Pokémon: Rise Of The Rockets

JiMing · July 7, 2015

IC: Aspen/Dahlia/Olivia Seaton

Aspen hesitated, and sighed. "W-well it's.... A l-long story..." he stuttered, looking down as he really wasn't sure where to begin with sharing what had happened.

"Aspen got teleported away, by someone calling himself Pride." Dahlia said, seeing that Aspen was having a hard time in starting to share what was going on. "He ended up with Dack and Hannah, here in this spot. All three of them, they were almost killed by that monster, but they all escaped. Dack remembered his friends, Hannah learned humility, and Aspen.... He thought of his love for all of us." the middle Seaton explained, hugging Aspen tightly afterwards.

"Wait, Pride....?" Olivia muttered, furrowing her brows in disbelief. "That's what the messages were all about?" she asked incredulously, looking to Zach.

"Hard to believe, but... Yeah." the youngest Seaton replied. "What about you two, did anything go wrong?"

IC: Lachina Adaon

Lachina carried a shocked expression at Mercury's actions, worried for Drew and Alaina's safety. Then after receiving the list again, it was as if he had never lost his temper. The Ranger's look of shock became a suspicious frown.

"Sir... Mercury...." she began warily. "Do you mind sharing what is on that list that could have made you so... Irate?" Lachina asked, choosing her words carefully. If Mercury reacted badly again, she was prepared to handcuff the man right then and there, though she hoped she didn't have to go that far.

IC: Ruth Fishers

Ruth looked over and waved to Jake, blinking as she saw his eyes have a faint blue glow. "Wait, do you have light in the dark contacts or something?"

Caliburn nudged Ruth to remind her of the situation at hand, and she cleared her throat. "Uhh, right, we're going down probably to check. Did Jake One go with you?"

sonyaxe · July 7, 2015

IC: Jake

"Wait what? I don't have contacts." Jake said. He grabbed his Pokedex out of his pocket and used the screen as a mirror to look at his eyes.

"What. The. Actual. Heck." He said. "This makes no sense. And to answer your question, I can see him a little ways down, back where I was."

Jake blinked a few times and checked the reflection on his 'dex again. "If this is a prank, I am not laughing." He glared pointedly at Pikachu, who shook his head in the negative. "In that case, what is this?" Jake asked the group.

MELON LORD · July 7, 2015

IC: Mercury

Mercury looked at Lachina as she spoke to him. Scowling softly, he shook his head. "Do you mind if I answer after my nap? I'm really not in any shape to explain things at the moment." It was true. The aura around people had slipped from his focus again, leaving him feeling blind in comparison. Dark shadows swam at the edges of his vision, and he could feel his head pounding.

You have not taken care of yourself this week. Using your aura abilities any more could seriously injure you.

He reached up to rub his temple. Now he was hearing voices, and his head was pounding. "Either that, or I'm just going to walk away and pass out alone for a while." He leveled his best glare at the girl. It helped that he was tired and sore, allowed him to put more feeling behind it.

**Franco** · July 7, 2015

IC: "...Keep them distracted, lead them into the forest if you have to, by any means necessary, but don't let them find Noibat. If we take longer than ten minutes, get Noibat and run," Cero finished his instructions to Piedra. He and Esen had mounted. Presently, there was but one word left.

"Now."

...

The guards at the Signs' compound were without warning when lightning flooded its yard. On three sides, bolts arced away from the forest's top and into their assigned area, crackling into the fence and buildings. Crackling roared in their ears. But in the microseconds after the strike, any remaining illusion that the storm was at all natural disappeared: those same three stormy sides were shot through with lasers that struck by the ground at the guards' feet. Then that receded to leave but the continuous crash of nearby thunder and a stirring in the woods.

This was all the doing of the three mini-noses nearby. They used Discharge, then Power Gem and presently Thunder Wave. Now they began to shift, rustling the trees as they replaced light with sound and utter stealth with apparent movement.

Meanwhile, two trainers and two Pokemon glided through the darkness in a relatively-quiet section of the three assaulted sides. They were aimed for the fence.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Stevens

**Blessed Blade** · July 8, 2015

-==IC: Lucia/Cassie==-

As Lucia and the others walked through the streets of Celadon, she looked around in sadness at the brokenness of the city. Although the fighting had stopped, it would likely take a while for the city to truly return to its former glory. Lucia sighed, but had to admit that at least the city wouldn't be damaged any further. Still, she wished even this much damage could've been avoided... Especially with the incident at the church.

Lucia pushed the thought out of her mind as they approached the Celadon outpost base, however, and turned to her mom. "Do you mind waiting out here? We might be Rocket agents, but, um, well, you aren't..." She explained, and Cassie nodded with a smile.

"Right. You go deal with locking him up for good; I'll go wait at Stacy's house." Cassie said, and then began to walk off with a wave. Lucia looked back in surprise, as she hadn't expected her mom to head back to the house... However, she figured it was probably a good thing in the end, as she figured that Jamie might want to head back to the Pokemon Center after this.

Lucia motioned Jamie to follow her, as she dragged the still-unconscious Gerald into the Rocket base. As Lucia stepped inside, she looked around with a frown, and showed her ID at the front desk. After a few moments of verification, the receptionist handed the ID back to Lucia. "Could I please speak to an executive? I need to formally arrest this man." The receptionist blinked at Lucia's forwardness, and glanced up at the unconscious Gerald held nearby. However, despite the oddity of the situation, the receptionist nodded, and pressed a button, explaining in obvious confusion what was being requested.

After a few minutes of waiting, the requested executive walked into the lobby with a tablet in hand, and glanced over at the two Rocket agents and their prisoner. "Yes? How can I help you?" The executive asked, as she walked over. She seemed a bit skeptical of the explanation given by the receptionist, but was willing to hear out the group, even still.

Lucia tried to figure out how to explain, and then looked at the executive. "Well, it was somewhat like this..." She started, as she began to explain about everything that had been going on with the criminal in their possession that day. After she finished that explanation, she also explained about everything she had heard that he had done, from either Gerald himself, or what the others had said. "... and that's about that." Lucia sighed, as even to her it seemed a bit unreal.

The executive mulled things over for a moment, as she let what Lucia had said sink in. "Gerald Hikari is his name, correct?" She asked, to which Lucia nodded. She stayed quiet for a moment, as she tapped something out on her tablet. The executive raised an eyebrow after a few moments, however, and proceeded to nod. "Yep, here he is... Wanted criminal in Unova - four counts of city-wide devastation, and just... wow." The executive frowned, as she nodded to Lucia.

"We'll take him from here. We'll make sure he gets to Team Plasma, without any incidents. We'll set up something so he doesn't use those psychic powers you described against us, too, while we're at it." She nodded to two of the nearby guards, as they walked over and took the crazed father from Lucia. The guards escorted the unconscious man out of the room, and the executive watched them go for a moment, before she looked back. "Well done. It's been one crazy day... We'll make sure there's at least one good thing to come out of it, however." She nodded to Lucia for a moment, and then took her leave.

Lucia sighed, as she seemed totally exhausted finally, but glad that monster was going to face justice. "Let's go, Jamie. I think we have someone to check up on." She looked over to her friend with a half smile, as she began to walk out of the base once more.

-==IC: Zach==-

Zach thought for a moment. "Pride." He mulled the thought over, then seemed surprised. "Wait. Pride?" He thought for a few more moments, seeming confused, but nodded. "Huh, Ryan ran into something like that a while ago, before we met up with you two to help find Dahlia. Except, that guy was 'Wrath'." Zach mused, but then paused, as Aspen asked the question. He looked over to Olivia for a moment, but then took a deep breath, and explained about everything that had happened since Aspen had gone off with Luke.

Metal Gear Minun · July 8, 2015

IC: Jamie - Celadon

That's two good things by my count, Palomides muttered to himself, admiring his new body.

Jamie shared the Executive's amazement when she heard the charges against Gerald. Destruction on the scale of four whole cities is three more than what she thought that anyone could destroy and get away with. Except for maybe Ford and his cohort. They had a remarkable record for destruction at the least, she thought sadly.

Well, we did our duty, stopped one madman, and limited the damage the best we could, Jamie thought to herself with a little bit of self-consoling pride as she followed Lucia out the door.

"Let's go, Jamie. I think we have someone to check up on."

Jamie nodded, "Right. Thanks Lucia," she said, returning a small back to her fellow agent. Her hand slipped into the grasp of Lucia's and they began walking off together.

Pelleas had his eyes on Lucia.

The walk back towards the Pokemon center was slow and uneventful and thus Jamie was forced back into her thoughts. Unfortunately, her thoughts kept prodding her to ask Lucia a question, despite her own cries condemning those thoughts as hypocrites. But she wanted to know, and to have a chance at knowing, she had to ask.

"Um, Lucia... why were you helping that man? You did not seem like yourself earlier."

IC: Celebi - Celadon

Well that was an interesting distraction, Celebi thought to herself as she saw Lucia and Jamie go off with Gerald. No need for her to go with them, the time traveler figured. All's well that ends well. So they say.

Celebi wandered off after everyone started leaving, looking for something to do while everyone else was busy. It wasn't time yet for her to go back to James. That would come later. She could jump straight to him, but that was more effort than just sitting there doing nothing. More fun, but more effort.

She guessed she could do her job, but she had all of eternity to do that.

Hmm, I wonder why James was so intent on having me guard that place... Celebi thought, looking back towards where she had been.

Meh it's a way to pass the time, she thought as flew off, hoping to probe into her associate's past.

Konuju · July 8, 2015

IC: Ellen
Hey there, little guy, Duo said, directing his thoughts solely toward the Fennekin. You gonna be our friend? We're heading to Fortree. I bet you love being outside of your Pokéball. I was stuck in one too for a while because someone decided to forget I exist. The Duosion emitted a telepathic grumble as he rolled his eyes toward Ellen.

Ellen nodded to Xander and led them past the city limits. An old, faded sign indicated they had reached Route 110. "You look like you have some very friendly Pokémon," she said. For a moment, the young girl had a genuinely happy smile, one reminiscent of her days in Unova. She reached up to pet the two fox-like Pokémon. "They remind me of the Eevee Aspen and I saved in Sootopolis."

Her smile quickly vanished as a flash of lightning streaked across the sky. "We can't stay here," she said, urging Xander and the Pokémon onward. Ahead the path stretched under a large bridge and extended over the churning sea. Another forked bolt of lightning heralded a sudden downpour of rain. "This way!" Ellen cried, covering her head and running for the bridge. The drenched companions huddled beneath the bridge, their closest shelter, and Ellen cast a worried look at the Fennekin. "You alright?" she asked the fiery fox.

This puts a bit of a damper on our plans, Duo muttered to everyone present.

"Yeah," Ellen agreed, shivering against the cold. "We'll have to wait out the storm."

IC: Drew/Alaina

The moment the list was back in Mercury's hands, something seemed to set Drew back into motion. He backed away from the man, lowering his head in shame. Lachina had already berated him once for theft, and now he had done it again. Alaina had always been the better pickpocket of the two of them, and he had been eager to prove that he was just as talented. So far things were not looking good for his reputation.

Alaina was less worried about her brother's skill as a thief and more worried about just what had made that list so important. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Mercury. She wasn't about to let this guy get away with not explaining himself. However, it was obvious he was in no state to do any explaining at the moment. As much as she hated it, she would have to wait.

**Blessed Blade** · July 8, 2015

OOC: Jam with Minun~

-==IC: Lucia/Jamie==-

Lucia suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, as her hand unintentionally slipped out of Jamie's, as Lucia's gaze became unfocused, despite looking at the street ahead. If Jamie looked back, she would notice that Lucia's face had a look of guilt and shame on it. "I..." She stayed quiet for a moment, as her head turned toward the ground. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." She said, as she closed her eyes. While Lucia knew that Jamie probably would forgive her despite what she had done, she was still unsure if she could ever really make it up to her.

"There, there. No lasting harm done," Jamie said softly pulling Lucia into an embrace, her words an imitation of how James once comforted her when she had accidentally caused his desk to fall over, causing his laptop and stacks of papers to fall to the floor. "Right Pelleas?"

Right, Pelleas responded, smiling and holding his arms to cover up a minor wound he had received from Gothara.

Although Lucia wasn't psychic and couldn't translate Pokemon, the general idea of Pelleas' reaction had gotten to her. She was surprised at Jamie's reaction, however, not expecting the sudden hug, and although she was too shocked to react for a second, she wrapped her arms around her friend right after. With a sniff, Lucia looked over with a guilty frown. "I... I've been worried since the other day. That I was just like my dad, after what I heard about Gerald, when he was supposedly my dad. I just... He used that along with giving me a headache..." Lucia trailed off with that, as she sniffed again. "I didn't want to hurt you... He nearly succeeded in that, despite me knowing I didn't want to, though, and I don't know how." Lucia said, an uncertain look on her face.

"Lucia..." Jamie said uncertain what to say. Her only knowledge of family were James and a couple of bug and psychic type Pokemon. "Why would you be afraid that you'd be like your father?"

"Well..." Lucia seemed uncertain how to answer that. "I think I've proven by now it was wrong, but, I'd always thought there was a reason my father wasn't around... As I got older, I'd admittedly started to wonder if it was because he was bad. I thought I might have just headed down the exact same road as him, and when I heard what Gerald had done... I just... The worry just came back in full force. That I would just be a monster like him..." Lucia sighed. "It's probably silly, and my mom's right, I just... I didn't want it to be true, but then he had just said what I'd feared, and I just... I felt defeated."

"...A monster just because of they way you were born huh..." that hit close to home... so much so that the whole situation seemed terribly ironic to Jamie. Terribly, hilariously ironic.

It was rude to think of laughing. "Heh."

It was positively inappropriate, "heh, heh heh"

It was most certainly unladlylike, "Heheh, Hahahahha! Lucia!" she called out, squeezing the other pea in her pod with all her might in an embrace that Jamie never wanted to end.

Lucia looked up curiously as Jamie chuckled. "What's u-?" She started to ask, the mood shift catching her attention and catching her off guard. However, as she was suddenly hugged by Jamie, she was absolutely confused as to what was going on, and despite her worry, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit too. "Jamie?" She still was absolutely confused and curious, but was also slightly amused at the reaction, a puzzled smile awaiting Jamie.

"You... you have no idea much I can relate to that."

"I... I need a moment to think of how to say this, but... I think I'm ready to tell you what I was hiding from you earlier."

Pelleas looked quite shocked. He hadn't expected this at all. He expected maybe that Jamie would tell someone eventually, but think the day was finally here... Tristan is gonna be jealous~ The Heracross stood behind his trainer, his daughter, fully ready to give her whatever support she needed for this. Even if it was just his presence.

Lucia had no clue what to actually say to that, but was both surprised and curious as to what she meant. She smiled reassuringly, as she hugged back. "If you think you're ready to tell me, then I'm all ears." She said with another smile.

Jamie took a few deep breaths as she tried to prepare herself. She couldn't back out now. Nothing left for her to do but come clean. "Where to begin... I guess with that trainer earlier. Wallace was his name, right? How would you describe how he was acting? Other than creepy?"

Lucia thought for a moment, as she tried to put a finger on it. "Well... hmm... something had seemed like... hm." She paused for a second there. "Innocent? Childlike?" She guessed curiously, as that was what came to mind first.

"Childlike... that's... a rather adept way of putting it. Let me change the subject for a moment. Do you know anything about the experiments that go on in Abyss?"

Lucia scratched her head for a second there. "Hmm... Not really? Other than vague references to that thing with Leviathan, but..." She said with a sheepish smile.

Jamie chuckled lightly, more to keep herself calm than anything, "It's alright. Most of the experiments that go on there are classified for one reason or another. Some for military reasons, some for... ethical reasons," Jamie spoke those last two words coldly, taking a breath to calm down again. "One of these experiments was... is..." The big word. The one that defined her life....No, no it didn't. Lucia just proved that it didn't. That's why Jamie was willing to go this far and tell her.

