Blessed Blade

-==IC: Chloe/Olivia/Ray -- Goldenrod City Airport (Jam)==- Chloe glanced over to Olivia as she stirred awake from the announcement. The woman seemed to still be half asleep, but the psychic smiled at her. "Alright, this is my stop, but we'll be as quick as we can, okay?" Chloe said with a reassuring smile. Olivia looked a little disappointed, but nodded with a small smile of her own. She stayed quiet, however, even as Chloe began to pick her stuff up to head off. The auburn-haired girl gave one glance back as she saw Olivia begin to look out the window. She knew she had to focus -- she looked forward as she made her way down the plane. In front of her, Ray was already saying goodbye to Ellen. "I'm sorry again about ditching the Christmas party last year." Ray said with an apologetic smile, his messy hair looking strikingly out of place to Chloe as she watched. "I'll make it up this year, though, okay? I'll bring everyone, too." Ellen gave a small smile. "That sounds fun . . ." She threw her arms around him. "Just promise you won't run off this time." Paul clapped the redhead on the shoulder. "A Christmas reunion? We'll look forward to seeing you there." Neither Paul nor Ellen brought up the unspoken wish that Ray and everyone else would actually survive that long to attend a Christmas party. "I promise." Ray said with a smile and returned the hug as he nodded to Paul. "Should be enough time to plan for everything. I'm gonna try and keep it a surprise for some of us, though…" He wore a mischievous look for one moment, before that vanished. "Well, I'll be sure to let Anna know," Paul said with a chuckle. "I'll see you then." Ellen squeezed Ray for a moment, as if afraid he might disappear if she let go, before she finally relinquished her embrace. "Goodbye . . ." "See ya soon." Ray gave Ellen a cheerful salute with another reassuring smile before he walked off the plane. Chloe watched with an impressed look on her face, and then walked forward to take her turn to say goodbye. Ellen offered her the same small smile she had given Ray. "Good luck," she said, throwing her arms around the psychic girl. "And thank you. For everything you did yesterday . . ." Chloe wrapped her arms around the girl in return with a smile of her own. "You're very welcome, Ellen. Thank you too." She knew she was more reserved than Ray had been, but she didn't think that mattered at the moment. "You'll have to take me on a tour of Village Bridge someday; I never got to see it the last few times I visited Unova." "That would be great," Paul said. "I'm sure Ellen has a ton of places she'd love to show you." Ellen only nodded silently in response as she held her embrace. Mr. Burks smiled at them. "You're a very brave girl, Chloe. I'm glad my daughter got a chance to meet you. Don't lose hope. You and your team will do great." "Thank you." Chloe smiled up at Paul as she held Ellen longer. She knew that the longer the goodbye took, the more the pilot and everyone else might get annoyed, but she knew this had to be on Ellen's terms. So she let her actions do the talking for her and simply stayed there as a shoulder for the young girl. Tears were in Ellen's eyes when she finally pulled away. She smiled up at Chloe, mouthing a silent "Thank you. And . . . goodbye." Chloe returned the smile once more as she picked up her purse again, a puzzled look briefly on her face as it felt heavier than she remembered it being earlier. "I'll visit as soon as I can, I promise. Goodbye for now, though!" The woman smiled, as she gave Ellen a wave and then stepped off the plane. -==IC: Ryan Hikari/Shannon Willows -- Barracks, The Alamo(Jam)==- Filled with a new determination, Shannon led Ryan back to her room so they could begin packing for their trip to Vermillion. Thankfully, Shannon's mother had left the room by the time they got back. Seeing the messy state of her room seemed to make Shannon suddenly more self-conscious about her own hygienic state. "Ugh, I feel like a Grimer," she muttered as she frowned at her bedheaded reflection in a tall mirror. Ryan glanced over as he wasn't sure whether to disagree or not. He noticed her golden hair was a tangled mess. Her eyes, still red from crying, had an exhausted look to them. Her t-shirt hung loosely from her shoulders - it looked less wrinkled than earlier, but he could still tell it had been slept in. Frankly, she looked like a mess, but Ryan didn't want to say anything at that moment either way. Thankfully, he didn't have to. "I'm gonna go freshen up." She retreated into the bathroom, leaving Ryan on his own. The sound of the shower running indicated that she'd be a while. For a moment, the Rocket pondered what to do. He gave a loud knock on the bathroom door. "I'm gonna go get my stuff ready, I'll be back after. Mind if I use your key for a moment?" he called over the sound of the water. "Yeah, it's on the kitchen counter!" Shannon's voice yelled back. With an unseen nod, Ryan walked over to the counter and took the key for the moment. He quickly locked up the door as he left her room. Ryan glanced around at the numbers to try and find the best way to get back to his own room. However, he paused as he pulled out his own key. "That's odd…" The black haired man looked between the two keys with a puzzled expression on his face. However, his eyes widened as he looked up across the hall. Tentatively, he walked to the door there and tried his key. It worked. ". . . Well, this is something I won't be telling Ava…" Ryan mumbled under his breath as he ducked into his room. As the Rocket gathered up the few things that were scattered across the dresser, he had to admit that it was a good thing that he didn't just unpack and move in when he had gotten the room. For once thing, it wasn't as if this was a place he could just stay for a while in. It was one thing for Chloe, for whom Liberty had become a family in a way. But Ryan had no ties to Liberty at all - one day or another he'd be on his way elsewhere, just as he had been for the past four years. So the man picked up his backpack. He debated having a shower as well, but figured that he'd be good without one. As he locked up and walked back to Shannon's room, he thought back to the day before. Why had Wrath been reborn as one of those… things? Ryan shook his head. Something felt weird to him, but the entire situation since August began had just been completely and utterly alien to him. Ryan turned his focus back to Shannon's room. He could still hear the water running, and so decided to use the time to try and be helpful. The man began to tidy up the room a little bit, as he pulled the covers and sheets up on Shannon's bed and smoothed it out. After, he headed over to the kitchen and began to tidy up the dishes that had yet to be put away after the doubly failed breakfast plans. "Alas, poor omelette. Maybe your next life will do you better." Ryan said dramatically, as he solemnly placed the sad omelette into the compost bin. He quickly placed the remaining dishes and the pan in the sink, but decided to wait on washing anything until Shannon was finished. He glanced around, but didn't see much else until he noticed the sketchbook on the nightstand that was still open on the drawing of him. Curious, Ryan walked over and looked at the drawing as he heard the water turn off. He had to admit, the attention to detail was a remarkable thing compared to some of the other drawings from other people he had the pleasure of seeing. Still, he also felt a little modest about the drawing. He was surprised that Shannon wanted to draw him more than anything. He also wondered with a slight blush whether some of it was from memory. "What are you doing?!" The sketchbook was suddenly snatched off of the nightstand, and Ryan looked up to see a red-faced Shannon clad in nothing but a towel and a scowl as she held the book aloft in her hands. Her hair was still dripping wet, leaving wet spots on the floor. "Who said you could look through my stuff? That's personal!" "... it was already open?" Ryan said, as he tilted his head in confusion. "Why… are you in a towel?" He didn't quite understand what Shannon was doing out here like that, but had a funny feeling that he was treading on thin ground as it was. "I cleaned up the room a bit, by the way." Her face turned a deeper shade of red as she tightened her grip on her towel. "I-I just came out of the shower, why wouldn't I be in a towel?" she shot back. "Besides, you were supposed to be off in your room packing!" Seeming to be some awkward combination of angry and flustered, Shannon flipped the sketchbook closed and set it on top of her dresser. "I did." Ryan held up the backpack full of his stuff. "I didn't have that much stuff to pack." He stood up and walked back over to the kitchen to finish cleaning up the dishes. "Sorry, though; I should've knocked and told you I was back." Shannon ignored him, digging through her dresser for a change of clothes. He heard her mutter something about "no concept of privacy" before she vanished back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. Ryan blinked as he turned his head to the slammed door. With a sigh, he just finished washing the dishes as quick as he could. Once he did so, he set them on the drying rack and patiently waited for Shannon to come back. He wondered how he even got into that mess in the first place. After what felt like an abnormally long time, Shannon emerged from the bathroom, fully clothed. Her damp hair hung by her shoulders, and she meekly strode over to the kitchen nook and took a seat at the table. "I didn't mean to blow up on you like that," she said quietly, staring down at her bare feet. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, I'm sorry." "It's okay." Ryan said rather simply as he sat down. His face was otherwise pretty passive as he subtly slid off his shoes for the moment. After a second, he nudged Shannon's left foot with his own. She glanced up at him. He repeated the action without any comment. As if trying to gauge his intent, she hesitantly nudged his foot back. As if in response to that, he once again nudged her foot, a small amused smile on his face. She nudged back, holding her foot against his for a moment. "Thanks for cleaning up," she said with a soft smile. "You're welcome." Ryan replied, as he leaned forward a bit to rest his chin on his hand. "I'm sorry for looking at your sketchbook without asking." Shannon shook her head. "It's not your fault, it was open. My parents were notorious for looking through my private stuff like that, and -- well, as you could probably tell, there was some stuff in there I didn't exactly want them looking at . . . ." With a heavy sigh, she rested her own chin in her hand, mirroring Ryan's posture with an amused smile. "You, however . . . well, what did you think of it?" "It was pretty neat." Ryan replied with a smile. "Was that from memory, or from a picture or so?" He had to ask the question that he had been wondering about since he saw the drawing. "Like, it was pretty well done in my opinion, but I don't know what you had for reference or so…" Her cheeks flushed at the praise as she busied herself with her Pokégear for a moment. "I asked Lucia for a reference pic, and she gave me this." She leaned forward slightly to show him the photo in question, taking the opportunity to study his face. "I wish I could have done that from memory," she mused with a sheepish grin. "That's pretty good; very clever idea too." Ryan was amused a little at how the picture had been obtained, but smiled as he glanced up at her again. "I'd say you did pretty well, though. Chloe swears by reference pictures the few times she actually does draw stuff, too, so I definitely get it." "I didn't know your sister drew. I should get together with her sometime, she seems like a neat girl." Shannon let out a small giggle as she playfully nudged his foot again. Ryan nudged back as he leaned forward again slightly. "Yeah, I think when things settle down a bit and she gets back from wherever she went this time, it'd be nice for a bunch of us to just relax and get to know each other." The man didn't seem to mind the fact that their faces were rather close at this point, as he smiled. "That'd be nice, it's been forever since I've just spent a day hanging out with a whole bunch of friends." Shannon didn't seem to notice their proximity, or if she did, she didn't mind it either. "Of course, hanging out in a smaller group has its perks too . . ." "Perks like this?" Ryan asked with a teasing smile, as he moved to lean in the rest of the way. Before he could reach her lips, she grabbed her Pokégear and leaned back in her chair. "Oh my gosh, look at the time!" She looked back up at Ryan in horror. "We need to finish packing if we want to make the first ferry to Vermillion!" Ryan leaned back with a look of surprise on his face as she mentioned about the boat. "Alright!" He quickly stood up with a smile. "I'll help you pack, it'll be faster that way." -==IC: Natalie Dexter -- Celadon City==- Natalie pushed the front door to the mansion open, after checking in with one of the officers standing guard. It still felt surreal that this quiet place continued to have trouble after trouble come to it. She shook her head and began her search around the mansion. It quickly seemed to be proving fruitless, however, as much of the staff either hadn't seen anything, or didn't want to tell her anything. Frustrated, Natalie decided to take matters into her own hands. "Maybe I can find something on my own. If so, then maybe they'll be more willing to help out..." However, as she opened the door to Stacy's bedroom, she quickly noticed a Gardevoir who seemed to be on the way to leaving the room. "... who are you?"

