[ti]closed[/ti][S][C/Alkaid] Beleaguered Castle

Metric was a much more sensible system. The reason the States hadn't converted over was it was expensive in the short term. It would save money in the long term, but businesses had to please shareholders to remain competitive. And the only thing that pleased shareholders, as well as greedy execs, was how much money they could make in the short term.

For any exec worth their salt would resign if they felt a downturn coming.

Josh halted at Alkaid 's directive. "Yep, wide open spaces mean a mini-boss." He did catch the Kindler reaching for a weapon of some kind. "You must have had the Player class on your old server. I'm still working toward mine, though it will be coming soon. Once I put in for Bolter, I'll have it. There's nothing better than charging on a Pokémon's back than wielding a sword while doing it." A true paladin, he was: selfless, virtuous, and religious. They were the definitive mounted class in many tabletop systems, and he wanted to be one here.

As Josh rode toward the courtyard, red zone lines stopped him from proceeding, flashing an error message on his HUD and prompting a buzzer sound effect to play:

Error> You must dismount your Pokémon in order to proceed.

"Oh, Arceus, not this again..." he swore, giving his Dewgong a gentle pet to try to curb his frustration.

As funny as it may have been to Alkaid , it was not funny to Josh. The scout loved the mobility of a swift steed, and the game denying him the chance to do so felt like it was rigged specifically against him. What he didn't stop to consider was the basement was likely a dungeon with narrow corridors where a saddled Pokémon might not be able to maneuver easily. The ceilings also may have been too low.

When asked how many Pokémon he would field at a time, Josh thought about it before sliding off Ulysses and withdrawing him. "Two max. I get the feeling it's going to get a bit crowded down there," he replied, pointing to the red zone line that had now turned blue. "I... want to give my Yamper some time in the spotlight. There aren't many electric Pokémon big enough to ride, and once I'm out of the Identity Parlor, Boltund should be one of them." Boltund were actually perfect for a child to mount; they were the perfect size for someone of the stature he was planning on becoming, and the electric hound was fast. Fast yet easy to control.

"I've got a full belt with me," he added, "and I left my own Invasive Species in the box. I've learned my lesson about bringing them outside Ostellia." He would proceed to show the scrape from a Naganadel stinger moving across his skin.

Given where they were, Josh understood fully. That Celesteela's screeching disincentivized him from using his own. The steel-type's size made it difficult, as did the horrible whistling noise he was sure his would make, too. As fast as riding a living rocket would be, it was not worth the ear torture. That was assuming he could even get on the thing in the first place. He was still lacking in levels to saddle any of the Ultra Beasts. Given the events of the race, it seemed decidedly not worth his while until their code was cracked. The code letting them communicate directly.

Down to the basement they went... until Josh inadvertently walked upstairs. Shaking his head, he trudged back down, only to notice a pair of icons next to him and all his Pokémon: a purple "eye" symbol and a pair of curved arrows spinning counterclockwise. Hovering over them in his interface, he viewed the tooltips and broadcast them to Alkaid :

MIRACLE EYE
The target always takes at least neutral damage from Psychic-type attacks. Psychic-type attacks that strike the target are more likely to cause ailments, and secondary effects of Psychic-type attacks that strike the target will trigger more often.

WONDER ROOM
The target's directional controls are reversed on all three axes.

The young man huffed, instinctively turning away from Alkaid before facing him. "Interface Screw, too? I thought this was supposed to be a dungeon bridging the game between low and mid levels!" he whined, keeping his eye out for psychic Pokémon in the twisted space.

If there was one relief, gravity still functioned normally. Overcoming his instincts was so hard, Josh tilting his head away from Alkaid when he meant to face him. He even tried to climb down a ladder, only to climb back up it as soon as he was on its rungs. "Arceus almighty! It's like I have to think hard to do something as simple as move! It might take me a minute just to get to the lower level!"

It seemed Josh's frustrations were just as big as his friend's, still struggling to get down the ladder. Rather than try to climb down it, he simply let go as soon as he was on it, hissing as he hit the mortars below with a loud thud. "Owww..." he groaned, suffering a small amount of fall damage.

He could hear Pokémon cries from the other side of a metal door. It seemed like they weren't alone in the citadel's basement...

Standing up, Josh stumbled around, still disoriented from left being right and forward being back. "No kidding; that's going to be the real trouble. I'm used to reverse controls in two dimensions, but not in three. There was this one level in Donkey Kong Country 3 where as long as you were underwater, your left and right were reversed. It's so different here, though..."

It took Josh a lap or two around the small room to get used to his directions being backwards, but he managed. "I'll take a look!" Twisting the doorknob clockwise (and not counterclockwise like he was used to), he cracked the door open, seeing several Solosis and Duosion bouncing along a hallway that seemed to lead to the castle dungeon. They didn't seem to notice Josh, either. "Some small, absentminded psychic types. I doubt that was what was making those cries. Let's proceed with caution."

Before Josh could get too much farther around the next corner, a green, gelatinous surface covered both of the doors in the large, L-shaped room. There was treasure the two could get to, but not until defeating a Reuniclus and its cronies that had suddenly awoken!

"I guess we'll find out!" Josh replied, his Liepard lunging away from the "boss" Pokémon and socking some iron bars with her nasty SUCKER PUNCH instead. It seemed the Pokémon had just as difficult of a time adapting to reverse controls, as well...

"Got it!" Josh cried back, recovering from the rough impact. Commanding the Pokémon in the opposite of the desired direction worked; the second attempt at a lightning-fast SUCKER PUNCH landed, his vision flashing white briefly from the CRITICAL HIT. "Hey, that's a sign we're getting stronger; that's a new personal best for most damage dealt in one attack!" He wouldn't be reaching the third and final font size for damage any time soon. Not even with a Z-Move.

Even so, the attack did not drop the boss Pokémon; it would take both their efforts to bring down such a behemoth. Bouncing and floating away from the Liepard, the psychic-type loosed a PSYBEAM upon her, leaving her delirious from the flashing lights. "Right, it's a Miracle Eye room, too. Don't forget your Pokémon are vulnerable to psychic attacks!"