Pastoria City

Morgan: <We'll need a break... The Gym Challenge can wait.>

she soothes. Desmond smiles a bit, and asks,

Desmond: If you say so. Where's the nearest airport?

Pastoria City

Atrin checks his phone.

Atrin: Looks like there's one back in Hearthome. This'll be a fun trip.

Ecto wags his tail happily.

Pastoria City

Desmond: Isn't there like a taxi service or something? Do we have to walk the entire way home?

he groans, and Morgan laughs.

Morgan: <C'mon, I'm sure it's not that far.>

Pastoria City

Atrin: Oh, we'll make it there fast. Just...hold on.

Atrin gives an evil smile.

The road to Hearthome, several minutes later

There is screaming as Atrin and Desmond ride on Fleurir's back as she races to Hearthome at full gallop!

Hearthome City

Desmond & Morgan: AAAAHAHAHAAAA!

They scream in horror and laughter as they ride through the routes towards Hearthome, and when they get there, they keep riding and they screech to a stop outside the airport. Desmond falls off Fleurir, legs shaking with a terrified smile on his face.

Desmond: Was it obvious that was my first time horse-riding?

he gulps, before slapping himself and running into the airport to get tickets.

Zapapico Outskirts

-Ever sends out Lace and Cornelia-

Lace: <Whoa.>

Cornelia: <Who are you?>

Lace: -shrug-

Cornelia: <...Got it. Ever, what's going on?>

Ever: Welcome to Paldea! We're not doing the Gym challenge.

Cornelia: <...That's a weird way of saying hello.>

Ever: Just getting it out of the way early. Lace, Cornelia, she's a Dunsparce.

Lace: <I know what a Dunsparce is.>

Ever: Cornelia, this is Lace, we have no idea what her deal is but she sure is cute, isn't she? We're gonna find something fun to do that isn't the League because I'm pretty sure I need to revamp my entire epistemology of combat and we're all going to evolve together.

Cornelia: <Like, literally, or—>

Ever: Yes, literally. My dear mad scientist cousin, you remember her—

Cornelia: <Oh, she made my suit.>

Ever: That's the one! Apparently she isolated conditions under which Dunsparce can in fact evolve. Assuming she isn't just brainwashed—

-...-

Ever: Which is admittedly a big if— we're going to work that out.

-they clap their hands, making a shower of pink sparks-

But first! We're going to need to find some new friends.

Cornelia: <...Have you gotten stranger?>

Ever: Asymptotically so, yes.

Rory stepped into the convention, and cracked open a can of [Poke] Energy Drink, he got a look from his compatriot, Nico.

"You know that shit's terrible for yer health right?"

Rory shrugged, he should have been dead long ago but yet here he was. Still, first time coming to one of these conventions, time to see what this "J-Team" stuff was all about, he liked to think of himself as a hunter of the paranormal after all. And nothing was more paranormal than the Team and their infamy.

"Yo dude!" A congoer said running up. "Nice Nero cosplay!"

Rory blinked, and thought about the world he inhabited and said. "Thanks, made it myself!"

"Dude that arm is so lifelike!"

Nico smiled and gripped onto the blue prosthetic that was Rory's right hand, she popped it off and Rory waved the stump with a smile. The Congoer, turned pale and walked away, the two laughing.

"That's never gonna get old!" Nico said with a big grin.

???

Cecilia: You've got the potential, Adze. I mean, obviously, since we've got the same powers. But you're not applying them.

-the two are sitting in the library. Cecilia is reading some science fiction, while Adelinde has a history book-

Cecilia: You need to take your nose out of the book, train a bit more, and get to where I am. What were you even trying to do today?

Adelinde: Two blades.

Cecilia: Yeah, that's not a real fighting style.

Adelinde: No, I was just thinking. You can make a blade that you couldn't carry with your arms.

Cecilia: Are you sure?

-she flexes. Adelinde rolls her eyes-

Adelinde: So that's one way of going beyond your specifications. What if there are more? Why hold a blade at all?

Cecilia: I think you're getting ahead of yourself. You don't have the focus to keep two blades solid at once.

Adelinde: No, you're right. I need better exercises.

Cecilia: I think you need to get your head out of the clouds, Adze.

Mesagoza

As Atrin arrives, Ecto right behind him, he looks around at everything in amazement.

Atrin: This is so amazing...

Ecto looks at everything happily.

