Posted March 5, 2016 (edited) "Take care! Don't let him pick a fight with the other Fossil Pokémon in town, they're harmless!" Laren exclaimed as he waved at Chompers' trainer when she ran off to follow the Rock-type. He really would have liked to get to know Chompers, but the Tyrantrum was clearly bothered and in a bad mood; better let his trainer handle him since she'd know how to cheer him up. Anoma cheerfully bobbed at the Azumarill's words. "Yop yop! No mind! My name is Anoma, and this human here is Laren!" She chirped, repeating the words her trainer had said earlier for introduction. Laren adjusted his backpack, and was about to head to the labs when a woman approached him, sporting red and yellow hair that reminded him of the mane of the fire horse from before. "Ah, kind of. The Champion would fire me if I let the town be destroyed," he said with a sheepish smile, shaking her hand. Considering the kinds of Pokémon that frequented the town, it was only half a joke. "Laren, the Gym Leader of Vertia. And this Anorith here is Anoma." "Hi hi! Lotsa humans! Lotsa Pokémon!" she exclaimed, making happy sounds at the Joltik on the other woman's head. "It's a lengthy topic," Laren said, crossing his arms and lightly touching his lip in thought. "Let's see... the main areas were the biology division and the computer department. I remember them because I was part of the first one and everyone kept calling the second 'CD' for short. A guy there had a Relicanth - really nice specimen, had two red spots instead of one and her brown spots extended to-" "Laren! Focus!" Anoma pouted, poking him. He chuckled and pet her. "Sorry, sorry. Anyway, if I'm not mistaken most of their biology studies had to do with Pokémon types - how they affected them, why some species changed them upon evolution, and so on. The one I worked on was about finding why all known Fossil Pokémon shared the Rock type. So, pretty standard research. They publish it regularly, so you can look for it if you want. About the headquarters... the main ones are in other regions, I think, so you won't be able to visit without massive amounts of free time. The building I worked on closed shortly after I left - I think there was talk of it potentially having a negative impact on the wild Pokémon around so they decided to play it safe. There are more buildings in Lamorak, but I don't know where they're located." Anoma shivered a bit, her feathers drooping. "No like there," she told the Azumarill, shaking her head. "Creepy Pokémon. Sung creepy. Ran, got lost. Humans talking weird. Wall open!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Did your trainer tell you about the rules?" Pooch asked, one of her ears flicking. She maintained her low tone during the conversation so only the feline could hear. "'You will only start to remember when Team Helix’s research is destroyed.' If your trainer wants her memory back, she'll be the enemy of Team Helix. And sadly, we don't know anything about who their members are or how they might react if finding out about this. So, better safe than sorry, right?" She finished, licking the other between the eyes as if he was a pup. She hoped that was enough to make the young one understand. They shouldn't be having this talk in such a crowded area in the first place. Rhapsody spoke up when Lambert came back. "Oi, Mr. Ash Cannon. Kid's starving to death. Where'd you get food around here?" If it was him, a trip to the wilderness would solve it, but seeing as humans were weird as heck maybe they had other ways. Hell, he never would've guessed they kept water in containers until Gaes brought back one (though he didn't know how did they drink from that - Z's method of spilling everything on their clothes didn't look like the correct one). Edited March 5, 2016 by Puredark006 Share this post Link to post
Posted March 5, 2016 (edited) Chompers looked down to see Sine bouncing after him. "Can't stay still, can you? Don't you think that it was kind of weird that neither of the blue pokemon had trainers around? The dark blue one did, but he didn't show up until it already left the scene, and came from the same direction where his pokemon went." This time, Chompers actually halted. "Sorry Sine," he muttered. "It got too crowded for me, it's like I'm terrified of huge crowds, I don't know why because of the memory loss. I look around this city and I feel...sad. Don't ask me how or why, but there's something I'm missing. If I could say it, I could, but I can't. That blue Pokémon just made things worse by taunting me about my fear." Chompers narrowed his eyes as he looked around before a loud roar was heard from his stomach. Chompers blinked and looked at Sine, blushing. When was the last time he ate? "Uh...do you think we can get a bite to eat?" Chompers asked. "What do Pokémon eat these days?" He scratched his chin, trying to figure out what to eat and where that question came from. "Pokémon...eat....fruits," Dunsparce panted as he caught up. He was clearly out of breath from trying to catch up to Sine and Chompers. Chompers blinked. Fruits? He wrinkled his snout; that sounded awful to him. "What you think?" he asked, turning to Sine. Why was he asking what Sine thought? Was he a trainer's Pokémon before the memory wipe? ----------------------------------- Anhew smiled a bit as Sweet Voice assured her everything was alright. She then waited patiently as Sweet Voice stepped away, leaving Anhew to listen to all the different voices talking. She tilted her head, these voices were a bit strange. It was then she heard the foot steps of Sweet Voice coming back. "I need to go outside and find someone. Would you like to come along with me? You don't have to if you don't want to, but you're more than welcome to come along with me if you so desire." "I-I want to come," Anhew squeaked before standing up and following Sweet Voice outside. Zoey gave a small smile before she noticed Garrett and Anhew leaving the center. Well, that was her cue to see what was going on again. "I think she mentioned it to me," Tama said in thought. Tama then flinched as the Houndour liked him between the eyes. "Tama, return," Zoey said, taking the Pokeball out and returned him as he let out an 'awwww'. "Last time I saw Mr. Fighty Pants, he was in an ally way," Zoey said to Garrett as she stepped outside. Edited March 10, 2016 by Raptor of Dragons Share this post Link to post
Posted March 8, 2016 “My trainer is Zoey and she can turn into a Purrloin!” If Evelyn hadn’t already been more or less immobile already, she would have frozen upon hearing those words. Shouldn’t have been surprised, really; she already knew that Zoey wasn’t normal, and with that outfit… a Purrloin really made sense. But hearing it, just shouted out like that, so clearly- There were probably more ramifications to the Litleo yelling it out to all pokemon to hear, but Ev couldn’t really care at the moment. Couldn’t care much about anything, really, except the pounding of her heart and the tension and the wild, frantic flurry of thoughts in her head. she can shift too how couldn’t I realize it before I should have something was up I knew so stupid to not. how could I mess up like that it’ll be fine just please calm down 1, 2, 3, 4… Oh, Garrett had asked her something, if she was okay. “I’m fine-fine-fine-fine-” She stuttered, then. Good to know. Unpleasant. Like a broken record, just repeating the same word again and again and again until she could realize what was happening and stop herself. She should have probably added a ‘thank-you’ at the end there, but she really didn’t want to try speaking again. Just a few minutes, first. so rude, oh no, she’ll hate you for that I wasn’t trying to be I’m just 1, 2- 5, 6 Okay. It was okay. She just needed to observe for now, wait, breath. it’s okay you’re quiet and still and no one will notice you now they can’t they won’t please don’t let them notice me She tried to just watch and make sense of it all, she really did, but it was getting so crowded. Too many people when she didn’t know what was going on, their voices tangling in the air. It was so frustrating- she couldn’t keep up with watching everyone’s reactions. Wait, so if Zoey could understand pokemon, and she could shift, did that mean that any shifter could? She hadn’t had the chance to test it earlier, and was in no state to now. If they could, well, then wouldn’t that make any human that reacted to the words that Tama had said likely to be a shifter as well? Sure, it’d be hard to pick them out from those that had just reacted to a Litleo being so loud, but it made them suspicious enough. Too late now, though. good job on messing up again, oh no, oh no why couldn’t I just pay more attention 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 6 She felt sick, and she didn’t even know if she could throw up. Clearly, she needed to get some books on the physiology of the Fletchling line as soon as possible. Whatever the case, she needed to get out. There were too many people, and she did want to get information but she couldn’t like this. Besides, she didn’t know if she could stand being stuck like that for much longer. Even if she could figure out how to change back, she couldn’t exactly do it in a crowded pokemon centre. When someone pushed the door open wide enough to get out, she suddenly jumped upwards and flapped her wings. It wasn’t graceful by any means, but she did manage to get through the doorway without slamming into it. She had to land briefly after that, and took the momentary stop to look around for a more secluded place. It didn’t have to be perfect, just so long as no one was looking and it blocked some of the light- there. A nearby alley. Nothing that would really help, but it was better than nothing. She half