ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

Alola Champion's Chamber

Jason:Alright...go, Sylph!

-An obscura orb appears above Sylph's head-

[[centerShadow Ball Charge:1]]

Ok, that's new.

Hikaru:Shadow Claw!

-Shana rushes forward to slash at Sylph-

Jason:Dodge!

-But Sylph flies out of the way!-

I don't know what you're doing Sylph, but keep doing it!

Maxwell!Sylph:<R-Right!>

-A second orb appears-

Shadow Charge:2

Doesn't looks like she can attack normally like this...gotta hope she can keep up dodging...

Hikaru:I don't like the look of this...keep trying Shana!

-Shana continues to slash at Sylph, but can't hit her mark.-

-A Third orb appears-

Shadow Charge:3

-Shana's next strike manages to hit, taking off half of Sylph's health-

Maxwell!Sylph:<Gyah! Nnnnh...>

Jason:Hang in there!

-A fourth orb-

Shadow Charge:4

Hikaru:Don't let them finish! Once more, Shadow Claw!

Shana:<HAAAAAAAH!>

-Shana jets forward...-

-And Sylph dodges by a hair-

-A fifth orb...-

Shadow Charge:Maximum!

-The orbs come together to for one massive Shadow Ball...-

-Which then changes into a large hand, clenched into a fist-

Jason:Holy-

Hikaru:What?!

Maxwell!Sylph:<Taaaake->

-Sylph swings the fist at Shana-

-She slams into the floor-

-The floor cracks-

-...And when Sylph dispels the attack, Shana lies there, untransformed, and knocked out...-

Jason:Ho...ly...SHIT!

-He runs up and hugs Sylph-

Sylph that was awesome!

-Hikaru walks forward-

Hikaru:Congratulations, Jason, you've bested me.

-He bows-

I can recognize this strength.

-He ceases possessing the straw doll and returns to Jason's mind.-

-The straw doll flops over-

???:Uuuuu....

Jason:Eh?

-As Sylph returns to normal, Jason prods the straw doll...

-To reveal a dark skinned girl beneath-

...Eve.

Eve:Jason...

Jason:Y'all went through a lot of trouble for this, huh...

-Eve giggles sheepishly-

I was wondering how you did that, old man.

I had her permission, worry not.

I hope so.

Jason:Come on...let's get out of here.

Congratulations, New Alolan Champion!

~Ah. Well he understands Monese. I am Hacks and this is my friend Silas. He's a pokemon trainer of sorts.~

"I prefer the term explorer more. Or Captain."

~Not now... Anyways he can understand you, somewhat. He could at least understand that you were speaking in a language, instead of in animalistic noises.~

"Do they not have humans?"

~Good question.~

Hacks brought a paw to his chin and then looked over at the two, ~Do either of you know what a human is?~

The Harbringer: <Trainer? He teaches them moves?>

Aela: <No, we haven't.>

"Dang that sure is totally poggers my good bitch"

Hacks laughed, ~A bit. Pokemon trainers teach Pokemon many things, it's sort of a bond bit. I like to think we teach something to our partners as well.~

"Well you did show me all those neat moves and how to use aura in a basic sense."

~Shame that stuff is currently on hold.~

Hacks turned back to the two, ~Humans are one of the dominant species of this planet. They aren't like Pokemon, being a race largely incapable of any of the special moves we can do. That being said, obscurics, psychics, and even aurics rarely pop up among the population. My human Silas here, is none of those.~

"Fundamentally a normal human."

~Not anymore really Silas. As for what humans do have, is ingenuity and adaptability, they can easily adapt to a variety of environments and are largely responsible for the technology we have here. Such as the pokeball.~

Silas held up the pokeball, gave it a toss, and out popped Amber, who stretched,

<Oh man that was a good nap!> She saw the Kommo-O and the Deudecieye, <Oh hey new people. Hi there. What brings you to Kalos?>

Oasis Ger

Phaz: "Yes, I think it's about thoses. And if it's not, then we can sell the gems, no?"

He takes a quick look at the blade to see if there's a button to stop, which there is, which he presses.

What's the use of money if you ain't gonna break the mold? Even at the center of fire, there is cold All that glitters ain't gold

Lanakila Center Lobby

-Jason is looking tired and sipping a very large amount pf coffee-

Jason:I shouldn't be this sleepy on my birthday...

