World Tree MUSH

    Togle's arena is a large round platform built between four large ships in the Togle Harbor. Each of the four ships is arranged in each of the four cardinal directions, and the large round platform upon which the monsters will fight is built between them. Each ship also has a large, stable-sized door that leads into the depths of each ship -- this is where the monsters have been exiting into the arena from. Each door also has a protected spot next to it where the monster's owners have been calling out commands.

    Atop each ship, is a set of stadium bleachers, and this is where the audience has been cheering from. Between each set of bleachers is an announcer's box; Dutt, the announcer, is in one of them, calling out each battle. There have been a large assortment of monsters battling in this C-rank match -- tiny stuffed cats that seem to somehow move on their own, graceful little flying girls, massive monsters made of rock, quick dogs with horns, literal FLYING FISH, even!

    And everyone seems to be enjoying the festivities. There's stadium food, but nothing modern -- mostly fruit, roasted meats and vegetables, and juice to drink. This is a pre-industrialized civilization, and it shows. Though the ships that make up the arena seem to use steam power to stay in place.

This time the large wild boy really isn't sure where he's gotten himself. He's really not used to quite so much water or boats...at all in the case of boats. Gonta shifts his glasses some as he tries to take in what's going on. Somehow he'd just ended up /wandering/ into this in his studies. It's possible he got distracted talking to someone and ended up blindly wandering onto one of the boats or something.

In any case, now he's furrowing his brows over the fact there's all these people cheering around creatures fighting eachother. Are those more pokemon? Is this the fighting that Luke was talking about? It still feels kind of ominous but...if that's what the pokemon want then...why not? He shrugs to himself and scribbles down something new in his notebook for the moment.

    With the final match about to start, Dutt takes the mic again. Actually that's not too difficult, as the microphone is a horn-like attachment to a ring sat upon the shoulders of the reedy blond-haired man with glasses. He seems rather calm for an announcer. "Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the final match of the Pearl Cup! In this corner, we have Togle's own LYONA AIRALDI, and her Centurion, KNIGHT!"

    One of the doors in the arena opens, and a massive metal creature lumbers out. It almost looks like a giant beetle, but armored like a knight in silver plate mail with golden accents. Perhaps creepily, its visor appears empty, as if there's nothing inside the armor. At the beast's side is a small woman with dull blonde hair and one eye sealed shut by an injury; she wears a one-piece suit of blue and purple. The crowd cheers as she and her monster exit into the arena.

    The door opposite the one the massive metal beetle came out of opens, and a wolf-like creature the size of a large wildcat steps out. Its body is pure white, but its head looks like it's literally made of gold, as if it was a mask. A gold-trimmed blue 'blanket' seems spread over its back, and its legs appear to be wearing gold bracers around its ankles. Dutt speaks again, "And in this corner, one of Torble Academy's finest -- Apolonia Jansen, and her Balon, SUNNY!"

    This monster's trainer is not at his side though. The tiny dark-skinned and dark-haired girl is sat sidesaddle on the creature's back, dressed in royal-looking golden finery that almost makes her look Egyptian, to an earth person's recollection. As she enters the arena, she dismounts, and meets Lyona in the center. The girls share a friendly looking handshake, and their monsters seem to bow to each other. And then the two girls head to their respective 'corners', where they'll direct their monsters.

    Looks like it's about to start...!

Gonta goes wide eyed as he tries to peer closer from his standing point. Oh wow, that looks like a big, armored beatle! ...that cat monster's kind of strange too though. He'd start excitedly sketching into his book now. At least it looks like everyone's doing this friendly like. It does seem like what Luke was talking about... He smiles as he works away, probably getting distracted in what he's doing again and getting all up in someone's way in the process.

    "The final match of the Pearl Cup is ready to begin! Who will emerge victorious?!" Dutt calls from the announcer's box. He's not a bad announcer, not at all. He has a very calm and soothing voice, in fact. Quite low, belying his thin figure. But here it sounds like he's finally seeming to start getting a little excited to see the outcome.

    The massive beetle is... well, massive, and covered in a very heavy plating of armor. Which means it's very slow. On the other hand, the so-called Balon lacks armor, but is incredibly fast. So the battle is very much weighted in favor of the dog/cat creature. And sure enough, Knight seems to be having trouble landing hits, missing several times with backhands and claw strikes with its large front legs. However, Sunny isn't having that trouble, and scores a few painful-looking chomps to the larger beetle-creature.

