GuyYouMetOnline

[b][color=darkred][b]He was enjoying himself immensly. Most of Green Team was running his gauntlet, discovering his gruesom experiments and fighting for their lives. They would eventually die. Meanwhile, Liquid was running through the fortress, pursued by two human guards. Under normal circumstances, he knew, she would have fought them and killed them, but in her current condition, she would die if she fought. He was having his men herd her towards him. She would die, yes, but he would have his fun first.[/b][/color] [/b]Liquid ran down the corridor, pursued by two guards, both normal humans. She could have easily taken them out, but not if she was as emotionally devastated as she was still pretending to be. So she was running from them. Eventually, another pair joined the chase. She kept running. She'd kill them eventually, but not yet. She suspected that she was being herded, and she had a guess as to where she was being herded to. Based on what the boss had done so far, she believed he'd conclude by forcing her to relive Kajo's rape attempt. Wherever she was being lured to, he'd be waiting, probably with Kajo. She believed that she'd be raped before they killed her. She had no intention of letting this happen. It wasn't too long before a creature appeared in Liquid's path. She didn't know what it was, but it was clearly not human. Liquid knew it wouldn't take long before she'd be outmatched by the force hearding her, so she chose that moment to stand and fight. She started with the men chaseing her. She spun around, gun drawn, and put a bullet in each man's head. Then it was time to face the creature. She shot it several times, but it kept coming. She took careful aim, and shot it right between its eyes. That seemed to work, as the creature stopped moving and fell over. She shot it a couple more times to be sure it was dead. [b][color=darkred]Things had not gone according to plan. Without warning, Liquid had stopped running, and she'd killed all those pursuing her, including his creation, in just a few seconds. He kept watching as she walked over to the dead men and took their gund. All traces of the defeated woman were gone. This was the Liquid who'd made a name for herself in The Legionnaires, not the Laqara whom Kajo had lived with. Obviously, Kajo had been dead wrong. He punched in the frequency for Kajo's comm unit.[/color][/b] Liquid walked over to the bodies of the dead humans. Slipping her own gun into her belt, she picked up two of the guards guns and slid them into her belt as well. She picked up the remaining two guns and began walking down the corridor in the direction they'd been hearding her. A couple seconds later, she heard a beeping sound. Smiling, she put one gun in her belt to free up a hand, removed a small object from her belt, and pressed the button marked 'answer'. Raising it to her face, she spoke into it. "F^*k you!" [b][color=darkred]"My, my, my! Language, Ms. Liquid! Might I ask how you came by that device?"[/color] [/b]"What do you think? I took it from Kajo when I had him on the ground earlier. Surely you were watching. I gather you didn't see me take it. I did assume you'd be watching, so I made sure to do it quickly and covertly. I don't think Kajo ever noticed. I was wondering how quickly you'd try to contact him." [b]"[color=darkred]You're a slick one, Ms. Liquid. A skilled actor, too. I'll admit, you even had me fooled."[/color] [/b]"Yeah, well, that was the general idea. And it's not like it was hard to figure out what your intentions were." [b][color=darkred]"I was assured that that wouldn't be an issue. Clearly, Kajo's information was not accurate."[/color] [/b]Liquid laughed. "Oh, it was accurate, all right. Just out of date. It's been eight years since I last saw him. People can change drastically in eight years even under normal circumstances, and my situation was far from normal. You forgot to take the passage of time into account. You should have paid more attention to that." [b][color=darkred]"Thank you for the tip. I'll be sure to remember it."[/color] [/b]"You do that. It won't matter, because you'll be dead shortly." [b][color=darkred]"You sound confident, Ms. Liquid. Perhaps you should be careful not to overestimate yourself. I think you will find me a far more dangerous opponent than those you've faced previously."[/color] [/b]"Well, we'll just have to find out, now, won't we?" Liquid said. She dropped the comm unit to the floor and shot it, destroying it. She had no further use for it, so she got rid of it. She then proceeded onwards, moving in the same direction as before. She wanted to go to where her now-dead pursuers had been herding her, as she believed that to be where the boss was. Liquid ran into the room, performing a complex series of acrobatic moves intended to make her a difficult target while firing her guns. She took out the normal humans first, as they had guns of their own. When they were dead, she took out the altered humans. Looking around after doing so, she saw a human she'd missed run into an adjacent room. There were others in that room, others who obeyed the man's orders to seal that room off. Liquid immediatly placed him as the boss, her target. Unfortunatly, she was unable to kill him before the door closed, blocking her. Liquid guessed that she was correct. This was most likely where she'd been being herded to. The boss had clearly been expecting her. Fortunatly, the boss hadn't been adequatly prepared. He'd clearly been expecting to face a defeated woman. The force he'd had waiting hadn't been enough to stop her. The boss's remaining men were with him in next room. Liquid inspected the sealed door. Like the others, it was automatic, and Liquid saw no panel with which to open it. She took a look around the rest of the room. It was clearly some kind of control center, though the true nerve center of the fortress was likely in the next room. However, Liquid found that what she had access to was more than adequate. Liquid toook a seat at one of the room's computer terminals. The system was surprisingly easy to use, and she found it simple to do what she wanted to do. Accessing the fortress's surveillance network, she confirmed that there was no other way out of the next room. The boss and his men were stuck where they were. Liquid began to wonder if she was right about that room. Next, she tried to open the door, but could not. Clearly the door couldn't be opened from the side she was on. She'd have to get into the next room the hard way. She'd do that in a little bit. Liquid's next step was to use the surveillance system to locate the rest of Green Team. She discovered that they weren't to far away from her current position. They were engaged in a fierce battle with an enemy force. She was able to identify one person who seemed to be of greater importance. The enemy forces were clearly protecting him. [i]Do I have the wrong man?