Stormchaser Meeting Room

That person who insists that Molybdenum died... I think there's something more.

Do you think Ever killed her?

I'm willing to believe she is dead, but I can't get a read.

...Uh oh.

Colt and Kamui weren't listening to them, not that they could. The two were a bit more focused on the speaker.

One of them was, anyway - Colt had grabbed both phones and...

"Encrypted," he announced.

Meeting

-More murmuring-

Locke: Alonya> I think I remember her... She was actually hiding with the J-Team a while back but had some slump about "family" and disappeared shortly after. Something must have happened...

-Neon's brow furrrows-

Kaizone - Past

Kai: Kind of the same, really. Uh... a super fucked up, super powerful Psychic managed to take hold of Megan's mind, and a few of us got led into a trap under the guise of a training match.

-Her gaze drifts off to middle distance somewhat as she's reflecting on the fight.-

Kai: It took a really catastrophic turn. Megan and Vee overexerted, to the point where Meg basically burned herself up from the inside through Aura overcharge. Even though she's not Auric. They... basically died. They had to be brought back.

-She pauses and refocuses as she's reminded of exactly who she's talking to about the subject, and goes quiet.-

Lee House, Subwhere

Nocturnal: The future is hazy to all but certain gods, but it does not take a sibyl to see the storm she will face. But it does not concern me, the shadows care not what cast them, they only care for the sunlight that defines them.

Lee House, The Forest

Mhm! Yep. But just to be safe maybe we shouldn't linger too much in the Forest... Just in case.

-Gale flashes a smile that is not super confident-

J-Team Meeting

I have no further questions. When the raid happens, I will be there to destroy this threat.

-Pentigan tenses up as the meeting begins transitioning into the second phase. He knows precisely what happened that is going to get discussed and it's the reason he had been disconnected from the Team ever since then...-

Ruins in an Orren Oasis

Deuterium looks at an unconscious Tritium as she rests near a fire. Illnesses like this have kept them up for days. Fortunately, a stand of willow trees was nearby.

Deuterium: The bark worked as expected. Her fever broke.

Protium: It should buy us some more time. Where's the nearest oasis?

Deuterium: We are not going to hike through a desert with a sick child, Protes. What's wrong with staying here?

Protium: I don't get why we need to bring this up, but newsflash. We're runaways. Fugitives. And honestly what irks me is that the only reason why they want us back isn't because we were important like the Templars were.

Deuterium: The Templars are no different from us. Copies of copies. They tried improving on perfection by creating another seemingly better version of me. And remember what happened?

Protium: Why do you always need to bring up Demetria?

Deuterium: Because eliminating her is how we got here. Demetria never stood a chance. She was a step down. You know how easy it was to get the better of that arrogant poseur? She was overconfident. And for all their harping about her powers she couldn't hold a candle to the original.

Protium: Look, don't take full credit for that one. I helped. I built the trap. Ripper disposed of the evidence. Heck, you wouldn't have had that advantage if I didn't play along with expunging your other abilities from the records. Wasn't it convenient that you could imitate brainwaves as well as I did and Demetria couldn't? They thought that gene was junk DNA and had it replaced.

Deuterium: True, true. Team effort. And they were fools to have added Unununium's DNA to replace that sequence. She was doomed the moment they tasked her to liquidate me.

Protium: She was doomed when I deleted those entries from your profile. Okay, we're getting off track here. Point is, we played the long game. You took over that Templar's identity and nobody but me was the wiser.

Deuterium: I learned from the best, brother.

Protium: We always calculated our moves, but back then, we knew our enemy. We were in familiar territory. The only enemy we know now are the templars and the desert. And I'd sooner face the desert.

Deuterium: We've defeated a templar once; we can do it again. But we'll never know when the desert will win, and we've only beaten it because we stayed in this oasis. This isn't living, Protium. We could play the long game only so long as we weren't in any danger of starving or dying of thirst or disease. Where are we going to find another one like this?

Protium fell silent.

