ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

     Carna's Domain    

-PEFE!Every's heart continues beating-

-Checkmate still keeping an eye on the Weavile, she examines the computer-

Ula Ula Berry Field

Ton: ...how DOES the Fairy type fit into all that?

Sol: I'm not sure, the book was written before it reawakened. Maybe it's like a pyramid?

Ton: ...anyways, Meowstic, you should put that Shadow ball away and try to catch this.

-she holds up Sol's psychic ball, but doesn't do anything yet-

I'll throw this at you. You're a Psychic, so I don't need to explain how you manipulate it in general. If you can simply deflect it, that's progress in bending external energy, but you'll ultimately want to hold onto it.

Sol: The trick is to bounce it at infinity instead of any specific point.

Ton: ...I just think about how I really, really want it to go away, except backwards.

-she lobs the orb at Ephemera-

Malie, past

-Suddenly, Jean along with presumably Star approaches-

Jackie: This is about the necklace, isn't it?

Jean: Like hell it is!

Jackie: Look, I have literally no clue how it got on me!

-From the necklace Tagg, Ann, and Star alone, but especially the firstmost, can hear a snicker-

Ula Ula Meadow

-Duolis takes several steps back and holds up her shield-

Duolis: Aren't all Pokemon powers a form of magic, in a sense?

edited 27th Oct '17 9:09:02 PM by Umbramatic

 Malie, past 

-Hears snickering-

Wait, did anyone else hear that?

Ann: I heard it too, is it coming fr-

The necklace?

   Carna's Domain   

-There are currently two windows open. One is a direct monitor of the Weavile's vitals and whatnot. The other, however, is a spreadsheet:-

edited 27th Oct '17 9:25:03 PM by BittersweetNSour

     Carna's Domain    

PEFE!Every: Interesting.

-she's gotten around her tongue swelling now-

PEFE!Every: We currently have four datapoints. The Machoke, the Weavile, the Krookodile, and...

-she shudders, and moves on, as though invoking Carna's name would summon the genuine article-

PEFE!Every: Weavile and Krookodile, which are present, are listed as "Stable". The Machoke, meanwhile, is listed as inactive, which suggests that the escape of an individual specimen causes the layout to mark it as no longer active. Extrapolating from that...she...has been escaped and running this facility for approximately three years. Given the presence of other specimens, and the relative recency of their escapes, it can be therefore inferred that she has been maintaining the facility in the absence of its original controllers.

-she glares at the Weavile, as though expecting it to provide answers-

PEFE!Every: Nine specimens remain in stasis. Three exhibit behavioral patterns suggesting a possibility of escape soon.

Conclusion: I don't want to be here longer than I have to.

-she leaves the room with the Weavile, switching out Checkmate for Tuft, and enters the Krookodile's room-

 Ula'ula Field 

Ephemera: -Dunsparce!-

-she sends out a psychic wave at the ball, which wobbles slightly but otherwise does not divert, forcing Ephemera to leap out of the way-

edited 27th Oct '17 9:34:33 PM by memyselfandI2

Malie City

Star doesn't notice at first, but once Tagg and Ann point it out she does.

<.. Well, that's not suspicious at all.>

-Forte raises their hand-

Forte: <I need to get this off as soon as I possibly can.>

Celeste: <Does she catch it with her ribbons? I don't think she has those...>

Malie City, Past

Jackie: What are you three talking about?

Jean: Yeah, we didn't hear any-

...

...Oh boy.

Ula Ula Meadow

-Duolis ducks behind her shield-

   Carna's Domain   

-An Alolan Sandshrew is going around making sure everything is in good condition. She momentarily glances at PEFE!Every and co., before shrugging and continuing her work. She's already jostled the computer out of sleep mode, and the window monitoring the Krookodile is fullscreened — although the spreadsheet is still open in the background.-

     Carna's Domain    

-PEFE!Every blinks at the Alolan Sandshrew-

Cytosol: <Not the time.>

-and resists the urge to find out what her deal is, in favor of checking the spreadsheet to see if anything of note is different-

PEFE!Every: Sandshrew. How long have you been here?

edited 27th Oct '17 9:47:48 PM by memyselfandI2

Mt. Lanakila - 23:44 Remaining

Around this time, Colton was scribbling away on a slip of paper, and had slapped it to the front door to the League with a little bit of snow that melted, then flash-frozen to stick the paper to the door by ice.

"If the Rock Trial Captain should read this," it started, the pen used having been forcefully shoved into the paper to create bolder text.

"GET A DAMNED UNDERSTUDY. AND THE SAME GOES FOR ALL OF YOU. HALA, YOU HAVE YOUR SON. THE REST OF YOU CAN FIGURE IT OUT. AND MAKE SURE TO TELL THE REST OF THE TRIAL CAPTAINS THE SAME FUCKING THING. CHECK FOR SOMEONE WITH AN AFFINITY FOR A GIVEN TYPE THAT MATCHES THE ONE YOU SPECIALIZE IN; IT CAN'T BE THAT HARD." Around this point there was an arrow gesturing for it to be turned to the back.

"I DON'T KNOW/REMEMBER IF YOU GUYS OPERATE ON AN APPOINTMENT SYSTEM OR WHAT, BUT I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY THAT THE LEAGUE IS A MASSIVE INCONVENIENCE FOR EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO GET TRIALS DONE BUT ARE BEING SIDETRACKED SINCE SOMEONE IS BUSY CHALLENGING YOU. IT'S NAUGHT BUT A NUISANCE FOR US ALL."

