Route 18, outside Fuchsia City

Ever: —so yeah! She's alive.

Marmalade: <Okay?>

Ever: You don't care at all, do you?

Marmalade: <I mean, it's nice to have loose ends tied up.>

Ever: You're so weird.

Marmalade: <Hey, was that a Dodrio? I'm feeling kind of peckish.>

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.

Textspace

off the shits

Hearthome Brawl

Well now, want me to run over and punch that guy?

-He smirks and rolls his shoulders-

Because I think my punching is working pretty well this adventure.

Textspace

Stormchaser, Now

-Pent sets down his phone to ponder something, before sneezing quite hard-

Egh...

-He hopes this doesn't mean anything-

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.

Hearthome Magical Girl Brawl

-Ian turns around and gives Pent a thumbs-up, grinning and bearing it all the while-

Me: Hells yeah, Pentigan! We're goin' ALL OUT tonight!

♪Show me the wisdom of the world... Tell me the secrets of the heart... and the sweet~ mysteries~ of love~...

??? Raid

One half of the J-Team would find themselves in a lush, tropical jungle. The jungle was alive with the chitters and screeches of unknown fauna. In front of and behind them stretched out a beaten path. Ahead there was an opening in the canopy where in the distance they could see a massive, dormant volcano.

Carved into the side of the volcano was a facility of some sorts, adorned with various banners and what appeared to be large horns and skeletal remains from some massive, yet to be encountered monsters.

A blaring horn from behind them sounded and making their way towards the group was a caravan or carts drawn horned beasts of burden. Manning these carts were what appeared to regular humans and small humanoid cats. They were decked out in various different armours and carried massive, oversized weapons. A man at the front of the group, a gruff looking tanned man likely in his fifties. His hair was stark white and he held himself in a confident, commanding manner. His features softened and he waved at the J-Team was they approached.

GIVE ME YOUR FACE

???

A figure clad in gray and green, accompanied by a rotom-colored drone and a raichu, appear in some rocky outcropping overseeing the jungle.

Goober: Okay, I'm not going to brag but as far as our escaping-the-authorities routines go, that was probably the most awesome one yet.

Ezra: Let's see, you gave daddy dearest a thumb drive, and then the cops came to pick you up at his office and drove you to [Grand Central]. After you had a good night's sleep at a safehouse with a Wii in it.

Goober: The 2010s was truly an Age of Wonders. Have you figured out our grid coordinates?

Ezra: Yeah, we're exactly where we're supposed to be. I presume Grip's in position or will be. You should call her.

Geographic Society Office

Tommy is at his desk, browsing video clips.

Jonathan: Watcha doin, Petersen?

Tommy: Would you believe me if some time-traveling kid trying to pass as an ordinary teenager gave me this thumb drive full of J-Team footage?

Jonathan: That's oddly specific.

Tommy: I'm kidding about the time-traveling kid part; apparently someone's stalking the J-Team and taking pictures of Mobius bases.

Jonathan: Oh, really? Try me.

???

Goober: In hindsight, asking Uncle Jeff if they had a Yonut in Castelia City was probably not a good idea.

Ezra: You somehow managed to blow your cover even after placing the aura jammer that hides your thoughts from Aurics.

Goober: The Aura is with us, I see a Mobius facility some distance from here. Now if we can only give those large Pokémon-like thingamabobs the slip so we can get close.

Ezra, clearly not listening: Hey, Grip. This is Ezra. Y'know, Goober's Rotom. Yeah, we just arrived at the raid point and we're hoping for a way to get close enough to the facility without attracting attention. Over.

Goober: We... have protocol, you know.

Ezra: In IDPD territory, Stanford. Dave can't bust us here

Edited by MasterJayAM on Jul 21st 2019 at 9:18:50 PM

Pippy: -deeply regretting attempting witty banter- <aaaaaaaaaa>

Vee: -just smiles at Lucius-

Megan: -rubbing her arms- I will keep that in mind!

