Pokémon: Rise Of The Rockets

[Konuju]

IC: Dack/Madison/Luke

Luke scowled at Aspen. "Hey, when you find yourself in a life-or-death battle, no one's going to care if you know the square root of an isosceles triangle!"

 

Madison stared at the others in surprise. "You... you guys don't know about the avalanche?" Luke and Dack both grew quiet. "It was... about nine or ten months ago now. There was a huge earthquake, and next thing we knew, half the city was buried in snow."

 

"It was Team Liberty," Dack said darkly. "They tried to recruit Regigigas to their side, and things went south."

 

"Y-yes..." Madison said, giving Dack a concerned look. "They were in the Snowpoint Temple at the time. But that doesn't mean--"

 

"They killed my parents," Dack said, his voice a low growl. "They killed Matthew. All those innocent people... their deaths are on Team Liberty's hands."

 

"Dack..." Madison stared at her lap to hide her glistening eyes.

 

"Man, I thought you said you were over this whole revenge stuff," Luke said.

 

"Don't you get it?" Dack said. "All those people... to Team Liberty, they're nothing more than collateral damage. That's what the people of Celadon will be to Hannah if we don't stop her." The ex-Rocket agent raised his dark eyes and stared at each of the Johto natives in turn. "I know we don't all see eye to eye. But we've all seen what happened in Sootopolis. I saw what happened in Snowpoint. And I will do everything in my power as a trainer to stop the same thing from happening to Celadon." Madison looked up in surprise. Dack offered her a brief smile before looking back at the others. "I know I can't do it alone, though," he continued. "So I ask you now: for the sake of the city, will you help me?"

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Zach==-

 

Zach stayed quiet for a moment, trying to process what had been said.

But... that can't be... Zach thought, as he realized that he hadn't actually heard from Anna in quite some time.

"They... don't just think that... they can't..." Zach mumbled quietly, until what Dack said snapped him out of his thoughts.

"... Yeah." Zach said with a nod, as he tried to keep himself in check, feeling rather numb. "I'm with you. I don't want the same thing happening to relatives here." Zach said, a slightly grim look on his face as he considered the stakes here.

[Metal Gear Minun]

IC: (Richard/Gawain)

Well Richard was for once as surprised as Zoe, though he was mostly glad to gain his breath back. Heavens know that he’s a hugger, but man he hadn’t expected that.

“I’m Richard Apollo, mighty bard. This sulky fellow,” he said slapping Hades on the back somehow “is called Hades. And this scamp who was givin’ you a headache is named Orpheus. So you’ve got ours, now it is only fair that we get yours. What’s your name?”

The Swampert was quiet for a moment as he thought about his name, but then snapped out of it, slapped a grin on face and said You can call me Gawain.

Of course, Richard could not understand a word of that, so he turned to Hades who said His name’s Gawain. But Richard couldn’t quite get that one either.

The Sableye sighed. He knew the human understood him pretty well, but this wasn’t exactly a word he said every day. He bent over and marked down the letters “G A W A I N” in the sand

“Ga-whine? Ga-wan, Gawaine… Gawain.” Richard racked his brain trying to remember if he had ever heard of that name before. “A Knight of the Round I believe. Wonderful name!”

Gawain winced very slightly upon hearing ‘Knight of the Round’ as those words reminded him of his trainer. But he nodded.

“Yes, I feel inspired! I must write!” (You aren’t the only one buddy) “I shall write a song of the day when Song and Strength Calmed the Rage of Sir Gawain!”

Hades looked towards Gawain and said You okay with that?

Gawain merely shrugged, If it makes him happy, sure. Who knows? A song about me might be nice. Even if I’m the villain. Can't wait to hear it.

The bard inside Richard (which is just about all of him) felt on fire just from the description alone. Rhymes dashed through his head, potential beats scattered through his mind. He was inspired and nothing was going to stop him from writing.

And then a hole opened beneath him and stopped his mojo. Up above, a Diglett was laughing at Richard’s expense.

“Oh and that’s Ponos. He’s pleased to meet you,” the bard said grumpily, climbing out of the hole.

“Hey Zoe, could you go get everyone healed at the Poke Center real quick? Let’s meet back here, but there’s some things I’d like to get real quick.”

[Konuju]

OOC: It's about time we had more Zoe antics.

 

IC: Zoe

"No problem, Mr. Bard," Zoe said brightly as she led Merida, Ponos, Hades, Orpheus, and Gawain back toward the Alamo. As they walked, the young girl could do nothing to hide the goofy grin on her face. "This is incredible," she said. "Wait until Collie hears I met a real knight in shining armor! I bet her mission is incredibly boring compared to our grand adventure! And Orpheus, you little furball! You're such an incredible singer! I think you'll be a grand addition to the Bard's orchestra."

 

As Zoe rambled on and on about Richard and her sister and Gawain, Merida couldn't help but sigh. Sure, it had been an incredible adventure, but she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous that it was Richard and Orpheus who had bested Gawain through the power of song. Merida had hoped that this might be her opportunity to prove her strength -- but once again she had come up short. She may have been in her Pokéball at the time, but she still knew that the reason Zoe hadn't been allowed to go on the mission with Colette was because she wasn't strong enough. Merida had hoped she could prove that not only she herself, but Zoe as a trainer, was strong enough to take on anything Colette could take on. But right now Richard was looking like a better candidate than the wannabe-aura-girl.

 

"You should be honored that Mr. Bard is writing a song about you, Sir Knight," Zoe said with a grin. "He won't write a song about just anybody. It has to be someone really awesome. Like Collie. Although I guess he didn't actually write Moon Princess for her, but it was dedicated to her, so same difference, really." Zoe paused, then let out a laugh. "Hey, it's like you're the noble knight, and Collie's the beautiful princess! And I-" Zoe struck a dynamic pose, kicking her foot out in the air, "-am the warrior princess!"

 

Bending down, Zoe picked up a stick from the side of the path and wielded it like a sword all the way to the Alamo. "Nurse!" she cried in the most bombastic voice she could muster. "These noble knights require rest!" She made a show of twirling her stick-sword around, only to hit herself in the face with it.

 

"Oh!" the Pokemon Center nurse cried in surprise. "Are you hurt dear?" she asked.

 

"It's these warriors you should be concerned with!" Zoe cried, turning away and bringing a hand to her stinging cheek. "Only thing that's hurt is my dignity..." she muttered under her breath.

 

A pair of Chansey arrived and led Gawain and the others into the back room, where they were given medical treatment. Before long they happily burst back into the lobby, good as new.

 

"Are you sure you don't need some aspirin for that scrape, dear?" the Pokemon Center nurse asked Zoe.

 

"I'm fine!" Zoe insisted. "Come on, guys, we've got a bard with a song waiting on us!"

 

And so the warrior princess and her band of noble knights and warriors began their long trek back to the beach, where many festivities awaited them.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Konuju

[JiMing]

IC: The Seatons

 

".......Hm." Aspen muttered first. "So that's why you're on a quest for revenge..... Well then." he said curiously, adjusting his glasses. "I still don't like that Hannah girl comparing me to the likes of you or her-no offense, but I can respect someone else can see the people around us as more than faceless meat sacks." the boy replied. "I'll help. I'm just a pathetic weakling on my own.... But my Pokemon aren't."

"So that's what happened back at Snowpoint..." Dahlia said, frowning. Dack was only one side of the story. There was a perspective she was missing, that of Team Liberty, one that might shed further light on what happened. But then the revenge-driven trainer gave a surprisingly human response afterwards, causing the gardener to pause and think for just a moment. "I-I'll admit, I never thought I'd be fighting against an army in my lifetime.... You're right though. These people are innocents. They don't deserve to be caught in the crossfire of someone's personal vendetta." she replied, wondering if what she had just said could possibly have applied to Dack as well....

 

Olivia went silent for a bit, both taking in Dack's story and Zach's stunned silence. When he spoke up though, she knew it was time to make a decision too. "....Right. I don't know if I can fully trust you as a person yet, but the intent I agree with. From what I listened on to thanks to Am, Hannah's unhinged." she said. "There's no way I can let someone take out their anger on an entire city...." Olivia growled. "And someone thought it was a smart idea to make a megalomaniac into an admin? Do they even know what she's planning for this city, or are they just that blind....?" the currently-considering-early-retirement Rocket agent mused.

[Konuju]

IC: Dack/Madison/Luke

"Good to know we're all in agreement then," Dack said.

 

"Or as good an agreement as we're going to get," Luke muttered.

 

Dack looked at Olivia with a frown. "I don't think anyone ever suspected Hannah of something like that. She was known for being Miss Goody-Two-Shoes. I should probably send a warning to Rocket headquarters to let them know. Not sure how my word will go against an executive's, but it's worth a shot at least."

 

As Dack pulled out his Pokétch and began drafting a message, Madison turned to Zach. "When was the last time you heard from Anna, by the way?" she asked. "She was such a nice girl, but it feels like ages since I've seen her."

 

At that moment, a waitress approached their table. "Welcome to Olivine Garden! My name is Natalie. Can I start you out with anything to drink, or are you ready to order?"

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Zach==-

 

"About... Nine or ten months ago...?" Zach said uncertainly, frowning more slightly, as it sounded like it had been just before the avalanche. However, as he was about to open his mouth, the waitress approached.

"Well... I think we could get both, but..." Zach scratched his head for a moment, and then snapped his fingers. "Aren't you Natalie Dexter? I think I remember you; didn't you used to live down the street from us?" Zach asked curiously, certain that she was who he was thinking of.

Edited December 9, 2014 by An/A Blade

[Konuju]

IC: Dack/Madison/Luke

"I will take the unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks combo, with a strawberry lemonade." Luke said before anyone else could interject.

 

The waitress, however, was not paying attention. She looked at Zach in confusion for a moment. "Down the street?" she said. "When did you...." Realization dawned on her face in the form of a wide smile and the sudden forgetting of all professional table-waiting training. "Zach Hikari! Oh my gosh, it's been ages! How have you been?"

 

Dack glanced up from his Pokétch, then muttered to Luke, "Might want to try a little louder. Looks like this Zach is quite the popular guy."

 

Madison stared down at her menu, but her thoughts were far from food. Nine or ten months ago... she thought, her frown growing deeper. I sure hope she's okay...

[JiMing]

IC: The Seatons

"Well, I'll drop them a message too. They're more likely to believe two people rather than just one." Olivia replied, when the waitress walked over. She was nearly about to speak up with her order, until Zach recognized the waitress out of nowhere. "Wait, you two know each other?" she said, wondering just what the odds of running into her were. The firey redhead knew a couple of Zach's friends, but she had never met Natalie before... Suddenly, she realized she was still gripping Zach's hand, but wasn't sure if she should let go, or if Natalie could even see them holding hands in the first place from her viewpoint...

 

"Natalie Dexter? You're a friend of his?" Dahlia spoke up, quickly smiling and extending a hand. "My name's Dahlia, these are my siblings, Olivia and Aspen, and they're Dack, Madison, Luke, and Palmer." the gardener said, introducing everyone and glancing at them each in turn. "Just how long has it been since you last saw each other, anyways?"

 

"Just how in the world could you have met us right here, in a packed restaurant with multiple employees running around?" Aspen muttered. "I think fate has a sense of humor." the boy muttered. Secretly, he was glad everyone had struck up a conversation with the waitress. He hadn't figured out what to order yet....

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Zach==-

 

Zach shrugged, as he nodded to Natalie, and then looked over as Olivia and Dahlia, as they commented.

"Ahh, well it's been a long while; she lived down the street from my aunt. It's been probably, what, 5 or 6 years now, since I last actually visited Celadon?" Zach mused, as he scratched his head, and then looked back to Natalie.

"Well; I've been better..." Zach admitted, not actually wanting to explain how he'd been battling near non-stop for the last year or two, and that before then things had been even more of a mess. "How about you, though? Finally get together with Phil from down the street, like we'd always tease?" Zach asked with a slightly amused smile on his face.

[Konuju]

IC: Colette Natalie Llyan
The waitress suddenly beamed. "Funny you should ask," she said, showing off a shiny ring on her left hand. "Phil and I actually just got engaged last week!" A hint of a blush rose in her face. "Guess all that teasing had some truth to it, huh? So what about you and that Liv girl you always talked about? Did you two ever end up getting together?" Natalie's eyes lingered on Olivia, and her eyes widened as she noticed the two of them holding hands. "Ehehe, this is her, isn't it?" She giggled like a giddy schoolgirl. "Olivia! It's nice to finally meet you; Zach's told me so much about you! Of course, that was years ago. So you guys have plans to tie the knot?"
 
Luke coughed loudly. "Hey lady! I'm ready for my order!"
 
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Natalie gasped. "I got a bit carried away there. You wanted the combo, right? Anyone else ready to order?"

 

"I'll have the Lighthouse Linguini," Madison said.

 

"And I'd like the Babiri Fettuccini, please," Palmer said.