[/i] Liquid wondered, [i]or do they? Well, I guess I should at least acknowladge the possibility that both me and tham have the wrong man. Let's see if I can't figure this out.[/i] Liquid accessed the fortress's database and searched for personnel records. She found nothing. The information appeared to be missing, though it had clearly been there at one point in time. She was, however, able to find refferrences to two people who seemed to be in charge, though she found no names or other information. There were images, though. One was the man she'd placed as the boss, and the other was the one that Kaida and the others were currently up against. Liquid did find information which indicated that he was in charge, and that the boss was subordinate to him. She termed that one 'the rouge' because it was likely that he was the one Green Team came for. Liquid had been starting to suspect that the boss was not the rouge that Green Team had come for. The presence of two authoritative figures seemed to confirm this. Most of Green Team was currently fighting the rouge. Liquid was up against the boss. It looked to Liquid like Kaida and the others would be finished with their battle soon, most likely before Liquid was done with her own. Liquid knew that Green Team would have to get back together, and right now she knew where the others were. She wasn't going to go join them, but she'd lead them to her. From her terminal, Liquid could access most of the fortress's systems. She still couldn't control the door to the next room, the room where the boss was, but she could control pretty much every oher door in the fortress. She plotted a route from the current location of Kaida and the others to where she currently was. To insure that Kaida's group followed that route, Liquid eliminated all their other choices. She closed off all possible routes from their current colcation except for the one she wanted them to take, and sealed the doors so that they could not be opened. The only option Kaida and the others would have was to come to her. With that taken care of, Liquid turned her attention to the sealed door into the next room. The boss was behind that door with his remaining men. Liquid used the surveillance system to determine just how many were in the room. It turned out to be only a few normal humans and two altered ones. Liquid didn't anticipate any difficulties in dealing with them. Liquid walked over to the sealed door. She couldn't open it, but she could still get through it. She placed her hand on the door and concentrated. She created water inside the door, essentially as part of it. She then chilled the water, freezing the door. The entire process tok her a couple minutes. When the door was completely frozen, she stepped back and inspected the door. Her plan appeared to be going well. Liquid placed her hand on the door again. She simoultaniously creating a sudden burst of water from her hand and one from inside the door. The door blew apart, its pieces flying away from her thanks to the force of the water burst from her hand. Liquid dove into the room with guns blazing, excecuting some impressive acrobatic moves while firing madly. When she emptied one of her gun, she took out another from her belt. She killed most of the normal humans first, disarming the others with some well-aimed kicks to their guns while doing so. She then poured fire into the two altered humans until they were dead. After that, she shot the few surviving humans. When she was done, it was just her and the boss. The guns she'd taken from the dead men earlier were all on the floor, empty. Liquid had her own gun in her hand, and it was aimed at the boss, who was disarmed. "Hi," Liquid said. [color=darkred][b]"Hello, Ms.[/b] [b]Liquid. It seems I have underestimated you once again. You've killed my men, disarmed me, and are blocking the only way out of this room. It would appear that I failed in accurately determining your skill."[/b][/color] [b][color=#8b0000][/color][/b] Liquid immediatly recognized the man's voice. He was the boss, all right. "Your last mistake," she said. "This time, you're dead." [b][color=darkred]"Which brings up an interesting question. Why, Ms. Liquid, have you not killed me yet?"[/color][/b] [b][color=#8b0000][/color][/b] "Well..." Liquid pulled the trigger, and there was nothing but the click of an empty firearm, "...that's because I happen to be out of ammo." She slipped the gun into her belt. [b][color=darkred]"Ah. In that case, how about we make this interesting? you may recall me mentioning that I'm quite skilled with the element of water."[/color][/b] [b][color=#8b0000][/color][/b] Liquid nodded. "I remember. I take it, then, that you're suggesting we confine our battle to elemental abilities of water." [b][color=darkred]"Precisely."[/color][/b] [b][color=#8b0000][/color][/b] "Well, I'm thinking that this should be fun. Let's go." -------------------------------------------- OOC: Okay, Liquid has created a path for the others to follow in order to find her. It's now okay for the rest of the team to meet up with her. Just don't have them interrrupt her battle with the bos, and please don't have it finish in one of your posts. I want to do that myself.

