ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

-a cat stirs inside Echo's bag, gradually waking up-

Mew: -yawns- ~Goodness how long have I been asleep?~

-she peeks out of the bag to see an ominous science lab, an aerial Death Battle, and a lot of very uncomfortable auras-

-she is reminded of that one time in Acapulco...-

-anyways, definitely a bad situation for her to be caught up in without her bearings. Probably wisest to go fly out that convenient giant hole in the wall-

-zooom!-

After blowing up the eggheads rather anti-climatically and going down the final stairwell to the lowest floor of the base, the Raid Team finds itself in a dark room, illuminated only by only these strange machines of varying sizes and shapes making a variety of noises glowing and pulsing with what feels like uncanny malice and a weirdly claustrophobic atmosphere. Due to the strange nature and size of each machine, the layout of the floor way more like a maze or labyrinth than the structured and planned out simplicity of the floors they came from.

The place is strangely bereft of life. No Flareite seems to be crawling around and non are pursuing them, which only builds to that strangely oppressive atmosphere of the room.

In the walls of this place, the corridor to Lex's Room is located. Volpe's Intel only goes so far, however, and it's exact location is a mystery.

Guesswork will be key in this puzzle.

BF3

Verax: ".... This is... disquieting."

Ezran: "Wow, a whole four syllable word. You want a medal you unsophisticated Pantagruelian plebeian?"

Verax: "... You and Jakes would get along well. Anyhow. We should probably not touch the generators and then take to make like a bad muscian and wrecking ball these walls."

JD leans into the conversation, "Well what would you suggest then? How shall we endeavor to get through this obstacle?"

Neo Flare Generator Room

Giselle: I can confirm by my readings we should not touch those generators.

Jared: Find the hidden room, don't blow ourselves up, got it.

Jean: Hmmm... Aggron, don't touch the generators, but try to put dents in the walls away from them. See if any are hollow.

Aggron: -cracks knuckles- <My pleasure.>

-Starts using Head Smash on any wall a sufficient distance away from the generators. Trina aids with her claw constructs-

BF3

Verax: -He stops for a second- "Gordes, go with them."

-He looks at the group- "The rest of you, go on ahead. We'll stay here in case he tries to scurry this way or any uninvited guests come down from above."

Ezran: "..."

-She sighs and nods- "Probably for the best."

edited 4th Dec '17 4:06:13 PM by Verax

Akala Surfing Beach

-A man in totally-not-conspicuous purple armor stand watching the beach.-

Larry the Conniving: And right when they make landfall, a single quick strike should handle both of them. Hehehe, easy.

*taptap*

-The Templar spins, a Psycho Cut blade springing from his gauntlet. The blade is intercepted by a strange sword covered in black Obscura.-

-The strange man, dressed in black with a frosty metal amulet around his neck, frowns at him.-

Doradan: That's not very polite, don't you think?

-Larry throws a telekinetic shove, sending Doradan sliding back in the sand.-

Larry the Conniving: ~Where did YOU come from?!~

Doradan: Ask your parents.

OOOOOOOH BURN!

I will admit that was fairly witty.

Larry the Conniving: ~SILENCE! All three of you! I will end you, then I'll kill the traitor and her caretaker!~

Doradan: Come on then, if you think it's that easy.

-The Templar throws out a trio of Pokeballs, releasing a trio of Bronzong.-

-Doradan sends out a trio of his own.-

Riven the Bisharp: <Time to end this farce.>

Darius the Bisharp: <Indeed.>

Draven the Bisharp: <This is gonna be fun.>

-The Templar lunges, which Doradan parries with a practiced sweep. The Templar overshoots, and his opponent stomps on his ankle.-

Larry the Conniving: GAH!

Doradan: Funny thing about wrist blades - they have awful leverage.

-The Bisharp lunge at the Bronzong as the latter fire off Charge Beams, using Knock Off to remove their combat armor.-

-Shaun, with a Vulpix on his head and an Empoleon at his side, exits to the forest.-

Virbank City

-Kaito nods slowly.-

Kaito: It has been... a busy week. I've done my best to keep myself confident and cheerful through things like the Best Berry investigation, but dear Ho-oh, it has been really draining.

