The Bad Guys {RP}

[Winter]

***Warning, possible light spoilers for Sun and Moon ahead! Read and participate in this RP at your own risk.***





"Just remember one thing: No matter what's truth and lies, no matter how hard we're trying to defend what we love and believe in, a lot pf people are against us, and they may very well always be. Especially if we mess this up."



When the Natural Order group first formed, no one thought it would gain as much power and support as it did. After the Aether Foundation mess, a number of people suspected that it would be difficult for the group to keep together--they thought it would be watched and suspected and eventually it would break up and fade into history unremembered. Instead, the group, who believed that the lives of people and Pokemon would be much better off if they stayed separated entirely, gained more support and followers in the months and years that followed.

If there was an accident involving a Pokemon, the Natural Order group was all over it. If trainers or other Pokemon were seriously injured in battle, the Natural Order group wouldn’t let the matter drop. They kept pushing and poking and refused to let the occasional accident go...and so the peaceful region of Alola became divided. They pushed for the Alolan government to grant them access to the now abandoned Aether Foundation facility in order to “protect the public from highly dangerous Pokemon.” Finally, they were granted access to the facility, which they began expanding.

Needing the work, a young man signed up to work on parts of the expansion...and that’s where things get strange. As this certain young man was working on the expansion project, he managed to get lost in the facility, and wound up almost walking into a meeting between Natural Order’s president and some of his higher ups. This in itself would not have been weird if the young man hadn’t been convinced that he had found himself in the basement of the original building, and the meeting hadn’t included those attending speaking about the best way to mass eliminate the Pokemon population of Alola. Too frightened of the possible discussion at hand, the young man quietly slipped away, eventually found his way back to where he was supposed to be working.

He tried for months to get the conversation he heard out of his head, to pass it off as his imagination, something that couldn’t possibly have been true, but with the Natural Order group’s movement gaining more popularity among the people of Alola, he began to notice more and more that what the group was saying didn’t quite add up with it’s supposed goals. The conversation he overheard that day stuck out in his head more and more, and finally he decided he was going to stop ignoring it and do something about it.

Months after he heard the conversation, the young man sat down and wrote a simple letter that showed up on the walls of Pokemon Centers across Alola. “The Natural Order group isn’t what it seems,” the letter read, “even though they say they want to help Pokemon, all they really want to do is harm them. Think about what they’re saying, and what they’re doing. They don’t add up, do they? There’s still time to think about what’s going on, time to change what we think about them, to stop their plans in their tracks before it’s too late.” It was signed, not with a signature, or a name, or even a title, but an image. An hourglass drawn with a single stroke.

Most of the letters were taken down quickly, but they were up long enough to attract the attention of the news, and more than one trainer. The debates began again, but no one put Natural Order under the scrutiny they should have, and things continued on as they had been...except more and more people have been seen wearing articles of clothing decorated with that hourglass. People who have actively begun to take action against the efforts of the Natural Order group.

People who call themselves a part of Team Hourglass. And they’re not playing around like Team Skull used to do. Instead, they’re out to bring down Natural Order at all costs.

Even if history will remember them as the villains of this story.


Need-to-Know
This RP is set several years after Pokemon Sun and Moon, this means:

The Alolan Pokemon League is a thing, and it has increased tourism to the island region, though the title of champion has changed hands a few times over the years
The Aether Paradise was shut down and abandoned a few years before the Natural Order group got permission to access and expand it
Team Skull is no longer nearly as big as it once was, and sightings of Guzma/the team members are rare
Violent encounters with wild Poemon have been reported to be rising in frequency. though no one is certain why


Rules
All PXR rules apply, people...
1: Please avoid bunnying (taking control of non-NPCs without permission) and godmodding
2: Let’s also avoid “invincible” characters… Yes, some characters have superpowers, no they cannot be invincible
3: Please be active--if you’re going to be gone for an extended amount of time, try to notify someone in the RP beforehand
4:Be nice to everyone, guys
5: Keep posts PG-13 (on all fronts) and below, and limit use of profanity
6: Lastly, have fun!

Accepted Characters
Teri and Alan Romer -@Winter
Vincent Gray - Soups
Sable Hawthorn - Sieses
Alice Fern - Pokemon Trainer Sarah
Eloise "Izzy" Beauregard and Keahi (NPC) - Midnight Sun
Garret Marshall - Desolate Divine
Morgan "Camelot" Fay - Noblejanobii

Reserves
Death's Spook
Sanctus

[Winter]

Teri and Alan Romer
Former Shady Mansion, Po Town

“...Police are telling the public not to worry, that we aren't looking at another Team Skull--”

Click.

"...But the question remains: Who is the face behind the Hour--”

Click.

“...Natural Order Group should be investigated. At the very least--”

Click.

The room faded into darkness as the young man finally turned the TV off with a dismissive snort. “All garbage,” he muttered, staring into the darkness, not flinching as a piece of cloth reached up to wrap around his arm and squeeze once. Slowly, he reached up to place a hand against the cloth, a soft smile touching his lips. The Doublade that was resting against his leg had always been a bit motherly, and he appreciated it at times like these, when it seemed like Lucina had managed to read his mind, even though her telepathy didn’t extend beyond her two blades, unless her cloth came into contact with skin. As his fingers came to rest on the time-worn cotton, he felt an almost jarring calm fill him.

“Do not worry so much about tomorrow. The righteous will succeed, and those who would do harm will fail. In this, we do not doubt, even if it does take time.” The sheer amount of belief she held in these thoughts was impressive, but not uncommon. Honedge were said to contain the spirit of a fallen warrior in their blades, and Lucina had thought the same way in all fourteen years Teri had known her--she would aggressively protect her “lord,” and what she believed in. In this case, she’d long ago claimed her trainer as her lord, and she believed strongly in protecting the weak.

The young man’s smile grew wider, and her patted the cloth gently before dropping his hand to the pair of Stufful curled up by his side. “Thanks Luci,” he murmured, nodding to the Doublade, which seemed to shift closer to his leg in response. At the other end of the couch, there was another shift, and a quiet groan.

“...T’resa?” a soft voice called, still heavy with sleep, and the young man had to stifle a laugh as he moved his hand from the pair of Stufful to pat his brother’s leg, hard as it was to find with half the household cuddled up around him.

“Right here, Allie. ‘Bout time to get to bed, though.” In years past, Teri had picked Alan up and taken the boy to bed himself, but his little brother was now almost as big as he was, which put a damper on things. As it was, the pile of Pokemon he rested under would have presented enough of a challenge back then as well.

“Big day’s tomorrow,” the boy agreed quietly, shifting around slowly, attempting to work himself out from under his living blanket without disturbing the Pokemon any more than necessary. Teri reached down to tap Lucina lightly, and the Doublade moved, hovering just off the floor by her trainer’s legs. “Still sure I can’t come?” the boy asked, and in the dark, Teri nodded, his smile tugging itself into more of a frown.

“Still sure. Someone has to keep watch over the house--you know not everyone listens to Alexander and Soloman, and I don’t even like going to those rallies. Sometimes people get mean.”

“Makuahina and Kim would protect me,” the boy countered, not bothering to argue that the household would be fine without him. Despite their wealth of knowledge, not every Pokemon in the house quite respected the Oranguru and Slowking that tended to be left as the secondary command in the house when Teri was away, instead holding more respect for the ten year old some of the residents had helped raise. “Who’s gonna protect you?”


“Everyone,” Teri said decisively. “Beetle will play active guard, and Lucina will be his backup, but you know no one is going to let anything happen to me. But seriously, Alan, I need you play head of household for me.” He didn’t voice the worry that tomorrow might paint a target on his back, might result in an attack on the house that he wanted the boy’s unifying presence there for. After all, the household would fight to protect Alan above all else if the need ever arose. He prayed it didn’t, and that he wouldn’t even need the help of his team, but he wasn’t capable of predicting the future.

“Fine,” Alan grumbled, though the idea of staying home clearly bothered him. At the very least, though, the boy hoped that his brother’s plan to try to recruit supporters at the Natural Order rally tomorrow worked out. If Teri succeeded in forming a proper Team, he would at the very least have more people to watch his back and help his goal of stopping the group to succeed. He just hoped that the various messages and clues they’d left in various Pokemon Centers across Alola would be enough to draw a big enough crowd of Hourglass supporters to the Natural Order rally in Hau’oli tomorrow.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Garret Marshall
Garret's Garage, Hau'oli

"Come on." Garret thought to himself, as he sat in the office of his garage, watching the security camera positioned out the front. The clock on the wall read 4:45pm. The delivery company he always used never delivered after five in the afternoon, so if it wasn't coming today, it take longer.

"That rally will achieve nothing but be a pain in my a**..." Garret thought to himself, "If Main Street is closed for this damn rally, I won't get it until at least late tomorrow, or probably even the day after."

Suddenly a small delivery truck appeared on the monitor.

"Thank God." Garret thought to himself as he walked out onto the garage floor. He climbed into the forklift and drove it out the front, where a slightly overweight man, a couple of years younger than himself, stood, unstrapping the large crate on the back. He was the usual delivery driver, and Garret was well acquainted with him. Jamie.

"I figured I'd try and squeeze this in today." Jamie explained as he untied the straps, "With the Natural Order Rally tomorrow, we probably won't be able to use main street. And if this is what I think it is, you'll probably want it badly. The label was torn off, but all that was left was R38."

"It is." Garret said with a grin, "It cost me $20,000, but it is."

"Jesus," Jamie muttered to himself, "What do you plan on doing with it?"

"It's a secret." Garret said, "Last thing I need is people knowing I have this. I already get broken into twice a month."

"Come on, I won't say anything." Jamie begged.

"Okay." Garret said with a grin.

"WRX"

Jamie's jaw dropped.

"You're kidding me?" Jamie exclaimed, "S***, that thing will fly."

"It will be one of a kind alright." Garret said, as he drove the forklift and crate inside, "See you around."

Garret closed the roller door behind him, before putting the engine away and hitting the showers. Tonight was the night most of the car guys met. A good opportunity to win some extra cash against some teenager with a stock sports car who doesn't know any better. By the time he had cleaned up and got dressed, it was 6pm. He walked to the section of the garage where he kept his cars. Whilst it had been fuller in the past, he currently had two. The FD and the S15. It took a second for Garret to decide, however he ended up going with the FD.
http://www.tunedinternational.com/featurecars/bo557/15.jpg
He grabbed the keys with the Mazda emblem, and climbed into the white RX7, driving it out of the garage and out the front gate, both automatically closing behind him. It was time to have some fun...

