Wild Area

Listen I could make a joke about the exact matching of name and mon and whether it implies you have opinions but I'll hold back. I'm not really sure what else to do here in Galar, we don't really have a Contest circuit or other fun little side activity for trainers and catching them all is not my speed...

Motostoke, last night

Let's go then.

-Gently takes Channah's hand into my own as we presumably start walking in the direction of the hotel-

Motostoke

Jackie: N-nice to meet you too! Oh, you're s-stunning...

Dave: ...Anyway. PEFE is. It's this science place. That replaced the piece of shit science place I USED to work for.

Mia: <It's where I used to live.>

Motostoke

Kamon: Why thank you. That makes two of us. -basks in the attention until Rockstar nudges him- And you're a scientist, I assume?

Rockstar: -to Mia- <Ooh, ye got a psych department?>

Wedgehurst

Jackie: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Dave: Yeah I'm a fucking scientist. Good with genetics in particular.

Mia: <It's how I happened.>

Dave: Fuck! Mia! ...Does he know Monese?

Evelyn's Camp

(Geddy doesn't respond, he just stands there, his sobs getting louder.)

Kaylan: (approaching Geddy) <The Pikachu is right, Geddy. It'll be okay.>

(And then, at that moment, a rare expression crosses Geddy's face- a scowl of rage. In an instant, he whips around, letting out a pained scream of rage befitting his namesake- but certainly not befitting his usually soft-spoken, gentle personality. This shocks Kaylan, Kim, and all of her Pokemon. Freddie, naturally, is absolutely terrified, and quickly runs away to hide behind a tree. Tears are streaming down Geddy's face, and he lets loose.)

Geddy: (screaming through tears) <No, it isn't! Nothing about this is okay! First of all, one of my idols is apparently GONE, and in the cruelest manner possible! Why did it have to be CANCER?! OF ALL THINGS! IT HAD TO BE CANCER! He had retired! He was going to have a life and a family... AND HE WAS DENIED THE CHANCE TO HAVE EITHER OF THOSE THINGS!>

(Kim's Pokemon stare at Geddy in Stunned Silence.)

Kim: "Geddy..."

Geddy: <So don't try to tell me that everything is okay when it clearly isn't!>

Kaylan: <Geddy...>

Geddy: <What?! What are you going to tell me, Kaylan? That it's fine that Peart got BRAIN CANCER and DIED?! BECAUSE IT ISN'T! HE HAD A FAMILY, KAYLAN! HE HAD A WIFE AND A DAUGHTER AND THEY MUST BE ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED! NONE OF IT IS FAIR! NONE OF IT IS FUCKING FAIR!>

(None of Kim's Pokemon dare make a move- they're too shocked by what they've just witnessed. Orwell just stands there with his jaw dropped open, before eventually muttering out one single word:)

Orwell: <P-profspeak...>

(Kim, meanwhile, is in a state of paralyzed shock.)

Kim: "Geddy... oh my god..."

(Geddy, meanwhile, turns away and doesn't say a single word. Instead, with tears streaming down his face, he exits as fast as his flippers can carry him far into the distant wilderness of the Wild Area. Kim tries to run after him to no avail.)

Kim: "Geddy! Wait up!"

Dio: <W-we can help you!>

(But it is too late. Geddy has already gone.)

Motostoke

Kamon: -wince-smiles at Jackie's screech- Do I know what-ese?

Rockstar: <Nae, he disny. Dinny worry, yer secret's safe wae us. Me.>

Motostoke

Dave: ...Never mind. Anyway yeah. Genetics. They're fucking wild.

Jackie: Do you... Do you want to go out?

Mia: <Go out? The Wild Area's dangerous for humans.>

Motostoke

Rockstar: <Hmph, genetics. Ye kin have it, likesy. Never had eh heid fir it in uni.>

Kamon: Out? As in, out? -eyebrows rise- Ah, Jackie, right? Why don't we talk this over later. There's a girl. -winks at her- So, science! Neat stuff. -beat- I'm not holding you darlings up for a research conference or anything, am I?

