Welcome to Gaia! ::

The guard would eye Monique from behind the visor of his golden helmet, sizing her up for a bit before responding. He'd then glance at Kasumi for but and moment and decided on his response to this peasant. "No permit no entry. In the name of the king I command you to stand aside." The guard commanded, the gemstone on his chest shimmered, threateningly. The mer-people behind Monique began to move to the side, as if expecting Monique and her sister to get blasted and did not want to be in the way when they were turned into projectiles.

Coming out of the wormhole herself finally, Crystal shook her head, looking down. Something had happened to her lower half right at the end there, and she probably wasn’t going to like what she saw. At least she managed to stay on her light platform. That was kind of painful.

The first thing the hybrid registered as she entered this reality(outside of standard bodily anatomy being changed) was the feel of a chill for her. And.. wet? She shook her head, noting that her hair flowed somewhat lazily, at least compared to an air environment, which meant she was underwater. Not her first time winding up underwater after coming out of an Ultra Wormhole, but it was the first time she exited -straight- into water. Well, hopefully her journal would be okay… There would be need of writing this journey in for sure. However, now would be the part she was dreading. Mentally, she was still expecting legs and paws, as well as as her Solgaleo tail, now that she had taken off the skirt. However, that’s not what she saw as she looked down. What greeted her was instead a bright white tail with a metallic sheen, not unlike the legendary metal mithril, with golden fins adorning the sides of her tail, and the fins at the end of the tail were black, with a golden circle in the center of each of them. “Well. I guess my tail stayed my tail.” The now catfish hybrid thought for a moment, looking out to the side where open water greeted her. She was apparently a merfolk now… Maybe she could?...

Twisting herself onto her stomach, Crystal would slowly push herself over the side of the lightboard. Slowly, slowly… Once her entire tail was over, she would let it go limp, see if maybe she could actually float in this reality. However, the result was her was it swinging down extremely fast, causing Crystal to scramble to find a grip on her light platform as she continued to slide off. “Crap, nope, not working!” In her scramble, she was running through anything in her mind to help her stay on, including trying to dig into the platform with her nails… Which then began to glow pink as they dug into the lightboard, shattering it as it was the exact move needed to break the board. “Light blast it! Not what I wanted!” Now she was freefalling like an anchor, despite being in a reality where everyone probably swam around and could move through the water freely. Bringing her freefalling shawl and skirt close to her, she’d curl up into a ball, bracing for the inevitable impact of the sea floor. This wouldn’t have been the first time.

The guard stood up straight as Lykas spoke up and approached, looking up and away from the hybrid's gaze. "My apologies, your royal highness! Please, swim through!" The guard said, him and his Staryu moving out of Monique and company's way but make no mistake they only did it for Prince Lykas.

The Zoroark would remain unconscious, only stirring every now and then. Kasumi however was awake, just very weak and confused by all this. "Momo...something doesn't feel right..." She informed her sister.

As they crossed through the gateway the group would find themselves in the capital of the underwater Kingdom of Gyaan, the great city of Bainganee. The city itself was even more beautiful than what Monique could see on the outside, the violet coral buildings dotting the ocean floor illuminated by the ethereal gemstone lamps. There were no roads as such things were not needed but there were designated 'swimways' to make things more orderly, these paths marked with gray Float Stones embedded with Psychic Gems, the lines of stones changing on a schedule to keep traffic moving properly. That was the other thing Monique would notice, why these designated swimways were important; there were a lot of people, mer-people, here in this city, a proper metropolis, all of them hybrids and all of them with trails.

For now her sister needed help, maybe the kindly prince could still be of help in guiding them to medical aid.

Lykas looked back at Monique when she called his named, looking very confused. "Do I know you? You look familiar and knowing my name tells me I should but I can't say I have a name to match the face." The hybrid spoke. He wasn't sure who this was but now that they were close enough to see the other hybrid's features, it became more apparent why he'd felt the urge to help them. Monique reminded him of someone. A friend, perhaps?

"Oh! The hospital!" He remembered, smacking himself in the side of the head as he remembered. "Sorry! I'm a bit forgetful lately. It's this way!" He had no intention of addressing his royal status just yet. The questions could wait until he was sure the injured or sick parties(he couldn't tell just which was more likely) were being seen to. Leading Monique and Kasumi down the various swimways through the undersea metropolis, he stopped at various points as the floating stones marking the paths shifted, changing the flow of traffic. "Try to keep up!" He exclaimed as the stones shifted again at one point, the hybrids that had begun to gather around them jumping into motion almost immediately. The sudden surge of water as so many bodies pushed it might feel similar to the winds Monique was more familiar with. "It's around the next bend and down one level." The hybrid finally stated as the group was led toward a large building. It almost looked like a Pokemon Center but somehow not. Perhaps some kind of hybrid equivalent in this world?

