ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

Strength Trial

Embry is hit by a Sord!

Embry: <Ow! That stings!>

Embry used Earthquake!

Sight Trial

Spinme grabs more of the gems and puts them in a pocket.

Spinme: "Better hold on to thoses."

Beck goes to the path with a Guardian too.

Ever: Trust me, you don't want to meet a Skitty. Ever.

-Brie is still sleeping, when her phone rings-

Amanita: Uh, Brie, are you going to take that?

Brie: Zzz...

Amanita: ...Sorry about this.

-she answers the phone herself-

???: <Well, you're clearly not Brie.>

Amanita: ...I didn't say anything.

???: <Didn't need to, we've got eyes. Now, could you put Brie on? It's really important.>

Amanita: Um, that's super-creepy, so no.

???: -sighs- <Will you at least tell her I called when she wakes up?>

Amanita: And who should I say is calling?

???: (snappishly) <Classified.>

-and they hang up-

Amanita: ...That was weird. Hey, Brie, are you going to wake up any time soon?

Brie: -lets out a very loud snore-

Amanita: ...My arm is falling asleep.

Ares: <It's not too late to ditch her and run.>

Amanita: It kind of is. Besides, now I want to know who was calling.

-PEFE!Every is running some blood serum through a centrifuge. Knight is watching her-

This would be easier with Rotary...

-she glances at Knight, who doesn't react-

PEFE!Every: Hey...Knight, right?

Knight: <...>

PEFE!Every: You mind helping me with this? I've found that some precise telekinesis can be really effective in quicker decanting of DNA from blood serum.

Knight: <Stop.>

PEFE!Every: ...Sorry I asked.

-she turns back to her work-

This is...fun...

-Tangent is taking photos of the vistas from the mountain-

Cephas: <Just like the old blogging days? Are you sure you aren't having a quarter-life crisis?>

Tangerine: We've been over this! -blushes-

-turning their head back- Keep an eye out, Fuego! This is the part of the park where the local Marowak live.

Fuego: <Yeah! Time to meet the folks!>

<...I just hope I can live up to Nani's reputation. Everybody at Glittering Cave seemed to think she was cool...>

Basket: -winghugs- <I'm sure they'll be glad to see you.>

Pankaja: <You're cool!> ++(^_^)++

Fuego: <Just... They're going to be very different from the Glittering Cave hippies, ya know. >

Basket: <Don't overthink it. Just watch what they do, and play along.>

Fuego: <Observation! Yes, grandpappy did say a keen eye was key!>

Cephas: <Ooh, nice summit.>

Lua: <FIRE! >

-Ephemera is sitting on Basket's back, watching quietly-

Brie: Zzz...

-she opens an eye-

Amanita: Afternoon.

Brie: Huh? I just...closed my eyes for a bit. How long was it?

Amanita: You've been asleep for a...

-she checks her phone-

Amanita: Solid 24 hours. Were you possessed by Ever?

Brie: I...hope not.

Amanita: So who's calling you?

Brie: Huh?

-Amanita shows Brie the call receipt from earlier-

Brie: You looked at my phone while I was sleeping?

Amanita: In my defense, you were using my arm.

Brie: That's kind of flimsy.

-Amanita shrugs. Which she can do now, because Brie isn't asleep on her arm-

Amanita: No, seriously. Are you, like, in with some weird shadow organization?

Brie: Completely the opposite, really. Anyway, I can't tell you.

Amanita: It doesn't really help you keep your cover if you keep dropping hints.

Brie: But I like dropping hints!

Amanita: But it's really annoying if you act like you have some big secret, and then keep mentioning it, all while refusing to tell anyone.

Brie: But but but...

Amanita: You are a nice person. I am not. Therefore, I am going to use social pressure to make you tell me what's up.

Brie: Oh come on Amanita don't be like this...

Amanita: It's for your own good. If you don't tell anyone, you can't get help with whatever you (clearly) could use help with.

Brie: It's a secret!

Amanita: -stares-

Brie: -stares back-

Amanita: ...

Brie: ...Okay okay okay I'll tell you!

Wela Volcano Park

-Ammy appears out of nowhere to pet Lua-

Nanu's House, Route 17

-Ludmilla sips on her cocoa.-

Nanu: Just got off the phone with your old man.

-Ludmilla looks up, perking.-

Nanu: He says your mother's on her way?