[Soups]

Vincent Gray
Eddie's Snack Shack
Hau'oli City, Alola

When it comes to food, Alola isn't in the same stratosphere as Kanto. Was it the seasoning, maybe? The texture? I don't know. Maybe I just missed home. Its been quite some time since I was last in Kanto, and if I was ever feeling homesick, it was now. It wouldn't hurt to be back home in Saffron at the moment... grubbing on a juicy burger from Dandy's. But that wasn't going to happen. I'm here in Hau'oli, bored out of my mind and irritated with an appetite, and Eddie's Snack Shack isn't helping.

On the bright side, the Natural Order rally is tomorrow. It's an opportunity. Although I fully expect to be surrounded with the "less-informed", I also expect to be prepared. I need evidence. I need something that's going to help expose these losers. However, my only problem is that I don't know where to look. I've never been one for spontaneous ventures. Typically, if I don't have a game-plan, I don't act. But who's to tell when another opportunity such as tomorrow's is going to present itself. I have no choice but to act.

"Can I get you started with something to drink?" a young man... er, maybe teenager, asked. "You've been sitting here for like... twenty minutes, dude."

Had it been twenty minutes? Maybe. I don't doubt it.

"Water is fine," I responded.

To add onto my thoughts about tomorrow's event, I'm also completely sure that not everyone that plans on being in attendance is in support of the Natural Dummies. Maybe that's where I start. Find those like myself. Yeah, perfect. But how? It's not like I could just blurt out who's against the Natural Order and who isn't. Well, I could... but yeah, no.

If anyone isn't bored like I am, it's Victory. I'm not surprised though. If Eddie's did anything right - trust me, the food isn't one of those things - they had a miniature play area for Pokemon of smaller sizes, and with Victory being a Pikachu and all, he was having a blast with some of the other Pokemon.

"Here's your water, sir," the waiter said, pleasantly. "Can I get you anything else?" he asked.

"Nah... that'll be all." I respectfully responded. "Thanks, dude."

Tomorrow couldn't get here fast enough. I'll probably head back to the Inn across the way, get myself a room for the night, and ready myself for what's to come. I'm really hoping I don't screw this up. It's not rocket science. Show up, stay under the radar, and find others like myself... assuming they'll be there. Man, I didn't plan this out at all.

"Come on, Vic! Let's head out."

[VeloJello]

Drew Abbes
Route 10 -> Malie City
Affected RP’ers: None

“Haku! Finish this! Dragon Pulse!”

An attacking Drampa was an intimidating sight, and even after a grueling battle, Haku put up an impressive show. The great dragon’s jaws opened wide, exposing huge teeth, and a beam of blue-green fire shot from his mouth. The unfortunate Lurantis standing opposite him on the field shuddered once, trying to remain on its feet; then it fell, teal smoke rolling off of its carapace.

Payment was collected quickly, congratulatory scratches behind Haku’s chin delivered dutifully. The Drampa let out a pleased noise, a low, warbling hum that resonated up from his furry chest. Drew smiled as Haku crooned, arching his neck to give Drew a better petting angle.

“Yip!” Drew looked down, still idly rubbing Haku’s throat with one hand, to see Keone sitting on the ground, pawing at their leg. As soon as she had Drew’s attention, the Rockruff pointed her nose at the sky. Drew looked up at the sky and was mildly surprised to discover that it was turning orange, bathing Route Ten in long, stark shadows.

“I suppose it’s getting late, isn’t it?” they said, half to Keone and half to themself. They patted Haku’s cheek, “Alright, you two, let’s pack up. Keone, you can stay with me, but Haku, you’re gonna have to go back to your Pokeball.” The Drampa’s hum turned into a petulant groan, but Drew was having none of it. “Don’t be that way,” they said in a tone of mock exasperation, “you’re already gonna be tired from fighting, and lugging yourself all the way back to town isn’t going to do you any favors.” Haku mimicked a sigh, but gave no protest when Drew recalled him back to his Pokeball.

The walk back to town was long for a creature as heavy as Haku, but relatively brief for a human and an excitable Rockruff. Since it was past dark, the Pokemon Center was a little crowded, but they still had openings for Trainers wanting to stay the night. Between the room, and food for an entire team of Pokemon - four Pokemon, technically; Ikika and Kana, as a Hypno and Gengar, subsisted primarily on psychic energy - Drew was going to be shelling out a decent bit of cash, but they were okay with that. They had been very successful in their battles lately, and they had plenty left over - even counting the money they’d need to pay for food for the next few days, since they suspected they wouldn't be doing much battling.

While Drew waited for their Pokemon to be healed, they ordered themself and their team food and retreated to the room they had rented, a large enough space for the whole team, even Haku, to rest together. Malie cuisine wasn’t half bad, a hodge-podge of Alolan and Johtoan tastes. While Keone wolfed down kibble and minced meat, Drew munched on some stir-fry and flipped through the channels on the room’s television. They settled on a talk show in which several people in nice clothes and stage makeup debated whether the Natural Order was a group of saints or nothing but a repeat incident of Team Plasma or the Aether Foundation or the million other Mightyenas in Mareeps’ clothing that had plagued the world since the dawn of time.

Drew’s feelings were about as mixed as the television’s. They’d been trying for weeks to get some sort of in on the Natural Order, but the organization wasn’t big on interfacing with the public. The most they’d gotten were accounts from Trainers who’d dealt with the Order in the past, and those had only told Drew what they already knew - that some people trusted the Order and some people didn’t. It was frustrating, especially since if they really were bad Drew wanted to help, and -

“Miss Abbes, your Pokemon are ready to collect.” The voice over the P.A. jolted Drew out of their reverie. They sighed and stood, straightening their skirt. Tapus, what they wouldn’t give for an honorific that didn’t automatically label them as something they weren’t. Keone, as Drew had expected, immediately leaped off the bed to follow Drew - there was no way the Rockruff was going to sit alone in the Pokemon Center room and let Drew out of her sight, food or no food.

Once Drew and their team were back in the room, Drew released them all - careful to let Haku out first so that the other Pokemon wouldn’t ‘spawn’ in inconvenient places and prevent letting Haku out safely. Drew couldn’t help but laugh as the whole team crowded around them, each one eager to show and receive attention.

“One at a time, you clowns,” Drew chuckled as Mele the Crobat landed on their shoulder and immediately began nuzzling their cheek. “You guys all feeling better?”

<We’re all healed up,> Ikika assured Drew telepathically over the chorus of enthusiastic Pokemon noises that filled the room. <And we’re ready for the big day tomorrow.>

Drew sighed. “I just hope we find out something helpful; it’s been dead end after dead end.”

Mele chittered in Drew’s ear. Drew shot Ikika a quizzical glance, and the Hypno translated, <Mele says, What are we going to do if the Natural Order really are bad people?>

Not ‘you’, Drew noted; ‘we’. The amount of faith their Pokemon had in them was… best described as humbling. “We’re going to look into Team Hourglass,” Drew answered, making sure that all of the Pokemon could hear them. “We won’t throw our lot in with them right away either, though - we need to make sure we know exactly what’s going on. That we’re not… that I’m not setting all of you up to fail.”

There was a brief pause, then Drew said, “Right, everybody, we need to get rested up.” They walked over to the bathroom and began changing into a set of older, slightly ratty clothes that passed for pajamas. Through the bathroom door, they called, “Guys, food’s here - find yours and eat up. Ikika, Kana, take a couple of dreams apiece from me tonight. You two are going to need to be at full strength tomorrow - especially you, Ikika.”

Drew began folding up their shirt, skirt, and binder, putting everything carefully into their bag. As they did, Ikika asked, <I assume you’re going to want me to try and read the people at the rally?>

“Please,” Drew responded as they emerged from the bathroom. The Hypno was sitting at the foot of Drew’s bed, watching as the others tucked into their dinners. “I want you to focus on the head honchos, but if you’re blocked somehow, don’t press too hard. We don’t want to get them mad at us, and gathering a lot of impressions from the grunts would be better than getting absolutely nothing from the admins. Or whatever title they have.”

Ikika nodded. <I can do that,> she said. Drew sat down on the bed next to her and idly scratched the ruff of white fur around her neck. <Don’t worry, Drew. If anything happens, we have your back.>

A smile wormed its way onto Drew’s face despite their pensive mood. “I know. Thank you.”

[Winter]

OOC: And so Natural Order appears!

Jonah Reve, Hershel Gallow, and Corinne Moss
Aether Paradise

The girl was anxious. It was obvious in the way she continually shifted in her chair, seemingly never comfortable. Her eyes were locked on the dimming light outside, her fingers had tightened into claws that were slowly throttling the arms of the chair, and she refused to respond to attempts to remove her from her seat.

“What is it, Miss Corinne?” Of the two men sitting in the room with her, it was the perpetually tired looking man with slicked back, dark hair that spoke up. The young woman’s eyes shot to him for the briefest second before skittering back to the window.

“Nunya, Hearse,” she grunted, making it glaringly obvious that she was in a foul mood. The man stared at her for a full minute before shaking his head ever so slowly. “As in none of your--”


“I know the expression, Miss Corinne,” the man replied, and though he never raised his voice, the words were as sharp as knives...not that it threatened the girl in the slightest. She didn’t even bother looking at him again. In the armchair next to the tired looking man, another man took another sip of the tea he’d slowly been enjoying.

“Really, now, can’t you two ever get along?” he sighed, setting his cup back on the saucer he held in the opposite hand before running his newly freed hand through his graying hair. Finally, he turned his attention to the girl. “Corinne, please, what is it that’s bothering you?” At a more normal speed, the girl turned her attention to this man, almost completely ignoring the first speaker.

“Bea got to leave a day early,” she replied, clearly pouting. The tired man gave an audible sigh and shook his head again, though faster this time. It was no mystery that he and the girl didn’t get along, but how quickly she typically chose to answer Jonah instead drove him nuts. Next to him, Jonah gave her a sympathetic smile, though he silently wondered where Corinne had picked up the nickname--no one in the upper administration, nor the handful of scientists that worked under the group’s head scientist called her Bea.