Pelleas reached up and placed a (hand?) on Jamie's shoulder. Jamie smiled back towards the father who was there, thankful for his presence.

"One of the experiments that goes on in Abyss... is cloning."

Lucia listened in intrigue, wondering what had gotten Jamie so flustered at the one point. As she explained about the experiment, though, she suddenly had something click in her mind - something that had confused her for a little while, that finally all came together. However, even as the look of understanding dawned on her face, she still smiled genuinely and warmly, as if to encourage Jamie.

"I'm not sure why they are the in business of cloning, but they are. That, and metabolism acceleration, or quick-aging as I call it. James once explained to me how they do it, but I never quite understood. But the gist of it is that they can make a person age in one year what a normal person ages in ten. But the mind takes a while to catch up to the brain. Because, in the end, you still have only lived a short while. And the result is you end up with people like Wallace."

"But..." Jamie knew that Lucia could connect the dots by this point. But she had to say it. She had the support of everyone there. Pelleas, her life-long caretaker. Lucia, a friend of immeasurable worth. Palomides... okay maybe not everyone there. Palomides didn't care. But a lack of caring is not unsupportive per se. "I'd like to think I've grown up. Past that point at least. Even though... I'm only five years old."

Lucia still smiled. She admittedly couldn't say she totally understood everything, but she understood the general idea. "You definitely have." Lucia said, and hugged Jamie once again. "And you're you. Nothing can ever change that. No matter what, you're you." Lucia smiled even more, despite probably not making a ton of sense, but leaned back for a second, and hugged again.

Jamie tried to hold it inside, but she couldn't. She tried to limit herself. She failed at that too. "YES YES YES YES YES! THANK YOU THANK THANK YOU!" Jamie shouted, squeezing Lucia as tight as she could. "You've no idea how relieved I am-or maybe you do, considering why I told you but. YES YES YES! You've been my friend for so much of my life, I couldn't bear it if you- never mind. JUST-" Jamie pressed her lips to the shorter girl's forehead. She couldn't contain her excitement, and she had to show it.

LUCIA HOW DARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION TO GET A KISS FROM MY LITTLE GIRL! Palomides finally had a reason to care; he had to use Disable to stop one steaming Pelleas from using Close Combat on Lucia. He'd like to not go to jail please. They have ways of keeping ghosts contained.

Lucia, in the meantime, was first beaming at the fact that Jamie was so happy, though as she had said, Lucia could understand exactly how relieved Jamie was. However, the kiss, even to the forehead, caught her completely off guard, and arguably surprised her more than anything the taller-yet-technically-younger girl had said in that moment, just from the sheer fact that it came, even with the excitement behind it, from nowhere. So she stood there, still somewhat smiling with a ton of bewilderment on her face, blinking as she tried to figure out what had happened. This had the welcome side effect of not noticing Pelleas' reaction, as Lucia tried to snap back to her senses. "You're... welcome~" Lucia managed among her confusion, knowing she still had to say something.

Edited July 8, 2015 by An/A Blade

JiMing · July 8, 2015

IC: Aspen/Olivia/Dahlia Seaton

"Wait, your Dad showed up again? And your Mom-sorry, uhh.... It's not really adopting, but uhh, adoptive Mom...?" Aspen asked, a bit confused at some of the details. "But... Now he's been put out of commission, right...?"

"More or less, I guess." Olivia muttered, not exactly wanting to go over the details such as Amethyst or Shannon. "Seemed like Lucia and Cassie were going to take him to the Rockets to get arrested, hopefully Celadon didn't completely divert their resources or something like that."

Dahlia sighed, just wanting the day to be over. "I'm glad you two are safe. I don't understand a lot of what just happened today, or what you just explained to me, but it's all over from the looks of it....." she said, looking around at the ruined park. "Zach, any idea where to head next?"

IC: Lachina Adaon

The Pokemon Ranger glared at Mercury, her grey eyes turning stormy. "Fine. But you're staying with me until I get an answer on the nature of that list." she stated, eyes narrowing. "Whatever was on it made you threaten two kids, even while I was already handling the situation. If I get suspicious enough, I'm handing you to one of my superiors." Lachina stated.

She grabbed Mercury by the arm gruffly, leading him to Aolani. "Come on. Take your nap and get well rested, I'm expecting a very good explanation when you wake up...."

Edited July 8, 2015 by Toph Beifong

MELON LORD · July 8, 2015

IC: Mercury

Mercury glared at the ranger as she spoke to him in the sort of tone an adult would use with a guilty child. "This list is what's driven me for the past six weeks. It's very important to me." He let her take his arm and lead him to the Altaria.

"Wake me up in two or three hours, I'll be happy to explain from there." So saying, he pulled his arm from her grip, moving onto the dragon-bird's back.

Sweet Arceus, she wasn't kidding. Those feathers were soft. Almost as soon as he set his head down, he was asleep.

**Blessed Blade** · July 8, 2015

-==IC: Zach==-

"Adoptive mom." Zach agreed with a nod. He stayed a bit quiet while Olivia explained about what was going on, but when Dahlia asked what they would do then, Zach paused, and looked to the sky. "Well... It looks like it's starting to get late, and we've had a big day... Maybe we should just head back to Stacy's house, and see if we can borrow some rooms...?" Zach suggested, as he scratched his head uncertainly.

MELON LORD · July 9, 2015

IC: Xander

Xander followed Ellen under the bridge, watching as the rain poured down outside. their cover. Fennekin yipped lightly, shaking her fur off and dousing her trainer. "She's fine," Xander said. "Takes more than a little rain to dampen her spirits, huh girl?"

The fire type jumped from his shoulder in order to lunge playfully towards Ellen's Herdier. Xander glanced down at the wet grass and smiled. "Fennekin, before you start playing, you wanna dry us off?" Fennekin looked up at him quizzically, her tail flicking. "Use ember, but hold back a bit. We don't want to get burned, but..." He wrung out the hem of his jacket.

Fennekin barked again before spitting a small stream of fire. It washed over the trainer, dissipating on contact with his wet clothing and Eevee's fur. Xander smiled lightly. "Ellen, need a blow-dry?"

IC: Belle LaDonna

Belle "Nightshade" LaDonna cursed silently to herself as she waded through the swamp that made up Route 14. The Kalos region was going down on her list as least favorite region in the world. She hated swamps. She had already lost her flip flops to the mud at the bottom, and she was currently holding her cape out of the water to keep it from soaking in the disgusting water.

Hemlock floated beside her, the Dragonair looking very smug as she floated over the surface without touching the water. The dragon-type could have easily submerged herself and the liquid would hardly effect her, but she was a prideful creature and would not subject herself to that.

On Belle's other side was Cyanide, her strong and fun-loving Metang. The rain pattered off of his steel body. This had the dual effect of alerting wild pokémon to their presence and driving Nightshade insane. With a growl of irritation, she returned it to its ball. Now she just heard the splashing of rain on swamp water.

They were searching for a pokémon known as Goomy. Purple and slug-like, it certainly wasn't something she would find pleasing to the eye, but when it evolved, it was supposedly a tank. While Cyanide was fairly good for defense, she could always use another front-line combatant absorbing damage.

It had been weeks since her last capture, the thrill of excitement that surged through her whenever she encountered something rare and potentially powerful. Finding Arsenic, her Bagon, in Meteor Falls had been a joy. He had fought fiercely against Cyanide, but ultimately ended up in a ball and under her.

The Beldum had actually evolved from that fight, becoming a Metang. She thought back to the day she'd gotten Cyanide, winning him off of a bad trainer with a bad attitude. The way he treated pokémon had infuriated her, and she had seen it fit to defeat him utterly before taking the Beldum's ball and walking away.

Presently, she looked to Hemlock and shook her head. "Forget this, we're done for now. Get me somewhere we can start a fire and get out of the rain." The Dragonair nodded, descending and allowing Belle onto her back.

They glided over the water, leaving the swamp for the time being. Her team had worked hard today, and they deserved a rest.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Unown Mercury

Parugi · July 9, 2015

IC - Malvolio Rask/Esen Windred - Signs Compound:

Rask was... not entirely pleased, all things considered.

There was no denying that the current job had been stricken with hiccups--too many of them, in fact. Between the interruption from the girl, the loss of the captured Noibat, the general presence of the boy, and the expected troubles that would result in the future, he was beginning to wonder whether it was even worth it to salvage anything. It was not as if their client had made a point of actually contacting them recently--not since her own project had fully taken off--so why even bother finishing their end of the deal?

He tapped his pen against the edge of the desk, thinking.

No. There really wasn't a point to it. Best to cut their losses, really. Move out of the area, start anew in another part of Kalos. Restrain themselves so that these sorts of setbacks wouldn't occur again. Perhaps let Shift finish his initiation with a different task--something of a lower key.

Time to call it in, then.

. . .

Words could not describe the cacophony that erupted from outside, a monstrous explosion of sound that invaded every nook and cranny of Rask's office and simultaneously prompted the lights in the room to rapidly flicker. He yelped in surprise, ducking down from his seat and hiding beneath the table. Though the room seemed to shake for several moments, he eventually realized that the danger was minimal, and so he allowed himself to emerge again into open space. As he did so, a knock sounded at his door, before a pair of flustered guards barged into the office.

"Mr. Puzzle, sir!" one said. "Something's happening outside--some sort of freak storm or attack o-or something!"

Rask stared at them from behind his desk, processing this before rising to his feet and dusting off his suit. "Rally the force," he told him. "Send some men to investigate and get everyone else organized in the garage." The guard nodded and departed. Rask turned to the second one, gesturing for her to follow him out of the room. As he passed by the door, he grabbed his hat and cane, placing the former on his head. "Where is Mr. Shift?"

The flashes of lightning and their aerial position allowed Esen to watch the movements of the guards. Cero's plan seemed to be working: Already, a number of those down below were dispersing to investigate, doing their best to avoid the attacks from Piedra's sentries in the process. The others took cover in the main yard before almost simultaneously beginning to retreat toward the main complex.

Esen frowned at this.

As they cleared the fence, Krow let her go, dropping her to the ground at the back of a smaller building before flying down to join her. Cero and Noivern followed of soon after, by which time Esen had already moved to peer around the edge of the building, analyzing the situation.

"Seems like that worked out fairly well," she said. "Could definitely have worked better, though . . ." Esen pointed towards the retreating guards. "Seems like that building is their main concern. Question is, is that our target?"

IC - Ethan Worth/Gavin Braner - Celadon City, Streets:

The pair walked in silence.

They had descended the tower and now wandered through the still-cold and devastated streets of Celadon, Gavin still fuming from their encounter with McKinley and Ethan continuing to run the entire thing through his head again and again. The order for the end of the attack had come once and again--initiated by Chapel with Bounty's permission and reinforced, according to radio chatter, by Hannah Wright, the Executive in charge of the assault in the first place. No one quite knew what had prompted her disengagement, but it had worked, and the city had been saved from further devastation.

For his part, Ethan was not particularly enthused. As a matter of fact this 'victory' felt rather hollow, all things told.

Gavin was not helping matters.

"We shouldn't have let her go," he muttered. Gavin shook his head, barely restraining himself from lashing out at whatever happened to be within kicking range. "We're supposed to protect people from Ford, but no--apparently now we're straight-up finding their soldiers for them. **** it!" He stomped, coming to a halt. "We need to find them! She's either brainwashed or worse by now, and if not--there's no telling what state she'll be in when we do find her!"

Ethan continued past him, paying little attention to the Rocket Agent's rant.

Gavin took notice. He sped up, quickly catching up to Ethan and moving in front of him, turning so that he was facing him as they walked. "Hey--are you serious? Don't you have anything to say about it!?" Ethan still wouldn't answer. Gavin growled. "I can't believe this . . . You're the one who dragged her into all of this to begin with, remember that!?"

No response.

Gavin's volume gradually increased as he continued to speak, echoing in the empty street around them. "You know, I don't know what's worse--the fact that you let her off the hook for her involvement with Zephyr to begin with, or the fact that you immediately brought her along for the ride to Havoc! What were you expecting to happen, Ethan? You knew we were following Adams--how is it that you didn't take into account that there would be bodies involved? Were you really trying to give her a chance? Or was all of this just some messed up plan to freak her out? Because if it was, then guess what? You got what you wanted!"

Ethan stopped. The look he gave the younger Rocket could have killed a weaker man, though Gavin stood his ground. He breathed heavily, and his face had turned red with fury. The older Agent could hardly stop his own fists from trembling. "Are you done?" he asked, his tone very carefully measured. The two stared each other down for several more moments, before Ethan shook his head. "You're right--I screwed up. Big time. She wasn't ready for something that big, and if she hadn't come with us--who knows? Maybe Ford wouldn't have wanted to recruit her." He sighed, turning his gaze to the ground for a moment before redirecting it to Gavin. "But we can't lose our heads over this, and we especially can't start fighting against each other. She's going to be fine. We just need to be patient."

"How do you know that?" Gavin demanded. "There is nothing stopping them from hurting Skye, or Levi, or any of these other people they're recruiting."

"I don't think that's true," Ethan said. "I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on their rules, but Ford needs these other five 'children' to willingly help him. Brainwashing and torturing them would be counterproductive to accomplishing that." He rubbed his head, looking away. "Ford won't harm them. We can believe that much."

They both fell silent, Ethan contemplating the situation and Gavin doing his best to calm down. After several moments, Gavin turned back to Ethan. "Alright, fine," he said. He was not happy, but he had put aside his frustrations, at least for the time being. "So what do we do now?"

Ethan did not immediately answer. He began walking again, moving past Gavin and continuing toward the Celadon Rocket Base. Gavin soon fell into step behind him. "We need to get this decryption started," the older Agent said at last, holding up the data stick that McKinley had given him. "I don't think McKinley was lying when he said what was on it, so the sooner we know where and when this 'party' is happening, the better. In the meantime . . ." He looked back at Gavin, an enthused smirk stretching the corner of his mouth. "Something tells me we're gonna need all the strength we can get for once this big ol' gathering rolls around. So we're gonna train, and we're gonna recruit." Gavin nodded, but seemed unconvinced. "Hey, I wouldn't ask you to be patient about this unless I was absolutely sure that things would work out."

"I know," Gavin said. He paused. "I just hate that you've yet again convinced me to listen to you."

IC - Victoire Coleman/Kyle Eston - Signs Compound, Repurposed Meat Freezer:

Somewhere beyond the room she sat in, thunder clapped. And there was not a more perfect sound in the world to go along with the absolute chill that ran through Victoire's blood.

For a moment, she could do nothing but watch, barely managing to keep her mouth covered, as the toxin worked its way again through the Liberty Agent's system, shutting him down in mere seconds. Only when the white cloud had begun to more thoroughly disperse into the air around theme did she find the strength and sureness of mind to act, forcing herself to move through the shock and guilt bearing down upon her, counting down what she knew must have been a very limited amount of time.

She had to act quickly. Priority One was obvious--escape--but the steps toward that objective were slightly more complicated. With Kyle still chained up, she would have to find some way of freeing him, but that would take far too long to do without first taking some precautions--namely, blocking the entrance--to stop any unwanted interruptions from Dallas or his guards.

The question was, how to do that?

It was a simple enough solution: Move the table. Possibly load it with some of the crates being kept in the room. That would provide a solid barrier, at least temporarily. As Victoire moved toward the table and door, running this through her mind, she frowned, realizing that even if she was able to barricade herself and Kyle from the Signs leader, they still wouldn't have a way to actually get out of the place . . .

She elected to worry about this later.

The table scraped against the floor as she pushed it in front of the door, the movement inadvertently sending the Poké Balls resting on top of it rolling toward her. Victoire caught them, briefly glancing at what was supposed to be a decoy before setting them down. Except they weren't empty. This realization prompted a double-take from the trainer, who picked up the containers again to confirm it. Sure enough, there were Pokémon inside--some that she presumed belonged to Kyle, and three of which very clearly belonged to herself.

