Former Operations HQ

-Calmly-

Paula.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

Ship to Kanto^note At this point, Ian has changed out of his Ren Faire clothes and back into his normal clothes.

-Ian looks intensely out the window, wondering what will happen next...-

-Ian opens Piku-chan's Poké Ball on the ship-

Piku-chan: <Hey, buddy. What's up?>

Me: It's just... this multiversal crisis...

Piku-chan: <Shh... Don't say those words out loud. People might hear you and panic...>

Me: Sorry... but... it's just... what's to come...

Piku-chan: <What about it?>

Me: This could be our final battle with the Mobius Society... The J-Team's final battle with the Mobius Society...

Piku-chan: <Yes?>

Me: It's just... I'm worried.

Piku-chan: <What about? You've faced great odds in the past!>

Me: Yes, but Voyd stealing Kanto's light is nothing compared to this! Millions of lives are on the line! Not just in this world, but in millions of other worlds...

Piku-chan: <You'll be fine! The J-Team'll take down the Mobius Society once and for all, and you'll be in on the action!>

Me: I know... it's just... I'm just worried that this might be our final battle, period.

Piku-chan: <Period?>

Me: As in... we might not make it back... at all...

Piku-chan: <Oh, now I see why you're worried...>

Me: It's not just that... but... What if the Mobius Society wins?

Piku-chan: <They won't win. We won't let them win! After all... The Only Thing Necessary For The Triumph of Evil...>

Me: ...is that Good Men do Nothing.

Piku-chan: <Exactly! And one thing is for certain, you will not just sit by and do nothing! The J-Team wouldn't sit by and do nothing! This is OUR Multiverse, and we'll FIGHT for it!>

Me: Thanks for the confidence boost, buddy!

Piku-chan: <No prob. Anything for a friend...>

-Piku-chan mutters under breath-

Piku-chan: <...and my father...>

Me: What was that, Piku-chan?

Piku-chan: <Oh. Nothing.^Well... Not yet, at least...>

Me: Well... I'm just wondering... What should I say to announce my willingness to put my life on the line to save the Multiverse?

Piku-chan: <How about something as simple as...>

-Piku-chan clears his throat-

Piku-chan: <Gentlemen? I believe I can help you out...>

Me: I like the sound of that...

-Ian and Piku-chan look out the window, now with confidence, as they prepare themselves for the final battle with the Mobius Society-

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

Cipher HQ

Daydre is in fact here

Given that Daydre has never actually met Paula before, she doesn't actually know who she is. But given the context clues she can guess!

"..."

off the shits

Orre Abandoned Based

Colton turned to look at Paula, a hint of recognition and regret crossing his face.

He placed a hand on the wall, clutching his phone tightly as his heart raced.

Mindscape

A chorus of incoherent expletives echoed throughout.

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

Cipher Operations HQ

-As Pent raises his phone and attempts to input a new variation on the keywords... it once again crashes the moment Pent finishes Paula's name, during the dramatic pause between it and Rose's. Between that display, the hostility aimed at her, and Ren's immediate reaction, Paula cracks up laughing.-

Paula: Relax, relax! I'm not here to kill y'all, that's ridiculous.

Rose: That's what the last couple Shadows have tried. That's what you are, isn't it? A Shadow?

-Paula grins, taking her sunglasses off. Behind the mostly-faded flecks of glitchy residue, there's a subtle golden hue to her eyes that are noticeably brighter than Rose's own eye color.-

Paula: Well, duh. You got me there. I am thou, thou art I, all that jazz. And you guessed pretty well about this being my place, too.

Rose: Then why isn't it working? Why can't we get in?

Paula: That's exactly what I wanted to see you guys about! See, the problem is, I need y'all to get me back in and situated, after I got yanked out of my own home.

-Rose stares.-

Rose: ...Pardon?

Paula: You heard me. The two of us had this Palace all the way back in the day, see? But when the Unown went and "wiped" our memory, what they actually did was rip me out and toss me into Dashedreams, and it left this huge vacancy sitting around for a couple years. And now there's someone else living in it.