Deuterium: Did we ever consider just asking others for help? Those children from Tritium's batch. They could help us. The Phantom can as well. Safety in numbers. We can take on one Templar together. Bring those others with us and we can take down several more. And we can finally stop running.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Jun 25th 2021 at 2:23:45 AM

Stormchaser Meeting

Daydre is starting to distract herself by stealing glances at Megan like every few seconds.

".. Wow, all of this stuff sounds shady as hell. I can see why it wasn't exactly public knowledge until now."

It takes a minute for her to remember what exactly point 2 is referring to, but when it does she gets uncomfortable flashbacks to kicking a certain someone in the ribs.

"... Oh, right...."

Stormchaser Meeting Room, yesterday

-As Hiro leaves-

Artificial aging then? Figures.

-To Ever before they leave-

Well your voice is sounding kinda purply right now so...

-To Amanita-

I'll be on the Isle of Armor.

-Sighs-

Well, I guess that leads to the other thing I wanted to talk about. The Final Shell. Izaya. Our beating on him after he was definitively beaten. We kinda really screwed the Poochyena on that one, and not just because it summoned the Fanatic.

Honestly that's why I've been avoiding the bulk of the group for so long, that just wasn't right guys, even if it was a terrible parka-clad wretch like Izaya. I include myself in that, officially we may not have a leader, but I was the first person not an Univyse to throw a punch.

Like, what the fuck guys? Alone a good percentage of us are some of the strongest Trainers in the world. Together we're virtually unstoppable, most of our enemies dance around us because they know they'd be crushed underfoot in a direct fight. Within 24 hours, we can ride this airship anywhere in the world and wreck everything in our path, and that's not even including the Stormchaser and the rest of the Fleet reducing the opposition to ashes.

And with the power we've been given, it commands us to act responsibly. What would the world do if we decided we'd crown ourselves rulers of the world, fit to do whatever we want to those who displease us?

And so, how are we gonna fix this going forward? I know the world needs us, or something like us, to counteract the multinational Teams and other assorted authoritarian scum, none of our contemporaries have our exact power or reach, but I have no desire to become a cop.

Lee House

"I cannot believe I'm going to say this," Colt began. "If there's only a light and no body to cast one, there's no shadow.

"If there's only a body and no light to shine onto it, there is no shadow. The absence of light is what creates the shadow, and with no light anywhere, what are you left with?" He gestured to the void, gripping an invisible wall to keep himself stable.

"Wait, where am I going with this?" He paused. "I think something about how, you know something's gonna happen, but aren't concerned at all? I mean, sure, that's how we operate, but the only reason we don't panic is because we prepare! Spill the tea, feathers!" He demanded.

Lee House Forest

<Koubito ni kikite kure, Kamui-kun,> Katsuragi pleaded. <Mada kono mori ni kuru irai, atama ga kurakura shiteiru yo!> ^note Please listen to your lover, Kamui. My head has been spinning since we came here!''>

"Yeah, we've been here for a while. We could start back." She shrugged, returning Katsuragi.

J-Team Meeting

<I knew we heard something off!>

"Sunny, calm down," Kamui warded off.

"Yeah, I'm gonna take that L," Colt decided at Tagg's dissection. "I mean, I'll be the first to admit that while my memory is a bit hazy on that, I do remember that it was a "When in [Rome]" situation for me. I know I should be paying more attention and remembering the humans behind the crimes. There's no defense for that and on behalf of my old, stupid self, I apologize."

Edited by AbsentCoder on Jun 24th 2021 at 8:12:11 AM

The Stormchaser

Kim: "...I was not present for the Final Shell fight. However, if this is true..." (then, to Ian) "WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING?! Infighting?! Amongst the J-Team?!"

Braker: "Kim, please don't. The person leading this meeting has already admonished the J-Team members."

Kim: "I know, but I wasn't present! I didn't have any idea about this!"

(Serkis just stands there, horrified beyond belief.)

Edited by OPALGARNET16 on Jun 24th 2021 at 11:08:14 AM

Stormchaser

Kaiiseii: "I did almost shoot him..."