Pippy: <I do like the rainbow-on-void look! Very chic.>

-and sudden Legendary-

Megan: -startled, again- ...oh, hello, Diancie. Denali.

I...I think I'm okay, Silas.

Pippy: -to Silas- <Wait, your cursed, monster-slaying ancestor is back?>

Megan: -to Denali- Oh! Uh, while you're here, would you be able to fix—

-and she reaches into her bag and pulls out three of what may have once been Z-Crystals, now dun and cracked and very, very thoroughly burnt out-

-and, apparently remembering that Diancie are legendary fey- —uh. And—what would the Price for that be, if so...?

Saitama: -to Midna- <Oh, nothing—you reminded me a bit of home.>

<...even if home was never quite so shadowy.>

-there's a bit more typing notification-

Pollen: <...so it hasn't even been a month yet, and we're going back out there?>

Vee: <Yep. We gotta help friends.>

Megan: Mhm.

Pippy: <...hold on, we're home now—Vee, maybe we should—>

-Logan is laying upside down over the side of a chair, Addie fizzing on their stomach and Ditya sitting upright at a table next to them, continuing her examination of their Styler-

Logan: -fiddling with a three-dimensional puzzle, enjoying the clacking sounds-

Ditya:-peering into its guts- What the hell did you do to this thing?

Disgruntled Audino: -methodically poking at Logan- <What the hell did you do to yourself?>

Logan: -click clack click- I explained that already.

Audino: <It bears repeating.>

Ditya: And it still doesn't explain it.

-she drops it, frustrated-

-nudging them- At least don't get glitter all over my stuff.

Logan: -sparkles blearily-

Ditya: -resigned sigh-

Porygon-2 -popping out of the Styler- @v@

Three-quarters of this is in a language I still don't understand, and there's definitely no reason the rest should be working at ALL.

Ditya: -gestures at them-

Logan: -shrugs expressively-

the kitty: -mews-

-and Logan takes a hand away from the puzzle to pet her-

Addie: <...tell us again how things went back here?>

Ditya: ...okay, so.

-settling into a "mission voice"- When you, er, got summoned, as it were, it took us a few days to notice that you were off to Layuda for a little too long.

It took us a little longer to fail to find your corpse, and then we got word that you were off somewhere.

So we got a temporary assignment, expected you home, thought maybe you died—

—the next class graduated, and we got a green Ranger to train up.

Some tourist managed to tick off...some subset of our local Legendaries, really badly, at a time when our newbie's mentor Ranger was down with something.

Inexperience came to light—understandable, but it was still kind of a disaster—on top of a horrible string of bad luck—and no one else could make it through the storm in time. It was all going south, and...

...your mouse squad came to bail them out. The whole thing.

Everyone came home to roost, despite everything. You would've been proud.

Logan: ...

Ditya: -repeating herself- I do have some news clips of the whole thing, if you want to see...

Logan: ...no, I'm fine. I'm just glad to know they did it.

...they actually did it.

And...they're still here?

Ditya: ...all but one.

Addie: -huff- <Figures...>

Ditya: -pressing on- It hasn't gone super smoothly, though—they could probably use a little S-V time, if you get my meaning.

Logan: -pondering- ...that's pretty easily solved. If they got along well enough to deal with a crisis of that magnitude on their own, and stick around afterwards—Phoebe and Deim may need a few more lifestyle tweaks to deal with this, but they're quick on their feet—as I remember...

-they continue in this vein, in silence, for some time-

-at the conclusion, nodding- ...they'll all be doing great in no time. My replacement—they did manage to settle in after this?

Ditya: -nods-

Logan: ...Then this little chunk of Oblivia will do fine without me. And most of the mouse circle's closed itself off, finally. It's...after all this time, it might be running well enough to stand on its own, and support itself, if it's going as well as I think.

-...-

And that's everything I was working on, before I left.

-...-

...so what am I supposed to do now?

-their voice doesn't tremble, for any reason-

Ditya: -gently- What do you mean by that?