Fenrir Labs

Echo: Hmm. Shame, obfuscating the truth is a rather unprofessional decision. No wonder Every put more effort into this project than you two seem to. I assure you, I do care very much about her, far more than you two ever have.

-She chooses not to make particular note of the cat that floats out of her bag unless Marslie make note themselves.-

-Meanwhile, Jianhuren takes the Brave Bird, and does his best to grab Aquilas and pin him to the ground with his weight. It's not an attack, but it is certainly an action.-

Joyous Forest

-As the group approaches Dekarule, they'll notice that the swirling Obscura around the place where the the Purple Sword is being held is more intense, but Dekarule is still managing to maintain control over it. He looks over the crowd.-

Dekarule: 𝓘 𝓼𝓮𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓹𝓾𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓲𝓽𝓼 𝓫𝓵𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽. 𝓑𝓾𝓽 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓪𝓽 𝓯𝓾𝓵𝓵 𝓬𝓪𝓹𝓪𝓬𝓲𝓽𝔂...

"I see you have returned from purging the forest of its blight. But perhaps not all at full capacity..."

Gudrunn's Dream

Kan'al'colel: He has given us quite a lot of exposition in our stay in the castle. We did know that.

Flare Forest Facility — B2 Storage Room

-Mason is busy sorting through empty and full Infinity Balls, and stomping on the empty ones.-

-click-

Mason: Empty...

-stomp-

-click-

Mason: Empty...

-stomp-

-click-

Mason: Empty...

-stomp-

-click-

Mega Glalie: -horrible screeching-

Mason: Sorry!

-He recalls the Mega Glalie, and puts its ball in his bag, which is full of a number of other Infinity Balls with Pokemon inside.-

-click-

Mason: Empty...

-stomp-

Mason: Looks like that's the last of that pile. Next...

-He looks at the next... stack. I say "stack" because, unlike the previous piles, these Infinity Balls are precariously organized into organized pyramidal structures.-

Mason: ...Someone got artsy. Too bad for them, I guess.

-He starts to reach for one.-

???: ~I would advise not touching those.~

-Mason stops, and turns to his side. A Gothorita with a distinctly masculine telepathic voice is carrying another Infinity Ball to the stack.-

Mason: ...Kinda need to get rid of them, pal.

Gothorita: ~Every one of these balls is inhabited. Dislodging a single one could easily cause the rest to go tumbling to the floor, and undoubtedly many of them will open around the person who messes with them.~

Mason: ...Oooooh, I see. It's a karmic deathtrap.

Gothorita: ~Perhaps.~

Mason: ...Sssssso... why, exactly? Aren't you one of theirs?

Gothorita: ~I am not particularly fond of killers. On a normal basis, the only ones who use these devices is either a killer, or one who intends to be. I do not plan on associating with them for much longer.~

Mason: All right, so you want to come with us. Is that it?

Gothorita: ~What I want is to leave. If that aligns with your plans, then perhaps.~

Mason: Well, we've got a little bit more business to deal with here, so bear with us. We could definitely use your help, though.

Gothorita: ~Perhaps.~

Mason: ...

-He facepalms-

Mason: Look, are you coming or not?

Gothorita: ~I will.~

Mason: Thank you! You got a Poke Ball somewhere around here?

Gothorita: ~Unfortunately.~

-He rolls a plain Poke Ball to Mason's feet.-

Mason: Right. Thank you. Let's go.

Gothorita: ~One moment.~

-He places the final Infinity Ball on the stack.-

Gothorita: ~I am done.~

Mason: ...You know, it doesn't line up 100%, but you kinda remind me of that creepy guy from Death Note that nobody liked ever. Near. I'm calling you Near.

Gothorita Near: ~An unnecessary step, but if you insist.~

Mason: Too late, you're Near. Let's go now.

-He rushes off toward the rest of the group.-

Brie: ...Well. If there's a fake wall, knocking on it should help us find it, right?

