The hallways ahead seemed oddly quiet, but one wall had a slight... draft coming from it, and a slight crack in the wall revealing something... glittering inside.

"I'm glad you think that Taylor, I'm glad you do. I can only picture what horrors lay below us, the others here may lie about themselves-"

"Hey I resent that!"

"-Shut up Doctor Maxwell!"

Maxwell opened his mouth to argue, and then sat down looking defeated.

"But I am here for one purpose, to find the monsters under the bed, the terrors in the dark, every little scary secret this place holds. The mention of nightmares in the village... that's what I'm here for. To see every little scary thing, and find out what makes them tick."

She leaned back and grinned, it must have been the fireplace behind her adding ambience but she looked... unsettled and unsettling.

"You do well Taylor, I may just give you a big promotion. More than these chucklefucks deserve."

"I will dance on your grave Tonio!" Dr. North responded.

"You'll have to bury me first."

The servings were selected, a fine selection of roasts, veg, and mashed potatoes sat before everyone, the smell would honestly make anyone's mouth water in anticipation.

"Go on, dig in."

Silas looked over and saw Shaun, Roxy smiled and took a moment to talk to Jessica.

Silas stepped over, "You too huh?"

Hacks was already laughing, ~Worried?~

"Look I get that this isn't a fancy banquet with ballroom dancing, and honestly the folk music and the happy people make it... infectious but still... if I'm going to dance I'm going to need some liquid courage."

The bartender laughed, "Ack, ya only get a drink by either telling a story, or buying it."

Silas gave it some thought, "Lost my left arm in a freak accident, business as per usual that I can't rightly disclose. Got this as a replacement."

The bartender took a look at his arm, "Oh my. Ya really were prepared huh? Can't tell me more?"

Silas shrugged, "If I did, I'd have to kill you."

The Bartender laughed, Silas didn't. The Bartender stopped and went, "Oh you're serious? Arceus... okay! Deal fufilled!"

He slammed down a old mug and Silas chugged the ale down, wiping his mouth and looking forward, "Okay that was weak."

"It's ale, you want something stronger, look elsewhere."

Roxy grabbed Silas's wrist and dragged him off, to start dancing.

Hacks looked at Tae, Snakeye, and Amber.

~This is good right?~

<He's getting out, hanging out with people he knows, and trying new things. Yeah it's good.>

Snakeye smirked, <Whaddya think Amber?>

<I'm just happy he's got a good team backing him up.>

Eddisburg Tavern

-Shaun sighs.-

Shaun: "She has a way of making me dance."

Jessica: "Hey, if it works..."

-Shaun smirks at Silas's dislike of the local drink.-

Shaun: "And that's why I carry my own flask on me."

Castle Lycanrow,

-Marigold smirks at Dr. Tonio.-

Marigold: Why thank you, ma'am.

-She starts picking at her food.-

Marigold: ...You know, I was never terribly popular at school. Mousy, nerdy, unusual appearance... all traits that made me a natural target. I'm grateful for that, though, since without companionship there was little else I could do but dedicate myself to my studies. Otherwise I would never have learnt what combination of chemicals triggers an Ariados's rage instinct by scent alone, and that you can find them in any medicine cabinet in the world.

-She looks back up at the doctor, still cutting her roast into neat squares as she does.-

Marigold: What can I say? I do enjoy scaring little boys.

Edited by Herbert40k on Mar 17th 2019 at 5:44:52 PM

Rogue: Hm. Equally concerning. I'll still keep the Feywilds theory in the back of my mind, but good to know. And, sure, I suppose.

-They tilt their head curiously at the glittering spot.-

Rogue: ...Now that's interesting.

-Like any self-respecting thief, they immediately are drawn toward the shiny spot.-

Eddisburg Streets

-Pent pondered whether to mention that the Purple Sword was there who's possession it ended up in... He probably should but such concerns might be distracting for the Rogue who just found something?-

I guess I can tell you more later when you're not busy.

