Metal Gear Minun

IC: Lancelot - Ruins of Abundance Lancelot heard the explosions coming from the other room. He had to put aside his concern for James. The Bewear and the Golurk were not letting up. And the bug on his shoulder was proving a bigger hindrance than Lancelot could have guessed. Not the bug’s fault, but the Golurk focused on attacking that side. It tossed what rocks it could at Lancelot’s shoulder. He only had so many ways that he could dodge without endangering the Grubbin. The Bewear capitalized on Lancelot’s predicament. With swings of his massive arms, the Scizor was forced back inch by inch. Lancelot used the ethereal sword to block the attacks, but he was left without an opening to counter-attack. He only needed a single opening. The Grubbin did his best to not get in Lancelot’s way. But each terrible swing of the Bewear’s arms nearly crushed the Grubbin. Not that it was intending to. Just that if crushing the Grubbin was required to crush the Scizor, then the Bewear would crush the Grubbin. Shaking, it began to produce something from its mouth. The Bewear unleashed a massive hook that Lancelot blocked. The Bewear leaned onto Lancelot, who pushed back with equal force. While the two clashed, the Grubbin crawled to the top of Lancelot’s head, and spewed a black web at the Bewear’s eyes. That moment finally gave Lancelot the opportunity he needed. The Bewear recoiled slightly. Unlike his master, the Bewear needed his sight. He instinctively tried to remove the gunk from his eyes. Lancelot spread his wings and began to move. His body started glowing as he picked up speed. He channeled that power into his sword, and it took a sky-blue appearance. He slashed the Bewear as he passed him. Lancelot leaped onto the wall behind the Bewear, and kicked off it. Using the momentum to power his blow, he slashed the Bewear once more with Aerial Ace. The Bewear shouted in agony before falling over, unconscious. Lancelot had no time to savor his victory however. The Golurk immediately rushed to the aid of its comrade. Without its comrade however, the tempo of battle completely changed. This Golurk was a strong example of his kind, but he’d faced both bigger and stronger. And he’d faced them when they had their powers. And this time, he had a Dark Type move again. He channeled the dark type power into his sword. Brutal Swing was a wild violent move. Thankfully, the Grubbin was at the heart of the storm. This mean Lancelot could swing his sword to his heart’s content. The Golurk immediately backpedaled to avoid the swings. But the Scizor was faster. The Golurk blocked as best he could, but Lancelot was dancing circles around him. He outpaced how quickly the Golurk could turn, and placed a devastating blow to the Golurk’s back. The dark power caused the Golurk to fall to one knee instantly. He tried to get back up, but Lancelot would not have it. With one last swing, he slashed the Golurk one more time, and it too fell to the ground. Lancelot knew he had to get back to the other fight. That James was in danger. But he couldn’t help but just take it in for a moment. Seeing his opponents lying on the ground, their bodies broken by combat. It was always a pleasure. But he couldn’t enjoy it for long. He plucked the Grubbin off of his head and placed it on the ground. It was comparatively safer in this room, and it could flee at its own pace. He had to get back into the entry room. He leaped over to the wreckage. Now that he had a moment, he could take of this quickly enough. He let go of the ethereal blade, letting it levitate where it was. He needed blunt power for this.

IC: ???? - Ruins of Abundance All the explosives were in place. The detonators were ready. Tapu Bulu had still not shown up. The outsider to their group was getting impatient. The leader stood at the shrine where a statue in honor of the ‘Guardian Deity’ was placed. He reached his hand out to it. Nothing happened. Gripping it from the base, he heaved it over the side of the raised platform he was on. The statue fell to floor below, cracking and sending a piece into the sand on the level below. And after that, nothing. “Still not mad enough. I’m almost impressed,” he remarked. He was about to give a command when he heard the voice of one of his subordinates. “The unknown hostiles are here, sir,” the voice from the entrance said. Which means that his other subordinate had failed to turn them back. This was bad. If Tapu Bulu showed up now, they’re intentions would be compromised. Best case scenario, he wipes all of their memories after knocking them out. Worst case, the truth gets out and they lose everything. If he had to kill them to stop them, he would. “Everyone to positions. Perhaps the great Tapu Bulu will show up if we offer it a sacrifice.” All five figures vanished. -==IC: Kris Homura/Evan Tierra/Jenny Hakuda/James Arthur - Ruins of Abundance, Alola - [17]==- The group reached a craggy encirclement of rocks, the opening facing them with two horned statues, presumably of the Guardian Spirit of Ula’ula. Beyond the statues was an ornate-looking wooden doorway, beyond which lied darkness. “Finally, some place that won’t blow sand in our eyes!” Evan said, before noticing something suspicious. The jeeps that they were following had been left outside. That confirmed their quarry was here. But they couldn’t see a single sign of the occupants anywhere. Not a noise could be heard from inside. “This screams of a trap,” James said. “If those earlier Pokemon were indeed an attack by this group, they know we are here. Do we have any options other than walk in blindly?” “Well, we obviously can’t send our Pokémon in, due to them having weapons.” Evan said, concerned at the pickle they found themselves in. “But, do we have any armoured Pokémon?” Lancelot raised his arm enthusiastically without the need for James to say anything. James, however, did say, “Lancelot,” whilst pointing at the Scizor. “Mind sending him out to draw out our foe?” Evan said, smiling at the Scizor. “With him being steel-type, he should be able to deal with most of what our foes have to offer. Then, I’ll send out Monstro and Hippowdon to back him up. Kris, Jenny, what do you think of this plan?” "Sounds good to me!" Jenny said, Kris giving a nod in agreement as well. “Well, looks like we’ve got ourselves a plan, Executive Arthur.” Evan said, and then faced Lancelot, grinning. “Looks like it’s up to you, Sir Knight.” James could admit that Lancelot was the logical choice, but sending Lancelot into a known trap felt like he was shooting him in the back again. He looked at the Scizor. Lancelot nodded. He knew that he was the logical choice as well. “Very well, I am counting on you, Sir Lancelot. Draw them out, do not let yourself be overwhelmed.” The Scizor looked towards the entrance and walked forward. He stopped right before where the moonlight cut out. He looked from side to side. He saw walls, sand, a pathway, but nothing out of the ordinary. He took one step inside. Nothing. He took another step and looked all around him. He couldn’t hear or see anything out of the, well not ordinary. This wasn’t a normal place. But he didn’t see any humans. He didn’t see any Pokemon either. There was a room on the other end. He chose to keep walking. When he entered the next room, he immediately noticed something out of place. Crates thrown about the room and a stature broken to pieces. The Scizor walked forward and looked into the nearest crate. It was virtually empty, but the indentions looked vaguely gun shaped. Human weapons. A thought occurred to Lancelot. He immediately looked around the room again to see any hiding place his quarry could be using. Nothing. This did not comfort Lancelot. If he had missed an opponent, then he might’ve just left James and the others defenseless. He immediately turned toward the exit and began to run. A hand reached out of the shadows, and pressed a detonator in its grip. *BOOM* The blast sent Lancelot reeling. The heat was the worst of it, the force itself he could endure. He spread his wings and used them to stabilize himself. He heard two Poke Balls hit the ground. A Golurk and a heavily scarred giant pink and black fuzzball appeared. He looked towards the exit, the blast had collapsed part of the ceiling, blocking the exit. To escape he’d either have to move rocks out of the way or fly through the new hole in the ceiling. The Golurk, however seemed to have other ideas. Lancelot buzzed violently. This was not the first Golurk he’d had to beat, and he had a powerful new weapon for Ghost-Types. ---- When the explosion went off, James shouted, “Lancelot!” He was about to run forward into the ruins, when he caught himself. That sort of reckless behavior was exactly what they wanted. “The battle has started. And I cannot see Lancelot from here. They want us to rush in. We may not have any other choice,” he said pulling out Gawain’s Ultra Ball. James would not get a response. Evan might’ve been about to respond, but a figure emerged from Evan’s shadow. The figure had a knife wreathed in shadow, and it shot forth with its knife, intending to bury in the Hero’s back. "Behind you!" Jenny called out quickly, as she prepared a Poké Ball to throw toward the figure as well. She hoped that her warning would be in time to prevent something horrible from happening. Evan’s eyes widened as he turned around, conjuring a Spacial Barrier with his left arm as he did so, blocking the knife. “Thanks for the save!” The man said, grinning nervously, reaching for Monstro’s Poké Ball, deploying the Mud Fish. “Monstro, headbutt, now!” Appearing in a flash of light, Monstro complied and struck his master’s would-be killer in the stomach with his head. The assassin’s body didn’t feel solid. Monstro registered that he was indeed touching the assassin. But the momentum, the kinetic energy, simply vanished. If she was in any way affected by the headbutt, she didn’t show it. She seemed more annoyed that Evan blocked her attack with an unforeseen ability. She raised her other arm and the pistol that it held, leveling it at Kris. The blue-haired woman looked at the assassin and held up her hand. Her eyes subtly glowed blue, as she focused on the barrel of the gun, doing her best to set up a force to stop the bullet before it could be fired. With her other hand she dropped the Poké Ball that contained her Kommo-o, which appeared in a flash of red light. Their assailant had already begun to pull the trigger of the pistol a second time when the first bullet was stopped in the chamber. The gun burst in her hand. The force barely seemed to affect, it was the heat that was the problem. Though her hand was gloved, heat still burned her hand underneath. The assassin bit her lip as she tossed the destroyed gun to the ground and ripped the glove off to let her burned hand breathe. The hand had barely seen air when skin began to grow over the burned area. But it came out wrong. A gnarled mess of skin tissue and muscle grew over the burn, leaving the palm of her hand a worse mess than the burn had been. The assailant swore before testing her hand. She could still move it fine. Still mad, she sank into the dark ground, disappearing entirely. “Oh no you don’t!” Evan shouted angrily at the escaping assassin. “Monstro, get her!” The Water-Type growled and rushed towards the shadow, but it was too late. The assailant had fled into the shadows, leaving Monstro to curse in his language. “Well, that is not something I have heard of,” James said as he slammed Gawain’s Ultra Ball to the ground. The Swampert immediately shuddered upon his appearance. “If they can vanish and reappear as they please, they can ambush us again at any moment. Ms. Homura, can you use your psychic power to make a barrier? Mr. Tierra, can your barrier protect all of us?” Evan frowned at James’s question. “My barrier is a bit small, but I could give it a shot.” The Plasma Agent said as he assumed a stance and started to try conjuring up a barrier. “If I can’t, then I’ll pass my power onto Jenny, and she’ll give it a shot.” A pink, pearlescent barrier began to rise around the trainers, it’s creator straining to keep it up. “Kris, You put up a secondary layer, just in case.” Evan grunted, pouring his willpower into the rising barrier of Spacial Power. Monstro stood by his master, ready to defend him with his life, if he had to. Kris nodded. "I don't know if this will act the same way, but it's added protection from things at the very least." She said as she focused on creating a sphere around the group as well. “Alright. That at least affords us some protection from firearms and explosives. If they want to attack us, they will have to come to us. We need to reunite with Lancelot.”

IC: Jamie Arthur - Route 7 Jamie was at the edge of Tristan’s head as she saw Lucia fall into the water. She breathed a vocal sigh of relief at seeing Alex grab hold of Lucia. At the same time, Jared was in the water. Lachina seemed to be swimming towards him. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to send Palomides out to grab people from the water. She would’ve sent Pelleas to do it, but she wasn’t sure how water would affect his wings. She heard some bug types couldn’t fly with wet wings. So the Haunter would have to do it instead. He didn’t even need to breathe, it was perfect. “Go Palomides,” she said pressing the Haunter’s Poke Ball to the top of Tristan’s head. The Haunter floated up, glad to be out of his Poke Ball for once. “Palomides get down there and help people out of the water,” the Haunter floated down towards the water silently. “As for you,” Jamie said to the Hawlucha. “Time will freeze!” she yelled with a determined look on face. Time did not freeze. “Mrgrgr, fine,” she said reaching for a Poke Ball. There wasn’t any room for another Pokemon that had to ride on top of Tristan’s head. This meant the Pokemon she would use for this was obvious. And she hadn’t had a good chance to use Lucan in a while. She liked Lucan. “Go Lucan!” she yelled in a much more enthusiastic tone than she had with Palomides. And much more enthusiastically than how Lucan left his Poke Ball. He was a little nervous to be back on the battlefield again after losing his powers in the Egg. Jamie did not yet order an attack. She needed the Froakie out of the way lest she hit an ally.