"Dallas, you overconfident sadist," she breathed, grinning triumphantly. She clipped one to her belt, weighing the other two in her hands. "Remind me to thank the numb skull for his slip-up once he gets here."

Victoire held out Nidoqueen and Golem's Poké Balls, releasing them into the room. Having witnessed the earlier events through their containers, the pair immediately rushed forward to snuggle against their trainer, prompting a relieved laugh from her. "Good to see you, too." She pushed them away, directing them on what she needed them to do: Keeping an eye on the door in Nidoqueen's case, and after collecting her own belongings and shoving the rest of the items into Kyle's bag, gestured for Golem to follow her to where Kyle lay.

He had begun to stir, though only feebly. Seeing this, Victoire pulled him up and carefully moved him to the side, where she rested him against the crates stacked nearby. She pointed at the chain connecting Kyle's cuffs to the wall. "Dynamic Punch." After a brief wind-up, the Megaton Pokémon threw his fist forward, shattering two of the metal links close to where it connected with the restraints. Though several links remained, Victoire said nothing, figuring she would have to make do with this. By her count, several minutes had already passed. Surely the Signs were on their way . . .

"Anything yet?" she called to Nidoqueen. The Drill Pokémon shook her head. Victoire frowned. "In that case . . ." She stood up, leaving Golem to watch over Kyle while she scoured the room. After a moment, she returned, Dallas's discarded gas mask in her hands. She clipped it over the Liberty Agent's mouth and nose before gently lifting Kyle's hands. She replaced her scarf around her own face, and began to pick at the lock of his cuffs. "You know what? Maybe we have time after all . . . Let's see if we can't get these things off . . ."

IC - Leda Garven - Fortree City, Garven House:

Several moments passed before a blonde-haired woman answered the door. She was older--nearing her fifties, it seemed--and appeared . . . confused by the sight of the visitors at her door. Nonetheless, she addressed them directly. "Yes? How can I help you?"

"Mrs. Garven." Ryan cleared his throat as he tried to gather his thoughts. "You probably don't remember me, but I'm Ryan Sanders. I went to school with Melanie and Melissa. Well, technically they were a year above me, but I still knew them." He bit his lip. He was not looking forward to what he would have to say next.

For all his worry, however, there seemed to be another issue at hand, as Ryan's words proved only to bring more confusion into Leda Garven's expression. She glanced between Ryan and the others, giving the smallest shake of her head. "Melanie and Melissa?" she repeated. "Who are you talking about?"

IC - Kyle Eston - A sound mind in a sound body; a necessary combination in which the body and mind fit together as two pieces of a much larger whole, becoming one and becoming greater than the mere sum of its parts--partake--partook--they have partaken in devastating action that bent the joints of one and made it incompatible with the other, or vice versa

_{not again.}

A sound mind in a sound body; a reflection of health observable and not observable, physical and nonphysical, for to become sound in the head is to become sound in the heart, and to become sound in the heart is to become sound in health, for the beating heart is a meter by which all of these are measured in turn of eternity--patterned watching waiting ticking away time immeasurable unequally spread amongst the living

i'll do anything to stop. thinking.

A sound mind in a sound body; life is war, life is chaos, life is harm and uncertainty thus the heart becomes tied to the mind and the body to the brain in order that one might conceptualize the duality for it for there is war and peace and there is life and death and there is a distinct line that only the mind can know of that the body cannot simultaneously experience

_{just please wake me up.}

A sound mind in a sound body necessitates that the mind must be at peace yet such an experience cannot be gained without first recognizing that any sound mind will inevitably be put through the shredder and the body along with it

_please.

A sound mind in a sound body knows not the loss and lack that is

3. n. a shortage; an extreme scarcity.

as a tragedy but instead as a sign a symbol an experience that it has come to accept as fact and yet

and yet

how is this a preferable state to being aware of it as it is and for what it is?

_{not again.}

There's nothing here.

Scorched ground at my feet. Marks from where the lightning struck wood and the fire burned it to the ground. Splinters of charred wood and glass glitter in the setting sun. Tatters of paper and cloth dot the devastation that surrounds me, vestiges of the things that were left behind in the panic to flee.

What once stood here is now gone.

I remember.

It's vague. Hazy. I can't make out the details; it was too long ago. But I do remember. There was a house here once. It overlooked the ocean and the beach from atop a hill, connected to them by a dirt path. We lived here--my first home. Where my earliest memories reside. Where they thrived, for a time. Where they died when the tides changed and I made myself forget--locked them away for good, never to be recalled.

Past phantoms.

Joys from a child's perspective.

Horrors from a child's perspective.

That's depressing . . .

This house . . .

I captured my first Pokémon there. It was a Spearow. I was six. Sparky helped me. Dad helped me. We found it in the yard, attacking the garden. Silly bird would've eaten every fruit and vegetable it could find if we hadn't stopped it. A Thunderbolt, a Thunder Wave, some hits here and there, and it was down, twitching. Frozen. Beaten. The difference then is that I felt guilty for the injuries. So I caught it, and we healed it. It seemed to appreciate the help. I remember it hanging around after that, keeping an eye on things. Watching the place. Watching the streets . . .

I don't know what happened to it.

They met when I was three. I don't know the details. I don't remember the place. But they met, and they fell together, lovers amidst the chaos blossoming around them. What did they see in each other? Was I a factor? A complication? I don't know. Maybe there were no issues in the matter. Maybe they saw each other and decided that that was it--that their lives were better spent with one another instead of apart. If there were, they must have worked them out, because before I knew it--as if we had always been--two and one became three, and we were together . . .

A family.

I don't remember the union. But it would last.

It would last until she died, leaving us together.

There was an argument once. It was late--dead of night. I should've been asleep, but I couldn't. Not between the yelling here and there that cut through the house, the young and frightened crying coming from the room, from the tension in the air . . . I didn't sleep that night. I watched through the door as they fought, a verbal war over some unknown entity, the ultimate question: To go, or to stay. Idle bliss, or pained action. One empowered by the freedom of the promised fight; the other burdened by the bundle of family in her arms, the sleeping-not-sleeping child in the other room.

I didn't know what they were saying then. But I did find out, eventually.

I didn't have a choice in the matter.

Everything moves in a flash. The scenery. The voices. The actions and the thoughts.

I see only glimpses of the fire that consumed the house. The lightning that started the fire. The planning and waiting that came before the attacks. The revelation of a decision that must have been made under clear duress.

In too much detail, I see the aftermath.

I see the lightning strike them both.

I feel him pulling me away from them to hide me.

I watch him fight off our assailants and try to tend to them.

I see her light fading. I see his stop completely.

Only two of us remain.

I see my family split in half in an instant.

I see horror that should last me a lifetime. But it is just the beginning of a long and tiresome road.

3. pn. a large or sufficient amount or quantity; more than enough.

IC - Cape Brink, Two Island - 1, 2, 3:

Thursday's tragedy, blessed and wilted wanes . . .

Angels made for Sin, the deed is almost done . . .

. . .

Friday's memory, slung in frozen chains . . .

Nearly to the end now, seven turn to one . . .

. . .

It's your turn.

Smile.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Parugi

JiMing · July 9, 2015

IC: Olivia/Aspen/Dahlia Seaton

"Sounds fantastic to me....." Olivia said, yawning afterwards "I really could use a place to sleep in, after this heck of a day... And if your Aunt doesn't have any rooms, I might just fall asleep on the carpet anyways." she muttered. "Lead the way, Zach."

While the three made their way through the ruined city, Aspen looked up after having been near silent the whole way through "Umm, Zach quick question.... What's the deal with Lucia's stuff again? Like how she's your sister, but isn't actually related to you?" the young trainer asked, scratching his head "A-admittedly, I didn't exactly catch all that....."

"That Lucia girl's related to both your family and the Hakudas, right? Jessica, Ray, and-nevermind." Dahlia began, stopping herself from mentioning a particular Hakuda sibling. "Hmm, makes me think of how your brother-well, half-brother tried dating that Jessie girl for a few days..."

Aspen scratched the back of his head, and looked at Zach holding hands with his oldest sister. "Wait, I was pretty little at the time, but.... Didn't you have a crush on Jessie for a while? I think it was when you and Olivia were in middle school...." he asked, not realizing how the two might react to being reminded of that situation.

Olivia blinked at Aspen bringing that up, and then looked down. "Oh right, yeah, that happened when we were twelve...." she said, avoiding eye contact with Zach at the moment.

"Hmm. Lots of things are looking very awkward in hindsight." Aspen pointed out, and scratched his head. "The situation's still more confusing than anything, but yeah, awkward."

Edited July 10, 2015 by Toph Beifong

**Blessed Blade** · July 9, 2015

-==IC: Zach==-

"Well, considering how I was raised, despite not being blood related, if she's related to Ryan, I consider her my sister. But basically, she's like a link between the two families?" Zach shrugged, as he wasn't entirely certain of the particulars regarding that, even still. However, right after that, came the Jessie thing.

Zach opened and closed his mouth, confused as to how that had just happened, and looked over at Aspen in confusion, but scratched his head. "Not really...?" Zach said, still confused, and not entirely recalling the supposed crush. I've only had one crush that I can remember... Liv... Zach thought, curious as to what that was about, since Olivia seemed to recall better, and decided to ask later.

As the four reached Stacy's place, however, Zach was taken aback slightly, as the building was slightly bigger than he had recalled. "I don't think we'll have problems with rooms..." Zach said with a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head, as he looked over to the other three.

Edited July 10, 2015 by An/A Blade

JiMing · July 10, 2015

IC: Aspen/Olivia/Dahlia Seaton

"Well, you kept looking at Jessie when she was around. Like, straight at her, and it usually took some effort to snap you out of those spells." Aspen explained, thinking back to when they were all younger. "You stopped after a bit, but.... Yeah." the trainer explained, then shrugged. He considered asking Zach what the deal as with Wrath, but decided to wait, as they were already at Stacy's mansion.

Olivia looked to the side, not acknowledging what Aspen had said. While it was true Zach clearly loved her and they were together, the memories being brought up made her cringe and she wanted nothing more than a bed to rest on, to sleep away the memories, washing them back into her subconscious....

Dahlia watched Olivia and sighed, knowing just how much those memories being reawoken could affect her. She wanted to say something, but it was clear that her older sister didn't want to discuss it, and Zach was simply completely clueless. So the middle Seaton walked up to the door, and rang the doorbell before knocking. "Mrs. Stacy?" she called. "Are you there? We're with your nephew, Zach......"

**Blessed Blade** · July 10, 2015

-==IC: Zach==-

Zach looked blankly at Aspen in confusion. He couldn't recall anything like what Aspen was describing, but yet, everyone else seemed to be seeing it, and... he glanced over at Olivia, and saw that she seemed to be downcast all of a sudden. Zach frowned, as he tried to think of what the deal could be, and thought back to when they had said this happened. He then paused, as he suddenly understood.

"Y-you have it all wrong! It wasn't... her that I had a crush on. That... was just me trying to hide my actual crush..." Zach said, a slight blush as he looked over at Olivia. "I just, I had thought it would look less suspicious than blanking out and staring at nothing..." He sighed, as he was worried with Liv's reaction. He now felt he had messed up that plan back as a kid, and didn't want her to pay for that... however, Zach had to wonder if this was a reaction she had had back when this actually happened as a kid.

He didn't have much of a chance to think about that, however, as the door opened, and Stacy smiled ever so slightly at the group. "Come on in..." She said, though she seemed to have a worried look on her face.

**Franco** · July 10, 2015

IC: Piedra watched the guards' movements, saw a detachment head for the forest, sweeping for intruders. That was fine. More toys in his box.

Time to play.

The mini-noses Discharged again toward the searchers, this time in such a way that the flash glinted off their metal. Then the Probopass parts shuffled through the foliage nearer to the distracted, letting out thunder more rapidly. The hook had new bait. Piedra was enjoying this.

...

Viajero was not enjoying this.

He knew Trainer loved him. Trainer petted him all the time. Trainer had him catch wild Pokemon. Trainer always took whatever he found with a "Thank you" and a scratch behind the ears. Sure, Viajero had love.

But love was not enough. Trainer loved near everyone. Trainer respected only a few, and Viajero had a feeling he was not one of them. He didn't think Trainer had thought he could win against the Mienfoo. He knew Trainer had to recall him, no one else, when fighting Leviathan because no one else was so horribly weak. Trainer only sent him out to catch Pokemon so he could feel and get minimally better. He didn't have the responsibility to carry Trainer, let alone obey orders remotely. And Trainer had seven Pokemon now, so one always had to be in a PC; Viajero hated the idea of a box. He had to show Trainer he was worth it.

What did he have? Finding things, something anyone could do. Biting, something Aridez would always win.

And Viajero had speed. That was it. Greater speed could've kept him away from Leviathan. Agility could've allowed him to beat the Mienfoo. He could've flanked that terrible Trapinch if he had just been faster, and then he would've had the definitive victory he needed. He would become faster.

"Let's see," Trainer murmured, chest pulsing against Viajero warmly. "Viajero?"

Viajero scurried out of Trainer's robes.

"Check the exterior of the buildings for Kyle's scent."

Orders! Viajero put his nose to the ground, and remembering speed, let scent dictate his pace in following.

JiMing · July 11, 2015

IC: Olivia/Aspen/Dahlia Seaton

Olivia looked over in surprise at Zach's explanation of what he had done long ago. So.... That's what he was doing...?? she thought, as everything said did make sense.... But then the eldest Seaton thought back to how distraught she had initially felt seeing Zach look at Jessie... And how she reacted afterwards and how it affected her in the long run..... N-no. Things are great now. Stop thinking about it.... Olivia thought again, sighing, really not wanting to remember any of that anymore. They were at Stacy's house, they were allowed inside, and the end of the day was finally soon...

"...Huh. That's odd." Aspen replied, blinking at Zach's explanation. "Makes more sense than the things you told us about your family though, and makes things not awkward anymore. Not Ryan and Jessie though, that's really awkward in hindsight.." the youngest Seaton said, rambling on a bit before Stacy opened the door, to which he put on a small smile and waved slightly, before stepping inside.

Dahlia smiled respectfully to Stacy Trilan, who had helped the middle Seaton and Palmer in recruiting Erika. "Thank you for letting us spend the night....." she said, bowing slightly. When she looked at the woman again however, she saw concern etched on her face. "....Stacy, is something bothering you?" she asked, tilting her head to the side worriedly.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Toph Beifong

**Blessed Blade** · July 11, 2015

-==IC: Zach/Stacy==-

Zach looked over at Olivia worriedly, as even without using his powers, he could just sense the uneasiness emanating from her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders for the moment to try and help cheer her up a bit, unsure how else to help her.

Stacy looked over to Dahlia, and then nodded. "Yes... It's Ryan. Ever since he got back here, he's been a wreck. Cassie and I kept trying to explain, but..." She frowned further, as she scratched her head. "Can you four talk to him, please, about what happened? He thinks it's all his fault." She didn't realize that half the group hadn't heard about what had happened to Shannon yet, and figured that more perspectives might help out.

JiMing · July 11, 2015

IC: Olivia/Dahlia/Aspen Seaton

Olivia looked behind her in surprise when Zach did that, blinking slightly. After a while though, a nervous smile appeared on her face. "Z-Zach, I'm fine... Honest." she said, taking a deep breath. "Just uh, need a bit more time to get the memories out of my head...."

"Of course we'll help Ryan, Stacy! ...But.... What happened...?" Dahlia replied, tilting her head. "What does he need help with?"

"Seconded." said Aspen, scratching the back of his head. "We heard all about Gerald, Lucia, and stuff, but... Nothing specifically about Ryan."

