[Mari]

What exactly is the distinction between reality and unreality?

...One by one, each of the girls who had found themselves a victim of Purple's awful killing spree in the mirage woke up in their beds. Each had a similar dream. ...No, not a dream. Dreams didn't involve such vivid and intense suffering. One's mind could not dream up such horrors. The cold embrace of death. Its thousand, gaping maws lined with grotesque fangs, the terrible tendrils that drew you in. To have no mouth of your own, yet to feel a maddening desire to s c r e a m. ...Each woke up with the same dream, terribly weak and sickly, feverishly murmuring of incomprehensible things. When Peach arrived with Shin!Arle, she had to give the other a funny look as she quickly picked up on what was going on. ...Sheesh. Maybe the mirage really was trying to kill them all. She'd always had weird feelings about it, but this was pretty... bad. Some tender love and care soon stabilized them and allowed them to be more coherent and awake, however it seemed like they'd each be down for the count for a while. They needed some time for their bodies to recover, let alone... their minds. She was a bit worried about those.

Oh, and there was one girl who was remained missing. Valorie. Peach wasn't certain where she was at, considering she lived here, but she did her best not to freak out. She needed to be calm, collected, and make sure everyone was okay. ...Even when they definitely weren't. Maybe she ought to send a letter to Dawn and Yellow to make sure they knew Black and Blue weren't doing so well.

Blade Unlimited Coolshaymin

[TartoonHand94]

The morning had been well underway by the time they arrived at the Magical Girl Society Lodge. A young Pokémon trainer, his Ninjask, Blaziken and Ludicolo came to a stop before the gates. Where there’d usually be singing and dancing in their stride, it was an uncharacteristically silent procession.
All the fears he used to have about this place seemed so silly now to the boy as he retrieved three sacks with pokéballs from his backpack. A black one, a white one and a blue one. Color-coded for trainer convenience you’d suppose.

“Blaziken?” His Blaziken asked him one more time with a concerned claw on his shoulder.
“No, boy. I told you. Me and Nintenda have to go alone. She’s a girl, and we’re the ones responsible for this.” He firmly reminded him, taking the claw off his shoulder and holding it firmly.
“If they do anything to us, well… We have it coming.” He soberly returned the claw to its owner. “That’s also why you two are already out of your pokéballs this time.”

“Lu.” The Ludicolo then surprised him with a bouquet of flowers he picked. This was met with a drained phallus of the eyebrow, to which he returned a look saying this wasn’t just a trinket to woo anyone with. It was the closest thing to a ‘Sorry We Killed Your Sisters’ cake they had.
“…Good call.” He slowly nodded upon realizing. As he accepted the bouquet, he couldn’t ignore how miserable his Pokémon looked.
“Guys. It’s going to be okay. Whatever goes down is going to be okay.” He reassured them both with a hug and the bravest smile he could muster. “After all what’s the worst that can happen? After this, we’re headed to the police station anyway...”
With the ball sacks in one hand, flowers in the other and the Ninjask perched on his head, Purple bid one last goodbye to his other Pokémon and stepped through the gate.

Purple was not looking his most presentable at all. His eyes had barely dried from all the crying he and Nintenda had done and were a pitiful shade of pink. You don’t get a lot of sleep when you feel the way he felt about what he had done.

Making his way toward the front door, Purple would normally be rehearsing his lines and going over how to genuflect properly if the princess herself answered the door. But he had no idea what he was going to say. No idea who was going to answer. No idea what was going to happen after he said what he needed to say.

But Purple came on the decision to face whatever consequences lied in store for him. And upon taking one last breath and ringing the doorbell, it was too late to run now.

[Mari]

"...Can you get that?"