Thank you,

Colton Rever

That was the only evidence he was ever there, as his ride had picked him up to take him to Akala while the post was focused on the text.

Over the Ocean to Southern Akala Island - 22:00 Remaining

"Was I too on-the-nose?" He asked aloud, though the winds didn't even let his ride hear him.

edited 27th Oct '17 10:08:15 PM by AbsentCoder

 Malie, past 

-Starts trying to Aura scan the necklace-

   Carna's Domain   

Sandshrew: <Oh, I dunno... I think a year or so? My old trainer came here to check up on the experiments, and... well, he's in the morgue now. He kinda deserved it, honestly.>

-The spreadsheet seems more or less the same... wait, no, there's one different data point.-

     Carna's Domain. The Domain Belonging to Carna    

PEFE!Every: So not only has this place been under new management for over a year, you and your compatriots have been here that whole time.

-she giggles a little at the thought of a Cipher researcher getting executed by the local mons-

-then remembers that she is also among the local mons-

-and then she notices the change in the Weavile's status. She taps on it-

PEFE!Every: Uh, is that supposed to happen?

   Carna's Domain   

Sandshrew: <Hmm?>

-She pulls over a stepladder and climbs up to see the screen.-

Sandshrew: <Huh, sure enough, that wasn't like that five minutes ago. I'll go see if anyone's in there disturbing it, I guess. Hopefully nobody's doing anything stupid, we already had one escape today.>

-She hops back down and scampers out of the room.-

-A data point changes.-

edited 27th Oct '17 10:03:31 PM by BittersweetNSour

 Ula'ula Berry Field 

Sol: -to Duolis- Magic could mean anything weird and shiny, but we're referring to a specific art in this case.

Ton: Hm. You're probably treating it like it's your psychic power, which naturally does your will. You can't directly control it, but you know what it's going to do, so lay a trap for it. Put it on rails.

Merkel the Klefki: <Don't forget a focus sigil. That keeps things in order.>

Ton: Right. Imagine some sort of picture that represents that notion to you. For me it's a hurricane since they spin.

Merkel: <I picture a graph of conic sections.>

Sol: I'm a traditionalist who likes a nice, simple circle.

Brebre: <I imagine punching a frog to blow up a rock. (Don't worry, the frog's fine.)>

Presta the Mr. Mime: <I imagine a funhouse.>

     Carna's Domain    

PEFE!Every: ...

Cytosol: <I sure hope nobody's doing anything stupid. That would be just...awful.>

PEFE!Every: We're clearly not about to find anything here, and I'm not going to risk waking up anything else. Even if we can deal with it...

Cytosol: <We'd rather not run afoul of the lady of the house.>

PEFE!Every: Right. The real question that hasn't been answered of course, is how long it takes between "increased brain activity", "higher heart rate", and "Inactive-1s".

Cytosol: <I'm really hoping we don't find out.>

PEFE!Every: I'm a scientist. Finding things out is my job.

-she leaves the Krookodile's room, to see what other options she has-

-there don't seem to be many beyond Carna's path-

PEFE!Every: ...She's got the flash drive in there. I know it.

Cytosol: <So what are you going to do about it?>

PEFE!Every: ...

(with the tone of someone who has only ever read the word "calm" in a dictionary) What's the worst she can do to me?

-and she opens the door, just a crack-

 Ula'ula Field 

-in terms of "representations" for Ephemera, she only really has one option-

-Passimian-

   Carna's Domain   

-In the far room, there is indeed machinery, as well as various drawers and cabinets. Carna is in here, working on maintaining the machinery in question. She sees PEFE!Every, but doesn't give much more than a reptilian eye roll before continuing her work.-

     Carna's Domain    

-PEFE!Every very nearly passes out-

Cytosol: <Focus.>

PEFE!Every: Mhm...um, the room with the...

-she decides it's best she doesn't let Carna know she's been snooping-

PEFE!Every: Escapee, it's clean now.

-despite herself, she's conducting a study of the room-

There's too much in here for it not to contain the drive.

I can't imagine she'll just let me poke around.

I don't like this line of thought.

It would be nice if I could get a better idea.

This isn't cool, brain.

   Carna's Domain   

Carna:    IS THAT SO? GOOD. NO DOUBT YOU DID THE JOB FASTER THAN THAT SHROOMISH.   

-She just continues with her work.-

-By a quick count, there looks like three long drawers, three short ones, and one cabinet with two doors.-

     Carna's Domain    

PEFE!Every: I guess probably.

Nobody keeps anything in long drawers. Drawers in general tend to promote clutter. A flash drive, ideally, should be somewhere neat and organized. Guessing cabinet.

-she weighs the two options for going about testing her theory, and picks the (marginally) less dangerous one-

PEFE!Every: Ms....Carna? Could I check inside that cabinet next to you?

Cytosol: <Interesting strategy. Asking nicely.>

PEFE!Every: It's worked in the past.

Cytosol: <The success rate with homicidal lizards with medical degrees has yet to be measured, however, owing to the deaths of most of the testing participants.>

PEFE!Every: That lizard's never been to med school.

   Carna's Domain   

Carna:    IF YOU DON'T BREAK ANYTHING, I DON'T REALLY CARE.   

     Carna's Domain    

PEFE!Every: ...Huh. Alright.

And I was so worried...this is actually going really well! Ever's probably going to laugh.

...I hope he didn't spill the beans on what I've been up to. I don't want people to get too concerned.

-she goes to check the cabinets-

   Carna's Domain   

-There's a lot of tools in the cabinet, but there doesn't seem to be anything that would reasonably hold a flash drive.-