Wedgehurst

-Jackie is making sort of a soft, excited moaning sound-

Dave: Not yet. This is entertaining anyway.

Mia: <Can I have a hot dog?>

Evelyn's Camp

Piku-chan: -surprised by Geddy's outburst- <Was it something I said?>

Contact Communications Office

JT goes through the contract while staring at the Wyndon skyline. Meanwhile, his legal team (and Galen) quiver behind him. Well, the legal team was quivering and Galen was nonchalant. JT is not pleased at all.

JT: What is the meaning of this?

Legal Team guy Fred: We, we already had it stamped. We could get sued, sir.

JT: Unbelievable. Are all of these clauses enforceable?

Legal Team guy Fred: Unfortunately, they are. Whoever did Lyore's contracts is just that good.

JT: Someone's getting shot out of the window by a dreepy.

Caulfield: <Kids. It's a lawyer. Now we can use lethal force.>

Holden the dreepy: <Yes, mother.>

Galen: Well, you did just skim it over.

JT: I don't care. I am not wearing a baby clown outfit to my next press appearance? How on Earth is that legally enforceable?

Legal Team guy Fred: I mean, we could try to take legal action, but the most we could do is free Tanten Lyore from any further obligations with Contact Communications. And by the looks of things, he seems to be courting a deal with Hank Harvey.

JT: Harvey...

Jump Cut to Hank's office at 616 Clavis Grand Plaza, Castelia City

A backlit Hank Harvey steeples his hands at the desk sinisterly. He smiles, a glint from his shiny teeth being briefly seen.

Tommy comes in with a bunch of photos.

Tommy: Uh, sir?

Hank Harvey: My "JT Geisler just fucked up sense" is tingling. Any of his recent talent pool get the boot?

Flash pops up from the secretary's desk.

Flash: Tanten Lyore quit several months ago. Should I call his agent?

Hank Harvey: Make it so.

Contact Communications Office

JT: How could an illiterate boob like Tanten Lyore come up with a contract that thick?

Legal Team Fred: Sir, if you've only read the contract before asking—

JT: It's Tanten Lyore! He could barely read the cue cards we had written for him!

Edited by MasterJayAM on Feb 18th 2020 at 6:18:00 PM

Motostoke

Channah: -sits on a bench outside, looking at her phone, shoulders hunched inward-

Motostoke, past

Kamon: -his smile looks a bit fixed- That's what I do best. Oh, did I introduce Rockstar? He's my best mate.

Rockstar: <Aye.>

Kamon: I just started training Pokémon. It's such a beautiful experience. Are any of you trainers?

Megan: Oh, okay!

-rubbing the back of her neck, smile- Oh, it wouldn't be any sort of imposition, really.

-finishing the pie, Vee eyes the dregs of Pippy's drink-

-he slides it over, wordlessly, and she essentially rinses it clean-

Megan: -concerned- Are you alright?

...oh wait oh geez did I do something wrong

I-I mean, it is important!! That you are fed!

-nervous laugh-

-she takes a gulp of that drink she doesn't have anymore-

Vee: ...???

Megan: … -glance-

Cup!Vee: ????

Megan: …

-she pours the rest of Vee into Vee and turns back to Daydre, cough- So yeah, anything you want, like in general, at all

Logan: -likewise extra glittery- -fingerguns at Daydre-

-to Merlin- Awwww.

-further pets-

-and they likely sit in the corner and continue petting for the rest of the wedding party-

Wedgehurst, Berry Stand

Abilene: So?

Shopkeep: Well, I'm not sure.

