Zee: . . .Skye, we need cookies.

-"Skye, who had been stuck under the unconscious Hatterene, crawls out and looks at her friend with annoyance."-

Skye: No, I'm fine Alex, just nearly got stabbed.

Zee: Doesn't Sinbad know bite? I feel like this situation could have been avoided if he used bite.

Skye: W-well, he's sleeping and I. . . -She nervously starts to fidget, having finally realized how many people were around. Shaking nervously, the bespectacled blonde reached into her bag and pulled out a fun little party bag full of chocolate chip cookies wrapped with a pretty yellow bow- I-I hope th-these are okay.

The Wild Area

Krabby: (lights up instantly) <Yay! Thank you!> (he takes the bag of cookies) <So, you call these "cookies"?>

(Meanwhile, Freddie and Orwell come out of their hiding places and look at each other.)

Freddie: <He... he saved us...>

Orwell: <The watercrabpoke has paused the thinkluvwitchpoke~! Yay~!> (beat) <But... what are the plusstrange words he used? I unbellyfeel them...>

Kim: (recognizing it) "Nadsat."

Freddie: <Nad— what?>

Kim: "Nadsat. Slang used in [A Clockwork Orange] that is derived from English and Russian words. I can barely wait to see how he's going to react to Orwell's use of Newspeak."

(beat)

Kim: "Also, of course a Krabby would like cookies."

Drannith Watchtower

-Coppercoat B is about to launch into some likely rather dry exposition about how while there's always been a giant monster problem on Ikoria, it was much easier to defend the city until like five to ten years ago when Pokemon started gaining new types or changing into different species or growing huge at a moment's notice rather than gradually... But then Ozzy enters the tower through a window and Kim just starts talking to him as though it's no big deal that Kim can just understand what a Pokemon is saying-

Coppercoat B: What... What did I just say?

-Gale rolls her eyes and starts writing something down on a piece of paper-

~Clatter~

-The mess cups of tea fall to the floor at the Watchtower Guard drops them and draws his sword-

Watchtower Guard: You're a...

Coppercoat B: Oh come on, that bird helped with the defense. Be cool man!

-The Watchtower Guard shakes his head and with the hand that isn't holding up his sword he taps the green crystal on his opposite shoulder-

Watchtower Guard: We have a Bonder in Tower North, we need backup.

-Gale and the Coppercoat sigh in frustration as the crystal pulses faintly in recognition of the communication sent through it. Without another word Gale stands up, hands the piece of paper to Des and with no further explanation shrouds herself in a black fog and vanishes-

Coppercoat B: Egh, I am so going to lose my place on the Specials over this...

-Alright, so the situation is thus: You've got one guy with a sword who looks like he's about to start a fight. The other guy is indecisive about who to help. There's possibly backup enroute and the third member of your party has vanished after giving Des a note. What's the play hotshots?-

Ikoria Watchtower

(Ozzy blinks in shock, then:)

Ozzy: <Okay... could somebody explain to me what is wrong with all of these people?>

(Kim, meanwhile, pauses— then instantly has an idea as to what to do. In a matter of seconds, she rummages through her bag, and eventually pulls out a choker, which she puts around Ozzy's neck. Ozzy looks down at it and tilts his head in confusion.)

Ozzy: <Kimberly... what is this?>

(Kim smirks.)

Kim: "Tap the center three times and you'll see."

(Ozzy pauses, then shrugs, then, using his wing, taps the center of the choker three times. In an instant, he finds himself surrounded by a bright light. Upon seeing it, he gasps in shock.)

Ozzy: <W-what... what in the name of Arceus is this?!>

(Kim smirks even more. The light grows brighter and brighter still, and eventually, Ozzy's body is swallowed whole, before an explosion of light suddenly blinds the room as his body is torn into a million pieces, reshaping themselves into a human form in the span of a single second. The light eventually fades out, and standing there where Ozzy once was is a male human, looking to be in his mid-twenties, with black glasses, and a dark blue combover. You'd expect him to be wearing a business suit and tie— but he is instead wearing a suit that very much resembles a member of medieval high upper-class society. He groans and sits up, unaware of what has happened to him.)

Ozzy: "Urrrgh... what just happen-"

(He suddenly notices his hands and his clothes— and is completely flabbergasted. Completely unused to the idea of humanity, he frantically feels his body, and once he has determined that he is, in fact, human, he looks up at his Trainer with a look of utter disbelief.)

