ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

Hearthome City

Lucius lets go of his sweater and turns around to face Sarah.

Lucius: I think so? I mean, they looked real similar, but I never heard Illusion's name mentioned. Maybe they're a reboot, maybe they're a tribute act. Either way, they have awful fashion sense.

He looks over at Jacob.

Lucius: Yeah, don't worry, I'm not planning to let what they did go. I figure I should probably put on some weight before I go running off to hunt them down, though. And do I want to know about this personification, or am I better off living in blissful ignorance?

edited 23rd May '16 5:33:31 PM by Herbert40k

Hearthome City

Sarah: I see. Anyway...

-With that out of the way, Sarah bops Lucius on the head.-

Sarah: I thought I told you not to go get yourself almost killed again! Arceusdammit, I give you the benefit of the doubt for half a year and you go off and get yourself captured by some sinister silver-suited screwball! Just another reason for me to stick around here and hold off on finishing my Frontier tests, I guess.

-Buddy nods-

Hajime: "Yeah, he says they're good."

-Titan and Phobetor take the attack, cringing due to the increased damage-

Lisa: <Stop whining and let us beat you already!>

-Now that their moves are not blocked, Titan uses Drain Punch while Phobetor uses Low Kick-

SleepyHead: <...Well, yeah. Plus the show. Maggie's at least in part of the fandom that isn't as fond of... stuff like that last thing Ren mentioned.>

edited 23rd May '16 5:48:53 PM by CorvusAtrox

Hearthome

Jacob: -Nods- "Sounds like a reboot of Illusion... But hm."

-He chuckles reaches over, squeezing his twiggy lack of a notable bicep- "Yeah, beef yourself up a little small fry, before we go running off to be big goddamn heroes."

-He thinks for a few moments, then shakes his head- "It's nothing that'll kill you to know, but the abridged version is myself and a bunch of other people got dragged into a physical manifestation of the collective unconscious of all sentient life, and were recruited by basically the god created constructs there to do some work. Some... areas of it take after ones self, not like a mindscape but... well, at any rate, all the things you deny or hate about yourself take form as a Jungian psychological "Shadow", which then tries to murder your face off after you deny it. Which, eventually it will get you to deny it, even if you know that's it's trick."

-He shrugs- "Apparently I had a lot more issues than I thought I had. But I'm coming around to accepting them. Punching my problems personified probably helped. But at any rate, I'm alive, I'm well, and I'm improving. So you know."

Hearthome City

Lucius flinches at Sarah's attack.

Lucius: Ow! Hey, how is any of this my fault? It's not like I was walking around one day and said "You know what? I'd like to spend the next half a year getting work experience as a human battery." My kidnapper didn't stop to ask for my permission at any stage of the kidnapping process! Blame her for being inconsiderate, not me! What, you didn't think it was odd that I wasn't returning texts or calls for months on end? Alice freaks out if she loses sight of me for five minutes!

He also flinches uncomfortably and tries to pull away as Jacob grabs his arm.

Lucius: ...Sounds like you guys have been having fun.

Mt. Coronet, Base, Previously

The blindfolded mine smiles. His teeth are black and yellow, all decayed.

???:' I'm your guide for this evening! My name is the Doof Warrior, but you can call me D. Our generous host has a message for you all.

He pulls out a tablet, and starts tapping away, in the process of pulling up a pre-recorded video.

Hearthome City

-Sarah sighs-

Sarah: I know, I know, I just... I should have been worried and I wasn't. I used to always be worried about you but then I let my guard down and I shouldn't have and I'm really, really sorry I didn't look for you or anything and I just... aaaaaaaaaaaaargh. I'm sorry.

Hearthome

-Jacob shrugs and quickly retracts his arm-

""Fun" is one word. I'd prefer annoying. Promoting to sharing the Champion position and engagement is fun though. Glitches are not so fun. Neither is being a giant battery, I assume."

Zrone Zone - Past

Leng: "Er, sir-"

Zrone: -Typing away at his giant wall of monitors- "I know I know, they're above us. Er, somewhere above us. Probably not directly above us, but you know. At any rate, so long as they don't go even further down than Lazarus already is, we'll be fine. And if they do, Omega can incinerate them all. But until then, let Lazzy have his fun, he's not interrupting us."

Leng: ".... Fine." -And he stalks off-

CU, BF 5

"Ngh-"

Arahabaki takes less damage due to typing, again, but it's clear that repeated damage is starting to wear it and Daydre down. Did someone say "use Earth power" again?

Drive In

"... o_o.."

".. Wow. That's.. slightly unsettling.."

Mt. Coronet,, Base

.. Doof? What kind of name is-.. No, that should be the least of my questions.

Fire Below

-Shadow Lane takes the attacks, his spin wavering before he crashes into the opposite wall, turns, ignites, and charges with another Flame Wheel at the Persona users-

Shadow Lane:   RAAAAAAGH!   

Mt. Coronet Base

-Joseph crosses his arms over his chest-

Joseph: The Doof Warrior.

Hearthome City

Lucius watches Sarah's awkward apology and smiles slightly.

Lucius: Ah, it's alright. I understand. Now that you mention it, I should probably try to look out for myself more. After all, I'm not exactly popular with certain groups of people, and you guys can't always be there to watch my back.

He turns to Jacob.

