[SEASON 2] The Stalkers RPG - Main Action and Team Status [ENDED... FOR NOW]

[Neo Emolga]

Going to rest again.

You're still feeling a bit shaky after the rough and traumatic nightmares you recently faced, but you're definitely feeling better than before. At least now the insanity doesn't feel deadly, although there are times when you feel like the shadows on the wall are moving when they shouldn't be.

You decide to rest tonight in a bed next to Lita's. You find her sleeping peacefully and you figure you could definitely enjoy a nice, peaceful rest as well. You're somewhat concerned you might have a nightmare and wake up in a cold sweat, but thankfully, no such thing happens tonight. You're able to get some decent rest in and it helps you clear your mind a bit more.

Carly the Heracross has recovered 1 point of Sanity.

Carly the Heracross (M: Bug/Fighting)

Health: 5/5
Sanity: 2/4
Perk: Science | Learned Abilities: Rescue/Escape
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Chibi Altaria]

I hope I have this right. xD

I'd like to use the DEPTH password at Locked Door {Rusted Storage Container: Five-Letter Lock} at (17) Silvercoal City Metro Station East.

[Suicune's Fire]

I think I'll fix up that security camera that we found in Staryubucks. I don't think we have any reason to believe it has something important on it, but better safe than sorry.

{(14a) Staryubucks Coffee (Abandoned), Defunct Security Camera: <Repair>}

Spoiler:

Since I noticed it while posting, I'll mention it here: 14a is marked as unsearched and the search post is here

You head towards the abandoned Eastbound Shopping Centre complex, knowing before you even get close to any of the individual stores inside that it's not somewhere you would want to spend a lot of time alone at night. Although you cannot feel any immediate Stalker presences nearby, you do not feel any safer as eyes peer at you from different spots around the complex. You know that homeless Pokémon reside in these long forgotten shops, and while it might be good that they have a place to stay, you imagine that crime runs rampant and those taking shelter here probably aren't safe.

You try to forget what you know you can't fix and proceed onwards, phasing through the wall to Staryubucks Coffee. The interior is completely dark, but you have no problem seeing under the light of your internal flame. It casts wild shadows upon the surrounding surfaces, but that's something you're used to, and it doesn't particularly faze you as you float into the back where Eddy said that the security camera was perched. You find it almost instantly, noting that your fellow Emissary did not close many of the cupboards and drawers that he opened. Or perhaps he did, and something else has been through here recently. Whatever the case, you float up to the camera and prepare for repairs.

The security camera takes only a few minutes to repair, which gives you enough time to enjoy what you're doing while wondering during the process what exactly this camera holds.

Five seconds after it is repaired, the camera begins to operate as normal before sparks jump from its insides and the lens pops off, clattering on the floor. You are taken aback by this suddenness, a little confused as to what happened and why. For some reason, the camera is broken again, and just as you go to begin repairs once more, you notice that inside the actual camera, behind where the lens was, rests a small key. You extract the key and see a tiny little inscription on the base reading, Macanan T. F13.

Item [Macanan Textiles Storeroom Key] was added to the Team Inventory.

You remember hearing that there was a locked door on one of the upper floors of Macanan Textiles, but F13 makes you think that this key is for another locked door. You ensure there is nothing else that the security camera can provide you with, but note that it does not even look to be connected to anything. If it was once, it isn't anymore.

You take the key and leave, wondering what it could lead to.


Kames the Lampent (S: Ghost/Fire)

Health: 4/4
Sanity: 3/4
Perk: Repair | Learned Abilities: Investigate
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Suicune's Fire]

Acting upon a tip from my good fellow Emissary, I'm going to go search Brookheights schools plaza! (35f)

At night, Brookheights School looks almost as friendly as it does during the day. Lights are on in places, friendly signs insisting that the school is a safe property are all around, and you can see children's artwork up on display on the windows of various classrooms and hallways. You would use your lockpicking abilities to break into the school if the situation required it, but you know that your destination is the plaza near the centre of the property, which requires no internal access. All you need to do is scale a tall fence which gives you little to no trouble.