Ecto: <They all look like they want to play!>

As Atrin looks around at all the signs and posters and booths, he gets really excited. This is the closest he's gotten to the heroic J-Team since he's first heard of them.

Mesagoza

Iridium: -Is still looking through stalls when she comes across a poster of "Rainbows!"- ...

J-Fanperson: -Noticing Iridium- Oh you look just like her, like she had a kid or something.

Iridium: -Neutrally- Is that so?

J-Fanperson: But that would be out there wouldn't it kiddo?

-They leave, but Iridium continues to stare intently at the poster-

Iridium: I'm going to surpass you, just you wait. Then no one will compare me to you anymore...

Edited by rmctagg09 on Sep 23rd 2023 at 7:04:46 AM

???

-there are books to which even the Templars (the younger ones at least) are not given access-

-Adelinde has decided that she needs to remedy this situation-

-even for a Templar, this is treasonous. It's the kind of thing that gets you executed by one of the higher-ups-

-she's come to her first and closest friend, who is still a Ponyta-

Nuckelavee: ~You want me to what?~

-Adelinde was quickly weaned from the need to communicate mind-to-mind, but it's something she goes ahead and does with Nuckelavee anyway-

Adelinde: ~I want some books from the library.~

Nuckelavee: ~And you need me for this?~

Adelinde: ~You can sneak where I can't. Someone will assume you're the Pokemon of someone with authority to be there.~

Nuckelavee: ~You really shouldn't be this trusting. I could report you.~

Adelinde: ~But you won't! Because we're buds.~

-Nuckelavee lets out a braying laugh-

Nuckelavee: ~What books are so interesting that you're willing to risk execution?~

Adelinde: ~I'm not certain. We're going to find out together.~

Mesagoza

Lian was curious about J-Con, and no one was really preventing her from going anywhere anymore, so she is here now! It took some amount of doing, but she'd managed to secure transportation to Mesagoza. Now all that was left to do was enjoy the c-

Hm.

Oh no.

That is a person she recognizes.

A person she recognizes from an organization that discarded her when she didn't prove useful enough.

Lian: "Stay cool Lian, she won't notice you if you don't make your presence known. Just breathe-"

She tries to keep her thoughts normal, and casually walks behind Iridium while she's looking at the poster.

... Maybe a little too casually, actually.

She ends up staring at the poster too, for a second, trying to figure out why Iridium is staring at it.

Mesagoza

Aurum: -Riding on her shoulder, kinda able to guess what she's thinking about- <Well you're not gonna get around to beating them if you just stand here staring like this.>

Iridium: Well I guess you're right Aur-

-Twitches and turns around to see-

Strontium? Is that you?

-Confused, but not particularly aggressive-

The scientists said you were liquidated. I guess that was a lie. What are you doing here?

Somewhere, over the rainbow, (but near the Stormchaser)

A ship.
It was a ship.
At least, they were pretty sure it was a ship.
Was it a ship?
They supposed they could never be fully sure.
They looked up at the Pokèmon perched over their shoulder- a rather peculiar one to be sure, seeing as a Sigilyph was not the first choice of partner for most trainers- and said Pokè seemed to nod back. This was definitely a ship, no doubt about it.
As for how they ended up here, well.
It was a simple story, really. Even great performers sometimes need to recharge their creativity, and now, they, MIRACLE🌠STAR, the greatest performer to have ever lived... definitely needed that. It had been a rough time, in truth. They had been quite consistently unable to reach something they could call an improvement, for quite some time. It was frustrating them. The Sigilyph seemed to try to comfort his trainer by humming quietly- he knew how affected the performer really had been by this.

Back to our current moment, though- our great performer had seen something in the distance, and taken by curiosity (as well as a much less refined feeling, known as 'having nothing else to do'), had taken to investigating into its nature.
Yeah, that sure was a ship.
And- the Sigilyph perched up. Was that someone coming...?

J-Con 2023

A pair of lanky individuals—a dark skinned, curly haired man with a beard and a taller, paler, clean-shaven one walked past the halls. Both appear to be wearing T-shirts with the face of a cowboy surrounded by chunky lettering. It said "Dan Mertens 2023: 3 New Letters for a Better Phenac."

Incidentally, those words were in Galarian, a language not spoken in Mesagoza. The shorter man, who appears to be sweating, wore the jacket, as the shirt clung to him a bit too close for comfort.

Perched on the shorter, older, nerdier man was a Vikavolt.

The two are nearby browsing for shirts. Apparently, this was—admittedly not the best but certainly one of the cheapest—nearby places where the Stormchaser parked to look for new clothes.

