Wish Upon A Star

[Cookiemoon]

Suddenly everything had taken a huge turn for the unexpected. One moment they were all talking with Pidove, and then, suddenly, there was a crash, and this girl in a white dress - who everyone had logically assumed was as spy, and as so, Kerry came to the same conclusion - had appeared and was now trying to run away. Wait... what?! This was all so sudden, Kerry froze for a second. Was the party crasher also a magical girl...? Her question was promptly answered. The girl had tuned out of everyone else's words, but she saw the girl use some magic. So... she was there to spy on them. That meant she was part of the opposition! Pidove had told them to lay low, but this girl had already seen them. Not to mention she knew about Pokémon, right? And the odds of someone finding them in that abandoned lot were pretty low. So Kerry's mind was made up. Clumsily, she grasped her Pokéball - dropping it twice in the process - and hastily transformed. Her feet got tangled in her dress, and she tripped when she tried to walk. "Well, crap." This was not a very good first impression to the other magical girls, but that didn't matter much. She tried to rush headfirst into battle, and needless to say, wasn't very successful. She tried to get across to the white dress girl, but ended up crashing face-first into the girl with the dual-headed Pokémon. Kerry fell backwards, holding her pained nose. Ah, damn. She'd definitely have to try harder than this.

 

((I'm not very sure that I've got a good grasp on exactly what's happening right now so if I got something wrong please correct me!))

[octopi]

Togetic took big, gasping breaths as she ran. She barely noticed Lilly's attack beyond a quick blink to clear her eyes of the pink aura it created. She was making good speed, much to her own surprise; soon, she'd reach some alleys she was familiar with, and if these other magical girls kept trying to harrass her after she transformed back, well, there was no way any onlookers would stand for that. She nodded to herself -

 

- and was halfway to hitting the ground before realizing she was falling for the second time this day. She screeched and reached for her powers - and managed to access them in time, levitating in the air long enough for her to adjust her position, then slid to a stop on all fours instead of flat on her face. She spent a moment wincing - having your hands scraped against the hard cement was not a pleasant experience - before scrambling to her feet once more and finding yet another girl standing behind her.

 

She sucked in a deep breath, looking as if she were about to explode. "Why," she began, "are there - so many of - " she paused suddenly. Her eyes flicked upward, before she hissed a quiet "shut up!" and glanced back at her target. She was tall. Not so much taller than what might be expected, perhaps, but compared to her own below-average height, she was unreasonably tall. Right. She glanced behind the tall girl. Another new person (another! She was going to lose via dogpile at this rate) was running toward her. It was a girl practically drowning in a much-too-large sweater. "L-look, I - I... augh! Screw this!" Her voice had always been a little louder than it needed to be, and now that she was near-hysterical, she was a couple decibels away from outright screaming. She pointed her hand forward as a small cylindrical object appeared in her grasp. "I don't have t-time for this, you hear me? Leave me alone!" She took aim and threw it at the girl in the sweater.

 

If this worked, whoever sweater girl was would have to deal with that other girl instead and she would have a new direction to run in - and this time, it would actually be away from everyone who was out to get her. She was so close...!

 

[NPC information has been updated. If Togetic didn't miss, assume she starts bolting perpendicular to her original direction immediately.]

[Edit: Whoa. Uh, congratulations... the amount of characters is now quite literally too high for a single post to handle. I had to pull Zoie and Naomi's sheets from the PMs I had saved, so if there's anything else I/you forgot to edit in, don't be afraid to contact me. Also, please welcome venndigo a.k.a. Darcy a.k.a. Friend I Keep Mentioning as cute Whimsicott baby, and now I am no longer lying when I say that we will absolutely not be accepting any more characters, thanks.]

Edited January 28, 2015 by Fractional Pi Day

[venndigo]

Jade was late. For someone who so often lived her life at high speeds, her sense of timing was far from perfect. And what difference would ten minutes make, anyway? Sure, she was a magical girl now, with a mission of grand importance, but that at least told her it wasn't supposed to be a quick meeting. There was probably plenty to discuss, and if it was going to be a long sort of thing, she couldn't have missed too much.

 

(If the little prankster currently tucked away in her pink and yellow capsule in Jade's backpack hadn't taken to hiding any small thing she could get her hands on, it would have gone a lot smoother. It felt a little cruel to keep her in that pocket ball or whatever, but that was going to have to be a much more common state of affairs if a dozen missing socks didn't reappear soon.)

 

Out of breath when she finally made it to the empty lots, there wasn't anything like the orderly gathering she'd been expecting she'd find. Normally that might be a positive thing, but things seemed downright hectic. Was she in the wrong place? No, she couldn't be.

 

"Uh, I'm sorry I'm late," Jade said, approaching the first person she saw. "There was supposed to be a meeting, yeah? Are we meeting?"

[sailing101]

Come on Lilly, Snap out of it! Ivy yelled.

Still dazed, Lilly pushed herself upright once more, and got back to her feet. "Ah, what happened?" She groaned.

That girl's partner must be a Fairy Pokémon, Christy explained, Most of our moves can't do a thing against fairies.

Lilly's expression changed to one of shock. "Eh?!? You mean we're completely useless right now?"

Or you can ignore all the fancy stuff and just whack her, Ivy pointed out.

Lilly nodded in agreement. Now she had a plan. There was no way she'd fall for the same trick twice! Crouching down for a running start, Lilly prepared herself for resuming the chase ....

Only to be immediately bowled over by another girl in an icy blue outfit.

"Owoowwow. Why is it today that I've developed such a strong attraction for the ground?" Lilly sighed, before turning to face the other girl. "Hey, are you all right?" She asked, before picking herself up yet again, this time using her Parasol to prop herself up. She extended her hand to the other girl to help her up as well. "Airy, Right? I'm Lilly"

 

Why are you being nice? She knocked you over!

Shut up Ivy

[ValidEmotions]

Sasha watched the magical girl trip and crash to the ground, a hand on her hip. "What sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into?" she murmured, not really intending to get an answer from the strange girl. The girl seemed to examine her, quickly stammering out a few words before grunting in frustration.

 

An object appeared in the girl's hand, shouting to be left alone. Before Sasha realized she would, the girl threw the object and her eyes followed it towards a tiny girl drowning in her sweater. "Watch it!" Shay warned, taking a step forward.

 

Taylor screeched when she spotted the flying object, skidding to a halt and squeezing her eyes shut. Her mind worked to figure out what she should do, clashing with the instinct to run out of the way. Actually, when the instinct to duck the attack gained ground, she was already feeling the hot pain from the cylindrical object hitting her forehead.

 

Cringing, Taylor stumbled backwards until she fell, the momentum threatening to flatten her on her back if she hadn't caught herself. Rubbing furiously at the offended section on her forehead, she whimpered faintly and -

 

"What in the world?"

