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Metal Gear Minun

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Everything posted by Metal Gear Minun

  1. IC: Jamie Arthur - Geosenge Town Jamie took the egg with cautious enthusiasm. She disregarded her previous instinct on which egg was which to accept the egg. While she may have told herself that there was no way she would've let anyone else take the egg, the kindness of the gesture was not lost on Jamie. Especially Belle relinquishing her claim to the egg. It took all of Jamie's focus to not start shaking lest she disturb the egg. So she didn't notice that tears had begun to well up in her eyes again. "Sycamore is good," Jamie said, her focus very much on her definitely-definitely-yes-baby-brother in her arms. "As soon as we get an incubator for the egg, I will be ready to go stop some bad guys."
  2. IC: Jamie Arthur - Geosenge Town Jamie had been quiet since the group returned from the lab. Her emotions had quietly been stewing on the whole way back, but she had to put them aside right now. She at least had to say what little she had to about what she should be doing. "Just send me to where the fighting is going to be thickest. As long as I have Pelleas and Tristan with me, I can handle any bad guys I have to fight." She thought for a moment about what Dahlia had just said. "I am going to guess Lumiose is the best place for me, but I can go wherever you need a fighter." She wanted to reassert her right to her brother. But she knew this was not the time or the place. They needed to hammer out a plan to save the day as soon as possible. Still, her eyes kept shifting from Zoe to Emily. She really didn't want to admit this, but she couldn't tell which one was which. Her instincts labeled the one held by Zoe as the correct egg. But there was every possibility that she was just mad at Zoe, and wanted to take the egg from her, regardless of whether it was correct or not.
  3. IC: Tristan - Flare Lab Tristan considered the issue. He had never actually hacked a computer himself. But James had tried showing him how to do it on a few occasions. He raised a giant foreleg cautiously but tromped over to lean over the computer himself. He knew a few tricks that James told him to look for when going about probing a system for flaws. They were rather basic tricks, but if he had a chance of being useful, it would be untoward of him to not offer his services. Still he left plenty of space for the others. Even if he did have the know how, without his powers, others would have to deal with the precision movements. And by that, I mean not crushing the poor computer.
  4. IC: James Arthur/Lancelot - Heahea City There was a fog rolling into Heahea City when James departed from his hotel. Both James and Lancelot paused when they first saw it. It seemed to bother them, and not just because this was going to delay his flight. Gareth and Agravain were sitting upon each of James’s shoulders. Agravain seemed completely clueless as to what was bothering James. Gareth on the other hand was lost in thought. A fog such as this were uncommon on his part of Ula’ula island, but not unheard of. The fog was coming in so thick and close to the ground, that James sent Galahad out to guide them to the airport. When they made it inside of the airport building, they relaxed a little bit. An agent of Team Liberty greeted James and his team. He confirmed James’s worry that his flight had been delayed. So James sat down on a bench while his flight was being prepared. Lancelot sat beside him, while Gareth and Agravain moved on to his lap, taking a nap. He was still trying to get work done, but there was little progress he could make at the moment. In addition to have to twist his body to even look at his computer, because of the bugs sleeping in his lap, he was unable to focus on anything truly productive. He resorted to messing with a few programs he had written to entertain himself to at least keep his programming skills sharp. The fog had broken when the agent returned. “Executive Arthur, your flight is ready for you.” He closed his laptop and placed it back in his briefcase. He woke up the bugs on his lap and returned them to their Ultra Balls. He stood up and turned to the agent. “Very good. I would like to leave im-” At that moment, a particular ring came from James’s phone. It was not his normal ringtone. It was a ringtone he had set up for when someone was trying to contact him on a secure chat app he had made with one particular individual. He immediately sat himself down on the bench. “Guinevere,” James uttered as he pulled his laptop back out of the briefcase. Lancelot immediately placed himself next to James. Both were absorbed in the activation of the program. “Excuse me, we have to get to the plane, Execu-” “The plane can wait,” James said. With one final click, Guinevere appeared on the screen. She was scratching her cheek and had an awkward smile on her face. She seemed to be in a hotel room of some sort. Not the mansion that he had left her in. James was about to question the location, when he received a text notification from her. [ Text chat? ] “Alright,” James said as he sat his hands down to type. Lancelot was slowly pushing James away from the the center of the webcam. James, as he couldn’t exactly push the metal bug back effectively at all, pulled the laptop away. Lancelot was about to respond by grabbing the laptop when James said, “If you crush the computer, we will not be able to talk to her at all,” which caused the Scizor to reluctantly relent. [ Been a while. Too long. Where are you right now? You don’t look like you are at Ms. Trilan’s mansion. Later. I need you to send a secure message for me. Okay. You are not going to ask me what it is? If you are contacting me for it, it is important. If you want me to know what it is you can tell me. ] Guinevere was silent. She seemed conflicted for a moment about whether she would tell James what was going on. Her hands began to type even though indecision was written plainly on her face. [ Stacy is dead. ] “Dead?” James said, his brow furrowed. [ What happened? Someone killed her. I am piecing together who. Do you need my help? No, I wouldn’t want to take you away from your busy schedule of TV show battling. ] Both James and Lancelot visibly paled at the mention of the Battle Royal. Guinevere was smugly smiling at their combined discomfort. James slowly began to type a response. [You saw that? Yup. I got a lot to complain about. In my defense, First of all the outfit I got all my business done before that match. Oh, they let me keep the outfit. Good. You are going to wear it, next time I see you. ] James’s face visibly lit up at that sentiment. He ignored the fact that she was probably going to mock his appearance to focus on the suggestion that they would see each other again. Guinevere sighed and rolled her eyes. She realized what she said a moment after she typed it and found it amusing how well he took it. [ Stop looking so happy. Let me have this. No. =( ] The emoticon was lying. [ Second, your lines were cheesy. It hurt to listen. If your ears hurt, imagine how mine felt, they were much closer. ] Guinevere took a moment to suppress a laugh. [ Third, Lance has power. So does Percy. Why LITTLE PERCY HAS POWER?! Yes, and a new evolution. Like what Lance had. You have got to be kidding me. What about Gawain? No just those two so far. He must have been jealous. Burning. I know I would be if I saw a Gardevoir evolve like that. Apparently he evolved on One Island? News spread quickly about that. I will need to check into the leaks when I return to Four Island. Tell me the full story about that sometime. Gladly. Fourth. You told Lance to ‘remember Pierce.’ We beat him. With the help of a couple of other trainers. But the world flipped upside immediately after. Ugh, tell them they should’ve waited. I wanted to be there when we beat Pierce. If M0 has a complaint department, I will be sure to forward your complaint. Is that what it is called? I can send you an overview later. Alright. On the plus side, the camera got a great view of both your hindquarters. Ha. ] The conversation took a pause after that comment. James was about to make a retort, when James remembered that Guinevere hadn’t been told about Roderick’s death. He was torn to make the mood take such a downturn. But she deserved to know the truth. [ I need to tell you something. You deserve to know. I am sorry to say but ] James paused. His fingers were over the keys, but he stopped typing. He looked into the webcam for this. He needed to say it with his own voice. “Roderick is dead.” Guinevere stared back. When the shock passed, she turned off the video feed for a moment. She needed a moment to compose herself. After a few moments, she turned it back on. She was not happy, but she could continue the conversation. [ What happened? Are his Pokémon alright? Yes, they are fine. Fortunately. I am having someone look into it on my behalf. But, it is pretty safe to call it it murder. I see. Are you alright? I can allow myself to mourn when the world is no longer in danger. Was there a funeral? Not yet. His remains were recently recovered. I will spare you the details. But they have yet to be sent home to Orre. What is going to happen his Pokémon? Some of them will be given to his father and his girlfriend. I was tasked with distributing the rest. Have you decided who? Well I came up with an idea of how to pick. I made a mystery short story contest. ] Guinevere blinked. A perplexed look started to crawl onto her face. [ Seriously? I have my reasons. Not knowing enough people? At least not enough who have the time and ability to look for Roderick’s murderer. You are looking for volunteers, via a short story contest. That seems a roundabout way of doing it. You are probably right. ] James had considered other ways to find candidates for Roderick’s Pokemon. In better circumstances, he would’ve been able to focus more time on it. Part of the appeal had been that it was something he could have occur in his absence without being forced to delegate the task to someone he wasn’t sure he could trust. It was awkward to admit. And even if it worked as intended, he probably could have found them sooner by other methods. It was probably silly of him to do this, but he needed the emotional distance and control it gave him. [ I am sorry I had to tell you about this. I wish I could have told you happier news. No. I mean. I am not exactly calling under happy circumstances. You are safe, though? Yeah, so far no problems. Though, I may need you to do another favor for me. What is it? There is a witness I would like you to extend diplomatic protection to. I do not know if he is truly in danger, but he thinks he is. Are you sure you are safe? As long as we keep our communications secure I should be. You focus on M0, that is more important than me right now. ] James sat silent for a few moments, his expression emotionless. He knew that she was correct. If M0 destroyed the world, and it certainly seemed capable of it, Guinevere would die. That didn’t mean he was comfortable with her decision though. [ Just please return to me when you are done. I would feel more at ease if you near me. So you could protect me, or I could protect you? Both. That is what partners do. ] Guin sat there stunned. She had typed what she had as a bit of a joke. Somehow, she hadn’t expected that response. It was the appropriate response, almost a cliched one. And yet seeing it from James caught her off guard. She began type and then erase a response several times before she finally responded. [ Alright, fine. I will return after I finish my investigation. Happy? Yes. Want me to send you the mystery stories? So we can read them at the same time? Okay. I will send the message I need encrypted in a moment. I will see you later. By the way, did you read the letter I had Lucia give you? ...No I haven’t. Don’t. Just, forget I ever sent it. Very well. Give my condolences to Harmonics for me. I will. Alright. Bye Lance! ] When Guinevere closed the chat, James released a breath he wasn’t aware he had been holding. Lancelot looked similarly relieved that James had managed not to screw this up. The agent who had seen to retrieve them had stood there during the entire phone call silent. If James had been paying even the slightest bit of attention to anyone who wasn’t Guinevere during that conversation, he would’ve been unnerved by the vapid look in his eye. He would also have noticed that there was a low fog crawling along the floor. And he most certainly would’ve noticed the fog coalesce into a form behind him. “You inconsiderate boys didn’t even attempt to visit?” an old voice uttered. Before Lance and James could process the predicament they were in, the figure tapped both of them and they were out. When they were asleep. She waved a hand over each of them. Images flowed from them to her. “You two have been busy these past few years,” she said. Images of Greed and M0 began to flow into her, and her eyes began to widen. She continued her work in silence, she took the hand that was over Lancelot and waved it over each of the Ultra Balls. To make sure that none of them would interfere. When she had nearly finished searching their memories, she said, “I think I will go with you two. Don’t fret, you won’t even notice I’m with you.” The figure extended her hand over the last Ultra Ball. But then something happened that she did not expect. Celebi popped out of her Ultra Ball and looked straight at the figure in the mist. The legendary was a bit harder of a target to hypnotize. She had an intrigued smile on her face, but quickly shielded her eyes right before they started to glow. Celebi wasn’t going to fall for that one. The figure seemed like it was about to leap forward and strike Celebi, but then it relented. “Alright. Let’s talk.”
  5. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab When Jamie began to hear to the tale the four told, she became engrossed. She was rather interested in why they were there. It was a little funny, to hear her own words in someone else's voice. And it was mind-blowing to learn that the egg that came out of the cloning device would be both her Tristan's and Belle's Cyanide's child. She was planning on speaking up about it, but she decided to wait until the story was finished. But then they began to speak about the report. Jamie froze. Her hearts thumping was audible to her. She was going to immediately shout to Alex and Amelia that they weren't alone, but Alex kept talking. Alex began to speak of how they were born as an experiment. As a tool. Being born to fight and die. The utter despair in those words rang in Jamie's ears. She backed down for a moment. Pelleas looked over to Jamie. Tristan's eyes followed Pelleas's to Jamie. She gnashed her teeth silently before biting her lip. Her eyes met theirs, and she merely shook her head. The two guardians looked silently between each other. Lucan hobbled over, having shaken Sina loose. He looked between his seniors, trying to figure out what was going on. At some point the files had been passed around. When they finally came to Jamie, her eyes were transfixed on the documents to the point that she didn't even register who passed them to her. She didn't notice if they were human. She held onto them and briefly scanned the room. Jamie stood behind Lucia, and for a moment when no eyes were on either of them, she slipped the documents into her bag and closed them. After she was sure that no one saw her place the files in the bag. Jamie threw her arms around Lucia. She was the only one who knew. And if Jamie had her way, it would stay that way. She held on tightly. Her eyes met hers for the briefest of moments, and Jamie shook her head in that instant. As the similarities in their appearances to Xander sank in, her hug tightened. ["Samples?"] Pelleas repeated to himself, as he put the dots together. The egg was a mix of Tristan and his opponent's DNA. Which meant... ["You cheated on me?"] the Heracross shouted, loudly feigning hurt. Tristan ignored the pretend hurt on the Heracross. He still had to process the fact that he was, in effect, having a child with his recent opponent. If he had his power right about now, he would've told Belle that he was Tristan. But as he didn't, he had to wait for someone else to tell her that he was Tristan. "He is Tristan," Jamie said pointing to the Metagross. Jamie did not want to speak at the moment. But she had to. If only she was telepathic. Then she wouldn't have to talk where everyone could hear her. She kept her focus solely on Belle. Because the egg was 50% Cyanide's kid and 50% Tristan's, they were would normally have an equal claim. But she couldn't give it up. "I am not going to give up my dad's kid. That's my brother."
