[PXFIRE] PXFIRE II Roleplay: Convergence

[Noblejanobii]

Brent Hughes + Koyla the Audino and Chavdar the Zoroark
Avalon Apostles
En-Route to Erana

Brent straightened out his collar as his team traveled through the woods towards Erana. They had changed their course already since after receiving Gawain’s text about the rift in Erana. Brent scanned his surroundings carefully and constantly. Koyla hung close to his side, her pink fluffy ears twitching as she listened for suspicious sounds. She was also keeping an ear on Chavdar. The Zoroark was still wary of large groups and was currently following from the trees, or something. Brent had a hard time keeping an eye on him anyway so he just left him be.

Brent hated traveling through the woods. Rifts opened here occasionally that went undetected. Several good team members had been lost to these surprise attacks. But this was the quickest way to Erana. He could see the outline of the city in the distance. It wouldn’t be long now. Good thing they had packed extra supplies just in case this exact situation happened.

Brent shifted his bag on his back. He thought about writing in his journal, leaving a note for Angel. However, he had already left a message conveying the change in destination. There wasn’t much more to contribute to that other than lamenting his boredom, which Angel seldom liked to read about. He could feel the Zoroark’s treasure shifting inside the bag as well. Unlike Angel, Brent was a bit torn about keeping it. It seemed wrong but Angel was sure this was the best method to earn the creature’s trust. Brent had decided he would return it before too much longer if nothing else changed.

Brent lifted his head a little as they drew ever closer to the city. The screams and signs of destruction were already blossoming. They needed to hurry. Brent looked at Koyla and nodded to his partner. “Let’s go, they’re going to need some medics.” Koyla nodded back in agreement and they took off into the city.

[Neo Emolga]

Nathan "Neo" Winterfield
Avalon Apostles
South of Maris, Aluna
ARPers: @VeloJello

As we walked through the heavily-forested area and got closer to the incident site, I glanced over some of the mission details and civilian reports. The witness descriptions weren't very reliable. Right now, we had only three. A "bushy turtle," a "fuzzy octopus," and "some kind of giant shrew." And there was some debate on the number as well. Some said there were at least three while others reported seeing four, possibly five. They were convinced these things were Pokémon and while I wasn't denying that, this stuff wasn't all that helpful.

That was when I got a message from Gawain.

I’m off to help with a rift in Erana! If you’re willing and able, help is accepted! Wish me luck!

As much as I wanted to join in on that, the folks in Maris would chew me out if we just decided to leave. But I wanted to let Gawain know that as soon as this mess was taken care of, I could head right over.

Got my hands full here at the moment, so I might be late to the party. We got a few ferals around Maris that the locals would like to see get some TLC. As soon as we tuck these guys in for a good night sleep, we'll be right over.

I then got to tracking the Pokémon, looking for disturbances in the ground, in the bushes, and among the trees. I needed to see if there was anything that seemed easily distinguishable from everyday animals. Right now, there wasn't much. From the looks of things, Vicky and Dave hadn't seen anything either, but they hadn't been out in the field for as long as I had been.

We were getting closer now and I took additional glances at the report. A lot of this didn't seem right and some of these rumors were pretty wild. One ten year old kid reported he saw a werebat that was infected with some kind of disease the Pokémon brought in and three adults reported there was some other kind of disease that caused some kind of skin fungal growth. Blamed that on Pokémon, also. The pictures were blurry, the only video they had was a ten-second clip that was half blurriness and silhouettes in the forest while the other half was panicked shaking. And it was impossible to listen in on definitive sounds or Pokémon cries over the screaming. Really, if you're under attack or being chased by something, the last thing you want to do is scream and let it know where you are.

Once we reached the site, I managed to find definitive clues that I found easier to follow. I led the way and eventually we found at least one of the potential targets. It was a simple Grotle, a medium-sized green and yellowish turtle with two leafy, bush-like formations on its back. The armor would make getting a tranquilizer shot in slightly more challenging, but for experienced snipers, it was not a difficult shot and this could be potentially ended without too much commotion.

"That's one of them," Dave whispered.

"Yep," I replied quietly. "A little trickier than usual, but we'll get this one."

Right now, the Grotle was checking the vegetation, probably trying to see if anything was edible. I still hadn't learned what these creatures have for a diet. I was more knowledgeable about their behaviors. Still, I grabbed my tranquilizer rifle and aimed for one of his softer spots just below the shell. Usually I go for a shot to the back of the neck, but that wasn't an option here. Once everything was checked, I made the shot and the dart struck it just a little lower than what I would have liked, but it still should do the job. With the amount of dosage, he wouldn't get too far. In a few minutes, he'd be down and ready for capture.

I had let my guard down...

I didn't realize we had been being watched by one of the other Pokémon. Suddenly, out of the bushes, we were flanked by a Ninetales. I figured that what was probably mistaken for the "fuzzy octopus." A rush of flames fired out, forcing Dave to take cover, and I was forced to react with haste.

I must have lost my cool in the heat of the moment. I immediately turned the rifle on this new attacker. Truthfully, this Ninetales was pretty majestic, looking carefully-groomed with her golden fox fur and her nine tails. This Ninetales suddenly charged into me, bumping away my rifle with its snout, causing me to misfire and hit a tree. It then bit me in the arm in the pain was searing for a moment before the adrenaline kicked in. I swore, this thing was not going to get away from me after these antics. I reached out to grab it, trying to pin it down so Vicky and Dave could get in a clear shot. Naturally, grabbing one of its tails seemed like an effective way to slow it down. I grabbed the closest one I could snag and called out to the others.

"Shoot it!" I cried out.

At least two darts struck the nine-tailed fox, but I couldn't hold on for too much longer after that. It suddenly yelped and fled away, but I knew the tranquilizer would drop it in due time. Still, even while it was running, it looked back to me with its red eyes, glaring at me before running off. Well, the joke was on her, because I figured she was just sore she was going to be facing a losing battle soon enough with the tranquilizer.

"You okay, chief?" Vicky asked me, looking concerned. "Your arm's a mess."

I had forgotten about that for a moment and she was right. There were gashes and there was quite a bit of blood trickling down. Could have been a whole lot worse, but this wasn't the worst I've seen. In my line of work, getting injured and cut up was a common thing.

"I'll be fine," I told her. "But if you don't mind, let me get this patched up and you take care of the containment for these two. They should be down soon."

"Copy that, sounds good," she smiled.

I figured they were experienced enough with this part, but I needed to make sure this didn't get infected.

[Morzone]

Leo Star
Order of the Sun
En Route to Sendrel/South of Maris(Gardivor)
Affected Rp'ers: Anyone who wants to spot a gardivor near the Erana portal, @Neo Emolga

After about 50 teleports, Gardivor finally managed to arrive near the site of the Erana portal. The psychic type was not very happy with what it found there. Massive damage caused by a large pokemon, a Mamoswine judging by what it could sense off in the distance, was just the start. Several people could be spotted nearby, fighting over some reptilian pokemon, and a Group of poachers -they were dressed as USF soldiers but their specialized equipment made gardivor suspicious- were hunting down rotoms that were appearing out of the portal. Gardivor wasn't going to be able to stay here for too long, they'd be spotted very quickly- Oh no. ONe of the guys dressed as USF tapped his buddy's shoulder and alerted him to gardivor's presence.

Acting on a sudden urge to flee as the two men turned their attention toward the psychic type, Gardivor teleported northward at random. Unfortunately the unwarrented panic didn't fade and the pokemon teleported several more times. Finally they landed in an unknown forest, and managed to calm their nerves enough to catch a breath. Why had they panicked like that? It was like someone had been secretly watching, someone they really did not following their movements. Well, surely they were safe now- what the?

Suddenly, a Ninetails went passed, two tranq darts stuck into its side. Poor fox pokemon seem to be fighting the tranq as it attempted to run. For all of gardivor's panic a moment ago, the adrenaline left over fueled anger at the attacks on this poor pokemon. They could sense two hunters nearby. Well they knew they had tranq darts. Gardivor had experience stopping tranq users before. Admittedly, they'd had Leo's help but Gardivor was sure they could help protect a single pokemon. If she had to teleport away with it she could but... well teleporting wasn't as easy as it looked, especially if they ended up having to bring along a second person.

Do not worry, Ninetails, I will help you. She told the pokemon. Toward the two hunters she transmitted: You Are not welcome. Go back. Of course all they'd receive was a wave of fear, intimidation, and hostility pressing upon their minds and emotions, but Gardevoir was confident they'd understand the message.

Many Miles to the north, just South of the hidden valley, Leo had set out toward Sendrel. He routinely visited cities, mainly for colelcting/buying supplies for the pokemon in the valley, but also because it allowed him to hear news of nearby pokemon packs that may be targeted. Once even He and Gardivor had busted out a shinx that was being held captive to be sold, just on a whim after accidentally discovering it. Well, Gardivor could detect those things if they got close. He doubted he'd be able to do it. Still, some of the medical supplies were running low. Crop yield wasn't coming out strong and he needed medical herbs.
[hr]
Ezekiel (Zeke, Cardinal North) Star
Northern Claw Headquarters in Sunos, Cardinal's Office
Affected Rp'ers: @Bulbasaur @LKWayvern

Zeke practically jumped out of his chair when the gardivor appeared out of thin air not far from the smaller group of poachers. He knew that Gardivor. It was Leo's partner! The one that had convinced his brother to protect whatever secret valley he had discovered. From all he had heard of the valley it was a goldmine of variety. Leo and that gardivor had rescued so many pokemon and taken them there... oh how he so wanted to be able to send a massive team of poachers to the place. But he'd never been able to properly find its location. It was too well hidden, both through Leo's secrets, Gardivor's psychic abilities and just natural geography.

He scrambled to turn on his microphone. Forget the rotoms and whatever crocodile thing those other guys had gotten, if they could catch that gardivor it'd be worth 10 times anything else Davison's team captured. But just as the Cardinal was pressing the button, the gardivor seemed to realize it was being watched and vanished into thin air, just as fast as it had appeared. Zeke groaned internally, having turned the comms on for seemingly no reason now. To cover up the mistake he gave new orders to the team.

"let the crocodilian pokemon go, Focus on extracting the rotom." He ordered, and watched as the two poachers turned away from the two groups fighting over the knocked out pokemon to rejoin the other three. The rotom extraction was going well. From what Zeke could see, one rotom was already captured. The other two were zipping around but slowly being confined by Davison and his team. It involved a tricky job that forced the poachers to get creative with their tools. Idealy they would have some kind of device that would trap the ghost-electric after it possessed the machine, but such a thing hadn't had the study behind it for functional use. Rather the group had to use their electric-pokemon equipment to stop its movements then the ghost holder to trap it and keep it from phasing away. Well, now that the other two had joined the two other rotoms should be caught fairly quickly. Hopefully there were more. at least 5 would be preferable but you'll take what you can get.

Pusing in his intense surveillance, The Cardinal North leaned back and grabbed a TV remote sitting on a back table. Hitting the power button a large TV monitor flared into life on the wall to his right, showing several news stations. They all said, with some slight variation, "Wormhole appearance outside Erana, USF unable to get close, Rampaging Mamoswine attacking City border." Good. Well at least that was going well. If the USF hadn't been so hung up on protecting people they could have just sent people around the mamoswine to the portal, but alas poor them had to spend all their effort stopping the rampaging beast. Zeke couldn't help but chuckle.

[Neo Emolga]

Nathan "Neo" Winterfield
Avalon Apostles
South of Maris, Aluna
ARPers: @Morzone

Thankfully Kevin, one of the Avalon Apostle field medics, had come along, or else I'd be trying to bandage this mess myself. Usually I didn't need to resort to his expertise, but every now and then, one of these incidents come up. More often it was Dave who needed patching up because a Pokémon got extra bitey or slashy, but even the professionals don't always have a perfect day.

I had gotten treatment back at the helicopter, where he had been staying the whole time we had been out. On a good day, he wouldn't be needed for anything. But "good days" were rare. Though in most cases, usually it wasn't me getting hurt.

"Your arm's fine," Kevin told me, finishing up the bandaging. "I've seen bites much worse than that. Hope you didn't mind that I tried out some of the new hemostatic gels we have."

"Thanks as always, doc," I told him with a smile.

"There's... something odd, though," he told me. "Almost seems like you have atrial fibrillation. You look a little pale, too."

Oh great. I figured this was the part where he would tell me that Pokémon really was infected with something. Well, I couldn't afford that and honestly, I felt fine.

"I'm fine, we're needed in Erana anyway," I told Kevin, really feeling like a full medical check could just wait. "When we're done, I'll see if someone in Maris can look into it. Once we've taken our captives in."

"Understood, but just get that looked into when you can," Kevin nodded.

Shortly after, Dave and Vicky had arrived back. They looked like they were freaked out of their minds. I was expecting for them to have come back with that Grotle and that Ninetales, but instead they were empty-handed.

"There's... something bizarre out there," Dave muttered, looking really nervous. "We were going to try and capture that Ninetales, but some Gardevoir showed up and I think it used some psychic attack on us or something. We just panicked and headed back out of there."

"Might be one of the other targets the locals mentioned," I figured. "What happened to your equipment, though?"

"It's still back there," Dave confessed sheepishly. "I'll admit, we panicked. It's those damn psychic types. I'm sorry, Neo, I thought we were ready."

"I'll admit, I've never seen a Gardevoir before," Vicky replied, taking a glace back. "I don't know why it was so scary. Somehow that thing can control fear."

It was a rookie mistake, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. I'll admit, encountering psychic Pokémon was not really something fun for rookies to experience and I didn't think this assignment would involve them. A Gardevoir didn't sound like it was part of the sightings, but hey, people are mistaken all the time.

"Not a big deal, that's what psychic types do," I told them both. "It was probably trying to claim the area as its territory or something. We still need to go back, though. That equipment is expensive and we need that Grotle and Ninetales for research."

They didn't seem too thrilled about going back, but they seemed to trust me about this. Normally I wouldn't do this after a work injury, but those Pokémon would just cause problems again if they weren't taken care of and dispatched.

I eventually tracked where our Ninetales friend would be, using disturbances in the grass. She couldn't get far with the tranquilizers running through her body, but I wasn't sure about this Gardevoir. Dealing with psychic types is never fun.

I spotted the two, and I could tell the Ninetales was losing consciousness. However, when she saw me, her eyes lit up. She tried to get in our heads, probably trying to hijack our brains into becoming afraid and anxious. Usually it was very difficult to prevent this, but seasoned operatives could resist it a little longer than the rookies. However, with Dave and Vicky, yeah, they didn't even last a few seconds before their flight response kicked in.

"Let's just forget about this!" Vicky shouted. "This was a bad idea, let her have it, damn it!"

"Keep your cool and don't panic!" I called back to her. "We can get this under control."

Damn it, it was already too late. Dave and Vicky just made a run for it and unless I found a way to handle this myself, I was going to have to explain this mess both to my supervisor and the Maris reporters. Lordy, I didn't feel like dealing with that and making us all look incompetent.

I just decided to try and make this quick. Shoot the Gardevoir, go back and get thermal sensors, and then bag the two of these Pokémon when they both dropped from the sedatives.

I took aim but then when I last suspected it, suddenly my grip on the tranquilizer gun was loosened and then it was yanked out of my hands by the Gardevoir. I reached out to try and grab a hold of it before I watched it drift away in midair. It was well out of my reach before it just floated before the Gardevoir, obviously suspended in the air and controlled by some kinesis power. Holy crap. Forget it, Dave and Vicky were right, this definitely wasn't worth it. We could just try again some other-

I suddenly felt hot and faint for a moment. It made me feel delirious and dizzy and I tried to get away but I barely made it two steps before it became too much. I had to get down on the forest floor with my hands and knees and suddenly I felt very, very strange.

Psychic fear attack again? This felt very different though. And it almost seemed like it was coming from the Ninetales instead. What the hell was this now?

My skin began to itch and tingle as suddenly my few strands of black hair on my arms and legs was replaced by light yellow fur. I didn't understand, what was the meaning of-

And when the nine tails ripped sprouted out and through the seat of my pants, I suddenly realized what was going on as they formed a giant fan-shaped formation behind me. Was... was she turning me into a Ninetales too!? How!? And why!? Now this I never saw happen before.

I panicked, hoping there was some way to get this Ninetales to stop this. Even despite the shock of my nose and mouth turning into a snout and my hands and feet turning into paws and hind-legs, I had to at least try reasoning here! All of my clothes and gear had been ripped off from my body changing form and shape and for a minute I went completely deaf before my hearing returned as I suddenly now had fox ears coming out of my head. The sounds of my bones crunching and reforming was the worst.

"What the hell is this!?" I exclaimed, wincing as the transformation continued and suddenly my hair turned into a mane. "Stop, whatever this is!"

...Nope. It was definitely too late to stop as I was sitting there and looked like I was never a human in the first place.

The transformation completed, and I had no idea what to think of it. This!? This is what it was like to be a Ninetales? This was.. beyond ludicrous. I knew Pokémon had some pretty incredible powers but I never would have thought 1,000 year curses like this were on the list. How the hell was I supposed to warn the others now!? I could only talk... to Pokémon now...

"Consider yourself lucky," the Ninetales spoke to me. "Most 1,000 year curses are usually far more crippling and devastating than this."

"T-thousand year... curse?"" I asked, sound and feeling a bit odd I was actually talking to this Ninetales now as one myself. "W-what for?"

Do you have any idea what pulling the tails of a Ninetales does!? she asked me.

"No?" I asked, shrugging. "Besides stop it from moving for one thing."

A curse. A 1,000 year curse to be precise. And I can sense your honesty, but your ignorance won't be excused.

"What!?" I exclaimed, thinking that was a hell of a severe punishment for just a little three-second tug. "Are you serious!? That's kind of extreme for a short, little tug, don't you think!?"

Consider yourself very lucky. Usually these curses are far more severe, but this seems more fitting given the situation and it gives me salvation.

"What the blazes do you mean by that!?" I asked, having no idea what she was referring to.

Suddenly the Ninetales unleashed a Flamethrower attack, and I quickly jumped out the way. However, being totally unused to moving on all fours now, I stumbled a bit. But I quickly realized the attack wasn't meant for me. The Ninetales had incinerated most of my destroyed clothes and my ruined gear, leaving only ruined bits in a blackened crater.

"Wait just a minute!" I exclaimed.

And that was when the Gardevoir shot me with my own tranquilizer gun. Twice. In the same spots Vicky and Dave had shot the other Ninetales. Oh god, now I fully understood what this diabolically clever fox's plan was. I looked around in my last few seconds of consciousness, hoping Dave or Vicky witnessed this, but there was no one around. No one was going to learn the truth about this. When they did the search for the Gortle and to find out what happened to me, they were going to find me, but I was not going to be what exactly they were looking for. But they would have absolutely no way of telling what really happened here.

Let's go. The Gardevoir told the Ninetales, letting the tranquilizer rifle drop to the ground. I can only suspend the tranquilizer for so long, but I can take you to a safe place to rest it off.

And so it is. The Avalon Apostles will get their Ninetales to study, but they'll think you, Nathan Winterfield, was killed in the fight, and only these barely recognizable remnants will be all that remain. You'll take my place, which seems right. You'll know what it's like to be pricked, probed, encaged, and treated like some monster. For the next 1,000 years. At least be a good Ninetales and don't do anything stupid that would bring shame and disgrace upon my kind. Oh, I'm sorry. Our kind.

No way, I couldn't believe it.

I wasn't sure if it was the tranquilizer kicking in or if I was passing out just from how utterly defeated I felt. In a quick glimpse of light, both the Gardevoir and the Ninetales disappeared, probably teleported off to... god knows where. I tried to run as far away as I could in hopes that I could avoid letting that Ninetales's plan come to pass, but my attempt to get away quickly turned into a struggling walk, which became barely a crawl, and that turned into complete unconsciousness. I didn't nearly get as far away as I would have hoped.

I had to admit, despite all my usual means and optimism to make a bad situation better, this was not going to be an easy thing to get fixed. If it was even possible...

[Shruikan]

Doug Vincent
USF Commander
En route to Erana

Doug had been spoiled by Wormhole travel, the flight to Aluna was uncomfortably long, and the helicopter too confining. Doug found himself wishing that he had a partner that could teleport, but those pokemon were so rare that whenever the USF got a hold of one, it went straight to the research lab.
When they landed near the Rift location, Doug spent no time in getting to work. The group was to split into two teams; His job was to protect the city from whatever had come through, while his second in command secured the rift and stopped any more unexpected visitors.

Even from a distance, the damage was apparent. A large chunk of the outer wall had been utterly demolished, and several of the outlying buildings looked almost as bad. Shards of ice glimmered amongst the rubble, and encased in parts of the ice were what looked unfortunately like human bodies.
And in the center of it all, was the culprit. Classified as a Mamoswine, the huge mammoth-like creature was on a rampage, knocking down lampposts and tearing through cars like they were made of paper. The city was in a panic, and the screaming almost drowned out the sounds of destruction.

Doug wasted no time in ordering his men into position. Within a minute he had the beast surrounded, with snipers trained on it from four different locations. As the few citizens remaining were evacuated to a safer location, Doug began to feel confident. “Alright, on my mark… Fire!”

The dart shot true, impacting straight into the beasts neck, but there was no apparent effect, aside from drawing the beast’s attention. The mamoswine retaliated with a shard of ice, hitting the sniper and causing her to drop the rifle she held, clutching at her arm where the attack had wounded her as she fell to the ground. A second dart was shot, and again, it appeared to have no effect.
“Sir, the darts aren’t making it through the fur.” The voice crackled across the radio as the mamoswine turned it’s rage back to the nearby buildings. The roof caved in, dropping the third sniper 20 feet into the rubble, where they lay immobile.

Dammit! I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice. Dropping his tranq gun, Doug pulled out his rifle, and took aim at the mammoth. “Incapacitate it at any cost! Permission to use lethal force granted.”



Sylvia Wintermoon
USF Deputy Commander
Near the Erana Rift

Find the Rift. Easy, right? Just a 12 to 15 foot hole in the middle of aches of untamed forest. Can’t be that hard to miss. Luckily, Sylvia had the best tracker in the USF with her; the downside was it was a raccoon. Sorry, a zigzagraccoon, or whatever they called it.
As Scout was busily rushing around, nose pressed to the ground, Sylvia felt something wiz by her head, giving her an electric shock as it passed by. By the time she looked around whatever it was was already gone.
“What was that?”
“I’d say it’s one of the pokemon we’re meant to be stopping”
“Well, obviously I knew that. Okay, new plan. You guys continue to the Rift as planned, I’ll go after that thing.” A few of her men opened their mouthes to object, but Sylvia cut them off. “And before you argue, that’s an order. I can handle it alone. Scout, can you pick up it’s trail?” The raccoon-like creature nodded, then after sniffing some more, dashed off into the trees, with Sylvia following in close pursuit.

Not for the first time, Sylvia marveled at the zigzagoon’s abilities. She didn’t know if was was through scent, sight, or some other unknown sixth sense, but Scout was able to track the flying creature with apparent ease. Leading them through the underbrush, both companions slowed down as they head voices from up ahead. Crouching amongst the foliage, Sylvia could see several figures up ahead, and at least two smaller creatures whizzing around in the air. “You stay back here” she whispered to the zigzagoon, before emerging into view of the strangers.

Sylvia was surprised to see that they were dressed as USF soldiers. “I wasn’t informed that any other teams were dispatched here.” She said, surreptitiously reaching for her sidearm.
Glancing around, she saw that the “soldiers” had suspiciously specific equipment with them. The already had one pokemon captured in a ghost containment chamber, and from the looks of it were in the process of capturing two more. That must have been what I had felt earlier, she realised.
“Now, I know you’re not with the USF, but I’m willing to make a deal. You give me your info on the rift and ditch the uniforms, and we’ll turn a blind eye and let you keep on with whatever you’re doing. Otherwise, I’m afraid we’ll have to bring you in.” She hoped they wouldn’t call her bluff. There was no way she could handle them alone, and she had no backup coming, but they didn’t need to know that…


???
???
The Erana Rift

As various fights went on around the rift, attention was drawn away from the rift itself. Unwatched, dark tendrils of mist began to seep through the crack in space. A flickering shadow appeared momentarily, menacingly towering above the surrounding combatants, before melting into the ground, leaving no trace that it was more than just a trick of the light…

[Noblejanobii]

Brent Hughes + Koyla the Audino and Chavdar the Zoroark
Avalon Apostles
Erana

Brent felt the ground shake as he and Koyla entered the city of Erana. It wasn't hard to see why. A mamoswine had made its way into the city. Sure enough, the USF was trying to take it down. Brent glanced at his own partner. Koyla seemed horrified at the calls for lethal force to take down the raging beast. He wondered if they had once known each other or if Koyla was just empathetic. Both of equally likely explanations. Still they had a job to do. Brent dropped his bag to the ground and pulled out two white armbands with red crosses on them. He held one out to Koyla before putting one on himself. In situations like this, it helped to signal that they were no threat. It didn't always work, but it was the best solution he had.

Koyla slipped the band onto her arm and nodded to Brent, signaling she was ready to go. Venturing further into the city, it wasn't long before they were finding victims of the rampage. Several buildings had already been collapsed. Koyla's ears twitched and she quickly pointed to a nearby building. Brent looked over and saw an arm peeking out underneath the rubble. He knew what that meant. "Alright, we'll rescue and treat these people first. Koyla, do you think you can move some of the rubble?"

"Dino!" Koyla responded with a hearty nod. Shifting her ears back in concentration, Kophay took a deep breath before letting out a loud screech, knocking away a large amount of the rubble and unearthing several of the trapped victims. Brent dashed in and began to try and free those that were trapped. Kophay continue to attempt to break the rubble in order to free more victims. Brent lifted two unconscious adults and moved them to safety before heading back in. His next target was still pinned under a rock. Brent grunted and tried to lift it, but to no avail. The rock was too big, and having Kophay try to break it could endanger the pinned victim more.

"Zoroark!" Brent barely had time to react before Chavdar appeared out of thin air and smashed the rock with ease. He gave Brent a disgusted look before vanishing again. Brent blinked a few times in surprise before snapping out of it and picking up the previously trapped victim. He'd thank Chavdar later. Brent doubted it would be the last time the zoroark helped with this mission.

As Brent began to treat the wounds of those pulled from the rubble, he watched Kophay scan the area for anymore. She returned after a moment and gave the all clear. Seems most of the people were able to evacuate before the collapse. Holding her hands over the nearest victim, Kophay closed her eyes and began to emit a soft pink light, sealing up the wounds that Brent had finished treating. Brent always was a bit envious of that power. It would make his job like a thousand times easier. He shook his head and returned his focus to cleaning this person's open wounds before wrapping them. He furrowed his brow in displeasure as he began to shake. Now was not the time to get nervous! He had done this a thousand times and now he was getting stage fright? It was only after Kophay screamed that Brent realized it wasn't him shaking.

Brent's head snapped up in attention as he realized the mamoswine was barreling back this way to try and escape the gunfire from the USF. Brent swore loudly and looked at the victims. There were too many to carry. They'd have to stand their ground. "KOPHAY!" Brent shouted. The pokemon turned her head to Brent and lifted her ears in attention. "We need to defend our ground. Can you hold that thing back?" Kophay's ears fell a little before she nodded, determination filling her expression. If there was one thing Kophay would fight for, it was to protect her patients.

Standing up, Kophay shifted her ears back and growled as the mamoswine came towards them. Tightening her paws into fists, Kophay let out another hyper sonic screech. The mamoswine seemed somewhat dazed at the attack but otherwise didn't seem very deterred. Kophay took a few steps back and released another screech followed by another, and then one more. Brent worked as quickly as he could, trying to pull the victims back into the rubble just to get them out of the beast's path. He had to work quickly though, as he could see Kophay's attacks growing weaker, her throat wearing out with each screech.

As Brent pulled the third victim out of the way, he noticed Chavdar observing nearby and shook his head. Of course the zoroark chose now to not help. Brent spit to the side and yelled, "You know I really don't appreciate your pickiness when it comes to helping people!" The zoroark made a scoffing sound and turned up his snout at Brent. Go figure. Brent wiped some sweat from his brow and ran back to pull the next unconscious person out of the way. Just a few more, all Kophay had to do was hold the beast until then.

[Morzone]

Leo Star
Order of the Sun
Location: En Route to Sendrel (Leo to the north, Gardevoir to the south west)
Affected Rp'ers: N/A

Leo leaned on his elbows and stared out at the landscape flashing by. Only five minutes ago the bus he'd taken had left the stop, but Leo couldn't help but feel impatient. A sense of foreboding had been hanging over him ever since he'd left the valley. Maybe he should have waited for Gardevoir to come back... If he was honest with himself what he'd really wanted was that Gardevoir had taken him with them rather than traveling to Erana alone. And now here he was heading to the big city for supplies that probably could have waited for the psychic pokemon's return. It was as if something or someone had refused to allow him to be able to sit still and wait in the valley while Gardevoir was out in possibly dangerous territory. Rediculous...

Many miles to the south west of Leo's bus, Gardevoir struggled to stay conscious as they and the ninetails headed away from the transformed human. Slowly the pair climbed through the hilly forest, looking for a convenient spot to hide momentarily and recover. The previous episode had left quite the toll on both of them. Gardevoir had been fighting to keep the ninetails' tranq dose back during the confrontation, a difficult task due to its potency. Due to its strength Gardevoir hadn't been able to stop the movement of the drug without slowing the ninetails' blood flow to dangerous levels. Rather the psychic had had to supply replacement energy to combat the tranquilozers effects, essentially resulting in both pokemon being effectively tranq'd once the psychic couldn't sustain the supply.

There...There should be a safe place among those rocks... the ninetails pointed out a rocky slope with several boulders large enough to shelter between and stay mostly hidden. The two pokemon chose the nearest crack in the stones and sat down in the small space. Gardevoir mustered the effort to pull the darts from the fox's side -something the ninetails was quite glad for despite the sharp pain- before collapsing back down in their previous sitting position.

I should be ready to teleport given an hour of rest. Hopefully I'll be able to wake you. Gardevoir told the ninetails, who seemed on the verge of properly fainting. Soon enough the many tailed pokemon was asleep against the rock wall. Gardevoir dearly wanted to sleep as well, but knew that their safety was by no way guaranteed and needed to be awake in case of an emergency. SO the psychic settled for closing their eyes and reflecting on the encounter they'd just walked away from.

If Garveoir was being honest with themselves, they weren't entirely comfortable with what the ninetails had done to the human. Had this been over a year ago before they'd met Leo, Gardevoir probably would have been all for it. Now though... well perhaps it had merely been those old memories and emotions dredged up from her flight from hunters into more hunters. Of course, any pokemon knew never to mess with a ninetails whose tails had been grabbed. Many had had that fury turned on them by accident while attempting to dissuade or stop one, and Gardevoir had no plans to be the next.

Worst though, far worse than any regrets about the fate of the human was the horrible feeling of having picked up the human's weapon and fired at him. They could still feel its weight, its malice, its power in her hands, which were quaking ever so slightly. It was as if they'd crossed some invisible line and given up part of themselves to their anger when they'd picked up the human weapon for revenge. It made their chest hurt just thinking about it.

Drawing themselves together gardevoir wrapped their arms around their legs, placing their head on their knees, trying not to feel a chill that didn't seem to have anythign to do with the day's weather. And not for the first or last time the pokemon wished they hadn't left Leo behind.
[hr]
Ezekiel (Zeke, Cardinal North) Star
Northern Claw Headquarters in Sunos, Cardinal's office.
Affected Rp'ers: @Shruikan

Davison's team paused, having just finished securing the third rotom in the ghost-cage, when a USF officer appeared in front of them. Judging by the badge on the uniform they were Commander- no, deputy commander. Most likely they were someone who worked more in the field than behind the scenes, enforcing commander's orders right up to the front lines. Assuming that was the situation it was odd they were on their own, leaving a risk of more back-up coming. Still, judging by the offer they'd made a conflict was something that was going to preferably be avoided.

Davison -who was wearing a special captain's USF uniform- stepped forward toward the deputy commander, not in any kind of threatening fashion but rather with an air of importance and status. From his breast pocket he took a small leather punch, which he unfolded and showed to the USF officer. Two badges glimmered in the forest light. One was the standard USF license of identification that all members carried, it named him as Harrison Frallends. The other however was a badge identifying him as a member of the Special Ops division, A group of USF members who supposedly only worked on orders directly from the top.

"I understand you are following orders but I insist that you do not speak of my team's presence here. These Pokemon assigned for capture are extremely dangerous in our current society and needed to be caught immediately. I suggest you and your group intercept the poachers that captured a reptilian pokemon and fled in that direction. We must see to our mission first." Davison told the USF officer with a tone of authority, pointing off in the direction the other poachers had gone off when fighting over the crocodilian pokemon. Behind him, the other four of the team collected cages and the equipment they'd been using, attaching them to their belts or vests in preparation to move to a different location.

...

Back in his office Zeke prepared to send a message to the Southern division. Several of the Gilded branch had high ranking members embedded into the USF in order to give cover for the fake USF identities many of the other branches often used during their work. Hopefully this officer would merely take note of the faces of each of his poachers and report the strange occurrence later for investigation. That would be best for Zeke, who would merely need one of the southern branch to report back on the investigation with an explanation that the secret ops had in fact been sent their by a confidential order. Given the look of this USF soldier they didn't have proper rank to question higher up investigation results, so the matter would be dropped.

[K'sariya]

Camellia Estrada & Ajani the Venusaur
Avalon Apostles
Erana
Affected RPers: @Noblejanobii

Even as they made their way toward the border, the terror escalated around them. People began to dart out of their businesses and homes, spreading the news. A symphony of sirens rose like a haunting wail over Erana as medical vehicles streamed toward (and after a few minutes, away from) the disaster site. From afar, she was forced to watch as a massive beast thundered through a part of the outer wall, brandishing massive tusks and thick fur, tossing aside cars and smashing through buildings.

Camellia purses her lips. People rush past them, and as they close in, she prepares herself for what is to come.

As she approaches, she sees a USF squad surround the creature and open fire on with darts. They get caught in the beast's shaggy fur and uselessly hang in the thick matts, unable to pierce the coat. Like flies, the beast shakes them away and plows through a nearby building, but not before firing off an ice shard at one of the soldiers. Camellia's hand traces over Ajani's skin reassuringly, and he responds with a low rumble. That kind of power makes them both nervous, but they weren't about to stand down and let it destroy the city.

The earth quakes with the beast's footsteps, with the beast's destruction. Camellia slides from her Venusaur's head and onto the unstable earth, dismounting in a small gardened spot, and immediately spies a familiar mop of dark hair, as well as a familiar round, pink form trying to hold the gargantuan creature back by dazing it.

"Brent!" comes Camellia's shout as they rush forward, letting her comrade know that he's got reinforcements. She flings her arm out toward Ajani. "Let's try to get it restrained." The wide-skull behemoth nods, blood-red eyes slipping closed for a moment. Tendrils of roots snake from beneath his fronds, slowly at first, and then they suddenly crack down and through the earth of the small lawn they stand on. Ajani ingrains himself to the side of the creature's immediate path. Strength flows through him as he saps nutrients from the earth, red eyes taking on a vibrant emerald glow as he stares intently at the Mamoswine.

He feels for the strength from down below, his natural affinity for plants reaching out until he finds what he's looking for. Suddenly, the concrete right in front of the Mamoswine ruptures and bursts in a fountain of dirt, causing the beast to take a startled step back. A mixture of dull green ivy and thick brown tree roots erupt from the split and secure themselves around both of the Pokemon's massive tusks. Ajani's grip tightens and jerks the behemoth's ivory into the ground.

The beast won't be startled or restrained for long--Camellia's already seen what that ice can do. "We've got to find a way to give Ajani cover before he loses his grip!" she shouts to Brent--and anyone else around helping.

[Neo Emolga]

Nathan "Neo" Winterfield (As a Ninetales)
Avalon Apostles
Avalon Research Labs, Maris, Aluna
ARPers: N/A

I woke up with a jolt, suddenly thinking everything I had just gone through was a really terrible dream, but now it was time to get out of bed and begin the day with that morning cup of coffee I always look forward to. Shame that's not exactly how the reality of the situation was working.

"WATCH IT, HE'S AWAKE!" I heard someone shout.

I opened my eyes and I saw metal bars. An obvious cage. A shock at first and then a "oh yeah, it makes sense now." Beyond that, a white tiled room and lots of funky research equipment I had never seen before. Oh great, I could bet this was where all the fun and games would begin.

I saw a few of the researchers in white lab coats. Older men, young ladies, one middle-aged guy who looked like this was his first time seeing a Pokémon.

"Relax, we've got him under control."

I could tell they didn't take any chances. There was a muzzle on my snout, obviously to stop me from setting a whole bunch of things on fire, which I didn't even know how to really do yet. I hadn't even tried using a Ninetales's powers and capabilities. Heck, I wasn't even used to having nine tails coming out of my rear yet, so this was definitely going to be a tricky process. Of course in a cramped cage, it wasn't the ideal situation to get all caught up in Ninetales 101.

"This is the thing that killed Winterfield?" I heard one of them ask.

"Yes, he completely incinerated him," one of the others confirmed. "Flames hot enough to even destroy his bones. We barely found anything to identify the body with."

That's because there were no bones, you goofballs!

I couldn't even get my mouth open just to make Ninetales foxy noises, though I highly doubted that would ultimately do anything to get me out of this cage. How the blazes was I supposed to tell them this was totally not what they thought it was when I couldn't speak to any of them? Oh forget it, it was going to be just like that Ninetales said. I was going to end up with rectal thermometers up my rear, getting blood tests five times a day, and getting more wires around me than a mainframe computer.

I needed a way to communicate with them. Talking was out. They couldn't understand a thing I'd say.

"David Lee's report confirmed this Ninetales had attacked the team aggressively," one of the older researchers told the others. "Nearly killed Lee in the encounter and he bit Winterfield in the arm. After Winterfield headed back to the helicopter for treatment, the report states they tried to recover the equipment, but Lee and Chambers were forced to evacuate the area after encountering a Gardevoir. Winterfield insisted on staying. A search party was sent out later to recover the Grotle, but all we found of Winterfield were his ashes and this Ninetales that had almost escaped."

This was really going from bad to worse. Okay, first, I needed to get out of this mess and this cage. Then I needed to make these lab rats realize who I really was. Then, I had to track down that Ninetales, although holy crap, she could be anywhere by now. Well, assuming I get lucky and I find her, I had to reason with her and get the curse undone. Because... oh yeah, who am I kidding, that worked so great the last time I tried talking to her!

I needed... a bargaining chip, too. Something the Ninetales desperately needed. Like some kind of big life-saving thing that would make her consider undoing this 1,000 year curse. What could that possibly be!? Yeah, she really seemed adamant about this curse thing. And she seemed like she had all the things she wanted in life. Cookies and Valentine's Day chocolates weren't going to cut it with her. She couldn't even do anything with a winning lottery ticket! Oh, and this was only if the curse could actually be undone. Right, well a 1,000 year curse wouldn't be a 1,000 year curse if it could be easily canceled like a spammy email subscription now, would it?

Well, I guess this is my life now. Yippee ki yay.

Oh, and then it hit me! I needed a pen. Or a pencil. Marker, chalk, crayon, I didn't care! Just something to write with. I mean, it was going to be tricky to write with paws lacking opposable thumbs now, but well, if I could at least hold it with my two front paws and write somewhat legible letters, I could write a message for these white-coated crazies! "Stop don't probe me" seemed like a great start. I had my priorities.

I looked around and there were plenty of writing implements! Plenty of paper too! Of course, these guys had to track results and take notes all the time. Now I just needed to somehow get a hold of some and try doing that. But there was the slight matter of the cage. And obviously these white coats weren't going to expect a Ninetales to fill out forms and consensual agreements. Great. The one time I could have really used one of those, I wasn't going to get one just because they believed Pokémon were illiterate.

Well, one thing at a time. I decided to be... odd. Yes, oddly cooperative. Right now, they were all thinking I was some savage, murderous nine-tailed fox that nearly killed Dave, took a tasty bite out of poor, poor Nathan Winterfield, and then cremated him free of charge just for fun! If I acted in absolute stark contrast to that, it might get them wondering something weird was going on. YES, something weird was going on, people!

"We need to take him out for transfer to the containment chamber, but I need two of you to be ready to use belt restraints," the head scientist declared. "He may attempt an escape. Remember, these are untamed, wild, and very aggressive creatures we're dealing with here."

"Understood."

Oh boy, were they in for a treat.

They popped the lever on the cage which allowed the roof to be swung open. I decided to be very chill, very relaxed, and oddly casual. The more I weirded them out, the better. I simply stood up, still feeling a bit odd to be standing on all fours, but yeah, I might need to get used to this for a while. Possibly a long while. A possible VERY long while.

The two assistants, who were ready to strap me up like a death row felon, had their restraints ready to go, but I simply proved that wasn't necessary. I just stepped over the cage wall gently, relaxed, and then made my way onto the metallic lab table. Easy peesy.

Wasn't at all what they were expecting. I acted as tame as a friendly, loyal hound. I could even try cute! Hey, who wouldn't love a nice, cuddly furry fox as a friend? Just watch the tails. I mean really, sure, go ahead and tug a tail. Make my day. If I could do curse things now, too, would I really need to go that deep into nasty territory? Really, my worst 1,000 year curses would be like your ice cream will always be one degree warmer or your pens will run out of ink just a second earlier. You wouldn't even notice them if I never told you what they were!

The head researcher was a little baffled, but he decided to try something.

"Come," he spoke.

Ooh, I obeyed! I softly and gently approached him and even bowed when I got to him waiting at the other end of the table. Now they were suspecting something really strange was going on. Surely this couldn't be the murderous Ninetales that killed Winterfield, could it?

"...Sit," he commanded.

Sure! I sat down on my rear and relaxed, waiting patiently for his next command. Ha ha, oh, you're not winning this one, Mrs. Ninetales! I'm going probe-free tonight!

"The specimen seems oddly compliant considering we recovered it from the wild," the female researcher said.

"There's no way this is the creature that killed Winterfield," one of the others said. "He even understands and follows commands. This has to be someone else's trained Pokémon."

"Don't be too quick to jump to conclusions," the head researcher told them. "These creatures are very intelligent and crafty. Some of them even moreso than humans. Don't get your guard down with them."

Oh for Pete's sake, let's just get this over with.

I used one paw to snag and slide over a nearby notebook. Then, I used the same paw to slide over one of their ballpoint pens. Perfect. Let's get the party started.

They just watched, totally baffled, as I tried to write, bracing the pen between both paws as I slowly wrote the letters slowly, but legibly. They were a little messy and looked like a first-grader trying penmanship, but they were legible letters. I needed it to be short and sweet because this wasn't exactly easy to do with Ninetales paws. Just three simple words for now.

I AM NATHAN

Eyes went wide, the female researcher gasped, the restraints were dropped, and everyone had a good time.

"That... the head researcher stated in a cold voice. "N-Nathan Winterfield, you're in the body of that Ninetales?"

Boy did I nod to that one. Well, that was one thing out of the way. Thousands of steps more to go, but I was making great progress!

[VeloJello]

Emmett “Gawain” Marshall and Kayla
Avalon Apostles
Erana
ARPers: The Mamoswine Fighting Squad.

The flight passes quickly; surprisingly so. Kayla wings along at lightning speed, seeming to understand Emmett’s urgency. She doesn’t slow down until Erana is visible on the horizon. Emmett’s stomach clenches as he watches ice crystals forming, smoke rising, trees falling. It’s chaos out there.

A few buzzes of his phone draw Emmett's attention. Once Kayla descends, preparing to land, he scrolls through his alerts. A few promise their help; a few apologize for being unable to come; a few are already in the city. Between Erana’s preexisting personnel and the other Apostles, Emmett feels a little bit of confidence. But… no matter what, people are going to get hurt today. People are going to die.

The Mamoswine is honestly hard to miss. It’s on a roll, destroying buildings with its massive tusks and trampling the streets into rubble. It looks like this portion of the city has been evacuated by this point; the Mamoswine is in quarantine and it’s liable to go down at any second. And yet, one of the USF members is pointing a good old-fashioned rifle at the beast, lining up the deadly shot.

Emmett grumbles under his breath, torn. On the one hand, the Mamoswine is a frightened animal; it should be given a chance. On the other, it’s killed multiple people, injured more, and destroyed half a city block. Maybe the best thing to do is to just let this officer kill the Mamoswine. It’s got an insane amount of destructive power, and Gawain can’t afford to make any more enemies in the USF for the Avalon Apostles’ sakes. But…

“Kayla, drop me near the gunman,” he says, and Kayla immediately descends. As she does, Emmett waves his hands and calls out, “I’m a medic and an Avalon Apostle! This Pokemon is under control! Don’t shoot,” because the last thing he wants is for these already-jumpy crew to let loose on him and Kayla.

Before Emmett can plead with the leader of the platoon - he recognizes Doug Vincent, a stalwart but somewhat harsh man, with the rifle, but the others are strangers - he hears a horrid screeching sound. He looks over to see Brent and his Pokemon holding the Mamoswine back, and his heart lightens. The relief only grows as he sees Camellia and her Venusaur digging his claws into the earth, shooting vines around the Mamoswine’s legs. Maybe they can end this without any more blood.

“Give us two minutes. One hundred and twenty seconds,” Emmett says to Doug, half-ordering, half-pleading. Without checking to see if Doug is listening, he hurries forward, Kayla running at his side. “Air Slash, Kayla, rapid-fire! Don’t let it get the chance to catch its breath!” Kayla unleashes a cry of acknowledgement and takes flight, wings already glowing with white light that she quickly brings to bear in a rain of blades that falls on Mamoswine’s vulnerable face. Hopefully with Kayla distracting it, Ajani and Koyla will be able to siphon its energy in relative safety and leave it unconscious rather than just another corpse on the street.