ran, half flew to it, and ducked inside. oh no what am I doing can you imagine if they found us what would we even do what could I say how do you even explain something like this to someone turn back turn back turn back turn back please A glow filled the air around her, and she found herself sitting on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees. Shaking, she stood up and brushed the dirt from her skirt. She pushed each of her fingers down in turn until they produced a satisfying crack. Nice to know that those all worked. She walked forward with slow, halting steps, and poked her head around the corner to make sure that no one had seen. That had been a terrible plan, a really, terrible, awful plan, but it seemed as if no harm had come from it. Now what? Well, she supposed that she probably needed to another shifter, but Zoey was the only one she’d confirmed. ‘Look for people who’re cosplaying as pokemon’ wouldn’t really help, as it was a fairly common hobby. So, what? Her best bet was the pokemon centre, but she wasn’t going back in there. Nope, not at all, not 'til she was actually calm. Waiting outside it was, then. She walked over and leaned up against a wall. She chewed on her lip and her head was downcast, her shoulders hunched forward and her hands fiddled and twisted each other under her chin. The door opened, and she turned to look. “Garrett!” she exclaimed, before immediately clapping her hands over her mouth. Oh. She wasn’t supposed to know that. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 9, 2016 (edited) Sine listened in silence. The Tyrantrum seemed like a shy pokemon despite his appearance, and he easily got defensive. She herself wasn't too keen on crowds, but she'd hardly call that a crowd, back there. And, he was right on the Garchomp. It was a total butt about it. She could at least piece together that Chompers was born directly from a fossil, and that something might have happened to him since then. The pokemon then remarked that he was hungry. "Berries and store-bought food are certainly an option for any pokemon…" Sine thought out loud. She examined Chompers -- specifically, his teeth. "Though you could probably hunt for yourself in the mountains and eat it as long as it doesn't look poisonous. "Careful, he might eat you," the lady said to dunsparce, giving the pokemon a toothy grin. "Just kidding. Let's look for some berries while he's off doing his thing." In reality, Sine wanted to barf if she had to eat another berry -- that's what happens when pechas and orans were all one ate for three days straight -- but they were out here already and she might as well pick a few since her pockets were empty. ~~~ Lambert let out a sigh through his nose. Ash Cannon? When would he let that go? And when was the last time the kid ate? Come to think of it, he hadn't seen them eat anything since they met back in Kusba. He felt terrible for not noticing it earlier. "R-right. The pokemon center offers free meals for trainers. We'll just have to ask the nurse." They'd probably have a few rolls lying around. Seeing how Z handled the water, though, Lambert made the executive decision that they were not ready to handle soup just yet. He also made the decision that he didn't trust any of these people to ask for food without making a fool of themselves (case in point: Gaes and the vending machine). It was back to the counter, then. Over there, Lambert tapped his shoulder and, as rehearsed a couple times, Murkrow flew over and landed on his usual perch. "I have a friend who is famished from our journey. Do you have anything in the back?" The nurse looked at him, then to the group back at the couch. "One moment please." "There was a Fletchinder flying out the door a minute ago," Murkrow reported. "It looked like it was in an awful hurry. Its form was all sloppy too; probably hit a glass pane too hard and can't fly straight no more." Lambert was about to ask what kind of pokemon a Fetch-tinder was, but the nurse came back with a paper bag. The man said his thanks and brought it over to Z, taking one of the bread rolls out and handing it to them while taking away the bottle of water for now. He placed the crinkled bottle on the table alongside the bag containing the rest of the bread. "Let me help you take off your vest so the water doesn't soak through," Lambert warned them before he began to unbutton the garment with shaky hands. He felt the nurse's stare on his back and realized that this would be an odd scene from an outside perspective. Couldn't be helped. None of the others might have had enough dexterity to do this. Edited March 10, 2016 by TehUltimateMage Share this post Link to post
Posted March 10, 2016 The friendly, receptive smile on Cass's face darkened into narrowed eyes. Her lips formed a tight line as she watched Nero stride away without saying a word. His only acknowledgement was a flick of his cigarette in her direction, and this time she exhaled noisily when the smoke filled her nostrils. Her scowl followed his retreating figure until he vanished back into the dark of the alleyway. "What a stand up guy," she muttered. She really did not like being ignored. Thankfully, the last remaining person besides herself and her travel companion was far more polite. The warm smile flooded back into Cassandra's expression at his introduction, and she nodded at the Pokémon on his head with a cooed, "Hello!" in greeting. "Gym leader, huh?" Cass repeated, her grin widening slightly. Then, recalling that she had literally zero pokemon at her disposal to use, the smile faltered and she pursed her lips thoughtfully. That reminded her... Where was her bag? Cass patted down her sides and then cast a quick glance over her shoulder to confirm that the bag she'd found in the forest was, in fact, not with her. Damn. Back at the Pokémon Center. Allison ignored Cassandra for the moment to focus on Laren's information. It had taken her a second to absorb what he had said-- the fact that she could understand the other Pokémon in the area was a bit disconcerting to her, especially when the angry blue rabbit-egg came waddling back-- but then Allison's expression brightened for a brief moment. Biology? She knew what that was. The research he mentioned flared a feeling of familiarity in her that was almost painful, yet no images or thoughts or memories made themselves available in response. Her frowned deepened. This memory loss was more taxing than she originally thought. "You were a researcher for Team Helix?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, though it sounded less like an inquiry and more like a statement of surprise. The Joltik on her head twirled about, sqeaking "So many human things! So many humans!" at Anoma while Allison mulled over her next question. She stopped when the Anorith mentioned a wall opening, and looked back at the gym leader with a hard, scrutinizing stare. Cass gazed around the alley again, and then clicked her tongue to catch everyone else's attention. "Well, I'm fairly sure there's no longer a need to be standing around here--" she gestured at the surrounding alley with one hand--"unless you two want to keep discussing all of your science mumbo-jumbo next to the dumpsters. I need to grab something back at the Pokémon center. Are either of you coming with, or...?" Allison glanced over at Cassandra, who had taken a few steps down the alley toward the Center as she spoke. She wasn't done interrogating Laren, though she supposed it was a little awkward milling about in an alleyway, asking questions about his former research group. Allison locked eyes with Cass and sucked her teeth, as if taking longer than necessary to make up her mind. Finally, she shrugged slightly and cleared her throat. "Fine," she answered coolly, stepping after her. She paused a moment to look back at Laren. "You said your old building was closed down due to possible hazardous impacts on the surrounding population. Is the location of the old site disclosed to non-members? I'd be curious to see how the population flourished after the building was abandoned." Which wasn't an entire lie-- she had a feeling that the sight of nature reclaiming man-made structures was pleasurable somehow-- but she hoped it would be enough to deter any of Laren's curiosity in turn. The Joltik hummed eagerly on her head before shimmying back down her ponytail to her shoulder, where she absentmindedly reached up to scratch his head with a fingernail. Cassandra bound ahead after noticing Allison trailing behind. She reached the Center in a couple moments at a light jog, though she came to a stop when she saw a young girl confronting the deerling that had just managed to step out of the center's front doors. Deerling... a rush of affection caught Cass by surprise, brightening her expression. She approached the two Pokémon (she noticed another following the Deerling quite closely) with a gentle smile and offered a little wave at the girl with her hand clamped over her mouth. "Hey there," she said kindly, "Are these your Pokémon?" She looked down at the fall-seasoned Deerling and added with a laugh, "Aren't you pretty!" Share this post Link to post