It was a very good chapter! ^^ Definitely worth the wait, in my opinion!

-==IC: Lucia Zyther - The Alamo==- "Lucia!" Was the only warning the woman in question got before she got tackled from behind into a hug. With a grin, Lucia turned her head to get a glimpse of the wild Jamie that had just appeared. "How'd things go?" Lucia asked as she smiled at her friend's hug. In her opinion, her tackle hugs never got old. -==IC: Shannon Willows/Ryan Hikari/Ava Willows - Barracks, The Alamo==- "Is someone at the door?" Ryan took a moment to catch his breath as he let the question hang in the air. He knew from the receptionist at the front desk that Shannon had only just recently moved into this room, so he had to wonder who else would know she was here. Shannon's response was to tackle him onto the bed to prevent any further investigation of the mysterious knocking. "I'm sure whoever it is will go away if we ignore them," she said before resuming their ritualistic lipwork. The knocking persisted. Shannon doubled down on their kissing, as if she hoped to drown out the distracting noise. For a moment her plan worked -- and Ryan enjoyed every second of it. Then the knocking turned into an earsplitting pounding. Whoever was at the door was not giving up. Shannon resurfaced and swore under her breath, her messy hair tickling Ryan's nose as she swung off of him to answer the incessant knocking. As Shannon walked away, the man stopped to reflect on what had just happened. The turn of events had definitely taken him by surprise, but overall it seemed like things had turned out well. Still, the more he thought back on it, the more the worry and doubt started to creep into Ryan's mind. Was this the right choice? Was it actually okay to be kissing her? It was nice, he had to admit, but he felt worried that he might unintentionally be taking advantage of Shannon's emotions. The Rocket sat up for a moment to try and see what would happen, equally curious about who could be at the door. The moment the door opened Shannon let out a squeak. Ryan craned his neck to see her face turn beet-red. A moment later he felt his own stomach drop as Ava Willows stepped into the room. Shannon's mother seemed to take in the entire scene before her, jumping to her own conclusions in a matter of seconds. The half-eaten omelette by the sink. The ruffled bedsheets. Shannon's crimson face, wrinkled t-shirt and obvious bedhead. And the mastermind behind it all, Ryan Hikari, sitting like a criminal on her bed, caught equally red-handed and red-faced. The look on Ava's face made Samurloch seem like a cute puppy. "What is going on here?" she asked, seething. "I've been looking for you all morning, only to learn that you left the hospital without telling anyone, and now I find you've gotten a room with this boy!" "Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ryan held up his hands with a deep blush. "That's, um, this isn't my room. I just visited to try and see how Shannon was doing after yesterday… but I have a totally different room, next to my sister's." He stumbled over his words a couple times as he spoke, not at all prepared for that sort of comment. Ava took a threatening step towards the bed. "Oh, so you're 'just visiting.' I see how it is. You invite yourself over to my daughter's room under the pretense of 'comforting' her, like you're some knight in shining armor, and not even twenty-four hours after her father's death! You're just taking advantage of her emotional state. It's an insult to my husband's memory and a disgrace to our family! You disgust me!" "What are you even talking about?" Ryan seemed to be more dumbfounded than anything at that point. He wore a poker face well when Ava attempted to poke at his own worries, but everything just confused him at this point. "I just got here like thirty minutes ago. I knocked, just like you did, and offered some breakfast to make sure that she at least was able to have something. Because I've been in her shoes before." The man nodded to the bag that was on the counter that had the leftover ingredients that hadn't already been put into the fridge. "Check the receipt if you want." Shannon stamped her foot on the ground. "Seriously, Mom, how could you even think that? Quit jumping to conclusions, Ryan only came here to help!" Ava narrowed her eyes at the black-haired man, her fist clenching around a bag of what smelled like fresh bagels. "Regardless, this is a family matter." She spoke slowly and carefully, as if each word held the risk of triggering an explosion. "So I will kindly have to ask you to leave." Ryan debated the possibilities of everything in his head for a moment as he wondered what could help out the situation the most. As he ran through everything, he visibly paused for a moment as he stood up. "Um, Ava, can I talk with you for a moment?" This took both Willows women by surprise. Ava seemed to consider the offer for a moment before nodding and opening the door so they could step into the hallway. Shannon shot him a worried look that suggested her mother might try and strangle him, but he gave her a reassuring smile as he stepped out of the room. **** The moment the door closed, Shannon began pacing around her room, her face buried in her hands. "Oh, how could I have been so stupid?" she muttered. "Of course she would come and visit. Ugh, she just had to ruin everything!" Selena popped out of her Pokéball and curled around the girl's neck as a way to comfort her. Shannon stroked her fur, and allowed her to nibble on the remains of Ryan's omelette. Her thoughts drifted back to the moment she had shared with Ryan. She wished time could have just stood still around them, so that they could enjoy each other's love for eternity, forgetting all their other problems. **** As Ryan closed the door behind him, he glanced over at Ava. "I, um, know we've both gotten off on the wrong foot. I'm sorry for anything I've done or said that may have given you a bad impression of me. But I think that if I stay, I could maybe help out. I've been in this situation before, but my dad and I had no-one else to help us. Nothing really got better because of that, but I almost feel like I might be able to help here." He took a deep breath after he finished talking. He hoped that Ava could maybe consider the idea at the very least. Mrs. Willows crossed her arms and frowned. "You're right, I don't like you. Shannon and I have never been close, but we always managed to tolerate each other. It seems like ever since she met you, she's been more openly rebellious against Theo and I. I don't know what ideas you've been putting in her head, but I don't like it. Like I said, this matter is solely between my daughter and me. But if you think you can get Shannon to at least listen to what I have to say, I'll allow you to stay." "I haven't been putting any ideas in her head." Ryan said, as he tried to keep his tone calm. If there would be any resolving this situation without people getting hurt, then he'd need to keep himself in check for the moment at least. "Things aren't always as simple as it seems, including the matter of this matter. I think hearing what I have to say, and what Shannon does might do everyone some good. I've seen how this ends without people hearing each other out, and it's not good. If I had done things better with other stuff, then maybe things could have gone better…" The man's voice trailed off for a moment as his gaze fell to the floor. He glanced back up, however. "So, please. At least listen to your daughter - maybe everyone will learn something new today." Ava bit her lip. "You seem to genuinely care about Shannon. I think I'm starting to see what Theo saw in you. I'll do my best to listen. But I can't promise things will turn out the way you want them to." "That's all that can be asked for, I think." Ryan gave a smile as he seemed to be okay with it being at least a possibility that things could work out. "Alright, let's get back inside." The black-haired man opened the door back up as he walked back in, Ava following behind. "Want me to help get the bagels ready, Ava? I think that we can spare some room for them, right?" He glanced over to Shannon with a smile. Shannon squeaked in surprise, dropping her sketchbook to the floor, where it fell open on a surprisingly detailed portrait of Ryan. She hurriedly picked up the book and set it aside on her nightstand, giving Ryan and her mother an incredulous look. "When did you two get so chummy?" Ava wore an amused smile on her face as she started preparing the bagels. "Don't test your luck. I'm only doing this because your boyfriend begged me to." Shannon clenched her fists as her face turned a deep fuchsia. "W-who said he was my boyfriend?" Ava looked over at Ryan and raised an eyebrow as if to ask if she had misinterpreted their relationship. Ryan paused for a slight moment as he thought back to everything leading up to the kiss. Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? Was Shannon just being shy or was he just reading too much into things? "Um, well…" He felt two pairs of eyes staring at him, pressuring him to give an answer. "E-either way, the point stands that things are definitely… uhh... " He trailed off as he bit his lip. "I think what we should really focus on here is how much talking we can do! Yes, talking." The man decided to just leave the bagels to Ava after how the omelette turned out. "So, um, who's ready for an unforgettable discussion?" Shannon looked unamused. "You really expect me to hear out this old hag?" Ryan glanced over as Ava slammed a plate on the countertop so hard it nearly cracked. "I knew you wouldn't be able to change a thing, Hikari," she muttered. The man laughed nervously, as he frowned slightly. "Listen, I've been in your situation. I'm not expecting miracles, but I'd like if both of you could at least try to talk this out peacefully. I know that things between you are… strained, to put it extremely mildly." He paused as he tried to find words that wouldn't get anything thrown at him. "But right now, the only way this can go without discussion is… very badly. I've requested that you be heard out, Shannon, so can you at least try to talk things out? I'll be here to be a neutral party. Does that sound good?" Ryan watched as Shannon turned her head and gave her mother an icy glare. "Fine," she said through gritted teeth. "We'll try." "Alright," The Rocket took a deep breath as he hoped that things wouldn't go as horribly as the current situation suggested. "Let's begin." -==IC: Taylor==- Taylor yawned as she looked down the halls curiously. She bit her lip as she wondered how to go about the situation in multiple ways. After her and Claus had gone their separate ways the night before, the girl had tried to call her father multiple times. However, each time simply ended in failure the same way. She felt worried, especially at how Claus might react to that sort of news. Despite that, she felt motivated to try to find some way to fix this. To find out what was going on. The biggest problem she faced at the current moment, is that she had no clue where Claus even was. -==NPC: Natalie Dexter - Celadon City==- It had been a restless night. Everything had been fine two nights before after she left the mansion, but when she woke up, she was bombarded by questions, interviews, officers who wanted to double, triple, quadruple check their stories. But to Natalie it was all just a whirlwind of confusion, of uncertainty. That night had just allowed her to stew on it more and more, until her dreams forced her awake with a start. The woman paced around the halls of her home, as she pondered what she could do to help. She had been told that the shares that Stacy had held in the company had passed onto the nearest person in the inheritance chain who wasn't a suspect. Because of the recent offer and because of her alibi making a fool of herself at karaoke at the very time the murder occurred, she was immediately ruled out. While she wondered why Stacy's husband hadn't been considered, she assumed it was the fact that he already held stake in another company. She briefly thought about trying to use the company to find her mother figure's killer - but then realized that a clothing company wouldn't help with that in the slightest. With a frustrated groan, the woman went to the bathroom to splash her face with water. There had to be something she was missing. What about those people who were there, who was being cared for by Stacy? Maybe they heard something? Natalie knew the police would have looked into that already, but she felt as restless as the sleep she got. She had to try something. So she pulled on her coat and walked into the early morning mist, determined to find out something that could help lead her to whoever did this. -==Board of Directors - Leavanny Straus boardroom, Celadon City main building - August 5th, 8:05 PM==- "So, what is our plan of action?" The room began to fill up with shadows as the last remnants of the daylight slowly began to fade over the horizon. The gathered people sat around a table with a device embedded in the middle of it. One person pressed a button on the desk to create a hologram from the device. The hologram shifted between images before finally settling on two emblems. One appeared to be a white and red insignia, while the other appeared a lot more subdued - like a clothing brand logo. "It's simple. Our forefathers were sloppy. They paid for it." A woman leaned back as she placed her hands behind her head. "But we've learned. We don't need to do the same things to get what we want. The current big thing is that threat in the Sevii Islands that is constantly reported on. That can work in our favour - we build things up while waiting this out." "And how do you propose we do that?" A brown-haired man leaned forward, hands covering his mouth. "We don't know at all what is going on there - the news refuses to run many stories on whatever is happening. All we have is shaky amateur hour footage. That will not cut it!" "It doesn't need to. We're not fighting, after all. But we certainly can use it to our favour. This company is the perfect opportunity for us to build up notoriety and credibility. We can supply the equipment that the dear late Mrs. Trilan was in the middle of working on to whoever needs it. We'll be seen as heroes by both Liberty and Rocket, especially in this time of need." A smile crossed the woman's face as she addressed the room. "We can be certain that the world is working around the clock to find out how to stop this threat. Perhaps they simply need a little backing at times. But imagine if we sell this equipment to them, while also incorporating the designs like Mrs. Trilan wished. . ." The woman stood up and pushed a button, as the hologram changed to a number of different clothes. The enhanced materials that Stacy had started research on to try and make clothing more resistant and protective were shown to be woven into the clothes. "It's quite simple too and inexpensive for us. Mrs. Trilan was worried, worried that it might be abused. I say that she was scared for no reason." She stepped back, as she held her hands out to point to the hologram. "This, this is the future. This is our future." She smiled again as she shut the hologram off. "This is the future of our organization. Our forefathers were wrong about their approach. They should always have just stuck to the shadows. . . now I will show you all just how wrong they were. All hail Cipher."