As soon as all the survivors were on board, the two ships set sail for RazorSurf City. It wouldn't be nearly as quick as the journey from Windsand to Rodscale had been. The ships wouldn't reach RazorSurf until the next morning. It would undoubtably be a stressful journey for many people, people who feared another attack by Kageryn. Rorohiko didn't anticipate encountering Kageryn again for quite a while, although he didn't think he'd seen the last of the thing. Rorohiko was sure he'd see Kageryn again, and when he did, he wanted to know just wat he was up against. He needed information, and he knew just where to get it. As soon as the ships were underway, he removed his cell phone from his bag and dialed the number for his aunt and uncle's Pokemon ranch. Rorohiko didn't call the ranch itself, but rather the, um, elaborate home of his aunt and uncle and their children, which was on the ranch grounds. That way, he knew he wouldn't get some random person who happened to work at the ranch. The phone rang for a few seconds before someone picked it up. "Hello?" Rorohiko recognized the voice of his cousin immediatly. "Hello, Aurora. This is Rorohiko." "Rorohiko! It's been a while. How are you?" "I'm fine. Listen, Aurora, I'm calling because I need information that I don't think too many people know. I figured that if anyone could tell me what I need to know, it'd be you, Nate, or your parents." "Figures," Aurora said. "Cant't you ever just call for no good reason? No, of course you can't. Seriously, for once I'd like to talk with you when you don't need something. But all right. What do you need to know?" "I encountered a Pokemon I didn't recognize," Rorohiko explained. "The thing is big and mean. It almost capsized the boat I was on, and I have reason to believe it's responsible for the destruction of a village by the name of Rodscale." "What have you gotten yourself into this time, Rorohiko?" "I don't know. That's why I'm calling. The pokemon's name is Kageryn. The people I've asked don't know anything about it, but it seems to qualify as 'legendary', so I decided to call you." "Well, you made the right choice," Aurora said. "Nobody has more about legendary Pokemon than this family. The name 'Kageryn' isn't one I recognize, but we may have information in the database. Let me check." Rorohiko had expected that. The ranch had an extensive electronic database containing everythin about every Pokemon. Much of the information had been gathered at that very ranch. Aurora, her brother Nate, and her parents had gathered most of the information about legendary Pokemon, and their database still had more information about the legendaries than any other. And the database was supplimented by the personal experiences of Aurora, Nate, and their parents. Running the search took some time, but eventually Aurora had the information. "Got it," she said. "There isn't much. Kageryn is described as a very powerful legendary Pokemon. Type is unknown, though it's probably at least part Dragon-type. The most likely possibilities for a second type are Dark and Fire. Nobody knows where it can be found. It's appearance is described as something like a skeletal dragon. "Any unique abilities that Kageryn may have are unknown. It supposedly has the power to wipe out an entire city with a single attack, but that sounds to me like something straight out of a story. Powerful, yes, but certainly ot that powerful. Kageryn does seem to have a reputation for destruction, but nothig is confirmed. it's known in legend as the Apocalypse Pokemon." "You're right," Rorohiko replied. "That's not much. You're sure that's all there is?" "I'm sure." "Well, I can verify the part about its appearance," Rorohiko said. "And though I agree that the 'destroying a city in one attack' part is most likely an exageration, it did destroy Rodscale in a short amount of time, so it clearly does pack quite a bit of punch. It's too bad that you don't know more, but I guess that can't be helped. Call me if you find any new information. Oh, and say 'hi' to your parents and Nate for me." "Will do. Goodbye." "Goodbye." Rorohiko hung up. [i]Well, something's better than nothing, I guess,[/i] he thought. [i]Rather sparse informmation, but it's all I've got. I'll just have to work with the little I have.[/i] As the day turned to night, the sailors passed out some foor for dinner. After eating, Rorohiko found a nice spot on the deck, rolled out his sleeping bag, crawled in, and went to sleep.

As Eso continued towards the barracks with Tesera, he scanned the watching crowd, alert for signs of more trouble. Despite what he'd told Tesera earlier, the people watching still blamed her. It was fear that had motivated them to stop showing their hatred, fear that the soldiers would think they were out for blood. Oh, sure, some were genuinely sorry, of course, but most were just protecting themselves. As they neared the barracks, there was some unexpected commotion. Sako had spotted a man with a bow hiding in an alley, and had shot him in the arm, causing him to drop his bow. sako'd then hit his leg, making it so that he couldn't escape. Acording to Sako, the man had been aiming at Tesera. Eso walked over to the fallen man and brought his sword up to the man's throat. "What were you doing?" he demanded to know. "I thought you knew," the man replied. "That's why I was shot, wasn't it? I was attempting to kill that woman, Tesera." "Yes, we'd guessed that," Eso replied, "but I wanted you to confirm it. Were you hired to kill her, or are you just an asshole who lost something in the mess earlier?" "I was hired. Someone wants that woman dead very badly." "I'm aware of this," Eso replied. "Do you know who this someone is, by any chance?" "No." "Thought so." Eso motioned to Jaht and Azufe. "Bring him with us. We'll question him more later." Jaht and Azufe picked up the man and carried him with them as the made their way towards the barracks. Eso, Tesera, and the other soldiers continued in that direction as well. "Things seem to be moving faster than I'd anticipated," Eso said to Sako. "I fear that some others may be in danger. They were with Tesera and I earlier, and aided us in our escape from the city. They may be targeted, too, if only for information. Or, perhaps, as hostages. I'd go find them myself, but it's probably better if I stick with Tesera. Could you and a few others find them for me?" "Sure thing," Sako replied. "Who are they?" Eso listed the names. "They may not all live in Alsoto, so finding some of them may be a bit difficult." "Well, I recognise some names. Nait I've met. Good beer at that place. And you introduced me to Ashwin and Lynn once, remember? The other names aren't familiar, but we do keep records of who all's in the area, as you know, so finding them shouldn't be too hard. Some of the boys and I'll get right on it." "Thanks," Eso said. ---------------------------------------- OOC: Okay, now soldiers are coming to warn your characters of potential danger. The soldiers will offer to take your characters to the barracks for increased safety. Frankie, perhaps Nait and the soldier who visits her could guess what's happened to James.