 

"Both of those are excellent choices." Natalie smiled as she wrote down the orders, still trying to regain her composure.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Konuju

[JiMing]

IC: The Seatons

 

Olivia paid close attention to everything happening right at that moment, getting caught off guard by Natalie's ring. Natalie and Phil... Those were Zach's friends, huh? she wondered, still thinking over this little glance into Zach's life when he wasn't around. Her fascination at this chance glimpse was so strong though, that she was rather surprised when Natalie brought up the redhead's nickname. "Huh?" Olivia said, snapping back into what was happening right at that moment, quickly becoming 10x as red as Natalie when she put two and two together about her identity. "Well, uh, n-no plans ye-, uh, right now...." she replied after the waitress posed the question. Olivia thought back to before Zach disappeared. Her parents always teased her about the possibility of the two getting married when they were younger, and she didn't reject the notion. Thing was, she and Zach had only taken the first step yesterday, which meant any possibility of tying the knot was far flung into the future.... Even with a blush lighting up on her face, Olivia still made eye contact with Zach, slightly surprised and flattered he told his other friends about her....

 

Dahlia didn't approve of Luke's call for attention, and so gave him a stern look. Over the years, she had honed an expression carrying motherly disapproval and disappointment, while also retaining a hint of affection encouraging others to rethink their action and see why the gardener would have objected to it in the first place. She found it to be quite effective when dealing with most people, especially Aspen. Then she put back on her trademark friendly smile and turned to Natalie. "Right, I'll take the Arcade Asiago Sausage, hold the meat, please." Afterwards, Dahlia turned to Zach and chuckled slightly at how sweet he was to always remember Olivia even when around other friends.

 

"I'm having the same thing my sister's getting, but with extra meat, please." Aspen said simply. He noticed Dahlia giving Luke said disapproving look, and knew not to get on the receiving end of that either. Though he usually didn't care about most of his abrasive behavior, Dahlia was very skilled at making him feel guilty.... He wondered if Luke would feel the shame and disappointment that expression usually brought on.....

 

It was then Olivia realized she had yet to decide what she wanted to eat. "Wait, I-I, um, still don't know what to get..."

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Zach==-

 

"Very nice!" Zach said at the news about Natalie and Phil. However, Zach turned about the same shade of red as Olivia after hearing what Natalie said about them getting married.

"W-w-well, it'd b-be nice, but..." Zach tried to think of a way to better explain, only to be helped by the subject being changed by the others quickly. That gave him a little moment to himself to actually think, luckily. As he did so, he paused, and looked over the menu, not actually seeing anything that truly popped out to him.

"Hmm... What's the Iron-Clad Lasagna like?" Zach asked, as he looked up, his face still kinda red from before.

 

The smile vanished from Natalie's face as she looked at Zach, trying to determine if he was serious about his order. She quickly shook her head. "Trust me. You don't want that."

 

Zach blinked, not having expected that sort of response, and tilted his head to the side, trying to figure out what she might have meant, but simply nodded, still slightly confused.

"Alright then, uh... What about the Amphy Parmigiana?" Zach asked, seeing the next best thing on the menu.

 

Natalie's former smile returned. "Amphy Parmigiana, that's one of my favorites! Will you be taking the single dish, or the dinner for two?" She managed to supress a giggle, but winked at Olivia nonetheless.

 

Zach thought about that for a moment, as he heard Olivia mention not knowing what to get.

"How about this? I mean, the dinner for two would help out with choosing, after all..." Zach offered, as he looked over at Olivia, unsure if she'd want it or not.

[Konuju]

IC: Dack/Madison/Luke

Luke was taken aback by Dahlia's surprisingly stern look. "What, did I do something wrong?" he asked. At that moment Dahlia turned toward the waitress, her face magically transformed into a pleasant smile. Luke shook his head, thoroughly confused.

 

Madison nudged Dack, who was the only one (besides Olivia, technically) who hadn't ordered. "Put that watch away and order something!" she hissed.

 

"One second," Dack muttered as he typed out the last few words of his message on the Pokétch and sent it to Rocket HQ. "There. Now what are we doing?"

 

With a frustrated sigh, Madison turned to the waitress. "Excuse me, could we make my Lighthouse Linguini for two as well?"

 

"Sure thing," Natalie said with a smile. She looked back at Olivia. "Now, what about that Amphy Parmigiana?"

 

Dack stared at Madison in surprise. "Did... did you just order my food for me?"

 

The skier gave him an apologetic smile. "You snooze, you lose. But come on, I know you'll love the linguini. Trust me on this."

[JiMing]

IC: The Seatons

 

"Huh?" Olivia said, snapping her attention down at Zach's menu. "Amphy Parmigiana for two? Well... Sure." she decided, only slightly less red than before. "That... That sounds good."

 

"Maybe you shouldn't have called the waitress 'lady'." Aspen said, noticing Luke didn't catch on to Dahlia's reprimanding. "Dahlia doesn't like it when people are rude like that, but at least all you did was get a glare. She could really have chewed you out if she felt like it."

 

Dahlia chose to ignore Aspen's comment about her, and instead looked at Madison with a tiny grin. "Nice of you to order for your friend too. How long have you known each other?"

Edited December 11, 2014 by Toru Acura: The Saboteur

[Parugi]

 

OOC: ATTENTION!

This is an important detail, so please listen!

We are in the R/S/E(Gen 3-5) Universe. This means that the stuff that happened in the X/Y/OR/AS Universe is not canon to the RPG.

Credit goes to Minun for noticing the big detail that allowed this announcement.
 

 

OOC: Just to clarify/expand on this--don't forget that RotR is its own separate entity. That's why the manga, games, and anime all converge the way they do--this essentially just means that the world mechanics as they are presented in Gens. 3 through 5 are the default in the RotR universe, with other changes (like Megas and type retcons post Gen. 5) not being a natural part of the universe.

 

That is not to say that those changes will not occur--because they will--but they require a bigger explanation before they can be implemented, as the explanations presented by XYORAS do not mesh with what has been established thus far in the RPG.

 

IC - Kyle Eston - Lumiose City, Streets:

 

Lyxek made to go after Aridez, but gritted his teeth and fell to a knee before he could do anything. Even from a distance, and in spite of the sandstorm swirling around them, Kyle could tell that the damage done by Ice Fang had done more than the Dragon-Type had let on. At this point, any further efforts to defeat the Hippowdon--or, really, participate in the match to any meaningful extent--would end in failure.

 

"Lyxek, fall back," he said. The Fraxure looked back at his trainer in surprise, and looked for a moment as if he would adopt a look of insistence. However, the expression faltered with another visible flash of pain. Kyle held out his Poké Ball, recalling the Axe Jaw Pokémon. 

 

"Fraxure is unable to battle!" the referee declared. "Please select your next Pokémon!"

 

Already on it. "Kovian, come on out!" Kyle called, tossing the Dewott's Poké Ball into the air. Kovian emerged, flipping onto the field and drawing his scalchops, silently assessing the large hippopotamus before him. He squinted against the sandstorm, bothered by its presence and yet clearly doing his best to ignore it. After a moment, he flipped forward, launching a Water Pulse attack at the Ground-Type.

 

IC - Esen Windred/??? - Lumiose City, Streets:

 

Stone spikes rising out of the ground were of no concern to Esen, nor to Krow. She did not even need to direct the Honchkrow in order to combat this: Through their training, he already knew what to do. Without missing a beat, the Dark-Flying-Type weaved in and out of the obstructions, gracefully avoiding any and all contact with the dangerous stones. Every so often one would emerge right in front of him; he took care of these with a swift Air Slash, slicing them in half and clearing his way.

 

Instead of watching her own Pokémon, Esen turned her attention to her opponent. The woman did not appear to be able to contain her surprise at the ease with which Krow was handling the attack. Esen could not blame her: Used of many other opponents, ones much slower than Krow, that sort of technique probably tended to work. Then again, those opponents did not share the schooling she had received . . .

 

 

It felt as if a haze had come over her. One moment she had been thinking about . . . What had she been thinking about? . . . The next, the sudden eruption of cheering, distant at first and steadily growing louder. Esen had to blink several times, shake her head slightly to clear her vision, before it registered to her that she was still battling her sunglass-appareled opponent. The field gradually came into focus. Krow stood upon one of the stone spikes, glowering down at the fainted Donphan. The marks on his body suggested the Krow had hit him with a Dark Pulse. When had that happened . . .?

 

"Donphan is unable to battle!" the referee called. "Round One goes to Esen and Honchkrow!" He looked to Esen's opponent, whose eyes must have been fixed on the Flying-Type Trainer as she recalled her Pokémon. "Please select your next Pokémon."

 

She did not send out another, at least not at his word. Though the audience watched the blonde-haired woman, Esen shifted uncomfortably on the spot, noting what they were not. A look had started to appear across her face, visible even with the sunglasses obscuring most of it. Ace's daughter could not put a name to it. Was it awe? Uncertainty? Was there even a hint of . . . recognition . . .?

 

The spell was broken as a Battle Expo official approached the woman, tapping her on the shoulder. Esen could not hear what was said, only capable of noticing the amount of gesturing going on between them. After a moment, the official stepped away, and the woman straightened up. The look had mostly vanished, but a trace of it was still there; that did nothing to help Esen's nerves. Only when her opponent sent out a Golem did Esen start to feel comfortable again, though not by much.

 

Needing a distraction, she cleared her throat, pointing. "Krow, use Dark Pulse," she called, perhaps less certainly than she meant to. She didn't know what was going through her opponent's head, but by now, a few things were all but fact. First was that her opponent's team could not be anything but Ground-Types; this had become self-evident, and Esen was willing to bet a limb that such was the case. Second was that physical attacks wouldn't be useful here. Luckily Krow still had his boosts from the earlier Nasty Plots, but Esen knew she was going to need to get creative in order to defeat a defensive Pokémon like Golem . . .

 

The woman did not give an order until she saw Krow zeroing in for another volley of Dark Pulses. "Golem, Autotomize followed by Smack Down!" Golem stepped back, and flexing a muscle, loosened one of the rocks composing its shell. This fell to the ground, allowing the Megaton Pokémon to grab it and hurl it at Krow . . .

 

IC - Sonja Baron - The Alamo, Water Arena:

 

"Poseidon, dive underwater and avoid the attack!" Sonja called. "Loki, dodge the flames!"

 

Loki did so, kicking off from where he been standing. This did nothing to help him avoid Aizen's Psychic attack, which caught him in midair and sent him flying to the side. He skidded to a halt, and from there forced himself back onto his feet, grimacing from the super-effective attack. In response to the damage, he drew an arm back, and then with all of the strength he could gather post-Charm, launched one half of his broken girder at the Psychic-Type.

 

Poseidon, meanwhile, merely had to dive to avoid the flames coming toward him. Instead of reappearing elsewhere, however, he stayed underwater for some time, long enough that Sonja had started to take a step forward to call for him. At that moment, however, a blinding light flashed from beneath the waves, and then a much larger fish erupted from the depths, flying into the air amidst a rain of droplets. Poseidon, it seemed, had evolved; and as he fell back toward the water, the now-Lanturn thrust his head forward, crying out in blissful amusement.

 

"Wow," Sonja said, stricken by awe at the sheer majesty of her newly-evolved Pokémon. It occurred to her then that this evolution must have been in the making for some time--and for as much care as she showed her other Pokémon, she had not done the same for Poseidon. How much sooner could this have happened had she made a point of using in any of her more recent battles?

 

So distracted was she by these thoughts that she did not notice the Hydro Pump now shooting toward Orihime . . .

 

OOC:

 

Species: Lanturn

Nickname: Poseidon.

Trainer: Sonja Baron.

Appearance: Poseidon's lamps can shift between different colors.

Personality: Poseidon is quiet. So quiet that, much to her embarrassment, Sonja often forgets that Poseidon is a member of her team. Upon realizing her mistakes and negligence towards him, she has vowed to help him reach his full potential as a battling Pokémon. For his part, Poseidon doesn't seem to mind--his evolution has brought him quite a bit of happiness, and he is content to simply entertain others using his lights.

Ability: Volt Absorb.

Specialty: Poseidon is best when it comes to nonphysical attacks, as well as Special Defense. In water he is incredibly fast and strong, which has only been amplified by his evolution. Paradoxically, the same evolution has allowed him to last longer and move somewhat better on land, though not nearly to the extent that he would be able to in the water.

Known Moves: Signal Beam, Hydro Pump, Thunder Wave, Discharge, Confuse Ray, Charge

 

Supersonic > Confuse Ray

Bubble Beam > Hydro Pump

Charge learned

 

 

IC - DÉOZA AGENT NAUM RHODES - Beheeyem, Walrein, Throh, Venusaur, Scolipede, Dodrio

Gavin Braner (Dothe/Dusknoir, Talsim/Alakazam)/Lucia (Clawitzer, Gothara/Gothorita)/Roderick Krane (Wattling/Rotom, Harmonics/Beheeyem)/Zack Furler (Predator/Staraptor) - Central Hall, Havoc:

 

Scolipede had actually uncurled as it managed to take hold of the washing machine. And though Wattling no longer occupied it, the Megapede Pokémon seemed content to tear at the machine anyway, utterly decimating it within seconds. Those seconds spent attacking inanimate objects, however, proved to be fateful: As soon as it had discarded the pieces of the machine, both the Thunderbolt and Psybeam attacks hit, and their damage combined with the earlier Hydro Pump-Thunderbolt combination caused it to faint on the spot.