Purple could faintly hear the tail end of a request from Princess Peach, moments before a young but distinctly shorter girl in an equally pink princess dress answered the door. It was ... Iris! "...Hi Purple! What're you doing hereee-AAAA!!" Iris curiously asked before abruptly beginning to scream at the top of her lungs and clutch at her head, drawing some pretty spooked looks from the other girls. You could just see the WTF written all over Arle's expression. Moments later, Amy began sobbing uncontrollably and promptly began trying to flee, but found this very difficult as she was now blind, running straight into the wall next to the doorway with a painful sounding thud and falling over. Peach moved to try and help, mumbling something incoherent. You could see it in the way she moved that something was wrong. She got about halfway to the door before collapsing and passing out. Shin!Arle and Raffina quickly rushed to try and help the fallen girls, but it was clear they didn't understand what was going on let alone how to stop it.

Arle took a detour around the girls and slipped outside, closing the door behind her so that she could talk without having to shout over the screaming. You could see the uncertainty and fear in her eyes. Was she about to be next?

"Heeey... So, we're kind of having a 'bad day'... Things are a little crazy right now and we're not really sure what's going on. Are you alright?"

[TartoonHand94]

Even resting atop his head, Nintenda could feel Purple’s heart blanching at the sound of the princess’ voice. She was home alright, but maybe talking to one of her little Shiinotic retainers instead would be easier. While he waited, his imagination sampled and remixed her voice, allowing him to sample a demo of what she would sound like saying ‘Off with his head!’ in that same lithe tone. That did wonders for his blood pressure.

Peeking up from behind his bouquet of flowers, he found someone with just as much clout and just as  ornate a dress answering the door…and she was from His world too! It was the former Champion of Unova, Iris! Champion until…oh boy this just got even harder. At the same time, it got easier: being Pokémon Champion, at least he knew her successor and fellow champions’ Pokémon would be left in good hands with her. Maybe this was for the best.

But before Purple could open his mouth to break the ice with how starstruck that she remembered his name, she started screaming like crazy out of nowhere!
“Hu-wha-?-What’s Wro-?” Purple blubbered out in a confused panic for her well-being as instantly felt every eye behind the door staring him down. Oh no. Did they think He did this now too? Did he do it too? It wasn’t exactly like he was sure he didn’t. Next thing he knew, the pink Chespin started to freak out and hurt herself on the wall! What did he do now?! Oh no! Here she came! He did it now! Princess Peach was gonna kill--Collapse on the floor. Why Did He Come Here?! His presence just made everything worse!

The confused Ninjask stood up from her perch and looked down at her trainer who was having a full-on panic. Dropping the flowers, dropping the balls and dropping to his knees in despondency, he regretted that last move when someone else came to the door before he could run away from it.

It was yet another important girl, this one he never met but had recognized from the news: She was one of the Life Sphere’s new Leaders! Carl Nadja. A lot of important women live at this lodge, apparently.
To think that he was going to the police after dropping the balls off. Having an audience with a leader, he might as well kill two Pidgeys with one…He winced at his own analogy.

“No kidding?”
Purple wheezed back in a voice he should’ve cleared first.

“…No, I don’t think anyone’s really okay today...” He shrugged before collapsing forward onto his hands for support.
“…So I won’t…take up a lot of your time, your highney-your leatherness-Miss Nadja.” He coughed, fighting his guilt-broken voice.
“…I…came…to bring…these back.” He lifted his hand holding 19 Pokéballs in 3 sacks. “These are…very strong Pokémon…Taken from three…Very strong trainers…” He lowered his forehead to the floor, now assuming a familiar Japanese apology position. His Ninjask, who floated off of his head, followed his lead and descended to the floor, bowing her head in similar fashion.
“…Three very special girls that I…I…” After struggling to hold back, his voice broke like a dam and became flooded with heartbroken sobbing. “…I Kihihilled!” He confessed, voice practically muffled by his own soaked face smushed against the porch floor.
His Ninjask, who up to this point had been doing a great job at keeping her composure, could not withstand her trainer's devastation and emitted a cry as well.