-Shaun clears his throat and sits up.-

Shaun: "I take full responsibility for my actions. I was angry and tired and...I just wanted to make sure he couldn't run away."

-He snickers mirthlessly.-

Shaun: "Not that it worked."

-Something in the back of Shaun's skull itches.-

Elizabeth: "Um..."

-She pulls out a sheet of paper.-

Elizabeth: "Gabrielle would, uh, like me to say, on her behalf - she doesn't think a proper structure like Mobius would work for the J-Team. At all."

Jessica: "Well, what? Do we put our best members on a council? Give everyone membership cards?"

-She's completely serious, by the way.-

-Isbrand glares at Kim.-

Isbrand: "Calm. Down. Sorry if we aren't all lawful good, pure souls who get along like it's always sunshine and rainbows."

Shaun: "I don't know. But I think we can all agree this isn't going to work anymore."

Edited by SwiftSeraph on Jun 24th 2021 at 10:09:41 AM

Stormchaser Meeting

(Braker glares over at Kim with a sort of "what did I tell you" look. Upon seeing Isbrand's— and Braker's glare, Kim takes a deep breath.)

Kim: "Right... right. I do apologize for that. As someone who is unfamiliar with the events of the final shell, this was... overwhelming for me to discover to say the least."

Stormchaser Meeting

Reynard was taken aback by Tagg's claims. Fortunately, he was already sitting down.

Reynard: Affanculo.

Prof. Yew: Now, now, Albright. Systems like this are important. A team of heroes must adhere to standards.

Reynard: That's not what bugs me. Doc Richard is right to chastise them. You know I wasn't there when it happened, but I really thought that they ought've known better.

Prof. Yew: Because of your young friends, is it not?

Reynard: Yeah, kids are like that sometimes. But back in my day kids seldom into those situations unless things were dire. I worked as a resistance informant when I should've been in school. And don't think that we're proud of what we nearly became.

Prof. Yew: I can relate.

Reynard: And here I thought my son running off with the K-Team was bad.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Sep 10th 2021 at 12:51:01 AM

Roxy and Silas looked to each other, and then spoke up, "We actually saw Mercury a little while ago. He's going by Rory now, he's doing well all things considered. Hired us to make some medium tools for him."

Bishop displayed several prosthetics with details on medium parts, as well as a fancy looking sword.

"Want us to send you his contact info?" Roxy asked, "In case you wanna talk to him?"

Silas then looked to Neon and shot him a sympathetic glance, before sending a curt nod, he remembered his promise to Neon. Perhaps he'd need to speak with him more directly, show him the Island Base at some point.

Upon Tagg's comments of the events, Silas sighed, he wasn't there for those... he wasn't ready... at least he didn't feel ready for those.

He sat up straight and his posture changed, the look in his eyes subtly shifted and he spoke in a more even tone. Those familiar with him would recognize the voice of the Jackal, "Perhaps we need to affect some form of training for the team. Some exercises in teambuilding and restraint, we're not gonna become organized like Mobius no. But it is possible for us to get ourselves together."

Roxy was staring at Silas, she blinked in shock at what he was doing.

"The first step is to communicate more, it seems our largest issue at the moment is communications, I have a few ideas but I'm not certain if they'd work. The point being is that our lack of communications has left us disorganized, unsure of what's going on, grasping at straws for information. As you stated, we have a chat to share everything that is encrypted, we should use the tools given to us."

As for the comments of 'rulers of the world', Silas sighed, "Bishop bring up Log-15, the Intruder if you would please."

Bishop nodded and pulled up a window, displaying what looked to be Silas, "I fear we may already be facing something like that. I met this man awhile ago, a me from another world that has declared us a threat. He reads like an authoritarian hardass chatoting a party line," Silas explained.

He ran his hands through his hair and adjusted the cape around his neck, "I really only have the suggestion of communication, I do want us to fix our problems. The J-Team has been... good for me, I wouldn't be as I am now if it weren't for the Team accepting me in. I'm kind of scared of what would happen were it to vanish."