Abilene: how

Shopkeep: -idly, popping an Oran Berry in his mouth- Well…

Greedent: -swatting his hand as he reaches for another- <Stop eating them!>

Shopkeeper: -shrug, shoo-swat back- Well it was awful of course, what with the Dynamax Pokémon everywhere and everything, but it wasn't that bad, right? Yes, Darkest Day or whatever, legendary heroes come back to life, all that jazz. It interrupted the match on the telly so everyone got back together tomorrow. Two happy hours down at the Swift Nickit, that was a treat.

-headscratch- Speaking of which...the Champion handled everything in any case, didn't they? So it wasn't a problem in the end.

Abilene: -discontent- Hrrm.

Abilene: -snap- Hey. Wallflower.

Megan: eeEEP?!

Hiro: -affronted- We were having a conversation.

Still are, actually. Megan?

Megan: Oh! Uh, um…

-she backtracks some, trying to re-catch the thread of her thoughts...which wriggles to defy remembrance, as it does-

-ah!- So how'd you spend your New Year's?

Hiro: -leaning against a wall- A month ago...and also yesterday^* four days ago? whoops, I was in Unova. On the lunar calendar, I was watching the Dragon Dance.

-he makes an odd hand motion that...somehow evokes the image of dancing dragon costumes-

Megan: Oh! Same, actually. Although yours is the Black-And-White, and mine...

-thinking- ...I'm not actually sure, are they related?

Hiro: -arm-cross, leaning back- The Tao do show up in other regions from time to time...or so it's said. Ask around if those Dragons are at all similar to them?

Megan: I will probably remember that!

Hiro: Megan.

Megan: I want to remember that.

Hiro: -snicker-

Abilene: -impatient- Yes yes, that's all well and good, I have a question.

Megan: -turn, prompt- Okay!!

Hiro: -frown-

Abilene: You had a villainous group masquerading as an energy company in your Region as well, yes?

Shopkeep: Well, masquerading's a bit strong…

Abilene: -ignoring this- Why was outcry so much worse in Sinnoh?

-Megan takes a little while to think back, and...frowns-

Megan: -careful- I...don't actually know what happened here…

-tight- ...but Team Galactic stole Pokémon and bombed a lake.

Abilene: Hm.

Megan: -narrow-pupiled- I-I was there. It was awful.

Abilene: Interesting.

Shopkeep: Yeah! It was for the good of Galar, so what if it went a little wonky?

Abilene: Hrm.

Logan: -raising a hand- We had something like that in Almia, too.

Abilene: Explain.

Logan: …

Abilene: -sigh- Please.

Logan: -beam- There was another energy company, Altru Inc.

Hiro: "Altru" as in altruism?

Logan: -point- That's the one.

Hiro: -nod- I see.

Logan: -shrug- They were digging for oil.

Hiro: Aha.

Logan: But they claimed to be working on an alternative source, one cleaner and longer-lasting.

-grin- Whiiich turned out to be reified despair and mass-brainwashed Pokemon!

Abilene: ...I'm sorry, what?

Edited by Asterisk395 on Jan 31st 2020 at 3:47:38 PM

Evelyn’s Camp

Kim: (shocked for a bit before shaking her head) “...No. I don’t think it was anything you said, Piku-chan. But still... I don’t think I’ve ever heard Geddy talk that way before...”

Logan: -raising their hand really high- Smack-dab in the center of the Region, there's a big tower, Altru Tower, and at the top of that tower there's a giant, luminous crystal.

Megan: -rapt- Does it have any stories about it?

Logan: It's called the Luminous Crystal.

Abilene: Of course.

Logan: It was the Shadow Crystal.

Abilene: And now we're getting into cliches.

Logan: -gesturing- There is a long, sad story about where it came from—I can tell it later, if you like—but the gist of it was that it corrupted the son of the CEO into power-madness, driving him to shackle a country's worth of unwilling Pokemon and the region's own resources toward reshaping the world in his own image, starting with the place he lived. And all the places around where he lived, for miles and miles and miles.

Abilene: Pfffff, you don't need any giant glowing crystal for that, they do that on their own.

