Blessed Blade

-==IC: Ray -- All Aboard The Train==- As the group sped through the mountains aboard their train, Ray watched on wordlessly. The trees and mountainous terrain passed by with rather high speed for their ride, yet something felt off. This went on for a couple minutes. "Onix, can you head to the left a little?" Ray asked their train with an uncertain look on his face. He felt almost like something was urging him to head a certain way. "Does anyone else feel like, a pulling sensation or something?" -==IC: Ryan -- Vermilion City==- "That sounds... interesting." Ryan nodded slightly. He wasn't entirely sure how well he would work for such a video, but... he felt like he wanted to at least try. The man nodded again. "When would all this take place?" -==IC: Olivia -- Lumiose City==- "This here's Bree." Olivia said as she looked over at her Torchic. She noticed that the Torchic in question had puffed up her chest with a confident look on her face, very obviously happy about the compliment. The fiery redhead looked back to Meyer with a grin. "My name's Olivia. Your Blaziken looks pretty strong, though, to be able to lift that off almost all by themself." Olivia looked over at the fully evolved Fire-type, as she had to admit she was kinda impressed by the sheer power.

-==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- "That's very cool." Colleen smiled for a moment, but then thought about how to phrase things so that she could find out any other information. "But what about the other events? The ones they helped out with, about Team Flare?" She felt almost like that was a little too obvious, but it seemed from the looks of the woman's aura like she was holding back about just that.

-==IC: Ryan -- Vermilion City Rocket Outpost==- Ryan was surprised by the request, but thought things over for a little bit. The idea made a lot of sense, though he had to wonder if there were better candidates. At the moment, however, he knew that there weren't. "Alright. That sounds good to me, what's the plan?" -==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- Oh. Colleen suddenly realized that she should have expected that question. "Well, um.." The girl took a moment to try and figure out how to phrase the answer. "I have a sort of, uh, research assignment to look into some events that happened about 10 years ago." Colleen explained, as it was the truth, just missing a couple pieces that were need to know at that current moment. She wasn't sure if she should have mentioned about Liberty or not, but she had a feeling that there were about to be more than a few questions sent her way.

Species: Litten Nickname: Tenlite Trainer: Jenny Hakuda Appearance: The red markings are bigger than normal Personality: Idolizes the Battle Royal, and wishes that she could partake in it someday. She gives lots of thought to her future backstory, constantly thinking it over. Ability: Blaze Specialty: Is really good at physical attacks. Known Moves: Scratch, Fire Fang, Swagger, Scary Face, Crunch(Egg), Roar Species: Torchic Nickname: Bree Trainer: Olivia Seaton Appearance: Mostly same as normal, except her colours are slightly darker Personality: Happy-go-lucky yo here I am, I'm not a yuppie or a puppy yeah, hear me roar. Tricks means nothing to me, such a joke - you never can stop me 'cause I'm on my way. Minus and plus, had 'em plugged in the wrong way, and now minor keys are easier to hear! Regression and progression! I start to realize something true. "How many bottles did you throw into the right bin?" "Did you wash them nice and clean?" Geniuses invent machines, and wealthy people invest more funds. My mama used to say, start with what you can do today, yeah, not tomorrow - so I list this up and I set this up, my secret plan is based on this truth... Ability: Speed Boost Specialty: Increased Speed for her species Known Moves: Night Slash(Egg), Peck, Ember, Growl Species: Rowlet Nickname: Simone Trainer: Chloe Hikari Appearance: More fluffy than normal Rowlet, and has a small green patch on the top of her head. Personality: Normally pretty happy, but can get pretty easily scared. She freezes up with an odd look on her face in those moments. Ability: Long Reach Specialty: Has untapped potential - usually she seems weaker than typical Rowlet, but if pushed too far or synchronized enough with Chloe, can be stronger in physical attacks. Known Moves: Leafage, Razor Leaf, Tackle, Peck, Growl

