[PXFIRE] PXFIRE II Roleplay: Convergence

[Shruikan]

This thread of for the actual RP; if you haven't yet, sign up here.

Judging Guideline:

Spoiler:

Each player will be graded by the following categories, with 100 points divided appropriately between all participants of that week based on their scores.

Spelling & Grammar: Self evident; if you post entirely in 1337 text speak then you won’t get many point here. As long as it’s readable, you should do fine.

Driving Force: How vital is your character to the events of the story? A background character simply watching events unfold won’t score as much as one in the heat of the action.

Posting Frequency: While quality is more important, you can only move so far in a single post. A person who post regularly will get more points than the guy who just shows up once a week.

Player Interaction: How much of an impact on the other characters are you making? Whether working with your teammates or against enemy teams (Or even against your teammates or with enemy teams,) the more interaction with other players the better.

Continuity: Did you pull a death ray from out of thin air, with no indication that they even exist? But wait, now the metal tower you’re fighting on is made of glass, and you’ve just fallen through the plot hole you created to your doom! Good use of foreshadowing will score you points here, whereas big continuity errors will lose them.

Rules:
Follow PXR Rules: It’s happening on this site, so it’s a no-brainer that you need to follow the rules.
No Godmodding/Bunnying: Don’t make your character invincible, unstoppable, or pretty much god-like. Using knowledge gained out of character also count for this. And no controlling other people’s characters either. Pretty standard rules.
Try to keep it PG-13. Think more Saturday morning cartoon superheroes and less deadpool.

Map:



Characters:

Nathan "Neo" Winterfield - Neo Emolga - Avalon Apostles
Daniel El Raye - LKWayvern - Sabotage Squadron
Brent/Angel Hughes - Noblejanobii - Avalon Apostles
Emmett “Gawain” Marshall - Velojello - Avalon Apostles
Camellia Estrada - K'sariya - Avalon Apostles
Eddie Shadolurk - Bulbasaur - Agents of the Shadows
Leo Star - Morzone - Order of the Sun
Ezekiel "Zeke" Star - Morzone - Order of the Sun


All posts must contain a header containing your characters name, team/affiliation, and location.

[Shruikan]

Doug Vincent
USF Commander
USF Headquarters, Trinox

Another day as usual. Rifts appearing left right and center left very little free time for members of the USF. For Doug Vincent however, this wasn’t a problem. He always felt uncomfortable standing around, waiting for action, and with the appearance of the rifts he spent the majority of his time in the field. This was not one of those times.
Having returned from his previous mission two days ago, Doug was getting restless. He had spent so much time in the bases gym that he had been practically banned, for fear of overworking his muscles. The blank metal walls of the USF base felt like they were closing in on him more with each hour that passed, and he felt that if something didn’t happen soon he would go insane. As he finally decided to head back to the gym to see if he could convince them to let him workout for just an hour or two more, Doug was intercepted by a young man in a messenger uniform.
“Commander, sir! A new rift has been reported near Erana.” Doug had seen this runner a few times, he’d just started last month, and looked rather nervous as he stood to attention.
Doug’s excitement at a new mission quickly turned to dismay. Damn, so close to the capitol? Hopefully it won’t be too dangerous, or else this could end badly. “Any word on what’s come though?” He barked.
“The pokemon is as of yet unknown, but from the damage surrounding the Rift, it appears to be big. Several nearby trees were uprooted entirely.” The runner replied, voice wavering slightly.
Just my luck. It’s never the small ones that appear near the city. “Alright, dismissed.” The messenger saluted, looking rather relieved as Doug turned away and began briskly heading back towards the briefing room, speaking into his comms as he did so. ”Gear up men, we’ve got a rouge spotted, and it’s a big one. We’re moving out for Erana in ten minutes.” Well, looks like I got the action I wanted. I just pray that the city will still be there by the time we arrive…