 

Her eyes shot open and Taylor stared at the taller girl beside her. When did she get to her so soon? Actually, how did the building?

 

"What sort of trick was that?" Sasha questioned, brow furrowing in confusion once the startling display of the two girls exchanging places had passed.

[Ayesthine]

Marian turned her head, watching helplessly as two of the other contracted girls collided. She winced along with them; partly out of pain, but mostly out of embarrassment. Of all the things that could happen on their first meeting, this had to be it. It was painfully obvious that they were inept. There was no way this could end well. Were they really going to be left alone, without bodyguards or supervisors or anything? As powerful as they were supposed to be, their partners could only do so much. This fiasco was a prime example.

Movement further down the alley caught her eye, shocking her out of her thoughts. The fugitive in the white dress stopped abruptly and threw something cylindrical at one of her pursuers, a girl in an oversized sweater. For a moment Marian froze, expecting the worst.

The baton smacked its target harmlessly on the forehead. To her surprise, it looked like it had done nothi-

She blinked. Whatever it was, the object had switched the places of the two girls. The one in the sweater cowered in the alley, where the girl in the dress had been moments before.

Uh, what. That's not good.

Thinking quickly, Marian bit down on her lip. She couldn't leave now, as much as she wanted to. Getting caught or not, she had to help the other girls. Even if she did nothing, or was just a distraction. She stepped forwards hesitantly, gripping the pokeball in her pocket hard enough to turn her knuckles white.

"Uh, I'm sorry I'm late. There was supposed to be a meeting, yeah? Are we meeting?"

Marian jumped, startled. "U- uhh, yeah," she stuttered. "We were supposed to, but it was interrupted by a spy, apparently." She glanced in the direction of the voice. Its owner was a girl an inch or two shorter than her, but the height discrepancy was more than made up by the other girl's massive head of hair. The newcomer looked so young, even more than the other girls. Marian hesitated, biting back down on her bottom lip.

So? What did you expect? You're practically a child yourself. God knows you look like one.

She sighed and loosened her grip on her lure ball, using her free hand to rub her forehead.

"Um, sorry. This whole thing has been really confusing." She gestured to the alley behind her. "Pidove- the guy who was running the meeting, I guess- told us to chase after the spy, but a few of the girls couldn't stop tripping over eachother."

I- I wish I hadn't come to the meeting. This is such a mess, and I've done absolutely nothing to fix it.

Marian pulled out Kingler's pokeball.

Well, what the hell. I guess I can't do any more damage. A giant crab seems perfectly normal compared to what just happened.

She weighed the ball in her hand for a moment longer, then tossed it gently into the air. The ball split open, releasing her partner in another flash of light.

[octopi]

A quiet groan came from the direction of the ground. Pidove peeled himself off the concrete, wobbled upright, and pecked a few feathers into place. "What are you guys..." he looked up, ready to lecture some human or another about the urgency of their quest, before seeing Togetic's white dress disappear into a side street. "Over there, we can still... no, that won't work." He sighed, perhaps a tad melodramatically, then took flight and circled over the gathered humans. "Ah-hem!" He coughed loudly for attention, directing everyone back toward the lot with a few wing gestures.

 

Once there, he landed back on the cement pipe, shifting left and right uncomfortably. "That was - that was a disaster. Honestly. I - I don't know what you all were - when I said - I meant not in costume, of course. A single bird attacking a human is one thing, but all of you together! Did I not just lecture you on the importance of keeping this a secret? I - " he suddenly deflated, collapsing into a sitting position. "Okay, fine, I admit it. I screwed up. I-I'm new here too, you know?! This wasn't supposed to be some sort of strategist position, all she said I had to do was relay information. And maybe I was trying just a bit too hard to impress... augh, that doesn't matter now!" He stood back up, flapping his wings vigorously. "What's done is done! And what's going to happen now..." he breathed in, puffing up his little pigeon chest, "is that since this one did not turn out the way it should, we're having another meeting tomorrow. Let's say 9:30 AM, sharp. Got it?

 

"That girl was most definitely one of Luxray's underlings, and that changes the situation quite a bit. There's not much point staying hidden anymore, beyond the necessary precautions to avoid being seen by humans... I'll have to report to Diancie straight away. I trust you all can handle the rest of this meeting yourselves. Exchange contact information, all those things we talked about." He nodded once. Before anyone could say anything else, he exploded into flight, tracing a path toward the south of the city and the small forest beyond it.

[PureDark006]

"You go."

His right hand twitched slightly. "We've been through this already-"

"I'm not saying I won't do anything. Just," he let himself fall to the sofa "... just this once."

"But why would it even matter?"

"I'm not risking the guys seeing me like that okay." A breath, and he continued in a tone that was less rushed and frustrated while messing his hair. "Look, we all don't have to be there. You go, and if there's anything important just text me."

"... You just want me to confirm we're not the only guys, do you."

"I already told you that you don't count"

 

Sam slowed down, trying to catch his breath on the precious seconds before the helldog noticed the human was walking instead of running again. Thankfully for his aching muscles, the empty lots where the reunion was supposed to take place were just ahead; just a few more minutes and he'd finally be able to rest for a bit. He could only be grateful that he had decided to wear normal comfortable brown boots or he really wouldn't have been able to make it that fast, taking into account he had decided to go as a girl for an extra layer of disguise (wouldn't want anyone recognizing him at school if something went wrong, after all). As such, his clothes for the day consisted of white shorts and a white dress shirt with a v neck and medium-length sleeves under a dark brown thick vest that only closed in the middle, its large lapels doing a pretty good job of concealing the lack of curves. Most of his hair had been straightened earlier in the day and was held in a high ponytail, except for a strand at the right of his face, which was left in its natural wavy state and dyed a light brown. Well, and a few hairs on the left that had gotten loose because of all the running, but those hadn't been planned and fixing them wasn't a priority right now.

 

What bothered him the most was that he and Roserade had been planning on going early before discovering that Houndoom had found it too annoying to even mention to his partner that there was a reunion. Then, the words 'magical girls' had been uttered during Roserade's brief explanation, and everything devolved into chaos to the point where Sam had been sure for a couple of seconds that Vic was just going to break the contract and run away. Taking the time to calm his brother down meant that not only was the original plan ruined, but now they were so late there was a real possibility there was no one left to talk to.

 

"Would you hurry up already?" The large black dog that was currently at least 20 meters ahead paused just long enough to glare at him, not getting that even if Sam had taken 'distance running' as part of his lifestyle (and he hadn't), he still wouldn't have been able to keep up with a Pokemon's speed and stamina. Deciding a verbal answer would be a waste of precious breathing time, Sam quickly checked that Roserade's Pokeball and his cellphone were still in his pockets before speeding up again, turning the last corner a few seconds after the Dark-type.