Posting a mostly complete Mega proposal profile. Currently waiting on a reply for the appearance. Mega Chandelure Proposed Pokémon: Chandelure Focus: Trapping and heavy special damage. Appearance: Here Credit to @Zephyrzu for the art. With written permission obtained on January 23 2019 Type: Ghost-Fire Mega Ability: Shadow Tag Stat Distribution: -HP: 60 -ATK: 55 -SPA: 145 -> 185 -DEF: 90 -> 111 -SPD: 90 -> 110 -SPE: 80 -> 99

IC: Jamie Arthur - Route 7 Jamie was grinning. She reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of Poke Balls. Her fellow hero sent out a negotiator. She would give her a chance. Someone as cool as Dahlia might be able to succeed. But if negotiations broke down, Jamie was more than ready for another battle. The question really remained, did they she want to fight the flying types, or did she want to go fishing? Her water types were less mobile and would need aid. Why Lucia didn't join her on Tristan, Jamie didn't know. But it meant that she had enough space on the Metagross for one of her other Pokemon if she needed it. While she was waiting for the shoe to drop, Jamie thought about their maybe soon to be opponents. Maybe they could find a potential new friend among the crowd of enemies. She began to scan the frenzy of Sharpedo and the flocks of bird types. There were some cool looking birds on a branch up ahead. Pretty cool looking, but not quite what she was looking for. Alas, none really stood out to her. None seemed to want to be her friend. Jamie followed Tristan's eyes to the Dragonair. It was cool, but didn't feel quite right either. She sighed. Looks like today wasn't 'new friend day' after all.

IC: ???? - Ruins of Abundance The three jeeps came to halt beside the entrance to the ruins. The five remaining occupants stepped out of the jeeps. Several of them began to unload the cargo of the jeeps. There were crates full of high yield explosives, and boxes of guns. The leader was overseeing the unloading when he decided to take a peek inside the ruins. There were rocks in places that needed to be moved. He threw a Luxury ball and an Ultra Ball on the ground, letting a Bewear and a Golurk come out. The Bewear immediately turned around and embraced his trainer with a massive bear hug. Despite the massive force being applied to him, the leader seemed unfazed. He merely sighed before saying, “Yes, yes, I love you too Wearbear. I need you to let me go and move those rocks for me.” The Golurk put a hand on Wearbear’s shoulder and the Bewear reluctantly let his trainer down. The pair went off to start removing rocks from the path. The leader’s ears twitched. He could hear one of his subordinates suppressing a chuckle. “Is there something funny?” he said, knowing fully well she could hear him. “N-no sir,” she responded before clearing her throat. Her earlier laugh was a cough. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. “That’s what I thought,” he said, as he walked back through the entrance. He walked past her to the only other member of the group was currently not unloading anything. “Any sign of Bulu?” the man said to the leader of the expedition. The leader shook his head but added, “He’ll be here. His pride won’t allow for anything else.” “He’d better. If this opportunity is wasted, your position won’t protect you from the consequences. Or him.” “...”

IC: ???? The leader of the group sat in the last jeep. He was still pouring over the map he had. It was a weird contradictory piece of parchment, but Haina desert was a weird contradictory place. It wouldn’t be long before they had to make some truly mind-bending turns. The sandstorm’s rapping on the car’s canvas was beginning to irritate him. He needed to be able to focus for when he was contacted by the driver in the lead jeep. The short range radio they were using to communicate (an embarrassment if he’s ever had one), began to buzz to action. He was expecting a call as they entered a canyon. However the contents were not what we expected. “We’re being followed. My Lycanroc has their scent,” a grizzled voice like sandpaper said. The leader scowled. They should’ve left earlier. He cursed that he let his pride delay them. “We could’ve brought some of those thugs to deal with stalkers,” the voice suggested. The man in the last jeep shook his head. “Too unreliable. If they leaked our mission, everything could be in jeopardy.” He turned to the driver, “Stop the car.” The driver pressed on the brake and the car slowed to a halt. “Turn them back. Escape when you’re done. Do not engage them yourself,” he said. “Understood,” the driver said as he exited the car. The leader took the driver’s seat. He’d have to leave navigation to the others.

IC: Claus Diamond/Richard Apollo - Sunyshore City “Well first I thought we’d swing by a hotel to check in,” Claus said. “But then we have to go meet Zack’s uncle.” “I’ll take care of the housing arrangements,” Volkner called out from behind them. “I still have a penthouse in the city. Better than using Liberty money when we don’t need to.” Claus admittedly didn’t think about what property Volkner might have owned. “Well, okay. In that case, we can go meet him right away.” Zack came forward and said “I’ll lead the way.” “One sec!” Richard called. Oceanus and Erebus were still swimming in the ocean. Richard leaned the edge of the dock to see how they were doing. They were having fun, as if the world wasn’t ending. “I’m gonna let them stay here and have some fun,” Richard said. He turned to his Sableye companion. “Hades you’re in charge here! Have fun!” The Sableye plopped down on the edge of the dock. Fine by him. Claus was a bit more concerned as Richard picked up the recording device that he’d brought along with him. That thing was not a normal tape recorder. “Are you sure you know how to use that thing without Hades’s help?” Claus asked. “Why Claus, I’m shocked. I am a trained member of Liberty’s archives corps,” Richard said, adding as much hurt into his voice as he could. “You didn’t answer the question.” Richard waved his hand dismissively. These couldn’t be that hard to operate. Claus shook his head. If he had to help him, he swore...

-==IC: Kris/Jenny/James/Evan - Route 13 - [13]==- After a short trek from the beach, the four trainers reached the oasis that had been mentioned. Kris smiled as she walked forward toward the water. "My home isn't too far away. It's only a trailer, but I think it could hold anyone who wanted to sleep over tonight." A hand reached down to her belt, as she turned to face James. "But first, I owe you a battle." The blue-haired woman said with a smile, as she pulled a Poké Ball off the belt and threw it forward. A Shuckle appeared, squealing happily as it assessed the situation nearby. Shuckle. The sturdiest of all bugs. Its shell is thought to be sturdier than anything else under heaven. The Karrablast he got on the other hand was a quicker specimen. James was confident that he had mobility on his side for this fight. He walked over and touched a tree for a moment. Agravain looked at him, trying to get a feel for what James was thinking. They hadn’t known each other long, so the bug had trouble figuring him out. “Very well, I am ready,” James said turning back towards Kris and Shuckle. The Shuckle scurried forward and got into a defensive stance in between the two Trainers, a confident look on her face. Kris smiled at the scene, then nodded to James. "I'll let you make the first move." James took one at the Shuckle, once at Agravain, and once at the tree. “Agravain, climb this tree.” Agravain took off with hustle towards the tree. The bug clambered up the tree as fast as its stubby arms would take it. When he got to the first fruiting branch, James called out, “Now start tossing berries at Shuckle!” Agravain plucked a berry from the branch and tossed it at the Shuckle. As soon as he tossed, he began to look for another berry to toss. Kris and the Shuckle both blinked in confusion at the rather unorthodox technique. The first berry hit because of that, though the next few berries were caught and gently set down on the ground. The first berry caught, however, was munched on by the Shuckle while she waited for the next moves. James didn’t make any other orders. But he had chosen that specific tree for a reason. Because it had been entangled with another kind of tree. To keep the element of surprise, he had to wait until Agravain had found the right one. Lancelot was observing and figured out what he has about to try. When Agravain plucked a red berry from the tree that was adjacent to the one he was on, James finally called out. “Throw the berry with your horn,” James called out. “Aim directly for its head!” Agravain wondered what it would accomplished but grasped the berry with his horn. As he moved, the horns dug into the berry, creating holes in them. When the Karrablast threw the berry at the bug lower down, it came at it faster than before. But more importantly, the juices from the distinct red berry trailed behind it. The Shuckle attempted to dodge the berry and its trail of fiery pain, but the berry slammed into the bug directly. The Shuckle ducked into her shell for a moment to try and use her berry juice to heal the burning pain, which left the Shuckle at least somewhat more open to attacks. Evan observed the ingenuity of James’s strategy, internally taking notes to make sure he could do more than just mere brute force with his pokémon in the future. He was going to cheer on the young Karrablast, but refrained from it, considering that James needed his focus for a battle like this. James was considering if there was anything he could do to deal major damage. The only thing left to wield were the branches of the trees. That wouldn’t do much better than using Agravain’s natural gifts to attack. Karrablasts were the natural of enemy of Shelmets. If nothing else, it would bring forth this former champion’s strategy “Alright, Agravain. Take to the offense!” James yelled. “Strike with your horn!” Agravain let out a war chirp as he hopped down branches before leaping onto the Shuckle’s shell. He then struck at the withdrawn Shuckle through one of the many holes. With a muffled yelp from inside the shell, the Shuckle dodged around as best as she could from inside, trying to think of some way to get the other bug to be knocked away. After one of the attempted attacks, the Shuckle extended her arms and legs, then tried to flip herself and the Karrablast quickly. There wasn’t much Agravain could do to dodge, not that he was the type to dodge. He was thrown from the Shuckle. Ensuring that happened quickly was all he could to not get squished by the Shuckle’s hard shell. James was impressed that the plan had gone as well as it did. With a sigh of relief, the Shuckle ambled forward after sticking her head back out of the shell. She was wary of the Karrablast still, but was intent on continuing the fight. James was formulating his next move, when a car horns blared. A row of jeeps were waiting to get past where the battle was taking place. “Unfortunately, it seems our battle will have to be postponed,” James said. He was a mix of disappointment and relief. He hadn’t figured out another way to actually damage the the Shuckle, but it was always frustrating to have a battle interrupted. The group made way for the convoy to pass. James might not have thought anything of it, until he saw who was driving the last jeep. The same man who he’d seen when he went for coffee early that morning. The memory bothered James again. James watched which direction the jeeps were moving for a moment. “If you do not mind a further interruption to our battle, I would like to speak to the driver of that car.” "That's fine, Mr. Arthur." Kris replied, as she recalled the Shuckle back to her Poké Ball. "You have some pretty interesting tactics - maybe we could switch things up later if this discussion doesn't take too long." The blue-haired woman watched where the jeeps went. "That is an odd sight, too… do you mind company?" “I suppose not,” James mentioned. He seemed a bit distracted. "Everything okay?" Jenny asked, as she glanced over at James curiously. She didn't want to outright ask, but she noticed how distracted he seemed, plus she found it a little strange that he suddenly wanted to talk to some driver that passed by. “Just a nagging sense of deja vu. I cannot fathom why though,” James said as he began to walk in the direction of the jeeps. Evan frowned at the jeeps. They had just interrupted the spectacular battle, and that annoyed the battler within himself, but he was curious as to why James would so much as give them the time of day, rather than getting out of the way.“Well, whoever this is, hopefully they’ll be polite to you, Executive Arthur.” The Plasma Agent said, sounding a little miffed. James lead the group to follow the jeeps. The jeeps pulled behind a large rock outcropping. Out of the way, out of sight of the traffic flowing through the route. Instinctively, James’s movements slowed and his eyes narrowed. He slammed Percival’s Ultra Ball onto the ground. “Look ahead for me, Percival. There is a number of jeeps ahead. Tell me what you find,” James said. The Chandelure blinked out of sight, his last movements being in the general direction of the jeeps. Not even thirty seconds later, he was back. And he was shivering. “Percival? What is wrong? Did you see something?” James asked, concerned. Percival shook his body. He didn’t see anything particular. Well, he saw a person. But for some reason he became afraid. He didn’t know why. “Percival, I need your help right now. Can you try again?” James said. The last time the Chandelure looked this scared was when he had sent the ghost type to investigate Pierce’s headquarters. The Chandelure took a few moments to calm himself. He turned back towards the rock outcropping and disappeared again. In the moments that passed, Lancelot tapped James on the shoulder. Even he had felt something wrong coming from the jeeps. He pointed at Agravain who also looked perturbed by them. “What is going on?” James said very quietly. The Chandelure came back this time after a few minutes. He was still shaking but he seemed to know something. “I do not suppose any of you are telepathic?” James asked. "I am." Kris said, though the notion of the other Pokémon feeling nervous unsettled her by proxy. She reached out to the still-nervous Chandelure. "Hello. My name is Kristina, how are you doing?" She decided to start out with kind words to help calm the ghost-type down. After a few moments of silently working with Percival, which Jenny and co watched quietly, Kris took a deep breath. "Well, this doesn't sound good at all." Kris announced finally, as she turned to the others, a frown on her face. "From what Percival told me, their trucks are loaded with weapons, they're all wearing armour without identification on it, and… he's still scared, even to this moment. Or, no, scared isn't quite the word, but…" Her frown deepened. "Although the answer here would be to leave it because of the danger of weapons, those same weapons make me uneasy. We need to follow them; Tapu Bulu lives in the direction they are headed. I'm worried about what they might want there." The Liberty Executive crossed his arms. He silently wished that he could agree. His face was tense. He’d bitten his lip and his brow was furrowed. “Legally, we do not have the right to take action. If they are part of a covert operation we could cause an international incident. Furthermore, the danger--” "What do you want to do?" Kris interrupted with a frown, as she crossed her arms. "If these people are the same type of people as Team Galactic, or any people like that, then what happens when they d-” “What do you want us to do, Executive Arthur?” Evan interrupted the Executive, sounding concerned. “I’m a Hero, and my gut is telling me that those people are bad news, based on what we know.” James was silent for a moment. His mind and his gut were in disagreement. The logical, legal option would be to call Alola’s authorities and wash their hands of this. But his gut couldn’t stop focusing on the pendant he had seen. “I want to investigate this myself, of course, but...” His mind started coming up with rationalizations. If there was danger, they were some of the most qualified people to be able to stop it by sheer virtue of Lancelot having his powers. The usual stuff about how he couldn’t trust anyone else to get the job done right. But he knew they were empty compared to the truth. He wanted to go because he was selfish and he wanted to know what was going on. Lancelot pushed James forward. The Scizor didn’t need to hear any excuse. James sighed, using his mouth to hide a small smile. This was probably a bad idea, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t glad that the Scizor was pushing him into it. “Very well. However, I must insist on two conditions. I cannot jeopardize the future relations between Alola and Team Liberty. The world cannot afford such a conflict right now. My first condition is that we will only fight if attacked first. Even if we find evidence of nefarious intent, vigilantism may make the situation worse. Second, if we find evidence that they are working for the Alolan government, we leave immediately. Are we agreed?” “I can agree to those terms, sir.” Evan said, smiling reassuringly as he drew out Vlad’s Poké Ball. “Lead on, and we shall follow.”