[Mari]

Arle blanched. ...Did he just call her a hiney? Like, a butt? ...No. No. That was ridiculous. She must've just misheard. That or he meant to say highness or something. Was she a queen? She didn't remember that being part of the deal. "...Miss works." Arle politely corrected, not sure how to feel about some higher title. "Oh...--" Arle began, trailing off as Purple continued. She didn't get a chance to ask who they belonged to, but she knew enough from having lived with pokemon trainers to know how she could find out.

Arle opened a bag and began inspecting the balls. They were all love balls, and she could observe familiar pokemon through their translucent tops. Hold on... Those were Black's pokeballs! But she was... inside, resting... wasn't she? ...But then, that didn't make sense. Because why would Purple have her pokeballs? And if she was dead...

Who was sleeping in her bed??

Arle looked over her shoulder and furrowed her brows suspiciously at the lodge. ...What were the odds that those were imposters and that they were the ones responsible for all that pain and screaming just now?? She quietly contemplated storming back in there to confront them after a moment, but then she wasn't sure how safe she was from whatever was afflicting her sisters and also Purple was kind of ... demanding attention.

"H-Hey... " Arle awkwardly replied, crouching down next to Purple and very cautiously placing a hand on his shoulder. You could tell she wasn't used to touching people so readily. However, she felt like this situation called for her to put aside her squeamishness around strange boys and touching. Shifting to sit down next to Purple, Arle gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze and a very light rub. The somewhat potent scent of spilled curry spice was hard not to notice this close to her. "...A lot of people here know what it's like to feel forced to fight someone they cared about. Sometimes, even if we try our hardest not to, ...things happen... and people die... Believe me, I understand. Just... try to calm down and tell me what happened, okay?" Arle softly offered, sort of unsubtly offering herself for comfort with how close she was. "I want to help..." she softly added.

[TartoonHand94]

Arle could feel a scared flinch as she placed a hand on Purple’s shoulder. It was evident from the look in his wet pink eyes, he was expecting her to hit him. He had come all this way on the decision to face the music no matter how severe the song. He hadn’t anticipated hearing singing of compassion and understanding for his plight. Especially not after he had just confessed to killing her sisters.

Like a Rockruff with his tail between his legs, Purple lifted himself up from the floor and sat on his knees. His head remained bowed with trembling lips. He deeply appreciated Arle’s sentiment, but he was too afraid whatever trust she had in him would be shattered as soon as she learned the details.

Noticing her trainer’s silence, Nintenda stopped crying and gave his arm a supportive squeeze. Little red granted big pink eyes permission to speak on both their behalves, and a nuzzle added that it was okay. Whatever happened was going to be okay. Whatever goes down was going to be okay. as still too scared to talk Rubbing his eyes, he took a deep sniff and caught an abrupt whiff with his newly unclogged nostrils. Had she just been eating Curry?

“…Alright, Miss Arle…” Taking a deep but uneasy breath, he straightened his back and finally faced her. “Here’s what happened…except…I don’t know exactly how it happened:”

“Okay, so… It all started when we managed to track down last month’s Mirage Spot. Y’know, these legendary portals that go to other worlds that show up every month? They’re usually really cool! Like taking a trip to other worlds for free!” Purple nodded before he caught himself stalling.
“So anyway, we managed to get our hands on a map of this one and were headed for this place called Madou Village. Like the one out west but before it got all Mukked up.” He continued to explain, tangling his fingers.
“We were just gonna check the scene, snag a souvenir and then dip. But the map got ruined in the rain and we got lost. We took shelter in this big creepy castle we found. But in hindsight we should’ve just drowned in the rain.” Purple hung his head in shame, blaming himself for that accident.

“And then…we got…bit by something in there…I think it was a Crobat, but it might as well have been a Darkrai for all I know.” He shrugged with a hint of contempt for whatever it was that bit them.
“Next thing I knew, I was…Different! My feet stopped feeling sore, I could sense things in the dark, I wasn’t breathing… because I didn’t need to anymore!” He looked down at his hands which clenched for emphasis. “Also, I could turn into a Crobat, which was nice.”