Stewart: Don't worry, Mr. Beckett. We're bound to find something here that won't seem too cringey. Rusty would've loved this.

Beck: Well, can't help if you're dad's feeling a bit worried about the J-Team anything. Good thing you carried a few my size when you did.

Stewart: So everything shrank in the wash?

Beck: Everything. I didn't even know how it'd happen. I followed the video tutorial exactly.

Stewart: New to washing your own clothes, I reckon.

Beck: The one time I couldn't go to the cleaners, that happened. Sure, I thought I could do it myself. Ol' Stormie having a laundry room, that was poggers as you young people say. People use it a few times. So I thought, "how hard could it be?"

Stewart: What are we looking for again?

Beck: Anything that's not one of those snug-fit shirts that's about my size or slightly larger, without anything embarrassing that'll cost me my job if anyone from the higher ups sees me. Or a gag shirt that's just embarrassing enough to work as a joke.

Stewart: I think there's some over there.

He points at a J-Team novelty shirt kiosk next to a poster of Rainbows from the one show that has the PEFE cringing each time. They pause, noticing two individuals. Beck can't seem to put his finger on it, but that one girl looked eerily familiar. A bit too familiar. He thought it was impossible, though.

Stewart knew almost by instinct what they were, but admittedly never encountered them. They were kept apart, and weren't even decanted the same year Rusty was when they were retrieved. All he knew of them was that they existed. Also, his makers were known to "recycle" DNA signatures, as he was all too familiar with.

Beck: You noticed them too, huh.

Stewart: Eyup.

Beck: Looks like someone you know, I'm sure.

Stewart: Yeah, that one kind of does. Wouldn't put it past them.

Beck: You're not thinking of trying to befriend and adopt them, are you? Should I get Austin online first? This could escalate if we're not careful.

Stewart: Way ahead of you.

Stewart takes a phone and starts sending a message. Beck meanwhile looks at the T-shirts his size while also sending a few messages of his own on another device. He stops, rather briefly, when he sees one with a fanart picture of Tagg from the show in a sultry pose, half naked.

Beck: I've seen enough. Stew, let's go talk to the truants.

Stewart: Yes, Mr. Beckett.

Stewart sees the shirts and cringes a bit. He turns around to see an entire rack with multiple variations thereof, with different old-guard J-Teamers (as defined by the show) in increasingly obscene poses. One featured J-Show's take on Hoops, with their large endowments front and center.

Beck: Gah, let's get out of here before we look like a bunch of creeps looking at these horrid things.

He sees a shirt with a sexy version "Sterling the Stormchaser Servant" on it.

Beck: This is outrageous. They got everything wrong except the body.

Stewart: Shit! We're wearing campaign shirts, too. The Mortons are gonna get a kick if we let someone see us. Walk away. Walk away.

Well, they should be easy enough to notice.

J-Con, Mezagoza

Desmond whistles as he walked through the crowd. He'd heard vague stories of the hero team, and now he was looking around their fan convention. He watched as hawkers sold shirts, keychains, hats... Everywhere he looked he could see the trainers who saved the regions. He placed his hands on his hips and sighed, smiling,

Desmond: You ever think we'll be as famous as them?

he asks Morgan, who quivers slightly in her sheath.

Morgan: <Oh, Desmond, you know as well as I do that we have the potential. I believe it. Now let's find Atrin before we get separated.>

she grins as she taps her Pokeball. She shrinks into it.

After this short Hassle, Morgan releases herself from her Pokeball and returns to Desmond's side.

Desmond: I hope he's not feeling too cooped up in there.

Morgan: <He understands. Now come on and find Atrin.>

Desmond nods and smiles as he finds Atrin, then they continue looking around J-Con.

Desmond: So many people around... even people from my region... They're so well-known.

Edited by Jules-Firenze on Sep 23rd 2023 at 11:13:07 PM

Mesagoza

Atrin: Yeah, this place is certainly amazin- Is that a playable demo of Champions vs J-Teamsters at the Pokeathlon? I gotta play it.

Atrin then sees the line.

Atrin: You know, I can wait.

J-Con 2023

Desmond: The people here are quite something, huh?

Desmond laughs as he watches the line. Morgan hums quietly.

Morgan: <Honestly, I was hoping they would show up, so we could challenge them.>

she grumbles softly, and Desmond stifles a chuckle.

Desmond: I feel like they're beyond us at this time. Even with another member, that probably won't be enough.

