[PXFIRE] [RP] PXFIRE Roleplay - A Game of Storms

[Shruikan]

Levi Hallik the Gabite
The Gracidea Order
Lytala GO Outpost
Affected RPers: @Noblejanobii

Levi paced restlessly. He should be out there, destroying those Black Lotus Kakós, but instead he was sidelined to guard duty at a temporary outpost. The building itself appeared to have once been an apartment block, but it had obviously been abandoned long ago. Wallpaper curled down from derelict walls revealing mould eating away at the structure below, the stairs were a deathtrap, cracked and barely held up, just waiting for someone to misstep and bring the whole thing down. The only thing that looked new was the TV set, newly acquired for the sole reason of monitoring the Tempest Games.
Not for the first time, Levi considered sneaking out to the Blood Pit arena. Even if he couldn't enter, he could still help from the stands, taking out snipers or gathering information or something. But that would just set him right back to where he started; he needed to obey orders and stand guard...

"Guard duty? But why? You know I can fight, let me take part in the Blood Pit!"
His commander sighed. "We've been over this Levi. Your bravery is admirable, but I'd never want to watching my back. You're too reckless, and in the Blood Pit you'd just get yourself and the rest of your team killed, and knowing you it'd be while trying to save an enemy from the Lotus. You're staying away from the arena, understand?"
Commander Atlas, a Venusaur with a noticeable scar running from his mouth across his left cheek, making it look like he was half smiling all the time. Strong, but with a slight limp in one leg, slowing him down and making him appear to be an easy target. But with a glint in his eye that dared you to try anything, just as multiple now-dead assassins had in the past. Levi knew that there would be no arguing with him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.
"Yes commander," he said reluctantly. "But if I could just-"
"No." The venusar stamped down with his good forefoot and making the ground shake slightly. "No buts. If you want to be trusted with the big jobs, you have to prove you can follow orders. Now, once again, you are to guard the outpost, and provide support to the competitors throughout the games. Understand?"
"Yes sir, commander."

Levi was snapped back to the present by a horrible screeching sound. He whirled around, whipping out a throwing knife as he spun to face the direction of the noise, thinking he was under attack from some new sonic weapon.
"Whoa, hey! It's just me!" Levi relaxed as he saw a familiar Kricketune nimbly bouncing down the rickety stairs. "I know you're taking this guard duty seriously, but there's no need to get so jumpy!"
Lyra, the Kricketune who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Generally happy and carefree, she was an excellent spy for the GIA. Preferred sniping enemies, but when close combat is necessary, likely to go for the knife concealed at her left hip first. Always carries her violin with her, both as a musical instrument, and an excuse to carry a large case everywhere, perfect for smuggling things about. Too bad she sucks at the actual "playing the instrument" part.
"Uhh, that's kinda what the job is," Levi responded, concealing his knife back in the folds of his cloak. "I stop suspicious pokemon that randomly drop in from above like a frigging ninjask. How did you get up there in the first place? And what was that atrocious noise? Are you practising using it as a replacement for astonish or something?"
The crimson insect laughed as she placed her violin back in its case and slung it over her back. "Well, ok, you've got me there. But come on, I was standing there watching you gaze into space for at least five minutes, and you never batted an eyelid. If you're going to be so serious about keeping watch, you should at least pay attention."
"You didn't answer my questions" Levi protested, as the kricketune nonchalantly flopped down on the threadbare sofa.
"Now if I went around answering questions, I'd be as bad at my job as you are," she replied with a wink. "So, how's the festival going?"
Levi sat down next to her, careful to avoid a loose spring sticking out at an odd angle. "Well, the Pranksters all ran for it after their first casualty, most of the Scavengers are dead, and Athena's the only Order member left, with Masamune making a run for it after being badly injured. Oh, speak of the Renegade." Levi watched as the very braviary they had just been talking about handed something to another guard at the door before hurrying back off into the streets again.
"Well, he must not have been too badly injured if he didn't stay," Lyra said before leaning back slightly. Levi stood up quickly, earning a squeak of surprise from the off-balanced kricketune as the without the counterbalance, spy and sofa went tumbling over.
"No, he was badly burned. He needed medical treatment ASAP, so something important must have happened."
Levi's mind raced. He wasn't supposed to leave the outpost, but Masamune must have seen something important to head off himself without treating his wounds. And hadn't Atlas told him to provide support to the competitors? So going after him wasn't technically disobeying orders...
Lyra stumbled back to her feet. "Hey watch what you're- wait, where are you going?"
Levi was already halfway out the door. "I'm going to follow that bird. I need to know what he's up to."
"Well, not alone you're not. I know what happens when you're left to your own devices. Especially with assassins." She winked again. "Since I'm between assignments, why don't you let a pro come along."

For several blocks the two pokemon pursued the braviary. It quickly became apparent that he was following someone himself, but neither pokemon were sure who, and Lyra refused to let them interrupt him to ask in case he lost his lead. It was only when they saw him stop for a while, then turn back toward the outpost that Levi was allowed to reveal himself.
Stepping out the the shadows, Levi held up his hands non-threateningly. "Hey, no need to be alarmed. We're with you. We've kinda been following you. I sort of figured that you might need backup if things went south, but I see that didn't happen. You really need to get that burn looked at, so I figured whatever drew you away must be important. But I couldn't see what or who you were following without getting closer and miss musical here didn't want to distract you." Levi turned to stare pointedly at his companion, who had slunk deeper into the shadows.
"C'mon, I'm amazingly talented and you know it." The kricketune said as she stepped into view beside him.
"Yeah, just not at music." Levi remarked, which earned him a joking smack behind the head.
"So, to the point, what exactly was it that you were following?"

[Noblejanobii]

Masamune Toya the Braviary
Gracidea Order
Outside the Blood Pit Arena
Affected RP'ers: @Shruikan

Masamune jumped slightly when Levi suddenly appeared in front of him. The braviary gasped a little in pain, his burn really starting to hurt. He raised his wings and got into a combat position, ready to fight his way out of his alleyway when Levi started to explain himself. Masamune eyed the gabite and kricketune suspiciously, unsure what to make of them. On the one hand, if they were Gracidea Order members like Levi claimed, then it could be useful to have the backup. However, if they were spies or Black Lotus members, then he was in check on this chess board. Still, he had little choice in this position. His burn needed to be treated now. Masamune was practically begging for infection when he opted for this adventure instead of heading for treatment immediately.

Masamune cocked his head a little and stared at Levi for a moment. Hadn't he seen that Gabite near the outpost earlier? Masamune thought it over for a minute before coming to the certain decision that he did recognize this Gabite. Perhaps they weren't as much of a threat as Masamune's paranoia was making them out to be. The braviary looked back in the direction where the pokémon he had been tailing had disappeared and gestured with his wings for them to move.

"I was tailing what I believed to be a Black Lotus member but I lost them. Sort of. It's not really safe to discuss here. We need to move." Swishing his red feathers, Masamune started to walk forward. He pointed in the direction whence he came. "Perhaps we could speak in the privacy of an outpost. Or maybe a bar would be more suitable for secrecy. I am open to suggestion. Still, we must be quick about this. No need to be caught doing something we shouldn't be doing."

As if summoned by his words, a group of pokémon quickly descended around the three. Masamune did not seem the least bit surprised, almost as if he had known that he was being tailed, albeit, not by Levi, but rather by these mysterious foes. An Alolan Golem approached the trio and chuckled at Masamune's unamused expression. They were surrounded by six pokémon: an alolan golem, a mr. mime, an eelektross, a nidoqueen, a male meowstic, and a liepard.

"It's been a while, Masamune," the alolan golem said as he approached the braviary. "Never took you for much of a tournament participant. Then again, you fled before it was over, so maybe I was right. Still, rumor has it you've got some juicy information and you know us Sentinel Corp members, we love information brokering."

"I stopped dealing with you a long time ago, Hulgar." Masamune leaned in and growled. "I left the Sentinel Corps because you're just insignificant bugs that bully information out of people. Sadly for you, I'm not an easy egg to crack. And the two behind me are completely useless to you. I can guarantee they do not have the information that you seek. So how about you just hobble back down the street to your little computer because you're one bit short of a Boolean if you think you can win against me." Masamune spit in Hulgar's face. The alolan golem stumbled back in shock before growling at Masamune.

"You kako! I'll tear your wings off, you traitor! Take the braviary alive, but kill the others!" The nidoqueen immediately charged in, attempting to strike Levi when the gabite wasn't ready. Masamune began to glow and charged at the alolan golem, slamming into his opponent while using superpower, but the golem barely budged.

[Neo Emolga]

DAY 1
Active Events: Blood Pit Arena (Qualifying Round), Dread Metal Destruction Derby (Qualyfing Round)

---------

BLOOD PIT ARENA SCOREBOARD
A.K.A. Who's surviving and who's dead.