**Blessed Blade** · July 11, 2015

-==IC: Zach/Stacy==-

Stacy looked at Zach and Olivia for a moment, surprised they hadn't told the other two about that. "He tried to attack Gerald directly because he was getting pessimistic, and Shannon tried to stop him. Well... She succeeded." She proceeded to explain more about that to the other two, and then sighed. "I can see everyone's point, honestly, but what actually happened wasn't his fault, if you ask me, because it was too late for him to stop it."

Zach stayed quiet at Stacy's explanation, and instead kept up the half-hug with a smile. "Any way to help you out, though?"

JiMing · July 12, 2015

IC: Dahlia/Aspen/Olivia Seaton

Dahlia listened to the explanation, frowning and looking around at the end. "What that Shannon girl did... That's not far off from what I might have done in that situation." the middle Seaton admitted, but sighed. "You're right though, Ryan couldn't have seen that coming. We'll do our best to help him."

"Yeah.... No wonder Zach and Olivia didn't want us to hear that." Aspen said, putting a finger to his chin. "This whole situation is complicated and confusing as is, Ryan's probably shutting down over there.... I'll try to help, but he might not want to listen to me, as a warning." he said, shrugging. "He'd probably listen to Dahlia better, to be honest...."

Olivia smiled back, but sighed. "......M-maybe we could talk about it later, but.... You wouldn't want to hear the things I'd have to say." she said with a look down at the ground. "Besides, it's your brother who really needs help now..... Helping me can come later." she assured Zach, and looked at Stacy. "Can you point us in Ryan's direction?"

**Blessed Blade** · July 12, 2015

-==IC: Zach/Stacy/Ryan==-

Stacy nodded, as she guided the four through the house to the kitchen. On the way, Zach still looked over, a bit worried, but agreed that it sounded like Ryan needed help... and when they saw the black haired trainer sitting at the table, they could see it for themselves.

Ryan was using his arms as a headrest as he leaned against the table, and exuded a sense of conflicting emotions. Zach looked at his brother with a frown, and began to walk toward him, unsure what exactly to say to start off the conversation.

JiMing · July 12, 2015

IC: Dahlia/Aspen/Olivia Seaton

All three of the Seaton siblings watched sadly as Ryan leaned into the table. Unsurprisingly, it was Dahlia who took the initiative, placing a hand on the eldest Hikari's shoulder. "Ryan.... I know you're hurting. Please, we can help, just.... Just talk to us."

Aspen blinked, and looked down awkwardly. "....I.... You probably don't want to listen much to me. And, well, I can see why. But you can't beat yourself up over this, sure, it sucks but...." the boy said, and sighed. "...No one's blaming you, and all we want to do, is help..."

"There's no way you could have seen Shannon running in front of your Dad. Plain and simple...." Olivia said bluntly, though her expression was soft. "Heck, no one could have, probably not even herself...."

**Blessed Blade** · July 12, 2015

-==IC: Ryan==-

Ryan stayed quiet for a moment, as he listened to each of the Seatons speak in turn. He then looked up, a conflicted look on his face. "If I had've listened to her and Lucia, though... then it wouldn't hav-"

"Wouldn't have what?" Zach cut in, a frown on his face, as he walked closer to Ryan. "The Stone Edge was broken - it didn't go nearly as badly as it could have. With everyone there, someone would have interfered to save an innocent person." He stated, as he placed his hand on Ryan's shoulder, green eyes meeting blue. "You're a fool for thinking that was the only way to deal with dad... But I can see your reasons. Yeah, you should have listened to them, but the past is the past. What you have to do now, is move on. When Shannon wakes up, I'm sure she'll be saying the exact same things we are."

Ryan was stunned at what Zach said; surprised that he of all people was trying to help. A small smile crossed the black haired man's face, as he quietly chuckled. "Since when have you been giving out advice...?" He asked, as he recalled how not too long ago, Zach had been just as downcast as he had been, and yet now, it was like he had finally gotten back everything he had lost four years prior.

"Hmm... I guess since I realized how it's not fair on myself to blame myself constantly for something I couldn't prevent." Zach replied with a mysterious shrug. "You could stay there feeling sorry for yourself... Or you could wait. Talk to her when she wakes up. It's better to talk to people, than to worry over nothing... I should know, I do that even now." He chuckled, giving Ryan a soft smile, as his brother sighed and nodded, as he could see the logic behind it all.

MELON LORD · July 12, 2015

IC: Belle

The rain continued to fall outside of the "scary" house on route 14. Belle had quickly fished her socks and boots from her backpack, donning them after thoroughly wiping her feet of swamp muck. She had then released Cyanide and Arsenic from their pokéballs.

The next hour was spent polishing Cyanide from top to bottom, then holding a padded board to let Arsenic ram into. The dragon-type enjoyed headbutting things, and she'd learned early on that if she didn't give him an outlet, her legs would pay the price. Hemlock watched from where she curled up in the corner, her long body coiling around and over itself like a snake's.

As she sat, she contemplated the story she had heard about this place once. A lone traveler, lost and weary, had entered the house. Unable to get the lights on, he had stumbled his way through the dark until he got to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator had shed some light in the room, allowing him to see a man huddled in one corner.

On approach, the huddling man shouted "Get back!" Though the traveler tried to explain that he was lost, the man said, "I'm not talking to you! Can't you see them? Behind you!"

She shuddered, glancing around as the last line went through her mind. "The horde of faceless men!" Belle didn't spook easily; she'd been through too much in her life to be nervous. Even so, with the dark, rainy night outside, the gloomy interior of the house, and her being alone with her team...

Lightning flashed outside, briefly illuminating the house. Belle saw a silhouette across the room and screeched, running to Hemlock and huddling by the serpentine pokémon. "Did you see that?!" she shouted, pointing.

Hemlock looked to the area her trainer spoke of and shook her head. There was nothing there; Belle was jumping at shadows. The Dragonair had heard the story when her trainer had, and she was confident in her abilities to defeat any threat, but there was nothing here. It was just the four of them.

Slowly, Belle sat down, closing her eyes against the darkness. It was going to be a long night.

JiMing · July 13, 2015

IC: Dahlia/Aspen/Olivia Seaton

Dahlia pat Ryan on the shoulder some, and smiled. "Zach's right. It's no good to feel sorry about the past, especially when you couldn't have seen Shannon jumping in front of that attack. Your brother's giving very solid advice, maybe you should listen to it." she said, wrapping her arms around him in a comforting, sisterly hug.

"Yeah, I don't think Shannon blames you." Aspen replied, scratching the back of her head. "She probably cared about you, and did what she did to stop you from making a decision you'd regret even more... At least, that's what I think she did that for." he said, awkwardly shrugging. "Like Zach said, you should probably wait for her to wake up, then you two can talk about it more.. But until then, you shouldn't sit here, blaming yourself."

Olivia stayed behind Zach, and smiled when it seemed Ryan seemed to be perking up. She didn't have much to add, as everything everyone said was basically everything she had been thinking, so she just looked over at Ryan and nodded. "How you feeling now?"

**Blessed Blade** · July 13, 2015

-==IC: Ryan==-

Ryan was surprised by everything that everyone had said, and definitely at Aspen's response. However, as Dahlia gave her usual crushing hug, he chuckled a bit with an amused smile, as he sighed. "I still don't know how things will turn out... But you guys are right. I dunno her thoughts, so I can't really spend time just... worrying like this." He looked over at Zach with a smug smile, who gave him a look that told him to shush in return, as Zach recognized the tease. "I still feel bad, though... But I'm gonna talk with her. Besides, you guys probably have better things to do than talk with me." He sighed, and chuckled with a slight smile. "Mom told me that dad's locked up for good now, though, so at least that's good news..."

Edited July 14, 2015 by An/A Blade

JiMing · July 14, 2015

IC: Dahlia/Aspen/Olivia Seaton

Dahlia relented from her lung-crushing hug, and smiled at Ryan. "Alright, you're good now, then?" she asked, glad to see the older Hikari had recovered. "You're a good person, Ryan. Even if you tried to go to far... It already means a lot that you're feeling remorse over what you did."

"Glad to see you're okay." Aspen muttered, offering a smile. "Well, looks like we'll see you around, but it's looking like night's coming pretty soon.... Bye." the youngest Seaton said, before departing with Dahlia to find where a good room might be in the mansion, deliberately leaving Olivia and Zach to themselves.

"Good luck, Ryan." was all Olivia said, before turning back to Zach. "Seems like Aspen's got the right idea... Somehow. He's been odd ever since we found him again." she muttered, scratching her head. "But uh, have any idea where to go in this huge place...?"

**Blessed Blade** · July 15, 2015

OOC: Part 1/3 of a jam with JiMing. ^^

/EDIT: Ack, spacing didn't work as I expected. ^^'

-==IC: Zach/Olivia==-

"Hmm..." Zach though about what Olivia had asked about where to go, as he watched Ryan get up and head somewhere. "Well, there's..." He paused for a moment as he started to talk, a smile creeping onto his face, as he giggled for a moment. "I think I might just have an idea."

"...Yeah?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow. She had been looking around, still taking in how huge the mansion was in general, as it was unlike anything she had seen before. At that moment though, what she really wanted to do was fall asleep. "You know where there are beds? Beds are nice, I could really use a comfy place to sleep soon...."

Zach giggled at her reaction, and nodded. "Yeah, I think I know where we can stay..." He said, as he took her hand again, and began to walk off to lead her around the mansion. It didn't take too long to get to the room in question, though there was a lot of walking in comparison to other houses the two had been in before. "I used to stay here when we'd visit Celadon; it was basically just kept as my room whenever we'd visit, since there were more than enough rooms." He explained, as he opened the door to a room with red walls, and a rather prominent poster of a blue robot, and a red robot.

Olivia listened to Zach's explanation, nodding accordingly, though she got her attention back when he opened the door to the room. "....Red walls? Really?" she said, her lips curving in an amused smile. She then turned to the poster, her eyes lighting up. "....Course you got a poster of them as a kid, wouldn't have really expected anything less of you." she muttered, grinning. "Geez, when was the last time you even returned here? They've kept it this neat since the last time you actually stayed, really?"

Zach watched her look around with a smile, as he giggled a bit at her reactions. "Well, a lot isn't really as set up as it would've been when I was here. There are some small things missing, too... But overall, Aunt Stacy likes to keep her house neat, that's for sure." He yawned slightly, as he looked over at Olivia with a smile. "So, you like the poster?" He teased with a smile, noticing how she had seemed to brighten upon seeing it.

"That poster? Well, it reminds me of the days I saw you playing games and then I'd go ask my parents for them..." Olivia replied, smiling. "They never really understood what video games were, really, but that didn't stop me from setting time aside trying to beat your completion times..." she said, grinning, though yawned as well. "We're both tired, then...." the eldest Seaton mumbled slightly, looking to the side to see what beds where there.

Zach smiled at her explanation with a small giggle, and walked over to the one large bed in the room. "I always liked the chance to visit here, because this bed was so much larger and comfier than mine back at home." He smiled, and then thought for a moment, and looked over to her curiously. "Say, Liv?" He paused for a moment, as he wasn't sure whether to bring up his question or not. But with the way she had seemed sad and distant earlier... The auburn haired trainer wanted to make sure she was alright. "Did you want to talk about earlier...?"

Olivia followed Zach to the bed, and kept smiling as he took up on going off on small tangents, though when he asked her the question, the red-haired trainer paused. "...Umm..." she muttered, looking down slightly. "...I-it'd be nice.... To explain, but..." the eldest Seaton paused, then looked up with downcast eyes. "....You wouldn't like my explanations though, and would probably think less of me afterwards...."

Zach smiled, as he sat on the edge of the bed, and patted the spot next to him. "I'm not so sure of that..." He said reassuringly, as he looked at her with a sincere look. "If it would help you feel better, I'd want to listen... And I'm certain I'd be perfectly okay with it." He continued to hold her hand, even as he tried to help her feel comfortable enough. "It's your choice, though; I just want to help you feel better."

Olivia blinked, and hesitated for a brief moment, before smiling and sitting down on the bed. ".....Thank you..." she breathed, and looked over hesitantly. "....S-so, it has to do with the times I saw you staring at Jessie, alright? I get your explanation, and it's nice that you liked me even then, but... I didn't know that at the time." the Seaton said, and paused again. "....I-I liked you too then, but I don't think I really realized just how much I wanted to be with you, until I saw you looking at her, because.... Because....." Olivia looked down again, and closed her eyes, then spoke again in a small voice. "....I got jealous of her... Jealous that she got that kind of attention from you, and I didn't...."

Zach seemed a bit surprised at what Olivia had said, but closed his eyes with a small smile, as he pulled her into a hug. "That's not bad at all..." He said, as he opened his eyes, to look at her warmly. "I hadn't realized, I'll admit... I'm sorry, though, I never meant that to happen... I should have thought that through better. But I don't think any worse of you for it; people get jealous all the time..." He smiled just as warmly, as he hoped that he hadn't made any mistakes in his past because of this.

Olivia had kept her eyes closed, waiting for the shock and horror that she could have been so petty to sink in. But instead, she felt Zach's arms wrap around her reassuringly, while he comforted her. She remained silent, and blinked more, completely caught off guard by his kind response. "N-no.... I should be the one apologizing." she began. "...I-I never got over it. E-ever since middle school, I thought I c-could never be good enough for you, because I wasn't as pretty or mature-looking as Jessie or other girls like her.... Even after you stopped looking at her, I couldn't...." she explained more, and sighed. "...Remember when you first asked me to the school dance? I.... I thought at first you had only asked to go with me, because Jessie already had a date and you were out of options..."

"She never even had a date, and was just there as a guest. Partially so Ryan could have someone nice to talk to if he needed." Zach said with a giggle, and hugged more. "It's alright, though. I wish I had've realized it sooner, as I would've helped more. You were like a star that I couldn't keep my mind off of, to be honest" He said, with a sigh, and a hint of a blush crossed his cheeks. "That day, you'd asked about the dance... and whether it was a date or not... W-well, I considered it to be one, but couldn't bring myself to actually confirm it, since I was still clueless." He explained, and sheepishly smiled in response to that, not able to believe that he had missed all the signs.

----

The eldest Seaton blushed more as Zach kept explaining, realizing just how similar both of their situations were to each other, though she thought back to how the day of the dance, she learned Jessie didn't have a date, and how confused she was to hear that..... "Y-yeah, you left me scratching my head with that non-answer...." she said, looking to the side awkwardly for a moment. "...I-I went into it like it was a date though, and I, uhh..." the redhead paused for a moment, chuckling awkwardly. "Actually considered kissing you once we were out. I settled for a hug instead though, because I was still afraid... So uh, yeah....."

Zach blushed but nodded. "So... like this...?" He asked with a curious look on his face, as he leaned closer to his best friend, his blush becoming more obvious as he did so.

As Zach's face got closer, Olivia's cheeks became slowly redder, though she nodded. "Yeah... E-exactly like that...." she said, before leaning forward to close the distance between their faces...

Zach smiled with a blush in full force, as he kissed her happily. After a little bit, he leaned back, and giggled slightly with a warm smile. "I seem to recall that's how you got me to wake up during that fight..." He said, as he subconsciously rubbed the back of his head with a slight wince, being reminded of that as he talked about it.

"Hey, you said you wanted a shock...." Olivia reminded Zach, but also giggled slightly in response. "Yeah though, a k-kiss has been a long time coming, in hindsight...." she pointed out, blushing more. "S-sorry if you didn't want me to do that, I, uh.... I really haven't... Kissed someone else before?" the eldest Seaton said, blushing slightly "I mean, you're a handsome guy, really sweet too, so I wouldn't be surprised if you had before.... Though from what I've heard, I'm gonna guess that was your first one too."

Zach smiled in response, and nodded. "Was a pretty good first kiss... though, I'd say that was our true first kiss just now... and it was amazing..." He giggled again, as he smiled more. "I haven't ever been kissed; never found love other than with you..."