 

 

Sensing the attacks aimed at it, Rhodes's Beheeyem looked to its trainer, who merely nodded. The Psychic-Type turned around, and with a swipe of its hand, launched a Signal Beam to intercept the Dark Pulse. The Ancientpower it avoided by teleporting, and when it reappeared, it immediately lashed out with Synchronoise.

 

 

Though it was difficult to tell whether the Aura Sphere had actually fainted the Walrein--it still continued to snore, after all--it did manage to knock the Ice Break Pokémon back towards Rhodes. The Déoza Agent swung one of the stringed Poké Balls that he held towards the sleeping walrus, recalling it back to its container before it could land on him. All the while, he merely continued to watch his opponents . . .

 

 

Zack quickly recalled Predator, and knowing that there was nothing to be done at this point, merely braced for the inevitable impact from Venusaur. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and waited--

 

Only instead to hear a shout, and then immediately afterwards feel the sensation of being grabbed and teleported. When he opened his eyes, he found that Talsim had appeared beside him, getting him out of Venusaur's path before he could be hit. Now the Grass-Poison-Type lumbered to a clumsy halt, searching for a suitable target. He found it in the form of Clawitzer, who was closest, and began to charge a Solar Beam attack . . .

 

Talsim suddenly doubled over, clutching his head as Beheeyem's attack hit. Zack watched in shock as the Psychic-Type fell to the ground, swiftly losing unconsciousness. The only thing he could think to do was send out his Glalie, setting the Ice-Type up as a guard in case anything came near. In order to protect the fainted Alakazam, he refrained from ordering the Ice-Type from attacking Venusaur, lest it divert its rage toward them . . .

 

 

Gothara's split focus, meanwhile, proved beneficial to Throh. The Fighting-Type took the lull in activity as an opportunity to use the remnants of the energy it had gathered through Bide to charge toward Dothe. Caught by surprise, the Ghost-Type moved back, barely blocking an Ice Punch from his opponent.

 

The next moment, however, Throh had deflected Dothe's defenses, slamming a frozen palm into the Dusknoir's gut.

 

Time seemed to slow down as Gavin turned just in time to watch the scene. Icy crystals rapidly spread over Dothe's body, finishing the job that Dodrio's Mirror Move had started. Soon enough he had been frozen solid, stuck in place before the enemy Throh. And then he saw the Fighting-Type's arm pull back, gathering energy for a punch--

 

"DOTHE, RETURN!"

 

A red beam of light shot forward from the Poké Ball in Gavin's hand, pulling Dothe back into it just a split second before the attack would have connected. By some miracle, he had been fast enough, and so the Throh's attack simply struck empty air. 

 

Gavin almost threw up, unable to help but think about what would have happened had he been just a second slower. And as this registered, he felt a righteous fury flare up in his chest, one unquenchable even by the look of fury in the eye of the approaching Fighting-Type.

 

"You," he said. "are not getting away with that." He dropped a shaking hand to the Poké Balls lining his belt. Grabbing one at random, he held it forward. Vel appeared. Gavin wasn't sure what he had been hoping for--Evris? Kora?--but it did not matter. Whoever he used, he knew that they shared his anger, and he knew that they would not let this Déoza agent walk free from here. And Vel was no exception.

 

A soft chuckle emerged from Rhodes. "Come on, kid," he said. "Can't you tell? That thing's not nearly powerful enough to stop us."

 

"Don't you know?" Gavin responded. "Mandibuzz are a sign of death. And I'd say yours is right around the corner. Vel, take him down."

 

Vel cawed loudly and flapped her wings, and for a moment, Gavin thought she was going to launch an Air Slash attack. What came instead, however, was a bigger surprise. Her body became engulfed in a black aura, and before his very eyes, she grew. Bone armor shifted, becoming a bone skirt, and her neck and beak elongated. Before long the covering had vanished, revealing a newly-evolved Mandibuzz. Without a moment's hesitation, she charged, claws glowing as she descended upon Throh . . .

 

Dodrio: Fainted

Walrein: Fainted

Scolipede: Fainted

Beheeyem: Synchronoise > All Psychic-Types

Venusaur: Solar Beam > Clawitzer

Predator: Fainted

Talsim: Fainted

Throh: Ice Punch/Bide > Dothe

Dothe: Fainted

Vel: Evolved. Attack > Throh

 

OOC:

 

Species: Mandibuzz.

Nickname: Vel.

Trainer: Gavin Braner.

Appearance: Standard Mandibuzz.

Personality: Vel is, for the most part, a calm Pokémon--unless she is injured or otherwise severely stressed, she is capable of maintaining an impressive cool about herself in the face of troubling circumstances. Noticeably patient and clever, her general personality is one of technician versus performance--she prefers to wait out problems and use situations to her advantage, as opposed to getting directly involved and attempting to speed up the process of whatever is occurring. Perhaps because of the circumstances of her evolution, Vel has become noticeably darker and more willing to utilize force, particularly to protect her teammates.

Ability: Overcoat.

Specialty: Vel's specialties lie in her defensive abilities. Those, coupled with her support capabilities and fairly impressive speed, generally allow her to outlast her opponents, causing them to wear themselves down with minimal effort on Vel's part. When she gets angry, she is also fully capable of putting all of her power behind an attack, to devastating effect.

Known Moves: Flatter, Defog, Tailwind, Foul Play (EM), Air Slash, Mirror Move.

 

Feint Attack > Foul Play

Scary Face > Mirror Move

 

 

IC - DÉOZA AGENT DRAGAN ARGALL - Beheeyem, Muk, Sawk, Diggersby, Camerupt, Aegislash

Skye Hall (Torchic)/Jamie Arthur (Pelleas/Heracross, Lucan/Vanilluxe, Tristan/Metagross)/Cyan Vero (Typhlosion, Gallade)/Drake Masters (Goodra) - Central Hall, Havoc:

 

Perhaps it was the surprise of realizing the exact same thing as Lucan. Perhaps it was simply that it wasn't used to opponents not fainting from a single attack. Whatever the case, Diggersby had just enough time to very slightly open its eyes in surprise before the Ice Beam struck it dead on, instantly freezing the Normal-Ground-Type where it stood and taking it out of the fight.

 

 

Pelleas's plan worked. The Sawk found itself on the receiving end of the very same tactic he had used a few moments before. Unable to stop himself, he was launched into the air towards his Beheeyem ally, who had just gathered energy for another Shadow Ball. Instead the energy fizzled out before it as it was struck, and the Fighting-Type was left to fall to the ground, directly in the path of the Sludge Wave. He could do nothing until the attack had passed, and when it did, it was very clearly disoriented and damaged--not to mention poisoned.

 

 

Jamie, Cyan, and Drake, meanwhile, were all protected by the wave of poison by a Protect from Goodra. Now they rallied to strike the offending Muk with everything they had, Gallade launching a Psycho Cut at the Poison-Type and Typhlosion a Flamethrower, while Goodra sent an Aqua Tail attack forward. The Muk, meanwhile, activated Acid Armor in an attempt to defend itself . . .

 

 

As soon as it had recovered from the impact, Beheeyem had moved to gather energy for another Shadow Ball. But it had not noticed the Torchic who now stood upon Tristan's head. With a defiant cry, the small Fire-Type had launched an Ember attack straight at Beheeyem, hitting it right as it prepared to focus. The flames struck it square in the face, badly burning it, and so it fell instead into a series of pained cries as it tried to gather the focus necessary to activate Recover.

 

"Torchic!" Skye gasped, grabbing her Pokémon and pulling him back behind cover. "I . . . I don't know whether that was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid . . ." She sighed. "But good hit, either way." The Fire-Type chirped happily. "That should show 'em. Right, Tristan?"

 

Camerupt: Fainted

Aegislash: Fainted

Diggersby: Fainted

Sawk: Thrown at Beheeyem, stunned/poisoned by Muk

Goodra: Protect > Self, Drake, Cyan, Jamie; Aqua Tail > Muk

Gallade: Psychot Cut > Muk

Typhlosion: Flamethrower > Muk

Muk: Acid Armor

Beheeyem: Shadow Ball

Torchic: Ember > Beheeyem

Beheeyem: Stunned/burned

 

IC - THIRD CHILD QUINCY ADAMS - Beheeyem/Wizard, Gothitelle/Doll, Abomasnow/Ent, Sudowoodo/Chan, Banette/Voodoo, Mismagius/Witch

Ryan Hikari (Tyranitar, Porygon-Z)/Joker (Seer/Alakazam)/James Arthur (Lancelot/Scizor, Percival/Chandelure)/Ethan Worth (Suya/Victreebel, Kada/Torterra) - Central Command, Havoc:

 

There was little Chan could do to avoid the Hyper Beam--he had been seconds away from striking Tyranitar with Hammer Arm, after all. All he could do was throw his arms over his face to at least attempt some form of defense.

 

When the beam of energy finally subsided, Chan still stood, though smoke rose from everywhere on his body, and it was very clear that he was on the last throes of strength that he had left. But that was little problem, because that attack had now left Tyranitar a sitting duck while he recharged. With one final push of strength, Chan charged and leaped toward his opponent's head, resuming the Hammer Arm attack that he had been unable to finish before . . .

 

 

Percival's Shadow Ball struck Wizard dead-on, sending the Psychic-Type flying back and into the floor behind Quincy. Even as he recovered and pushed himself to his feet, his trainer glared at the Chandelure, a look entirely devoid of amusement covering her face. Reaching into one of the pouches on her belt, Quincy stepped back.

 

"Wizard," she said. "Cover your eyes and get ready."

 

The Psychic-Type nodded. The next instant, Quincy had thrown her hand down, hurling a handful of Brightpowder at the ground, and a bright flash erupted around the three of them. When the flash faded, Wizard and Quincy were gone. Wizard appeared from one of the higher balconies, and from his position in midair, directed a Thunderbolt at Percival.

 

 

Voodoo and Witch were badly damaged at this point. And as Seer continued to advance on them, all they could do was launch Shadow Balls and Will-o-Wisps in his direction. Most of these were diverted using Psychic or Protect; those that struck were quickly rendered meaningless by Recover. The one solace that the two Ghost-Types could gather was that Voodoo's Cursed Body had taken effect as soon as Seer had touched him; if they could at least burn and distract him, then his disabled-Magic Guard would not be able to defend him from taking continued damage.

 

Granted, such was easier said than done, and the constant attacks were wearing the pair down themselves. At last, Seer appeared to grow tired of the barrage, and teleported again to a different location. From there, he made short work of Witch, quickly taking hold of her with Psychic and launching her against the walls and floor until he was certain she had lost consciousness, at which point he released her. Seeing this display of brutality, Voodoo drifted backwards, activating Phantom Force and vanishing into the shadows--whether to hit Seer or someone else, no one could know . . .

 

 

Power Whip or not, Ent intended to hit Suya--and hit him, he did. The Victreebel's vines tore from the effort of trying to restrain the Abomasnow, and in the resulting haze of pain that followed, Suya was left wide open. The Hammer Arm struck, launching the Flycatcher Pokémon into the air. But Ent was not done. Several of the vines that Suya had produced still remained connected between them, and the Frosted Tree Pokémon wasted no time in reaching up and grabbing one, pulling Suya back. Still disoriented from the Hammer Arm, Suya did not have time to muster another attack before he was driven into the ground with an Ice Punch.

 

With the Victreebel fainted, Ent was free to concentrate on other targets, and his first choice was Lancelot and Kada. The Frosted Tree Pokémon lumbered toward their battle against Doll, drawing a hand back and charging up an Ice Beam attack. As Lancelot's attack hit, knocking Doll backwards, Ent unleashed the attack, aiming it toward the ground at Lancelot's feet in an attempt to trap the Steel-Bug-Type. 

 

Doll, meanwhile, struggled to stand up following Lancelot's strike. Unlike most of her allies, she was not primarily a battling Pokémon, and so was unused to handling an attack like that. As she recovered, she became aware of the Torterra charging toward her. Not keen on being struck a Wood Hammer attack so soon after U-Turn, she threw her hands up, Protecting herself from the impact, which in turn stunned Kada long enough for Ent to send a massive Ice Beam towards the tortoise. For perhaps the fifth time that day, ice covered the Pokémon's body where the beams had struck--which, in this case, included both of Kada's left legs--taking the Torterra out of the battle.

 

"I guess I did speak too soon," Ethan said as he recalled both Kada and Suya. His voice didn't show it, but the sweat dotting his face betrayed the Rocket Agent's uncertainty over how the battle was going. He seemed to consider his options, and finally released Tox from his Poké Ball, directing the Beedrill to stay by his side for the time being. Taking a momentary reprieve from the fight, he looked around, searching for Quincy. "Hey, Adams, can I ask you something?"

 

Even over the din of battle, the Rocket agent could hear the Ford Agent's annoyed sigh. "A question from a forgettable pawn in the game of the war," she said. "Please, by all means, what can I help you with?"

 

"Geez, so rude," Ethan muttered. "I'd just like to know what the point of all this is--what you and Ford and whoever else hope to gain by wrecking Havoc." He glanced over at his teammates, all of whom were shaking their heads disapprovingly at him. Realizing why, he chuckled awkwardly, holding a hand up. "No pun intended."