  6. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab Tristan smiled greatly at the development before his eyes. This evolution would make his opponent an even greater opponent. However, that did not mean he was going to let the opportunity go to waste. He took the blow to the face, or rather, he smashed his head into the fist. And he pivoted off the momentum impulse to shoot both of his fore limbs forward beyond the range of the extended limb. Only if he could master his new growing limbs would his opponent be able to dodge this strike. "Improvise a Gyro Ball, Lucan!" Jamie yelled to the Vanilluxe, who she was focusing on for the moment. "Spin out of Dracos's way!" Lucan did indeed begin to spin. He wasn't quite sure how gyro ball was supposed to work. And while having two perspectives gave him twice the field of view, it also gave him twice the dizziness. So it was almost luck as much skill that kept him from crashing into Dracos and spinning back and a collision course with his thrower. Pelleas pushed against the tightening coil of the Dragonair. He knew he had the strength to do without any handicaps, but when the body of his opponent started to change, he took the opportunity to slip out of the dragon's grasp. He was about to grab the dragon, when the Eevee ran up to him. He turned to see what the problem was and froze. He could just make out the knife to Lucia's throat. Generally, he would confer with his trainer what to do here. But this was delicate. Jamie couldn't see this at this angle. At this point, his best bet was to keep his current occupied. He kept one eye out on the knife wielder. If she let her guard down, he might be able to find a way to disarm her.
  7. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab ["Thank you, good fellow. Your catch was admirable as well,"] Tristan said leaning forward into the arm that he was caught by the Metang. Pelleas saw the Dragonair approach. Given that he was confident that Tristan could defeat his opposite number, The Heracross decided to abandon his plan to attack the Metang from from above to intercept the Dragonair. Pelleas jumped from Tristan simultaneously as the Metagross punched at the Metang with his free forelimb. He bounced off the Metang and leaped at the Dragonair, intending to stab the Dragonair with his horn.
  8. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab Tristan felt a piece of a scalpel chip off him, and syringe break apart as it smashed into him. Jamie, her dads, and Lucan all barely had time to react when the remains of the devices retreated back whence they came. When the machine began to start up, Pelleas winged over to the vats. Something about it began to stir memories in the Heracross's head. His eyes went (pardon the pun) bug-eyed for a moment, before he turned to Tristan. ["Does this remind you of-?"] Tristan and the others hurried over at the Heracross's buzzing. Tristan's eyes went wide too when he heard Pelleas's words. This machine couldn't possibly be... Jamie looked confused, glancing between both of her dads who seemed to understand the situation better than her. When the eggs began to form, gears began to turn in both of their heads. ["Did one of those eggs, come from my DNA?"] Tristan uttered, pointing one foreleg from himself and then at the eggs. Jamie was having flashbacks at the moment, of her own early life. Some of the first things she saw in life reminded her of what was seeing right then. So When Tristan began to point at the eggs, she instantly leaped to a conclusion. If that egg, came from Tristan. And Tristan was her dad. Wait, did that mean she was a big sister now?! Jamie was about to run over to get the eggs from the belt, when Emily scooped them up. She breathed a sigh of relief until Emily handed one of the eggs to the Rocket hater. It was bad enough thinking that she'd spread anti-Rocket propaganda to her baby brother. But then Zoe's words from right before Emily handed her the egg processed through Jamie's mind. "LOOT?!" Jamie yelled, her face contorted with rage. "Hold up. Hold up! Why are we you letting you hold my baby brother?!" "Jamie!" Lucia cut in with a frown, as she stepped in between Jamie and Zoe. She wasn't quite sure about what had all just happened, but had a guess from Jamie's reaction and everything that had just happened, but... now was not the time or place. She shook her head at Jamie, as she held her hands out to both Jamie and Zoe - preemptively cutting off a reply from the young girl. "Not now. I agree that word choice isn't great, but can we do this when like... we're not in a falling-apart secret lab?" Jamie was about to respond when Jared told them to move. She scowled at Zoe for a moment, but nodded. "We're not done talking about this," she said turning away. She needed to hit something. A few moments later, fate provided. The first two opponents were a Metang and a Sneasel, so she decided she would go after them first. She saw a familiar Dedenne going along with them. She smiled in the knowledge it was just a spontaneous random battle. She made a quick wave to the Dedenne before turning back to her opponents. "Pelleas, hop on top of Tristan! Tristan, engage the Metang. Lucan, time to fight the Sneasel!" Pelleas flew up to Tristan's back as Metagross moved to punch the Metang. If he could capture the Metang's attention, Pelleas would be able to get some free shots in. Lucan had less of a plan. He whimpered slowly towards the Sneasel. He really wasn't quite sure how he'd deal with the opponent if the Sneasel turned out to be faster. He would try though. But he'd wait for the Sneasel to make a move. IC: Lohe Mahina - Four Island - August 12th, Morning Lohe was sitting in the forest next to a new friend he made. He hadn’t gotten his name, and he was currently taking a nap right now so Lohe could do as vampires do. He had gotten a more stable source of blood, but it was better to conserve. A few people getting scrapes here and there was a lot less noticeable than an entire blood bank running out of stock. And if somebody happened to be wandering the forest in the morning and it was a particularly shady area of the forest where he could still use his powers, well, don’t turn down a free meal. When he had gotten his fill, he continued to sit there for a bit, thinking about his predicament. He still needed to get out of Four Island for a little bit, but where would he go? His phone began to beep. The caller was someone… troublesome. But also convenient. “You’ve reached Lohe Mahina,” he said. “Lohe! How are you, you old bloodsucker?” Lohe smiled at that description. He was both of those things. But as for how he was doing? “Oh, just hanging out with… uh… Frank, here. Should I ask why you’re calling me?” “I believe I have something that would attract your interest. We -- the Professor and I -- are on to something big. A lucrative Alolan government contract would go a long way towards making it a reality. It would be… imprudent to discuss the details over the phone, however. We’ve had… concerns about… privacy, recently. Can you come to Kalos in person?” “Done.” The raised eyebrow on the other end was practically audible. “I’m surprised. No hints, no goading needed? You’re not normally one to jump right to the main course -- here I was all geared up for an award-winning performance, and now I learn my natural drama isn’t needed at all?” Lohe stood up, picked up the staff that was leaning on the tree. “Nope. Is now a good time? As in, I hop on the first flight to Kalos and see it as soon as possible?” “That would be ideal. We’re scheduled to stay in Geosenge for at least the next week, but if I arrange things properly I might be able to pick you up in Lumiose on the morning of the thirteenth.” “Okay, I’ll see you soon,” Lohe said, hanging up on Lionel. “Well Frank, I trust you’ll take care of things here,” he said to the sleeping man. The vampire applied a bandage to his meal, patted his head, and began to walk away. The sleeping man would wake up in a few minutes, little worse for wear. Lohe had to begin packing if he was gonna get on the first flight off of this rock.
  9. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab Pelleas seemed a little miffed at the insinuation that Tristan could dig his way out of a hole quicker than he could. Only slightly, though. His daughter on the other hand, seemed a bit more miffed that at the idea that Pelleas wouldn't be able to handle the job of digging them out of a cave-in quickly. But Tristan would be the better shield for protecting people if the lab did collapse. So she pulled out her bag. "I think you are underestimating how strong Pelleas is," Jamie said, grumbling. She pulled out two Poké Balls and tossed them to the ground. Tristan and Lucan popped out of their respective containers. Lucan wasn't strictly necessary, but she always felt braver when the Vanilluxe was out. And Jamie wanted to be ready if they were about to get into a fight. Jamie took a look at the other Pokemon the other trainers sent out. Her eyes stopped on Ronin for a moment. Seeing the Scyther brought to mind a younger Lancelot for a moment. Honestly, she'd love it if Uncle Lance and Guin were there too. They'd be invincible if they had those two with them. But they didn't, and there wasn't much point on dwelling on it longer. "Okay!" Jamie said, snapping out of it. "Let's charge!" she yelled, running in place briefly to satisfy her urge to rush ahead of the group, but then slowly walking forward with Tristan in the lead, flanked by Pelleas and Lucan.
  10. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab Jamie's eyes began to widen as she saw the collapsed wall fix itself. When the deed was done, she shed a singly manly tear at the display while making the widest grin. "I have the coolest rival ever," Jamie said. Everything from the presentation to the execution. The incredible line before she did the act. And then the follow through. She had gotten this far already. It was awe inspiring to watch. Giratina had picked its chosen hero well. Dahlia was such a natural at being a hero. Unlike her. Pelleas looked the hallway that Dahlia had revealed. He was ready to move on, ready to take point if he was needed. But they needed to check up on Dahlia first. Jamie walked over to her fated rival. "That was amazing," she said kneeling beside her rival. She offered the other heroine a hand if she needed it to get up.
  11. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab Jamie's eyes lit up. "Ooh. Ooh! Pick me!" Jamie called. She had her hand raised and she was jumping up and down. She didn't even wait for Jared to actually give her permission to take point. She just pushed Pelleas to the front of the group and started walking forward. Pelleas wondered why she felt the need to push him forward. He could've easily walked up there himself. But he could feel the excitement from Jamie. If he had to guess, the two Champions talking about being Champions was starting to excite Jamie, and she wanted to impress them. Well, if it came to a fight, he'd be sure to make his mark. All for his darling daughter, of course. Though, the Heracross to admit he was interested in seeing how strong the Champions' Pokémon were.
  12. IC: Jamie Arthur - Flare Lab Jamie considered Dahlia's words. She didn't know what this lab actually contained before it collapsed. That made it rather hard to speculate on what it could've been that Flare was after here. "I mean, cool Pokémon are worth coming back for in and of themselves," Jamie said, considering how cool strangely colored Pokémon could look. "But bad guys tend to aim bigger than that." "Did you bring better Pokémon for digging this time? Tristan and Pelleas could probably help if the ceiling will hold." Pelleas decided to take the statement as her praising his strength rather than her implying he would accidentally collapse the decrepit ruin, killing them all.
  13. IC: Jamie Arthur - Geosenge Town It was the first time Jamie had the opportunity to join in one of these group training sessions. Pelleas was out beside her, correcting her form as she repeated punch after punch. While learning how to punch intrigued her, something distracted Jamie the entire duration of the training. She kept turning back to Dahlia doing her practice. She not only mastered sharing her power with someone else, but she made major progress in reverse mixing things. Dahlia was so cool. When Jared called them to action however, she snapped out of watching Dahlia train, and turned towards Pelleas. The Heracross nodded and placed himself in front of Jamie, as the two ran to join their friends.