Ozzy: "Wha— how— I'm—"

(Kim nods, then, motioning to the now-human Ozzy:)

Kim: "My apologies. I would like to present to you all Johnathan Sabbath."

Ozzy: (to himself) Johnathon Sabbath...?

Skye, having no idea what's being said: Um. . . What's going on?

Zee: The destruction of language barriers and the growing bond between people who have just met.

Skye: I- what?

The Wild Area, Post-Ikoria

Kim: "You'll have to forgive them both." (motions to the Krabby) "He speaks Nadsat—" (then, to Orwell) "—and he speaks Newspeak."

(At those words, Orwell happily runs over to both of them.)

Orwell: (delighted) <Hello, trainprole comrades! My primename is Orwell, I am a waterlobsterpoke, and I speak fullwise in Newspeak! This is my trainprole, Kimbond!>

(The Krabby blinks.)

Krabby: <"Kimbond...?">

(Kim raises her hand.)

Kim: "That's short for Kimberly Bond. Lingual consultant, at your service."

Krabby: (excitedly) <Oh! Hello, Kim!>

Hulbury

Me: So, what shall we do, Evelyn?

Evelyn: I dunno... come up with song ideas for the Battle of the Bands?

Me: It's been a while since anything about that came up...

Evelyn: That's true... Maybe we could prepare for our Gym Challenge?

Me: Can't. People might think I'm a wanted criminal.

Evelyn: Oh, that's right. Maybe we could set out to clear your name?

Me: Wait, What?!

Evelyn: You heard me! We can't just wait around for a miracle to happen and absolve you of guilt! It's up to us to set right what is currently wrong!

Me: Right! But how? The Pokémon Hunters are a dangerous group! They outnumber us at least 100 to 1!

Evelyn: We were also outnumbered when we took to the North Pole to fight those crazy time cops when they came to arrest Father Christmas and we won against them! We helped save Christmas!

Me: You're right! We've done it before and we'll do it again!

Evelyn: Alright! Now it's time for us to go out into the world, find the Pokémon Hunters, and clear your name, Ian! Let's go!

Me: Yeah!

-Ian follows Evelyn out of Hulbury in search of the Pokémon Hunters.-

Me: WAIT!

-Evelyn stops in her tracks.-

Evelyn: What's wrong, Ian?

Me: We don't actually know who's been watching the news, so we can't know for certain who would think I'm a wanted criminal...

Evelyn: Right... Though we know what's wrong, we don't know enough to actually clear your name...

Stormchaser

"Aaand the big two-five passed uneventfully," the Unovan sighed, working on a second pizza. "Well, relatively. But I guess I was just expecting more than sharing a burden."

"You've done a little more than share the burden - you actively seek it out for us," Kamui refuted. "Don't think we're not grateful, but you've gotta stop martyring yourself for recognition."

"How else was I going to get more recognition from the boss? From my parents?" Colton demanded, washing down his tenth slice today with some lemon-lime.

"Be yourself?"

"But am I likable? I mean, you saw how I handled Kim wanting to wish me a happy birthday."

"To be fair, she went in pretty hard."

"And I cast her aside like I would a branch in the forest. Not that I was wrong to as she eventually agreed but the point still stands. If people don't like me, are they right to?"

"If people don't like pineapple on pizza, are they right to?"

"It's their taste."

"Exactly."

"... thanks, Kamui."

There was a simple sign outside the Unovan's door.

Sami takes the book in her claws.

Sami: <For me? Why thank you so much! I shall have Fuka start reading it for me as soon as she's able.>

Zoomer: <I can feel the heat coming off of that...>

Suzie: I know! Isn't it great? I can't wait to try it. —- Moka the Monferno and Dart the Nuzleaf, having finished their meal, are sitting at Will's feet, leaning against each other. They watch as Puri is clearly enjoying herself singing with the other Pokemon.

Moka: <That's so lovely.>

Dart turns to Will.

Dart: <Why doesn't the Boss Lady do that more often, Boss Man? She really seems to be enjoying herself.>

Will: Because most of the it'd only her singing or leading. If Puri doesn't have someone to harmonize with and follow she ends up singing her sleeping song.

Fuka: Since "please" is a bit beyond you just now, we'll do something different. Stay right there until I say to move, and you can have the Poke Puff.