Olivia blushed more, but the smile on her face couldn't stop widening, as she was feeling a surge of emotions from everything Zach was saying. "....S-same thing with me..." Olivia breathed, and smiled. "I.... I want to stay with you... Forever..." she smiled, and hugged again. "You've helped me then, you've helped me now, and you've always been my friend...." she sighed happily.

Zach nodded happily, as he returned the hug, and leaned his head against her shoulder. "Same here... You're my best friend, Liv, and nothing will change that, even as we grow closer and closer..." He said, and happily giggled again, glad for this moment here.

"From now on, we stay together..." Olivia said quietly, closing her eyes. "No more misunderstandings, no more misinterpretations... We won't let anything drive us apart anymore...." she declared, her arms wrapped tightly around her best friend in the whole, wide world.

----

Zach nodded with a happy smile, as he hugged her tightly in response. He thought for a moment, however, and mischievously smile, as he tried to hug her like Dahlia usually did.

Olivia felt a familiar crushing grip, and chuckled, attempting to hug even tighter than that. "I... Hope we don't... Choke." she managed to squeeze out, amused by the situation overall

Zach giggled slightly, but loosened up a bit, as he smiled happily. "I took some cues from Dahlia there, could you tell?" He asked with another giggle, as he thought for a moment with another yawn.

"Of course I could... That's my own sister, you know?" Olivia replied, yawning as well. "Not too late yet but I'm getting sleepy... Do you like, wanna talk for a bit, maybe?" she asked, smiling at her best friend again, still amazed by everything that had happened moments before.

"Sure... Anything in mind?" Zach smiled back again, as he tried to teasingly lean back onto the bed, still hugging her close in the process. He liked the idea of talking, but admittedly had no ideas for what to talk about right then, especially since it had been a long, exhausting day right from the get-go roar of a mock Groudon.

Olivia thought for a moment, and blushed slightly when she had an idea. "Well... You were friends with Natalie and Phil, when they were here, right?" she began. "You.... Brought me up, right? Uhh, what kinda stuff did you say about me, like... Did you tell them you liked me?" the Seaton asked, blushing.

Zach blushed in response to that question, and whistled innocently for a moment. "Um, yes, actually..." He said with a slight giggle. "L-like, I didn't outright confirm anything, but, um, yeah, I talked about you a lot, and how you were my best friend and such..."

"....Well, it was enough for them to tease you back, wasn't it?" she said, scratching the back of her head, but smiled. "I always wondered how you were like around your other friends... It makes me happy to hear you still thought about me...." Olivia muttered happily. "Truth be told, I didn't have really any friends besides you... Acquaintances maybe, but.... There really wasn't anyone else I felt nearly as close to, than you..."

Zach giggled with a mischievous smile at the last part, and poked her in the shoulder. "Guess we found out there was a reason for that one, huh?" He smiled more warmly after that, though, and nodded. "Acquaintances, though?" He asked, curious about that, since he hadn't ever really heard much of Olivia's friends, close or otherwise.

"Oh, no one you already didn't know..." Olivia said, chuckling slightly. "Best example I can think of was the head of the student board, Tanya. She was friendly to you and me, I was on speaking terms with her.... Actually organized the very first dance you ever asked me out to." she remembered, chuckling. "And well, when we got voted best of the night, she personally congratulated the two of us, and whispered to me, saying I shouldn't let you get away..."

Zach chuckled at that with a smile. "She sounded like a good friend to me, then." He said with another giggle, and hugged Olivia a little more. "Maybe you had more friends than you thought..." He paused for a moment after that, and looked over at her curiously. "Say, maybe you might make some good friends with the group I traveled with six months ago? I mean, if they actually speak with me again. I mean, I don't really know most of them all that well, aside from Ray, but..." He scratched his head, wondering what she might think of that idea.

The eldest Seaton chuckled some more in response to Zach, and hugged back when he spoke up again. "...You th-think so?" Olivia asked, blinking. "Well, I remember Ray, we got along alright, but... I'm not sure how to describe it..." she muttered, looking up awkwardly. "But like, I'm not sure if I'm likeable enough for people to really want to befriend me, if it weren't for my association with you..."

Zach smiled back reassuringly. "I'm certain you're plenty likeable... You just need to believe in yourself." He said happily, as he knew that Liv was definitely likeable; she just needed her confidence to burn brightly again.

----

Olivia looked into Zach's green eyes, and smiled back "...You're right." she said, moving forward to kiss her best friend quickly as thanks. "Hopefully when we meet them, I'll have just as much confidence in myself as you do in me..." the redhead said. "Though... What were your Unova friends like, anyways?"

Zach thought for a moment as she asked about his friends, and tried to figure out a good way to explain, but then smiled mysteriously. "I can show you later, if you want..." He said, and giggled slightly. "I know just the way to, but it'd have to be a little later...~"

"Aww, come on." Olivia yawned, half-closing her eyes "I'm feeling pretty tired right now, I don't think 'later' is much of an option this night..."

Zach giggled, and smiled, as he kissed her cheek in amusement. "Well, then, how about I try something? I want to see how my psychic powers really work, a little more... I haven't really touched them since I left Unova..." He admitted, and giggled. "But, after what happened earlier, I think we can link our minds..." He looked to see what Olivia thought of that, as he tried to pull them further onto the bed via their hug, since it seemed like she was about to fall asleep as it was, and they weren't exactly laying in the most comfortable of positions.

Zach had pulled Olivia back right as she was about to nod off and snooze, and she blinked at the idea Zach proposed. ".....S-sorry, I'm um, not that familiar with most of these power thingies." she apologized sheepishly, but looked up thoughtfully. "Linking our minds though.... We could get even closer from that, right?" the eldest Seaton asked, looking at how the two were pressed tightly against one another by their hug. "If so... I'd wanna try it." she answered, smiling.

Zach smiled, and nodded, but giggled. "It's alright... I don't know much about them either, other than what I've been learning just through trying it." He explained, and kissed her cheek. "I think we can, though..." He focused, a subtle glow in his eyes, as he tried to reach out to Olivia's mind, to try and connect the two of them. He wasn't entirely sure what was exactly needed, but he was wanting to try, at the least.

Olivia watched as Zach's eyes subtly glowed, and closed her own to try and find Zach's signal somehow. H-how do you even do this..? I hope this works... she thought, and kept concentrating. Soon enough, she was surprised when she felt a presence in her mind, not unlike when Amethyst reached out to her telepathically. Hello...? she asked mentally, waiting for a reply from Zach to confirm it was working.

Zach giggled slightly, and focused a bit more. "Hiya..." Zach smiled, as he tried to work with that to connect their minds a little more. "I'm admittedly not sure how to redo what happened earlier, but that's pretty much my goal..."

Olivia's eyes snapped open when Zach replied, and blinked at her friend. "....I-it really works...." she said in shock, before smiling. "This... This is amazing! We can talk to each other anytime now, without even having to speak!" she said excitedly, leaning forward into a kiss. "There's still work needed maybe, but so many possibilities just opened up for us....~" the Seaton excitedly thought, still kissing Zach happily.

Zach giggled in response, as he kissed her back. "Like talking while we kiss." He replied with an amused look in his eyes. "Though, admittedly, I don't know what kind of possibilities..." He added with a sheepish smile, wondering what she had meant.

Olivia giggled as well, keeping up the kiss to further the point. When Zach asked what possibilities she had meant, the red-haired trainer paused, before replying. "Like... Say there's a really, really crowded place, with a lot of noise. We wouldn't have to shout over everyone else to talk to each other." she explained, and thought more. "Or..... Well, if we really have something private to talk about... Well, yeah." the Seaton said, giggling again.

"That makes sense..." Zach giggled in response, as he kissed back,and then looked up slightly, and giggled. "Think we can make it to the pillow?" He asked teasingly, as he looked back to her with a smile, glad everything seemed to be working.

"I'd hope so." Olivia replied, giggling, trying to scoot upwards while bringing Zach along. "I kinda wanna see... Do you think we could fall asleep while hugging and kissing?" she asked, blushing very slightly but still chuckling at the idea.

Zach moved up a bit as well, and smiled, as he laid his head against the pillow, and kissed Olivia back in response. "We can... try..." He yawned again, and closed his eyes. He hugged her close, and smiled, as he tiredly kept kissing more.

The red haired trainer smiled slightly at that, and returned the kiss just as tiredly. "I think.... It's already working..." she replied, yawning and slowly closing her eyes. Her breathing soon after became quiet, and she lay perfectly still, with her arms around Zach and lips pressed against her best friend's.

Edited July 15, 2015 by An/A Blade

JiMing · July 15, 2015

OOC: 2/3~~ (the spacing better not bork this time)

IC: Olivia/Zach

As Olivia began to dream, she would slowly start to see a memory from a long time ago. Her and Zach were around their early teens, and were working on their homework after a long day's work. However, as things progressed a bit, things were seeming a bit different than usual dreams; for one, she could see both of the kids from a different perspective than a normal dream, and she could tell that she was 'present'. It was a hard feeling to describe, however.

Olivia blinked, looking at a younger Zach and her curiously as they sat next to each other at a table, doing homework. The Seaton looked over to find the present-day Zach next to her, also watching the memory, surprising her. "Z-Zach?" she asked. "Is this... Are our minds linked, now?"

Zach giggled, as he watched the younger two versions of themselves talk and do homework. He nodded to her question, but then watched, as the younger version of Olivia yawned, and went to lay down on the bed. As the memory went on, however, the younger Zach had fallen asleep doing both his and Olivia's homework. The young girl awoke not long after, and seemed surprised, as she noticed what her friend had done, and smiled slightly, as she walked over to the young boy. With a blush despite no-one watching, she lovingly kissed the young Zach on the cheek in thanks with a more pronounced smile.

"Huh... So that's what happened that day..." The present Zach said with an amused and teasing smile on his face. He looked over at the older Olivia, as the memory faded off slightly into the background, and giggled slightly. "I'd thought something like that happened, but never knew what... You're welcome for that..."

Olivia watched, as Zach did, blushing herself once she saw the younger her wake up, as she knew what was coming. Sure enough, the teenage Olivia softly pressed her lips against the teenage Zach's cheek. "...Heh... Heh..." she muttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head when the present Zach turned to speak to her. "T-that was a good memory to show you, I-I mentioned how I liked you even then, but... I really, truly was head over heels in love with you, back then..." she explained, smiling. "Normally I did my best to be, well, normal around you, but in cases like that.... That's when I showed my affection....."

Zach giggled again with a smile, as he sighed. "I wish I had've realized that sooner. I have an idea for later in this, though..." He giggled again, as he held out his hand to her. "What do you think so far? Any ideas for what to do?"

Olivia giggled somewhat awkwardly, but then put a finger to her chin. "....Hmm..." she thought. "...Well, something really, really didn't go well for you, six months ago, but... I'm still not entirely sure what..." the eldest Seaton muttered. "I understand if you don't want to show it, if it's still too painful for you... But if you can, I'd like to have a better understanding of what happened, so we can be even closer."

Zach listened to Olivia's request for a moment, and thought it over for a second. "Alright. But I'll warn you that it can be a bit... tough to handle. I was actually dreaming about it the other night, and nearly had to wake up because of it..." He smiled after that, though. "I think I can take it, though. Especially with you. And nothing can hurt us like this..." As he said that, a glow appeared around the two of them, as if they were shielded, and the scene began to shift. A roar pierced the area, as Palkia and Black Kyurem began to clash once again...

----

"Wh-what the-?! Olivia sputtered, looking around her as the two legends clashed with one another. On one of them, a young man with brown hair she didn't recognize. On the other...... "...So that's why you're.... Oh." the Seaton muttered sadly, as she finally understood what had gotten Zach so distraught recently. The trainer reached out for Zach's hand, and gripped it tightly. "I.... I'm so, so sorry." she said, looking into her best friend's eyes. Olivia wished she could say more, or -do- more for her friend. No wonder he was so upset lately... But all she could do in that moment was wrap her arms around Zach, and sigh.

Zach smiled sadly, as the land below them began to vanish. "It's alright. I couldn't do anything... And you've been helping me realize that I've been too hard on myself. But I still feel a bit bad for all the people who got hurt because I had played right into my dad's hands..." He looked at Olivia, however, and chuckled slightly. "I have to thank Evan, though. At least with all this, even though things went bad, they didn't go worse... Especially since Reshiram wasn't exactly in fighting condition at the time. And..." Zach turned back to the fight, as it skipped to the end, when Evan made his fancy return.

Olivia listened to Zach, and nodded "I'll still tell you none of this was your fault. Who could have seen... This, coming?" she said, hugging a bit more after though. "I get why you were so sad before though, even though you were being unhealthy with how much you punished yourself.... But I just, I wish I could have been there to help you earlier, because you've beat yourself up over this for half a year, I...." the red-haired trainer paused, and looked around her again, seeing the return of the brown-haired man. "...So that's Evan, huh?"

Zach nodded, and chuckled slightly. "The Hero of Space himself." He said, and sighed slightly. "You're right, though; I took it too hard. But, you remember our conversation with Caitlin? I guess I had just been finally starting to accept being a hero, and then this happened, and between all the shock of what happened with my dad, and all this, and technically being part of this... It had just affected me then." He explained, but smiled more. "I'm glad for your help, though."

".....I remember when you were just a kid who went to my school and helped me do my homework.... And here you are now, talking about accepting being a hero." Olivia said, blinking. "I mean, I knew that before, it's just... Huh, weird to think that that boy I looked up to already, could become so much more...." she explained, smiling. "I can't promise I'll be able to match the heroism of that Evan, or the rest of your Unova friends... But, if you'll have me anyways, I'm going to do everything I can to support you as much as I can from now on...."

Zach chuckled with a slight smile, and scratched his head. "I'd be glad to have you by my side... I don't even really know how much of a hero I really am; I just want things to be normal." He said with a sheepish shrug, but smiled, as he hugged her happily.

Olivia smiled, and kissed Zach while they embraced. "Zach, no matter what happens to you, no matter if you want to be a hero or not.... I want you to know you're -my- hero...." she reassured him, smiling warmly. "You always have been. And you always will be.... No matter what road you take, I'll never forget how much you've helped me grow, ever since that first day we met.." the eldest Seaton declared. "I love you, and nothing will change that..."

Zach seemed surprised at first, but smiled, as he kissed her back, and then looked as the scene changed again. This seemed to be of a school's gym, from the look of it. He had to actually focus a bit, but then smiled amusedly, as he saw a young kid with auburn hair running around with a dodgeball, a wide grin on his face. "Hmm, this seems familiar, were we just talking about this?" Zach asked Olivia, an amusedly teasing look on his face, as he realized just what memory this was.

Olivia looked around the gym, with a confused expression on her face. "Well this is our school's gym, but how does this connect with.... Oh." the eldest Seaton said, as she saw the auburn-haired kid run around playing dodgeball. She looked around, focusing elsewhere, as there was a little girl with red hair off to the side, taking a break. "....Our first meeting..." she muttered, eyes widening with surprise. Olivia grew silent again, and watched, with the five-year old Zach soon rebounding his dodgeball off a wall improperly, the trajectory aligned perfectly with the five-year old Olivia's head, causing the present Olivia to wince slightly at the impact. "...You decked me in the face with a dodgeball...." the red-haired trainer muttered, watching as a horrified younger Zach rushed over to aid the girl he had struck. Said girl fought back tears, and raised her hand, delivering a solid smack to his face, while screaming and calling him a meanie. "...And I returned the favor."

Zach winced slightly, but nodded. "Yeah... Not either of our finest moments." He said with a sheepish smile, as he noticed people come to deal with the situation. "We kinda both got detention for that accident, just because of how it happened." The scene shifted subtly to a classroom, as the two kids sat there, quiet at first.

----

"Uh... uh..." The five year old Zach tried to say something, and then went quiet again fo a moment, but then looked over to the smaller Olivia. "I-I'm s-sorry... I'm... I'm not good at throwing..." He apologized profusely for a few moments more, and then looked back to what he was working on, when there wasn't an initial response.

