Yarvick "The Raticate" Xelsez
Team Aqua
Jubilee City, en-route to Floroma Town, Sinnoh.
Affected RPers: N/A

Jubilee City. It was easy to get there from, well, anywhere, though the walk between Sandgem town was particularly easy, and it wouldn't take a long walk to get to Floroma Town from there either. Most of the walking would, in fact, be done in the city itself, as he happened to stumble in on Rush Hour, which was never pleasant. At least he got his breakfast before heading here, though.

The city always had gossip going around, and Yarvick's ears were wide open since his run-in with Month Helgus (though he probably didn't know Yarvick's involvement, in hindsight). He picked up quite a bit of info about the going-ons of the region, and as it turned out, a few years away and things really DO change...

"Did you hear about those odd energy spikes up in Mount Coronet? Experts say that it was unlike anything previously recorded...That mountain always was weird, of course, but this time it was far different," Some woman said.

"Maybe Legends were up there? There were always those old rumors on Legends being up there, always those old myths and tales...Maybe they got up there for some reason?" Another woman responded.

"Legends on Mount Coronet? June, if Legends were up there we would never know, they're smart enough to hide themselves..." Some man said. "Considering that one of the rumors say that it's Arceus up there...He could easily get away with that nonsense and nobody would bat an eye. No, I think it's something more mundane..."

...So, there was some kind of thing going on atop Mount Coronet. Maybe Legend-Related. Maybe not.

"...You've heard about the right state of Hoenn, haven't ya? Those 'Aqua' terrorists, the ones that destroyed Goldenrod, are actually officially taking over the bloody place, establishing a dictatorship!" Said a young man. "The gallstones it must take! And yet they're doing it!"

"Yeah, yeah, the way I see it they ain't gonna last forever, son." Said an older man, probably his father. "They're going up against the Hoenn government, they've been in power ever since those d**m bust hearts came into the picture. They ain't gonna be around for long..."

"Father, I've seen the footage from Goldenrod...They've got some kind of mutant aboard, and quite a few of the refugees are saying that is definitely NOT a burst form, but some wholly new configuration...And they've got one of those Ancient Burst Hearts! And Deoxys, father, Deoxys!" The son said.

"Look, son-wait, Deoxys?...And one of those Ancient Bust Hearts that everyone's gettin' paranoid over?...It sounds like sheer rumor, but...Hrm...This may be more pressing than I thought...But it's not like we can just go up to the chairman and request that he does something about it, they're not attacking Sinnoh..."

Yarvick had to suppress a smile with that one. The idiots had no idea the guy with Deoxys was walking right by them...Granted, they really weren't idiots for not knowing. He wasn't exactly trying to be found out here. But, the sound of all that paranoia was just lovely...Of course, the fact the other regions were bracing for it would make direct conquest all the harder...Hrm.

"...I understand it's all complicated on paper, but in practice, it's just pulling a few strings and letting the rest handle itself." Said a woman.

No, wait. That was unmistakably the woman he heard of before. He looked around for the source, but he never even bothered to look towards the group that made the sounds before, so in the crowded city of Jubilee city it was nigh-impossible. Yarvick could gather it came from northwest of his position...But weren't they heading west from Sandgem?

"Yes, but WHY aren't we just doing it directly?!" Said the young man from before, almost certainly annoyed. Now that he focused in on them more, he could tell the young man had to be from Southern Unova. The accent was distinct enough to be noticeable even without familiarity.

"Again, if we did it directly, he'd have a contingency for it. That, and if our volunteer did it, the dumba** would simply not try his hardest to stop it until it was too late. It's not about just doing him, it's about, how do I put this..." The woman paused. She had to be native to Sinnoh.

"The expectations for our 'volunteer' are far lower than if we were to attempt it. As such, he will expend less effort and make himself vulnerable, on the incorrect assumption our volunteer is essentially nothing when the volunteer is, in fact, our trump card." Said a new man, also probably a native to the region.

"OK...Hrm...OK, yeah, that actually makes sense. But, who are we going to-?"

The Unovan man's question, as far as Yarvick knew it, went unfinished, as he was bumped into quite rudely by someone from behind, making him lose concentration on it. "Up, my bad, sorry!" He said, holding out his hand.

Yarvick accepted the helping hand and got to his feet. The man in front of him was only an inch taller than him and several pounds heavier, with a red-dyed mohawk and a long-sleeved T-shirt for 'YYings of the YYild,' a famous Kalosian heavy metal band, and some plain torn jeans. Despite the casual clothing, an old-styled Pocketwatch was hanging from his pants pocket, a feature which caught Yarvick's eye nigh-instantly. "Are you OK?" He said.

"Yes, I'm OK, thanks for the hand." Yarvick said, trying not to look like the pocketwatch was really on his mind. The man walked off without much more of a word, heading east, towards Route 203 and Oreburgh City. Yarvick kept north.

Was he legitimately being followed, or was the pocketwatch just a massive coincidence? And what was with that group?

...He just kept walking.

"I saw one the other day, Greg, I'm honest here!" Said some other young man. He sounded like a trainer.

"Kevin, I've heard a lot of rumors about the 'Shadow' Pokemon before this, and I'm having a hard time believing you on that much. I thought Cipher didn't make it beyond Orre before that Mike dude kicked their a**es?" Another young man said, probably Greg.

"That's true, Greg. But, screw the rumors, that doesn't mean that Shadow Pokemon can't still be running about," Kevin exclaimed. "And I really REALLY did see one, gosh."

"...You have a point there...What did it look like?" Greg asked, a bit more inquisitive now.

"It looked like a regular Pokemon, but...I don't know how to describe it, there was this dark aura around it. I didn't go and battle it and it was only a freaking Starly, Tesla could have taken care of it, but...It was really creepy. You'd have to have been there, man. It was just...Seriously creepy."

"...K-man, now I'm starting to doubt you on that much...I mean, come on, you're saying there's no difference except a 'dark aura,' and that kind of implies you're Aura sensitive. Didn't you check that yourself?" Greg said.

"Yeah, but-"

"My point exactly. Not buying it." Greg said.

Proof that people still spout bulls**t every now and then. Shadows in Sinnoh...Cipher's crazy secrets died with the faction, and they were pretty famous for being the only major criminal organization that ever used them. It wasn't like Shadows were made of baloney, it was just impossible to create Shadow Pokemon naturally, so it also implied there was another underground faction making Shadows about in Sinnoh. Yarvick knew two things about Shadows; their creation was not a quick-and-easy process you could do overnight without serious amounts of resources, and they were not exactly the most practical things in the world due to their knack of violent impulses in battle. Orre was pretty bad in all regards, but Sinnoh had a well-renowned police force and the Gym Leaders were tough cookies to break. It would take a REALLY clever hiding spot to not get noticed.