    Finally, though, Knight turns his back to the Balon -- surrendering? No, its wings pop open, and the underwings buzz loudly, sending a wave of vibrations at the quick Balon. This doesn't seem to hurt the Balon, but it staggers, as if suddenly confused. At that, the beetle jumps into the air, and then CHARGES at the furry white critter, slamming the back of its massive front leg into the Balon. Sunny flies back and hits the wall, and doesn't immediately get up. "Oh my! An upset!" Dutt calls out. Oh NOW he's enthusiastic, though! "Has Knight finally managed to topple the reign of Apolonia and Sunny?"

    Suddenly the Balon twitches, and then stands again, though slowly, and shakes its head. "Oh wait! Don't count Sunny out yet!" As these words come out of his mouth, the white-furred creature howls, wolf-like, and then charges back into the fray. Knight moves to block, but it's not a horn strike that the Balon is aiming for. It's a somersault, one that catches the Centurion in the belly, and throws it into a complete backflip, causing it to collapse to the arena floor. This time it's the giant metal beetle that isn't getting up.

    "And it looks like Apolonia and Sunny's reign will last a little longer, ladies and gentlemen! The victor of this match is Sunny! Congratulations, Apolonia and Sunny!" Dutt announces. The crowd cheers, and the two girls go back out to tend to their monsters and greet each other again.

    Knight finally gets to its feet, though it staggers a bit. But it's well enough to bow to its opponents again. It's hard to hear what she's saying, but both girls seem satisfied with the outcome of the match, given the amicable handshake. And then Lyona and Knight leave the arena, leaving Apolonia and Sunny to soak up their praise.

    Of course Knight is droopy and sad-looking, walking out of the arena and practically dragging its oversized front legs. But Lyona appears to be patting it on the back of its very large metal shell to console it for the loss as they exit the arena floor.

Gonta frowns some as he sees the armored beetle sulking away. He'd do what he can to try and get where he can cut those two off at the pass rather than trying to catch up to them from behind. He'd land on the outer side of the exit, probably causing people to look at him like NPC look at the protags of assassin's creed games. 'He must be crazy!' On landing he'd turn toward the two of them, probably looking a bit angry at first, but quickly smiling and offering a wave.

    The first word out of Lyona's mouth is a curse. And then, "What the--?!" As Gonta lands, the massive beetle squeaks in surprise and steps in front of Lyona, holding its oversized front legs up in such at way that would look like a praying mantis if its feet weren't so wide. At the same moment, Lyona steps back, putting enough space between herself and the monster that she won't get hit by an errant strike. These two are a team, that much is clear.

    It's also worth noting that the threatening clicking noise the beetle makes, Gonta likely hears as a very clear 'I will defend my human, you cannot have will not hurt my human'.

    Though at the wave, Lyona blinks. "Uh... hi there," she offers. "You must have wanted to talk to me pretty bad, to come bounding out of the bleachers like an Ape." 'Ape', of course, being a type of monster. Not that Gonta would know that. "Something I can help you with?" As Lyona's calmed down, Knight does the same, lowering its great forelegs. Lyona steps to Knight's side again, patting him on one of those forelegs, to show him things are OK now.

Gonta fowns slightly and bows to them. "Ah, sorry, that was probably rude of Gonta," he realizes, "Gonta didn't mean to scare anyone, Gonta just wanted to try to cheer up Knight and thought it'd be scarier to try to follow..."

    Lyona tilts her head. "...Yeah, admittedly, I'd think some strange guy the size of a small Beaclon that followed me out of the arena was up to something," she concedes. And it's true, Knight is actually quite a bit bigger than Gonta, and not just because of the large horn either.

    "So... I guess your name's Gonta?" Safe guess, she figures, considering this fellow seems to be talking in third person. "Pleased to meet ya." Hooking a thumb at her own chest, she continues, "You probably heard, but I'm Lyona Airaldi."

