[ti]solo[/ti][Tower] Can of Worms

❝Anta, you alright?❞

Not that the Mantyke looked like she was worse for wear, but Arthur was asking if in case she wanted to take a break. The water type let out a chipper cry though, raising one of her aquatic wings before circling around the Pidgey, like a hawk about to strike on their prey. He supposed that she was not too tired yet. ❝Okay, try Water Pulse this time!❞

She once again pulled her head back to rev up before releasing not just a blast of water, but it also included rings that, when making contact with either the ground or something, created waves that splashed high. It was definitely a much more powerful attack than Water Gun, and Arthur could only imagine how the move would like if she were evolved. Anyway, the Pidgey didn't stand a chance even at her current level, getting soaked to the bone and losing their baguette. Oh, the bread looked wet and soggy, it just looked pathetic.

PROMPT #18: [Tower]6CC3piv01-50

...actually, he struck two down, go figure! The two Pidgey that were grouped together had the exact same criteria, so Kanya's attack exploited their weakness flawlessly. That just left one more who was wielding its bread as if it was clinging onto life itself, muttering some kind of foreign prayer? It sounded like prayer, but what kind of prayer would a Pidgey be praying? Which legendary would that be, he wondered.

Even if they were not exactly rushing, this was progressing quite quickly, and he hoped that he was making good time. Arthur didn't know whether he preferred not knowing where Josh was, as that was just going to put a lot of potentially unnecessary pressure. Josh had way more Pokemon than he did, so he was sure that the other trainer turned child could cover more bases. As mentioned previously, it was all about luck, and so far, Arthur had been pretty lucky.

PROMPT #20: [Tower]gTh_vm991-50

Aaaaand just as he was thinking that, his luck ran out. When they got close enough to the Pidgey, a criteria he hadn't seen before popped up. He had no idea what Galar was, but surely he had..? No? He cursed and clicked his tongue. ❝That's the end of this run. Right, take a break everyone, I'm gonna have to do some research.❞

Everyone was confused, including the trembling remaining Pidgey, but seeing that it looked like it was going to live another day, it breathed a sigh of relief.

SPOILER: Click to show

{music}

The next 10 Pidgey have set up a dance party in the branches! There are disco balls made from reclaimed shiny things, funky hip-hop beats, and a serious lack of parental supervision. You're going to have to bust out your sickest dance moves if you want to make it to the next floor with your street-cred intact.

Right, so, it was the next day, and Arthur was very happy to see the second floor completely empty of birds, the third floor ready for the taking. He did a quick run to the stairs, once again carved from the wood of the tree, and ascended with a bit of trepidation. Much like the Park of Dogs, it looked like there was some kind of gimmick every time they finished off ten Pokemon, so he wasn't too sure what the next one would be. As he continued to climb, he suddenly could feel the walls shake, but not because of an earthquake, as they were shaking in a beat. Actually, it sounded like really strong bass.

And then he heard it.

He heard frickin' Usher.

Not only was it a blast from the past, he had no clue how they managed to stream the song here in the game (maybe they were playing from Spotify or something?) But when he finally got to the end of the staircase (it was a few flights up), he had to open a heavy door to reveal that it led to the outside of the trunk, and the way up was through closely grown branches, acting like an ascending dance floor. Birds were decked in full hip-hop gear, with heavy looking chains and glasses, shirts and backward caps. Arthur was stunned for a couple of moments, as the Pidgeys did not even notice his presence, they were too immersed in the dancing.

And he had another problem: the next prompt asked him for something completely new once more, a Z-Move. What the fuck was that? He had to pull up the Help Center for this one, and it also was so kind to inform him that he could purchase a temporary upgrade to his tiers for the solo run, as kind of a "here's a way to help you without getting stuck too hard". Right, okay, thankfully he had enough bytes to push it to Tier 4 for Sweeper, which will only be effective in the Tower Challenge. But what was the Z-Move?