Logan: Right?

Abilene: Are you sure this crystal wasn't a plea for innocence?

Logan: Before my time! I was not there.

But the fact that it could essentially Shadow every Pokemon in the region from there to the coast, all at once, lends a bit of credence to the claim.

Megan: ffffffffffff

Abilene: ...eh.

Logan: -getting into it- Leading up to the tower's activation, he took his oil and funded Team Dim Sun to...

...something.

Hiro: ...something?

Logan: -playing with a switch on their Styler, closing their eyes- It's been awhile, and I wasn't there. Test with...smaller units? I think? Gather resources? Uh, infiltrated the School, set a forest fire...

-fist into palm- They fought us, I know.

Abilene: Wait, fought? Rangers?

Logan: -chuckle- If I had a nickel for every time someone heard "The Ranger Regions don't have Trainers" and thought we'd be ripe for the picking, I'd own Altru Inc.. You'd think those awful tv serials would deter people, and yet…

Abilene: ...but you don't have Trainers.

Logan: -frown- If I had a penny for every time someone thought we'd be pushovers for it, I'd own it twice.

-emphatically- We still have a Vow, it just doesn't really look like yours. Or work like yours, or sound the same.

Megan: Does it come from the same place?

Logan: That's a long and complicated story I also actually don't remember right now, ask me later!

Uh, anyways, it's led to a lot of awful people setting up shop there. Neo-Galactic, remake the world in their image, Illusion, remake the world in their image, Cipher—

Megan: -starting forward- Wait wait there's a neo-Galactic?!

Logan: There was. Thank the J-Team, actually, they did. Something.

-rubbing the back of their neck- And turned the leader over to us.

He's dead now, survived by his son. Last I heard.

Megan: -still seething, but aimlessly- Well...good.

Hiro: ...hah, there's actually a group back in Unova that thought Pokémon would be better off without Trainers.

Logan: -blink- Oh?

Edited by Asterisk395 on Jan 31st 2020 at 4:32:47 AM

Motostoke

Mia: <Hi Rockstar.>

Jackie: Y-yes...

Rosetta: <I am one of her Pokemon.>

Dave: I don't have any Pokemon. Mia's more of a friend.

Evelyn's Camp

Me: Next comes Depression...

Piku-chan: <Huh? But isn't Bargaining the next stage of grief?>

Me: Honestly, Piku-chan... What price would you have to pay to get someone you lost back? What's the equivalent of a human (or Pokémon) soul?

-Piku-chan's ears begin to droop...-

Piku-chan: <Oh...>

Evelyn's Camp

Kim: "I'm still in shock..."

Evelyn's Camp

Me: Yeah... I mean... It's hard to face the fact that someone you have idolized is gone... and... I'm sure not even Evelyn would've seen THAT reaction coming...

-Beat-

Evelyn: He's right. I didn't.

Ivan: "Delta what? Look, I'm not the one at fault. One more move and those Sandslashes would have gone down. Blame him."

-Ivan points at Tanten, who is eating berries off the ground.-

Tanten, dismissively: "My paralegal says there's a law in Galar which states that collateral damage due to an act of vengeance is not admissible in court."

Langston: <It's the law, Losken.>

-Tanten looks at Langston.-

Tanten: "How did a Crobat get a master's in law from [Birmingham]?"

Langston: <I paid my tuition just like everyone else.>

Evelyn's Camp

Orwell: <...are you plusshocked by the profspeak or...?>

Evelyn's Camp

Evelyn: Ian?

Me: I think both were equally shocking... and I hope Geddy doesn't get himself hurt...

Evelyn's Camp

Kim: "Why do you think Geddy's going to get himself hurt?"

Evelyn's Camp

Me: We have no idea where he's going, and this Wild Area is really big! He could run into really strong Pokémon... like Tyranitar, Steelix... or possibly...

Evelyn: Dusknoir...