IC: Jamie Arthur - Battle Chateau With approval given, it was off to the races with Jamie. She didn’t even wait to cross the bridge to start throwing her Poke Balls on the ground. Pelleas, Tristan, Lamorak and Bedevere all came tumbling out of the their respective balls. Tristan picked up the two shellfish Pokemon and placed them on his head to speed up the process of getting them in the building. The door sprang open at the behest of Jamie’s foot. “Alright, who wants a piece of me!” Jamie shouted, a crooked grin on her face. She was in a mood. A bad mood. She was gonna hit something. Preferably more than one something. Jamie’s entrance caught stares from a number of well dressed individuals. Something on the level of the outfits that James gave her. Someone was kind enough enough to usher her towards the front desk. One cape later, and Jamie was shouting at random people demanding battles. Battles. Plural. As in, she demanded that everyone she could find of her rank fight her at the same time. The problem being that most people of her entry level rank did not have much that could harm a Metagross. The Clamperl was the only member of her entourage that most of them thought they could take on. Maybe, just maybe the Cloyster. There wasn’t any water for it at least. Jamie began gnashing her teeth. She was getting frustrated that no one seemed willing to take on her demands. “Sounds like someone is spoiling for a fight.” A voice spoke, tinged with disdain towards the Rocket Agent. “Sounds like they’d let in just about any rabble.” The voice belonged to a woman in her thirties, who looked at Jamie, her eyes looking at her if she were just a mere pebble. Jamie smiled. Here was a jerk who was standing up to her. Meaning that she’d be able to get some aggression out. “Are you challenging me? Please say yes. I need some fights.” “While it would normally be beneath me to challenge such a disrespectful trainer, I guess -someone- has to teach you a proper lesson in manners.” The woman said, sending out her Froslass. “I, Rejiva Orcose, shall be that someone.” “Good, I don’t know what manners have to do with Pokemon battles, but I need to hit someone…” she said. Her smile fell after a moment. “No, it’s not enough. Give me someone else to fight.” “Are you dense?” a snively voice came out from behind Jamie. “You want to split your focus between two opponents?” “Are you gonna fight me or not? I got three free Pokemon and a bad day,” she said pointing to Tristan who was still carrying Bedevere and Lamorak. The man (boy? Jamie still didn’t have ages down) pushed up on his glasses and pointed to three Poke Balls on his belt. “I don’t mind, but I’d have to inform you that the only fields available at the moment are on opposite sides of the hall. There’s no way to give orders to both battles at once.” “That is fine by me,” Jamie said. Pelleas and Tristan were wondering if she was getting carried away. But she was smiling again. In the end, wasn’t making your daughter happy what mattered? Both parents nodded, causing Bedevere and Lamorak to nearly fall off of Tristan’s head. “Not only are you lacking in manners, but common sense as well.” Rej replied to the supposed lunacy of what Jamie proposed. “Not content with losing just one battle, you choose to lose two? So be it.” So it was that the battles were arranged that Jamie would fight two different opponents in two different arenas at the same time. The first battle to start would be Jamie and Pelleas versus Rej and Anya. Pelleas wondered how this was gonna go. It wasn’t the first time that he had to fight an opponent by himself. But last time didn’t involve a ghost type. If he had his powers, that would be one thing. Without them this was going to be tricky. “Alright, Pelleas, punch the Froslass to see what she’s got!” Jamie yelled, and promptly ran from the room to head towards the other battle that was about to start. Pelleas had a guess of how this would go, but he needed to see how the Froslass was going to fight. He spread his wings to give himself speed, and charged forward at the Froslass. The Heracross pulled his fist back, ready to strike when he reached her. “Anya, dodge and then retaliate by poking the Heracross’s eyes out!” Rej commanded her Froslass, smiling at her opponent’s lack of imagination. The Snow Land Pokémon artfully dodged the punch, and with a deft movement of her hands, attempted to strike at her opponent’s eyes. ------------ Jamie was in the middle of a chant. “Time will freeze. Time will freeze,” she chanted as she ran down the hall. Time refused to do that, but it was good practice at any rate. When she threw open the door to the other battlefield, the battle had already started. An Aerodactyl clawed at Lamorak before returning to his perch on a chandelier where a Hawlucha was. Tristan traded a blow with a Blaziken, each one taking about as good as they gave. Bedevere turned to Jamie, glad that she finally decided to show up. “Okay, okay. I think I get the idea. Alright, Tristan. Wield Lamorak and Bedevere!” she yelled and ran from the room. ...Wield them? Tristan thought. He complied though, and with both of his fore legs, picked up a shellfish. He had to strain himself to keep himself balanced, but he was armed. With a shellfish in each arm, he felt that he must have seemed like a very awkward Kingler. The snively boy (man?) chuckled. “What good will that do? A little extra reach? Hawlucha, Aerodactyl, throw the chandeliers crystals at them. Blaziken, keep them distracted!” Tristan felt like his opponents were accomplishing the opposite of their orders. The crystals (hopefully cheap ones) bounced off of their hides with little more than an annoying distraction. The Blaziken’s kicks however, he had to actively block. ----------- Pelleas instinctively brought his head down. It was a common instinct among living creatures to protect their eyes. But Heracross have a horn on their heads. The instinct to protect one’s eyes also served to attack. “And now I also see you seem to forget about how Ghost-Type Pokémon work.” Rej said, laughing at what happened next. The Froslass pulled her hand back and the horn simply passed through the Froslass. Anya giggled at Pelleas’s tactic, and performed an uppercut on the Single Horn Pokémon, hoping to expose his eyes once more. Pelleas didn’t have time to evade the attack. He took the blow. It was a bigger blow to his pride rather than his body. He was confident in his ability to fight any physical opponent. But an intangible one, without Night Slash. How was he to fight that? The door opened again. “You took a hit Pelleas?” Jamie asked as she came by and stood in her place. “How’d it feel? Her hand?” Her hand? It hurt, does that count? It occurred to the Heracross how odd that was. Ghosts weren’t vulnerable to Counter as far as he knew. Yet it could hit him? How did that work? “Unsure, huh? Try taking a weapon from the chandelier,” she said and turned around to leave again. The chandelier? Pelleas spread his wings. It took a bit of effort but he was able to fly up to the chandelier in the center of the room. He ripped off a gem from the hanging chandelier and flung it at the Froslass. The Froslass was caught off guard by how much the gem hurt upon impact. Gem or not, Pelleas’s species were known for their strength, and all of that was behind the thrown gem. “You really must be desperate, flying up and attacking from a distance, little bug.” Rej said, trying to hide her annoyance. “Well, two can play that game! Anya, throw the gem back at him!” Anya nodded, and threw the gem right back at the Heracross, hoping that, despite her flimsy arms, she could do more damage to the Single Horn Pokémon. ---------------- Tristan was getting annoyed. His main fight was with the Blaziken. But every time he tried to strike it, it made a giant leap backwards. If he had his powers this battle would have been a sinch. Especially with what he had been practicing while he was temporarily removed from the battlefield. He had wanted to show it off to Jamie. The two flying types were still chucking gems at the group. Tristan used Bedevere as a shield so he could have time to think. Bedevere wasn’t a fan, but admitted he couldn’t think of a better use for himself at the moment. The Blaziken came in for a kick. Tristan let the kick connect so he could try and and hit the Blaziken with Lamorak, in an imitation of how Pelleas fought. Sadly, the Blaziken kicked off Tristan with the same motion to get away. Lamorak did manage to clip the Blaziken, but it barely made a scratch. “Bare with it for a little longer. Focus on figuring out their movements. You’ll get your shot. Lamorak, Bedevere, be sure to tuck yourselves in tight when Tristan finally decides to wield you.” Wait, both shellfish thought simultaneously. This -wasn’t- being wielded? “And start catching those shards,” she called back running off. Both Lamorak and Bedevere opened up their shells and caught the next stones that the Aerodactyl and Hawlucha threw at them. They closed their shells keeping the stones inside. The snively male of indeterminate age look annoyed that the shellfish were taking advantage of the his flying types throwing gems at them to store in their shell. “Well I was wondering when you were gonna do that.” Because he obviously knew they were. “Alright, all three of you, alternate direct attacks!” ‘Take your shot’. Three of Tristan’s four brains thought ‘she couldn’t possibly,’ but the fourth was trying to map the trajectories. He held both shellfish up to parry the incoming flying types. ---------------- Sir Isaac Newton was Pelleas’s ally when the Froslass threw the gem back at Pelleas. Regardless of their comparative strength, gravity had been working with Pelleas when he threw the gem. But when Anya threw the gem back up to him, gravity slowed it down. Not by a lot, but by enough for Pellas to catch it as he slowly floated back down to earth. Wings or not, he was not a flying type. He couldn’t keep his wings flapping forever. But it felt good to know he had something capable of damaging the ghost-type. At that point Jamie came running in again. She wiped off a bead of sweat and ran over to the field. “How’d it work out?” she asked. When the Heracross responded positively, she smiled and said, “Play defensive for right now. When you get a chance, check how loose the tiles are.” And then she ran out once more. Rej grit her teeth at how this girl was making a mockery of her prized Froslass. Then she smiled at the wicked idea she had. “You heard her, Anya. Check the tiles.” Anya looked at her trainer, then at her arms, and sighed. She tried to wrest one of the tiles free, and sighed exasperatedly at the fact she wasn’t strong enough to do it. “W-well, if that’s not going to work, then go for his eyes again!” The Froslass rushed towards Pelleas, this time making it look like she was gonna attack from one direction, but actually attacking from the other. In the split seconds that Pelleas had to make a decision, he thought about the gem he had in his hand. Using it, he could