‘Oh, yeah, they're Galarian. I actually just returned from there, a great island region with a bunch of unique Pokémon. Sinistea is this possessed little teacup, Dreepy is this tiny dragon-ghost hybrid, and Galarian Corsola is indeed a regional variant that's a ghost-type! Really sad little thing, really... Anyway! What do you think?’ Zachery replied, looking expectantly at the young girl that was his first customer.
Dorothy was absolutely about to dash off in whatever direction available to her, when Aurelio slammed his cane down and magical energy was spent, and-
‘EEP!’ Dorothy cried out, covering her head, totally thinking she was about to be struck… when instead the magic made a defensive barrier and shielded her from Kimble, instead. ‘Eh?’ Dorothy looked around in surprise, her eyes eventually settling on Aurelio as he calmed down Kimble and then once again started talking to her. The rabbit-girl blinked a bit at the mention that Kimble used to be a cat-girl… She also looked a bit confused by the multiple hims, but she’d seen Duplication powers before, so…
‘Ah…!’ Dorothy made a noise as Aurelio held up the White Coin, the rabbit-girl gasping a bit on the distance, feeling its power even from over here. ‘It’s… it’s the real deal…’ she muttered, breathing a bit in excitement as Aurelio finished her explanation. The rabbit swallowed.
‘The quicker the better. I don’t like Beacon, but if it means losing my current form… er, I won’t have to hunt other Monster Girls, will I…?’ Dorothy shook her head. ‘N-nevermind that! I… I take the first option. Bring it to me… please,’ Dorothy requested, sitting there all tense and ready to attempt to escape at any moment’s notice.
With that, and with Kimble hopefully standing by, Dorothy waited with bated breath as Aurelio had his clone collect the coin and start moving over the short distance over towards the rabbit-girl…
‘Oooh… It’s really happening…’ Dorothy said, lifting her hand to accept the coin. ‘I never thought… that just by asking… I could finally be free from-’
The first warning Aurelio got was his Awareness picking up on something rumbling underground. His second warning was, perhaps, sensing the emotions of someone exceedingly, exceptionally Excited, coming from underground.
A magical charge went off underground, and suddenly part of Penrose Garden was covered by an orange magical barrier, a dome showing up above the heads of Aurelio, Dorothy and Kimble, locking them in with decent room for them to be locked in even if they’d made a daring escape somehow.
Then, suddenly vines shot out of the ground, each of the vines holding a rocky item of some sort. One was right by Dorothy and clone-Aurelio. Two was by Kimble (and other clone-Aurelio). Two was by real Aurelio. Five in total.
Three went off, one at each area. They sent a dizzying pulse of energy that gripped at the conscience of those hit by it, magically inducing them to fall asleep, depending on their vitality and resistance to magic. Given ShineSpark, Aurelio and Kimble would probably be moderately immune. However, Dorothy collapsed unconscious as soon as the wave hit her as the waves went through her mentally unshielded body, unless somehow protected.
The two remaining by Aurelio and Kimble then went off. The wood carrying them shaped as to only blast the contents in the rough direction of the two. The contents were a large amount of grey, sticky half-fluid that were launched at respective individuals at the speed of a detonated grenade, seeking to impact or cover the individuals in question. The moment it hit something, it’d stick like a powerful adhesive, harden into rock at a blinding rate and become exceptionally heavy, intended to seal them in place and stop them from interfering. It wasn’t something they couldn’t break through eventually, but would they break through quick enough? If blocked by a magical wall, then the fluid would harden into an actual actual wall at the place it was blocked, which would also block their ability to interfere with what happened next.
With a burst of earth flying out of the sites of their emergences, three individuals broke through the ground, propelled by wooden torpedoes that dug them out of it and promptly cracked open upon reaching the surface.
They were but shades. Vague outlines of people that were disguised behind a dose of magic to avoid identification. Still, each of them had a very specific mission in mind.
One of them had giant clawed hands and a shower of metal floating about her, she stopped between the action and Aurelio. She was going to keep a close eye on him, and fire metal shards if he tried to get close.
The one with a mess of something sticking all over her stopped between Kimble and the action. She held forth her hand and a forest of vines sprung up from the ground to capture Kimble, or at the very least hold her on a range until they were done.
The last was a blur, blasting off at ridiculous speed towards the Aurelio clone with the White Coin, wherever it was right now. She had but one goal; recover the White Coin. She’d unleash a Barrage of brutal, merciless punches if the clone still held it, and if it was otherwise dropped she’d bolt with immense speed to catch it, aided by Awareness.
Outside the barrier, things crawled out of the ground. Tree-monsters, growing to large sizes as the minions of the Wood-specialized girl set themselves up as a barricade facing outwards around the barrier placed themselves to be in the way in case of outside reinforcements. They were not as strong as their ogre-sizes would imply, but they were intimidating, and sure to cause any reinforcements to think twice. Not that it entirely mattered, because the timing of this assault meant there were few reinforcements to be had, everyone busy in other directions.
What answer did Aurelio and Kimble have to this attack?
If you’re willing to just let them go with the White Coin without struggle, that is.
After the center physical combatant had collected the White Coin while any attackers were held off, she’d turn and poke at metal-powers, who’d nod and look at Aurelio.
‘Don’t be too hard on Dorothy, she didn’t know~!’ she said with what definitely wasn’t her real voice.
Then, what could be easily recognized as Overcity Shift happened on a short-range basis, sending the three shades into the Overcity. They left an Overcity Entrance behind, but you can bet they were bolting on the other side. Shortly after, the barrier surrounding them faded out of existence, as it was a strong short-time-period barrier only, and the wooden minions broke apart and vanished as their jobs had been accomplished. The artifacts they used crumbled to sand, leaving little trace of that they’d existed. With that, the attackers were gone.
…
Just a suggestion, really. XD
From the other perspective…
‘It’s… it’s the real deal…’
‘That’s the signal! And he’s bringing the coin over with a clone! This almost literally couldn’t go better! Get ready!’
‘Alright,’ Freya said, looking towards the two others in their dug-out underground cavern. The furred lamia with red eyes looked at the eyepatched girl with metal limbs and her wooden, tree-monster companion. ‘You know what to do,’ she said.
‘We blow up bombs, then I keep my Third Eye on Aurelio, Esther holds off Kimble, and you obtain the White Coin, then I Overcity Shift us for the getaway. Deal!’ Jelena summarized happily. They’d previously been told it was just Aurelio and Kimble.
‘…’ Esther merely looked on silently, the tree-monster’s gaze practically dead.
‘Just don’t hurt Dorothy,’ Freya said. ‘She’s played her role well since Ronja collected her, no need to aggravate her fate further with injuries. Mistress Mariette likes rabbits, after all, so better not draw her ire.’
‘Will avoid, ma’am!’ Jelena called happily, saluting with giant metal hand. ‘…’ Esther did not. Regardless, Freya took it as acknowledgement.
‘Alright, gems first!’ Freya said, and the three of them picked their gems. It was the same gems Mariette had obtained from the trade with Shion prior, able to be filled with magic of other specializations and then used. And so, the three of them clasped their hands on the gems and activated their Illusion-magic. Their forms changed, disguised, dark. Now, one could still see the magic they used, but their forms themselves were secluded.
‘Esther, barrier and bombs!’ Freya then commanded of Esther, and…
Esther had numerous of her wooden vines enclosed on rocky objects. They were traps created by their resident trap-master, the “Artificer”, Taihei. First, Esther shot up the barrier-artifact with her vines, which activated below ground, sealing the area around both the individuals on the ground and those hiding beneath it. Then, she shot up the Sleep Pulse Grenades and the sticky grenades with no better name. They did have more of them, but it turned out only two potential threats appeared. With Absolute Direction and guidance from the cyan voice, Esther knew exactly where to make the bombs break out to then detonate.
‘And now, US!’ Freya called, preparing her claws.
‘Let’s gooooooooooooooo~!’ Jelena called, so excessively excited.
‘…’ Esther wordlessly obliged, sealing the three of them inside wooden torpedoes that launched up to the surface. She sent Freya directly at the White Coin, she sent herself between the White Coin and Kimble, and she sent Jelena between the White Coin and Aurelio. Then, it was simply a matter of breaching the surface while Esther called out her minions to surround the barrier, and the event was underway.
In a room with computers somewhere, a girl tapped a specific button.
‘The operation is underway, Mariette. So far so good.’
… And that’s when she got word from a different audio-speaker that something else was off.
‘… Also, Eli’s in trouble! Vi started singing, and-’
Grrr.
Mariette had previously accepted a snack from Amaryllis after having looked curiously at the magic that she’d prepared on the east side of the warehouse before closing said portal. She tasted the thing while watching Fabio traverse the insides of the warehouse, hearing some valuable intel, and then triggering a trap. This, almost simultaneously as Mariette got a very irritating report through the tiny communicator she’d put in her ear previously today, perhaps should have mentioned that in case Nuncio has super-cat-hearing or something.
She threw a portal open, a gate for Nuncio and Amaryllis to head through to rescue Fabio and attack if they so decided.
‘Go! I’ll be right behind!’ Mariette spun towards the party warehouse, grabbing her hand-mirror weapon and directing it towards it. ‘I just need to save Eli first…!’
She had got the report that Justine was there before, but it hadn’t sounded like she needed to save her quite yet. Now, however, when Eli would be on the brink of going insane? A completely different story…!
‘Hmpf. Such a meeting can be easily arranged. Go stand still on a rooftop somewhere, we’ll see you,’ Eli replied, a bit more confident now with a guard.
Then Dolly showed up out of nowhere. Huh. Eli didn’t know what to make of it. Then… Veronica enacted her plan, however that went, but Eli staggered back. No time to remain, she had to get out of here…!
… Then Vi showed up, and Eli had to turn to look for at least a bit. Was the war starting? Where they announcing their crusade on Beacon? What would happen? Eli was somewhat excited to find out, it’s what she was there for, after all…
She didn’t predict that. She didn’t predict that at all.
