PMD-B-Trains

/Duck/: >Well hopefully this hard drive deals with radiation well. Does radiation cause gausing issues? I'll check when we have wifi again.

[Unmentioned Social Media Platform]

Priscilla's Suite

Priscilla: Right on, let's go.

A fireman's pole emerges from one of the sides of their building.

Priscilla: I mean we could take the secret stairs but I just think this is more fun. It's amazing what people can just order and pay for, no questions asked. Murphy's managed to trawl something anomalous based on the signals we caught the last time we engaged. Funny activity some distance from an industrial storage area somewhere near the Channel Tunnel.

Earlier, some distance away from the Channel Tunnel's exit

Henchman 1: Geez, the boss was right. You really do get into character. Really would come in handy when we encounter the gendarme.

Henchman A: Um uh. Cosplay is what we use to call the fiercest of our warriors. Yeah. Like the only people we need to fear are those in costumes more frightening than ours. Why else was Leon champion? That cape strikes fear in the hearts of lesser men... and some women and maybe a non-binary folk or two. Did you see the pained look on that guard's face. That was him fidgeting. In fear.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Mar 24th 2020 at 2:32:04 AM

Vee: -wheeze-cackle- <and find that I'm lOST IN THE WOODS~>

Pippy: -affectionately- <Ever, Ever, Ever. You know Vee's unnecessarily combative as a primary means of communication.>

Vee: -pretending to dig her claws in- <Not my only means of communication!>

-she beams a squishy beam at her son- ^w

-Fraidy, for her part, sits back and enjoys being surrounded by warmth- c:

Pippy: -singsong- <Oracle's got a point, though.>

Vee: <Meeeheheheheh. Yeahhh.>

Megan: Oooooooh. Withdrawing from losing fights is. Sensible.

-Abilene, yep-

Pippy: -nodnod- <Yes.>

Megan: -nods- Extremely.

Vee: <Abilene knows how to party.> ~w

Megan: Of the ways there are to go, her Torterra meeting my sister's Torterra sure sounds like one of them.

Pippy: <aaaaaaaa>

-blink, think- <Wait she has a Pokédex as well...>

Vee: <...wait, we can do the giant thing, too?>

-her eye glitters with near-unbridled glee-

Pollen: -grumble- <...'m not cute. I'm dangerous, like a knife.>

-and she definitely isn't leaning into the pets, sure-

Pippy: -munch- <Variety is the spice of life.>

Vee: <Tha's what Vee stands for.> ,3

Milo: -pointing a finger- Come on, then! Its Dynamax time—you're about to be uprooted!

-the bright smile on his face remains as the Ultra Ball in his hand expands to larger than his head, iridescent-

-he beams, gives it a companionable pat about the latitudinal shine—and hurls it into the distance behind him to the frenzied chants of the crowd-

Hiro: !

-it fles much, much farther than it should—opening as a speck in the background-

-but when it opens, his Eldegoss becomes visible-

-increasingly visible-

-beneath a suddenly darkened sky, the Eldegoss's bright silhouette bursts into a newly titanic form, stretching to the highest stands—nearly to the artificial sun where it rests-

-Dynamax-

Hiro: ...that is incredibly intimidating. From this side of the field.

Milo: -hands on hips, proudly- It's the regional specialty for a reason! "Everything's bigger in Galar!"

Hiro: ...is that how the saying goes?

Milo: Yes! ^_^

Hiro: ...huh. You learn something new every day.

Milo: -pointing a hand- Max Overgrowth!

Hiro: —shit.

ELDEGOSS: -rearing back, gathering power- <Here it comes!>

Milo: -folded arms, grinning- This'll really leave you in shock and awe. It's our Dynamax move!

Hiro: -fascinated- Terrifying! Prote—

-and Chips is crushed beneath a seed larger than he is-

Hiro: —ct.

-then two, then three-

Hiro: Hm.

-and then those seeds explode into a forest-

-glowing green, and fathoms deep-

-with long strands of cotton scattered everywhere-

Hiro:

-promptly, recalling- Well! Tank down, back to speed.