BLACK LOTUS EMPIRE

Phoebe - Charizard
Vekker - Ursaring
Grec - Gengar
Vurden - Volcarona
Unloc - Luxray
Janos - Breloom
Shandal - Passimian

STEEL SCAVENGERS

Grand Lady - Tsareena
Gloria - Goodra (Left)
Kaytoo the Toxapex
Iolande - Gastrodon (Left)
Unnamed - Manectric
Ioseph - Beheeyem
Durkon - Clefable

THE GRACIDEA ORDER

Athena - Decidueye
Perceval - Serperior
Axiom - Hakamo-o
Shiva - Medicham
Saber - Lurantis
Jackson - Alolan Ninetales
Masamune - Braviary (Left)

THE PRANKSTER PLATOON

Laura - Umbreon (Left)
Xavier - Luxray (Left)
Kirrun - Claydol
Aria - Mismagius (Left)

THUNDERCRASH GANG

Dycee - Alolan Raichu (Left)
Cartaka - Sylveon
Modkus - Hydreigon
Vink - Watchog
Voris - Alakazam
Ryke - Swellow
Soland - Excadrill (Left)

SENTINEL CORPORATON

Vesh - Tyranitar
Lotec - Mawile
Marsha - Salazzle
Decca - Torracat
Swill - Glaceon
Eki - Lampent
Julver - Kommo-o

THE SHADOW MASK

Muno - Swampert
Burrin - Accelgor
Zill - Mimikyu

INDEPENDENTS

Bax - Togedemaru
Goreg - Nidoking
Zengar - Noivern
Jabis - Vikavolt

Phoebe Helsden the Charizard
Black Lotus - Onyx Circle
Blood Pit Arena, Lytala City
Affected RPers: @Death's Spook, @Noblejanobii

Phoebe knew there weren't very many Pokémon left at this point. Countless bodies and marks of destruction were thrown about in the arena. It was almost over. Sure, it might not have been one of Black Lotus's grandest victories and it certainly wasn't flawless like she had been hoping for, but it was trivial. It had been a good slaughterfest and the masses wouldn't go home disappointed.

She had watched Saber's sacrifice for the Grand Lady, wondering why the Lurantis would give up her life for her, but it didn't matter. The whole act was going to be completely in vain. In fact, Saber had done very little but reveal the Grand Lady's position to the Charizard, and now they were all going to die.

Phoebe knew... if she could kill this infamous legend, it would make up for Black Lotus's higher than normal casualties. Yes. The Steel Scavengers had a blood debt to pay, and it would paid with the Grand Lady's head.

"I wonder what your screams sound like," Phoebe snarled with a wicked grin.

Taking aim at the Tsareena, Phoebe fired not once, but twice, launching two incendiary rockets at the Grand Lady to make sure there wasn't nothing left of her but ash. However, before she got to see the results of her strike, suddenly she was ambushed when her attention was focused on the Grand Lady. She never saw Athena coming in the rush that she did and with her guard down. And Vurden had completely failed in his task simply because he was more interested in watching the Grand Lady die than cover his squad-leader. Athena couldn't have found a more opportune moment to attack.

"Where is my son, you kako?" Athena shouted at Phoebe.

In her rage, she struck relentlessly, causing Phoebe's rocket launcher to be ripped out of her grasp and fall to the sandy arena floor before.

"You're obviously an Onyx Circle member!" she continued her assault. "So where is he? Where is Marx?"

Only then did Vurden realize the horror of his mistake. He turned and watched in shock as Athena struck Pheobe in the throat, cutting off her breathing and spraying the Charizard's blood everywhere.

"You'll... never find him," Phoebe gasped with a dark smile as she plummeted to the ground. "He'll only grow... to become everything... you've ever hated..."

Her body continued to fall to the ground, but before she hit the floor on the long way down, she was impaled on a large, metallic rod that had been jutting out of one of the many piles of junk and debris that had been intended to be obstacle obstructions. Her impaled body never touched the ground, but instead was suspended in the air as the metallic rod had driven its way through her back, into her vitals and rib cage, and out of her abdomen as a now bloody and metallic stake. All that was left was the steady leaking of blood all over the pile of metallic garbage.

Phoebe the Charizard (Black Lotus) has been eliminated.

The audience was surprised, shocked, and for the many that bet money on Black Lotus, horrified. It was not something they had suspected, but it had happened nonetheless. They definitely couldn't say it hadn't been an interesting and unpredictable fight.

Guilty and ashamed, Vurden felt he had no choice but to make up for his blunders by at least avenging Phoebe's death. He immediately surged toward Athena and attempted a flamethrower attack. He knew he would never be forgiven for letting Phoebe die simply because he wanted to witness the death of the Grand Lady, but he could at least take Athena to her grave as well.

He wasn't even sure if the rockets had hit the Tsareena, but that didn't matter to the Volcarona. Once he was done with Athena, he could finish up what Phoebe started and be the sole hero of the Blood Pit match.

It would all be worth it in the end.

---

DREAD METAL DESTRUCTION DERBY SCOREBOARD

BLACK LOTUS EMPIRE

RIPFIRE [Armored Truck] (Disabled)

Jaze - Conkeldurr (Driver)
Jucden - Raticate (Gunner)

PEACESLAYER [Monster Truck]

Vorkot - Scrafty (Driver)
Xed - Arcanine (Gunner)

BLACKOUT [Armored Hearse]

Sevren - Dusknoir (Driver)
Mevvan - Krookodile (Gunner)

PRANKSTER PLATOON

SCREAMING TALON [Lightweight Zippy Vehicle]

Jones - Heliolisk (Driver)
Tony - Incineroar (Main Gunner)
Cheshire - Meowstic (Support Gunner)

STEEL SCAVENGERS

THE IRON GIANT [Armored Tank Car]
SLAYER'S RIDE [Armored Buggy] (Commandeered)

Julia - Weavile (Driver/Gunner)

THE HORNET [Armored Motorcycle]

Juan - Furret (Driver/Gunner)

THUNDERCRASH GANG

LIGHTNING STRIDER [Nitro Roadster]

Sorton - Eelektross (Driver)
Latchy - Pachirisu (Gunner)

ELECTRIC WILD [Assault Motorcycle]

Rash - Whimsicott (Driver/Gunner)

SENTINEL CORPORATION

THE BRIGADER [Armored Military APC]

Koya - Cacturne (Driver)
Yandali - Infernape (Main Turret Gunner)
Vunder - Delphox (Support Gunner)
Kolm - Blastoise (Support Gunner)

THE NIGHTMARCH

ENIGMA ZERO [Armored Bulldozer] (Disabled)

Baladax - Beartic (Driver)
Olock - Aggron (Main Gunner)
Jugnul - Tyrantrum (Support Gunner)

ZOMBIE SQUAD

THE RECKONING [Armored Junkyard Hulk]

Fazi - Cofagrigus (Driver)
Slugz - Snorlax (Main Gunner)
Vulk - Skuntank (Support Gunner)

INDEPENDENTS

Khilter - Dragalge (Driver/Gunner)

DESTINY'S END [Speed Motorcycle]

Kikel - Pancham

LOCKDOWN [Armored Pick-up Truck]

Rudy - Rampardos (Driver)
Gile - Sandslash (Gunner)

DEVIL'S HEADHUNTER [Armored Semi Truck]

Durakan - Alolan Marowak (Driver/Gunner)

--------

Jucden Tarblack the Raticate
Black Lotus - Onyx Circle
Aboard the Ripfire, Lotus Den Slums, outside Lytala City
Affected RPers: @Velocity, @Morzone

Jucden wrongfully thought the explosion had killed Julia. When the Iron Giant had exploded gloriously, he never saw her escape and he simply took it as yet another kill to his name. There were plenty of other drivers and vehicles to destroy, and as he had expected, he wanted them all to himself. Jaze would just be his slaughterhouse chauffeur in the fiery madness.

Jaze had spotted the Enimga Zero in the distance, which he would make for a large bounty of flesh that Jucden would definitely enjoy. The large bulldozer hadn't seen much in the ways of damage, but Jucden knew that was certainly about to change when the explosives were going to fly.

The machine gun fire had done some light grazing on the Ripfire, biting away at the armor that had already seen some wear and tear throughout the vehicular mayhem. Jucden decided that while the Enimga Zero was garbage owned by an enemy team, it was still a fairly worthy opponent, so blasting it to pieces with the remaining two Sentinel rockets seemed fair. He already had his finger on the trigger anyway, so why not? There was no putting any of that away without making good use of it first!