-She pulls out her own phone, and holds it up.-

Rose: The new heiress of the Chateau d'Avarice, located at the Cipher Operations HQ in Orre, is one Doctor Valentina Robinson.

Metanav: Candidate found. Navigating...

-Ren blinks as gears spiiiiiiiin at the reveal-

Ren: Well that was a twist.

-Navigation happens-

Metaverse?

Director: -to Paula- So the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Still I don't trust you are far as I can throw you.

Mona: -To Paula, looking like an upright meowth in a black cat suit- And what kind of guarantee do we have you won't stab us in the back as soon the palace is up for grabs?

Edited by keys2tkingdom on Oct 7th 2019 at 8:38:12 AM

Orre Base

Mindscape

Everything died down, and the aspects processed her words as the world shifted around them.

"So Paula is Rose's memories given form?" Strategist asked.

"And given that golden hue in her eyes, a Heart of Gold," Programmer observed. "... likely," he amended.

"And Valentina has taken residence in Rose's mind," Talbain said.

"... Is Rose a [Manchurian Agent]?" Insecurity asked.

Metaverse

"So is this Rose's mind-slash-palace taken over by Valentina?" Rage and Love asked, lifting up a corner of his blindfold. "And you need to get back on your throne, so to speak?"

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

"Well this certainly is a peculiar turn of events."

Bishop popped out and stared at Paula, "Amazing! So you are a metaverse resident? What has it been like existing in our world compared to there?"

Jackal looks about, feels the mask on his face, and grumbles, "Hate this place."

Edited by EchoingSilence on Oct 7th 2019 at 9:24:49 AM

Cipher Operations HQ

Astraea - who doesn't quite get the whole 'metaverse' thing in the first place, seems quite puzzled at the whole deal. She understood that this would be strange, though.

Chateau D'Avarice

Astraea The Final Witness, adjusting her new mask, and looking at her change of clothes, is confused for a moment, before she glances around at everyone else's change of clothes, their lack of reactions, and thinks back to the Mementos dive and figures that this must be a normal thing for this strange place and those who can manipulate it.

Witness: "... If this palace is held by another, we should be wary. This world is strange, and I imagine that being unoccupied for so long followed by the occupation by a new master will only lead to it being stranger."

All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.

Metaverse Cipher Chateau

-Rakash adjusts his mask a little bit-

Alright, so I'm on Nav duty tonight?

-He teases at the edge of the cracked rabbit mask a little-

Guns blazing, stealth? What's the play, who's on lead?

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.

Chateau d'Avarice

-In place of the ruins of the Operations building, a weathered white two-story chateau, with sand dunes piled high around the first floor, covering most of the windows. The front entrance is mostly clear, however, with a row of palm trees lining the path, with the closest trees to the building standing roughly equal with the second story balcony.-

-Runaway, of course, still only has the standard mask currently. Paula, on the other hand, has undergone a noticeable outfit change — one that she wore six years ago◊ nevermind that I'm retconning the old fashion disaster admin outfit design out of existence.-

Paula: C'mon, guys, what do I have to gain from backstabbing you at literally any point? That's just completely counterproductive to the goal of staying here. I'm with you folks through and through.

Rose: You have... an outfit here?

Paula: Did you think I wouldn't?

-Rose just stares and gestures at herself.-

Paula: ...Yes, I see you. Why did you wear a sweater to a desert?

Rose: Mmmmrgh.

Paula: Anyway, day 1, I suggest stealth. I know my way around this place, but y'all don't, and you don't wanna end up crossing Tina's favorite guard lizard yet, so let's just hop up to the second floor and get cracking.

Chateau D'Avarice

-Adjusting my mask-

Robinson, we fought her during the raid of Mobius' Ultra Plant base, last I saw of them was that giant Shadow Salazzle preparing to carve her to pieces as the Xurkitree destroyed the base, but it appears she survived since her Shadow's squatting in this place.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

Jackal sighs before nodding, "We're all experienced in stealth here. Let's move. Bishop, remain quiet."

Bishop just plopped himself back into Jackal's cell phone.

"You know I wonder if Paula can hear me, seeing as she's also a shadow. Probably not."

Silas groaned, he was back.