-==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- As the fight against the black cat was going on, Jenny glanced over at Evan's own battle. She stared in disbelief at the rodeo that was going on. She wondered if she were missing opportunities to catch the cat, but could not take her eyes away from the scene before her. She had to wonder if she actually was dreaming this. As the Mudbray was caught, she looked back to her own fight. The Scizor was succeeding in driving the cat back toward her trainer. Jenny watched closely, Poké Ball in hand, for the perfect moment. As the Scizor knocked the cat onto their side, she lobbed the sphere toward them. With surprise, the feline looked up at the ball, unable to scramble out of the way before it connected. The capsule shook with slight protest, but clicked after a moment. Jenny walked over and picked the Poké Ball up for a moment, then sent the cat back out. "So... what's your name going to be?" Jenny asked, though noted that the cat seemed almost... sad. "That is a Litten, if that helps you." "Oh, thank you." Jenny said oblivious to the voice, as she looked at the Litten. "Then your name will be Tenlite!" The cat didn't really make much of a reaction, though an ear sort of twitched in acknowledgement. The trainer, however, paused and turned around, as she saw a blue-haired middle-aged woman with her hair in twintails. Jenny furrowed her brow slightly as she stood up. "Who... are you?" OOC: Species: Litten Nickname: Tenlite Trainer: Jenny Hakuda Appearance: The red markings are bigger than normal Personality: Idolizes the Battle Royal, and wishes that she could partake in it someday. She gives lots of thought to her future backstory, constantly thinking it over. Ability: Blaze Specialty: Is really good at physical attacks. Known Moves: Scratch, Fire Fang, Swagger, Scary Face, Crunch(Egg), Roar /EDIT: -==IC: Olivia -- Lumiose City==- With the group more or less in agreement, they set off for the hospital using the address on the letter. Olivia led the way unintentionally, as she followed the directions on her Poké Gear and walked at a faster pace. A chirping made her look down at one point, as she saw her Torchic very quickly keeping pace right next to her. With a smile, she glanced back to the screen, the constant chirping being a good indication that the Torchic hadn't run off. When they arrived in front of the building, Olivia appeared to hesitate as she looked up at it. She quietly flicked a finger across the screen to open up a memo on the device. As she shut the screen off, she noticed that the chirping was growing fainter. The Rocket glanced over to the left and noticed an old man and a Blaziken struggling to get a vending machine off of a pickup truck. She then saw her mischievous Torchic happily dashing toward the Blaziken. "Um, y'all go ahead, I need to get Bree." Olivia hastily said, as she ran over to the now-trio before any damage could occur. She reached the Torchic before she could trip either the man or Blaziken up, then picked up the small chick and placed her on her shoulder. "Ya get into too much trouble sometimes, Bree..." Olivia mumbled for a moment, but then smiled as the Torchic let out a happy trill. The young woman glanced up at the other two afterward. "Would ya like any help with that?"

-==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- Colleen was about to think of how to reply when Emily began to offer to help pay for the funding. She stayed quiet until there seemed to be a lull in the conversation, though she seemed to be a little bit awkward still. "Oh, Professor Sycamore? Me and my friends visited him earlier, but I'm unfortunately not one of his assistants." She decided not to add that she likely didn't have nearly enough experience in any of the possible fields that would likely be prerequisites. She wondered briefly what would happen when everything was all said and done. This couldn't go on forever, right; all this fighting? So where... would it leave her? She realized after a moment that she had probably seemed to have zoned out there for a moment. "Oh, I think we might need to visit him again, though, so if you wanted, we could take you there later..." -==IC: Olivia -- Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- "We should go to the hospital to check on that lead still." Olivia said after Lionel gave them their choices. She had a look on her face as if she had other reasons, however. "If we put Ms. Emma through all that, and then didn't do anything... then how good does that make us? Y'all, let's get going and head to the hospital." -==IC: Jenny -- Heahea Outskirts==- "Definitely!" Jenny said with a grin as she focused on the black cat. The two trainers were so focused on their fight that a blue-haired woman went unseen behind them, silently watching the battle unfold. Jenny's Scizor approached the cat as they attempted to scratch at the bug once more. Scizlite flew up in the air to avoid that, before swooping down to tackle the cat to the ground. Jenny prepared a Poké Ball ahead of time, as she watched the red-striped cat for any openings. -==IC: Ryan -- Vermilion City Rocket Branch==- "Alright." The man nodded to the others that he'd be right back. However, as he passed the door, he paused and turned to Dack. "Do you have any ways to like, look into families? If so, could you like..." As he looked around, he noticed that Miyu had vanished. "Wait, where did Miyu g--" The door closed before Ryan could finish his sentence. He looked over at the still-smiling Miriam and decided that despite the situation, it was the best idea to sit down before that sweetness turned to something else. He waited for Miriam to begin the conversation, not entirely certain what this was about.

-==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- Colleen felt slightly embarrassed by not having realized that the three of them had been holding up the doorway. She followed a little quietly until Emily stopped at another table and started to talk with someone there. From the sound of it, the older woman was her aunt. Unconsciously, she moved toward the pair, standing a little bit awkwardly to the side. She didn't want to intrude, but... "Um, hello there, miss." Colleen gave a shy smile as she walked up, hoping that this was okay with Emily.

-==IC: Lucia -- Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- Lucia grinned at how excited Jamie seemed to have gotten, then nodded after a moment in agreement. She continued to hold Jamie's hand as she walked over toward the others. "We're gonna help you out." Lucia announced when they got close enough. She wanted to explain more, but since she didn't really know the situation well herself, she figured that just saying the intent to help them, if not help Xander, would work well enough. -==IC: Chloe/Ray -- Campsite, Route 45==- Chloe glanced over at Ryan, as something he said gave her a contemplative look for a few moments. She didn't want to bring it up right at this moment, but something about that felt weird. Was this actually a mission to restore power? Or was it for something else? After all... she thought over the fact that she had her own powers back, and the whole incident with Ryan's Tyranitar. The situation seemed so confusing, but she wasn't about to bring it up, as it gave her a headache thinking about it. -==IC: Ryan -- Vermilion City==- "We had to go around the back specifically to avoid that." Ryan said, as he gave a small sigh. He waved for them to walk and talk, as they began to head toward where Miriam would be waiting. "It was so bad that we didn't even get close before I needed to find a different way in."