possibly parry the blow at the last second. But the woman’s overconfidence was her weakness. He allowed himself to be hit. It hurt, and he’d have to keep his eye closed for the rest of the battle. But he’d suffered through worse. If he could bear a fire punch in the belly of a volcano, this was nothing. He was already focusing on the floor. He stomped on the floor to test how solid it was. The tiles weren’t loose, but there was a crack in one of them.. When the Froslass backed off, he slammed the crack with his horn. With a resounding crack, the crack widened. He could pick that up. ----------- Tristan was still being bombarded by the three opponents. As each came in to swipe at him, he swatted at them with one of his compatriots. He had Bedevere spread his shell open to use him as bait, but the flying types were not falling for it. It was annoying, but he was getting a chance to see how they were flying. The Hawlucha slammed the Metagross’s head before flying away. The snively guy was laughing at how pathetic the Metagross seemed. Jamie ran back in the room and saw how things were going. She ran over to Tristan, wondering if she would need to stay for longer. “Have you figured out how they’re gonna move?” ---------------- The Metagross nodded head. He, more or less, figured out how they were gonna move from how they responded to him finally ‘wielding’ his allies. Jamie smiled. Good, she was worrying for nothing then. “Alright, then it’s time to wield them. Improvised Ice Ball-Clamp!” she yelled running from the room again. As Tristan pulled both of his forelegs back, Lamorak and Bedevere finally realized what Jamie’s plan truly was. Bedevere had a bit more practice at this than Lamorak had, so when they were both sent flying, he enjoyed it more. Not expecting two heavy immobile clams to come at them so quickly, the Aerodactyl and the Hawlucha were caught off guard. Both clams clamped onto their respective targets, dragging them down to earth. “Break out of their grasp!” the snively guy yelled as his veins began to throb. Both the Aerodactyl and the Hawlucha began thrashing to escape their confines. But they forgot about the gems that both shellfish contained. The more they struggled, the more the gems started to dig into each of their bodies, and the tighter the clams held onto them. Finally it was Tristan’s turn to smile. Without needing to watch out for his allies, Tristan could focus solely on the Blaziken. The snively guy wasn’t laughing any longer. “Blaziken, take out that Metagross already!” he yelled, clearly annoyed with the sudden development. If Tristan had had his powers, he’d be able to finish this fight in a moment. As he blocked the Blaziken’s kick with one of his now free forelegs, he began to think of how to make the final opening he needed. -------------------- Rej’s eyes widened at Pelleas’s attack on the floor, and realized that she had to be quick before the Heracross had yet another weapon. “Attack him from his right side, and do not let up on your attacks!” the woman said, clearly desperate to keep the advantage. Anya nodded and then rushed towards Pellea’s right side, and started wailing on him, hoping that constant attacks would keep him from arming himself. Nonetheless, the Heracross overturned the tile. The attacks were definitely hurting. Pain welled up in his side underneath his carapace. But now that the tile was removed, he had access to a stronger blunt weapon. And the more powerful weapon that was beneath it. “You got the tile off the ground?” Jamie asked as she stepped into the room. She was panting a bit. But she smiled anyway. “Good. You got all you need. Knock her flat.” she said, departing without even giving orders. Pelleas nodded. He didn’t need Jamie to say anything. He knew what he could with this. Eye for an eye, as it were. He adopted a defensive stance and waited. --------- “Time will freeze! Time will freeze!” Jamie was shouting as she ran down the halls, garnering a number of stares. It hadn’t worked so far. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work the next time she tried it. Besides running and shouting was good for you. --------- Lamorak and Bedevere had their respective opponents under control. As long as the Blaziken could not rescue them, their prey would not escape. It all came down to Tristan and the Blaziken. Trying to pin down the fire-fighting type was Tristan’s biggest issue. It was fighting much more carefully now that the battle came down to it. Every time it tried to attack Tristan, it immediately pulled back as soon as the blow came. This made it very hard for Tristan to retaliate, but it also meant that each of the Blaziken’s blows were much weaker than they could’ve been. Jamie ran into the room before slowing as she walked over to the box designated for her. She took a moment to breathe as she took in the situation. “Very good. That worked better than I could have hoped,” she said looking at Bedevere and Lamorak struggling with an opponent a piece. “So all that is left is the Blaziken, huh?” The snively guy waited for her to run out again. She wasn’t budging. The other fight couldn’t have been over already? She was a ghost type user fighting a fighting type. That was completely absurd. ----------------- Anya saw the tile, and for the first time, fear showed in her eyes. Rej eyed the tile as well, but determined that since Pelleas had gone through the hard work of removing it, she should take advantage of it. “Get the tile away from him and bash him with it!” The woman commanded Her Froslass. Anya gulped at the command, as even she knew that this Heracross wouldn’t give up his prize so easily. She leapt at at the ground, making an attempt to grab the tile, not at all optimistic about the odds. Pelleas weighed the tile with his body. He shook his head, smiled, and buzzed. His body had more strength in it; she would not be getting this tile. Try again. Anya looked at the tile, and then at Pelleas. She in one last act of desperation, tried to uppercut the Heracross once more. And with that, the Heracross truly began to move. The Heracross’s arm met the Froslass’s fist. The Froslass yelled out as she pulled her hand back. The gem had been jammed into it. “Anya!” her trainer yelled out, but the Heracross was not yet done. When the Froslass tried to look back at Pelleas, the Heracross revealed what he’d found under the tile. Anya shrieked as Pelleas threw gravelly dust into her eyes. Now she was the blind one. In her distraction, Pelleas finally picked up the tile, and with one hand held it in front of the Froslass’s face. --------------------- Jamie was still surveying the arena as Tristan and the Blaziken continued to exchange blows. Her opponent was beginning to get impatient, but he wasn’t making any obvious mistakes either. “Push him back!” the snively guy yelled. Jamie looked at the path behind Tristan. She paused as she saw something, but said nothing. The Blaziken’s attacks became a bit more aggressive. It’s kicks were strong even when playing it safe, and Tristan to take several steps back. Finally, when the center of his body was directly over a crack, Jamie finally called out. “Tristan, sweep Blaziken’s feet!” The snively guy reacted instantly to the highly telegraphed move. “Blaziken, dodge into a jump kick!” The Blaziken deftly leaped into the air, completely dodging Tristan’s arm as it came to sweep its _legs. But as gravity was about to carry the Blaziken to attack, Jamie was already calling out “Now flip onto your back to dodge!” Tristan obeyed and flipped onto his helpless backside. He had evaded the jump kick completely, but was having problems getting back up on his feet. His body wasn’t exactly meant to be tipped over. The snively guy laughed out loud at the pathetic show. “Come on, Blaziken, let’s finish this!” he yelled. But despite his calls, the Blaziken did not move. Upon closer examination, it was pulling on its leg. “Blaziken, come on, move already!” the snively guy called again, until he looked even closer. The Blaziken’s leg had cracked through a tiles and carried it further. Its leg was firmly lodged into the ground. It was desperately pulling onto its leg as the Metagross slowly figured out how to right himself. When the Metagross was fully upright, the Blaziken was still lodged in the ground. Tristan found himself in high spirits. He finally had his opponent where he wanted them. The snively guy found himself shaking. He realized what Jamie had done far too late. “Alright, Tristan. Give him everything you got!” Jamie yelled at the top of her lungs. In both arenas, one of Jamie’s Pokemon was pulling back one arm. Neither knew what the other was about to do. But at same moment, both Pokemon shot their first fist forward at the same moment. Pelleas smashed the cinder tile into the Froslass’s face, letting go with this other arm. Tristan decked the Blaziken square in the jaw. Pelleas’s other arm shot into the briefly falling remains of the tile, breaking into two smaller pieces. Tristan’s other arm hit the Blaziken square in the gut. And in both cases, as soon as the second punch had been unleashed, that was when they really started to attack. As if they were one, they both began to punch without abandon. Shouting together in an unknown chorus. The Heracross’s punches broke the tile into pieces that kept pelting Anya. Letting her feel the full force of the Heracross’s blows without needing to touch her directly. The Metagross’s punches didn’t need to be so indirect. With each successive crunch, the Metagross began to punch again. His violence was not completely without mercy. Slowly he began to make sure the Blaziken was dug out of the hole, so it wouldn’t break its leg. In between rapid fire punches of a literal ton of metal. When the tile was exhausted to one solitary fragment and the floor no longer grounded the Blaziken, the time had come to finish it. Both of Jamie’s fathers pulled the same arm that had started the assault back. Twisting their bodies to give it as much torque as they could, they slammed their fist into the rock (which slammed into Anya) and the Blaziken respectively. The results were likewise paralleled. Both of their opponents were thrown back and slammed into the ground in front of their trainers respectively, unable to battle. Rej stood there, stunned at both how brutally her Froslass had been defeated, and at how she had underestimated her opponent. She returned her Froslass, whispering. “You did a fine job, Anya.” She then looked at Pelleas. “I guess you have won, mighty Heracross!” She then curtsied to the Single Horn Pokémon. Pelleas saluted the fallen Froslass. It was a fun fight. It was fun to fight a strong opponent again. ---------------- The snively man sniveled a bit as he retreated the Blaziken. “Alright, I yield, you can let go of Aerodactyl and Hawlucha now.” Tristan began to flex in front of his daughter. It felt good to be able to show off to her again. Jamie nodded, chuckling with delight. By her command, the two shellfish let their opponents go. Jamie was in a mood. A good mood.

