Parugi

IC - Kyle Eston - Cafeteria, The Alamo: "Probably floundered like a Magikarp, if that turn-out is anything to go by," Kyle answered, leaning against the table. "Are Jamie and Xander always so . . . passionate?"

IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred - Cafeteria, The Alamo: Long, slow breath in. . . . Long, slow breath out. "That," Kyle muttered to Esen. "could have gone better." "Could've gone worse," she said with a shrug. Esen stood, answering his responding sigh with a flick to the back of the head. "Come on--spirits up! It's not over because of one bad meeting." "I mean, this meeting isn't the only thing I'm worried about . . ." Kyle said, rubbing his head. "I guess you're right, though--no use getting moody over it." He pushed himself up. "Where are you headed?" "I think I'll stick with the Aura group--try to see if I can help keep things from blowing up." Esen glanced at Jayron and the others, then back at Kyle. "How about you?" "Well, Ryan said he wanted to talk about my 'condition' yesterday, so I figured I'd get that out of the way," Kyle said, playfully rolling his eyes, and then followed Esen's gaze to the Aura group. "Might be good to catch up with Chloe, too. I haven't talked to her since the thing with Kyurem . . . One of the last few times I talked to Richie, too . . ." He trailed off. Esen eyed him. "Have you talked to him yet?" "No." Pause. "I think he knows I know." Esen frowned, though Kyle managed to smile. "Don't worry about it--sooner or later, he'll have to stop avoiding me, right? In the meantime, we should focus on what's important." "Right," Esen said. She did not seem convinced. "Alright, well . . . I'm going to join the practice battles later. You should come." As she walked past, she nudged his shoulder. "Take care of yourself, alright?" "I'll try." As soon as she had turned her back to him, Kyle frowned, looking at his Pokétch. Any day now, dad . . . He shut it off. Any day . . .

IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred - Cafeteria, The Alamo: The sheer voracity of Jamie's response certainly caught Esen off-guard. It had surprised the other cafeteria patrons, as well, as many of them had fallen silent and began to nervously look over to see what all of the commotion was about. Conscious of them, Esen brushed her bangs aside, looking around the table for a follow-up. When none came, she clasped her hands together beneath the table. "From what it sounds like, Jamie may be the most qualified person here to say what Ford's people are capable of," she said at last. "Aria may be brutal, but if Jamie thinks that kind of brutality is needed . . . It would be wise to take that into consideration." "I agree," Kyle said. "I've only had one run-in with Hayes, but she almost destroyed a city by the end of that encounter. Not to mention it took five or six of us to beat her. We're lucky we . . ." He paused, as if caught on whatever sentence he was going to say next. ". . . That we were able to limit our losses as much as we did. We can't afford to go easy on them."

IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred- Cafeteria, The Alamo: Esen watched Jamie with a careful eye, letting her hands rest in her lap. "Jamie, right?" she said. "What did you mean when you said you'd fought them before?"

IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred - Cafeteria, The Alamo: Either way, if we judged everyone for their shortcomings, I'd be the first to get kicked off the team. Kyle gave Ryan a questioning look, but said nothing, merely listening. He took a breath from his inhaler, looking up as Jayron sat across from him.

IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred - Cafeteria, The Alamo: Kyle offered a small smile to Ryan before looking back at the group as a whole, his expression straightening again. He planted his palms on the table and stood, conscious of the eyes on him now. For a moment, he seemed to chew on his lip, as if trying to figure out what it was that he wanted to say. Finally, he sighed. "Look . . . I don't know all of the backstory with Aria and the rest of you, and I'm not going to pretend to," he said. "But this isn't the first big mission I've gone on. Some of you were on the same mission that I took to Unova when we ran into Madison Hayes, and then the incident with Kyurem, and then again when we fought that nut job in Opelucid. Every single one of those jobs was bogged down with group infighting--some of it justified and some of it not. All of them turned out for the worse because of it." He glanced at both Evan and Chloe, a silent apology in his gaze. When he addressed the others again, he seemed to have steeled himself. "Every action has a consequence sooner or later. So, I don't know what Aria or anyone else has done to make you distrust her, but I do know that if we can't sort this stuff out now, then we may as well call it quits today, because I guarantee that Ford isn't going to give us a second shot at getting Ray or Ellen or Sonja back. And if we fail because of infighting, that's on us, and us alone. I refuse to let that happen if I can help it. Just . . . keep that in mind." His lungs hurt, his face burned, and his head pounded in general. Nevertheless, as he lowered himself back into his seat amidst an uncomfortable silence, Kyle hoped that he had been clear enough on his point.

IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred - Cafeteria, The Alamo: In the time he had spent away from this particular group, Kyle had forgotten just how quickly the conversation could move along. He had barely managed to nod at Chloe with a quick "Hey" before the official planning-slash-briefing had begun. Already, however, he found himself exchanging an uncertain look with Esen, which she returned. It was clear that there were a lot of underlying tensions in the group--issues with this Aria character, first and foremost, in addition to the concerns Ryan had raised earlier about whatever it was he had been upset about. What worried him the most, however, was that he couldn't be certain of how prepared any of the others were for such a dangerous endeavor. He could easily vouch for himself and Esen, and he knew Evan, Jenny, Ryan, and Chloe's capabilities from their experience in Unova. Jayron he could trust on principle given his status as a Liberty Executive. But that still left half of the group up in the air--Paul, Colette, Dahlia, Jamie, Xander, and whoever this Olivia was. Even with a numbers advantage over Ford, they'd be doomed once they finally got to the field if they didn't get this cohesion issue sorted out, pronto. "Are you okay?" Esen asked. Kyle nodded. "Just thinking . . ." After a pause, he nudged Ryan. "Can I say something?"

IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred - Cafeteria, The Alamo: "That's right . . ." Kyle rubbed the back of his head, glancing at Esen as she sat down next to him. "We never actually saw you at that ball thing, did we?" He leaned back slightly to give Ryan a clearer view of her. "This is--" "Esen," she said. "Nice to meet you." "She's the friend I was talking about yesterday," he said. "She's cool, trust me. And if she decides to go with us . . ." Kyle nudged her arm, prompting her to roll her eyes and push him back. "She's great in a fight."

IC - Ethan Worth/Gavin Braner - Arena, Chapel: "Sounds like it," Ethan said, chuckling. "In my experience--and I'm sure Gavin can vouch for this--typically, once you get involved in one incident, you wind up getting involved in all following incidents. Or, at least, a pretty strong majority of 'em." He grinned. "Don't let that psych you out, though." IC - Kyle Eston/Esen Windred - Cafeteria, The Alamo: "Dude, stop pouting." The voice came from directly behind Ryan. Kyle had arrived, arms crossed and looking at Sanders with a raised eyebrow. Beside him stood a woman of about equal age, with blond hair pulled back into a bun--save for the section of her bangs that she had left to hang in front of her right eye. She appeared somewhat uncomfortable by the number of unknown faces in front of her, but nonetheless held herself with a strong posture. "Good morning," he said to everyone, then looked back at Ryan as he took a seat. "Seriously, though--take it from me, you should probably lighten up before you get slapped."

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: "Tomorrow," Kyle affirmed, failing to quell an embarrassed laugh. "Honestly, this is just temporary--it's to deal with some residual damage from Kalos." He waved the inhaler. "But you'll hear about that tomorrow." Slipping it back into his pocket, he smiled at Ryan. "Don't worry about me, Ryan; I'm fine, really." He began walking back toward the lobby. "Anyway, sleep sounds like a great idea. I'll update you guys on my friends tomorrow when we all get together."