-==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- "Well, I learned from my teacher in Anistar, that was a pretty cool time." Colleen smiled, glad that the two weren't upset or unsettled by the powers. "My powers vanished for a bit after the stuff in the egg, but returned like a couple days ago." She paused as she took the time to consider the second question Alex had asked. "Well, I... can't really say for sure, actually; you could ask if you wanted. Just say I sent you." The aura wielder grinned at Alex for a moment, before she turned her attention back to Emma. "Anything else you wanted to know about aura?"

-==IC: Chloe/Ray -- Campsite, Route 45==- Ray dug in his bag for any sign of healing supplies. After his search came up short, he cursed. "I forgot to restock before leaving, sorry..." The ex-Rocket slumped in his seat, but still began to finish his plate quickly. Meanwhile, the psychic woman thought for a second, held up her forefinger as she scarfed down the rest of the food on her plate in record time, and then dug through her purse quickly before she pulled out two Revives. "Here we go!" Chloe said with a cheerful tone to her voice, as she handed one each to Kyle and Sonja. "I've got some other things if you need them too... I might've come overly prepared, ehehehe..." The woman awkwardly smiled at her last statement, but glanced around to see if anyone needed anything as she began to collect the plates of those who were finished. She glanced at Sonja briefly as she did, but looked away not long after. -==IC: Lucia -- Outside Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- "I don't mind..." Lucia smiled, as she reached out to take Jamie's hand reassuringly. "It might be different than expected, but I'm sure it won't be that bad." She knew it probably was going against her mother's warning. . . but she had a feeling that warning wasn't about this. "So I don't mind in the slightest." -==IC: Jenny -- Outskirts of Heahea City==- Jenny quickly followed the rustling bushes as she calculated the path in her head. "Scizlite, cut the path off ahead, there!" She pointed out a larger bush that the Pokémon had yet to get to. The Scizor nodded in acknowledgement quickly before she took off toward it with a burst of wind. The Scizor beat the other Pokémon to the bush, which caused a hissing noise to ring out. A moment later, the Scizor and a black and red cat came tumbling out of the large bush, the cat scratching out at Scizlite's face. "What is that...?" Jenny wondered out loud with a curious look on her face. She watched as the cat leaped away from her Scizor. She felt nervous after the cat first let out a loud "MROAAW!!!" and then posed. The Scizor didn't seem intimidated at first, as she rushed toward the cat again; however, that changed quickly as a tiny horse appeared from out of nowhere and charged Scizlite. The Scizor had no time to react before she was knocked away. "... Is that the horse you were wanting, Evan?" Jenny mumbled to the hammy space hero as she noticed the second Pokémon show up.

That was a very good chapter. I have no words that can describe it, but it was pretty awesome ^^

-==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- "Hmm..." The woman bit her lip as she looked around the area. "Not particularly. I never really got to know most of the Pokémon that were here..." Jenny walked ahead a bit to search around better. At first, it seemed that there was nothing there. Then, she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed Scizlite's Poké Ball quickly and tossed it forward, ahead of the blur. "I don't know what that is, but it's worth a look. Head it off, Scizlite!" The trainer called out, as she quickly followed ahead, tracking the mystery blur through the shaking bushes. -==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- At first, Colleen was wondering what exact meaning that Alex was using to say what he said. Thankfully, Emily clarified rather quickly what she had meant. "I am on a mission, and I am teamed up with the Ranger over there. That's also my sister with her." She pointed back while Alex sputtered about keeping it quiet. "I am more than a supporter too, I'm with them. That's complicated as well, but..." Colleen thought for a moment as she wondered what to do here. She decided that it might just work out. "I was training here in Kalos for a long, long time, to work on this." She held her left hand up toward the ceiling and created a softly glowing sphere in her hand with a smile, trying to make sure that only the two she was talking with could see it. "I haven't really gotten much of a chance to show anyone this trick for fun... what do you think...?" The aura wielder's voice took on a nervous tone again now that she had actually shown her powers off to someone. She just hoped this wouldn't be a repeat of the past. -==IC: Olivia -- Outside Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- Olivia turned to give Jared a rather deep glare. "Please don't mind my companion, sir. He can be a little stubborn sometimes when it comes to some things." If the boy was a little closer, she would have given a rather sharp elbow for nearly messing up the plan to get themselves some information they wouldn't have otherwise. If he was reading her aura, she hoped he could see just what her plan was. -==IC: Chloe/Ray -- Camp site, Route 45==- "Using attacks...?" Chloe turned to look at Ray, who seemed to have fallen quite silent, his eyes wide. "Well... yeah, I agree that we should avoid detection. I..." She bit her lip slightly, as she wanted to say something else that could help them move forward, but she was sure how. She reached for her purse strap. "I believe we can do this." She still looked a little scared, but her hand clenched the strap. "I think we should leave as soon as we can too..." The woman paused for a moment, as she looked over at Kyle and Sonja worriedly. "Oh, what happened to the Pokémon? Were they able to recover, or...?" She furrowed her eyebrows in worry, hoping that they hadn't succumbed to their wounds. -==IC: Ryan -- Vermilion City==- Ryan nodded in acknowledgement as they made their way toward the door. To his surprise, when it opened, he saw Madison and her friends again. "This is a really small world..." The black-haired man said, momentarily caught so off guard that he forgot that they needed to quickly get inside. He shook his head and quickly led the other three inside, though still looked at the newcomers in surprise. "Was this why you came to Vermilion? Did that guy get a new job as a doorman?" Ryan asked once the door finally closed, pointing a finger toward Dack. -==IC: Lucia -- Outside Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- Oh, that explained a bit more. It also made the situation a lot harder to deal with. Lucia chewed on her lip as she mulled over the options in her head. How could they work this out. . . She paused. "What if..." The Rocket said slowly, as she placed the pieces together in her head on the fly, trying to find the best way to explain her makeshift plan. "What if we don't officially go with them? Like. . . we can help them and do everything... but we aren't with them, so we wouldn't have to deal with whoever it is you don't like? Since it sorta sounds like they're in a dangerous situation from what little I've caught of all this..." Lucia couldn't tell if her idea made sense or not, but still wanted to try. "So like, we could help them, but not help the guy who sent them." Still... she wondered what was up. This felt out of the norm for Jamie, but she didn't feel that it was a good idea to question her further at the moment. Not in front of everyone else, at least.

