ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

Stormchaser

Apple-A-Day: And you're sure you're okay?

Percy: I'm fine. And I resent being treated as fragile.

Apple-A-Day: I'm not treating you as fragile. I'm treating you as someone who has an attempt on her life every time she goes outside. It's a fair question to ask.

Percy: Do you think I'm lying to you or something, when I said yes the first time?

Apple-A-Day: ...I mean, maybe!

-their argument is pretty audible to anyone listening-

Campus Palace

-Gritting my teeth as Mokele-Mbembe eats the Zen Headbutt as the remaining Lares continue to approach-

Yeah, let's get running.

Meat Palace

-Looking at my clothes-

We haven't changed back, so he likely still views us as a threat to the Palace. But at the same time, intel is good even if he inevitably betrays us later, so I'll play his game for now if it gets us closer to the Treasure.

-Shares a look with Pink and Ariadne before speaking to Shadow Crowley-

Maybe we can do that.

Stormchaser

-Rounding the corner-

Admittedly constant attempts on our lives can be a bit of a... constant around here.

-Looking at Percy in particular-

Truant, I'd imagine?

Stormchaser

-Percy blinks, slowly turning to stare at Tagg-

-she and Apple-A-Day, aurically speaking, make for an interesting pair. Apple-A-Day has a fairly normal aura, a deep green with autumnal edges. It's slow, steady, and comfortable-

-Percy's aura, along half of her body, is a deep blue, run through with black veins, pulsing like a heartbeat. Like Adelinde's aura, there's a synthetic vibe to it, with everything vaguely mathematical in form-

-the other half is simply missing-

Percy: ...Percival Mortimer. Do I go around identifying you by your creators?

Apple-A-Day: Be nice. Hi, I'm Apple-A-Day, hero-errant. By which I mean I'm currently sort of on vacation?

Stormchaser

Mortimer... a bit on the nose from what I'm seeing in her Aura. Kinda same feeling as Adelinde, which is odd, Chiyo's Aura doesn't feel that much different from other human Auras besides the School stuff, but she's been free of them longer so maybe that's why...

Oh right, you're Percy and Apple-A-Day from the other day when I told everyone about how I met Adelinde, I'm Tagg, it's nice to meet you properly instead of over text. I believe you and Chiyo are already familiar to my understanding?

-Examining Percy a bit more closely-

My apologies, your Aura's kinda interesting, like a ghost having possessed its own corpse. You're of the Phantom Class I'd imagine?

Hitodama: -Also examining- <I'd say she's a little closer to me, Death and Nature intertwined.>

-To Apple-A-Day-

Technically you could say I'm on a very long sabbatical myself, being around here isn't exactly my actual day job.

Stormchaser

-Percy, with her experience of scientists, leans back slightly, Apple-A-Day supporting her as she does-

Percy: I've met her.

-her eye flicks between Tagg and Hitodama nervously, hands clenching on her cane-

Yeah. Phosphorus of the Phantom Class. You're the...leader, here? Or Chiyo told you about me?

Apple-A-Day: I think he's friendly, Percy.

Percy: .

Apple-A-Day: ...You're the PEFE guy, right? You did the Gible article. Yeah?

-they look, or feel, like they are trying desperately to change the subject-

Stormchaser

-To Percy-

I'm more the standard bearer really, J-Team doesn't really have a leader per se, I just keep everyone together when it's actually time to raid a base. Chiyo told me enough to get a basic picture, said the rest was yours to tell, we go back a while though I only met her again around this time last year.

-Of course the benefits of Aura is sensing things like discomfort, so I'm already starting to move back before Percy's conscious body has caught up to the rest of her-

A little too nervous for it to be just a trauma response, she's seen one of them recently.

I'm not that sort of scientist, so no need to worry.

-Making a slight joke-

I'm no geneticist, for one.

-More serious, agitated-

And even if I was a geneticist the School makes a mockery of the very concept, fuck them for what they do to you guys by the way.

-To Apple-A-Day-

...I think you're the first person I've ever met that's identified me in that category rather than something J-Team or League related, but yes. Interested in Dragon-types, or just science in general?

-There is a slight mania to the actions that doesn't seem usual, as if I'm also looking for a distraction-

Roxy wandered about the halls of her home, she smiled a bit as she looked about the interior walls. Living on a spaceship, she was a future woman... she was already thinking of one of those retro scifi outfits and laughed to herself a bit. She rounded a corner and looked into the lounge to see Muggy setting up another campaign, Snakeye and Tae building their characters.

"Heyo!" she called out. "Any of you three seen Silas?"

<Hoss? Ya I saw 'im earlier. He's in the forge,> Snakeye answered.