Silas shot Shaun a look.

"Oi, ya can't bring in your own booze. Ya gotta drink what's here, it's rude otherwise," the Bartender noted.

"Ha! I like you!"

The others started talking with each other, Dr. Kane responded, "Fastest she's ever decided to like someone."

"It's easy when you know the right people. Miss Taylor, feel free to call me Liz from hereon in."

The others went quiet.

"What? I can like people!"

"No you can't!"

"Kane, I'd pluck your eyes out if you hadn't done so yourself already."

"Still haven't figured out how to give these babies laser vision."

"As you can see," Tonio began, "We're also kind of the staff Corporate wants out of their hair. Shame really."

The wall seemed to be partially fake, behind it was a glittering gold goblet, no doubt the fake wall could be opened through some clever brick mechanism or something.

But in short, shiny thing was hiding behind a wall, and it denied itself to Rogue, almost daring them to get it.

Castle Lycanrow, Dining Hall - Infiltration Day

-Marigold nods at Liz.-

Marigold: True, I suppose our work isn't particularly marketable to those with narrow minds and archaic ethical hangups. But it's the work that matters, and work that yields the kind of results people want, as much as they'd deny it in public. As I said, I'm very much looking forward to getting started here.

-She gives another wolfish grin as she picks at her meal.-

Marigold: Speaking of which, where exactly are we going to start?

Eddisburg Tavern

-Shaun glares back at Silas before raising an eyebrow at the bartender.-

Shaun: "I never said I drank it in here, did I? I had some before I came. Besides, I hate beer and ale. Too bitter for me."

Jessica: "And yet you drink whiskey."

Shaun: "Your diet is at least 70% marshmallow vodka."

Jessica: "...that's fair."

Eddisberg, Tavern

The door opens, and Brynhilde steps into the building, wearing a much less superhero-looking winter getup.

Brynhilde: "Evening, all."

She goes and sits at the bar. "Something hot. Alcohol optional, but preferred. It is very cold outside."

Vermillion

Lifthrasir glances behind them again and frowns.

Lifthrasir: <Red, hang a right into that alley. I need to check something.>

Red looks confused, but the two turn into the alley.

Surprise surprise, Mr. Strange-looking Gallade turns the alley after them. Lifthrasir stops and turns around.

Lifthrasir: <Who are you and why are you following us?>

As Red sees him, she gasps in surprise, and tries to hide behind a nearby pipe.

The Gallade peers around the pipe as Lifthrasir puts herself between the two. <Hmmm. Up to your old tricks again?> He sighs, and turns to Lifthrasir. <I don't think you know quite what you've gotten yourself into, here.>

Lifthrasir: <And you haven't answered my questions.>

Gallade: -sighing again.- <As you insist. I am Agravain, second of Ser Leonidas Harway-Macraul. Your friend was a member of our court.>

Lifthrasir: <So, what, I'm supposed to stand aside as you take her back to somewhere she ran away from?>

Gallade Agravain: <Oh, she ran away, but I do not believe you know the full story. See ->

Lifthrasir: <Shut up.>

Agravain: <I'm sorry?>

Lifthrasir: <I said shut up. If she doesn't want to go back, you'll have to get through me to drag her back.>

Lifthrasir settles into a fighting stance.

Agravain sighs. <Fine then.>

Lifthrasir fires a Psychic at him. Completely unfazed, he dashes next to her and slams a steel elbow blade into her side, sending her crumpling into the opposite wall.

Lifthrasir: <Nnngh, what?>

Agravain: <My typing is steel/dark. Our trainer collects various... non-standard ralts-lines.>

Lifthrasir struggles to her feet.

Agravain, dismissing her as a threat, resumes walking towards Red.

Agravain: <Time to come home.>

Red tries to shrink herself into the corner away from Agravain.

He raises a fist.

And brings it down onto a protect barrier, Lifthrasir teleporting between the two again and raising the barrier.

