Athena Pallas the Decidueye
The Gracidea Order
A bar in Lytala City

Athena watched the single television in the bar with complete and utter disinterest. The place was packed, every traveller in the area huddled in with few respects for personal space. They wanted to see the opening ceremonies that badly, it seemed. Athena took a careful sip from her drink, sparkling pecha cider with a shot of drapion vodka. Said to contain the poison from the beast itself, Athena had always been partial to it since one of the other girls had introduced it to her in the early days. Still, she was not drunk enough yet to revel in the events that took place on the television.

Her ladyship, Queen Total Ego, stepped out on stage to give a speech. Athena could see a few males in the corner making less than subtle sexual gestures. As if they’d ever get that unlucky with the queen. But then, all of hell broke loose. A toxicroak was on the stage faster than the blink of an eye, making a killing strike with the slash of his sword. But, his plan did not go accordingly, it was easy to see in his shocked expression as his air sac was popped. Athena instinctively placed a hand against her throat, feeling that cut somewhat on a spiritual level. Still, this had somewhat… unlikeable desires on the tavern gowers. Everyone was cheering and ordering more rounds of alcohol. There were plenty of places that Athena would rather be. Though from the sound of the explosions and celebrations outside, the situation out there was not much more favorable. Taking another sip of her drink, Athena paused to question why she was here. As if to answer the silent thought, a hand slammed down on the bar next to her. Athena glanced up to see her escort, a lurantis and a medicham, standing over her. As yes, that’s why.

Athena closed her eyes, recalling the events of a few days prior that had forced her into this situation. She had been at her home in Hana City, her husband due home from work any minute now. Her children, Lilliane and Marx, were playing in the living room while Athena cooked dinner to be ready for her husband’s arrival. Everything was fine until the sounds of play stopped, causing Athena to be sent on alert. As quietly as she could, Athena turned off the stove and prepared to attack the potential intruder in her house. Peeking her head around the corner, she spotted the perpetrator, a hydreigon wearing the robes of a Black Lotus assassin. The soulless kakó was stealing her children. Well now, that simply would not do. Prepping a spirit shackle attack, Athena took a deep breath in when suddenly the front door opened.

“Athena, Lilliane, Marx! I’m… home…” Brunswick froze at the sight of the hydreigon, the dragon clutching his children in either hand. Brunswick reacted, but the hydreigon was faster. Shooting out the window, the assassin fled, the rowlet and noibat still in his clutches. Athena fired her spirit shackle but the arrow barely missed, the hydreigon dodging at the last minute.

“That kakó!” Athena screeched, dashing out the window and taking flight after the Black Lotus member. Her black feathers spread, shooting Athena through the air as she slowly started to gain on the assassin. She could hear Brunswick not too far behind, and from the shouts on the street below, the neighbors had spotted the assassin as well. Signaling to the people below that she was going to attack, Athena tucked in her wings. She was going to do something risky, she only hoped Brunswick or someone else would be able to catch her children if she could not. Beginning to spin, Athena shot forward in a burst of green light and slammed into the assassin’s back. The hydreigon screeched from the pain of the bug attack and lost his grip on Lilliane. The noibat, still learning how to fly properly, tumbled down below, flapping her wings as best she could. Thankfully, several vines shot out to cushion the noibat’s fall, the combined effort of Athena’s neighbors preventing Lilliane from being harmed. As Athena swung back to her original position, she sighed in a little relief. One down, one to go.

Preparing another U-turn, Athena started to dive again when an alakazam appeared out of thin air. Spotting Athena, the alakazam fired a signal beam at Athena. Unable to dodge, Athena took the brunt of the hit head on and was reflected back to her original position. Brunswick took the opportunity to try an attack of his own, getting so close he could almost touch Marx, but a close range dragon pulse had sent the noivern spiraling. Athena tried to reach her son in time, but it was too late, the alakazam and hydreigon teleported away right as Athena was in reach, Marx still in their clutches.

Extremely distraught, Athena and Brunswick had contacted the Gracidea Order about the incident. An agent was deployed to meet with them and right as the noctowl arrived, a letter appeared on their doorstep. The message was simple, participate in the Tempest Festival, or Marx is never seen or heard from again. The letter did not specify which parent was to go, and Brunswick was pretty adamant about his going to fight due to the risks and highly likely possibility of the amount of strain and stress it would put on Athena’s body. But somehow, Athena had managed to convince Brunswick to let her go.

So here Athena was, in a bar in Lytala City, about to participate in the Tempest Festival. With multiple lives at risk, Athena was not entirely sure why she had convinced Brunswick to let her participate instead of him. Maybe it was because she felt she had been through more than him and could survive longer. Maybe it was because she had brought Marx into this world and she sure as hell was not going to be letting anyone take him out after only three years of life. Maybe it was because Marx’s screams as he had been taken away still rang in her ears. But no, while all of those were some part of the reason why Athena had convinced Brunswick to not participate, they were not the true reason. It was because Athena had learned a lesson a long time ago that the Black Lotus was about to learn the hard way, courtesy of their new professor, a decidueye that was out for blood. After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially if that woman was a mother. Athena was getting her son back, even if she had to slit the throat of that arrogant lilligant herself.

“We’re leaving,” the medicham grunted. Athena glanced at her drink, mentally slapping herself for drinking something alcoholic. That was a stupid move for a number of reasons, even if it did steady her nerves. Athena could hear Brunswick scolding her mentally right now. Standing up, she followed behind the two ladies. Athena began to scan through the city, examining it best she could for any possible places that Marx could be held captive. If she were an evil organization bent on spreading misery to those who threatened it, where would she take the stolen child of one of the rebellion’s foremost killers? Well quite candidly she’d flaunt the child like their was no tomorrow, show what power she truly held to make people both fear and respect her. But that was just Athena’s take on things. Each person had their own ways of going about kidnapping and torture. Still, as they neared their destination, the Gracidea Order’s makeshift headquarters in Lytala City, Athena felt her blood beginning to boil. Some heads were going to roll tomorrow, and they certainly weren’t going to be hers.