  14. IC: Lohe Mahina - Four Island: Diplomat Suite - August 9th, early hours Mu sat in the living space of the blood-drinker with his head held low. He had been caught. What disgrace he felt. He couldn’t show his face among his kind again.9th The Crobat was staring down at him. Smiling with his fangs bared. Mu had been bothered for the first hour it had stared at him. After the first hour, it just started to become a non-entity. The gaunt human was chopping up berries. It was odd to Mu. Eating berries was not something blood-drinkers were known to do. When he’d heard the legends, they were pretty clear about what they consumed. After some time however, the human placed what looked to be a fruit salad in front of Mu. <“I think we got off on the wrong foot,”> Lohe said in his native tongue. <”I think you know what I am.”> Lohe would’ve added, ‘say it,’ but Rattata were not known for reading garbage. So he admitted it. Mu felt himself shake slightly. <”We don’t have the luxury of choosing our allies. I hope one day you will forgive me.”> The two stared at each other for a moment, when a noise came from the table. It was his ringtone. Lohe strolled over to it and picked up the phone. He walked back to Mu as he checked the caller ID. He frowned as he saw it what it read. <”I have to take this phone call. Please enjoy.”> Lohe walked some ways away from the door to the room he had been given. He couldn’t hear anyone outside of his door, but the walls always felt thin to him. Soundproofing was never as good as advertised. He pressed accept on his phone and held the phone to his ear. “Is it done? Got your fill of death? Should I order a salad to celebrate? Maybe bread?” Lohe said into the phone. <”We failed.”> Lohe was silent. He pulled out a chair and sat in it, slumping immediately. He knew how stupid the mission was. He knew how terrible its ripple effects would be. But he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. <”Anyone die?”> he asked. <”No. We had to feed to help one of us heal, but we are alive.”> <”What happened?”> <”Trainers. Their Pokémon had power. One seemed like the Scizor from One Island. Though it didn’t transform, they had two transformations and more than one legendary Pokémon on their side.”> That….was terrible luck, Lohe thought. And why would a Liberty trainer go to Alola? He was silent for a moment as gears began to click in his head. Those two were technically Plasma, but they also left for Alola in between the battle of One Island and now. <”There weren’t a couple of trainers with them, one with brown hair, bluish-purple eyes, and a red-haired woman, were there.”> The voice on the other side was silent for a few moments. <”I’m not alone.”> Lohe regretted speaking. He may have just said too much. He could add that it was a coincidence, if it even was Evan and Jenny, that it was a coincidence that they interfered. He didn’t even mention Ula’Ula. But among his employers were those inclined not to believe him. And probably some among his peers who would be willing to shift the blame. He kicked off the table and let the chair he was sitting in fall to the floor. <”Any chance they’ll actually send people to help save the world now?”> Lohe asked, not really hopeful for anything. <”After tonight’s performance? No.”> Lohe groaned as he lay there, looking up at the ceiling. He needed to get them off of their butts and actually try to help save the world. He stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking. <”...You know, maybe I did tell them to visit the Ruins of Abundance.”> <”...What are you talking about, you idiot? If I tell them that...”> The voice on the other end went silent. If he told their superiors that Lohe had, at the very least inadvertently, caused the mission to fail, they’d send someone to ‘shadow’ him. To shadow his movements, determine his loyalty, and kill him if they found him wanting. Now, fun fact, while there was naval traffic between Alola and Four Island, it wasn’t exactly a convenient trip. Their chosen agent -could- wait for one of these trips. But, Lohe had other plans. “Putting you on hold,” he said switching to English. <”What? Why-”> the voice said before he was muted. “Thank you for holding, your call is important. Thank you for holding, your call is important,” Lohe began repeating into the phone as he began typing a message into his phone. He sent the message, but not before CC’ing the message to two different addresses. While Lohe began to close out of his messaging application, the voice on the other end apparently received the message. <”HOW DARE YOU BRING HER INTO THIS!”> the voice shouted as it read Lohe’s message. Lohe grinned. Who had he also sent the message to? The only ali’i of the Mahina who Lohe wouldn’t describe as an old man. The fabulous heir presumptive. The same ali’i that the voice on the other end of the phone call just so happened to be the consort of. And now she was someone that Lohe had just made a point of contact for Blackskull. More or less, the gambit was, get them a reason to really want to send people to Four Island. Give them an excuse that would make it seem normal for a bunch of people to show up on Four Island. But make that excuse something that would actually force them to contribute to actually saving the world. And if they didn’t send what he had just promised, that would hurt his reputation here, which would make it quite difficult for him to get what they wanted. <”I’ll make them contribute one way or another,”> Lohe said into the phone. <”I’ll be sure to report to the ali’i who’s at fault for our faulty relations with Team Liberty.”> She had been the one to send Lohe here, after all. And if her name became the reason Blackskull didn’t want to work with their group. Well, that would be quite the blackmark on her reputation. And if there was anything the voice on the other end would never allow, it would be anything tarnishing the reputation of his wife. “I. Will. Murder. You,” the voice on the other side said. And with that, Lohe hung up. The voice would take care of it. It would probably cost him some limbs, but he’d make things happen. He wouldn't let anything happen to his wife. Of course this gambit left one major problem. He had basically painted a target on himself. Preferably, keeping diplomatic relations would be a high enough priority that they wouldn’t kill him on the spot when they showed up. That’d make his new found friendship with Blackskull something they’d value. But he’d rather wait for their anger to cool a bit before he had to deal with any of his ‘fellows’. “I need an excuse not to be here when they show up...” he said as dozed off. Meanwhile, Mu sat there staring at the gaunt human. <”Is he actually going to sleep like that?”> the Rattata said to the Crobat, gesturing to the fact that Lohe was sitting in the overturned chair. The Crobat took off, and grabbed the blanket off of the bed. He draped it over Lohe’s sleeping body. The Crobat came to a landing right in front of Mu. The Rattata hadn’t eaten any of the food, yet. His stubborn refusal didn’t make sense to Nosferatu, but the Crobat didn’t mind eating the Rattata’s food if he wasn’t. Nosferatu picked up a piece of a berry, and began to chew it. Slowly. Savoring every bit. Treating it as if he’d never tasted anything better. And in general, doing his best to make the Rattata realize how hungry he was. Mu, sat there, his stomach starting to growl, but his discipline refusing to let him give in. Nosferatu laughed; he’d get the Rattata to be honest one way or another.
  15. IC: Jamie Arthur - Geosenge Town Jamie had been at an impasse in the conversation so far. She could neglect the fact that they were saying Lucia's dad might be untrustworthy, something even Guin had suggested to her. She'd already helped defeat one of Lucia's untrustworthy dad/not dad's. But then the argument broke out. One side of the argument was arguing against continuing their investigation, which she was against. The other side was defending Xander though. And she still considered herself to be with the group rather than part of it. So she didn't particularly want a say in whether they continued their investigation. Because even if they stopped their investigation, she would continue her own. But then Dahlia was like, really hero, and stepped in again. Then Klim showed up and started speaking, and Jamie's eyes went starry-eyed. She was stunned into silence long enough for Jared to mention that her fellows could share power. Then the short person with the language of a hero but backwards morals spoke up. The little person demanded power. Jamie probably wouldn't pick her to share powers with if she even knew how. But that raised a question? Who would she share her powers with? Distractions. She'd figure that out later. The most important thing was that a bona fide hero was here. Certified by Giratina. "Or if you could just tell us anything you know about being a hero, that would work too. I am Jamie Arthur, by the way. The new Hero of Time," Jamie said sporting her best smile.
  16. -==IC: Jenny Hakuda("Princess of Peril")/Evan Tierra("Terra Incarnate")/James Arthur("Avalon")/"Blaze Dark" - Battle Royal, Alola - [27]==- Now that Lancelot was fully armed, his body began to boil with bloodlust. He wondered if James would use that transformation. Regardless, against an opponent with range attacks, it was best to close the gap. That meant… “Lancelot! Use Lunge!” Lancelot smiled. That was what he was thinking too. The Scizor spread his wings to improve his mobility. He flew to get close, before stabbing his sword at Monstro. Monstro was stabbed by the sword, and as he was, he felt his physical strength wane. His speed had been hampered by the Hammer Arm he unleashed earlier, so swift movement wasn’t an option. “Monstro, while he’s up close and personal, use Icy Wind on his eyes!” Terra Incarnate yelled out, grinning at this turn of events. Monstro huffed a blast of chilly breath into the mighty Scizor’s eyes, and as he did so, he wondered if Evan was going to use his new forme…. The ice froze around places on his eyes. His steel typing prevented most of the damage, but the ice would make it hard to see. However as his opponent was just in front of him, it gave him better than even odds of hitting. Avalon called out, “Brutal Swing, Lancelot. Show them that petty tricks will not avail them!” The Scizor hefted his sword in a wide arc. Even if he couldn’t tell which direction the Swampert would try to dodge, the wide arc of the attack would make dodging a difficult prospect. Monstro decided to tank the Dark-Type attack, figuring his strong body could take a lot of what the Scizor had to offer. He looked to Evan, who then barked out another order. “I think a taste of his own medicine is in order, Monstro! BASH -HIS- HEAD WITH HAMMER ARM!” Monstro complied, taking advantage of Lancelot’s limited eyesight to slam both forelimbs on the Bug-Type’s head. *** The Princess of Peril grinned as she faced her new opponent. "Blaze, right? Hope you like the taste of defeat!" "Oh, sorry, I'm not that fond of feet." The masked woman grinned back, as she pointed forward. "Ran, use the ropes!" With a yelp of acknowledgement, the Cranidos leaped up onto the ropes that bordered the arena. As the fire-type barreled toward them, they launched off the ropes and the Cranidos smashed their head into the Emboar with a rather solid blow that landed the pig on the ground, the wind knocked completely out of her. "What… just happened?" The Princess of Peril asked with a stunned look on her face from the sheer force of the strike. Boarlite struggled to push herself back up as she caught her breath. The Cranidos walked toward the downed Emboar with the best approximation of a grin on their face. "Momentum happened! The power of science is amazing, isn't it?" Blaze Dark grinned for a few moments before she closed her eyes. "Is that really the best you can do, though?" With a laugh, Blaze reached up to the mask on her face as she shook her head. "Such a villain as you will surely fall to my darkness!" "I'm not out yet!" The Princess of Peril exclaimed, as she pointed forward. "Boarlite, use a sweeping kick!" As her trainer called out to her, the Emboar sweeped her leg across the ground and tripped up the approaching Cranidos in a surprising flash. However, the rock-type quickly rolled to the side to avoid the follow-up elbow. Boarlite scrambled to her feet as Ran picked themself up too. "Interesting. Alright then! This is getting interesting, then." With a wide smile, Blaze Dark threw her mask to the side, her dark brown eyes shining with determination as she assumed a battling pose. "Then I won't hold back! Now, light and darkness, mix together! I, Marie Homura, will be the one to defeat you!" "Homura--?" The Princess of Peril's eyes flickered with recognition as she recalled what Kris had said the day before. Her eyes widened, but she didn't have any time to react before the Cranidos slammed their head into Boarlite's chest once more. It was a surprising thing to the acting heel, but right now what mattered was the match - there would be time to deal with this after the match was over. *** Lancelot took both fists to the face. The pain was immense. Exquisite. When the Scizor grabbed both of Monstro’s arms, he would allow the pain to power his movements. Lancelot’s Counter manifested by the Scizor tossing the Swampert at one of the posts with twice the force to Monstro had used to smash his face. There was no stopping Monstro from slamming into the post. The pain washed all over his body, causing the Swampert to cry out in pain dramatically. Terra Incarnate looked on with a faux worried look on his face. “Well, Avalon, seems I gave you too little credit!” The Fiend yelled out, grinning. “But you see, I have the power of THE VERY GROUND BENEATH OUR FEET! MONSTRO, NO MORE GAMES! LET’S END THIS!” The Swampert’s eyes lit up as he got back onto his feet, and became encased in a shell of light. When the shell finally broke, there was Monstro in his almost cartoonishly buff body. “Think you can stop us now, Avalon?” While Terra Incarnate was shouting, Lancelot was Roosting off a few of his wounds and James was trying to concentrate. Evan made this look so easy. He had to really focus to bring his memories of Lancelot to mind. James took a breath. “Was that meant to frighten us?” Avalon asked, casually fixing his cravat. “I think Lancelot, it is time to show him what a true knight can do.” The Scizor stabbed the ethereal sword into the ground. Avalon stuck his hand out towards Lancelot, his focus solely on his friend. Rainbow light swirled around Lancelot. His body temperature soared. His emotions reached a fever pitch. The light dispersed to reveal the knight. This forme was still stained with the soot of the Leopyred. As Lancelot picked up the sword in the ground, it grew in size until it became the claymore he had wielded against Samurloch. Lancelot spread his wings. “Come at us, Terra Incarnate!” “You don’t need to tell me twice!” Terra Incarnate yelled, not losing his composure at seeing Lancelot in his awesome new forme. “Monstro, Icy Wind, then…….Earthquake!” Monstro exhaled at gale of cool breath at the Scizor, aiming to slow down what he knew was going to happen, for the crowd’s sake. The audience was going wild at the new formes they were seeing, which made the Swampert’s heart swell. After reflecting on that, he then slammed his arms down onto the ring, taking care to limit his power to not disturb the other fight taking place there. “Lancelot, the skies are yours, Aerial Ace!” Lancelot beat his wings and shot off the ground, his wings lifting his heavy body into the air. Frost bit at the tips of his legs. Debris shook loose from the ground, shooting towards Lancelot. He had no time to think. He absorbed the power from his sword and channeled it into his wings. Rainbow light poured from his wings, and with one beat of his wings, he had risen far above the stage. Lancelot had no intention of waiting Monstro out. Flipping in mid-air, he dove towards the stage. The shaking and the debris still raged as Lancelot curved his descent. He dodged a part of the stage that broke free from the ground. Dragging his arm back, he rushed toward the giant’s head, to smash it again. *** Marie's attacks had become a lot more coordinated since she had gotten serious, and the Princess of Peril could only watch as Boarlite was forced near exclusively to the defense. Although the Cranidos was slow normally, they seemed to be able to take advantage of spacing their attacks well enough to keep