Elanor: <Do you think this will work?>

Gyari: <I think so. At this point I think it's more about getting something he's been being denied as much as actually wanting the Poke Puff itself. Our girl knows what she's doing.>

Tizzy is sitting stock still. Or trying to, at least. His impatience and hyperactive nature are causing him to literally vibrate in place. Fuka watches carefully, mentally timing three minutes. Once she does she nods.

Fuka: Okay it's you-

Before Fuka can finish speaking Meowth snatches the Poke Puff from Fuka's hand and practically inhales it. He then falls back with a look of contentment on his face.

Fuka: -rs. You are a fast little dickens, aren't ya. Good boy, Tizzy!

Fuka reaches over and scratches Tizzy between his ear and coin. Purring is added to his content.

'''Fuka: Ohh, that's so precious!

Delta grinned as he leaned against the codex, the sands whipping past, Rodan at his side, Mazinger holding onto the ancient repository of knowledge. It was very heavy but oh so worth the trouble, the job was almost done... Delta took in a deep inhale and let out a laugh, all that was left was the Client.

Out of the sands marched Jackal, his Lucario by his side, as well as a Cacturne and a Typhlosion, they seemed ready for a fight.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeey Jackal," Delta responded, "I got what you wanted."

Jackal said nothing, tilted his head and a ping was heard in Delta's helmet, the last of the payment just got sent through. Delta let out a sigh, "Oh you want it that way huh? Well, alright."

Jackal and his team started to drag the Codex off, Delta shook his head and shrug, "You know, you probably could've saved a lot of trouble had you been a little looser with your words."

Jackal looked up, "Excuse me?" he finally said.

"That thing went tumbling over the side of a skyscraper, the resulting impact would've utterly shattered it to pieces. All the kings horses and all the kings men would've never been able to put that together again," Delta continued, almost sing songing the last words.

Jackal stared, a pit forming in his stomach as Delta continued. "If you had told me to just get this thing out of the hands of Pokefutures, not to recover it, I would've considered its destruction an acceptable loss and would've let it smash. See I'm a professional, I agree that it needed to be taken away from those psychos, and you told me to recover it for you. You paid me, contract was in, and I do my job."

Jackal felt slightly sick, knowing this now.

"If you had in any way implied that it was an acceptable loss, well then nobody would ever have it and we'd all be safer for it. Have fun with that," Delta said before climbing into his drop ship, flying off into the sand storm.

Jackal stood there, Hayon spoke up, ~We did what we had to. At least this thing doesn't belong to them anymore.~

Jackal nodded, "Obelisk, contact Taipain, we got something for her."

Yet another criminal warehouse, Saffron City

Taipan and her team had just cleared yet another Yakuza stronghold and disrupted a major node for assorted smuggled contraband, mostly of the military grade stuff. A few of the assets were burning, though that was mainly because of the dramatic entry. Her armored allies stand vigilant guard at the incapacitated henchpeople. The middle managers of the operation were subjected to suitcase wedgies care of an Incineroar dressed like a [Bruce Lee] character.

Thanks to a combination of days of research and surreptitious emails, she had the insurance coverage of this building cancelled. The kingpin who owned this building was not going to get a cent from all that destruction. The Saffron City Police has been sent to investigate; more than enough evidence exists to help her allies with their investigations against three of Sphinx's downlines. They were also given a distress call so that they and their subordinates would come instead of those guys on Sphinx's payroll.

A call to daddy also means that the new inmates would meet a representative from the Kwan Adult Education Center.

They really shouldn't pick these large, conspicuous warehouses.

Taipan: Consider this a citizen's arrest.

Wedgied Yakuza Fella: I don't take orders from a woman.

Taipan backhands the gangster.

Taipan: But you got beaten by one all the same. Jokes on you.

Murphy: Message from Jackal. Sounds serious.

Taipan: I'll be the judge of that. Put in on.

She viewed her message.

Taipan: This is serious.

She types a message.

She also notices something about the wedgied yakuza.

Taipan: Kato. Atomic wedgie.

The big cat complied. What followed was the blood-curdling scream of agony of hardened criminals. ew.

Zee: Hey, so hate to ruin the bonding time but what do we do with stabby hatty?

-"He gestures to the unconscious Hatterene."-

Oblivion Wing, somewhere over Saffron City

Taipan: Alright Jackal. Lay it on me. First, don't ask me how I know you did this. It's easy to figure out. I'm just glad that you did a good job at keeping it a secret from anybody else. Take your pick at our range of high security vaults. For the purpose of disclosure, Murphy has also listed down the number of times each location has been broken into and by who.