Lucius: It wasn't exactly the all-inclusive holiday I was hoping for, no. Two out of five stars, would not be abducted and tortured by again.

Just then, Alice walks out of the restaurant looking annoyed, and Maul drops the SEP field to allow her to approach.

Alice: You are horribly inconsiderate.

Lucius: Hey, it's not like I could've paid the bill anyway. I don't have any money. Besides, Jacob here has agreed to cover dinner for the rest of the week, so that's all taken care of.

edited 23rd May '16 6:10:48 PM by Herbert40k

Hearthome

Jacob: -He barks out a laugh- "I missed your sarcasm."

-He nods in greeting to Alice- "Alice. Nice to see you again. And indeed, after today dinner is on me the rest of the week. Consider it a... welcome home gift for Lucius here. And you know as a reward for passing my little quiz."

Hearthome City

-Sarah smiles awkwardly-

Sarah: Hey, to make up for it, we'll do our best to make sure the rest of the year is as close to five-star as we can.

-She sweatdrops at Alice when she approaches-

Sarah: Right, sorry for dragging him away from you, wasn't expecting him to actually come outside.

-She pauses, then jerks her attention back to Lucius-

Sarah: Oh, right! Do you have all your old belongings now that you're out or did they take everything and never give it back and do we have to get you a new phone and wardrobe and everything or is Alice taking care of that or what?

-Izanagi had been holding back since he was holding a weak Jacob and Lane.-

Ren: Mendel, keep Jacob and Lane safe.

-Mendel nods summoning Pythagoras, who used Agility to increasing Izanagi's spped to the max.-

Ren: Time to steal the show.

-Izanagi swoops forward, slashing his spear-glaive in an attempt to use Metal Claw.-

edited 23rd May '16 6:24:25 PM by keys2tkingdom

MT Coronet

Oh. Wonderful. Just hold back on the pyrotechnics during the tour and we'll be fine.

-He shrugs and steps back, waiting for the video to start-

Mt. Coronet

Doof: It's an appellation I'm currently trying on. Ah! Here we are!

He plays the video. On the screen, Lazarus relaxes in a nice, wheeled office chair, complete with leather lining and reclining back. He waves to the camera.

Lazarus: Hello, J-team! And welcome, to Uncle Laz's Night of Fun! Hooraaaaay!

He pulls out a tiny confetti popper and pops it.

Lazarus: So here's the deal. I, down here below the mountain, just received an excellent gift in the form of the Eclipse Robe! An artifact related to, you guessed it, Darkrai! And as I imagine, you folks want to prevent me from hanging on to it. And, because I am one overconfident son of a bastard (hi Munn!), I'mma let you play me for it. The game goes as follows. In these tunnels, on the way to my location, are my Seven Swords. Each one knows only the location of the next Sword. You have to beat each one, in succession, in order to come find me. If you lose four times, I teleport out with the robe. If you beat all Seven, you get to learn my location and come fight me for the artifact. The style and rules of each individual match will be decided by each Sword. Ready? Go!

The video ends, and the Doof Warrior puts away the tablet.

Red: What the fuck.

Blue: I agree. What the fuck.

Mt. Coronet Base

Joseph: ...

-sighs-

And I thought I was done getting dicked around by supernatural entities.

Hearthome City

Alice returns Jacob's nod.

Alice: Jacob. I assume Lucius has already explained his situation.

Lucius: Yup. I think I was kinda cheating when I gave three answers to one question but hey, I'm not gonna turn down free food.

Alice turns to Sarah.

Alice: We went back to Eterna yesterday to collect some of his old clothes. Thankfully, since Lucius is shorter now than he was when he was thirteen, they all fit with growing room to spare. Not that he'll need it.

Lucius: You know I can hear you down here, right?

Alice: I have to assume Smith is still in possession of his phone. That will need to be remedied at some point, but I can take care of a replacement in the meantime.

Lucius: Thanks, Mom.

Mt Coronet

-Pent grumbles softly, a frown entirely not visible under his helmet-

Hmph, wonderful. Defeat the dude, get the location of the next dude until we get the location of Lazarus. Of course nothing says the location of Lazarus we get can't be somewhere we can't actually reach so yay.

-He sighs and rolls his shoulders-

Fine, we'll play along I suppose. Though if anyone's got some contacts who can check if this little artifact even actually exists, that would be nice. Would prefer not to do this all for some dime store cloak covered in runoff obscura.

Hearthome

Jacob: -He shrugs- "Hey, fair is fair. And I'm glad to know everything is being taken care of, that's the important bit."

Hearthome City

Sarah: Okay, good, that's a relief. And I definitely recommend meeting up with Skye while you're on your whole recovery thing. She's been dealing with some, uh, unhappy business recently. Of the mindscape variety.

Hearthome City

Lucius: Alright, I'll make a point of seeing if she's around.

Alice: We should probably be heading back to our hotel now. The Center is too public a meeting place to be considered entirely safe at present, but I have no doubt that you will be able to find us if you need to.

She turns and walks off, Lucius following behind.

edited 23rd May '16 7:04:00 PM by Herbert40k

Mt. Coronet Base

This sounds like a trap.

"Well, this is probably a trap."

Fire Below

-The glaive tears a rift into the Shadow's hide. the ball explodes open, leaving the massive Typhlosion defenseless!-

Shadow Lane:   N...No...it...can't be...    I'm...losing...?