“Beatrice has her own special task that I’ve asked her to complete. She will be back before us tomorrow, if not tonight. You have your own special task that I need you to complete tomorrow, remember? I need you to be a good girl and tell everyone how bad Pokemon are.” Corinne nodded in response to this, finally moving a hand from the arm of her chair to absently pet the Espurr that had curled up in her lap, staring vacantly at nothing in particular. The odd Pokemon let out a sound akin to a satisfied purr, and settled further down into her lap, though it’s unsettling stare didn't change in the slightest.

Kiri, as Corinne had dubbed the little fluffball, was about the only Pokemon Jonah had seen the girl act genuinely kind towards. The rest of her team received mostly cruelty-coated kindness, but that seemed to be how she treated the entire world. Kiri was an exception that would have been worth studying.

At least, would have if he didn’t hope to be rid of the Espurr and every other Pokemon in the region in the near future.

“I understand, Uncle Jonah,” she murmured, but it was only a moment before her attention slid to the window again. In the silence, the tired man’s sigh echoed.

Beatrice Bennett
Hau’oli

She walked along the road with an unusual amount of confidence in her stride. She knew where she was going, what she was looking for, now it was just a matter of getting there and finding a “car guy” who could do a good job for Natural Order without blabbing too much. Unfortunately, that meant she had to go do fieldwork--she didn't trust posting a job search ad to the Internet, even if it was made misleading. No, the safest way to do this was to go out and hand pick the person herself.

The sight of the parking structure was the first thing that assured her she was going the right way, though the smell and noise was what nailed it. The smell was...manageable, but the noise was less so. She didn't like people, and she suddenly realized that chances were, she’d be the most pristine looking person there with her platinum blonde curls bunched tightly around her face and pale skin. While she had avoided wearing white, the light sweater she wore was among the palest of greens, and the jeans that hugged her legs were just as pale a shade of blue. Her sneakers matched the sweater in color. Of course, she knew she would stand out--it was difficult for the woman not to stand out, which was why she always avoided putting appearances in at Natural Order rallies...but that was another story to ponder for another time. She only hoped that her standing out wouldn’t make her a potential mugging target--apparently some fools still tried to make their money by stealing, though Beatrice pitied the person that tried to do so by stealing from her.

As she approached, she patted a Pokeball at her side, and gave a delicate smile to nothing in particular. “I’d like an escort, kind sir,” she murmured, and the Gallade that appeared from the Pokeball greeted her with a mental snort.

“You’re far from a lady, Cla--”

“Not even in your thoughts. Beatrice. Bea, if you absolutely insist.” The insistence from her thought response was so strong it gave the Gallade pause, but with a sigh, he began walking alongside her.

“Bea. Fine. Still far from a lady.” The response was largely joking, and Beatrice shook her head.

“Oh, watch your mouth, Lance. I’m lady enough for you to protect me,” she countered, and the Gallade reached out to pat her shoulder.

“It’s not a matter of being lady enough, I promised someone I’d do that.” This reply was met with a sour expression on his trainer’s part, and mentally the Gallade cringed. The rest of their walk remained oddly silent.

[Death's Spook]

Ruqayyah Abdur-Rahman
Route 17 -> Shady House, Po Town
ARPers: Winter

<Are you sure this is a good idea, Ruqayyah?> The Chandelure mental voice was filled with concern, <I mean, it’s dramatic and all, but wouldn’t appearing directly where this guy lives set him on edge?>

The young woman in question stroked the swirl of the Luring Pokemon’s arm as she replied telepathically through the Metagross looming behind them, <That’s the point, Lumen. We need this guy to take us seriously instead of dismissing us out of hand. Given that I don’t want to belt out my status in the International Police all over, I can’t just show up and expect he’ll look twice at us. Besides, being nice with an aura of intimidation is a good sweet spot for getting the guy to listen to us.>

Lumen’s head plume became taller for a second—his approximation of a sigh, but the few people still around jumped briefly before it became clear that it was not a violent gesture. The route was already relatively empty, being featureless save for the town taken over by Team Skull some years before. Even so, there were even fewer people around Ruqayyah than the lack of people would imply: while a Whimsicott on a small woman’s head was not very frightening, the Metagross behind her and Chandelure beside her clearly were. The trainer didn’t want anyone bothering her, and was hoping that her Pokémon would put people off, a strategy that would work only if some upstart thinking they wanted a battle didn’t come along.

<An inquiry,> Mika’il the Metagross interrupted his trainer’s thoughts about what she was going to do to any idiot who interrupted her, <How certain are we that this man is in fact the face behind Team Hourglass?>

Ruqayyah shot Mika’il an annoyed look as she corrected, <The Hourglass Movement. ‘Team Whatever’ has been overdone by many edgelords over the years and I refuse to use the syntax. Anyway, you know as well as I do that it’s almost completely certain. We’ve seen him at several rallies and he was the main guy who consistently seemed angry at the leadership, something you personally found out. He also had the symbol in several conspicuous places, and he even lairs in Po Town, which I remind you is the same place Team Skull used to stay, contrasting to the Natural Order’s hideout of the VLFD the Aether Foundation used to use. Why do you need me to tell you this for the third time now?>

The Metagross gave her a half-hearted glare and replied, <Because if we’re wrong, we’re going to look incredibly stupid while surrounded by Jirachi knows what Pokémon. He’s also likely to be quite annoyed that we disturbed him at his house regard->

<We’re here,> Lumen interjected. Meep the Whimsicott, sitting on her trainer’s head, perked up, having fallen asleep earlier. She then promptly fell off with a squeak.

The walls of Po Town loomed above the trainer and her companions. They would have intimidated Ruqayyah significantly more if their former occupants hadn’t been the laughingstock of the international police.

Mika’il huffed, <Ok, fine. How do you want to do this?>, he asked Ruqayyah.

The trainer thought for a moment, <Meep will sit on my head so she can intervene quickly if something goes wrong.> The Whimsicott loftily assumed her place on her trainer’s head as though nothing happened. <Mika’il, you will be in front to take any attacks that might be aimed at us, while Lumen will be behind us so he can immolate any aggressors from afar.>

Lumen nodded with his body, <Understood. Shall I cloak us in the shadows?>

At Ruqayyah’s assent, Lumen summoned forth patches of darkness designed to make the group blend in with the dreary environment. They would not be completely invisible so much as difficult to notice and assess. As they walked through Po Town, Ruqayyah noted any potential ambush sites while making a strategic assessment of the layout of the area with a trained eye.

When the team stood in front of the Shady Mansion, Ruqayyah had everyone take a few steps back before Lumen suddenly dropped their disguise. From the outside, it would look like she simply appeared. She did not say anything, but allowed her team’s sudden presence to speak for itself.

OoC: Sukainah will have something up sometime tomorrow.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Garret Marshall
Main Street Hau'oli City- Carpark
Affected RPers: Winter

Garret was cruising at 90mph, give or take a few, towards his destination for the night. A multi-level carpark, to win some money from some cocky teenagers. However it was proving to be more difficult now than before. He had the reputation, and people were more hesitant to race him. He had to make it interesting.

He flew past a car parked on the side of the road, but didn't bother slowing down for it. It was a speed camera, however the car was in the companies name. It meant that the fine would be huge, until he nominated a driver. However until a driver was nominated there would be no demerit points involved. If he saw red and blue, it wouldn't take much to outrun them. The fastest police cars in Alola are V8, Dodge Chargers, which have much slower acceleration, and a lower top speed, as well as don't handle as well as the FD. It wouldn't take much to lose the police. And even if they caught sight of his number plate... Well, Garret had taken precautions to deal with that...

The streets were usually somewhat empty at night during this time of year, so it intrigued him slightly to see a what looked like a woman and a Gallade walking down main street. Not enough for him to slow down, but intrigued him nonetheless.

After a few minutes, he arrived at his destination. He made his way up the ramps to the top floor, kicking the back of the car out on the corners. The people on the top floor would have heard him coming from a fair distance. He arrived at the top, and parked the car, before getting out. As he walked to the main group, he had a look at the cars that were there. Most of them were the usual suspects. A couple of Skylines, Miatas, Integras, WRX's. However there was one that stood out. The VL Commodore SS.

When he approached the group, he saw the new person. A beefy looking young man, with a tanned complexion. His black hair was near non existent, cut to a buzz cut. He wore cargo shorts and a white singlet, as if to show off the muscle that wasn't really there.

As he got closer to the group he could hear one voice, fairly louder than the rest. The new guy.

"I'm not sure what the appeal is to you guys. Personally, I can't go past the classics. There is no beating the VL." the new guy said, as Garret joined the group, making eye contact. "Especially in that rice-burner."

One of the regulars went to make a comment about the RX7, and what had been done to it, but Garret shot him a quick glare. If this idiot knew what exactly he had done to the Mazda, there is no way he'd race him.

"Rice burner? Really?" Garret asked, deciding to play dumb, "The VL would be pushing, what 120kW? I have a feeling that the rice-burner might just leave you a little embarrassed."

"Yes, it's a rice burner. Honestly, those cars from Kanto are pathetic. Small engines with turbo's stuck on them just don't stack up against a V8." the new guy said, starting to laugh, "And more like 140kw."

"This guy knows nothing." Garret thought to himself before pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket.

"$5000 each, quarter mile. To make it interesting, it's a six-speed, but I won't go past fourth gear." Garret said, "I couldn't make it any easier for you. Unless you don't think your VL can stack up to a ricer with a tiny engine? My car hasn't even got four cylinders..."

The new guys cocky expression flashed to one of nervousness for a second. He remained silent.

"You've done nothing but talk s**t all night, and now you're too scared to put your money where your mouth is?" someone yelled out.

"Fine." The new guy said, pulling out a wad of cash. "Winner takes all."

With that, Garret made his way to the car and drove it down to the bottom of the carpark making his way to the usual spot on the outskirt's of the city. It was less likely for there to be cops there.

Garret pulled up at the starting line, with the VL pulling up next to him. Whilst one of the regulars from the meet was organising for people to be blocking roads in, Garret wound down his window, and yelled out to the other driver.