"Again, never left! You and me are together forever~! I WUV YOU SO MUCH~!"

Chateau d'Avarice

Witness: "Scouting, then. Good idea."

She glances at Paula.

Witness: "Since you know your way around, what's the quickest way to the second floor?"

All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.

Chateau D'Avarice

-Director and Mona eye Paula suspiciously-

Director: Let's just say we don't exactly have a reason to trust you.

Mona: But it's not like we have any leads either.

-Director turns to Daydre and walks over. Director opens the briefcase and pulls out an employment contract for Daydre and a pen. An easy to understand summary of the contents is cliped to the top page.-

Director: -to Daydre- Don't address anyone by name while in places like this. Call me "Director". You should come up with a codename.

-indicating the contract- In order to keep what we're doing legal, you need to sign this contract. It is so I can protect us legally if something happens.

-Mona, meanwhile, looks around at the palace.-

Edited by keys2tkingdom on Oct 7th 2019 at 10:08:21 AM

Chateau d'Avarice

-Sorceress and Songstress look around.-

Songstress: <Hmmm.>

-Sorceress frowns and rubs her head.-

~I wonder if I could get out of this prison. Walk around outside your head. But...Paula feels off to me. Moreso than she should, based on what we've heard. Keep an eye out, Lizzy. We both die if you do.~

-Soreceress sighs.-

Sorcerss: "Just do your job when I ask."

Edited by SwiftSeraph on Oct 7th 2019 at 10:07:02 AM

"Dang that sure is totally poggers my good bitch"

???, Almia(?)

-Calibur grunts as his attacks bounce off the Laius's shield.-

Calibur: <Not bad.>

-He looks for an opening.-

-The Chingling, meanwhile, is unconcious but alive. Misaki stares down the Laius.-

Misaki: "Calibur!"

-She launches her styler and makes a few loops around the Laius, throwing off its balance enough for Calibur to dart in an go for the throat. Oddly enough, Laius seems to turn into...data?...which then floats into the void.-

Misaki: "Alright. Let's get going."

Calibur: <There's no portal back.>

-Misaki frowns as she scoops up the Chingling.-

Misaki: "There'll be one. Trust me."

Calibur: <Something is coming.>

-An ominous, screeching roar sounds in the distance.-

Misaki: "...don't let your guard down."

"Dang that sure is totally poggers my good bitch"

Somewhere, a set of Alakgross ruins

A carbink with a diancie-like crystal headdress and green crystals sits, unmoving, on the ground deep in a set of Alakgross ruins.

The ruins have long since been picked over of anything of value, and are now just home to a colony of pokemon.

Unfortunately for this particular carbink, one of those pokemon that has taken up residence is a sableye, who is quite interested in the shinies.

???: "Wake up. You're in danger."

This carbink, however, has a guardian angel, of sorts, or at least a mysterious voice accompanying her.

With that sentence, the carbink lifts up and starts hovering in midair, green crystals glowing. The carbink's eyes focus on the sableye.

Strange Carbink: ~Why will this happen?~

The mysterious voice mumbles some technical jargon that the carbink seems to accept. The sableye, understading this mysterious voice's words but not from whence they came or what they mean, merely stares, now curious.

The carbink refocuses her gaze on the sableye once more, before speaking.

Strange Carbink: ~... You were defeated.~

The Sableye stares. He understands the words spoken once more, though not the method of conveyance - not quite telepathy, but also not quite speech. Something in the middle. But also... The carbink didn't do anything?

Sableye: <... Eh? Wazzat?>

The strange carbink used Future Sight! The strange carbink foresaw an attack!

The sableye stares up at nothing.

Sableye: <... Whuh? Can carbink even do that?>

The sableye's pondering of the narration is rudely interrupted when a section of the ceiling collapses onto him, burying him beneath rubble.

Any further comments are muffled by the fact that the Sableye is now buried under rubble.

Mysterious Voice: "Alright. Find natives of this world, we need to determine what we're working with here."

Strange Carbink: ~... It was done.~

The carbink floats off through the newly made hole in the ceiling.

All are significantly abnormal in a normal world... All are significantly normal in an abnormal world.