-she proceeds down a random corridor, keeping her right hand on the wall and periodically knocking politely-

Necrosyrtes: -caws derisively- <You want to keep me from escaping? Bold choice.>

-and she uses Mirror Move, feathers appearing from nowhere to stab at Tyto-

-she's not showing it, but she's pretty much on her last legs-

-Aquilas screeches as he's pinned down, and struck by the Ice Punch. Unlike Necrosyrtes, he doesn't seem to have that same freakish stamina, and he's clearly injured-

-unfortunately, not quite so injured that he's unable to respond with a Crush Claw to Jianhuren-

Leslie: A disappointing decision on your part. While intelligent, our daughter is subject to weaknesses of sentimentality.

Martin: Project Fenrir is our life's work. We will not allow you to impede it.

-PEFE!Every and Ever get outside in time to watch Doc initiate the Stomping Tantrum-

PEFE!Every: Wait, no!

Ever: We get it, you're fond of your creation, but we should really try and at least pacify him before we try any kind of—

PEFE!Every: No, I mean don't use Ground-type attacks! You'll—

-Doc finds, on contact with Unigma, that he's barely tangible, the attack passing through to no effect-

Ever: Wait, what? An immunity to Ground, Electric, and resistance to Fire and Fairy? Nothing adds up that way, what type is this thing?

PEFE!Every: It doesn't fit the model.

Ever: What? How does that work?

PEFE!Every: See, when cataloguing the efficacy of differing techniques against particular species, scientists started noticing certain patterns and similarities, and began picking up on particular biological features that informed weakness or resistance to particular forms of—

Ever: Artificial Pokemon trying to kill everything, maybe just explain it to me like I'm five?

PEFE!Every: This was how it was explained to me. When I was five.

Ever: -sighs- Can I get an abstract?

-meanwhile, Unigma backs away from Doc, studying the Audino. He's not the source of the important energy signature, but he is attacking...-

PEFE!Every: It's based on Kecleon's Color Change, Porygon's Conversion, and previously exhibited precognitive abilities. It adapts before stimuli to optimize resistance to incoming attacks.

Ever: ...That's a hell of a trick.

PEFE!Every: I've been calling it Hyper Scale.

-Unigma roars at Doc-

PEFE!Every: That's not all. It...it works on offense, too.

Ever: ...Oh no.

-making up its mind, Unigma rears up. As his gaze focuses in on Doc, an aura of...well, Aura springs to life around his blades-

-and he slashes down at blinding speed-

-PEFE!Every, not wanting to watch, turns away...in time to see Mew heading towards the battle-

PEFE!Every: Oh no, oh no, oh no...

Ever: Wait, what? What's— ...fuck.

-the two frantically attempt to wave Mew away-

edited 4th Dec '17 5:07:51 PM by memyselfandI2

-Lucius tilts his head at Kaito.-

Lucius: ...Best Berry? Do I even want to know?

-Shun is actually starting to stir as the party descend into the generator room, Gregson helping him to his feet and supporting him as he goes.-

Shun: ...Where are we...?

Gregson: <Don't worry about that right now. Just focus on not coughing up any alveoli and you'll be fine.>

For all the banging and clanging going around. It turns out that Brie's simple, polite knocking ends up with her hitting a small panel that moves inwards, opening the door that - presumably due to the knowledge provided - leads to the private quarters of Head Scientist Alexandre "Lex" Cain.

Sometimes simplicity is key.

edited 4th Dec '17 5:09:45 PM by PippingFool

Joyous Forest, Clearing

Yep, yeah. 'Cleared out the local nightmare machine but the overbearing evil of Jester persists through the land' and all that jazz. Let's get that sword uncovered and carried by a non-obscuric

Akala Surfing Beach

-Larry the Conniving screams as his wrist cracks and his gauntlet sends out sparks.-

Doradan: Huh. Thought you Templars weren't supposed to bend that way.

Larry the Conniving: ~ENOUGH!~

-He telekinetically grabs Doradan by the throat.-

Larry the Conniving: ~NOW. YOU DIE!~

Or not.

-Doradan's arm seems to shift as it transforms into a Hydreigon mouth-arm and grabs the Templar's arm.-

Larry the Conniving: AAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

-There's a black flash, and the soon Larry's screams come to an end. His Bronzong stare in horror.-

-Ludmilla laughs as she hops off of her Mantine while Deziree goggily drags herself onto dry land, her normally wild hair waterlogged.-

Surfer Dude: Woah! That was some crazy riding, lil' sis! Here are some points that you can use with our move tutors or item traders!