-==IC: Jenny Hakuda/Evan Tierra (Jam) - The Alamo - Beginnings of a Relief==- As Evan made his way back the Medical Wing, he had sent three messages out on his Pokegear: one to Zarth about heading to Alola with Jenny to check on a new lead, and that he trusted her to take care of things. One to Ray telling his future brother-in-law that his sister had accepted his proposal. Finally, one to Jenny telling her he was on his way, and that he had news for her. When the man had finally gotten to the Medical Wing, he waved to the secretary at the front, who waved him to come on in. When he got to Jenny’s room, he knocked and came right in, noting that Lohe was gone. “I take it, Lohe had to go?” he asked the redhead. “He did say he had business to take care of, so I understand.” Feral felt that same spark again when his better half entered the room. “Hey, jailor! You may wanna bring up what I told you to him!” "Yeah, I'm not really sure where he left to go, but…" Jenny hesitated for a moment as she mulled over what Feral was saying. "While you were gone, Feral was saying something interesting. That there was a sort of odd feeling he got when you were here earlier?" Feral, taking a chance on the link he had facilitated between Evan and Jenny, then spoke. “It felt like the power of Space was imbued in this woman’s body, if that makes sense?” The creature said. “It feels like you were….passing it along?” Evan thought over what Jenny and Feral had said. “I think there’s an explanation.” The Hero said, scratching his head. “Feral is my dark half, and once wielded the power of Space. Perhaps by being sealed within you, he’s kind of…..enabling you to use the power as well?” He then rubbed his temple. “But that doesn’t explain the notion of passing it along…” Jenny shrugged as she turned her head back and forth figuratively. "I don't know, honestly… I can't really tell what's going on, myself. I feel pretty much normal?" The woman scratched her head as she tried to figure out anything like what Feral said. "I mean, I wasn't chosen by Palkia, right? So I couldn't have powers passed down." Feral swirled around in his mental prison. “But you’ve got me within you. I’m betting the power doesn’t need to be passed down, but maybe…” The creature mulled it over. “Hero, I want you to imagine that power of yours, and then imagine passing it like a hockey puck. I wanna test something.” Evan nodded, and focused on the power within himself, and then imagined passing it over to Jenny. The moment he did, he felt something…be let loose inside of himself and thrown out. What the…. "What are you doing--?" Jenny looked curious at the explanations for a moment, before she felt a surge of sudden power. She didn't even know how to react as she just sat stunned. She glanced down to the ring on her finger in incredulity as it began to glow a bright pink for a moment before dulling to a subtle pink glow. "... I think. . ." The Plasma agent said slowly, as she glanced up at Evan. "That we should take a trip outside." Evan nodded, as he looked in wonder. “This is….gonna be interesting, I feel.” The Hero felt powerless, but he didn’t feel….empty. He saw that she had changed out of her hospital gown and into more casual clothing. “Well then, shall we?” Feral, meanwhile, was feeling exhilarated by the power that was being channeled through him. However, he didn’t feel like he was “in control” of the power, just that he was acting as something for it to pass through. ”Hey, look who was right! Me!” Jenny seemed amused by Feral's comments, but focused, as she tried to send the power back for the moment. She wanted to test how it worked, curious to the inner workings of it, before they actually started to test the powers themselves out. "Yeah, let's go." Evan felt the power rush back into him, which caused him to gasp a bit. “That’s so different.” He then led Jenny out of her room and waved to the secretary. “I’m taking her out for some fresh air.” He said as Jenny and himself left the Medical Wing for a good place to figure this out. On the way, Evan decided to break the news to Jenny. “Tomorrow, at 8 A.M., you and I will be accompanying a Liberty Executive to Alola.” He said, grinning at Jenny. “Lohe’s info was too good to pass up, so we’re gonna head there.” "A Liberty executive?" Jenny tried to think of anyone she knew who was an executive. "Was it that guy who you went to see earlier? It sounds neat, but it almost sounds like there's some mission or something?" She tilted her head curiously as she wondered what exactly happened while Evan was away. “Yeah, he’s the guy I went to see.” Evan said, thinking about what Jenny was saying. “I think he’s going over there to find out more about Alola. He didn’t seem like the type to go out into battle unless necessary.” He shook his head. “Regardless, it’s our best bet to get there, considering the situation.” After a while, the pair had found themselves outside, under the gray sky that hung over Four Island. Evan scouted out an area a ways off from the Alamo so he and Jenny could figure this out without any prying eyes. When they got there, the Hero passed his power back at his girlfriend. “All right, let’s get to the bottom of this.” Jenny took a deep breath as she felt the surge of power return, and focused on how to make this work. "Feral, any words of advice? You seemed to have a pretty good grasp on how this stuff worked, even down to recognizing this was even possible." Feral thought for a moment. “Let’s start small: a Spacial Shield. If I what I assume is correct, you can create a barrier for a split second by swiping your hand, creating the barrier in its wake.” Give it a shot!” Feral watched intently, waiting to see what happened. Jenny thought over the instructions for a moment, and raised her hand to the sky. She swiped downward, a slight rippling sensation on either side of her arm as the sky shimmered for a moment. It felt. . . powerful, but even the woman herself could tell it was incomplete. Feral looked on, approving of what his jailor had accomplished. “Go on, keep trying. Let’s see you work on it.” "Hmm…" Jenny frowned for a moment as she felt uncertain about something. Something about how the barrier had worked felt… off to her, though she couldn't place why. "Alright." The agent decided to try something different this time, and held her hands forward. "What if the focus was maintained instead?" She mumbled as she very slightly moved her hands to the right, trying to focus on maintaining a barrier around the two points instead. Curiously, she noticed a 'bar' of the shimmering sensation in front of her. Tentatively, she raised her right hand, and lowered her left, which seemed to draw the top and bottom of the bar away from the center, creating a square shape of shimmering air. The moment Evan saw the square, he walked over to it, and started tapping it. It felt solid to the touch. “Seems the power is a little different for you, than it is for me, Jen-Jen.” The man said, grinning. “I didn’t know you learned from Mr. Mime!” Jenny snickered at the comparison, an amused smile on her face. "Well, it's a fitting way to showcase it, having the power at my control now." She closed her eyes, a slight frown on her face. "Feral, what's that?" The woman asked out loud, as she felt a sort of. . . energy pulse coming from a nearby spot in the field. Feral was taken aback by the sight of the the pulsing spot. “That’s…...a spot where a portal….could be made.” The creature said. ”They are usually all around the world, but I didn’t expect you to see one here…” "Hmm…" Jenny mulled the information over for a moment, as she walked over to where she felt the pulse. She could not actually see the spot, but used her best judgement of where it could work. She mimicked the actions she took to create the barrier over the spot as she focused on the power. "It'd be… like this, right, Feral? I get the instinct that this would work this way?" The agent asked as she placed her hands over where the barrier was. Feral was amazed that Jenny was trying this so soon, but nodded in his prison. ”Yeah, that seems right.” He said, adding his strength to hers, so