-==IC: Olivia -- Outside Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- Olivia listened to what the man said with an unreadable look on her face. She couldn't resist shuddering slightly at the descriptions of what Lysandre's disgusting plans were, but even still, she stood there and looked him back in the eyes. The redhead mulled over the different things mentioned, trying to find something to pick it apart. At first, she wanted to criticize the idea that they were unable to look into it because they were "teenagers" to be more than a little annoying, but knew that attacking that would be useless for multiple reasons. She listened as Dahlia spoke up, though didn't feel like that would be enough either. That said. . . "There's a key word there in whatcha said, sir." The corner of her lip rose with the ever-so-slight hint of bemusement. "You said 'unsupervised'. Now, what if we were supervised by someone? Someone who knows just how disgusting these people can be. What if you helped us out with this? If you watched over us and made sure we were supervised as we investigated?" Olivia wasn't entirely liking this plan, admittedly, but she kept her poker face up as she knew it was one of the only ways to get the information from him. If he didn't want them to be unsupervised, then she'd make sure they were supervised... even if it made her feel restricted. -==IC: Lucia -- Outside Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- Something felt wrong, but Lucia still couldn't place what it was. She felt torn - she wanted to help out if this was something bad. But she also wanted to help out Jamie, although she had absolutely no idea where that even started or what was wrong. What if she chose wrong? What if she had already chosen wrong by asking her to come with her, when Jamie wanted to help out back at Four Island? She sighed. "I... don't know. I want to know more about what's even happening, but I want to help, but I also don't want to... I don't want to do something you'll be unhappy with." Lucia decided to not question any further, though she still seemed rather torn. -==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- Jenny grinned, then led the way out of the store. She was eager to find out what kind of Pokémon were around here, even if she had no clue what could work with her team. As they walked toward the route closest to the hotel, Jenny glanced over at Evan. "Anything you have in mind to catch?" The woman asked with a curious look on her face. "Your face seemed to light up when I mentioned Alolan Pokémon." -==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- Colleen was surprised by the sudden enthusiasm from Alex, which she found to be a little bit overwhelming. She tried to place things in order to keep herself from getting nervous, then took a subtle breath to focus. "Yeah, I know him, he helped me out a couple times, then I helped him out a couple times. He's not here right now, he's with some other people in Johto to get something to... y'know, I don't really understand that part." She shook her head, as it was rather complicated to explain. "Long story short, he's gonna be meeting up with me and my friends later on." Colleen felt like it was weird to refer to the group she was with as 'friends', but it was the best way to explain right then. After a brief pause, she turned back to Emily. "Did he exaggerate any tales?" She asked with a teasing grin, though she thought for a second too. "Oh, um, are you two like... brother and sister?" The aura wielder detected similarities in their auras, but she couldn't tell exactly how they were similar. -==IC: Chloe/Ray -- Camp Site, Route 45==- "Thanks." Chloe gave a smile at the compliment - her mission had succeeded. Ray and Chloe decided on an unspoken agreement to not bring the camping thing back up for that moment. Thankfully, before there was a chance to continue that line of conversation, everyone else woke up and joined them. Chloe had just opened up her mouth to reply to Kyle's comment when Sonja spoke up. "Something... strange?" The woman furrowed her eyebrows in confusion with a frown. She tried to recall anything out of the ordinary, but shook her head with a confused look on her face. "Not that I recall. I think the stars looked different, but I was looking at them without my glasses sometimes, since I didn't have my contacts in. But that doesn't sound like what you mean..." Chloe looked down at her plate briefly, but then back up at Sonja. "Did something happen last night?"