Trey Sunders
Wormhole Researcher
Kenta Apartments, back streets of Sendrel

Over the last month three new Rifts have been spotted near Krite. Many feel that nothing is being done about the pokemon problem, and vigilante groups have run riot, with several reports of citizens being assaulted for traveling with a pokemon. Meanwhile, in Ruztag-

Trey turned off the TV wish a sigh. If only I hadn’t been so reckless. If I had never shared my discoveries with the world, none of this would be happening. Though there was no concrete evidence proving the Rifts were caused by the destruction of the wormhole depots, there were few other explanations for why the rifts only started appearing now. And even if there were, Trey likely would still blame herself. Prof Trey Sunding had practically disappeared from the public after the Rustol disaster, the backlash and threats causing her to go into hiding for her own safety. Using the alias Mira Rutherford, she now lived undercover in a cheap apartment in the back streets of Sendrel, on standby for the USF, waiting for a rift safe enough to research. But in reality, that meant she was just sitting here watching the world fall apart because of her. I should be doing more to help. I should force the USF to let me go on their next mission, regardless of the danger.
Deciding she needed to clear her head, Trey flung on her jacket, and throwing up the hood to cover as much of her face as possible, set out for the market.

[Neo Emolga]

Nathan "Neo" Winterfield
Avalon Apostles
South of Maris, Aluna

"They're unnatural!" "Send them back where they came from!" "They're murderous!"

I swore, if I had a buck every time someone said these things, I could buy every city on the continent by now.

As of late, my job became all about putting out hysteria fires and trying to gather evidence that this whole crescendo of freaking out and panicking really wasn't necessary. But it was becoming difficult as a lot of rifts were opening up and these "Pokémon", which were probably lost, confused, and just as afraid as these people were, felt they needed to strike back and defend themselves. Every time this debate came up, I tried to see things from their point of view. How would you like it if you were sucked into an entirely different world where you are lost, alone, afraid, and simply struggling to survive? I figured most humans would be very guarded and be ready to steel themselves against everything. The only difference is these Pokémon definitely have more at their disposal than what humans have. Being able to breathe fire, discharge electricity, unleash blizzards of ice, and what have you was quite a feat in comparison to what humans can do.

But that didn't excuse what happened in Redinas and it was obviously a problem that couldn't be ignored or treated casually. This was a matter of trying to find and pacify hostile Pokémon and see if there was any way they could be controlled and brought to an understanding that peaceful human to Pokémon relations are possible. And we had already proven it was possible with some of the smaller, more tamable ones, but there were still plenty of very aggressive ones that wouldn't stop until they had more tranquilizer chemicals pumping through them than what would be needed to kill a human. But when push comes to shove, we had to be ready to sometimes make the call to put one of these creatures down if things became deadly.

Regardless of the efforts that were being deployed to get a grip on the situation here, there were many people that just plain didn't want them here regardless of the data, the studies, and the statistics that teams like the Avalon Apostles were trying to provide to prove the facts and weed out the fiction. Regardless, there were a lot of people that didn't want to listen to it and were in denial of these facts. Yes, I could understand these invasive creatures and there was no telling what introducing them to the environment would do to the area's biomes and ecosystems. We were still trying to understand both the short term and long term effects of what these incidents would bring. Still, more and more issues came up on a daily basis. We had people claiming they were causing other mishaps beyond even just regular destruction and injuring people. Some people claimed they were carrying diseases and infections and that humans here were very susceptible because we were only be exposed to these for the first time.

And that was what I was currently trying to investigate. Once again, I was deployed with a small team to capture a few wild Pokémon that locals claimed they were infected with something and bring these Pokémon back for scientific study and analysis to see if there was any validity behind that or if it was just paranoia again. Once again, that involved capturing them and holding them in cages usually meant for animals. But with Pokémon, we needed to be extra careful. We were still running into a lot of Pokémon we had never seen before and we didn't know what they were capable of until it was usually too late. Making assumptions could be fatal, but we were recognizing patterns. Usually a Pokémon's body coloring indicated what kinds of powers they were capable of. Reds usually meant fire, yellows usually meant electricity, and blues usually meant water or freezing attacks. But that was no guarantee of anything.

