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[truthdecided]

[Nestled up in his and Ren's room, with his conspiracy wall proudly on display off to the side, Akechi addresses the Pearl with a fluffy blanket wrapped around him. No, it is not cute. Hush.]

Recently, Furfrou went missing. Odile-san, Dolly-san, and I went out to rescue them, and I noticed something all too familiar.

[He draws a breath, slow and soft.]

Whilst we were searching, the intrusive thought, 'They're going to leave me behind!' crept into my mind, and presumably those of my teammates. Moreover, we found Furfrou unconscious, just as what happened before with Zweilous and Phantump.

Given the pattern, I'm certain other groups experienced similar events. I believe it worth sharing our findings, so we can better document this phenomenon and perhaps gain a better understanding.

Those intrusive thoughts in particular seem worthy of cataloguing. It's hardly the first time they've arisen on missions.

Comments

[edgewater]

...were we all lookin' for the same Furfrou?

[ how does that-- never mind. this place is weird. parvati's all cosy, at least. please don't think about how much sugar must be in that coffee of hers. ] Because we got the same thing. Me and Umemiya were talking about it after I got back, actually.

[truthdecided]

Here's the thing. Similar occurrences took place with a missing Phantump and Zweilous, right down to the intrusive thought...

[Perhaps he should be more specific...]

The coma, the multiple disappearances... With Zweilous, the thought was 'Something important is... missing.' With Phantump, it was 'Wait... Wait, stop!'

That being said, the Furfrou we rescued had the Kabuki style and had been muttering about making things right. Moreover, Delcatty was confused by the haircut. Still, given the prior pattern, it's possible that the singular Furfrou got multiple haircuts.

[edgewater]

Hm. [ she pulls a face at that, taking another sip of her drink. ] Our Furfrou was starry blue, and was muttering about "doing it all over". Something to that effect, anyroad.

[ her anxiety is definitely permeating through the network a little. sorry akechi. ] If Delcatty was confused, did Furfrou escape the clinic, get a haircut, run off, and collapse multiple times?

[ that's not the kind of thing you see happen to just anyone. ] Poor thing.

[truthdecided]

Doing it all over... Interesting choice of phrasing.

[In fact, it's... incredibly familiar.]

Zweilous also had been muttering the same thing when we went to find them, while Phantump was fixated on recovering what was lost.

[So that's interesting. Interesting enough for him to pause and scramble for his notes so he can prepare new cards for the conspiracy wall.]

Parvati-san, did you experience an intrusive thought with Furfrou? I'd like to see if there's a deeper element of repetition, like the muttering.

[edgewater]

[ akechi are you not worried about the people at all. hello? ]

"They're going to leave me behind!" [ how did she do that with her voice. ] Got it on our notes and everything. When I asked Six about it he just shrugged. I didn't write it, he didn't seem to. One of us had to, though.

[truthdecided]

...The same as our group.

[Interesting. What does this mean?

He pauses for a moment, checking something else over the pearls. It was a while ago, but...]

Other phrases that came up when Firoza-san asked about Zweilous were... 'No, no, no, not again!' and 'Are we who we think we are?' and 'They're going to leave me behind.' ...A phrase we both absorbed with Furfrou.

In short, these thoughts seem to follow the missing Pokémon, who all mutter various things, presumably in a trance-like state.

I wonder... Are they being mind controlled? Is time itself overlapping and repeating? Flowey and I had pondered this before, given earlier evidence, such as the ruined version of the Archives, but this... This only solidifies that possibility.

[edgewater]

I'm sorry the what now.

[ skipping over akechi's other questions for a sec. first she's been told of this. not that it's surprising, she's been. busy. but still. time overlapping and repeating? like skip drives? she'd heard rumours that skip drives opened weird space-time rifts in their wake -- although such matters are well above her pay grade -- but, like. what. what?? ]

[truthdecided]

A few months ago, Flowey explored Heavy Downmoor. There, his team stumbled upon a ruined copy of the Archives, albeit with subtle differences.

More foreboding was the thought that came with that discovery: "How many times have we been here? How many times have we lived here? How many times have we fallen to ruin?"

[He'll let that sink in. Flowey had mentioned it to him before, and it seems all the more pertinent now.]

cw fictional drugs mention

[edgewater]

[ this will be remembered. ]

That's horrifying. [ maybe it's for the best she hasn't heard about this before. ] So, what, is this some kind of psychosis?

