"It should be just a bit further ahead," the armored giant says. He pushes past bushes and underbrush, all while minding his step in the mucky bog which squelches with every move.

"Be careful," a woman's voice near the back of the party pipes up, "It would be best if we could avoid any injuries before making it there."

The rest of the group nod while the one up front breathes heavily, stomping his way through the mud.

Finally, after much walking: A clearing.

Before them towers a large stone wall with obsidian steps leading toward the top. At the edge of the steps–way at the top–stands a black figure, seemingly cloaked in darkness, except for the wisp of white peaking off its head.

"Rise!" the being at the top exclaims.

At the base of the wall, numerous purplish and gray entities rise from the ground and appear from within the walls: The group is surrounded by countless Haunter, Gengar, Dusclops, and Sableye.

The armored giant from before brandishes a sword in three of his hands and a shield in one, while the female voice from before prepares a psychic blast of some sort. One party member readies a large bone club while another flies into the air and begins buffing the team: A team of Machamp, Doublade, Aegislash, Gardevoir, Marowak, and a Togetic.

"Futile..." whispers Darkrai at the head of the staircase.

From the dense forest the party just emerged from, multiple Trevenant and Phantump appear, encircling the group. The swampbound members of the party are slowly enveloped in the oozy purplish bodies of the Muk that they stand in.

"It was useless from the beginning..."

~

Yggcapsule, a DMMO-RPG where you get to play as a Pokémon. The game first became public twelve years ago.

What many people expected to be a "Rescue Team" game of massive proportions turned out to be an even more massive classical RPG with beloved creatures from our childhood.

I first picked up the game a couple of years after its release, starting off as a measley Seedot.

New to the game, and easy for the pickings, I was bullied and battled a lot, until one day a lone Lucario by the name of Furry Aura stepped up to help me.

Together, the Lucario and I formed a guild–Za Eleuff Aime–which only grew in numbers as time went on.

Za Eleuff Aime became a notorious guild where "only the strongest reside... And where the heart of Pokémon lie."

It was a rule within our guild that we would not equip ourselves with armors or special items that humans might wear or use as it broke the immersion. Instead, everyone in the guild only used Pokémon items, and they had to achieve greater strength to fend off armored opponent's on their own, given their own gifts and abilities.

My guild went on many legendary quests to acquire the rarest of items this game had to offer. After completing over a dozen of these quests and having played the game for half a decade, a member of the guild was given the option to become a legendary Pokémon–a Darkrai–and after consulting with my most trusted guild members, it was decided that the honor would be bestowed upon me, then I raised my way back up in level.

It's been a few years since then, and recently a new and fancier looking DMMO-RPG has been released, driving the player base in Yggcapsule down into the hundreds. The game is on its last leg, so the company responsible for its servers is taking it down tonight at midnight.

I wanted to dwell on the fun and exciting moments I've had one last time before the game is switched off for good...

~

"Ah, Buchubukuchabo, I'm glad you could make it!" The Alolan Muk sitting just a few seats away nods, his tarry body spurting and bubbling blue and green.

"I wanted to see who all was going to be on in the game's final moments. I'm glad to see you're still here, at least, Xikaiser." The table we're seated at hosts one hundred gem-studded chairs. Back before a big raid, every seat would be filled.

Today, only two seats were occupied.

"Yes, I know what you mean. I was hoping some of the others might get on, too, if only for a bit of nostalgia. But I'm glad I at least got to see you."

"Likewise," replies the Muk, "I'm glad I could see a friendly face on the server one last time before it was taken down. We had a lot of fun together, all of us. We took down some of the greats, battled against that opposing guild. All good memories... Ah, sorry, I got lost in thought. I have work early tomorrow, so I'm getting off now. Maybe one day we'll cross paths in the real world. Until then..."

The rainbow-colored Muk disintegrates into glowing blue polygons that float into the air and disappear. I raise my hand toward the spot where Buchubukuchabo had been sitting, silent and still.

"You know," I whisper silently, "Maybe you could stick around until the game actually shuts down?" I sigh and lower my arm.

I should have asked sooner.