Roxy blinked. "By Forge you mean... the forge, right? Not his workshop."

<Yeah I can get how with my par-tic-ul-lar vernacular tha' would be a bit 'ard to git...>

Tae chuckled. <You're playing what's essentially a Galarian nobleman for this next game... I look forward to you trying to make that work.>

<Think Alice would teach speech lessons to a Cacturne?>

Muggy shook their head with a smile.

Roxy let out a scoff and stepped off.

Silas sat in a kneeling pose, the hilt to a project lay before him. Incense burned around him as his armor plating lay on the floor next to him. It was a sort of prayer, a dedication to The Way.

Ever since meeting that Mandacario tribe in the Parallel World, he had felt... better, more assured and complete. This had actually given him greater control over displaying his feelings, as best as he could anyways.

Yet some things had remained the same, such as his obsessiveness over a project, sitting before him was a housing unit made out of Beskar. He needed to complete the symbol it represented, cement what it was and cement who he was.

The doors opened and in stepped Roxy. "Hey Babe, been looking for you. What have-" she paused when she saw all the wires and material.

"Silas are you obsessing over a project again?"

Silas blinked. "Uhm..."

"Babe... we've talked about this, it's bad for your health. Sleep helps and you tend to go without sleep on this stuff."

Silas sighed and stood up, he pulled Roxy in and gave her a kiss. "I know, I know... I'm... just busy. This is something I want to finish."

Roxy smirked. "Alright, walk me through it. Maybe I can help, I've picked up some stuff."

Silas nodded. "Right, so I'm trying to make the Darksaber. If we found what was essentially a mandalorian tribe, then the texts should have mentioned one. It did, an ancient auric weapon that signaled that the wielder was King. As I'm the only Mando in universe, by default I am that."

"Alright so you need that to help cement the idea that you are, complete an image. I get it, I've talked with others about that and honestly Gale lives for that kind of aesthetic drive."

He smiled, Roxy liked seeing him smile. "Yeah, so I've been going over texts and lore from what we got from the Mandacarios. It's a bit mysticism and science together, I got the science but not the mysticisim. It says I need to infuse a bit of my own aura into the blade but I can't exactly do that."

"Pokemon form," Roxy said.

"Well... yeah but that's not the part that's the problem. See the problem is that I don't fully understand what it means by the crystal heart and how to make it... I was in some meditation to try and figure it out and well... well I'm stumped. How do I make a blade that's pitch black," Silas responded.

She stared at him... Roxy sighed and with a fox grin pulled out her phone. "You know you have access to an entire mailing list of people who have specializations into fields both scientific and mystical. Why not send out a little "hey need help"?"

Silas stared at her... Roxy just grinning as she knew he was mentally kicking himself. "Obvious isn't it?"

"Yeah... yeah it is."

"Hey that's why these projects are always better with others, somebody to hit the areas you overlook."

Silas smirked a bit and picked up his phone.

Textspace

Beskar Forge

In a green flash, Kendall landed on the floor, Xatu quickly blinking away.

"Yeah science," he said warmly.

Hamlet Past

Reaching out with Extrasensory towards the metal bauble floating in the wine-blood-whatever it was, something crossed Kamui’s mind in the moment that she pocketed the thing, brushed off on her pants.

"Well, that was the boss," she observed, sighing in contentment at the team’s handiwork. "Let's head out, shall we?" She asked, turning to the door.

Edited by AbsentCoder on Aug 20th 2022 at 3:12:58 AM

Stormchaser

Percy: ...Right. Yeah. Thanks for the thought.

Apple-A-Day: Well, I don't really follow the J-team or the League, but when I was getting started as a trainer, I looked up a lot of stuff about training dragons...I don't actually have a Gible, they're not native to Galar, but I recognized your name from the article.

But of course I'm a Dragon trainer! Can't you tell from how stalwart and true I am?

-they do something that would be a hair flip if any of their hair were visible past their costume, and send out Syrnewt-

Syrnewt: <Uh, hi.>

Percy: Not at all what people say about Dragon trainers.

Apple-A-Day: ...Hey, are you alright?