Listening to Vi’s music… it wasn’t even to her taste, and yet… ‘Urk,’ Eli fell onto her knees, which were partially dissolving. She was shaking so hard, tiny form on the floor. So… so hungry. Anyone touched by her slime-body would feel the fluid cells she was composed of trying to digest them at this point. Everyone looked so delicious… Eli dissolved her eyes, not wanting to be tempted. Yet, her body sensed them… basically walking pieces of nutrients… It was usually kept at bay by Mariette feeding her regularly, yet… Why was this? Numerous brawls were heard, darkness covered the room, she felt the scent of fire…
H-hadn’t Cindy said they’d declare war? Why was this descending into a mad party were allies were going to die, then? Was this a trap? Was this actually done by someone who wanted monsters to kill one another, or was this actually Vi’s idea of a good time? So… hungry… it was all Eli could do to just remain in place and have the overall shape of a human body slowly break apart as her monster-instincts were trying to take over…
And then, unless someone else had interrupted or there’s some magic-repelling that she didn’t know about, Mariette located Eli using Absolute Direction and a portal opened beneath her, intent on swiftly letting Eli fall through the portal to right in front of Mariette before closing it again in a hurry, which would be quickly followed up with retrieving meat from her Hammerspace Handbag to feed to Eli with.
‘Okay! Let’s go!’ Ronin called as it seemed they were going. She hurried after Cindy through the secret passage towards Penrose Park, enhancing her body to run faster with Reinforcement magic and keeping an eye on her companions.
Somewhere else. In a completely different world, unconcerned with what was happening at the rave, a woman was alone with her boredom…
…
… Oh?
Something was going on outside.
Someone… was visiting.
A… spirit mage?
… Interesting…
…
… Let’s tease her a bit…
Poly waddled through the vent without issue, waddling forward and dropping down the vent with no traps going off. The ball then waddled left towards the back of the painting that blocked the entrance to the room. Since nothing else was happening, the corpse-doll reached to grab the painting-
A powerful magical energy suddenly swept the area, pouring out from the mirror and reaching beyond the room itself all the way off to where Myria herself was standing. There was a very sudden change in what the spirits told her, their movements suddenly more erratic and what they told more focused.
In the room, there was an obsidian mirror, a portal to another world… and magical energy was slowly flowing into it, so slowly that it wasn’t even noticeable. Energy being gently guided through, and also catching some spirits that were wandering too closely. Through the portal, was… darkness. An unimaginable darkness, undescribable by the words of the spirits, their voices fearful. And, in front of said darkness stood a woman, idling, humming. She turned her head, looking curiously out through the mirror, and Myria somehow felt herself being watched, despite hearing all this only through the voices of the spirits. The woman smiled, a sweet little motherly smile, and reached forward with her right hand-
and Myria felt a chilling, ice-cold hand gently caress her left cheek from far too far away.
After having caressed a bit, she reached forward her left hand and gave something back to Myria. It was the spirit hand she’d put in Poly… and all the fingers on the hand were broken.
d o n o tv i s i t u s a g a i n or y o uwill b e d e s t r o y ed
And with that, the figure smiled so kindly at her before she faded away.
It was a nice day in the Penrose city park, middle of the day. Trees stood around, birds chirped and people went on their way. A gentle breeze blew past, pulling at the long brown hair of the young girl sitting at the bench. The girl was eleven years old, wearing glasses, a blue shirt and white skirt, and held a peaceful expression sitting on the chair. Numerous birds landed near her, and she calmly strew some seeds for them to eat. A stray cat had jumped up on the bench and sat down in contact with her side. Yeah. Like this… like this it was peaceful, a gentle day in nature, as she liked it. She liked this place.
Esther Lassen decided this park belonged to her.
… A relatively loud machine buzzed somewhere to her left, disturbing her peace. Esther turned her head to look in the direction. Someone in yellow with a tiny saw-machine was trimming the hedges of the park, to make them look nice. It was his job. Esther only saw someone harming the plants that she had taken under her protection.
She gently stood, to not disturb the cat which had lied down next to her. Vines had overtaken the bench where she sat. Esther wandered with calm yet firm steps along the road that would take her next to the man with the machine, leaving the birds behind. Seen by no audience, flowers and vines sprouted beneath where her feet had placed themselves, spreading to overtake the road which man had spent effort to make comfortable for humans to wander.
She passed behind him. He didn’t notice. His time was up. Esther gathered her power, and-
‘Esther! Stop!’
The javelin of wood in her hand did not launch. The man with the saw had not heard due to the earmuffs he wore as he operated the saw. Esther dropped the javelin, knowing how being seen with it would not be optimal, and some vines dragged it into the foliage beside the road. She turned to look at the one who spoke. A short, seven-and-a-half year old black haired girl, in school uniform and wearing glasses, looking at Esther with a determined but alarmed expression.
Elizabeth Walton. The surviving “Darkness Harpy”. Eli.
‘Don’t kill. We don’t need an incident. Stay calm. We will contact you when we need your help. Until then, manage. You don’t need Asengav punishing you.’
That would indeed be troublesome. Esther stood still, resigning herself to being unhappy, unable to protect her park.
‘C’mon, we need you at the meeting. Even if you’re not going to say anything, it’s still good that you have at least heard what we’ve said. Because you ARE listening. … Right?’
Talking was unnecessary. Esther had understood. She remembered the place of the meeting, and turned to walk, a bird landing on her shoulder as she walked and the cat trailed after her as well. Esther walked on, leaving Eli behind. Eli breathed out, a potential crisis averted.
‘I’ll… take that as a “yes”?’ she tried, letting herself have a little smile at her own joke. But honestly, talking to Esther was awfully similar to talking to a tree. You’re not going to get a reply. Eli took out a phone and called the relevant number.
Basil searched for a bit and didn’t find a lot, then Cyril showed up and made way too much noise for the possibility of finding a rare Pokémon, don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you in a bit.
So, Aster had this little adventure, which ended with…
He hid in the bushes, preparing for whatever fwee heist he might possibly be planning, when he heard the slightest bit of a happy little humming. If he then looked over, to the other side of the bush… there was a large gathering of stones gathered from across the park. Small, round stones gathered in a pile, with the happy gatherer looking at each in turn with a happy smile before picking out her favorite and sticking it in her “pants”. She looked utterly delighted.
Then the creature turned and happened to look directly at Aster. She tilted her whole body a bit and inspected him.
‘Happiny?’
Oh, and, Cecil noticed something was going on in that bush over there and is authorized to peek.
What will Aster do?
What will Cecil do?
What are the boys doing?
1. Pokémon School Park. There’s a small park of grass in here. What kind of Pokémon might be in it? 2. Talk. Plenty of students and teachers. This is a wellspring of knowledge, someone must know something. 3. Challenge. Work your way up the leaderboard! Specify the level of opponent. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Study. You want to know something? Feel free to learn about it here! 6.1. Pokémon Habitats. Learn where you might find a specific kind of Pokémon! 6.2. Isson Geography. Learn more about the different places in Isson! 6.3. Names to Remember. Learn about Gym Leaders, Elite Four, or the like! 6.4. Local Legends. Learn about different tales from around Isson! 6.5. Pokémon Breeding. That’s also a subject. 6.6. Battling Basics. You likely know them already. 6.7. Specify. Tell what you want to learn and we’ll see if we have a course!
Connected areas: Pureplain City. All around, of course.
So, behind the tree that the man had gone past there was a section without vegetation, with a bunch of panels on the ground. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, and there were no human witnesses to claim anything strange was going on here.
There was a Pokémon, however.
Pokédex Entry #290 – Nincada, the Trainee Pokémon. It is usually found underground, using its antennae to sense its surroundings. It gains nourishment my tapping into the roots of trees with its claws as it await evolution. Nincadas are nearly blind, and avoid sunlight due to inability to withstand it.
Nincada sat in the grass next to the tree, absently tapping at the roots of it, when Ralia and Claire came over. It abscently pointed towards one of the panels.
‘Nincada…’
Translation for Ralia!
‘Yeah, he went down this panel… can be lifted… ladder, under… not very nice to tap into…’
Should the panel be moved by someone, they’d find a ladder going straight down into some sort of building. The walls were concrete, the smell exceedingly stiff. There were some unruly noises from below, probably from the guy that just entered. What was going on down here? Well. Only one way to find out… if they felt like investigating, that is.
Raremine Town is a moderately large, bright town on the edge of the only desert in Isson. By some twist, the largest mineral deposits in the land is located right under the desert, making it an attractive place to build mines. From that, Raremine Town naturally sprung into being as a merchant town on the edge of habitability from where the mineral could then be delivered to the rest of Isson. The temperature is hot, sun blazing down on this land where plains slowly become desert, the atmosphere dry and unfriendly… yet, life and trees blossoms among the buildings of Raremine Town.
The ground is still the grass from the Vast Plains, with buildings on top of them. The modern houses stand tall with plenty of architectural skill put into them, tools for building and living sold inside the houses. Everywhere, one can see workers walking about, but they’re happy workers, with their families living close at hand in the town and with the finest equipment available. Oh, and of course, plenty of Pokémon that assist with the finding of ores and such! The trees, which appear to have been planted and grown all over town by the residents themselves, gives plenty of homes for local Pokémon to live.
Overall, it’s busy, with people walking and talking all over, an active town indeed.
1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in cities~ 2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such. 3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city! 6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon. 6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things. 6.3. Pokémon Gym. ??? 6.4. Desert Miner’s Hangout. The workers of the Desert Mine live around here. They can give tips about the desert! 6.5. Research Lab. For archaeologists, those who want to talk to Dunstan and those who want to resurrect fossils. 6.6. Stone Store. Where all the stones of the Desert Mines or Frozen Cave eventually end up! Lots of evolutionary and other kinds of stones! 6.7. Bug Garden. A garden within which bugs thrive. Vivillons can be hired here for tracking down the Mythic Oasis! 6.8. Warehouses. Because the things they mine here needs somewhere to be stored. This includes Ancient Pokémon, apparently, as some of the warehouses are pens.
Connected areas: Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town. Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.
‘Wh-what?’ Vivia asked momentarily, her voice cracking as Skylar grabbed her wrist and starting to walk. She had to be very careful where she put her feet, and Skylar probably accidentally stumbled a couple of times too, but they were starting to move as they wandered further into the repulsing darkness. Each step still tried to tell them it was a bad idea, that home behind them was a much brighter and happier place and the only thing that awaited before them was misery. Yet, still, Skylar braved the darkness, and Vivia…
‘Y-’ A pause. ‘Y-yeah, I get it already! We just need to… I’ll do it!’ she said, and gripped him right back, her expression a grimace. ‘I’ll prove I can do it! Let’s go!’
And so, the two of them forced their way forward through the lengthy passage, and with each step the doubts and hesitation grew stronger… yet they had already decided, they’d do this.
Eventually, finally, they broke free.