OOC: Just to be sure everyone knows, Rorohiko does not have his Absol out of its Pokeball. It's Ekratrel he has out. -------------------------------------- As the group was walking back to the port and the docked ships, Rorohiko was involved in a 'conversation' with Ekratrel. [i]Was he telling the truth, Ekratrel?[/i} he thought, knowing that Ekratrel would 'hear' him and respond. [[i]He was telling the truth,[/i]] Ekratrel replied. [[i]However, I got the impression that there's a lot he left out. Whatever it is, he's very skilled at not thinking about it. He's put it out of his mind, probably because he knows that many of his companions have Psychc Pokemon. The reason, however, is irrelevant. What matters is that he's not thinking about it, so I cannot pull it from his mind.[/i]] [i]Well, I'll question him about it sometime, see if that brings anything to his mind, For now, though, we'll just accept what he said.[/i] They'd made it back to the port without any incident, Rorohiko suspecting that Rain would be there soon with Reza and TJ. After returning Ekratrel to her Pokeball, and then retrieving his bag from the first boat, Rorohiko and the others had grabbed some food and gone to the other, much less crowded ship. As they ate, Rorohiko contemplated the day's events. He'd been expecting an uneventful journey, but he was having anything but a peaceful journey. [i]Man, I just can't get a break,[/i] Rorohiko thought. [i]First there was that Mew/Celebi/Jirachi thing, then the whole Network mess, then all that shit in Kanto, and now this. Man! Destroyed cities, a new and powerful Pokemon, and all these trainers with legendary Pokemon. Oh, and team Magma, too. About the only thing that's missing is Victor Trolmont, and I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up. What have I gotten myself into this time?[/i]

Well, I don't know what the Hero Patrol is. As for the Body bags, well, I believe they'll come as soon as everybody's been in at least one mission. And yes, there's at least one official mission in the Arbiter thread. Clearly, that was intended as a shorter mission featuring only one character. And yes, I've noticed that Silver Team is moving rather slowly. About Green Team, well, our mission is a longer one than other missions have been. The other missions have just cycled through the post order a couple times, but Green Team is going through our order five times. Still, we're moving through the order at a pretty good pace, so it probably won't be too long before we're done.

"We're all searching the ruins for survivors right now," Rorohiko told rain. "The ship we were all on is still in good condition. Alex, Andy, and I, along with Saio, another passenger who we found after being washed ashore, were able to rejoin the ship. We and the crew have been combing what's left of Rodscale, looking for survivors." "Any luck?" Rain asked. "Plenty. in fact, we're currently making our final sweep. We and the sailors have found quite a few survivors, too many to fit on the one small ship. Fortunatly, there were a couple undamage vessels in the port, and some of the sailors are getting one of them ready for departure. Anyone there's no room for on the first ship is being loaded onto the other one. How about you? Have you found anyone?" "Just Reza and TJ. they sould be just over there. Probably wondering where I am." "We should go to them, tell them what's happening with the ships. Those ships are the only real way we'll ever be able to get off this island, after all." Rorohiko looked around. "Here we go again," he said. "Why is it that I'm always in the middle of shit like this?" "Have you been involved in something like this before?" Alex asked. Rorohiko nodded. "Oh, yes. Nt exactly like this, but, well, I seem to be something of a shit magnet. I've been in the middle of almost every major event there's been durring the past few years. this particular situation is a new one, though. usually it's humans that are causing the problem, not a Pokemon. which reminds be of two things." "What two things would those be?" Rain asked. "First," Rorohiko replied, "to make a phone call when we get back to the port. I have a cellular phone in my bag, which is still on the ship. I would have placed the call earlier, but I forgot all about it when I saw the smoke rising from Rodscale. And second is to fill you in on the fact that Alex here was recently accused of murder." "What? By who?" "Some random trainer named Leo made the accusation," Rorohiko explained. "He also claimed that Alex is a member of Team Magma, and he somehow knew that Alex has a Groudon. I don't know if what he said is true or not, but Leo sure believed it. In fact, he almost killed Alex. he would have, but Ekratrel here intervened. I'm not sure what the truth is, but we can't afford to make assumptions. I plan to question Alex about it when things have calmed down. Until then, we should keep an eye on him, just in case. I've seen enough to know that he's not heartless, but if life has taught me one thing, it's that you can never be too cautious. "Anyways, we're going to finish out sweep of the city and head back to port. Why don't you take us to Reza and TJ? Hopefully, we'll find the other trainers from Windsand, too. After that, we'll finish our sweep and get back to the port." "All right," Rain said. "Thank you. Now, let's get moving, shall we?"