"Let's make this interesting. After the quarter mile, we race back to the car park. Double or nothing." Garret suggested, "And believe me, if you don't want to walk away from here poorer, you are going to want that extra chance."

"I don't need it to beat that piece of s**t." He said, "But fine. I can't say no to someone who practically wants to give their money away."

Garret nodded before pulling aside the person who was going to start the race. Zach, who drove a blue Mazda Miata. Garret had worked on it, and knew it could easily keep up with the VL.

"Once this race starts, follow him." Garret whispered, "Make sure he comes back to the meeting point. I'll give you something for your help."

Zach nodded before making his way to the start line.

"You guys both know the drill. Loser pays up if they don't make it to the finish line first. But it becomes double or nothing. If the loser is last getting back to the carpark, then they pay double. If they get back first, they pay nothing. We clear?" Zach said.

"Yep." Garret replied. The other guy nodded.

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."


"GO!"

Garret took off, letting off the clutch perfectly, with the smallest amount of wheel spin. The VL however spun a little bit longer. It was too late. A regular FD like Garret's would take 5.6 seconds to reach 60mph. It took Garret less than four.

Garret agreed to not going past fourth gear for the race, however never needed to. He finished the quarter mile about four seconds ahead of the VL, and made his way to the freeway entry ramp. Once he was on the freeway, he put his foot down to a cruising speed of roughly 120mph, at about 6000rpm. After this, getting back to the carpark was a dream, even driving like a normal person on Main Street. The VL never stood a chance. He drove back to the top floor of the carpark, and parked the car. Now he had to wait for his prize to arrive.

Notes:

-Seeing as Kanto is based off the Kanto Region of Japan, I referred to Japanese cars as Kanto cars.
-FD: Third Generation Mazda RX7, produced between 1993-2002.
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/186/3/8/fd_rx7_widebody_by_jaxinc-d49i9ep.jpg
-VL SS: 1986-1988 Holden Commodore. SS variant has V8 engine, as opposed to regular straight-six.
https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.Mb79b059ddd0b91e211564eedd9defc09o0&pid=15.1
-Rice-Burner/Ricer: A derogatory term for japanese cars/done up japanese cars.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Alice Fern
Melemele Sea -> Hau'oli City

Alice stood at the prow of the ship. The wind whipped her shoulder-length hair into her eyes, but she didn't mind at all. On her right shoulder, Plume clung to her coat, her claws wrapped tightly around a small leather strap Alice had sewn on after the Archen had destroyed five other coats with her sharp talons. Plume squawked happily as the gusts blasted the pair, wings spread wide as if she was flying. Alice laughed, eyes closed, one hand clutching the metal railing to stop her from falling. It had been a long journey from Pallet Town, Kanto. She had taken a train, a plane and now a ship to reach Alola. The fresh air and bright skies woke her from her travel-induced stupor. Alola was supposed to be beautiful. Though she was here for serious reasons, she would try and enjoy it.

As the ship pulled into the Hau'oli City Marina, Alice scooped Plume off her shoulder with a well-practiced hand. The bird squawked in protest, but quickly quieted down when Alice began combing her messy feathers back into their usual positions. "You love flying, don't you?" Alice grinned. She had installed a tyre swing in the backyard of the laboratory at home, for Plume to swing around on. The bird never got tired of swinging through the air.

Alice joined the rest of the passengers disembarking from the ship. It was only a smallish vessel, and the hundred or so people were mostly tourists come to soak up some famous Alola sun. She joined the throng of people heading into the city proper, eager to find something to eat. As she walked the streets, she saw numerous banners advertising a Natural Order rally, set for the next day. Perfect timing, she thought. The rally would be a good way to get more information, at the very least.

Alice found something to eat in one of the many beach-front restaurants. While she ate, she flicked through the latest news on the Poketech she wore around her wrist. Nothing major seemed to have gone down since she had left Kanto, which was definitely a good thing. Before switching off the smartwatch, she sent a quick message to Ben back at the lab, letting him know she had arrived safely. Her assistant would be running things while she was gone, with the help of a few Pokemon Alice had left behind. She had told him it was a research trip, but he seemed skeptical at the time. She trusted him, but wouldn't get him involved until she knew what was going on. The lab Pokemon needed one of them, at least.

Alice paid for her food and left the restaurant. It was getting colder as the sun disappeared below the horizon. Alice pulled the collar of her long white coat up higher around her ears. Plume was subdued on her shoulder now, eyes closed and resting on her leather perch. Alice was always amazed that the bird could retain her balance so well when sleeping. The past days' travel catching up to her, Alice yawned and headed off in search of somewhere to sleep for the night.

[Soups]

OOC: After writing my first post in first-person, I'm deciding to stick with first-person since it's most comfortable for me.

Vincent Gray
Hau’oli Inn
Hau’oli City, Alola

Vincent’s mind was dead-set on the Natural Order rally. No matter how much he attempted to retire for the night, the thought of tomorrow’s event prevented him from doing so. And who was one to blame him? To him, the Natural Order was fooling the masses and the fact was disheartening. If he had any ideas of derailing them, tomorrow was an opportunity – a great first step.

Vincent’s Pokémon had little trouble getting rest. Victory devoted the majority of his energy to playing with several other Pokémon he had met earlier at Eddie’s, so his route to rest wasn’t a difficult one. The rest of the team kept to their Pokéballs as usual, which essentially meant “more space” in the rather small Inn room.

“Breathe, Vince…” Vincent muttered to himself, letting how a short sigh afterward, “…just breathe, dude. Everything will be fine.”

He began to think of his father whom had passed away years prior. The thoughts often gave him strength and a sense of purpose. He missed him dearly and understood that with the presence of the Natural Order, he had an opportunity to make him proud.

“I wish you were here, dad…” he said, faintly, “But I know you’re watching me from above.”

He reached across the desk that sat on the right side of him and clicked off the dimly lit lamp.

“I won’t let you down.”

[Winter]

Teri and Alan Romer
Shady Mansion, Po Town
Affected RPers: @Death’s Spook

He had almost successfully drifted off to sleep when Teri suddenly felt the slap and jerk he associated with Lucina grabbing one of his arms. Within a span of seconds, he went from being almost asleep to almost in a blind panic. “Luci--”

“Solomon says we have visitors. They came in through the entrance, but they’ve been cloaked in shadows--” Lucina had begun to explain, however Teri felt another presence brush his mind before...almost stepping inside.

“Ah, there we go, awake!” a cheerful but oddly deep voice chimed--Solomon the Slowking had finally jumped into the discussion. “What Lucina was saying is correct--I am detecting four active minds, one woman, three Pokemon, and one of the Pokemon is of a much higher intelligence, the sheer size suggests a Metagross, possibly? They aren't giving off a negative aura, but I’d take precautions...it seems they expected some measure of warning, however, as they’re standing in front of the door now, but none of them has moved to ring the doorbell--I’ve already warned the night guards to observe, but not to attack without provocation. At the very least, have Beetle accompany yo--”

“We shall go as well, milord,” the piece of cloth around Teri’s forearm tightened possessively as Lucina demanded to go with him to greet their odd night guests.

“Lucina,” the young man grumbled, sitting up and carefully attempting to wiggle out of bed. His Salazzle, Morrigan, had a habit of sleeping curled up beside him, and Herman the Passimian had claimed the foot of the bed as his sleeping area long ago. “Luci, why don't you go warn Alan’s guards? Beetle will take good care of me, and so will the night guards, but someone’s got to watch over Allie. Can you do that for me?” The cloth snapped off his arm in a gesture that suggested displeasure, but he knew she wouldn't argue. Not when she knew that Teri loved his little brother more than his own life. Without further conversation, the Doublade floated out of the bedroom to post herself in front of a door just down the hallway. Now he just had to get his mostly gentle giant awake.

By the time the young man answered the door, several minutes had passed. He stood in the doorway wearing a fluffy black bathrobe over pinstriped cotton pajama bottoms, his house slippers remained ignored some feet away. His hair had had just enough time to make an absolute mess of itself, poking out every which way, and he rubbed at his eyes tiredly, looking particularly carefree and sleepy, despite the hulking form of his Golisopod standing behind him. “Thank you for paying a visit to--” he paused to stifle a yawn before continuing, “to the Po Town Pokemon Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, my name is Teri. What can I help you with tonight?” Even as he spoke, Teri’s eyes flashed over his potential opponents--a woman whose height rivaled his own, the Whimsicott perched on her head, a Metagross, and a Chandelure. “I assume a Pokemon surrender?” he finally added on. Pokemon like Metagross and Chandelure were rumored to be difficult to train, and normal people didn't drop in at absurd times of the night to chat. Either this was a surrender, or something fishy was going on, and he wasn't sure which it was.

Beatrice Bennett
Carpark, Hau’oli
Affected RPers: Desolate Divine

By the time they reached the parking structure, it had emptied out. They’d heard the unmistakeable rev of engines earlier, but for it to be empty? Beatrice hadn't planned for that.

“Bust,” Lance observed, a sour expression tugging at his mouth. As much as he had opposed the trip, he didn't like the idea of going home empty-handed. Apparently neither did his trainer, as Beatrice walked around the perimeter of the structure’s top floor before picking a wall and leaning against it.

“Not yet. They’re known to do races--or that’s what everyone said. Let’s wait a bit before leaving, it’d speak badly of me to give up so soon,” the woman replied, to which the Gallade gave an annoyed shake of the head.

“It speaks badly of you to be out looking for someone to hire in the middle of the night, in an otherwise deserted parking garage,” he shot back, but Beatrice only smiled in reply as the sound of an approaching vehicle met her ears. Lance tensed immediately, and moved towards her, watching as the woman’s face lit up with a smile that the Gallade hadn’t seen in at least two years--it was like someone had flipped a switch.

She approached the car with caution that was so well veiled that Lance only knew about it because he was maintaining a presence in her mind, that sunny smile still gracing her lips. “Finally, a person! I was starting to wonder if maybe I’d missed everyone,” she greeted the driver as soon as he was in earshot. Her eyes scanned the car quickly--it looked sleek and fast, something that might actually be worthy of racing, instead of something meant for more practical transport. In actuality, Beatrice knew little to nothing about cars, but that was why she was looking to hire someone else.