The attacks stopped, they were free from the intrusive thoughts. They could stumble up a couple moderately corroded steps, and they came up into a new room…
It was a simple, empty room, surrounded by a slight channel of water. Except for the entrance, there were two exits, both somewhat to the left of where they came in. One immediately to the left, and one a bit further.
‘W-we made it…’ Vivia sighed out, hanging her head and sighing out a bit. ‘Thank you, Skylar. I don’t think I’d… have managed… huh?’ Vivia said, before looking towards something in the center of the room.
Where she was looking, in the center of the otherwise empty room, was a pedestal. On said pedestal, was a stone plate. A stone plate of red, or perhaps wine-coloured effect. Skylar felt himself urged to pick it up. Vivia gave him a curious look.
There was an inscription on it, which read…
"When the universe was created, its shards became this Plate."
Skylar obtained Draco Plate!
… And then there was a crack, which sounded from deep under them.
Then… there was the sound of water flowing, from underwater. The water level was starting to slowly rise in the channels around what they stood on. It was not showing any signs of stopping, and soon enough it would seep over and make their feet wet. This was not caused by them taking the plate, as such placing it back would do nothing.
They somehow knew that, if they turned back, they’d be able to get back safely.
‘Oh, no,’ Vivia simply sounded out, looking towards the two routes. ‘There’s two paths out, one left and one right, but both turn left after a while, seems to head the same direction…? Not much to distinguish them otherwise…!’ Vivia called. Notably, she didn’t immediately suggest turning back.
What would Skylar do now?
Blue dot - Entrance. Pink dot - Eryn, if she followed Oaken. You don’t know this. Dark green dot - Oaken. You don’t know this. Purple dot - Skylar. Cyan dot - Vivia. Red dot - Claydol.
Sure, the items could have been left with Wilhelm, no problem.
‘Yeah. When it gets to the center, hide, and I’ll make it target the wall. Let’s go,’ Oaken told, nodding as he took cover, waiting for the Claydol to be lured over. Eryn took off, putting herself in danger for the sake of getting further into this dungeon.
She called out to Claydol as the floating robot appeared, and… and it quickly lifted its arms and glared with an ominous noise coming for it as Psybeam charged. Now, Oaken perhaps was accurate in how long it needed to fire, but it sure FELT like less, yet Eryn was able to dodge. One thing she quickly learned was that Claydol fired even if it lost sight of its target, as it fired on the things she hid behind, causing pulses of force to shake her a bit from impact-force despite them not actually hitting her.
She called out, and Claydol gave an irritated beep as it floated after her, as she zig-zagged away from the range of the Psybeams it fired. Finally, after numerous longer turns and hiding behind the pipe as Claydol floated to the middle of the room and fired a Psybeam right at the pipe, which sounded almost like it cracked beside her…
‘Hey! Pathetic excuse for a defense system! Where are you aiming!?’
Oaken called from over there, and Claydol quickly beeped and turned to aim its arms at him. The boy winced before he jumped out of the way just in time, as a powerful beam was fired from Claydol right at him. Oaken precisely got out of the way, right behind him the beam of psychic power impacted the cracked wall, and-!
There was a thunderous crack as the wall collapsed, breaking apart at the floor and revealing a new path!
Claydol froze in the middle of the room, as if realizing it had just been used. It floated there for a couple of inactive seconds… and then it turned eastwards, just slowly drifting away and off into the corridor…
‘… Well done, Eryn,’ Oaken said as he stood up where he was, adjusting his glasses. ‘It appears the way is open, and interpret that as the Claydol acknowledging our success. Shall we go?’ he asked, as he began wandering without further ado.
Here’s a moment for Eryn to potentially say anything to Oaken, as he wandered northwards up through the corridor. This corridor was decently tight, but still with random extrusions from the ground and pipes and who knows what else along the walls and otherwise as they moved through. If she does, I’ll have Oaken respond in the next post. The corridor turned west, and…
The next room they arrived to was partially surrounded by water, a small island with fallen moss-covered towers, with bridges out over the water to paths in all four directions. To the left, back south, were another gang of Beheeyem guarding the way. They were guarding the way to the same room as the previous gang of Beheeyem…
‘Tsk. They really don’t want us going that way,’ Oaken commented. To the right, northwards, stood a…
‘Mime?’
Pokédex Entry #122 – Mr. Mime, the Barrier Pokémon. A master pantomime, it practices constantly. It generates a mystic force from its fingers, creating an actual invisible wall by stopping air-molecules. Should it be disturbed during its act, it slaps with its broad, powerful palms. It enjoys conning people.
A Mr. Mime stood right in the way, on top of the bridge to the north. It looked towards them with a bit of confusion.
And straight forward… was a darker path. It wasn’t properly lit like the rest of the place somehow was. It was sort of unpleasant to look in that direction. Hurt even worse to consider going in that direction. However, notably, it was a slope that led upwards, higher.
Oaken wandered over the bridge on the side they’d entered, looking around in the three directions.
‘Hm, suppose the way is-’ Oaken started, when suddenly there came a loud crack from somewhere beneath the island, just as one of them took a step onto the island in the center. Oaken froze in place, frowning, gazing around him all alert. Mr. Mime looked somewhat panicked, flailing its arms a bit over there.
Then… there was the sound of water flowing, from underwater. The water level was starting to slowly rise. It was not showing any signs of stopping, and soon enough it would seep over and make their feet wet.
They somehow knew that, if they turned back, they’d be able to get back safely.
‘… Drat,’ Oaken said, looking around in annoyance. ‘Fleeing may be the only way to assure safety… but no, this is a trial…!’
Still, his second of hesitation muttering that to himself meant that perhaps Eryn would be first to act?
Blue dot - Entrance. Pink dot - Eryn, if she followed Oaken. Dark green dot - Oaken. Purple dot - Skylar. You don’t know this. Cyan dot - Vivia. You don’t know this. Red dot - Claydol.
‘I am a burning, brimming pillar of excitement! My determination and eagerness are transcendent, and my motivation crystal-clear! Jealous Buddhists would erect monuments to the utter harmony and enlightenment of my resolute mind! I'm fired up, and ready to go!’ Ronin grinned so widely at Reaver as she started talking before he'd even finished that third statement. She was absolutely still riding the positive rush from Veronica's unexpected rescue.
‘… Very well. I’ll be partly ready to send you elsewhere,’ Mariette said, opening a portal for Amaryllis that went to the east of Warehouse q. So Amaryllis had found documentation about the same warehouse. She looked to what Nuncio was saying, ignoring the threat in case she was a Mint agent. She was not, but it wasn’t as if she had the means to prove so.
‘It does strike me as likely that they may have magical protections in place, in which case a cat inside the warehouse could be an oddity. Regardless, I will stick around you, so that you may inform me where a portal might be opened safely,’ Mariette said, keeping close to Nuncio, and otherwise ready to portal wherever to get them closer.
This operation had the potential to get dicy. Still, let’s do this while everyone else was distracted. Mariette kept a close eye on everything she could.
Dorothy dodged and weaved and spun, dodging Kimble’s attacks so swiftly that occasionally she was running on the walls of the buildings without any seeming repercussions. She dodged over cars, behind busses, past corners many, many times, trying to lose the wind-cat as this supernatural cat-and-bunny chase kept going further and further, leaving a trail of cut cars, streets, pieces of building and torn up asphalt along the way. All the while Dorothy was crying out in remote panic as she dodged wind-blasts and absolutely would not stop for Kimble.
‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah this was a mistaaaaaaaaake-!’ Dorothy cried out, yet still sought her way to Penrose Gardens, where she hoped to hide. She arrived towards the park… and found Aurelio seated at a bench at said park. Dorothy’s eyes widened and she momentarily froze up, mid-escape.
‘Wh-wha- how did you get here before--!?’
And that pause was what Kimble needed to catch Dorothy’s foot with the boomerang-wind, causing the still-in-mid-escape-speed rabbit-girl to stumble and cry out a bit of ‘nooooooooooooooo’ as she rolled and tumbled down in front of Aurelio, crashing down face-first.
Dorothy would as quickly as possibly try to get on her feet and try to jump away. As far as she knew, Kimble and Aurelio had simply tricked her and now surrounded her to take her out. Still, maybe Aurelio would be able to clear the situation up now. Maybe.
‘Handkerchief-’ Ronin blinked in surprise. Partly because, woah, Cindy 100% just assumed command of her, huh. Other part because, where the heck would she even find a handkerchief here!? Aren’t those primarily for fancy dinners and stuff!? … She quickly stole some paper from behind the desk and placed them by Reaver before retreating back to Tetrad.
‘Guess there isn’t really drinking laws for Magical Girls, hahaha!’ Ronin was just gonna laugh at that little thing from Tetrad. ‘Noted. Still gonna stay around~!’ In reply to not discussing objectives openly. Then there was the thing about watching Reaver… ‘Already on it~!’
Then the, uh, “assassination attempt” happened. Ronin looked on with raised eyebrows. Yeah, all that which Tetrad said.
‘Did she really intend to kill you in the midst of a party, where you’re guarded by all your closest companions, and then intend to escape alive? Yeah, no, something feels off, here. Beacon doesn’t really use assassins, they use targeted strike forces that try to keep everyone alive while killing the foe. It’s the Puchuu and the Mint that see their girls as expendable, not Beacon…’ Ronin said, perhaps using information from her former life rather than her current one.
That’s when it sort of clicked that Cindy wanted to head out… with Ronin. ‘Wait, huh? Me?’ What the heck had Ronin done to deserve to head out on a secret mission with Cindy!? … WELL, OKAY, THAT WAS CONVENIENT FOR THE JOB! … But that’s also when Deni suddenly felt that Eli was in danger. Ronin turned her head, looking out into the crowd at Eli’s exact position, and realized who was heading after her. Justine. That was bad. Deni heard all that which Veronica was saying, but there was no way she could prioritize the mission over Eli’s safety. Oooh, she was gonna piss off Cindy, Veronica AND Justine in one fell swoop. That was roughly the holy trifecta of people Deni didn’t want to piss off right now…
And that’s when Veronica said she’d protect Eli for her. The wave of relief within Deni was palpable.
V, you’re a godsend and I love you.
‘Alright! I’m ready to go if we’re going!’ Ronin said with a grin, putting one hand on her sword to show how ready and excited she was. … There was a side of her that wasn’t entirely happy that she’d have to go on a mission that’d DEFINITELY put her in Beacon’s bad books… but guess she wasn’t exactly in a position to say no, now, was she? At the very least this put her in the middle of things where she might be able to make a difference…!