Just as Jucden's two rockets fired out, one from the Enimga Zero was launched by Olock the Aggron. Jaze was anxious as there was no way he could dodge the rocket, so there was nothing the two of them could do but brace for impact. It slammed hard and loud into the Ripfire, ripping out the front portion of the truck and completely destroyed everything inside, including even the massive engine block. Meanwhile, Jucden's two rockets had blasted apart the left side of the Enigma Zero and destroyed the main guns and the gunner nest, turning Olock the Aggron into nothing more than a shower of body parts and Aggron armor plating.

Olock the Aggron (The Nightmarch) has been eliminated.

"MY TRUCK!!" Jucden shouted in horror, realizing the damage to the Ripfire had been severe. "YOU STUPID BASTARDS! I'LL USE YOUR BONES TO REPAIR IT IF I HAVE TO!!!"

On the opposite end, Jugnul the Tyrantrum had tried to finish off what Olock started, continuing to rain bullet hell on the disabled Ripfire, but Baladax the Beartic quickly realized the Enimga Zero was stranded also and critical damage had been done to the axels and wheels on the left side. Their engine was still alive, but the whole bulldozer was leaning on its side and wouldn't budge at all with the left half run into the ground. Meanwhile, Raul in The Hornet was ripping new holes in both vehicles, forcing the members in both vehicles to have to take cover and use their disabled hulks as shelter from the onslaught. There was definitely no way either team could get their vehicles to be functional again without serious repairs.

Jaze knew there was no choice but to fight on foot now. He grabbed his Revenant light machine gun and fired back at the Enigma Zero. Loud hammering of gunfire echoed throughout the slums, which had turned into an inferno over the course of the Dread Metal match.

"Gunna mash ya heds in!!" Jaze shouted back.

Meanwhile, as The Hornet swung around, he opened fire on it also, but the shots only did grazing damage to the vehicle as it was moving far too fast for him to get any accurate hits on, especially with the large machine gun and its heavy recoil. Jaze snarled, annoyed that he was being bested by a motorcycle rather than a massive, hulking car. To him, The Hornet should have been squashed long before the match got to this point.

Jaze was struck in the arm by The Hornet's gunfire, causing the Conkeldurr to snarl and swear a blood revenge. On the other side, Jugnul soon ran out of ammo and he realized he would need to finish off Jaze and Jucden using only attacks and possibly his claws and jaws. His machine gun was dry and the main cannon had been destroyed. Meanwhile, Baladax had pulled out his own canister rifle, hoping to finish off Jaze's stupidity for good. It was the last firearm The Nightmarch team had left and Baladax had strong intentions to make good use of it.

Jugnul had waited for Jaze's magazine to run dry while Jucden had to scramble to retrieve his grenade launcher, which had slid a sizeable distance away from his grasp after the impact. Jugnul had torn his way out of the disabled bulldozer and charged toward the stranded Ripfire, but at that moment, he hadn't seen the Lightning Strider tearing its way down the road. Just as he heard the roar of the nitro roadster's engine, he suddenly turned to see Latchy the Pachirisu smile, wave, and then launch a rocket at him before the electric squirrel gave him the finger as the rocket sped right at his face.

The impact lit up the area between the two disabled hulks and fragmentation and Jugnul's body parts went flying in all directions.

Jugnul the Tyrantrum (The Nightmarch) has been eliminated.

The Lightning Strider simply darted away, watching and waiting for the two teams to slaughter each other before descending upon them like a hungry Mandibuzz. It seemed as though the survivors of this engagement would only live to get killed by them instead. Jucden and Jaze realized this, trying to figure out ways to finish off the rest of the Nightmarch and then somehow eliminate both Juan and the rest of the Thundercrash Gang. Without a mobile vehicle, it was going to be extremely difficult.

[Death's Spook]

Max Clerk (Klinklang)
Steel Scavengers
Sniper's nest above the Blood Pit Arena -> The Tunnels below
Affected RPers: @Neo Emolga (Sotka)

As the effects of Shift Gear fade, Max Clerk is quite pleased with the tactical stroke they and Magenta just succeeded with, but their joy is short lived when they receive a distress call over the comms.

“We found an outpost like you said to, but there was a member of the Onyx freaking Circle there. We attacked, she attacked, Cerdwin is half dead, I’m grazed, and if that screaming is at all indicative, Esteban has probably been brutally murdered. How do we pursue her? She knows these tunnels better than we do.” Earl the Mienshao is blunt as usual, but Max Clerk finds the weasel quite refreshing in that regard.

The Klinklang is reasonably certain that Anthony is about to reply, but cuts the Mimikyu off before he can get going. “You don’t, Earl. Focus on ransacking the outpost more than anything. Have Cerdwin telepath as much information as she possibly can to…” Max Clerk thinks for a second, “Haq and Anthony both,” picking the two Knights the Klinklang considers most likely to survive this mess. It was a bit callous, leaving two of the Scavenger’s better people in a room where soldiers were either going to come in or that was booby trapped to the fullest extent. “I am going to pick you up.”

Anthony’s voice is clear and precise, “Max, this is not what we agreed on. I can--”

The gear Pokemon’s voice gets testy, “You’re undesirable number one to these people, Anthony! With me, they’re likely to think that all I want is a fight and they’ll be less likely to send four different armies to massacre me. I’m not the leader and symbol of an entire resistance movement, Anthony. You are.”

There is a pause on the comm. “Very well. But be careful.” It’s as much an order as it is a statement of concern. “Magenta, are you planning on going with Max?”

The Volcarona shakes her head, then realizes that the comms are strictly auditory, “No. Like, I’d love to, but The Lady is, like, fighting my brother. I can’t leave her alone with him.”

“Very well,” says Anthony, “have our ally stay with you as well, Magenta.”

Max Clerk takes their cue, descending from above the Blood Pit Arena to the tunnels down below. It takes a couple minutes, and when they’re below the stadium, it is with some trepidation that they enter the labyrinthine tunnels.

Left. Right. Forward. Right in this alcove, ignore this other one that they remember is a trap. It could as easily have been two seconds as it could have been two years: the maze makes it difficult for Max Clerk to keep track of time. And so it is almost accidental that they come across a long corridor, wider than the others but with the only entrances and exits being ahead, beyond Sotka the Weavile, or behind Max Clerk. Neither occupant is going to make progress without getting past the other.

The Klinklang’s eyes gleam with bloodlust.

Aloud, all the say is, “Oh. Well. This is awkward.”

And then they rush forward, intent on crushing the Weavile in their gears.

The Grand Lady (Tsareena)
Steel Scavengers
Blood Pit Arena
Affected RPers: @Noblejanobii (Athena) @Neo Emolga (Vurden)

It probably says something about what the Knights’ lives are like that the Lady’s first reaction to realizing she’s being shot at is Oh thank Celebi, there is NOT secretly a plan to leave me alive so that I can somehow do more damage to my own cause later.

That being said, she does not fancy being blown up into powder sized pieces. She rolls into an area that would allow her to take the worst of the blast wave with her armor, and the ease with which she identifies the safe zone surprises her until she realizes that the technique Phoebe used to aim her looks familiar, and it takes her a second to place it.

It’s a technique that the nameless Manectric used to aim some of his less accurate attacks.

On its own, it would not mean much to her. After all, she has frequently employed the tactics of her enemies. But that usually took study, careful analysis, and the like, and the nameless Manectric in particular was not a public figure. Durkon could have told the Lotus, but in the Lady’s opinion that is not the sort of thing he would have paid attention to, particularly with her, a higher priority target, standing right there.

Further, she and the Knights had routine sessions about figuring out what, precisely, Ante was. It wasn’t a Pokemon move or even aligned with a type. Nor was it a direct offensive attack: they would have noticed it if it was. Anthony’s current opinion was that it was some kind of perceptive power, allowing their foes to somehow detect surprise attacks, but if that were the case, it would have been more likely that Unloc and Shandal would still be alive.

A memory strikes her. A Lurantis. Not her recently deceased temporary ally, but a different one, back when she had only recently become the Grand Lady, one from the Black Lotus. He had given her a distinct sense of unease, and then winked at her, like he knew her, even though they had never met. And she is just realizing why:

He was carrying himself the way her eldest sister used to, several years and a lifetime ago. The attacks he used carried the marks of being similar to Queen Artemis, to boot.

The Lady barely cares as she’s thrown into a nearby pile of debris. Her left arm is quite busted from the impact, her face is cut up, her entire body is filthy, and she does not care as she realizes what this might--might!--mean.

A voice in her head sounding suspiciously like Max Clerk chides her, reminding her to be skeptical, to make sure that her extraordinary claim has enough evidence for her to believe it.

Start with the spy network. The Master of Shadows said that he believed Nenge the Nincompoop figured out what Ante was.

“Gramme,” she calls sharply on her little headset (slightly banged up but perfectly functional), “Is Nenge the first assassin you guys sent?”