 

"Please, do you even have to ask?" Adams responded, revealing herself at the balcony where she had started. "Why was Soil Colossus destroyed, Worth? Why were the Searchers? If you're going to fight for something, it needs to be for a worthwhile cause, and none of these people--" She gestured around. "--have had one. Their beliefs aren't based on the greater good of the world--Maxie, Travis, Sandrock, they all fight for themselves, for petty revenge and power-grabs for the sake of power-grabs."

 

"Ironic that one of Ford's is saying this," Joker said. "If anyone has less of a right to make those kinds of judgments, it's Ford, egocentric maniac that he is."

 

"If that's the only impression that you've gathered about him in the past thirteen years," Adams said, a dagger of venom hidden in her tone. "then I'm afraid your research has been very, very poor, Joker."

 

Chan: Last Push Hammer Arm > Tyranitar

Wizard: Teleport, Thunderbolt > Percival

Witch: Fainted

Voodoo: Phantom Force > ?

Suya: Fainted

Ent: Ice Beam > Lancelot, Ice Beam > Kada

Doll: Protect > Self

Kada: Fainted

 

IC - Jackson Sang - Alaric Estate, Fireside Lounge: Previous Post

 

For some time after Eileen's story, Sang had remained in the lounge. He sat on the floor in front of the fireplace, directly across from his newly-acquired Elgyem. With the rest of his team stored away, he was able to focus fully on the Cerebral Pokémon, studying it, pondering the mysterious power it held. The Psychic-Type watched him curiously, as if trying to decipher his intentions. Sang did much the same.

 

After several dozen minutes of this, Sang spoke. "Alright, Felix," he said. "Let's start simple--see what, exactly, you can do . . ."

Edited December 14, 2014 by Parugi

[Konuju]

IC: Dack/Madison/Luke

Natalie gave a small giggle as she wrote down Zach and Olivia's order. "Alright, the house salad and the breadsticks should be out shortly."

 

Luke watched her leave, then raised a skeptical eyebrow at Aspen's explanation. "But she is a lady. Why shouldn't I have called her that? I wasn't being rude, I was just being hungry."

 

Madison returned Dahlia's grin with one of her own. "It seems like we've known each other forever -- ever since we were kids. We always hung out together, Dack, Luke, and I. Along with poor Matthew...." The skier's face turned solemn for a moment. "Matthew was one of those who died in the avalanche."

 

"And our objective is to stop that from happening to more kids like Matthew," Dack said, unfolding his map of the city across the table. "So. We need a strategy." He glanced over at Zach. "Got any ideas, now that we have a map in front of us?"

[JiMing]

OOC: Part 3/3 of the jam between me, Ehks, and sonyaxe. This is kiiiiiind of a long post so I'm not even bothering with trying to shove any other ICs, here, they'd get buried under how massive this thing is. Oh well, enjoy!

 

IC: Jake Harris, Arius Jacobson, and Ruth Fishers

 

The three Trainers continued walking along the forest path, spirits reinvigorated after the brief heart-to-heart. Despite that, the trail went on..... And on.... And on.... And on......

 

Finally the group made it out the other end of the path, yet there was still no Alamos Town up ahead. "Aww come on!" Ruth bemoaned. "Jake One, shouldn't we have gotten there by now?!" she asked the oldest member of the group who currently carried the map. 

 

Arius sighed, and took out the map. "Look, we should be almost there. In fact...oh. Huh. Looks like it's right after the hill we're on right now." He pointed towards the path, as it gently inclined upwards. "See? We're right about here, and the forest exit...is here." Arius traced his fingers from the area he thought they were to the end of the path, which really wasn't far away at all.

 

Ruth perked up at the sight of Alamos Town being so close. After a seemingly endless slog, their brief excursion to Alamos Town was finally about to begin.

 

"Come on, guys!" Ruth exclaimed excitedly, suddenly finding the energy to break out into a run. "It's so close! Soon we'll be able to see what's up with the Power Plant and get our Badges!" she said. "And maybe there'll be something cool over there too! Like... Like a Pokemon Contest or something, I dunno!" 

 

Jake was startled by Ruth's sudden change in speed, but immediately took off after her, excited to see the town. There was, however, one thing Jake needed to say...

 

"Umm, Ruth? Sorry to burst your bubble but I don't think that Alamos has any Pokemon contests. Hopefully, there will be something fun to do after we figure out the power plant." Jake said, inwardly laughing at his friend's enthusiasm.

 

Arius was still looking at the map when both Jake and Ruth began running. By the time he looked up, they were both far, far ahead of him

"Hey, wait up! You guys always end up leaving me behind!" He picked up the pace, and caught up to them.

 

When Jake, Arius, and Ruth made it to the top of the hill, what they saw made them stop. There was Alamos Town, situated at the top of a beautiful mesa and situated over a shimmering lake. The hills and plateaus that dotted the underside of the town truly made it a sight to behold.

 

However, it was most certainly not close in any way, shape or form. The bridge that connected Alamos to the mainland was located on the shore opposite to where each of them currently stood. Everyone stood and stared blankly at this discrepancy, unable to say a word.

 

Finally, Ruth opened her mouth. ".....Uhh, okay then....? H-How did this even happen again?!" she asked while looking back at her two traveling companions. Turning her head, the Pokemon Trainer saw just how far the three of them were from the intended path, immediately hunching over in despair. "I'm exhausteeeeed....." she mumbled tiredly.

 

Arius looked down at the map in his hands, staring at it for a good while. He traced his finger along the path, and then realized... "Uh...we may have taken the wrong path and ended up on the wrong shore." He scratched the back of his head, and sighed.

"Maybe I shouldn't plan out where we're going from now on..."

 

Jake just laughed, although he was tired as well. "It could be worse. After all, we can actually see the place we were trying to get to. And once we get there, I am personally really tired as well so we should go to a cafe or something before tackling the generators. What do you guys say?"

 

"So.... You're saying we should walk all the way back through the forest to reach other side?!" Ruth said incredulously, before collapsing again. "Urgh..... Today is officially the worst."

 

"Hey!" called out a voice from above. The group looked up to see who addressed them, finding a woman with blonde hair up in the sky in a hot air balloon over their heads. Then the balloon's altitude began to fall, as the woman shouted a question.

 

"You guys need a lift?"

 

Ruth perked up upon hearing that, looking at the others excitedly. "Forget what I said! Today is awesome!" she laughed. "Come on guys! Now we don't need to walk back through the forest!"

 

Arius glanced up at the balloon, and his jaw dropped.

"Is...is that a hot air balloon? That's awesome! Coming up on the wrong coast was a good thing, I guess!"

 

"Sure, a lift would be great!" Jake called up to her. Pikachu seemed to concur, because he jumped up and down on Jake's shoulder excitedly.

 

"Okay then!" the woman replied, while the hot air balloon continued to descend. It soon became clear that a Chimchar had been providing the fire to the balloon the whole time, and now stood on the side of the basket. Both the woman and Pokemon waved at Jake, Ruth, and Arius up until they reached the ground.

 

"So then, I take it you kids are all headed to Alamos?" she asked the three in a friendly tone. "My name's Alice, by the way." she added, holding out a hand to shake hands with the group.

 

"Nice to meet you! I'm Ruth." the trainer said, shaking Alice's hand. "Yeah, that's where we were headed... But one of us must have read the map wrong." she said, shrugging.

 

"Yep, that's where we're going. And...it might have been my fault we ended up on the wrong coast." Arius chuckled, "It's nice to meet you, Alice. My name is Jacob."

 

Jake shook Alice's hand as well. "My name is Jake, glad to meet you. Thanks for going out of your way to come down here," he said gratefully. Pikachu made himself known by jumping on top of Jake's head and waving at Alice.

 

"Ah, it's nothing to beat yourself up over." Alice said to Jacob, smiling. "This isn't the first time people took the wrong road and ended up here. I run into them more than you'd expect." she chuckled, while stepping back into the hot air balloon. "In fact.... There was that one time where I met another three-man band like this one. Hmm...." the woman muttered, seeming to reminisce for a second. Then she turned her attention back to the others and nodded towards them. "Well now, Jake, Jacob, and Ruth, this balloon may be aging, but it can get all three of you to Alamos in a jiffy!" she said.

 

"Alright then guys, what are we waiting for?" Ruth said, before stepping into the balloon basket. Alice's Chimchar took a moment to wave at her from their trainer's shoulder, while the girl happily pat it on the head. Then the Chimp Pokemon looked over at Jake's Pikachu, waving for him and his trainer to head on board.

 

"Well, there's no other way well get there, and I've always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon! Kinda." Arius stepped into the basket right after Ruth, and looked up into the balloon.

"I always wondered how these worked..."

 

Jake followed the others into the balloon's basket. "Thanks again for offering to give us a ride." He said gratefully to Alice. "Also, to answer your question Jacob a hot air balloon is able to fly because a heat source, in this case Chimchar, heats the balloon and makes it less dense than air, letting it move up and-

*SMACK*

Pikachu slapped Jake's face with his tail.

"Thanks. I was nerding out again wasn't I?"

The electric type just nodded.

"Sorry bout that."

 

Alice chuckled at Jake's antics with his Pikachu, as did Chimchar. "It's no problem! If you hadn't gone off on a tangent, I would have, and I'd be the one getting decked in the face by a Pikachu." the woman reassured him, patting Jake on the shoulder. "Not a  lot of people really travel in hot air balloons anymore, because of how convenient modern transportation has become. But even so, I'm not giving up this old girl anytime soon...." 

 

For a moment, it seemed she was lost in thought. Then Alice laughed softly again, looking apologetically back at the group. "See what I mean about rambling? Anyways, you've heard enough from me. How about we actually get you three to Alamos now?" she said, with her Chimchar running up the hot air balloon, soon providing fire for the balloon to pick up and start drifting from off the ground.

 

"People don't like going in hot air balloons anymore? What a shame...." Ruth said sympathetically. "This is the first time I've ever been on one and it's probably one of the best experiences I've ever had. What about you two?" the trainer asked Jake and Arius.

 

"I think its really cool!" Jake exclaimed, looking over the side at the landscape below him.

 

"I've never been in one, either. It's...amazing, truly. Why would people not want to do this more often?"

Arius looked at the passing water below

"It is beautiful."

 

"Who knows? I'm just glad I get to share the beauty with other people." Alice said, smiling at the shimmering water and sweeping forest below. Passing Pidgey, Drifloon, Starfly, and other flying Pokemon flew past the balloon, occasionally calling out.

 

"Though, something about all this seems.... Familiar." the woman muttered quizically. She thought deeply for a moment, then chuckled. "Of course! How could I have forgotten? There were those three kids. Their names were..... Ash, Dawn, and Brock." she recalled. "Yes, they arrived on that very shore on a day just like this one..... And you kids remind of them a lot.... Strange..."

 

Ruth had been admiring the sights from up on the hot air ballon, until Alice mentioned the similarities. "Wait, huh?" the trainer blurted out. "That's.... A huge coincidence. What are the odds?" she said, shrugging.

 

"Well, that's interesting, to say the least...hm." Arius pondered for a moment. "I mean, it's not unlikely someone took the path we took before, either. It was one turn we messed up on, I think. The chances of being picked up by a hot air balloon..."

More silence.

"...Yeah I don't know but it's probably unlikely."

 

"Oh, I go around that beach somewhat often." Alice explained. "Though you're right, the chance of both those two events happening one after the other in such a way.... The resemblance is uncanny." she muttered, trying to make sense of the situation.

 

"....I still don't know whether to call this fate, but what happened on the day those three showed up I consider to be the worst pre-war event in Sinnoh's recent history." the woman thought. "And now you three....."

 

"...I'm not going to ask...but what's the worst that could happen, really?"

Arius paused again.

"Okay, that's just begging for something bad to happen. But, I doubt anything bad will. After all, you even said it woudl be unlikely for this to happen...how could something even worse than what happened before happen? The chances of that must be astronomically low."

 

"Well... Remember, we aren't exactly here just for fun. We actually were sent by Roark to check the generators or something. Apparently they wonked out." Jake broke into the conversation. He had been looking over the side for a while.

 

"Uh, guys? Maybe we should all just stop talking?" Ruth stammered. "Because apparently the last time Alice picked up a group like us, something really bad happened. And we're going over cause of the power shortage on a route closeby....." the trainer stopped talking after that, and stared around awkwardly for a bit. "Though.... What DID happen when those three kids came?" she asked Alice.

 

"Oh, I see you haven't heard about Alamos Town's history before." the woman responded. "It's quite a long story, so are you sure you youngsters want to hear me ramble on about it?" Alice asked with a chuckle, trying to break the uneasiness.

 

"I'm fine with rambling. What about you guys?"  Jake asked his friends.

 

Arius nodded. "I'm fine with that."

 

"Alright then, where to start...." Alice muttered, trying to think back nearly 20 years.

"I don't know if it was a Tuesday or something like that, so sorry if you were curious. But it honestly started out like just any other day really, I was making my usual rounds around Alamos in this hot air balloon, enjoying the view. Then, like I said, there were three kids who ended up on that exact shore, just as defeated and confused as you three. Naturally, I invited them all on board. I think they were headed towards Alamos cause one of them-Dawn, she wanted to participate in a Pokemon Contest."

 

Ruth looked back at Jake with a wide grin at that statement.