Posted March 10, 2016 (edited) Lacie had barely finished repeating that she liked him when Kit made a surprised exclamation and leapt off the girl's shoulder, darting outside. The girl looked shocked, almost horrified, as she fumbled out an apology to Emil and hurried after the Zorua. She stumbled on her way out the door but managed to keep her feet beneath her. Chuckling softly, Emil tugged once on his earlobe - yet again - and told himself he could find them later. Shortly after that, the man at the counter was moving towards the trio at the couch, leaving the nurse's attention free. Perfect. Emil strode towards the pink-haired woman, smiling warmly as he should before starting a conversation. "Hello there. How can I help you?" the nurse greeted. "I'm lost here. I'm looking for the gym. Where do I go?" Emil asked. The woman pointed towards the door as she replied. "The gym's only a few blocks to the left. You can't miss it." "Thank you." Beside him, the nervous bundle of feathers rushed outside, the jerky movement of its flight catching Emil's attention. He hoped the Pokémon would be alright; he wondered briefly what got it so tightly bound up. It didn't seem to matter though - the flying type was gone now. Following suit and leaving the building, Emil started for the left. The alleyway where the huge Pokémon had been was still slightly crowded but the Pokémon was now gone. He kept his distance, more focused on getting to the Gym than figuring out what was or had happened. Beyond the alleyway, the rest of the town seemed mostly unoccupied or lacking activity. As the nurse had said, he couldn't miss the gym. It was a simple building, mostly brown, with white buildings attached to the sides. His curiosity was stirred, questioning what was inside the white buildings. Maybe just storage areas? Oh well. He walked into the gym, passing through the first door to enter a plain looking room, possibly a waiting area. Should he just stand here and wait for the leader? That seemed best. ~~~~ Once Z took the water bottle out of Gaes' hand, she set the cap down on the table. When she looked up again, Z had spilled water over themself and was attempting to remove their vest with no success. The woman sighed but, before she could move to help the pathetic looking child, Lambert came in for the rescue. Her attention shifted to the bag that had been placed on the table and her mouth began to water at the idea of food. Quickly, she snatched up the bag and dug out a bread roll, stuffing most of it into her mouth. After she set the bag back down, she started munching on her bread. "I hope they offer other food, not just bread," Gaes mumbled through and between bites. Edited March 11, 2016 by Narvix Share this post Link to post
Posted March 10, 2016 (edited) "Ah, sorry, I have to head to the labs to deliver some Pokémon," Laren apologized when Cassandra mentioned returning to the Center. Now that Chompers was gone, he didn't want to keep postponing it, and he also had to check with Security to find out exactly how had that spawn of the devil gotten in. The other woman - Alice, was it? - had one last question. "Oh, no problem, it's not a secret or anything. It's near a town called Taismog. It could take quite some time to get there not knowing the area though..." he mused, as Anoma made happy sounds at the yellow spider. The women looked to be in a hurry, understandable since whatever they left behind could be stolen. And he really didn't feel like going back to the Center to explain using the map there. He struck his palm with his fist, getting an idea. "Meet me in an hour or two at my house - that's the one at the end of the street where the Gym is. I'll mark the building in a map and tell you how to get there." Heavens knew he had enough maps to use as wallpapers. Giving a few away had never been a problem. "Door's unlocked. Raid the fridge if you'd like, just leave everything where you found it!" he waved as they parted ways. There wasn't anything valuable or that he couldn't replace in the first floor anyway, and the rooms on the second floor were locked. "Bye-bye! See you!" Anoma exclaimed, waving with her claw. --------------------------------- It didn't take long to reach the Gym. The building looked mostly like all the others, with its dark brown roof and the sign next to it offering the usual tidbits of information, reading: Vertia Town Pokémon Gym Leader: Laren Master of the Past Most other Gyms didn't have the back part swallowed by a mountain, though. Or had an imposing-looking white building at each side. But why be a Gym Leader if he couldn't combine his two jobs to make life easier for everyone involved? Laren opened the main door, Anoma humming some tone she picked up who-knows-where, and noticed the tall man standing in the room. Grass trainer, by the looks of his clothing. "Ah, hello there!" he greeted, letting the door close behind him. "Hi, hi!" "If you're a challenger I'll have to ask you to wait for a while, I'm quite busy at the moment," Laren said as he took a key ring with at least a dozen keys from one of his vest's pockets and unlocked the door that led to the second room. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rhapsody raised an eyebrow when Lambert started opening up the whatever-it's-called that Z was wearing, until it dawned on him that clothes weren't like fur and they could be dried before putting them on again. Huh, who'd have guessed they had a use besides warming one up. Second surprise was that the brown rocks were edible, if Gaes' enthusiasm in eating one of them was anything to go by. It seemed to be soft and have something white inside that reminded him of a Watchog's tail fluff. Bread, had she called it? Made him curious, so he approached the table and fished one out for himself while the other three had their hands busy. The crunchiness was satisfying, but the taste was incredibly plain. Was that why it was handed away? Oh well, food was food. "Gonna take off their pants too?" he commented in a conversational tone, taking another bite out of his 'bread' as Pooch returned. They might have spilled some water on them too so it seemed like a good idea. Edited March 13, 2016 by Puredark006 Share this post Link to post
Posted March 12, 2016 To be perfectly honest, Jasper had no idea what to expect of Team Helix. The organization didn't exactly have a creative name, but Jasper figured that they were would be interesting in some regard. Unfortunately for him, Team Helix sounded like a snooze fest. Fossil Pokemon didn't interest Jasper in the least unless they provided a challenge, of course. Jasper found himself to be only half-listening to Laren's explanation, instead favoring to stare off into space as he clicked his tongue in anticipation. Anoma's mentioning of "creepy Pokemon" that sung scary was intriguing, but not interesting enough to perk Jasper's interest. It was only after the woman, the one who seemed so keen on interrogating the gym leader, had Laren mark her map did Jasper decide it was finally time to hit the road. "Hey, uh, I saw my trainer passing by a minute ago," Jasper told Anoma as he pointed towards one of the ends of the alleyway. "I should be heading off. Smell ya later!" Without waiting for a response, Jasper skedaddled out of the alley. The building Laren mentioned was worth checking out, but Jasper wasn't sure Garrett would manage to find him. Sure, she'd eventually go looking for him, but she wouldn't be able to find him if he was off in some old building. Of course, he'd had to figure out where the building was in the first place, but he assumed he'd figure it out later. Letting out a sigh, the Azumarill waddled away, looking for a good place to transform before heading back to collect his companion. ----------------------------------------- "Last time I saw Mr. Fighty Pants, he was in an ally way," "Thank you," Garrett said with a forced grin as she gave Zoey a nod of appreciation. "I hope to see you again." Ducking her head back outside, Garrett took a few steps forward as she surveyed her surroundings. She didn't see many people around and there were a few alleyways in the area. How on earth would she figure out just which alley Jasper would be in? Garrett didn't see any Pokemon around so whatever had made such a terrifying roar early had either gone away or was off fighting Jasper somewhere. Arceus knew whatever was going on in that head of his. For all Garrett knew, Jasper could a mile away doing Mew knew what. Trying to locate the water type was a difficult task by itself. Trying to look for him with Anhew to boot was going to be even harder, but there was no possible way Garrett was just going to abandon the child. Who knew, perhaps Garrett would never find Jasper and she and Anhew could go back to Garrett's herd and live there indefinitely. "Garrett! The Deerling's ears pricked up when she heard someone call her name. She glanced around frantically only to find a young girl leaning against a wall. Her choice of attire was odd to say at the least. She was very... orange. Garrett heeded the girl for several moments before looking around again. Who could have called her name? It wasn't Anhew, that was for sure. The Deino's voice was different from the voice that had just shouted Garrett. It couldn't possibly be Jasper, the voice wasn't low enough and Jasper never called Garrett by her name. If that was the case, then could it be that the girl had said it? Garrett looked back at the strange human, cocking her head curiously as she took a cautious step forward. Garrett had never seen the girl before in her life. She couldn't have been the one to call her, right? Yet, there was no one else around and Garrett couldn't figure out who else would have spoken. "Did you, say my name?" Garrett asked the human, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with talking to a human. Before the girl could reply, or not reply, another stranger, an older woman this time, bounded up to Garrett with a great big grin on her face. Garrett took several steps back as the lady approached. Goodness, how did Garrett not see her earlier? The Deerling backed up, pressing her side against Anhew as she looked up at the lady. "Are you okay?" Garrett whispered soothingly to the small black pokemon. "A few more people showed up, but they don't appear to be scary. We should be just fine." As Garrett craned her neck to get a better look at the women, a blue figure in the distance caught her attention. "Jasper!" she called as she saw her trainer stroll casually towards the Pokemon Center. He was back to his human form but he looked as rugged and annoyed as ever. Garrett figured that whatever fight he had gotten into, it had been disappointing. Why else would he look so gloomy as he walked up to the Pokemon Center? Huffing, Garrett let out a sigh of annoyance as she watched Jasper walk as slow as molasses towards the center. Couldn't he pick up the pace? She couldn't exactly just leave Anhew behind with the strange humans just so she could bark at him for leaving her behind without a word. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 12, 2016 Z nodded at Lambert, but flinched all the same when the man made contact with their vest. Their eyes followed his hands as he undid the buttons, frowning at their unnecessary complexity. They shrugged out of the vest with Lambert's help and, after contemplating the logo embroidered on it for a few seconds, turned their attention to the bread. It turned out eating was easier when they didn't have to worry about spilling; after a few cautious bites, they began looking around the room while still nibbling on their roll. Although the centre had been busy when they'd woken up, most of the people seemed to have finished their business and left. Other than the nurse and the clerk, the only people they could see were the shifters they'd travelled from Kusba with. A good time to discuss next steps, then. Swallowing their last bite, they coughed and began speaking quietly. "Are we... is the plan still to find the gym leader? I'm not sure if things have changed, s-since we've found... some other people... Oh, and this might be a good chance for me to check the internet. While there aren't a lot of people here. I can go outside and shift, maybe?" Share this post Link to post
Posted March 12, 2016 If the nurse wasn't looking at him funny before, she would be really giving him a strange look after Rhapsody's comment. "There are certain garments you can't take off while in public," Lambert hissed to him, flustered, "and pants happen to be one of them." He put the wet vest aside, on the table. Gaes and Rap had already helped themselves to the bread rolls without even asking -- he was a little discouraged by their lack of manners, but a lack of human etiquette was to be expected from some former pokemon. There was one more roll at the bottom for him, so he folded the bag around it and slipped the whole thing into his pocket for later. "I've noticed that a shifter's human clothes closely match their pokemon form, so that's another way to identify them. And I agree that there's many more here than I expected. We're either on the right track, or everyone wandering around here is as clueless as we are." Maybe both. "The only lead we have right now is the Gym Leader, and since we're here…" He looked at Gaes, then at Rhapsody, "might as well challenge them for a badge and some easy money." Before anyone could protest, he quickly continued. "But, that can wait. Checking the PC again sounds like a good idea; I think you could probably shift in the restroom," he gestured to the sign over the door, "or in the sleeping quarters in the back. Just in case people might accidentally see you if you do it outside." Share this post Link to post
Posted March 12, 2016 (edited) Chompers blinked before stomping off to hunt. Dunsparce had given out a small nervous laugh as Sine teased about. "Please, I'd only be a snack to him," he said. "I know where there's a berry grove along with a few apple trees if it appeals to you," Dunsparce said, before turning and started 'hopping' towards an area. Why am I helping humans of all things? he asked himself. I should be back in the mountains pretending like nothing is wrong; yet, I can't help but be curious about these humans. Humans that can shapeshift into Pokémon? I think my little world is expanding into something more, something I can't conceive. ------------------------------ Anhew looked up as she heard Zoey's voice. Mr. Fighty Pants? She let out a small giggle before she heard Sweet Voice thank her before moving on. Anhew quickly followed Sweet Voice before stopping as Sweet Voice's steps stop. She looked around as she heard a voice call out Garrett. Garrett? Who was Garrett? But that voice. She recalled hearing it once, or at least Anhew swore she did. She looked up as Sweet Voice started asking a question. Sweet Voice was...Garrett? "That's an awful name," she said, pawing the ground. "I like Sweet Voice better." Then two new footsteps rang in her ears. Anhew gave out a small whimper before she felt Sweet Voice's leg brush up against her. "I-I'm fine," Anhew managed to squeak out. Okay, just be calm, stay calm Anhew Anhew thought to keep herself together. She took a breath and stepped out from behind Sweet Voice. If the one that spoke thought Sweet Voice was pretty, then surely she wasn't so bad. "H-Hi," Anhew sputtered out. --------------------- Zoey watched as Garrett and Anhew walked off. Shrugging she watched as the guy dressed in green started walking down the street. Interesting, where was the girl he was with? Narrowing her eyes, she started following him from afar. She had nothing else to do, and she really didn't care for Jasper. He was a real butt and if she continued to act like his trainer, then well, Mew knows what might happen next. Besides, sitting at the center would get her no where. She needed answers about Team Helix. She then blinked. Why was she following this guy again? She paused as the guy entered a brown simple building with other white structures attached. Shortly afterwards, Laren entered the building. "Eh, why not?" she asked herself before transforming into a Purrloin. Time to have some fun she giggled to herself before stepping into the building. It was plain and white room and she noticed Laren opening a door and the guy in green standing around Edited March 12, 2016 by Raptor of Dragons Share this post Link to post
Posted March 13, 2016 As Gaes finished the bread roll, Lambert managed to get Z out of their vest and talk about the computer began. "Use the bathroom. It seems the most convenient when you're changing," she commented idly. She had been about to respond to Lambert's remark about challenging the gym but the man didn't give her the time by quickly refocusing on the pink-haired kid. Fighting the gym an all was great, she guessed. They got money out of it and money meant she could buy cute things to wear but she didn't know if she wanted to battle again so soon in one day. Maybe she could use Bree instead but it'd be risky? What sort of gym did Vertia even have anyways? Shaking her head, the woman pushed the concern out of her mind. For the moment, it didn't matter. Team Helix was their focus after all, not the gyms. It just happened that the two subjects were connected in this town. ~~~~ Emil turned his gaze upon the doorway as a shorter man entered. He was covered in so much dirt that Emil wondered if he simply slept in the mud each night. The man spoke up when he noticed him, cutting Emil off before the first syllable could leave his tongue. Busy? "I don't mind waiting," Emil replied just as the door opened again and a Purrloin strolled in. Blinking slowly, Emil tugged on his left earlobe, staring at the Pokémon and chuckling faintly. "Is that yours?" he asked the gym leader. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 13, 2016 Rhapsody raised an eyebrow at Lambert's tone. He glanced at Pooch, who briefly tilted her head as she thought. "I don't think I've ever seen a human without pants," she said, sounding unsure. At least the Houndour sounded like she didn't know the reason either, so he could consider it as something only humans would understand. Other things he still didn't get: what the hell was the use for the money stuff and what in heavens was that internet. But all that wasn't important right now. "Dibs on battling," he commented, leaning on the side of that thing Z was sitting at. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hm?" Laren turned to look at the Pokémon the man had mentioned; a purple cat with cream spots. "Oh, no, all my Pokémon are Fossils. Must be a stray or belong to a passing trainer." It didn't look scared or nervous, so it probably wasn't lost. Good, since he didn't have time right now to help find a trainer. "Hi hi!" Anoma greeted, bouncing a bit at the sight of the cat. "In any case I might take a while. You don't have to stand there for an hour," Laren said with a friendly smile, leaving the door open behind him. Usually, that second room would take the majority of the Gym's space, and be where the official battles were conducted. However, the gray room Laren entered was only as big as the entrance, and half of that space was taken by a silver elevator with no 'up' button. A sign was placed next to the 'down' one, offering information on each floor: 1F - Gym Entrance B2F - Laboratory 1 B3F - Laboratory 2 B4F - Excavation Site B10F - Gym Battleground "There are quite some things to do around here. You can always go out to the forest or the mountain to train. The labs and battleground are off-limits and can't be accessed without a card, but after I finish using the elevator you can go to the digging site. The areas that are open are the ones we finished combing, so if you find anything there you can keep it. Be careful of the wild Pokémon though!" The elevator arrived with a small cheerful jingle, its double doors opening. Laren entered and swiped a card he had gotten from one of his pockets, pressing the 'B3F' button inside. "In any case, I'll be at my house for a while when I finish my work. It's the one at the end of this street. See you later!" He waved goodbye with Anoma as the doors of the elevator closed, and it started its descend. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ((Note: I forgot to describe the exterior of the Gym, so I added a bit to my last post)) Share this post Link to post