There’s a pause before the mysterious orb replies, “No. He was the second. Actually, Taiya killed him in a way remarkably similar to some techniques we teach… But why does this matter right now?”

“It does, Gramme. Trust me. And thank you!”

Alright. How to play this? Given her little foray with the wrong end of a rocket launcher, the Lady has the advantage of surprise, but only briefly, and she decides it’s time to reveal her own ace up her sleeve.

The Lady finds herself, as always, taken aback by the sheer usefulness of her fellow Knights’ advice.

In this specific case, it’s Arlington whose advice comes in handy, specifically in how he runs cons.

Step one, identify the premises.

According to the Sharpedo, every interaction in the history of the world has a set of rules, explicit or implicit, that everyone assumes will be followed. The trick is to identify what those rules are and therefore what blind spots they induce. It was tricky, finding such a thing for the Blood Pit Arena, but in the end she found two:

There was a limit on the number of allies she could bring in, and her weapons would be assumed to be just that unless people were given very good reason to suspect otherwise.

Step two is feeding expectations.

The Lady found this to be quite simple: she used her sword and shield like a sword and shield, and suspicion was deflected. Even abandoning two perfectly good melee weapons at the first opportunity was not enough to cause suspicion, the Lady smugly thinks to herself.

And step three? Executing the surprise.

Vurden is too focused on avenging his commanding officer even to notice that the Lady, though bruised, battered, and quite injured, is both alive and still able to fight. He is even less focused on the corpse of the Ninetales, and the sword therein. The Lady puts away her scarf, calling instead on her Blaze Jewel to employ Shift Gear. And as Vurden turns around, hearing the clanking noise of the Lady’s armor rearranging itself, the Tsareena throws a knife with her enhanced strength and says, pitilessly, mercilessly, “Now, Michigo.”

The sword reveals that the cloth around its handle is actually the result of two tassels, one of which reach to grab the nearby shield. And then Michigo the Aegislash calls forth sharp shadows, trying to rend the Volcarona in twain.

Vurden is not helpless, but he does not dodge the assault perfectly either. The Lady’s knife he avoids, albeit barely, but the Shadow Claw travels up the Spirit Shackle that Athena Pallas used earlier, making it difficult for the moth to dodge the assault. His fragile wings are not touched, but he is cut severely across the face.

The crowd boos, quite loudly, when they realize the Lady’s cheating. The Knight laughs haughtily, her eyes on Vurden, as she faux apologizes, “Oh I am truly sorry. I did not realize there were rules in a duel to the death.”

Vurden glares at The Lady, powder shaking from his body as he uses Quiver Dance, “I’m going to burn you alive. All three of you.”

The Lady’s laugh grows sharper, “Oh, that’s going to somewhat difficult in this downpour. Convenient, is it not?” To Athena, The Lady makes an aside, “If it is practical, do not interfere. Vurden’s fate is a matter internal to the Steel Scavengers. Michigo, your assistance, if you please.”

The next two minutes are a blur to the Lady. Even after, all she is able to remember is the gleam of knives, the sound of infernal screeching clawing her ears, burns and elegant dodges and power and fear and exhilaration as the battle invigorates her. Even at such a disadvantage, Vurden is a match for The Grand Lady and her surprise ally, and the clash grants new injuries to all three. But then the Lady reveals a surprise: aloud, for everyone on camera and in the arena to hear, she asks, “So, Vurden, when you use Ante to take the memories of the people you kill, does it help you use their skills if you practice the way they practiced, or is it more helpful to practice like you do already?”

It is carefully calculated to sound like she is certain about the premise of the loaded question. She has a certain carefully crafted aura of mystique, after all: she may not know for sure if she is correct about Ante, but she is the mysterious, powerful, intelligent, and, of course, grand Grand Lady. She is one of the foremost enemies to the Black Lotus, and sounding certain about something she could not know about would enhance that and would more thoroughly throw Vurden off of his game. True to form, Vurden’s attack sputters as he lets out a shocked, “How did!--”, confirming the Lady’s guess.

It also helps Michigo’s Shadow Ball nail him, sending him tumbling over teakettle before coming to a stop in front of the Grand Lady.

The Tsareena immediately makes use of her superior physical strength, pinning him and straddling him. She looks him the eye with a smile sweet like honeyed cyanide. “Now then, Vurden dear, we are going to play a little game.”

To his credit, Vurden blazes with fire, trying to throw the Knight off.

It hurts. A lot.

But The Lady keeps her composure, as though the burning (which though painfully injurious, will not be fatal) merely tickles as she says, “Do you know the game with flower petals? Where we ask if someone loves me or loves me not? It’s a variation.”

The Grand Lady rips off Vurden’s top right wing with her bare hands, disrupting his concentration on the fire attack and leaving him unable to continue the assault, “Do I leave you dead?”

She repeats the same with his middle right wing, “Or alive?”

Bottom right, “Dead?”

Top left, “Alive?”

Middle left, “Dead?”

And as The Lady rips off Vurden’s last wing, she gives a savage look, almost manic in her sadism, “Alive it is.”

She pulls out a knife, and disembowels the Volcarona.

“See the mercy of The Grand Lady. You are alive, Vurden. For now.” Alive, yes, but disfigured beyond repair with his guts hanging out of his body, the moth is unlikely to remain so for a short but highly agonizing period of time. And if he somehow survived the next hour, The Lady has no doubt that The Black Lotus will do things far worse to him than she just did. She idly grabs Michigo, the Aegislash watching the show with some revolted fascination.

“As I agreed, madam. I will be taking my leave, and leaving you unharmed. Spare Vurden or kill him, I do not care which. Good bye.” The Lady, burned and greatly injured, gives a graceful curtsey to Athena Pallas like nothing is wrong.

Haq appears behind the Tsareena and her formerly hidden ally and teleports them out to the agreed upon safe place.

The Grand Lady (Steel Scavengers) has left the Arena

Gloria and Iolande give the Lady looks she will try to decipher later, because she is preoccupied with falling to her knees with a litany of curses, in quite some agony.

OoC: I will have Anthony's post up a little bit later, and also I left significant foreshadowing about the stunt with Michigo the Aegislash. I even mentioned her by name before.

[Neo Emolga]

OOC: Just using this as a catch-up post for some other friendly faces.

DAY 1
Active Events: Dread Metal Destruction Derby
Finished Events: Blood Pit Arena, Gracidea Order Victory

Sotka Aldaros the Weavile
Black Lotus - Onyx Circle
Lytala City Underground
Affected RPers: @Death's Spook (Max Clerk)

To Sotka, it was one more dead Crobat. The Ante made it obvious who had found her: The Steel Scavengers. She now knew of the mission and what the Scavengers were up to. To her, it was almost funny how when there was no Tempest Festival going on, everyone was in the shadows, but now, all the players were coming out. But there was a reason this was all going down the way it was in the first place.

Sotka was about to turn around and head out, but then before her emerged the Klinklang. Soon enough, the gears of this metallic Pokémon had begun to turn, and she knew trying to get past him without doing anything first was obviously suicide.

"Oh," Max spoke, with its eyes colored with bloodlust. "Well. This is awkward."

Meanwhile, Sotka knew her X09 Automag machine pistol wasn't going to be very helpful against a Pokémon that was already made of metal. She knew she might as well be trying to break a tank open with a horseshoe. And she realized her trap for the Crobat had been used against her, as she had no way out now either. There was either go through Max, or wait at the brick wall and wait for it to get there. Neither of them sounded like Sotka's ideal way of spending the day.

But on the other hand, Sotka was not one to dismiss creativity. She quickly rushed back to the Esteban the Crobat's corpse, picked it up, turned around, and hurled it at Max Clerk's spinning gears.

"Not to worry, I'm done with him anyway," she smiled.

Esteban's corpse sailed through the air and quite instantly, the bat had begun to go through the violent crushing process as soon as it came into contact with the Klinklang's turning gears. The Weavile quickly made her move, leaping into the air and hopping on top of in-process Crobat corpse and using it like a stepping stone to then jump to safety behind the Klinklang while Max Clerk experienced the morbidity of crushing one of his own teammates in the gear crushing process. She had come close, just barely avoiding getting snagged into the grinding gears by a few seconds. Nonetheless, Sotka had safely jumped her way to the other side.

She simply didn't have the weaponry and tools to deal with Max Clerk at the current moment, but she knew there would most likely be another future occasion. Cowardly or not, she was well aware that sometimes the best defense was, quite frankly, running away.

"Right," she told Max as she sped off. "I'm outta here."

She then darted off, slightly wondering if Max Clerk would actually stop crushing Esteban and be apologetic for turning what would have originally been an open casket funeral into a closed one, or simply just mechanically continue grinding him to a pulp and think nothing of it. But, curiosity be damned, she wasn't interested in sticking around to find out.