-==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- Jenny chuckled with a smile, looking pretty pleased with the compliment. "Smooooth. Thanks." She said before she gave Evan a quick kiss on the cheek. "So then, where to? I'm all ready when you are, but what should we do? Maybe try and find some Alola-native Pokémon or something?" The redhead thought for a moment as she considered that thought. "What would be around, anyway? I wanna say there was something that Chloe used to always talk about, but I can't remember what..." She trailed off after a moment, as she considered that. "Wait, I remember that? Sweet." -==IC: Lucia -- Outside Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- "Hm." Lucia considered things for a moment, as she thought back to before she left to talk with Lionel. "Wasn't there something that everyone was talking about? Some Flair people or another? What's that all about?" Something felt different about Jamie's demeanor compared to before she had left and now, but she couldn't quite place what. -==IC: Chloe/Ray -- Campsite==- Chloe hid an amused smile at the mood change as she turned to make sure nothing was burning. Thankfully, it wasn't. She wasn't about to admit it, but this wasn't something she did often. She glanced back as Ryan asked the question about camping. "I don't like camping at all. Too many things that make my skin crawl - but I can't help it here, it's not like we could've just kept going until we reached a Pokémon Center, and they don't exactly sell houses in Poké Balls." Ray raised a fork in agreement. "Yeah! Well, I camped more often as a kid, but I didn't really like it." He said, though Chloe looked in confusion as she realized that one of the finished plates were already taken away. Ray ignored the glare that was given to him, as he took another mouthful of scrambled eggs. -==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- "Nope, actually." Colleen gave an amused smile at Alex's reaction. "I actually know one of your friends - Ryan..." She trailed off with a pause. "Uh, well, I forget his last name, but he's a good friend of yours from what I heard; he kept telling me about how you traveled everywhere together. I was wondering why your name sounded familiar, but that has to be it." -==IC: Olivia -- Outside Looker Bureau==- Olivia opened her mouth to respond before Jared and Dahlia started to talk again. She closed her mouth and decided to leave the conversation for later. She did think it over, however, an uneasy look on her face. Everyone kept mentioning about how dangerous Team Flare was... she definitely could see it too, based off Emma's reactions to their talk. Olivia glanced back at the door to the office, wishing that she could help out in some way. Yet she just kept drawing a blank. So she kept quiet in that regard. Still. . . "Jared, hold up." She held up a hand, as she walked toward Lionel. This felt like it wasn't the time or place at all, but this was still a lead. "What do ya know about Flare, sir?" Olivia wanted to at least give the man a chance to respond before storming off. She wasn't quite fond of the sound of the man's attitude any more than Jared was - but she recognized how this could help. Two leads were better than one, after all. -==IC: Ryan -- Vermilion City==- With luck, the four made their way around the crowd. Ryan glanced over at Shannon for a moment. "Do you wanna go in too?" He didn't know how exciting something like this was going to be for the others and he was equally unsure how easy it would be to get out. At the same time, he didn't want to just leave them out here with the crowd this way - if Aori and Miyu got lost in the crowd, he wasn't sure if they'd be able to find them again, if they weren't outright trampled.

-==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Cafe, Lumiose City==- Colleen glanced over at Emily with a smile briefly. "My name's Colleen Llyan." The girl said before she turned to the camera and grinned while holding the pose from earlier. Once the picture was taken, she relaxed and stopped posing. "Thank you." She said as she seemed to get a little shy again. However, something again made her think for a moment. She glanced between Emily and Alex and attempted to read their auras briefly to figure out what it could be. Then she paused. "... say, is your name Alex Lockwood?" Colleen asked as she glanced over at the boy in question. She looked between them a bit quizzically for a moment. She wanted to follow it up with why she asked, but figured that might be a bit weird to say before confirming.

-==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Cafe, Lumiose City==- "Oh! Sure, that would be cool." She smiled, though was slightly caught off guard by the offer. "All of them are pretty neat in their own way, but Pikachu definitely has style points." Colleen grinned, as she struck a pose. "I remember when Ronin did this too before using Slash on the Swords Dance, it was a cool moment." She looked over curiously as she wondered how the photo would go. "Do you get fans coming up to you like this often?"