You drop down onto the concrete and begin to take a look around. You know that this spot would be a popular area for students to hang out at during lunch and recess breaks, and you can see faintly drawn chalk marks as well as a few abandoned balls around the place. While you look around, you begin to feel apprehensive about a particular area of the plaza which draws you in. The closer to it you get, the surer you are that you are being drawn towards a Stalker related item or place. The feeling begins to eat at you like a corrosive poison, but you steel yourself and tread toward it, ensuring to check your surroundings with every step.

You come across a circular garden bed which looks like a giant flower pot. It's filled with soil, but currently has no sprouting plants. You assume that there are seedlings waiting to grow, but instead of feeling the warm excitement of new life, all you can feel is misery and evil. You don't want to use your bouquet to scrape away the soil, so you find a nearby stick to dig with and the deeper you go, the stronger the demonic sensation becomes. Finally you hit something, and you use to stick for a little longer before electing to use your bouquet hands. You feel a small ring, and as you go to pull it, you realise it's attached to something else. You pull harder and are greeted by a small explosion of shadowy energy which knocks you back, sending the object you withdrew flying over your head.

Pain begins to gnaw at your face as you try frantically to wipe it off, anxiety growing within you as you realise that it's not working. The longer you spend trying to rid yourself of this horrid evil presence, the more it sinks its fangs into you. Your heart accelerates as you feel the energy growing, twisting and morphing inside your mind.

Amia has suffered 1 point of damage to Health.

The energy begins to subside, and after a few excruciating moments, it feels as if it has drained completely from your insides. You take a moment to lie on the cold concrete, trying to comprehend what happened. Then you get to your feet, noting that you made a mess of the potplant-like garden bed, and turn around to see the form of an elongated, rust lantern pulsing with dark energy on the ground. You glare at it, somewhat terrified of it after what it did to you. You try to shake it off, knowing that it was probably just a one-off trap, and retrieve the lantern with caution. It does nothing but stare back at you with hollow energy.

Item [Frantic Lantern] was added to the Team Inventory.

You know that this is the only object of note around the plaza, so you take it with you while you leave, hoping that this trap had not been sprung on any of the students who had been curious enough to check on their growing plants before now.


Amia the Roserade (M: Grass/Poison)

Health: 3/5
Sanity: 3/4
Perk: Lockpick | Learned Abilities: Rescue/Escape
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Suicune's Fire]

im going to rest, again

Bedtime calls you as night falls, and you can think of no other place that you would rather be. As you snuggle into bed and pull the covers all the way up, you think about everything you have uncovered so far, and how close you are to discovering the mysterious of the Stalkers. Nothing is certain right now, but you know that it's only a matter of time.

Katzu has recovered 1 point of Health.

You wake feeling refreshed, although not fully recovered yet.


Katzu the Sneasel (M: Dark/Ice)

Health: 5/5
Sanity: 2/4
Perk: First Aid | Learned Abilities: Escort/Protect
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Suicune's Fire]

Might not be the wisest thing to do right now, but some searching's gotta be done, so...

Search (39) Summer's Moon Condominiums (Exterior).

Summer's Moon Condominiums is still illuminated in the darkness. There are Pokémon coming and going even in these late hours, although you keep yourself hidden from all passers-by as a precaution. You would be easy to spot in the darkness ordinarily, but due to Mew's gift, you do not have to worry about being spotted if you so choose.

The exterior of the building is where you and your fellow Emissaries have been told that Uru's research could lie. You search the carpark, finding nothing out of the ordinary, before heading around to the other areas of the property. You fly up to the roof and check briefly there before soaring back down and inspecting the walls of the floors that reside higher up, but then consider that if Uru hid anything here, it would be close to the ground considering he cannot fly or hover. You continue to scour the area and finally find a hatch in the side of the building, right beside a dumpster. You inspect the hatch and use your wing to press it in, watching as it springs back out and flaps open. You can see another locked container inside the slot, and you pull it out and rest it on the ground to inspect it.