As Sotka raced her way out of the sewer tunnels and intended to head back to base, she hadn't been aware of how exactly the Blood Pit match had gone down. She already had a bad feeling about it when it came to Phoebe's survival and how last time she checked, half the Charizard's squad had been killed. When it came down to it, many entrants plus limited squad sizes was going to even the score and she knew Black Lotus would go from always having the advantage to now having to play on an even playing field. There was room for error and disaster, as she had just witnessed.

Once she was back into the open air of Lytala City, she headed back into the streets and had quickly noted how the crowds of Lytala City citizens were reacting. It didn't take long for her to overhear the whispers and murmurs.

---

Rexor Rondel the Zoroark
Black Lotus - Onyx Circle
Freight Truck northbound on Round 18, En Route toward Connive
Affected RPers: N/A

The ride was silent as Rexor manned the steering rod. There was very little to see on the long road to Connive. Desert wasteland, rocks, decaying plants, and the occasional abandoned vehicle husk were all there was to see as they left the gas station behind them. Meanwhile, the heat of the sun was bearing down mercilessly on the desert landscape, and the road itself had become hot enough to use as a cooking pan if sanitation was not a concern.

Shana looked at the radio, curious to know how the Blood Pit and Dread Metal events were going, but she didn't dare request permission from Rexor to turn it on. There was only the sounds of the truck's engine and the crunching of dust, sand, and stone under the freight truck's heavy tires.

Rexor hadn't ever seen Connive before for obvious reasons, but it didn't matter. There was no home field advantage here. Not with a mission like this. Once they were in Connive, the bets were off. All the eyes were on the games and guards were being dropped. He was "just another" in the field. A nobody. A spectator.

It made him that much more dangerous.

Up ahead, Rexor soon encountered the rear of another container truck on the northbound side of the highway, and he simply stayed behind it as it too, was heading into Connive and was unmarked as well. While it was going slower, Rexor didn't try to pass it or get angry against the driver. He already knew what they were doing and he was going to play along with it. After all, it wouldn't be the first time the Zoroark had worn disguises.

"Can't we just pass this guy?" Shana asked, seeing as how they dropped in speed.

"No," Rexor replied in a dark tone. "We do everything they do. This is now a convoy, understand?"

Shana nodded as she swallowed and looked back to the other truck. She had an idea of what Rexor was planning, but not all the way. There was something about him that made it all hard to piece together and she knew she wouldn't be able to entirely figure it out until it was all done and over anyway.

She had just witnessed him kill a fellow Black Lotus operative over nothing but a slip of the tongue and she wasn't about to question his judgment. As long as she was with him for the duration of this mission, he was in charge. They were his shots. She wouldn't act unless commanded to. It was not her idea of a good time, but all that could change once that was done. She wouldn't need to sign on with him again. It was simple math and she wasn't going to let pride get the better of her on this one.

And the convoy continued on toward Connive.

---

Tricky Ravken the Raichu
Black Lotus - Onyx Circle
Leaving Syngraft, en route toward Hana City
Affected RPers: N/A

"Uuurrrrpppppffff... blleeeeeffffff," Tricky scornfully vomited into a rusted barrel used to hold trash. "Ohhh... oh, god, that..."

"Shut up..." Kust the Whimsicott complained from the passenger seat of the Ensign carrier. "The more you talk, the more my head bangs."

Tricky had spat one more time into the barrel just to get the taste of bile out of her mouth. She knew she'd feel better later in the day, but right now it was like Giratina had calmly leaned right next to her and screamed into her ear while being violently castrated. Meanwhile, her stomach felt like she had eaten a Muk's egg completely raw and whole and decided to jump off at the highest point of a roller coaster and break the fall with her stomach.

"I just wanna go," Tricky told Kust as she climbed back into the carrier. "This whole... this whole town smells like fiery anal piss. I swear to Arceus I'd rather crawl up Lugia's ass and wait to get crapped out with all the other excrement in there than stick around this town."

After getting inside the carrier and shutting the door behind her, she tried to find where she left the keys, but they had been in the ignition the whole time. It took her a good two minutes before she finally realized it, and when she finally discovered her mistake, she looked to Kust like it was all his fault.

As Tricky turned on the ignition, Kust decided that rather than listen to Tricky talk for the rest of the ride to Hana, he'd listen to the radio to get the updates. He hadn't checked the time, but he figured the events would be starting soon.

He hadn't expected for one of them to be already over.

"In an unexpected turn of events, Athena of the Gracidea Order has solely remained victorious in today's grizzly Blood Pit which, to the surprise of many, claimed the lives of the entire Black Lotus team."

"Is that for f**kin' real!?" Tricky exclaimed in shock as her jaw dropped. "Holy pissing Murhe, Phoebe, how could you of all Pokémon screw that up!?"

As Tricky slowly began to drive with her nerves reflecting her now irate mindset, they listened in on all the details and recounts of what had transpired throughout the entire Blood Pit match. Many Pokémon dead, several had evacuated when the situation looked hopeless, but there was solid confirmation the entire Black Lotus squad was completely eliminated, including Phoebe the Charizard. But the question that came up the most was the incident surrounding the Grand Lady and what she had done to Vurden the Volcarona, along with and the speculation of Ante. They had just left Syngraft when the recap had finished.

"Damn, you think they figured it out?" Kust asked curiously.

"Oh please, you think that means anything?" Tricky asked, rolling her eyes. "I'll admit, Vurden was an idiot, but everything about Ante is something uninformed Pokémon look up in documentaries and conspiracy theories. He might as well have said aliens exist."

"Maybe they do..." Kust smirked.

"Of course they do," Tricky rolled her eyes. "But do you see anyone care? No. No one cares. Oh, Ante? No one cares. Peanut butter bread cheese muffins? No one cares. But it does make me happy I wasn't wasting an hour watching Phoebe's ass get kicked. Turn on Dread Metal. See if that's still going on."

All the while, the carrier headed closer and closer toward Hana.

[LKWayvern]

Xavier Feurra the Luxray
Prankster Platoon
Connive, City Square
Affected RPers: None

Despite being unable to see what was going on, Xavier had a pretty good idea, thanks to the announcer’s narration.

Grand Lady having a hidden ally… Well. Didn’t totally surprise him as much as it should have.

The Black Lotus actually losing? And an Onyx kako being killed?

...Infinitely more unexpected. He, personally, had been expecting to make Laura leave the arena at some point sooner or later. He doubted she would’ve been able to face off against a Black Onyx member.

Defeating one would be incredibly different. If Laura hadn’t been in the arena, if Xavier had had a full team of trained and dangerous Pranksters, he may have attempted it. But while Laura had done better than he expected, she was still far from the level of a Lotus member.

The Grand Lady and her new ally forfeiting…

He frowned, tail swishing. Something was off about that. She had brutally maimed the volcarona, and left the Gracidea Order’s single surviving participant, Athena Decidueye… In fairly good shape.

It would be a pathetically simple matter for Athena to just end Vurden’s life.

It did not add up to him. Unless…

He frowned. Perhaps there was a sort of alliance between the Steel Scavengers and the Gracidea Order?

That had to be the answer.

He swished his tail again. Why would they team up? Perhaps they were planning something major…

Once he was recovered, he would have to look into it further.

[Death's Spook]

Anthony Carpenter-Weaver (Mimikyu)
Steel Scavengers (Leader)
The Blood Pit Arena Stands (hidden)
Affected RPers: @The Nonexistent Tazz


Anthony’s mind races at Nora’s proposal.

Words could not describe how much he wants to take her proposal at face value. He desperately wants to believe her right out of the gate, to trust her, to take her under his wing and to be allies, friends even.

But though Anthony’s nature desires one thing, his experience tells a different story.

For one, reason tells Anthony that it is far more probable that she is going to try to betray him. He is quite wanted by quite a few people, and many people would be willing to pay quite a bounty for his disguise on a platter. Not just Taiya, either: Anthony is almost entirely certain that if someone brought his corpse to Mazer, for example, the Greninja would kiss their hand and promise to brutally murder everyone the person who killed him wanted dead.

There’s probably a reason that a voice from the less listened to parts of his mind wants to discard the whole idea just because the Lilligant has a low enough opinion of his intelligence to think that he is merely copying from the Platoon’s handbook.

Focus, Anthony.

Joy, fear, disgust, annoyance--emotions, in short-- were excellent as motivators, but Anthony takes a second to keep them under control, his ears and eyes continuously keeping an eye for a dagger in the back. He needs to keep a clear head if he wants to make the correct decision. He spares a look at Arlington, and to his surprise, the Sharpedo gives a slight nod.

It takes a second, but Anthony realizes why. If the Lilligant is being honest, then allying is obviously the correct choice. And if she is deceiving him, then keeping her close would allow him to more likely detect treachery and eliminate her.