-...-

-no response seems to be forthcoming, though, and the silence is only getting heavier-

-so she shifts gears-

Ditya: -leaning back- ...well, you could take the Top Ranger trials—whatever else happened to you, I'm sure you could pass with flying colors by now.

You could take a vacation—

Logan: -snorts-

Ditya: -sigh- —didn't think so, but I really wish you'd consider it...

...we could try to rearrange assignments, have you back here again. It'd be...nice, having you around again.

Logan: ...no. I mean, I'll probably still live here, but—

A Ranger's first assignment is important. The town, all of it is important. We can't exactly—uproot a newbie, especially after they filled in for me—after I got whisked away to—some other universe.

I'll show them the lines, but...

-and someone sees them genuinely lost for words-

Ditya: ...

-and this is enough to spark this last decision-

...or, you could respond to this all-hands from the J-Team.

-and Logan doesn't move, but she can tell she's gotten their attention-

-casually- Is this that Megan you were talking about? She's going on some kind of a base raid...in some other world?

Logan: -sits up- Hold on, what?

-and they nearly snatch their Styler out of her hands, lightning-quick-

Ditya: -wry- Hasn't slowed you down at all, I see...

-there may be a hasty knock at the door-

No mind to think. No will to break.

Silas turns to Pippy, "Yeah. Not cursed thankfully, he just apparently got bored with the afterlife and participated in some spirit games to come back to the world of the living."

"To which I am very thankful for," Denali says with a smile.

Silas turned back to Megan, "If you say so."

Roxy stepped over and gave Megan a hug anyways.

As for Denali, Denali started laughing, "Pricing? You're worried about pricing? I'm not here to steal your soul or blood or first born. I don't bother with that outdated nonsense, I am a modern fae business-they, I deal in sales and numbers. Heck I helped to make modern bureaucracy!"

"You're the reason it's so bloated and nonsensical?" Silas asked.

"You wound me Silas, I made the start, you humans screwed the rest up on your own. Now Megan, a simple repair job costs nothing and if it did, a reasonable price in terms of dollars really," Denali responded warmly, floating the dull z-crystals over, "Though truthfully I have little experience in Z-Crystals and such... the Tapus and I have a mutual agreement not to interact, my fault really and it was long ago... well from your perspectives anyways."

The gems started to glow as Denali slowly concentrated on fixing them.

Oblivion Wing

-Maul continues to simply stare at Pippy, while Lucius grins at Pippy.-

Lucius: I know, right? It goes great with my new outfit. I look fantastic right now.

-He flexes with his prosthetic. Since he's still skinny enough to hide behind a lamppost with room to spare, the effect may not be as impressive as he intended.-

Lucius: Anyway, uh... as nice as it was to meet y'all, I'll admit that it's getting pretty crowded in here, and if fae contracts are being made it might be better if I take my leave...?

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.

Stormchaser, Ever's Room

-a somewhat tousle-haired Ever sticks their head out of the door-

Ever: Lucius? Mezzo? Is that you?

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.

-there's a palpable sense of relief radiating from the watery corner of the room at Denali's statement, to some degree-

Megan: Oh, I'm glad

and, um, that wasn't actually all of them

-and she dumps shards of what might add up to fourteen more ex-Z-Crystals out of her bag, in similar states of utter ruin-

I have money

some money

-and she is hugged by Roxy! She hugs back-

-gratefully- I'm fine! But thank you~

Saitama: -in a glowing tome, makes three notes of this universe's inventor of bureaucracy, one under "Historical Figures", another under "Legendaries", and the last under "Invective Invocations"-

Pippy: -to Silas- <Ohhhh, nice! That's great to hear; is that where ghosts come fro...>

-and he is Distracted by an uncomfortable stare, which he tries to further Distract himself from with appreciating Lucius's fashion-

Megan: -earnestly, to Lucius- Hey, nice!