Edited by EchoingSilence on Jun 24th 2021 at 8:19:46 AM

Stormchaser, J-Meeting

-Hiro blinks-

-Logan steeples their fingers-

-Megan just stares, baffled, before one long-forgotten memory resurfaces from the morass-

(-in her defense, she also was distracted sneaking glances at Daydre when she doesn't think she's looking-)

Logan: ...I've been meaning to ask for the longest time how this works.

Megan: ?

Logan: You're volunteers, you fight at the brink of apocalypse, with the power to show for it—but what rules do you have? What standards? I walked on this ship and fought in your battles and not once has someone questioned what I'm doing here.

Hiro: ...isn't that what we do? Train and fight where we're needed?

Logan: I have training. Performance reviews, certifications, accountability.

I get paid because I'm performing a service for the area I'm assigned, not handing down favors from on high.

Hiro: Organizations can be corrupted as much as anything. Reviews can be fudged, accountability ignored, rules overridden for buddies—

Logan: -screwing up their face- I'm no cop. De-escalate, communicate—I can't do my job with a weapon in my hand.

Hiro: This doesn't address—

Logan: -glare- There's a fine line between a handful of violent volunteers and a mob.

Logan: My point is, you—you, the J-Team, saviors of the world—got this airship by crashing it through a swath of forest in my Regions. You sank the next ship into a reef. This is not new.

(-Megan does not like arguments-)

Logan: In my time here, I can see that what you do is invaluable—but no one seems to have any say in how you do it, and reparations for "how" seem to happen at random, from people with resources and attention, on a good day.

(-it's important-)

Logan: -intent- What are you?

(-she'll live-)

Edited by Asterisk395 on Jun 24th 2021 at 11:39:51 AM

Wyndon Stadium, Ian VS Daisuke

-The dust from the Solar Beam attack settles, revealing Oshawittle, who is lying against the wall with spirals in his eyes and crying.-

Oshawittle: -sad and weak- <My queen... why...?>

Referee: Oshawittle is unable to battle! Orbito wins!

-Ian calls Oshawittle back to his Poké Ball.-

Me: -calmly- You did so well, Oshawittle... You deserve a good rest. And I'm sure Dot still loves you...

Oshawittle: -crying inside his Poké Ball- <Why, my queen? Why?>

-Ian puts Oshawittle's Poké Ball back onto his belt.-

Me: He'll be okay... I'm sure he will.

Daisuke: Ian, I must know... Was I going a little too far with that last move?

Me: If you asked Oshawittle, he'd say yes.

Daisuke: Oh. Well, I won't do that again.

Me: Good to know...

Wyndon Stadium Stands

Evelyn: Oshawittle... he lost...

Hatty: <I hope he can recover from that last attack...>

Lee House, Forest

Yuki: <Mitama is another name for the Kingdom of Spectra, one of the 17 Kingdoms of Ransei.>

Evelyn: Also, yes, Ms. Knight Katsuragi-sama. I agree that we shouldn't stay here too long.

Stormchaser, J-Team Meeting

-Ian, upon Tagg bringing up the infighting and the post-victory beatdown of one Izaya Orihara, the same one that ended up invoking The Fanatic, and Kim suddenly yelling at him, breaks down crying. He curls up into a little ball on the floor and cries, feeling his sins crawling on his back.-

Me: -crying weakly on the floor- It's true... It's all true... and it's my fault... I shouldn't have let the heat of the moment get the better of me... I'm sorry, Santa... I let The Fanatic loose...

Evelyn: Um... Ian? Daijōbudesuka?^* Are you okay?

Me: -crying weakly on the floor- Īe... Daijōbudearimasen...^* No... I am not okay...It's my fault we got into that mess back then...

Hasslemon

J-Meeting

-Kai coughs a bit, clearing their throat-

Kai: ...I've been thinking a bit about that too. I wasn't there for the Final Shell, but I've been thinking about... the J-Team. The Stormchaser. This... airship, is a lot of things. Right now, it's a conference hall. Walk out of this room, take a few turns, it's a port, a beacon for travelers. All along the hallways, living quarters upon living quarters, a mobile home, a sanctuary for the team. The hallways twist and turn, impossibly, a Mystery Dungeon right here in our world for our use. There's a dimensional doorway to a clothes shop that's never quite in the same place, and a food court with a Taco Bell nobody built, because who can, and who would?