Milo: -beaming- You'll have to Dynamax if you want to beat us, challenger.

Hiro: -raising a finger- I want to test that.

Milo: You've made it this far, challenger—

Let me treat you to Galar's regional specialty!

-he passes through the same frankly adorable sequence of events stated previously, except what emerges is-

-a tiny, winged shape-

-condenses into an apple-

-which grows-

-and grows-

-and grows-

Sorbus: -cough- <Xerneas, what…>

Abilene: -wind whipping past- …

-until an apple large enough to feed the stadium for a month displaces several dozen tons of earth from the area immediately behind Milo-

Milo: -ta-da!-

Sorbus: -...squint- <...>

-and like an erupting volcano of vernal flavor, a dopey green dragon's head explodes from the roof of said apple, sending chunks of fruit and a spray of tart juice across half the field-

-the eyeflaps blink up and down several times to clear themselves of this, and a tail roughly the length and width of several inadvisably-employed train cars wyrms its way from the apple's base-

-it opens its maw, and some...kind of cry, echoes, throughout the stadium-

Abilene:

Describe that again, please?

Certainly.

Milo: -grin- Impressed?

Abilene: -inhale- ...well. Allow me a moment.

Milo: …

Sorbus: <...>

GIGANTAMAX FLAPPLE: <...>

Abilene: -pinching the bridge of her nose- ...

Abilene: -exhale- ...what—and pardon my Galarian—sincerely, the fuck.

Milo: -proudly- Right? ^_^

You'll have to Dynamax if you want to beat us, challenger—no matter how green your thumbs are!

Abilene: -gesturing out- That's up for debate. Sorbus!

Sorbus: -turtle battle roar-

Hrm, Natural Gift, Worry Seed, Earthquake—the former's expended, the second's niche, and the latter's infuriatingly inconsistent against anything that has or once had wings. Psh. Perhaps…

Abilene: -snap- Frenzy Plant!

That'll do.

-a viridian aura wells up from within Sorbus, swamping the surroundings in its light-

Abilene: Behold, the purported pinnacle of what "green thumbs" can grow. The peak I'll surpass to reach the stars.

-Sorbus roars, the earth ruptures—and thorny vines as thick as her tree trunk emerge from all sides-

GIGANTAMAX FLAPPLE: -as they're anchored to the earth and squeezed- <NOOOOOO!!>

Abilene: -arms wide- All the world rests in a tremendous tree, and I will trace to its root! Trim its boughs, if I must! Be swept aside! Mere size is no match for—

Milo: -point- G-Max Tartness!

-and Sorbus is buried under a mountain of apples-

um

-a mountain of mountains of apples-

-if every apple in that mountain of mountains of apples was, itself, a mountain of apples, and a single apple prevents a doctoral encounter per diem, by the time said mountain^mountain of apples was ate all the way through, roughly the health at the end of that time would begin to be felt by the one, right now, buried beneath far too many Malus sylvestris-

Sorbus: -feeble, muffled groan, vines twitching-

Abilene: ...for—

-and crushing done, said apples ferment instantly into vinegar-

Abilene: gah!

-the stadium's filled to the brim with a cloying tartness, washing away the scents of freshly mown grass and various concessions and several thousand people, packed elbow-to-elbow within a single building, experiencing intense emotion for several minutes-

-the regulars hold handkerchiefs over noses, leaving newcomers to wheeze into sleeves and plead their accompanying Pokemon to set fire to their nostrils, or something-

-something like that-

Milo: Your move, challenger! ^_^

Abilene: . . .

Edited by Asterisk395 on Mar 22nd 2020 at 1:28:12 PM

[Unmentioned Platform]

Turffield, Spectator Zone

Ever: Reach heaven through violence, Vee.

Arc: <^v^>

-Apple-

-...-

Ever: What the fuuuuuck....

Oracle: <You've never seen an Applin?>

Ever: Nor do I imagine I want to.