Morgan: <Still...>

Desmond: Anyway, Atrin, let's look around some more, maybe the line'll thin.

he was saying as he notices the men walking away from the shirt stall, hearing snippets of their conversation.

Morgan: <Did they say the Stormchaser?>

she gasps internally.

Desmond: Isn't that the J-Team's turf? Hey Atrin. You hear that?

he whispers as low as he can while pretending to look around.

Mesagoza

Atrin: I heard, yeah. But it doesn't sound like it has much to do with us. After all, we're still- where'd Ecto go?

Ecto is currently at a stall selling J-Team themed snacks. He has his front paws on the stand, and is panting happily.

Ecto: <You have snacks! That is a coincidence! I enjoy snacks! You should give me snacks, friend!>

Artazon Outskirts - South Province, Area Three

Aislinn is sheltered from the blast by Harry.

... But not really.

When the storm comes from all sides, there's only so much a meat shield can do. Harry tries to protect his more vulnerable trainer as best he can, creating a shell of hair around them both. The storm sends the two flying back into the side of a cliff, Harry's hair freezing and cracking under the cold. The shield falls away, leaving Harry unconscious and Aislinn not much better off.

Aislinn: "..."

She digs her sword into the frozen ground.

She tries to get up.

And she... fails.

Snowpoint, Outskirts

Dima: "Thanks, Pachirisu I barely know??"

Eira purses her lips as Logan goes on, mildly concerned for their wellbeing and considerably more concerned about the euclidian geometries of this airship she'd only really seen one time.

Eira: "Y'know, this would normally be the time where I say something clever or quippy but the only thing I can think is 'wow, that does sound terrifying Lo'."

Eira: "And you hang out with them? Regularly?"

She leans back, having realized she'd started leaning in at some point.

Eira: "I guess I can't judge the weirdness aspect, because I've known some weird people in my life, but the.. ah... 'alpha strike' thing sounds questionable."

Dima: "Weird?"

Eira: "Oh, not you hon. You're weird(affectionate)."

Dima: "Ah-"

And then the two of them are interrupted by the literal, actual magical enby transformation.

For some reason Dima feels compelled to clap when it's over.

Mesagoza

Lian can't stop herself from flinching when she hears that designation.

Lian: -measuring her words carefully- "I... could ask you the same thing."

... Lian weighs her options.

1. Lie.
No, she'd get caught in that eventually. There was an opening in that Iridium immediately assumed the scientists had lied, but where could Lian even go with that? "Yeah it was all a practical joke on you, I'm still alive and part of the School"- unrealistic, liquidation notices aren't usually sent around as jokes. "They reversed the liquidation order! Isn't that great?"- conflicts with basic reality even more than the first. "Who's Strontium?"- it was a little too late for that one, now.

2. Tell the truth.
... Yeah no, that's just as likely to end in failure. She wasn't the oldest and wisest Truant, but she at least knew admitting to truancy wouldn't lead anywhere good with someone still working for the School. And she wasn't optimistic enough to think that her words would suddenly convince Iridium that a life outside the School was not only possible, but enjoyable (for the most part).

3. Hit the bricks.
Well, it's better than the other two options- though not by much.

Lian: "..."

Lian: "I'm leaving now."

And she turns around and starts speed-walking in the other direction.

.... As it happens, bumping right into Beck and Stewart who're also trying to get away in that direction.

Mesagoza

Iridium: -To Lian, almost forgetting about the poster- They assigned me to infiltrate Naranja y Uva Academy. Even if I don't like my assigned name.

-She's currently dressed in the autumn uniform of the Uva House, a white star emblazoned on her tie-

It's been really cool, the Treasure Hunt's supposed to start soon and my handler Ms. Lyd-Lian books it-Wait where are you going?

-She starts chasing after Lian and might end up bumping into everyone else too-

-Abe and Chloe have coincidentally entered the area, but aren't quite close enough yet to be noticed by anyone-

Chloe: -Recognizing the Schoolkids in question- Wait a sec... that's the other Iridium.

-To Abe-

Should we?

Abe: No one's noticed us yet, let's wait to see how this plays out.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Sep 23rd 2023 at 1:16:39 PM

???

-Adelinde is dueling with one of her crechemates, the young man who was there for the fight with Cecilia. For the sake of comprehension, his name's Bellamy. Don't worry, it's probably not gonna be that important-

-he seems to have internalized the lesson of Cecilia's last win. He carries a blade roughly as tall as he is, twirling it like a marching baton-

-Adelinde, meanwhile, holds out her own blade, which is a very ordinary size, in a fencing stance-

Bellamy: Well, that's not going to do you any good.

