Halis: "To be honest, I wouldn't mind trying out another form at some point... even if I had to relearn things, I'd still be learning things, after all. Hmm..."

They start daydreaming of the possibilities, unaware that they're still petting Talbain the entire time as if on autopilot.

Stormchaser Deck

<It was what I was going to say about that craptastically-named store that I named - experimentation is half the fun,> Talbain said before he sank back into the pets.

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

Halis: "Oh, there's nothing wrong with the name! At least it's memorable and distinct. The worst thing a name can be is forgettable, honestly, and even if your opinion of it is low, you can't deny that it has staying power in people's memories. But yes, experimentation is always a nice thing to have. Arguably my favorite word, honestly."

By this point, Halis is just completely lost in their own imagination on what they could be for their next would-be form.

Accumula Town

Shadow smirked playfully.

Shadow: You're letting me make you mad. Hard to fight well when you're enraged...

Mischief leaned slightly, the blow tussling her soft mane harmlessly. She scolds him while brushing her mane.

Mischief: <Watch the mane, Cortez. I keep it immaculate.>

Shadow: Mischief! Finish this with a single blow! Aerial Ace!

Mischief used Aerial Ace!
It's Super Effective!

Mischief: <Sorry Cortez!>

Meanwhile Ophidia blushed further, taking in Armando's usual waxy scent with a hiss before wondering if she should try having him light incense or something...

Heheheh

Stormchaser Deck

<To be fair,> Talbain decided, shaking off the pets. <I can’t really understand, since I can technically adopt any form I want,> he said as he reverted to humanity.

As if to prove his point, pitch blackness appeared around him before it faded away, leaving a Zoroark in his place.

“Darkness powahz,” he silently bragged, snapping his claws to make the sound play from behind Halis.

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

Accumula town

The kryptonite of a quadruple weakness was to much for Cortez, who also promptly fainted.

Silversmith: "DAMN IT!"

He wanted to retort, but he couldn't deny the truth of Shadow's words. He took a step back, paused, calmed down, and considered thoughtfully. He figured if he could poison Mischief, then the rest of Shadow's team would fall like dominoes to the poison spikes on the field, if he could stall out. Who did he have that could stall? Extrasensory would destroy Silver Bullet... or would it? Silver Bullet had much more weight behind his... everything. Perhaps he could take a hit or two?

Silversmith: "Go, Silver Bullet!"

Silver Bullet: -shrug-<Ok.>

He oozed onto the field, unaffected by the toxic spikes. That was a good start.

Silversmith: "Alright, use... -flip flip flip- Poison gas!"

Silversmith held his breath right before Silver Bullet did so.

Halis jumps back a bit, not expecting this series of events.

Halis: "W-woah! Is that the weird 'obscura' stuff I've seen before? To be honest, I'm not really a fan of illusions... I much prefer solid truths and what have you. Though, to be fair... given what you know about me, my way of thinking being unusual in some way shouldn't surprise you too much."

They look around a bit.

Halis: "...That being said, I did realize that we would need a Mew's help for all that, and given that I've technically already asked once something tells me they'd want something in return for the second time. I still think it'd be worthwhile, though."

Stormchaser Deck

"Man, you're fae - anything goes," Colton explained after removing the Zoroark's head, revealing it as a fursuit that then subsequently faded into Obscura once again.

"Takin' that to J-Con; gonna be great. Anyway, I worry that you might actually annoy them if you ask again? Might ask for a favor from ya, and Arceus knows how much they'll really ask of you."

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

Accumula Town

Mischief easily dodged it, although her eyes watered painfully at the stench.

Mischief: <Nnnggh...>

Shadow frowned. Mischief's keen nose had gone from an advantage to a liability. He couldn't bear to see her force herself to fight while in such discomfort.

Shadow: Mischief, that's enough... Return... Maverick, ready?

Maverick: <Eh?! What?! You want me to walk onto a field covered in poisonous spikes and fight a Muk?!>

Shadow: Yes.

Maverick: <But... But... Fine, but I'll need to clean up afterwards.>

Shadow: I agree. Now get on the field and knock em out with Psycho Cut.

Maverick: <... Ugh... Unlucky...>

Maverick used Psycho Cut!

Meanwhile, Selina was grooming, and Ophidia had fallen asleep.

Snowy watched the fight, her pale blue eyes filled with concern.

Heheheh

Halis: "Annoy them? Oh, I didn't think about that... it has been quite some time since then, but I doubt time is a factor for them. I doubt they'd be unreasonable with any exchange they'd ask for in return, though! It's not like that one thing about the alchemy, after all. I'm sure they'd be understanding of it. All this being said, though, the only real way we'd know how it'd go is to actually make it happen."

They aren't sure if their logic is foolproof but they do hope that they're right where it matters, at least.

Halis: "...Also, what's a J-Con? Is it a remote-control toy or something?"

Stormchaser Deck

"It’s like a convention or something," Colton summarized. "And I suppose you could ask them if you want, I just don’t have much interest.”