The Walking Mountain, Center Cavity

-Two explosion erupt, both shaking the foundations of the mountain down to the legs.-

-At the upper limits, a giant, blue robot crashes through the security doors from the inside. Scrap from the door and the mech's ruined arm and shoulder fall as sirens sound, the bits of metal easily reaching terminal velocity long before they hit the bottom and causing all of the couriers and workers to flee for reinforced positions.-

-From the bottom, a furious Hyper Beam sheers through the security gate leading to the bureaucratic lower levels, though it quickly peters out as Ajax realizes he's hit his limit. He's helped up by Big Dom before slouching nearby, faint from lack of Pseudo-Legendary amount of carbs and minerals as well as exertion from so many Hyper Beams in so little time. Dune flies skyward, holding on to Garuda as a Flying-Type Selene flies wingman. Rill motions for Dom to follow as he goes looking for a good chunk of marble to feed the voracious Tyranitar.-

-Lucrezia slams her control panel.-

Lucrezia: Dammit all! "Don't worry," they said, "they were made by the lowest bidder, but they were tested to specs," they said. Damn those idiot boy toys and their gullible minds, I should have known to entrust a princess to the matter!

-Janeway puts a hand on her mother's shoulder.-

Janeway: There's no reason not to start now, Mother.

-Lucrezia's fierce glare cools, if only due to the reminder that she is currently in public.-

Lucrezia: Ah, beloved Daughter. See to our guests until my preparations are complete, would you?

-Janeway bows.-

Janeway: Gladly~

-As the Daughter - what was her name again? - leaves with her entourage, Lucrezia shoots the security cameras a parting glance filled with enough venom to melt the glass of the displays, if she had her way.-

-As she approaches the large doors, a multitude of cameras pop out and scan her from head to toe. She doesn't flinch at all as they measure her steps, the swing of her hips, the condescension in her gaze.-

Security Door: Initial scan complete. All parameters: Green. Please proceed to second protocol.

Lucrezia: Out of my way, you stupid science fair project, I don't have time for this!

Security Door: Second protocol: complete. All parameters: Green. Please proceed to third protocol.

-Lucrezia kicks the door with her steel-toed high-heels.-

Security Door: Third Protocol: complete. All parameters: Green. Welcome back, Empress On High, Hidden From All Gods, Lucrezia von Wanderberg.

-The door opens, just a sliver despite it's enormous size, and Lucrezia storms in before it loudly clangs behind her.-

Edited by DuneTheWanderer on Aug 20th 2022 at 5:55:58 AM

The Underground

"Very well, then," said Owen.

And with that said, he started to lead the way for Mark and Travis to follow him.

SOMETIME LATER...

The Underground

By now, the only thing that surrounded Owen, Stipax, Mark, and Travis were dirt walls (with shards, gems, fossils etc. hidden in the dirt). Owen and Stipax continued to glance around at the barren but vast Underground, before Owen turned to face Mark and Travis.

"So!" he said. "There are plenty of things that can be found in the Underground— shards, gems, stones, fossils— those are my favorite things to find, of course... Any intention to dig up any of these things?"

<I... don't know if they do,> said Stipax.

Stormchaser

Hitodama: <If they're a Dragon-type specialist, where's their cape?>

I'd think similar...

Ginny: <But there's plenty of Gible back home...>

Garchomp: <I guess they mean Galar proper rather than what you've said of the Crown Tundra.>

-To Apple-A-Day-

Well there was a Schoolkid death, not sure if you heard, and now Chiyo's holed up in her room not speaking to anyone, so... not really.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Aug 20th 2022 at 10:14:10 AM

Stormchaser

Syrnewt: <Capes would get tangled on things! Besides, Raihan doesn't have a cape, and they've got a wicked crush on him.>

Apple-A-Day: Syrnewt!

Syrnewt: <What? Percy doesn't understand me.>

Apple-A-Day: That's not the— Um.

Syrnewt: <Yeah, we don't go to the Tundra. Not the most Dragon-friendly.>

-Apple-A-Day sobers up a bit-

Apple-A-Day: We heard, yeah.

-they shoot a glance at Percy, giving her a side hug-

Percy: ...I should probably go and talk to her, huh?

Apple-A-Day: It would be the nice thing to do.

Stormchaser

-To Percy-

Probably after I do, but you can come along, just stay out of sight. Chiyo most likely wouldn't want to see a whole bunch of people at once.

Stormchaser

Percy: Sure. Yeah.

Apple-A-Day: I'll be moral support, shall I?

Percy: My morals are perfectly supported.

Stormchaser

-To Percy and Apple-A-Day-

Alright then, let's head over, Stormchaser'll make sure we won't have to walk too long to get there.

Stormchaser

Percy: I do appreciate that. You know it's alive, right? Is that intentional?

Stormchaser

-To Percy-

There was always a sort of... presence, but we gave it form, now it can do all this stuff.

Stormchaser

Percy: ...Fascinating. And I thought my family was weird.

Apple-A-Day: I don't think you're weird.

Percy: One of my podmates could push herself body and soul into what she claimed was an alternate world without physics.

Apple-A-Day: ...That's not that unusual.

Percy: -eyebrow raise-

Stormchaser

-To Apple-A-Day-

Are you familiar with Nine Realms cosmology theory?