-Adelinde frowns, but maintains her stance as Bellamy advances-

-she dodges his first few exploratory swings, each time needing to jump backwards. There's no opportunity for riposting or gaining ground-

Bellamy: You're not going to make it to your first mission, at this rate, Adze. Maybe I should do everyone a favor and deal with you now.

-Adelinde rolls her eyes-

-Bellamy finishes feeling her out and charges in, swinging in earnest. Adelinde raises her construct to parry-

-it shatters, leaving her with a burned-out focus. Bellamy grins, raises his sword high-

-and the shattered pieces of Adelinde's construct float into place, four tiny blades crisscrossing around Bellamy's neck-

Bellamy: ...

-Adelinde smiles slightly, even as sweat drips down her forehead from the effort of maintaining the constructs-

-a scientist sticks her head into the room-

Adelinde: Dr. Farrier. We'll be right out.

Dr. Farrier: Hm. No. Kill him, I think.

-Adelinde raises an eyebrow-

Adelinde: For some particular reason?

Dr. Farrier: Because I asked, and because I'm curious as to what you'll do.

Adelinde: ...

Bellamy: Hey, wai—

-Adelinde exhales with relief as Bellamy's body drops to the floor-

-see? His name won't be important-

Dr. Farrier: Duly noted. Good work...

-she checks her notes-

Adelinde.

-Adelinde straightens up as Dr. Farrier leaves, casting a peculiar look after her-

-then back at Bellamy's body-

-it's the first time she's killed, now that she thinks about it. It feels like something that should be significant, or weighty. Some of the books she's been reading against orders address that question-

-but it was fairly easy. All it took was a thought-

-weird-

Mitchell: "You've got to be kidding me."

Esmeralda: <It's real. And disturbing.>

Oliver: <Not the most flattering caricature, I admit.>

The three of them are transfixed at a certain custom T-Shirt they spotted in one of the stalls. The picture depicted on the front is a blue-and-red monochromatic headshot of an obscure J-Show character (an Unovan male with an extremely bushy moustache, which otherwise looked like a funhouse mirror version of Mitchell himself) frozen in an expression of horror. The caption underneath read the word "MY POFFINS!"

Vendor: "Ey, youse gonna buy summin or wha?"

Mitchell: "Maybe later I've got a sandwich break see yoooouuuuu!"

With that, Mitchell all too quickly ran from the stall, almost colliding with another Academy student who was also in a hurry.

Mitchell: "Whoa, sorry there! You out for a jog, too, errrr...?"

Mitchell knows this student as "Sally", from the Uva House. He does not know her true identity.

Mesagoza

Ecto sadly walks back to Atrin, who sends out Mimir so he can understand Ecto through telepathy.

Ecto: <They didn't want to give me snacks...I has a sad.>

Atrin: It's alright, Ecto. We'll get you some treats.

As Atrin says the word treat, Ecto immediately forgets he was sad.

Ecto: <I like treats!>

Edited by etran12 on Sep 24th 2023 at 2:34:30 AM

???

Adelinde: —and he says "that's why they call it the stock market!"

Cecilia: ...I don't understand.

Adelinde: No, yeah, me neither. I was hoping you might.

-the two have diverged somewhat. Cecilia now wears her hair in a long ponytail, while Adelinde has kept hers short and easy to manage. Adelinde has specialized in the fine control of six or so psychic constructs. Cecilia has made her constructs nearly impenetrable to assault— the quality to Adelinde's quantity-

-right now, they're getting ready for a mission-

Adelinde: How are you feeling? Excited? Nervous?

-Cecilia raises an eyebrow-

Cecilia: What's to be nervous about?

Adelinde: Excited, then?

Cecilia: It'll be a milk run.

-she smiles-

Cecilia: Stop dawdling, Adze. We'll miss the scramble and we'll both be executed for treason or something.

Adelinde: I'm hardly dawdling. It's making conversation.

Cecilia: What's to make conversation about? We know everything in each others' minds already.

Adelinde: And yet you felt the need to remind me of that fact.

Cecilia: You sound like a scientist. Don't be a dork. Get your helmet on and let's go kill some people.

-Adelinde gets her helmet on, and goes to kill some people-

-this is the last conversation she will ever have with Cecilia-