the effort wouldn’t leave her as winded. As Jenny was opening the portal, Evan looked on curiously, wondering what she was doing. The connection facilitated by Feral made it clear she was exerting a lot of power so soon. “What you got there, Jenny?” "I… don't know." The woman admitted, as she began to push the energy outward. "This feels almost familiar, like I've felt the energy used before. But I don't get it. It feels right to try to open this portal, but yet…" Jenny closed her eyes as she began to force the energy to swirl around. She knew just from the feel of it that she was trying to do something beyond her current skill level, but she did not want to just give up on it. "Just a little… more…" The woman focused as she pushed forward against the barrier. The shimmering air seemed to break, and despite the lack of resistance, Jenny did not go flying through the newly opened void. Confused at the swirling hole that appeared to just contain darkness from the look of the portal, the woman stepped back. As she did so, however, she could hear something faintly. "Hold on, I think I hear something… Evan, get ready in case it's hostile." Despite her exhaustion, Jenny got into a battle stance just in case, hand on her Scizor's Pokéball. Evan saw a middle-aged man fall out of the portal Jenny had created, his hand on Gnip’s Poké Ball. He had a sudden realization, that he knew this man. “Searcher?!” -==IC: Chloe Hikari - The Middle Of The Air (Some parts written by Flipz)==- To Chloe, the majority of the flight seemed like just a normal time. She lazily watched the news channel that was on the TV, not able to find any sort of method to change the channel. For the most part, it wasn't as interesting to her as it might be to someone else, as most of the important stuff they'd need to know at this point wouldn't likely make it onto public television. One specific program piqued her interest, however, as it seemed related to Kalos. She watched with intrigue, as she idly wondered if it might be important to the Signs mission. She shifted in her seat, popping her earbuds into her ears to listen and block out the other conversations on the plane for the moment. "...In the wake of Lysandre's demise alongside Team Flare, Lionel Zyther emerged as one of Kalos' leading technology tycoons. Already respected for his work at Strange Science, a Shabboneau-owned rival to Lysandre Labs, Zyther eventually left that company to found Groupe Granbull, a conglomerate consolidating several of the smaller companies into which several of Lysandre's holdings had been split. But Zyther was not content to rest on the laurels of existing success; soon after his acquisitions, Zyther resumed production of the new-and-improved Holo Caster, most notably featuring worldwide roaming and solar and kinetic self-charging capabilities that drove the device to even greater popularity. With Zyther's successes came competition, however. Within months, Zyther found himself inundated with legal challenges, in particular from his old employer Strange Science's new CEO, who tried to sue the man for patent infringement and corporate espionage. The list of ever-increasing charges seemed insurmountable...until the cutthroat businessman somehow successfully counter-sued for wrongful employment, the case taking an even wilder turn after evidence emerged of the firm's higher-ups embezzling from the company, ultimately resulting in Zyther gaining ownership of the company he'd once served. With the conclusion of the Strange Science case, many of Zyther's other legal challengers faced similarly messy fates, the tech tycoon turning tech tyrant as he turned the tables on his competitors..." Huh... The psychic's eyebrows furrowed as she watched the program. Why does that name ring a bell? Zyther... Zyther... I feel like I've heard that before, not long ago either. "As he continued to bankrupt and buy his competition, Zyther seemed poised to completely conquer the Kalos tech sector...but then, in 2012, it all stopped, a series of significant financial losses preceding a complete halt to Zyther's corporate maneuvering. While most attribute Zyther's sudden shift in attitude to the untimely demise of his first wife Lila Shabboneau, others point to his later partnership with minor heiress Christina Mikazuki as a likely reason for his change of heart. While the date of the duo's acquaintance is uncertain, what followed was a shockingly swift courtship, with their marriage and the adoption of their son Alex coming mere months after the first anniversary of Shabboneau's death. With a new Zyther family came a new Lionel Zyther, the technology tycoon shifting his massive wealth and research almost exclusively into charitable and humanitarian causes. While the latest Zyther investments have yet to bear fruit, most analysts expect that Zyther is still digging for gold, and if--or rather when--he finds what he's looking for, the Tech King of Kalos could very well change the world once more." The implications took a moment for her to process. "WHAT?!?!?!" Chloe exclaimed in complete and utter shock as she sat there otherwise in complete silence. It had to be a coincidence, right? But yet, she distinctly remembered hearing of her mother's maiden name - and her real mother's first name. "How can this be right...? What does this mean?" The young woman mumbled almost inaudibly as she tried to figure out what had happened. She almost wanted to not stop at Mount Silver now, but knew better. She knew that even if her mom was somehow still alive, it wouldn't change anything about which mission was more important. The rest of the news program was tuned out as the psychic woman's mind whirled around with her thoughts. -==IC: Ryan Hikari - The Alamo==- Ryan yawned as he walked down the halls of the Alamo in the dim early morning light. After he had been cleared the night before, the man had been tempted to visit Shannon. However, the events of the mission made him hesitate. He avoided Ava for similar reasons after Lucia had told him about how the older woman had nearly attacked her. He could only guess what Shannon's reaction would be like. However, he knew that he couldn't just ignore his friend. It was for that reason that he knocked on her door at a rather early time in the morning. Ryan wanted to try and talk to Shannon before Ava got a chance to, as he got the feeling that the mother would monopolize all her time. As he waited, the man's Pokégear beeped - he read the message quickly and tilted his head. Who is this? I don't recall ever meeting a Miriam. Ryan shook his head and paused as he noticed some messages from the day before. Messages from his mother, which seemed panicked almost. What had happened that had gotten her so worked up. . .? -==IC: Lucia Zyther - The Alamo==- I hate mornings sometimes... Lucia groaned out loud as she forced herself to go to the cafeteria. If she said that she slept well after the day before, she would be very much lying. Her dreams had been some weird combination of both the train incident that gave the group their first look into these alien monsters, a bunch of the incidents from the past month, and the deadly mission from the day before. Her decision to just stay awake to not deal with those nightmares didn't help out that much either, as her mind went into overload thinking about Jamie. After the two had officially woken up and Jamie went to visit her brother, Lucia simply opted to try and find some way to stay awake. "One coffee. Black." The redhead said with a completely tired voice to the barista. Thankfully, they seemed rather understanding of Lucia's situation, judging by the quick preparation. After a moment, they returned and handed the coffee to the Rocket, who nodded in thanks and quickly paid for it. She walked over to a table and began to mull over everything that had gone on as she waited for her coffee to cool down to drinking temperature. Once she felt she was able to walk around with her drink in hand, Lucia decided to try to find where Jamie was. She thought that she might be finished with her conversation with James by now, even if she didn't know for sure.