Agravain: <It seems I underestimated you. Enough.>

Lifthrasir goes back into a fighting stance. <Bring it on, then!>

A voice calls out from the entrance to the alley. "That's enough, Agravain! Come back."

Agravain stiffens, but complies, walking back towards the entrance to the alley.

A man with short blonde hair and a crimson suit stands in the entrance to the alley. Standing next to him is another Gallade, this one perfectly normal.

Person: "Ah, my apologies for Agravain's actions. He is... stubborn, and very sure he is taking the right course of action."

Lifthrasir: <He's an asshole, is what he is.>

Man: "I am Leonidas Harway-Macraul. Heir to Harway Industries. Your friend, Morrigan, she was part of my team... but if she wishes to leave, I will not begrudge her that. Gawain, Agravain, let's go."

Agravain scowls at Red and Lifthrasir, before turning and following the other two away.

There's a long silence, before Lifthrasir turns to Red.

Lifthrasir: <You alright?>

Red looks down at the ground, pulling herself into a fetal position.

Red: <I'm sorry.>

Edited by Izshta on Jun 14th 2019 at 8:35:58 AM

Rogue: ...Hmm.

M: <...Kai, please tell me you're not— >

Rogue: I'm going to be strategic. Can you check to see what mechanism this wall consists of?

M: <I doubt it's electrically based, but, sure, whatever.>

Rogue: We can form a plan either way. Check for the mechanism, check for traps, and check to see what's on the other side of the whole wall as well. I'll keep a lookout for anyone approaching.

-M leaves Rogue's helmet and phases through the wall. Rogue turns around for surveillance, making sure their active camouflage is working.-

Mt. Moon

-The Clefairy are wrapping up their nightly dance-

-Suddenly one points to something plummeting from above, gesturing to his mate-

Clefairy A: <Make a wish honey.>

Clefairy 1: <...Wait, that's->

-The Clefairy yell and scatter-

-A large, black, crystalline shape drops smack in the middle of Mt. Moon-

???: ~...Ow. Man, I'm hungry after that trip.~

-It slowly starts getting darker, even though it's dawn-

The Bartender walks off into the kitchen, Silas sits down and downs another mug of ale.

~You sure that's a good idea?~

Silas puts the mug down, "It's weak stuff, and you know I got a good tolerance."

~Oh yeah, Cousin Joey.~

"That was a fun christmas."

~How many shots was it again?~

"Joey tapped out at 9."

~Hm. You think your... other self might be the reason for your tolerance? Steel types resist poison very well after all.~

Silas turned a little pale at the idea of pre-determined destiny and shook it off as Roxy sat down next to him and Bryn.

"So Bryn. Ya got history right? Clearly one of those "older than they look" types, ya got stories?"

~Roxy... Actually wait, where is Muggy and Oliver?~

Roxy shrugged, "Back on the ship with Bishop, they're doing something."

Muggy grinned, <Oliver your ranger is in the red, Bishop what do you do?>

Bishop was panicking and frantically trying to come up with a answer, "I uh... I use a healing spell!"

<Your war forged does not know any healing spells!>

Oliver and Bishop screamed.

"Probably something boring. Muggy likes hugs."

Silas nodded, "Don't tell me, you still want to take them to the moon?"

"Moon hugs Silas! Moon hugs! Furret hugs on the moon!"

Tonio smiled and finished her goblet of wine, "We have a few dig sites, we'll have you go over the archives near the waterways tomorrow, your job is to find out which dig site we should be focusing on, we want results soon and if we focus all our efforts on unearthing one location filled with old secrets, it'll be a lot faster."

Kane nodded in agreement, "One of the few things we agree on."

"I still say your cybernetic eyes should be green instead of yellow."

"Green is a good colour."

North spoke up, "No purple is a better colour!"

"Surrounded by idiots as you can see," Tonio noted to Marigold.