Oracle: <You're missing out.>

Ever: Just gonna repress that... Okay, here we go into the endgame. Hiro's at a tremendous disadvantage, Abilene not so much. Let's see what everyone comes up with. ...Megan, you have a sister? Wait, did I know that?

PEFE!Every: Knives can be very cute, Pollen.

Edited by Umbramatic on Mar 23rd 2020 at 4:53:13 AM

Motostoke Staduium

Coil: Great! We were wondering if the J-Team could help us look into Macro Cosmos.

Iris: ...And maybe also find us a place to stay.

Spikemuth Bar

-Siegbert is sparkly-eyed. Storm just sighs-

Obstagoon: <We're just trying to keep our Trainers in line.>

Shiny Grimmsnarl: <He can't build a castle now! We've got a mission! Though, it sounds fun...>

Motostoke

Man: Oh, uh, hello.

Woman: We're just looking for someone.

Haunter:' ...

Turffeild, probably the past right now

-Loud noises come from Turffeild Stadium as Jared and Julius wait for Neon to finish his battle-

-A Rookidee flies up to Julius.-

Rookidee: <Hey, are you the guy with the giant Houndoom?>

Julius: Uh, yeah, I guess I was.

Rookidee: <I like to watch the battles from the lip of the stadium. Yours was great! And you had some cool Pokemon I'd never seen before!>

Julius: Heh, thanks.

Rookidee: <Uh... Hey, can I join you for your Gym challenge? It'd beat eating leftover seeds from the crops around here.>

Julius: Oh, sure!

Rookidee: <...Wait, really? I wasn't expecting you to say yes! Oh this is great! Do you have a human name for me? I want a human name!>

Julius: Uh... Aatrox?

Rookidee: <That works>

-Julius taps a ball on the Rookidee's head-

Motostoke

"Oh, so are we. We kinda know where we can meet them, granted, but still.

Motostoke Arena

Julius felt the Shell Bell under his fur giving him the stamina he needed to meet an Arcanine's Extreme Speed with Protect, smirking lightly before he got Flare Blitz'd into unconsciousness.

The sun still beating down on them, Colton sent out one 'mon he knew would be able to outspeed Arcanine.

The Galvantula landed and a blinding yellow light struck from above.

Motostoke Stadium

Channah: -distracted by the fight- Come on... Uh what? Macro what? I dunno what that is, you'd have to ask Tagg. About the other thing, too.

Pris's Suite

"Then let's not delay."

He grabs the pole and slides down into the waiting mobile.

Channel Tunnel

Domino nodded.

"I see. You people have an odd culture. We hunters only drape ourselves in the hides of other animals so we may inherit their toughness."

Priscilla's Superhero Lair

Below the poles is a souped up armored supercar.

Priscilla: Meet the Centennial Seviper. I have a few supercars here and there but this one's a personal favorite. That and my civilian Ferrari.

It's really comfy inside.

Warehouse

The truck containing the valuables parks near a nondescript warehouse at an industrial area in the outskirts of Laverre City. They park, where a group of other grunts waits in the wing. They are armed with guns and have houndooms and salamences on their side.

Henchman A: Okay, this is gonna be tough. We'll be transferring most of this stuff over to these folk. Lemme talk to them. There's a guy you can talk to as well, so stick close to him.

He hands Domino a phrasebook in Kalosian and proceeds to talk to the others. The drone, which had been following them around this whole time, flies in.

Voice of Sphinx: Excellent work so far. Not a single thing out of place. Make sure it stays that way. Ma'at will be open to assist you in the event of an untoward incident.

Not far off, a strange car rolls in.

Priscilla: Okay, regular thugs, we can take on individually, but this'll be more of a tag team match. This new guy's no slouch, but we've got experience and home turf advantage on our side.

Warehouse

Stranger eyed the thugs. He pointed out the Former Hunter Admin.

"There's the admin there. I wonder how he came to be a part of these goons."

Domino, meanwhile was mulling over his Kalosian phrase book.

