ITT: We Have All Become Pokémon

Kid, at this point you should probably be glad you missed it. (says Marsha to Wrench.) A fight with a Charmeleon would be preferable to all of this for me. No offense.

edited 13th Jul '17 4:41:38 PM by kablammin45

Mila pads over to the petitioners and gives them the best stink-eye she can muster.

"That makes no sense. Anyways, our signatures can't even count unless you've got the world's weirdest political system! We're just visitors!"

Dana's expression hardens. "No. We still haven't found him. He's still out there somewhere..."

"Don't we all, sometimes?" I lament to Marsha.

*meanwhile, back at the guild, Voxno-V has to float over everyone to wade through the thick crowds that have formed since the riots ended. Guild members are sharing desks, doing overtime while flooded with all sorts of stories about what happened on the Boardwalk. Voxno manages to find its way to Ariane, briefing her on the situation during the few moments that other guild officials aren't pestering her*

edited 13th Jul '17 5:00:47 PM by sarysa

The Blastoise passes the petition to Jani. "There you go, little lady. 2 more signatures, Mook. Then we may just avenge our fallen brother."

"What fallen brother?" I think to myself. I then decide to speak up.

"What fallen brother?"

"Yep, just another run of the mill fight..."

"Raheem. The Sawk you fellas met got iced earlier today."

*Jani signs her human name poorly with her teeth, muttering* Muck thr mone prmcent. *then spits out the pencil, saying* ...starting all this picking on some poor ghost guy...

Oh...I'm really sorry, even if I don't know what that has to do with making the richest folks in town leave. Do you...want to talk about it? (Delilah asks.)

"Are we just accepting that somehow signatures from tourists are allowed to constitute a majority in this system of representation? Am I the only one here who thinks that's a bit odd? No? Just signing whatever petition comes our way, I see."

Mila is clearly unsettled by these events, perhaps having had negative experiences with similar individuals in the past.

"I'm sorry that you guys lost such a friend like that..."

Oh good. TWO people died because of a fight I didn't stop...

"Honestly, Mila," She says trying to keep cool, "I don't really have anything to say. I guess the political machine here is broken."

(I'm plain stunned. I feel like that Charizard needs to curb his strength next time he fights someone.)

I'm really sorry that wound up happening. It has to be tough to deal with a loss like that...

edited 13th Jul '17 5:19:20 PM by kablammin45

"Yeah, looks like it is! Not to mention, I don't see how this will get anything done. Even if we somehow go on good faith that signing this agreement will just kick out 'the rich', whatever that means, what then? You try and go back to being a small farming village? Remind me how that'll work out when the raiding parties, who are now fully aware of this city's status, come around. Just call the police? Whoops, looks like they're not being paid any more. As much as I understand why you want change, you can't just go back. That's not the way the world works."

Mila continues to vent, a nerve having been struck. She's not entirely sure what she intends with her words, but something about their actions just seems fundamentally wrong to her.

"Come on now, Mila..."

No matter how aggressive she was, she had a point...

"She's right, though. You can't just kick people out and expect things to suddenly improve."

edited 13th Jul '17 5:26:08 PM by BaconZorp

"Mila, Mila! These guys just lost a close friend just today."

The Blastoise turns fully to Mila. "I don't care about turning back the clock, this is revenge. They been pushing us into the center slums for decades. So many people live in there, but yet the police stations, the tourist spots, the reconstructing, it's all outside the slums, because everyone's always trying to push us out of their view. They keep on pushing us, and we've been getting madder and madder, like a beedrill-hive getting balled up. And for a while, we were getting mad at whatever, but ever since Raheem, we started taking, uh, what was it called, Mook?"

"Affirmative action."

"Yeah! They push us, so we push back."

"Yeah, and they don't seem too worried about it, do they? I'm sorry, maybe I'm just pushing my own ideas on them, but when a friend gets seriously injured I don't go around asking people to institute an overthrowing of the system. Somehow, I don't think they're feeling too beat up about that."

Mila's anger has reached a boiling point, and she turns to face the two directly, ignoring the rest of her friends.

"And what will revenge get you? Your plan is great and all, except for the bit where you don't seem to have a plan. You're so busy with 'what if we could' that you're not thinking about 'what if we should'? If you want things to get better you need to work with them, not just throw them out. Even if you remove one group, another's going to come in sooner or later. Whether its raiders, more rich traders, or pirates, I don't know."

*Jani chimes in, trying not to lay into Mila too thick* Honestly, you're probably right. There's no way this town can revert back to the way it was...hell, I signed it knowing full well. Maybe it'll open some eyes, spark that "small town" spirit that this town desperately needs.

"Guys, listen. When someone loses a near and dear friend, family member, et cetera, they go looking for a blame game. These guys have been losing everything they've ever known for...years. I can't agree that they want everything to be taken away from the rich, but they have a point."

To the Blastoise and Numel.

"Listen, we're not from here. If you talk to the Mayor of this town, you can get alot more done."

".. Hm. That's an unusual case there.. I don't think we've gotten any other reports like that. And you're sure it was the Dusknoir who had the infection, not the Chansey?" Ariane thinks some more.

"Well, either way, I'd say keep an eye on that Chansey in case they were infected in the process of being possessed."

The Blastoise reiterates. "No, for the last time, this isn't about reverting the town to a prior state, or even about Raheem, it's about equality. It's about showing that people having more money don't deserve more freedoms."

edited 13th Jul '17 5:43:18 PM by TacoBadger

"Hey, how are things going?"

Cyk has mostly recovered, although she's still wearing a bandage.

"What are you dudes arguing about?"