-she beams, and flexes back by way of acknowledgement-

(-it simply must be noted that she swims for a hobby and mines for a living and has spent the last few months getting trained by a farmer-turned-tactician's rook-turned-Gyarados to stab and/or punch things effectively, and is also nearly a foot taller than Lucius- )

(-she's not actually trying to impress right now, she just...likes flexing-)

Vee: -by contrast, extremely scrawny, but Long- <I feel ya, buddy. Take care!> .3

Pippy: -Empoleon Are Chubby To Survive And Be Cute- <Be safe! Maybe watch that Alakazam of yours!>

-it's Megan! (And company)-

-they seem to be in a rush-

Megan: Hi, Ever! We have a fa—

A reque—

-shaking her head- A favor, to ask of you! Really quick. We gotta go.

Pollen: -grimaces- <Hi, Ever.>

Pippy, Vee: -grin in awkward unison, somehow-

Edited by Asterisk395 on Jul 21st 2019 at 12:07:18 PM

No mind to think. No will to break.

Stormchaser, Ever's Room

-Ever squints, still looking somewhat half-asleep-

Ever: The, uh...the raid? Okay...

-they rub at their eye, then rub at their other eye-

-seems they don't have their other arm at the present moment-

Ever: What's going on? Pollen! It's good to see you!

-for Pollen's edification, in the year or so since they last talked, Ever's soul has grown back to mostly its full self. It's still very stunted, and doesn't look like it ever won't be, but it's green and blooming-

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.

Oblivion Wing

-Although Megan isn't actively trying to impress, the fact remains that Lucius is really easy to impress.-

Lucius: 👀

-A poke in the back from one of Maul's forks brings him back to reality.-

Lucius: Oh, uh... thanks, will do. Take care, I mean. And don't worry, I know Maul's super weird, but at the end of the day he's looking out for me. I think.

Maul: ~You'll find out.~

Lucius: ...Right. Well, see ya!

-He gives Vee and Pippy a quick pet each before scurrying off, Maul hovering behind him.-

Edited by Herbert40k on Jul 21st 2019 at 5:18:31 PM

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.

Oblivion Wing

-Midna chuckles darkly.-

Midna: <Well, you get a little Shadowy when Cipher represses all your emotions.>

-She shrugs and pokes Shaun, who was...momentarily distracted by Megan flexing.-

Shaun: "Well, uh..."

"I don't even wanna know how you broke that many Z-Crystals."

"Dang that sure is totally poggers my good bitch"

Vee, Pippy: -are pet, purr farewells-

Pippy: <Good luck!>

Vee: <See you around~>

Saitama: -further hovering the tome- <Cipher? What is—>

Pippy: <I will tell you later but this is not a good place to ask questions on the subject>

Saitama: <...okay.>

Megan: -to Shaun- It is a very long story with very weird context! But it sure happened. Probably.

Vee: -regrowing her nose, attempts to pat a ghost-

Pollen: -...-

-softening- <...it's good to see you too, Ever. You look well.>

Pippy: <Okay, we realized—>

Vee: <—we actually have safe options, now—>

Pippy: <—and we would like to take advantage!>

Vee: <So!>

-and from his fluff, Pippy pulls out something glittering, oblong, blue...-

Pippy: <Would you, dear friend, watch this for us pretty please?> ^v^

-an Egg-

Vee: <It's giant monster time, and I want to be sure the first one this kid imprints on is me~> ^w

<Also, they've gotta be safe, and you're Safe, so...if you're up for it?>

Megan: -nodnods, doing a little shimmy-

Accept? Y/N

Edited by Asterisk395 on Jul 21st 2019 at 1:02:01 PM

No mind to think. No will to break.

Stormchaser, Ever's Room

-Ever winks at Pollen-

-and then pauses-

-...-

-...-

-their eyes are suddenly very bright-

Ever: Um, yeah, sure, I would be honored.

-they tap the Y-

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.

Silas watched as Lucius scurried out and waved goodbye.

Denali grinned, "Oh this will be fun, and as I said. No cost whatsoever, this is a attempt for me to do something new."

Silas gave Megan a thumbs up, "I think Denali might also be doing so because of the flex earlier."