She just hoped this group knew someone she could hire, and that she wouldn't need to pull out her heavy hitting team members in order to get out of the garage safely.

[Noblejanobii]

OOC: FINALLY! Okay it won't take me as long to reply to this again, I swear.

Morgan “Camelot” Fey
Melemele Sea -> Hau'oli City
Affected RP’ers: Pokemon Trainer Sarah

Morgan closed her eyes and angled her face upwards. She was leaning against the railing on a small boat currently crossing the Melemele Sea from Akala Island. She had only just arrived in Alola about a week prior when she had heard of everything that was going on. Now, with the Natural Order rally just around the corner, it was time to act.

Merlin ruffled his feathers as he kept a tight grip with his talons on the railing of the boat. Morgan looked over at him before turning her gaze back to the setting sun over the sea. It was a beautiful sight. The colors reflecting of the sea were truly inspiring. Morgan made a mental note to include such a scene in her next book at some point. Maybe it would inspire someone too.

“We’re nearing port!” a voice called over the wind. Morgan looked back towards the helm of the ship and smiled at the person inside. While they had only been friends briefly, the two had quickly bonded. Kiosia Marinosa truly perplexed Morgan, but the woman was remarkably likable, and went out of her way to bring Morgan to Melemele Island despite the fact that she needed to head out with her crew early the next day. If this wasn’t true friendship, Morgan did not know what was.

The small boat drew closer to the docks. Kiosia quickly worked through the process of docking the boat before turning off the engine and helping Morgan off. With just her pokemon and her backpack, Morgan hadn’t brought much. Kiosia looked Morgan over one last time before grinning.

“Best of luck to you! I’ll be watching for you on the television if we get back to civilization in time. Don’t do anything too reckless now, okay?” Morgan rolled her eyes at Kiosia’s commentary, though she could hear the small tone of worry in Kiosia’s voice.

“Just don’t get caught by the police this time. I won’t be able to get to Akala Island in time to bail you if you get caught again.” Kiosia’s smile grew a bit wider at that. “I promise I’ll be careful,” Morgan added, “Hopefully we’ll meet again soon. I’ve got your pokegear number so if I need anything I’ll call, okay?” Kiosia saluted then hugged Morgan. The two girls embraced for a few moments before Kiosia released Morgan. Morgan stood on the docks and watched as Kiosia undocked the ship then departed, the small boat disappearing into the ocean towards Akala Island. Sighing a little, Morgan started into Hau'oli City.

Quite candidly speaking, Morgan was slightly nervous, as she usually was when visiting a new place. She would have felt much more comfortable if Kiosia had stayed, but that was not meant to be, it seemed. Oh well, that just meant Morgan had to make some new friends. As Morgan left the docks and began to look around for a place to spend the night, a familiar sweet scent curled around Morgan’s nose and made her mouth water. If there was one thing that Morgan thought Alola was superior to all in, it was their desserts. Upon arriving in Alola, Morgan had quickly discovered that her kryptonite was malasadas. Morgan quickly located the shop and purchased a few to go.

Morgan resumed her search as she ate one of the malasadas, Merlin perched on her shoulder, turning his head back and forth. He hooted in caution when he realized Morgan was not paying attention to where she was going, but it was too late. In her distraction of the out of this world taste of the Melemele Malasadas, Morgan walked right into someone else. Out of surprise, Morgan dropped her bag of Malasadas and stumbled back.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, bending down to collect her things as well as anything the woman she bumped into may have dropped. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. It happens sometimes, you know? I tend to lose focus and just operate on autopilot.” Morgan knew that probably wasn’t enough. She paused in putting all her malasadas back in her take out bag and held one of the unopened ones out to Alice. “Maybe this will make up for my carelessness?” she offered.

[Sieses]

Sable Hawthorn
Hau’oli City

The streets of Hau’oli city were bright and lively even after the sun went down. It was one of the things that Sable actually found familiar about the island region; while there were a number of cities in Unova that seemed to shut down as night fell, Castelia City was as bright and alive at night as it ever was during the day, and that was where her journey stalled for the longest period of time during her journey through her home region.

Not that she ever really got stuck during her journey, but Castelia was so large that there always seemed to be something new to see that stalled any plans Sable had to leave. She would have missed out on so much if she had just done what she needed to while there.

Perhaps that was why she was taking the time to wander around Hau’oli City now, a day before anything really happened there, just to be sure she saw everything there was to see. She had no idea how the next day was going to transpire, and she had no intentions to have regrets should she not be welcome back into the city in the future. Not that she really thought things would ever escalate to the point where she would be kicked out of an entire city.

She honestly had no idea what it would take for that to even happen.

“You really gotta stop worrying,” Robin said from his perch on her shoulder. “I know you never really worry about yourself, so that means you’re worried about us, but we can take care of ourselves! And we all want to do this. I mean, if you decided not to go, some of us would probably go ourselves!”

Sable smiled despite herself. “Then I’d really have something to worry about.”

“Absolutely!”

“Huh." Sable shook her head, smile not leaving her face. "You know, that almost sounds like blackmail, with how eagerly you're agreeing.”

“It totally is,” the Swoobat confirmed.

“Good to know.”

Robin tapped her on the side of the head with a wing. “Now I know something’s the matter. You’d usually be teasing me about being so upfront or something, not just stop at that.”

“Nothing's the matter,” Sable insisted. “I’m just a bit worried about tomorrow; you were right about that.”

“You’re not the type to be that worried about yourself, though?”

Sable put a hand in the pocket of her jacket and grabbed the Hourglass necklace within. “Oh, it’s just nerves. It’ll be gone before we need to be there.”

“Really? Just nerves?” Robin hummed for a moment. “Alright, fine, whatever you say, but you’re not getting out of this talk if you’re still like this tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, yeah...”

Sable took a moment to glance at her surroundings once again. Everything seemed a bit duller; be it because it had gotten late enough that things were really starting to shut down, she was too tired to take in just how bright everything was, or just some weird indicator of her mood. One way or another, she wasn’t very interested in going anywhere anymore.

“Let’s go back to the hotel,” she decided. “We should probably have a good night’s sleep for tomorrow, anyway.”

“Sounds good to me!”

It took barely a change in direction for Sable to be walking in the direction of Route 2, and the two began their trek in silence.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Garret Marshall
Hau'oli City

Garret Marshall
Hau'Oli City Carpark

"No, you haven't missed us just yet." Garret replied to the unusual woman who approached him. He had to admit, she was easy on the eyes, "The others will be here as soon as they make sure the a**hole I just beat comes back here and keeps his end of the deal."

"So are you here to admire the cars?" Garret asked. Before the woman could answer, the sound of a badly maintained V8 engine echoed from the street below. Garret looked over the edge to see the VL driving down, with a few of the regulars driving behind and either side of it. They weren't letting him get away.

"When the others get her, stay behind the car. Things may get ugly." Garret said, "It should be fine, but just to be safe, trust me."



Beatrice could only quirk an eyebrow at the driver's initial reply--so he was a racer! That, however, was overshadowed by the fact that apparently she had arrived at a bad time. Confident in her Pokemon's skills, she opened her mouth to object to staying behind the car, but Lance already had her by the arm, and was tugging her away. "He may talk like a potential thug, but I do agree that you should stay behind the car," the Gallade told her, as though to try to keep her from complaining.

Instead, Beatrice let herself be tugged, though a slight pout tugged at ther lips--she clearly wasn't pleased with this sudden turn of events. Not one to be discouraged, she slipped a pokeball from the belt at her waist, and gripped it tightly. Sid the Inkay wasn't exactly the strongest member of her team, but he was good for disorienting potential problems, which the driver looked to have on his hands.



Garret Marshall
Hau'oli City Carpark
The woman seemed as if she wanted to object, but with her Gallade, made her way behind the car. Less than a minute later, a large group of cars made their way up the ramp to the rooftop where they stood, one of them being the VL.

The newcomer got out of his car, with a look of fury, and made his way towards Garret.

"You motherf-." He began, stopping in his tracks, when he realized he was looking down the barrel of a gun in Garret's hands.

"We had a deal. $5000 to the first across the finish line. Get back here first for Double or Nothing." Garret said, "I crossed the finish line first, and got here first, all without going past fourth gear. So you owe me 10K."

"I'm not giving you anything! There was no way that was a fair race!" the newcomer shouted, "You said your car didn't even have four cylinders, and that's a load of bulls**t! It must be at least a V8."

There was a roar of laughter from the others watching this, with Garret himself having a chuckle. The newcomer looked around confused. Garret walked to his car, opened the door and pulled the latch to open the bonnet. He stuck his hand underneath and pulled the lever to lift it.

"Come here." Garret said to the newcomer. When he didn't move, Garret spoke again, "That wasn't a suggestion, it was an order. Just remember who has the gun."

The newcomer made his way over cautiously, as Garret gestured to the engine in the FD.

"Does that look like any V8 you've ever seen before?" Garret asked. The newcomer muttered to himself quietly.

"I didn't quite hear that."

"No..."

"That's a rotary engine. It has a displacement of roughly 1900cc, and puts out nearly 300hp, as opposed to the 160 or so that would come from that 30 year old V8 you have running that pile of s**t." Garret said menacingly, "It has no cylinders or pistons. It uses three rotors instead. So I kept my end of the deal. Now you have to pay up. $10,000."

The newcomer was silent, trying to find some excuse to have none.

"We have all exits to this place blocked." Garret explained, "Unless you feel like jumping, we aren't letting you leave here without paying, and I will get my money one way or another."

Upon another round of silence, Garret sighed.

"F**k this." he muttered to himself, before pointing the gun at the windscreen of the VL and shooting. A bullet went through it, as well as the drivers headrest, probably lodging itself in the back seat. Everyone remained silent. They had seen Garret pull a gun when people didn't agree to their end of the deal but throught it was just for show. The watched the scene nervously.

"For f**s sake, fine, a**hole." the newcomer muttered to himself, before pulling two wads of cash out, and handing them to Garret.

Garret began counting the money as the newcomer spoke.

"I don't know why I don't go to the police. Tell them I was held at gunpoint and had 10K taken from me..."

"Do it. Tell them you staked it on an illegal drag race." Garret said, not looking away from counting the money, "They'd have a field day, defecting your car. I heard that straight pipe from a mile away, and the tires are balder than my father. The brakes sound like they were the ones that came with the car, and there is no way those headlights are legal. You know it's only running on seven cylinders right? It is way too weak to be running on all eight, and it shouldn't be shaking like that, so it probably needs new spark-plugs as well."

The others laughed to themselves, whilst Garret counted the money.

"Sweet, it's all here." Garret said before looking the newcomer in the eye, "Now as for you. You came to OUR meet, talked s**t on all OUR cars, then lost to US, and tried to get out of your end of the deal. You can now politely f**k off, and never return here, if you know what's good for you."

The newcomer left, red in the face both from a bruised ego, and pure rage, as Zach made his way over.

"I radioed ahead to the finish line and told them to not let him get away." Zach explained.

Garret pulled out $2000 from the wads of cash, and handed it to Zach.

"Split this with the guys that helped you." Garret said, "Thanks for your help. I wouldn't be $8000 richer without you."

As Zach went to split their earnings for the night, Garret remembered the other newcomer. The strange woman and her Gallade that stood behind his car. The other guys didn't seem to have noticed her with the scene that had just occurred.

"Sorry about that." Garret said as he made his way over, "I have dealt with his type before. Cocky, and too stupid to realize that they've f**ked up."

Most of the others had returned to their cars, and were starting to head off.

"Everyone is starting to split. Someone has probably reported the gunshot, so the police will be here soon." He said to the unusual woman, "Sorry that's all you got to see. But can I give you a lift somewhere?"

Notes

Rotary Engine is another variety of engine that uses rotors instead of pistons. Basically different design doing the same thing.
http://hypescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/10.gif
Standard Piston Engine
http://www.netanimations.net/Wankel_Rotary_engine.gif
Rotary Engine.

Straight pipe is an exhaust modification that basically cuts out the muffler from the exhaust making the car stupidly loud. Illegal in some places.



Beatrice Bennett
Hau'oli Carpark

As soon as the gun came out, Lance had Beatrice behind him, mind ready to fire off a Protect, though he wasn't sure how well it would work one something that wasn't a Pokemon move. For his trainer, though, he would try. "Put Sid back, release Sage, have him use Teleport. I am not about to let you--" the sentence went unfinished as the sound of the gun firing filled the air. Realizing it hadn't been fired in their direction, Lance yanked Beatrice down, closer to the ground, making them both even less noticeable than they had been. "I swear Jonah is going to get an earful about this when we get back. Someone elee needs to do fieldwork--"

"I'm the one who went to where the car people were instead of hitting up all the garages in town, stop complaining about Jonah. It's not like anyone else would hire me," Beatrice countered mentally, too shaken up herself to speak.

"Before this gets any more out of hand, Sage. Teleport. Now. Before he comes back for yo--" Of course, it was at that precise moment that the driver stepped around the car and began apologizing and offering up a brief explanation. Lance shot to his feet, putting himself between the armed man and his trainer, clearly not trusting him with the woman one bit.

"He knows cars, Lance, what if this night wasn't a bust after all?" Beatrice slowly stood, a look of shaken apology on her face. "Er, sorry, Lance is very protective of me," she told the man, reaching out to place her empty hand on the Gallade's back, the other still clutched her Inkay's pokeball. "Stand down."

"Beatrice, I--"

"Stand down, Lance. If anything goes sour, I'll use Sid, then Paul, then Sage. Disorient, wipe his memories, then hop out like I was never here." As the Gallade eased, she looked the driver dead in the eye, and said quietly, "I do have a question, though, if I refuse that ride, what happens?
Do I get a gun in my face, too?"



Garret chuckled at the question.

"As long as you don't ever end up owing me money, you won't have to worry about this." Garret replied gesturing to the gun, before putting it away, "You're fine to say no. I just know that wherever you're going will be a fair walk, seeing as I drove past you walking down Main Street on my way here."



Beatrice tilted her head slightly, "So you're the genius who was flying down the street, I thought I recognized that car," she replied, seeing to ease up, but Lance noted that the tension didn't quite leave her body, and she still hadn't loosened her grip on Sid's Pokeball. Lance moved back, closer to her, though he was painfully aware that at standing height, Beatrice was several inches taller than he was, and that he couldn't shield all of her. "Speaking of cars, I gather from that conversation that you know them pretty well? If you don't mind answering a few questions, I'll take you up on that offer." Lance glanced back at the woman in alarm--she couldn't possibly be entertaining the idea of asking this man for help.

Of course, all he could feel from her was determination and curiosity now. She was wary of the man in front of them, but not much more wary of him than she would have been of anyone else, and that worried the Gallade just the tiniest bit.



"Sure. But let's get going before the cops show up." Garret said, going to the passenger side and opening the door, "Though I only have two seats..."

The woman put her Gallade back in it's Pokeball, before climbing into the passenger seat of the car. The interior was mostly black, with leather racing seats and most of the plastic replaced with carbon fiber to reduce weight. The foot-wells were illuminated by a bright white LED from above. The standard stereo had been pulled out, and been replaced with an iPad Mini. The gauges with the speed and revs had been replaced with digital instruments, with the only part that looked standard being the steering wheel.

Garret climbed in, and started the car, causing the engine to roar to life. Before he took off however he opened an app on the iPad, and placed his thumb over the thumb print scanning home button. There was a click as the cover that concealed the passenger airbag clicked open. When Garret bought the gun, he built traps into all of his cars that only he could open, in the event of being pulled over and searched. He rarely had passengers, so the airbag wasn't being used. He just had to hope he didn't crash tonight.

Once they were out of the carpark, Garret made his way down main street, sitting at about 75mph.

"So you said you have some questions?" Garret asked, "I own a garage around here, probably the best on the island. I may be able to help."



Beatrice refrained from giving a low whistle as her eyes traveled across the inside of the car, though a triumphant grin slid onto her face as the man offered up that he owned a garage. "We will, we will," she murmured, before speaking up at a more normal volume. "I'll admit I don't know much about cars myself, but if I did, I wouldn't be looking to hire someone. That being said, it certainly looks like there's been a fair bit of work doen on your car--did you do it yourself?" she asked, scientist's curiosity starting to kick in.



"Mostly yes." Garret replied, "When I bought this, it was without an engine or gearbox. This is an RX7, but the engine is 20B from a Mazda Cosmo, and the gearbox is a 6 speed from a Mazda RX8, that I've modified to handle the extra power."

Garret dumped the clutch and shifted up a gear, cruising at about 90mph.

"I hand picked the parts and designed the custom stuff myself. The tedious s**t that anyone can do, I paid other people to do. The specialty stuff that I don't trust anyone else to do, I did myself." Garret replied, "I have this and an S15, but also did up an RX3 and an AE86 Sprinter. Then there is my current project which I am keeping on the down-low."



"That's...really impressive. At least, to someone like me... Though can you really say you're keeping it on the down-low if you're telling the stranger that just hopped in the car with you?" Beatrice asked, though in her head, the guy''s resume was starting to rack up. Somehow, she'd managed to luck out in spite of the gun incident and the guy's thing for excessive speeding. "What kind of work do you do at your garage, though? I know some people only do basic work, or only specialized work...so what do you do?"



"I get broken into a lot, so if I have something particularly rare or expensive in the garage, my policy tends to be to be discreet." Garret replied, "It took me months to track down the part I needed, and cost me an arm and leg. Not taking any chances. I mean, I'm giving you a lift but he'll, I don't even know your name."

"As for what I do, how long is a bit of string?" Garret asked with a chuckle, "I can do basic services and tune-ups. But so can every mobile mechanic in Alola. Half the reason I decided to set up shop here was because there were very few actual garages here. It's too expensive to set up something like I have out here for most people. And because of that when someone does, they rule the market."

"Most of my work is specialty stuff. Stuff that most mechanics here either don't have the equipment, know how, or nerve to try. My cars are an example of that." Garret said, "People in the car scene who know my work will come to me for basic stuff, but your average Joe doesn't come to me unless I am the only one who can do what he wants."



"I don't know your name either, but that's part of my point--I'm not sure why you're telling me of all people, not that I plan to do anything," Beatrice replied, before nodding to the man with a slight smile. "But I'm Bea. Nice to meet you." She'd put her Inkay's pokeball back in its place on her belt, but now she produced another plain pokeball, rolling it between her hands. She listened as he explained what kind of work he took on, and she actively had to fight to hide the sly smile she knew she'd be wearing otherwise. Jackpot. Jackpot, jackpot, jackpot. "Is there anything you don't do? Clearly you've got some friends with some interests that aren't exactly legal, so now you've got me a tad curious..."



"Garret." Garret replied, "And as for what I don't do, are you a cop?"

"I kid. But really, you can make anyone do nearly anything if you wave enough cash in their face. As long as there aren't any ties to me with the end product, then I don't mind doing stuff that has questionable legality." Garret said, "There is a reason I got the engine for this car so cheap. Hell, the license plate is on a motorized pivot. I can press a button and swap the plates. I paid someone in the DMV to let me make another registration of the car under a fake name. I have the fake ID to go with it. Basically, I won't get caught in this. Not for a while at least."


Beatrice gave a barking laugh as Garret asked her if she was a cop. "I'm so far from a cop it'd make your head spin. You think I'd have gotten in a car built for illegal drag racing with an armed man if I were? I'm stubborn, Mr. Garret, but not stupid." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing. This man seemed to be perfect for the jobs she needed done--a godsend if there ever had been one. "Let's just say I'm asking for a client who'd like some work done, and they'd like to be very careful about who knows about said work. They'd prefer the final product have no clear ties to anyone in particular--hard to trace, hard to catch, easy to deny ownership of if the first two measures fail. They'd provide the vehicles--I believe they're wanting two, if not three, and I'd need an estimate, but payment should be far from an issue."



"Bea, have you ever heard of the good, quick and cheap mentality?" Garret asked, "You can only pick two. If you want it good and cheap, it won't be quick. If you want it good and quick, it won't be cheap. If you want it cheap and quick, it won't be good. Where does your client stand on this spectrum?"