-==IC: Chloe/Colleen/???==- Chloe watched from the distance, keeping mostly to herself for the moment amid the executive’s appearance on the plane. She glanced over first at Colleen, who was currently reading a book as if it were any other day. Then she looked over the rest of the passengers in their group, though she seemed confused when Xander seemed to skim over her in comparison to the others. However, she glanced back to Emmerich in both curiosity and a hint of caution. “Let’s see how this plays out for now.” Chloe said telepathically to Kyle and Ryan, as she tried to keep herself occupied as if nothing was happening. “This could work out well, didn’t we have some good luck in terms of executives the last time we had a mission like this?” The door to the plane opened once more, however, as a man breathed heavily. It looked like the young man had run the last little while to the plane, though he glanced up after a moment with messy orange hair nearly covering his eyes. “Sorry, am I late?” *** After giving his regards to Ellen, Evan was about ready to be on his way, when he saw a particular orange-haired young man heading for the plane. This is such great timing, honestly. Evan thought as he made his way to Ray. “Hey, Ray, what’s up?! You joining them or seeing them off?” Ray yelped in surprise as he turned to Evan. To say he didn’t expect the man to be there or call out the way he did, would be an understatement. “Evan?!” The orange haired man called out in a mixture of shock, surprise, and many other related emotions. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you going on the plane too?” Evan chuckled a bit at Ray’s reaction. “Naw, I’m staying behind this time.” The Hero said, a note of disappointment in his voice. “I don’t think I’d be much use while I am still relearning my powers, let alone with just one arm backing me up.” Ray seemed surprised as his eyes followed to the sling. “Huh… I would have thought that would have healed by now, honestly. That’s kinda too bad. What’ll you do in the meantime, then? Kick back and--” He paused for a moment. “Wait, relearning your powers?” “Yeah, I kinda…….got them back!” Evan said, grinning now. “Palkia, I guess, decided we needed every advantage we could get, and must have given them back. I’m not complaining, relearning aside….” The man then focused his eyes on Ray. “I can tell you’re raring to go, though. These people need all the help they can get, and I know you can do it.” Ray nodded with a smile. “Yeah. It’ll be a good test, I think - and honestly after yesterday’s mission, I think I need something a little lower on the danger scale.” He chuckled for a bit before a mischievous look crept onto his face. “Besides, someone needs to keep Ryan in check. Can’t “tell what mischief he might accidentally get into.” Evan chuckled at what Ray had to say about Ryan. “Well, I can think of no one better for the job.” He said, flashing a bright grin. “I trust you can do that, while I am back here recovering.” It was then, that Evan recalled why he pulled Ray aside. “Ray, buddy, pal, amigo, I’ve got earthshattering news for you.” The Hero said with his trademark melodrama. “You got a minute?” “... What do you mean?” Ray tilted his head curiously, but nodded. “Yeah, I think I do, what’s up?” “You see……..” Evan said, a mischievous grin creeping onto his face. “It’s about your sister……” As he spoke, the Hero reached for the velvet box that contained the Lustrous Ring. “I’m thinking...of asking her to marry me, if we survive this. What do you think?” It took a moment. Then the Separatist looked at Evan incredulously. “WHAT?!” “You heard me! M-a-r-r-y, as in to be wedded together!” The Hero said, drinking in Ray’s over-the-top reaction. “I figure the end of the world is the best time to ask that!” Ray was speechless. Completely and utterly speechless. “... What?” He blinked for a moment. “Okay. That’s new. Marry?” He shook his head. “Well, wow, congrats! Huh. Didn’t expect that, gonna admit.” “As her brother, I felt that you had a right to know.” Evan said, amused at the Separatist’s current state of mind. “I did kind of wanted to tell the others, but I didn’t want to distract them with such…..unrelated news.” He then focused on his friend. “Got any suggestions on how to…..bring it up?” Ray shook his head in uncertainty. “Not a clue, honestly. Wish I did, but I can’t really think of anything. Never been in this situation and well, I can’t say I know much about what Jenny would like right now.” The Hero could only smile at Ray’s uncertainty, as he pondered ways to bring it up. “I suppose I’ll just have to do things the Tierra way!” He said, pointing at Ray, then above. “I do wish you could be there, to see how it goes down, but the mission takes priority….” “It’s okay, I’m sure I’ll hear about it afterward.” Ray smiled brightly as he nodded. “I hope that everything goes well, honestly!” “Well, if I can, I’ll be sure to call you before I propose, so you can hear it live.” The Knight asked curiously. “Do you feel that’d be a good idea or would it just be best if I kept it private?” “Either works for me.” Ray shrugged as he didn’t seem to know what he wanted there too. Evan nodded, and flashed a grin at the younger Hakuda sibling. “All right, well, I’d better let you be on your way, lest we hold up the group.” Evan said, about to turn away, before facing Ray. “By the way, looking good! Safe travels!” Ray returned the grin, but then paused as an announcement to head to the plane rang out through the airport. A sudden panicked look crossed Ray’s face, as he quickly booked it toward the terminal to get to the plane.