-They look around at the airship as they speak-

Kai: And it's also a weapon. The J-Team's home is also a machine for wars spanning dimensions. It's a big, bright yellow target, that's been attacked multiple times because of the many, many things it symbolizes.

-Scarlette can't meet anyone's eyes.-

Kai: I think... this airship, the Stormchaser, is a lot of necessary things. I wouldn't give up this second home of mine for the world. But it's salvage, a trophy of a fight for the safety of the world. And anyone can invite anyone onto this war machine because it's also home. For some people, it's the only home they have.

-They refocus toward the front.-

Kai: I can't help but think we need a way to separate those things. The Stormchaser is a war machine's name — it chases the storm, it goes into the fray. But what could we call home?

Edited by BittersweetNSour on Jun 24th 2021 at 12:13:39 PM

J-Team Meeting

-And there is was. The matter of the Final Shell-

-Pentigan let out the breath he was holding. So much of the problems with the Team had just been hauled to the surface and now everyone was arguing about it-

'Our', 'we'... I wish to be seen in exclusion. I never touched Izaya, I saw what your terrible actions wrought and none of you listened until it was too late. The only one to have listened was Tagg and Desmond, the following spring in Galar...

-There's a quality to his voice amid the quiet; a smooth but clearly present distaste creeping in. He clears his throat-

I wish to suggest dissolving the J-Team and clearing out those too weak or emotionally unstable-

-A pointed glance at both Ian and Kim-

-to be capable of saving the world, but no one listens to me.

Stormchaser Meeting

"Yeah, Kim," Kamui and Colton chorused. "Dial it back a bit."

"It's easy to say that you wouldn't fall into the same trap with hindsight on your side. But let's be real, in the heat of the moment, with the anger from what Izaya did, your blood still pumping from the fight up to him, rationality is nowhere to be found," Kamui summarized.

And then Pent made his proposition.

Colton and Kamui's seats buckled under the recoil of their reactions. But they pause at Pent's glances.

And then turn to look at each other, a brief conversation playing out via eye contact.

A glance at Kim. Then Tagg. Then Pent, then Silas, then Ian.

A broken look. A blink before her eyes glow. The two shake their heads.

"Probably not a bad idea. But, maybe less, "dissolve" and more "conduct some evaluation". I mean, the subgroups within the team - the Bolts, for example, are definitely much more composed than us. We could stand to learn from them."

Stormchaser Meeting

Daydre fidgets uncomfortably. ... Yeah she's lost in the memory of kicking Izaya.

"Yeah, I'll admit that's not my proudest moment. I'm not sure how to go about like, reforming though."

She kinda shrinks into her chair as Logan continues.

"..."

"... I think a lot of us were just.. invited in. As friends. And when trouble comes along I can't just walk away, if people are in danger what am I supposed to do? I guess I could call people professionally equipped to deal with that, but sometimes there's no time. Or the professionals can't interfere, for one reason or another. I don't really know what we are, just that there's people I care about here now and I want to help them. Would it.. feel the same? If we were more organized? We'd be less like friends and more like coworkers or something wouldn't we?"

She folds her arms and bounces her leg a little, agitated.

"... I'm not really sure what point I'm trying to make."

"We crashed the ship into a reef? And a forest? Was that before I joined what the fuck-"

"Wait what was that about more uses from alternate worlds"

Stormchaser, Time to vent out 7 years of thinking held back by not being here

-blinks at the description of what happened with Izaya, then facepalms.-

Star: Arceus above...

-Star nods in agreement with Logan-

Star: ...Maybe this is kind of a hot take coming from someone whose last consistent 'active' time with the J-team was in 2013, but I've never really viewed this group as being heroes. Don't get me wrong, we definitely do heroic things, and I definitely don't want the group to devolve into murderhobo terrorism, but I feel like that, much like Tagg being de facto leader, that was a view the public kinda....dropped on the J-Team.