-To Percy-

I've been to places like that, she might've been on to more than you think. Wouldn't mind sharing notes, if they're still around, I know other folks who'd be pretty interested.

-Chiyo's door is ahead, Dactyl milling about outside, guarding it-

Edited by rmctagg09 on Aug 21st 2022 at 3:16:19 PM

Stormchaser

Apple-A-Day: Uh, no I am not. Is that like how the sky exploded a few years ago?

Percy: Might be alive. Probably not though. Haven't seen them since the breakout.

-Syrnewt waves to Dactyl-

A secure chamber, PEFE's Sinnoh facility

The setting is just like in the procedurals. There is a one-way glass window on one side of the room. At the center was a table with 2 chairs, each facing one another.

Seated on one chair was Whitt. On the other were his interrogators. One was Beck, seated, and holding a clipboard with papers on one hand and a pen on the other. Standing was Stewart, accompanied by his grumpig Hemo. They were there to get as much information out of Whitt as possible.

Beck: You know, I could get you a seat.

Stewart: I'm fine!

It must be clear, though, that the group is 'not' in the Stormchaser. The 3 were moved to the facility almost instantaneously by the airship when it became clear that Whitt had ulterior motives. The first time it happened would've taken those unfamiliar with the airship by shock and surprise.

Hamlet, Crimson Manor

It's not hard to locate the back door of the manor, after all it's emblazoned with the same weird octagon as the key. Stepping out onto the porch, the area is back to the dilapidated look of the rest of this forsaken swampy part of the Estate... But also there's two things of note here:

A pedestal upon which sits a glass jar covered in a layer of grime.

And that weird old lady from the village, who is brushing dirt off a hat very similar to the one the Countess was wearing.

"Well. Sounds like quite the party happened in there. Hm? Good to be outside in the clear air of course."

Meat Palace

Shadow James Crowley: Guess I don't work for the computer folks, but come into my parlor.

-There is an odd lurching sensation as the walls of this body-factory flex and the corridor end veers off to the right-

Shadow James Crowley: There's a shortcut. Straight past sec, right to the heart of the facility... Don't keep me waiting, intruders.

-The PA system crackles with a soft laugh-

The Defiant Wing

-Gale Knight arrives on the ship via her usual wibbly shadow stuff-

I heard you needed tech and magic assistance. I am known to dabble in both.

-She pops a slightly cocky smile-

What's the project?

PEFE Depths

-It's possible that for those who can detect auras, the presence of darkness behind the glass would be obvious-

-Behind the glass of course, Pent was just standing there watching. So far he really had avoided getting involved with this whole matter of the School but some things had gotten to him as of late and he needed answers-

-However, best to let the seasoned interrogators make the first move-

PEFE Depths

Whitt frowns and tests the cuffs that keep him attached to the table. It's possible that he could make them cold enough to shatter. By that time he would have sucked all the heat from the room and put his two interrogators into a fatigued state, and he would likely be able to escape. Of course, then there would be people outside the room, and that was assuming that they didn't catch on to what he was doing before it was done. Not that it matters, since he didn't allow himself to get captured with the intent of escaping. Not just yet.

"So, then," he begins. "Why don't we get started? First of all, I'd like to complain about my room - there are no windows, and I like a room with a view. Also there seems to be something wrong with the lock, because the door won't open for me. Honestly, I don't know what kind of establishment you think you're running, but I'll be leaving a negative review for sure."

PEFE Depths

Beck: We're asking the questions here, bub. And did you just threaten to Karen on us on Welp?

Stewart: Bro, that's another level of evil right there. Least we know he's affiliated with Dr. Circhester in some way.

Beck: Circhester? Like the shrink who gives bad advice in book form that's somehow popular? That sanctimonious shite peddler?

Stewart: Well, if you put it that way, it seems obvious.

Beck: Alright, bub. Don't think we didn't take precautions as soon as you got here. Are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?

Stewart: Or the medium way.

Beck: If the medium way was possible, we wouldn't have been here for so long. This would make it the hard way. Fortunately for you, Whitt—if that is even your 'real' name, our standards and practices forbid the kind of mind torture your clandestine Illuminati-level overlords are well versed in. But that doesn't mean we can't be... persuasive.

Stewart: I was thorough in describing those, by the way.

Beck: Cut you a deal. We'll give you a nice comfortable cell with anything you ask— within reason—if you cooperate and consent to answering a few of our questions. Nice cell. 24 hour accommodation. Heated seats. Or perhaps even a way to let you control your abilities so you're not constantly freezing.

The grumpig emulates a thumbs up and winks. He knew one thing Whitt really, really wanted.