"....Leave me alone, meanie!" the five-year old Olivia responded brashly at last. "You hurt my face, and I don't want to talk to you, because I hate you!!" the small girl declared, crossing her arms and looking away from the auburn-haired boy. She seemed utterly determined to not look in the general direction of the young Zach, while trying to ignore him as best as possible.

The younger Zach seemed uncertain for a moment, but then sighed slightly. "I-I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt you... I'm sorry for keeping you from your friends..." He finally said, as he tried to focus on what he was working on. He didn't have the most amount of friends, and had thought the young girl to look cool when he had seen her around, but now just felt bad for all this.

The small girl named Olivia simply sat silently a few minutes after Zach spoke, not turning around to look at him. Unbeknownst to the young boy, his words surprised the five-year old, who mulled over what he had said for a few minutes. ".....But I..... I don't have any... Friends...." she muttered at last, still looking away from the young Zach. She was confused. Why had he thought she had friends? If he had seen her, he would have noticed that she was always by herself in the halls, in the classroom, or at lunch. But given how few people liked her... The young Olivia couldn't blame Zach for not noticing her much.

The kid Zach looked over in surprise, as he turned to face her. "Wait... You don't have any friends...?" He asked, a slightly puzzled look on his face. Even though he didn't actually have any friends at the school, he'd still had his friends that his family knew. So the concept of not having any friends was foreign to him, and he had thought she had just been alone during the actual school days. "I-I'm sorry... I'll be your friend, if you want..." He said with a goofy smile on his face, as he didn't want her feeling bad.

"What?! the kid Olivia exclaimed, actually turning around to face the younger Zach. She was utterly shocked by his offer of friendship, and stared blankly at the upbeat boy's grin. ".....You.... You mean it? But no one wants to be my friend...." she muttered, completely caught off guard by everything.

The five year old boy nodded with a smile, as he scratched his head. "I mean it. No-one should be without friends, and you seem nice!" He paused for a moment and giggled with a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry about the dodgeball again..."

".....Me...... Nice??" the young girl repeated, utterly baffled. "But I.... I hurt your face back...." she pointed out, seeming completely confused by the five-year old Zach's words, but oddly... Happy at the same time.

The young Zach giggled again, and didn't seem to mind. "Well, that was because I had hurt you, right...? You thought I was mean... So it was a... miss.... uh..." He scratched his head, as he tried to figure out how to explain.

"Missun... Missunnnnder..." the young girl tried to say, but gave up due to the difficulty. "....Then.... I really, really want to be your friend...." the five-year old Olivia said, blinking and looking down. "...No one likes me, because I get mad and then scare them... You are okay with that? she asked worriedly, as this was her big chance at finally not being alone anymore

The young boy nodded with a happy smile. "Everyone can get mad sometimes! I'm okay with it." He said with a nod, as he was glad she seemed to be alright with the idea, even if he had accidentally hit her with the ball.

".....Thank you. Thank you!!" the five-year old Olivia exclaimed, throwing her arms around the young boy happily."I.... I always wanted a friend... Now I have one!!" she said excitedly, squeeing with joy.

The younger Zach was a bit surprised by the girl's sudden change in mood, but beamed in response. "You're very welcome!!" He said with a happy giggle, as he hugged her back, a warm smile on his face, as he realized he helped someone out.

**Blessed Blade** · July 15, 2015

OOC: And part 3/3 of the jam.

-==IC: Zach/Olivia==-

"Guess some things never change, huh?" Zach teasingly said, as he turned to the present Olivia with a smile to match his younger self. "The only thing I'd ever change, is going to talk to you without a ball being the mediator." He giggled, as he smiled at his best friend happily.

Olivia watched as the two kids suddenly started a conversation, each giggling and talking happily. When Zach made his comment, the eldest Seaton simply threw a soft punch at his shoulder. "Whatever you say.... Meanie." she replied, hugging Zach afterwards. "That was a very nice memory though.. One I'm sure neither of us will forget anytime soon."

Zach giggled and nodded with a wide smile, as he hugged her back. "Yeah... And I promise to not throw any sort of balls at you from now on, unless I know you'll catch it." He giggled again, and then thought for a moment, and smiled mischievously. "Speaking of friends..." He turned his head, as the scene shifted again. Unlike the other times, this was a more 'static' scene, as the group from Unova were just standing there. In reality, it was a soundless version of when the group was gathered in Iccirus, before they went to Dragonspiral Tower, but the actual surroundings were of Route 16.

Olivia watched while the scene changed, as the scene changed to an unfamiliar Route, with unfamiliar gathered along with Zach. ".....So those are your friends from Unova, huh...?" she asked curiously, looking at those gathered. "D'ya mind introducing me to who these guys are?" she asked, wondering if she saw a familiar face.

Zach chuckled, as he nodded. "I mean, it won't be the same as actually introducing you in person, and they probably won't react, but..." He walked toward the group, as he smiled back at Olivia. "This is Kyle, Sonja, Ryan, Evan, and that's Ray, who we both know from way back when. There's Ellen, and..." He motioned to each of the people in turn, trying to help Olivia know who was who. However, he paused as he reached the last person. "This is actually Jessie, apparently, though she lost her memories apparently or something; I really don't totally understand that. We didn't even find out what was going on until the end of everything, and she spent most her time around Kyle back then, so I couldn't even begin to figure it all out."[/i] Zach had a hard time explaining, and a few scenes cut in behind him to help reinforce what he was saying, as he simply shrugged at the end of his explanation.

Olivia nodded in turn, eyes widening upon the revelations of Ray and Jessie actually having traveled with him. "...Huh, the Hakudas kept up with you, then?" she muttered, thinking back to how it took her four years to meet with Zach again.... "There's that Evan person again, and right right, Ellen mentioned traveling with you back in Unova...." the red-haired trainer continued. "...Huh, what a pretty girl." Olivia muttered, raising an eyebrow while looking at Zach. "Gotta hand it to you... You spent months walking around with her and Jessie... And your first kiss was still from me? You have better self-control than I give you credit for." she teased, poking Zach with a giggle.

Zach chuckled slightly, but scratched his head. "That trip was... weird. We'd met up with Ray outside Goldenrod, on our way to Unova, and it was just... First time we see each other in like three and a half years, and neither of us recognize each other." He sighed, as he shook his head. "Though, it wasn't really 'months', either... We kinda hurried through Unova, and I had split from half the group after reaching Nimbasa... And I kinda kept you in mind a lot." He blushed with a warm smile, as he looked over at Liv happily.

"....Hmm. I think.... Huh. Either I saw Ray a while ago, or someone who really looked like him...." she muttered, rubbing the back of her head. The green-eyed trainer smiled however, as Zach told her how he remembered her, kissing Zach quickly. "Good. I think I might have punched you again if it turned out you made out with Sonja or Jessie." she teased, but then smiled. "They all seem like great people though.... Even if I wasn't there for you, I'm glad you had friends who you could stay with and get help from."

Zach nodded with a smile, as he kissed her back, but he scratched his head when she mentioned about staying with the friends. "Well... To be honest, I was only actually around them for like the first quarter of the trip... I kinda, uh, got split from them during Castelia... Which, from what I heard after, was maybe a good thing. Then, I got split up when they went after Ryan directly, and I slowly made my way around west Unova.... And just, I have to wonder if I could even consider that to be knowing them. Especially when I only knew some of them for a couple days, and barely even talked to a handful." He admitted, as he looked over to see what she thought.

Olivia frowned in response that that, not completely understanding everything, but getting the fact he only knew a few for a limited amount of time. "Hmm... That's not fun." she said, though she hugged Zach reassuringly. "Don't worry, I know you. You're a very charming and nice person, you make friends easily. Maybe you're not chum-chums, but.... Chances are you're on good terms with most of them."

Zach smiled, and chuckled, as he sighed, nodding afterward. "True enough. Hopefully there'll be a chance for you to meet them all sometime. Though, I might be able to consider Kyle and Ellen, at the least, my friends. Especially since Ellen didn't seem to mind me when we met up." He teasingly poked her shoulder, and then smiled widely as a thought crossed his mind. "You know..." Zach's smile grew wider and more mischievous, as he looked at Olivia. "Do you remember that festival that was on in Olivine that day I disappeared?"

----

"The....... Festival?" she repeated, unsure for that moment. "....Oh! Right, right.... That thing happened only a few days after I say the news about what happened in Goldenrod...." Olivia muttered, and then looked at Zach curiously. "....What about it, though...?" the eldest Seaton asked, confused at what suddenly made Zach grin ear to ear and seem so giddy.....

"Well... to be honest, I was going to ask you out to that. I'd spent so much time debating with myself and building up my courage... And I'd decided the day before. Remember how I said I'd have a surprise for you the next day? Yeah, disappearing wasn't that surprise." Zach awkwardly smiled at his joke, but then smiled more confidently after that. "But... here, I can control the dream." The scene proceeded to shift to a festival in part of Olivine, as if to give an example of what Zach had meant. "So... I thought that maybe, we could spend a little time here?" He looked over to Olivia to see what she had thought about the idea.

The red-haired girl was caught off guard by that explanation, though quickly smiled widely. "....You wanna take me on the date we didn't have the chance to have, then?" she asked, reaching for Zach's hand once more. "You had a lot more gumption than I ever did back then, since you... A-actually wanted to take me on a romantic trip to a festival..." she giggled, but smiled. "Yeah..... This'll be our first, official date too~" Olivia pointed out, giggling happily.

Zach giggled with a nod, and happily took her hand. "Yeah... More romantic than the shopping trip today; no random attacks about to happen." He giggled, as he began to walk forward through the festival yard. Although it wasn't truly populated by anyone other than faceless people who were just walking around to give the illusion of a festival, the psychic trainer led his best friend around the different attractions, not taking all too long on any of them, but still having fun. "How are you enjoying it...?" He asked after a while, as he looked over to the redhead with a giggle.

"It's perfect." Olivia replied, smiling happily. "This is really the first moment we could just... Do things together, since the moment you confessed to me... And it's just perfect." she sighed, looking happily into Zach's eyes. "....Though quick question.... When you were gonna take me here as a teenager, would... Would you have said you loved me...?" the Seaton asked with a slight blush, since she had recalled how excited Zach had been about the surprise.... And it just made her wonder.

Zach nodded to Olivia's question, and smiled warmly at her. "Yeah... I also would have kissed you, too, I'd bet...~" He giggled happily, and hugged her close. "It would've been the happiest day of my life, probably... And really... When you returned my feelings, that was the happiest day of my life to that moment." He thought of an idea for after that, but wanted to see her reaction first.

Olivia laughed happily, and hugged Zach back. ".....Same. There wasn't a greater feeling than finding out you saw me as more than just a good friend...." she said, smiling happily. "And I would have felt the same had we gone to the festival and things didn't go wrong for you..." she sighed. "But we're together now, and that makes me... So, so happy..." the girl breathed, looking into Zach's green eyes lovingly.

----

Zach nodded, and smiled back, as he closed his eyes, the scene shifting again to a rebuilt, modern-looking Striaton. "Then... how about a what-if future, to go with the what-if past?" He suggested, as he looked over at the buildings with a smile. "I've been giving a bit of thought... And I thought that if I'm able to return now, that maybe Striaton might be a good place to live...? I mean, it's a bit far from everyone, yeah, but... I thought it might be a good idea."

"Striaton....." Olivia said thoughtfully, looking at the buildings that she had previously seen destroyed but slowly being rebuilt. Now the city was in its original, pristine form, and the Seaton smiled. "My sister's mentioned this place before... Said it had a beautiful garden she wanted to see one day... You liked this place, huh?" she asked, reassuringly hugging Zach. "This seems like a nice city overall, and well, Mom and Dad moved all the way from Hoenn to Johto... I think they'd understand if we moved to Unova." the red-haired trainer explained, looking down to think. "Though, hmm.... What would we even be doing there...? I uh, I'm pretty good at athletic activities like running, and I've been really trying to improve my battling.... Do you have any ideas, maybe...?"

Zach giggled with a smile, as he took her by the hand, and led her around the city. "I have a very good idea." He said, as the two of them stopped in front of the Striaton Gym, which, because he controlled the dream, now had their names as the Gym Leaders. "What do you think...? I'm pretty certain with enough training, by the time we could do this, we'd make great Gym Leaders..." He said, as he looked over at his best friend with a warm smile.

Olivia followed Zach to the fornt of the Gym, wondering what he had in store. When she saw their names on the sign right next to the door, her eyes widened, and her smile grew wider. "...Co-Gym Leaders, huh....?" she observed, grinning ear to ear. "I remembered you were on pretty good terms with most of the Gym Leaders in Unova... It'd be quite frankly, the perfect job." the red-haired trainer declared. "I mean, being able to be with you while I work is great already, but working together, taking on challengers cooperatively.... This is going to be my new goal then. To get ourselves good enough to earn the position." she said to Zach, kissing him while smiling.

----

Zach giggled and smiled, as he kissed her back, and thought. "What about a house? What do you think would be the perfect sort of house?" He asked, as he giggled again, wondering what she might have in mind for that.

"Well.... As nice as this huge mansion is, I think I'm comfortable with something a bit.... More down-to-earth." she told Zach, while they walked into a relatively cozy two-story house. "I mean, even if we make ridiculous amounts of money from like... Iunno, merchandising? I still would like to be somewhere that's simple and easy to maintain." Olivia said. The two walked through the living room, through the kitchen, and into the backyard, with multiple flowers and berry trees arranged in a small garden. "And admittedly... I'll always be a gardener. So some space set aside for flowers and berries and some vegetables too...." she explained, her eyes lighting up as she spoke. "So uh, this seem like somewhere you'd wanna stay with me and our family...?" the eldest Seaton asked, blushing very slightly.

Zach smiled widely, and nodded happily. "Sounds perfect to me..." he said, as he looked around at Olivia's idea of a perfect home. "Enough bedrooms for everyone to be cozy, I hope..." The auburn haired trainer giggled, as he teasingly poked his best friend, admittedly wondering how they might get money in general, since he wasn't sure about that.

Olivia giggled in response, and shrugged. "Well, as small as my house is, it had enough rooms for me and my siblings to stay in, and a guest room for others.... I think we should be good." she said, and poked back. "I mean... From what I understand, Gym Leaders aren't exacly the richest people around, despite being pretty influential, so if that's our career.. Downsizing would be good anyways. Plus it'd teach our kids to not be snooty and cocky." she said, grinning at her best friend, knowing full well the background of his family.

Zach giggled, and nodded. "Admittedly, that was exactly the policy my mom had... err... adoptive mom... err, both I guess." He laughed a bit at the situation, admittedly finding a bit amusing. "Does wonders for keeping you grounded. I think I'm a good example of that. or maybe not, considering how airheaded I can be." He smiled teasingly at Olivia, knowing that he had beaten her to teasing himself.

"Eh, I'll admit, you can be a bit of an idiot." Olivia teased, not caring Zach had self-deprecated himself anyways. "But you're an honest idiot.... Like, you don't always make the best decisions, but your goal is always to help those around you... Not further your own desires." she explained, kissing Zach. "And well, I think you'd make a great father because of how -genuine- you are all the time... If we could settle here, become Gym Leaders, and start a family.... Well, things would be perfect...." the red-haired trainer said, kissing Zach happily.

Zach smiled, as he leaned into the kiss, and giggled. "I agree a lot..." He giggled, and yawned in the dream. "Wonder what time it is...?" He mused, and looked over at Olivia. "Up for just going through the dreamscape randomly, until we wake up?"

Olivia grinned and nodded "Our lives during the day may be insane, but now.... We can spend time together just enjoying ourselves in our dreams." she said, smiling widely, while reaching for Zach's hand. "Let's see where we get taken next... Maybe to the past, maybe to a possible future. Whatever it is, it's an adventure I'm glad I can have with you..."

