
One such Bagon, casually leaning against a building, was the first to notice the out-of-place Abra. He stood up, briefly stretching his limbs, and strolled over to Doug. "Hey..." the Bagon greeted in a curious voice that placed him in the age range of around 10-13. "I've never seen you around here before... we don't get many visitors, for obvious reasons. What's your name? What brings you to Cirrus City?" His questioning was followed up by a thought: 'If he says he's after the Odd Diamond, I'm so going to laugh out loud.'
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Oct 9, 2012 22:59:08 GMT -5
The sight of the city of dragons made Doug a little nervous. He hadn't fought too many Dragon types, and hope he didn't have to now. Still, at least he didn't have any trouble getting around up here. Anything that was open to beasts of the air also seemed open to Doug. Doug was so absorbed in the possibilities that he jumped a bit when the Bagon started speaking to him.
"Uh..." Doug quickly tried to think up a lie. He wasn't terribly good at lying, but he'd been getting a little better at it since he gained the ability to read minds, "Sightseeing, mostly. I heard a rumor there are quite a few interesting buildings up here in the clouds, and I wanted to see a few for myself." There. That kept him from saying anything about the Odd Diamond, but also set him up to ask about that castle. Doug congratulated himself for being so clever.
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Oct 10, 2012 3:01:03 GMT -5
The Bagon looked moderately surprised at Doug's statement, though his expression carried a hint of disappointment as well. "Sightseeing, eh...?" he replied. Either he didn't notice that it was a lie, or he didn't really care. His attitude suggested the latter. "There's not much to see... just a cold, endless white desert aside from towns like this one. Unless there's a storm. Then it's an endless gray or black electric hellhole." He looked off into the distance. "And I'm not sure what buildings you're talking about... these houses are pretty much all the same. Bricks are hard to make out of clouds you know, so we can't exactly build a metropolis up here..."
He walked over to the nearby edge of the cloud ground, sitting on it and looking down at the distant earth below. Despite his proximity to the edge, he didn't seem uncomfortable at all, as if he sat there every day. "Are you from the surface?" he asked. "I for one have always wanted to know what it's like down there. Just look at all those colors. Better than boring old white and black. But my mom and dad tell me it's dangerous..." 'Hell, they even hate it when I sit too close like this. I wonder if he'll invite me to run away with him...'
Meanwhile, a few more passers-by were starting to notice the unfamiliar presence of the Abra, some of whom did a double take. At this rate, a crowd might form soon.
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Oct 10, 2012 21:34:31 GMT -5
"I dunno. I think it's pretty up here. The surface may have color, but up here on the clouds... this is amazing."
Doug considered the thoughts of the Bagon. At least, Doug figured they were the Bagons thoughts. It wouldn't be that hard to just pop down and let the kid explore for a bit. Probably was best to focus on getting the Diamond for now though.
"But... I really came here because I heard something about a castle up here in the clouds. I've always liked old things like castles and I really thought seeing one up here in the clouds would be really interesting. Do you have any idea where I might find something like that?"
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Post by Blahsadfeguie on Oct 11, 2012 15:30:43 GMT -5
The Bagon gave Doug a strange look from his comments about the clouds. 'What a weirdo...' he thought. "The grass is always greener on the other side" must not have been a familiar concept to him. "Whatever," he said, looking back down to the surface.
His disappointment quickly turned to curiosity as Doug mentioned the castle he was looking for. "A... castle?" he repeated, almost as if he hadn't heard the word 'castle' before. "Gee, I haven't heard anything about a castle being up here... but that does sound like an interesting place to explore..."
Another thought followed. 'Oh hell no. He did NOT just mention the castle.' The timing of the thought was spot-on with the descent of a large figure from the sky towards their position. It was a Salamence, huge and not too happy. The fully-grown dragon was large enough that his feet sunk partially into the clouds. The look of shock on the Bagon's face was telltale enough that his next word probably would not have come as a surprise. "D-Dad..."
The father Salamence gave his son a stern look. "Erik... what did I tell you about sitting on the edge of the clouds..." His words were gathered and articulate, and yet nearly overflowing with barely-contained anger. Wordlessly, Erik the Bagon slipped back onto the cloud and hustled several feet away from his former perch. With that out of the way, the Salamence directed his attention towards Doug. "We don't take kindly to strangers around here," he growled. "If you don't leave now, then I'll send you home myself - in a body cast." Quite a few dragons had stopped what they were doing to spectate the scene. They were silent verbally, but they were very much the opposite internally.
'Wow, another one?'
'The poor thing...'
'Oh snap, this gon' be good! Brynjar don't mess around!'
'Sometimes, I dream about cheese.'
'I'll give them about 5 minutes...'
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Willy
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Post by Willy on Oct 11, 2012 20:09:03 GMT -5
Doug had an inkling about this whole situation. Something about this whole thing really bugged him. Of course, the only way he could think of to confirm his suspicions entailed a large amount of risk and moral compromise. Doug still wasn't sure he was prepared to do anything like that, but he wasn't about to give up this chance to get some information.
"With all due respect, sir..." Doug said, standing up to face the Salamence, "If you want to send me home... You'll have to catch me first."
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