Eli was already making her way away from Justine when Justine started moving towards her. Except, there really wasn’t all that easy to hide from someone moving towards you with such determination when at a party. She was panicking within. Eli was NOT outfitted to deal with the likes of Justine…!
She could scream. Yeah, that should get everyone’s attention. That’d make it hard for Justine to kill her. Yeah. She’d scream. She was gonna scream…!
And then, an unlikely heroine dropped in, showing up to look at Justine over Eli. Wait, this was… V-Veronica!? Honestly, Eli didn’t know all that much about her, just the reports that had been given through their observations across Penrose, but it was one of the people at the top of the list to be aware of and keep an eye on…!
‘…!’ Eli let Veronica step through her, sliding around to get behind the girl and let the supposed vampires face off. Still, she had to…! ‘Wh-what are you doing back in Penrose…!?’ Eli asked, her voice agitated, peeking out from behind Veronica. Not a shield she’d ever have thought she’d be using, but it was certainly one she was happy to have right about now…!
The corpse-doll searched the step, and found that it was decently easily movable. It needed to be turned, pushed down, and then turned again, and then lifted up out of the step like a lever, then pulled with some extra force. With the step lifted, something sounded within the walls, and a piece of wall slid out of place to reveal a vent. It was in the top-right corner, looking like a regular vent, nothing even looked out of place or magical even with this wall moved out of the way. However, the spirits told that the way was through here. Myria would perhaps find that the entrance to the vent was loose, it was easy to detach and start climbing inside…
It was tight. Designed so that only children… or perhaps a person not consisting of flesh and blood would be able to press themselves through the vent. The vent went forward a bit, then dove straight downwards. After having gone down numerous meters, it turned left, and there it hit the room. A painting was placed over the entrance, so from the inside it had to look like the room had no exits. No exits except the mirror itself. Other than that, there was the carpet, other paintings, and of course the mirror itself standing at support.
The way in had been revealed. No traps had been seemingly sprung yet.
‘Eh… Well, of course it would be that direction…’ Vivia sounded a bit unconvinced at first, but eventually nodded and got ahead of him to guide the way. ‘Alright. Let’s just… let’s just do this.’
And so, they headed on. The path went into the darkness, and the ground was considerably uneven. ‘There’s a step. Let’s keep to the left here, there’s some strange contraption on the right. Here’s an indent, let’s step over it…’ Vivia had to explain a bunch of such things, as they walked forward, to the left, and then the path started leaning somewhat downwards. As they kept walking, it grew more and more difficult to get past things, and…
This path. It grew worse. A chilling pressure came from the long hallway, warning that with each step they took, it grew less and less pleased. Thoughts came unbidden to Skylar’s mind. Sentences or worries that perhaps would never normally occur to him, yet they did so here. Ideas like…
If I don’t turn back now, things will never be the same again. Am I truly prepared to take on what awaits at the end? I am putting Vivia in danger by making her come along. Shouldn’t I go back and continue aiming for becoming the best bird-trainer? There are no birds in here. I don’t get anything I want from this. Mesprit didn’t say anything about this. I’m not ready.
… And thoughts along the like, poking at his mind to see what he reacts to, and should any hit harder than others… the thoughts would start focusing on those.
Regardless of how well Skylar was handling it… Vivia eventually came to a full stop in front of him. The girl was shaking a little, having a bit of trouble putting the next foot in front of the other, eyes sort of wide, breathing slightly more rapidly.
However… JoJo was unaffected, past feeling the presence and the effect of knowing what was happening to his trainer and Vivia. But, should he decide to do something… I must not interfere. … Would be the one unbidden thought that occurred to him.
‘Hm?’ the woman looked over, as Basil asked what exactly the rare Pokémon was. ‘Oh, it’s a small, pink baby-Pokémon,’ she said, before giving him a bit of a smile. ‘We don’t tend to tell people what we’re releasing in the park, it’s for them to find out. The thing you just heard called out was a rumor from someone claiming that they saw it. Now, of course, sometimes we give hints in the shape of telling some students “hints” that develop into rumors. It’s to encourage young to-be trainers to go out and explore on their own. How about you? Will you go explore?’ she asked, looking at him with a kind, teacher-like attitude.
1. Pokémon School Park. There’s a small park of grass in here. What kind of Pokémon might be in it? 2. Talk. Plenty of students and teachers. This is a wellspring of knowledge, someone must know something. 3. Challenge. Work your way up the leaderboard! Specify the level of opponent. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Study. You want to know something? Feel free to learn about it here! 6.1. Pokémon Habitats. Learn where you might find a specific kind of Pokémon! 6.2. Isson Geography. Learn more about the different places in Isson! 6.3. Names to Remember. Learn about Gym Leaders, Elite Four, or the like! 6.4. Local Legends. Learn about different tales from around Isson! 6.5. Pokémon Breeding. That’s also a subject. 6.6. Battling Basics. You likely know them already. 6.7. Specify. Tell what you want to learn and we’ll see if we have a course!
Connected areas: Pureplain City. All around, of course.
Zachery raised his eyebrows a bit as Amelia made her little speech about business practices and such… and Elma frowned at that last little potential accusement.
‘Watch your tongue, little girl. I won’t stand for you insulting our captain by associating him with such scum,’ Elma said, glaring at her.
‘Now, now, she’s just talking business, but she sure knows a lot about such for someone so young, heh,’ Mila said on her side, not actually looking at any of those talking but at the ghosts by Amelia instead.
‘Hahaha! She has a bit of a point, however,’ Zachery said, grossing his arms a bit. ‘Doesn’t matter if it’s legal or not, we’re pirates! That aside! Here’s how we’ll do. Lesse… how does this work…’ Zachery said, pulling a phone, because that’s just useful to have, as he then maneuvered into the net and getting a list, and…
‘Here you go!’ Zachery handed over the phone, and he’d just searched a list of all Pokémon native to Alola, sorted by type, stopped at the ghost-type segment, and left a tab doing the same for Galar. ‘2,000 is for the common unevolved ones, like Galarian Corsola, Sinistea or Sandygast. 4,000 would be for rarer kinds, like Oricorio or Mimikyu. Finally, 6,000 are for fully evolved or very rare, like Alolan Marowak or Dreepy. … Still, I don’t think I’ll sell you the evolved forms unless you show you’re at their level. When you've picked one, I'll bring you it, and then you can confirm if you're happy with the transaction or if I should go get another one. How about it?’ Zachery said. So, like. How about it?
To note is that Zachery does not have legendaries.
The phone may or may not have cracked software. Don’t underestimate Mila’s technological prowess.
Pureplain City is placed on the south-west brink of Isson, with the town facing the water and spreading quite far. The further in-town you go, the higher the buildings become, but the suburbs spread quite far. In terms of sheer landmass, it might even compete with Worldedge City, although maybe not in height. Life passes normally within this city. Children grow up alongside their parents in houses in the long, friendly streets. Jobs come from the depths of the town in the taller buildings. Schools grow from the reasonably high amount of children in need of tuition. And of course, there are lots of Pokémon.
In Pureplain City, human and Pokémon work together. Be it for manual labour or just for company, Pureplain houses often contain at least one household Pokémon and there are many Trainer's Schools around the city have always been plentifully attended, not counting the recent drop of embarking trainers due to the Team Wars. In addition, Pureplain Harbor is known as the “Gateway of Isson”, as that’s where all the ferries from outside the region dock, giving life to quite the marketplace. A common attraction of the city is the Super Contest stage, but other than that, Pureplain remains what it has always been. Pure and plain.
1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns~ 2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Specify what kind you’re looking for. 3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Notable Buildings. Visit any of the facilities of the city! 6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon. 6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things. 6.3. Gym. Dorian’s Normal-type Gym, Major League 6.4. Super Contests. Rank 2 / 4. Where hopefuls become idols! 6.5. Trainer’s School. Where young trainers study to become better. Has a little park of wild Pokémon. 6.6. Kalmia’s Lab. You know you’re always welcome. 6.7. Pureplain Harbor. Known as the Gateway of Isson, it has a marketplace and ferries to places. 6.8. Pureplain Airport. The Gateway of Isson also has a way to dock your flying ships, apparently! 7. Familiar Faces. Cyril, Basil, Kalmia, Ryu, Jacques, Tim & Tom…
Connected areas: Route 1. Easier path, just follow the bigger road. Route 2. Walk through quite an amount of suburbs until you eventually reach the path. Sea. There’s water, alright. Can take you anywhere you want to go, assuming you have means to traverse it.
'…' Oaken was quiet for a bit as he still frowned and watched Eryn talking a bunch, winced a bit when she slapped his shoulder, grinner and spoke encouragement. His frown slowly lifted, then he sighed a bit. 'I must admit that I am not too thrilled about putting you in danger when I could do this myself, but I suppose this is bigger than both of us and I could possibly need a hand, since you’re here already. With no idea what you’re getting into. Okay. Thank you,' he said, looking over towards the east exit of the room.
'No need to lure one, from analyzing their patrols I know one will arrive from that corridor in around three minutes. The tunnel you followed loops back to this room, you didn’t miss anything. Fortunately, the rooms around here are full of obstacles to hide behind. Still, Claydol has to turn to fire at what it sees, so I’d give you three seconds before it can fire after seeing a target. It has an effective range of 15 meters, but will attempt to fire further than that, and then follow after where it saw the target. It’s not particularly good at hitting a moving target, fortunately. It needs to fire straight at the crack, we will need the force to be applied directly…'
'So if you could lure the Claydol to the middle of the room, where I show up to make it fire at the cracked wall. It is a bit worrying that we don’t know what’s behind the wall, in case there’s more danger behind, but regardless. After it has fired, it may be to our advantage to evacuate the room until Claydol leaves. It tends to go south back to the entrance after this room. … One minute until it arrives. Any questions?' Oaken asked Eryn, pushing his glasses up a bit as Claydol would soon show up at the end of the corridor approaching. If she didn’t say anything that otherwise prevented it, Oaken would go hide behind a specific pillar that was decently close to the cracked wall.
What would Eryn do?
Blue dot - Entrance. Pink dot - Eryn, if she didn’t enter the room. If she did, she’s in the room above. Dark green dot - Oaken. Purple dot - Skylar. You don’t know this. Cyan dot - Vivia. You don’t know this. Red dot - Claydol.
So, the timeline of events here is a bit shaky, as Hilaria disturbing Dorothy should happen before Aurelio’s reply, but Hilaria disturbing Dorothy also activates the flinch that causes Kimble’s charge, and that sort of shorts out Aurelio’s reply, but eh! Let’s assume it all somehow happened anyway!