 

He didn't know what was he expecting, but two girls already in full costume mode and another six scattered around in various states of disorder and/or confusion hadn't been high up in the list.

 

"What in hell's name is going on here?"

 

Also, he was forcing Vic to buy a muzzle for his rude dog.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Puredark006

[HomeForFlowers]

The situation could of gone a whole lot better, but, alas, fate had decided to create a magical girl collider. It was hard to imagine that the chase after the spy in the white dress could get worse but, evidently, such a thought was incorrect. As soon as Morgan leaped in front of the transformed girl, she skidded to a halt in a rather disorganized fashion. Her feet scrambled upon the ground and she fell over in a dramatic display. As Morgan began to relay her thoughts, the other girl slowly regained her composure and rolled over on her side. Morgan nearly flinched at the other girl's response before a crash rang behind them, commanding the girl to sprint towards it. Did she tune out during Pidove's speech? Did the girl seriously brush off the spiel about not transforming in the eye of the public? Morgan couldn't tell if it was ignorance, arrogance, or something else in the magical girl's voice, but either way, it irritated Morgan. The mere fact that the other girl would so blatantly rush head first into danger without a single forethought was obscene at the least and downright ludicrous at its worse! A clenched fist was all that showed Morgan's internal aggravation but even that disappeared after a moment's notice. Though Sir Purrcival's purring helped to soothe her troubled mind, Morgan could not help but judge the other girl for her remark and actions.

 

Though she was obligated to try and assist in the chase, Morgan could not move when she saw the train wreck before her occur. The spy, who was squawking indignantly in the sky, ended up running into newcomer, a supposed magical girl Morgan assumed, before profusely apologizing. This caused Morgan to raise an eyebrow; however, before she could attempt to do anything to assist in the pursuit, Pidove dove out of the sky only to be repelled by a shield before being beaten down into the ground. The girl who had ignored Morgan's words rushed towards the spy only to be flung backwards by a glow of bright, pink light. Not too soon afterwards, another girl, Airy if Morgan remembered correctly, slammed against the other girl's back. Ahead of them, yet another girl popped up and tripped the spy before being hit by a strange cylinder and being teleported into another girl's location. Morgan just had enough time to mouth the words, "what" before rushing towards Pidove side, as none of the other girls bothered to make sure he was okay.

 

Just as she kneeled down, Pidove suddenly lifted himself up, exchanged a few words of disappointment, instructed the girls to meet again the following, and then took off. Now standing straight with one hand in her pocket and the other grasping her skull, Morgan let out a small sigh as Pidove disappeared from sight. The entire situation had been an embarrassment. The fact that the group had screwed up so badly would of been laughable if Morgan didn't feel so disappointed. She knew she could have done more to help but at the same time she was upset with the other girls, especially those who transformed, for dealing with the situation so poorly as well. The execution was a hot mess and, according to Pidove and Morgan's own assumptions, the enemy had just gotten information that they weren't suppose to have. Morgan pondered if she should scold the others for their collective failure, but she decided against. It was her failure as well and she was in no position to dish out punishment. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't be disenchanted with the group's, including her own, performance. Without a word, Morgan stuck her hand down her shirt and pried her fingers underneath Sir Purrcival's bright pink collar. He let out a mew of protest, but she promptly ignored it and fished out a collection of white slips. Morgan, after hearing Beedrill explain the situation, thought that it would be best to right down her phone number on a collection of slips to give to the other magical girls. She had planned to give everyone her phone number at the end of the meeting, but with how exasperated everyone most likely was, she decided to wait until the warmth left everyone's cheeks before handing the papers out. A sudden shout from the over yonder captured Morgan's attention. It seemed yet another member of the team had arrived at a rather late hour with a strange hell hound to boot.

"I'm afraid you missed the initial meeting," Morgan said as gazed at the newcomer. "Though because of some... technical issues the meeting has been moved to tomorrow, 9:30 AM, sharp. As for what happened, I'm not entirely sure but I do think we just got spied on by opposing side." Morgan glanced back at premise where the chase took place. Two girls were still transformed, three newcomers, besides the one with the dog, and a giant crab. Morgan felt a sigh coming on. So much for staying secret.

 

(Walk in late with no Tim Hortons how dare I)

Edited February 3, 2015 by Doctortear

[sailing101]

Lilly sighed and sat down with her chin resting on her fists. "I get the part about how we're not supposed to get seen, but how were we supposed to catch that spy?" There was a small flash of light as Lilly undid her transformation. The Premier ball rolled off to the side and opened on it's own, releasing the Zweilous once more.

"All things considered, it is difficult to decide what was the right thing to do in that situation." Christy said reassuringly.

"Especially since that pompous puff-brained pigeon didn't consider that fact that spy was already transformed" Ivy growled.

Christy sighed, "My apologies, my sister can be a bit..." Stupid? Bull-headed? Of a pain in the tail? "Abrasive."

"But she does have a point. As I'm sure your own partners have told you by now, a lone Pokémon can easily escape from humans on it's own, and a Contracted human is stronger than the Pokémon would be without someone to channel their magic. It would have been impossible for any of us to stop that spy without drawing unwanted attention." As she spoke, Christy turned her head to face everyone gathered in turn. Even if she couldn't see them, Christy knew that a facsimile of eye contact was preferable to just monologueing into thin air. She didn't need eyes to be able to 'sense' where everyone was. "In essence, sometimes we will have to take certain risks in order to succeed in our missions, and face the consequences as need be. We were lucky this time, nobody saw us."

"I don't really get all of it." Lilly sighed, "You're making my head spin."

"Mine too." Ivy agreed.

 

 

=========================================================

 

Despite Christy's condolences, Someone had seen the entire event. This mysterious watcher stayed silent, even when he had to duck to the side to allow the oblivious Pidove to pass him. Not that he was worried about being seen of course, his illusion was enough to insure that. I'll have to tell Zoie bout this, Zoroark mused to himself, she's not going to be happy about this.

Edited February 3, 2015 by sailing101

[Cookiemoon]

In a manner that seemed all too fast for Kerry's recovering bumped head, one too many events happened all at once. The girl in the white dress fled, the bird Pokémon rearranged the meeting and left, and then, all of a sudden, there was a much-too-late newcomer. Kerry rubbed her head, sensing a little bump; ow. Exchange contacts, huh...? Kerry looked around, trying hard to keep track of all the people. She returned to her regular civillian form, and picked up her phone. "So, uh... we should all exchange contact info, right?" She looked to the girl she'd bumped into, and then to everyone else. Unsure about who to talk to first, the girl quickly became flustered. She decided to head to the girl with the two-headed Pokémon. Flashing a grin, she decided it was best to just take a step and go with it. "So... let's exchange phone numbers?"