Boarlite on her toes. However, the surprising new forms and the earthquake did well to knock the Cranidos off guard. "What the…?" Marie mumbled in surprise at the way both Pokémon took on a different appearance and seemed stronger for it. "Are those evolutions…?" She shook her head and focused back on her fight, though she still seemed distracted by the other battle. She saw that the Emboar had taken some damage from the earthquake too, but that the moment of weakness now meant that her Cranidos was soaring back toward the ropes. "Alright, use it to your advantage!" Marie shouted out, as the dazed rock-type shook their head. With a nod, the Cranidos hit the ropes and managed to spring back with the momentum. Boarlite watched with a momentary look of confusion, before the scene finally caught up. Oh no. The Cranidos used its head, literally, as they smashed into the Emboar head first. The damage had accumulated, as she staggered back a few steps, then dramatically fell to the ground, knocked out. No-one seemed to actually know what to say, let alone Marie herself, who blinked at the scene. "Oh ye gods, my 'boar is ruined!" The Princess of Peril exclaimed, as she pointed toward Boarlite. With only a moment's pause, she quickly recalled the Emboar. "Is… there anything else?" Marie asked, a cautious look on her face. "Yes!" There were a few moments pause as nothing happened. "... Are you going to send whatever's next out?" "No!" The Princess of Peril turned to Terra Incarnate quickly. "All up to you, bye!" Marie watched with a completely caught off guard look as the red-haired woman dashed off stage. "???????????????" With a shake of her head, she frowned and looked over to Avalon. "I'll leave this in your hands too!" The wrestler said quickly, before she quickly followed Jenny off the stage. *** ”I’m not expecting this to work, but…” Terra Incarnate thought as the Scizor descended towards his friend. “Monstro, Wide Guard!” The villain yelled out. Monstro crossed his enlarged forelimbs in front of him, and roared, creating a wall of watery rainbow light, unlike how Wide Guard usually manifested for the Mud Fish. The Aerial Ace was strong, but when Lancelot’s gauntlet collided with the watery wall, the water absorbed the momentum. Lancelot didn’t have time to be shocked. The aftershocks of Monstro’s attack had stopped. He pushed off the wall of water. That wall had to come down when Monstro attacked again. “Lancelot, prepare,” Avalon called to the Scizor. The Scizor landed directly in front of Monstro. He recalled from his wings into himself. He spread his legs apart, and leaned forward. He placed both of gauntlets on one side of his body and stared Monstro straight into his eyes. And then, he waited. Silently. Terra Incarnate knew what Avalon was planning, and looked at the Wide Guard Monstro has conjured. There were cracks where Lancelot’s gauntlet had impacted, and that meant the shield wouldn’t last another strike. Monstro himself looked very worn down, but was clearly enjoying himself. The villain smiled. “Monstro, RUSH HIM WITH YOUR SHIELD. CRUSH HIM BENEATH IT’S POWER!” Monstro roared as he charged towards the Scizor, knowing the end was near for this battle. He had to admit, if he was gonna potentially lose, it was definitely fitting to lose as a villain. Avalon smiled. “Lancelot! Lunge!” Lancelot pushed forward off the ground. A drawing and stabbing motion may not have been possible for a real sword, and certainly not for a claymore. But when the sword is created ex nihilo, anything becomes possible. So it was that the knight with one whirlwind motion, created a claymore and plunged it straight into the wall. The sea of light parted under the pinpoint force. The ripples became waves, dispersing the water, tossing it far and soaking the first two rows of the audience behind Terra Incarnate. But Lancelot’s momentum didn’t stop at just the shield. With every muscle in his body pushing, the knight thrust his sword at the giant. The claymore, dulled at the last minute by Lancelot, slammed into the muscular Swampert, knocking him back a ways. The Water-type knew that in terms of mobility, Lancelot had the advantage, not to mention that claymore gave him enough reach to not worry about getting hit by the Mud Fish. “Monstro, let’s go big or go home! EARTHQUAKE!” The Swampert beat his arms down onto the ring once again, but kept his focus on Lancelot, ready to act in case he went aerial again. Lancelot lost his balance from the quake. He was buffeted by the ground that seemed to rise to meet him. He spread his wings as he tried to gain his bearings. He was about to take off when Avalon called out. “Lancelot! Topple the giant! Remember Pierce!” Images of the battle in the egg flashed in Lancelot’s mind. If he could suffer through that Golurk’s Earthquake to do what he did then, then he could do it here too. He sheathed his wings. The knight forced his body to stay upright as he closed the few feet between himself and Monstro. He dropped his sword, leaving it behind. He grasped the giant Swampert’s body with his arms. And at the peak of the tremor’s wave he activated Counter. He pulled with all of his might, and the Swampert left the ground. Monstro was sent flying up towards the ceiling, the might of the Counter powering his ascension. Monstro looked down to where the mighty Scizor was. I can't let it end in such a lame way…… Monstro focused power to his aching arms as he began to fall again, aiming to smash Lancelot one last time. That was higher than Lancelot had expected. His strength in this forme, it was exhilarating. It shook every fiber of his body. He spread his arms at the beautiful sight above him. His foe helpless to avoid his fate, embracing his end in desperate heroic fashion. The Scizor’s body began to steam. As the arms came down upon him, he felt truly blessed to have been apart of this battle. He twisted his body under the pain, his senses scrambled under the head trauma. But his arm tore into Monstro. With one more Counter, he slammed Monstro into the ground. He fell to a knee. He couldn’t stand. Lancelot was tired, but more than that, he was elated. Euphoric. That was it for Monstro. The Mud Fish fell to the shattered ground, breathing heavily as sweet unconsciousness overcame his mind. He’d given 120% to this fight, and lost in the best fashion. He had no regrets whatsoever. Terra Incarnate looked at Monstro, then at Avalon, and then at Lancelot. “It seems you have bested me this day, Avalon, but….” Terra Incarnate said as he returned Monstro to his Poké Ball, grinning. “I SHALL RETURN TO TAKE THE TITLE OF MASKED ROYAL, MARK MY WORDS!” The Masked Villain ran off to his corner of the stage, laughing maniacally as he did so. James watched Evan leave. Evan’s Garchomp had bested Gawain. Now Lancelot had bested Monstro. The earlier battle between Gnip and Lancelot couldn’t really count, as he had an unfair advantage. There would be a score to settle another day. Avalon had one last role to do today. Avalon walked forward to stand near Lancelot. He helped the Scizor find his ability to stand again. He whispered ‘great job’ to his friend. Lancelot saw the sword and walked over to it, clutching the ethereal claymore with one gauntlet. Avalon turned to the audience. They had been shouting during the final moments of the battle with such intensity that Avalon couldn’t have ordered Lancelot to behave any differently if he had tried. But now the crowd waited in silence. Avalon swallowed, took a deep breath, and began to speak. “Justice won here today. But evil will return. It will crawl out of the same shadowed corner it always has,” Avalon said making a dismissive gesture at the direction that Terra Incarnate left in. “But as long as heroes choose to stand against it, evil will be beaten back into that corner, just as it always has.” Lancelot came and stood by him, Avalon gestured to his partner. “We are but two heroes among many. We were just lucky enough to be first ones with our powers back.” Lancelot hoisted his sword in a salute to his trainer. A sadistic warrior’s best attempt at trying to appear respectable. Avalon made a sweeping gesture, making a deliberate effort to make direct eye contact with as many members of the audience as he could. He stuck his hand out and pointed to the audience. “I look into this crowd and I see so much potential for good. Potential just waiting for a chance. Your chance will come. Have faith and hold firm. When evil comes again, join me. Together we will drive evil out, once and for all!” he yelled, Lancelot raising his sword in unison with his words. The audience roared with applause at Avalon’s proclamation. People were chanting the Masked Hero’s name loud and clear, as he departed for his corner of the arena, having recalled his Scizor to his Poké Ball. IC: Guinevere/Natalie - Saffron City Guinevere collapsed onto a motel bed. Jet lag had kicked the pair of investigators in the chest more than once in the past couple of days. Going from Black City had been just as bad as getting to it. Her brain wouldn’t let her fall asleep. It was still trying to figure out what to do. They decided not to make a call to Cassie in Unova. Ideally they’d come up with a way to send a secure message. And so far they hadn’t. Guinevere’s mind kept turning to the one way she knew they could’ve secured it, but she really didn’t want to take that option. She didn’t have the same level of knowledge of encryption her trainer did. If she had been able to coordinate with Cassie before all this, she could’ve done it. Natalie, meanwhile, flipped through different channels on the TV. "Oh, hey, they have Alola's Battle Royal. Must be a rerun--" The woman was cut off by a blurb on the bottom of the screen saying it was a surprise live match. "... I stand corrected. How would this even work without powers. Wanna watch, Guin?" Guinevere looked up slightly, at first. She pawed around for her marker and her whiteboard. When she eventually grabbed them, she wrote a letter on it and held it up to Natalie. [K] The Gardevoir scrunched her body and slowly sat up to face the television. The fighters were just starting to arrive on the stage. She lethargically watched the cheesy antics until the the last spotlight came up. Her first thought was ‘wait.’ Then an oddly familiar Scizor came tumbling out of his Ultra Ball. Her second thought was ‘what.’ Guin’s eyes just widened and her jaw dropped as she watched James spout some cheesy lines about being Avalon. Avalon. Just spouting his old professional name for everyone to hear. Was he that confident that they had wiped every last trace of their extralegal exploits from the face of the Earth? Or did he simply not care at this point. Whatever the answer was, Guinevere no longer seemed to feel tired. She dragged herself over to the edge of the bed to see what was happening on the television. Natalie watched with amusement as she saw the hammy antics. "That redhead seems familiar, but I don't know why. Want popcorn?" She asked, as she got up and groggily made her way over to the small kitchen set in the room. Guinevere nodded absentmindedly. She didn’t notice when Natalie came back with the popcorn, even when the Gardevoir instinctively put the food in her mouth. Not once did she turn away from the action. She decided she was rooting for Lancelot. If that meant James won too, so be it. She let an ‘oof’ when she saw Lancelot get hit by a Hydro Pump (those sucked), before she made the same realization quite a number of people did. "... wait." Natalie slowly said as she saw the Hydro Pump hit. "... was that… a move…? Like, that wasn't just… a trick of wrestling, that was an actual literal Hydro Pump?" She realized just how absurd that question would be normally, but with the past however many days being so lacking in Pokémon moves, to say that it was a surprise would be an understatement. Guinevere sat there for a few minutes just flicking her wrists, trying to throw things with her mind. When that failed, she pouted. What had she missed? She continued to just sit there watching the madness unfold. She sighed whenever it cut to the other two. She needed to know what was going with her little bug. He was losing right now. She waited with bated breath to see what would happen. Then Lancelot used a move. If Guinevere had gotten her telepathy back, Natalie’s brain would currently be filled with surprised expletives. But as the reason for such surprise involved her not having telepathy, Natalie was spared. Guinevere just sat sputtering and just awkwardly making wild gestures at the screen. She stood up and immediately fell back down because of her leg. She was shaking at that sight. "What's up?" Natalie asked curiously, as she hadn't yet actually made the connection about who Avalon actually was. Guinevere could barely contain herself, so she hurriedly scratched out. [Tell you later] The fight continued with Lancelot using moves she’d never even heard of before. She was cheering at the TV when Lancelot was doing well, and booing when the Swampert took the upper-hand. It may have been from exhaustion, but she didn’t care how ridiculous she must’ve looked getting so worked up. Which was good, because when Lancelot transformed, she lost any trace of dignity or composure she had left. Lancelot had never been able to do -that- before. What in the world was it? Guinevere saw Natalie’s phone out of the corner of her eye, and just snatched it without asking for permission. She opened up a browser and typed in a few words into a search engine. And the search told her that the world already knew about this. What in the universe had those two idiots gotten up to while she was gone? She thrust the phone into Natalie’s hands. A mixture of anger and giddiness as she went back to watching. Natalie, looked down at the phone and then just glanced between Guinevere and the TV with wide eyes. “Okaaay…” Natalie commented. Guin didn’t hear her. Those wings looked adorable, Guinevere thought when the rainbow light came out of Lancelot’s wings. Her eyes were starry as she watched the battle continue to unfold. “Lancelot! Topple the giant! Remember Pierce!” Pierce? What happened with Pierce? This didn’t happen with Pierce? She missed them fighting Pierce again? She nearly threw herself onto the bed in frustration at missing that fight, when she saw Lancelot grab airborne Swampert and slam him to the ground. She let out one last cheer at the top of her lungs before collapsing on the bed. She would’ve fallen asleep, but then James began to speak. At his last words, the camera was on James so that he appeared to be pointing directly at her. “I look into this crowd and I see so much potential for good. Potential just waiting for a chance. Your chance will come. Have faith and hold firm. When evil comes again, join me. Together we will drive evil out, once and for all!” She let out a chuckle. It had been a long time since she heard James utter lines that cheesy. She was still mad at him but she couldn’t help but laugh. What sequence of events happened that led to any of what just happened? Guinevere could barely imagine. "That was… pretty entertaining. But what the heck were those forms? And how were they using moves?" Natalie asked, though there seemed to be another question on her tongue. [No clue] Guin wrote as she leaned back up. [That was my trainer by the way] "Why… why was your trainer participating in that event?" Natalie seemed even more confused. "None of this seems to have answers to make sense, I thought I saw Yuki fighting there, but they would've had to have dyed their hair, and gone by a whole different name, and… even then, something seemed different. I can't place it, but that girl didn't seem like Yuki at all, and, I don't know…" [i have no clue.] Yuki, the girl they had Natalie pretend to be. Daughter of one of the victims in this case. Guinevere lay there thinking about what she had just witnessed. She had questions. Lots of questions. And most of them could be answered by one person in particular. Which meant she had to talk to him. Fiiiiine. [i know a way to contact Cassie securely] "Really? How?" [sleep first. Tell me when it’s morning.] Natalie nodded at that, then paused. "... It's morning already." Guinevere was motionless for a moment. She very slowly and deliberately etched a message into her white board. [Frick jet lag]