IC - Ethan Worth/Gavin Braner - Arena, Chapel: The force of the attack had knocked Baya out of the fight, too. Ethan hurried over to her, picking her up and giving her a hug. "That was perfect, friend!" he said. For her part, she seemed fairly content with the whole situation, returning Ethan's bright smile as he recalled her to her Poké Ball. Vel descended, landing next to Gavin. With a smile, he pet her head, and nodded at Madison and Dack. "For sure. Good job to you, too," he said. Gavin glanced over at Ethan. "Hard to say . . . I think about six or seven months at this point." He placed his other hand on his hip. "Can't really remember the last time I went on a mission without him, to be honest." "Oh, it was a while ago," Ethan said, rolling around and sliding into a seated position on the field. He leaned back, grinning. "Ever since the train--" "Let's not talk about that." "--Duly noted," Ethan said. He rubbed his head, looking at Madison. "But, yeah. Seven months, roughly. How about you three?" IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: For several moments, Kyle only stared at Evan in confusion. Then, as it dawned on him what the Hero of Space was talking about, his expression changed to one of surprised understanding. "Oh. So Zach--I mean, Chloe is trans?" He placed his hands in his pockets. "That's going to take some getting used to, but that's great to hear." Kyle mulled this over for another moment. "Alright; yeah, that'll be something to talk about next time we see each other . . ." He rubbed his chin. For the first time in quite a while, he felt fully focused--like he was back in his element. He only regretted that the situation at hand was one that was very clearly going to put his and his friends' lives at risk--again. "In that case, someone might want to try getting in touch with her to see if she's available--I'm sure she'll want to help out with getting Ray, Sonja, and Ellen back just as much as anyone else does. Meanwhile I'll talk with my people and see if either of them is available." With a sheepish smile, Kyle moved a hand to his neck again. "They're, uh . . . They're pretty handy in a fight, so we could use them. If you want to take my word for it." He recalled vague images and memories of what he had seen in Kalos--the very, very last flashes of their escape from Shift's clutches. As awed as he felt about what he remembered of Esen and Victoire's combat capabilities, he couldn't help the slight, nervous shaking that accompanied those memories. Nor could his lungs, it seemed, threatening again to seize as they were. As nonchalantly as possible, he raised his inhaler to his mouth again, diverting his eyes to a nearby sign on the wall while Ryan and the others chewed on that plan. Once again, the words 'long story' popped into his mind.

IC - Ethan Worth (Baya)/Gavin Braner (Vel) - Arena, Chapel: Ethan frowned. There was only one sure-fire strategy he could think of at this point to end the battle. "Baya, tackle him with Bug Bite!" If she had any qualms with the order, the Combee did not show them. Glancing up at Vel, she buzzed and darted downward at Teddy, baring her fangs and allowing Teddy to grab onto her. Baya grimaced from the claws digging into her sides, but tried not to let them stop her from biting back, as well as pushing herself and Teddy into the path of Vel's Air Cutter . . . IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: Kyle nodded at Evan, then turned to Ryan. "Just checking," he said, rubbing his neck with another grin. "Anyway, you never answered my question about Zach."

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: Though he didn't consider it worth arguing about, he was at least glad that Evan seemed to know what he was referring to. "I had a rough--'" Kyle began, pausing as Gnip rushed from behind him to get to Evan. "--a rough 'vacation.' Don't worry about it--or Opelucid. It's not important right now. Although . . ." He glanced at Ryan. "Speaking of Jenny--between 'meeting almost everyone' and 'Evan's girlfriend . . . ' You guys do remember that I know her, right? Like, to the extent that I caught her after she fell off of a bridge?" Kyle looked back at Evan, adjusting his tone to something more sincere. "Congratulations on the relationship upgrade, by the way."

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: The sound of someone slamming into the door caused Kyle to grimace. Miraculously, it wasn't anyone he didn't know--plus, from the looks of it, Evan didn't appear to be too injured (from the door, anyway--clearly something had happened to his arm-slash-shoulder). "Evan," Kyle said, not even surprised by this turn of events. "Good to see that you're the same as ever." He offered a friendly smile and a hand to the Hero of Space. "Makes the catharsis here just a little less guilt-inducing."

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: Kyle raised his eyebrows in surprise at Collete, though quickly regained his composure. "Hey--yeah, I--" This time, he was interrupted by Ryan Hikari's awakening. In the initial room scan, Kyle hadn't noticed him. Now, however, he very much did. Kyle could not hide his utter shock at seeing the man who had caused so much devastation in Unova, though his expression quickly turned into one of flat exasperation as he shifted his gaze back to Sanders. "I'll spare you the trouble and not ask about him," he said. "But, yeah--outside." With a shake of his head, he turned, opening the door and leading the way out into the hall. Kyle's displeasure at that particular surprise was evident, even if he had chosen not to pursue it.

