NeoAJ

Pokémon: Warriors of Sengun (Up To Four Spaces Open)

The road looked simple enough from things. A simple stroll towards a forest that definitely recalled shades of Pinwheel that hit a little too close to home for Robyn. Sure, she had fond enough memories of Pinwheel Forest but she wasn't so sure that her travelling companion would be willing to go back to the kind of place that resulted in chunks of leaves being permanently lost. For the moment though, Nina seemed to be all right, bobbing her head as a slight breeze glided through the fields coming from the direction of the gently flowing river. "All right, Nina. I know you rock, but we gotta get you some help girl. Let's see if we can't find a new partner out here in the plains."

"Lillil!"

"OK, let's see what you got for me field..."

ONE HOUR LATER...

"Nothing! Nothing after all that!" Robyn slumped down onto a little hill a little faster than she should have, resulting in a protest twinge from her ailing knee. "Ahhh...damn it..."

The walk across the expanse of the Route had been a fruitless one for the young Castelian. Every time she thought she spotted a Pokemon that would have been ripe for capturing, it would get away. It would either fly away or it would run away, and Nina wouldn't be able to catch them, and Robyn certainly wasn't in the state to chase them. It was frustrating, and now they were coming up to the imposing Verdan Forest. Trees blocked off the pathway in front of them. Everyone else who had started out from Regala with the pair were heard in the background, celebrating likely captures or generally not being miserable. Robyn tried her best to remain upbeat about the situation, but it was tough to deal with. There wasn't even any kind of battle so Nina could get in some fights to warm up a bit. Not that the Petilil seemed to mind. She was still waving and bobbing her head to her own mystical music, hanging a little close to the trees lining the forest.

"Nina, be careful there hun! Don't go off into the forest!"

"Lil! Petilil."

Robyn didn't know if Petilil could roll their eyes but it sure sounded like Nina did. Guess she's not as worried about the forest as I thought. That's kinda good, I guess. Means she might be all right in there. She reclined back on the hill, resting her head on her hands as the blades of grass tickled her skin. Freaking Pokemon all over the place in Castelia and I finally get my shots at catching them all and I can't even get anything. This is so bogus. Fine. You know what? I don't need anything here. Me and Nina will go kick ass at the water gym and move on. We'll be unstoppable. She can totally do it by herself.

"LILLLLLLLLL!" "Nyanyaaaaa!"

"What the hell?" Robyn quickly sat up and looked over to where she thought Nina was and saw the tiny Grass-type moving as fast as her stubby little nubs would carry her. A pink blur was chasing after Nina, closing quickly from the direction of the forest, before leaping up and landing on top of the Petilil, pinning her to the ground as the Pokemon looked rather pleased with itself.

"Nyaaaaaaaa!~"

"Is that...all right. All right! Finally someone comes to us! I like it!" Nina didn't share Robyn's sentiments as she was struggling to get up from underneath the quadrupedal Pokemon. "Nina, c'mon girl! First battle with a wild Pokemon! You gotta put up more fight then that!"

Nina did her best to pop free from the paws of the Pokemon and after a few seconds she finally succeeded. She turned to face her attacker rather ticked off about the whole chasing situation. "Lillll! Peti! Lil!"

Her opponent however seemingly had no interest in fighting. Instead, out of the corner of it's seemingly closed eye, it noticed that while Nina had stopped the moving, its tail did not, and that was much more enticing. The Pokemon started running around in a circle, chasing it's own tail before spinning and collapsing, tail on it's forehead.

"I...what?" Robyn was a bit confused. Was that a Tail Whip or something? Guess it had to be. "Nina! Hit it with an Absorb while it's down!"

"Lilllll! Nina began to glow. From the two leaves on the side of its head, a red beam emerged and struck the chaser head on, sapping a fair amount of strength from the sounds of things. "Nyaaahaaaah!" It slumped onto the ground, unable to put it's tail back in place atop it's head.

"Good enough for me!" Robyn reached into the pocket of her hoodie to produce an empty Pokeball and tossed it at the downed creature. A red light emerged as it struck the forehead and sucked it in, barely wiggling twice before giving an audible click.

Robyn got up and walked over to the resting ball, Nina bounding over looking for some comfort following it's brief experience as a cat toy, but Robyn was interested in picking up her first capture as a trainer. "All right! That wasn't so hard..." Nina was rubbing up against her leg now. "You did a great job, Nina!" She bent down gingerly, grabbing the Grass-type and nestling her with the Pokeball in her arms.

"Petipetilil!" Nina seemed proud of herself as well for beating back the tormentor.

Robyn looked down at the Pokeball still in her hand. Dunno what I just got, but whatever. A capture's a capture.