Leo's Grovyle leapt at Alex, but never made contact. At Rorohiko's instruction, Ekratrel intervened, stopping Grovyle and sending it flying into Leo. "There will be no killing here," Rorohiko said as he and Ekratrel positioned themselves between Alex and Leo. "Out of the way," Leo ordered as he and Grovyle picked themselves up off the ground. "No," Rorohiko replied. "There's been enough death today, and there's no evidence that what you say is true. And even if it is true, killing Alex would make you no different from him." "That's not true. I don't kill for the sake of killing. He's a criminal!" "Killing is a crime, no matter what the reason," Rorohiko replied. "Oh, and Team Magmaactually does have reasons for what it does. Don't forget, they believe in their cause. Their intentions are good, thought they're definatly misguided. But that's not important. What they do, they do because it's what they believe is best for the world. Even though they're definatly wrong, they're well-intended. But what kind of justification is revenge? That really is killing just for the sake of killing." "Shut up!" Leo shouted. "What do you know?" "More than you. Now, I can tell that your feelings aren't going to be changed. That's fine. But there will be no killing here. If you don't leave now, you'll be removed." Leo wanted to stay and fight, Rorohiko could tell. But Leo aparently knew that he andhis Pokemon were no match for Ekratrel. "You haven't seen the last of me!" he shouted at Alex. He returned his Pokemon to their Pokeballs and stormed off. Rorohiko turned to Alex. "I don't know if what that guy claims is true or not," he said, "but I've seen enough of you to know that whatever you may be, you're not heartless. When things calm down a bit, we'll need to discuss this, but for now let's just get all these people to safety. Okay?" Alex nodded. "Okay." Rorohiko, Alex, Andy, Saio, and the sailors rsumed loading the survivors onto the ship. There were too many to fit on the one small ship, however, so some of its crew boarded one of the undamaged ships at the port and began preparing it for departure. Anyone who couldn't fit on the first ship was loaded onto the other. Pretty soon, they were all loaded. rorohiko, Alex, Andy, Saio, and some of the sailors wend back into the ruins of Rodscale, making another sweep so as to be sure they hadn't missed anyone. [i]Ekratrel, see what you can get from Alex's mind,[/i] Rorohiko thought. Ekratrel, who could read his mind with her psychic abilities, picked up this thought. She scanned Alex's mind without him ever knowing she'd done so. She normally stayed out of the minds of others unless they gave her permission, like Rorohiko had done when they'd first met. She respected the privacy of one's thoughts, but sometimes pracical concerns overruled that. [[i]Nothing in his mind indicates that what Leo claimed is true,[/i]] Ekratrel reported to Rorohiko through telepathic communication. [[i]However, there are signs that there's something he's trying very hard not to think about. I don't know what, though.[/i]] Rorohiko considered this new information. Sometime soon, he'd have to question Alex, but for now his sole concern was making sure they found every survivor of the destruction of Rodscale. Hopefully, they'd be able to find some of the other trainers from Windsand as well (OOC: hint, hint). There'd be plenty of time to question Alex later.

Eso remained alert, searching for any potential danger. He could see the pain in the eyes of the people, and could see the hate on their faaces. Eso knew it was incorrect for them to blame Tesera, but he had to admit that he understood, in a way. He, too, had experienced personal loss, and he understood it better than most. These people were looking for someone to blame for their loss, and Tesera, who'd called the dragons to Alsoto in the first place, was an obvious choice. Eso expected trouble. These people were tense, upset, afraid. There would be trouble, eventually. Someone would snap eventually. And he was right. Someone did snap. A man threw himself in the path of Eso and Tesera. He had a sword, and it was drawn. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back here after what you did, bitch!" the man shouted. "Do you have any idea how many people died because of you? Or how many lost their homes? Do you know how many lives you ruined?" Eso could see how much the man's words hurt Tesera. He stepped forward, drawing his own sword. "It wasn't her fault," he said. "She didn't know what would happen any more than you did." "Bullshit! Do you actually expect me to believe that? And why the fuck are you deffending her andways, soldier? She's a mass murderer! You should kill her now, before she can do it again!" "No," Eso told the man. "I will not, and no other soldier will. This woman has done nothing wrong." "Fine, then. I'll do it myself." The man charged at Tesera. Eso stepped into the man's path and engaged him in battle. It was a brief fight, as the untrained man was no match for Eso. Eso was easily able to disarm the man and bring his sword to the man's throat. "I recommend you leave now," he said. The man got to his feat, shouted a few more obscenities at Eso and Tesera, then stormed off. "Sorry about that," Eso said to Tesera. "Don't apologize," Tesera replied. "He... he's right. It's my fault." "Oh, don't give me that. you didn't know what would happen. This wasn't your fault, Tesera. People may blame you, but you can't let them decide what you think. You know you couldn't have done anything to prevent what happened. And I think these people are starting to realize just how foolish they've been." What Eso said was true. Many of the observing people were walking away, heads hung low. others were whispering amongst themselves, and there were a few who came right out and apologized to Tesera. Some still glared at her with hatred, but not many. Tesere didn't understand what was going on. "What... why..." "Why have their attitudes changed so suddenly?" Eso finished. Tesera nodded. "Yes. Why have their attitudes suddenly changed?" "Well," Eso explained, "that man showed them just how irrational they were being. Nothing tells people how crazy thay are like someone crazier than them. That man shared their feelings, but unlike them, he took action, and when he did, everyone else saw how irrational they were being." Teseranodded in understanding. She seemed to be feeling better already. The two of them continued onwards with the other soldiers. The soldiers would protect Tesera until she decided what to do next. Eso wondered if he'd be rid of her that easily. He'd become involved in whatever was going on with her, with the man who wanted her dead. he, as well as Ashwin, James, and all the others, had been seen with Tesera. Eso didn't know who this man was, bt he was clearly determined to kill Tesera, and those who'd help her escape would now be targets themselves, if only for information on Tesera's whereabouts. No, it wasn't over yet. Not even anywhere close.