 

(SORry for my short posts guys! school is all too much and it's hard to keep up kfjdd,, ))

[Gildraug]

"I really need to go now!" Nara said desperately as he carried a huge vacuum cleaner downstairs from his room, the machine bumping into the stairs loudly. As a response, his mother climbed past him and checked his room, analyzing it for any evil dust balls that might jump at her son and suffocate him - a horrible death, indeed. Luckily, Nara's room passed his bodyguard's scan, who nodded approvingly.

 

"Seems okay. Next time, you probably want to warn your friends that Saturday is a Cleaning Day for us. So no meetings before we've cleaned the house," her mother said cheerfully as she continued to her and her husband's bedroom, a dust sweeper in her right hand, ready to battle those evil dust balls. Nara sighed and dropped the vacuum cleaner on the bottom of the stairs, then ran the stairs up again to grab his phone, keys - and most importantly - the Poké Ball which held Lucario within it. It felt good in his hands, but he decided to put it in his hoodie's pocket. Wouldn't that just be fantastic if he lost the goddamned thing before the meeting?

 

Nara checked the time from his phone and cursed softly, since he was still inside where mom could hear, tying his Converses as fast as he could. It was 5:07 - and he was very late. With a quick 'good bye', he left the house and started jogging towards the empty lots, remembering the map he had glanced quickly upon one day. He doubted he'd get lost, it was a small area, but there really wasn't any reason to come even more late.

 

In the end, it was surprisingly easy to find the place. The lots did offer a protection from wary eyes, but it couldn't protect the fact that a huge group of teenagers were there. Some were dressed in overly flamboyant matter, most not. Yet, there was something about them all that nudged at Nara, a certain look in their eyes, maybe even an aura? There was also something else - most of the people around looked stressed or hurt or confused or... There was a huge range of emotions, but something had certainly happened - and whatever it had been, it hadn't been good. Even so, he walked forwards carefully and raised a hand in greeting, grinning widely.

 

"Yo, I guess the meeting is - or was - here? Sorry if I'm late, I had an epic battle against Sir Dust and his minions before my mother allowed me to leave the house," Nara explained addressing his words to the closest girls. "The name's Nara, by the way." He did his best to show confident, although his inner self was feeling very uncomfortable at the amount of people there were - some of them looked vaguely familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere once, but not familiar enough for him to go buddy-buddy.

 

"Um... I suppose I missed something?" he added and ruffled his hair, feeling a little awkward. "Sorry, once again. For coming late."

 

((Late introduction post is always a late introduction post :'D))

Edited February 4, 2015 by Gildraug

[PureDark006]

"Technical issues?" Sam thought, hand on the wall to offer a bit of support as he caught his breath. All that hurrying up for nothing, basically... well, at least they hadn't missed anything important, if the meeting was to be moved. Now he just had to make sure they were actually on time tomorrow. What worried him somewhat, though, was that he was pretty sure that all the other teens currently gathered there were girls, and the last thing he wanted was to deal with Vic's overreactions twice in the same day.

 

"I see... Well, thank you for informing me, and my apologies for the lateness," he said between breaths, swallowing around the hot and dry sensation on the back of his throat the running had caused, but still managing a small smile. Despite his tiredness, his voice came out in a high and smooth tone befitting a female. "You can call me Samantha. A pleasure to meet you all."

 

The girl with the black bonnet undid her transformation, releasing her partner in the process, a two-headed black-furred blue reptile the size of Houndoom. And from the words of the right head, Sam pieced some more details about what had happened before his arrival - a Contracted spy and a failed capture attempt did seem like very valid reasons to postpone a meeting. By the time the second transformed girl went back to more normal-looking clothes and asked about exchanging numbers, Sam had recovered enough to stand normally again, ignoring the faint throbbing on his left side as he kept an eye on Houndoom; the dog-like Pokemon seemed to have gotten angrier at the new information after all, glaring at nothing in particular with bristling fur and tail held up, as he muttered something that vaguely sounded like 'rip his arm off for making me miss a fight'.

 

Sam was about to comment on maybe toning it down (the giant crab and the reptile's right head were showing a better behavior), when the tenth teenager arrived and thank heavens that was most definitely a he. Now Vic didn't have any excuse to skip the next meeting.

 

Houndoom scoffed and turned around, not paying attention to what the others were saying. "Don't have time for all the buddy games, I have someone to kill," he growled without even looking back, running off in the direction he and Sam had came from. The teen just sighed almost imperceptibly, fishing out his white-and-purple phone from his pocket.

 

"Please don't mind Houndoom's attitude. He's this charming even with his partner," he commented with an easy smile. Deciding that his brother didn't deserve a text warning him about the more-than-pissed-off Pokemon going his way, Sam instead opened a writing app with practiced ease to type all the new names and numbers.

[ValidEmotions]

Well, this had been quite a waste.

 

Sasha didn't have anything to contribute as Pidove made clear his disappointment and fault. With the strange bird gone, a new meeting time set, and everyone returned to the abandoned lot, she rubbed the back of her head and sighed. Might as well start somewhere. Right?

 

Glancing over at a girl who seems over dressed for a rag-tag meeting, Shay stepped towards her and waved faintly in greeting. She noted the bunch of paper in the other girl's hand, her own falling to the flip-phone tucked away in her pocket. "Name's Sasha but some prefer to call me Shay," she started, offering her free hand to shake.

 

The entire meeting had been crazy really. From two-headed dogs to giant bees and crabs to spy kids clad in white instead of black... Not to mention, the street-side derby with everyone crashing into each other, and the wacky magic show.

 

Something moved in her left pocket, a fist-size object suddenly filling up the extra space as it seemed to struggle. A pop reached Shay's ears as a beam of light raced across the air, pooling against the ground as Zebstrika took shape. "Ah, finally! Were you ever going to let me out of that stuffy thing?" he complained, snorting and briefly tossing his head as his markings flashed with electricity.

 

"I would have but you kind of beat me to it," Sasha remarked, giving him a side-long glance.

 

"Well, you took too long!"

[sailing101]

Lilly sighed and leaned back, placing her hands on the pavement to hold herself up. The first meeting was effectively winding down, the last few stragglers had arrived (one was a boy, that was odd), and everyone was exchanging contact information on their phones.

 

Their phones.......

 

..... processing.....

 

.........................

 

 

"Oh no!!" Lilly cried out in despair. "I don't have a Phone! How am I supposed to keep in contact with everyone if I don't have any way to call them!"

Lilly leapt to her feet and began pacing frantically.

"I can't use the home phone because What if Big Sis answer it? I can't keep this a secret if I use the home phone, and Big Sis would never let me do this if she knew!" Lilly paused her monologue, another realization coming to light. Wailing, she dropped to her knees. "I'm lying to Big Sis! I am a horrible excuse for a sibling!!"

 

"For the love of Arceus make her stop" Ivy groaned.

"Lilly, please, get a hold of yourself." Christy pleaded. "We can figure out another way for you to keep in contact with the rest of the team."