Posted March 13, 2016 (edited) Z nodded, too excited about the prospect of checking their serial code to be annoyed that Lambert was going to waste more time challenging Gyms. "Ah, if you want to know about this town's Gym Leader, I - I can tell you a bit, even without checking. Laren, uses Rock-types... specializes in fossils, I think? There's a - a dig site, somewhere near here - I'm not too sure, check the map - so it's a convenient location for that kind of thing. Anyway..." They swung their legs over the edge of the sofa and made to stand up, but made eye contact with the nurse and faltered. "I think she'd expect me to come back out if I tried a bathroom," they mumbled, then continued in a louder voice, "then - I'll, I'll see you all later." They stood up slowly, grabbing the sofa's arm to stabilize themself, then headed toward the back room. It took them a few tries to successfully transform, but once they did, they immediately zipped back into the front lobby. The nurse gave them a curious look but didn't ask any questions as they dove into the PC's screen. They opened their eyes to the neutral blue landscape of cyberspace. A wave of inexplicable relief washed over them and they let out a simulated sigh, taking a quick note of the PC's IP address to return to it later. Theoretically, they'd never been here before, but the surprising sense of familiarity they felt implied a lot about what they'd done pre-game. Well, with some luck, they wouldn't have to rely on guesswork anymore after this. But first, they should check if they could get any information about Team Helix. A quick search later, they were floating into the Team Helix website. As Lambert had mentioned, it was professional, but oddly plain. If the information there was to be believed, Team Helix was a legitimate research organization with a variety of focuses. A couple of its research papers were available to the public and Z skimmed through them, quickly realizing they didn't know much about any of the topics, but nothing seemed suspicious as far as they could tell. Hm, did that fourth rule mandate the destruction of this as well the hidden research? Team Helix would certainly have backups, and any traces that would lead to those were carefully hidden, as would be expected of a company of their scope. Ah well, they could try to track the editors later; right now, they had a more pressing matter to attend to. The Silph Co. website felt even more familiar. They found the Porygon serial code search mostly by instinct and tapped in their four-digit code. Next, they knew, was a secret ID confirmation, which they should be able to find without too much trouble once... Z stared at the innocently blinking error message. What? They were sure they had entered that correctly. They tried again just in case, tapping in the digits one by one. [Code not found; try again] Z twitched uncertainly in midair, trying to fight off a growing sense of dread. They fumbled for the alphabetical lookup and, on seeing the list of codes that appeared, sank silently to the floor. Two characters for category, one digit for series, dash, five-digit ID. "Code not found" - well, of course it wouldn't be; it was formatted wrong. "Z023" was junk data shoved into their serial code field, and if there was a legitimate code there before, it certainly wasn't any longer. I don't exist. A few minutes after it had entered the PC, a small Porygon-Z exited the same screen and fell to the floor. Its rendering system handled the collision badly, and it jerked violently in several directions before picking itself up off the floor. It traced a wobbly path toward the back room and shifted into human form the moment it ducked out of sight, breathing heavily as it tried to shift its awkward tangle of limbs into a more useful position. Edited March 13, 2016 by Fractional Pi Day Share this post Link to post
Posted March 14, 2016 "Rock types, specializes in fossils," Lambert repeated Z's mumbling as the kid went off to change (or rather, shift). "Means that Water, Grass, and Fighting would have an advantage, but it's super effective against Flying." To his knowledge, they had neutral matchups. Maybe it would be wise to err on the side of caution and challenge the lowest level. "Rhapsody's Surf might be useful, but it would hit Gaes too if we're doing doubles." Too bad the Mawile didn't have Protect among her six moves. "If we do choose a two-on-two again," the man began thinking out loud, "then it might be a good idea to practice some cooperation skills before we battle." He had found it odd that Z had innate knowledge of this region, despite having their memories erased like the rest of them. It was his first clue that maybe the small pokemon was native to this region and that the rest of them were foreign. None of the region map seemed familiar, but what would be the motivation to move people like him presumably thousands of miles away into this new place? Either that or he was overthinking it. He'd never seen a pokemon like Z before who could dart in and out of electronic devices. Perhaps they were just the exception to the rules that bound most of them. The pokemon finally exited the PC, visibly shaken -- literally shaken from how they looked like they were tearing themselves apart -- and stumbled into the back room. They didn't look too good. But Lambert doubted he was the best person to handle this. "Rhapsody," Lambert called. "They care about you. You should go see if they're alright." ~~~ (Adding Sine in a bit.) Share this post Link to post
Posted March 14, 2016 Wide eyed, Ev stared at Garrett. How could she possibly reply to something like that? She’d messed up. If she said anything to confirm or deny it, someone could notice her talking to a pokemon. Maybe if she said nothing- but no, surely her expression made it terribly obvious that she already knew Garrett. Before she managed to figure something out, a girl approached them. Expecting the girl to enter the pokemon centre, Ev tried to ignore her. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was being spoken to. Why, why was this happening? Why would someone just go up and talk to a stranger, when they probably had better things to do? “I, ah, sorry!” she squeaked, trying to make up for her earlier pause. She wrapped her arms around her chest, lowered her gaze, and glanced around in confusion, brow furrowed. Why’d she have to be leaning against a wall? There was no way to step back and get some space. The question, right, she needed to answer that. “I, uh, sure?” No, no, bad answer, very bad answer. “I mean! Not mine, they’re just… a friend’s?” She seemed to be digging herself into a deeper hole. As she stumbled around trying to find the right words, Garrett called out to some ‘Jasper’. Ev followed Garrett’s gaze, and saw a man that she was sure that she hadn’t seen before. His clothing was quite blue, and the circles on his jacket reminded Ev of an Azumarill. Hadn’t there been one that had come into the pokemon centre with them, and then left in that direction? Would it be too far-fetched to conclude that he was a shifter from this? After all, the Azumarill and Garrett had been standing close to each other. It could be that Jasper was simply the trainer of both the Azumarill and Garrett, but hadn’t Garrett said that her trainer was down near the fighting? It had seemed odd enough at the time, but now… The clothing thing, at least, might not be valid evidence. It seemed like half the people she’d seen by now were cosplaying as pokemon (including the girl, whose hair was quite Pyroar-like. Pyroar-girl she was for now, then). Names, right, those hadn’t been exchanged yet. That was what people did when forced into unnecessary conversations, right? Offer their name in exchange for the other person’s? “Evelyn. Is my, what is it, person-word - name! I, um, what’s your’s?” Great job, there. Perfect wording. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 15, 2016 The Joltik squeaked excitedly as Allison paused to look back at Laren. He was inviting them into his house without supervision? A silver-white eyebrow arched in response. How...generous of him. She considered his offer for a moment as he walked away, the Anorith atop of his head waving her goodbyes. Joltik chirped, "Take care, friend! Take care!" after them, but Allison simply watched, her expression blank. Taismog, was it? That didn't sound familiar in the least, though she was glad the gym leader seemed amicable enough to lend them a map. She would have to bring this up to Cassandra-- Allison glanced around and realized Cass was no where close by, and therefore probably hadn't heard Laren's offer. She sighed to herself and resumed walking after her companion at a much more leisure pace. Cass smiled warmly at the girl who stuttered over her apology. "Don't be sorry," she said with a soft laugh, before taking a few steps away from both the girl and the Deerling that had pressed itself against the other Pokémon, "I'm sorry if I startled you." Even though she had very little personal space to invade herself, she could at least be cognizant of someone else's. For whatever reason, Cass knew she did not like making others uncomfortable...except for Allison. In that case, she didn't mind so much. She looked back down at the Deerling and her friend. "I see, so your trainer is around here somewhere," she said with a small nod. She couldn't be disappointed about the Deerling having a trainer, even if she did really adore that kind of Pokémon. As if on cue, the little caramel-colored deer looked past her and called out a name. A few yards behind the boy whom she supposed was Jasper, Cass spotted Allison walking at a similar speed, the Joltik buzzing happily on her shoulder. It didn't take long for the other woman to pass him, though, given her legs were a bit longer and she didn't appear to be deliberately dragging her feet. Cass waved briefly at her companion before turning back to the young girl-- Cass assumed she was at least ten years younger than herself-- and the two Pokémon. Carefully, Cass let herself crouch down to be level with the Pokémon whose dark hair--or fur-- obscured her eyes. It wasn't a kind of Pokemon that Cass was familiar with, though she recognized a few of the features from evolved forms that came to mind. She seemed fearful, so Cass kept her distance, though her smile remained. "Hi sweetie," she cooed, letting the palm of her hand turn upwards and her fingers out in case either creature were curious enough to catch her scent. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do with unknown Pokémon. At the sound of the girl's voice again, Cass looked up and smiled. She brushed some of the red hair from her face and answered gently, "I'm Cassandra, though you can call me Cass if you want. It's nice to meet you, Evelyn." The click of Allison's boots drew her attention and she glanced to the side to see her companion stopped a few feet away, allowing them a larger berth than Cass originally had. The redhead gestured toward the other woman with a nod of her head and added, "And this is my friend, Allison. We're new to the area, so I thought it would be nice to make some friends. Do you live in this town?" She noticed the design on the girl's sweater and admired the pattern's similarity to a Fletchinder, though she refrained on commenting on the girl's clothes out of suspicion that too much conversation might have a negative result. Allison stood quietly apart from the group by the door, her arms folded. It was almost painful how easily distracted Cassandra could get. Clearly the teenager and her friend's Pokémon weren't interested in talking, couldn't Cass see that? Despite Cass's intrusion, Allison remained silent, only lifting her head slightly when her companion introduced her to the girl, Evelyn. It was a cute name, she supposed, but she was fairly certain that a teenager wasn't going to be able to help them discover Team Helix's whereabouts anymore than the timid dragon-type trying to bolster its confidence beside the Deerling could. The Joltik on her shoulder suddenly scrambled down her jacket sleeve before plopping onto the ground and scurrying over to the small group. He danced around in the center, overcome with excitement. "More Pokémon! More humans! More friends!" he sang, and his yellow fur began to shine faintly as electricity sparked from his tiny body. Cass laughed into her hand. "And this is Joltik," she said, much to the little bug's delight. Allison had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She cleared her throat lightly before moving around Cassandra to reach the front doors of the Center. "While you're busy with...that," she said, only half attempting to keep the flatness out of her tone with the anxious girl present, "I'll go get your bag." She turned and entered the building before Cassandra could respond, though she caught the redhead's slight frown at Allison's less-than-welcoming voice. Inside, she spotted a few of the people who had been inside prior to the Tyrantrum's roar. They all appeared busy, and weren't of much interest to Allison, so she maneuvered past them without a word to the backside of the Center where Cass had left her child's backpack. She opened the door without much effort, but abruptly halted over the threshold at the sight of a young person on the ground right beside her in the room. There was nothing definitively masculine or feminine about the teenager-- the face was quite youthful she realized quickly-- but sort of androgynous. Neutral seemed a better word. Allison stood there for a long moment, staring down at the child, trying to deduce if they needed assistance of some sort. She closed the door slowly after a few seconds. The labored breathing did not escape her, but at least they didn't appear to be in any sort of physical pain that she could tell. How many anxious children were running around unsupervised in this town? She opened her mouth to say something, but from the corner of her eye noticed a flash of green. Cass's tiny backpack was lying on the edge of the bench that Cass had fallen asleep on earlier in the day. Allison looked back at the child, then at the backpack again, before stepping away from the child and toward the abandoned bag. As soon as she picked it up, however, she turned and gazed down at the teenager with just a smidge of concern in her sharp blue eyes. "Are you...all right?" she asked after another pause, and this time she tried allowing some emotion into her voice as to not sound entirely heartless. Damn it, Cassandra was much better at this than Allison was. What was she supposed to say or do in these kind of situations? Should she just leave them there and get someone? What would Cass do? The silence was getting awkward. Inhaling deeply, Allison steeled herself again and asked, "Do you need help? Are your parents or guardians nearby?" Or literally anyone else better suited for this than I, she added mentally. Yet, she couldn't just leave them there, all winded and disoriented-looking. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 16, 2016 Garrett let out a small sigh of relief as the strange woman backed off. Mentally, Garrett scolded herself for being so wary of what seemed to be a harmless human. With Anhew by her side and Jasper a good ways away, she was worried what would happen if the woman made any sudden movements. Thankfully, it seemed her fears were misplaced. The Deerling visibly relaxed, letting her fur to lay flat only for it bristle once more as the young girl Garrett had questioned earlier proclaimed, in a very suspicious manner, her name aloud. The possibility of a shy girl dressed in Fletchinder-like attire having the same name as the timid Fletchinder Garrett had met less than a few hours ago was slim to none. The girl had to be the Ev from earlier, there was no other possible explanation. Three shifters in one day, could there possibly be anymore? As Garrett stared up at Ev with a wide-eyed expression, her mind began whirling with thoughts. Jasper, Ev, and Zoey all had outfits reminiscent of whatever Pokemon they were. Garrett had just assumed Jasper and Zoey were wearing their clothing for aesthetic purposes, but, now that she thought about it, she realized the meaning behind them. She had no idea if the same applied to Anhew, but she wouldn't be surprised if it did. Her thoughts rolling back to earlier, Garrett tried to recall if she had unknowingly seen any other shifters. The two ladies in front of her and the people in the Pokemon center wore some funky clothing, but Garrett's knowledge of Pokemon species was limited and she hadn't really paid attention to what the other humans were wearing. Had she passed by another shifter and simply didn't know? The thought of missing something so blatantly obvious made her paw the ground in aggravation. Not too soon after the Joltik plopped off one of the lady's shoulders, dancing around the small group gleefully, Jasper finally arrived with his arms crossed behind his head. A fit of anger bubbled up in Garrett's chest as she stared up at her trainer. "So now you decide to show up," she barked, taking a step forward as her ears flattened against her skull. "I hope you had fun Aqua Jetting whatever made that nasty roar earlier. Are you always going to run off like that whenever you get the slightest inclination someone wants to fight? We're not going to get anyway at this rate! Do your memories mean nothing to you?" Jasper, much to Garrett's dismay, blinked at her with an uninterested expression. Garrett knew Jasper wouldn't be able to reply to her, at least, not with the women and Ev nearby, but she needed to get her anger off her chest. "Gertrude, is Anhew coming with us?" Jasper asked. "Isn't she going to stay with Zoey?" At the sake of Garrett's head, Jasper sighed as he lowered one of his arms and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Well, at least that means Zoey won't try to sell her," Jasper said as she shook his head woefully. As though only just now realizing he wasn't alone, Jasper glanced between Casandra and Ev. "Oh, hey there," he said as he folded his arms across his chest. "I, uh, take it the Joltik is one of yours?" Jasper pointed at the small bug, looking between Cassandra and Ev as he waited for an answer. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 17, 2016 Gaes frowned as Lambert continued on about the gym battle. He listed off effective types, forgetting one. "Steel is also effective," she commented idly, letting the conversation move on regardless if she was heard or not. Z disappeared from sight, reappearing as a... she really needed to figure out what that pink and blue form was called. They disappeared into the computer. For several minutes, they remained inside the piece of technology, eventually coming back out and crashing to the ground. She was about to walk over when the Pokémon stumbled away and back into hiding, likely to transform again. Glancing at Lambert, she listened as he suggested that Rhapsody go check in on the kid. That seemed like a good idea. Rubbing her arm absently, Gaes moved to sit down on the couch, making a point to avoid the droplets of water that had soaked into the fabric. "So, we get information about Helix. Are you honestly going to make a habit out of challenging each gym?" she asked Lambert. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 17, 2016 (edited) Damn, Lambert just had to mention Surf. And what was that thing about cooperation skills? It's not as if Gaes and Rhapsody were a real team. Each of them going off and doing whatever they wanted was clearly the best option. Then, finally, Z got out of that weird thing Rhapsody was assuming to be the famous 'computer'. Something looked to have gone wrong though; they were making those weird twitchy movements, like back at Kusba after that ball of gas messed with him, and went off the wrong way instead of returning. What the hell had happened inside the computer? If it was dangerous, he wanted a go. "They care about you. You should go see if they're alright." "We've known each other for less than a day. Since when is that enough time to care for someone?" he asked, glancing at the man with a mix between confusion, mild amusement, and a 'seriously' expression. Sure, Pooch was an exception since she was his Pokémon, but he was sure neither Z, Lambert, or Gaes cared much about him (especially Gaes), and he didn't feel close to any of them either (especially Gaes). Still, he guessed he owned the kid for that time at the forest. "But was already getting bored of waiting anyway," he said as he started walking in the direction the twitching Pory had gone to, closely followed by Pooch. It wasn't long before he saw one of those pieces of wall that moved, slowly swinging back to place. Huh, Z should have gotten there earlier than this, but he wasn't going to complain. "Oi, kid. You there?" he asked in a volume almost passing the threshold for 'acceptable indoor voice'. He tried pushing the piece of wall, but it didn't budge. It was firmly embedded in the rest of wall, so he couldn't push it aside either. "Humans touch the knob; that metal handle sticking out. That opens the door," Pooch explained, sniffing the small opening near the ground. "I can smell someone else inside. Don't do anything weird." Rhapsody tried grabbing what he was assuming was the knob, but that did nothing either. "Pretty tough when neither of us know how to open this thing," he hissed back. "You can't expect me to know everything." By now, Pooch had gotten on her hind legs, front paws scratching the door. "Z? It's us, open up!" Edited March 17, 2016 by Puredark006 Share this post Link to post
Posted March 17, 2016 “Thank you. For the, apology. Thanks.” Pyroar-girl seemed nice enough, at least. Ev was still confused about why she had approached her, but it didn’t seem to be out of any sort of malice. Perhaps she was just applying too much importance to herself. Garrett and Anhew were quite cute, and maybe Pyroar-girl just wanted to see them. This idea was reinforced by how the girl held out her hand for the two pokemon to sniff- oh! “Ah! Careful, Deino bite!” Oh, maybe it wasn’t her place to say that? It wasn’t like she was Anhew’s trainer, and Anhew hadn’t been biting things, as far as she knew. It was a very common thing for the species to do, anyway, and better to be safe than sorry? What if Anhew was offended by the implication that she might bite? “Right, nice to meet you too, Pyr- Cassandra. Cass. Sorry, mixed up my, words.” Would that bother Cassandra? Would she decide that Ev wasn’t worth her time, and leave? Not that she wanted her to leave! Or, well, she kind of did. It wasn’t that she disliked Cassandra or anything! It was just a bad time. A really bad time, actually. Lots of things were happening, and it was so hard to keep straight. Was she even getting everyone’s names right? It would be so very embarrassing if she got something wrong. She looked down and chewed her lip at the question. Where had she lived? Depending on the extent of her memories, the best way to find out would be testing her knowledge of geography. That would take a long time, though, and she didn’t have the resources for it. Not now. “Ah, no, sorry.” She glanced over at Allison. The woman didn’t look all that interested in her, which was somewhat of a relief. Too much to deal with without someone else jumping into the conversation. Ev wasn’t the best judge of fashion, but she thought that the stark black-and-white clothing she wore was cool (if a bit intimidating). The resemblance to a pokemon took longer to get than Cassandra’s had, but she thought she got it. “Zebstrika…?” she muttered under her breath. A small, sparking, yellow shape scurried down from Allison’s sleeve. “Eek!” Ev shrieked. When she saw that it was just a Joltik (confirmed by Cassandra), she relaxed. He was cute, once she got over her surprise. She bent down to get a better look, leaning down on her knees with her hands. “Hey,” she whispered to the Joltik. This was nice, as long as he didn’t start crawling too close to her. Bug types touching her didn’t sound the least bit pleasant. She noted Allison leaving, but didn’t feel the need to respond. Allison didn’t seem like she’d care, so why bother with unnecessary talking? She jerked her head up to watch Garrett’s tirade, and her breath caught in her throat. it’s not you it’s not you, she isn’t talking to you so it shouldn’t be a problem. Still. She stood back up, leaving the Joltik alone. She didn’t like the way Garrett’s tone of voice sounded. It made her feel so nervous and frightened. Her knuckles had already been cracked recently, but she grabbed her fingers and went through the motions anyway. On the plus side, Garrett had revealed for sure that Jasper was a shifter, and that Aqua Jet was one of his moves (at least, it was implied). Knowing that, there was no way that Garrett didn’t realize that Ev was a shifter as well- did Jasper just call her Gertrude? Those two names didn’t sound similar at all. Had she been wrong? Oh, no. She shook her head ‘no’, with wide motions, eyes closed. “Not mine,” she said quietly. What now, then? Jasper and Zoey were both confirmed shifters. Garrett… probably wasn’t? She could be, though; best to not rule anything out. Anhew seemed to just be lost. Cassandra and Allison could be shifters, too, but she couldn’t just bring it up. If she was wrong… she didn’t even know what would happen. Share this post Link to post
Posted March 17, 2016 Cassandra casually withdrew her hand from the--Deino, was it?-- and Deerling at Evelyn's warning. The Deerling didn't look too interested in her and the dragon was frightened, so there wasn't much use for letting her hand hang out in the open anyway. She did, however, perk up at the girl's stumble. She thought she'd heard "Pyr--" in there somewhere, and Cass wondered if the girl had somehow guessed that she could turn into a fire-lion at will. But, instead of pestering, Cass simply smiled again. "No worries," she said softly, "words can be hard." Which she could understand to an extent herself-- Allison was far more eloquent with words than Cass, she'd noticed. There was a level of sophistication to her traveling companion that seemed almost unnatural. Cass watched as Joltik jumped briefly at Evelyn's shriek of surprise, but then spin proudly in front of her as she crouched down to look at him. He peered up at her with multiple blue eyes and waved his front legs to soundless music, and then piped, "Hey! Hey! Hello!" A few more sparks floated off of his fur like glitter. Much to Cassandra's surprise, the Deerling moved forward and snapped at the boy who just joined their little gathering. However, it wasn't until she mentioned "memories" that Cass's eyebrows raised. That was a very odd coincidence if she'd ever heard one. She studied the Deerling for a moment, curious, and then looked up at the boy called Jasper. He didn't look all that tough, though his expression seemed to express that he felt differently about himself. Aqua Jet...I wonder if he's the same as me and Allison, Cass mused, gazing over his outfit quickly. The patterns were familiar to her, but she didn't recognize them immediately like she had Evelyn's sweater. Looking to the girl now, Cass realized that the girl had tensed in the wake of the Deerling's shouting. Had she understood the Pokémon too? Or was she simply uncomfortable by all the noise the Deerling was making? "You all right, hon?" she asked quietly, while Jasper appeared busy discussing names she didn't know. The genuine concern in her voice reflected in her expression and the slight tilt of her head, but it was interrupted at the boy's address. She slowly stood from her crouching position. The Joltik raced in circles by their feet at Jasper's question, and she glanced at the bug momentarily before steadying her blue eyes on Jasper's with a small smile. "He's technically wild," she answered, "though he's taken a shine to my...friend, Allison." Like every other time she'd used the term to describe Allison, it felt strange-- almost wrong-- yet she couldn't fathom why. "She just doesn't have any Pokeballs." Neither did she, and she mentally reminded herself to figure out how to obtain some at the next available opportunity. Maybe then she could find a cute Deerling to train, like this one. Was her name Gertrude? "I suppose the Deerling and--" she paused, forgetting the name momentarily, "--the Deino are yours? I thought maybe they were lost." She refrained from using any given names, just in case. Although neither she nor Allison had brought it up in conversation, she had the feeling that revealing her ability to understand Pokémon speech would be unwise. Or at least, she figured that was what Allison would say; that woman had a much better grip on plans and schemes than Cassandra did. What would Allison do in this situation? Allison stood in the middle of the room, staring down at the young person by the door, Cassandra's bag still in her hand. Nothing in her limited memory gave her any sort of action plan when it came to panicking children. In fact, Allison wasn't certain that she'd ever even encountered someone with this kind of episode before. Her question remained unanswered, though, which brought a slight frown to her otherwise stony face. She couldn't exactly do much to help if she had no clues how to do it. A quite sudden burst of a masculine voice gave her a start, and her gaze snapped over to the door where the sound originated. Someone obviously knew this teenager, though Allison couldn't understand why they couldn't just open the door themselves. It wasn't as though she'd locked it behind her. At least she could be thankful that someone had actually shown up; slightly quicker than she'd walked into the room, Allison made for the door as the handle jiggled slightly. Another voice joined the first, but this one sounded distinctly like a Pokémon. "Z?" she repeated out loud to herself, glancing briefly at the pink-haired youngster still on the ground. Interesting. She opened the door wide to reveal a tall man and a small black dog Pokemon, and stepped out of the way to show the teenager on the floor. "Is this one yours?" she asked mildly, gesturing at them. "They were like this when I walked in." Share this post Link to post