Ludmilla: ... Oh. Oh.

Nanu: ... She that bad?

Ludmilla: No, no, it's just that... when Daddy doesn't think he can do it, he asks Mom.

-Nanu's eyes light up in realization.-

Nanu: Ah hah. I think I get it now.

-There's a disgruntled meow from outside.-

Nanu: Y'know, you really need to get over your problem with cats.

-Ludmilla frowns.-

Outside, Route 17

-Ajax bodily blocks the door as Doomsday, now with extra Blissey frills, paces back and forth in front of him, facing the crowd of disgruntled felines.-

Doomsday: <Any of you lasagna-eating little shits so much as THINK of slipping in there while she's resting and I'll use your guts to restring my guitar.>

Trial of Sight

-Pent looks over the options and guesses he should follow the others towards the Guardian but...-

-He just can't help trying to figure out if that Pikachu is a regular-sized Pikachu nearby or a giant Pikachu that happens to be very far away-

Brie: Okay, so remember how I was super weird in Kalos?

Amanita: Vividly.

Brie: Right. So, what you probably don't know is that, around Lumiose, this really tiny hole in reality opened up as a consequence of some weirdness with an orb?

Amanita: That may have been our fault.

Brie: Apparently, it's the kind of thing that happens all the time! Crazy, right?

Amanita: -points at the sky-

Brie: ...That's different! Sort of.

Amanita: So what happened in Kalos?

Brie: Well, normally this sort of thing patches itself right back up, but before it did, some kind of tiny critter slipped through!

Amanita: Oh.

Brie: So, this Watchog comes up to me, and asked me to help track it down, right? And I did. And it took forever. And then they were all like, "Hey, Brie, you did such a good job tracking down that horror," (and I don't even know if that's true, I feel like I took way too long) "would you like to do this on a more permanent basis?" And I'm a nice person, and I like helping people and also maintaining the consistency of the universe, so of course I said yes. And normally it just means, like, oh, sometimes I gotta stop a weirdly photorealistic dragon from breaking through the bounds of reality and challenging Rayquaza to a rock-paper-scissors game—

Amanita: What—

Brie: —But now that everything's all messed up, I'm on call, like, 24/7! I've been fighting things from books, things from video games, things I couldn't imagine and still can't really recall, which is really fortunate because thinking about their appearance for too long could well shatter my mind...

Amanita: ...What

Brie: And I don't want to complain or anything, but it's really starting to wear on me! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, I don't know how much longer my team can keep this up...

Amanita: Oh Ho-oh this is so much...

Brie: Wait, did you say there was a call for me?

Amanita: Ethically, I don't think I can say yes.

Brie: Wait, no! You have to tell me if someone called! The fate of the multiverse could depend on it!

Amanita: It'll be fine.

Ares: <Yeah, honestly, what would even the point of this arc be if we didn't get to fight some neat multiversal horrors?

Amanita: Get some rest. You, uh, pretty clearly need i—

-Brie's already asleep again-

Amanita: ...Wow.

edited 17th Nov '17 2:40:57 PM by memyselfandI2

The guardian charges a laser and fires it above the advancing group. Seems this isn't the right path.

"Think about this, everything here is meant to trick and deceive you, if there was a pattern it'd never work."

-Hyp ducks out of the way of the laser and retreats-

Hyp: <...Try another way, then.>

-He heads for the path with the Pikachu-

???

-The man continues to drag himself along the shore-

-Spite alone is all that drives him at this point-

???: "Not yet... I refuse to let it end yet..."

-Step by step he drags himself, being propped up slightly by a Drapion-

Malie City

-Jacob moved here because why not-

-Also somewhere in the universe a hoodie and mask wearing Wraith exists-

Lonely Beach

*Plink*

*Plink*

*Plink*

-Someone is now throwing small rocks with surprising accuracy at Zrone.-

Juri: <You're a hell of a lot less intimidating when you're missing bits.>

-Oh. It's her.-

-Ever, who is probably still on a Haunter's back, waves to Jacob with a leg-

Ever: Hey Jacob! How's life?

Lonely Beach

-Reaper collapses into the sand, exhausted-

Zrone: -His head bobs with every stone thrown, and he clatters into the ground after Reaper-

-Let's take a moment to analyze the damage shall we?-

-One of his arms is just a stump with what is supposed to be tubing and patches of synthetic muscle wrapped around it ending in some horribly mangled joint-

-One of his legs is just gone-

-Most of his armored support suit is shattered and his helmet is missing it's bottom half-

-He silently crawls until he's at Juri's feet-

".... Where. Is. Cid."