Edited February 12, 2015 by sailing101

[Gildraug]

A girl close to Nara - Samantha, was it? - pulled out her phone and said: "Please don't mind Houndoom's attitude. He's this charming even with his partner."

That reminded Nara to pull out his Pokéball and release Lucario, as others were doing so, too. With a flash of light, the fighter appeared, instantly scanning the are with his sharp eyes.

"Oh Arceus... How are we supposed t' be a 'stealth group' with so many people?" he sighed. Nara waved his hand dismissively at his partner as he rummaged his hands through his pockets. He was sure he had some of them... Aha!

 

Pulling out some wrinkled paper and a stub of a pencil, Nara wrote down his number on the piece of paper, alongside his and his partner's names. It looked like a very messy and worn-out business card. Walking over to Samantha, Nara offered the paper and pulled out his own phone.

"Thought it would be easier if I put a piece of paper circling around rather than shouting out loud. Anyways, I'm Nara and this is Lucario - he may seem blunt and so forth, but is really a nice guy." Lucario gave a curt nod as a greeting but was more focused on their surroundings.

 

The Pokémon had probably been examining auras, since he soon relaxed and took a more friendly attitude.

"I snatched up a piece o' conversation that this meeting has been postponed. At what time?" Lucario asked calmly, but Nara could sense a hint of impatience.

"Hey, take it easy, okay? There's a lot of us, so it'll take time to make everything organized. Wasn't there supposed to be someone here and give us orders?" Nara thought out loud and Lucario scoffed.

"Yeah, there was supposed t'. But I know he wouldn't ditch us, so there's a good reason he must've left. Anyways, we really need to organize ourselves or this is goin' t' be hellish."

 

Right then, a girl cried out that she had no mobile phone, so how could she keep in contact with others.

Damn, who doesn't have a phone? Nara thought to himself, but felt bad for this girl - must've been horrible to realize you were not able to keep in touch.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Gildraug

[Ayesthine]

Marian winced as Pidove berated them, acutely aware of how little she had helped out. The promise of a new meeting and a glimpse at Pidove’s- for lack of a better word- human side assuaged her fears somewhat, but the revelation that Pidove was just as lost as they were did little to soothe her embarrassment. She really had done nothing useful, and she had seriously considered running away and leaving everyone else to deal with the spy problem.

The girl ran her hands through her choppy blonde hair, trying to shake off her shame and disappointment. Her head was starting to ache and the anxiety seething in her stomach rose up like bile. She slumped to the ground, her head spinning. Kingler, released from his Pokeball, scuttled over to her. For a moment he looked worried, but as he looked his partner over his face cracked into a sunny grin.

“I can tell that you’re worried!” he said confidently. He jabbed her gently in the side with a claw. “Don’t be, child. You did what you could!”

Marian glanced at him, pausing for a moment to wonder if he was being facetious.

“I really didn’t. I did nothing,” she sighed. “I wimped out, actually. If this Diancie is anything like you’ve told me, she’ll be really disappointed in us... or at least me.”

“If you want to be upset about this, I obviously can’t stop you.” The crab Pokemon adjusted his claws, his face growing serious. “All I can tell you is that you, and anyone else here, should not feel ashamed for falling short. It was a lot to expect from any human, much less a bunch of adolescents. Our mission isn’t in jeopardy, alright?” He offered the girl a claw.

Smiling wryly, she accepted it, pulling herself off the ground in one smooth movement. “Thanks, I guess.”

She looked around the empty lot, trying to take an inventory of the people who were still here. At least two more people had shown up; a girl dressed in white and a taller boy in a ragged sweatshirt. A few people seemed to be exchanging phone numbers, but for the most part everyone was scattered around looking lost.

Taking a second look, Marian noticed that no one, save the bee girl, really seemed to be taking charge. She bit her lip, absentmindedly chewing through the skin.

There’s so many people. Where did they all come from?

The lot was still empty, apart from the contracted kids and their partners, but the noise of the city roared in the distance. If they were going to be standing around looking conspicuous, it might be a better idea to do it in a place that was less illegal to be in. It would be nice if there was air conditioning and places to sit. Marian’s legs felt like rubber, partly from her fear and partly from her long walk to town.

I guess I.. should do something.

Clearing her throat, she gave a half-hearted wave. “Excuse me? Everyone? I- I think.. we should...“ Her voice petered out. No one could hear her, or if they could they weren’t paying attention. Hugging an arm to her side, she stared at her partner, wordlessly asking for help. Taking pity on the nervous girl, Kingler raised a claw the size of a backhoe into the air, rapidly snapping it open and shut. Each snap echoed around the lot, the cracking sound cutting easily through the drowsy evening air.

“Humans!” He boomed. “Listen here! Marian has words for you.”

Marian’s cheeks burned red. She would have to talk to Kingler about embarrassment. It didn’t appear to be a concept he was at all familiar with.

“Uhm, sorry,” she stuttered. “I, we, n- need to talk as a group, and this isn’t the best place to do that. Um, if any of you have to leave now, can you make sure you give your phone number to someone? Like Pidove said, we need to stay in contact with each other.” She flushed again, her face turning pink. “The rest of us should find somewhere a little less conspicuous. I don’t really know many places in town, apart from the library, so if anyone has any suggestions... “ Nervously tucking her hair behind her ear, she raised her voice a little more. “I don’t mean to push any of you or boss you around, but we need to get organized. We couldn’t catch that girl because we kept getting in each others way or didn’t know what to do at all, so... finding a way to organize ourselves should be a first priority.”

Stopping to glance at her partner, she hugged her side more tightly, trying to keep a lid on her jittery nerves.

“If we can, we should set up our own meeting times, so we can keep each other updated and maybe practice with our powers. I- I’d offer the woods behind my house as a testing ground, since no one ever goes there, but I live way out of the city.”

Grinning again, Kingler waved his claws wildly. “Listen to the girl!” he said, winking. “She may not make sense, but at least she has it, eh?”

Marian clutched her arms to her chest, her cheeks turning an even brighter shade of red.

 

((p.s. I recently found out that Kinglers are so much more gigantic than I initially thought))

Edited February 12, 2015 by Ayesthine

[HomeForFlowers]

With a blank countenance, Morgan formed her mouth into a line as she watched the dual-headed magical girl change out of her transformation. Her partner, the large two-headed creature, began to speak and began to recite their opinions on how the girls should handle the situations in the future. Morgan didn't completely agree with the idea of taking risks in order to complete whatever objective was at hand. Bending the rules always resulted in consequences that were most likely not in one's favor. Leaning on the chance that they may not getting caught was ludicrous in Morgan's mind. Sooner or later, their luck would run out and someone would caught a glimpse of a strange looking dog hear a zebra talk. Betting on fate to be in your favor never ended well in Morgan's experience. Although she did not agree with what the dual-headed creature said, Morgan did respect her opinion and made no move to correct her or show her feelings about the topic outwardly.