IC: Lohe Mahina *ring* *ring* *click* “It’s about time you called. I was starting to think you were going to slack off until the end of time." “Trust me, if I could I would. Anything other than talking to you. Well, besides drink that weak dirt you call coffee.” “You can’t even-” “Neither can you. Can’t prove I’m wrong.” “Of all the- Never mind. What have you learned about the blackout?" “I spoke to Ford. The blackout was caused by a system of magic called ‘El Naipe.’" "He had a book, a ‘Grimoire’ that he used to power the spell. He seemed pretty insistent that it couldn’t do the same trick twice.” “Your orders haven’t changed. Find out the location of the Grimoire. Confirm whether or not it can be used for that purpose.” “Fine, but there’s the little issue of the fact that the world is still doomed. Can you get them to send reinforcements? Or like, do anything?” “...When I return I will see what I can do. If either of our missions is a success, they will be in a much more agreeable mood.” “...You know this is a terrible idea, right? Putting aside whether you can succeed. If you do succeed-” “It’s what I’ve been ordered to do. If you’re smart, you will do what you’ve been ordered too.” “You’re dodging the point.” “...” "..." “...Hey?" “What?" “Don’t die too stupidly.” “Who do you think you’re talking to?” “Do you want me to answer that?” *click*

Making Tea Lohe stepped out of the summer heat into the cool air of the mansion. He had a grimace on his face. A certain old man had volunteered him to help the gardeners. Nosferatu chewed on a leaf. The Zubat had tried ‘helping’ by chewing up some of the bushes. Thankfully, his small size limited the damage he did. The sun was never kind to one of his disposition, and Lohe raced back indoors as soon as he allowed to. He was walking back to the servant’s quarters to take a shower when he heard a child laughing. The faint laughter was on the other end of the hall, but Lohe could still identify it as the voice of the boy he introduced to coffee. He decided to pick the path back that would bring him past the room he was in. Lohe peaked inside to see a lavish parlor he hadn’t spent much time in. The boy was sitting on a couch that looked like it cost more than Lohe’s annual paycheck. He was holding a dragon in his arms, because of course he was. The family was rich, of course they could acquire a rare Pokemon for the child to play with. The Dratini seemed uncomfortable with how the child was fiddling with him, but was placated by the maid sitting next to the boy. That maid (or was she a nanny, Lohe could never remember) was always on the verge of being fired, but she seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the Dratini under control, despite the boy’s constant squeezing. Was that the reason she hadn’t been fired? She seemed pretty happy with the situation. The boy was laughing as the Dratini’s body heat accidentally tickled him. Lohe took a step which caused the dragon to turn. The Dratini looked at Lohe for a moment, and then immediately tried swiggling out the boy’s arms. “What is wrong, Jormungandr?” the maid said as she began trying to calm down the Dratini. Lohe chuckled slightly, flashing a small toothy grin at the Dratini. Looks like this Dratini didn’t want to be friends. His chuckling caught the attention of the maid, whose attempts to calm down the Dratini were unsuccessful. She was trying to get the Dratini off the boy. “Lohe, come over here and give me a hand,” she said still holding onto the Dratini, his tail lashing out, knocking over the coffee table near the couch they were sitting on. “I do not know what has gotten into him.” “Got to take a shower, sorry,” he said immediately ditching. He wouldn’t be much help here. For the record, the shower Lohe took was a great shower. Just the right temperature. And whoever’s conditioner he had just borrowed was perfect for his long hair. Lohe felt clean as a whistle afterwards, and ready for bed. So Lohe was able to take some solace in that when he crossed paths with the maid again, later that day. She seemed a bit put off. “Ah, Irene. You got the Dratini to calm down?” Lohe said, hoping she wasn’t too mad about ditching. The maid pouted. He couldn’t quite tell how much she was ticked at him. But the answer was quite clearly at least somewhat. “I did, no thanks to you.” It wasn’t -his- job to keep the Pokemon under control, Lohe thought. “Sorry, I was tired and didn’t think I could help.” The maid didn’t seem convinced. She pointed to the Zubat flying above Lohe’s head. “You could have left your Zubat with me at least. He knows Hypnosis, correct?” Lohe scratched his cheek. Okay, that was true. Nosferatu was still something of a new acquire for him. He hadn’t thought about how the tiny bat could’ve helped. It probably wouldn’t have taken that long to drop the Zubat off. He didn’t really have much to say in his defense. “Not my job,” was all Lohe said at last. The maid pouted and turned pointedly away. As she walked away, the head butler (Kent Saxton, that was his name), Saxton turned around the corner just in time to see the bitter parting. He turned towards Lohe to see what he would do. Lohe just shrugged his shoulders and turned around to leave, only to feel the man’s hand on his shoulder. The old man had moved surprisingly quickly. “You’re not seriously planning to leave it alone, are you? You should do something nice for her. Make something to drink maybe?” Saxton said with a smile. “It’s not my job to keep Pokemon under control. Why should I apologize for not helping her do her job?” Lohe said. Saxton’s smile made a dark turn. “Because I’m your boss and I said so.” Lohe looked at the older man. He seemed dead serious on this. Dead ‘if you want to keep your job then you’ll do this,’ serious. Unfortunately, losing his job wasn’t an option. Lohe relented. “Fine, give me some time,” he said leaving for the kitchen. When Lohe returned, he came with a tray with coffee on it. When Saxton saw this, the butler shook his head. “No good, she prefers tea to coffee.” “Then why didn’t you tell me? You knew that’s what I was gonna make,” Lohe said slightly annoyed by the older man’s inaction. “Because I wanted a half-decent cup of coffee without having to make it myself,” he said taking the tray from Lohe. “You still have some ways to go on that front, by the way.” Lohe grimaced as the old man took a sip of coffee. Saxton did too. The coffee was just a tad too bitter. “You realize you haven’t taught me about making tea yet right?” he said hoping the man’s high standards would prevent him from sending Lohe to make half-baked tea. And by that, I mean he hoped Saxton would just give up on Lohe entirely. “I suppose that’s true. Well, I’ll help you make it then,” Saxton said before he took a swig from the cup of coffee Lohe made. And thus, Lohe lost the next hour of his life doing and redoing the proper techniques of making tea. It was a rush job, but eventually Saxton seemed, if not satisfied by Lohe’s progress, then sufficiently appeased by it. “That’s the first passable pot you’ve made. It will have to do,” Saxton said as helped with Lohe’s serving preparations. “Remember what I told you about serving tea and you’ll do fine.” Lohe grumbled but turned to go find Irene. This was a waste of time. “Oh, and Lohe?” Saxton called. “What?” Lohe he said, turning to face the older man. “...Try to take it easy on her today. It’s not a good day for her,” the old man said. Lohe could hear the sadness in Saxton’s voice. There was something going on here that Lohe didn’t know about. Lohe didn’t know whether he should look into it. He nodded towards Saxton and started moving. He had to move quickly to find her before the tea cooled off, but slow enough that he didn’t drop the tray. He shut his eyes and focused on listening. He could hear distant shouting. It may have been unfair of him to assume that it was her, but he decided it was a good place to start checking. He stopped when he heard sounds coming from two different directions. He heard a set of footsteps walking away from the hall he found himself in, and the sound of restrained sobs past a door in the hall. He knocked on the door with a light tap. Whoever was on the other side swallowed the quiet sob and cleared their throat. “Come in,” Irene’s voice called out. Lohe had made the right guess. Grasping the door knob, he opened the door and stepped into the room. Irene was standing near the window. Her face hid the sobbing well. Lohe’s eyes were redder than hers were. She was holding something behind her back. “Oh, Lohe,” Irene said. Her shoulders sagged with relief, but her face frowned with disappointment. “I thought you might have been…” She didn’t finish the sentence. “What do you want?” “I wanted to say sorry for earlier. I could have left Nosferatu with you. I shouldn’t have acted so dismissive earlier either,” he said, trying to sound as sincere as he possibly could. “I was hoping you’d accept this pot of tea as a token of my apologies.” Whatever thought Irene had was overwritten by the smell of the tea. She hesitated for a moment, but took the cup that Lohe offered. “Enjoy,” Lohe said. Because if she didn’t, he was not gonna be allowed to go to bed. He sat the tray with the pot of tea on a table nearby. Irene breathed in the smell of the tea. She took a deep sip and swallowed. She began to smile. “Delicious,” she remarked before taking a second swig. Welp. Apology down, time to leave. Lohe walked right over the door. He could hear Irene make a start. She wanted to talk. Lohe turned around. “Sooo… what’s got you down?” Lohe asked. He wasn’t sure he cared, but it wouldn’t hurt too much to fake it for now. Not too much at least. “I get the feeling that you’re, well, not just mad at me.” Irene nodded slowly, “You’re right about that. I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you like that.” You really weren’t that bad, Lohe thought. She was right to be miffed at him for not helping. All she did was tell him that. But he simply nodded and let her continue speaking. “...You didn’t see what happened after you left. Jormungandr’s thrashing broke a coffee table and he hit…” Irene choked up a bit. Lohe remained silent on the matter. He felt more guilty about not trying to help. When she started talking again, she changed the subject. “Not to mention the other table he knocked over, and everything that was on it that broke.” Her emotions were still building. Lohe could hear the pitch of her voice slowly raise up as she got more upset. “And the lady of the house returned today. She was livid, she nearly had me thrown out on the spot when she saw what became of that room.” Again the pitch increased. “I…. I can’t lose this job.” Her pitch peaked. That did raise Lohe’s interest. He had a reason he couldn’t lose this job. But didn’t seem like the interest of someone in Lohe’s position. He decided to poke just a little. “Really? You can probably do better. This job isn’t bad, but other jobs pay as well.” “It’s not about the money,” Irene said curtly. Her eyes became sharp and her tone was harsh. It was clear she didn’t want to talk about the subject further. Lohe decided not to push this further. If it was important he had time to find out why later. He decided to change the subject, hopefully to something to improve her mood. “Still, training dragons? I hear that’s tough work. Can’t imagine what catching that was like.” “Actually the Dratini belongs to his father,” Irene said. “He just let me borrow her to help teach his son about Pokemon.” The tone in her voice underwent noticeable improvement to the new subject. Did she like dragons that much? It seemed a bit odd though. The other Pokemon he had seen her with weren’t dragon types. “His dad trains dragons?” Lohe asked. He guessed that she wasn’t the one who caught the Dratini. They were pretty rare. But he didn’t know what Pokemon the master of the house had. “Yeah, actually his first Pokemon was a Dragonite. It’s a very impressive specimen. Dragons in general tend to be hard to control, but when you properly train them, very few types are finer.” “You’re telling me, all I got is a Zubat.” Nosferatu pop out of his Poke Ball. He was whining with a pitched cry in Lohe’s ear. Lohe winced slightly, but otherwise looked very unimpressed with the Zubat. “Yes, you’re very cool, Nosferatu. But we’re not taking on a Dragonite,” Lohe said. The Zubat flew off to a corner of the ceiling to sulk. Lohe watched him for a moment before sighing and turning back to Irene. “Never mind him. He’s got potential, but I’m not a trainer who could handle a dragon.” “I don’t know. I think you could handle it. If you find one you like, I’d be happy to help you train it,” whether she was just being polite and actually thought Lohe could do it, Lohe couldn’t tell. Lohe let out a laugh. Irene seemed confused by that response. “If I find any that are friendly, I’ll take you up on that offer.” Before Irene could ask what he meant by that, somebody else stepped into the doorway. A lavishly dressed woman wearing a scowl on her face. Irene’s eyes widened with fear. Lohe turned slowly. It took Lohe a moment to register who the woman was. He had only seen the woman in pictures. The boy’s mother. Wife of the head of the household. She barely registered that Lohe was there. Her eyes were firmly focused on Irene. Without turning towards Lohe, she ordered, “Leave, I wasn’t through talking with her.” Lohe stood where he was. His eyes disinterestedly wandering around the room. “I haven’t finished serving the tea,” Lohe said. “Leave it,” the woman growled. Lohe was getting the impression that his job would be in jeopardy if he chose to resist. Quietly, he started to walk out of the room, leaving everything that he had taken into the room with him behind him. She shut the door as soon as Lohe had left. Lohe leaned back on the wall. He could still hear what was going on inside perfectly well. He could hear Irene choking up. “Is he-” she managed to squeeze out. “The doctors say nothing’s broken,” the older woman said. Then the tone of her voice turned very caustic. “Except for those tables, my lamp, and the photos of my family. Count your blessings, if he’d broken a bone, maybe my husband would finally get rid of you.” Irene sighed with relief. “Do you enjoy flaunting? Does it make laugh whenever you do this, knowing that you can get away with it? That no matter how much you screw up, you’ll never be fired like you deserve. That my husband will never throw you out?” Irene tried to get a word in, “I’ll-” But the other woman had none of it. “You’ll what? Are you gonna pay for all damage you did to my tables? Are you going to handcraft new frames? Can you make it so you never entered my life?” “The Dratini-” “The Dratini was your responsibility. We pay you for one reason, and you can’t even do that right. Oh I’m sorry, there’s another reason we pay you, isn’t there?” Irene had nothing to say in response. There was an oppressive silence for several long moments. “My husband’s career would be ruined if his dirty little secret came out. Even so, if I had my way, you and that sniveling, rotten b-” Nosferatu suddenly dropped in front of the woman’s face, cutting her off. The Zubat let out a quiet sound wave. When the wave hit her face, her look of shock turned turned to one of exhaustion. She tried to say to say something, but it came out as a gargled yawn. Lohe smiled when he heard what Nosferatu had done. He casually opened the door and stepped inside. He caught the lady of the house as she nearly fell to the floor. “You seem tired. Here, madam. I’ll help you to your room,” Lohe offered. “What? No… I still…” she muttered before falling asleep. Lohe chuckled lightly as he held her in his arms. The maid did not share Lohe’s amusement.“Oh no, no, no,” Irene said, shaking her head as her face began to pale. “When she wakes up, we’re dead.” Lohe wasn’t worried. “Relax she won’t remember a thing,” he said, but Irene wasn’t convinced. “You do realize we will be kicked out when they find out we did that,” she said trembling. “When they find out we knocked her out…” “If you don’t say anything, they won’t find out.” Lohe knew there weren’t cameras and he was confident he could avoid anyone who might be wandering the halls. “And if, if they find out. It won’t be us, anyway. I knocked her out, you didn’t do anything.” “That won’t matter to her. How can you be sure that she won’t-” “Just trust me on this. She won’t bother you for the rest of today,” Lohe said, his eyes staring firmly into Irene’s face. Irene didn’t have anything to say to this. She calmed down slightly after a few moments. “Lohe, why would you risk this for me?” “I wouldn’t,” Lohe said. “Are you kidding me? I could lose my job. This little naive bleeding heart on the other hand,” he said pointing at the Zubat who was hiding behind Lohe’s shoulder, “can’t bear to hear people fight.” “I…. thank you, Lohe,” was all Irene could say. Lohe waved one arm dismissively. “Go on, I’d establish an alibi if I were you.” The maid didn’t need to be told twice. She nodded, silently appreciative of the reprieve she had been given. She walked to the door, and took one last look back at Lohe. And then she disappeared down the hall. Lohe groaned. “Geez, Nosferatu, you go us into a pickle today,” Lohe mentioned as he picked up the unconscious woman, carrying her over his back. The Zubat flew in front of Lohe. He didn’t have eyes, so Lohe couldn’t tell if it looked sad. But his weak little cries made him seem pathetic. Nosferatu wondered if he had done the right thing. Lohe smiled, and used his free hand to pick up a cube of sugar from the tray he had brought. He offered it to the Zubat, who lit up when it was offered. “Never change little bat.” The Zubat happily bit into the sugar. As the Zubat happily munched on the treat Lohe gave him, Lohe’s stomach began to growl. He turned his head towards the unconscious woman he was carrying speculatively. After a moment of staring, he shook his head. “Not gonna risk it,” he muttered, walking out of the room.