He is about to voice his opinion, when his little headset crackles. The Mimikyu is about to say something, but becomes silent when his Klinklang companion speaks first. He allows his subordinate to speak, but when Anthony grows too concerned, he voices, “Max, this is not what we agreed on. I can--”

A few seconds. Max Clerk makes regrettably good points.

“Very well. But be careful. Magenta, are you planning on going with Max?”

An orb of shadows emerges from behind Anthony, but he pays Gramme almost no mind, “Very well, have our ally stay with you as well, Magenta.”

The Master of Shadows speaks, “Do you not trust us, Anthony?”

The Mimikyu gives him a look, “It is not that I do not trust you, so much as Max Clerk is likely to get into a fight they could avoid because they prefer the violent option. Phillip is more subtle than that.”

“That much is true, I suppose.” Gramme inclines his cloaked body at the Lilligant, “What is the issue with her?”

Arlington speaks, “All of us are secretly planning to enter everyone on this continent into a mass suicide pact, thereby ending every threat everyone here could possibly present to everyone else.”

Gramme gives Arlington a long look, “‘None of your business’ would suffice.”

“Yeah, but it’s a lot less fun that way.”

“Both of you.” Anthony's voice is final. “Enough. Gramme, this is a topic of a sensitive nature,” And Anthony is reasonably certain that the Master of Shadows already heard at least bits of it, “We are allies of a sort, but please, I need to extend this woman the right of confidentiality. Arlington, stop trying to distract everyone from the point involved.”

Gramme’s face is hidden, but he manages to convey mild annoyance before vanishing into the darkness again. Anthony makes sure that he’s out of earshot of whispering before continuing to Nora, “I accept your offer as it stands. Deal honestly, and we will do the same. But I strongly advise you not to use this as a ruse. If you betray us, the Seven Knights will personally come after you.”

[VeloJello]

Jones Sandstrider the Heliolisk
Prankster Platoon
Lotus Den Slums
Affected RPers: @Morzone (Julia).

The windshield shattered.

“Cheshire you -”

There was a flash, blindingly bright, as a lightning strike ran up against a panel of light lacing the front of the Screaming Talon. Thunder cracked a split second later, nearly deafening Jones. “- USELESS SHED-CLAW GRIT-GRAIN KAKO SON OF A W**RE!” The rant continued; Jones’s volume merely increased to compete with the sound of the roadster that they were pulling up against. The Pachirisu at gun was preparing something else.

“It was the bullet or the lightning, but if you want the Talon to lose all power, that’s fine!” Cheshire snapped.

Jones didn’t reply; she didn’t get the chance given that she was preoccupied with braking to narrowly avoid another lightning strike, then fighting to make up the speed.

None of them were pulling their weight, here, and that included Tony. The Incineroar had switched from grenades to a more accurate machine gun, given that Cheshire was occupied with pretending to try to shield the Talon. However, the roadster beside them was at least as maneuverable as the Talon, and that kako squirrel was throwing Protects left and right.

“Cheshire!” Jones shouted, inspiration striking her. “Wheel! Now!”

“I won’t be able to -”

“I know. Wheel!”

There was no more argument from Cheshire, though Jones got the sense that he had quite a lot he wanted to say to her. He just took her place, allowing Jones to peep out of his gunner’s seat. The roadster was hard to aim at, even from this distance, but she was a dab hand at ranged attacks as any Heliolisk worth their salt had to be.

Electroweb wasn’t her best attack, but she managed to hack one - literally. Her frill flared and she made a noise halfway between a bark and a cough; a fizzling web of sticky string, arcing with electricity, flew from her mouth and landed square in front of the roadster. It wasn’t stopped, but that webbing sure as oblivion slowed it down.

A satisfied grunt left Jones’s throat - followed immediately by a yelp of pain. Years’ experience told Jones that the bullet that had clipped her shoulder wouldn’t be lethal, but it hurt like the bite of an Arbok. With a hiss, she made her way back to the driver’s seat, trading places with Cheshire.

Where in oblivion’s gates was the finish?

Mazer Pratten the Greninja
Prankster Platoon (De Facto Leader)
Liaocrack River
Affected RPers: Morzone (Theo).

Temptation seized Mazer for a moment. It would be so easy - a Water Shuriken, with sufficient force behind it, could take the Quilava’s head in a blow. Getting the paint-spattered head delivered to Anthony Carpenter-Weaver’s doorstep would be a little more difficult, but it would be doable. It would sent quite the message to that arrogant, two-faced, stuck-up insufferable prick.

It would also send a message to the rest of Liao - that the Prankster Platoon couldn’t be trusted. Recruitment wasn’t exactly bad, but slaughtering citizens who had any sort of connection to Liao’s other rebel factions would send a rather poor message. There was more to be got out of this; vengeance would come in its own time.

The situation at present presented plentiful opportunities on its own, anyway. Mazer gestured Krum back to the ship with a flick of a hand, watching the Feraligatr until he started swimming back to make sure that he was obeying orders. Having done that, he turned back to Theo. “Well, Mister Myrsky,” Mazer said, “I will admit that I was hoping to simply give you a ride up the river to Connive and celebrate a new Platoon recruit with booze and burning Lilligant effigies. But I think we can work out a different arrangement.” Mazer did his best to sound generous, “I feel like there is a debt here to repay. I have no problem getting you to your safe-house; perhaps we can find some trouble to get into on the way there or back…” Honestly, this situation was chock with goodies; a look at the safe-house could give good information; Theo might be a step closer to Anthony. “... but I digress. In exchange, you will owe me a favor. If you find this acceptable, just say the word and I can Waterfall boost us over to my boat. If not, well,” Mazer spread his hands, “there’s a perfectly good boat here.”

Pause for effect, “Though, this boat is full of corpses, whereas ours is full of capable Pokemon who will be happy to protect an ally - even a temporary one - from any more Black Lotus prying eyes.”

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

'Nora' the Lilligant
The Gracedia Order
Lytala city, the Blood Pit Arena Stands
Affected RPers: @Death's Spook, others indirectly

((Telefare: The Teleport counterpart to Uber.))

Nora's eyes did not entirely leave Anthony alone as she kept her head looking about. Searching everywhere, for anything out of place. Even the presence of Gramme, a weird orb of shadows, was only a moderate surprise-a reminder to Nora that she had much to learn, or at least, a reminder to keep moving while talking to someone to make sure they weren't hiding things behind their backs like that. If nothing else, Nora's ability to actually act like a woman frightened by scary terrorists was going to check any thoughts of assassination fair enough-and anything like screaming would make any security guard worth their salt rush to the scene, a scene that could lead to the downfall of the Steel Scavengers. It was a risk Nora knew of, a risk Anthony knew of, and a risk that both knew the other knew of. Failing that, a really quick Protect would suffice. The minutes were tense-Anthony had to pause to give instructions over comms regarding a 'Max,' a name Nora instantly recognizes as an interesting Klingklang, and 'Magenta,' who Nora recalls from that rather public incineration, the one she didn't watch because that was simply macabre, not her thing.

Nora could only chuckle at Arlington's summation of the whole plan, really. And it was a joke, but it was much less of a joke than what Nora wished it would have been. It was like this: no matter how hard or flashy their clever plans happened to be, the Black Lotus were just flat-out stronger than them, a foe that only recently exposed a vulnerability. Any slipup was a death sentence and it could legitimately doom all three rebels.

The announcer outside got very agitated, something about cheating-Nora couldn't focus everywhere at every-time, but she knew this was probably the moment the Scavengers were going for, and why she said they were taking from the Prankster's playbook. Sending a message. An... Unorthodox message. Whatever it was.

The word 'Ante' caught her attention, and her focus waned enough to make Anthony her second priority, as it was the Grand Lady speaking. "-to take the memories of those you kill-" oh, that was a theory. A theory indeed. Nora almost agreed with it. Onyx Circle fellows were always skilled, dangerous combatants, and Nora had assumed that this was the reason they had been chosen for the job... And it was said that all the Onyx Circle had Ante. Nora had assumed that the former was the reason for the latter. The alternative wasn't a possibility she considered.

It was really only the 'How did?!-' afterwards that completely confirmed it, the only thing that could. Before it was speculation-or a really crazy guess-but now it was obvious. Vurden would be killed by Taiya herself for that if the Tsareena didn't do it first. And with that fact out there, there were a few logical implications to go upon-unless the Onyx Circle wasn't chosen explicitly for Ante, it meant there was a great chance the Onyx Circle promotions were made on the basis of having Ante, rather than Ante being the reward for promotion-meaning it was handed out lower on the totem pole than expected, or they were picked for the circle for having Ante and thus were not inducing it. Either way it turned a lot of conceptions she had about it on her head. Her mind raced-such delightful news to tell, if Yesley hadn't already heard.