Ludmilla: WOOHOO!

Deziree: Ugh...

Surfer Dude: Wow, the Tentacool did not like you. I've still got some points for you, if you want-

Deziree: No. No, I don't need your pity points.

 Warehouse, last night 

Tyto: -Is brought down to half health- <Ack!>

-And uses another Spirit Shackle, this time aiming for Necrosyrtes' wing joint-

Ali: -Scuttles over and tries an Ice Hammer on Aquilas in tandem with Muddy's Ice Punch-

-To Marslie-

Same goes for me, we're not leaving without her.

 Desert, last night 

Doc: -Is brought down to under half health and lands head first in the sand- <Ow...>

Victini: -Pulls him out the sand- <This doesn't make sense! Fire/Dragon is the only logical explanation!>

Doc: <...Maybe it's some sort of freaky Ability then, because it should've have phased through like that. Which would mean...>

-Starts doing an odd dance-

Wolfe looked at them, <Ya look like ya need rest. Are you ok?>

The Pen appeared before Pent, -Just me and you again buddy. You gonna just take all this patronizing concern? Seriously you did a lot of damage with my power...-

The Pen seems... off.

JD sees the door, and heads in, "Thank you Brie. That made things much easier."

Neo Flare Generator Room

Trina: ...That works.

-Everyone shuffles into the hallway-

Joyful Forest

Anna: We're working on that!

Gudrunn's Dream

Molph: -chuckles- I've been expositing myself a fair bit. Leeeeeet's make this quick.

-His expression goes dark.-

...When we found out Jester's true nature, we tried to seal it inside a distant moon. It worked, but Jester left behind a vicious disease that wiped us all out. Apparently there was a cure far beyond our island, but it was too late for any of us. The Hyul civilization was gone. And now Jester is back. And he's after the most important things we have left behind the barrier. That's why I want the three of us to make a plan to stop him.

Gudrunn: Probably a good idea, but now I remember... me and my friend Leeya may have found this island long ago and reverse-engineered its technology!

Molph: ...

Fenrir Labs

-Jianhuren winces through the Crush Claw, but nonetheless keeps Aquilas pinned.-

-The area around him starts getting frigid at an impossibly fast rate.-

Echo: I can think of a number of reasons the project will fail to see the results you intend. Most of them boil down to the fact that, regardless of how clever you were with its abilities, it is still restrained by the rules of the universe. This is no Glitch. And importantly, it is entirely genetically-based, except for your reckless modifications.

-She smiles-

Echo: Which is why you should likely be concerned that I brought a Legendary Pokemon capable of manipulating mortals' biology, and she is now exceptionally close to your precious project.

Virbank City

Kaito: Evil fruit company. Fuck, I hate saying those words in that order. They kidnapped a number of J-Teamers' Pokemon, and were doing suspicious experimentation on a Mew Z-Crystal.

Joyous Forest

-Dekarule nods at Wolfe.-

Dekarule: 𝓘 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓪𝓭𝓿𝓲𝓼𝓮 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓭𝓿𝓲𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽. 𝓢𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓽𝓸𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓹𝓸𝓷, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓫𝓮 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓲𝓵𝓵-𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓮𝓯𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓽.

I would advise taking his advice and getting rest. Should the wrong hands touch the weapon, the rest would be very ill-prepared to defend it.

Gudrunn's Dream

Kan'al'colel: ...I am attached to a reckless fool. I take it this was relevant to your glitchy aspirations?

Flare Forest Facility — B3

-Mason has since caught up to the group. He peers through the opened hallway.-

Mason: ...That was convenient.

-He steps in.-

edited 4th Dec '17 5:51:08 PM by BittersweetNSour

-two famous actors are enjoying a snack at a Join Avenue frozen yogurt stand-

-they are not disturbed by a mob of fans, however, as they are quite effectively disguised-

-being Zoroark helps a lot with that-

"Artist:" -on his fifth bowl of Bluk Berry Blizzard- <Why did they have to cancel Ghost Dragons From The Fiftieth Dimension?! I loved that script to pieces!>

"Bug Catcher:" <That's marketing for you. With the way the sky and general multiversal integrity is right now, that sort of movie would come across as a little tone-deaf.>

"Artist:" -growls, then starts on bowl number 6-

"Bug Catcher:" <...> -pats his brother's arm- <You know what's not tone-deaf?>

"Artist:" <What?>

"Bug Catcher:" -pulls out a casting call- <A musical!>

-Mew waves back at Ever and Every, then turns to stare at the strange lifeform. Has she seen this kind of Pokémon before?-

Joyous Forest

-Pent makes just a note of addressing the Pen out loud-

And what? You'd have me use that power to do what? Take the Sword? That sounds both off character for me... And you.