Posted March 18, 2016 (edited) Anhew sniffed the air. The kind voice was talking and mentioned her name was Cass. Well, she couldn't be too bad Anhew thought moving forward slightly and feeling something rub against her fur. A hand maybe? Anhew gave a small smile before another voice, Allison, came up. Anhew looked up and cocked her head slightly. Where they players too? She backed up nervously when a very hyperactive voice was heard, Joltik, Cass had said. She then heard Grumpy's voice. So Grumpy voice was Jasper. She heard Sweet Voice call to him, but something was different with Jasper. His footsteps sounded...different. More human like. Anhew frowned when Jasper called Sweet Voice "Gertrude" of all things. "Why c-call Sweet Voice that?" Anhew stuttered out and cocked her head when Jasper mentioned Zoey won't try to sell her. Sell her? "What does sell me mean?" Anhew asked. Ev had mentioned that a Pokémon wasn't hers. Anhew took a deep breath. She was highly nervous, but she stood her ground waiting for answers. ------------------------- Zoey grinned as the guy in green asked Laren if she was his. Peering at this guy in green, the one seed like clip and two antennaes caught her attention. She peered hard at him, slowly realizing what he was dressed like. Meganium. She inhaled sharply and waited for Laren to get into the elevator. "So," Zoey purred. "I see you're dressed up all fancy." She looked up in the guy in green and blinked at him. Edited March 18, 2016 by Raptor of Dragons Share this post Link to post
Posted March 19, 2016 (edited) The girl followed Dunsparce; the pokemon looked like he knew the area. The berry groves they stopped at were thinner on the bottom, Sine remarked, since people usually picked things that were eye-level or below. Sine took a couple steps back, then made a running jump with her arms spread wide. Her body glowed brightly as she changed shape without touching the groud and although she was the same size, Sine felt considerably lighter. The more she did it, the quicker she adapted to using this alternate form and its new senses, although there was some soreness in her wings. Maybe it was because of overexertion; she felt some of her moves running out of energy. Normally a trip to the pokemon center would fix a pokemon right up -- but would it work for shifters? It wouldn't hurt to try it sometime. The most disorienting thing was interpreting what she could see and feel through three eyes and psychic powers. She remembered having a hard time deciphering all the stimuli he first time she shifted, and even now it was still pretty confusing. Not that it wasn't useful. Now that she couldn't turn her head without turning the entire body, having a vague psychic awareness of what was behind her was paramount. Dunsparce was nearby, although she couldn't see him with her eyes. She was pretty sure that the flight was controlled partially with the same passive psychic power, but it seemed like flapping had some effect on keeping her floating. Increasing the speed, she whipped up a blade of air that cut an aspear berry in two while it was still on the branch. Sine figured she still needed to work on her aim, but it sure beat picking them by hand. "Say, Dunsparce," she asked the pokemon while they were both foraging. She was running out of energy for Air Slash. "Pokemon have four moves, right? Seems like I have... six?" ~~~ Oh, right, Steel. He had forgotten about that type advantage, but to be fair the type was better known for its exceptional defensive capabilities, resisting Grass, Normal, Flying, and a few others including Dragon. That put Gaes in yet another good position. Rhapsody did not have the same reaction and it seemed like teamwork was never part of his vocabulary. His attitude didn't change much when Lambert suggested that he go see Z. He said that a day wasn't enough for him to care about anyone, but Lambert found himself caring, perhaps a little too much. Even now, he felt a little irresponsible for not knowing what to do. (There was a lady who walked in a while ago, but at this point their conversation had moved to the gym challenge.) "Since we're going to see the Gym Leaders anyway to find out what they know," he answered Gaes, now, "Might as well challenge them for easy money. Pokemon battles are basically the only way for travelers like us to get cash for decent food and new supplies." He would've explained the utility of TMs, but he doubted anyone would care about being prepared enough to teach moves to pokemon at any time. Edited March 19, 2016 by TehUltimateMage Share this post Link to post
Posted March 19, 2016 Jasper glanced down as the Joltik he had pointed towards bounced away from Ev who had bent down to look at him and began dancing at Jasper's feet. The bug's smallness was almost comical. Had he been more ignorant, Jasper might have just laughed at how small the Joltik was. Alas, he was not one to underestimate a Pokemon's strength based on their size alone and his mind was too preoccupied with other matters to think too hard about the Joltik's size. After Garrett's little spout of shouting, after which she looked apologetically at Ev who had shrunk away, the two humans appeared to look at Jasper and Garrett in a new light. Ev had began shaking her head to herself, eyes closed as she mouthed a few words that Jasper could not quite catch. She could be simply acting anxious, but Cassandra's odd reaction made Jasper think otherwise. Once Garrett was down bleating at Jasper, Cassandra stared at the Deerling for a good long while with her eyebrows raised in surprise. She looked up at Jasper and between him and Ev before finally getting up. Just as Garrett had noticed earlier, Jasper recognized that the outfits the two girls were wearing were rather odd for humans and they resembled the colors and patterns found on certain Pokemon. Unlike Garrett, Jasper recognized both of the Pokemon that Cassandra's and Ev's outfits resembled. At this point, it was getting hard to ignore the awkwardness of the situation. Of course, despite all the telltale signs that the other two humans might be shifters, Jasper could care less if they were shifters or not. It was Garrett who pushed him to stay with Zoey in the first place and that had turned out horribly. There was nothing in the rules that said Jasper had to work with other shifters. Heck, there wasn't anything in the rules saying there even were other shifters. He just wanted to find the stupid research and get rid of it so he could focus on fighting. If he absolutely had to work with other shifters to get rid of the research then that was fine by him as long as they weren't annoying and they finished the job quickly. Otherwise, Jasper wanted nothing to do with other shifters unless they presented him with a challenge. Once Cassandra finally stood herself up, she asked whether or not Garrett and Anhew were Jasper's. "Oh, them?" Jasper asked as he pointed to the Deerling and the Deino. Briefly, he pondered if he should lie and say Anhew was his Pokemon. After all, that's what Zoey did when Laren asked if the parade of Pokemon around her was hers, but, just thinking about Zoey made brought a wave of anger over Jasper. Despite the fact that Zoey was not around nor would she probably know or care that Jasper was forced into the same position as her, he decided to not follow in her footsteps and say the opposite of her just to spite her. "The Deerling is mine, the Deino is not," Jasper said truthfully as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "Anhew over there is just... a friend of my Deerling I suppose. I don't think anyone owns her." Jasper pulled out one of his hands and waved it nonchalantly before stuffing it back into his pocket. Anhew, much to his indifference, asked Garrett what Jasper meant by Zoey selling her. "Oh, um," Garrett began, pawing the dirt nervously. She couldn't just outright tell Anhew what selling meant, especially since she barely knew what it was herself but, at the same time, she couldn't just ignore the question either. "I-It's not a good thing," Garrett said as she spoke in a soft soothing tone. "We were worried that if you stayed with Zoey, she might have given you to someone else without your consent, b-but that won't happen now! You're safe with us, hun." Share this post Link to post
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