Rorohiko, Andy, Alex, and Saio walked down the ramp onto the dock. Rodscale's port was in pretty good shape, considering the rest of the town. It was damaged, yes, but not outright destroyed like most of the rest of Rodscale. rorohiko looked around, and noticed that there were even a couple ships that could be used even without any repairs. Much of the ship's crew left the ship and fanned out through the destroyed town, looking for survivors. Andy and Saio went with one pair of sailors, while Rorohiko and Alex accompanied another pair. Rorohiko released Ekratrel from her pokeball, despite the likely reactions of the sailors. Ekratrel's psychic talent would be invaluable for locating survivors. Ekratrel was able to locate a few people who would otherwise have gone unnoticed. While escorting them back to the port, the group met up with another group heading the same way. One of those sailors seemed upset about something. When he saw Rorohiko, the man's expresion became one of anger. He approached Rorohiko. "Stand back," Rorohiko told his group. "The man is clearly mad. This might not be pretty." "You!" The man shouted, pointing at Rorohiko. "This is all your fault!" Rorohiko had experienced dislike before, but the man's accusation was shocking. "My fault?" "Yes, your f#^*ing fault! I know who you are! This happened because of you! You and your f&%$ing Absol!" "Calm down," Rorohiko told the man. "Calm down? I had family here, you bastard! Don't tell me to calm down!" Rorohiko now knew what was going on. The man had lost his family, and upon seeing Rorohiko, had blamed him for that loss. The man was clearly irrational right now. "Look, don't do anything rash," Rorohiko said. "Just calm down." "F%^k you!" the man shouted. He charged Rorohiko, but fortunatly, Rorohiko knew how to defend himself. Before the man knew what hit him, he was on the ground. The man didn't give up, though. He got to his feet, holding a piece of debris in his hand as a weapon. He charged Rorohiko again, with the same result. "I don't need this," Rorohiko said as the man picked himself up and came at Rorohiko again. "Ekratrel, take care of this." The man suddenly found himself unable to move. Ekratrel was restraining him with her psychic abilities. "I don't want to fight," Rorohiko told the man. "If you want to hate me, that's your choice, but don't lose control of yourself." He stepped back, and had Ekratrel free the man. "Now," he said, "if you're done with your irrational anger, we should get these people to the ship."

After leaving the command tent, Eso and Tesera had just relaxed for a while. they'd had a rough morning, and needed some time where they jsut weren't doing anything. Then they returned to the command tent, where Branit squeezed every last little detail of the morning's events out of them. After enduring that, they once again left the command tent. They noticed James, Nait, Ashwin, and Lynn, and walked over. "So did anyone figure anything out about the dragons or anything?" James was asking. "Nothing," Eso said. "Nobody has any idea what happened." "Not ever your people?" James asked? Eso shook his head. "No, not even the soldiers. Of course, that didn't come as much of a surprise. I mean, we all know that even Tesera here has no idea what happened, and she's the one who called the dragons to the city in the first place. No, the only thing we know so far is that there's some connection between the dragons and the men who were after Tesera." "What kind of connection?" Ashwin wanted to know. "Well," Eso explained, "Whoever hired the men to kill Tesera apparently knew that Tesera was the mystery performer, and that she'd call the dragons. This mystery man also knew that the dragons would fight. Oh, and he hired a very large number of people to kill tesera, and offered a substantial reward. So, someone wants Tesera dead very, very badly, and that person is connected in some way to the dragons. that's all we know." "Not much," Ashwin remarked. "Well, can't be helped, I guess. What do we do now?" "The soldiers are preparing to lead everyone back into the city," Eso said. "After we're back inside the city, it's really your choice. I just hope we won't find any nasty surprises waiting for us." As everyone began moving back into the city, Eso said, "Well, here we go."

As they approached the coast of the island, Rorohiko could tell that something was wrong. The others hadn't noticed, but Rorohiko did. He'd been keeping half an eye on the ship they'd been on, and he noticed when it stopped. "Something's happpening," he said. "What?" Andy asked. "What's happening?" Rorohiko pointed at the ship. "The ship's stopped, and there's no sign of any damage to it. Which begs the question of why it stopped. There must be something happening in its course, and it was heading..." he traced its path in the air, "...directly towards Rodscale." They all looked in the direction of Rodscale. In the distance, they could see a pillar of smoke. "Is that Rodscale?" Alex wondered. Rorohiko turned to face Andy. "Let's find out. Andy, go up on Articuno and take a look." As Andy and Articuno rose into the sky, Alex turned to Rorohiko. "Do you think it's related to Kageryn's appearence earlier?" Rorohiko nodded. "Has to be. Think about it. We're on a boat with several trainers, all fom the same village, who happen to have legendary Pokemon. This Kageryn shows up right before we're swept into the water by a huge wave, and now it looks like Rodscale, our destination, has been attacked." "It's certainly quite a coincidence, I'll give you that. But does it have to be anything more that that?" "I don't believe in coincidences," Rorohiko said. "Especially nt ones on this scale. No, something's going on, and we need to fine out what. But before that, we need to come up with a solution to our immediate problem. I recommend continuing for Rodscale. Even though it's probably been destroyed, the others are likely to turn up there, and I'd bet that the ship will stop there, if only to search for survivors. In fact..." he took another look at the ship. "Yes, I do believe it's starting forward again." Just then, Articuno landed and Andy hopped to the ground. "It's Rodscale, all right," she said. Rorohiko nodded. "I thought so. All right, here's what I think we should do. We sould still head for Rodscale, as the others are still likely to head there. The ship seems to be heading there, as well. And the best way to cross the water is on that boat. But first we need to get to it. Andy, could Articuno carry our unconcious friend and his Pikachu?" "I think so," Andy replied, "but no more then that." "That's good enough. Articuno can fly you, the uncouncious boy, and his Pikachu to the ship. Alex, you and I will have to reach it a different way." "How?" Alex asked. "I don't have any flying Pokemon, and all you have is an Absol." Rorohiko smiled. "Your information is outdated." He released Ekratrell. "What's that?" Andy asked. "A legendary Pokemon I recenty discovered," Rorohiko explained. "Her name is Ekratrel, and she's a Dark/Psychic type. She can get me and Alex to the boat. Now, shall we do this?" Both Andy and Alex nodded, though Rorohiko noticed a brief Heitation on Alex's part. Alex and Rrohiko lifted the unconcious boy onto Articuno as Andy and the Pikachu climbed ontp the legendary bird's back. "Hold onto the boy," Rorohiko instructed Andy. "Make sure he doesn't fall off." Andy nodded, and Articuno took off. Rorohiko returned his Absol. He looked at Alex. "You ready?" "Ready as I'll ever be," Alex replied. "Let's get this over with." "All right, then. Ekratrel, do it." Ekratrel took off across the water, using her psychic powers to keep herself on the surface of the water. She was also using her powers to carry Rorohiko and Alex across the water, towards the ship. Upon reaching the ship, Ekratrel lept off of the water and onto its deck, lifting Rorohiko and Alex onto it as she did so. Rorohiko returned Ekratrel, then located Andy and Articuno, who were already on the ship, along with the unconcious boy and his Pikachu. Rorohiko looked around. He saw that his bag was indeed still on the ship. He then noticed the looks that the sailors were giving him. "Relax," he said. "We're paying passengers. We got swept overboard by that huge wave. We're just here to finish the ride. Even though Rodscale has apparently been destroyed, we still need to go there." "I understand," one of the sailors said. "We're still heading there ourselves. We can't just leave without at least checking for survivors." Rorohiko nodded. "I know. I couldn't make myself leave without checking, either." ------------------------------------ OOC: Hope that's okay.

[size=4][color=mediumturquoise][center][size=4][color=teal]Shift[/color][/size][/center] [center][/color][/size][size=2][color=teal]Pt. 2[/color][/size][/center] [left][color=teal][/color] [/left] [left][color=teal][/color] [/left] [left][color=teal]Laqara slowly came to her senses. [i]What the hell was that thing?[/i] she wondered. As she got to her feet, she noticed that the air around her felt... well, wet. [i]Did it rain while I was out? No, it couldn't have. I'm completly dry. Maybe it's just me.[/i][/color][/left] [left][color=teal][/color] [/left] [left][color=teal]It was at this point that she realized she was seeing[/color][color=#008080] something that she hadn't seen before. Everything she saw was giving off an odd blueish-green glow. It was non-illuminating, but that hardly mattered, because it was literally everywhere, even in the air. She raised her hand in front of face. The glow was in her, as well, and it was brighter in her than anywhere else.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Her hand seemed diffenent somehow, and it wasn't the glow. She looked at as much of her body as she could, and got the same impression. It was hard to tell with the glow, but her skin itself seemed to have changed to a blueish-green color. Also, she was no longer completly naed. She was sprsely covered, but it was better than nothing. But what she was covered by, she didn't know. It certainly didn't seem like normal clothing.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Part of her noticed how little of a shock these changed seemed to be. It was less like discovering something new or changed, and more like nticing something that was already there. But none of this had been there before. [i]What the hell happened to me?[/i] she wondered.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara knew that, before she spent too much time wondering what had happened, she needed to figure out what she was going to do. She couldn't go back to Kajo's house, obviously, but she didn't have anywhere else to go, and she didn't want to spend the entire night in the middle of nowhere. With some amusement, she remembered that she'd been thinking about the exact same thing when whatever had happened to her happened.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara's thoughts kept returning to whatever change had taken place. There was something about the change that she was missing. It was right there, right in front of her, but she couldn't place it. And then, suddenly, she had it. Water. that was what it was. The air felt wetter not because it was, but because she could sense the water in a way she hadn't been able to before. And the glow she was seeing was water. Water is in almost everything on our planet, but humans normally can't see it. [/color][color=#008080]Laqara now could.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Again, the realization felt more like seeing something that was always there than anything else, and she had to wonder if that was an effect of the change as well. Any while she was at it, how had she reached that conclusion, anyways? Now that she knew water was the answer, it seemed obvious, but she knew it shouldn't seem obvious. She couldn't figure out how she'd come up with that. It seemed like she'd pulled it out of nowhere. Regardless, she somehow knew she was correct. Maybe that was part of the change, as well.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara didn't know why she decided to try and do what she did. That, too, might have been part of the change. Whereever she'd gotten the idea from, it should have seemed ridiculous, but for some reason did not. She reached out with whatever sense allowed her to feel and see the water. She focused on some of the evaporate water she could see, condensing it until it became liquid water and fell to the ground.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara had no idea what had just happened. [i]How the hell did I do that? And how did I know I could?What the hell happened? Any why, oh why, am I not terrifired? I should be scared shitless by these changes, but I'm not. Why don't I feel strange? Why the hell do I feel normal?[/i][/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara knew she wouldn't get anywhere by thinking about that now. Whatever happened had happened, and as a result, she had been changed. She was able to feel and see water when before she could not, and apparently she had some control over the element as well. She briefly considered tat the whole thing might be a dream, but somehow, she knew it was real.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]After spending quite a while experimenting, Laqara began to get an idea of just what her powers were. She was able to manipulate water in any form. She could create it as well, though only in very small amounts. She could see it, and she coud feel it. Also, her skin seemed to be noticably tougher than human skin normally was. She suspected that she might be able to breathe underwater, but she couldn't test that theroy right now.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]One ability that surprised her (though again, it felt more like noticing something that was always there) was that she could alter her form. She was able to temporarily shift herself into a liquid state, though she could hold it for only a minute or two. She could also shift only her appearance. Looking at herslef after shifting her appearance, she saw that she appeared normal, looking exactly as she had before the change. She thought she could maintain that state for quite a while, though not indefinatly. It took a little effort to hold herself in that state. Howeever, she could probably hold it for a couple days if she had to, which would allow her to live among humans, a group she knew she was no longer a member of. The effort needed to hold her human appearance was proof of that.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara began walking back to the city. She'd decided what she was going to do next. She would wait for Kajo to go to work in the morning, then she'd let herself in the house using the key Kajo kept hidden under a rock. She'd find something to eat, then get some rest. She'd make sure to leave before Kajo got home. What she'd do then, she didn't know.