Denali somehow tripped while standing still and landed on their face, "Don't call me out like that!" they said standing up.

Silas let out a low laugh at Denali, "Got it in one."

Denali groaned, "How's that superhero gig working out for you huh?"

"Oh you know?"

"You're the only one with the perception charm on that left arm, I recognize it from anywhere."

Arthur stepped over, thankful his armor had air conditioning, "Hello there."

Samuel walked by his side, <Such a interesting location.>

Oblivion Wing

Shaun: "Denali has a point, you know. A decent chunk of us stand out. Maybe it's a side-effect of being J-Teamers, but..."

-He shrugs.-

"Dang that sure is totally poggers my good bitch"

-Tanten walks into a room he's pretty sure is empty, then grabs the key off the bed.-

-and takes a long nap.-

??? Raid - Jungle

Colton adjusted his jacket before waving hi. He held his headphones in one hand while another behind his back had its Night Slash Claws extended.

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

??? Raid

Des and Lita's attention turned tot he oncoming convoy. While everyone was preoccupied Lita took a few steps back and discretely contacted Ezra and Goober.

Lita: "Don't worry I'm with the group now. There's some locals up ahead that'll probably illuminate the situation a bit. Over and out for now."

The caravan stopped and the man in the lead greeted Arthur, Colton and the others.

"Greetings! Those travellers in blue told us you lot would arrive."

Des cocked an eyebrow. Travellers in blue?...The Rough Riders...

The man continued. "I am the Commander of Astera Village and head of the Monster Hunter Guild operations. We're gonna bring you guys up to speed and what that Eggman has been up to. But first, to arms!"

As he said that, fourteen hunters stepped forward, each holding a different weapon. A Long Sword, Dual Blades, Great Sword, Lance, Hammer, Sword and Shield, Hunting Horn, Switch Axe, Charge Blade, Insect Glaive, Gunlance, Light Bowgun, Heavy Bowgun and a Bow were available to choose from. The Commander eyed Arthur in particular.

"You already seem to be appropriately armed. You have much experience hunting monsters?"

Other various hunters and their palicos from the caravan began setting up a base-camp. They moved quickly efficiently.

GIVE ME YOUR FACE

???

Goober grabs Ezra's phone.

Goober: Roger wilco, over.

Call concluded.

Ezra: Why did you feel the need to do that?

Goober: We'll talk about the importance of chains of command later. Now call get into gear.

Goober turned on his outfit's hologram projector accessory, which gave him the appearance of some of the young locals based on prior recon data. Ezra's drone, meanwhile, got into something a bit more... intimidating—a tall bald and overly muscular warrior.

Goober: Isn't that a bit too over the top?

Ezra: I have combat abilities far beyond that shotgun on your back.

Goober: But really? [Kratos]?

Kratos!Ezra: Boy, what's your point?

Kendall: <This is gonna be a long interdimensional recon.>

Accepted: Y/N

-they very gently pass their Egg from their care to Ever's, as the button press finalizes its narrative transfer process-

Pippy: <...be good, okay?>

Vee: <...hey, kiddo, be you, first. There's time.>

Megan: -looks away, smiling-

Pollen: <...we gotta go if we wanna catch the portal...thing.>

Vee: <—right-o! See ya back here in an ill-defined but hopefully short time, friend!>

Pippy: <Care for our spawn!>

Megan: Oh yeah, here—

-she scribbles down something apparently relevant on a piece of paper, and hands it to Ever to be read When The Time Is Right-

Pollen: -a slightly rougher uncharacteristic softness, looking off to the side somewhere- <We gotta go.>

-and heeding her, they dash off-

-and end up here, next to Arthur-

Megan: -blinks-

-and then she's wearing her scale mail-

-and someone does a three-point landing from the tree line-

Logan: -grinning, casually dusting themself off- Hey, you made it.

Megan: Logan! :D

Logan: -leaning against a tree- All set for a big group mission this time, I see.