-She scratches the back of her head-

Star: I was under the impression half of what the J-team's modus operandi was 'bumble into a region, something happens and we stop it, because if we don't bad things will happen' rather than any sort of image of justice. There isn't anything inherently heroic about it, and the wrong person getting pissed off, or people, as apparently happened with this Izaya person, means that our lesser impulses will get the better of us. The J-team is a bunch of random people with different views, values and desires, and while that's fine, if one of us decides to deck the shit out of a bad guy...there's nothing really stopping anyone from doing that.

-She turns to face Pentigan, frowning-

Star: Maybe it's just the cynic in me, Pent, but you'd have to disband the entire group in that case. Everyone has their buttons. I bet you do too. I don't know what happened to make people hate Izaya this much, but I'm sure given the right thing, even I'd be in there trying to kill that guy.

Star: Anyway... I'm with Logan. We need to define what the J-team is.

-She takes a deep breath, about to do some slight soul bearing-

Star: ....I know when I joined...I joined because you guys seemed like cool people, and you were running around the world seeing new places and you seemed to have a sort of...connection that I wanted. It seemed great to 18 year old me. And to be honest, all the danger and world saving was...scary, and ultimately the least important part. But that's a different story. What do we want the J-Team to be now?

-Star looks at Kai, and then Daydre-

Star: Do we still want to be a bunch of friends, bumbling from place to place and dealing with things as we go, or do we want to be the symbol of heroism people seem to think we are?

Edited by stargirl93 on Jun 24th 2021 at 12:27:04 PM

Stormchaser Meeting

(Kim's eyes suddenly grow wide upon seeing Ian on the floor and crying.)

Kim: "O-oh no. Oh dear. Ohhhh dear what did I just do."

(She starts internally panicking.)

Kim: "Ian... I-I'm sorry about that. I was just confused, and upset, and I didn't know that any of this had happened because I wasn't there to see it..."

(Cuddles promptly goes over to Ian and gives him a hug. Kim, meanwhile, has no idea of what to think anymore, feels somewhat guilty given Isbrand's and Ian's reactions, and is breathing. Heavily. Seconds later she hears what Pent says and her eyes grow wide as she begins to get filled with even more guilt. She desperately tries to hold back the tears that are in her eyes— and then she hears Colton and Kamui ask her to dial it back.)

Kim: "..."

(And all of a sudden she hears nothing else but the sound of her own staggered breathing. The thought of the J-Team dissolving and her having to leave behind all of the friends she's met over the years is too much for her to handle. Seconds later, she stands up and heads to a corner of the room.)

Kim: "..."

(And she sits down.)

Kim: "..."

(She can no longer process anything other than her own breathing. All she can think about now is her friends, and the thought of the J-Team dissolving, and the fact that what Pent said about her remains true.)

Kim: (thinking to herself) T-Triton... G-Ganesha... help... me...

(And then she starts to have a panic attack, hyperventilation, tears, and all.)

Wyndon Stadium

Elton: <Oshawittle... oh no...>

Kim: (grimaces) "He's down..."

Lee House, Forest

Braker: (beat) "I caught none of what Katsuragi was saying, but yes. We should probably get out of here."

Walter: <Indeed. Come on, Cuddles.>

(Cuddles promptly jumps out of Evelyn's arms and follows Braker out of the room.)

Hasslemon

MC: ah

MC: heLLO TheRe

MC: yOu seem a biT shy

Edited by OPALGARNET16 on Jun 24th 2021 at 12:32:27 PM

Stormchaser Meeting Room, past

-Noticing Kim starting to have a panic attack-

Oh dear.

-With a brief bit of Voice Magnification to break the arguing-

Well.

-Normal voice-

You know, for many of you, stuff like this might be your first rodeo, but for me, this has basically been my life for almost as long as I've been a Trainer. I've tangled with Rockets, witnessed both Sootopolis and Mt. Coronet firsthand, fought my fair share of poachers, and helped bring down a MegaCorp all before I turned 18. Some of those things before I started puberty.