Several locations are listed down, many of them based in the various offices. Many of them have peculiar breaches.

Taipan: One of the challenges in storing these things from Pokefutures is the fact that literally all of PEFE's assets used to be theirs. They will know a few people who know their way around any of our most obvious hiding places. Our newer facilities in Alto Mare have been breached, but only medium-security containment has ever actually been raided. It's also the only one I know that was completely remodeled long after we took ownership of it. The supermax vaults are actually underwater. And since the April incident, we've tripled the protections there.

Murphy: At a steep cost, too. Though another advantage here is that we've confirmed that none of the researchers would ever be interested in toying with it since we brought up the possibility of it being recovered after the theft.

Taipan: We assumed that the Aurabolts would do a heist at some bad guy auction for arms dealers for it, though.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Jul 23rd 2020 at 2:46:56 AM

Jackal took off the mask and stepped over to the Codex, covered under heavy tarps, "I will admit I'm not proud of what I did. This is going to be a serious discussion with the team later, but I'll be damned if it wasn't a right call to make."

Roxy was looking over the locations, "The Alto-Mare location sounds good, if something goes wrong you can flood the location and bury it beneath the waves and sand once more."

Silas nodded, "So Pris if PEFE was to learn of what we did to get this, how much trouble would you be in?"

Kalos Badlands

Salem: You know, Marion... There's this feeling of dread that I can't shake...

Marion: <Funny how you speak of dread when I laid a curse on some Pokefutures schmucks.>

Salem: I'm serious, Marion. I can't shake the feeling that we ended up screwing someone over...

Marion: <Oh, please. You're a Pokémon Hunter. It's your job to catch Pokémon, sell them on the Black Market, steal things and screw people over.>

Salem: Not in that sense, Marion. I mean, whoever I disguised myself as must be having a hard time wherever they are, as I bet anyone watching the news would think it was them who helped in the heist and not me.

Marion: <And that should affect you... how?>

-Beat-

Salem: You're right, Marion. It shouldn't have any affect on me.

-Salem pulls his trenchcoat over his clothes.-

Salem: I gotta get going...

-Salem proceeds to traverse the badlands, hoping to find his way back to base. Or at least, a hotel.-

Edited by AnimeboyIanpower on Jul 14th 2020 at 6:54:37 AM

Drannith Watchtower

Des looked down at the paper then to the sword held by the guard. He activated his aura sense to be able to predict the guard's moves. Sighing he pocketed the note and took a step forward.

"You have one second to recall your guys and tell them it was a false alarm. Tell them you saw something strange and panicked. Tell them the conflict has made you wary. Tell then because this sword of yours won't lay a scratch on me, so you're better off giving up now."

Wing, Cargo Bay

Taipan: From what little I've heard from the news, there were sneaking suspicions that the Forward Fronts group had been a Pokefutures front. Obviously, their frazzled corporate representative has been on a denying spree and called it black propaganda. They're really playing the victim card here. It's silly. I know Looker well enough. He and his colleagues won't buy it.

Murphy: As far as we're concerned, if it's recovered from Pokefutures, it belongs to PEFE. The contents can be placed on a need-to-know basis and shoved in high security.

Taipan: I was thinking more of putting a decoy in high security protocols, then shoving it in some old safety deposit box that no one pays attention to in the same level but have all other secure protocols placed in. If you really wanted it gone, that's the way to do it. And yes, we have provisions on sinking valuables too important to be stolen.

Murphy: Plus, by my estimates, the investigations on Forward Fronts would be done by the time we've informed the higher ups of the nature of the cargo.

Taipan: And finally, as far as Priscilla is concerned, she received it from the Aurabolts, who are known for their conflict with Pokefutures and the Hunter's Guild. That we stole from thieves who stole from Pokémon abusers would be of no consequence to PEFE. Of course, none of that would matter as long as they don't know of it, but at least I have my ass covered if they did.

"Sounds like you're covered pretty well," Roxy noted.

"I'm betting the Guild has some sort of plant in Interpol, that keeps them appraised of certain details," Silas noted.