[ not that parvati's wholly unfamiliar with that. the marauders on gorgon were pretty close to this, albeit clamouring for more adrena-time to sate their rotting and addicted minds. so much so that the old facility was torn apart. or even on eridanos, with the spectrum brown worms. ] I've only ever seen that caused by some outside factor, though.

[truthdecided]

Perhaps the missing Pokémon are undergoing some form of psychosis, but given where we are, I'm inclined to believe it could be a form of hypnosis or other mental manipulation. Brainwashing is still on the table.

[But there's more. Certainly more.]

The statue in the temple in Heavy Downmoor also bears some oddities. Its appearance seems to vary entirely from individual to individual. Then there's the spire in Furnace Mountain, overwhelming anyone who dares to touch it with a cacophony of discordant thoughts...

When we left the region, we heard a simple, "CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

[edgewater]

[ that's not trippy at all. ]

Brainwashing by what, though? [ never mind the fact that ignoring the sequel again i'm on a roll brainwashing is a thing that only happens in serials. then again, this stuff is happening, and psychics exist for real. hm. ] There a Pokemon like the Architect or something?

[truthdecided]

Parvati-san, we're in a world of ghosts and psychic creatures. Malamar already stirred trouble with hypnotic powers. A more malevolent and powerful force could undoubtedly wield such power on a wider scale.

[It's simply a matter of fact. Then, of course, there are other avenues. The Metaverse comes to mind, but it's not as though there's anything comparable here.]

That being said, I'm unfamiliar with this Architect.

[edgewater]

The concept of a higher power shouldn't be. [ she's not explaining all that, especially since it's not something she fully believes in. the grand plan is too squeaky clean. ]

Malamar wasn't that bad. Froslass was.

action

[paperceptive]

[ Odile is listening, as ever, but she doesn't respond here. Instead she goes to find Akechi in person, when next he's around the Archives. ]

Have we considered that it could be a matter of time manipulation?

[ Yeah that's her whole greeting ]

[offtracks]

.....it puts me in mind of those voices in the fog...

[ He means to say more, but it gets lost somewhere. ]

[truthdecided]

As in, the fog from the forest?

[Or is it something else? Either way, consider his curiosity piqued.]

[truthdecided]

Trust me when I say that I'm no fan of Froslass either. But there is precedent with the existence of Legendary Pokémon.

[He projects an image of the temple shrine in Heavy Downmoor, but the statue within it cannot seem to hold a stable form. It fluctuates, going from sharp and metallic to more pearlesque.]

[truthdecided]

[He turns the moment he hears her approaching, nodding.]

Flowey and I had entertained the idea of something akin to time loops, or some manner of cyclic repetition.

[offtracks]

Hm - oh, yes! That mission when it tried to lure me in. I heard voices calling out in the fog, calling for help. It was...affecting me, certainly, yet I still cannot help but think there was something more than that to it...

[truthdecided]

Perhaps there's something to be said of the fog's origins, given that it also altered the cognition of beings such as Dondozo and Ursaluna... We may have reduced its reach, but that begs the question of why defeating them and Spiritomb stifled it to begin with.

[offtracks]

I remain...somewhat unconvinced that the two of them alone could have produced such a powerful effect...it is well beyond anything I have ever seen from only one or two ghost Pokémon before, at home.

[ Even Zoroark aren't capable of doing all that. The thought flits by vaguely, unvoiced. ]

[truthdecided]

But what if they were puppets of something far more powerful? What if these rescue missions are a result of a similar degree of puppeteering?

[offtracks]

I...suppose that is possible...

[ He hate it! But Ingo supposes that he isn't going to like anything that might explain all of this. ]

[paperceptive]

The little seed?

[ Interesting. Odile taps a claw against one of her folded arms. She's going to have to bring that up with Siffrin. ]

Such things...could theoretically happen in my world. Experts have always believed that while the theory behind Time Craft is sound, it would simply destroy the user before they could accomplish anything. Too powerful. But I have seen it managed.

[edgewater]

[ parvati really, really does hate this. and she doesn't hate a lot of things. ]

So, what. A Legendary Pokemon is the one messin' with it?