  17. IC: Jamie Arthur - Kalos Route 7 Jamie absentmindedly took the Super Potion from Alex. She was about to demand to know more about Lucia’s condition, but her brain decided to take ‘a little out of it,’ to mean ‘in no immediate danger.’ Which was in stark contrast to the still bleeding Buizel. The blood was beginning to pool underneath the Buizel. She hurriedly turned the Buizel onto his back, upon which she saw the damage to his body. One Super Potion was not enough for this. Jamie began to force herself to think what Lucia would do right now as she began haphazardly spraying the many wounds the Buizel had, beginning with a large hole that had been torn in the Buizel’s side. There was still blood loss despite the medicine. The Buizel was convulsing as he covered the hole that was in his side. “We need band-aids. Get me some band-aids,” Jamie ordered Alex. It was the only thing she knew about first-aid. Bandage the wounds. "R-right." Up close, Alex saw the Buizel's wounds were much worse than he'd thought. He frantically dug through his bag for a first aid kit. Setting the small box on the ground, he grabbed some gauze and placed it over the wound. "I'm going to wrap the bandages around its torso, so I'll need you to lift it up for me." Jamie complied, and with shaking hands Alex started bandaging the Pokémon. By the time the process was complete, both Alex and Jamie's hands were covered in blood. "This is only a temporary fix," Alex said, staring down at his hands. "You need to take that Buizel to a Pokémon Center as soon as we get to Cyllage." Jamie stared at the blood on her hands. She bit her lip and cursed her weakness. They had to fight to protect the others from the Carvanha. Yet she hadn’t been strong enough. She hadn’t seen what caused the battle to end, but she owed whoever caused it to end a great deal. Because of her weakness, Lucia could’ve been killed. The Buizel stopped convulsing from the pain for a minute. The medicine was doing its job, but the grimace on his face revealed the agony that he was still in. The Buizel weakly looked around for something. His head eventually began to focus on something. The Buizel began to roll over when Jamie spotted him. “Wait, don’t move!” Jamie said as the Buizel turned onto his belly. “You need to stay still,” Jamie said. The Buizel ignored her. Using his arms, he began to crawl forward. Jamie traced the Buizel’s line of sight. He was heading straight for a Carvanha. She wondered for a moment if the Buizel was forcing himself to move out of anger, until she took a second look at the Carvanha. It was flopping helplessly into a ditch it had fallen into. It lacked the strength to make it back to the river. “E-even though they hurt you,” Jamie began to say as she realized what the Buizel was trying to do. Jamie started to cry. “Tristan!” Jamie yelled in between sobs. “Go rescue the Carvanha. Our fight with them is over!” The Metagross took one look at his daughter’s tears. He needed no other motivation to rescue his former opponents. As Tristan ran off, the Buizel visibly sagged with relief. For only a brief moment however. The pain was still taking its toll on him. Jamie was still crying, but she was smiling. It was a shaky smile, but it was one nonetheless. This Buizel was a true hero. It pained her to see such a hero in pain, but she couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with inspiration mixed with her pain. “Lucia has Heal Balls,” Jamie said. She turned to Alex. “Lucia has Heal Balls in her bag. I need you to get me a Heal Ball, now,” she said while she tried to comfort the Buizel. Alex quickly ran over to where Lucia lay. He washed his bloody hands in the river as best he could before he started digging through her bag. "Lucia," he said urgently. "Jamie says you have Heal Balls in your bag. Do you know where?" Lucia mumbled an incoherent response. "Right, thanks," Alex muttered. After he had practically emptied the entire contents of her bag, he found the pink and yellow balls. Grabbing one, he hurried back over to Jamie. Jamie snatched the ball out of Alex’s hand. “This will help you,” Jamie said. “You’re going to be alright. I am going to get you to a Pokemon Center and you will be all better.” The Buizel eyed her. Jamie couldn’t tell what emotion the Buizel had right now, but he was too tired to protest. Jamie pressed the ball to the Buizel and the Buizel entered the Heal Ball. Inside of it, the Heal Ball would do its best to heal the Buizel, but even still it would need separate medical care. Jamie was silent for a moment longer. “Go make sure Lucia is okay,” she said to Alex. “I will catch up after I make sure the Carvanha are okay.” Alex obediently ran back to his Empoleon. The rest of the group was starting to come ashore now. The Liberty agent quickly scooped Lucia off of the penguin Pokémon and laid her down on the shore, using her bag as a pillow. The girl looked confused, and if Alex didn't know better he'd think she was stuck in that half-asleep state right after one wakes up. "Hey, Jamie!" he called out. "I think she'll be alright. She just needs rest." Jamie turned around upon hearing that. She visibly sagged with relief. She nodded to Alex and then ran to help Tristan.
  18. IC: Miriam Shields/Ryan Hikari - Vermillion City “And cut!” Ryan let out a sigh as he relaxed. He looked over at his Tyranitar, who he had successfully transformed into the mysterious state again with a good dose of enthusiasm. It had been a long day, and the stuffy costume based on the Power Suit he had worn during the fight was super hot by this point. "How was that?" Ryan asked, as he glanced over at where Miriam was stationed. "Do we need another take?" Miriam turned to the director. He was speaking with one of the crew. When he saw Miriam looking at him, he flashed her a thumbs-up. “That’s a wrap,” the man he was speaking with called. “No, Mr. Hikari,” Miriam said smiling. “Your job in this is done. It will be up to the editors now.” She pressed a few buttons on her tablet that brought up pictures. Pictures of the monster that could impersonate people. “...Mr. Hikari, I have a question actually.” "Yeah? What's up?" “We’ve collected enough video from the security cameras in the base that we could recreate the scene for this. I was wondering if you thought we should add it in. We wouldn’t need you for this, mind you. But I’m conflicted on it,” Miriam said. "Hmm…" Ryan thought for a moment as he considered everything. "On one hand, it would be a good showing of us winning against one of those creatures, but on the other hand, it might be…" He paused as he tried to find the right word. "A little bit too much, too risky, to show off that these Instances can mimic appearances." The man fell quiet for a few moments. "I think the footage should be kept to be analyzed, but I don't know if it's a good fit for this." “The video doesn’t show it mimicking appearances,” Miriam corrected. “That seems to be its weakness.” Miriam took a moment to lean back as she closed the tablet. “But I understand the sentiment. And without revealing that fact, the footage itself is not that special. And I can only imagine how the public will deal with that information,” Miriam said. She pulled up a different file. “I did have something to ask you before you left. I did some digging on your background while I was setting up this shindig. I was wondering if you could tell me about this,” she said handing the tablet over to Ryan. Ryan seemed slightly confused as he took the tablet and began to leaf through the information on the tablet. "This is that incident at the Ferris Wheel in Nimbasa. I remember seeing it just collapse from what seemed like an energy beam - and if I recall, there was a portal that opened in the sky around the same time." He glanced up at Miriam. "What are you bringing it up for?" “So you were there,” Miriam said, as she stood up. She scrolled down to show a picture of someone. “This is a picture someone took of the suspect. Seem familiar?” Ryan stared at the picture. "Wha…" He was looking at a picture of himself with his Pupitar in hand, though there were some details that seemed odd to him. But the picture seemed to have been perfectly taken to capture him walking away from the collapsing ferris wheel. Ryan looked back at Miriam in confusion. "Wait, I was on the route nearby at the time, coming back from the forest, I wasn't near the ferris wheel itself, and I don't…" He stared back at the picture in complete confusion. “I believe you,” she said. It was much more convenient truth to believe than what the picture suggested. “If you know who might’ve wanted to frame you, we could have the matter... quietly investigated. It would be rather counterproductive if this went unaddressed.” Ryan frowned slightly as he shook his head. "I don't know, honestly." He paused slightly. "Well, actually, there's one person I can think of that might be worth looking into, though last I remember he didn't have the ability to disguise himself to that degree." He tapped his fingers together as he tried to recall the name of the person. "Right, now I remember. Darien Grant." “Darien Grant,” Miriam said, picking up a pen and writing the name down on a sheet of paper near her. “Anything you can tell me about him?” "I didn't know much about him other than what he let me know as part of his plans. He was the person in charge of my training the first time I joined Rocket, and has had a grudge against me since I tried to attack him." Ryan paused for a moment. "It's a long story, but long story short, he killed my mother, I tried to attack him for it, and we haven't liked each other since." He went on to describe what the man looked like. Miriam lightly began to hit her forehead while she frowned. Another Rocket. The political fallout of either possibility was going to suck, putting it lightly. It was a step up from ruining all the work she had just done, but this was going to suck. “We’ll look into him,” Miriam said to Ryan. “I’ll contact you about this later.” *** A little while later, after taking off the costume, Ryan headed back to where Miriam was, planning to mention he was headed out. However, as he approached her desk, he noticed that she was staring intently at her computer's monitor. The black-haired man approached curiously, noticing that the monitor was displaying a picture of the Nobuddy, right before Tyranitar landed the finishing blow. "What's wrong?" Ryan asked with a frown, the things that the Nobuddy said coming to mind once again. "Is it about what happened?" Miriam had been lost in thought. She shook slightly as she heard Ryan speak to her. “What? No? There’s nothing…” she started but quickly realized that even she didn’t buy the words coming out of her mouth. “Alright fine, you caught me. I was thinking about what it showed me right before you…” Miriam paused for a moment, the image of the girl she had seen came to mind. “Before you did your job.” Ryan nodded, the frown still on his face as he stayed quiet for a couple moments to see if Miriam was going to continue. "Who was she?" He finally asked, though he wondered if there might have been a better way to approach the subject. Miriam stared at Ryan for a while. She wasn’t sure whether she actually wanted to tell Ryan this. Showing any emotion towards that image had been a mistake. And yet, she wanted to tell someone. Anyone really. “She.. isn’t anyone per se. At least, if she actually looks like that, then it’s a coincidence. I don’t know what she actually looks like now. That creature showed me my best guess.” Miriam knew she was dancing around the issue. She swallowed. “I suppose the word for it would be my… daughter. I’m not sure I have the right to call her that though.” Ryan stayed quiet after the explanation, not having actually expected the answer he'd gotten. He tried to think of something that he could say to that, feeling like he might have gone a little too far - he didn't even really know Miriam, after all. "Would you rather not talk about what happened with her?" He looked to the side awkwardly. "I mean, like, I kinda feel like I'm overstepping things now; if you don't want to talk about things any further, then that's fine." Ryan trailed off for a moment as he waited for Miriam's response. Miriam rested her face on her hand. “I don’t think I want to talk about it, to be honest. I’d been doing just fine burying these emotions. And then this creature comes and dredges them all up.” While she had been speaking, she had picked up a pen. Without thinking, she’d been pressing on the pen. It was on the verge of breaking, but hadn’t yet broken. “And yet, I don’t feel like holding it in either.” She set the pen back down. “If you don’t mind listening to an old woman vent for a bit, I’d be willing to tell you.” "I don't mind." Ryan said with a nod, as he moved to sit down. He didn't want to say anything too presumptuous or anything that could be considered rude, so he simply stayed quiet while he waited for Miriam to speak. Miriam sighed for a bit as she began to drown in memories. “It was my last year of college. We had just finished our finals. Some friends and I went out to celebrate. We went to a club with bad alcohol and even worse music. But we were together and we were dancing like idiots. My best friend in college and I got especially hammered that night.” “Next thing either of us knew, it was morning and our clothes were off.” She said, the phrase perfectly clear to Ryan. “I wasn’t ready to be a mother. All the plans I had for my career were going up in smoke. My friend and I had a talk. We agreed that he would take the child.” She paused for a moment. She wondered she had chosen now to talk about this. This creature must’ve affected her worse than she had thought. “She was born and just like that she was out of my life. My friend had already planned to leave the Kanto regions. At the time, I was grateful for it. I could write that chapter out of my life entirely. But as you get older, well, you begin to feel regret. You begin to wonder what might have been,” Miriam said feeling quite old. Ryan nodded, as he began to understand what was meant earlier. "I get what you mean… not quite in the same way, but…" His voice became distant for a few moments, although he seemed to return to focus not long later. "Did your friend keep you up to date about anything about her?" Miriam shook her head slowly. “We pretty much immediately cut off contact. I can’t even honestly say I know she’s alive. She’d be fifteen now. But other than that I don’t know anything about her.” Ryan stayed quiet, but nodded in response again as he tried to think of something that he could say to that. "Would you ever want to like, try to meet up and at least get closure if nothing else? I can't say that I can actually help, as I don't know the first way to go about doing that, but…" “Honestly? I don’t know,” Miriam said. She wasn’t sure if she wanted closure or to be part of someone’s life she had no right to be a part of. “I doubt there is much you could do, anyways. But… yes, even though I’m not sure if I actually want to meet her, I want to know where she is.” Ryan checked the time on his Poké Gear and bit his lip slightly; he wanted to help more, but he figured that Shannon and Aori might be wondering where he was soon if he stayed any longer. "I don't think I can help right now, but maybe I can return after I help Aori find her parents - if they didn't have any luck with that today." The man made a few notes in his Poké Gear about the situation - reminding himself to return for information on Darien and listing down the details Miriam mentioned about her daughter and that he needed to return. Miriam was quiet for a moment. She didn’t exactly expect much out of the agent. But still to hear the offer to help meant something to Miriam. She muttered a quiet ‘thank you’, too quiet for Ryan to hear. After another moment she said, “Alright, you can go, Agent Hikari.” "Alright." Ryan stood up and turned toward the door, but paused for a moment. "Oh, out of curiosity, do you think it would be too much trouble to arrange like, a car or something to Celadon?" Miriam shook her head slightly. “No, that shouldn’t be a problem. Do you have a license? If so I can have a car sent over to you immediately.” "Yeah, I do." “Then it will be here for you in five minutes,” Miriam said pressing a button. In the brief moments in between Ryan starting to ask and confirming he had a license, Miriam had sent a request for a car from the base. “You will need to sign some paperwork. I’ll send it to you later.” "Alright." Ryan nodded as he gave Miriam a smile. "Thanks, and good luck with everything." Miriam waved goodbye as Ryan left. She held her posture until the moment the agent was out of sight. At that moment, she slouched in her chair and sighed.