You realise with mild annoyance that the box cannot be opened without the right key. It would appear as if this box was the same as the one that Amia found at the Cloudrise Tower, and although you don't have the key for either box yet, you remember that someone who interviewed Mahyen, Uru's mate, said that the keys were likely at his workplace.

Object {MMC Lockbox: MMC Groove} was noted in the Team Records.

You put the box back, hoping that you and your teammates can get your hands on the keys soon. You head back to base to tell your teammates what you found here.


Velo the Togekiss (M: Fairy/Flying)

Health: 5/5
Sanity: 4/4
Perk: Science | Learned Abilities: Escort/Protect, Exorcism
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Suicune's Fire]

I think I'm gonna have to rest again so I can search more dangerous places next time...

You haul your feathery body into one of the beds at the Emissary headquarters, feeling drained and very much in need of a long rest. Nighttime is the perfect time to sleep, and almost as soon as your head hits the pillow, you are out like a light.

Sarah has recovered 1 point of Sanity.

You greet the new day with a clearer mind, although you know you are not yet at one hundred percent. It still feels good to have slept, though, and you are feeling much braver.


Sarah the Archen (S: Rock/Flying)

Health: 4/4
Sanity: 3/4
Perk: Repair | Learned Abilities: Investigate
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Suicune's Fire]

Search (65c) Newhill Sewage Treatment Plant Floors 11-20

The stench that hits you as you stare at the exterior of Newhill Sewage blows your mind. It is the most foul-smelling odour to ever assault your little nose, and you almost feel ready for a shower. In the darkness it appears to be some sort of looming threat ready to douse the city in waste and disease, and the longer you stare at it, the more regret you feel for volunteering this particular search.

You head inside, taking no time to decide that you need a breathing mask which are freely available at the front desk, and although you have some difficulty getting it on, you feel much more comfortable with it on as you begin to head through the facility. Thankfully the stench is almost nonexistent with the mask attached to your face, but the odd shape of it blocks some of your vision, so you have to take extra care as you head through.

The lift takes you to the eleventh floor, which you begin your search at. You sigh, knowing this might take you a while, and start to scour the floor while ensuring you don't step in anything unpleasant or offensive. The first few floors seem to yield nothing, and in the back of your mind you begin to think that you chose the wrong floors to search, but on the fifteenth floor, you suddenly hear a voice. You freeze in place, feeling violent shivers stab your skin as you continue to listen. After a moment, you realise that whoever is calling out seems to be in need of help.

Wary that this could be a trap but reluctant to neglect someone possibly in trouble, you head further through the floor until you come to a room filled with machinery. You can hear the voice getting louder, so you head on through until you see something moving. You direct your headlamp to it and your light shines upon a Bunnelby who brings up a paw to shield himself from the intense light.

"Wait, be careful!" he yelps as you take another step, then hear a large clang beside you.

Instantly you leap out of the way as a metal handle shoots down and smashes into the floor, then slowly comes back up and remains still. You stare at it with open eyes, realising that you managed to dodge something that looked like it could have dealt you serious damage.

"P-please help me! My tail is caught in this machine!" the Bunnelby shouts, and you make sure to walk around the machine, leaving plenty of room for it to hit the floor without you anywhere nearby. You come to the Bunnelby and manage to free his tail, which he looks eternally grateful for. He then leads you out of the room as you head the machine bang again, and you both flee into the lift.

"Thank you for saving me," he yelps, leaping at you and hugging one of your front legs. "My name is Udim. M-my other siblings have gone missing... Can you...can you help me find them?" he pleads, looking at you with terrified eyes. "I-I'm going to wait here...but outside. I have three sisters and two brothers out there and if they come looking for me, I have to wait here. They should all be in Silvercoal City West because that's where we all said we'd be. We split up when the Stalkers came... We thought it would be safer because then we wouldn't all be together if one of us was found by a Stalker. Anyway... We can offer you five Oran berries if you can find us all. I haven't got one but all my brothers and sisters have them!"