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

Halis: "I'll be sure to do that, then. Anyway, I've gotta... go sleep off all of that exhaustion from fighting earlier. See you later, hopefully."

With that, they wander off into the Stormchaser proper, intent on sleeping as they said they would.

Four Macraul Mansion, Night

-It was a quiet night in here. For the past few weeks Ekaterina, Janus and especially Tomas had kept a careful eye on their wraith of a brother Lucian. The failed escape attempt had upset him, for the first few days the yellow, green and blue siblings used as much of their power as possible to restrain the red's destructive tantrums throughout the manor house but after that, Lucian had slipped into a silent drift through the days. Was it depression? Noone in the house had the training to actually say for certain...-

-Tonight was Tomas' turn to keep watch as the night wore on. So he sat there in the spare chair overlooking the bed, blue pauldron glowing amid the brighter glow of the Auric spikes sticking out from both his cudgel and the raw iron symbols that had been nailed to the windowsill, door and walls. It wasn't the only protective measure in this bedroom of course, on each wall was a large symbol of a closed eye that served as the focus for Ekaterina's warding and endless scrawling of words that were channels for Janus' Darkness-

-Even though it ought to be impossible, Tomas' concentration lapsed for a moment actually fifteen seconds, the gulf was starting to grow... as midnight struck and when he regained awareness a figure in a white robe was standing there, leaning over the bed and waving an arm over Lucian's flickering form-

Tomas Macraul: Oi! How'd you get in here?

-The figure in white raised it's other arm, palm out as if that'd halt the seasoned warrior getting up from the chair-

The Wight: You should be thankful, I've gotten orders to restore him.

Tomas Macraul: Restore? What the hell are you doing?

-It was in that moment that Tomas saw... Something leave Lucian's body, he couldn't quite figure out what it was but it looked like... A manila folder? It hovered in the air before the robed figure took it, retrieved a few shimmering pages from it's own clothing and placed them back in before secreting the entire folder into one of the sleeves of the robe-

The Wight: Don't worry, if this venture fails to get off the ground then I'll return him, you can be Macrauls again...

-Tomas didn't have anything to say, he was already rushing in. With a smile that was not visible as much as it was felt, the Wight stood straight and delivered a deceptively light punch to Tomas' stomach, letting the force of the charge carry the effort of the blow-

-Something... Green shot out the back of Tomas' corporeal form, a half-invisible mass of fire and stone blazing green that writhed and thrashed for a moment before turning into another manila folder-

The Wight: Ah yes, probably best to not leave the rest of the set active...

-Despite the blow Tomas seemed unharmed, though it must of dazed him because he didn't quite notice the figure in white wandering around to pluck another folder out of the air and step over to the door-

The Wight: Don't worry Haliskander, if the clash of worlds Tibalt is due for falls, then I'll let you all play at being Macrauls again...

-Tomas, now looking a little stiff, wandered back to the chair and resumed his vigil as the figure in white stepped out into the house to complete the harvest. The pauldron was dimmed, glow gone...-

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.

Accumula town

Silversmith flashed back to the duel he had with the Plasma grunts. He had Silver Bullet set a trap by spreading himself out. A similar maneuver would be beneficial here.

Silversmith: "Get down!

Silver Bullet complied, utilizing his amorphous body to flatten and avoid the not-aimed-at-the-ground Psycho Cut. Silversmith saw the effects of the poison and realized his best battle strategy.

Silversmith: "Silver Bullet! Use Minimize!"

He did, and the Muk puddle shrank ever further. Silversmith decided to engage in some taunts of his own.

Silversmith: "Now I just sit back, relax, and watch your entire team faint of poisoning!"

The statement's attempted verbal cutting was offset somewhat by the fact that Silversmith was both holding his nose and occasionally glancing warily at the scarf in Shadow's hands.

Armando was on an emotional high. He could get used to this.

ever grande city, champion room

Steven: Now go! Aggron!

-An Aggron arrives.-

Cady: Cedy! Use swallow!

-Cedy heals herself with the power stored from stockpile.-

Steven: Ok Aggron, use earthquake!

-The ensuing earthquake one hit ko's Cedy.-

Cady: Hmmm... Aha! Come on out, Apollo!

-Apollo makes a reappearance, still somewhat worn out.-

Cady: Apollo! Use aura sphere!

-The aura sphere hits Aggron hard.-

Steven: Aggron, use stone edge!

-Apollo gets hit, with little health remaining.-

Cady: Another aura sphere!

-Apollo unleashes another, leaving the Aggron on low health.-

Steven: Aggron, return!

-He sends the Aggron back to its pokeball, and sends out an Aerodactyl.-

I used to plug my deviantart here but turns out the link was too long.

Accumula Town

Shadow looked mildly annoyed for a moment, then suddenly smiled. As in, genuinely smiled. He even clapped.

Shadow: Bravo, Silversmith. You realized you're simply not powerful enough yet to beat me with force. I should get a Poison type myself, it would synchronize well with the others on my team. Maverick, can you keep going?