  19. IC: James Arthur - Heahea City James stepped out of a store. He was wearing a freshly bought suit. It wasn’t up to James’s standards. It was a cheap, white suit that came with a blue and white striped shirt. Gawain convinced him to pair it with a tie that had a Scizor pattern on it. He’d put up with it until he got his suit jacket repaired. He made sure of a number of pressing issues were taken care of in the morning. Both before and after his boat trip he had been making phone calls. He relayed coded messages back to Four Island to have them keep tabs on ‘Lohe Mahina’. He informed the authorities of people who tried to attack Tapu Bulu. And most importantly, he arranged an appointment with his tailor. He needed that suit. James checked his watch. He still had a little time to show up. He smiled. James had worked quickly to get everything done. The place he chose to meet was just up ahead. The same hole in the wall coffee shop that he had the encounter with the assailant. Lancelot and Percival were already waiting for him. He smiled at the two of them as they Gawain and him arrive. Percival looked to be in much better health than he had the night before. They had pretty much driven through the desert to the Tapu Village Pokemon Center before they had dragged themselves to Kris’s trailer for sleep. Percival had slept until the boat ride was over. After the boat ride though, he wanted to spread his arms and fly around a bit. Lancelot had been keeping an eye on him. The group went inside and sat near a table. James ordered a coffee. As he began to drink the hot liquid, he pondered the fact that he couldn’t remember the first time he drank coffee. How long ago must it have been. “Good day to you, Executive Arthur.” A calm and friendly voice spoke to James, as Colress sat down near where James was sitting. “How are you this day?” “I am in a rather good mood, Doctor. Things have been going well. There have been some interesting developments since last we spoke,” James said smiling pleasantly. How one could forget how much danger they were in when they were in a good mood. “How has your day found you?” “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited, Executive.” The blonde-haired man said, his smile meeting with James’s. “Today could lead to a breakthrough in my research, the likes of which I’ve never experienced. Will your developments help your case?” James tilted his head from one side to the other. “Yes. And no. But I think I can give you the proper context to make the correct choice. Oh. First there is the matter of our arrangement. Percy?” Percival liked the sound of the name Percy. Until he could get him that wax bath he wanted, James decided to call Percival by a nickname he wanted. The Chandelure floated over to James. Percival smiled as he floated over. James brought to mind the victories Percival had brought him. The shaming of Pierce, the assailants. He recalled how Percival had protected him, and just in case, wielded his secret weapon. The power of hugs. He pretended that it was not in fact the last one that triggered Percival’s explosion into the spider now stood in the cafe. “I think this demonstrates that I have indeed mastered this transformation ability.” Colress's eyes widened at what he had just witnessed. “Was my theory correct, then?” The scientist inquired, sounding quite excited. “Was it the bonds between Trainer and Pokémon?” “The evidence would support it. I will let you and the scientific community decide what qualifies as sufficient proof,” James said, as he stroked the cage of Percival’s fire. He went silent as he did. He didn’t know Colress well enough to say whether he would honor the arrangement, especially if he had come to the same conclusion about Pokemon powers that James had. “I must say that this is encouraging news, Executive Arthur.” Colress said, smiling. “When may I join your group, sir?” James smiled. He had nothing to worry about. “I will make the necessary preparations. I would be ready to move within the week.” He offered his hand to Colress, “It will be good to be working with you Doctor.” Colress took James's hand shook it gently. “It would be my pleasure, Executive Arthur.”
  20. IC: Jamie Arthur - Kalos Route 7, River The amalgamation of Pokemon that Jamie had assembled could be best described as an out of control pitching machine. The metaphorical machine was set up so that regardless of which direction a Carvanha would be approach them from, somebody would be there to intercept the Carvanha and send it up to Tristan. Tristan was the arm of the pitching machine. His massive arms were enough to toss any fish that was unfortunate enough to end up in his claws clear to the riverside where they flopped around uselessly. This was a good thing, because they had certainly caught the attention of a number of Carvanha. At first, about four Carvanha approached. Whoever they were about to target, when Tristan plucked one from the water and launched clear to the shore, they all decided to converge on Jamie’s amalgam. The other three lasted about as long. Tristan grabbed two of them out of the water at the same time. He grinned as he leaned back, before sending them on a collision course with their fellow on land. The fourth circled back around. If it thought it was being clever though, it had another thing coming. Two hands phased into existence and grabbed onto each side of the Carvanha. The Carvanha might have been able to struggle out, but all Palomides had to do was push every so slightly. As soon as it hit Tristan’s hindleg, its fate was sealed. Tristan tossed it to the opposite shore, without even needing to look in the direction he was throwing. When the first four were gone, six more decided to take their place. No problem. The same protocol. Focus on getting the targets up to Tristan. Get him to toss them away. It was more likely dumb luck and needing space, rather than strategy, that caused the Carvanha to come from all different directions. This was Lucan’s time to shine. Having two heads was proving quite beneficial right now, he could keep one head underwater to scope out the enemy while the one stayed above water to breathe. The below water head sent a signal to his above water half. The above water head looked at the Buizel. The Buizel’s tails did overtime, pushing them faster. If they could reduce the spread of the angle of attack by even a few degrees, it would make Lucan’s job that much easier. Despite the weight of the human, the Buizel was able to to make some headway getting away from the group of angry fish. Not a lot, but enough to give Lucan a little more leeway. As Tristan reached to grab the first of this group, Lucan dived under. He slammed into the first Carvanha. It recoiled slightly, not away from Jamie, but towards her. Towards her and straight into Palomides’s loving hands. Those hands that tossed the fish up to Tristan. Tristan caught the Carvanha a single beat after he tossed the one he had caught first. Lucan kept the rhythm going. He ducked beneath a Carvanha that nearly caught up to the Buizel and pushed up. Both the Vanilluxe and Carvanha breached the surface of the water. The Carvanha was caught by a hindlimb before it could fall back into the water. Jamie saw another target approach from the other side. Still fueled by the energy she had earlier, she shouted “Time will freeze!” at it and time obeyed. The Carvanha froze in place, Palomides scooped it up and gave it to Tristan as a present. One tried to jump over Tristan. Whatever it thought it would accomplish, it failed. The Metagross barely needed to shift his body to be able to catch it. With that two more Carvanha became land dwellers. The last one of the group was the first one to actually land an attack. It bit into Lucan. The Vanilluxe cried out, but as long as they were attached, he delivered it straight to Tristan. With two arms, the Metagross wrenched the Carvanha’s jaw open, forcing it to let Lucan go. When the Vanilluxe sank back into the water, the Metagross hurled the fish clear across the river onto the shore. Jamie was keeping count of the flying fish. That was ten. The blob of fish that could be seen from above the water didn’t seem to be shrinking. No matter, she just took out ten. She could take on the next wave. Then the next wave came. Twenty. Double all the Carvanha that they had faced were barreling towards Jamie and her crew. Jamie’s emotional vessel took on a flood of emotion. Her eyes widened with that emotion. It was hard to tell if that emotion was fear or ecstasy. Once again, space considerations gave a roughly uniform distribution of Carvanha. However this time there was a more three-dimensional spread, a hemisphere rather than a circle. This would present a problem. The plan was simple. It was the old plan. Charge one of the edges with Tristan. Force the others to stream behind them by swimming in one direction. Divide and conquer. Unfortunately it was a plan mired in two dimensional thinking in a three dimensional battlefield. Tristan did successfully grab the first Carvanha, but in the same direction they picked was another Carvanha. It was easy to miss, it had been hidden in the shadow of the first. An accident, born of the Carvanha spacing themselves. But it was enough to give the Carvanha a shot at Jamie. The Carvanha nearly got to her too. But the Buizel carrying her saw the exposed angle of attack and changed course to dodge. The dodge did give Palomides a chance to pass the Carvanha up to Tristan, where Tristan made it the twelfth member of the “Moved to Land Club,” but it also meant that the whole team had to slow down. Remember the plan was to outrun the horde. And with the Buizel holding Jamie, the margin for outrunning the Carvanha was quite small. And when they weren’t outrunning the Carvanha, there was little reason for the group to attack as a whole. Group cohesion didn’t immediately collapse. Lucan stopped focusing on any notion of passing them up to Tristan. Crying and swirling, the Lucan moved from side to side, up and down. He gave a good show for it, he kept several away while Tristan grabbed a third Carvanha. He took a bite for his efforts, but he kept the early rushers away. Problem was, he eventually needed to surface for a breath. His earlier tactic of having one head breathe might’ve worked had he more experience in this sort of combat, but as he didn’t he needed to rise up. And during the moment he did that, that was another layer of defense down. Palomides could probably have been more help. He did make some token efforts to protect the group. He even succeeded in turning some of the Carvanha around. But never once in his undeath had he ever been at risk at being torn to pieces by a horde of Carvanha. Could he even be torn up without Pokemon power? Didn’t matter, he was risking too much just be being there. What little he did do bought enough time for two more to be plucked out of the water by Tristan, who got lucky when two Carvanha bumped into each other. That still left fifteen Carvanha in the moment that Lucan surfaced for air. Still, not a problem. Because Jamie still had her ace in the hole. Power over time itself. It had worked once, it had worked twice. Third time would be the charm. She had already sucked in air the moment before Lucan surfaced. The moment he surfaced, she yelled. “Time will freeze!” It didn’t. Not a one froze. Fifteen frenzied fish all rushed towards Jamie. She looked stunned that the power failed her in her time of need. She watched as the fish rushed towards her, a wave of teeth, without any way to protect herself. At the last moment, Jamie felt herself being pulled. The Buizel forced himself between Jamie and the horde. The fish tore into him. They pulled and bit. Lucan acted quickly, slamming into more than one fish. But as Lucan chased some away, more continued to bite at the Buizel’s chest. The Buizel squealed in agony, as Lucan desperately tried to force them away and Jamie made cries for time to stop. Tristan yanked Jamie and the Buizel out of the water. He cursed himself for his weakness in letting Jamie try this. It wasn’t the most gentle treatment of either, but they needed to escape immediately. Lucan followed after making sure that Jamie and the Buizel had cleared. He took a bite for his efforts. But he was not going to let anyone hurt Jamie or the Buizel. Palomides had already fled. Where he was nobody knew. Tristan rushed to the shore. As he laid Jamie and the Buizel on the coast, he began to glare. He began to look at the hostiles still in the area. If any of the opponents even tried to get near his daughter right now, they would meet a grim fate. Jamie looked at the body of the Buizel. There was blood seeping from his body. Not a small amount either. Jamie’s face paled as she stared. She eventually broke eye contact to search for her allies Where was Lucia? She was a healer, she had to know how to bandage him up. It would be okay, she told herself. It would be okay.