Malie City

Jacob: -He waves back- "Decent. ... You ever feel like you finished something and then get the nagging feeling you didn't?"

Lonely Beach

-The Medicham pops a bubble of bubblegum, her left eye giving a sharp glare for a moment.-

Juri: <He's on a boat.>

*Plink*

Juri: <You want me to call him?>

*Plink*

Ever: The last time I left something hanging, a Latios nearly killed my team and broke every bone in my body...so these days I try to finish what I start.

It's even nicer when I can avoid starting things in the first place.

Why do you ask?

Lonely Beach

Zrone: -Reaches up and grabs Juri's shoulder with a vice grip and yanks himself so he's eye to eye with her- "Yes. "

-There's a pause, and then in a strained, forced hiss- "Please."

Malie City

Jacob: "Well, when we fought Zrone we couldn't find the body after Balthazar shoulder-tackled him out of the sky-fortress. He fell like twenty thousand feet and we found bits of him but no splat or crater. So. I'm just sort of worried."

"Also because the Shards are still a thing that exist and I'm worried when that's gonna hop up again because Tragedy showed up after we beat Zrone and summarily annihilated all of the forces we'd assembled in addition to whatever Zrone had left, which was a small army of his automatons and like, two Sectopods. So."

"... Also what. When. When did that? What???"

edited 15th Nov '17 5:04:26 PM by Verax

Lua: -is pet out of nowhere, stretches out to enjoy it-

Haunter: <His bones don't look very broken now, so it must have been a while ago.>

Ever: Oh, no worries. He's super dead now. I know this because I caught and befriended his ghost.

-he giggles-

Ever: Also, it definitely sounds like this guy's still alive, and further like you're definitely going to have to worry about the giant robots.

That wasn't fun, but on the other hand it kind of was.

...Now I kind of want to fight a giant monstrosity again...

Dammit, Jacob. You're making me adventurous.

Lonely Beach

-Juri seriously considers whether she wants to tear off his remaining arm.-

Juri: <...>

-She decides to do so.-

-With a purple flare from her left eye, one hand grabs the wrist while the other Psycho Cuts at the shoulder with a blade that buzzes with a sound rather disturbingly similar to a chainsaw.-

Juri: <Alright, I'll give him a ring.>

-She gets up and starts playing with her new appendage while blowing another bubble.-

Juri: <He'll be here in a second.>

 Malie 

The Wanderer: -Is boredly cleaning the Elemental Sword, despite the fact that its divine power means it auto-cleans- I'm getting the odd urge to go strike two horrible people with a Smite or something.

Pikachu: <Really? That's a waste of energy when we could, like, use the Lattice Cage plus Twin Lights combo or something.>

Lonely Beach

-Zrone tumbles and splashes into the sand, laying motionless, defeated, for a long moment-

Zrone: "... Thank you, Medicham."

"..."

"Also if possible, I would like that back when you're done playing with it. I need at least one functioning arm to repair myself later."

Malie City

Jacob: -Pats the Haunter as best one can pat a ghost- "Logical deduction."

"Oh and yeah, I bet. ... I mean, Tragedy isn't a robot but more of like a giant avian animated shadow noodle armed cryptid of some sort. But yes, I tend to make people either pretty dramatic or adventurous. Call it my exuberant charismatic nature or my ability to place myself in hellaciously dangerous and amusing situations."

Mt. Lakinala

-Jackie is around-

-She is observing a hovering Unown of hers and taking notes, not paying attention to her surroundings-

-But there's nothing to be worried about here, right?-

-Right?-

edited 15th Nov '17 5:20:29 PM by Umbramatic

-Ace and Shaun have returned to the group. Shaun's no longer on Ace.-

Shaun: "Don't worry, we'll play by your rules."

-He eyes the two remaining paths.-

Shaun: "The empty one seems to obvious."

Ace: <Agreed. Altough we might be dealing with Occam's Razor, I think we should take the Pikachu Path.>

-Shaun snorts.-

Shaun: "Patent pending."

-They follow Hyp.-

-That's totally correct, everything's fine-

-A Xurkitree didn't just attempt to grab Jackie and pull her into the shadows, nope-