-==IC: Lilo/Mu/???==- (Night of August 7th, Four Island) Lilo the Rockruff pup nosed open the top of a strange white box that emanated cold when opened. <“Hey mister,”> she called, <“what’s this weird red stuff?”> Mu turned towards the Rockruff. He pushed away the potion that he had been observing. It hadn’t been high enough quality to be worth taking as their prize. Mu ran over to the pup and began to look inside the cooler. He took a whiff to confirm his suspicions. <“It’s blood. It’s all blood. Human blood, I’d guess.”> Mu said. <“I haven’t the faintest idea of what it is there for.”> Disturbing as the find might have been, it wouldn’t be useful. There had to be better medicine around here. Mu shut the cooler. He looked over behind where the pup had found the cooler. What he saw was a veritable gold mine. Mu ran over to it. Bottles of the medicine that appeared like a six pointed star. Mu had never seen so many together. These could undo even the most savage beat down. If he brought these back with him, there was no way he wouldn’t get the recognition. He’d be able to convince them to organize further raids. They’d have to work out the logistics of it. <“We’ve found it,”> Mu said to the pup. <“Whoa…”> Lilo murmured, entranced by the golden bounty before them. <“So now what?”> <“Now we can-”> Mu cut himself off. He heard footsteps out in the hall. They were getting closer. He could see shadows begin to pour in from the crack of the open door. Without waiting for the pup to respond, he grabbed the Rockruff and dragged her under a shelf. Barely a moment had passed before two humans stepped into the room. Before Mu could even notice who it was, the Rattata’s heart began to pound. His fur stood up on end. Adrenaline was beginning to pump through his body. He wanted to run, but the only exit was past the humans. When he finally looked out however, he realized the reason why. The human who followed the other into the room was the same human he had seen in Vermillion City. The same one whose mere presence had nearly paralyzed him in Vermillion. The other human seemed of little consequence. “The cooler has been prepared, just as you asked,” the inconsequential human said. “Will you need anything to help you transport it?” The tall gaunt human shook his head. “No, that will be fine. And you made sure that changed the accounting records? No one will miss it?” The shorter human nodded. “Yes, the records were corrected. Thank you for telling us about the mistake, and for being willing to take the excess blood off our hands.” The tall human said nothing for a moment. He shut his eyes for a few brief moments. When he opened them again, his eyes held the same menacing glow they had in Vermillion. “Thanks for being so helpful. Now go home get some sleep. And when you wake up, pat yourself on the back for the good job you did fixing clerical errors last night. No need to remember that I was here.” The other human nodded and was about to walk out when the tall human placed a hand on her shoulder. “Oh, and one more thing,” he said, his eyes still glowing. Without warning, the tall gaunt man bit down into the shorter human’s shoulder. In her trance, she didn’t struggle. After several moments, the tall man let go of the other. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of bandages. He wrapped them around the shoulder. “Sorry about that. Be sure to get your iron and sugar tomorrow,” he said, his eyes still glowing. “And you got that cut because your were clumsy with a pair of scissors. Alright, off to bed with you.” And with that the other human departed. Mu was stunned, he’d heard stories about humans who drank blood, but he’d never seen one. The legends were true. He still felt like running, but the human came to pick up the cold box. He just needed to wait. The tall man watched the other human leave before turning back towards the box. He stood just above it, when he began to stretch. For whatever reason, the tall man decided it was time to stretch. The wait was murder. Mu could see the exit. With the tall man’s back to it, he reasoned it wasn’t impossible for him to escape. But it would be risky, a far smarter plan would be to keep silent and wait for him to leave. The tall man, at last, picked up the box and headed towards the door. When he got there however he stopped. He was now blocking the only exit again. “You know, I really thought you two would run.” Mu froze. “If you two were able to suppress your fear long enough to stay hidden this long,” he said, turning. His eyes were wide open, revealing how bloodshot they really were. The grin on his face spread the span of his face. “Then we’ve got a rare opportunity.” Mu’s mind raced. If even half the things he’d heard about the blood drinkers were true, then they were outmatched. Protecting himself and the pup from him was almost impossible. The gaunt man was patient. One hand held a staff while the other held a Poké Ball. He was ready for them to try and escape, and seemed in no hurry. Both the the human and the Rattata’s ears suddenly perked up at the sound of human chattering coming in from the distance. “The hospital is supposed to only have a skeleton crew, something’s wrong…” he muttered, his focus briefly broken. In that moment, Mu acted. The blood drinker used his power to make the other human acquire blood for him. Going off the logic that the blood drinker needed that blood, Mu knocked the ice box over causing it to open and to spill its contents of bags of blood. The gaunt man’s eyes widened. He dropped the Poké Ball on the ground and began to ran over to where Mu was. In that moment Mu turned to the Rockruff under the shelf and yelled <“Run!”> The Rockruff bolted, but skidded to a stop in the doorway when she realized Mu wasn’t behind her. <“Mister, hurry!”> Mu didn’t need a second warning. He dropped to all fours and ran after his companion. He wanted to get a chance to get his bearings to find the best way to avoid the other humans he’d heard and escape. The Poké Ball had released its contents however. The gaunt man had no intention of letting them escape so easily. Before Mu could even locate the window he had come in through, a Crobat was hot on their heels. It was barings its fangs with a wide grin. It lazily flew past them and blocked the path. They wouldn’t have a chance to climb into the window. The Rattata had an idea. This would be a risk, but it was better than a guaranteed failure. <“Kid, follow me!”> he shouted as he ran towards the source of human voices he had heard earlier. The pair rushed down the hall. The Crobat flew after them. A small crowd of humans came into view. Many were piling into a single room while a few exited to try and make space for those trying to get in. Some reacted with shock as Mu and Lilo started to rush between their legs. Most didn’t bother to look down, they were too focused on the room. The Crobat flitted above the crowd. He flew over to the other side, ready to intercept the pair when they exited the crowd. The Crobat waited, but neither appeared. The size and body of the crowd obscured any sound or sight the Crobat could have used to find them. Confusion lasted several moments until the Crobat pieced Mu’s plan together. Shouting from within the crowded room confirmed his suspicion. Mu pushed the pup out of a window in the crowded room. The risk seemed to be paying off. He couldn’t see what the humans were crowded around, but whatever it was, they were content to ignore the pair so long as they left the room. The Crobat saw them just as Mu climbed out of the window himself. Mu saw the Crobat at the same moment. The Crobat was grinning. It let out a screech that made the people in the room finally turn, before disappearing. <“Keep moving,”> Mu said to the pup. <“We’ve got to make some distance before-”> A Noivern flew into view in front of them. He hadn’t even heard it approach. The beat of its wings were soft to the point of being nearly non-existent. It was glaring and hissing at the crowd of people that could be heard through the open window. In between two beats of the wing, the gaunt man appeared. Just appeared. Mu had no idea where he could have come from. He hadn’t been riding the Noivern. He had even managed to bring the ice box with him. The gaunt man scratched the Noivern behind its giant ears. He said nothing, but smiled as he scratched the Noivern’s ear. It nodded in silent appreciation. The Crobat appeared with alarming speed. It occured to Mu, that the Crobat hadn’t once tried to attack them earlier. He was simply there to track them. Mu shivered, he was at a loss of what to do. The gaunt man pulled out two Dusk Balls. Mu growled. It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. <“LILO!!”> a voice screamed. Human and Pokémon alike turned to look at its source as an older Rockruff leaped in between Lilo and her potential captor. <“Sis!”> the pup exclaimed joyfully. She scrambled to her feet, tail wagging in delight at Nani’s presence. <“Lilo, run!”> Nani ordered. <“Go, get away from here, hurry!”> She turned to the human and barked out a series of threats and imprecations she would have made Lilo wash her mouth out for repeating. Every impulse in Nani’s body screamed at her to follow her own advice, save for one: the overriding need to protect her sister, the last bit of family she had left in the world. The Noivern’s ears began to twitch. It let out a large angry hiss at the loud barking dog. Lohe stared at the newcomer for a moment before shaking his head with disappointment. Lilo was torn; part of her was terrified and wanted to run, but part of her didn’t want to leave her sister or her new friend. It was the latter who finally convinced her to flee, the fear in his eyes frightening her almost as much as the cold man did. She bolted at full pace, vanishing quickly into the night. Nani, unfortunately, could not run; she would have to hold the man’s attention until her sister had enough of a head start. Whatever happens, she vowed, he will not have me. I won’t leave Lilo again. She glanced at Mu, wondering if the mob heir had any bright ideas. The gaunt man patted the Noivern on its back, pushing it slightly forward. With a silent beat of its wings, it took off. It began to fly in the direction that the younger Rockruff had run. Mu acted out of instinct, leaping to grab the tail of the Noivern. The weight of the Rattata wasn’t much, but it forced the Noivern to react. It began to spin in mid-air to try and knock loose the Rattata. The gaunt man narrowed his eyes and pointed for the Crobat to give chase to Lilo. Nani did not have much time to react. She tried to rush the Crobat. To interfere until Lilo could get away. If only she had had more time to react, she might’ve noticed that the gaunt man had completely vanished. Maybe then she wouldn’t have been so surprised when he reappeared in front of her. And just maybe she would’ve been able to dodge his staff, wreathed in a dark purple shadow, before it hit her, slamming her into the ground. With nothing in his way, the Crobat blazed after Lilo. Nani couldn’t react to that, though. The gaunt man’s proximity was overpowering her ability to think. She could barely register that her sister was in danger anymore. Thoughts kept flowing into her mind ‘run, flee, get away`. Mu wasn’t faring much better. He was able to keep his composure better, but he had to contend with a dragon bat much larger than himself. The advantage that Mu had, however, was that the Noivern appeared more used to special attacks than physical ones. Its swipes, though quick, were clumsy. Thus, Mu was able to keep dodging. Unfortunately, it was quick enough to dodge his attacks in turn. The stalemate went on until he saw Nani. The gaunt man was standing over her, a Dusk Ball in his hand. If Mu did nothing, she would surely be caught. He rushed over to help, but that played right into the human’s plan. As soon as he got within range, the human turned and swept the Rattata onto his back with his staff. The Rattata felt himself pinned to the ground. He instinctively tried to look up. That was his last mistake. The gaunt man’s eyes were glowing red. Mu tried to turn away, but it was too late. He slowly began to fall into unconsciousness. When he was satisfied that the Rattata was out cold, the man dropped the Dusk Ball onto Mu’s body. He waited to make sure that the Dusk Ball clicked, but he needn’t have bothered. The deed was done. Lohe sighed as soon as the ball registered that the Pokémon was caught. It was icky business, catching Pokémon. Winning the Rattata over would be difficult. Lohe turned around to see that the older Rockruff was long gone. It mattered little. He had what he wanted. That Rockruff could go free. Right now he had to reunite with Nosferatu about the more promising one. Then he had to get the Rattata to a Pokémon Center. ------- Nani froze as she saw her compatriot fall. She knew what was about to happen, that he would suffer the same fate he had just saved her from. Should she do the same in turn? Should she call for help? Should she-- A single glance at Mu’s soon-to-be captor put an end to her brief hesitation. Four paws pounded away from the buildings before her conscious mind could even register her doing so. Once it did catch up, the Rockruff found herself slowing, her mind laden with guilt. The thought of going back, however, was drowned utterly by fear, fear on multiple levels. Unwilling -- no, unable -- to go back, Nani’s mind scrambled to rationalize her actions. She hated humans, had sworn never to accept their shackles. If Mu was willing to consort with them for their innovations, that was his risk to take, his price to pay. Besides, Mu wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge; surely if he was going to perish, he would wish to do so satisfied, fighting on his own terms, right? The excuse rang hollow, even to her, but she still lacked the strength to go back. Her burst of courage had been solely for her sister -- the one Mu’s mother had taken hostage, had threatened when Nani had been at her most desperate, desperate enough to seek out even a mob queen for help. Madame Raticate had used her, exploited her fear for her sister, all in the name of drawing even more into her ever-consuming dominion. The darker part of her relished in the suffering this would cause her, though it paled in comparison to all the mob queen had done to others, done to her -- but Nani was careful to bury that thought deep. It would not do to let that part of her show to Lilo, not when she was now her sister’s only living role model, the closest she had left to a-- Lilo! The Rockruff remembered why she’d fought, who she’d had to save. Relieved as she was to see her sister out of the mob’s clutches, the terrifying man proved that this island was far too infested with humans to ever be truly safe. They had to escape, and quickly, before another one could finish the job this one had started. With that thought in mind, Nani rocketed off once more into the night, her nose primed to track the one Pokémon she’d least expected to find, one who should have never, ever been here in the first place. ------- Nosferatu kept flying after the Rockruff. What fun tonight had been! In the underbrush of the forest, he had lost sight of the small canine, but he could still hear her. He casually flew at a speed that would let him easily catch up once they exited the forest. What Nosferatu did not take into account, was the large number of people on the other side of the forest. They were moving large boxes to and fro. This was beginning to be a pattern that Nosferatu didn’t like. He flew up higher to get a better vantage point. They were on the docks. The boxes were being loaded onto and taken off of ships. Why had the pup tried to run here? Well no matter which angle the Rockruff chose to run from, Nosferatu would be ready. There wasn’t a single other way she could’ve gon- Nosferatu dived into the crowd. She wasn’t there. The Crobat couldn’t see, hear or smell where the Rockruff had gone. He had heard her enter the crowd, but she had completely vanished. Oh dear. He had messed up. Ah crud. Presuming that Lohe would prefer that he not cause an incident even more than he wanted a new friend, Nosferatu realized he would have to give up. ------- Lilo shivered as she curled up in yet another shipping crate, cold and alone once more. She didn’t know why, but her Ratatta friend’s advice had come back to her in the moment of crisis, leading her to retrace her steps even as she fled at Nani’s command. She hated leaving her like that, but she knew that tone -- and she knew Nani would never use it without reason. She IS a genius, after all. She didn’t quite know why Nani was so scared, but asking would just make her angry, and she hated seeing the hurt that said anger came from. Besides, once Nani and Mr. Ratatta beat up that human, he’ll tell her I… uh… followed my steps or something, and they’ll both be back here to get me. Of course, she hadn’t quite done that -- the ship was a little different to the one she’d taken here, and the crate and hold smelled a little funny as well, but both Nani and Mr. Ratatta were completely brilliant, so she knew it wouldn’t take them long to figure everything out. The sound of the cargo door clanging shut brought those hopes to a crashing end. This time, she knew what the strange sounds and sensations meant -- the ship was setting off, destined for some other strange port she wouldn’t even know. It’s going to be fine, she assured herself, the words far less comforting coming from her own mind than from her sister, it’s going to be fine, it’s going to be…