  21. IC: Jamie Arthur - Route 7 Jamie’s thrashing attracted the notice of a Carvanha. It rushed Jamie to take a bite out of her. As it approached her, Jamie opened her eyes. She was not going to become fish food. She glared at the fish and stuck her hand at it. The Carvanha gladly darted towards the extended dish. *Blub* *Blub* *Bluuub* The fish’s jaw stopped mid-bite. Jamie slipped her hand out of the Carvanha’s jaw. Before she could even comprehend that she had nearly lost her hand or that her power actually worked for once, a second Carvanha rushed at her. It never reached Jamie. A Buizel crashed into the Carvanha sending it reeling. The Buizel turned to Jamie and grabbed onto her from below, and began to push her up. As the Buizel grabbed hold of her, she got a good look at it. One thought flooded through Jamie’s mind as it pulled her to the surface. So… hero… When Jamie broke the surface, she immediately began to spit out water. Coughing for breath, she held onto the Buizel for support. His air sac began to fill up, increasing his buoyancy and making for a decent flotation device. Tristan made a visible display of relief. He would wait for Jamie to stop coughing and then place her on his back again. He made an utterance of gratitude to the Buizel for rescuing her. Lucan gently laid the body of the Hawlucha on the riverside. Well as gently as someone without very tiny excuses for arms could. There wasn’t much more he could do for the Hawlucha, so he returned to Jamie. Palomides let Lionel off on Oggie and returned as well. Jamie snarled once all the water was out. She remembered what the objective was once she had a moment to calm down. Beat them all up with letting them fall into the water. She had three floaty boys, and one floaty buoy. The Buizel looked around to see if anyone else needed his help. Jamie closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath to calm herself. “I need your help to save people,” Jamie told the Buizel. “Will you help me?” The Buizel looked to the shoal of Carvanha and then to the humans. He had to admit, this was a problem. Carvanha generally didn’t come to these waters. If he knew how, he’d redirect them back to their own waters. If she had any ideas on how they could chase the Carvanha away, he’d hear them. Jamie glared at the Carvanha in the water. That was the biggest source of impending danger. If she could get them out of the picture, everyone else would be much safer. “We will get the Carvanha to focus on us. Once they are focusing on us, everyone else will be able to escape.” Jamie eyed the Hawlucha. It saw Lucan gently place its fellow on the ground. The Hawlucha She decided that she would live and let live as long the Hawlucha didn’t come after her friends, for now. After they dealt with the fish, they would have to fight any of the flying opponents that still bothered to chase them. Along with the Frogadier, again. You’d think they’d learn their lesson after one battle. “If you had to carry me, could you still outswim the Carvanha?” Jamie asked the Buizel. The Buizel looked a bit concerned at that question. But he was confident about his speed. Especially in these waters. The human was rather big compared to him though. He’d have to hold her just right. He nodded, slowly. “Tristan, you will be our forward shield, and our sword. Toss every fish you can get your hands on out of this river.” Tristan would’ve rather put Jamie on his back to protect her. But if she insisted on doing something foolish for the sake of fulfilling her duties as a hero, then all Tristan could do was place himself in front of Jamie and the Buizel. To match their speed and protect them as best he could. He was gonna need to have a talk with this Dialga though. “Palomides, you will be in charge of tossing any fish that slips around Tristan up to him. Use me as a shield to protect yourself.” Palomides turned incorporeal and placed himself over Jamie and the Buizel. If she wanted to risk herself, go ahead. “Lucan, you will have the most dangerous job.” That description did not do any favors for the Vanilluxe. “I will need to you to guard our flanks. This means you’ll be the one most exposed to the Carvanha. Will you do it?” The Vanilluxe really didn’t want to. He felt that he had barely made it out of their grasp when he saved the Hawlucha. There had to be a better way than this. But his eyes met the Buizel’s. The Buizel seemed ready to try and help Jamie’s plan. This wild Pokemon that owed Jamie nothing was willing to give this a try. Lucan was stronger than him. If anything, the Buizel should be the one scared and uncooperative. Lucan turned to see Dahlia fighting to rescue Zoe. If there was anything he could do to help Jamie make things easier for these people, it was his job to try. He took a deep breath with each of his mouths. He exhaled a cold fog and sank into the water. He could try this. “Alright,” Jamie said, as she shifted positions at the Buizel’s directing. She had just met this Buizel, but he was putting his trust in her. She would trust him in turn. “Charge!” The Buizel’s tails began to spin in rapid circles. As one giant, weirdly shaped and oddly put together unit, they began to charge straight towards the mass of fish with very sharp teeth ahead.
  22. -==IC: James Arthur/Evan Tierra/Kris Homura/Jenny Hakuda - [Route 13] - [22]==- James stepped out of Kris’s trailer and stretched his back. It hadn’t been a great night’s sleep. He wasn’t going to tell his host that, however. There had been two couches and a bed in a back room - and James had been given sole usage of one of the couches. After the night they had experienced, the group immediately crashed as soon as they entered Kris’s trailer. James hadn’t explicitly asked for a couch by himself, but was glad for it. It was much worse than the bed Liberty provided him as an Executive, and he didn’t particularly want to share his bed with any of the others. Still after a night like what they had, the couch had felt fit for a king. Now that he had woken up, however, his body reminded him of the comfort he was generally used to. Lancelot was practicing his swordsmanship behind the trailer. He didn’t want to deal with humans being shocked at him using moves, so he used the relative cover of the trailer to hide away from prying eyes as he practiced his stance with the ethereal blade. The Grubbin from the night prior was watching him. “I think you have a fan, Lancelot,” James said as he looked at the Grubbin. The bug’s face was inscrutable. In truth, the bug wasn’t as impressed with the swordplay as much as the dedication to it. “You could join us, if you want,” James said bending his knees to talk to the little bug. The bug twisted his head a little. It didn’t seem quite sure. James smiled at the bug. It looked back. No hint of refusal, but neither of acceptance. “Well the offer will be open until I leave, I suppose,” James said. “We cannot stay long. We have our meeting with Colress later today, and I will need to get back to the hotel to make myself presentable. Speaking of…” he said as he pulled out Percival’s Ultra Ball. “I will need to speak with you and Percival again in a bit. After I have spoken with Mr. Tierra.” Lancelot nodded. James seemed to be putting things into place. There wasn’t any need for him to worry about it for now. Back to sword practice. James stepped back around to the front of the trailer. Jenny yawned as she sleepily walked out of the trailer, rubbing her eyes while squinting because of the sun. The sound of James walking up to the front of where they were staying caught her attention, however. "Morning…" Jenny said, though it was punctuated with a yawn. James nodded and replied with “Good morning, Miss Hakuda.” Evan yawned heartily as he marched out of the trailer, momentarily closing his eyes due to the brightness of the desert. “Good morning, everyone!” The Plasma Agent said to his girlfriend and the Liberty Executive. “Hopefully you both had a good rest?” "Yep!" Jenny said cheerfully as she turned to Evan, already starting to snap herself awake. “I have no complaints,” James said as he looked towards Evan. “And where is our host?” "Right here." Kris said with a smile, looking a lot more awake than the others except James. "Good morning to all of you." “Good morning, Kris! Glad to see you had a good rest. How about Tapu Bulu?” Evan asked the Psychic woman. “Did they have a good rest?” Kris nodded with a smile. "I'd say so; they seemed to take a little bit to actually settle down, but I think they're appreciating the rest. They're still inside, I didn't think I should wake them up yet." James silently agreed. Best let the capricious deity have its rest. He frankly didn’t feel like dealing with a mad god first thing in the morning. “Mr. Tierra,” James said to Evan. “May I have a minute of your time?” “I don’t see why not, Executive Arthur.” Evan said, a curious look on his face. “What can I do for you, sir?” “I just wanted to talk about those transformations our Pokemon underwent last night,” James said. He hadn’t tried to make Lancelot or Percival transform that morning. He felt more confident that he would be able to. But he wanted to get his thoughts in order about it before he tried. “How you and Monstro felt when it happened, and anything you might have noticed about it.” Evan recalled the events of last night, thinking of how he and Monstro felt. “It felt like……Monstro and I were on the same wavelength.” The man spoke, trying to think more. “Monstro has always been a part of my team, but he’s experienced quite a few cruel losses in battle. Nevertheless, I cheered him on, and then he transformed. Could it be related to the bond we share?” “The bond between trainer and Pokemon,” James said. He considered the instances he’d seen this ability. Monstro and Percival had been badly damaged, but Lancelot had evaded such damage due to the speed his transformation had given (and had carried the two so far away they actually got lost. A rather embarrassing predicament). So damage being the catalyst was out. Lancelot and Monstro had been in danger during their transformations, but Percival was arguably not. He had been hurt, but no there was no incoming attack during his transformation. Meaning the incoming danger was also not the catalyst. Which left Evan’s suggestion. With Lancelot, James’s life had been in danger. With Percival he, perhaps unintentionally, had been hugging Percival. These would support Evan’s hypothesis, which meant, so far, it was the leading hypothesis. “I was afraid of that,” James muttered quietly. "Afraid of what?" Jenny asked curiously, having heard what James muttered. James shook his head. “Nevermind, thank you for the insight, Mr. Tierra. I have a meeting later today that I will have to prepare for. My team and I will be leaving shortly.” “Well, I wish you the best of luck with your meeting, Executive Arthur.” Evan said, holding out his hand. “Hopefully it’ll all work out in your favor, sir.” James grasped Evan’s hand. “I will return for the battle you all promised,” he said before releasing Evan’s hand. “It should be easier to get the people of Alola on board when you have Tapu Bulu with you. Do you know where the battle will take?” "Royal Avenue on Akala; it's in the Royal Dome there, you can't miss it." Kris explained with a smile. “Understood, I will be there,” James said, nodding to Kris. “Until then, farewell.” James went around the back of the trailer. Lancelot had overheard parts of James’s conversation with the others. The sword in his gauntlet disappeared, and he turned to face James. The trainer’s faced down for a moment, before he shook his head. “The bond between trainer and Pokemon, eh?” James said. To have to let someone else in, even in the name of power. The idea of it scared James a little. James and Lancelot stared at each other for a little bit. Lancelot could see the unease in James’s face, and decided to wait patiently for it to pass. James opened his mouth. He was about to ask “Lancelot, do you trust me?” but he stopped himself. After a moment more of waiting, James started to laugh. Lancelot was only slightly confused by this. “I am an idiot, if I have to ask now,” James said, covering his face in his hand. He pictured Lancelot in his mind. He pictured Lancelot’s evolved form. He began to sweat as he made himself recall the fear of the Leopyred’s fire. But most of all, he recalled Lancelot’s determination to save him. Lancelot began to glow. Oh, this, Lancelot thought, as if this was perfectly normal. As if they hadn’t been working on this to no avail only two days ago. The Scizor had much more time to savor the transformation. The power that flowed through him; how much lighter that Lancelot felt despite the added weight. When he finally took form, he pulled out a sword once more. The power that flowed through him raised a much greater sword than he had in his normal form. James smiled. He’d over-thought it. He'd let scientists such as Colress make a better judgement on how the mechanics of this power worked. All that mattered right now was that he trusted Lancelot and Lancelot trusted him. “Let us go, Lancelot. We have a meeting to make.” The Grubbin that had been watching Lancelot, recoiled a bit just watching Lancelot transform. Starstruck as he was, the moment James moved to leave, the Grubbin grabbed the hem of James’s pants. “Oh, you have decided you want to go with us after all?” James said as he looked down at the little bug. The bug nodded vigorously. “Alright, we will get you a nice Poke Ball later,” James said offering his hand to the bug. The Grubbin readily climbed up James’s arm to his shoulder. “Now, let us go going for real this time.” As they began to walk off, James looked at the bug on his shoulder. He took one look at how the bug was still marveling at Lancelot’s changed form. “I think I will dub you, Sir Gareth.”