"As for the plan, sounds good... thing is... We almost lost it entirely. Delta said that if I had been a little looser in my contract, then he would've let it smash and nobody would ever get their hands on it again. I ran the math and as durable as this thing is, a fall from 830 meters in the sky with its density and composition would've rendered it... gone."

He scratched his head a bit, "Am I a bad person for being happy that it didn't smash in a way? Delta's not wrong that it smashing would prevent any further trouble with it. No more Codex, no more hunting for it."

Wing, Cargo Bay

Taipan: I'm not quite sure. If it were down to that, then yeah, better that nobody have that thing. You have any idea what people are gonna come up with if they had legendary DNA? We already know they've made the Scytherpeople. You have any idea how bad it'd be if they started hybridizing legendaries with random species? We could get Pikachu-Zapdos running around. Or if Braun was extra bonkers, fuse human and legendary and it turned out to be a renegade glitch. What a mess that would be.

Geo Soc offices, Castelia City

Upton sneezed.

Wing, Cargo Bay

Taipan: Don't ask me how I know that. It's complicated. But yeah, having that thing around just in case would make sense. We'll never know when we'll need to resurrect the gods or whatever insane-in-the-membrane doomsday villain team decides to do next.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Jul 14th 2020 at 8:45:56 PM

PEFE HQ

Muddy: <...Sitting around here has been pretty boring.>

Helios: -Eating some honey- <Basically nothing's happened since we fought the Fanatic, except for Surtr finally dying. Can't believe Tagg didn't bring us back for that.>

Muddy: <Hard to believe that next year will mark ten years since all this stuff happened.>

Helios: -Throwing the new empty honeypot away- <Well it's been 8 years since we went to the post-apocalyptic universe, fought the Unity, dealt with that evil Emperor who body swapped with Tracer and prevented another war, and saved the multiverse from that Guzzlord.>

Muddy: -Sighing- <Ugh, that feels like a lifetime ago at this point.>

Helios: <What if... we went again? We never did see what Alola looks like in that universe when we went back in 2017 Or I guess 2617, and just a glimpse of Kalos before we got chased off by those Fairy-types.>

Muddy: <I don't know, maybe we will one of these days. If Xatu actually deigns to show up.>

Helios: <He's everywhere, even when we're in other universes and Tagg didn't bring his Ball, maybe the Shards did something to him like with Grace. I know Tagg has to suspect something, but I guess he probably thinks it ultimately doesn't matter.>

Muddy: <He always does show up when we need him.>

Drannith Watchtower

Coppercoat B: What the..? How did you..?

Watchtower Guard: You turned your... I'm sorry but why is your bird now a human and how does that change anything?

-And then Des stepped forward to give a threat-

Watchtower Guard: Listen I don't care how rough you look you're just one guy and you don't even have a weapon.

Coppercoat B: Back down dude, we're outnumbered. If what she said back in the tunnels is true she's got another nine Pokemon she can call up from somewhere.

-The guard pales a little and stumbles back but continues holding his sword ready-

Watchtower Guard: Are you seriously siding with them? You saw what they did.

Coppercoat B: Yeah, I saw that one of them helped with the defense and that they only started getting antsy because people keep threatening them. So back down, that's an order.

-The guard hesitates, briefly waving the sword towards the Coppercoat before sighing and putting it away-

Watchtower Guard: Whatever, fine. If they cause trouble the Daywatch can probably take them down...

-He taps his shoulder crystal again and cancels the alert-

Coppercoat B: Sorry to pull rank, but I've dealt with too much today to bother with this. If the brass wants to chew me out once I get back to the barracks, fine. I just want to get back to the barracks at all...

Hulbury

Me: You know, I should probably call my sponsor to see what they know, and I will be very calm about it.

Evelyn: What do you think Kwan Industries will know about the heist?

Me: I dunno... But I'm hopeful that it's something.

-Ian punches Ms. Priscilla's number into his Xtransceiver and waits patiently.-

Priscilla's trunk line

Ian is greeted by... Murphy.

Murphy: Hello, Ian. Sorry, but Ms. Priscilla isn't around. She's taking care of a few things down at HQ. Do you have a message I can relay to her?

Hulbury

Me: Hello, Murphy. As a matter of fact, I do. I would like to ask you to ask her about what she knows about the heist that occurred a few months ago in [Dubai]. There was a Pokémon Hunter disguised as me there and now I can't risk continuing my Gym Challenger because I fear that someone might recognize me and assume that I'm a wanted criminal.