Senshi:<Then you shouldn't have spent all night partying>

Jason:-flails-Shoooooosh...

-He may be approached-

-Phoenix exits Ersatz Alliance...-

-...only to end up in the ruins of a building.-

Phoenix: Huh. Might as well look around.

Hau'oli City

-Lucius gets a text.-

Hau'oli Center

-Lucius is sitting in the lobby with a mug of coffee in his hands and bags under his eyes, looking to be in a foul mood (fouler than usual, anyway).-

Bishop: <Is something wrong?>

Lucius: ...Nightmares.

Bishop: <...Ah.>

Lucius: I was hoping I was done with them for good. No such luck. I reckon the last week or so has just been-

-His phone buzzes and he looks down at the latest message.-

Lucius: ...Ah, hell.

Trans rights are human rights. JK Rowling preaches hate. If you sit at a table with five bigots and say nothing, there are now six bigots.

Hau'oli City

Hau'oli Center

-Blip!-

Route 1 Motel

-He glares at Maul.-

Lucius: I hate you.

Maul: ~Welcome.~

-Lucius sighs, then puts his phone away.-

Lucius: ...Alright. This had better be worth it.

edited 18th Nov '17 11:48:24 AM by Herbert40k

Trans rights are human rights. JK Rowling preaches hate. If you sit at a table with five bigots and say nothing, there are now six bigots.

Route 1 Motel

-Rose nearly jumps out of her skin when Lucius appears-

Rose: Aaagh!

Diane: ...Thank you, Maul. Hey, Lucius. I heard you had an, ahem, encounter with Rose a couple days ago?

edited 18th Nov '17 11:53:38 AM by BittersweetNSour

Route 1 Motel

-Lucius folds his arms and sits down, glaring at Rose.-

Lucius: ...I did, yeah.

-A moment passes.-

Lucius: Couple of questions: how did you hear about it, and why aren't you going for an encore right about now?

Trans rights are human rights. JK Rowling preaches hate. If you sit at a table with five bigots and say nothing, there are now six bigots.

Route 1 Motel

Diane: One, she told me herself. Two, your encounter was the encore. Last time I had to hold a conversation with her, Skye handled the punch.

-Rose rubs the bridge of her nose just remembering the incident.-

Rose: I'm pretty sure if it were Diane that time, I'd have needed reconstructive surgery.

Route 1 Motel

-Lucius blinks.-

Lucius: ...So what, you had the chance to give her a well-deserved thrashing but instead you decided to sit down and chat? After everything she did to you?

Trans rights are human rights. JK Rowling preaches hate. If you sit at a table with five bigots and say nothing, there are now six bigots.

The Harbringer: <Humans...odd. So here you serve them?>

Aela: <What manner of...even the Dwemner never came up with stuff like that.>

The Harbringer: <The work of some deity of Nirn, no doubt.>

"Dang that sure is totally poggers my good bitch"

<What the Pokeball? I don't understand it but it's more science. We apparently get converted into digital entity or something...> Amber responded.

~Serve is debatable. Some do, however largely it is a bond of mutual trust, Humans are intuitive and can make good use of our abilities, in exchange we get someone who will help us grow and change, becoming better, bad trainers exist. In fact we got a lot of bad people, but a 10 year old can overthrow a criminal organization in a week.~

"It's weird," Silas muttered.

~Though apparently there is magic stuff, considering the Etralink, or all the portals, or rumors of something called Armbands,~ Hacks added.

Silas pulled out his pDroid and ran a scan over the two. It beeped, unable to really discern much different, though the pokedex function activated and holograms displayed the collected cloud information.

The Harbringer: <I was referring to why Aela and I are here.>

Aela: <It sounds similar to the Fighters' and Mages' guilds.>

The Harbringer: <Aye. Armbands...I've heard of those back home.>

-They look at the pDroid.-

Aela: <What kind of sorcery is that?>

The Harbringer: <Are those apparitions?>

"Dang that sure is totally poggers my good bitch"

Amber smiled, <Holograms actually! Just projected images using... well okay I don't understand that either. Silas is the egghead who put that thing together.>

"You should probably ask them why they are here and if they need any help," Silas pointed out.

Hacks nodded, ~My friend here wishes to know why you are here, and if you require any assistance or anything?~

Route 1 Motel

-Diane grits her teeth-

Diane: News flash, asshole, I've had plenty! Beginning of 2014, I had the chance, and I fucking took it! I'm sure she remembers that well enough!