MISSION OPENED: Find Udim's 5 siblings!
Reward: x5 [Oran Berry]


You tell Udim that you will keep a look out for his siblings, but right now you are focusing on the Stalkers and cannot necessarily dedicate all your time to his predicament. He understands and thanks you as you leave, telling you that he'll remain at the facility if you need him.

"One last thing..." he mentions before you go. "There are creepy things in this plant..." He looks up at the building, a little fearful. "If you come back to explore, please be careful."


Sam the Deerling (S: Normal/Grass)

Health: 3/4
Sanity: 3/4
Perk: Repair | Learned Abilities: Rescue/Escape
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Neo Emolga]

I hope I have this right. xD

I'd like to use the DEPTH password at Locked Door {Rusted Storage Container: Five-Letter Lock} at (17) Silvercoal City Metro Station East.

You relocate the rusted storage container back in the Silvercoal City Metro Station East. It seems as though it hasn't been used since the last time an Emissary was here, but you still see the telltale scratches on the metal. Clearly, it marks the sign of a Pokémon that simply isn't used to being blind.

You roll the five dials, one by one, to form the DEPTH passcode, starting with the D, moving into the E, and then the P, T, and H.

Item [DEPTH Password] has been removed from the Team Inventory.

As soon as the H slides into place, the lock latch pops out and you remove the lock and open the door. It squeaks from age and rust, but when you push it away with your fluffy wing to see what's inside. Within the dark, metallic confines of the rusted storage container, you look inside to see an eye, immediately gazing back at you. It unnerves you just a bit, but you realize it's not a real eye.

You grab the eye and take a closer look at it. It seems to be modeled after the eye of a Staraptor. Still, you understand that this is definitely a sign of Oblivion's work. You take the eye with you.

Item [Eye of Staraptor] has been added to the Team Inventory.

You then leave the metro station to head back to base with your findings.

Ciel the Mega Altaria (M: Dragon/Fairy)

Health: 5/5
Sanity: 4/4
Perk: Security | Learned Abilities: Escort/Protect
Failed Assassinations: 0/2

[Neo Emolga]

14. Fern the Illumise has been murdered by the Stalkers.
Fern's side mission has been reassigned to Lychee the Scolipede.

Location: Outside of Northwind School
Cause of Death: Poison trap prior to extreme lacerations

Fern, the Illumise police Sergeant that had been devoted toward helping Pormalu put an end to the Stalkers, was found by Lychee after a tip from an anonymous caller. Unlike the many times before, this time the Scolipede was really hoping it was a prank.

But it wasn't.

As the rain was coming down, Lychee had arrived on the scene to find Fern, her coworker and mentor, killed in one of the most deplorable ways she could think of. The Stalker that had killed her went out of their way to cut up Fern's body and completely rearrange it in all the wrong ways, like a puzzle forcibly assembled incorrectly. It made it hard for the Scolipede to accept the nightmarish sight she saw before her was even real.

Pormalu had arrived with Sequintia, only told this time, it was "especially bad news." When the Arcanine, accompanied by his Pyroar mate, had arrived, he had seen who the victim was and fell completely silent in response. Not only was Fern dead, but she had been killed in an absolutely disgusting and deplorable way that not only mocked what Fern stood for, but spat on the ongoing police effort as a whole. It was clear to Pormalu that this travesty was how the Stalkers regarded the police force of Silvercoal City.

All the while, the rain still came down upon a very dark and grim scene...

"She..." Lychee struggled to tell the tiger-like Pokémon, "Pormalu, I think she died very... p-painfully."