 

Thankfully, some of the group appeared to be listening to Pidove's instructions. A few of them began to exchange phone numbers and chatter among themselves. One of the girls, the one who had tripped the spy, pranced up to Morgan and introduced herself as Shay. Morgan graciously shook Shay's outstretched hand and gave her a curt nod.

"I'm Morgan," the blonde replied before ending the handshake. She snatched one of the small slips from her hand and offered it to Shay.

"We were instructed to exchange phone numbers, no?" Morgan inquired as Sir Purrcival let out a soft yawn. "I brought several slips just in case we needed to contact each other, although it seems exchanging such information has become a requirement now.

 

Not too soon after the zebra had escaped from Shay's ball, the dual-headed girl began to have a second freak out. Morgan had half a mind to snap at her, but to what avail? She didn't know this girl and berating her would accomplish nothing. Morgan was tempted to see if she could soothe the girl's sudden dilemma, the girl with the giant crab spoke her. Morgan was somewhat surprised about what the crab girl pointed out. Why didn't Morgan think about locating a meeting place earlier? It made perfect sense, the girls would need someplace to meet that was away from prying eyes. Disappointment pricked Morgan's mind. She should of thought of that sooner; she should of figured out a meeting place before someone had to mention the very concept to her. Although Morgan was irritated with herself for failing to realize such a plain obstacle, she could, at the very least, provide a solution.

"If need be, we could use the house I live in as a meeting place," Morgan said to the crab girl, raising her voice high enough so that the other girl could hear. "It's on the edge of town and gated so most people from the public don't really hang around there. Both of my parents have been busy as of late and probably won't be staying in the house for a great length of time. It's rather spacious and there's plenty of places we can settle down without fear of being eavesdropped. Although, if anyone has an allergies to house cats or dogs, I'd suggest not using the house." Morgan contemplated telling the others about the guard dogs, but she perished the thought. If one of the magical girls was dull-witted enough to attempt to sneak into the house, then they deserved to get whatever harassment they acquired for the dogs. Surely none of them would try to break into the house?

 

(Good heavens this took forever to write.)

[PureDark006]

"Nice to meet you, Shay." Sam smiled at the girl who introduced herself, his phone lighting up as he unlocked it while the other girl, the one who had answered him before, shook Shay’s hand and presented herself as Morgan, offering a slip of paper with her number on it. He was mildly puzzled when he thought he heard a small, soft noise coming from the strict-looking teen’s general vicinity, but dismissed it as he couldn’t figure out what could it have been.

 

"Thought it would be easier if I put a piece of paper circling around rather than shouting out loud.” The boy (Nara, as he introduced himself) had come closer to the little group of three, a blue bipedal fox-like Pokémon at his side.

“Thank you. It does make things faster,” Sam replied, taking the paper and quickly creating the new contact ‘MGG Nara&Lucario’ with the number the other boy had written down. “Apparently, we’re to meet again tomorrow at nine thirty in the morning. But you’ll be better off asking someone else for the full details, I arrived not a minute before the two of you did,” he answered, adding a slight chuckle that he made sound a bit embarrassed at the end, and handing back the paper to the male teen along with his own phone with the screen showing Sam’s number on it so Nara could jolt it down.

 

 

“Humans! Listen here! Marian has words for you.”

 

And with that cry, the group’s next steps were laid out by both Marian and Morgan. Sam didn’t interrupt, thinking about what he should do. On one hand, it was the first reunion, and exchanging information and getting to know each other was important. On the other, he might need to do some damage control at home, especially if those two brutes had broken something (again). Plus, he was still tired from the run from before, and both suggested meeting places would mean a long walk back home.

 

With a small sigh, he flashed an apologetic smile to the two girls who had taken charge. "I'm very sorry, but truth is, there's someone else who should have been here but couldn't make it due to personal circumstances." "Someone who I hope is getting bit by Houndoom right about now," he added in his mind with a mild annoyance he was careful to not show, smile not faltering even a bit. "The sooner I tell him what happened, the better. I promise we'll both make it on time tomorrow, so if you'll please excuse me," he finished with a small bow.

 

That said, he turned his attention back to Nara. "You have my number, right? Please text me if anything else is decided," he asked, phone retrieved. In a whim, he took the others hands in his, looking intently at his mismatched eyes. "And thank you so much for being male. You have no idea of the trouble you saved me from."

 

Not waiting for a reply, he turned and ran the way Houndoom had exited a while ago, hoping that both human and Pokemon had calmed down by the time he made it back.

 

((Sorry for the late reply, I had trouble writing some of it and the exit still seems too abrupt))

Edited February 15, 2015 by Puredark006

[TehUltimateMage]

"No problem!" Yanique pulled the magical girl to her feet, a friendly smile taking the place of the concern on her face now that she realized neither of them were hurt too bad, apart from a bit of dirt on both their clothing. The magical girl's white dress was still charming even if it was a little scuffed up, though in her opinion it was a little plain and reminded her somewhat of the dresses worn by the little flower girls present at weddings. This seemed like the beginning of a beautiful friendship, if the girl in white wasn't running away from something and if this random bird didn't drop in and swipe at her. Was the universe against her today or something?

 

They did a quick exchange of blows and the shorter girl was off again with the bird in pursuit, leaving Yanique behind. The bird seemed like a regular pigeon from the blur of feathers she saw, though she could have sworn it spoke. Was it a pokemon, then? That explained its behavior somewhat, but why would it attack a fellow magical girl? "Be careful where you're going!" she yelled over as she waved good-bye, but the girl in the little white dress was quite a ways away by then and was probably too preoccupied to see or hear her. Another girl zoomed past Yanique immediately, running inhumanly (magical-girl-y?) fast for someone in a ballgown. Yanique stepped out of the way in time this time and watched her recede around the corner as well. There was a major variation on dress styles for magical forms; that she confirmed. She herself wondered what the fashion lottery was going to hand her. She hadn't transformed yet, partly because of the apprehension and hype surrounding her new alter ego's dress -- though Mighty seemed to be a cool pokemon, so he had to give her some equally cool clothes.

 

Speaking of Mightyena, it might have been polite to let him out a little earlier. Yanique was only stalling, as she knew what was coming for her the moment she realized she was going to be late for the meeting. Looking around to make sure there were no more people rushing after white-dressed girl, Yanique pulled out her pokeball. She admired the sphere and its yellow and black spots on red, trying to prolong her final moments of peace.

 

She pressed the button and braced for impact.