"-onestly, and we will do the same. But I strongly advise you not to use this as a ruse. If you betray us, the Seven Knights will personally come after you," Anthony said. Wait, no, he didn't say 'onestly,' that was 'honestly.' She was a bit preoccupied by that news. was juicy-too juicy to leave well enough alone all to itself. But it sounded like he was actually agreeing at its face value, and his wording was so wonderfully straightforwards. It could be a really blatant lie, but more likely than not it wasn't, if Anthony's reputation was truly founded.

Nora grinned. "First off, congrats on sending your message. I guess seven heads are better than one," Nora says. Seven Knights, seven heads. "All I was gonna give you on the matter of Ante was that they're not immune to poison, heh, but that's kind of irrelevant now. But, uh, caught off-track by the juicy tidbit there, sorry. Yeah, that's pretty much as groovy as it gets. I accept-and trust me, I'd think of myself as an even bigger idiot if I was trying to con you, of all people."

'As groovy as it gets' was a massive understatement. The initial confrontation seemed to be so utterly flawless that Nora was extremely wary, but at the same time extremely happy that it went so well. He seemed so perfectly open. She was knowledgeable enough to take Anthony's threats at face value-after all, she was already marked by Arlington in more ways than one, and Nora failed to give them the really crippling information-like when the attempted theft would occur, for instance. Of course, she would have to feed him that.

"...We'll need to work out the little devils later," Nora said, referring to the details of the arrangement. "I wish my copatriots would be somewhat more forwards-thinking on this, however... You know how it is. I need to get back before one of 'em charges in here thinking you've assassinated me in cold blood. We'll talk later today-shadow me until I separate and start leaning on a wall," Nora said. So much to arrange to make sure this worked. And to make sure that her partners didn't think she was conspiring against them. She was conspiring-but not against them. Big difference.

With that, Nora nodded to the charming Knights (and whoever Gramme was), and taking another puff of her cigarette, walked back to the stands and to her seat.

Nora was genuinely surprised when she got there. She had just walked in on the fight-it was much more close than she would ever have guessed. Athena was alive, for a start. Vurden the Volcarona was the only other mon alive and in the ring-the Grand Lady sauntered off, and considering the distance between Athena and Vurden, doubtless it was of her own will. With that said, Vurden was so utterly ruined that the announcer-and the scoreboard itself-had declared it all over in an incredibly close game with Athena and the Gracedia Order as the ultimate winners. It was already a total humiliation on the Black Lotus, even if the others had to work for a non-BL win. That was disregarding how Ante's inner workings-memory stealing-had basically been announced to everyone, including the three rebel factions who would delight in sending the message out to all of Xia just to make Taiya's life as hellish as possible. This would be one to put in the history books, for sure. Nora had to hide a smile, even now-but as she went back to her seat her smile was wiped off of her face.

Nora had sat two seats away from the isle she was closest to. While she might as well have started to leave (and several did), she wasn't going to leave without Yvonne or the Rotom, of course, who were still seated-and the Rotom looked downright bug-eyed at what had occurred. Yvonne was looking at the seat closest to the isle, instead. The yellow coloration of the small pool of liquid in it was a mild enigma, but it wasn't where she sat. The other seat was free of piss... Oh.

There were three Eeveelution siblings two rows ahead of Nora and Yvonne's spot-a row between them separated them previously. One of them, a Sylveon of familiar features, of ice-blue eyes and a wide smile Nora knew to be perpetual, was now standing on one of the stands in-between, her front legs perched upon the back of the seat, a small pink vest to complement her small pink frame as her only clothing article of choice. Nora knew this Sylveon. Nora knew that, yes, she was prone to the oddest of things, like putting piss on seats to ensure that she was talking face-to-face with someone else, or, you know, dropping pianos on people. And Nora knew that she would do so with a tone and air so sickeningly saccharine that it boggled the mind.

Nora sighed, thinking back to that Swift-Dream for a moment. The minimal hope that Nora had for no further meetings with this Pokemon-the imaginary representation of this very Pokemon as an even more obvious devil-had just been butchered in the darkest, bloodiest pit in Murhe.

Nora, her eyes drooping into a very deadpan look, took the seat free of bodily fluid, readying herself for dealing with this absolute kako.

"Hello," The Sylveon said.

"What even is your name?" Nora asked.

The Sylveon put a paw to her mouth, faux-coughed, and repeated, "Hello."

"... Hello. Would you give me your name, please?" Nora asked, again.

"Hrm... You forgot what I gave to you before? Ah, no matter, we knew it was a falsehood, you and I. My-" she faux-coughed again. "-name is... Steinway." She smiled in a manner that could convince any bystander that she was genuinely sweet and happy. And maybe she was happy under the facade-but sweet was another matter.

"...What is it?"

"Today has been very interesting, hasn't it?" The Sylveon asked in response, seemingly ignorant of Nora's question. "Ante's nature being revealed to the masses in the manner closest to official, and one of the tightest matches in Blood Pit history! Afufufu, it was magnificent to behold the looks on everyone's faces as they saw it. This pigsty of debauchery has been shaken up-and I like it, however impermanent it is. Isn't that just lovely, that the shaymin-worshippers pulled one out?"

Yvonne's face failed to conceal what was otherwise a neutral expression with patches of... Well, the blue turned a bit purple. Nora herself would probably be slightly infuriated if she could not be classified as a double agent.

"What is it that you want? Would you reveal that to us, please?" Nora asked. She knew this Sylveon had a mild obsession with politeness even though the Sylveon herself wasn't terribly polite.

"Oh, pardon me! Ahaha, I was getting to that, you see. You understand how lopsided these games usually are. Athena's exploits are going down in the history books for its even nature and surprise outcome-and the cheating, too. So... Unpredictable! This is a colossal failure for the Black Lotus, Michigo aside. But hardly enough to singlehandedly sink an empire, I would think," Steinway said. "No, no, certainly not. Pardon me for saying this, in fact, but I would dare say that, as per the usual agreement, there is [i]no way[i] these silly games are going to be bothering the Black Lotus any more than they would. I dare say that even if the entire event showcased a total void of victories for the Ebon Botanists, with not even a single victory to their name, that it would hardly be the end of the world for them."

"Not alone," Nora said. "Not alone, most likely. Of course, with Ante revealed and the Master Blaze Jewel out of their hands and into a rebel group... It wouldn't matter much which rebel group it was, they'd gain a lot of traction. It would be a foundation for their fall, if nothing else."

"I would politely disagree with you there, but that is entirely upon pesky little nitpicks, and there is little time for that and I am dreadfully busy," Steinway said. "My siblings and I have become... Very interested in you, especially now with all that's happened. We heard you are competing in the next round of the Blood Pit, and we are very anxious to watch! It will be very hard to compare to what we just witnessed here, of course, in terms of spectacular must-watch action, but if all fares well, why, I suspect such action would not be strictly necessary," Steinway said. "The point is, that I would like to make sure such goes smoother for you and your lovely friends!"

Nora knew better than to look a gift hearse under the hood. Except, Steinway's gifts aren't gifts at all, they're forward payment for jobs, and this was the worst possible timing for another scheme of hers. "Oh, that would be very kind of you," Nora said, trying her best to sound as deadpan as possible without breaking polite language, "But I am not sure-"

"I insist, my dear Nora," Steinway said. "And even if you do not, I will still be rooting for you from the sidelines of these dreadful competitions in any way I can, because I know how you work, and you are one to watch, afufufufu!"

Nora sighed, but knew that she'd have to accept-again-if she was going to insist. That wasn't her politeness at work there, that was her order to take the cr*p she had and do what she wanted. There was literally no refusing her 'gifts'. The gifts weren't unhandy nor useless, far from it; Nora's best knives came from the first job with her and they could practically cut the sky in two. But Nora was practically forced upon them before she knew what they even were. Steinway asked first, presenting it in a pastel pink box with cherry-red ribbons plastered all over it. Nora thought it too straightforwards in a rather public place, ripe for theft or at least suspicion from others, a sentiment which Steinway (appeared to) respectfully understand-especially since Nora had no intent of taking the job. That is where it got creepy. Nora's address wasn't exactly hidden, so she thought little of Steinway mailing it to her-but that it was filled with poisons was where it crossed the line, and the dead thief on her doorstep confirmed their effectiveness too well, so she disposed of both before the day was out. The day afterwards, a courier Ferret ran straight through oncoming traffic to deliver that same box to Nora, nearly shoving it on her (thankfully free of toxins) before the courier, hollow-eyed, shot himself in the face. Nora threw it in the garbage bin at the nearest alleyway-suicidal couriers were a bad sign that this was not someone you worked for. It took all of hours, in the middle of the following night, for her to finally accept the Alpha-scorned things after being shot at with a T-shirt cannon.. And that T-Shirt that was shot at her? It had the box's contents within. It was followed by the actual, now-empty box, carefully re-wrapped and cleansed, to be thrown in after.

"... Fine. I accept... But I know you wouldn't be doing all of this without a polite request in mind," Nora said, trying her best to sound exceptionally weary.

"Nora-"

Nora nudged Yvonne. Yvonne fell silent.

"Ah, yes, well, happy days, my request will be considerably less obstructive than the one previous-and I must apologize for the complicated dance we did last time, again," Steinway said. "I know you're competing, and I know that any shenanigans to distract from that would only hamper your effectiveness, so I merely politely ask that you humbly allow me to compete with you in the Deadly Force competition."

"No," Yvonne said, without second thought. "And that's-"

Nora nudged Yvonne again. Yvonne turned to Nora. "That is-"

Nora grabbed Yvonne and pulled her close in the manner as to suddenly move her away from an assassin's knife. It wasn't the case-the person right next to her was the Rotom, who was just confused, but it sure shut the Heracross up. Nora pressed her mouth to Yvonne's ear and exhaled words. "She won't care for us not wanting her there. She'll do it anyways. This is the Sylveon who 'arranged' to have a piano dropped on me, she'll 'arrange' one of us out to put herself in. She's a complication we have to deal with, not an obstacle we can avoid."

"I will have to admit that I have been known for my stubbornness. I have not known any to be more relentlessly determined than I," Steinway said, as if the duo were not whispering to one another. "Failing any other advantage, I have weathered my foes down to submission with my sheer relentlessness. And Nora may vouch that I am exceptionally skilled at sharpshooting and situational awareness, enough to not be a liability in your endeavors. I would not so insist if I were anything lesser."

Yvonne's attitude did not improve, but she allowed Nora to disengage from holding her before she continued. "... We're basically hinging our success upon you. Each of our teammates must be of the highest calibur-the presence of Ante is merely an unfortunate downside, and not just for reasons of 'skill.' Skill has limits. And of course, you could die. You understand?"

"Afufufufufufuu!" Steinway said. "Oh, most certainly, Yvonne! You must take your jobs with the utmost sense of righteousness and caution! It is almost a tad overwhelming to me, how your devotion shines. Bright as a sun. Oh, what a horrible world it would be for you if the Gracedia Order did not supply the similar-why, I would say you would have felt so utterly alienated and doubtful if not for the camaraderie of like-minded individuals! And so lucky for you that your enemies are so utterly heartless, it must make your psyche so splendidly clear! Alas that so many cannot have such easy foes. But I talk too much, aha."

Bright as a sun. Blinding and damaging to stare at. As in, she was blind-as were the Gracedia Order itself-and only morally correct for their dislike of the outright vile Black Lotus. Nora couldn't say that Steinway couldn't do subtle insults well.

"So you think they need to go?" Nora asked. "The Black Lotus?"

"... A dangerous question in these times," Steinway said. Her smile perked up. "Your boldness is delightfully refreshing, compared to those more likely to be reserved or even evasive of their desires. Alas that more do not think like you, my lovely Nora! To be quick-I do believe they must go, but not the names, nor even the peoples behind them. No, no, Nora, I believe that the very ideals-the glorification of their need for death-need to perish, and that the peoples and the names that carry such ideals are merely like the seeds of dandelions. I say that they would weaken sufficiently if the Black Lotus were to be despoiled. So, to compress it, yes, they must, and you are the most efficient vector I know of to help carry out this task!"

Yvonne's face was even more skeptical, as was Nora's. Even the Rotom looked mildly apprehensive of her supposed support.

"Ah, yes, yes, time is almost up. Err, and the spectators are leaving," Steinway said. "I'll have to depart-business in Hana... Was it Jadeblossom? No, Hana. I have siblings and such living all over the place, and I must ensure their well-being, briefly. Ah, the wondrous courtesy of Telefare!" Steinway said, looking towards an approaching Alakazam in an incredibly classy suit. Nora's memory pricked her consciousness-she knew this Alakazam before, from somewhere, but she didn't know where. "My endowments to you will be given to you here tomorrow. Ta-ta!"

The Alakazam gestured to the Sylveon and her siblings, an Espeon and an Umbreon, who clung onto the Alakazam's legs while the Alakazam himself scooped up Steinway, before a flash of light consumed them, leaving them gone.

"... Who was that?" The Rotom asked.

"I've worked with her once before, and quite honestly, I'm still not entirely sure myself," Nora replied. "She isn't straightforwards, that's for sure... Put me through a lot of work for a water purifier the last time. Begs the question of what obscure objective she intends to pull off."

The crowds were flocking out of the stadium. The match was over, despite the fact not all were dead, and even the Black Lotus had admitted it. There was no way-legitimately, no way-that Athena could realistically be murdered by Vurden with all six of his wings clipped and so utterly disemboweled. The Black Lotus had lost. Even if they won as expected in Dread Metal, their performance here was utterly ruinous enough to be a huge help to the rebellions. It would go down in history as one of the biggest victories by both the Steel Scavengers and the Gracedia Order-spun each in their own way, and the Prankster Platoon would doubtless tell of how they performed admirably with a half-staffed team. An event to prove the crushing power of the Black Lotus turned into an event to prove the crushing power of the other factions instead. Now Nora just had to figure out how she was going to pull a repeat of that incredibly crushing defeat upon the Black Lotus... Or, rather, if the initial plan she had already devised was going to work in any fashion whatsoever.

If she succeeded she'd mildly undermine the Steel Scavengers, not out of direct malice, but rather that, if her plan really worked, well, she'd make the Grand Lady look considerably less... Grand.

And thus the spies left-to create and discuss plans and begin the seeds of what would doubtlessly become the convoluted, twisted, dimly-lit, barely-explained, nigh-incomprehensible, semi-nefarious tangle of plots that would become the shadowy backdrop of the Tempest Festival.

[Shruikan]

Levi Hallik the Gabite
Gracidea Order
Outside the Blood Pit Arena
Affected RP'ers: @Noblejanobii

Levi's thoughts raced as the braviary studied him. It only now occurred to him that he should have brought along some form of identification. Rushing into things again, he chided himself. I need to do better than this.
After a few minutes, to his relief, Masamune appeared to believe them, and gave a brief explanation. Lyra glanced around nervously at the mention of the Black Lotus, surreptitiously backing away from the direction Masamune had come from.

"Perhaps we could speak in the privacy of an outpost. Or maybe a bar would be more suitable for secrecy. I am open to suggestion. Still, we must be quick about this. No need to be caught doing something we shouldn't be doing."

At that time, there was nothing Levi wanted less than to return to the outpost, but one look at Masamune's back was enough to convince him. The burns looked even worse up close, and he was impressed by the pokemon's bravery, trailing a Lotus member in this condition. I wonder if that's where the name Braviary came from, Levi though with a slight smile.
Just as Levi was about to suggest returning to the outpost, he heard a cracking sound coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw several figures closing in on them from behind. A quick glance around confirmed his fears; they were surrounded.

What appeared to be the groups leader stepped forwards, a golem with electricity sparking along his back. Alolan golem, usually strong, but slow. And especially weak to a certain type of move that just happened to be his favourite. Levi quickly scanned the others; there were six visible, most were weak to ground moves, which gave Levi a slight advantage if a fight were to break out. Lyra was doing her best impersonation of a billboard, pressed up unmoving against a wall. Masamune was facing the group down as thought he knew they were coming. They were following him? Or did he call them here? Was this a trap?

Levi didn't have to wonder for long, as it turned out that the golem was an "old friend" of Masamune from the Sentinel Corporation. As the conversation quickly turned south, Levi began rapidly flicking his gaze between the would-be assailants, trying to figure out who would make the first move. As such, he had his back turned to the nidoqueen as she began he attack, only ducking to the side a split second before his head would have been violently disconnected from his body. Rolling to the side, Levi span around, slicing at the nidoqueen's throat with a Dragon Claw, then leaping back a few steps opened his mouth and engulfed the injured pokemon in a wave of flames, courtesy of the move Incinerate.

Satisfied that his opponent wasn't getting back up, Levi quickly surveyed the battle. Lyra seemed to be holding her own against a meowstic and liepard, while the others hung back, apart from the golem, who was still fighting Masamune. Snarling, Levi ran at the golem, glowing with the purple aura of a Dragon Rush, and leaped at the gangs leader. However, even barrelling into him at full force, he barely knocked the pokemon back an inch, and did little visible damage. Staggering back, he realised that his charge had done more harm than good, as now he was surrounded again.
"Is that all you kakos got?" he taunted, feeling a lot less confident than he hoped he sounded.