IC - Ethan Worth (Baya)/Gavin Braner (Vel) - Arena, Chapel: "Sorry, that's not gonna happen," Ethan called. "I hate to play this way, but . . . Baya, hit him with another Gust!" Gavin shrugged. "I don't. Vel, throw an Air Cutter--let's see if we can't finish this." Not much detail need be given: The two Pokémon complied. IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: Toward the end of Ryan's exposition, Kyle had brought the inhaler to his mouth, closing his eyes and holding his other hand to his chest as he took several deep breaths of the medicinal mixture within. The icy-sweet concoction worked against the burning that had started up in his lungs, the sensation causing a scratch at the back of his throat. After a short while, he exhaled, allowing himself a small cough to address the itch. So that's where Ray disappeared to, he mused. Sonja and Ellen, too . . . Kyle clenched his jaw. Of course, Ford and Hayes would be behind it . . . Ryan's comment prompted him to open his eyes again. He rubbed the back of his head. ". . . Long story," Kyle said. "The gist of which is . . . uh . . ." He trailed off, taking another look around the crowded room full of unfamiliar people. It was not his ideal crowd for retelling that ordeal, even if only in passing detail. "I'll . . . tell you later, actually. It's not really important. But, geez . . ." He crossed his arms, pausing as his Pokétch buzzed with a message from Richie. Kyle pressed a button, silencing it. "I forgot how much could happen in the span of a couple of weeks . . . Although . . ." Kyle grinned. "I think the most unbelievable part of your story is that Jenny and Evan are dating." Drumming his left-hand fingers against his forearm, he glanced at Ryan again. "Jokes aside . . . Does Zach know? It's been months since we've seen him, but he might be able to help, too, right?" Already, he was running through other alternatives in his head. One person immediately came to mind as he reflected on who all he had worked with in the past. "If not, I know someone else who can help out. Maybe two, if I can convince her to get on board . . ."

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: Kyle looked back at Ryan. "You've been very thorough," he said, then turned his attention to Dahlia again, pausing to cough. "Honestly, I've only talked to Klim once or twice, so I'm not concerned. Not really any of my business, anyway. But yeah, nice to meet you, too." He glanced around the room, counting the number of faces looking at him. Kyle could feel himself getting warmer already, though he couldn't tell if that was from the amount of attention focused on him or if it was just from the large number of bodies piled into such a comparatively-small room. Regardless, he adjusted the collar of his coat. "That . . . goes for everyone. Not to be rude; I'm not super big on the idea of a ton of introductions all at once . . ." Slipping a hand into his coat pocket, Kyle clasped his inhaler. The periodic lung spasms would surely start any minute now--he'd grown rather familiar with the signs already. The uncomfortably-warm room certainly wouldn't help matters, nor would the sheer amount of awkward in the air. "So . . ." He looked at Ryan again. "What's up? Any reason we're all here?"

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: He moved a hand to the back of his head. "I mean, that wasn't exactly what I tho--" Kyle's word trailed off as the door opened. The first thing he registered was that he neither knew nor recognized almost any of the people in the room--except for Executive Aaron, whom he had never really spoken with, and Ryan Sanders, who thankfully spoke first. While he was surprised that Ryan's initial reaction to seeing him did not include the phrase "What the heck happened to your face?", from the looks of others in the vicinity, he figured that Sanders was used to people being beaten up by now. 'Long story,' indeed. "Ryan... You didn't tell me you were replacing the entire crew," he said, returning the nod with a small smile. "No, actually, good to see you. Yeah, as a matter of fact, Xander here was just telling me something cryptic about how Ray 'left.'" Kyle moved his hand to the side of his neck, covering the bruises on that half. "'Long story,' right?"