-==IC: Olivia -- Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- "Thank ya as well, and I'm sorry that ya had to relive that sorta thing." Olivia hesitated for a moment, as she wanted to like try and give some sort of reassuring action, but figured that that wouldn't help. "For what it's worth, your Meowstic is an amazing partner if she did all that to help you." She gave a smile and turned her head, noticing that everyone else was beginning to file out. Still... "I'm sorry that we caused ya a headache too. I wish there was a way we could make it up to ya." The redhead bit her lip slightly, as she knew that there likely wasn't any way to fix the interruption they had caused. -==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Cafe, Lumiose City==- Colleen smiled at the antics of the two, as she was amazed at the chance to meet Emily. When Emily asked her about what she could do, however, she paused. "Oh, uh, I didn't really think that far ahead... I've only seen the shows in Anistar, but I've seen what I could on TV, but you're pretty awesome in the Contest scene." She gave a happy smile, though a lot tamer than before. "It's cool to like, meet you and all." She felt like something that had been said was familiar to her, but decided to not think about it for the moment; hopefully there'd be more chances to later. -==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- Jenny turned around and grinned. "Looks great, honestly." The woman chuckled, as she looked at the colour of the coat. "Seems like purple's your favourite colour, huh?" She teased as she looked over her own clothes again, wearing a knee-length light blue dress with poofy shoulders but otherwise no sleeves. "Your turn now, what do you think?" Jenny asked with a teasing smile as she gave a slight twirl. -==IC: Lucia -- Outside Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- After spending the rest of time discussing things with Lionel, Lucia had walked toward the door, only for Dahlia and co to start filing out. She noticed that Jamie in particular seemed rather contemplative in comparison to when she had walked outside. "What's up?" The healer asked curiously as she got close. -==IC: Ryan -- Vermilion City==- Ryan's Pokégear beeped to inform him of the message from Miriam. After he quickly checked it out, he glanced around the building and crowd. "Looks like there's a way in, but we need to make sure we're not seen." The Rocket glanced around, and saw a path that seemed unoccupied. "Alright, over this way, looks like we might be able to get around the crowd over here." -==IC: Chloe/Ray -- Camp Site==- Ray yawned as he exited his tent, looking as if he had just woken up not long after Ryan. "Yo." He mumbled briefly, though blinked awake more at the smell of the food. "Oooh, nice, someone cooked us breakfast. Thanks Ryan." "Wasn't Ryan." A voice called out from behind the two of them. Ray turned around to see Chloe hiding inside her tent, only her face really visible as she peeked out. "I thought I'd make something quick and easy, but I'm gone one second to get out of my pyjamas and people start taking credit. Shame on you Ryan." With that, she disappeared briefly, returning not long after in the same outfit from the day before, except wearing the pants from her combat outfit underneath her skirt as well. "Is everyone else up yet?" She asked, as she pulled on her shirt a bit while waiting.

-==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Cafe, Lumiose City==- "You participate in Pokémon Contests a lot, don't you? Emma?" Colleen asked with a hint of a curious tone in her voice as she tilted her head ever so slightly. She guessed from the girl's aura that she was correct, but didn't want to voice that without any confirmation to not try and put her off. -==IC: Lucia -- Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- Lucia paused for a moment as Dahlia chimed in - she felt like she recognized her from not long ago, but she couldn't recall from where exactly. "Yeah, this is my dad. Well, adoptive dad, but he's my dad none-the-less. I was here to visit him, and walk in to this... mind explaining, dad?" -==IC: Ryan -- Vermillion City==- "This'll be tough..." Ryan mumbled to Shannon as he eyed the crowd. "Lemme try to see if the person who told me to go here has anything that could help. I'd use Tyranitar to make a way through here, but... I don't think that'd work, between the reason for this. Plus, I don't want to scare Aori and Miyu." With that said, the black-haired man typed up a message to briefly explain the situation while also mentioning that they were just outside. -==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- Jenny gave a chuckle as she nodded. She found the irony of the move name quite amusing, but decided to keep that to herself as she pushed the door to the clothing store open. When she walked in, she was surprised by the amount of apparel in the store that wasn't necessarily clothing related. The woman glanced around curiously at the selection, though nothing particular jumped out at her as being amazing options.

-==IC: Olivia/Lucia -- Looker Bureau, Lumiose City==- Something felt oddly familiar to Olivia as she tried not to listen to the conversation, but heard it and processed it anyway. She tried to think about what she could have found so familiar, but she didn't get much time at all to think before the new duo appeared - before she got time to process their arrival, however, the man who had been speaking walked out from the room. She felt a slight headache coming on from everything that competed for her attention, which wasn't helped by the interrogation the man gave shortly after. Thankfully, Olivia didn't need to worry about that for too long. The redhead that she had seen stepped forward. Olivia now recognized her as that sister of Chloe's who they'd found out about in Celadon, Luna she believed her name was. She seemed to be wearing a disapproving look on her face. "Dad, I don't think that's any way to treat people." 'Luna' reprimanded, as she crossed her arms. "I'm not really sure what this place is, but..." She paused for a moment and looked around. "... what is this place, anyway, again?"