Maverick: <I'll be... Honest... I'm... Not really... Sure...>

The Absol forced his eyes to stay open. He was still Shadow's best fighter, and Shadow need his help.

Shadow looked down, mentally debating. If he pushed Maverick, he had a chance to win... But it was such a low possibility...

He held up Maverick's Pokeball.

Shadow: Maverick, return!

The Absol looked shocked just before getting recalled.

Shadow: You win, Silversmith. I've never been good at pushing my Pokemon... So why change now? Still, I applaud your cunning. Your strategy is clever enough to bring me down. I can tell when I'm already losing. I guess you ARE smart enough to set aside typical "honor rules" if you have to. Sometimes, you have to get your hands dirty to get the job done. And, uh... To tell the truth, honorable combat has its merits, like the majority of the audience cheering for you. You get shown as the Hero, while I'm not quite. Nobody likes a cheater, generally speaking. But I do get the job done. However, in a public battle, they'd cheer for you.

He recalled the rest of his team, except Mischief.

Shadow: I'm heading for the Pokemon Center. I suggest you come with me.

Heheheh

Vermillion, Some Public Area

-J-Con 2019 is happening!-

-Booths and panels and cosplayers and such ahoy!-

-In the midst of it all a green Golett is wandering around carrying a Pokeball-

Contact Me!

Silas and Roxy are walking about the convention, in costume sans masks and helmets. "So... why this again?"

Roxy gave a cat smile, "Wanted to see what comments we'd get on the aurabolts outfits."

Silas sighed, "Whatever."

"Oh come on you enjoy it! You don't design outfits like that if you weren't 110% ready to be a superhero Mr. Descendant of Arthur."

"Hrmmm..."

At that moment a fan ran over, "Whoa cool costumes!"

"Thanks!" Roxy replied.

"Could use some work though, that prosthetic arm doesn't look real enough!" The fan continued before running off.

Silas stared, unsure of what to feel, until he settled on insulted, "I'm sorry what?"

Vermillion-J-Con

Des is here in regular clothes. It's really easy to disguise oneself in normie clothes when you dress like it's Halloween the other 364 days out of the year.

GIVE ME YOUR FACE

stormchaser

Kat: Cady, come oooon! You're going to be late!

Cady: Calm down Loony, it's not like I have a timeslot or anything.

Kat: We should pack the suits. Something might happen.

Cady: But this is j-con. If something happens, half the people there are going to be able to do more than us.

Kat: True, but someone could notice us and might have some useful tips about our powers. Also, as far as I know, there doesn't seem to be too many, if any at all people who have your particular set if skills.

Cady: Yeah, but they're more useful as a distraction than anything else. Well, apart from the smash glass plus psychic combo. Then there's the weakness to anti fae stuff. Speaking of that, don't put any more salt circles or the like around. That was not funny.

Kat: Come on, it was hilarious! You were all stuck inside the living room because of a little circle! Sorry about that!

Cady: I guess it is pretty ridiculous when you put it like that.

j-con

-Cady is setting up some busking equipment with Kat watching close by and may be interacted with.-

I used to plug my deviantart here but turns out the link was too long.

J-Con

Des walks over to Silas and Roxy.

"Hey those costumes look great! I wonder if the real Aurabolts will show up?"

Edited by PhilosopherStones on May 20th 2019 at 11:08:47 AM

GIVE ME YOUR FACE

Vermilion City Convention Center

A haggard young man arrives, having paid a rideshare a decent though insufficiently generous tip.

He had hoped to formally apply for a position in PEFE and had sorely hope the amount of evidence he brought to the table was enough to impress his benefactors. The raid he conducted, it appeared, was a success.

He was given a complementary place to stay at the Stormchaser courtesy of the accountant. She wasn't an HR person, though, so she was unlikely to help there. And given how impervious their security system had been, they probably wouldn't need him to work in his old field.

If only he figured out what his old mentor's ridiculous superplaster was made of.

Beck: Alright, lads. Today is the start of a new day for us.

Jules, via speech device: Why are we at the convention center?

Beck: There's a J-Team convention. It's probably for the best that we ingratiate ourselves to the culture of our new hosts.

Jules: Indeed. Should Ringo scout for any job hunting booths within the area?

Beck: It's a pop culture convention, Jules. Unless the Clavises decide to post their job hunting booths here, it's unlikely that we're gettin annae jobs until Tuesday. Why'd the HR lady have to take a day off today, of all days.

Jules: At least the accountant gave us free tickets. And an instruction to look for people to sue.

Beck: Think we can get paid for that?

E-mail server

Edited by MasterJayAM on May 24th 2019 at 11:21:23 PM

J-Con

-Channah is here, following an excitable Big Savings around and carryings sacks of merchandise for her-

Channah: -sighs-

There is no disdain in nature, there is no humiliation.

J-Con '19

A certain Unovan in a Zoroark fursuit is present somewhere, sitting beside a certain Aurabolt, who is in costume.

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

j-con

-Kat notices Beck.-

Kat: Oh, hello! You seem familiar.

I used to plug my deviantart here but turns out the link was too long.