  23. IC: Jamie Arthur/Palomides/Lucan - Route 7 “Palomides get the Hawlucha!” Jamie yelled to Palomides. The Haunter regarded the order with some annoyance. He had to set the businessman down first before he could rescue anyone else. Jamie had to admit that, yeah, that was an issue. So she turned to the other Pokemon she had out. Haunter moved to place Lionel on top of Oggie. “Lucan, go get the Hawlucha from the water!” she yelled to the Vanilluxe. The Vanilluxe took one look at the water. The Carvanha, the blood. All of that made him shiver. But then he saw the body in the water. Whether it was alive or dead, he couldn’t leave it there. So he dropped from the Metagross. He guided his descent towards the bloodied body and the aura sphere that scattered the Carvanha near the downed Hawlucha. He dropped right into the water next to the Hawlucha. He sank beneath the water and stuck the Hawlucha in between his two heads. Leaving the Hawlucha alone long enough to make those orders guaranteed that it was was able to break its bonds. And now that she had just sent her main source of defense to go pick up the other Hawlucha, this Hawlucha had pretty much free reign of Tristan’s back. Jamie turned back towards it, just in time to it jump into the air. The Hawlucha dove at Jamie. Jamie yelled at the Hawlucha once more “Time will freeze!” At that, the Hawlucha seemed to slow down, but only for an instant. The dive connected and Jamie lost her balance. Tristan felt Jamie’s weight fall of his body. He span to see the Hawlucha who hit her. He thrust his massive arm to try and catch the bird to prevent it from harming Jamie further. It flew out of his range. Tristan would’ve given chase, but he had to get to Jamie. Jamie hit the water headfirst. Beneath the water, she began to thrash. Water hit her eyes, to which she instinctively closed them. She couldn’t tell which was up. She couldn’t breathe. Heroes don’t panic. But whatever heroes did do, it only caused her to thrash faster to try and get back to the surface. IC: Buizel - Route 7 A Buizel walked down the forest, polishing a whistle that he wore around his neck. It was a cheap old thing, and his polishing hadn’t stopped it from rusting in places. But it was his. The Buizel turned as noise hit his ears. It was coming from the river. He had seen Pokemon be on edge today. He wondered what that was about, but he hadn’t stuck his nose into it. But if it was coming from the river, it might become his business. He stepped into the clearing, and immediately a human fell from the sky into the water. The human girl began to thrash in the water. This human didn’t know how to swim, and a quick glance told him that Carvanha had moved into the area. He was needed. He placed the whistle in his mouth, made three blasts with it, and dove into the water towards the girl.
  24. -==IC: Kris Homura/Evan Tierra/Jenny Hakuda/James Arthur - Ruins of Abundance, Alola - [21]==- The assailant fighting Tapu Bulu began to charge moonlight into his hands. Tapu Bulu charged him once more. But this time, the one fighting him was more than ready. He sidestepped the guardian and as Tapu Bulu passed, he fired the lazer right into Tapu Bulu’s side. The attacks that Tapu Bulu had shrugged off earlier were beginning to show their toll. Blood of some sort began to drip from the guardians body. The one fighting him grew a crooked grin on his face. He would finally be the one to kill Tapu Bulu. The old one felt shock. The Chandelure had managed to get the drop on him. Was his hearing truly starting to go or had the ghost actually managed to remain perfectly silent. Both prospects were scary. The blood loss he was feeling did not help with that. He began to build moonlight in his right hand, when the stump where his left used to be began to throb. What was left of his arm was already in sharp pain, but the pain of losing an arm was minuscule compared to the pain getting it back. And even smaller compared to the pain the old one was about to feel. Muscle, bone, tendons, skin, nerves. All of the necessary elements for an arm began to flow forth from the cut in the old one’s arm. But the order was completely wrong. Skin got in the way of tendons. Bones grew in different directions, on the outside of the arm. Muscle pooled in a spot creating a lump. Fingers grew along the length of the mess. A total of seven along the length of it, and three more on the end where the ‘hand’ was. If you could call a circular mess of muscle on top of skin a hand. The mutant growths continued unabated despite the growth beginning to grow past the size of his original limb. The old one began to bite his lip hard enough that he nearly tore the bottom half of his mouth off. He turned his one good arm, with moonlight pooled in it, and promptly blasted his arm off. James on instinct, covered Percival’s eyes. Perhaps because he was already cradling the ghost type, or because he was subconsciously reacting to his own revulsion at the sight he currently had front row seats to. If it was just about preventing Percival from seeing the gruesome sight, he needn’t have bothered. Percival was barely conscious, his eyes were shut to begin with. All he could sense at the moment was James’s arms around him. The embrace was warm. Very warm. It was very unlike James. He was generally more like his office. Cold, nice, but cold. Affectionate wasn’t the word he’d use to describe how James acted most of the time. He was grateful for everything Percival did but affection of this kind? This hug? This was a rare treat. Percival felt warm. Not warm. Hot. He was on fire. A fire type discovering that they were on fire was like a child realizing they could breathe. And fire types only ever came to that realization, when their flames were about to burst. James let go of Percival as flames began to flare up. Lancelot and his opponent both lost focus for a moment as light enveloped the group of trainers, centered on the Chandelure. His main arms began to travel up to the center of his body as they contracted into it. The sub-arms that carried his candles began to bend down and grow in size. Rather than arms, they could be better described as legs. The center of his face rearranged, his eyes each split into two. One by one the flames on each of the legs burst. Going from green to a vibrant blue. And the last transformation came on his head. The covering on his head peeled away, revealing his main body of flame. The circle that now had his smile began to grow. And when he smiled, the green flame burst into a brilliant blue, almost white color. As Percival stood on his new legs, his shadow began to spread. Bits and pieces of darkness broke out of his shadow. And those pieces broke further, leaving a trail of darkness as the spread. One pierced through the old one who was nursing his severed arm. He seemed more confused than anything else, he moved out of the way of the darkness like nothing happened. But then the growing web of darkness hit the Drampa, and to the Drampa one of the strings of darkness stuck. James’s surprise kept other thoughts from his mind. Such as all that time spent working with Lancelot, and a hug, -a- -hug- of all things, just made Percival explode with power without even trying. But a different thought managed to claw its way into James’s brain. They were still in danger. Details from the whole battle flowed into James’s mind. Every response these assailants made. The first time they wounded one of them. Percival and Lancelot’s abilities. Gawain’s abilities as an estimation of Monstro’s. The spacial and psychic powers. The pieces fell into place. “Kris, bridge our minds.” "Right." Kris nodded, then reached out with her powers to do just that. "We all should be connected now - go on." Alright, this is what I have. James, Kris and Jenny pulled out Poke Balls and retreated a number of Pokemon. Gawain, Boarlite, Scizlite, Lycanroc, Shuckle, Lurelite all returned to their Poke Balls. A number of their Pokemon assailants looked surprised at the sudden lack of opponents. They looked towards the the group of trainers. Their trainers looked too, caught off-guard by this action. Kris, I need you to guard us one last time. Retreat any Pokemon that are stuck on the ground, all of you. Evan, have Monstro use Earthquake. Give the order as loud as possible. Kris held her hands out as a sphere of psychic energy surrounded the group once again. The blue-haired woman looked even more determined than she had prior to the Chandelure's evolution. She nodded to Evan for him to do his part. “Monstro, it’s time to bring down the house with a nice, big Earthquake!” Evan shouted as loud as he could to his amped up Water Pokémon, who grinned at the command. Roaring, the Mud Fish slammed his might arms on the ground and repeated the action over and over, the rumbling growing more and more intense as he did so. The shaking caused cracks all over the room. Violent eruptions of earth and sand shot up in response to the waves that shook the ground. The collapsing ground reached all over the room, bouncing off of the psychic sphere that protected them. The rest of the room wasn’t so lucky. One of the assailants tried to retreat one of their Pokemon, only to find they couldn’t. The dark webbing wouldn’t allow it. The assailants had to abandon their Pokemon to the waves of earth and sand, as they vanished into the shadow. Their leader spat a curse, looking past Lancelot to the giant Swampert as he did the same. Lancelot quickly took the air, to try and minimize the damage that he would take. The Salazzle and the Lycanroc were almost immediately slammed to the ground, fainting there and then. The Persian and the Crabominable lasted longer, but when one wave of earth slammed the two together, the pair followed into unconsciousness. The Drampa barely managed to keep hold of his senses as debris buffeted into him all over. And only just barely. The Araquanid was the only Pokemon left on the ground that seemed to be at all in a condition to fight. The Dhelmise span on it saw the carnage. It began to move towards Monstro to try and attack the Swampert when Celebi grabbed onto the wheel. SInce she didn’t need to damage the Dhelmise, she had a much easier target to attack. She just had to distract the Dhelmise until it was all over. James watched as the assailants disappeared. Phase one was down. It all came down to this. Evan, Kris, if you have the ability. With that hole in space, teleportation, telekinesis or whatever else you can do. When they reappear to attack Monstro, force them together. You’ve got it, sir. Evan projected as he readied himself to strike. "Roger that." Kris prepared for when the attackers reappeared, her hands taking on a cyan-coloured glow as she waited patiently. James looked towards Lancelot and Percival. They nodded to him. As soon as Evan and Kris played their part, it would be their show. Slowly the shadows began to reveal themselves, one by one. The eldest was first, followed by the one without Pokemon, then two more. They were all charging moonlight in their hands. James told the others to hold. There was still one missing. When he at last spotted the fifth shadow, it was above Monstro. The leader stepped out of the wall with moonlight in hand. Now! James thought, his eyes growing wide. With a mighty swipe of his right arm, Evan dragged the assailants back, catching them off guard once more. You’ve got this, Kris! Evan thought, a bold grin on his face. Kris reached out her hands, as she pulled the five assailants together, her telekinetic grasp dragging them closer and closer together as she focused more and more. She didn't know how long she could hold onto the foes, but she was going to try her best to make sure she gave the others enough time to work. The leader’s eyes began to widen as he was pulled towards his fellows. He tried to orient himself but he didn’t have the time. James pointed forward and both the transformed Chandelure and Lancelot charged forward at the mass of people. “Percival, Fire Spin!” The weak fire attack may have been an odd choice considering that Overheat had been an option. But Overheat was a fire that burned itself out very quickly. He didn’t just need damage, he needed them to catch on fire. He’d invest in Will-o-Wisp later. But even such a weak attack from Percival’s reinvigorated flames was enough. The brilliant blue flame covered the mass of people. The fire tore at the old one’s arm, it began to sear his the stump of his regenerating arm shut. And that was the moment James called to Lancelot. “Lancelot, Brutal Swing!” Lancelot had already managed to stop right in front of the mass of people. Percival rose up quickly to clear Lancelot’s way. He pulled the sword in his arm back and filled it with darkness. The leader tried to turn incorporeal once more, but it was too late. Lancelot’s sword cleaved into the group. Their bodies gave way like paper to Lancelot’s arm. The least damaged was the leader. His power shielded him somewhat, and he made a perfect guard with his arm. His arm was now on the opposite side of the room. The rest weren’t as lucky. Most of them still had legs to stand on. Most. The leader swore in a language James didn’t know. But it was clear at this point which way the winds were blowing. He glared at Tapu Bulu, who was leaning against a wall. He swallowed and whispered something quiet. The only other member of their group who had any business still fighting, the one without Pokemon, looked like he was going to yell something when fire spin burned into the massive gash in his side. The assailants pulled out Poke Balls, while the one who didn’t have any Pokemon picked up the Poke Balls that belonged to the one who currently didn’t have a lower body raised them to retreat their Poke Balls. Percival made a move to pull on his shadowy web, but James stopped him. “Let them go.” James could see the damage that Percival couldn’t feel at the moment. Percival couldn’t take another hit like he had from both of the assailants again. One more hit and he was out. Despite their advantage, it would be foolish to continue the fight as they were. Monstro and Lancelot were hiding their injuries as well, but they had taken a toll. And when even the woman who didn’t have a lower body was trying to get up on her own, James didn’t know how far they’d go if they were truly cornered. Not without more information. But there was one thing James did forget. At least until he saw what was in the leader’s hand. A detonator. The leader kept his hand on it. “If you press that, I will have Percival Shadow Ball you to oblivion,” James yelled. It was a bit of a bluff. Not that he wouldn’t do it, but he knew his allies would likely avenge the assailant’s death on Percival. And he wouldn’t allow that. The leader glared for a moment. He turned to see that his allies had retreated the Pokemon, picked up their legless ally and ran towards the entrance. He scowled, but then vanished. James shook his head left and right, with a slight panic. Was he running, or was he going to try and continue fighting? The answer came when he reappeared at the entrance to the other room. Lancelot immediately figured out what he was doing. There was a Bewear and a Golurk left in the other room that he needed to pick up. Kris turned her head in alarm as she saw the leader head off to the other room. There were answers that she wanted - answers it didn't seem that they were going to get willingly. Kris reached out with her psychic powers to attempt to scan what she wanted out of the attacker's mind - at the very least, something that could be used to identify him… his name. The man walking through the door had a flurry of emotions swirling in his mind. Rage, disappointment, frustration, sadness, fear, pain. The fact that his arm was gone meant that for a brief moment, just a brief moment, his mental guard was down. And in that slip two words flowed from his mind to Kris’s, before he could even realize what he’d done. Lohe Mahina. Lohe Mahina cursed as he ran through the door to retrieve his Pokemon.
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