Elementals: The Scarred World (Semi-Open)

As Nataly looked up across the deck, she saw the sturdy body of the Ironworker dashing towards the railing while carrying a shield of unknown origin. How is she...where did she...do I care? Vana landed with a thud next to her on the railing, bracing herself with her legs, shield held high as another harpy slammed unsuccessfully into it.

"Go! I'll cover you, get down the stairs and hold the ice!"

Another crash of stone on wood near the two of them was enough to convince Nataly she was not going to survive by huddling against the railing any longer. She nodded at the Ironworker and mentally got ready to count down. OK...OK...1...

"Go!"

Vana took off for the hatch where a couple of the other mages still stood and Nataly did her best to try and keep up. It was clear that Vana was going to have to slow down to adjust for the pace of the Hydromancer, and she was, but still Nataly struggled. The sound and feel of fiery chunks and shadowy blasts raining down upon them was tough to overcome, but she tried. She almost stumbled to the hatch, into the waiting arms or the Commander and couple of the others, but she made it, her robes singed but still doing their job.

"Are you all right?" one of the crewmen asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I think so..." Nataly answered as she did her best to stand. She didn't even get a chance to thank Vana. Vana was already heading back to the railing to try and pluck Eve from the same clutches she was in.

"Good. The hull's failing. We need all the help we can get to stabilize it."

"Oh...shoot! Yeah! OK, yeah, lead me somewhere I can touch it." The crewman did as ordered to move Nataly back to a point where she could continue the reinforcement work on the hull to try and help this dogged vessel survive the furious onslaught.

Corrected and Connected

@vietmyke It happens. I've been pretty busy since getting back home. Helping my dad with the wood splitting and all that. Take your time, man.

West of the Thirteen: An Alternate History RP

I will express some interest in this RP.

Elementals: The Scarred World (Semi-Open)

@hoppiholla391 Just a heads up, your character drawing is not showing up for me. Not sure if it's a dead link or my internet being shit, but just thought you should know.

Elementals: The Scarred World (Semi-Open)

Nataly had stationed herself near one of the empty cannon holes as she figured direct contact with the hull of the ship would allow for the quickest and most effective frost coverage. Between herself, Eve and all the ice that was already readily available to them in the air around the storm, it didn't take too long to cover the ship in a thick coat of sheer cold. She was focusing on throwing as much water on there as she could before she was distracted by something thunking near her. She looked up, seeing the Iron Lady at the end of a thick length of rope, an end of which appeared to be laying nearby at the end of a long coil.

"Tie them around your waists. Helps you keep your feet." That was all she said before she moved back towards the center of the ship.

The Hydromancer shrugged her head to the side as if to agree. "Makes sense." She abandoned her icemaking for the moment to loop the rope around her robe, cinching it as tightly as she could around her waist. Nataly wasn't sure if her knotting would be good enough, she tried to remember back to the days back home when her father showed her how to tie ropes but they were so long ago. With the fury of the storm swirling around, it was tough to pass a memory test at this point. So Nataly did the best she could, trying to approximate the knots in her mind as she secured herself to the tether.

By the time it was announced that the fire power of the ship had been reduced, Nataly was trying to get reset back in her position. The storm seemed to intensify, be it from natural or external forces, it was swaying a bit more than she thought. Soon it wouldn't matter. Nataly heard a thud, seeing Eve face to face with one of the harpies that began boarding the ship and before she could move to help her fellow Blizzard specialist, another one landed with a clunk in front of her. The legends were liars. There was nothing human in this feathery beast that snarled in front of her, maw full of jagged teeth bared in her direction. Drool dripping down onto it's wicked sharp talons. Nataly inched back towards the edge of the ship. Alainia damn it, that thing is digusting...

Nataly held her hands out, trying to collect enough moisture to form a pair of daggers she could use to battle this creature, but the harpy seemed to sense this was not a submissive stance. The beast flew at Nataly, only giving her time for a pair of shiv like shards, but it would be enough. The Hydromancer hit the deck, letting the creature fly above before raking the shards against it's torso. The harpy fell to the planks, black feathers now stained red with blood. Nataly did her best to pounce while she had the opportunity. It was a less than graceful movement, and the repeated plunging of ice into hide wasn't befitting of someone of her looks, but she didn't care at the moment. This sucker was dying. After nine plunges, the creature ceased to move.

A swipe of the head to collect the beads of sweat off her forehead was all that Nataly was allowed in terms of respite as the ship lurched and shook again with the crashing of stone and ice into the vessel. "Ahhhhh!" Ms. Andrade stumbled back to her spot on the railing, attempting to gain some cover from the raging elements while she slipped her hand back out onto the hull, desperately trying to restore some semblance of armor to the battered ice shield over the hull.