Zach nodded, as he took her hand, and looked off, as he saw the sun rising on their dream. "And we'll face whatever comes, together." He said with a confident and hopeful smile. He hugged Olivia's arm, as they stepped forward, the dream shifting to whatever came next for them, as they did so.

Edited July 15, 2015 by An/A Blade

MELON LORD · July 16, 2015

OOC: I normally don't do this, but trigger warning. Post contains scenes of domestic violence. All such parts will be in RED so you know where it stops and ends.

IC: Mercury - Dreams

Mercury floated along in the void, watching bursts of color and light. They seemed random, but he felt an underlying pattern. If he could just figure it out, he would be able to unlock other secrets, as well.

His mind was sharp, honed throughout his life. His body was similarly trained. He saw auras, which seemed natural enough to him, but a feeling in his gut told him it wasn't a feat everyone could manage. Maybe that was why the ranger girl hadn't immediately known those kids had taken his list.

He closed his eyes against the flashes, working to sort them out without distraction. He felt a presence near him, one that was familiar and comforting, but not one he consciously recognized. That presence was always with him, no matter where he went. Only when he slept did it get this strong.

As he drifted in the abyss, a voice spoke to him. He had heard the voice on a few occasions since waking up in Fallarbor. Once when he had first summoned his Lapras, Oggie. The voice had supplied the name in a deep, soothing baritone. Another time when he was making his way through that desert. It had warned him of trouble just seconds before he almost fell into a Trapinch pit.

The third time had been when he was talking with the ranger. The voice had warned him that he could hurt himself if he used his aura powers without some rest. Aura powers? he thought. So far, he'd only sensed them

He opened his eyes, shifting his weight so he no longer floated on is back. As he righted himself, his boots touched down on something solid, and he found himself in a room full of doors. Without hesitation, he walked into one that radiated cold.

He was young, and despite the snow on the ground, he was barefoot and wearing shorts and a tank top. His body was soaked with sweat from the day's workout, but he still had lessons to do. He wouldn't be allowed inside until he found Anubis without moving.

This part of the dream was familiar. He had dreamed it every night since setting out for Sootopolis. The shift came easily; just thinking allowed him to see the Riolu's aura, hidden in a grove of trees, or behind a boulder, or in the shadow of the house.

He completed the lesson easily, knowing that there would be no reward for it.

He found himself in a room full of doors. He was cold, but that was starting to fade. With a determined glare, he entered the next door.

Anubis attacked him with well-placed punches and kicks, each blow landing painfully. Mercury was already blocking, moving his body slowly into each new position. Like the presence from before, this was familiar, but not recognized.

This training had gone for years, he felt, with each session moving faster, the pair hitting harder. He knew the ins and outs of the routine, and he sooon started keeping pace, blocking before the fighting-type launched an attack. After minutes, hours, days, Mercury started to fight back, raining his own blows whenever he saw an opening.

When the white glow engulfed Anubis, the blows landed heavier, bruised him easier. The Lucario's evolution made its fists as hard as steel. Mercury could do very little to hurt the pokémon, let alone injure him. Mercury himself, however, was gaining more bruises, broken bones, sprains. This was just part of the training.

After nearly a decade of fighting, Mercury fought to a stand-still, neither able to make any progress against the other. He found himself in a room full of doors.

Each door was unique, yet exactly the same. One door gave off waves of energy, and Mercury knew that he still had a ways to go before he was ready to enter it and face whatever lay in wait behind it.

He entered the third door and found himself sitting in front of a serene lake. Anubis, a Riolu once more, sat beside him, eyes closed, forepaws folded together. Mercury was in a similar pose, hands on his knees. The meditation was to help him tap into his own aura.

Rather than sensing it as he usually did, he had to feel it inside of him. This could take hours to accomplish at his age; the goal was to manage it instantly. The aura was a weapon that he was to wield against enemies. Like any weapon, it took time to master, but once he was proficient, he would be deadly with it on instinct.

The day that he could reflexively tap into his aura and utilize it like some fighting-types were able would be the day that he could leave this wretched place and go train on his own. Young Mercury eagerly awaited that day. No more standing in the snow late at night, no more striking trees and rocks to toughen his hands, and no more--

Mercury found himself in a room, gasping for breath. A shadow lurked over him, and for the first time in his memory, Mercury felt nothing but fear. Though his mind was fully-formed, his body was not. He inhabited a much younger version of himself.

The shadow raised an arm and Mercury flinched, curling up to lessen the blow as it struck across his shoulders. He let out a cry of pain, scrambling to get away. A kick from the shadow sent him sprawling into the corner, where Anubis huddled. The Riolu reached out for him, and Mercury grabbed his paws as the attack continued.

He found himself in a room full of doors. Dread filled him. The last two doors he had gone through were open, their lessons and most important memories flooding into his mind. The third door remained closed, and Mercury wished he had the key to lock it.

Instead, he pressed on. He entered the third door, with serenity balanced by terror.

Once he learned how to tap into it at a moment's notice, his aura would help protect him against enemies. Wild pokémon, zealots, and--

The shadow kicked him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. He was bigger now, but not by much. He rolled across the floor as another kick slammed into him, skidding him into a wall. Every night since he began his training, this happened. Mercury, who went toe-to-toe with a Riolu, was helpless to stop this.

As the shadow loomed over him, he screamed.

He found himself in a room. The doors were free-standing with no wall behind them. Each door was cast in shadow with no source of light around.

Mercury, shaking, opened the third door again.

The meditation made things easier. He didn't even have to try and see aura now, it just happened. Beside him, Anubis' bright blue glowed and intertwined with Mercury's silver. They were a team, and it showed.

Mercury still could not condense his aura into a sphere. It always felt too big for him to hold, and if he couldn't control it, it would end him. This, he knew without being told. To burn his aura was to burn his life.

Still, he continued his training. To utilize his aura was to become free and able to defend himself, his team and those he loved. He would be able to protect them from--

He was older now, at least a teenager. He had beaten his Lucario in a fight just that day. He had shattered a brick with a single blow from his fist. He was strong.

The shadow loomed over him and he felt very small. The menace filled him with dread, but Mercury now had something new to fight for. In one corner of the room, another shape, huddled and sobbing. A woman.

Mercury would defend her, no matter the cost.

The shadow approached, and Mercury shouted. His silvery aura shifted, and he willed it into his hands. He had meditated for hours every day in order to do this. He had tried and failed for years to do this. He had taken this monster's verbal and physical abuse for this.

As his aggressor grew closer, Mercury shot to his feet and released the aura sphere. Silver light drove all the darkness out of the room.

The shadow vanished, and the light blinded Mercury. When his vision cleared, he saw the third door standing open before him. He fell to his knees, shaking, and the voice spoke to him once more.

What do we fight for?

Mercury responded. We fight for them.

Mercury's collapse in the dream would signal his wakefulness into the real world.

Konuju · July 17, 2015

IC: Ryan
Ryan paused, staring blankly at the woman standing before him. "Mrs. Garven?" he asked in a small voice. He glanced around at the others to confirm they were at the right house, only to realize that he was the only one who actually knew where the Garvens lived. He was confident this was their house. Maybe they had moved? But no... he was confident the woman was Melanie and Melissa's mother. For several moments, Ryan just stood there, unsure what to say. "M-melanie and Melissa Garven," he repeated. "Your daughters?"

IC: Alaina
Alaina was standing next to Mercury when he woke up. The urchin girl had started to doze off herself, but the moment the man awoke, she grabbed him by the neck of his shirt with cat-like reflexes. She was thankful her brother was in the other room with the Ranger girl, for she didn't want him to see what she would do to Mercury should he refuse to answer her questions. She narrowed her eyes on the man in a cold fury that had not dissipated since he had dared lay hands on her brother. "The list," she demanded. "What is it? Tell me everything. Now."

IC: Paul
Ellen's father felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as a clap of thunder echoed across the skies. "This isn't a good sign, Scar," the blacksmith grimaced. "Your metal body is like a lightning rod up here." After a long journey from Sootopolis, the two had made it to Slateport and had been scanning the crowded city when the storm had struck. As the winds picked up most everyone in the city started to seek shelter, so it didn't do much good for the pair to continue their search from above. Paul started to urge Scar to the ground when the Skarmory's keen eyes spotted movement off in the distance.

Folding his wings, Scar made a beeline for the cycling road north of the city. "What is it, Scar?" Paul asked, confused at the metallic bird's sudden change of plans. Lightning flashed above them, illuminating a small group of Pokémon huddled down below.

Mr. Burks gasped as he recognized Terry among the group. And in the middle of the group, arms around her companions, was...

"Ellen!"

IC: Ellen
"A blow-dry would be awesome!" Ellen giggled happily. Terry gave a playful bark at the small Fennekin as Ellen spread out her arms for the fiery fox to dry her off. Her attention was diverted by a sudden flash of lightning that illuminated the skies above her -- as well as the metallic body of a very familiar Skarmory. "Daddy?" the young girl asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Ellen!" Mr. Burks cried. His Skarmory swooped down to the ground and the blacksmith hopped off, running to his daughter. "Oh, Ellen! Ellen, my dear. Oh, how I've missed you!" Paying no heed to the other trainer, Paul pulled his daughter into a warm embrace, the rain masking the tears streaming down his face.

"Daddy," Ellen repeated, instinctively returning the hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, my love," Paul smiled, placing a hand on Ellen's cheek. "We're going home. Oh, your mother and I were so worried about you!"

Ellen abruptly pulled back as she registered her father's words. "Home? No! Not yet, anyway." She shook her head. "You don't understand... something terrible is happening in Celadon. We have to do something to stop it. I have to help."

"No, Ellen," Paul said, grabbing her by the shoulders. His initial joy had turned to fear. This was exactly what his wife had warned him about. "No... you come home with me. You have nothing to prove to anyone. Come home, where it’s safe."

"Safe?" Ellen said, her voice starting to rise. "I may be safe, but what about the people of Celadon? If I don't try and help, a lot of people could get hurt! It'll be just like Castelia and Sootopolis, or worse!"

"Ellen, Ellen..." Mr. Burks took a deep breath, kneeling down so that he was at eye-level with his daughter. "Sometimes you have to leave the fighting to someone else. Like your friend here." He motioned to Xander. "Ellen, Celadon is not your fight."

"You don't understand!" Ellen cried. "You're asking me to sit back and do nothing while hundreds, if not thousands of people suffer and possibly die!"

"No, you don't understand," Mr. Burks said with a gentle harshness. "You're asking me to watch as my only child, my baby girl, goes off to fight a battle that's way over her head, in a war that doesn't concern her. I can't do that."

"So you'd rather me go home and pretend the outside world doesn't exist?" Ellen said hotly. "For someone working for Ford, you act an awful lot like Plasma."

Paul tensed. Although he had never told his daughter, he had nursed a bitter hatred against Team Plasma ever since they had tried to 'liberate' his Pokémon all those years ago. When Paul spoke, his words were as cold as steel. "Don't -- ever -- compare me to Plasma. I could care less what happens in this war, as long as you're safe. I made a promise to your mother that I wouldn't return home unless I was bringing you with me. And I intend to keep that promise, even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming the whole way."

"I'd like to see you try." Ellen scowled as Artemis stepped forward, fists ready to defend her trainer.

"Is that a challenge?" Mr. Burks said as he stood up, his face curved in a deep frown.

"I'm stronger than you think," Ellen said, looking her father straight in the eyes through the torrential rain. As Artemis flexed, Duo, Terry, Maturin, and Chrono stood behind her, ready for the fight that was to come. Ellen sensed the Gardevoir, Fennekin, and Eevee behind her, and quickly glanced over her shoulder. "Stay out of this, Xander," she said sternly. "This is my fight."

For a moment, Paul looked at Ellen in surprise, not really sure how to react. At long last, his eyes narrowed into a glare. "Very well," he said. "A challenge. If I win, you'll agree to come home with me and will promise to never run off on your own again."

Ellen gave a curt nod. "And if I win, you'll leave me alone and let me go to Fortree in peace."

Paul hesitated.

"What's wrong? Scared you'll lose?"

Ellen's father firmly planted a foot in the ground. His expression turned cold and hard, all traces of fatherly love sapped out of him. "Don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're my daughter."

OOC: And so it begins.

Unfortunately I will have to ask that Xander heed Ellen's words and stay out of this family affair. He can still react to it, but I can't have him interfering. 'Tis the nature of the beast.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Konuju

MELON LORD · July 17, 2015

IC: Mercury

As Mercury became conscious, a set of hands grabbed for the collar of his shirt. His aura flared around him for a second, ready to attack, before he saw who it was. The thieving girl held him, cold fire in her eyes. With memories of fighting fresh in his mind, he brought his hands up between her arms, pushing outwards with just enough force to break her hold.

He glared at her as she spoke, and shook his head. "I told Lachina that I would explain. I may as well only do it once." He stood slowly and stretched, feeling his back and joints pop. "Arceus, that feels good..." He looked to the urchin. "I'm sorry I lost my temper earlier. I wouldn't have hurt your brother." He looked to the only door in the room. "Are they through there?"

IC: Xander

As the Fennekin was preparing to blow fire at Ellen and her team, a bolt of lightning illuminated them. A shadow fell over them as a Skarmory and its trainer landed. Xander was preparing to go on the offensive when the man spoke to Ellen.

Her father? He had assumed that the girl had lost her family in Sootopolis City. The relief that washed through Xander was undercut by the fact that he wanted to take Ellen home. He wanted her to avoid the fight. Xander was conflicted. On the one hand, she was young. On the other, she had almost a full compliment of pokémon, and she wanted to help.

As the argument escalated, Xander could only watch in stunned silence. Finally, Ellen challenged her father to a battle. Xander nodded softly. "I'll stand back. Good luck, Ellen." As he said the words, he locked eyes with his companion's father. He sent a thought to Sylph, who relayed it to the man.

Good luck, sir.

IC: Belle LaDonna - Kalos Route 14

The search continued with morning's light. Belle had slept fitfully, propped against the wall between Hemlock and Cyanide, with Arsenic curled up in her lap. Now, the team walked through the thick, damp grass that lined the water's edge. The rain had stopped, which was a small blessing, and the route was quiet for the moment.

As she continued forward, Arsenic ran around at her feet, ramming into anything he could find with the large crest on his head. Rocks, small trees, bushes, nothing was safe from his wrath. In fact, she could hear smaller critters fleeing from the dragon type.

She lost sight of him briefly. She was almost worried until she felt something bump into her leg. She chuckled for a second before pausing. That hadn't had the force or solidity behind it that Arsenic would have supplied. She glanced down to her feet, and saw a shape scurrying away. It was a darker purple than a normal Goomy, but the color, the slug-like appearance, and the squishiness all said it was one.

"Arsenic!" she half-shouted, hoping the Bagon was nearby. "C'mon, boy, it's time!" A second passed before the dragon charged through the brush, slamming its head into the purple pokémon from the side. The Goomy tumbled, crying out in shock. Belle grinned. "Alright Arsenic, nice headbutt! Now follow it up with Dragon Breath!"

Arsenic inhaled, chest expanding outwards, before releasing a blast of wind. As it came close, a wall of light sprang between the Goomy and the attack. The wind dissipated, leaving the soft tissue pokémon unscathed. The purple blob lunged forward, hitting Arsenic with its full weight. The Bagon fell back, crying out.

"Dragon Breath again, Arsenic!" Belle shouted, knowing that her newest teammate could not take another hit like that. She hoped to overpower the Goomy with dragon-type attacks, ending the battle quickly.

Unfortunately, the Goomy was durable, at least to non-physical attacks. It absorbed the blow and charged forward for another body slam. Belle thought quickly, giving the first command that came to mind. "Headbutt!" Instantly, Arsenic lowered its head, charging into the attack.