Gonta nods in reply. "Gonta did hear, yes. Ah, Gonta is Gonta Gokuhara...sorry, Gonta's not being a very good gentleman today. Things are really distracting, Gonta doesn't even remember how he got here." He shakes his head a little and smiles at Knight again. "That was a good fight, it looked like you almost had him..."

    Lyona nods. "Almost. Apolonia's a tough Breeder to beat. The two of us are tied for top spots in C rank," she notes. She doesn't seem to realize that Gonta's talking to Knight.

    Knight does, though. 'Sunny is strong,' he clicks. 'But also fast like wind, whoosh!' He raises his forelegs and tilts this way and that, indicating wind blowing.

    Noticing Knight's behavior, Lyona blinks. Then she chuckles. "Don't worry, Knight," she consoles, reaching to pat the Centurion on the back of the armored shell. She can't understand him, there's no way for her to know exactly what it's talking about. "You'll get stronger, though, and you'll beat Sunny one day."

Gonta tilts his head thoughtfully. "Do you have any way for being faster," Gonta wonders toward the two of them, "That seems like the biggest problem... Like Knight is saying Sunny is very fast...it seems hard for Knight to get many attacks in."

    Lyona blinks again, looking to Knight. Then looking to Gonta again. "I'd guessed he meant that Sunny was a formidable opponent. But... 'saying'?" she asks. "As in... verbally? Via speech? Can you understand him?"

    Knight too seems confused. 'Gonta can hear speak? How can Gonta hear speak?' he clicks. He approaches Gonta, walking around him, examining him carefully. Of course he's being careful not to hit Gonta with a horn, or scratch him with claws.

Gonta nogds in reply. "Gonta was raised as an animal, so he can understand a lot of things besides humans...he guesses he sometimes understands things like pokemon or other things he's met because they have enough simularities to the animals Gonta grew up with for Gonta to make sense of it..."

    "Wow... really?" Lyona notes. "Like the princess of the Tochikans... legend has it she could understand monsters too. Mind you, I'm not sure how much of those old legends are true. Though, hmm..." She taps a finger on her bottom lip in thought. "I wonder if you could understand other monsters, or just certain ones? I have two more back at the ranch. Do you want to come and see if you can understand them?"

Gonta smiles and nods again. "Yes, really....Gonta's certain he isn't a princess though," he states as he rubs at the back of his neck, "...Gonta can come, yes, Gonta's supposed to be exploring different worlds for school. Anything else to learn about different places would be helpful to Gonta."

    "Oh, you're one of the Outsiders?" Lyona asks. The word 'Outsiders' isn't said with any sort of prejudice or contempt. Apparently that's just what they're calling the people from other worlds. And it's not entirely inaccurate. "I guess that makes sense then, that there would be some weird abilities in Outsiders." She seems satisfied with the explanation, at least. "Well, c'mon. My ranch isn't far. At least we didn't end up meeting in Ryuwn. The boat ride would have taken weeks." She starts away from the arena, down the gangplank that connects it to Togle's docks proper.

Gonta nods in reply. "...most people aren't like Gonta actually, they think Gonta's the weird one..." He follows along though. "Gonta likes Knight though...what are the others like?"

    "Mayhem is... a scary ghost, basically," Lyona replies. "There's been several attempts to ban Jokers from official tournaments, because they're so brutal. And Demon is... the most adorable critter ever who thinks it's a demon overlord." There's a chuckle here.

    As they pass through town, Gonta can see many different kinds of monsters. A squishy penguin-like monster, a strange eyeball monster, a vaguely humanoid blob monster, a female monster with wings -- so many different kinds!

Gonta blinks a little "Demon overlord? That sounds just like someone from Gonta's school," he states in surprise. "...hmmmm these kinds of creatures seem lots different from eachother," he murmurs, taking out his note book to make with more scribling in of notes and such.

    Lyona smirks. "Demon's a sweetheart, don't let him fool you. He's like a very smart cat, but underneath the jerkassness, really cares," she notes. "The kind that 'allows' people he likes to pet his ears, but secretly enjoys the heck out of it."

    As for there being so many kinds of monsters? "Yeah. Monsters are pretty common these days," she confirms. "They were sealed up in Disk Stones centuries back, for some reason. Nobody really knows why. And we're still finding those stones."