Still, as my team and I headed further south from Maris and deeper into the forested areas, I knew we were getting close to the incident site. We needed to be ready for anything. Thankfully, we had the homeland advantage, but they had the power. It was anyone's game right now.

[Bulbasaur]

Eddie Shadolurk
Agent of the Shadows
AoS Headquarters, Trinox

"So what's the report?"

The number of reports had tripled, at the very least, since the rifts had first been discovered. This meant we had been having to take much more action as of late. I already recruited three new agents in the past week. It was tough keeping the balance between talent and sheer numbers, but the need for numbers has gone up lately, so I worked hard to find three agents deserving of the position. One of them claimed to have a report already, so hopefully they were a good choice.

"I heard some new rumors on the street about yet another rift, by Erana. Not sure on the Pokemon quite yet. I know it's little bit of a hike from here, but it's supposedly quite large, and could pose danger."

"Does the USF know about it yet, Chris?" I inquired, not moving an inch.

"I don't know, but chances are, if the rumors reached Drusk, they do."

"Doesn't matter. Not like they'll get there in time, anyway. Bruce!" My trusty Bulbasaur came running to my side.

"We have to get going. Another rift was reported in Erana, and the USF may or may not know about it. We need to get over there as soon as possible, and fix this mess ourselves. Go get a few more agents." Bruce gave me a nod, and ran off.

I have to admit, I'm a little concerned about the location, being the capital of Aluna. Hopefully the USF doesn't know about this, yet. Hopefully they aren't on their way...

[VeloJello]

Emmett “Gawain” Marshall and Kayla the Togekiss.
Avalon Apostles.
Maris; en-route to Erana.
ARPers: Everyone on Gawain's contact list - if you're an Avalon Apostle, you're eligible for the shortlist!

Gawain remembers a time when Maris was just another city to him. He’s been here a thousand times in his life on one errand or another; way back when, he was unnerved and awed by the quiet and the stone-stillness of it. Time and care have transformed it, made several of its districts into a conglomerated Avalon that’s so peaceful it borders on idyllic. While the Avalon Apostles don’t run Maris by any stretch, their presence is strong here, and unused urban areas have long since given way to community gardens and shelters for refugees. Watching a pair of Swablu darting through the trees and a young girl petting a massive, sleepy Stoutland, Emmett can pretend for a moment that all is right with the world.

The moment doesn’t last, however, as Emmett walks alongside Kayla toward the painfully prominent triage center. Cots and mats dot the tarp that’s been laid over the grass, and a few people mill about the scene. A few new patients have been brought in; they’re mostly human, looking dressed for the battlefield, although there’s an injured Pokemon there that looks like a fox with plant matter woven into its tissue. Emmett clicks his tongue and gestures to the fox, then kneels down and begins his work, barely looking up as Kayla leans over the fox with healing light glowing in her claws.

Thankfully, barring further injury or outbreaks of infection, none of this particular crop of wounded is unsalvageable. Once Kayla is finished with the fox - “Will it be alright?” he asks her, and she croons and pushes a sense of reassurance back against his inquiring mind - she begins to help Emmett, humming a healing chime to banish poisons and restore spirits. The last Emmett treats, a young woman who’s lucid enough to have removed most of her strike gear and press a bag of ice to her bruised head, gives the Togekiss a wary look.

“Over here, please.” Emmett tries not to be annoyed with her fear. He knows that Kayla means no harm; he also doesn’t live out a day-to-day series of battles with Pokemon. So he offers no challenge as he shines a light in the woman’s eyes, watching the action of her pupils carefully. “It was a rough one, I take it?”

The woman nods, keeping the ice firmly clutched to her forehead. “Big bison-looking thing. Called Bouffalant, as I recall. We brought Leafeon because he’s usually pretty good at settling violent Pokemon. Turns out, his attacks only made it stronger. Took a few rounds of buckshot to bring it down.”