“I was…Powerful! …But at the same time… I had no power. No control. I couldn’t stop myself from saying or doing anything, my body just did it on its own and I could only sit back and watch it.” Purple waggled the sleeves of his hoodie before letting them go limp.
“And the first thing my body wanted to do… Was this girl who I used to have a…” With all the shame in the world, he was still too embarrassed to finish his sentence. “I mean I knew she wasn’t… And that her heart belonged to… I don’t even know how she got to the castle either, But I literally could not help myself!” Purple clutched his face under his cap squeezing it in self-disappointment.

“I just… Wanted her to join me in this…Power! I remember thinking maybe… If we shared this together, maybe I’d finally proven myself worthy and we could be… Giratina, that sounds so stupid now. And it was stupid then too!” His Ninjask had to stop him from pounding his head into the floor with frustration. “I tried to…turn her into one of what I was, but…I didn’t know how to…I didn’t know I didn’t know how to! Instead I just… and then her best friend, and then the lady who hosted the of WWLi tournament…” He stumbled through the rest of the story either to disgusted or too depressed to say the details out loud.
“The only ones who managed to escape me were this violet-haired Hoopa girl and… and…” Purple grew quite visibly uncomfortable remembering the next name.

“This other girl… Who then tried to stop me!” Having some sort of emotional attack, Purple keeled over onto his side, clutching himself as tears leaked from his face yet again.

“I Wanted her to stop me!”

Narrowly avoiding being landed on, Nintenda fetched a tissue for her trainer to wipe his tears and blow his nose in, which he proceeded to do, then violently cough into.

[Arle Nadja]

Arle listened carefully, sort of piecing things together as they went. ...Ooooh. Oh, now she was starting to understand. The mirage. Right. That made ... sense? Some sense, anyway. “Hey... I met Blue just a bit ago! she's fine... Well--she's ill. But she's not dead or anything.” Arle softly explained. “She and a bunch of other girls just kinda showed up here this morning, really sick and disorientated. They're resting up and we're taking care of them. It seems like the mirage played a really cruel prank on you.” Arle continued to explain, still just kinda holding Purple's shoulder. “Just... hold on alright? We'll figure this out and things'll be okay.” Arle finished.

[TartoonHand94]

Folding his tissue for disposal, Purple froze. His weary red eyes darted up at Arle and stared at her as if she had just said the craziest thing he had ever heard. Had she not just heard him tell his story, or were the fine details obscured by his grieving? He killed those girls when he was a vampire, and there was no way they could ever… Wait a minute… How did He? Nintenda did a double take and thought. Why weren’t They vampires anymore? No one came along to cure them. They just stepped out of the portal and…they were fine again!

“…That’s impossible.”
Purple replied in flat monotone defeat.

(Master! There is a chance that what Life Sphere Leader Miss Arle Nadja has described to be is not impossible after all!) Nintenda buzzed up, between Arle and her trainer and getting all up in his face.
(Observe!) She took him by his hand and pulled him off the porch into the sunlight, and held his hand there.
He did not immediately understand what she was trying to show him…until he felt the warmth of the sun on his skin. At once it hit him. He wasn’t a vampire anymore, and if he wasn’t undead anymore…maybe…just maybe…!

“…!” As if recharged by the very sun itself, Purple jumped back onto the porch to face Arle.
“Miss Nadja! Please! I need to see them!” He suddenly pleaded with her to visit his former victims. He wasn’t going to believe anything he had heard until he saw it with his tired eyes themselves. He had been deceived one too many times for one event.
“S-So I can give them these!” He scrambled to pick up the bouquet of flowers he dropped earlier. As if he needed an extra excuse. “Please I beg of you! I have to know that they’re okay!” He begged, new tears welling up in his increasingly dehydrated eyes. “I was gonna turn myself in to the police but after this, but I can’t leave yet… I can’t go without the chance…to tell them to their faces how sorry I am!”