‘EEP!’ Dorothy positively flinched at Hilaria’s sudden appearance, and the rabbit did what rabbits do, jump straight across the street to get to relative safety before turning around and looking in shock at Hilaria. Now, Hilaria didn’t necessarily look particularly threatening, but to Dorothy right now, EVERYONE was a potential threat…!
Then, Aurelio came forth being supremely comforting. ‘R-really?’ Dorothy asked, sounding a bit relieved but also surprised as she looked over at him. ‘Th-thank you…! In that case, could you-’
And somehow she hadn’t realized Kimble was coming her way at high speed until now, nevermind that Kimble should have reached her before Dorothy had any time to do the reaction typed above.
From there, Dorothy’s reaction was as expected.
She threw one look at Kimble coming at her at high speed, her eyes widened, and- ‘N-nooooooooooooooooo----!’ Dorothy called out, as her rabbit-limbs went down on all four and she positively sprang into motion as she fled at a positively absurd speed. She did not stop when Kimble told her to.
D-did she do anything wrong!? Did what the boy say still apply!? Or was it a trick so that this air-girl could take her by surprise!? ‘Wh-what did I do wrong, aaaah, nooo---!’ she called out to nothing in particular as she fled in panic, but still sort of steered herself towards the park where she’d told them to meet. A different park compared to the one Cardinal Ishtar went to, to note, this park had a bunch of trees and nature and places for Dorothy to hide. Because hide she wanted…!
Ronin skipped along to the bar as Cindy and the random dude went over there, just to make sure that she was still guarding the woman. She didn’t actually take a seat, she just stayed around, listening in with a wide smile on her face… and then her eyes widened when Cindy referred to her by name.
‘Woah, the Queen of Penrose knows of me already!? I’m touched! I’m honoured! I’ll take some normal juice if you have it!’ Ronin said the last to the bartender, smiling widely and proudly. Woah, some friends she’s making, huh?
And then a wild Tetrad appeared!
Ronin blinked at her in surprise a bit first, but then smirked widely when Veronica was mentioned and now she got it. ‘“Fun-sized”, hahaha! Yupp, this is me! I’m Ronin, as you knew, happy to meet you! You’re my friend of a friend from Veronica, I take it? Then, you’re my friend, too!’ Ronin claimed so happily, while also glancing over at Cindy and dude’s conversation, too.
‘I’m plenty into the theme! But, I’ve sort of never drunk before, and this is a bad time to start! I’m on bodyguard duty, bodyguards don’t get drunk!’ Ronin said with a giggle. ‘Besides, it actually hasn’t been 18 years since I was born, even with Magical Girl years included. How does the whole “underage drinking” thing even work with Magical Girls? I bet this tiny body gets drunk quickly, if there isn’t any special anti-drunk magic I don’t know about included! And, judging by the floor, I’d say there isn’t!’ Ronin said with a bit of a laugh as she looked around the room a bit and then back to Tetrad.
‘Are you on a mission here, too? Do we know of anything going on?’
And then came that message from Veronica. Huh. Alright, then. People on roofs nearby. Very well.
Then random dude drank battery acid by Cindy. Ronin maintained her smile but also positively flinched. WHELP, if he finds that to be a fitting way of hitting on the queen, then Ronin wasn’t going to argue…!
Part of Eli’s mission here was to keep track of everyone going in and out of the party. Hence, she occasionally kept close to the entrance. Now, tiny slime-girl in a slime-dress with a white face was pretty eye-catching, too, but it didn’t matter that much if they knew Mariette had a person on the inside. Honestly, it was probably actually expected. So, with that, she could confirm individuals like Veronica, and…
Huh. Alicia and two Ascendancy members, in Clark Kent disguises. Eli wasn’t about to call any attention to them, but the fact they were here was interesting. Now, most in here probably wouldn’t realize who they were, their disguises did a bunch, but Eli was an attentive stalker of the night who had a mission to identify every magical girl in Penrose, it wasn’t going to fly against her vision. Still, it might be a good idea not to be seen by them…
Eli turned away and whispered into her communicator, which was inside the fluid that was her head.
‘Beacon has entered the building. Alicia confirmed. Intentions unknown, but it could get real rowdy if she’s fo-’
Eli froze.
Her slime-manifested pupils narrowed.
Sitting there, in a pretty but dark, elegant dress and just mingling with the locals was none other than Justine von Visceral. She was so casual, cracking silly jokes, just having a good time, getting approached by some boy that Eli oddly enough didn’t recognize, raising the possibility it was one of Justine’s forces she’d brought to Penrose. How… why… why was she here!?
After having stared at her for far too long, Eli spun around and hurried to the other side of the rave.
‘Justine is here!’ she said, not entirely as carefully as when reporting Alicia. ‘I repeat, Justine von Visceral has returned to Penrose!’
Mariette listened to Amaryllis and Nuncio in turn. She didn’t really take note of if Nuncio was behaving strangely or anything. Regardless, it seemed they had a plan.
‘Very well. Secrecy it is? How confident are you your cat can avoid detection? If I know what’s inside, opening a portal should be no problem. I can open one without knowing what’s inside, just retrying until I find open space, but that could lead straight into the arms of our foes. Regardless, it’s time to move closer…’ Mariette said, as she turned to look out over the warehouses…
She paused.
Her eyebrows twitched a bit, as she looked around.
She opened a torso-sized portal in front of her, which Amaryllis and Nuncio may briefly be able to tell led to a bird’s eye view of the line of warehouses, above their position. Mariette gently stuck her head through the portal, her hair drifting out, as she confirmed something. She pulled her head back and closed the portal, while her hand went into another portal and retrieved the same map from before from her Hammerspace Handbag.
‘… They’ve moved Sammy. She is no longer in warehouse 9. She’s in… this warehouse,’ Mariette told, poking at one of the warehouses on the map. While Mariette couldn’t tell from here, the warehouse she now poked was warehouse q. Intentionally lowercase q. ‘I suggest we move. Your turn, then, feline mafioso?’ Mariette asked, as she opened a portal from the rooftop to an alley not too far from the warehouse in question, but still out of sight.
Lea simply stood still as Vivian snatched the egg, Lea’s hand momentarily dispersing into butterflies as the egg was snatched so violently before said butterflies coalesced back into a hand again.
‘I did as requested. I’ll wish you an enjoyable evening,’ Lea said in a tone that didn’t at all sound like it was wishing someone an enjoyable evening, before Lea then spun around as Viva and Lea went separate ways. With that, Lea’s job at the rave was over already, and she sincerely saw no reason to stay. That was Eli’s job. Far too few patrons here for her liking, just the servants, just the Magical Girls and such. If a patron saw fit to lower themselves to this level, then they probably weren’t worth talking to, anyway.
With that, unless she was stopped by anyone, Lea would make her way out of the rave and then simply lift herself into the air and fly away, as a small green fairy in the sky before long, eventually disappearing. I might need that Combat NPC-slot, soon.
So, what to do with Nightwing? Well. Because of Amaryllis, killing her had been ruled out. However, Mariette wasn’t very keen on releasing her out into the world, either. But, keeping her locked up in Mariette’s manor invited all sorts of complications should she escape. Hence, the only place where Nightwing could be stored would be…
It was a basement of a random abandoned building in Penrose. Here, Nightwing was still knocked out, because they made sure to knock her out whenever she was about to wake up. Psychic-magic is good for that. Meanwhile, this whole room was covered in barriers formed from Ronja’s Reinforcement-spells, her webs covering the walls, and in the middle of the room was Nightwing, still out of it, tied to a chair by Ronja’s reinforced webs, limbs locked in place, as well as blindfolded and with her mouth covered in the same.
‘Hmm, think you can get yourself out of this one?’ Ronja, Psychic/Reinforcement-specialized arachne, asked as she spun a little web of memories next to Nightwing. ‘Possibly. Records say you’re Darkness-specialized. You might just be able to get away anyway, just by turning yourself intangible. So, just in case you do that, here’s a little special something for you…’
Ronja said, as she lifted a special little piece of memory web, which she oh-so-gently inserted it into Nightwing’s mind…
They will kill me for getting myself captured.
It was a single sentence, an idea, that hopefully would keep Nightwing from going back home anytime soon. It would be overwritten if the Mint told her differently and she believed them, potentially showing no trace that she’d been given a false memory. It had to just be believable enough that Nightwing could believe it. And, after all, the Ebon Mint is such a scary organization, who even knew if they wouldn’t kill her for getting captured?
‘Enjoy your stay, “Nightwing”...’ Ronja said, as she went through the door and locked it behind her, reinforcing it, and then left again.
Then who knows where she went.
In an unremarkable corner of Penrose awaited an unassuming apartment, which gave way for absolutely no reason to visit it. Why would you stop here? It was where normal humans would live, and not so many of them anymore due to the state of the city, yet some lights still shone, mostly keeping magical individuals from visiting the complex as encounters could lead to awkward conversations…
Yet Myria found herself stopping right here. The reason being, she had access to something nobody should. Inside info.
She headed inside, passing the hallway, lobby and the laundry room. So far it was nothing but regular boring apartment complex things, that would interest absolutely nobody. Even when she reached the stairs, some flimsy wooden stairs which only purpose was to lead to the second level, who would even think to look behind the stairs, even if there was a place to peek in? It’s uses seemed to end at where a child might hide during hide-and-seek…
Yet the spirits guided Myria, and here… here was where things got complicated.
They told of a vent in the wall. There was no such vent visible to the naked eye. However, the spirits also told of machines, cogs and machinery hidden within the walls, linked to one of the steps of the stairs that was reachable from behind, too high to be reached by a curious child. It had something to do with that step, a connection between this wall and that step. Question was, did Myria want to mess with it?
From information drawn from the spirits, said vent went underground, to a room connected by no doors. This thin vent only barely accessible by children was the only way in or out, albeit Myria could walk so she stood above said room inside a specific apartment. There was numerous meters down to the room, but she could stand above it. Within was the price she sought, an obsidian mirror… but it also wasn’t the only thing. Some normal furniture, a carpet, a fireplace that didn’t connect to anything, some paintings. One of these paintings had been hung right above the entrance of the room by the vent, needing to be pushed aside to enter. The mirror itself was a large, full-body mirror standing with a support, and a jewel of some kind embedded into the frame…
So Cyril made his way through town! He went past the Pokémon Gym, as part of other things, so he could probably read the signpost, and here’s that.