Emmett nods sympathetically, thinking privately that at least this lot tried the peaceful solution rather than shooting first and asking questions later. “You’ll be relieved to know that the rest of your squad will be fine,” he says lightly, putting his flashlight away. “Now, do you have any nausea? Disorientation or dizziness? Ringing of the ears? Memory loss?”

Running though the symptoms is rote, simple. He diagnoses the woman with a mild concussion and tells her to take it easy and to find a physician if the symptoms flare up again. Kayla tries to reassure the woman with a hum; she looks disappointed when her overtures are met with suspicion, but follows Emmett quickly when he clicks his tongue and gestures for her to follow.

A doctor’s work is never done, especially in a world besieged, but there are respites. Gawain takes one now, sitting with his back against a tree and petting Kayla with one hand while scrolling through his phone with another. He hardly notices as she begins preening his hair, instead focusing on scrolling to a particular contact - one Camellia Estrada. “Any leads on Professor Sunding yet?” He texts, and he’s about to go over the articles he’s collected on the conspicuously-absent wormhole inventor when a news alert catches his eye.

His sigh draws Kayla’s attention and a fretful croon. “Duty calls,” he says. “Something big is about to tear up Erana, and we want to make sure as many people come out of that alive as we can.” He doesn’t put his phone away yet, though; he switches over to a well-used group message thread including several prominent Avalon Apostles members - everyone with the wit and the willingness to turn up at rifts and lend a hand. “Rift opened up near Erana, unsure of precise location. Something big coming through. USF likely already dispatched. Am on way from Maris. - Gawain”

The message sent, Gawain whistles a few notes and gestures to Kayla, who obligingly ducks low to the earth, not rising until Gawain is secure on her great feathered back. As she stalks toward an open patch of grass, he calls out to the others, “I’m off to help with a rift in Erana! If you’re willing and able, help is accepted! Wish me luck!” A few turn to look at him, some wave; then everything vanishes in a tumult of white feathers, and Gawain and Kayla are racing through the sky.

[Morzone]

Leo Star
Order of the Sun
Western Edge of the Secret Valley, at the foothills of the Rutgard Mountains
Affected RP'ers: N/A

"There!" Leo declared triumphantly, releasing the bibarel out of his grip and back into its dammed up river. The poor thing had been badly burned when Gardivor had found it, and had needed treatment for several days. Thankfully, that process ended today. Leo couldn't help a smile as he watched the bibarel quadruple check to make sure its dam was sturdy enough. Pausing to take a drink from the fresh mountain stream, Leo considered what was next on his list for the day.

"Let's see... Count out the oran berry harvest, check. Water the Belue berries, Check. Do morning perimeter, Check. Redo the bandaging on the rhyhorn, check. Clear out the poison ivy from that one grove, check. Companionship tests with the combuskins, check." Leo massaged a small bruise on his arm, "Final check up on burned bibarel, check. Just the afternoon perimeter check and rendezvous with Gardivor to go!" He ticked off on his hand each requirement before standing, stretching, and heading off toward the edge of gardivor's protective influence over the valley. In truth, these checks weren't really needed, as long as Gardivor was on the watch she'd know immediately if her perimeter was intruded upon. Still, between government poachers, angry humans, and other threats it was always good to check.

Roughly an hour after leaving the bibarel, Leo found himself finishing his perimeter check along the northern border of the valley. If he stood in just the right spot and the weather was clear he cold see the ocean to the north.

Suddenly, a tall white and green pokemon teleported in front of Leo, a red horn protruding from its chest and its reddish eyes alight with psychic knowledge and power. This was of course Leo's one and true partner: Gardevoir.

The psychic pokemon made a rounded symbol with their hands and impressed upon Leo's feelings a desire to travel. The hand symbol was their sign for rifts that had appeared, clearly Gardevoir wanted to go investigate.

"Want me to come?" He inquired, but the pokemon shook its head. "Alright. Make sure to prioritize safety. I don't know what this valley, or I, would do without you."