Without further delay, I decide I ought to give our guild and throne room one last once-over. I rise from my seat, then turn to face the silver scepter behind me. It's a World Class item we crafted over the years using items we acquired from big boss battles and dungeon raids, such as the Griseous Orb, Adamant Orb, and so on, with a glowing red meteorite embedded in the top. Each of these legendary items has the ability to summon the phantom of a legendary Pokémon–weaker than the originals at max level, but no weaker than level 70.

"Eh, why not? This is the final day–I never really did have many opportunities to use or hold it, anyway." The scepter floats gently into my hand, and I begin my way down the hall.

On the steps just inside the main foyer, I notice the elite team of Eeveelution attendants standing at attention beside the lead butler, a Greninja named Gio Vanni. As I ascend the steps, the ensemble all bow before me.

"Gio. Prima. Greta. Ultra. Luna. Auro. Sola. Lefi. Pokara," I gesture to each of them as I call out their names going down the line of Greninja, Sylveon, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Umbreon, Glaceon, Espeon, Leafeon, and Flareon.

It couldn't hurt to have them tag along–I doubt anybody would be mad if I didn't have them guard the main foyer when so little time is left on the server.

I issue the command "Follow." To anyone else, I might appear to be the lead of a marching band at the Macy's parade, what with the scepter paired with the long line of colorful pop culture creatures following behind me.

We pass pillar after pillar of marble and black-gold stone, room after room of my old guildmates.

Finally, we reach the throne room where a pair of tall platinum and gold doors open seemingly on their own.

At the far end of the room is the main throne, where I have sat as the leader of the guild for the past couple of years. Beside the throne stands the final defender and final boss of our dungeon, Sonata the Meloetta. While in combat she would usually take on her Pirouette Forme, but presently she's standing idly by in her Aria Forme.

I approach the throne, a spectacle of gold and silver with Unown engravings along the edges. Sonata bows as I near her, and the Eeveelutions and Gio all halt a few paces away as I ease myself into the seat.

"Standby," I issue, and the party falls in behind Sonata in a line. I examine each of them thoughtfully: Each of these Pokémon have been carefully crafted by my guildmates–each one was thoughtfully written with so much personality.

It's a shame to see them go...

I stare up at the ceiling, at the silken flags with the symbols of my old comrades, relics of a time long past.

I have a few minutes left before the servers shut down, so I peer into the description of Sonata. I'm sure Galadriel wouldn't mind.

Galadriel had a real mean streak of creating a dichotomy between an NPC's appearance and their description.

"Absolute beauty... Final guardian, uh huh... Sadistic and whiny? What kind of... Galadriel..."

I sigh.

"To label such a pretty Pokémon as Meloetta as 'sadistic' and 'whiny' just seems too much–I would rather the last moments this character has to be better suited to her appearance."

I delete the last bit about her being sadistic and whiny, then deliberate for a moment.

"Hrmm... Eh, why not? Galadriel won't see, and the game is shutting doen anyway."

At the end of Sonata's description, I add, "She is madly in love with Xikaiser."

Oh, no! That's so embarrassing!

I cover my face for a moment, but noticing the complacent expressions on Sonata's face puts my heart at ease. I clear my throat and close out of the character info tab.

"Ahh, these halls bring back such fun memories," I sigh, staring at the large banners hanging from the ceiling.

"If I could go back I would have appreciated it more." I close my eyes. The timer in the top corner of my vision reads 23:59:26.

"We managed to do so much, and I made some of the best friends and allies I could have ever asked for."

23:59:41

"I will miss Yggcapsule..."

23:59:50

"And I will miss never having thr opportunity to return..."

23:59:59

The time rolls over to 00:00:00, disappears from sight, and everything goes black...

I open my eyes, but I am still in Za Eleuff Aime.

"What the? Is it possible they pushed back the take-down time?" I stare at my hand, perplexed.

"Is everything alright, Lord Xikaiser?" a mysterious female voice asks. I lower my hand and look over at the NPCs on standby. Sonata is leaning forward, her head tilted inquisitively.

"Is everything alright?"