"That just sounds even more like someone from Gonta's school," Gonta points out, "...it would be funny if he ever came through here." He pauses at the new information. "Sealed in stones," he wonders, "...these don't sound as much like pokemon as Gonta thought originally."

    "Maybe your classmate has a monster doppelganger," Lyona suggests, half in jest. Though of course she has to blink. "Poke the what?" she tries to echo. "No, these aren't pokey. Well, some of them are. Jelaydon is pretty pokey. But they're a Zan crossbreed, of course they are." She shrugs, as though speaking an elementary truth.

"Pokemon are some of the monsters from another one of the worlds," Gonta explains, trying to show a picture from one of his sketches, "Gonta's drawn some of them! They can fight in tournaments like these monsters do. That's why Gonta thought he might be on another world with pokemon on it...pokemon seem to be in a few different places..." He doesn't know what to make of the monster dopleganger comment.

    Lyona pauses, to look at the drawing. "Hm... no, I don't think I've ever seen a monster like that before," she replies. "I'm not surprised that there are other worlds like this one, though. Statistically at least one had to occur. Though the chances are of finding one so quickly is probably low.

    They'd been following the sea out of town, and before too long they'll be walking near a cliffside plot of land. There's a large wooden gate in a small valley. She points towards it. "That's my ranch," she points out.

Gonta looks thoughtful. "Yeah, Gonta guesses so," he replies, "So far none of the worlds have looked very different from Gonta's, just...they had the monsters for fighting. Gonta's world doesn't have that sort of thing. It's just normal animals and sometimes robots..."

"Robots... like the Henger?" Lyona asks. "It was a battle machine that was made centuries ago. They made them obey the same basic principles as typical monsters, too, so they can be used to combine, they leave a heart behind when they die, et cetera."

She moves to the gate and pulls a lever, and the gate starts to open. Behind it is a medium-sized hut, a slightly larger barn, and a couple pieces of training equipment. As she walks into the opened gate, there is a deep voice, a wordless groan that seems to echo up from the depths of some abyssal cavern. And suddenly, there it is -- it looks like nothing more or less than a floating cloak, mask, pair of gauntlets, and a scythe.

Gonta tilts his head. "Gonta doesn't know what a Henger is...but it almost sounds like what little Gonta knows about robots...Gonta does not really understand about technology..." He follows along the rest of the way, peering over the barn like area. And then that sound happens and Gonta looks over to see...some kinda floating ghost like thing with a scythe. He startles a little and gets between it and Lyona and Knight if he's not there already.

    Knight actually seems not bothered by it at all. Actually the Centurion waddles over and greets the scythe-bearing ghost with a squeak. Another wordless groan, this one upward-lilting. Knight clicks back, 'No. Knight lost. Sunny again.' And the ghostly monster tilts its mask back, waving its scythe around.

    Meanwhile, Lyona assures, "Oh, it's all right, Gonta. It won't hurt you. This is Mayhem, my Joker. Mayhem? This is Gonta. He can understand Knight." The ghost makes an abrupt, upward-lilting sound, and floats over to Gonta, the mask seeming to float closer than the rest of it, as if the unseen neck was stretching impossibly.

Gonta says, "Oooh, hello Mayhem," Gonta greets, furrowing his brows a little at the seeming neck streaching. That just doesn't seem like it'd be comfortable. "Gonta's not sure he can talk to you or not...""

If it helps, Mayhem doesn't really seem to have a neck. It's just a mask, an empty short-sleeved cloak, a pair of gauntlets, and a scythe. Though Lyona notes, "So you can't understand what he's saying?" Helpfully Mayhem offers a few more of those deep, ethereal groans. But they don't coalesce as anything helpful or useful."

Gonta shakes his head some, peering back toward Knight. "Can Knight tell Gonta what's being said," he wonders curiously, "Gonta doesn't understand him..."

Knight click/squeaks, 'Is asking if understand. Guess not?'

Lyona adds, "Can't understand him? I guess he's not close enough to the animals of your world that you can understand. Pity too, I was looking forward to having someone who could translate."

Suddenly from the top of the barn, another odd sound echoes. "DYAAAAAN!" This is a great deal cuter, a high-pitched plushie-sounding voice. And up there, a purple creature floats, raising a small trident into the air in one stubby arm.