"Well then that makes two of us." The eyes appeared to say, the voice very familiar to Crystal, even underwater, and no doubt immediately made her think of a certain Dark-type specialist. Stepping into visible range as the sand cloud dissipated was a purple skinned creature, glittering gems dotting their skin, a Sealeo skin skirt covering their lower bits. The bipedal gremlin eyed Crystal up and down with their actual sapphire eyes, their lips parting to reveal a full set of very sharp teeth, the mouth quickly forming a sinister grin that spread to a inhuman degree. It was a Sableye hybrid and unlike her it had legs.

"You came from up there, didn't you?" They asked, in their familiar voice, pointing upwards towards what she could safely assume was the surface he was talking about. Not waiting for an answer he slowly began to walk around Crystal, observing her from multiple angles. "Never seen a hybrid like you...you're so...sparkly..." They said, grinning again, however their grin quickly faded. "...and steel, bleh." Apparently it took them a few seconds to realize Crystal's material make up and was not pleased with the realization.

Now realizing she wasn't a tasty treat the hybrid seemed less interested in her but did not leave yet. "So, what are you doing here? You get exiled too? Survive the surface did you? What was your crime? Can't be for the same reasons as me, not with a beautiful tail like that, so what did you do?"

"Lykas, I know this is strange, but I'm going to have to explain this in a bit more privacy," I replied, my big hair braid weaving back and forth as I tried to keep up. It was weird to have completely different muscle memory altogether for moving, to constantly feel water at and around me. "And no, I shouldn't be familiar to you." After all, there was one Monique, and her world was 49 years ahead of others. Unless Grandma was alive in this reality or something?

The question had little time to swim in the sheriff-turned-Primarina's brain. The movement of so many people created winds and currents of water that compelled her body to move so as not to be trampled or, worse yet, to be caught out-of-cycle when the stones moved. It was an even harder task considering Monique was helping carry two other bodies, both weak for the moment.

The hospital was unmissable as the party's path corkscrewed down toward it, a large structure with an illuminated red roof. It looked larger than a Pokémon Center, though it was not the domineering behemoth of a structure that Goldenrod University Hospital was. She had to hope that there was a better level of care here than there was back in that world. Oh tapu, please...

“To be fairI had no idea that something called Ultra Space even existed before… extenuating circumstances shoved me into it. Probably a godsend at that point, but still.” Sundaria shook her head slightly as she started listening to Hop’s explanation of things. “Okay, so that I have this straight, once upon a time, there may or may not have been continents, but something happened to flood the world so that everyone now lives underwater. Sounds like Rayquaza didn’t come in to tell the kids to stop fighting many ages ago. And then the city over there is ruled by a monarchy that looks down on and ostracizes those with legs… Light, where does this sound familiar,” she groaned, knowing full well what it sounded like. This had close shades to Kalos from her reality, when the monarchy there got overthrown.

Something in his explanation lingered in her head though. That city was protected by a Reflect dome. Do we let the intrusive thoughts in this time, because these guys sound like arrogant pricks?... “So, do you know how to get in normally? And then how well can that dome take Psychic Fang attacks?”

Apparently, the answer was yes. Slowly, maybe, but yes, we were going to let the thoughts out.

The group entered the emergency department. It was just as busy as the one in Goldenrod, but the entire mood was decidedly more pleasant, and there wasn't a rank odor; instead, there were coral tables, shell-encrusted chairs, and gem accents everywhere. There were hybrids and Pokémon seemingly everywhere. A Chansey hybrid with a tail—wow, that will never not be strange to me—saw them and beckoned over two Alomomola, their pink fins flapping quickly.

"Oh dear, what happened to them?" The Alomomola arrived and turned from vertical to horizontal, the nurse loading Kasumi and the Zoroark onto them like stretchers.

"It's a long story, maybe not one for a public place." The Primarina hybrid sighed, her melodic voice tinged with sorrow. She was going to have to give a little bit too much info just to start. "The short version: Ultra Space happened." As Monique gave her name, the Alomomola let out simultaneous Heal Pulses, which seemed to partly invigorate the patients.

"And what are their names?"

"Kasumi Ka‘ana‘ana. I'm... Monique's sister, but I'm not..." She tapped the flower on her head for emphasis. "I wasn't a hybrid before."

"You see, Ultra Space made me first a Zoroark hybrid, then a Pri—"

"Hi... I'm Zoanna." That voice was familiar. Almost too familiar. She turned toward its source: the Zoroark, who was stirring and more lively than at any time since they had turned up in this reality. "She speaks the truth." It was bizarre to hear what Monique had come to know as her own voice—sassy with flecks of Zoroark—from another body.

Monique swam over to her in a mix of shock and concern. "So...you were separate before things too..." She looked back up at the nurse, probably profoundly confused. "If we can get a private room, I can start...explaining this... I think."