Gardevoir nodded again, sending him feelings of reassuerment. Well, he'd have to trust them. A moment Later Gardevoir had vanished again, teleported away toward the newest rift appearance.

Leo sighed and looked back at the distant ocean as he felt Gardevoir's presence vanish as she teleported away south. It would take them several teleports to get there, but already somehow the valley felt much more empty without their presence.

---

Ezekiel (Zeke) Star - "Cardinal North"
Order of the Sun/Team Claw
Northern Claw headquarters, Cardinal's office.
Affected RP'ers: @Shruikan

"I don't know what you're complaining about, West. You were the one who refused our subjugation equipment."

"Don't Give me that North, my Specialists are more than capable of controlling these beasts. But your supply has been drying up. We can't afford to keep losing them over these 'rampages'

Zeke rolled his eyes at the hologram transmitter on his desk. West, the cardinal of the Undercover Operations branch, was transmitting to him from their headquarters in Aluna.

"Sure. Sure. And my capture squads can fly to the moon. Look, it's not my branch's fault if you keep wasting our perfectly good captures on these fake rampages. What did you do this time anyway?"

Just some divergence. I actually called to request the nearest capture team. A wormhole opened up near Erana and apparently there was a siting of a group of particularly rare electric pokemon known as Rotom that came through. According to my agents at least. From previous reports rotoms have unprecedented potential to cause havoc through electronic devices. We absolutely must capture them. So we enraged and let out that wonderful Mamoswine to rampage toward Erana and distract people away from the actual prize. I heard it's pulled up several trees by their roots already. Any foolish government worker is going to be jumping all over protecting the city after all.

In truth, Zeke had stopped listening the moment rotoms were mentioned. Rotoms were some of the best poaching prizes of them all. If several of them had come through, it would be a major upset to gain control of them.

"Sounds perfect. I'll send one of my Elite teams there as fast as possible. I can't help but feel that the mamoswine is a bit wasted on a mere distraction, but if catch enough rotoms it'll make up for it."

Shutting off the hologram transmitter I quickly selected out the proper button and sent a radio message to one of my Elite Delta squads that was stationed not near by to Erana.

"Davison, you've got your work cut out for you this time. Some rotoms have appeared from the Wormhole near Erana. West has unleashed a rampaging Mamoswine to keep the governments busy get in there and get out before its subdued. You know what failure means."

[Bulbasaur]

Eddie Shadolurk
Agent of the Shadows
The Erana Rift

"Looks like we're the first ones here!"

I let out a sigh of relief. No one outspeeds the Agents on my watch, but I was afraid the USF would manage it. I kneeled there behind a bush with a few other Agents, making sure to not be seen. Several trees by the rift laid on the ground, completely uprooted. It was quite the spooky scene, honestly.

Now what was there to do? Bruce must've been thinking the same thing, because I noticed him looking up at me. I paused for a moment.

"Let's stay here for a bit. If anything appear from the rift, I want you to tie it up to a tree nearby with your vines. Then, once we've identified it, we'll go from there and take the necessary precautions. Got it, Bruce?" Looking up at me, the green plant monster nodded.

Less than thirty seconds later, I saw the first shape emerge from the rift. Before I could even see the details of it, vines were already wrapping it up tightly. As the constricted creature was moved over to the closest tree, I made out some of its interesting features. It looked somewhat like a blue crocodile, but it stood on two legs. It had a few red spikes on its head, shaped sort of like a crest.

But the most notable thing about it was its eyes. They were fiery red. I don't think the coldest ice could've cooled this fire. It was like the eyes of a demon.

"Slam it against that tree, Bruce. Just enough to knock it out, and then we'll bring it back to see what information we can get." Bruce did just that, and before this creature could get its bearings, it was out cold. Bruce looked up at me, winked, and pulling the creature in like a fishing pole. We started heading back to the headquarters with this monster, with our backs to the rift.