Chateau d'Avarice

Rage and Love felt his two Personas in his head, the two playing chess to keep themselves occupied. He sighed, content they kept silent; he valued their unspoken bond.

[Insert Unoriginal Stinger Here]

North Mandarin Island, near Permafrost Park

Alyesha took one of the drinks, leaning back and enjoying the view onto Permafrost Park again. Upon hearing Ryan, she gave a nod, holding out her glass for a friendly cheers.

After either Ryan, Shutter or both clank glasses with her, she did the same with Matvey, vebinning to sip on her drink - eyes going wide as she tasted it first.

Alyesha: "You were right, that is the best fruitdrink I've had here~"

Upon hearing that last part, Alyesha had to visibly hold back a chuckle

Alyesha: "Wait, you were in a Soap Opera? I wouldn't have thought."

"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"

Chateau d'Avarice

"Oh, everyone gets outfits now. That's.. new."

(To Paula) "I dunno, I've only known you for like two minutes but you seem like the kind of person who might backstab people for fun?" Daydre shrugs.

(To Ren Director) ".. Alright then!" Daydre gives the contract a quick skim and signs. A second later she's in a suit vest, short sleeved button down shirt, nice boots, and a blank domino mask.

"...Huh.

off the shits

North Mandarin Island

Ryan: I was in one, yes. We joked that it was a rite of passage for our bandmates that we appear in at least one melodrama on TV. It was a fun experience; I played a scientist on TV. Barely a year after, I decided I could be one for real.

Shutter: He's a regular Renaissance Man.

Ryan: Quite literally in that one all-star celebrity tribute to Shakespeare for the Neos City theater's telethon.

Shutter: He was Hamlet. He's had a very eventful career before he went to OOF.

Ryan: Thanks, I guess. Where to next?

Shutter: Just across the street to Permafrost Park. There's the monument to the nameless Chosen One responsible for fixing the mess Lawrence III caused. Then the Orange Islands cultural center, and if you want to take in the sights we can just walk around Downtown.

Petersen Household

Tommy browsed at the shooter's blueprint. He was amazed at the design principle in general and already thought of a few ways he could miniaturize it to fit in the suit. The formulas also called his attention, especially the expanding foam one.

Tommy: The formula you have here does seem to lack something to stabilize it long term, but it expands quickly enough. But on top of everything, it's definitely better than the foam I came up with in terms of controlling the reaction. Now, I wanna see how this goes when mixing them together, since I definitely know this family of ingredients does not usually come together into a catastrophic explosion; the least we can expect is another one of those sticky messes and I managed to cut my way off that one.

Drake happily munches on the cube. Meanwhile, a kabuto attempts to crawl up Des' back.

Tommy: Barring those rare serendipitous eureka moments, we could be here for awhile. Fortunately, having you around to give Asimov resource access means that it could take us about a couple of months at the slowest. And yeah, having a guard detail for my family does seem like a tempting offer; I'd never forgive myself if I let anything happen to them.

Petersen House

Des gently removes the Kabuto from his back and idly pets it.

"Hello you!"

He holds up a pair of Pokeballs.

"Hope you don't mind letting these two stretch a bit?"

He sends out Miz (Stunky) and R. Mika (Luchachu).

"I don't trust letting Pria loose in your house. Anyways, it took me a while to come up with this since I am not a chemist. Had to do a lot of playing around to get it in it's current state. But you seem to know what you are doing. I'll have a word with Silas. Hell, I could even head that detail. If you don't mind me hanging around more."

Don't ask if his aunt is single don't ask if his aunt is single...

"Is your aunt single?"

Mouth you have betrayed me.

GIVE ME YOUR FACE

Petersen Household

Tommy: Oh, you met Shinji. Get off the cowboy, Shinji. Don't worry, pardner, he's friendly.

Shinji complies. Tommy takes an interest to the luchador pikachu. Drake went down and started to befriend the stunky and the pikachu.

Tommy: Oh hey, little fella. Can't help but see a bit of [Rey Mysterio Jr.] in him, but I'm a filthy casual when it comes to wrestling. Can't say that it wasn't a career choice I considered, but I digress.

Beat.