-==IC: Chloe Hikari/Olivia Seaton/Evan Tierra(Jam) - Four Island Airport==- “And look, look! This one is cute too!” The discussion between the couple had been stuck on repeat for about an hour since they had stopped at the tech lab to get an update to Chloe’s Pokédex. The psychic had gotten inspired after the meeting with Lohe and when she freed the Rowlet the day before, so she got the data for the Alola region added. In the process, the technicians discovered that her Pokédex was also missing data from Kalos - an oversight likely resulting from the overall lack of Pokémon there. The time since then had resulted in her showing Olivia every second Alolan Pokémon in a loop. For the most part, the taller woman simply smiled and nodded as her own thoughts were cycling around the upcoming mission. On one hand, it was a chance to grow and prove herself - but on the other. . . she had to admit that she was very nervous about the whole thing. Olivia tried to remind herself that it was like a fight from the earlier days of the Rocket war. They just had to go in, find out the location of this cell of Flare, and take it down if it existed. But this was anything but a fight from the early days, as half the team they were taking was neutral or Liberty. The woman realized that she probably actually was the only Rocket on this mission. That was even before taking into account the fighting skills of the team and the lack of Pokémon power. The two walked toward the gate they had been instructed to wait by, even as they took two entirely different approaches to waiting. Chloe stood flipping through the virtual pages of her Pokédex and Olivia nervously scanned the surroundings for anyone that would be joining. Her eye caught a glimpse of a man that seemed familiar to her enter the airport. She took a moment to place where she could have seen him before, then her eyes widened as she realized who he was. Chloe turned her head in surprise as Olivia began to quickly walk over to the newcomer. “Heya.” Olivia said after drawing close to the man. “Whatcha doin’ here?” That was most definitely not what she planned to say. She grimaced slightly. “I-I mean, uh, how are ya doin’? Are ya goin’ on one of the missions too?” I wonder if that’s better? Evan was jolted out of his thoughts by the sudden approach and initial greeting of Olivia, but didn’t let it deter him from smiling at what followed. He recalled the discussion on the boat, and was determined to be kind to the woman. “Considering things, I’m doing alright.” The Hero said cheerfully, restraining his urge to pose for the moment. “Sadly, I’m not joining for the mission. I’m not sure how much use I’d be, what with my arm and such….” He then gestured to his restrained right arm, smiling sheepishly. Evan then focused on the woman in front of him. “How about you?” The man asked kindly. “You going on the mission? You nervous about it?” The man knew that the anticipation before a mission gave everyone a case of the nerves, and Olivia seemed no different than in that regard… Olivia bit her lip for a moment, and then nodded. “I dunno why, but I am a bit.” The Rocket glanced off to the side for a moment as she thought about it. “I’m just worried, I guess. I dunno most on my team other than my sis… one guy seems okay, but…” She let her sentence trail off as she knew she wanted to trust Jared, but still wasn’t 100% certain what she felt about his trustworthiness yet. Evan chuckled a bit at the woman’s worrying, hoping to set her mind at ease. “I know what you mean, honestly.” He said kindly. “I know Dahlia, you and…...Colleen well enough, but that one guy, I really don’t know much about him. I can see how that might worry you, but it can’t hurt to lend a little faith to him?” “I guess ya got a point…” Olivia sighed, as she closed her eyes. She could give Jared another chance. It was best not to make things awkward now - if there was a reason to distrust, then that could be dealt with in the moment, not before anything else happened. Second chances. . . “By the way…” The redhead paused briefly as she struggled to find the words that she was wanting to say. “I’m sorry for what I put y’all through back in Lilycove. I was outta line, and I just… I dunno why I even got so upset. It wasn’t fair to any of y’all and I just… I was scared for some reason, that somethin’ else might go wrong. But that’s just an excuse, so I’m sorry for not trustin’ ya more.” Chloe listened quietly behind them, as she did her best to pretend she wasn’t listening to the conversation. She flipped through the Pokédex some more with a small smile, as she just subtly nodded at what Olivia did. It must be the end of the world. Evan thought as he processed what Olivia said to him. He didn’t expect an apology from her now, let alone ever. But he’d take it. He smiled at her and spoke. “It’s not in my nature to hold grudges for stuff like that, so I forgive you.” He then held out his unbroken arm out for Olivia to shake. “Shake on it?” Olivia stared at the outstretched hand in surprise as she tried to process what happened. She lowered her head for a moment, as she realized that this was an example of why Chloe believed in her friends so much. The woman grabbed Evan’s hand, before she pulled him into a hug, overwhelmed by the forgiveness shown. Yep! It’s the end of the world! Evan’s thoughts rang out as Olivia embraced him gently. Surprise turned to relief, as this meant that the woman seemed to at least trust him now. He returned the hug with his one free arm, squeezing with what strength it could afford him. “It’s no handshake, but it’s definitely better than I expected.” He said cheerfully. “Thank you.” After a couple moments, Olivia stepped back and wiped at her eyes with a small smile. She still seemed more reserved than normal, but took a deep breath. “One day we should have a fight if the power comes back for everyone. I’ll try to prepare in the meantime, then I’ll show ya just what I can do.” Olivia grinned more as she held out her hand for real this time. “A match between friends, ya know?” “I’d have it no other way, Olivia.” Evan replied as he shook her hand happily. “Those are usually the best matches, and I am sure you’d be a force to be reckoned with!” The man definitely didn’t expect this turn of events, but he guessed on what he considered his best day ever, anything could happen…

Mostly just Tex's discord stuff. Surprisingly no-one past that. =P

Alright, alright, I'm in.

I completely lost track of when the story was up, and haven't been checking BZP overall much, but that was a pretty good chapter! Mostly just filling out stuff, but it works pretty well as a downtime chapter ^^