-She shoots a familiar, dark glare at Rose. Rose tenses up and takes a step back.-

Diane: ...

-Diane shakes her head and exhales, forcing herself to calm down.-

Diane: ...When you're... a Shadow... a lot of things just hurt. It hurt to be angry. It made me angry to be hurt. You can probably recognize the awful feedback loop it created. But then I got Purified, and...

-She sighs, and takes a seat.-

Diane: You remember everything about it, about being a Shadow, after being Purified. Sometimes, you think you're better now because, ta-dah, magic purification ritual through Celebi's power, everything's fine and dandy. But... if you're one of the ones who thinks that, you're dead wrong. It sticks with you. You make bad decisions, reckless decisions, stupid decisions. Sometimes, you relapse.

-She looks at the ground near Rose's feet. Not directly at her.-

Diane: When I met her in '14, I relapsed. I almost killed her, because she was the face of my trauma. But that was the first time after her memory wipe that she met anyone who personally knew what she... what Paula had done. She had no idea, and as far as it mattered, I was attacking someone innocent. Again.

-She stops, then forces herself to look up at Rose.-

Diane: ...Your turn.

Rose: R-right...

-Rose mulls over her words-

Rose: ...Imagine you're... imagine you wake up one day, and the world tells you that you were responsible for crimes you don't remember committing. Like, right now, imagine that.

Diane: Imagine I accused you of being the new head of Team Galactic or something. Imagine you know you weren't, but all the evidence in the world points to the opposite. Sorry for the extreme example, but it's necessary for our point.

edited 18th Nov '17 1:23:57 PM by BittersweetNSour

Joyous Forest

-Pent just decides to go stand at the edge of the clearing and try and settle the power relapse for a bit-

Okay, we've got the team illusion protection. Now we smash a nightmare machine, obtain that bloody Sword and toss it into the sun.

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.

The Pen appeared besides Pent, -Hey kid so what's up with that sword and why is it so scary? Might it be something glitch related? Something the Jester did?-

The Pen summoned a few Ink Blasters, -Could we obliterate it through superior firepower?-

Route 1 Motel

-Lucius looks at Rose, then rubs his forehead for several moments. When he does speak, his voice is surprisingly measured.-

Lucius: ...I see what you're getting at, and I have no doubt that it feels real shitty, but that's because on some level it should. Just because you don't remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Otherwise we wouldn't have to take responsibility for... well, anything.

He turns to Diane.-

Lucius: I... I can't pretend to know how it feels, but I've talked to Bishop about his experiences, and I know the pain sticks with you. You remember what you did, and you feel every ounce of guilt. Bishop knows it wasn't him who tried to kill me - not really. It was this sick, twisted mirror and he just happens to remember it taking the reins. But he holds onto that guilt, because it reminds him of everyone he hurt. If I'm ever going to come close to tolerating her... she needs to do the same.

Trans rights are human rights. JK Rowling preaches hate. If you sit at a table with five bigots and say nothing, there are now six bigots.

Joyous Forest

It's not glitch. If it was glitch then I'd be able to handle it and more importantly I could convince others to help me destroy it. It's Obscura, worse it's Obscura attached to a siren song of power and corruption. There are entire sagas written of the heroes it has felled, of it's indestructibility and you know what the worst thing is?

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.

Po Town — Past

-Lights yelps as she's shouted at-

Lights: <AAAAAAA I'M TRYING TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY I'M SORRY!!!!>

-She panics and uses a Thunderbolt-

Route 1 Motel

Rose: I know... I've learned all too well, trying to run from that past only leads to more getting hurt. Scarlette's part of Team Iron now because I spent all of Alola trying to hide from it, and then it found me.

Diane: That's the other complicating factor, too — some sort of manifestation of her memories is palling around Po Town with Team Skull. There's a cop making sure she doesn't cause any problems, because you know she would if she had the chance, but point is, some figure with the Paula Jaide name, face, and experience is out there, and it isn't Rose.

-She sighs-

Diane: ...The only reason I haven't already personally gone there and dealt with her is because... because I don't want to relapse again. I want to be the one to do her in myself, it's my fight more than anyone's, but... I don't want to face her until I'm sure I can handle it and walk away the same person.

edited 18th Nov '17 2:01:38 PM by BittersweetNSour