-==IC: Mu/Fini/???==- (Night of August 7th, Four Island) Mu ran on all fours through the forest. Not at his fastest, he would need to conserve energy this night. It was a risky proposition to be running towards human turf. But the Night League had demands. Demands that too often went unanswered. So he ran, he would need to find the right human building first. He regretted not asking for intelligence from one of the human-owned Pokémon that had fought in the League. When he was a stone’s throw away from the buildings, he stopped to observe… which he would’ve done, had he not heard movement. He turned to face the sound. A familiar risk-loving Rockruff leaped down from the branches to land in front of Mu, flaunting her hindquarters risquély. <“What’cha doooooin?”>, she asked coyly. <“Fini,”> Mu acknowledged, ignoring the mating dance. <“Preparing a stakeout.”> He thought of asking why she was here, but decided he didn’t want to know. <“How sharp is your nose?”> <“Sharp as a Stone Edge,”> she declared, <“in fact, you could even describe me as an outright Odor Sleuth.”> <“I see,”> Mu said, willfully choosing to ignore the pun. <“I’m trying to find where humans store their potions. Do you know what they smell like?”> Fini’s gaze grew distant, thoughtful. <“Yes,”> she said at length, <“I think I’m familiar enough.”> Mu nodded. <“Alright,”> he said. <“I’m going to scout out the area for that building. Help me keep a lookout. If you smell an overwhelming scent of potions, please tell me.”> <“Will do.”> The moment Mu headed off, Fini fell right in step behind him. --------------- Hours passed. They found the building Mu was searching for rather quickly, thanks to Fini’s nose. But he waited to enter the building itself. It was well into the night when Mu finally decided to make a move. <“That window up there,”> Mu said, extending his forepaw at it. <“I need to get up to it.”> Fini smirked seductively and raised her rump. <“Hop on.”> Mu did not show any outward signs of reacting to Fini’s advances, but merely waited for her to behave sensibly. Fini sighed. <“All right, I get the message. Can’t blame a girl for trying, right?”> The Rockruff raised herself to her full height, providing a more suitable pedestal for the Ratatta to climb. He eventually did relent and used Fini as a footstool to climb higher up. Using his fleshy footstool, he was able to latch onto a pipe which he used to climb the rest of the way to the window. He looked down and nodded at Fini. Fini nodded back in response. <“I’ll head back up then. Take care of yourself, okay?”> With a wink, the Rockruff scampered away into the darkness. Mu opened the small window and slinked inside. He had spent most of the night casing the joint. He had been looking for any opening that wouldn’t require him to make it. If he broke a window, the glass remains would alert the humans the next morning. He was looking for something he could use more than once. Mu was quietly proud of his strength but he was still young. He could only hold so much. A small window, too small for a human, high off the ground that hadn’t been properly closed was the key. <“Hey, mister!”> The exuberant voice rang out across the nighttime silence, but fortunately it didn’t seem to have attracted any human attention. After a moment, Mu was able to identify its source: a small young Rockruff pup bounding enthusiastically, if clumsily, toward him. <“Are you looking for somewhere to hide, too?”> Mu stared at the pup for a bit. <“How… Why are you here?”> the Rattata replied, while Mu checked their surroundings. He motioned for the Rockruff to follow him out of the hallway while waiting for an answer. The pup ducked her head guiltily. <“Well… I was supposed to stay in my room so my sister’s new boss could protect me from the alien dognappers from Pluto, but then I realized she’d be all alone fighting the aliens, so I snuck out and followed her… only afterward I realized she’d be mad at me, but when I tried to go back I figured out her new boss was a vampire starting a new League of Darkness! So then I had to find my sister to warn her, but then there were humans and boats and boxes and I kinda… got seriously lost.”> The little pup perked up suddenly. <“But then I snuck off the boat and got lost some more and then found you! So now I’m not lost! Unless…”> She regarded Mu uncertainly. <“Are you lost, too?”> The Rattata was surprised that the Rockruff’s yipping hadn’t alreted the entire island to their presence. They snuck into a nearby closet. Not the best hiding place, but it would suffice if a human walked through the hallway. <“Look, kid. I’m trying to do something important. How’d you get in here? I’m certain you can find your sister if you retrace your steps.”> <“Retrace my steps…?”> The Rockruff shook her head vigorously, as if to clear it. <“I might have to try that. But for how I got in here…”> She hunched down, wagged her tail, and leaped past Mu into the bottom of a large cart with a large bag on its back and a yellow plastic bucket mounted to its front. <“This thing is great! There’s this big old clueless human who pushes it all over the place but never pays attention; one time I accidentally sneezed really loud, and when I looked up he was just staring at the sky, completely the other direction! Which is good ‘cuz my sister says humans have laser eyes that set your fur on fire if they even look at you. And he’s clumsy too, he always keeps dropping little pieces of this really salty meat that’s so delicious, I can’t believe he just keeps dropping it all the time, and one time he just left this awesome smelly sneaker behind, and--”> <“Okay, I get it. Geez,”> Mu said, briefly muzzling the Rockruff to get her to stop yipping. <“That explains how you got lost at least. Guess you’ll have to stick with me for now.”> The mission was a bust. It was gonna take all his effort just to not get caught with this one around. Luck had carried her thus far, but now she was his responsibility. Mu looked up at the window he had entered through. It was too far off the ground for the Rockruff to conceivably climb through. Not unless they stacked enough stuff to make a path for the pup. They’d need to find another way out. He stuck his head out of the closet. No humans in sight. Good time to move. Should they try to use the cart? No, it’s too conspicuous. <“Follow me,”> he called quietly to the Rockruff as he began to scurry down the hall. <“Okay!”> she chirped cheerfully, bounding along behind him obliviously. A few steps in, however, she paused. <“Wait,”> she asked, <“is this some kind of super secret spy mission?”> She belatedly lowered her voice to a whisper. <“Are we sneaking into some supervillain’s lair to steal back the spoils from all the towns they’ve conquered?”> Mu let out a quiet hiss at the bouncing dog. The yipping was going to cause them to be found. This would be the worst time as his nose told him they were finally there. He leaped from the ground to grab onto the handle of the door. The handle swung. He pulled his body up and placed one leg on the door frame. And with one great kick off the door frame, the door opened. As Mu landed, he took a moment to think. That was too easy. Humans generally used locks on their doors. Why was this door unlocked? The Rockruff pup stared at Mu, dumbfounded. <“That was amazing! Where’d you learn to open walls like a human?”> <“Practice.”> Mu didn’t have time to relay an entire lifetime of learning how to steal from humans tonight. Not when the prize was just in front of them. The Dark-type led the way inside. Inside was the most unimaginable treasure. Shelves and shelves of all kinds of human medicines. Stored in neat little boxes were scores of everything they could possibly need to supply them for years. Despite the risky situation, Mu found himself smiling. A well organized raid of this place and they’d be set. <“If you want to help, kid, start searching. We need to find the best piece of medicine to bring back to the others,”> Mu said as he began to sniff the cans and appraise the labeling as best he could.