Lyona sighs. "Demon, get down from there before you fall again." The purple creature bounces in the air, its ears flapping, and then makes a harsh, 'DYAAAAA!' sound. Looking at Gonta again, Lyona notes, "That's His Lordship, Demon. He's a Gitan."

Gonta tilts his head again. "Well, up...if Knight can understand them, then Gonta can understand them," he points out, "But it might get a bit mixed up on the way..." He peers at Demon. "Gonta's sorry....his lordship?"

"Like I said, he's no more a demon than I am," Lyona replies, leaning over to whisper it. Eventually though, the small purple creature does float down from the barn. Which might make one wonder how it FELL if it can float...

Mayhem gives one of those low groans, this one sounding harsh and raspy, and swings the scythe about slightly. Carefully, mind. Knight's clicking takes the form of a laugh. Apparently Mayhem said something funny.

Gonta scratches the back of his neck a little. "...or maybe Gonta can't help at all," he murmurs with a frown, "Gonta has no idea what's going on now..."

Lyona moves to pat Gonta on the arm. "Don't worry about it. They're smarter than normal animals, so they'll realize they need to make themselves clearer. Besides, they can understand you," she points out. Then notes to her monsters, "All right fellas, Gonta here can only understand Knight. So go easy on him."

The purple demonic not-bunny with the beaver-like tail floats a slow circle around Gonta. Then he brings his hands as far apart as his short little arms can go, and tilting his head waaaaaay back. "Dyaaaaa...!"

And Lyona snickers. "I think he's observing that you're a pretty big guy," she points out.

Gonta frowns slightly and nods. "People are usually scared of Gonta," he replies, "But Gonta doesn't mean to be big and scary....usually...it seems to come with the fact Gonta's strong and healthy though...but even before Gonta got lost in the woods, other kids were scared of Gonta..."

Lyona smiles. "Yeah, I kinda understand that. Jokers, like Mayhem here, are generally thought of as super scary and brutal. And a lot of people have asked me why I don't just get rid of him. But I wouldn't ever do that. Mayhem's been in my family in some form since... geez, since before I was born."

Gonta frowns at that. "That's not nice...why does anyone think like that," Gonta wonders, "Mayhem's a living thing too..."

Lyona nods. "Because he's 'scary' and 'dangerous'." Pause. "And admittedly, I did lose my eye because I startled him when I was young." Mayhem actually seems to droop a little at this, making a sad-sounding groan. Lyona looks in his direction. "No, it's all right, Mayhem. That was my fault. I was young and stupid."

Gonta says, "Scary and dangerous doesn't mean Mayhem should be left alone...Gonta's scary too...Gonta doesn't want to be gotten rid of either..."

"Exactly," Lyona replies. "We wouldn't do that to a person. So why do it to a monster?" She reaches up and pets Mayhem on the forehead of its mask, which it seems to like, if the low 'huhuhuhu' sound it makes is any indication. And of course, Demon has to get in on the action, giving one of those 'dyaaan!' sounds and all but HURLING itself through the air at Lyona. She chuckles. "All right, hold on, everybody gets pets." Demon gets them on the top of its rounded head, and Knight gets pets on its horn.

Gonta tilts his head some and just watches curiously. He's tempted to go for a head pet too, but...that.... is that ungentlemanly? ...probably is, he should resist it and keep being a good /human/.

"Sorry about that," Lyona replies. "Us Breeders are weird people." Then she focuses on something else. "And now I wonder if you can communicate with other types of monsters that are close to normal animals. Since you don't have any trouble with Beaclons... Antlans maybe, Worms, Panchos, and Colorpandoras..."

Gonta says, "Gonta does like bugs a lot. Gonta is an entomologist...he studies bugs a lot so bugs are always easiset."

"En... tom..." Lyona stops there, she's not gonna manage the word. But he said he studies bugs, so... she nods. "That sounds like a good place to start, then. Have to talk to some other Breeders, see if they'd like to see if you can talk to their monsters."

Gonta smiles in reply. "Gonta would like this," he states, "Gonta can learn more and help others learn more too!"

Lyona nods. "You might be able to help us learn how to better understand our monsters," she notes. "Then maybe there won't be so many to run away, so we won't encounter as many when we go exploring."