-==IC: Lucia/Jamie(Jam)==- Lucia herself was leaning against one of the guard rails facing the ocean. She didn’t figure this was what the path was meant for, but. . . it was more comfortable than other places she could have gone for this. She stared out at the ocean waves crashing in the night; she might not have been able to see too much aside from what the moon lit up, but she’d take it. Jamie was about to tackle hug her from behind, but Pelleas stopped her, shaking his head. Jamie nodded, she had to play this cool while Lucia right now. She walked forward and said “Hey, your mom called.” Lucia’s head tilted up in surprise. She quickly raised a hand to her face before she turned around. She seemed a little confused as she patted what few pockets she had. “... Ohh… I forgot my Pokegear…” Her head fell in embarrassment as she berated herself in her mind for that too. “What… did she want?” “Oh, she just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Jamie said, deciding to leave out the part where she asked her for romantic advice. “Oh! And she said it was a nice and apple-y warm summer in Kalos. Something like that,” Jamie added. The redhead paused, as she looked up, all trace of embarrassment or regret gone. “... She said nice and apple-y warm?” Lucia seemed a little paler than normal, as she looked around uncertain. Her mom wanted to know if she was okay, and then gave that phrase… “Did she say anything else…? Did she sound off to you?” She caught herself before she could get too intense with her questions, but warning bells were going off in her head. She was pretty certain that at this point, this day was simply cursed. Jamie looked at her as if she was missing part of the picture, “Uh well, she asked if you and Shannon were alright before telling me to disregard that. I guess she was sort of cautious at first.” That seemed to confuse Lucia more than anything. “Huh, that’s an odd thing, but okay.” She thought for a moment. “She definitely seemed glad to hear from somebody,” Jamie mentioned off-hand before realizing she still had Lucia’s Pokegear. “Ah, here. I guess you want this back, right?” Lucia smiled as she took the device, her hand lingering a little longer than was likely needed. As she turned the screen on, however, she tilted her head to the side as she saw roughly 14 messages from her mother. All of them were asking if she was alright - from around the time they had gotten on the helicopters. “Nice and apple-y warm…” Lucia bit her lip as she took deep breaths. “Well…” She closed her eyes. Her imagination being overactive was only good when things were okay. Things were definitely -not- okay right now, and she didn’t even know why. All she had was this hint for her, a code phrase to know when something was very wrong. And in that code phrase, a place to go. “Ever go to Kalos?” The redhead gave Jamie a grin to cover up the fact that she had no clue what was going on. “Nope. I have barely even heard of Kalos. What is it like?” Jamie asked, curious. “It’s… uhh…” Lucia scratched her head for a moment. “Interesting. It’s somewhat like here, but also not, if that makes sense? I’ve only been there a couple times, but it’s kinda neat. Do you want to go?” “Hmm,” Jamie pondered to herself. “I mean, I would rather keep fighting M0 with everyone here-” Lucia was looking at her with such pleading, hurt-Lillipup eyes. As they watched this, Pelleas and Tristan wished they had popcorn as they watched the tables turn on the young girl. “Wait, that’s not fair,” Jamie pouted. “That’s what I use to get my way with Pelleas and Tristan…. Fine, I’ll go with you.” Lucia felt a little bad after Jamie’s reaction, and winced slightly. “I mean… if you really really want to stay… where it’s dangerous…” Jamie began to feel bad that Lucia was feeling bad. Pelleas and Tristan were enthusiastically nodding in support of getting their daughter away from all this danger. “I mean, that’s where heroes are needed, right?” Jamie sighed and put on her best smile. “Don’t worry about it. We can go to Kalos. There isn’t a mission to fight M0 going on right now anyway.” Lucia let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she was holding. Something about the way that message from her mother sounded made her really uncomfortable leaving Jamie behind. “That’s true,” was all that Lucia could actually muster out, though. “I… I can’t stay away forever. But we can stay for a little while at least,” Jamie began to mutter that last part. To be honest, she didn’t know what she was gonna do away from the battlefield. She hoped she could train at least. “Well, we’ll figure out everything as it goes along.” Lucia gave a small smile to Jamie as she turned away slightly. “I.... I’m sorry again… for putting you on the spot like that earlier. It wasn’t fair to you…” “Hey… It’s okay,” Jamie said hesitantly. “I don’t think I would have figured that stuff about love on my own. And from the looks of things,” she glanced at Pelleas and Tristan who suddenly noticed some very important pieces of dirt to inspect and were most definitely not trying to avoid eye contact, “they probably weren’t gonna tell me,” she said with a bit of chuckling. Lucia giggled herself at that, as she smugly looked at the two in question. “I’m sure there were some things I didn’t say; I’m not really good at this stuff either honestly. But. . .” The redhead looked over with Jamie with a small smile. She didn’t know how this would turn out, but she had to remind herself that there was still a possibility. “Maybe tonight we could like, learn more about each other? I mean, the birthday thing earlier made me realize we kinda are lacking in that and I want to fix that.” “Yeah sure, let’s head back to our room. I guess I got a few questions worth asking,” Jamie said, Pelleas and Tristan giving approving remarks. Lucia wiped at her face with her arm again for a moment before she started to walk forward, turning her head slightly to make sure that Jamie followed. Even so, she had to admit that she still had her doubts - still wondered whether this had been a good idea. The girl turned her head forward again so that Jamie couldn’t see it right then.

-==IC: Lucia/Jamie(Jam)==- Lucia’s head tilted up as Jamie re-entered the room. She smiled at the excited and giggling girl, glad that the dress looked as good on Jamie as she had imagined. “What do you think?” Lucia asked as she leaned forward a bit, resting her chin in her hands with a happy look on her face. “Hmm,” Jamie thought about that for a moment. She didn’t know a thing about clothing, but she thought it looked good on her as she looked in a mirror, and decided that it was enough. “I like it!” she shouted. Lucia smiled wider as she heard that and stood up as she moved toward Jamie with a giggle. “I’m glad you do, I was worried it might be a little wrong, but that’s one thing you learn when you basically grow up with a fashion-orientated mother, I guess.” She stopped close to her friend again, as she felt the heat return to her cheeks. She tried to stop herself from getting flustered once more, and instead took a deep breath. “Say, um, did you know there’s a level beyond best friends. . .?” Suddenly, Lucia didn’t quite know where to look, as she struggled to realize that she had actually said that. “Yeah!” Jamie’s chest swelled with pride as she responded to Lucia. She knew the answer to this question. “Family, of course!” Inside their Pokeballs, Pelleas and Tristan were shaking their heads rapidly screaming something that would translate to “ABORT! ABORT!” The girl figured that her face now matched her hair as she smiled shyly. “That’s one of them, yes! There’s actually some other things too… do you, um, know much about love?” The panicking within the Pokeballs increased. “Love?” Jamie said, pondering what Lucia was talking about. “That’s how families feel about each other right? Like my Pokemon love me and I love them… right?” Jamie said with some trepidation. She wasn’t as clear on this subject. Lucia tapped her fingers together as she tried to figure out how to reply exactly. Jamie wasn’t too far off in general, but. . . “You’re kinda close, actually.” Lucia shyly giggled, as she again didn’t know exactly where to look. “Um, there’s also a kind of, um, love feeling you can get for other people. Like friends you grow very close to or so; close enough that they might as well be part of your family.” “Might as well be part of your family,” Jamie considered. Inside her head, two metaphorical train conductors were arguing about which exit to steer Jamie’s train of thought. One yelled “LOOK A DISTRACTION!”, and quickly shifted gears to steer the train in the wrong direction while the other turned to look. “Does that mean we get to declare more brothers and sisters? Cool, I always wanted a younger sibling. Maybe I could appoint Gavin-” “Ummmmm. . .” Lucia chuckled awkwardly. On one hand, that was just like Jamie and she had to admit, that would be neat. On the other, that was totally not what she had meant, plus she had a funny feeling after some things from earlier that Gavin would absolutely -not- be in the mood. “I mean, that’s kinda possible, but I kinda meant it in a different way than like siblings.” She struggled to pull the words together, as she considered how to phrase this. “Imagine like, a friend you really -really- liked and cared for and such. A feeling of butterflies and the like whenever you look at them, or just like… a feeling of caring deeply, deeper than friends, but at the same time… the same, in a way?” Lucia paused for a moment as she tried to ignore her own doubts. “Like… it’s hard to describe precisely because it’s different for everyone. But there can be that type of thing just waiting for someone. Everyone has their own preference on the type of person, like, whether they’re a girl, boy, or any sort of mix…” She trailed off slightly. “But that’s basically… romantic love, and crushes.” Finally the other metaphorical train conductor attacked the one who had driven them off course and tied him up, so she could drive them back onto the correct course. “Oh,” she said as an example began to form in her head. “Is that like what,” Jamie paused for a moment. She had only seen stuff like Lucia was talking about on TV when she was a kid. She didn’t have what she was about to suggest, and it tore her up for a moment. Was she abnormal for not getting this? “Is that like what moms and dads have for each other?” she said with some trepidation. Lucia smiled shyly a little bit, as she nodded. “That’s part of it, yes. It’s like Pelleas and Tristan in a way.” The redhead bit the inside of her lip slightly, as she tried to figure out some other way to help further explain the concepts. The Heracross and Metagross just looked at each other from within their Pokeballs. Now what Lucia had just said made things feel quite awkward. True, they both thought of themselves as Jamie’s “dads”. True, they definitely thought of each other as partners in some degree, definitely in raising Jamie. But Lucia just made it sound like they were ‘mates’. Which Pelleas didn’t even know how that would work, and neither were sure if they quite felt -that- way about each other. I mean, if Jamie -needed- parents that felt that way, they could sure pretend, but Lucia just made everything awkward. Lucia fell quiet as she quickly felt the awkward atmosphere fall over the room. She had tried to help things, partially selfishly so she could let her own feelings be known, and might have just messed things up. Looking away a little more, she took a deep breath. “U-um, are there any other questions you have…?” “Hmm…” Jamie thought again. So love could mean all that too. That was very informative but… “So why are you bringing this up now?” That was not the question she was expecting. “U-um, well, you see…” The words caught in her throat. Would this be okay? Is this something that she should say? She inwardly cursed her doubting mood. She needed to at least try regardless, right? “I might have a crush on someone… um, that means basically the hints and beginnings of love or so, or like, a love that you haven’t actually mentioned to the other person yet.” Lucia herself felt awkward now, as she wondered how to even say this. “Wow,” Jamie said, seeming slightly downtrodden. “You’re my best friend and love is for people closer than best friends, right?” She perked up quickly though, “Okay, you got to tell me about ‘em. Are they super-strong or adorable or- ooh- maybe they’re really good at beating up bad guys?” she kept listing off trying to guess who Lucia had a crush on. They’d have to be pretty impressive for Lucia to have feelings for them. “Definitely all of the above.” Lucia’s gaze turned back to Jamie’s face with a soft smile. “She is very nice in many different aspects, like being a strong trainer… definitely very cute too. She has pretty soft-looking brown hair…” Pelleas and Tristan popped out of their Pokeballs, scrambling to try and interrupt the moment. Their great strength and superhuman precision failing them in the moment, as they tripped over each other. “Hey guys, settle down, this is important,” she yelled at her two dads, before kicking them out of the room. As the door slammed shut, the two began begging to be let back in, with Pelleas banging on the door. Jamie ignored them. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what’s got into them. Where were we?” Jamie asked as if none of that had happened. Lucia hid a snicker at everything that had just taken place, but smiled. “I believe we were discussing my crush and how amazing she is, especially with her neat green eyes…” The girl took a step toward Jamie again, despite her inward fears about the moment. “I think what really made me actually want to start talking about my crush is because I want to be able to tell her before anything happens.” “Hey, don’t worry,” Jamie said feeling a bit of tension. “Whoever this is I will make sure nothing bad happens. I’ll beat up whatever bad guys are threatening her. That way you can have as much time as you need.” Jamie laughed to herself a little bit. “Time, heh.” Lucia seemed surprised for a moment, and then began to laugh a little bit, both at the girl’s pun, and her offer. “I think it’ll be pretty easy for you to do that…” She felt her cheeks get hot once again. “After all, I have a crush on you.” As soon as she said that, her mind began to become the scene of a thousand chickens running around like their heads were missing. She kept a smile on her face, to her credit, but was uncertain if she had succeeded in what she wanted to say, or in causing things to get awkward.