The two dragon-types collided with incredible force. Belle almost swore the shock-wave flattened the grass. The two combatants reeled away from each other. The Goomy was panting heavily, a large bruise covering the front of its lower portion. Arsenic was breathing equally hard, but seemed ready to continue fighting.

Belle grinned. The Goomy was a special tank, but couldn't handle physical attacks quite so well. "Rage, Arsenic!" The little terror roared, stomping the ground furiously before charging again. The Goomy waited until the last second and then raised its protective barrier again. Arsenic slammed into it at full force, and the Goomy flinched. The barrier came crashing down.

"One more time. Rage." Belle gave the order calmly. The fight was in the bag. She reached for a free ball, and as soon as Arsenic slammed into the slug-like creature, she tossed it.

The Goomy went into the ball and did not come back out. Belle retrieved it, stroking Arsenic's head lightly. "Good job, boy." She looked down at the pokéball, grinning.

"Welcome to the team, Buckthorn."

Konuju · July 18, 2015

IC: Alaina/Drew
"They are." Alaina's words were short as she tailed Mercury to the door. She was not about to let him out of her sight. True, the man had apologized, but she wasn't about to believe him. She had been lied to by adults far too many times -- those 'caring' people who claimed to have her best interests in heart, but merely wanted to force their own societal values or beliefs on her. Mercury would have to try much harder than that if he wanted to gain her trust.

As Mercury opened the door, he and Alaina traveled down a long hallway to a large, open room. In the middle of it sat a large puff of blue and white: Lachina's Altaria. To Alaina's horror, the Ranger girl was allowing Drew to pet the fowl beast. Forgetting her promise to not let Mercury out of her sight, Alaina marched up to Drew and pulled him away. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "That thing could eat you alive! And you!" she turned her livid eyes on Lachina. "How could you let my brother do something so dangerous? Are you trying to put him in a state like Mercury?"

"Ow... hey! Alaina!" Drew whined as he kicked at his sister, startling the Altaria and causing her to squawk indignantly. "I thought you were supposed to be watching that guy!"

"I was watching him until I saw you about to get your fingers pecked off!" Alaina cried, continuing to hold her squirming brother.

"My fingers are not getting pecked off!" Drew retorted, shoving a fistful of five perfectly unharmed fingers into Alaina's face. "Now leave me alone!"

IC: Ellen/Paul
Paul turned his eyes on Xander for a brief moment, giving him a subtle nod before turning his focus back to Ellen. "I intend to show you just how powerful the enemies you'll be facing can be," he said. "Scar, Stealth Rock!" The Skarmory spread his wings as a dozen pointed rocks erupted out of the ground, encircling the battlefield. "Are you sure you want to do this, Ellen?" Paul cried out through the rain. "It's not too late to back down."

Ellen took a step forward, ignoring her father's words. "Artemis, Meditate!" The Mienshao closed her eyes, doing her best to block out the resounding gale. She tensed, ready to spring into action at the first sign of an attack from her opponent.

"I see Artemis has evolved," Ellen's father noted. "I won't deny she's grown stronger, but you'll need more than mere strength if you wish to defeat me in battle. Scar, use Agility!" Kicking off from the ground, the Skarmory flew in rapid circles above the battlefield, steadily increasing his speed. "Flying versus Fighting... you're at a disadvantage."

"We haven't let that stop us before," Ellen replied as she shook her head. "Artemis, now!" Performing an elegant backflip, Artemis unleashed a volley of star-shaped bolts. Although the swift attack met its target, it did little to damage the metallic bird.

"If that's the best you've got, then you've sorely overestimated your power," Paul said with a frown. "Sky Drop." At the command, Scar swooped down with incredible speed, grabbing Artemis and bringing her into the skies.

"Artemis, get out of there!" Ellen cried. The Mienshao struggled in vain against the Skarmory's clutches. The two continued to climb higher and higher, until a flash of lightning gave Scar second thoughts. He quickly released the Mienshao, fluttering back down to the ground. Artemis twisted in the air, trying to control her fall. She landed on one of the Stealth Rocks, which began to drop, hurling toward the battlefield below. At the last second, Artemis leapt from the rock, landing a Drain Punch on Scar, hoping to recover at least some of her strength. The Skarmory responded with Steel Wing, knocking a stunned Artemis to the ground.

"Impressive." Paul folded his arms. "I see she's learned some new moves. But she'll need more than that to win against Scar. Now, Air Slash!"

"Aura Sphere!" Ellen cried. The Skarmory took the blast of aura energy head-on, but barreled through it, relentless in his attack. Flying right over Artemis' head, he crossed his wings and unleashed a brutal blast of air. The attack struck Artemis point-blank, forcing her to her knees.

"Finish it."

"Artemis!" Ellen had no time to react as Scar unleashed another Air Slash, knocking the poor Mienshao into oblivion.

"Are you sure you want to continue?" Mr. Burks asked coldly. "We can stop this any time."

Ellen ran up to Artemis, cradling the unconscious Mienshao in her arms. "This is far from over," she cried. "Terry, you're up next! Use Fire Fang!"

"Terry?" Paul growled as the Herdier nervously stepped up to the battlefield. "Terry? You dare use my own Pokémon against me?"

"Terry's helped me through thick and thin," Ellen argued. "I trust him to defend me."

"As do I," Paul said with a deep frown. "But only because his loyalty lies with me."

"Terry, hurry!" Ellen insisted. "Use Fire Fang on Scar -- we can take him down!"

"Terry, listen to me," Paul commanded. "Are you going to fight against your master? I, who raised you from a pup? Would you do that to me?"

The Herdier looked from Ellen to Paul with a whimper. He didn't like this family quarrel, and he was even less keen about taking sides. True, he had journeyed with Ellen, acting as her guardian. After going through so much together, the last thing he wanted to do was betray the girl's trust. But the reason he had protected her was out of undying loyalty to his master. Paul had entrusted him with protecting his daughter on her journey across Unova. When Ellen had insisted on rejoining her friends on Christmas, Terry had accompanied her not because he agreed with her decision, but because he knew he couldn't stop her, and he still saw it as his duty to protect the girl in the absence of her parents.

Terry stood hesitantly in the middle of the field, trying to make up his mind. But the Stealth Rocks had other plans. A particularly jagged boulder aimed itself at the new arrival and dropped from the sky. The Herdier yelped in pain as the sharp rock dug into his side.

"Terry!" Ellen cried in dismay.

"Terry..." Paul muttered.

The Herdier painfully stood up, rain dripping from his long fur. He had made his decision. With an apologetic whimper he stepped forward. With his head hung low, he crossed the battlefield and stood at Paul's side.

"T-Terry...?" Ellen stammered in disbelief. "You... aren't going to fight for me?"

"There was a time when you'd be surprised to hear those words coming out of your mouth," Paul said with a sigh. "Terry only wants the same thing I want -- for you to come home. Please, Ellen, I'm begging you. Just come home. You have no idea how much grief you've caused your mother and I."

Ellen was speechless. She couldn't believe, after all they had been through, that Terry would just abandon them when she needed him most. Artemis may have held the team up in battle, but Terry was the one who had always been the heart of the team. He was the guardian of the group, looking out for everyone's safety. Seeing what had once been a source of comfort and protection now standing on the opposite side of the battlefield caused a lump to form in Ellen's chest.

The young girl closed her eyes as she recalled Entei's words from Christmas Eve: Trust in your heart. Your heart is pure, and if you follow it, it will ultimately lead you down the right path. She had trusted her heart this entire time, and her Pokémon had as well. She had believed she could make a difference in catching Black, stopping the Ancient Darkrai, and rebuilding Fortree. But now that path had led her to a direct confrontation with her father. Was this still the 'right path' Entei had alluded to? Was this her fate? Evidently Terry didn't think so. But Entei had never said the decision would be easy. At the moment, Ellen wanted nothing more than to help defend Celadon. And if that meant proving her capabilities to her father, even if she lost Terry in the process, then so be it. She opened her eyes, staring directly at her father through the rain.

"Terry may not fight you," she said, "but I've made new friends, and fought many hard battles. Maturin, your turn. Withdraw and Curse!" The Turtwig carefully approached the battlefield, withdrawing into his shell and muttering to himself as a stealth rock glanced off his back.

"If you insist on continuing this battle, then so be it." Paul glared at his daughter. "Scar, use Sky Drop." The Skarmory grabbed the turtle by its shell and rose up into the air again. As it rose higher and higher, the Turtwig remained hidden within its shell.

The air crackled around them as they climbed ever higher into the foreboding sky. With a sudden flash, a bolt of lightning struck the metallic bird. The clap of thunder that followed brought Ellen to her knees as she covered her ears. As electricity jolted through the Skarmory's body, Maturin remained relatively safe within his shell. The bird dropped from the sky like a stone, losing its grip on the Turtwig. Ellen winced as the two Pokémon crashed to the ground. Scar gave a feeble twitch before lying still, as Maturin cautiously emerged from his shell.

"The lightning..." Ellen's father said in surprise. "You knew Scar's metal body acted like a lightning rod. You sent out that Turtwig knowing full well I'd try another Sky Drop."

"Maturin's a strong little guy." Ellen smiled as she stood back up. "I knew I could trust him to pull through."

Terry could only whimper as he looked from Paul to Ellen. Father and daughter. How could there be so much hatred where there had once been love?

Edited July 18, 2015 by Konuju

JiMing · July 19, 2015

IC: Lachina Adaon

"Alaina! You know I wouldn't let anyone hurt a hair on Drew's head!" the Ranger replied, frowning at the urchin girl. "And especially not Aolani! They're getting along juuuuuuuuuust fine." she said, glaring back at the Altaria, who growled softly but remained still. Lachina smiled, and nodded in approval at her Partner Pokemon.

"So yeah! Your adorable little brother is safe with me!" she reassuringly told Alaina, before patting the urchin boy on the head, ruffling his hair while smiling. She had almost forgotten about Mercury's presence, until she looked up, at which point her smile disappeared, and Lachina's grey eyes grew stormy once more.

"....Alright you. Listen up." she said gruffly. "You threatened these two kids over that list, even though I was already handling the situation. Therefore.... Whatever your explanation is, it better be good. Got it?"

IC: Dahlia/Aspen

When Zach dragged Olivia off to one section of the mansion, Dahlia turned to her brother, and hugged him. "I'm glad to see you're safe...." she muttered, smiling afterwards.

"...Huh. This seems familiar." was the youngest Seaton's only reply, smiling widely afterwards. He looked down the hallway, slightly dazed at the myriad of rooms. "....Hmm... Looks like we have to start finding a room now." Aspen muttered, and blinked.

The middle Seaton looked back, and spoke again. "...Actually, uhh.... Erika said she wanted to see me again, after I went to look for you." she explained. "So would you mind if I quickly went back to the Gym, to see what's up?"

"....Go right on ahead." Aspen said, nodding. "She probably wants to give you a gift, for helping out. And honestly, you deserve it, especially for believing in me all this time...."

The gardener was surprised at her brother's words, but nodded. "Alright. I'll be back as quick as I can."

True to her word, Dahlia paced through the ruined city. She quickened her pace, disturbed by the shambles of the once-great buildings, but as she approached the Gym doors, put on her biggest smile, before stepping inside. "Erika?" she asked, blinking. "You there?"

**Blessed Blade** · July 19, 2015

-==IC: Erika==-

The gym leader looked up from tending to her plants, as Dahlia stepped inside. "Oh, hello! How did things go with your brother?" She asked, as she set the watering pot down. She stood up more, and looked over at Dahlia with a smile, still glad for the help earlier in defending her precious city.

MELON LORD · July 19, 2015

IC: Mercury

The silver-haired trainer watched Lachina coolly. The emotions from earlier, the instability, the fury, were gone, replaced with a blank expanse of grey cold as she gave him an order. He felt his aura ready to use. He could avoid this whole situation with a single well-placed -- What was he thinking? His instinctive reaction was to... To attack her? When she had every reason to be curious and snappish?

He shook his head to clear it of the thoughts. A voice reached out to him, asking to be let out. He glanced down at his belt and nodded. "I'm going to let my Lucario out of his ball," he said, and then did so, the jackal-like pokémon stretching as he was released. "Lachina, Kiri, and... Sorry, I didn't catch your names. This is Anubis."

Casually, he moved to sit, brushing his coat away from his legs and reaching into its pocket. The folded paper came out. It was worn and tattered from frequent handling. The creases were starting to turn soft from repeated folding and unfolding, the ink starting to fade from light exposure. "This is a list. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's a list of places that are going to be destroyed." He cleared his throat.

"I woke up in Fallarbor. That's the first thing I remember from the past-" he consulted his memories, comparing to his dreams "year, or two. Other than that, it's fragments, pieces." He rubbed the side of his head, a tender spot. "I took a blow to the head sometime before that, and have..." He glanced at his Lucario.

A deep baritone voice sounded, though it wasn't in anyone's ears. Nobody heard it, but they would still comprehend it, "Post-traumatic amnesia, the nurse called it."

Mercury nodded softly. "It's been over a month, and I haven't regained anything significant." His aura hardly even shifted at the lie. He wouldn't tell these people about his aura powers, not yet. They would be his ace if he had to defend himself. "But the list told me to come to Sootopolis. There's a date beside it. If I've been keeping track, it's today's date. The city... It was destroyed this morning, wasn't it?" Guilt. Pain, gnawing at his soul once more.

He hadn't stopped it. Why hadn't he been there to do something? He felt his chest constrict, his breathing started to come quickly. Anubis reached out, resting a paw on his trainer's shoulder. Mercury saw light blue weave with his own silver-grey, and slowly, he calmed down. It wasn't his fault. He hadn't known what delays he would run into.

He was not to blame.

"Other entries include..." He glanced down at the list. "Celadon is also on the list, but it's on there for today, so I think we're too late on that. We also missed Goldenrod as the last city before Sootopolis."

He shrugged, slowly holding it out to Lachina. "I overreacted earlier. I have this memorized, losing it wouldn't have hurt me at all. If you want to take it and show it to your superiors, go ahead. Feel free to ask me anything."

He watched Lachina, feeling a mixture of things. He was anxious that she would decide to take him in, or, worse, attack him. He was hopeful that she would believe him -- after all, it was the truth -- and maybe even help him. Subtly, he shifted his aura, hoping to bring calm to the situation.

IC: Xander

Xander could only watch as the battle took place. The Mienshao had a type disadvantage, but the Skarmory's steel typing helped undercut the flying advantage. Even so, Paul won the first KO with a Sky Drop.

Ellen summoned Terry, and Xander winced as Paul called out to the Herdier. That was low, he thought to Sylph. Making it choose between the two. When Terry refused to fight, he winced again. Ellen was down two pokémon and Paul still had all of his own.

Ellen's Turtwig was next to fight, and Xander wanted to scream. The Skarmory still held type advantage over the grass turtle, and that determined a fight ninety percent of the time. Between two equal-level combatants -- and Xander doubted that Ellen's team was level with Paul's -- it determined the fight even more often than that.

The Skarmory rose up for another Sky Drop, the Turtwig clutched in its talons. Xander thought it would be over, and then the lightning struck. The image of the Skarmory was seared into Xander's eyes for several seconds afterwards, its brilliance nearly blinding. The two dropped, and Xander stared in awe. Was the Skarmory down? It appeared so.

And the Turtwig was... still ready to fight? It was a long shot, but for the first time in minutes, Xander felt like Ellen might be able to pull through this. The question, though, was whether Xander wanted her to or not. Every person could help in this war, but Ellen was only a kid of ten.

Need I remind you, Sylph asked him, that you were only eight when you attempted to fight off a Mightyena without any pokémon to your name?

He chuckled softly, hardly audible over the rain and thunder around them. You're right, he replied silently. Out loud, he shouted, "C'mon, Ellen, you can do this!

EDIT: Whoops, posted Xander twice ^^;

Edited July 23, 2015 by Unown Mercury

Pokémon: Rise Of The Rockets

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment