[WAR] Role Play: Terminus

[Neo Emolga]

Noah "Neo" Ashfield
AMS Deathwing Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: @bronislav84

I didn't even know where to begin looking to find Qinglong. The bottom line was he was going to need to contact me, because I wasn't about to start searching randomly for no good reason. I figured maybe the dream gave him a homing signal or whatever. I didn't know, but as far as I was concerned, it was either way for him, or forget it, I'd have to work without him.

In the meantime, I got a report from a guy named Dan on my tablet. It was the report on Karai's op, and it seemed optimistic for the most part.

Aqua correspondence:

First item is we have recruited three Hebijo dropouts, Shin, Roku, and Raiki, who have successfully finished their training. We feel their help and support will provide Aqua with a significant amount of combat efficiency.

Second, we have shut down the black market distribution network for Burst Hearts and gave Hoenn exclusive access to it. All other bases have been ordered to cease and desist all further Burst Heart activity and liquidate any remaining inventory they have in their possession.

Third, we have secured an arrangement with a Burst Heart expert to solely work for Aqua. This agreement is binding, and combined with the second item on the list, it secures Team Aqua's control over the Burst Heart inventory in Hoenn.

Foruth, the legendary known as Groudon has been captured and is fully in Aqua's possession. We believe this may be the key to obtaining Kyogre as well.

Lastly, Karai has obtained one of the four Ancient Burst Hearts.

We are pleased to report that this operation has been met with a significant amount of success, and we hope our future ops go as well as this one did. In addition, we will be returning soon for debriefing. Over and out.

Damn, these guys sure had been busy. I didn't know these Hebijo guys, but I figured as long as they were with us, it was good, but I had to see them in action before really making a judgment call here. As for the Burst Hearts, it was good to know any resistance we'd face in Hoenn would have a tougher time given they wouldn't have such an easy time trying to access these things. As for Groudon and the ABH, I didn't even know where or how they managed to track those things down, but whatever, it was all good in my book.

But in the meantime, I was still thinking about Qinglong. I wasn't even sure if there was a way for me to contact him or try to make his mission to find me easier or whatever, but I figured I really didn't have too much control over that. He was the guy who seemed to have found me in the first place, so if he could find my spirit, maybe it was all he needed to trace it back to my living body.

But in the end, I didn't really know for sure.

---

Janine "Angel" Price
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: @The Nonexistent Tazz

Kaede and I agreed NOT to tell anyone else about the whole... incident.

"We found an insane amount of toxic pollution over by one of those outlying islands," One of the other grunts told Kaede. "Would you know what that was about?"

"Yeah, just a failed chemical weapons test," I smiled and shrugged. "Nothing more. We pulled the plug on that and just destroyed the research."

"Well, didn't seem so much like a failure to me," The grunt just smirked. "Smelled awful though."

I just smiled and let them mosey on by. Yeah, I didn't really want to go into detail about what really happened.

"So what's this... AMAXA thing you were talking about?" Kaede asked me. "Surprised you even trust me enough to work on it with you."

"Ah, you see, that's the thing," I smiled at her. "You most of all would understand why it might be helpful. The whole idea behind AMAXA is to give Chimeras the ability to decide when they'd like to evolve and un-evolve by themselves."

"Oh, I get it," Kaede smirked. "You know, just in case said Chimera's not capable of injecting themselves with a reversal agent."

Yeah, she got the picture.

"So yeah, any Chimera could move forwards or backwards in terms of evolution just by deciding whether they'd want to evolve or un-evolve at will," I told her. "Easy cheesy. The only catch is... how to get their bodies to actually create the FES and reversal agent naturally and then release them when desired."

"Well, hey, that's what research is for," Kaede smirked. "I'll see what I can do to help you with that."

I hadn't told her about the infinite evolution part, but I figured that surprise could always wait!

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Doctor Propizio Wasser Te Haurangi, aka Dr. Prop.
Team Aqua
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga, kinda sorta.

He heard Janine's next project was a simple 'Don't need FES to evolve, don't need Reversal Agent to devolve,' kind of thing.

Considering that this was the girl who somehow found the space to put doodles into every research note she took (because quite frankly every inch of his was jam-packed with nigh-microscopic words), Propizio had a hard time believing that was all it did.

However, it was not his business what Janine did and didn't do...Kind of. Janine would know about this just as much as he knew about this 'AMAXA,' but he doubted that the Improved Chimera Mutagens he was making would clash with it.

He had witnessed the cellular rearrangements for the Improved Chimera Mutagens, one of each type, and he made sure to test out all variety of genes, hundreds of times over. In all instances, compared to before, the Mutagen now tore up and reconstructed the cell at about the same time as before, he noted, but the cells restructured themselves differently, a more efficient way. The cells, when using the original mutagen, were only altered somewhat, to make room for the powers of the Pokémon Abilities as well. It wasn't too much of a change, but if it changed too much the whole nature of the invention was kind of kaput and he'd have to restructure the cells again, a process that he could foresee himself repeating...If he didn't die to any of them. He was VERY confident that he wouldn't, though.

Sakura and Mitocon were nevertheless out of their Poke Balls, ready to strike with an emergency Reversal Agent if the effects seemed to be lethal or the form unstable. He hated other test subjects. He tested only on himself. He didn't like it when they whined. As for where it was going to be done, well, he decided on an empty room rather close to the labs, spacey enough that he could still walk around in it.

In any case, he had his form picked out for the occasion of actually testing himself so he could go straight to demonstrating the insane usefulness via the ability to block fire of a form that would, otherwise, pretty much die to it. Immediately. The form was including Houndoom as the Pokémon with Flash Fire, as it was subtle-just a black tail. But, he would have Flash Fire through it-any donation genes could get the potential for abilities, which was all that mattered. The rest were Pokemon who should combined, by all means, die to getting close to an ember. There was Abomnasnow (ice crystals on the back and a general whitening of the leaf-like parts), Levanny (the leaf-like arms as arm guards), Ferrowthorn (The Spike pods, as well as being spiky in general), Scizor (the actual hands and the base of the armor), Foretress (a kind of helmet on the head), Durant (Steel armor on the other parts of the body), Escavalier (that odd decoration on the head), Mamoswine (the icy tusks, which would not be a part of his mouth than Arceus), Tangrowth (there would be a LOT of vines around his body, spiky from Ferrowthorn DNA), Bisharp (the main body, as well as extra swords everywhere-Propizio realized he would not be something he'd want to touch), and Weavile (to make his hands literally a feast of claws). If he was looked at funny by anyone with fire, without Flash Fire, he'd die horribly.

The end result? Propizio would stand several inches below his usual height, but would look like a creature with a poncho of thorny vines often ending in metallic pods, with icy spikes poking out the back. Under the poncho would be a thickly metal-clad man with a black, pointy tail and arms with a singular leaf covering a ridiculously sharp-looking pair of Scizor-hands. Resting above all of that would be a helmeted head, the metal of a Bisharp and Foretress forming a helmet that left only the eyes and ears visible, with a frock of red hair styled like some kind of ponytail atop, reflecting the helmet of a Escavalier, and two tusks, which, due to the helmet, would not connect to his actual face-oh, and it also had an extra 'horn' in the form of the ax-like head of a Bisharp. Its abilities would be Flash Fire, natch, and Iron Barbs, to make the pain of coming in close even more than usual, further showcasing how a smart pair of abilities could make crazy good Chimeras even crazier and better.

It definitely sounded very flammable. It also looked very bada**, and he'd have to consider a variation of the form later, without nearly as much weakness to fire, later on. Maybe.

But, for now, the part where he actually injected himself with this. He rubbed some alcohol on the vein he'd pick for the injection. Oh, and Sakura was making a LOT of noise, a good sign she disapproved of what was going to happen. They went over it several times; he'd slam his foot to the ground if he needed the thing happening, above anything else.

"Sakura's sayin' that she really doesn't want to see you get hurt, bossman. She's sayin' to NOT do it, bossman. I say do it anyways, you know what you're doing, and if things aren't looking good I'll stab you with the Reversal Syringe just as planned, bossman. We got this planned out, and I know you've got the brainpower to make sure it doesn't kill 'ya before then, bossman!" Said Mitocon, via telepathy. He liked calling Dr. Prop 'Bossman.'

Mitocon was definitely the type to be into mad science, more-so than Propizio. He'd probably kill for the chance to have one of THOSE injected into him as well, turning him into something even more awesome. He had an idea focusing on regeneration and defense that would render bullets effectively useless, making what would otherwise be overkill the only kind of kill possible-though that would be for later. Mitocon would still be prone to death, of course, a stray rocket to the head would probably do the job...It would just be a lot less easy.

But, without further ado, he shot himself and pushed hard on the plunger.

For a second, nothing happened...Then, quite an unexpected feeling came over him. He was...Well, shrinking, but he was also growing...Quite a few things. Aside from the spikes and blades, which just felt like bumps on his skin quickly growing, he also noticed that several of them around his chest and upper back...MUCH further than bumps. Then he realized that THOSE were the vines. Meanwhile, his body coated itself in steel, suddenly replacing his skin, an incredibly odd sensation. His arms got it particularly bad-a Leavanny's arm-leafs shot out from his wrists, just in time for the whole hand to alter, his hand separating into a pincer, a really sharp pincer with a lot of blades. He'd really hate to get punched by that.

Then the mutagen focused on his face...Hoo boy. First, his skin went pitch-black, which was barely felt. Then, the feeling of steel growing out of his skull, extending to everywhere bar his eyes and ears, while atop him he could feel his hair order itself from a blonde afro to a red Mohawk of sorts, with a singular axe-like horn on his head. Finally, two VERY long icy spikes jettisoned out of his lower 'helmet.'

And then it was done.

He looked at himself in a mirror. He was loaded with spikes and blades, and clearly didn't seem fun to touch. The many vines were really more akin to additional limbs, as limber as could be, so getting close was a stupid, stupid idea. Close-range combat was death.

Yeah, he could rock this.

"Bossman, you look sick! I really want to try them crazy Mutagens now!" Mitocon said.

Sakura just made more noise that was still unintelligible to Dr. Prop. He figured he just didn't know Pokemon Language, but the mental messages made a clear translation...That was interesting.

In any case, time to demonstrate exactly how this worked to the masses.

Yarvick "The Raticate" Xelsez
Team Aqua
Yggdrasil Hotel, Eternia City, Sinnoh.
Affected RPers: N/A

Eternia City wasn't a place he visited often. When he was 'journeying,' Yarvick kept usually to Jubilee City unless BIG bit hits were to be made else-ware, and he rarely came here. The only points of interest was the statue of a mash-up between two of the three Pokemon that made up the 'Dimensional Trio,' the Gym, and the ominous-looking Galactic Building. Otherwise this city was pretty forgettable.

the Yggdrasil Hotel required some directions, as a lot of the buildings looked roughly the same, but eventually he found it. It was rather unremarkable a building, quite identical to the stone-brown architecture around it, only distinguished by a sign. He saw a lot of cars parked in its parking lot, though...

He was nervous in a manner that simply would never go away. This was where he needed to be. It was almost at the end of the day. He was dead certain that this was SOME kind of trap. He had plans to counter that, of course, but a trap nevertheless. Not to mention, he was (indirectly) involved in a tragic accident that would doubtlessly be seen as murder, so if anyone knew about this and had a beef with him, then him trapped in a room would be death.

It was actually scary to go in there. But, if he wanted this craziness resolved, he had to. He went in, as casual as it got.

"Welcome to the Yggdrasil Hotel!" Said the cheery attendant, immediately greeting him on opening the sliding glass doors and entering the lobby. "Sir, we don't allow Pokemon out of their Poke Balls here." She added.

"I don't have any Pokemon outside of their Poke Balls, madm," Yarvick responded.

"Then what about the Prinplup?" She said, pointing.

Yarvick turned around, and too his genuine surprise, the Prinplup from before-the one who's trainer he had (by complete mistake) committed manslaughter on, offering his Poke Ball, bringing it up to Yarvick's chest.

"...Um. Well, I didn't notice he was following me, and honestly I don't know exactly why," Yarvick said quite truthfully. "But..."

Did he really have much choice? In any case, he now was short a Pokemon due to Oceanus (who Yarvick REALLY hoped didn't know how to follow him), and the Prinplup was visibly asking him.

"...There's gotta be a reason he's doing it, ya' know?" He added, taking the Poke Ball and returning the Prinplup to his rightful home.

How that escaped him he will never know. Too wrapped up in his thoughts, he guessed.

"How sweet! Well, hopefully, it takes guts to make a Pokemon take his-or her-Poke Ball and runaway to a different Trainer. Or just really bad circumstances," the receptionist said.

Yarvick swore she ALMOST winked right then.

"In any case, who are you?" She asked.

"Oh, yes, I'm Yarvick Xelsez, I'm here for the reservation I had." Yarvick said. "Room 405, I think it was?"

"Ah, yes, you are booked for a free stay! We usually don't allow others to book for people unless it's part of a party, but the payment was so generous...Or so I've heard. It was apparently an anonymous gift for some reason. Do you know who sent it to you?" The woman asked.

"I intend to find out." Yarvick said, quite truthfully.

"Hrm...That's really odd." She said. "But, it all checks out. Here's your room key, and the room is on the fourth floor, third one on the right." She added, handing Yarvick the room key.

The extreme strangeness of that moment was incredible. The boy's Prinplup aside, there was something odd going on with the receptionist, as if she knew more. Plus, the comment on how he got his reservation...

It was getting worse and worse by the second. He didn't bother with the elevator-he took the stairs. He was more of a stairs person anyways. It didn't take long to reach the fourth floor, of course, he walked quite a bit but he could walk some more.

He got to the fourth floor without incident. Finding the third room on the right was easy. The key was totally fine. The door opened without incident.

Inside was a nice pair of double beds, a TV, a nightstand, a trash bin, a few cushioned chairs, and a man staring out of the open window in front of him, only an inch taller than him and several pounds heavier, with a red-dyed mohawk and a long-sleeved T-shirt for 'YYings of the YYild,' a famous Kalosian heavy metal band, and some plain torn jeans. Despite the casual clothing, an old-styled Pocket-watch was hanging from his pants pocket, a feature which caught Yarvick's eye nigh-instantly. "Are you OK?" He said, turning around to face him.

He swore for a moment his mind wandered back to the scene when he bumped into this man in Jubilee city. Then he realized that he was still in his hotel room, yet, there, quite plainly, was the same guy as before.

"I said, are you OK?" The man asked again.

"...Yes...But-"

"I'll explain, but just be thankful I happened to have a Tranquilizer dart and a blowgun on my person when that Swampert came out, because f*** me, I thought that rock did it to, but he was still raring to go. crazy f***er of a Pokemon you got, eh Yarvick?"

OK, WHAT THE F*** WAS GOING ON?!

[Lord Celebi]

Raidon Makoto
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island
Hoenn
Affected RPers: None

Noah Ashfield's last words weighed heavily on Raidon Makoto. "I dunno about you, but while we were in there, I had a feeling we weren't alone. I made contact with the guy that Diabora referred to as Qinglong, and Diabora mentioned I was the seed of Qinglong the same way he said you were the seed of Zhu-Quiao, whoever the hell that is. Now, at first I thought it could have been just part of the dream, but then again, that wouldn't make sense. Qinglong actually helped me bail out of that dream trap, which would be total paradox if Qinglong was only limited to Diabora's dream itself. There's no damn way Diabora would have put in an exit guide in his own dream trap. That means somewhere out there, I owe somebody named Qinglong a beer."

Based on Ashfield's description, the dread lord of the Deathwing imagined this Qingling fellow as a bearded wise old man, preaching from some cave out in the middle of nowhere who invited unsuspecting souls to come on "spirit journeys" with him. However, Makoto quickly realized he had gotten ahead of himself and had written an entire story based on only a very small bit of data. What interested Makoto was this Zhu-Quiao character. He felt a voice in his head too--though this voice was warm. It burned, not with kindness, but with ambition. It felt like a shot of adrenaline straight to the commander's heart.

Celebi was awake now, floating around the Captain's quarters. It seemed slightly dispossessed with an almost awkward "I don't know what to do with my hands" feeling to be on board the ship. Makoto knew exactly why. He had been given a first-class ticket into Celebi's brain during the whole Diabora shitshow. Celebi had hoped to change its future and was not only proven wrong, but begat the future it feared all the sooner. This young and brash Celebi was caught up in a conflict that called a much older, wiser, and more broken Celebi to duty in billions of other parallel universes. It had no idea what to do about Diabora.

There was one part of Celebi's mind that it couldn't reach. There were memories--very painful ones at that--locked in what felt like a black box, waiting to be unleashed. Makoto hoped to play the part of Pandora. "Calm down, you look nervous."

<You're holding me captive aboard your... ship,> it replied, floating around the room as if it were pacing.

"You're the all-powerful Chronarch, I'd hazard that you can leave whenever you want. Methinks you know exactly why you're sticking around," Makoto flashed Celebi a wry smile and pouring himself a glass of Scotch. It was Laphroaig 18, a bottle initially bought as a gift for Norb Whitehall. Fat lot of good it will do him now in hell, the dread lord thought. "So, if we're going to be partners, I need to know a few things about you. You're privy to some very dark secrets about this universe. I'd hazard that you know how Diabora was made and who these Qinglong and Zhu-Quiao figures are." Makoto paused for a sip, shuddering when the liquid entered his mouth. The initial discomfort smoothly transitioned into a warmth that sailed down his throat, filling his chest with a fire similar to that of a lover's fingertips resting on his sternum mid-coitus. "Celebi, I need you to open that black box. It's the only way we're going to have a fighting chance against Diabora."

Celebi looked at Raidon Makoto horrified. <You want to know about the Psychic Wars?>

"So they have a name," he said, raising his arms in the air in a show of mock-affection. He quickly stiffened back up. "Exactly. Now open that black box before I burst with you again and pry it open."

The Chronarch sighed. It began, <It all started in a city called Axiom Nexus.>

[bronislav84]

Karai "Kar" Horoshi
Hellcat chopper arriving on the bow of the Deathwing
Affected RPers: @Lord Celebi (Mostly), @Neo Emolga (In passing)

And of course the freak regenerated like nothing ever happened. I was totally prepared for that, but not exactly what to do about it. We were being swarmed, and Noah seemed to have the right idea. While I could keep these things back for a while, I was not in a position to do it forever. He seemed to vanish, and I assumed he exited the dream. Boss on the other hand was pulling out his sword. I get it! Death in a dream by somebody else's hand could mean brain damage or death, but killing yourself was a quick way to wake up. I'd always wake up whenever I did that, though it usually took just a strong hit in the dream. I never actually tested what would happen if somebody actually killed me. It was all theoretical in the class I took. Oh well, no time to think about that now. As soon as he stabbed himself he vanished and the dream world seemed to distort and shake. The monster was looking around confused, but still felt like he was in control. Yea, right. It was coming down. Either it was the monster's dream, or it was Raidon's dream. Regardless, him exiting seemed to have done it.

I just said one word to him. "Bye." I could hear his scream of defiance echo as the dreamscape collapsed with Raidon not being there anymore. I felt a reverse yanking sensation, but not by the neck. This one was pleasant and I closed my eyes figuring I should as I returned to my body.

~*~*~

"Wake. Up!" I could hear Anna as she was was shaking me vigorously while Dan was shaking Amelia in much the same manner judging by her groans as she woke up. It felt uncomfortable in more ways than one, and if she didn't stop I'd probably have a wardrobe malfunction soon. I was groaning too and they stopped shaking us.

"Finally! You two slumped over and passed out as soon as you bursted. Or should I say three. Look at yourself. You're still bursted with Beauty." I looked down and she was right. I concentrated and ended the burst.

"Beauty are you okay?" I asked the Gardevoir as she appeared nearby in a white flash, separated from me. She nodded shakily. I patted her head, happy to be out of that mess. "Please share our experiences with the others as we land. We need to talk to the boss about what just happened." She nodded and her eyes glowed white, sharing what happened in the dream with the four squad members. When it was done she telekinetically pulled her Ball out of my pocket and recalled herself. I would too if I just experienced that. I pocketed the Ball, letting her rest.

When we landed I asked the grunts manning the deck where the boss was. Apparently he was in his quarters, and hopefully he was in a talking mood. On the way I passed by Noah's quarters. The door was open. "Hiya, we're back. If you need us we'll be in the boss's quarters." I greeted him without any emotion and explained where we were going as the six of us filed past. Amelia was at the end, struggling to keep up.

The ship was huge and I often got lost in here, but we finally found the Captain's Quarters after asking for directions like three times. On the opposite side of the hall, three people were approaching: Raiki, Shin, and Roku. Apparently the nine of us had the same idea, to visit the boss's quarters. Obviously for different reasons, but still the same idea. Scar knocked on the door as I opened it slowly. He seemed to be talking to Celebi. The place was pretty luxurious, with plenty of room for at least 20 people. And was that a conference table? Swanky.

"I hope this isn't a bad time, boss?" No emotion whatsoever. People would call this creepy, but I preferred to think of it as not caring about anything and doing a good job. I sat down in a chair nearby, crossing my legs, with the others taking a couch and chairs as well. The three Enforcers sat together, with Raiki in the middle. "Please tell me this isn't a bad time. We've finished an Op recently." I motioned to Dan. "Dan sent over the report ahead of time. Hopefully you've had a chance to read it. If you haven't, well you could always read it now. There's kind of a lot to just explain, and Dan worded it pretty well." I waited for him to tell me if he read it, or to read it.

"We've been briefed by your man about what you require of guarding you, boss. The payment formalities have also been taken care of. Are you going anywhere soon so that we can come with you? We've always been pretty durable, but with being given that quick healing stuff we're even tougher." Explained Raiki, speaking on behalf of The Enforcers. She then turned to me. "Karai here survived almost being cut in half by me. That stuff sure is potent."

I then motioned to Amelia. "This is Dr. Amelia Anthony, one of the Anthropologists from Violet University and the one who originally formed the Worldwide Black Market Burst Heart Ring. She's entering an exclusive contract with us, and learned a lot about Burst Hearts from the one she calls The Voice of the Heart. Judging by her reaction, he seems to have been the monster in that collective dream with us. I'm pretty sure that's not his real name. Anyway, Amelia is looking to research Burst Hearts for us exclusively, and I promised the organization would fund her and provide resources for her research." I paused as Amelia smiled at the boss. "But for now, what do you know about what just happened to all of us? That collective dream. Cause seriously, that's all I got and I'm still confused."

I wondered if he would feel awkward being this close to me. Not that I was even remotely trying to seduce him, but still it might make him feel awkward.

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Yarvick "The Raticate" Xelsez
Team Aqua
Yggdrasil Hotel, Eternia City, Sinnoh.
Affected RPers: N/A

Yarvick immediately pulled out the silenced 9mm on the guy the instant he thought of the idea. No risks. He didn't fire, of course, but quite frankly he was angry enough that he might as well.

"Whoa whoa whoa! OK, OK...Too sudden!" The mystery man said, looking very sheepish now. "...What do you want to know? Can't say everything here, but..."

Yarvick's gaze was as hard as he could get it. "Give me straight answers or die, I'm getting tired of 'coincidences' and mysteries."

"Your dad sent me," He said, trying to look as calm as possible. "I'm a mole for the CC, they don't suspect me yet." He added, very quickly.

"Who is he?" Yarvick said.

"I can't say names...Saying the exact name would be very bad in public. INFINITELY bad!" Mr. Mohawk said.

"What does he-"

"I can't really tell you what he does, other than, like you, it is...Less than legal. He leads a group, a group that is being opposed by the CC due to specific links between it's leader and him. Again, can't say...Really...ANYTHING in a public place like this on this subject. I really really can't, or things get...Ugly."

Yarvick didn't twitch.

"Give me a minute." He said, pulling out a phone and dialing a number. "Hello...Yes, it's me, Calvin-Yes, he's here, he's also really angry and he's got a gun to my head..."

He could only imagine what kind of stupid conversation was going on. Who did he call? Probably the old man...

"Gimmie," Yarvick said, cutting through 'Calvin's conversation with his dad, putting his hand out.

"But-"

"On pain of death." He added.

He gave the Phone to Yarvick.

"Hello?"

"Ah, hello, it seems that you have managed to catch Calvin off-guard and force him to give you a phone! Congradulations! Unfortunately, as I want to meet with you in person and want to make sure its you-and trust me, I have all right to be as paranoid as a crazy old man-I advise you either smash the phone to the ground or give it back to Calvin so I can continue that lovely coversation on you. I'd like the latter but any sane man would probably do the former." He said in a singular, fast breath. His accent and voice shifted wildly, but it was definitely a man's voice, that was for sure.

"But-"

Yarvick's plea for a continued, over-the-phone conversation like a sane man was interuppted by the sound of two microphones cutting in feedback while his dad yelled into the microphone. Ear-splitting noise indeed.

He threw the phone to the ground. It didn't break, and Calvin quickly swooped in and grabbed it.

"You used the mic trick on him, didn't you?...Wonderful...He's getting a bit...Yes, of course...But!...Oh, come on! He's got a gun at my head, how am I supposed to stay calm?!"

"CC agents? Right now!? What kind?...F***!"

Calvin hanged up immediately. "OK, Yarvick, I have bad news: We're about to get attacked by someone that we need REALLY dead and I think you'll agree, so if you could just whip out that Ancient Burst Heart you've been meticulously hiding-"

"Don't have it!" Yarvick said.

It looked like the guy just took a boxer's left hook to the face and didn't quite believe what happened. He then switched to a face of absolute panic, swinging his arms up and to his chest in a gesture that indicated extreme disbelief, apparently. "You...DON'T HAVE IT?! You don't have your f***ing ace in the hole?!!?"

"It was a LOAN, d**mit!" Yarvick said.

"Who LOANS an Ancient Burst Heart?!?!" Calvin exclaimed.

"I still have Deoxys-"

And with that, to cement the absolute fact that he was truly screwed, a man came into the room. However, the doors closed automatically when opened, so it was locked. The man who came in achieved this not by knocking down the door, but carving a hole through it with a very sharp implement, an odd mix of an unknown white-yellow metal on a bloodstained blade, then a kick to the carved section to make a nice hole in it and some of the wall surrounding it.

The man that walked through the hole, thoroughly bloodstained, was none other than Year Velvetine in a pure-Dracium Helmet, and one designed to be utterly terrifying to behold-Not merely content with some form of an eldritch horror, it also added on what that eldritch horror would wear when absolutely ready to kick tons of a**. Whoever made it had to be commended for their taste in the grotesque and horrifying as well as their impeccable craftsmanship and imagination.

"HERE'S JOHNNY, F***ERS!!" Velvetine yelled, obviously pleased by how much like a serial killer he looked to be right now. How such a madman could become the leader of a whole faction was pretty hard to imagine.

Yarvick had to suppress the urge to s**t bricks, and he was holding a pistol and could shoot him dead.

In theory.

...

Doctor Propizio Wasser Te Haurangi, aka Dr. Prop.
Team Aqua
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: Whoever happens to be in sight range, really. I don't know!

"COME ON! SET ME ON FIRE!!!" Dr. Prop yelled.

He had not imagined any scenario prior to this where he would ever say that, much less at the top of his lungs, but yet, here he was, yelling it out.

The funny part was that every Chimera on-deck with fire powers (plus a guy with a convenient flamethrower) were trying their d**m hardest, but they'd sooner burn hell to cinders than Dr. Prop, and he looked like a walking fire hazard for pete's sake!

"What is WITH this guy?!" Said a Magmotar/Metagross/Rhyperior/Charizard hybrid went. That hybrid was quite like a centaur, except the lower half was a Metagross'es torso instead of a 2 Magmotar arms and 2 Rhyperior arms, and from both he shot furious flames. The Dragon head and wings were all the while flapping uselessly, unable to propel him due to sheer weight-an issue brought on by his Metagross half, but a half that could easily alleviate the issue as well. He really should have thought of that. Of course, he DID make himself a nasty torrent of flame that would have others screaming for life. Dr. Prop, however, felt quite energetic on the inside, the result of Flash Fire converting the heat to his own purposes.

"This is just stupid! Fire doesn't work, and what kind of idiot would punch him?!" Said the dude with the flamethrower. He looked all sorts of a mean, lean fighting machine. "Or bullets, for that matter, it'd probably just bounce off the metal armor!"

"CAN YOU NOT B-B-B-BURN ME?!" Dr. Prop yelled. "CAN YOU NOT?!"

He was far more cocky than he usually was, though you could hardly blame him for being just that. It was intentional, selling his product in a way by demonstrating just a singular use of its abilities in a manner wherein NOBODY could deny its usefulness.

Plus, it was awesome to just stand still in the middle of an inferno and not get burnt.

"Is he invincible?!" Said a Tyranitar/Typhlosion Hybrid behind him, with a tall body and flames coming out of every black spot on the body and everywhere on the back, with an overall dark blue color to its body, but a bright orange color to the flames.

"THAT I WELSE-I MEAN WISH, BUDDY! BUT THE-THAT'S NOT THE QUAESTI-I MEAN, QUESTION HERE!! IF I LOOK SO FLAME-FLAMMABLE, WHY C-CAN I NOT BURN?!?!" Dr. Prop yelled. "WHY CAN I NOT BURN?!?!"

Hoo boy he was showing off how large of a ham he could really be. Regardless of his cheesy screaming of questions, it did make them stop, briefly. Dear lord this was more exciting than he realized!

"...It's some kind of superpower?" Said the dude with the Flamethrower.

"C-C-C-CLOSE ENOUGH!" Dr. Prop exclaimed.

"Does it have something to do with Houndoom?" Said the Magmotar/Metagross/Rhyperior/Charizard Hybrid.

"YES ACTUALLY!...Hhhhow did you know?"

"Your tail is wagging." He said, pointing.

Sure as hell, a quick look behind him showed his tail, almost automatically wagging away. He didn't even notice himself.

Nobody was laughing, but it was rather embarrassing in its own way. Granted, the instant it sunk in, it practically froze.

"Urm..." He said. "Well, yeah, he's right! HE'S RIGHT! He's right!" He said. "B-B-B-BUT! How is he right! What part of a Houndour-I mean, Houndoom am I using?!"

A few seconds of silence. Almost no response. Then, the guy with the Flamethrower spoke up. "It's some kind of Pokemon Ability, right?"

"YES! It's Flash Fire! You all tried to burn a guy withF-f-f-f-f-f-fffFlash Fire!" He said. He got a few angry glares (he wished he didn't stutter on the F-sounds), but most looked curious. "I-I-I'm going to get right to the point, you can already attest to the affects-I mean, effects, already attest to the effects. Che-cho-Chimera Mutt-Mutagens can now give you Abilities-and TWO of them, to be precise!" he said, holding up two fingers.

Interested muttering went through the crowd, some kind of curious on Janine's possible involvement, many approving greatly.

"What's more, if there ever was an idea if you just needed...Uh, just needed...If you just needed ONE more Pokemon to make a crazy Chimera perfect...If you just needed one more, well, the Chimera Mutagens have been improved to allow for four more Pokemon combinations! A total of twelve Pokemon at once!"

The mutterings continued, a bit more loudly this time, and the reactions more mixed. Some liked the idea, others cited how hard it was to think of such a combination, and at least one guy made it well-known that he really just didn't like Chimeras at all.

Nobody could expect a one-hundred percent adoration rating, especially when one's language was so...Poor. Regardless, the improved Chimera Mutagens were now in complete use, replacing the older version.

Like it or not, it was here, though he had a hard time figuring out who wouldn't like it.

[Neo Emolga]

Noah "Neo" Ashfield
AMS Deathwing Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: @bronislav84

I decided that if I wanted to find Qinglong, making it easier for him to find me was probably a good idea. I had decided to use a reversal agent on myself, changing myself back to human. While Janine's black bunny form had its uses and she'd probably be disappointed I was scraping it, I figured if I really wanted to go back to that for whatever crazy reason, I could always just fire up a new mutagen. Plus, it was nice to be able to wear real clothing again.

"Hiya, we're back," Karai told me as she was passing by my quarters. "If you need us, we'll be in the boss's quarters."

"Sure thing," I nodded to Karai.

Yeah, that whole debriefing thing. I wasn't going to bring up that whole dream thing we had been in earlier. No point, but in the end, it didn't really paint any idea of what Diabora really was or what he was capable of.

But in the meantime, the whole meeting with Qinglong was starting to feel less and less real and I was beginning to think maybe I was just imagining things, but it still didn't make sense. That name wasn't in any public records, wasn't in any database, and there was really no where to get started on looking for him. I'd be going nowhere.

Except... maybe there was another way and I was just thinking in the wrong light. Dozing off. Qinglong came to me in a dream, maybe firing up another dream was the way to do it.

I decided to shut the metal door and lie on the bed for a while. Problem was I really wasn't all that tired, but I figured maybe reading the latest Gun Crazy magazine might get my eyes tired. Well, after a while of reading all about firearms that I already knew pretty much everything about anyway, I just shut my eyes and decided to let it come to me.

* * *

It started all hazy, and the only colors I could make out were black, dark red, and dark violet. It seemed chaotic, and at it only took a few seconds until things came into focus and I realized the dream had me standing in the middle of what looked like a totally wrecked city. Buildings were bombed out and most of them were either collapsed or ruined husks. Kind of reminded me of Goldenrod actually.

Trying not to get swept up in the dream was not easy and it was easily to believe this was realty. It seemed like every dream tried to unfold some kind of stupid story or something like that, but I tried to resist being just an actor in this.

Qinglong... makes me wonder if he knows I'm looking for him right now...

"There he is!"

Like a bat out of hell, there was gunfire. I sure didn't turn around to stop and look, I ran around the corner away from the loud gunshots and managed to get out of sight as bullets kept striking the rubble piles and debris near me. First thing I noticed was I wasn't even armed with anything. Not even a god-forsaken sidearm. Damn, what the hell, it's my own dream and I end up in a firefight with nothing to fight with? I tried to screw with the dream... give me a M60, a M249, anything like that. Nothing. It was like those guns didn't even exist anymore.

I took a peek around the corner and my pursuers were outfitted with high-tech gas masks, futuristic assault rifles, and advanced power armor that made me, dressed in rugged blue jeans and a ripped up t-shirt, just feel hilariously outgunned. Meanwhile, they had Pokémon that were even freaking armored, as if they even needed it. Seriously, a Nidoking and an Aggron in Pokémon power armor? What the hell? As soon as they saw me take a peek, someone tried to shoot my face just before I pulled back.

And then, as if it couldn't get any worse, a giant tank with heavy armor and more guns sticking out of it than a platoon was rolling behind them. The armor on that thing make it look like that thing could get nuked and be totally ok. And then, flying hovercraft gunships were soon on the scene. They weren't helicopters, somehow able to fly using some kind of glowing hoverpad or crap like that. Yeah, I was screwed I didn't get my ass out of there. These asshats were from the future and they were not playing games.

"Light that bastard up!"

I didn't realize there was a second pack of soldiers flanking me.

My luck ran out. I tried to make a run for it but I was hit twice and those rifles were strong enough to easily make both of those shots a through and through. I fell on my knees and was totally at the mercy of these pricks. I was bleeding badly, but somehow the pain wasn't there, just this numbing feeling of losing feeling in the general wounded areas. I could feel the blood trickle from my mouth, but there was no metallic taste to it.

Those soldier pricks soon surrounded me. In the distance, I began to see this high-tech army... whoever the hell it was, had packed more than just soldier boys and tanks. I saw hulking mechs and massive flying motherships soon flying overhead with more gunships and fighter planes in the sky. And here I was, some piss-faced asshole without a chance.

Meanwhile, no signs of resistance were around. Talk about overkill. I'd actually be somewhat honored if they prepared all this shit just to get rid of little, old me.

"Name, K1S, and tracking number," The squad leader demanded.

K1S and tracking... what the hell was this bastard talking about?

"Noah... Ashfield," I smiled through blood-smeared teeth. "As for my tracking number... it's P155-0FF."

"Think you're clever, you piece of shit!?" He shouted.

He then opened fire, totally unloading his assault rifle's magazine into my chest at only seven feet away. I felt every bullet just punch their way through my body like a knife through paper. Figured I'd go out with a smile. I didn't feel the pain, just numbing wounding and a whole lot of seemingly magical blood that really didn't make me weaker through losing it.

"Urhhh..." I sighed, figuring about now was a good time to die. Or wake up.

But I just laughed. My hand was smeared with red, sticky blood, but for a moment, it felt like just because I didn't want to die, that was ok. It went on.

"You're all just... puppets," I laughed, spitting blood on the squad leader's uniform.

"Drop dead, you bastard!" Another soldier readied his rifle.

And then, I felt that contact again.

<...>

You're late.

<... You should have kept running...>

Good point, guess I couldn't blame him for that...

---

Janine "Angel" Price
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: N/A

"Janine, do you realize that... AMAXA could result in an Ultra Chimera actually evolving again... actually... indefinitely, right!?" Kaede realized.

Yeah, I knew she'd figure it out sooner or later! It was always so funny to watch her reaction!

"Well, yeah, but it still takes a while to recharge," I smiled. "But I know, I think a Chimera could just going and going. That's why this is a boss and captains only kind of thing!"

"Janine, we talked about this, remember?" Kaede asked me.

"We did?" I asked, shrugging. "Hey, you never said going beyond Ultra Chimeras was off limits. Besides, this would allow just one Chimera to be able to take on armies. Think of all the money and lives we'd save!"

Ha, ha, when I put it that way, it sounded really good! Well, it at least managed to get Kaede to blink twice and get mixed opinions about it rather than shoot it down! And that's making progress!

"I guess..." Kaede shrugged. "Looking at these notes of yours, I think you're on the right track, we probably will need two evolution-focused glands to be created in each person who goes Chimera, one for going forward, and the other for going backward. Like an accelerator and a decelerator. These same glands will have to exist in their bodies as humans, but when they're human, they obviously won't do anything."

"Yep," I nodded, seeing Kaede was getting the whole idea of this. "These two glands will create the FES stuff and reversal agent stuff the way the salivary gland makes spit. You'll be able to use these two glands the same way you can work up a wad of spit whenever you'd like! They'll also be adapted for whatever form the Chimera takes on, the same way all the other life-sustaining organs are adapted. But yeah, that's the whole idea. No more needles!"

"It could get a little complicated, but we might be able to do it," Kaede told me. "Whatever chemical process goes into making FES and the reversal agent, we just need to examine the means for which an artificially-created organ can create those chemical cocktails. Chances are good it's going to need to work a lot like erythropoiesis. Next, the glands need to be hooked up to the neural network that would allow the brain to decide when to trigger the release of either chemical. The only way to make sure this works is to set it as if those glands were always a part of the human body."

Well, this was a great example of "easier said than done!" But hey, all great ideas had to start from somewhere!

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

((WARNING: Very short Propizio post. I don't really know engineering well.))

Doctor Propizio Wasser Te Haurangi, aka Dr. Prop.
Team Aqua
The Skunkworks, AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: N/A

He had heard that the Improved Chimera Mutagens got a lot of praise. Nice adjustments, more creativity. Granted, it was more of an improvement to an existing product, so it was more 'great job' than 'whoa!,' but eh. Can't win them all.

He had really only done it out of the universal compulsive urge of correction and because he kind of liked Chimera Mutagens. Granted, not while he worked-he had already taken a Reversal Agent and undid the form as he planned out his next little project. He was a mechanic, that's what his job training was for. Weapons design wasn't too out of the park for his tastes, and considering his primary form of self-defense outside of Chimera forms were guns, it sounded a wonderful idea to him. Yantil didn't even bother questioning it beyond the summary of the project.

Catch was, he was not impressed with a singular leap or bound forward. There were dozens of ways to make a single gun, and dozens of different guns on top of that, so to start, he had to pick a gun. He quickly settled on the assault rifle-an average gun wielded by the average soldier to shoot many bullets in a relatively precise way, only topped by DMRs and actual Sniper Rifles...And after all, a spray of lead justice was just so satisfying.

Except, possibly, when the spray of lead justice was done in 50. calibur bullets.

A small supply of dracaria metal in key points, just going off of computer simulations, seemed to reduce the recoil of a gun dramatically. Dracaria wasn't exactly a long-standing discovery, most guns didn't even have a small percentile of Dracraia in their system. Indeed, Team Aqua only had a small supply from their (ongoing) attempts at coercing the various military leaders of Hoenn to Aqua's cause, but it was enough to distribute the weapon to the captains and big names of Aqua and maybe some elite troops as well-and that was oftentimes enough justification to do so. After all, it wasn't like it was in-use else-ware.

Of course, he had a singular, logical restriction; he had to use as little of the precious metal as possible. The material was incredibly rare in Hoenn, to the point where the reasoning behind the May 6th strike was explicitly to make this issue a non-issue (according to Hoenn Government, essentially, though they said it in a manner far more dressed up and fancy to properly present their reasoning to the public).

He had tons of sketches, several of which he scrapped immediately due to implausibility. What didn't get scrapped that early he tried on a computer stimulation, each one holding up admirably well in general. All the sketches, however, progressively showcased smaller and smaller guns, with less and less material in general, to show at what point where the recoil got to be too much to bear, and what was optimal. He also toyed with various firing modes, from full auto to burst to single-round, as well as where the bullet casings would be ejected from, attachments, and various other parts. He didn't stray far from the assault rifle design he had in mind, though.

From the way it was going, he couldn't forsee this taking long before he hit up the next project he had in mind...But, one thing at a time. First, this awesome gun. Then, the big thing that would hopefully get his name on paper the instant it was done.

Yarvick "The Raticate" Xelsez
Team Aqua
Eternia City, En-Route to Celestic Town, Sinnoh.
Affected RPers: N/A

Yarvick's fear evaporated in the presence of adrenaline, and he emptied a whole clip on the sucker. It would be overkill normally, but the leather jacket may have been made of some Leafeon Skin-a type of leather well-known for being both illegal in some regions and a bulletproof jacket for low cost. Either way, they didn't get far.

Yarvick wasn't entirely sure why Leafeon Skin was that freaking hard. It didn't make sense internally, but it was definitely the case."

"You can't kill me! Victory is my FATE!" Velvetine yelled, running much faster than any man of his size ever should. Mercifully, Yarvick was slightly faster. He quickly pulled out a Burst Heart and immediately Bursted with Iapetus.

The feeling of Bursting was very quick, but Bursting with a Ghost-Type was exceptionally strange: It felt like hot and cold were deciding to have a fling, and this was the end result. When it was over, Yarvick scored clawed guantlets and grieves, dark and spiky hair, and dark purple clothing.

Calvin had a similar idea, and had bursted with Duskinor. Though that Mohawk was still totally visible, the end result also gave him a kind of fez on his head, a helmet that covered his face and left only an eye as a viable viewpoint, gave him gauntlets that looked ready to crush some heads like grapes, and a big, large-jawed face on his midsection.

Despite the creepy Ghost-Types, Velvetine was definitely the scariest thing in the room. Granted, Yarvick also made sure there wasn't any competition by phasing through the glass and getting out of dodge-an act Calvin also did. Either way, they were outside and hovering well out of the way of his sword, feeling quite safe.

"What the f***?!" Calvin yelled.

"I KNOW WHERE LOYALTIES LIE, BOY! Nobody pulls a fast one on me!" Velvetine yelled, pulling out an M16. The sheer action seemed to hurt a guy, but then he actually started firing it.

"Dear Arceus, that guy's a psycho!" Iapetus mentally said as bullets flew through them-phased out of existence like they were, they weren't getting hit by any physical objects anytime soon. Granted, it felt quite like an exercise to maintain it, and attacking? Out of the question.

Then he pulled out a Poke Ball, releasing a Braviary, and jumped onto its back in hot pursuit. Naturally, Calvin and Yarvick decided this was the time to split up.

The bullets, the shattering glass, and the suddenly-apparent murders below the apartments suddenly attracted attention like a moth to the flame, and suddenly a mob of people-cops included-were abound on the ground. As if he needed another fight televised!

"YARVICK!!! STOP RUNNING!! MAKE IT EASY ON THE BOTH OF US!!! IT'S ONLY GOING TO END ONE WAY, AFTER ALL!!!" Velvetine screamed. It really only encouraged Yarvick to go MUCH faster, while attempting to fire Shadow Balls backwards. He missed every time, though-the Braviary swooped well out of the way of every attack. Yarvick had equally good record in dodging Air Slash and Heat Wave attacks, coming out of the mouth of Braviary like no tomorrow. The one issue was that the Braviary somehow was faster than Yarvick, an impressive feat considering the massive man situated on it. If the bird got too close, Heat Waves and Air Slashes would hit with impunity, to say nothing of the sword, and he didn't want to even get near that man in the first place.

Yarvick attempted to compensate for his lack of speed by phasing into another building, going through walls and whatnot. That seemed to be a temporary reprieve, and if he was fast enough, he could escape just by being hard to find. After all, he left no visible trace, so Velvetine would have little idea where to begin. It was an excellent plan in his head. He had just phased through the floor below him when he heard a thud above him first soft. Then, Velvetine's sword stuck into the floor and circled around him, almost directly above him.

Yarvick dove out of the way and fumbled for an SMG, but he didn't manage to grab it. Velvetine and him were currently in a vacant house, probably owned by a mother and her recently-born kid, neither of which was here. Toys were scattered, if not crushed by the double-serving of ceiling that now occupied the center of the room, almost making Velvetine's head brush up against the ceiling. The Braviary was above, unable to go inside properly due to the size of the hole, but nevertheless looking venomously at Yarvick, currently unarmed.

"Hypnosis! He can't attack if he's asleep like that, and you can just snap his neck!" Iapetus mentally yelled. "And maybe take that mask and sword while you're at it." He added, appelaing to the kleptomanic.

Yarvick attempted to use Hypnosis on Velvetine, trying to make him sleep, weakening his mind. He wasn't entirely sure if it was working-he couldn't read minds at the same time (or in Iapetus'es case, at all), but he didn't move while he was doing it at least.

A few seconds of silence passed, and Yarvick had finished using the move. Did he do it? Did he fall asleep standing up?

"WHAT HURBIS!!" Velvetine shouted, not even remotely phased. Maybe it was the mask? Curse dracaria metal! Yarvick had to back up very fast to dodge a slash attack, the end of which sliced into the floor. That sword didn't seem to be stopped by d**m near anything!

Yarvick slipped out through the wall behind him, going into the hallway and naturally running down the hall rather than through the walls. Velvetine cut through the door...And through another wall directly ahead, leading into another room that Yarvick didn't enter. Perhaps he thought Yarvick went straight ahead out of fear?

His luck was rarely in his service, but right now that was the best thing in the world that could have happened. Velvetine lost his trail-for now. Yarvick kept running and phased through another wall before Velvetine corrected his mistake and found him, flinging him out of the whole building and out of his sight.

Calvin was easily found in the crowd, even after having debursted. Yarvick found a convenient alleyway that was well out of sight of any onlookers, debursted, then ran a lap around a building and rejoined him, sweating bullets, almost certain that at any moment the crazy sword-wielding Cthulhu-masked maniac would cleave though a wall and jump out, eager for blood. He was on the phone when they reuinted.

"I just found him sir...Yes, he's alright...Velvetine is still in the building, the cops are inside it now...OK!" Calvin closed his phone. "Yarvick, we better hurry on out of here!" Calvin said.

"How'd he find us?!" Yarvick asked. He was almost dead sure nobody was following him-or Calvin for that matter.

"I have no f***ing clue, they have a grade-A espionage team but I was sent alone...Let's get out of dodge, OK?! We're clear to head to Celestic Town immediately now..."

Yarvick had half of a mind to put the (still loaded) SMG to his back, but at this point he'd rather just get out of there before Mr. Cthulhu came back.

[Lord Celebi]

Raidon Makoto
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island
Hoenn
Affected RPers: @bronislav84

The horror of the Psychic Wars filled Makoto's mind. The multitude of timelines that were snuffed out in a mere instant because of the fight between the Elder God, Yog-Sothoth, and Arceus. It was by far, the cruelest, and bloodiest thing that Celebi had shown him yet. However, based on the imagery, Makoto could understand both Celebi's disposition and the necessity for the creation of Diabora. Without Diabora, Yog-Sothoth would continue to ravage the multiverse to this very day.

Just as Makoto was trying to digest everything, Karai Horoshi burst into the room. "I hope this isn't a bad time, boss?" she said non-nonchalantly. This was the last thing that the dread lord of the Deathwing was expecting. How the hell am I expected to socialize after that? "Please tell me this isn't a bad time. We've finished an Op recently. Dan sent over the report ahead of time. Hopefully you've had a chance to read it. If you haven't, well you could always read it now. There's kind of a lot to just explain, and Dan worded it pretty well." I don't read reports... Makoto thought. Captain Lando digests them and feeds them to me like a mother bird.

"We've been briefed by your man about what you require of guarding you, boss. The payment formalities have also been taken care of. Are you going anywhere soon so that we can come with you? We've always been pretty durable, but with being given that quick healing stuff we're even tougher. Karai here survived almost being cut in half by me. That stuff sure is potent." The large Enforcer with Karai, Raiki, explained to Makoto. Maybe I shouldn't freak out at them? I've pretty much tweaked at everyone on the ship since I got back for mostly Celebi-related reasons. That may just be more fuel for the fire, Makoto considered, planning out his next action very carefully. The specter of the images he had just seen still haunted his mind. He saw Celebi stooped over the bodies of its best friends before the war, crying out for the War to end. Shaking the rather visceral image from his mind, he refocused on Horoshi.

"This is Dr. Amelia Anthony, one of the Anthropologists from Violet University and the one who originally formed the Worldwide Black Market Burst Heart Ring. She's entering an exclusive contract with us, and learned a lot about Burst Hearts from the one she calls The Voice of the Heart. Judging by her reaction, he seems to have been the monster in that collective dream with us. I'm pretty sure that's not his real name. Anyway, Amelia is looking to research Burst Hearts for us exclusively, and I promised the organization would fund her and provide resources for her research. But for now, what do you know about what just happened to all of us? That collective dream. Cause seriously, that's all I got and I'm still confused."

Makoto wanted to unleash details about everything he had learned from Celebi in the past day from his mouth like a font, but realized that it was impossible to just spew everything out. He had no idea how to format it into a coherent story, until he remembered how he explained everything to Ashfield hours ago. As Celebi Mega Burst, he implanted all the details straight into Ashfield's mind. Makoto looked at Celebi and said psychically, <Celebi, you want to fill them in on what we're dealing with?>

Celebi nodded its head and raised a green finger. Instantly, the groups' minds were filled with everything that Makoto had just learned. Celebi's capture. Diabora. The multiverse. Qinglong and Zhu-Quiao. The Psychic Wars.

"I believe that should answer your questions," Makoto said with an even-keel tone. It was all he could do to keep himself from unraveling at the seams. "Now, while I understand you just got back and would love to spend time with friends, I do have some very urgent business to attend to." Makoto explained, while shooing them out of the door. Once the door was locked, he turned back to Celebi and said, "Alright, so where do I find Zhu-Quiao? I'm its "seed" or whatever. I think the next clue is to find this fucker and see what it wants with me."

<Then we need to go to Hell.>

[Neo Emolga]

Noah "Neo" Ashfield
AMS Deathwing Mirage Island, Hoenn (Dreaming)
Affected RPers: N/A

I technically should have been dead. I was coughing up blood and I had more bullet holes in my chest than I could count on my fingers and toes. These guys had turned my insides into mush, so I didn't even know how the hell I was even still able to kneel upright.

And that was when I started to glow and felt like some dimensional spirit entered me. The squad of soldiers tried to open fire, but their bullets might as well have just been tiny water balloons. I became completely white and then I felt like I was shining like a sun. And then the truth suddenly was.

<...I've always been you...>

I then realized what Qinglong was... or what I was. This guy... I was none other than the evolution of Lugia, standing thirty feet tall with blades on my wings, a four-pronged tail, additional spines on my back and neck, extra spikes on my upper chest while having V-shaped spines over my eyes.

This is... what you are, Qinglong?

But there was no answer. At first, it didn't make sense why he wasn't replying, but then it hit me. I was pretty much just talking to myself now.

"D-damn it, what the hell is that!?" One of the soldiers shouted, trying to fall back.

As I soon realized, Qinglong existed in every dimension. In each dimension, I existed as a spirit legendary but also as a human. It was almost weird, but as soon as I had become Qinglong, it felt way more natural to me than being human, like the whole human form was just some kind of stupid costume. And that was exactly it. The human form I had in each dimension was nothing more than a disguise. And what I had shaken off was just some self-inflicted amnesia to keep the truth for safekeeping.

Holy crap, I didn't know what was more of a mind-rape, Celebi's blast of alternate dimensional truth or this, finding out my whole existence as Noah Ashfield... or even Neo Winterfield, was actually a front for existing as this.

Those squads of future soldiers were just bugs now. I turned toward them, focusing my extreme psychic energy, and enveloped them with a powerful Holy Psychic Flare that smothered them with blazing white fury that lit up the entire city ruins like another sun. When the light died down, there weren't even corpses left.

"Light him up!" One of the gunship pilots shouted.

Those future hovercraft gunships got into formation to attack, but I quickly and instinctively unleashed a blazing white torrent that can only be described as a super-sized Aeroblast of holy light in the form of pure white incineration. Their armor protected them for maybe two seconds before it was blown off and reduced them to nothing but white embers.

Well, that certainly attracted the attention of the rest of the faction. The mothership started homing in on me, and there were more tanks and mechs on their way toward me. Yeah... screw them.

I took flight, which was, safe to say, incredible, even better than flying in Janine's black ninja bunny form. Smashing my way through a crumbling office building was like being a six year old kid having fun smashing through building block towers. I caught sight of one oversized mech unit taking aim, and I quickly charged a glowing sphere of pure, brilliant white energy in my maw.

"TARGET ACQUIRED, FIRE MISSION IN-"

I unleashed all fury in his face before he got to finish yapping, blowing apart the mech cockpit and leaving nothing but the burnt, charred mech legs intact. But the weapons, the arms, and the large rocket launcher unit in the back were easily broken off. By now, the enemy forces were really starting to amass, and their laser and plasma gun fire was starting to rain down on me. Each shot felt like a slight burn, the kind that feeling that you get when you spill a few drops of boiling water on your skin.

<You clowns should try running while you still can!> I shouted to them.

But, these guys were totally swept up in pride. It was going to take a little more work to break their wills, it seemed.

A swarm of infantry fighters opened fire, but I quickly used both of my wings and blasted them with a massive wind gale, enough to throw them right off their feet and send them flying into the concrete ruins and debris all over the place.

A chrome battle tank I had overlooked had shot me in the side, and boy did that hurt like a bitch. That actually drew blood this time, and I wasn't going to tolerate that. While they tried to load in another shot, I unleashed another Holy Beam of blazing white energy and had it slam into the tank, sending a cloud of dirt and debris all over the place. The tank, pretty much wrecked, was now also stuck in a hole created by the explosion. Just for good measure, I used my tail to sweep out the structural supports of a nearby building, causing the building to collapse upon the tank wreck.

I had at least managed to scare off their infantry, who only just realized they weren't doing jack-squat against me. But the mechs and the tanks had some pretty hard armor, couldn't deny that. I was still scrapping them, but damn, they sure could absorb a lot of punishment before breaking off.

And that was when the mothership had arrived, puking out more annoying jet fighters. When the hatch opened, I unleashed another Divine Aeroblast into the opening, which allowed me to easily bypass all of the thick, chrome armor surrounding the giant thing. The mothership itself had contained an explosion, which I'm sure had done a hell of a lot of damage to the interior.

The internal explosion had caused a massive piece of the chrome armor to be blown off, which happened to land on and completely crush a mech leader unit like a sledgehammer smashing a roach.

They opened fire, hitting me with a burning rain, but I gritted through it and targeted the damaged area of the mothership, striking it with the toughest Divine Storm attack I could, ramming as much holy energy into the vessel as I could ram into its face. At first, it broke off a few more pieces, and then the whole thing began to become overwhelmed in a series of chain explosions. It soon tumbled out of control, flopping over like a kicked frisbee before exploding on top of a large portion of the army that was coming after me.

They soon tried to run their asses out of there. But then, after a moment, it seemed like the dream was ending. Everything was fading to black, and soon, I realized what this really was.

I wasn't just dreaming. I was in training...

---

Janine "Angel" Price
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island, Hoenn
Affected RPers: N/A

After a lot of tweaking, testing, and all sorts of stuff, we figured out how to get Project AMAXA to work. The good news was both Pokémon and humans could enjoy using it and all the fun it would entitle them too. An AMAXA mutagen syringe would issue the body to create both the Accelerator and Decelerator evolution glands. The only thing was Chimeras would have to go back to being human, get the AMAXA injection, and then go back to being Chimeras. One of the components of the formula wasn't compatible with the unstable DNA that Chimeras were walking around with.

For humans, the Accelerator gland formed next to the stomach while the Decelerator gland formed next to the liver. When a Chimera mutagen was used, these two glands would be reconfigured just like the heart, lungs, and so on were arranged, but they'd still be there ready to use when the person with the two glands fully transformed. After that, it was up to them to decide how much they'd like to evolve! The only catch was that if a person reverse-evolved their Chimera form and went back to human, well, they'd need a new Chimera syringe. Barely a problem!

"Man, Janine, handling this stuff is like carrying a nuke," Kaede told me, feeling sheepish about the whole AMAXA project. "In the wrong hands, this stuff could really-"

"Ah please, it'll be fine," I shrugged and smiled at her. "You really worry too much! Now, according to what I've worked out, this should be good to go. We just need to test it!"

"Wait a minute," Kaede told me quickly, realizing something. "Whoever is the tester will have AMAXA permanently. This stuff can't be undone once it's hooked up to the body and the brain interprets it as being naturally formed organs. Even if you surgically remove the glands, most people have had MEND put into them and this mutagen will just allow for a second pair of Accelerator and Decelerator glands to be formed."

Mmm, good point!

"But on the other hand, if we have a Captain or Raidon himself test it and it doesn't work and causes fatal adverse events... that's really bad for the team!" Kaede exclaimed. "How the heck are we going to test this!? We run a huge risk either way!"

"Hey, I know!" I smiled. "Let me try it!"

I mean heck, I was going to use it anyway! Even if it was in secret. How could would that be to be the first one to use this stuff!? That was like having first dips on the Christmas presents!

"Janine, you're... not exactly a Captain," Kaede muttered. "That and I'm not sure how much Raidon trusts you with something of this... magnitude."

"Ah please," I brushed her off. "Trust me, if I was that much of a maniac, the whole world would probably be mush by now. I'll fire it up and then get to trying it out. Although... we're going to need to try it out on another island, ha, ha!"

Yeah, really, definitely not enough room in here!

Kaede with a little unsure at first, but she decided she'd just go along with it, figuring I'd probably sneak in an AMAXA syringe for myself in due time anyway!

"Oh man, I sure hope I don't regret this," Kaede told me, handing over the first of the AMAXA syringes.

I smirked and just flicked off the cap and jabbed myself with the sweet, sweet AXAMA. It definitely wasn't as crazy-feeling as a regular Chimera mutagen, but I did feel like my insides were making funny noises. Sure, they wouldn't do anything if I used them as a human, I'd need to give them a spin while I was a Chimera. But, when the gurgling in my chest had stopped, I blinked and it seemed so far, so good.

"Okay, you're not dead, guess that's a good sign," Kaede told me, looking at the spaces on my chest where my two glands would have formed. "Feel ok?"

"Yeah, seems good here!" I replied, really not feeling that different from before. "Now, let's get to the fun stuff, shall we?"

[bronislav84]

(Gah, so short)

Karai "Kar" Horoshi
AMS Deathwing, Mirage Island
Affected RPers: @Lord Celebi

That was.......I couldn't even begin to immediately process what I'd been shown. What all nine of us had been shown. It would take some time to settle in, but we now had clear objectives and information. We were rushed, rather quickly, out the door. He wanted to be left alone, though the Enforcers stayed behind to do their job. They'd follow him and take orders. Not exactly the way I did my job, but hey, their funeral.

Amelia was incredibly surprised. She returned and kicked hard on the door of the Captain's Quarters, now knowing that Raidon had the other ABH. "No, it can't be. But he was so nice to me. I can't believe it." She mused to herself as she yelled loudly. "Mister leader, sir, I require your ABH for my research. You have no use for it I think." She stated flatly and bluntly. "Please let me have it and then the five of you can get going to wherever you need to go." She then pounded on the metal door some more.

I shuddered to think how he would react to that, but she was right though. The kind of research she did centered around that ABH. I could lend her mine, but I was sure I'd need it in the time ahead. The five of us headed back to the bow of the ship, seeing that Amelia's lab cube had already been unpacked. No doubt she would receive info on where it was moved to. But now we had no idea what to do next. At least until......

<So now you know what you need to do, Champion.>

<You must find them, so they can help you.>

"Really?" I yelled out at the now conveniently empty ship bow. "And just where am I supposed to go to find these twins?!"

<Must we do everything?>

<The world could soon end, and you have no idea you need to go to Alto Mare?>

"Do you two have ANY idea how long that would take? The travel and the searching?" I now had a pretty good idea who these twins were, now that the location had been mentioned. The voices just sighed in my head.

In front of me appeared a blue and white jet-like Pokémon, along with a red and white jet-like Pokémon. They must have flown here invisible. Just like that. Pokémon told of in stories just appearing in front of me. Seriously? The voices spoke in my head again, this time collectively.

<We the Ancient Eon Spirits have summoned to you Latios and Latias, explaining to them what needs to be done. They need to test you in a battle, though.> Of course. I wasn't surprised by this at all. In a two on two battle it was only fair to send out two. I threw out Zap the Raichu and Drago the Hydreigon. This would be interesting.