"As for what you want done, how long is a bit of string? I can go all out and make these things the perfect getaway vehicles. But it will be a lot of work and far from cheap. If you want a ballpark price for the complete works, it'll probably be around $200,000. Each. And that will go up if you want it sooner as I will have to outsource some work to save time. Nobody will see anything suspicious. But that means that whatever it is you do with these cars, as long as the driver knows what his doing, and doesn't do anything stupid, they can escape from nearly anything. I already have some ideas for it." Garret replied, "Has your client got cars in mind? Because they sound like some higher up who really doesn't know much about cars, and chances are they will pick the wrong ones."



"I never said anything about fast or cheap, Mr. Garrett. While sooner is definitely better, they understand things take time--especially perfection. As for price, my client was unsure what this kind of thing would cost, and didn't give me a maximum price range, but that's easily discussed. I don't believe they had any cars pre-selected, but the less conspicuous the better." Despite her unsure wording, Beatrice was confident that Jonah would be more than willing to pay up. In her experience, the man had more charm and money than actual brains, and tended to either try to smile his way out of things, or throw money at his problems until they went away--she knew he'd been a big business owner at some point. But...that was really all she knew. That, and that he was willing to hire anyone to achieve his goals, including a girl that clearly qualified as mentally ill, and someone who was on the run from the law.

"Would you be willing to give me sometime to speak with them, and get back to you? I know tomorrow is that rally--are you attending, or will your garage be open?"



"It's the spiel I give everyone. I have a poster of it on my garage wall." Garret replied, "You would not believe how many idiots have come to me wanting me to turbocharge their piece of s**t car in a day for the bare minimum."

"If he hasn't chosen cars yet, for the way I'd set these things up, I'd say get a Subaru Forester. Don't worry about what's under the bonnet, as I am not going to leave it stock. Just make sure that the body has no damage." Garret explained.

Bea mentioned the rally, to which Garret rolled his eyes.

"I won't be at the rally." he replied, "I'll be doing personal projects in my garage seeing as this rally is closing off main street, which is a pain in the a** for the businesses there. Mine included. Bring him by."



"I know the feeling--I do a few other things for my client, and unfortunately it's taken more time than I'd like to get him to understand that I'm not a magician...but he knows now." She had deliberately avoided telling the man what line of work she was actually in, but what she spoke was the truth. It had taken her several months to get Jonah to understand she couldn't finish a project yesterday the moment he snapped his fingers. Science wasn't like big business. She listened to Garret's suggestion on cars, nodding, though one thing bothered her...

"Do you have any suggestions on where to acquire one or two for a good price? I'm sure your connections in that aspect are better than ours. I can do footwork, but I don't like doing it without knowing where I'm going. That's how I end up in the middle of conflicts between angry drag racers." She paused for a moment to chuckle before responding to his last suggestion.

"...My client will be busy tomorrow, and would like to remain as anonymous as possible for reasons similar to your own. If you don't mind, I was appointed to be the middleman in this particular set of dealings, and as such, you will likely only see me during our dealings. It is possible that another one of my client's associates may be sent with me, but for the most part, that is unlikely." she said, praying this did not suddenly explode in her face.



"Just go to the dingiest, crappiest second hand car dealership around. Those places know that most people who buy from them know nothing about the engine, so put all of their budget into making it look nice, and fixing up the body. Find the cheapest one there that has a fairly clean and rust free body. Even if the paint is faded and the clearcoat is coming off. Just make sure the body is free of any damage or rust." Garret replied, "That's fine. As long as you and your client are 110% on the same page. Last thing I want is to have to pull half of the car apart again because there was a slight miscommunication."



"I'll have a look into some dealership websites before I visit tomorrow to give you my client's final verdict," Beatrice said, nodding to Garret thoughtfully. "I'll make sure we're on the same page, there won't be any worries there." After all, in the end, all Jonah was doing was footing the bill, really. The cars were needed as a secondary part to a project that he had her working on--one that had already proven successful several times over, now she just needed the transport vehicles to properly make the project a success.

"I believe that's all the questions I needed answered for now, Mr. Garret, so if rhat's all the questions and advising you have for me, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could drop me off by the Seabreeze Hotel by the port, please?" She hadn't exactly intended to stay the night, but it made more sense to do so now. All she had to do was have Sage briefly teleport her back to the Aether Paradise so that she could report in and grab a few things for her stay. She'd likely need to go car shopping in the morning, an idea that filled her with dread.

Great, just great. I get to hang out in Hau'oli while at it's most packed, her mind hissed.

"Sure." Garret replied, making his way to the freeway. After a few minutes, they were at the port, by Bea's hotel.

"Here." Garret said, handing her a business card, "Come by the garage when you're ready. Just, if you're doing dodgy s**t with the cars, don't leave that in them."

Garret was half kidding, but at the same time, had idiots whom he had done less-than-legal work for get caught with them, and had the police knocking on his door.

Once Bea had made her way inside, Garret drove back to the garage. The night was still young (to a degree) so he spent a few hours working on his personal project before getting some sleep.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Alice Fern
Hau'oli City
Affected RPers: Noblejanobii

Alice felt something hit her in the side, followed by the sound of something hitting the pavement. Her bag slipped off her shoulder, which was followed by a surprised squawk from Plume, who had been woken up and began flapping her wings agitatedly, hitting Alice in the face.

"Plume!" Alice said commandingly, and the bird stopped flapping and settled back down on her perch. Alice pushed her messed-up hair out of her face and turned to see a young woman in summery clothes, with brown hair and green eyes. She had a Noctowl with her. It looked like a well cared for Pokemon, which put Alice at ease a bit.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” the woman exclaimed as she scrambled to retrieve the bag of goods she had dropped, along with Alice's bag. She handed the bag over. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. It happens sometimes, you know? I tend to lose focus and just operate on autopilot.”

Alice smiled. "No harm done," she said, "At least I wasn't carrying any eggs!" Alice took the bag and swung it over her shoulder, which caused Plume to squawk, annoyed, and jump from Alice's shoulder to the ground. Plume looked up at the Noctowl curiously. <You should learn to drive your human better!> she laughed cheekily, before climbing up Alice's leg and back onto her perch.

“Maybe this will make up for my carelessness?” the young woman offered, holding out a parcel.

"Oh! A Malasada?" Alice asked. She had just eaten, but she was curious about the well-known Alolan food. "Thank you! I just ate, but I can't say no to trying Alola's famous dessert while I'm here!" She grinned, taking the offered parcel. "Thank you! By the way, I'm Alice, and this is my Archen, Plume. Are you from around here?" she asked. The young woman certainly fit right in with her summery clothes. Alice felt a little self-conscious. She was supposed to lie low and not attract attention but she already stood out among the tourists in their colourful Alolan shirts. "I just arrived from Kanto, I bet you can tell," she laughed, looking down at her long pants and white coat.

[Noblejanobii]

Morgan “Camelot” Fey
Hau'oli City
Affected RP’ers: Pokemon Trainer Sarah

"No harm done! At least I wasn't carrying any eggs!" Morgan looked up at Alice curiously. The girl was dressed in heavier clothing. Was she not hot? Then again, the sun was not at its peak anymore, so the temperature had dropped considerably. Maybe it was not as hot here on Melemele as it was on Akala. Morgan would find out shortly, she supposed. Still, the carrying eggs comment gave Morgan the impression either Alice was one of those IV trainers who took battling way too seriously, or she was a breeder! Morgan dearly hoped it was the later. It was no fun to battle against an IV trainer after all.

Merlin ruffled his feathers at Plume and swung his wings at Plume at the comment. "Towl!" he hooted. <As if I could command the lady if I wanted. Lady Morgan does not listen to my recommendations very often.> Morgan's expression brightened a little as Alice took the Malasada. She smiled and allowed Merlin to return to her shoulder, not bothered by his talons in the slightest. He had always disliked perches anyway and the two had learned how to make sure Morgan's shoulder was not accidentally sliced open in the process. Though whenever it did happen, the nurses used to give them very impatient looks since Morgan was not really following the recommended techniques.

"I was actually going to guess Johto but they are very close to one another," Morgan admitted as she stood up. "The malasadas here are great though. I got a ton as soon as I could when I arrived." Morgan shook her head a little. "I am not a native, but I have been staying on Akala Island for a little while now. It's why I have the summery clothes. I am actually originally from Sinnoh! I've been traveling quite a bit recently though, so I have a lot of outfits for any type of climate." Morgan looked up towards the sky. "We should probably see if the clothing stores are open. They may not be this late, but if you do not have any lighter clothing then you're in for a very sweltering afternoon tomorrow. It's nowhere near as miserable as Hoenn's heat, but Akala Island was always pretty hot during the day. You'll be burning up in those clothes." Morgan frowned a little and scanned the streets. "I just got here as well though so I'm afraid I don't know where the nearest clothing store would be."

[Death's Spook]

Ruqayyah Abdur-Rahman
Shady House, Po Town
ARPers: Winter

<Lots of stirring indicates we've been noticed. Ideal strategic points of attack are in these locations.> Ruqayyah communicated potential threat assessments to her teammates as she waited for her host to introduce himself.

<They’re psychically scanning us. Nothing invasive: it’s subtle enough that if I didn’t know to look for it, I wouldn’t know it was there.>

While Mika’il’s voice was gentle, Lumen still displayed clear discomfort, <I don’t like this, Ruqayyah. They’re reading us: what if they try something worse? If they try a psychic attack—>

Ruqayyah held up a hand: their host was approaching and she needed to calm Lumen quickly. <If they try a psychic attack, that’s felonious psychic invasion and therefore a life sentence without parole being even theoretically possible until after thirty years. Moreover, we’d be able to cause enough damage to bail quickly with Mika’il giving us warning.>[/I] Ruqayyah unconsciously fiddled with the Z Ring on her wrist: a recent addition to her wardrobe, but definitely a destructive one.

Behind her, Lumen still rubbed his arms together, a clear sign of his continued anxiety. Ruqayyah gently put a hand on him, <It’s going to be OK, Lumen.> Lumen calmed, albeit only just enough to keep from overtly displaying any nervousness.

A young man who was almost as short as Ruqayyah opened the door in a fluffy bathrobe and a hulking brute of a Golisopod behind him and blearily said, “Thank you for paying a visit to--” A brief yawn, “to the Po Town Pokemon Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, my name is Teri. What can I help you with tonight? I assume a Pokémon surrender?”