Pureplain Pokémon Gym - Major League Gym Leader: Dorian “The Master of Normal”
And, indeed, there was a whole group of tough-looking trainers awaiting to make their challenge, and despite them looking tough there was a fair bit of tension. Clearly, they knew they were up against a hard battle, and any victory would be one they’d be fighting tooth and nail for, if they could obtain it at all. Still, that didn’t exactly concern Cyril right now! Moving on!
Basil got waved goodbye from Jacques and Zachery and his girls, before Zachery turned to handle Amelia. With that done, Basil was free to explore Pureplain City on his own. He’d eventually easily be able to find somewhere to purchase the goods to eat a picnic if he so desired. So, with that said…
Besides the Pokémon of the various trainers around, there were also wild Pokémon! A couple of them, anyway! Basically everywhere he went there were the little birds looking about, who while common, could be a great boon to any trainer that took the time to train it.
Pokédex Entry #16 – Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. They are docile Pokémon that avoid fighting, kicking up sand in an enemy’s face or using Whirlwind to avoid battles. They have sharp senses of direction, capable of finding their nest or destination from very large distances. They inhabit tall grass where they search and prey on small bugs.
There were also random cats about, just lunging, lazing about during the day, taking advantage of if any humans wanted to give them food and otherwise just looted any shiny objects they could.
Pokédex Entry #52 – Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon. During the night Meowth are known to sneak around stealthily in search of prey and shiny objects which it adores with a passion. During the day, Meowth is known to laze around all day. In the dark, its eyes glow.
Finally, there were what appeared to just be regular puppies, running about in whatever grass they could find, and… what could they even find to eat around here? Eh, who even knows, they looked considerably happy living here, anyway!
Pokédex Entry #506 – Lillipup, the Puppy Pokémon. The hair on its face senses extremely subtle changes in atmosphere and can be used as a radar. It’s known to bravely face off against terrible odds, but also to run away from battles it cannot win.
With that, Cyril and Basil eventually sought their ways to the Pokémon School, where… well.
It’s a school. Kids around Pureplain City flock here eventually to learn the basics of Pokémon battling, or there are trainers that come here only to attend the odd lesson before they embark on their big journey. There’s a patch of grass and trees on the side where wild Pokémon can be found, and every week the teachers are known to have found a new specie to release into it in order to keep the students interested. And, of course, there’s plenty of Pokémon battling among the students as they do their best to learn. In fact…
To the right immediately after one enters the school, there’s a list of students in a ranking-list on a wall. A huge list of the 50 top students, ranked in Pokémon battling ability, and there’s a thing that anyone who visits can challenge the list to get onto it temporarily. Leaving for too long obviously means falling off the list, but those who rank high gain some benefits and bragging rights.
But even above the #1… The school apparently had their own Elite Four and Champion that one could challenge.
Pureplain City Trainers’ School Elite Four: Georgia - The Brawler Loke - The Knight Penelope - The Idol Edwin - The Cricket
Champion: Daisy - The Siren (The Champion in our hearts, Maple - The Scorcher, is currently out on her Pokémon trip. We send out our most heartfelt wishes to her!)
That aside. Let’s sum up what’s happening here right now.
Kids are having random battles, and there seems to be a bunch of kids gathered in the park. They’re hunting after random Pokémon, and a couple are gathered around an impromptu river, seems like there’s a water-Pokémon on the menu. So, yes, the current wild Pokémon that you can tell are wild and catchable here today, are…
Pokédex Entry #403 – Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. When its muscles extend or contract, it generates electricity. When it senses danger, a Shinx will let the electricity run through it, causing it to glow. If threatened, it uses its muscles to flash a bright light to blind the predator while it flees.
Pokédex Entry #261 – Poochyena, the Bite Pokémon. At first sight, it will bite anything that moves and threaten foes with bared fangs and bristling out the hair on its tail. It’s a Pokémon with persistent nature, liking to chase down its prey using its acute sense of smell until the prey becomes exhausted. However, if the prey strikes back, Poochyena turns tail.
Pokédex Entry #46 – Paras, the Mushroom Pokémon. It lives in caves and damp forests. It is doused with mushroom spores when born. The Pokémon burrows underground to suck nutrients from tree roots, and then the tochukaso mushrooms absorb them. These mushrooms are highly valued for their life-extending medical properties.
Pokédex Entry #456 – Finneon, the Wing Fish Pokémon. The line running down its side stores sunlight during the day, allowing it to shine vividly at night. Swimming and fluttering its two tail fins, it’s said to look like a Beautifly in the water, earning it the nickname “Beautifly of the Sea”.
But that might not be all.
‘Come on! They said there was some kind of rare pink baby-Pokémon somewhere in here! We’ve got to find it!’ some tiny girl told her friends and they promptly rushed into the park. Other than that, there was an adult woman watching over the kids right now with her hands gently cupping her arms, making sure that the kids aren’t too hard on the new wild Pokémon or so. Just standing there for now.
That aside!
If Basil wanted to have a picnic, he could without being too disturbed. Cyril could do whatever. Oh, and then you’re also both heading here at the same time!
What will you do?
1. Pokémon School Park. There’s a small park of grass in here. What kind of Pokémon might be in it? 2. Talk. Plenty of students and teachers. This is a wellspring of knowledge, someone must know something. 3. Challenge. Work your way up the leaderboard! Specify the level of opponent. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Study. You want to know something? Feel free to learn about it here! 6.1. Pokémon Habitats. Learn where you might find a specific kind of Pokémon! 6.2. Isson Geography. Learn more about the different places in Isson! 6.3. Names to Remember. Learn about Gym Leaders, Elite Four, or the like! 6.4. Local Legends. Learn about different tales from around Isson! 6.5. Pokémon Breeding. That’s also a subject. 6.6. Battling Basics. You likely know them already. 6.7. Specify. Tell what you want to learn and we’ll see if we have a course!
Connected areas: Pureplain City. All around, of course.
The Bug Garden was a building, a fairly large building with plants around it and promising more plants inside.
There were signs.
“Bug Garden
Feel free to visit and enjoy Vivillons for the purpose of finding the Mythic Oasis can be hired for 750P per day They are not for fighting The Pokémon in the garden are wild, but we appreciate avoiding holding battles in the garden
Thank you for your consideration”
The bug-garden was indoors, a pleasant atmosphere in here where trees grew happily and the bugs could thrive. At the door, there was a place where you could hire the Vivillons for 750P. Past that one could enter the garden for free, where one could look about the many plants with food for the bugs, numerous trees standing about and a fountain in the middle. This was probably the fanciest place in Raremine Town. There were a few gardeners about, but otherwise it was all Pokémon. On the ground Scatterbugs and Spewpas strayed about, and in the air or on the trees fluttered Vivillons…
Pokédex Entry #664 – Scatterbug, the Scatterdust Pokémon. Using a dust which covers its body and regulates its body-temperature, it can live in any region or climate. If attacked, it can release a poisonous black powder which paralyzes upon contact.
Pokédex Entry #665 – Spewpa, the Scatterdust Pokémon. It lives in thicket shadows, where it hides until evolution. It’s body is tough to avoid predators eating it, and if attacked it attempts to scare its enemies away by rustling its fur. If all else fails, it can spew a powder at an attacker.
Pokédex Entry #666 – Vivillon, the Scale Pokémon. Known to appear all over the world, the pattern on the wings differ depending on the climate of their habitat. They’re extremely skilled at finding water, so if you release one in a desolate environment it can be followed to find your way to a spring. In the deserts of Isson, they’re the primary means of finding the Mythic Oasis.
However, it wasn’t just ONE colour of Vivillon. It was seemingly… all of them? The many Vivillons scurrying and fluttering with their wings around the area was in a multitude of colours, making the interiors of the Bug Garden a colourful one indeed.
…
There was a random dude in black in the back. Looking around himself to see if anyone was looking at him. Obviously, he noticed nobody. So he turned right and went behind a tree in the far right corner of the garden. And then he didn’t emerge on the other side. Hm.
Raremine Town is a moderately large, bright town on the edge of the only desert in Isson. By some twist, the largest mineral deposits in the land is located right under the desert, making it an attractive place to build mines. From that, Raremine Town naturally sprung into being as a merchant town on the edge of habitability from where the mineral could then be delivered to the rest of Isson. The temperature is hot, sun blazing down on this land where plains slowly become desert, the atmosphere dry and unfriendly… yet, life and trees blossoms among the buildings of Raremine Town.
The ground is still the grass from the Vast Plains, with buildings on top of them. The modern houses stand tall with plenty of architectural skill put into them, tools for building and living sold inside the houses. Everywhere, one can see workers walking about, but they’re happy workers, with their families living close at hand in the town and with the finest equipment available. Oh, and of course, plenty of Pokémon that assist with the finding of ores and such! The trees, which appear to have been planted and grown all over town by the residents themselves, gives plenty of homes for local Pokémon to live.
Overall, it’s busy, with people walking and talking all over, an active town indeed.
1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in cities~ 2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such. 3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city! 6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon. 6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things. 6.3. Pokémon Gym. ??? 6.4. Desert Miner’s Hangout. The workers of the Desert Mine live around here. They can give tips about the desert! 6.5. Research Lab. For archaeologists, those who want to talk to Dunstan and those who want to resurrect fossils. 6.6. Stone Store. Where all the stones of the Desert Mines or Frozen Cave eventually end up! Lots of evolutionary and other kinds of stones! 6.7. Bug Garden. A garden within which bugs thrive. Vivillons can be hired here for tracking down the Mythic Oasis! 6.8. Warehouses. Because the things they mine here needs somewhere to be stored. This includes Ancient Pokémon, apparently, as some of the warehouses are pens.
Connected areas: Route 6. The Vast Plains open up to the north of Raremine. The shorter paths lead to Route 8 and 16, while west far enough leads to Lakewatch Town. Route 7. The single rocky desert of Isson, it connects to the Desert Mines, the Old Tombs and to the Mythic Oasis.
Oaken positively winced when Eryn came close with a grin and sounding supremely positive about this.
'You…! You didn’t answer my question! This place is dangerous, properly dangerous, you shouldn’t get yourself involved in what you don’t understand! Get out of here and have a normal Pokémon journey!' Oaken, clearly, was not nearly as on-board with having Eryn help him out with this trial as she was. 'I studied all the cryptic notes about this place in my hometown of Rainrock City, we have all kinds of legends that are too “vague” to be included in the Worldedge Libraries. Just you wait, I’ll get to the bottom of all of this, you don’t need to get yourself involved…!' Oaken said, then turned around to look at the cracked wall.