The mechanisms internals would reveal old pullies and gears, along with a paled brick that was hooked onto the mechanism, easy enough to pick out if you knew what to look for, just push on the brick and it opens.

The gold goblet however was nothing compared to the rest of the section, which revealed an entire internal passageway old unlit torches and even, more disturbingly, a human skeleton.

M: <...Well, that's pleasant.>

-She phases back through the wall and into Rogue's helmet-

M: <Entire hidden passageway. The goblet's the only gold thing. There's also an old dead person back here.>

Rogue: Eugh.

M: <You have an old dead lady in your helmet constantly!>

Rogue: You're different! You're a ghost, not a corpse! Anyway, I think I want to do some more looking around in there.

M: <Don't tell me you're looking for more gold.>

Rogue: What? No. I wanna see if this leads to a potential alternate entry point. And maybe pick up any gold I find along the way.

M: <For the love of...>

Rogue: It would be a useful offering for Marlowe! That bird has ridiculously expensive taste, and the alternative is you know who killing me!

M: <...Okay, I can respect that. There's this brick you gotta push.>

Rogue: Right. Let's do it while there's nobody to hear it open. Control the mechanism so it's only enough for me to get through before we close it again?

M: <Sure.>

-Using Telekinesis, M carefully and slowly guides the mechanism.-

M: <This would be so much easier if it was electrical.>

-When it's just open enough, Rogue slips in, and the wall closes.-

Edited by BittersweetNSour on Mar 18th 2019 at 10:42:21 AM

Castle Lycanrow, Dining Hall - Infiltration Day

Marigold: No different from my last posting, then.

-She smiles at Dr. Tonio.-

Marigold: I'll go over what information we have about each site tonight and join you to make my recommendations tomorrow. I promise I won't disappoint you.

Tavern, Eddisburg

Brynhilde: "A few. Anything in particular you want to hear about?"

Cerulean City

Not long after, they had ended up outside Cerulean Gym.

Bastion: Welp, here we are.

Cerulean City

Me: Yep. The Cerulean City Gym...

Piku-chan: <This is where we'll challenge Misty... I hear she's pretty powerful.>

Me: Yeah. And let's not forget that it was Brock who recommended that we challenge this Gym next.

Piku-chan: <Yeah. Brock and Misty are good friends.>

Me: Well... no more time to waste... Let's do this!

-I step through the doors of the Cerulean City Gym-

Cerulean Gym

Me: This is the place.

Edited by AnimeboyIanpower on Aug 25th 2019 at 11:47:11 AM

Roxy put a finger to her chin and gave it some thought, "Were you here? Were you a part of the Iron Starraptors when they staged their assault on this castle?"

Silas then added, "Or were you more involved with the Organisation du renseignement d'État to collect info from the castle?"

Roxy gave him a look, "What?"

"Really? You're in this?"

"Hey I got a chance to ask."

"Excellent! We'll start after my lecture tomorrow, I still have some other things to work on myself for tonight," Tonio continued, "Feel free to rest early and don't worry about those reports."

North look insulted.

Kane look amused.

The tunnels were large and empty, Rogue's helmet auto-adjusted for the low light by switching to night vision, it showed a long stretch, but noted some odd stuff ahead. Seemed the passageway went through most of the castle, probably a defense mechanism in case of invasion.

The stuff itself was also noted by the AR to be "reflective in quality".

Cerulean City

Misango: <And there’s Misty right up ahead!>

Edited by Routeferret on Mar 18th 2019 at 9:30:45 AM

Cerulean Gym

???: Ah... So my newest challenger has arrived.

Me: Indeed I have. Brock recommended that I come here to challenge your Gym. You must be Misty, if I recall correctly...?

-Misty spins around to face me-

Misty: The Tomboyish Mermaid! That's me! And you say you're here for your Gym Battle, huh?

Me: That I am, miss.

Misty: Well, I'll warn ya. I'm tough!