He let out Gou, who freaked out a bit by the very loud music, but not to worry, shouted Arthur, for they could put a stop to it if they decided to run into the DJ over there (he pointed at one bird head banging like it was no one's business). Also, it turned out with the Z-Move, he had to, err, move?? The game gave him a video pop up that he had to follow, and he felt really embarrassed having to follow it, but once he did a few rounds of practice, it was time to test it out. This was supposed to make a really powerful attack, right?

Pursing his lips, he let out a sharp "Okay!" and activated the new wristwatch thing that would start the Z-Move. He then swung his arms in a shape of a circle before making a gesture of a growing fire, and then used one hand to point forward like he was releasing some kind of beam, like a kid. Oh, he was blushing hard and hoped that no one was watching!

It did work though: Gou suddenly felt a surge of power that he had never felt before, and his Ember grew into a fireball that could be some kind of mini sun before he jumped up and used his fist to punch it straight at the DJ bird. The attack collided with a powerful explosion, pulling the music to a screeching halt. All eyes were now on the pair, and when the explosion cleared, the DJ Bird was fairly unscathed except for marks of soot and ash, not from him, but from the remnants of the fireball.

The Pidgey let out a squawk. There was no need to translate what it was saying.

Oh it's on.

PROMPT #22: [Tower]p7n86eul1-50

Arthur suddenly felt a chill up his spine. He had a feeling that he was still lagging behind, but not by far - that made sense though considering the setback with the Galar Pokemon, so he needed to make some strides forward just to put him back on top. The next prompt was familiar, but since he did use Buru quite a bit the other time, he decided to switch it up with another Pokemon that could clear the criteria instead. One that wasn't going to complain as much, and admittedly, one that he didn't notice until now.

❝Eru, I need you to Fairy Wind that dressed up bird!❞

The Cottonee was a little startled - the music was booming but not as loud as when they initially arrived, but this was the cotton ball's first time in the tower and she had no idea what was going on. Well, she just needed to follow instructions, right? She saw the bird flying in front of her, sporting some really cool sunglasses, and whipped up a pink wind to blow it back.

PROMPT #24: [Tower]s50vq8Fc1-50

A different prompt appeared - one he hadn't seen before, and for a moment he panicked, because as far as he knew, he didn't have a worm Pokemon. But the UI said otherwise, pointing him to a Pokemon that was actually not his, but he hadn't been able to trade back to Torino because life got in the way, and she also seemed busy with other things. Come to think of it, it had been some time since he sent her a message, and he wondered if he should send another one soon. Was she busy plucking roses and flowers in the various gardens of UNOVR? Raising her newly hatched Jirachi under the stars? He didn't know much about her, when he thought about it. He wondered if the Onix missed being at her side.

For now, he had to quicky switch Eru (basically it felt like he was doing roulette now) and let out the rock snake; his size immediately dwarfing everything else on the floor, and basically scaring the birds shitless.

<Hm, a curious place.> the Onix commented, rumbling. <It has been some time, White Dwarf.>

❝Not the best time to catch up, unfortunately. Can you knock some sense into these birds for me?❞

The Onix eyed the puny birds and then slammed his tail onto the ground. Because they were in a tree and there were no rocks nearby, the debris he generated from the attack broke off bits of the dance floor instead (concrete, perhaps?) It was enough for the rock snake to be able to whack it at one particularly unlucky Pidgey, but thankfully it scrambled just before getting hit before running away.

PROMPT #26: [Tower]rUMjip211-50

The Onix's towering presence had definitely put a damper on the party, and there were also very few birds left to smack before the DJ one was left. The next prompt came up, and Gou seemed to sense that it was his turn next (probably because Arthur immediately turned to him after reading, and maybe some of it was intuition). <I'm fine. I've rested enough.> he didn't want to act like he was too much of a baby after a singular attack. If anything, he was already feeling ready to go since earlier, but the criteria didn't provide him an opportunity to strike.

Not until now.

He stood up before breaking into a four-legged sprint, and then pulled his arms into a punching position before locking onto their next prey, a bird with a colorful wig. When his fist connected with feathers, the wig flew off to the side, looking rather pitiful without someone to wear it.

And that left only three birds on the boogie.

PROMPT #28: [Tower]s6T0QPst1-50