'… That said, my best plan of action right now is to get Claydol to fire a Psybeam at this wall, cracking it open. I can predict every single one of Claydol’s motions without fail, I studied him for a while and know he’ll be moving over here in around five minutes. I should have the reflexes to be able to dodge away in time, but that will need you to not be here-'
Eryn suggested talking to the Beheeyem. Oaken positively glared at her.
'Are you mad!? Wait! Worst case scenario, they hack into your mind and break apart your memories and identity, leaving nothing behind…!' he stepped forward to attempt to stop Eryn if she actually tried to walk closer to them.
So, the Beheeyem didn’t react in the slightest to Eryn talking to them. They just floated there in mid-air.
'You can’t risk it. That path is effectively blocked. If you have to stay here, then at least listen to what I say,' Oaken’s going to say, clearly not entirely happy about this turn of events.
Anyways! What will Eryn do, now?
Blue dot - Entrance. Pink dot - Eryn, if she didn’t enter the room. If she did, she’s in the room above. Dark green dot - Oaken. Purple dot - Skylar. You don’t know this. Cyan dot - Vivia. You don’t know this. Red dot - Claydol.
‘Well met, Skylar, Vivia! So, I’m going to stay around here and wait for miss Eryn to return, say hi to her if you run into her, will you?’ Wilhelm requested, giving a smile before turning to investigating the wall as well.
‘… Yeeeaaah, it sort of feels like I’ve done my part, and this place feels dangerous, mind if I opt out? I’m just… gonna rest right here… okay?’ Lin says, letting herself lie down on a hard surface that didn’t in the slightest look comfortable, but she was asleep in seconds.
‘Oh. Right,’ Vivia made a noise as Skylar reminded that he was blind. ‘There’s three different routes we can take. To the right of here is a decently bright, traversable direction, it’s the direction that Claydol went, it immediately heads to the left so I don’t know where it goes…’
‘Eryn went that direction, came back saying she went the wrong way before going that way,’ Wilhelm said, pointing left.
‘That’s left. Left is a long corridor, it twists right eventually so I can’t see what’s more after it, there’s a bunch of strange things that will need to be walked over and there’s Elgyems floating in the air over there, but seemingly they didn’t do anything to Eryn when she headed there?’ Vivia asked, turning to Wilhelm.
‘Not a thing!’ Wilhelm confirmed.
‘Right. That leaves forward, which is… darker than the other two ways, and twists eventually to the left. There’s… not much I can tell about it. To be honest, it sort of creeps me out. Whatever it is in the air is trying to tell me to turn back, and it’s not making me any more comfortable with this… and it feels especially strong when I look in that direction…’ Vivia told, sounding unsure about herself. Still.
‘Quaaaagsire!’ Quagsire said. For no other reason than because.
‘Perhaps we will. Until next time,’ Jacques said before finally getting onto Aerodactyl and flying away, Gliscor following.
Now, then. For Zachery. Zachery blinked a bit as he looked over at the ship, as Amelia described the location of Pokémon after Pokémon after Pokémon, the pirate captain raising an eyebrow as he looked over at the ship. On his side, Mila fished up a document and blinked a bit at it.
‘This girl just reported the position of every single Ghost-type Pokémon we have on-board!’ Mila remarked, stunned.
‘Did she now? Impressive,’ Zachery told with a smirk, and then looked down on Amelia again. ‘However, I can’t just bring you on-board. That’s too simple. But, you’re curious and tiny, so I’ll give you a discount,’ he says, as if he had any prices established in his mind to begin with. He crossed his arms and looked down proudly at Amelia.
‘Tell me which one you want! Depending on how rare it is, I will charge either 2,000, 4,000 and 6,000 P! Of course, if you buy more than one, I’m going to increase the price on the next one! Fair is fair, after all!’ he told, sounding confident. ‘… Or give me 10,000 and I’ll make sure to put all the ghosts in the same room and let you pick a single one of them. But that should be way more than you can afford, right? Hahaha! My apologies, missy, but a pirate must earn his keep!’
… What will Amelia do here?
And holy gosh, I do not want to need to write the Pokédex entries for every single ghost in the two latest generations at once just because Amelia wants to see all of them! XD
Pureplain City is placed on the south-west brink of Isson, with the town facing the water and spreading quite far. The further in-town you go, the higher the buildings become, but the suburbs spread quite far. In terms of sheer landmass, it might even compete with Worldedge City, although maybe not in height. Life passes normally within this city. Children grow up alongside their parents in houses in the long, friendly streets. Jobs come from the depths of the town in the taller buildings. Schools grow from the reasonably high amount of children in need of tuition. And of course, there are lots of Pokémon.
In Pureplain City, human and Pokémon work together. Be it for manual labour or just for company, Pureplain houses often contain at least one household Pokémon and there are many Trainer's Schools around the city have always been plentifully attended, not counting the recent drop of embarking trainers due to the Team Wars. In addition, Pureplain Harbor is known as the “Gateway of Isson”, as that’s where all the ferries from outside the region dock, giving life to quite the marketplace. A common attraction of the city is the Super Contest stage, but other than that, Pureplain remains what it has always been. Pure and plain.
1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns~ 2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Specify what kind you’re looking for. 3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Notable Buildings. Visit any of the facilities of the city! 6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon. 6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things. 6.3. Gym. ??? 6.4. Super Contests. Rank 2 / 4. Where hopefuls become idols! 6.5. Trainer’s School. Where young trainers study to become better. Has a little park of wild Pokémon. 6.6. Kalmia’s Lab. You know you’re always welcome. 6.7. Pureplain Harbor. Known as the Gateway of Isson, it has a marketplace and ferries to places. 6.8. Pureplain Airport. The Gateway of Isson also has a way to dock your flying ships, apparently! 7. Familiar Faces. Kalmia, Cyril, Ryu, Jacques, Chloe, Tim & Tom…
Connected areas: Route 1. Easier path, just follow the bigger road. Route 2. Walk through quite an amount of suburbs until you eventually reach the path. Sea. There’s water, alright. Can take you anywhere you want to go, assuming you have means to traverse it.
‘Wooooooooooo!’ Ronin sounded out in delight inside the party. This, THIS was the kind of thing she never had gotten old enough to visit! At her oldest, Denise Walton had only ever become 15 years old, so she’d never been able to attend a proper bachelor’s party, if one could call it that. This, THIS was everything she could have dreamed it to be! Such a glorious event! Lots of dancing and drinking, and…
And Ronin couldn’t take part of it all! There was a decent probability some agent of Mariette’s was present here, but that aside, Ronin had a mission to accomplish! She had to keep Cindy Ford safe, that was her mission! Fortunately, Cindy Ford wasn’t exactly hard to find. It was the lady made of blue electricity with a whole little legion of followers over there. And… what was this!? She was confronted by a random dude!? Had her assassin already arrived!?
Ronin excitedly skipped and stepped to stand attentively as audience just a bit to the side between Reaver and Cindy, a wide smile on her lips as she paid them full attention. Don’t mind her, Ronin’s just gonna pay absolute attention over here!
‘… Here,’ Taihei said, as she handed over the earring to Mariette. ‘The final protective artifact, more potent than the prototypes that I’ve distributed among our other forces. It should protect your soul and mind from intrusions of the mystic kind,’ the chief engineer of Mariette’s forces explained, as the portal girl took the item. She inspected it for a couple of moments, before bringing it up to her ear. As expected of something made by Taihei, it painlessly attached itself and Mariette could feel its effects immediately. She felt far safer.
‘Well done, Taihei. You may now rest,’ Mariette told, and Taihei nodded before turning around the exit the room. Truly, the items she designed were priceless… but today Taihei couldn’t be allowed to visit the city proper, lest her bad luck would cause a calamity to their plans. With that, she could turn her attention to the party, and those watching it, her own eye in the sky through a portal watching from a distance… right among Sylvia’s drones, perhaps. Perhaps higher. Perhaps lower. Who knows. Regardless, she saw Lily arriving, and Su, and Amaryllis on a building nearby, and Nuncio… very well.
With a final glance at the computer screens prepared for her, Mariette confirmed the other activities tonight were proceeding as planned. She opened a portal to a separate room, where she’d recover Fabio, because unfortunately the cat was a potential risk and she couldn’t have him with her during important meetings, but reunited she picked him up, and with that she was finally prepared as she opened her own portal.
Mariette arrived before Amaryllis and Nuncio, stepping out of a portal that opened in mid-air, wearing her usual dress, eyepatch and with Fabio on her arm, temporarily replacing bunny. Bunny was enjoying some quality time with his new partner in Mariette’s room, so there was no reason to worry. In any case.
‘Quite a night this is shaping up to be,’ Mariette abscently commented, looking over at the warehouse. ‘I wonder, if I open a portal from within there directly to a Mint fight, what would happen?’ Mariette mused, since the backup she prepared would be attending the party… but in any case.
‘… I interrogated Nightwing, as intended. In a perhaps anticlimactic twist of fate, you’ve already defeated the one who killed Valerie and snatched Sammy from the alley. It was her,’ Mariette told Amaryllis, and then looked to Nuncio. ‘Nightwing didn’t know why she did it, however. It was but a job, handed to her by the prominent coin-broker of Penrose, Al Scarpe. Their meetings never took place in the same place, avoiding that Nightwing as an active agent learned anything vital. They are very thorough,’ Mariette commented, before throwing a glance at the party again, then back at Amaryllis.
‘Nightwing handed Sammy over to a fellow Mint agent, a partner named Ajna, and said partner was to deliver Sammy to a warehouse. Nightwing didn’t know which warehouse, but this information matches my own findings from my first briefing which say that Sammy was taken to Warehouse 9. I don’t know how much more we could learn unless we examine it directly,’ Mariette said, patting Fabio a bit on her arm, then offering the cat back to Nuncio, because… taking care of a cat on top of everything else is a hassle, even if they’re cute.
‘So. What are your thoughts?’ Mariette asked.
‘Alright, here I am…’ Eli said, breathing out heavily as the slime-harpy had entered the rave. Honestly, this was all a bit too much for the somewhat introverted slimy bird. Her appearance had been slightly edited, she’d extended her hips so she looked like she was wearing a decently fancy slime-dress, talons underneath moving carefully. Still, as shy about this as she was, she had a mission.
See everything.