-He slips the pen from his pocket-

Unless of course you're just trying to play to expectations because dad's hanging about.

Lucius: ...Right.

-He doesn't seem wholly convinced, and for a moment looks like he's about to say more to Kaito, but ultimately remains silent.-

-Shun and Gregson are hobbling behind the others at a safe distance.-

edited 4th Dec '17 6:00:15 PM by Herbert40k

-Mezzo is still asleep-

Pianis: You ever get the feeling that you're missing out on something big?

Siren: <Oh yeah, all the time.>

Virbank City

Kaito: Yeah, I wouldn't believe it either if I wasn't there personally. I know fruit companies are usually unethical as hell, but a sinister one? That hits a little close to the weirdness threshold.

Brie: ...Wow. Honestly, didn't expect that to work.

-she proceeds down the hallway-

Brie: Okay, so, I know we all hate him, but we're going to have to be cool, okay? He's a coward, but that doesn't make him not dangerous if you aren't careful.

-Aquilas, unable to move to escape, is knocked unconscious by the Sheer Cold, while Necrosyrtes is knocked unconscious by the Spirit Shackles-

-meanwhile, Leslie and Martin both tilt their heads-

Leslie: ...You have brought Mew here?

Martin: Then it will die.

Leslie: Project Fenrir is beyond the reach of even the gods.

Martin: Our upgrades have made sure of that.

Leslie: Knight.

Martin: Maiden.

-they send out the familiar two mons-

Both: Kill.

-Knight darts forward, slashing at Muddy with Leaf Blade-

-Maiden, meanwhile, strikes at both him and Jianhuren with a Blizzard of her own-

-the Entrainment simply skates off of Unigma, who gazes at Doc in confusion-

PEFE!Every: Aaaaagh. They're not getting it; they're going to die...

Ever: So we help them. You keep muttering something about your parents augmenting Pro— Unigma, and how that's a bad thing. That's his name, right?

PEFE!Every: ...Yes.

Ever: What did they do?

PEFE!Every: They said they implanted a power core. But there wasn't any room.

Ever: ...What?

PEFE!Every: I said, an organism is a product of its genome. Something that isn't a legendary already can only get so much power. So I designed Hyper Scale, so that Unigma would be able to stand up to just about any attack, and hit the weaknesses of whatever he attacked. It was brilliant. It would have made up for his lack of raw power...he could have killed anything.

Ever: Sounding disconcertingly excited about that...

PEFE!Every: But they ruined him! They thought, oh, we can just keep adding power! But once you get to that point, you can't maintain stability! Mega Evolution can manage a temporary boost, and even that has its risk! They thought they could just make him more powerful forever, and it's going to...it's going...

-her voice cracks, and she starts to sob-

-Ever blinks-

Ever: ...Oh...

PEFE!Every: ...He's going to die. He has hours. Maybe less.

Ever: ...We'll have to stall him, then. Keep him from any major population centers until—

PEFE!Every: (miserably) You can't. The way I designed him, he'd defeat you. With the power core...

Ever: Why can a day never just go a little wrong?

-at which point he realizes Mew isn't leaving-

Ever: ...Case in point apparently.

-he rushes towards Mew-

Ever: Go! Get out of here! The big blade thing is a legendary hunter!

-Unigma hears the yelling, and turns away from Doc-

-well. Another legendary-

-it's not necessary more powerful than Victini, per se...but it's certainly older. Somehow deeper-

-he lets out a roar like a sculpted cannonball being fired out of a tuba and charges Mew-

Lucius: No, it's not that I don't believe a fruit company could be evil, I just...

-He trails off, shaking his head.-

Lucius: ...Never mind. You've got enough going on already. I'll look into it in my own time.