But Pormalu was silent. All the while the rain fell upon him and matted the fur on his face. His emotions were fighting a civil war, and the battlefield was all in his mind. To everyone else, they didn't know of the invisible war that the Arcanine was dealing with... and how utterly ferocious it truly was. And it made everything else around him suddenly blur.

"Boss, judging from..."

"...poison might have..."

"...Boss, did you...?"

"Pormalu...?"

To Pormalu, it was like being unable to wake up from a nightmare where you're running and running away from the killer only to fall helplessly on your back. And in then grave fear, you look up to see them and stare at them in the eyes only to find it was actually yourself that you were running from the entire time. And he knew it was what they wanted.

They wanted him to become as much of a monster as they were in trying to seek revenge.

"They want to make this personal," Pormalu muttered, trying to contain his anger. "Fern wanted everything for this city. And she paid for that dream with her life. Because she knew Silvercoal did not deserve this."

"I promise, I will do whatever I can do continue her work," Lychee told the troubled Arcanine. "I'll work nights, weekends, as much overtime as we need to. It's what she would have done for me. It's what she would have done if this happened to one of us!"

Pormalu could only nod in response. He knew the way to fight back against evil wasn't to seek revenge. That was what the Stalkers were hoping for. Evil in response to evil ensured the corrupted would still march on and take the innocence and sincerity of the entire town down with them. And no one could ever call something dark like that a victory. It was worse than being defeated. It was worse than the entire city collapsing.

"Fern deserves to be put back together," Sequintia spoke, sounding angry. "She was a police Sergeant that died in the line of duty and she's a hero for it. I want this... travesty undone as soon as possible so Fern can be respectfully buried. And I want to know who did this before they get the chance to do it again."

And yet, they had already lost several police officers to the same Stalkers that had killed Fern and so many others. But they showed no sign of stopping or slowing down. And once again, they were faced with the reality that they were running out of time and it was taking a piece of them down each time something like this happened.

------

After ten minutes of being contacted, Reddan the Volbeat had arrived on the scene. He looked stressed, crestfallen, and crippled in emotion. When he arrived at the scene, Pormalu and Sequintia had looked on him with their hearts hardened while it was Lychee that looked the Volbeat with sympathy and respect. This part was never easy and it never would be.

"Could I please... at least see her...?" Reddan asked as his tears mixed with the falling rain. "Please? I know you said it was really bad over the phone, but I... I need to-"

"No," Lychee told him in a serious tone. "No, Reddan, I can't let you see her. She was my friend, she was my mentor, and... she was my colleague. She... she would not want you to see her like this."

"Please..." Reddan pleaded. "She was... my entire world. I was... I was nothing to anyone before I found her. She entered my life, opened me up, and now... what... what the hell am I now without her? Please, officer, I need to-"

And it was then that Lychee knew what it was like to have emotions wage a civil war in her mind in the same struggle that Pormalu was dealing with. She had to make a choice. And there was no good choice in this decision.

"N-no," Lychee declared again, standing by her decision. "I can't. I can't let you see her. Not after what was done. Remember her when she was alive. Remember what she looked like when she was happy. And when she was with you."

Despite being told to remember those thoughts, it didn't stop Reddan from breaking out in tears.

As the crime scene investigation team had taken away Fern's body that was now covered with a black plastic sheet, Lychee, despite Reddan's pleas, knew this was for the best. She was already aware of what happened when friends and family of the victims looked upon the results of what the Stalkers had done. But she could see in the Volbeat's eyes that if he looked upon what had become of his mate, it would ruin him forever. It would render him into a crippled husk of his former self and she absolutely refused to let the Stalkers to claim another victim like that.

"FERN!!!" Reddan shouted out in despair as they put the body in the back of the hovertruck. "I'm... I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT THEY DID TO YOU!!"

After the hovertruck sped away, all that was left was the weeping Volbeat and Lychee, Pormalu, and Sequintia just looking at Reddan on his knees, completely ravaged emotionally.

And all the while, the rain kept coming down...

Doom Tracker:
6/40