"BACK INTO THE SHIP! NOW! EVERYONE INTO THE SHIP, TO THE STAIRS!"

"What?" Nataly looked over to see the Commander plunging into the depths of the ship via the deck stairs, and it looked a great distance away. "I...can I even make that without taking a hit? I dunno." She stayed put for now, waiting for an opening to try and dash for the stairs.

Corrected and Connected

Jam and done, @Genkai. Thanks for being patient while I deal with the waning throes of work and the social obligations that come with the preamble of an impending move. Speaking of which, if things en story progress on the weekend, I'll need until Monday before I can respond, what with the whole moving thing (Finally getting off the couch!) But then I'll be in the middle of nowhere, so distractions will be limited in the future and be more conducive to quicker posts.

Corrected and Connected

Despite her misgivings about how peaceful this temple haven really was, Atomik didn't keep her gun at the ready like she probably should have. It hung casually in her right hand as she tried to take in as much info on the area and it's surroundings as she could. After the leader posited that this was something akin to a game given that the three of them still had access to their weapons, Atomik frowned. "If whoever did this is toying with us, that makes me just hate them even more..." she said softly to herself. Toying was just another form of bullying. If these people had any kind of malicious intent, they would pay.

Following the sounds of Crystal's armor on the golden floor made it easy to keep pace with the team, but the surroundings were definitely doing their best to distract Atomik. It was easier to focus on the large building as they approached though. The closer the trio got, the harder it became to ignore it's omnipresent stature above the surrounding valley. As they approached the inner room, she nodded as Crystal laid out the plan of operation. It seemed simple enough. Stay left and keep going until I run into Bre. I can do that. The surprise was taken out of the task when the candles started lighting up in the room around them, and the light didn't put Atomik's mind anymore at ease. Someone or something definitely knows we're here and is trying to lead us somewhere...but why?

BreGle beat her to the bookshelf, a surprising finish considering the larger man's usual lumbering gait, but it meant he got first crack at the book that sat on the bookshelf. He turned to the diminutive blaster,

"Cover me, if it explodes or tries to eat me. Or something jumps out of it... You know along the lines...."

Atomik gave a two-finger salute. "Got it. Standard random object protocol. Just try to cover your ears." Atomik set her gun to 3 and pointed it squarely at BreGle's hands.

Turned out to be a false prep. Touching the book did nothing. Opening the book similarly resulted in nothing. As BreGle read the words out loud, it just seemed like a rough copy of a TED talker's guest speech. One that was trying REALLY hard to go viral but wasn't going to get there. It ended in a riddle though. Standard sphinx fare. BreGle handed Atomik the book and she read it over again, trying to find anything she might have missed. All right, c'mon Atomik. You're good at riddles. Let's see... Protected like a child. Something valuable. But spread like a disease... so it's easy to catch, and if caught it's bad. It's not going to be money or something. Too obvious... People spend lifetimes chasing me...I will set you free... The truth? It could be something corny like that. And people will chase it and it will spread fast. Like a video or something...It's worth a shot.

The tapping of metal on rock distracted her for a moment as Atomik looked up to see Crystal scratching at the dead end above them. The book also said time couldn't be rushed... "Hey, Crystal? You might want to come back down from there for a few minutes. I don't think you want to be up there according to this...and bring your spear. I think I need it for something." Her gun wasn't going to get the carving job done, that's for sure.

Pokémon: Warriors of Sengun (Up To Four Spaces Open)

The punk girl who said she was from Castelia as well didn't seem to be as thrilled to be representing the Big Cream as Robyn was. Sounded almost like she was dissing the city. Now there was credit where credit was due. Robyn didn't like people taking pot shots at her home burg, but at least she was a native. Natives had the right to go after it. One of those Kalos types, they would have beef on their hands. If this girl lived the life and got out though, well there was no faulting that.

"Only thing stuffy was that dinky tub ride over here," she announced to her fellow Castelian. Now that she thought about it, she did look like she spent an awful lot of time across the inlet near Virbank. They were all about that grunge life over there. Didn't know street living, but whatever. It was a scene. "I dunno bout the city though. This is my first real...trip outside Castelia, so maybe I can't say nothing." Robyn preferred to leave it at that. There were more important things to focus on than being Castelia's unofficial public spokesperson. There were Pokemon to catch, gym leaders to battle, prizes to be won.

Corrected and Connected

I've got a post in the works as well but this extended period of me not having a room and sleeping on a couch has wreaked havoc with my already off-kilter energy levels. I've drunk myself to sleeping while it's dark out though, so hopefully tomorrow brings a productive day.