[K'sariya]

Camellia Estrada & Ajani the Venusaur
Avalon Apostles
Erana

The small child crouches low on raised heels next to her, leaning so far forward that he has to gently prop out an arm to keep himself from falling over. His olive-skinned hand places softly, carefully in the rich, dark earth. He's round and baby-faced with dirt smeared on his features. The boy can't be more than six or seven.

"And so you dig a lil' hole, like this, David." She speaks his name with a soft a and a hard i that drips comfortably with an accent. Her fingers sink gently into the slightly-damp dirt, parting it into a small pocket. She reaches into a red-capped pocket of her pink apron to pull away a small packet filled with seeds. She rips them open, sprinkles two or three into her hand, then reaches to do the same for him. He holds out his hand and stares, enchanted, down at the precious little nodes, barely larger than specks. Then, his face twists in a funny way that just screams skepticism.

"This'll be food?" he asks incredulously, like she's pulling a prank. The dark woman can't help but give a fond chuckle. She sprinkles her own seeds into her hole, then creates another small cavity a couple of inches away.

"With a lot of love and a lot of time. Here." She helps guide the child's hands to drop the seeds. He brushes them together to unstick them from his skin. She smiles, shows him how to cover the seeds, and watches as the soil washes in to cover them like a blanket.

A call rings out from a distant house. "Caaaaaleb!" The kid perks up immediately and bounces spryly to his feet.

"Coooooming!" he shouts back at the top of his lungs. He starts to run off between the rows, but stops to run back to Camellia. He rummages in his overall pockets and pulls out rounded little pebble he'd stashed away. It's perfectly round, probably a river stone plucked from the shores where it'd been tumbled for years. "Put this one 'ere, so I know it's mine!" She takes it from his waiting, outstretched hand, and watches him run into the squat houses of the neighborhood.

Camellia stares after him, smiling softly, then crouches back to place the stone in front of the little mound. She hears heavy footsteps and rustling leaves behind her, and feels a wide muzzle nuzzle against her back. Hand rests gently on the creature's head for a moment as she stares at the spot where Caleb had disappeared. Then, she turns to her companion and starts checking up on the small ecosystem fostered on his back.

Her greatest regret was having to dip out when Gawain had saved Ajani. She knew they didn't have much of a choice; Gawain had basically traitor'd his Strike Force, and the last his unconscious teammates knew, there was a poisonous spitting lizard on a murderous rampage that had escaped with a big blue afro'd lady. By the time things settled down enough for them to come back, her mother's house was gone, leveled. As soon as she'd stopped paying rent, they reclaimed it, bulldozed it to sell it the property.

Such was the cycle. She'd already seen it happening the last few years she'd been there. She remembers her mother turning away buyers. They were offering the sort of money that would have made their problems go away for a bit, but it'd been passed down for generations. That house had her mom's great-grandfather's blood, sweat, and tears in it--and most importantly, his love. All because the areas in the city had been too filled up with the poor folk tryin' to get close to the jobs, so it became trendy to live in the suburbs where the rising rent drove the people out who'd been there for years. A nice-looking family had filled the space with a nice, tall house and a pristine green lawn with manicured grass, and paved over where Camellia's garden used to be with a wooden deck propped on a concrete slab.

As soon as she came back, the community gardens in the heart of the city's stone walls were her baby from day one. She remembers toddling next to her mother in their backyard, sunhat on and plastic shovel clenched tight in chubby hands. She hoped she could do that for someone else, too. One of the greatest feelings for her and her mother was knowing they'd have food on the table, and there wasn't anybody that could take that away from them.

She's raises one of Ajani's chipped fronds--the backwardmost one--to take a look beneath. "Oh, look at that," she breathes with a smile. A small round leaf pokes from the damp soil spread on the creature's flat back. "It sprouted! Great job, Aj'!" She'd been doing a little horticulture experiment. Ajani seemed to naturally grow some leafy fronds on his back naturally (as well as a pretty smelly rafflesia-type plant that may or may not smell slightly of dead bodies and attract a concerning volume of flies in the summer). His skin was a strange mixture of a reptile's scales and an amphibian's porous, water-permeable membrane. It seemed to excrete a slightly adhesive slime on the softer parts of his back. That's what gave her the idea of seeing what else he could grow. A little soil to stick to the back, some seeds to test on, and the natural humidity of his moist skin sheltered beneath wide fronds made the perfect greenhouse.