What is the J-Team? Are we heroes, or just people who just so happen to stumble into things? Pent and I have been around the longest of our current roster, from the defeat of Missingno to the banishment of the Fanatic, but we obviously disagree on what needs to happen going forward.

But to answer that question, really, we've been both as it suits us. We didn't exactly plan to go to Unova to handle the Dream Rifts, but we did purposely go to Holon and Orre for the purpose of fighting Cipher once we found out their involvement. I merely wished to figure out what happened to the alternate universe that in one future became a Pokémon Majority D'imension, or PMD-B to designate it from the first one we visited, PMD-A, and ended up assisting in the defeat of the Unity who planned multiversal domination, and a Guzzlord that planned on devouring reality itself with the power of the Shards of the Spacetime Orb and became a Faller.

I've said to Echo that it feels like we're more a bunch of cliques than the tight-knit group we were when we started, but I've come to the conclusion there's no use crying over what used to be, gotta make a new thing now. That said, I do agree with Daydre, we become too ordered, and we lose a fundamental part of what makes us, us.

Our home? Technically, that'd be those modules set aside at PEFE HQ before we got the idea to get this airship in the first place. I suppose the Stormchaser is itself the very reflection of our dual nature. We obtained it through right of plunder, and it's a formidable machine, but it's also everything that Kai just said.

-Deep breath-

Forgive me if I ramble on for a bit, but.

-Pacing-

We've had similar conversations about this before, back in Kalos after Orre I suggested we lean more towards the hero end, but I figure on our 10th anniversary we can do better now.

Inherently, we're kind of a chaotic group. People can come and go as they please, and as long as they behave that's fine. In some ways that's a weakness, but in others it's a strength. The J-Team might've stood for "Jane", but we stand as an idea far larger than any individual member. Some time from now there could be a complete turnover, everyone in the Stormchaser being brand new, but as long as they keep the spirit of the J-Team, it would still be a same. As long as they're not evil, anyone can join, but I feel like it's worth being honest to new folks about all sides that come from being associated with the J-Team.

A council, I've considered it, but there is the issue of like Daydre said, what happens if something goes down and we need to act immediately. I've tried to mostly steer us away from things that weren't dealing with Teams or Glitches, when we act we're a fist, and you can't solve systemic problems with a fist. And that's okay, we can't solve everything, and if we tried we'd be too burnt out to handle what we can actually do something about.

-To Star-

The Skybreak happened in late 2017, and it took us until December 2019 to finally strike back at Mobius. It's not an excuse, but we were hunted by them for so long We spent months hiding in PEFE HQ after Lumiose, it's why the Stormchaser isn't parked in major cities anymore, it's too dangerous for those who didn't choose this life that when we had a chance to pay back Izaya in particular for all the trouble he caused us, we took it, and we paid the consequences.

-Going back-

To go back to that earlier point, sure the subgroups can be a bit choosier in who gets to choose them, but it would be wrong if we did that for the whole Team. That said, as Kai's already stated, the Stormchaser just has things show up after a while. Whether that's due to its being originally Mobius tech, or a combination of that, perhaps the world's largest aggregation of Attribute bearers bristling with all manner of artifacts, and the numerous weirder passengers, it's hard to say.

But I do have an idea, but we have to do it as a team.

The Stormchaser is alive enough, not just because Trojan's inside it, to respond to our wishes, so before we start thinking about any more reorganization, we all wish really hard on this. This wish, it'll make it harder if not impossible for those with ill-intentions from getting onboard without a fight, while still allowing us to let new people on board. As long as the Heart, Soul, and Mind of J remain, this remains so. Apart from the PEFE, that's our home.

We're a family bound by a combination of blood of the womb, blood of the covenant, and our own choices. Let's start acting like it.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Jun 24th 2021 at 1:33:39 PM

Stormchaser, J-Meeting

(Megan: -hearing Colton- ...are the aurabolts officially subheaded under "j-team" in the phone book)

(Megan:' did I miss a memo)

-Logan and Hiro both give Pent a very strange look-

Hiro: ...I'm incredibly curious as to your definition of "emotionally unstable".