"...esque je pu alas ah toilet ci voo plez?"

Warehouse

The other henchpeople look on with awe at their new supervisor.

Henchman A: God, these bloody froakies are dense.

Henchman Un, in Kalosian: <I fart in your general direction, you Growlithe-Piloswine.>

Henchman 2, in Galarian: Welcome to Kalos, Monsieur Domino. We trust that we are in safe hands.

Meanwhile.

Taipan: Shall we proceed?

Edited by MasterJayAM on Mar 23rd 2020 at 9:14:37 PM

Warehouse

Stranger's eyes lit red as he cocked his grenade launcher.

With the henchmen...

"Not to worry. These hands once strangled a Gendrome when I was 7. Anything that passes through these hands immediately dies.

Stranger exited the car and started moving towards the grunts.

Spikemuth Pub

"Castles seem a little impractical this day in age."

C: "Yes but the aesthetic value."

"You paint your fingernails with Sharpie. Your opinions are moot. Anyways, you wouldn't have to build a new castle. You could probably acquire one of the old castles in this region. I'm sure any historical society will look the other way once they see your biceps."

Edited by PhilosopherStones on Mar 23rd 2020 at 6:21:57 AM

Warehouse

Henchman Un: Fascinating.

Henchman B: Is that smoke? You two. Protect the cargo.

Two henchfolk went ahead and took two houndooms with them.

Henchman 1: Things are about to get very interesting. But I wouldn't worry too much.

Taipan, meanwhile, went ahead and followed the grunts in secret to where they're keeping the valuables.

Galar Route 2

(The Rookiedee uncovers his ears- or lack thereof- and stares down at Geddy in shock.)

Rookiedee: <That was... simply amazing...>

(Geddy blushes.)

Geddy: <O-oh... thank you.>

Rookiedee: (jumps down from the tree and bows) <You are very much welcome... Geddy, was it?>

Geddy: <Yes, as in [Lee].>

Rookiedee: <Ah. Geddy Lee. I've heard of him. Lead singer of [Rush].>

(He hops over to Kim.)

Rookiedee: <So... who might you be?>

Kim: "Kimberly Bond, lingual consultant."

Warehouse

Domino sniffed the air.

Domino: "Get down."

He knocked an arrow as Stranger fired a pair of smoke grenades into the gathering of Grunts.

Stranger's display switched over to infrared so he could see the grunts in the smoke.

Stranger: "Shooting fish in a barrel."

Galar Route 2

Me: I'm Ian, Miyako's trainer.

-Ian pets Piku-chan on the head-

...and this little guy is my buddy, Piku-chan.

Evelyn: And I'm Evelyn, Psychic-type Gym Leader-in-training.

Hatty: <And I'm Hatty, her buddy.>

Warehouse

From the smoke, the grunts could hear gunfire and the whimpering sounds of houndooms getting high horsepowered. Meanwhile, the grunts struggled to navigate the smoke. The ones who could see think they're seeing the outline of an Old West Outlaw.

A pair of houndooms fly overhead, landing squarely on Domino's feet. They appear to have been beaten thoroughly. They are covered in horseshoe-shaped bruises. Gunshots can be heard over the music.

Henchman A: Ach. Unbelievable. Wait, you can hear that cowboy music? And just two people?

Henchman B: How was I supposed to know this would happen?

Henchman A: Good God, you froakies really are dense. Get back up in the hold on the double.

Henchman B: It is well that Sphinx's agent is here. I do not tolerate such slights to my methods, Galarian. We don't appreciate your shittalk, but I suppose that's all your helltongue affords you to say.

Henchman A: Fine, just... go through with it.

The Kalosian henchman alerted his compatriots not in the gathering to the cargo hold. The sounds of running out of ammo can be heard at the distance.

Henchman A: I trust you can salvage the situation and take care of this Desperado for us, sir?