This one was a mint plant. She hoped it would help hide the dead-body smell of the flower on his back.

Now she just had to figure out how to get sun to it. She'd had him rest with his vines peeling back that frond for a bit during the bright hours of the day to give it a little, but that wasn't very convenient or sustainable. Maybe she'd see if any of the Avalon--

A vibrating in her pocket interrupts her. Speak of the devil.

"Hmm," is all she says at first as she checks the message from Gawain. He was headed here, and something big was headed to Erana. She purses her lips, then climbs up behind Ajani's head, minding and pushing aside his frond. Even as she does, she sees a massive flock of birds take wing like a distant gray cloud at the edge of the city. "Let's go." Heavy feet fall as they thunder their way in that direction. Camellia keeps an eye out for the white-winged rendezvous in the sky.

[LKWayvern]

Daniel El Raye
Sabotage Squadron
Drusk, en route to Erana
Affected RPers- @Bulbasaur

The Sabotage Squadron was one of the more famed rebel groups. That being said, chaos was written into its deepest tenets. Famed though it may be, organized it was not. Still, it had its way of making things work. This was in no small part thanks to the Operators. They facilitated communication, ensuring orders got to where they needed to be on time, for hits to go off successfully.

Daniel woke up fairly normally. He was between clients at this moment, but had a few gigs he was intending to look into. So he started tea, put out food for Elric, and began making eggs for himself.

It was then that a small yellow mammal abruptly popped into existence on Daniel’s shoulder, holding a note.

Daniel flinched at the abra’s sudden existence, burning himself on the pan, letting out a loud yelp.

In response to his distress, his partner barelled into the kitchen, barking sharply. The little abra dodged around Daniel’s body, using the Squadron member as a human shield. As Elric growled, Daniel dropped to one knee, putting a hand to the Absol’s head.

“Hey, it’s fine, just burned myself,” he murmured. Elric calmed, however when Daniel stood up and went to the sink, Elric stuck by his side, glaring at the abra suspiciously.

Daniel reached out an arm, swiping the burner lower so the eggs wouldn’t burn, and then running water over his hand. He then grabbed at the abra, leaning on the counter as it let out a squeak of alarm.

“Now, what’ve ya got for me…” he muttered, snatching the note out of its paw.

It read as follows:

We are aware you are free at the moment. A new rift has opened in Erana, and has gotten the attention of a bunch of organizations. Keep it off civilians, but definitely ensure the government doesn’t meddle. Abra can get you there speedily and discretely.

After flushing the note down the toilet, finishing breakfast, and getting on battle gear(Elric’s collar and his ring), Daniel sat down in sweatpants and a black hoodie, hood drawn over his short hair and casting his face into shadow, grabbing Elric and hugging the lupine creature to his chest.

He held out a hand, grinning. “Cool, abra, do your thing!”

The little abra darted forwards, grabbing the offered hand. Daniel felt the ringing in his ears intensify, and the slight haze of static over his vision magnify into all he could see. Sensation slipped away, chased off by an intense sense of pins and needles. Had he been standing up, he certainly would have fallen over again once he felt solid earth beneath him once more.

By the time he felt confident enough to get on his feet again, abra was curled up on a small dog bed. Elric stepped off his lap, shaking out his mane. Daniel glanced around, noting he seemed under a bridge. Nearby was a dried, smallish looking riverbed.

The way it worked if you wanted to get in touch with an Operator was you had to find a drop-off spot. You could leave messages requesting things, or for others, from there. Those higher up, who distributed missions and directed supply deliveries and paychecks, perhaps had faster, more reliable ways of getting in touch with the Operators.