Very interesting =O I'm very interested to see where the next arc goes... =O

-==IC: Lucia==- Lucia smiled as she watched Jamie's reaction, but it subtly faltered for a moment as the other girl seemed to be worried. Something about that seemed to play with her own mood, but she brushed it off as best as she could. "August 15th." The redhead said as if reciting a page from a computer. She was honestly curious when Jamie's birthday effectively was, but was less worried about that for the moment at hand. To try and help with things, Lucia picked the dress up out of the box and moved closer to hold it up to Jamie so she could see just what it would look like if she were wearing it - or a close enough approximation at least. The healer gave a small but warm smile as she felt her cheeks become just as warm as she both admired her friend and realized how close they were at the moment. After a brief moment of that, she giggled slightly. "The colours feel like they fit you, honestly..." "Ooh," Jamie said, her eyes sparkling. "Want me to go change? I got to see how it looks on me." "Sounds good to me!" Lucia hopped up on the bed as she swapped the dress for the box.

-==NPC: Ness Whitby==- The man took deep ragged breaths, as Guinevere's attempt to help managed to get him to calm a bit. He shakily gave the Gardevoir a rough smile. He didn't seem totally out of the woods yet, but focused on the police officers as he tried to keep his breathing in check more. -==IC: Taylor==- The Poketch rang out as it seemed like breath was being held. After a few rings, however, it just reached a "This number could not be reached" message. Taylor seemed a little bit unnerved by what the implications of that could be. "Um, sorry about that, I'm not sure what happened there..." -==IC: Lucia==- "I'm sure whatever you can do after your training gets really going will be pretty cool." Lucia's cheeks turned slightly red in awe, as she imagined Jamie fighting with the cool powers that she had used, but stronger in some ways. As they reached Jamie's room and went inside, the healer tapped her fingers together shyly, as she thought about everything. "Umm, I got you a present while you were gone." She walked over to where she had left her bag and pulled a gift-wrapped rectangular box out of it. "It's nothing too special really, but I wanted to get something." As she said that, her face seemed to get hot. "Um, is this even a good time for it, though? I don't know if we've ever actually talked birthdays or any other gift giving things, or if this should count since it was only because we were away for so long..." Lucia trailed off, opting to just stay quiet after that until Jamie replied.

-==IC: Lucia==- Lucia looked surprised by the mention of all that and thought it over to try and piece together what it entailed. She smiled after a moment, however, as she realized just what this meant for what Jamie did back on the battlefield. "So you can stop time in an area now, basically?" She made sure they were alone when she said it, but seemed pretty in awe about that. "That sounds pretty cool! How much training in it have you gotten? Is that why you were looking for that Tierra guy?"

-==IC: Lucia==- "I think that rings a bell somewhat." The redhead filed that request under 'info that should probably be held onto for everyone's sake'. Regardless, she nodded for Jamie to go on, as she couldn't really recall specific details that would be pertinent. Lucia decided that she'd let Jamie finish this part of the discussion before bringing anything else up.

-==IC: Taylor==- Taylor awkwardly laughed for a moment as she rubbed her arm. She tried to think back about the last time she had talked to her dad, but couldn't recall if he had mentioned where he was. "I'd love if you could, though admittedly I'm a little nervous about it. But the thing is that I haven't really spoken to him for a little while. He was back home in Sinnoh then, but something in his voice sounded almost like something was wrong... not just because he actually was nice to me for the first time in like three years." She seemed amused at that thought, but pulled up the phone app on her Poketch. "Lemme give it a shot now, though."

-==IC: Lucia==- Lucia nodded as she let up on the squeezing a little bit. She gave a small smile to reassure her friend as she scratched the back of her head a little bit. "That was pretty cool, whatever it was." The healer finally said, as she did look pretty impressed. "Was that something you learned when you went to One Island with Ryan?" She paused slightly, and glanced around a bit. "Oh, um, did you want to talk about this somewhere else?"

That was a pretty neat combo attack! ^^ Looking forward to the next chapter! ^^

-==IC: Taylor==- Taylor's mouth fell open for the briefest of moments before she could cover it with her hand. "Oh." She felt uncertain what to exactly say as her eyes widened. "That... is awesome." -==IC: Lucia==- Lucia took some deep breaths to steady herself as the Power Suit was taken off her. She felt a bit dizzy from the events of the day - perhaps dehydration was an issue here? More likely was how the mission had gone, and how despite them succeeding in helping evacuate, they had lost at least one person during the fight. Her eyes wandered around the room. "Jamie!" Lucia called out as she finally caught sight of the girl. Without thinking, she ran up to Jamie and wrapped her arms around her, the situation's intensity having finally caught up to her. When she looked at Jamie's face after a moment, her own face showed a mix of awe, relief, and worry. She opened her mouth a few times as if wanting to start to say some things, but each time, only a slight bit of sound came out as she cut herself off each time. She finally just gave up on her attempt to speak and redoubled her hugging efforts.

Very interesting chapter! Not too much I can say here, admittedly, but it was interesting to see all this ^^

Oh gosh, was not expecting that character to return, very neat! =O

-==IC: Taylor==- Taylor paused, as she appeared to have come to roughly the same conclusion. "My dad's name is Barry. . ." The girl said slowly, as she tilted her head to the side slightly. The Prinplup looked over curiously as it heard the father's name, but the trainer paid no mind, as she looked at Claus curiously. "What about you?"

I've been waiting for Ace to show up! ^^ The fight was ice and very good too! I'm curious why Sonia seems to have an odd reaction to Ace, but we'll see as plot happens ^^

That makes sense, yeah! It works pretty well, honestly. Another good chapter, too; things are starting to get heated up around there.