Tommy: And yes, my aunt is single. Again. My uncle Kenneth's been dead for a few years now. Don't worry about it much; it stopped being weird years ago. If you like older women, that's not for me to judge. I mean, I didn't need auric sense to sense that.

Felicia, from upstairs: <She has that effect on a lot of people.>

Tommy: Anyway, I've been meaning to get a few new upgrades to up my night watch game for some time now. See, there's been this recent rash of pokémon kidnappings that seem to be giving me and the police the slip. All the victims are spinaraks of a specific color morph.Which kind of confirm my fears.

He takes out a picture of what is unmistakably a spinarak, but with the colors of a shiny ariados.

Tommy: Here's Tobi. He's currently incognito. To understand why this is a big deal, we have to go back to me cliché hero origin story. See, Tobi and his fellows were part of this spinarak silk harvesting scheme—they were probably doing something else, but yeah. I called the cops on them and they were seized and adopted. I adopted Tobi. Now, a nice lady from PEFE called us up and told us that the parent corporation was willing to hire supervillains to steal them back.

Tommy started wheezing, sat down, and took out an inhaler he concealed around his neck. Once he was done, he resumed.

Tommy: You can probably see why I'm worried.

Delta's Inbox

Lumiose City Streets

After a long chase across the city, Thierry finally corners a young man who had given him the slip.

Thierry: You're not going anywhere, Tobi.

Tobi: Listen, Thierry. I... I... can't do this anymore. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want your family coming to harm because of me. I don't want any of that.

Thierry: You're human now. No one will be able to find you.

Tobi: But they're still after me. What if they find out— or what if they hurt Tommy and his family. I can't do that to any of you. It'll be all my fault if I—

Thierry: Let me tell you this one thing about human morality. It is never your fault when bad people do bad things. No matter how they try to blame it on you. Criminals and evildoers must bear the brunt of responsibility for their actions, and what makes some of them so vile is that they never do.

Tobi: That isn't how I usually how I hear it. That's something Sara and Officer Jeff always argued about.

Thierry: Well, it is a lot more complicated than that, but we're not talking petty criminals here.

Meanwhile, Alder in human disguise has cornered a pickpocket.

Thierry: You are under arrest, monsieur, and your crimes merit a few days of community service; ask Officer Jenny for any job placements near your community.

The pickpocket nods as Alder escorts him away.

Thierry: These criminals... they're not like the people after you. The people who want to get you are rich, powerful greedy wrongdoers who think they can get away with everything because they have connections and money. These are the kind of bad guys me and Sergeant Sanchez can't just walk in and capture. Nothing they do is your fault.

Tobi: I don't care. I don't want them anywhere near you or any other human. And you said it yourself; they'll never find out that I'm human now.

Thierry: And where will that take you? You don't know the first thing about being human.

Beat.

Thierry: You want to go back, do you?

Tobi: I don't want to be protected. That's not who I am. If I can take down those clowns, I would. I can't forgive myself if I'm not there to even stop them. What would you do if your family was in danger and you weren't there.

Thierry sighed. This tirade seemed strangely familiar.

Thierry: If it makes you feel better about your family's wellbeing, we can arrange for you to return to Unova to keep a better eye on your family. I can make arrangements to help protect you as well. It will be no trouble at all.

Tobi: Thank you.

Tobi gives Thierry a hug.

Thierry: Let's get you home.

Chateau d'Avarice

-Paula glances at Silas, and says nothing to indicate that she can hear his Shadow, but does wink.-

Paula: Well, yeah, I'd backstab anyone for the hell of it if I had nothing to lose. But this? This is important to me.

Rose: ...Hm.

Paula: Anyway, fastest way up is onto the balcony up there, so I hope y'all are good at climbing. Maui!

-She takes her sunglasses off, which dissolve into blue flames. Behind her, a muscular Crawdaunt-themed man materializes, holding a massive fish hook on a chain.-

Rose: ...Seriously?

Paula: Obviously.

-Maui hurls his hook up to the balcony rail, letting the chain hang down. Paula grabs on and ascends with virtually no effort whatsoever, and hops up to sit casually on the railing.-

Paula: All right, then, come on.