Meanwhile, Taipan, flanked by a gogoat, infernape, dragonite, and incineroar in glistening armor, look on nonchalantly at the whimpering guards. She is riding an equally armored Mudsdale. She and her steed clopped forward. The gogoat's vine whips have held the two grunts in place. The incineroar then grabbed them by the neck and threw them against the wall.

The other pokémon remain poised, looking for other grunts that might arrive soon.

Taipan: Bullets. On reinforced metal armor. That's cute.

Reinforcements arrive.

Henchman 1: Bollocks, not again. You know what, screw this. Get the thing. Salamence, flamethrower.

Taipan: Jackie, aquajet.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Mar 23rd 2020 at 10:16:36 PM

Motostoke

-The woman grins-

Woman: Let's make a deal then. We help you find who you're looking for, and vice-versa.

-The man nods, and the Haunter... bobs in a fashion resembling a nod-

Motostoke Stadium

Iris: And Tagg is...?

Warehouse

Stranger blinded a pair of grunts with his strobe attachment, then had Miz dispatch them. He circled around the perimeter of the smoke, trying to locate any others.

Domino, meanwhile tracked a target in his mind, using the Houndoom that had been dumped at his feet and the noise to estimate where Taipan was to.

Domino: "There."

He loosed and fire arrow in Taipan's general direction. He then palmed the ball containing the Drapion.

Motostoke

"Sounds fair - what does the person you're looking for look like?" The younger one asked, nervously fixing his headband as he asked.

Motostoke Arena

As 9-Volt fell to a Flare Blitz and both Pokemon collapsed, Colton shook his head before sending out Koyasa, the Delphox already a little eager to get to work.

A Sludge Bomb struck him across the face, but a Psyshock retaliated in spades.

Warehouse

The drone containing Ma'at arrived, clearing the air somewhat around Domino and the grunts.

Not that it helped the grunts affected by Stranger's strobes. They let out invectives in their respective languages.

The arrow lands squarely on Taipan's feet. It was burning. She was startled by the development.

Henchman 1: Okay, so our new boss is a little on the traditional side. Just goes to show that you don't need technological superiority to get the job done.

Henchgal: Monsieur, the, err, petrifying gun. I have the instructions right here.

She takes out a little booklet in Kalosian.

Henchman 1: We don't need no bloomin' instructions.

The Galarian grunt tosses the instructions into the fire, grabs the petrifying device and fires... missing all of Taipan's Pokémon and Taipan herself and freezes another grunt and a salamence that had arrived specifically to help them.

Taipan: I know he can't hit for shit, but don't let it hit you.

The group disperses. Meanwhile, the fire begins to spread.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Mar 23rd 2020 at 10:36:31 PM

Warehouse

Stranger had Domino's heat signature trained on as he moved into the center of the room.

This guy...

He directed Miz to Night Slash...

Domino dropped the ball containing Dwayne behind him.

Domino: "Intercept it!"

The Drapion matched Miz's Night Slash with one of this one.

<Can you smell?!>

Miz: <I'm a Skuntank, can you smell is the real question.>

Domino spun and knocked another arrow.

Domino: "Decided to show yourself, eh?"

Arthur had begun to seriously ponder, "I doubt I could, a lot of those old castles are historic relics, plus Victor insists I have to, "Give it a personal touch" whatever that means... Crap now I'm seriously considering this."

<It'd be a statistical advantage, I have several islands with similar distortion phenomena to PEFE Island to build on, a base of operations since we're likely to be doing this for a long time.>

"What are you ageless?" Arthur commented.

<That information is classified, but I can say for certain that Vega and I will live a long time, I am a specter inhabiting a heavy clay shell, and Vega so long as his drivers remain updated could be around for a very long time,> Hayden responded.

Arthur just stared, "If I do get the castle... I'd have to hold a housewarming party."

Victor laughed, "Everyone needs someone to keep them in line, Alucard does his best."

<You really don't belong in this world, acting like a normal man,> Alucard commented.

"What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets," Victor said with a wry smile.

<One of his better qualities is that he's easy to get under control,> Trevor noted.