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.