 

"I told you not to be late!" Mightyena barked -- no, snarled with the vigour of a bloodthirsty hellhound as the canine materialized in a flash of white light. His hackles were raised and his lips pulled back to show a row of sharp teeth clenched in irritation. Even his bushy tail was sticking straight up and his whole form was trembling. Yanique winced, throwing her hands up in front of her face even though she knew they would do nothing against the barrage of scolding the pokemon was going to give her. She had never seen him so angry, but then again, they have only met each other not long ago. It seemed like the good start they had would be marred by this even for a while.

 

"I--I…!" the pokemon stammered, pacing indignantly in circles and clawing the ground, "One more stunt like that, and I will have to ask Lady Diancie if I can terminate our contract! How could you be so ignorant of the stakes we are dealing with here!" He let out something between a growl and a whine, now that he was out of breath. Yanique dropped her arms. The storm was over -- for now, at least.

 

"5pm, 5pm, how many times did I have to tell you, and you miss it anyway," he mumbled, defeated. "I'll surely get reprimanded for this if word gets around. I would urge you personally next time -- for it is my duty -- but again there is the matter of secrecy…" He snorted. "If we're lucky, we will find some people who might have stayed behind.

 

Yanique was about to say something about the magical girls headed the other way, but she snapped her mouth shut. No use in interrupting Mightyena with that little bit of extra information.

 

When they arrived to the actual lot, Yanique was surprised at the amount of people who had gathered there with their strange animals called pokemon (one girl even had a giant crab large enough to sit on; Mightyena seemed normal compared to some of these creatures!). There were still some people arriving too. Her pokemon was acutely aware of the smug expression on her face, so she didn't feel the need to say I told you we're not too late out loud.

 

The bird from before -- the one who attacked the girl Yanique bumped into -- landed on top of a pipe in the clearing. Clenching her fists, she was ready for a tussle should the bird pokemon attack again, though no one else in the area seemed to mind it. She relaxed. But where was the white-dressed magical girl? Maybe she was home already, taking a break from these antics.

 

It (or rather, he) announced himself as a newbie messenger, then postponed the meeting, and finally revealed that they were chasing one of Luxray's underlings.

 

Luxray's messenger?! What a plot twist, though she was the only one among everyone to actually be surprised. That girl had seemed nice enough and all…? The events now clicked into place in her mind. Oh. The bird flew away before she could ask any more clarification. She guessed she had to wait until tomorrow for further questions. But like he said, what's done is done.

 

"Hear that?" Mightyena barked, "Nine. Thirty. Sharp. I will spend the night outside the pokeball to ensure you do not miss it this time." Yanique simply rolled her eyes and nodded so he would stop bothering her.

 

And now was the issue of contact information. The girl whipped out her phone, swiping away the lock screen and displaying the dial pad. Then, realizing that some other people had the more efficient way of handing around slips, she sheepishly took out a notebook and pen from the breast pocket of her fancy custom jacket. She guessed that this gang would be her new posse now. At least for a while.

 

((that moment when you spend so much time whipping up a post that you do not realize it is almost 5 in the morning))

[octopi]

Sunday | 9:31 AM | Cloudy

 

Pidove shifted from foot to foot, looking around the abandoned lot and the humans who were already present. For the ninth time in the past two minutes, he opened his beak, paused, then closed it again. He glanced up. Grey clouds covered much of the sky, a sharp contrast to the weather (and mood) that had been in place the previous meeting. “I hope it isn’t going to rain,” he finally said, after another long pause. “Rain is simply awful when you have wings, let me tell you. Well - ahem - I suppose that will be that, then. We will now be resuming last afternoon’s meeting, and as before, the questioning period will be at the end. First, I have some important news to deliver.”

 

He cleared his throat again. “As you can imagine, Princess Diancie was… not exactly happy with yesterday’s turn of events. But none of you - none of us are to be blamed for it. She had misjudged Luxray’s position, she said. And now that we are all better informed of the situation - she has told me to relay a new course of action for you.

 

“You see, before the Comet arrived, we had been patrolling this area for about a month, to prepare for Jirachi’s awakening. We spotted Luxray multiple times in this town during that time. At the time, we thought we were safe; we didn’t know Jirachi was Luxray’s target, and no one else had ever managed to find our hideout. We were proven wrong, of course - but this also gives us a new lead. That girl, the spy. She was young, yes? Of school age? If she is a student at Hillside Heights High, that would practically confirm that Luxray has set up home base here. So your task is: find out as much about the spy as possible. Ask your classmates if necessary. Then, a few of you should keep an eye on her and report straight back to me if she contacts anyone suspicious. It may be a good idea to investigate some of the larger buildings around here as well. You just might hit the jackpot.”

 

Pidove preened a few stray feathers into place. “And that’s that. Any questions?”

[HomeForFlowers]

Reaching the meeting place at 9:00 and waiting for everyone to file in as the clock ticked by had proven worthwhile. The importance of the meetings and the urgency when it came to not arriving late had thankfully been beaten into some people's head. Despite this, Morgan was still concerned with the group. Morgan wasn't sure just how seriously some of other magical girls had taken their assignment. Their shameful excuse of teamwork yesterday was far more than just worrisome. Their willingness to disobey orders and discard all common sense within mere minutes was baffling and the fact that everyone left the meeting on a low note wasn't reassuring. Granted, most of them had surely only known their companions for a few days or so, but that was a poor excuse for the sheer lack of competence when it came to their execution of chasing down the intruder. Beedrill's three hour rant when Morgan arrived home did little to boost her confidence in the group. She let out a small sigh of defeat and shook her head as the clock ticked to 9:30. Complaining about the circumstances wasn't going to help. She had to deal with the consequences of both the other magical girls' actions and her own. That's what she had to do.

 

Morgan leaned against the steel fence behind her, letting her back curve against its frame. She passively wondered where Marie Cattoinette had scampered off to as last of the magical girls filed in. For the past two days, she had been missing for the most part and had only shown up briefly for feeding sessions. Her only kitten, Sir Purrcival, had become desperate to connect with his mother and, in her absence, had begun to cling to Morgan for comfort. The little fluff ball had heavy separation anxiety and being the causer of the kitten's grief was not something Morgan wanted to have on her mind. So, just as he was yesterday, Sir Purrcival was comfortable settled within Morgan's shirt his chin resting against the opening of her collar and his long, fuzzy ears pulled back. To Morgan's great relief, the two canines by her feet knew better than to meddle with the dozing feline. To Morgan's left sat a muscular Rottweiler with a black and brown fur who glared sternly at her surrounding with her ears pulled back. On the other side of Morgan was a significantly smaller Tibetan Mastiff whose coat was puffed out that her eyes were barely visible in the cascade of her black and red fur. The puppy, who was around five months old, had her tongue rolled out of the side of her mouth and was happily heaving while occasionally stopping to lick her chops.