I had a few conflicting thoughts on counting Legendaries, tbh. On the one hand, it'd be more accurate to count them when taking into account individual trainer teams, but on the other hand, there are some Legends that strictly are one-member only, like Landorus, so counting the frequency of those Legends doesn't make a lot of sense when there's only one individual of the species that can appear at all. But, I don't know--I might do a separate, Legends-only count at some point, just probably not any time soon. X3 Also, I want to make clear--the census isn't a way for me to call people out for not being original or anything. I was more interested in figuring out how many Pokéon overall have been used by notable characters, since it's something we've talked about in the past. Although it would be cool to diversify the number used by our main PCs, as far as the game world itself goes, in general we've been pretty good about using an array of Pokémon.

Horned Serpent. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Starting to wonder if this thing is rigged.

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: Kyle stepped out of the way, his confusion clear. "Yeah, I--what do you mean he 'left us?'"

IC - Kyle Eston - Infirmary, The Alamo: For several seconds, Kyle stared at the new arrivals. He didn't recognize either of them--definitely not the Gardevoir; he would've remembered one with only one arm--but he could tell right away that the boy was slightly younger than he was. Much tanner, too, and his voice . . . Kyle couldn't quite place it, but there was definitely a different accent to his words. Perhaps not a strong one, but . . . "Hello," he said at last. Kyle nodded to the door. "I . . . take it that you're looking for some combination of Ryan Sanders, Evan Tierra, and Ray Hakuda, too? Maybe some others?"

IC - Ethan Worth (Baya)/Gavin Braner (Vel) - Arena, Chapel: "Baya, up!" Ethan ordered. The Combee buzzed excitedly and flapped her wings, lifting her up into the air and out of Teddy's reach. She could not help but blow a raspberry at the Teddiursa as she did so. "Awesome! Now follow it up with Gust!" After taking a deep breath, Baya blew at Teddy, unleashing a miniature tornado at the Normal-Type. "Vel, block what you can!" Gavin called. Vel complied, swinging her wing forward as Anzu's Ice Shards came into range. She managed to swat several of them out of the air, smashing them into a fine mist from the impact, before the others slammed into her body. The Mandibuzz recoiled from the attack. As she recovered, she locked eyes with Anzu, flashing what could only be considered a smile as she used Flatter against her opponent. IC - Kyle Eston - Hospital Wing, The Alamo: "In the infirmary. It's a long story." A frown formed on Kyle's lips at the message, shortly giving way to an amused smile. "Yeah," he muttered, snapping his Pokétch closed. He began to walk again. "Same here, pal." The receptionist was occupied with her computer. That wasn't a problem; if anything that meant she probably wasn't busy. Kyle approached, placing his hands on the counter top. "Excuse me?" The woman looked up. "Sorry to interrupt." "It's no problem at all, Mr. Eston," she said. "Are you here for another check-up?" 'Mr. Eston?' Kyle silently repeated. Well, now I just feel rude for not remembering your name . . . He shook his head. "No, not this time," he said. "A friend of mine said he was here, so I wanted to visit. Were Ryan Sanders or Ray Hakuda brought here recently?" The receptionist typed their names into her computer, then shook her head. "Doesn't look like it." "Sonja Baron?" Negative. "Zach Hikari?" He was not present either. "Weird . . ." Kyle rapped his knuckles against the counter, conscious of the other people waiting in line behind him. "Maybe try . . . Jenny Hakuda and Evan Tierra?" He hadn't seen either of them since the events in Opelucid, but it was worth a shot. "Miss Hakuda is a 'no,'" the receptionist said. "As for Mr. Tierra . . . Ah, here he is. Looks like he was checked in earlier." She grabbed a pen and a notepad from her desk and wrote down the room number he had been treated in, handing it to him. "Here you are." "Thanks a ton," Kyle said, taking the slip. Noting the number, he headed down the proper hall, and eventually arrived at the room in question. He could hear several voices from within, most of which he did not recognize. Regardless, he pocketed the slip of paper and knocked.

Happy 18th birthday to JiMing who I only know is involved in Rise of the Rockets but also is probably known around BZP for other things too!!!

I'm so thrilled by this development on BZP's forums. :]