Me: Yeah. I'm pretty tough too. I have 8 badges from Unova and the Boulder Badge from Brock.

Misty: Well, if that's the case, I'm not gonna go easy on ya! Y'see the Cerulean City Gym is a Water type Gym and me and my Pokémon just LOVE to make a splash!

-Misty then notices Piku-chan on my shoulder-

Misty: Is that... a Pikachu?

Me: Yep. This is my buddy, Piku-chan. I raised him from an Egg.

Misty: Oh! Well, then I REALLY won't go easy on ya! Y'see, I went on a little adventure with a trainer who also had a Pikachu! That trainer had a never-give-up attitude!

Me: Brock also went on an adventure with a kid who also had a Pikachu.

Misty: Did he now? Heheheh...

Now... LET'S SEE IF YOU HAVE THAT SAME ATTITUDE!!

Misty and I: GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT!!!

VS MISTY

-Misty takes a Poké Ball off her belt-

Edited by AnimeboyIanpower on Mar 7th 2021 at 8:40:13 AM

Eddisberg Tavern

A [Scottish/Chinese] woman stares at the bartender, raising her eyebrows.

Priscilla: Three tankards of your best ale, sir. And a side of schnitzel and brats. Heck, a round of the best stuff for everyone in the house. And a round of those same sausages for everyone. And an Espresso-Röstung for the road.

Priscilla slides a bunch of bills to the bartender's hands, which more or less covers the cost of it.

Priscilla: Keep the change.

Lumiose City

Arachna-Guy: Okay, seriously, dude, I really don't want this to get out of hand. People could get hurt like they nearly did with that table you flung out. And I can't let that happen.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Mar 18th 2019 at 7:12:52 PM

-Rogue continues down the passageway, pausing briefly to get a closer look at the "reflective" stuff.-

Rogue: ...Can't haul this stuff out if we don't have a plan to get out with it. And I'm not ditching anyone for it.

-They take a couple pieces, but not enough to clank around as they continue.-

Edited by BittersweetNSour on Mar 18th 2019 at 7:18:04 AM

Eddisberg, Tavern

Brynhilde: "The former."

They frown, their drink not having arrived yet.

"Sniper. Corporal Siegfried Hannelier, Kalosian Foreign Legion."

Castle Lycanrow, Dining Hall - Infiltration Day

-Marigold nods at Dr. Tonio.-

Marigold: Excellent. I look forward to it. As for those reports... well, I would hardly be a researcher if I didn't do my research, would I?

The bartender came out with a plate of mash and bratwurst, setting down a large tankard of ale for Bryn.

Silas noticed the frown, "Sorry to pry... just kinda had to know."

~He's got this thing where his family gets into trouble constantly and he-~

"Hacks!"

~Sorry.~

The bartender took Pris's money and the tavern cheered.

"So you were Siegfried, my great grandmother talked a lot about you, in her words it was "Lucky that I wasn't decapitated by a stray bullet!" I think she was exaggerating."

Roxy thought back, "Just... how long have you been around anyways? Like do you always find yourself in some conflict. Sorry if that's sensitive you don't have to answer."

The shiny stuff was a pile of old [Roman Empire] coins, the sack they were in having rotted away a century or so ago.

This also revealed a large section, where what looked to be a security detail of Pokefutures grunts, with two large Futurechamps by their side.

"So... it's agreed. Tonight we kill Dr. Tonio."

"I don't know if this is a good idea... especially since how the last 3 went."

"Oh don't be a wimp! It's poison gas! How could she survive that?"

It was clearly just inter-organizational conflict, nothing to worry about. The guards left, but below was what looked to be blueprints for heavy machinery, no doubt for the dig, and a single computer that somebody had forgotten to lock.

It seemed to easy.

"I wish you well then, good luck sleeping tonight. I wouldn't be able to sleep at all," Tonio responded, she finished her meal and got up, walking out.

The others slowly shuffled out and Marigold was soon the only one there.