 

Making a quick motion for Queen, the puppy on Morgan's right, to be silent, Morgan turned her attention towards Pidove as he began his speech. It wasn't surprising that Princess Diancie was upset with yesterday's performance. The girls' pitiful attempt at stopping the intruder was laughable at best and downright embarrassing at its worst. Morgan wondered for a moment if anyone else's companion was as furious as Beedrill was after the events of yesterday. When Pidove mentioned that the spy might of lived in the town, Morgan unconsciously scratched her neck thoughtfully. Now that she thought about it, the intruder did seem to be around the rest of the group's age. She looked vaguely familiar but Morgan couldn't recall her name her any other important information about her. She didn't have a distinctive look about her and Morgan couldn't remember if she had any classes with the spy. Finding out more information about her wouldn't be extraordinarily difficult, but it wouldn't exactly be easy either.

"What would you have us do in the event that she recognizes one of us?" Morgan inquired as Pidove asked if anyone had any questions. She assumed that whoever had been found out would have to lay low, but what about their connection to the group? If the Luxray girl figured out someone was spying on her, would she get suspicious of those who communicated with the suspected one often? Better safe than sorry.

 

(Nggggh, I am sorry this is bad.)

Edited February 16, 2015 by Doctortear

[TehUltimateMage]

((bluh))

 

Yanique was proud of herself. It had been a tough morning, considering that her day usually didn't start until 10:30AM, but she had made it to the meeting on time. Earlier than on time, in fact. The only two humans on the scene were herself, and the sharply-dressed girl she recognized as being thoroughly organized on the day before. She seemed like the type to arrive to these meetings an hour earlier than the appointed time to meetings and be that strict boss who would always tell slackers like Yanique to get back to work. It also didn't help that she had no less than two dogs on her person. Well, Yanique had Mightyena by her side at the moment, so that counted for something…? Around other pokemon, he looked fairly normal. Around Morgan's puppies, however, the girl saw how different pokemon were from all the animals they knew.

 

That didn't stop Mighty from acting like a complete puppy when it came to waking her up this morning. She still hadn't finished dusting off the grey fur from her black jacket and pants. She almost fell out of bed when she opened her eyes and saw his face, and he had the extra gall to show his teeth. It nearly gave her a heart attack first thing in the morning, but he simply chuckled, complaining that the wood floor was stiff on his bones and that she would really need to get a carpet or a cushion for him.

 

Yanique wasn't even sure if it was a good idea to keep him out of the pokeball for long periods of time. He said it was a risk they had to take. She had only returned him for the duration of their trek to the abandoned lot, releasing the pokemon once they were far enough from the main roads. She felt more in sync with him already.

 

Finally, when the appointed time came, Pidove spoke. It made sense that Luxray's agents would be about their age. It seemed like everyone around here was about the same age too, give or take a few years. Maybe it had something to do with the pure of heart or some ridiculous movie trash. But that gave Yanique a distinct advantage. Not many people had a wider circle of friends than she did. And it was almost guaranteed that she had already seen the girl from yesterday. Come to think of it, she did remember seeing a few of the people assembled here from school, even if she still didn't know their names.

 

"Leave it to me!" she said in response to the new mission. "A lot of people know me at Hillside Heights!"

 

Mightyena bumped into her side. "Idiot! That just means you'll be recognized easier!"

 

[Ayesthine]

Marian yawned, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She stared bleary-eyed at Pidove, silently cursing him for setting the meeting time this early in the morning. She was used to waking up early, but she had to get up at 6 just to make it on time. Even when she rode the bus, it took ages to get to town.

The girl shivered, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her sweatshirt. She glanced up at the cloudy sky, agreeing with Pidove’s sentiments about rain. She really wasn’t looking forward to walking home in the middle of a downpour.

I should have brought an umbrella, or at least a coat or something.

She yawned again, covering her mouth with her sleeve.

It’s too early for this. Ugh, how am I going to explain why I needed to be in town at 9:30 on a Sunday?

She listened with half her brain to Pidove’s speech, the other half casting around for a decent excuse. This time around, she had vowed to keep her mouth shut. The last time she asked a question, it hadn’t worked out very well. Better to stay quiet and let other people do the talking.

Marian winced when Pidove mentioned Diancie’s dissapointment. She’d talked their failure over with Kingler last night, and he had assured her that it wouldn’t affect the future of their contract. All the same, she couldn’t help but feel that she’d messed everything up.

She felt marginally better when Pidove laid out their new task. There was less of a chance that they would be caught, and it was the kind of espionage a group of teenagers could handle. She hoped, anyway.

How should we look for this girl? Won’t she recognize us, or won’t she get suspicious if she finds out we’re asking about her?

Marian glanced around at the gathering, trying to judge how well they might know the spy.

I mean, it’s not at all likely that we’re even in the same grade.

She sighed, resolving herself to do her best. It was probably best to get to know the other contracted kids, and worry about finding the spy afterwards.

A few of the girls spoke up, either they or their partners voicing concerns about being recognized. They were right, at any rate. The people who were the most likely to find the spy right off the bat were the people who were most likely to be recognized by her. Marian could only hope that the spy hadn’t had enough time to get a good look at them.

She shivered, then sneezed softly into the elbow of her jacket. She wrapped the fabric tighter around her shoulders, rubbing her arms to keep them warm. It had been really cold on the bus this morning, and she still hadn’t warmed up all the way. Maybe she should ask if they could move inside after this. Where, though? They hadn’t been able to figure out a meeting place yesterday. Not many shops were open this early on a Sunday, anyway.

 

((bad))

[octopi]

Pidove scanned the room, eyes pausing on Morgan when she asked her question. He placed a wing in front of his beak and nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, Diancie had addressed that as well. In the short term, there isn’t much the spy can do, even if she recognizes one of you. She can’t exactly prevent you from hanging around near her, and if she ceases activities, we’ll have put Luxray down a spy. The only thing we might have to worry about is her revealing your identities to Luxray, in which case… she might… she… hrmm.”

 

Pidove paused, staring down at the ground, before blurting out his next sentence twice as quickly. “Not to mention we need as much of advantage over Luxray’s forces as we can get, and that includes your identities! So that, indeed, is a situation we would like to avoid. Our earlier… disorganization may be to our advantage here, however. Many of you arrived late, did you not? And you - “ he turned to face Yanique - “er, Mightyena’s partner hadn’t engaged her in battle at all. The spy will not know of those people, or at least their involvement in this initiative. After all of you do a bit of investigation to find out whether or not she does live in this town and some other details, those of you who had been late last time can tail her. Young people like yourselves approaching others to make friends isn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence, is it? She shouldn’t be too suspicious.

 

"Moving on. Ah, yes, another point - personally I'm not sure if that spy will ever be back again after that awful ordeal yesterday, but Diancie thinks it would be best if we switched meeting places. We have a few places in mind, but perhaps we should take into account where all of you live before choosing one...?" He looked around again, blinking disdainfully at some empty spaces that had been filled last meeting. "It's not that early in the morning. Is it?"