Logan: Yes, danger, certification, but if badly needing someone to talk to disqualified you from J-Teaming there wouldn't be anyone left to pilot the dang airship.

Megan: You can swear, Lo.

Logan: -bland- And all it takes for disaster to triumph is for the circumstance-neutral to sit back and bemoan the state of the world.

Megan: I think you should swear.

-she gives sad looks in Daydre and Star's directions, not knowing a particular answer-

-Logan glances, worried, in Kim's direction—and Tagg starts speaking-

-they stare, and stare-

-and smile-

Logan: There we go.

Megan: :O

Logan: I'll be honest— -here a teasing glance at Hiro, eliciting an eyeroll and a smile- —there is something viscerally unsettling about the thought of the J-Team syndicating. Something I didn't expect before arriving—though perhaps I should have—was the extent to which this is a home for so many people. In a lot of ways, part of me considers this more critical than the literal end-of-the-world fighting.

Hiro: -eyebrow- Hard to have a home without a world to have it in.

Logan: -retort- The end—like so many things—always seems to start with people. There's always another apocalypse—addressing the underlying conditions is where you start fixing that. The unique existence of the J-Team as an impossible safe space for—all comers, really—is something I'd call going to the source rather than the symptom.

-they shoot a wink Mason's way-

Logan: -wry- If nothing else, I concluded a trough plowed through some trees is preferable to the whole forest burning down a long time ago. Still glad I put that out there, that's been boiling for awhile.

Hiro: -shrug- I'll concede that the world needs a bizarre ragtag group of misfits far more than it needs another organization with approval and an oath. Call it the anti-authoritarian in me, but I'm rather skeptical of the business of suboordinating to a governing body for the perks. This is how you get [Marvel] movies, people.

-Megan glance up at the mention of the Skybreak—the inciting incident for her to join—-

-...and withers a bit, considering how she tried to tear all this in half, involuntarily or no-

Logan: -frown- Of all things, I'm not sure I'd consider how long we take on these to be one of our failings—for one, it's a bit difficult to strike at the source when that source could be anywhere in the infinite multiverse, for another, striking right when the plot reveals itself as about to come to fruition seems to be the only workable, ah, modus operandi, around here. Take it from someone who's been nemeses with a mad scientist for years, it's the way things go sometimes.

-and the rallying cry-

Logan: -grin- I'll toast to that.

(-in their pocket, they crank a dial on their Styler up closer to maximum—curious how much the ship seems to...feel, or resonate, with the wishes of its inhabitants-)

(-Megan winces a bit more at the thought that she'd injured this ship badly enough for it to start terminating functions-)

(-Hiro contemplates if the place is haunted-)

Edited by Asterisk395 on Jun 25th 2021 at 11:12:58 AM

Stormchaser

-The group stays silent - Shaun pricks up at the mention of "Attributes", a term he hasn't heard before - and starts to say something to Pent before stopping, Shaun knowing damn well he's not exactly stable either.-

-Unanimous agreement with Tagg, and a silent conviction - a wish.-

Stormchaser

(Unfortunately, Kim is too panicked to properly process or hear what Tagg just said to the J-Team. She is on the floor, crying and hyperventilating, and all the while thinking to herself:)

Kim: (thinking, to herself) Disband the J-Team...? N-no... I can't— I don't— t-they're my friends... Ian and Evelyn and Braker and Hoops and Rever and 9-Volt and all of Rever's other Pokemon... in fact all of everybody's Pokemon... they've helped me in so many ways and I wouldn't be who I am now without them...

(She starts crying harder through her panic. Meanwhile, Cuddles continues to hug a crying Ian and pet him on the back. Braker and Walter, meanwhile...)

Braker: (in response to Tagg's speech) "Hear, hear."

(He takes a nervous glance over at Kim.)

Braker: (thinking, to himself) Someone please help Kim.

Edited by OPALGARNET16 on Jun 25th 2021 at 9:14:20 AM