 

"They were all nice kids, and maybe even my favorite travelers I ferried on this balloon. Though, you three I'm also warming up to." she said with a small chuckle. "Hmm, since today's weather is nearly identical to that day, I wonder..." Alice muttered, before quickly reaching into her pocket and pulling out a leaf. Using it as a whistle, she played a small melody and attracted Pidgey, Wingull, Starly, and other various bird Pokemon near the balloon. "I thought that'd work!" the woman said with a smile.

 

"Woah! You just.... Drew them to the balloon with music?!" Ruth said, mind having been blown

 

Jake was, quite honestly, stunned by the display of music. He'd never thought that music could do that!

 

Arius looked amazed at all the pokemon landing on the balloon at the song being played.. "That's...impressive. Never seen that before. Guess today is full of new things."

 

Alice laughed softly and put away the leaf. "Music is a powerful thing. With just the right song, you can move hearts and sway minds! But we'll get to that later in this story." she assured. 

 

"Anyways, after we landed, I walked them around the city for a bit, when we ended up at the Alamos Garden. It's a peaceful place, and I suggest you three check it out if you ever get the chance! After a bit though, one of the Gallade from the garden alerted us to a pile of broken pillars in the garden. That shouldn't have been a problem, but just the day before, they had been standing..... And then he showed up." Alice said, sighing after reaching that point of the story. "His name was Baron Alberto. I didn't like him very much, what with him trying to make me marry him and all.... Didn't think much better of him after he fired a Hyper Beam at Tonio, who's actually my husband today." she explained, her previous scowl being replaced with a soft smile at the thought of Tonio. "Oh! Oops, forgot to mention. Alberto claimed that a Darkrai rumored to prowl the city was behind everything, especially when Tonio found.... Strange readings on his computer showing disturbances in space and time. Of course, at that moment, Darkrai happened to show up, which made it look like Alberto was correct." Alice said, taking a breath to gather her thoughts.

 

"Darkrai used Dark Void, which hit Ash and sent him snoozing. Luckily he made a full recovery, apparently his Pikachu zapped him awake before the nightmare really got disturbing." she explained, chuckling ever so slightly. "Well, afterwards, it seemed more people and Pokemon were trying to attack Darkrai, but nothing really came of it until the next day. That's when all three of them took went to the Space Time Tower, which you can see is over there." Alice said, pointing towards twin cathedral-towers rising up from Alamos. "That's where Tonio shed some light on what was happening, it had something to do with other dimensions, but to be honest, I don't really remember what the specifics were...." she admitted sheepishly. "Just that something was very, very wrong. And lo and behold, the more Pokemon were sent to sleep by Darkrai, the stranger things got... I'm talking... Illusions of Pokemon flying through the air, running away from whatever was in their nightmares or something.... Though, Baron Alberto turning into a Likcilicky after his conked out took the cake. All the while, Alberto had turned the entire town against Darkrai, and almost everyone was trying to take him down.... Things got even worse when out of nowhere, Alamos Town got surrounded by some kind of... Unnatural fog. Defog didn't clear it, and trying to run out of the city was impossible. Our entire town got separated from the rest of the universe, essentially." she explained.

 

"Like I said, everyone blamed Darkrai for it. But then Tonio explained to me how, when we were younger, that Darkrai saved me from falling off a cliff.... Until then, I had always thought it was he who caught me, really." Alice said while her cheeks became slightly rosy. "When he told me that though, I knew Darkrai wasn't behind everything that had happened. Tonio explained how his readings showed that it was Palkia, warping the reality around Alamos Town while in another dimension. Being Tonio, he turned out to be exactly right. Only, it wasn't just Palkia. Dialga and Palkia had been battling each other somewhere in another dimension, and Palkia decided to retreat to Alamos..... When Dialga followed him." she explained. "Trying to explain everything that happened so long after it happens... It all sounds ridiculous and impossible. And yet... That's what happened. In Alamos Town, there they were, the grand deities of time and space, battling each other. To make things worse, after they stared battling, Alamos just started to.... Dissolve. The borders of the city just started fading away.... Especially when Dialga and Palkia landed attacks. Darkrai had begun trying to intercept the two of them though, and everything was just utter chaos... I was so horrified at what was happening that I... Went up to them and yelled at them to stop. I know, it sounds like the dumbest move ever to make, but I wasn't even thinking then.... That nearly got me a Hyper Beam and an early death, but Darkrai moved in to save me." she recalled, her eyes glistening ever so slightly, as she continued with a shaky voice. "A-Apparently he... He mistook m-me for my grandmother, who was the first person to ever show him kindness. Everything he had been doing that entire time... Darkrai was trying to save me and the town." 

 

"But that didn't change that Alamos was disappearing into thin air. Thankfully, Godey, Tonio's great-grandfater, left a message that explained only the Oracion-the song I played on the leaf whistle, played with the Space-Time Tower had the power to calm Dialga and Palkia down. Ash, Dawn Brock, all three of them decided to help reach the Tower and play the song. It wasn't easy though, the Tower was starting to fade away along with everything else, and Ash and Dawn, the ones carrying the disk with Oracion, fell off this balloon and had to take the stairs all the way up. Not to mention, Dialga and Palkia were still going away at each other, but just before they could each hit each other with their strongest attacks, Darkrai lept between them and held them all in place in a void, trying to buy us more time. I-If it weren't without him, Alamos might not be standing today, but he could only hold out for so long... After that, Dialga and Palkia.... They attacked him, and he just... dissolved like the town. If it weren't for Darkrai's sacrifice.... Our town might have been lost forever. Well, we got Oracion playing, and it did indeed calm Dialga and Palkia. They left, and everything went back to normal. Even better, just as we started mourning for Darkrai, there he was, standing on the top of the Space-Time Tower...."

 

Alice sighed once more, and grabbed a water bottle to quench her thirst from talking for so long. "Well.... That's my story. I know there's been a recent backlash against Darkrai thanks to the incident six months ago.... But me? I won't ever forget what our Darkrai did for our town all those years ago...." she explained. "Of course, everything that happened that day.... It happened on what started out as a normal day. If you three are here because of something gone wrong.... I think you can see how I'd be worried."

 

At the end of the story, Jake felt like applauding. She had told it as if the events had only happened yesterday...

"Wow... That Darkrai sounds like an incredible Pokemon. Hopefully nothing happens this visit though." Jake ended with a nervous smile. Pikachu nodded once in agreement from his trainer's shoulder.

 

"Yeah...after all of that, I'm not surprised you're worried now...that just sounds awful. I don't think anything bad will happen, honestly..." Arius shrugged. Only time would tell.

 

"That.... Wow." Ruth said, stunned at everything that happened in that story. "Dialga and Palkia, battling it out in that town? It seems so peaceful though..." she muttered. "Hmm, it's only a power outage though, still shouldn't try out my luck though."

 

"It's all in the past now. Darkrai was our town's savior..." Alice sighed. "He's still around, too. Or, at least he was until the attack six months ago. He tried to stop the Ancients from attacking, but they were too powerful for him.... After the incident, nobody's even seen his shadow..." she muttered. "It's been.... Strange, not knowing whether he's there, keeping us safe..."

 

During their time chatting, the hot air balloon had made it directly over Alamos Town, with the bustling street market below. "It's nothing you should get yourselves concerned about." Alice reassured. "You're not gonna be staying long, from what I hear, so it's about time I get you guys into Alamos already." she said, as Chimchar cut the fire, the hot air balloon slowly descending onto the Town below.

 

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Ryan - Tyranitar, Dewott, Porygon-Z==-

 

Ryan scowled, as his Tyranitar was hammered by the Sudowoodo. Luckily, the Tyranitar was flung back enough that only one blow struck; but that was still enough, after everything else, to faint the Tyranitar. Ryan quickly recalled and sent out his Dewott in return.

"Finish it off with Razor Shell!" Ryan yelled out, as the Dewott scowled too, and dashed forward, sending out an Aqua Jet boosted Razor Shell attack. Ryan looked back to the Beheeyem, which still seemed to be recovering from the teleport it had done when it announced it's new location with an attack.

"Now!" Ryan yelled out, as the Porygon-Z, who had simply been waiting, took advantage of the opening given by the Beheeyem's focus on Percival, to fire off a Signal Beam toward Wizard. The others could wait. The Beheeyem had to be taken out.

 

OOC:

Tyranitar: Fainted

Dewott: Aqua Jet > Razor Shell > Sudowoodo

Porygon-Z: Signal Beam > Beheeyem

 

-==IC: Lucia - Clawitzer, Gothorita==-

 

Lucia growled as she noticed what happened to Dothe out of the corner of her eye.

"No, you just don't get to get away with that." Lucia growled, as Gothara fell to her knee for a moment from the Synchronoise.

"Claraga, stop the source!" Lucia called out, as her Clawitzer, tracking where the Beheeyem went, launched off two quick Dark Pulses at the annoying psychic type, disregarding the charging Solar Beam for the moment. If it was possible, then stopping the Beheeyem would stop the headache-inducing noise, and even with the noise around, Gothara slowly stood back to her feet, and then attempted a rather weak Psybeam on the Venusaur; attempting to disrupt the charging at the very least. However, the Gothorita still was having trouble fully concentrating...

 

OOC:

Clawitzer: Dark Pulse chain(x2) > Beheeyem

Gothorita: Psybeam attempt > Venusaur

 

-==IC: Jenny==-

 

"Hmm... Well, I know a few songs, but I'm not sure what might work here..." Jenny admitted, as she wracked her brain for a good song. However, as she was thinking, she paused for a moment and noticed the general feel of Gnip's movements, as if... Jenny smiled, as the name of a song popped into her head.

"Let's Dance."

 

-==IC: Zach==-

 

Zach frowned slightly at Madison's explanations, and it did nothing to help his own worries. However, before he could focus on that too much, Dack spread out the map on the table, and asked suggestions. Zach looked over the map, as he thought for a moment.

"We should focus on the two main entrances. It might be unexpected for them to head through the rest of the city, but that's for a reason; the trees are too thick around there to have a competent army attack through, and it opens the possibility of a counter attack. The air, however, is a very, very vulnerable place for us. I don't have any flying Pokemon, and we just can't really deal with anyone attacking from the skies as quickly as on ground. There's a couple of choke points near the mansions toward the bottom of the city and the gym, however, it'll be better to keep them in an open area to reduce collateral damage." Zach tried to explain, motioning to the points on the map to emphasize each location he mentioned in turn.

"Though... We might be able, if we explain the situation well enough, to gain the help of Gym Leader Erika; since she wasn't wanting to help the war in general... But since it's her city in danger, I'd bet she'd help us."

[Konuju]

IC: Ryan

The Liberty agent put away his laundry with shaking hands. Try as he might to distract himself, his mind kept going back to what he had seen in R&D. And it scared him. He hadn't felt this scared since he fought the Ancient Darkrai -- no, this was worse, for at least with the Darkrai he knew what he was up against. Here, he only had the ominous wreckage he had seen in the R&D Training Center and the limits of his imagination.

 

Entei tried to calm him down, explaining that if there was still a threat, Goldhawk would have called for the Alamo to be evacuated. But Ryan remained unconvinced. All he knew was that he had to let Sonja know what he had seen. And so after his laundry was done, he wasted no time in grabbing his Pokéballs, sending out his Pokémon, and leading them down to the practice fields where Sonja had said she'd be.

 

He walked briskly, as if Sonja's life depended on him reaching her before something bad happened. Behind him, his Pokémon picked up on his anxiety, especially little Ampere, who had yet to face the major battles the more veteran members of his team had gone through. Ryan knew someone like Ellen would have taken the time to explain the situation to the assorted Pokémon, but Ryan did not want to waste any more time than he already had. He quickly approached the practice fields and searched for the arena that housed Sonja and Ray.

 

He peered through window after window, finally coming across the Water Arena just in time to see Poseidon evolve into a Lanturn. A red light above the door indicated that the battle was still in progress, but Ryan ignored it and barged in, his Pokémon following suit. He opened his mouth to speak, but found that he had no words. His mouth remained agape as Loki hurled his half-girder at Aizen, while Poseidon launched a spectacular Hydro Pump at poor Orihime.

 

IC: Dack/Madison/Luke

Dack observed the map, looking at the spots Zach had pointed out. "Good ideas," he said. "You say you've met with Erika before? After we eat, you should go and see if you can recruit her to our cause. Unfortunately, I know Hannah, and she's a bit of a Flying-Type expert. I don't know what her army will do, but I imagine she herself would control her troops from the air. I have Swellow, and Aspen has his Braviary, and Palmer has Cresselia and Dragonite, but I think that's all we've got in terms of aerial Pokémon. And we know how well that worked out in Sootopolis."

 

"Put me on a rooftop," Madison said. "Anzu can freeze the enemy's wings. If we can stay out of sight, Hannah won't know where the attacks are coming from."

 

Dack shook his head. "If we had maybe fifty people, we could try something like that, with attacks coming from all directions. But it's too dangerous otherwise."

 

Madison gave a frustrated sigh. "Says the person who flew thousands of feet in the air to battle a Noivern and almost died falling back to the ground. Don't you speak to me about 'dangerous,' Dack Majors. I traveled with you because I wanted to help, and that is what I intend to do."

 

Dack stared at Madison in surprise. "No. Absolutely not. I couldn't live with myself if anything bad--"

 

"I can take care of myself, you know!" Madison shot back.