-==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- "Alola!" Jenny said with a smile, as she tried to repeat the gesture that Kukui had made. "My name is Jenny Hakuda, it is nice to meet you, Professor Kukui!" -==IC: Ryan -- Vermillion City==- "Enough to not have to worry at all." Ryan replied to Shannon before he raised his volume so the other two could hear as well. "Those sound like good plans for after." The man began to lead the way toward the Rocket Outpost after that, though he kept having a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something he wanted to do. -==IC: Colleen -- Scarlet Café, Lumiose City==- As Zoe and Lachina chatted about the language, Colleen got distracted by the auras of the people in the cafe. Nothing stood out to her, though there were a couple almost of... surprise? Confusion? She couldn't discern specifically what, but turned her head to see where those auras were coming from. Then it was her turn to be surprised. "Three croissants, please." The Aura Wielder quickly ordered, and then turned and walked over to the two who had been looking at them. Colleen got nervous as she approached, but took a deep breath to steady herself. "Um, hello."

-==IC: Olivia -- Lumiose City==- "Huh?" Olivia looked up at Dahlia's question. "Oh, nothing much, just--" At that moment, Jared's proclamation caused her to take in the building. "... this is the detective agency?" The Rocket didn't seem to really be convinced, so she quickly double checked on her own map. "... hm. Odd place for a detective to hang out, isn't it? Seems a bit... run down, dontcha think?" -==IC: Colleen -- Lumiose City, different place==- "Food's a good idea." Colleen agreed with a nod. "We might be here to search for leads, but focus is best when our stomachs are full. Lucina taught me that lesson well." The aura wielder motioned to the others as she walked up toward the crimson café and pushed the door open. Inside seemed like a perfectly normal café, but the atmosphere felt rather... ominous to her. She tried to shrug it off the best she could, as she walked up to the counter to begin to order things. In the meantime, as she tried to be as nonchalant about it as possible, she began to scan the auras of the people present in that room outside of Lachina and Zoe. -==IC: Lucia -- Lumiose City, but in the past==- "Sounds like a plan to me." Lucia grinned as she reached for her Meganium's Poké Ball. She hesitated, however. It sounded like she'd need as much power as she possibly could get, especially after the last fight. She moved her hand to grab her Gothorita's Poké Ball instead and then threw the capsule forward, the psychic Pokémon giving a very confused look upon being sent out. -==IC: Ryan -- Vermillion City, not Lumiose City for once==- "Hm." Ryan admittedly hadn't gotten that far. "Not sure yet, but we have some time to plan that out." The Rocket gave a reassuring smile, as he began to lead the way to the Rocket Branch's outpost. He couldn't think of anything in particular to do, but he knew there had to be something. -==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- "Sure, sounds like a good idea to me." Jenny smiled brightly and thought over what outfit could work. "Hmm, well there's one type of outfit that could work. Do you know where the closest clothing store is? I wanna go see if they have what I'm thinking of now!"

Things are definitely getting interesting, and Sonia definitely means business here.

-==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- "Nah, I think I'd realize if it was that." Jenny let out a small giggle. "Like, I remember some things, and this didn't seem quite like that? I dunno. It was weird, though!" She took a small pause as she thought about things for a moment. "So, what's the goal for today? Did we have anything planned to do?" -==IC: Natalie -- Celadon City==- Natalie finished scrolling through the list on her Poké Gear and sighed as she looked up to the first message Guinevere had written. "Nope, no luck. The chaos of the fight must've made me forget to get their new number." She said as she fidgeted with her hair. When Guin finished writing the second message, she nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright, let's do that, then head out quickly." -==IC: Ryan -- Vermillion Docks==- As Ryan watched Shannon and the children interact, he checked his beeping Poké Gear quickly. He raised an eyebrow at the convenience of the message - and seemed rather impressed at the circumstances of everything. He sent off a quick response in the affirmative and looked up at the others. "Alright, looks like we're headed for the branch here. Everyone ready to go?" The man asked the three others as he pocketed the device again for the moment. -==IC: Ray -- Train==- "Shouldn't be, I think." Ray said with a nod, as he thought about the terrain of the area. "The biggest thing will be the hike from here to Mount Silver, I'd say." He bit his lip as he suddenly wondered if they knew the precise location of the building there. He figured it wouldn't be too hard to find, and time-wise he felt it'd be quick to get to. After a moment more of thinking, Ray began to walk back to where they had left the others. When he got there, however, he realized that the others weren't there. "They left the train already... hopefully not too long ago." He glanced back to the others and gave a smile. "I'm sure we'll catch up soon, though." -==IC: Chloe -- Blackthorn Station==- "To be fair, growing up the biggest confusing thing was that I had two moms, since I didn't know the reason why Cassie went into hiding was to protect my sister. It was only like four years ago when things really started to get like this. And the rest was like, between six months ago and last month. Since then, things have actually kinda gotten chill again? Well, as chill as they can be in this situation..." Chloe took a breath as she finished speaking again, then bit her lip as she realized that she had been talking a lot recently. -==IC: Olivia -- Lumiose City==- Olivia followed the two in unusual quietness. She seemed to be preoccupied by something as she glanced around at the buildings quizzically each time they passed by one. The trip to the agency didn't seem to have what she was looking for, however, and the woman sighed as quietly as she could, as she searched on her own Poké Gear for anything that might help her search. -==IC: Colleen -- Lumiose City==- Colleen flushed red as she glanced around to make sure no-one was suddenly taking an interest in a long-dead criminal organization. To her relief, however, most of the people seemed to be paying attention to their own thing. There was only one exception of someone in the distance who exclaimed "Heck yeah! That's hecka good!" to the comment. Colleen opted to keep the conversation quiet on her part, as she navigated the city around to the address on the piece of paper. As she looked at the name of the cafe, she suddenly realized that it was the famous red cafe near the Pokémon Center. "We're almost there." She called back to the other two as she glanced back to check on them.