Megan: Aye, cap'n! ^_^

Logan: -chuckles-

-Logan, as opposed to Megan's general air of slight scatteredness, appears◊ composed, collected, and rested for once, and is wearing a Ranger uniform that doesn't look like it's been through several minor conflagrations and a vaguely annoyed washing machine with teeth-

-and on top of that, pieces of their "confiscated" Mobius uniform-

-for their sake, one would hope it's not very hot in this jungle, but it probably is-

-they don't seem to mind, though-

Logan: ...you know, that doesn't sound much like Monese?

Megan: ...huh.

-Megan grins a bit at her friend's compliment-

Megan: Silas, really...

-and then the helpful Legendary actually face-faults at the statement, and Megan blinks-

-to Denali- ...oh gosh are you okay?

Vee: -appreciatively- <Hey, I'm glad you've gotten to try something new.> Thanks.

Megan: ...hm, perception charm.

Maybe I should step up my game...

-and she stares off into the distance for a bit, before she seems to return to the conversation-

Megan: Charm arm, or "ch'arm", for short.

Pippy: <why>

Vee: <...meeeh...>

Saitama: -to Shaun- I've heard much of this "J-Team". Is it true that it's a slow-moving disaster area, characterized largely by sporadic bouts of opportune, vaguely fortunate mayhem and the propagation of wild memes?>

No mind to think. No will to break.

-Noelle and Mezzo are lying together on the bed, arms wrapped around each other-

Mezzo: I can't believe you talked me into this.

Noelle: C'mon, you knew it'd be fun. Besides, this isn't even the first time you participated in one of these.

Mezzo: Are you sure this isn't just an excuse to feel me up?

Noelle: No, no! These are platonic cuddles. I'm not up to anything skeevy.

Mezzo: Good, because if you were I'd just choke you to death.

-Noelle eeps-

Mezzo: I'd ask why you felt like you needed this, but I think I already know.

Noelle: Yeah... I told you.

Mezzo: Why did you tell me, though?

Noelle: I needed someone to talk to and you know her well and... um, you're someone I admire.

-Mezzo blinks-

Noelle: Back before I joined the team I didn't really know any other lesbians in real life.

Mezzo: I'm not lesbian, I'm bi.

Noelle: You know what I mean. Girls who like girls. I felt really alone, but knowing that there were others out there like me helped.

Mezzo: Okay...?

Noelle: That's kind of why I wanted you and Lily to get together, because you and the team were so public and it'd be such a strong stance. That and I still think you'd be a really cute couple please don't kill me.

Sunny: <Eee!>

Mezzo: Go away.

Noelle: Anyway, um, that's why.

-Mezzo closes her eyes-

Mezzo: Mhm...

Noelle: I'm sorry for how I treated you back then but, well, ugh why is this so hard to explain. I was confused, okay? And I didn't really realize what I was getting into and...

Mezzo: Mmm.

Noelle: Mezzy? Are you awake?

-no response-

Noelle: Um, this is awkward...

-Noelle tries to get up but finds Mezzo clinging to her still-

Noelle: Hey, let me up!

-Noelle tries again; she still can't budge-

-she sighs and relaxes, and Mezzo relaxes her grip-

Noelle: Guess I'm stuck here for a while.

Do not fear power... fear those who wield it.

Stormchaser, Ever's Room

-Ever takes the egg, still seeming a little shellshocked, so to speak-

-they take the note too, but very awkwardly as they only have the one arm, and as such can't open it right now-

-...-

Ever: Alright, see you all soon. Punch a giant monster for me.

-as Megan and co. abscond, Ever slides back into their room, holding the door open with their foot to keep it from slamming-

Breeze: -sniff- <My little baby, off to destroy people!>

Ever: Mmmh.

-they set the egg down on the bed, staring at it-

Ever: ...Well.

-before attaching their prosthetic, and turning on a video game-

Breeze: <Sort of expected you to be more freaked out.>

Ever: This isn't exactly the first egg I've taken care of, you know.

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.