 

Dack threw his hands into the air and turned to Zach. "Explain to her why positioning herself on a rooftop is a bad idea."

[JiMing]

IC: The Seatons

 

"I think maybe you shouldn't think using your stomach next time." Aspen said, right as Natalie left to get their orders. Maybe we should have told her her city was under attack..... Nah, probably better that we didn't. Too much explaining to do.... the boy thought.

 

Olivia watched as Natalie headed off, and quickly pulled out her Pokegear to type a message. Dack and Zach began a conversation, a conversation she listened on to. "I have Dune, my Vibrava. And if Willow evolves, we'd have a Ninjask." she offered.

 

The discussion shifted to Dack vehemently refusing to have Madison go up on a rooftop, bith arguing their poits equally. "I'm not a strategist, but that sounds like a plan that could possibly work." Dahlia spoke up. "Thing is, it's risky, like Dack said. We'd need a flying type to back her and her Frosslass in case things went south, but that'd mean less aerial presence. It feels like a high-risk, high-reward situation to me...."

 

"If I might interrupt for a bit, I have an idea for Erika." Aspen said. "See, I did quite a bit of research on the Pokemon League officials when I was younger. And from what I remember, Erika isn't the biggest fan of men. Which leaves only Madison, Olivia, and Dahlia as possible represenatives." the trainer explained. "Olivia I don't think Erika would be crazy about, and I barely know a thing about Madison besides the fact she's his unofficial girlfriend." he said, looking directly at Dack. "I still feel like Dahlia would have the easiest time convincing Erika to help out."

 

"Why do you say that?" Dahlia asked.

 

"Think about it. You're a gardener who works primarily with flowers. You're one of the nicest people in this group and I've heard others call you cute as a button." Aspen replied. "Erika likes pretty much all of that, so she'd love you. As an added bonus, if Zach's right about her disliking the war, you don't have any connections to any faction. You're just an ordinary girl. Erika would definitely listen to you, and with her on the battlefield using her strongest Pokemon, that's a major increase in our chances for victory."

Edited December 13, 2014 by Toru Acura: The Saboteur

[Dr. Hidaka]

OOC: After a whirlwind of events, I am back from my break!

 

IC: Evan Tierra, En Route to Four Island

 

"Ah, that song, eh?", Evan said, smiling, "A fine choice! Well, in that case, mind singing with me?"

 

Evan pulled out Vlad's Pokeball and sent him out. Crying out happily, the Gliscor soared through the sky alongside Gnip, clacking his pincers. Evan cleared his throat.

 

"Let's dance! Put on your red shoes and dance the blues!

 

Let's dance! To the song
they're playin' on the radio!"

 

Evan turned to Jenny, seeing the colours of the setting sun settling on her beautiful face. Smiling he continued as Gnip bobbed from side to side, clearly enjoying the singing thus far.....

 

"Let's sway!
While color lights up your face!

 

Let's sway!
sway through the crowd to an empty space!"

 

As Evan continued to sing, Gnip went lower towards the water, Vlad following suit. She knew what she was doing. She also knew what her master was doing, and she couldn't be happier....

 

"If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should fall
Into my arms
And tremble like a flower!"

 

As Evan sung the last few lines, Gnip went up higher and higher, still bobbing from side to side. Evan then motioned Jenny to get ready to sing her part of the song.......

[Franco]

IC: Cero quickly considered leaving Aridez in, putting the Curse to good use with some quakes, but he discarded the idea just as fast. No matter how powerful Aridez was now, he didn't think it was worth risking his signature versus a super-effective attacker. He opened the ball. The Hippowdon only had time to roar defiantly at his opponent before he was forced to retreat.

 

Cero summoned another instead. His Tympole appeared, sucking up the Water Pulse. "Aqua Ring and Supersonic." The tadpole spat out the absorbed water, forming a ring to heal in the raging sand, then blasted the Dewott with a perplexing sound. Cero hoped it would do. Though several of his Pokémon had advantages on Water-types, Tympole with Water Absorb included, most of them were inexperienced and unevolved--hardly matches for even a first-stage evolution in a conventional fight.

 

So he'd have to rely on attrition. Water Absorb blocked a Water-type's favorite attacks, while confusing a samurai-like warrior would hopefully cause it to only hurt itself. Meanwhile, the sand would chip away a little longer, effectively nullified on his side of the field by the Aqua Ring. His tadpole didn't need to do much damage if he could compound what was already being inflicted.

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Ray==-

 

Ray seemed surprised at Poseidon's evolution, but smiled with a nod.

"Nice!" Ray called out to Sonja, as he and Orihime both noticed the Hydro Pump headed her way.

"Hmm..." Ray frowned, unsure exactly what could be done, as the Togepi bravely stood her ground, and wagged her finger again...

"What...? What is that?!" Ray gasped, as his eyes widened. All around Orihime, sacred flames circled, as the Togepi, shocked at what appeared, launched them forward quickly. The Sacred Fire slammed into the Hydro Pump, causing Ray to shield his eyes at the sparks and the steam, as it looked like the Sacred Fire might cancel both attacks out... However, at the last second, the Hydro Pump still overpowered the Sacred Fire, and the Togepi, spooked by the fact that the last ditch attack failed, wagged her finger again frantically, and just ended up summoning Splash. Which she also pulled off by being hit by the Hydro Pump and sent splashing into the water.

Ray sighed, but was still shocked at what Orihime had pulled off, and recalled the fainted Togepi before the water took advantage of that fact.

 

Aizen, on the other hand, tried to take the blow by shielding himself with his arms, however, the Kadabra staggered back with a slight frown, having taken a lot more damage than wished. Intending to give an obvious tell as to where he was teleporting, Aizen quickly teleported to behind Loki, and then pulled his fist back, readying an Ice Punch; effectively trying to see who had the better punch of the two of them...

 

OOC:

 

Orihime: Metronome > Sacred Fire (Failed); Fainted

Aizen: Teleport, Ice Punch > Loki

 

-==IC: Jenny==-

 

Jenny smiled, finding the singing pretty nice. Jenny took a deep breath, as it came to her turn to sing as well.

 

"Let's dance, for fear your grace should fall...

Let's dance, for fear tonight is all."

Jenny was a bit off key, and she paused while she kept track of when each would be, hoping it was all still okay.

 

"Let's sway, you could look into my eyes!

Let's sway, under the moonlight, this serious moonlight!"

Jenny got a bit more used to the idea of singing, and felt more comfortable, even if she was off key. She noticed that Gnip was still swaying back and forth in the air, and smiled; she figured that her singing wasn't too bad, if no-one was complaining, after all. And she thought she was hitting the notes better after actually getting into the song too, which helped boost her confidence.

 

"If you say run, I'll run with you.

If you say hide, we'll hide!

Because my love for you, would break my heart in two...

If you should fall into my arms,

And tremble like a flower!"

Jenny was getting into the zone now, and bobbing her head to the beat that Vlad was keeping track of, as she noticed Four Island off in the distance.

 

"Let's dance! Put on your red shoes

and dance the blues."

As she began to sing, she realized that Evan joined in too for this part, and nodded, as the two sang together, a bobbing and swaying Garchomp helping to set the mood.

 

"Let's dance! To the song

they're playin' on the radio!"

The two continued to sing, Garchomp and Gliscor alike helping out in their own ways, the song nearing an end.

 

"Let's sway! You could look into my eyes.

Let's sway! Under the moonlight, this serious moonlight..."

Jenny took a deep breath, as she looked over the scenery, watching the setting sun glimmering off the ocean, as they neared Four Island once more.

Heh, for a team we're not part of, we probably spend more time here than actual members. Jenny thought in slight amusement.

[Ehksidian]

IC: Arius Jacobson

"Yeah, you're right. I doubt anything will happen, anyways. It was a nice ride, though." Arius smiled at Alice as the balloon descended and, finally, touched the ground with a soft thump. "I can't thank you enough for letting us ride the balloon. Trekking through the forest again wouldn't have been fun at all."

[Makuta of Time]

IC: Dandy

 

"Thanks Chief. You can always count on a helping hand to help those that need it." Dandy walked to the door of the house and waited till he opened it. "Hey chief, you don't mind if I let my Barbacale out to walk around? I honestly don't like to keep them in the balls personally."

[Dr. Hidaka]

IC: Evan Tierra, En route to Four Island

 

"Marvelous singing, Jenny!", Evan said, grinning big as he saw Four Island himself, "Now, let's make a big entrance! Hold on tight! Gnip, full speed ahead!"

 

"Wait, are you...?" Jenny asked sort of uncertainly as she seemed to brace herself....

 

"Heck yeah!" Evan said cheerfully, laughing like a madman as he returned Vlad to his poke ball.

 

Gnip roared as she angled herself low, aiming for the beach of Four Island. As she zoomed downward, Evan continued laughing. Jenny then joined in the chorus of laughter, now only somewhat bracing herself, as if she were riding on a roller coaster. The beach drew closer and closer. Gnip roared loudly, as a warning to anyone who may have been on the beach at the time. As the beach was getting closer, Gnip began to slow her descent to below breakneck speed, but still had enough speed to make a huge entrance.

 

There was an explosion of sand and an echo of laughter as Gnip crashed into the beach. Evan was lying on his back, with Jenny close by. Both were laughing hard as they got up, feeling dizzy, but still cheery. Evan and Jenny supported each other, so they wouldn't fall down.

 

"Good girl, Gnip!", Evan said as he struggled to discern which Garchomp was Gnip, "Excellent 'landing'!"

 

Gnip, who was feeling dizzy herself, growled approvingly at Evan, not surprised by the latest of his antics.......

Edited December 14, 2014 by Hades

[Parugi]

IC - Kyle Eston - Lumiose City, Streets:

 

"Kovian, dodge it!" Kyle called, though he needn't have bothered: The Dewott knew what was coming and had the foresight to jump out of the way before he could become confused. He now watched his opponent carefully, thinking.

 

In all honesty, Kyle hadn't expected a switch--it occurred to him that he really had not run into many situations where such a thing had actually occurred, unless it was a result of the trainer's Pokémon actually fainting. But this was not an issue. With Aridez gone, the sandstorm would soon peter out, and with it would go the gradual damage that he knew it was dealing to the Dewott. In the meantime, he would just have to get creative and do what he could to take out the Tympole.

 

As things stood, Water-Type attacks were out, and that meant that half of Kovian's move set would be ineffective. Given that Tympole itself was a pure Water-Type, that was more of an inconvenience than anything. So, given all other options, it seemed the best route would be to ensure that whatever hits Kovian managed to land would be good and solid--something more than could be recovered from with just an Aqua Ring.

 

"Kovian, Swords Dance and Focus Energy," Kyle said. "Keep an eye on Tympole's movements while you work." Kovian nodded, and half-closing his eyes as if in a trance, he began to focus, simultaneously going through the slow motions that would increase his attack power . . .

 

IC - Sonja Baron - The Alamo, Water Arena:

 

"Nice, yourself," Sonja called back. Sacred Fire. Now that was unexpected. Ryan's sudden appearance--flanked by his entire team of Pokémon--was also unexpected, but somehow less dazzling than the sight of a Togepi spitting forth such a powerful fire attack. Seeing such a spectacle almost made Sonja sad to see that Poseidon soon overpowered the Normal-Type, swiftly removing her from the battle. Even so, the feat was impressive.

 

"Alright," she said. "One down, one to go. Poseidon, help out Loki with a Signal--"

 

She stopped talking as she saw what was taking place between Loki and Aizen. Aizen's Ice Punch was blocked by Loki slamming his other girder into the ground in front of him, allowing it to take the hit. At the same time that he did this, an overpowering light engulfed his body, and he began to grow larger. His perfect hour-glass figure shifted into the more top-heavy shape characteristic of a Conkeldurr, his arms becoming massive and muscle-bound and the purple bands around his body expanding to match.

 

When he had finished evolving, the Conkeldurr towered over the Kadabra. Now he grinned, and drawing an arm back, launched a Dynamic Punch straight at the Psychic-Type. If Aizen's intent was to find out who had the stronger punch . . . Well, Loki was all too eager to make that bet.

 

"Heh. Two evolutions in one battle," Sonja said, crossing her arms and smiling. "I should do this more often." At that moment it fully registered that Ryan had arrived, and that he did, in fact, have his entire team out around him. "Oh, hi, Ryan. Enjoying the show?"

 

OOC:

 

Species: Conkeldurr

Nickname: Loki.

Trainer: Sonja Baron.

Appearance: Loki is still fairly youthful, and thus looks a lot less grumpy than a number of other Conkeldurr.

Personality: True to his nickname, Loki is quite impish, always ready to pull a prank at a moment's notice. He is also a bit of a show-off, striking dynamic poses for no particular reason and always attempting to add an extra flair to his attacks in battle, a trait he mimicked from Evan Tierra. Past experiences have allowed Loki to get past his own vanity and accept his new appearance with relatively open-arms, recognizing the need for his new form's increased power if he intends to continue protecting his trainer and teammates. 

Ability: Guts.

Specialty: Loki is most skilled when it comes to physical attacks. Evolving into a Conkeldurr has also increased his durability by a large amount, allowing him to defend better against attacks. He is still rather slow all around, however, and because of this does not fare well against fast opponents.

Known Moves: Stone Edge, Bulk Up, Endure (EM), Reversal (EM), Focus Energy, Dynamic Punch.