-==IC: Colleen/Olivia -- Lumiose Pokémon Lab==- Olivia and Colleen stayed quiet throughout the explanations of the phenomenon, not wanting to interrupt the professor. Olivia in particular seemed surprised by what was mentioned, but simply made a note to bring it up later when she was talking with Chloe. When Jared brought up the idea of splitting the party in two, Colleen thought about it for a moment. However, when she prepared to speak, Zoe quickly chimed in on where she wanted to go. "Alright..." The aura wielder said, as she quickly worked to regain her train of thought. She glanced over everything as she looked around at the group that was there. "I think that if those are the two places that we're going to be checking out, then we should split our talent in a similar way. We have two people with the same set of skills, who are both assigned as leaders - so I say we should head up each sub-group." Colleen said as she motioned to Jared. "I'd recommend that my team goes to check out the cafe thing - and that we take Lachina along. I mean, the other group is headed to a detective agency, so it's not exactly lacking in arrest power, but..." She paused and turned to Lachina. "You're a ranger, I think I recall you mentioning?" -==IC: Ryan Hikari -- Vermilion City Docks==- As Ryan was about to reply to Aori's question, he was slightly surprised by Shannon's sudden arrival. He waited with a smile as Shannon and Miyu talked for a few moments. However, he hesitated slightly as Shannon asked about what they'd do next. "You know, I hadn't really thought that far out yet..." The man gave a sheepish grin at that and thought over the next plan. "Hm, I did get a... request to meet someone in Rocket earlier today." He recalled the message and wondered if it was as much of a "request" as it was an "order", considering how it seemed to be worded. "So maybe we could head there next?" -==IC: Chloe -- Train to Blackthorn==- This suddenly got awkward. Chloe struggled to think back to what Sanders did know. "Well... it's pretty much like this. So there's my dad, who pretty much is responsible for half the bad stuff I find myself in. Then there's one of my moms, who ran off into hiding and only showed up occasionally when she switched places with my real mom. My real mom died in that attack in Goldenrod four years ago, though - which was because of someone my dad hired to attack us. Which is what caused Ryan, my brother, to be turned against us until the deceit was revealed." After a moment, Chloe paused. "Oh, and I also have a sister that I didn't know about for years. That's why my other mom was off in hiding for so long - though my other mom is Ryan and my sister's birth mom." She scratched her head slightly, though as she looked out the window it looked like they were quickly approaching the Blackthorn train station. "It's very complicated. I try to forget about it when I can. Especially my other mom, who only seems to show up when it's convenient." -==IC: Ray -- Train to Blackthorn==- Ray faltered as he tried to find any of the words to say. He tried to think of anything that he could say, but the things that everyone mentioned just seemed to pierce through him. The young man stayed where he was standing for a brief moment, but then slowly approached - though he made sure to keep a little ways away after the last couple times he was yelled at for overstepping boundaries. "I'm... scared too. I've been trying to make sure that I try to keep up my smile and everything for the sake of morale, but like... this situation is stressful, and I don't want to go back either. I know that Ford's base likely will be empty but like... will the atmosphere be any different?" Ray sighed, as he scratched his head awkwardly and uncertainly. He wanted to say something about what Sonja had said, but he felt like his words would be hollow. At one point, it seemed like he was in the exact situation she was in. Now, every little thing seemed to be getting better for him in those regards, but worse for her. But, he had to try. "I... want to help, though; not just with everything we have to do, but you two as well. Kyle has a point - I want your help, and I want to help." Ray faltered again slightly, but gave the best smile that he could. -==IC: Jenny -- Heahea City==- Jenny groaned slightly, as she rustled around in her bed. "Five more minutes..." She let out a small whine as she attempted to shield her eyes from the sunlight in the room for a moment, but gave up with a sigh after the attempt failed. The redhead sat up groggily, as she frowned in contemplation. "That's weird. I feel like I had the weirdest dream ever last night - twice, for that matter."

-==IC: Lucia -- Prism Tower==- "Yeah, we met a few years ago." Lucia took a moment to actually recall the exact place they had met before. "I think it was back in Viridian City? I think you were looking into the abandoned gym there?" She chuckled after that. "I recall that you tried to help me battle back then, but it... didn't quite work as well as it could have." -==IC: Colleen -- Lumiose Pokémon Lab==- "Well, it's like this..." Colleen began to explain the situation about how Xander had sent them here to check in about the mission and then explained what their mission even was. After she finished, she glanced over at Jared for a moment, as she briefly wondered how the one who hadn't talked to Xander had gotten shouldered with the task.