Embedded within her slimy not-transparent head was a communicator using which Eli could immediately tell those standing by what was going on. Even if her Third Eyes were rendered useless from a massive amount of magic, which was very annoying, Eli went around and investigated, seeing all the security in place and perhaps also glancing over the horizon for potential threats sometimes. Mariette would want to know EVERYTHING that happened in here, and while that wasn’t achievable Eli would certainly do her best to be Mariette’s representative in here. Mariette herself would never come, too likely to become dangerous, so Eli had to stick her neck out.
She could but pray that things wouldn’t become dangerous. Oooh, Deni would have been so much better suited for this…
Little did Eli know that Deni passed her by only a couple meters as the little samurai girl darted to see Cindy.
And technically, there was one more agent of Asengav here, with a completely different objective.
Lea floated by many of the inhabitants of the rave. She had no intention of interacting with any of them. She deftly dodged any that were about to touch her, for she didn’t actually have the mass to push them out of the way. In her hand she had something to deliver, and their reports had told the location of their target was within this building. And so, the elfin monster-girl with a couple butterflies flying around her floated up to a specific target, and-
‘Vivian,’ she stopped as soon as she arrived by said dark magical girl, Lea’s blank eyes staring at the girl as if unimpressed. This is just Lea’s basic expression, don’t worry. ‘I’ve come with a message from Lamashtu.’
Lea would then wait for Vivian’s acknowledgement.
If she received any kind of acknowledgement, Lea continued.
‘“Spread my gifts and lash out at the light”,’ Lea recounted with perfection, before holding forth the blood egg that she’d received from Lamashtu for Vivian to receive.
And that was about that.
There was a generic Beacon patrol, keeping the streets cleared of monsters. Maybe it did have named characters in it, who knows. But it was not Ascendancy, and it was about to be yelled to by a strange young creature.
‘Um, excuse me, Beacon?’ a shy soul hiding behind a corner of a building called to them, sounding exceedingly unsure about what she was just saying. Looking in that direction, it would become immediately apparent that a monster girl was looking at them. … A monster girl in the shape of a furry rabbit, looking very scared.
‘Don’t attack, and don’t come any closer! If you do, I WILL run! I just want to talk! … On a distance!’ the girl declared to them, fear clear in her tone. ‘I… I’m Dorothy. I heard you were giving away coins that turn monsters back to normal? I… I’d be interested in having one of those?’
‘But I won’t follow you to your HQ! I’m worried you’ll just kill me after you’ve locked me inside, like you’ve already tried to murder me multiple times in the streets!’ she declared, anger in her voice. ‘That said… I don’t want to be a monster girl anymore! Feel free to bring your Light-specialized, they’ll know I mean it when I say I want to change! This form of mine has given me nothing but trouble! Please! Please help me rid myself of this blasted curse…!’
So the shape of Dorothy cried for help, her bunny-like shape crying behind the corner, as she awaited the reply from the Beacon members. Under the assumption she hasn’t come under fire yet, she continues.
‘Er, I know you grunts probably can’t decide that yourselves, but… P-please discuss it with your bosses or something! I’ll wait for you in the park! Th-that works, right!?’ Dorothy asked, looking over at them with wide eyes, ready to bolt, but also with the slightest bit of hope in her voice as she looked towards them.
So, fortunately Jacques arrival meant Mila couldn’t continue badgering Basil, because she 100% looked like she would have. Anyways!
Jacques gave Basil a nod for that first statement, before turning to the girls and the conversation followed until Zachery arrived and handed over the egg.
The conversation went on until Zachery went inside the ship again to look for what Jacques had asked for… and that’s when Basil asked his little question of Zachery’s connection to the Pokémon League. Jacques smirked a bit, and took a moment to consider the answer. Mila and Elma both also looked at him, given the question was apparently his to answer.
‘We’re old friends. At a time where I was in trouble…’ Jacques started, reminiscing a bit.
‘He was accused of being a Pokémon thief by the noble he was serving,’ Mila said with smirk.
‘… and technically he was right, he just left out the part where he was mistreating them. I did the first thing my significantly younger mind thought was right at the time and stole them from him,’ Jacques said with a shrug. ‘So I was on the run from authorities, and in my time of need, Zachery was the one I hid with, who wholeheartedly trusted my words and helped me uncover the truth. As a result, I’m a free man, an Elite Four and his friend at any time he needs me. … That was a tangent, but Zachery himself is…’
‘A Pokémon League Champion,’ Elma told, nodding happily.
‘ALMOST a Champion,’ Jacques told, with a smirk. ‘He won the tournament and beat the whole Elite Four in a row, only to fall short against the Champion.’
‘He’d have won if you hadn’t exhausted him with your nonsensical Elite Four gauntlet!’ Elma insisted, frowning with a look that definitely looked like she thought her captain had been cheated.
‘Now, now,’ Jacques replied with a smile. ‘I have no doubt Zachery COULD beat the Champion. However, we can’t have the Champion title switch owners due to just any loss. It’s a marketable title, after all,’ he continued, doing an explaining gesture with his hand. ‘But there’s a reason we have this system to ensure becoming the Champion is hard. We want our Champions to prove themselves capable of overcoming the impossible. Zachery probably COULD overcome it one day, but the Elite Four has become stronger since he travelled across the world. If he ever comes again, I’ll make sure to stop him short,’ Jacques insisted with a smirk.
‘Yeah, I’m sure your rocks will give our sea-captain a hard time~!’ Mila told with a teasing smirk on the side that Jacques deigned to ignore.
‘You’re not the only one who has gotten stronger,’ Elma said as well crossed her arms with a frown, and it may have been unclear if she meant Zachery or herself. Still.
That was around the time that Zachery jumped down, handed Jacques said Pokéball, and Jacques nodded to it about to leave. Then he blinked a bit in awareness as perhaps Basil’d notice the two ghosts sneaking up behind the man.
‘Oh,’ Jacques made a noise of realization just before it actually happened.
It is hard to say if Jacques flinched at the screaming ghost or not. Some could swear that he did, others might assure them that Jacques stood calmly with a blank expression throughout the whole thing, enduring the supposed fright. Still, Pumpkaboo successfully snapped up Jacques hat… only for something blindingly fast swooping past and knocking it off Pumpkaboo in turn, Jacques holding his hand up to catch his hat back as Gliscor settled down next to him.
Pokédex Entry #472 – Gliscor, the Fang Scorpion Pokémon. It hangs upside down awaiting prey. When the chance presents itself, it swoops in and carries off the prey with its lengthy tail, and its elongated fangs do the rest. It’s able to fly completely soundless without flapping its wings, it’s said catching a single light breeze once could carry it around the globe.
Jacques placed his hat back on his head as Amelia appeared. ‘Do not worry about it, Amelia, it is all in good fun’ he said with a smirk towards Phantump. Then to Amelia. ‘I hadn’t yet left Pureplain City since last we spoke. Besides, if you’re here for what I think you are, it is by no coincidence that we’ve met again, for both of us had business at this dock today.’
He turned to Basil, who had been handed a Pokémon egg by the captain. ‘Amelia. Basil. You’re both trainers that got their Pokémon from Kalmia. Say hello. And Zachery…’ he then said, turning to the pirate, still smirking. ‘I believe you have your first customer,’ Jacques said, gesturing to Amelia. The pirate grinned.
‘Alright! This business venture has weighed its anchor!’ Zachery proclaimed, before turning to Amelia as well. ‘I am Zachery, master of the seas! I have travelled far and wide to collect the Pokémon unavailable to the trainers of Isson, and now I offer them to trainers at a price, depending on their rarity! Describe to me what sort of Pokémon you want, and then tell me how much you’re giving me for it, and I’ll pick you out something I feel fits the bill! And no takebacks!’ Zachery proclaimed, and it was Amelia’s choice what to hand for it. Zachery made up that last rule on how much to give on the spot, for he didn’t know what to charge for them.
Still, time for Jacques to address that last thing Basil told him. In fact, he chuckled a little.
‘Fufufu. Having ambitions is all well and good, but focus on short-term goals for now, young hopeful. Still. I will hold you to your words, young hopeful. Don’t disappoint me,’ Jacques told with his usual smirk, and then turned to Amelia. ‘Now, I’d love to stick around, but they’re waiting for me at Kalmia’s lab, and I really must be on my way. Another new hopeful just arrived, you see. So, good luck, Amelia. I believe we’ll see each other again,’ he said, and with that he was very much intending on jumping up on his Aerodactyl and flying off, Gliscor following along. If Amelia had something to say to him before he left, then she could do so, but yeah, he’s really needed on that other scene whenever the individuals there post.
So, what now? There’s a Zachery there looking expectantly at Amelia. There’s also two pirate girls and a giant polar bear.
Otherwise, you’re in Pureplain City.
Pureplain City is placed on the south-west brink of Isson, with the town facing the water and spreading quite far. The further in-town you go, the higher the buildings become, but the suburbs spread quite far. In terms of sheer landmass, it might even compete with Worldedge City, although maybe not in height. Life passes normally within this city. Children grow up alongside their parents in houses in the long, friendly streets. Jobs come from the depths of the town in the taller buildings. Schools grow from the reasonably high amount of children in need of tuition. And of course, there are lots of Pokémon.
In Pureplain City, human and Pokémon work together. Be it for manual labour or just for company, Pureplain houses often contain at least one household Pokémon and there are many Trainer's Schools around the city have always been plentifully attended, not counting the recent drop of embarking trainers due to the Team Wars. In addition, Pureplain Harbor is known as the “Gateway of Isson”, as that’s where all the ferries from outside the region dock, giving life to quite the marketplace. A common attraction of the city is the Super Contest stage, but other than that, Pureplain remains what it has always been. Pure and plain.
1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in towns~ 2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Specify what kind you’re looking for. 3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas. 4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. 6. Notable Buildings. Visit any of the facilities of the city! 6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon. 6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things. 6.3. Gym. ??? 6.4. Super Contests. Rank 2 / 4. Where hopefuls become idols! 6.5. Trainer’s School. Where young trainers study to become better. Has a little park of wild Pokémon. 6.6. Kalmia’s Lab. You know you’re always welcome. 6.7. Pureplain Harbor. Known as the Gateway of Isson, it has a marketplace and ferries to places. 6.8. Pureplain Airport. The Gateway of Isson also has a way to dock your flying ships, apparently! 7. Familiar Faces. Kalmia, Cyril, Ryu, Jacques, Chloe, Tim & Tom…
Connected areas: Route 1. Easier path, just follow the bigger road. Route 2. Walk through quite an amount of suburbs until you eventually reach the path. Sea. There’s water, alright. Can take you anywhere you want to go, assuming you have means to traverse it.
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