 

Rock Slide > Stone Edge

Low Kick > Endure

Wake-Up Slap > Reversal

Edited December 14, 2014 by Parugi

[Konuju]

IC: Ryan

When Ryan had entered the Water Arena, he thought he had seen it all. After all, it doesn't get more impressive than a graceful Hydro Pump from a newly-evolved Lanturn that was totally in its element. And while a flying girder wasn't anything particularly special, this one had been broken in half, yet still flew straight and true. Yes, Ryan truly believed that nothing could top the impressive feats of Sonja's Pokémon.

 

That is, until Orihime wagged her finger.

 

Then a nimbus of regal flames surrounded the Togepi in a pattern Ryan had seen only twice before. Once was when the Legendary Phoenix Ho-Oh had attacked an army of Rocket agents invading the Alamo, surrounding his foes in a Sacred Fire. The other time was when Jake Soren had burst into flames and died before his very eyes. Time seemed to slow as that horrible memory burned its way back into his mind's eye.

 

The moment seemed to last an eternity, but it was only a few seconds later that Poseidon's Hydro Pump collided with the Sacred Fire, extinguishing it in a burst of steam. Ryan was instantly brought back to reality, although he still couldn't shake the memory of his friend's horrible death.

 

Then Loki evolved, bringing Ryan's attention back to Sonja and the reason he had come here in the first place. "S-Sonja! I... You were right! Something horrible happened in R&D! I... I don't know what exactly, but we could all be in danger!"

 

Togie, on the other hand, had not been conscious when Jake Soren had died, and so did not associate the regal flames with such a horrible event. He had, however, been traveling with Orihime for a majority of their time in Unova. And he had never thought the little Togepi had been capable of such extraordinary power. He stared at the baby Pokémon in awe, a jubilant grin spreading on his face.

 

IC: Jayron

George nodded at Dandy. "That should be fine. Just don't let him sit on the sofa."

 

Alexa yawned and opened her eyes, looking up at Colette with a wide smile.

 

The group got out of the car, and George led them to the door, where George's wife was waiting for them. "Honey, I'm home," the police captain said.

 

George's wife, however, pushed past her husband and glared at Alexa with a ferocity that made even Jayron shudder. "Where have you been?! What were you thinking?! Alexandra, you should be ashamed of yourself! You had me worried sick!"

 

Alexa cowered behind Colette, hugging the older girl tightly as she stared up at her mother. She found herself unable to respond with anything more than a high-pitched squeak. From the doorway, her brother looked on, desperately wishing that he had been the one to hitch a ride in their father's car.

 

George stepped between his wife and daughter. "Helena. Helena. Calm down. I've already given her a talk. And I think she found out the hard way just how dangerous things are right now. Colette and Jayron saved her life. But we'll talk about it over dinner."

 

Helena was taken aback by how calmly George had just said that their daughter's life had been in danger. "Alright," she said. "But Alexa has some serious explaining to do."

 

Luckily they were able to find some extra chairs for Colette, Jayron, Dandy, Razorface, and Lucario. Before long they were all sitting around the table with George, Helena, Alexa, and Phillip, all eating spaghetti. The Growlithe pup Amber sat off to the side, enjoying her bowl of dog food. George briefly explained what had happened, from finding Alexa in the trunk of his car to finding Dandy attacked by a ferocious Feraligatr, to how Jayron and Colette had risked life and limb to defeat the Feraligatr, defending both Dandy and Alexa.

 

Jayron chuckled. "You're forgetting, sir, that Dandy also helped us defeat the Feraligatr."

 

George nodded. "That's right. Speaking of which, Dandy, I don't think you ever told us why you came to this island in the first place. You made it seem like you had a good tale to tell us."

 

While the adults and teenagers conversed, Phillip and Alexa whispered amongst themselves; no doubt Alexa was sharing her own version of George's story, of how Colette had bravely protected her from the fearsome blue lizard. As they whispered, Alexa glanced over at where Colette sat, her tiny eyes full of reverence for her hero.

 

IC: Zoe

The warrior princess was leading the troupe of knights and warriors back to their bardly friend when a shining star seemed to glimmer in the evening sky. Zoe turned to the Pokémon that surrounded her. "Look, a shooting star! Make a wish..."

 

A wish started to form in the girl's head, involving Colette coming home safely, but before she could voice her wish, the shooting star grew even brighter, and it was soon obvious that it was on a trajectory to crash into the beach. Zoe glanced at the Pokémon in surprise. "Shooting stars don't normally do that, do they?"

 

Stricken with sudden curiosity, the warrior princess ran toward the star, her loyal subjects racing to catch up. They were still a good distance from the beach when the star crashed into the sand with the force of a mighty earthquake. Zoe almost stumbled, but managed to keep running.

 

It was only when she reached the sand that she realized that it wasn't a star at all, but a Garchomp. And behind the Garchomp were two people, clutching each other for support. Zoe couldn't be sure if they had come from the Garchomp or if they'd just happened to be on the beach when the Garchomp had crashed, but the blue spiky outfit that one of the people wore suggested the former.

 

As Warrior Princess, Zoe was never taken by surprise or at a loss for words. She had all the confidence of an aura wielder, and all the grace of a moon princess. She (alongside her bardly friend) had bested a valiant Knight of the Round. But upon seeing these newcomers and their shooting star of a Garchomp, Zoe could only find one thing to say.

 

".........what."

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Jenny==-

 

Jenny was probably gonna have a bit of a headache later, from the sheer impact, but she laughed, enjoying the moment.

That was so crazy, but so awesome. Jenny thought, as she noticed a few identical girls standing rather near the place they landed. Still dizzy, Jenny used her free arm to wave toward the girls, wondering why they all looked the same.

 

-==IC: Colette==-

 

Colette looked back to Alexa with a similar smile, and then was subsequently surprised by Helena's outburst. It was obvious why, and Colette understood that she had probably been worried; however, it seemed a bit much, and a bit too much to yell over. However, luckily, George had diffused the situation rather well.

She reminds me of my mother... Colette thought, as she scratched her head, and followed George and Alexa inside. When they were sitting down to dinner, Colette made sure to get a seat between Geroge and Jayron, since Alexa and Phillip's seats had already been decided. However, she was adamant in not getting a seat next to Dandy, since he'd probably spend the entire time flirting with her, which was the exact opposite of what she wanted. She stayed quiet mostly while everyone explained, however, she caught Alexa's look while she was eating, and looked up with a smile.

 

-==IC: Ray==-

 

Ray smiled, as Loki evolved as well, much to Aizen's chagrin, as he was promptly flung away by the dynamic punch. Ray recalled the high flying Kadabra, as he chuckled.

"You really should!" Ray said with a smile, as he scratched his head. "Probably should get to sw-" Ray said, but then was cut off mid sentence by Ryan yelling about something being wrong with the R&D room.

"Something happened? You'll have to be a bit more specific, Ryan." Ray said, though that definitely didn't sound that great.

 

-==IC: Zach==-

 

"I can see both sides." Zach said, but thought for a moment. "If you're on the roof, Madison, you'll be a sitting duck basically." Zach pointed to the map, and then took out his Pokegear, and brought up the map function, switching it temporarily to a more realistic view, and panned to Celadon, and pointed at it too.

"The roofs are pretty much open, for the most part, and if the army took notice, there'd be little ways to escape their notice, especially if they have flying Pokemon." Zach scrolled over and zoomed into one particular building, however. "There's one way around this, though. This building has a rooftop 'building', which would provide enough shelter for the moment." Zach said, but then paused.

"However, if you go with that room, you'll have to consider that if someone lands in a blind spot, then it'll be hard to defend... Especially with only one Pokemon. If you go through with this, you should borrow Heather and Elsa." Zach offered, as he looked over at Aspen, and tilted his head.

"Really? Hmm... She didn't give that vibe when I talked to her, but... Really, Dahlia would be the best idea, for the neutrality reasons." Zach admitted, and chuckled, since he hadn't considered that.

[Franco]

IC: Cero pursed his lips. That was no good. At this distance and with that speed, the otter would simply dodge the narrow Supersonic. In the meantime, it would be able to set up so that even its weaker moves would be sufficient for the Tympole. The abating sandstorm and the green tadpole could hardly do much now.

 

Still, his enemy was increasing its physical power, not its special. Likely it planned to smash his companion in close quarters. That was good. The Tympole liked long-range attacks--and if the enemy approached to an uncomfortable proximity, it would find dodging Supersonic more difficult. One way or another, Cero saw weakness in his opponent's strength.

 

"Hyper Voice," he commanded, choosing the move least repeatable but the one that would do the most accurate damage. The Tympole obliged only too happily. Grinning, it loosed an agonizing song upon the otter.

[Makuta of Time]

IC: Dandy

 

"Well now, you could say that I'm a person ways seeking work. A freelancer basically who travels around to find jobs that can provide enough pay." He slowly grabbed another bite of his spaghetti and wiped his mouth after some sauce got on him. Once he finished cleaning himself, he went back to his story.

 

"In reality I'm a bounty hunter. If anyone needs a a job that needs done, I get it done without questions being asked. Well...maybe one or two questions. This was the only reasonable job I could take if I ever wanted revenge for those who murdered my parents. In favt I've even taken some jobs for them before and have unraveled a few secrets while on the job. If they ever found out I uncovered these secrets I'm as good as dead."

 

He went on to finish the rest of his spaghetti and wiped himself clean once more. "Thanks for the dinner folks. I'll go place this in the sink if don't mind." Dandy got up from his seat and grabbed his plate. He began to walk toward the kitchen and set the plate down in the sink. As he exited the kitchen, he walked back to the dinning room and said, "Um, will I be sleeping in the living room? Just wondering."

[Dr. Hidaka]

IC: Evan Tierra: Four Island Beach

 

Evan shook his head a bit to regain what little sense that hadn't been knocked out of him. He was gonna feel this in the morning. He saw Jenny was waving to a girl. Evan decided to follow suit, waving his free arm vigorously.

 

"Hello, I'm Evan Tierra, Plasma Agent and Ex-Hero of Space!", Evan said cheerfully as he struggled to stand, "This is my girlfriend, the lovely Jenny Hakuda!"

 

With that statement, Evan bowed slightly, as to not fall face first into the sand. Meanwhile, Gnip trudged towards Zoe, her footsteps heavy. As soon as she got close to Zoe, she assumed a mighty pose........and promptly flopped on her back, growling softly.

 

"I think my Garchomp wants you to rub her belly!", Evan said, smiling, "She won't bite, so go ahead!"

Edited December 15, 2014 by Hades

[Konuju]

IC: Dack/Madison/Luke

Dack's eyes widened in disbelief as Zach seemed to support placing Madison on her own on a rooftop full of enemies. "Even with two additional Pokémon, I can't risk putting Madison up there." He glared at Zach, obviously not satisfied with the other trainer's answer.

 

Madison glared at Dack. "Dack, enough. I told you, I can handle myself. And with Heather and Elsa by my side, I'm sure I'll be just fine."

 

Dack sighed. "You have no experience though! Sure, we've had some friendly battles before, but this is war. Hannah's army isn't going to play by the rules. And you're completely unprepared for that."

 

"Dack." Palmer spoke up. "It's clear how much you care for Madison. I picked up on that during our last adventure through Sinnoh. But I think she's more capable than you give her credit for. If it makes you feel any better, I can have Dragonite keep an eye on her."

 

Madison blushed slightly. "L-look. I think it's sweet that you care about my safety, but the safety of the city has to come first. If you're willing to put your life at risk, I can't afford to do any less."

 

Luke glanced at Palmer. "You also have Cresselia. Maybe she could just put Hannah's army to sleep."

 

Palmer laughed. "She's not that powerful, but she could definitely do that to some of her soldiers. That would definitely make things a little easier." The Frontier Brain turned to Zach. "I also have a Rhyperior. Anywhere strategic you'd place him?"

 

IC: Zoe

Much to her disbelief, Zoe was at a complete loss for words. Then the mighty Garchomp made its way toward her, before flopping in the sand with a puppy-like growl. This took Zoe completely by surprise, but as she rubbed the land-shark's belly, her mind started to register what the newcomer had said.

 

"Ex-Hero of Space?" she said in surprise. "And Team Plasma? Did you come all the way from Unova?" She really couldn't wait for Collie to come back so she could tell her all about her exciting day. An amused smile found its way to her lips as she continued to give the Garchomp a belly rub. "Well, I suppose it's only appropriate that I introduce myself. Maybe you've heard of me -- I'm the famous Warrior Princess, Zoe Llyan." Had she still been carrying her stick from earlier, she would have brandished it in the air to emphasize her title. Instead she simply pointed over to the side where Richard had been practicing. "The amazing violinist over there is our bardly friend, the friendly bard."

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Jenny==-

 

"Warrior princess...?" Jenny asked, blinking slightly, as there was still five girls standing there. "But there are five of you, shouldn't that be 'warrior princesses'?" Jenny asked, as she rubbed her eyes, and then blinked again as they finally merged back into one Zoe.

"Oh. Nevermind, rough landing." Jenny said with a giggle.

[Dr. Hidaka]

IC: Evan Tierra

 

Evan laughed heartily at both Jenny's understandable error, and at Zoe's declaration. It seemed he might have met his match when it came to acting showy....