Daniel darted out from under the bridge, glancing about, then got out his phone, loading a maps app and looking up first where he was, then where Erana was. He was by Sunnyview Boulevard, and Erana seemed to be very close by. He glanced back at the abra.

“Don’t suppose you’d be willing to give me a ride over?” He asked, grinning confidently.

The abra gave him a huff, and ignored him.

“Fine, fine. Hey Elly, ready for a jog?”

Fortunately, since getting his various jobs, Daniel’s stamina had been on the up. It only took thirty or thirty-five minutes to get to what must have been the scene… It looked like a battle had taken place here. Uprooted trees, puddles of water… Daniel felt a shiver run involuntarily up his spine.

But there was no Pokemon.

He glanced about. Had it flown off to another area? But with all this wreckage, it’d surely leave a trail of destruction, it’d surely be presenting a danger. He glanced at Elric. When the absol sensed imminent danger, he tended to fluff up, seeming to increase in size, and he got a seemingly anxious, energetic look in his crimson eyes. The absol’s snowy fur remained flat.

Someone’s gotten here before me.

Under his breath, Daniel muttered a swear. He looked to Elric. “Looks like someone was an earlier bird than us! But,” he grinned, “you know how the rest goes-- the second mouse gets the cheese. Think you can track them?”

Elric let out a snort, then began running again, Daniel keeping pace, both trying to be as quiet as they could. It wasn’t long before they saw them-- a tall man in jeans and a short reptile with a bud on its back, carrying a crocodilian creature. That must’ve been the one from the rift.

They hadn’t yet seen Daniel or his partner. Hopefully this would be easy.

Daniel made two gestures to Elric. Light as a feather, Elric closed the distance between himself and the Bulbasaur as Daniel tried sneaking up on the human. As the Absol tried to end it swiftly with an Aerial Ace, Daniel tried to sharply knee the human in the back.

[Morzone]

Ezekiel (Zeke, Cardinal North) Star
Order of the Sun/Team Claw
Northern Claw headquarters, Cardinal's Office.
Affected RP'ers: @Bulbasaur @LKWayvern

Zeke tapped his desk impatiently, watching his equipment. Every one of his teams had been wired up with secret surveillance equipment so he could watch their progress in top missions like this one. He wasn't about to let any of his teams get away with falsifying report to get away from punishment.

It didn't take too long for Davison's team -a team of 5 veteran poachers- to arrive near the location of the rift. The first sightings were good, uprooted trees, clear signs of destruction, pretty much what West had described the rampaging mamoswine had done. But something was off. Well, several things were off. Despite the obvious destruction, he couldn't seem to pick up any signs of the mammoth beast anywhere nearby. Had it been subdued already? Unlikely, perhaps it had traveled far enough away from the rift by now it was out of range. Even more troubling was the lack of any signs of Rotoms, which should have been even easier to pick up. If West had wasted his time and that perfectly good mamoswine for nothing he swore he was going to... *sigh* well it wasn't like he'd hadn't had false alarms before. but West would definitely owe him for this if no ghost electric pokemon appeared.

A piece of movement edging off the screen caught Zeke's eye. A quirk rotation of the hidden camera showed him what it was. Other people had gotten there first! More over, two groups had beaten them there. Typical. poaching was always harder with more people around. One of the groups seemed to have some kind of reptile pokemon slung over their back. The other was tracking them, clearly planning to steal the prey. As Zeke watched, Davison's team split into two groups. One group -comprised of 2 people- shadowed those that had arrived first. The other three spread out to search for rotoms, as was the original mission. Good, best not to get too distracted. Zeke wasn't particular worried about the other organizations. Davison's team were experts in disabling pokemon quickly and efficiently.

Tapping his camera settings, Zeke whirled the view to examine davison's team themselves. Their various tools seemed to be in oder, but what Zeke was more concerned for was their uniform. The concern was unfounded however, as each member was disguised in USF soldier uniforms. Good. The boss didn't need people getting too wary of Claw's presence before any major moves.