IC: Lucia/Jamie - Shabboneau Castle The two made their way quickly to anywhere else in the castle that was unoccupied. Lucia glanced over at Jamie a couple times as they walked, kinda worried about what was going on, but didn't want to say anything until they could talk in peace. She wondered what had happened, however, to prompt these kinds of reactions to this Xander. Jamie’s face was still quite red. She was looking towards the floor and was walking with a lead foot. "So…" When Lucia was certain no-one would hear, she stopped and looked at Jamie. "I can get if you don't really want to talk about it, but I think I at least need to know what's going on… maybe not anyone else, but I can't help out if I don't know anything." The healer bit her lip slightly. "What happened between you and this Xander guy to make you so unwilling to be associated in even the slightest way?" Well Lucia was right about one thing. Jamie really didn’t want to talk about it. She refused to make eye contact with Lucia. The floor looked really good right now anyway. And the floor didn’t ask questions she didn’t want to answer. The silence was long and awkward. Lucia’s patience won out though, and Jamie began to speak. “I… guess you missed a lot while you were taking care of Shannon and Guin.” Jamie still wasn’t facing Lucia. “I… do I have to talk about it?” Lucia bit her lip slightly. "I… I feel like it would help… I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but it feels like if it's just let sit, things will just get worse." Jamie looked at Lucia for the first time since they left the cafeteria. The expression on her face wasn’t quite a frown. It was tired and clearly not happy. “Yeah. You know better than I do. I just spent all that time arguing not to be associated with someone who isn’t associated with the mission any more.” The girl felt pretty small at the moment. “Xander and I got into an argument. And he said stuff that really got under my skin.” She was glad that she didn’t eat anything in the dining hall. The memory of the argument made her feel queasy again. “I really don’t want to talk about this,” Jamie said breaking eye contact with Lucia. "...Alright…" Lucia said after a few moments hesitation. As much as she felt that things would be better if they were talked over, the redhead could tell that Jamie was extremely uncomfortable with the conversation already. She felt conflicted, but decided to leave it there for the moment. She felt extremely out of her element, as she rubbed her arm uncertainly for a moment while waiting for Jamie to reply. Jamie didn’t make eye contact again. “I… I am gonna go pack.” Jamie ran off in the wrong direction. She would find her way to the room, but right now she wanted the conversation over. IC: Executive Arthur - Aether Paradise "I am glad to hear that," James said. He had a smile that was pleasant, if not entirely genuine. “I will gladly tell you everything about my information on Silvally… after we have finalized our new partnership of course.” James packed up his stuff. Lancelot got out of his seat and hurried over to him. "I will contact you again. I must bring the news of your acceptance to my superiors first. Then we can finalize our arrangements.” "Alright." Lusamine nodded, as she pulled out a tablet and began to tap some things on the screen. "I will await the contact eagerly, Executive Arthur." James casually walked out of the room, while Lancelot moved with heavy stilted steps. The Scizor’s movements only regained their natural confidence when they were well away from Lusamine’s sight. If one had very good hearing or sight, they might have noticed James let out a very shallow breathe that James didn’t know he was holding. And they might have been moving just a bit slightly faster than normal. Stopping only long enough to make sure his team would be waiting for them by the time they made it to the boat. When the boat disembarked, Lancelot and James finally, truly relaxed. “Things are looking up. Are they not Lancelot?” James said, smiling. It was a bleak time, but good things still happened on occasion. Lancelot clacked his pincers. He took some practice swings, and bounced left and right while flapping his wings. “Agreed. I want a rematch too. We are much stronger than we were then.” James said. “Who would have thought our first battle together would become so relevant now? Maybe we should have stayed long enough to find out if he was still there. Fighting that Silvally again would have likely triggered that evolution again.” The Scizor was taking more punches. James continued talking. “Of course, I would rather not let the President find out how much lying I just did,” he said leaning over the edge. This trip had been bringing back a lot of old memories.

IC: Jamie Arthur - Shabboneau Castle In Jamie's distraction from the argument, she never had a chance to fully process the fact that Xander had been detained. Lucia's words forced her to rethink that. "Wait, he is not on the..." Jamie ran the new information through her head. If Xander was no longer on the mission, then did it mean that it didn't matter if she joined the mission for real? Would it count as working with Xander if she joined the team now? And if she did join the mission, then had she just been arguing for nothing? The girl felt her face become a shade redder than a tomato. "Yeah, let's not... be here right now."

IC: Executive Arthur - Aether Paradise James took a few steps. He stopped right in front of the table and placed a hand on the laptop. He took a short shallow breath before opening it. Moments passed with James pressing keys and clicking the mouse. When it was ready, James turned the computer towards Lusamine and offered it to her. The information only related to the data on the replication of Pokemon types. There was nothing regarding the power suits themselves. Even still, plenty of the information was redacted. What he chose to leave in was specifically catered to catch Lusamine’s interest, but without the necessary details to allow one to replicate the experiments done. Some of what wasn’t redacted were requests and suggestions for follow up experiments. Places that might spark an idea in Lusamine’s mind about how the foundation might help in the collaboration. James chose to stay silent and allow Lusamine to make what conclusions she would from the data before her. If he had done his job right, the data should speak for itself. IC: Jamie Arthur - Shabboneau Castle Jamie paused when Lucia put her hand and her shoulder. She rarely got subtext, but she was aware of how bad her sense of age was. She wasn’t quite sure if Lucia meant literally younger or if Zoe simply appeared to be, but she got that everyone else thought that Zoe was younger. “Ah,” she said, pointedly not making eye contact with anyone in the room. She continued to stare at the wall for several more moments. The thought about her age prevented her from thinking through Isabella’s words. “Lucia," she said quietly. She only wanted Lucia to hear. "If I accept what she just said, does that mean if asked I have to tell people I was on this mission? Does it mean, I'd be working with...”

IC: Jamie Arthur - Shabboneau Castle Dahlia may have been standing right in front of Jamie, but she was not where Jamie was looking. Jamie had been flabbergasted, stunned even, for a moment. If her emotions not been raised by the conversation, she might’ve ignored what Zoe had started to say. But her emotions had been raised in just such a way that it took all her willpower to not deck the small human, let alone ignore her comments. As such, Dahlia's words fell on deaf ears. When Jamie regained control of herself, she dodged around Dahlia, so she could get a clear view of Zoe. “You got something to say about Rocket agents, shorty?!” she yelled, glaring at Zoe,

IC: Jamie Arthur - Shabboneau Castle Jamie glared back at Isabella. She had made herself clear on this. She wasn’t on the mission. This five-year old was not about to budge on her completely correct and totally rational viewpoint. “Well that is not a problem, because I am not traveling with them. I am on vacation,” she said. “And owning up to hurting someone is just common sense. You don’t need my name on the record for a mission I am not on. Just take it if I hurt someone. I demand that I be removed from the record. A Team Rocket agent being drafted onto a Team Liberty mission against her will? Joker will hear about this!”

IC: Jamie Arthur - Shabboneau Castle What Jared said there sparked Jamie to action. She rose from her seat with an annoyed expression on her face. “Whoa, whoa. Wait up, hold on a second. Lucia and I are not on this mission. I demand you remove our names from whatever you were gonna put it down on. Our destinations just happen to super similar to where these guys are going,” Jamie said, her delusion’s defenses fully prepared.

IC: Jamie Arthur - Castle Shabboneau Jamie sat next to Lucia at the table. There were faint marks of bags under her eyes and she was resting her head on her fist. She was messing around with the blob of mostly brown sugar that had once been oatmeal. She stirred it, picked it up with her spoon but let it fall back into the bowl. But she hadn’t once brought the spoon to her own mouth. Jamie really hadn’t been paying attention to the argument. Not that she would’ve understood it better had she been paying attention. She had been stealing glances at Jared ever since they were both in the same room. More than once she had nearly gotten out of her seat while she was looking at him, but sat back down each time. Jamie continued to stare at her former oatmeal, as if it would suddenly give her some insight, for some time. When Lucia’s dad addressed the group at large, she perked up. She had to overhear the mission details so she and Lucia would know where they were stalking the group to today. She wondered if they could go somewhere to fight.

IC: Executive Arthur - Aether Paradise James leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and covered his mouth for a few moments. Partly because he was trying to remember details, and partly because he didn’t want to show the grin growing on his face. “Silvally is reported to have several notably changing features: including its head spikes and tail fin, which change colors. The signature move of Silvally is Multi-Attack. The type of Multi-Attack corresponds to the types represented by the color. Silvally’s type resistances have also noted to have changed with the color. The conclusion is that Silvally’s type changes with its fin and spikes." His voice was monotonous, as if he was reciting a carefully prepared report, “I will spare you from me repeating more information you already know back at you.”

IC: James Arthur - Aether Paradise James's smile stayed a constant level. He had to pull to keep it from contracting. Not quite the right response. Workable, but not quite right. He opened his briefcase that he left on the table. He pulled his laptop out of the briefcase. "We would become scientific collaborators. As such you would gain access to our research on the subject. I can not let you see the full details of our research until I have an agreement in writing, that you will support our efforts. But I would be willing to offer you or your scientists a brief glimpse." James stepped away from the table to look out of the window for a moment. He didn't know Lusamine well enough to judge whether appealing to her conscience would work, but he would be remiss if he didn't try. He allowed his face to fall from a grin to a melancholic smile. "There is also the fate of the world. I can guarantee that the troubles starting in the Sevii Isles will spread. I would hope you would wish to help stop it. Certainly before it reaches this beautiful place."

IC: Jamie Arthur - Camphrier Town Jamie found herself staring at the Absol. She wanted to look away from it. It's eye was ugly, the scars were unpleasant. Its roar was scary. But most of all, it really didn't sound hero. It sounded the opposite of heroic. Just pure violence. An uncontrolled desire to fight, to hurt and nothing else. It was unnerving. But she couldn't bring herself to stop staring at the Absol. Jamie didn't know anything about aura. Jamie had no idea what was going on with it. She had a million questions raging through her mind, but only one formed coherent enough to leave her lips. "So, what do we do with Styx if you do... die?"

IC: James Arthur - Aether Paradise James kept the smile at just the same size that he had it at. But he felt the urge to let it grow larger. “Word travels if you know where to listen,” James said, suppressing the urge to laugh as the cryptic nonsense spewed from his lips. “We are not particularly interested in individual Pokemon right now. As I said, we are looking for cooperation in researching the essence of Pokemon types.” Lancelot was not having the same luck hand-crafting a poker face James did. Fortunately, Scizors neither sweat nor could make faces that humans would easily recognize as perturbed. “I think we both know what you have to offer.” IC: Jamie Arthur - Shabboneau Castle. Jamie started to retrace her steps to find Lucia when her phone beeped. Natalie Dexter. That name was vaguely familiar. They were trying to make a video call. She clicked the accept button and was greeted by a familiar face. “Guinevere!” Jamie shouted as she saw the Gardevoir who waved back. The Gardevoir was smiling, the room she was in was fairly dark, but it looked like a bedroom. Jamie didn’t recognize it from the mansion, but she hadn’t visited every bedroom, so maybe Guinevere had been moved. She didn't know why she was calling over this Natalie's phone, but she was glad to see her. Her phone beeped indicating a text message had come over the video chat program. Jamie rushed to accept.