 

"Aye, that you be a Warrior Princess, Zoe Llyan.", Evan said, striking a dynamic pose as he spoke, playing up his act, "There's a fire in those eyes that is proof of that!"

 

Whatever uncertainty Evan had on the flight here, it had been dispelled. It'd been a long while since he felt like this. That Christmas at Ellen's house was the last time. He guessed Gnip was acting friendly because Ellen had left a positive mark on the Garchomp regarding younger people. He had wondered  what had happened to Ellen since the group had separated. Then mention of a bard reached Evan's ears...

 

"Jenny, you hear that?", Evan said, "A bard, here on Four Island! Warrior Princess, I actually hail from Eterna City, where old and new co-exist. We have a festival every year and my favorite part of the spectacle, when I was young, was the song and dance. I haven't seen a traditional performance in so long!"

Edited December 15, 2014 by Hades

[Parugi]

IC - Kyle Eston - Lumiose City, Streets:

 

Well, Cero wasn't wrong. After several moments, Kovian's dance came to a halt, and his scalchops bristled with increased power as he shifted them into a ready position.

 

"Kovian, Aqua Jet!" Kyle called, plugging his ears just as the Tympole began to sing.

 

Kovian nodded, and with a running start shot forward, cloaking himself in a shroud of water that helped to lessen the amount of noise reaching his ears. Using the attack to speed himself forward, he darted about the field, aiming to confuse Tympole with his randomized pattern. Once he had moved close enough, he shot forward, jumping over Tympole and aiming a Fury Cutter attack at the Water-Type as he passed overhead . . .

 

IC - Esen Windred/??? - Lumiose City, Streets:

 

At the sight of the rock flying toward him, Krow slowed, dipping underneath the attack with hardly a glance. And then he cawed, pulling forth shadow energy again and unleashing it in a hail at his opponent. Seeing this, the woman thrust a hand forward. "Golem, defend!" The Megaton Pokémon threw its arms together just as the attacks began to collide, striking the ground around it. A cascade of dirt erupted, a curtain that blocked both trainers' view of what was happening even as the shadow bolts continued to hit.

 

After some time, Krow flapped his wings, bringing the volley to a halt. With the crackling and crashing of the bolts now gone, Esen could hear a soft hum emanating from the center of the cloud; this allowed her to guess the presence of the Protect before she saw it. As the dust settled, revealing Golem, the Ground-Rock-Type uncrossed its arms, allowing the shield to dissipate. Krow scoffed, turning his head slightly to the side as if to demonstrate that he was impressed.

 

The Golem grinned, and then looked back at its trainer. "Golem, roll and see if you can get up to it." The Megaton Pokémon nodded. Curling up, it began to spin and roll forward, quickly gaining speed. It shot toward the same rock-ramps that Donphan had used, clearly aiming to emulate its teammate.

 

This prompted a raised eyebrow from Esen. "That's not going to work," she called. Her opponent said nothing, seeming too focused on her own Pokémon to say anything. Esen rolled her eyes. "Whatever . . . Krow, Dark Pulse on the ramps."

 

As soon as the first strike had hit one of the ramps, sending a cascade of rock flying into the air, the other woman stepped forward. "You know what to do, Golem!"

 

And apparently it did. The Megaton Pokémon uncurled, sliding to a stop amidst the hailing rocks and began striking any shards within reach, launching them toward Krow. The Dark-Type immediately cut off his assault and fell backward so as to avoid the Smack Down attacks, clearly caught off-guard by the improvised attacks. For the moment--until Golem ran out of ammunition--it seemed he would have to remain on the defensive, only having enough time to continue dodging and blocking the hail of rocks.

 

Esen watched this display with a marked curiosity, shifting her gaze between Krow's movements and her opponent. She had always been taught to search her opponents, to figure out what sort of plans they could bring into the fight before they actually did so. Even action had a reason, whether obvious or not. And so Esen could not help but narrow her eyes suspiciously. You're so focused . . . and you don't make your moves until Krow starts to attack . . . she mused. Just what are you playing at, lady?

 

IC - Sonja Baron - The Alamo, Water Arena:

 

And just like that, the exhilaration of two evolutions faded. Sonja's smile faltered as she turned to actually face Ryan, hoping for some indication that he was joking. As things stood, nothing about his posture or tone suggested that he was. Loki looked at her with a grim expression, shambling over to stand next to his trainer. Poseidon poked his head out from beneath the water, shifting his gaze between Ryan and Sonja.

 

Is that what Goldhawk's call was about? She looked at Loki and Poseidon, and then at Ray. Without waiting for a word from him, she recalled her Pokémon, turning around and descending the steps that led up to her platform. "Show me. And then--if you don't know what happened," she said, inwardly sighing as she heard her own voice take on that curt, ready-for-danger tone that she had become so accustomed to over the past year. "then we should probably find someone who does."

 

IC - Goldhawk/Blackskull/Silvermind/Others - The Alamo, Command Center:

 

Goldhawk paced around the room. How long had it been since James and the others had departed--since Maxie's message? At least two hours, likely more. Too long, it seemed; for if they had not yet reported back as instructed, then that had to have meant that they had run into danger. Yet, what could have possibly held them up for so long . . .?

 

The Liberty Leader was not the only one getting anxious. Many of the assembled agents had taken seats by now, warily watching the technicians and Executives as they waited for something to get back to them. A few had even slipped out, either abandoning the mission or else going off to get resources--more items, different Pokémon--in order to more effectively combat the malevolent forces that had taken Havoc. Some had been dismissed, reassigned to different tasks, or else evaluated and deemed too inexperienced to risk endangering should Havoc's channels open up again.

 

Blackskull, for his part, seemed to have maintained a cool head, which also had the side-effect of calming a number of the other agents in the room. He stood with his arms crossed on the central platform, watching the screens with a careful eye. Silvermind sat in one of the seats behind him, chin resting on her hand as she scrolled through a data pad.

 

Silvermind furrowed her brow, looking up from the tablet. "Kane," she said, her voice just low enough that it went unheard by the majority of the other agents. The Liberty Leader turned to her. "Does it strike you as odd that barely a few days after Team Liberty is attacked by two Unusuals, Havoc comes under attack by an equally ambiguous party?" Blackskull shrugged. Silvermind frowned, dropping her gaze. "It's strange to me. Team Galactic gets attacked, no survivors except for Jupiter. Goldenrod gets attacked--massive population center for Team Rocket; Joker's Golurk goes berserk, but otherwise gets defeated, along with the anomaly there. Team Liberty gets attacked, massive damage done to R&D, ultimately the attackers get destroyed--but only in an isolated encounter. Now Team Magma gets attacked, no one can get in, communications are cut off . . ."

 

"What are you saying?" Blackskull asked.

 

"I can't help but feel like this might be another Sin attack," Silvermind said. "It'd explain a lot, to be honest. Only question is which Sin it is. Maybe Sloth, if there's a Sloth in the group--Team Magma hasn't been the most active around here . . ."

 

Blackskull sighed. "Hopefully not," he said. "I'd hate to think what kind of damage it's doing to cause this long of a delay . . ." He paused. "Maybe it's Hojohsin?"

 

"Maybe," Silvermind said. "They haven't been very active lately, either . . . Heck, I mean, of anyone, I'd've expected them to make use of the situation in Goldenrod--use it as an opportunity to attack Team Rocket while one of its Shadow Admins were busy, right? They didn't even respond when Galactic went dark . . ."

 

"You're right . . . That is a bit weird," Blackskull said. He turned away again, crossing his arms and sighing. "All I know right now is that whatever is happening isn't good. Unfortunately there's not a ton we can do about it until those teleportation channels open up . . ."

[Konuju]

IC: Ryan

Ryan froze. He could feel Entei's eyes drilling into the back of his head, reminding him of the apology he had yet to make. For several long moments he stared at Sonja, stammering out an incomprehensible response.

 

Finally, Quil nudged him, and he cleared his throat, trying to clear his thoughts as well. "The... the R&D Department. I... I don't know where to begin. The whole place was just a mess... it looked like a war zone." He shuddered, then looked directly at Sonja, the fear evident in his eyes. "And in the middle of the Training Center... there were these two metal thrones. I know it sounds crazy, but there were thrones in the Training Center. It just felt... unnatural. I don't know what to make of it. I would've asked Executive Vert, but the entire wing was deserted. There was no one there." He looked from Sonja to Ray and back again. "M-maybe you should just see for yourselves."

 

IC: Jayron/Colette

George glanced at Dandy, then at Jayron and Colette. "Hmm. If you don't mind, Dandy, you and Jayron can sleep on the couches in the living room. We'll give Colette the spare bedroom."

 

Colette nodded, grateful she wouldn't have to sleep in the same room as Dandy. Jayron nodded as well, and the two aura wielders thanked Helena for the meal and placed their dishes in the sink as well. Alexa followed them with her eyes, refusing to take her gaze off of her new hero.

 

Helen turned her weary eyes to George. "Colette, why don't you make sure the bedroom is to your liking? George and I have some things we need to discuss with our kids."

 

"Um... sure," Colette said, giving Alexa an apologetic smile. As she walked out of the kitchen, she grabbed Jayron by the arm and led him away. "You too, Jayron." The two of them walked down the hall, past the living room where Dandy had already made himself at home, and into the spare bedroom. It was clear that George and Helena were not used to having guests -- the spare bedroom looked more like a spare closet, with a pile of boxes and covering the bookshelves, a dusty old computer monitor resting on a desk, and some broken down exercise equipment in the corner. Only the small, twin-sized bed in the other corner gave any indication of the room's intended purpose. Jayron was still taking all this in when he heard Colette close the door behind them. "We need to talk."

 

Jayron turned around to face Colette, surprised by her sudden abruptness. "What is it?"

 

Colette frowned, twirling her hair around her finger and staring at a spot on the wall as she searched for the right words to say. "It's Dandy. He -- did you know he was a bounty hunter? I mean, we don't know what his current bounty is. But what if he's hunting Liberty agents? Or even aura wielders?" Her eyes met Jayron's, and for the first time he could tell that she was truly worried. "I mean, I wouldn't want him stabbing you in the back in your sleep."

 

Jayron frowned. "Look, Colette... I can understand why you'd find Dandy annoying. But you've just been acting downright rude to him. Remember, I still have to submit a report to Goldhawk about your aptitude in the field. And I don't want to have to mark off points for 'doesn't work well with others.' "

 

"I work fine with others!" Colette snapped. "Dandy just... reminds me of some arrogant people I've met before. It sort of gets on my nerves."

 

Jayron sighed. "You know our abilities are linked to our emotions. I don't want your frustration with Dandy to end up compromising this entire mission. Couldn't you just... confront him about it, instead of giving him the cold shoulder? I don't think Dandy is a problem that's just going to go away if you ignore him."

 

"Alright, I'll think about it." Colette crossed her arms, the cold look in her eyes telling Jayron she wasn't about to change her mind.

 

"Look, I scanned his aura at the dinner table," the executive explained. "He didn't have any malicious intent toward either of us." He chose not to comment on what he had read of Dandy's intent toward the aura girl.

 

Colette looked away, obviously unconvinced. "He's not the only one we should be worried about..." She bit her lip. "The Feraligatr... I scanned its aura. It was mad, yes, but it was also scared and confused. Something drove it to its rage."

 

"This electromagnetic interference," Jayron realized, a deep frown forming on his face. "That doesn't sound good. If this interference could drive that Feraligatr into such a rage, how many other wild Pokémon might have been affected? And could it possibly affect captured Pokémon as well? This situation could easily go from bad to worse."

 

Colette nodded. "We need to have a look at the south end of the island tomorrow, for sure. The distress signal you picked up has to be from there... and I'm betting that whatever's causing this interference won't be far behind."

 

"Agreed. We can't afford to waste any more time. We should warn George that other Pokémon might have been affected like the Feraligatr."

 

"Yeah, good plan." Colette said, a hint of a smile on her lips. "It's good we found such a nice place... I wouldn't want to leave these people on their own, with no clue of the danger they could be in."

[Blessed Blade]

-==IC: Ray==-

 

"Thrones?" Ray asked with a frown, as he looked over to Sonja,unsure what that could mean. "If R&D's deserted..." Ray frowned further, as he put his hand to his chin, trying to think about what that might mean.

Goldhawk or so is probably out of the question. But who would know what happened? Ray wondered, and scratched his head.

"Who's in charge of the Research and Development department, again?" Ray asked, having a feeling they should start there.

[Franco]

IC: Cero decided he had underestimated his enemy--not Kyle, but the otter. The Pokémon not only followed each order, he expanded on it, turning a two-word attack into a sequential assault. The letter of his orders would not be sufficient for someone so devoted to their spirit. For that, Cero supposed there was one more thing in the world to be happy about.

 

That said, he had to work on his bonding first. He turned his attention to his newest companion. Supersonic wasn't liable to work if that shield was there. The Tympole would have to pierce it, then try, meanwhile keeping the otter away just long enough to not sustain serious damage. Cero didn't know if that was a tall order for his friend or not. However, it was the only option.

 

"Hydro Pump." The tadpole abruptly stopped singing and started spitting. The liquid he had absorbed earlier came out in a jet he aimed, as hastily as possible, at his opponent.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Carson Chambliss