Ruqayyah bristled for a second: how dare this little slip of an ignoramus accuse her of being unable to train her Pokémon? She indulged her annoyance for a second before realizing this was a Pokémon shelter and it would be a logical thing to assume if he didn’t have context. Outwardly, she gave a small smirk, “Surrender? Lumen, are you aware of any Mamoswine that happen to fly just yet?” At the Chandelure’s head shake, Ruqayyah continued, “Then, nope, not here for a surrender. I’m here for something else altogether. See, I’ve heard you intend to get into some trouble. I would like to help you get in that much deeper.”


Sukainah Abdur-Rahman
Hano Grand Resort, Heahea City
ARPers: n/a

“And while I usually have very disparaging things to say about you and your sister’s sleep schedules, you really do want to take on the trail at Wela Volcano Park at night, Sukainah. It bakes enough there without adding the sun to boot.”

Sukainah listened intently to the advice of the golfer sitting next to her on the beach, “Wow, Miss Kahili! How do you know so much about battling and the trials? You must be almost as good as my sister!”

Kahili smiled slightly, and Sukainah got the impression there was a joke she didn’t know in the older woman’s reply, “Oh, you know. I just picked up a couple of things here and there. Plus, this is something I figure I should tell you, because if I let you die of heatstroke your sister would probably do mean things to me that I’m not going to tell you about.”

Sukainah gave a little giggle, and the Mimikyu in her arms made a happy sound. A few moments later, however, she quieted.

Kahili noticed the shift in mood, “Is something the matter, Sukainah?”

The girl shrugged, “I’m worried about my sister. This is the first time she’s left since we came to Alola and all she said is that she has some business on Ula’ula. I love her a lot, but because I love her, I also know she’s stubborn and reckless.” Sukainah sighed, “It’s part of the reason I want to grow stronger with my Pokémon: maybe if I’m a good enough trainer, I can stand beside her instead of behind her.”

Kahili gently drew Sukainah into a hug, “Yes, your sister is stubborn and she can get in a bit in over her head. She’s also brash, antagonistic, and generally grating. But when the chips are down, when it really counts, she always tries to do the right thing. If she’s not telling you what she’s doing, she’s probably doing it to protect you. But your goal is also worthy, though I do think Ruqayyah is going to have a heart attack the first time or two you try to do something risky on your own. You might have to talk to her about it.”

Sukainah clutched Rafiqi a little bit tighter, “Thanks, Kahili. For everything.”

Kahili gave a small laugh, “Thank me by not telling your sister that I encouraged you to take risks! She’d probably-”

“-do mean things that you aren’t going to tell me about.” Sukainah finished, laughing with her sister’s friend.

[Winter]

OOC: Due to the potential length of the following post, some of the content has been move to a Google Docs file. Please excuse the wordiness of the following interaction.

Teri Romer and Ruqayyah Abdur-Rahman (Joint Post)
Shady House, Po Town
ARPers: Winter Death's Spook

(OOC: For the sake of not overloading the page again, this entire conversation can be found right here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Xmx9tL8MHJPiBXoJktRbKRhLx4gXxkw7JTUjcT1jSYs/edit?usp=sharing), may be edited in later.)

Teri Romer
Natural Order Rally, Hau’oli City
ARPers: None

Thanks to his late night visitor, the morning dawned far too bright and way too early for Teri’s liking, though Morrigan had managed to sleep through the night without any more bad dreams, and Beetle and Lucina calmed down as soon as their little master was back in bed. Though he was displeased about not being allowed to go as well, Alan (with the help of his Bewear) all but shoved Teri out of the house after he’d dressed and had breakfast, telling his older brother not to worry about chores today and suggesting he page for a Charizard early--the sky’d be full of riders soon enough.

He had been right--for a bunch of liars, the Natural Order certainly knew how to draw a crowd. The streets were filling already, though not with the usual easygoing locals and excitable young trainers. Instead, these people were tense and quiet, talking among themselves in hushed tones that contrasted with the city’s usual loudness. Occasionally they glanced over to the simple wooden platform that had been set up with a pair of microphones and speakers, as though impatient to see the head himself up there, though thing weren’t scheduled to start for another half hour or so.

He still wore his hourglass pin snapped into his beanie, and that alone had gotten him several nasty looks from the quiet people, as though they couldn’t believe he had the nerve to show up at all, let alone wearing it. It had been happening more and more lately, but Teri had learned that it was just better to smile and wave--to present himself as friendly and peaceful would only help further prove that not all pro-Pokemon supporters were bad...at least, that was what he hoped. Of course, it helped when people laughed, too, as a few locals who knew him tended to do when they witnessed these encounters, to which he smiled and waved to them as well. Eyes scanning the crowd that had amassed so far, Teri kept his eye out for more people wearing hourglasses--there should have been at least a few here, if anyone had followed his and Alan’s trail of breadcrumbs. He really did hope to get some people together today, maybe then they’d be taken seriously, maybe then Natural Order would slip up.

After all, every time they gained a follower, the Pokemon of the region lost just a little more time.

Natural Order Upper Admistration
Admin Quarters, Aether Paradise->Natural Order Rally, Hau’oli City
ARPers: None

Corinne had only gotten worse, and that worried both Hershel and Jonah more than the men would admit. While Beatrice had avoided the worst of it, having poked in that night only long enough to speak with Jonah and collect a few things before popping out again with the help of her Alakazam, both the head of Natural Order and his second in command had had to deal with her.

She’d quickly gone from restless and staring out the window to getting antsy and screaming. Thankfully, they kept the area where administration was holed up quite far away from the rest of the full time volunteers and workers. Both of them had known that as soon as either one suggested that the girl place Kiri back in his Pokeball for the rally, things were going to go horribly south.

It had been worse than they expected. There had been an onslaught of screaming and throwing things on Corinne’s end--a coffee cup had been smashed beyond recognition, a small table overturned, paperwork scattered everywhere. The problem was that if she didn’t go, they knew there’d be no stopping the next fit, and both had lacked the foresight to ensure that it would be possible to lock the girl in her room during her fits to limit the area of damage...not that that was safe to do, either.

It had taken a full hour to calm her down, which had eaten into their departure time not only because it had taken that long to calm Corinne down, but because she then needed to be made presentable...again. At this point, however, she’d gone quiet and agreeable. She tolerated the Espurr being returned to his Pokeball, and sat still and silent long enough to let Hershel run a brush through her hair.

“...You’re humming, Hearse,” she’d pointed out as he finished, and the man paused for a moment before shaking his head. “You do it every time Jonah makes you brush my hair. Why is that?” The gaunt man was silent for a moment before standing and setting the brush aside. He plucked the black bow she’d snatched out of her hair in her earlier fit off of the table he’d set the brush on, and moved to tie it in her hair.

“Nunya,” he replied quietly, his voice impassive, even as he delivered softspoken revenge for the girl’s words to him the night before. Straightening the bow out and then dropping his hands to his side, he nodded to the door. “You’ve made us late. We should get going.” She didn’t try to talk to him again after that.

By the time they made it into Hau’oli’s port, they were ten minutes late, and it took them another five to get to the rally setup, made even slower by the packed streets. Once, Hershel had thought he’d seen Beatrice’s signature platinum blonde bob fighting the crowd to get down the street rather than up it, but the woman had her orders, and the rest of admin had theirs. In fact, he and Jonah now had more work to do, as they’d both agreed it was a poor idea to let Corinne anywhere near a microphone until they were certain her foul mood had passed.

[VeloJello]

Drew Abbes
Natural Order Rally, Hau’oli City
Affected RP’ers: Possibly Winter, Fellow rally attendees

It had been a while since Drew had been back to Hau’oli. They didn’t avoid the city despite having grown up there; they avoided it because they’d grown up there. It wasn’t exactly the worst place in Alola to be, but there were a lot of bad memories attached. Drew knew it was improbable, but every time they came here they worried that their parents would catch sight of them.

They ran a hand through their hair, where they knew that a purple streak cut through the black. They probably wouldn’t even recognize me, Drew thought. It wasn’t the nicest thought, but it was reassuring.

Besides, no one would be able to pick them out in the massive crowd that this rally had drawn. They’d had a hard enough time flagging down a flier with their ride pager, and squeezing through the crowd now wasn’t much fun either. Having Ikika with them complicated things, too - they held hands, and getting separated wasn’t too much of a risk given Ikika’s telepathy, but she was effectively another person that had to fit through the press of bodies.

Drew just hoped that no one would give them any trouble where Ikika was concerned. If anyone gave them trouble for having her out, they weren’t above claiming she was a service Pokemon - Psychic-types were known to be good for seizures, which was Drew’s usual claim - but they didn’t have the documentation to back it up.

The boy was so subtle they almost missed him, but unlike with Drew, the purple beneath his hat seemed to be in all of his hair, which was a little less than inconspicuous. More interesting, though, was the hourglass pin stuck in the hat. He looked like he was looking for something - there was purpose in his gaze.

<Ikika,> Drew thought, <You see the boy I’m looking at?>

The Hypno turned minutely even as Drew looked away, turning their gaze back to the mass of people. It was rude, and suspicious, to stare. <I see him. Hourglass pin, right? You want me to make sure that he’s legitimate?>

<Please.>

There was a brief pause, no more than a few seconds. Unless she had a very, very good reason, Ikika was never terribly thorough with her mind-reading. She and Drew both agreed that it was an invasion of privacy that should only be reserved for emergencies. Then she spoke. <I think he is okay,> said Ikika. <Searching, suspicious, a little disgusted. Here for a purpose, a reason. He has distaste for the Natural Order and he is looking for others like him. Approaching him would not be dangerous.>

Drew shook their head on instinct, then realized what they were doing and hoped no one had seen them shake their head at nothing like a doofus. <Not yet,> they said. <I want to hear the Natural Order make their case first. Just because he disagrees with them doesn’t make him right. And if he’s looking for people, he’s not going anywhere. We can talk with him afterward if need be.> Drew looked around at the NO uniforms scattered through the crowd, trying their best to keep thing organized. <When the speech starts, can you tell me if they’re lying?>

<It’s not always that simple,> said Ikika, <but I’ll do my best.>

<That’s all I can ask.> Drew stood, making sure to keep the hourglass boy visible in the corner of their eye. <Let’s hope this doesn’t all blow up in our faces.>