[/color][/left] [center][color=#008080][/color] [/center] [center][color=#008080][/color] [/center] [center][color=#008080]~One Year Later~[/color][/center] [center][color=#008080][/color] [/center] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara walked into her apartment. After closing and locking the door aand making sure all the blinds were shut, she dropped her human appearance and reverted to her natural form. She preferred to be in her natural form whenever possible, shifting to her human appearance only when she was out in public.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara reflected on the events of the past year. After the night of her change, she'd returned to Kajo's house as planned. She'd wanted to leave Flagstaff as soon as possible, but there were some things she had to do before she left. As she'd gone about these tasks, she'd lived in Kajo's house while he was at work, and slept in the backyard, thankful that it had been June. Kajo had never noticed her prescence.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara's fist move had been to officially withdraw from college. That was the easy part, especially since she hadn't been taking any classes over the summer. Next, she had to find somewhere to live. Phoenix was a good city to look in, as it wasn't that far from Flagstaff. She'd called apartment complexes in Phoenix until she found one she liked.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]After that came the hard part. She'd secured a place to live. Next, she'd needed to get to Phoenix. She'd needed money, too, but that hadn't been too hard to get. She'd simply entered the house while Kajo was asleep, taken his bank card, and withdrawn the money she needed from his accuont. She'd then returned his card, and he'd never even noticed that his account was missing a significant amount of money.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara'd managed to make it to Phoenix, of course. She'd been able to get a ride down with a trucker in exchange for a little cash. Once in Phoenix, she'd located the apartment complex she'd chosen. Her apartment then was the same one she was living in now.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]After moving into her new apartment, Laqara'd gone out to find a job. It hadn't been too difficult. She'd been able to get a job as a lifeguard after taking a quick certification class. She'd gotten a job lifeguarding at a local pool. Not too long after that, she began teaching swim lessons at the same pool. She was still doing both of those today, but concidering where she'd started from, she thought she was doing very well. She didn't think she'd stay where she was for the rest of her live, of course, but for now, she was living comfortably.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]There was one thing Laqara was waiting for, and it wasn't for Kajo to track her down. He'd never even try to find her. No, she was anticipating something else. like everyone, she'd heard of the Legionnaires, and she knew they'd find her eventually. It would be nothing more than a matter of time. In fact, she was surprised that they hadn't found her already.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]There was a knock on her door. Laqara quickly shifted back to human appeearance, then opened the door. A man she didn't recognize was standing in the hall. "Hello," she said.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Laqara Solero?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara nodded. "That's me. Can I help you?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"My name is David Kaneson. I am here because I believe there is more to you than meets the eye. May I come in?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara knew immediatly what David wanted. "Sure," she said. As he entered, she closed the door behind him. Laqara sat down on the sofa as David pulled over a chair from the kitchen table and took a seat. "Now, I suppose you're wondering what I want," he said.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Actually," Laqara replied, "I have only one question: what the hell took you so long?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]David was clearly taken off guard by that one. "What?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"What took you so long?" Laqara repeated. "I thought you'd have found me by now."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Then you know why I'm here?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Laqara nodded. "You're with the Legionnaires, and you've determined that, in your own words, there's more to me than meets the eye."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Very good," David said. "You're a quick one."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Well, I've kind of been expecting you."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Yes, I figured that out," David replied.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]There was a pause, then Laqara said, "Well, get on with it."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"With what?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"You're here to recruit me, right? Get on with it."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]David laughed. "Okay, fine. You're right. I am indeed with the Legionnaires, though I have no special powers. I'm just a normal human. The ones with the powers usually don't go out recruiting. Anyway, as soon as the Legionnaires realized that you... well, why mess with a good phrase? As soon as they realized that there's more to you than meets the eye, they sent me to talk to you."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"They want me to become one of them," Laqara said.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]David nodded. "That's correct. They're wondering if you're interested in joining."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Well, I don't know," Laqara replied. "I don't have any reliable information about the Legionnaires. Just the rumors and the gossip, which I'm sure are in no way accurate. I need to know more about the Legionnaires before I consider joining."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"Understandable," David said. "Well, I hope you're comfortable. This will take a while."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]David was right. It did take a while, but then, there was a lot for him to say. he started with a basic history of the Legionnaires, then went into how they worked, the teams and mission assignments and that kind of thing.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]Eventually, David ran out of things to explain. "That enough information for you?" he asked.[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"More than enough," Laqara told him. "Now, I'm sure you'd prefer an immediate answer, but this is not a decision I'm going to be able to make quickly."[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"I can understand that," David said. "Shall I return in, say, two days?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]"That should be long enough. I assume you have no further business with me?"[/color][/left] [left][color=#008080][/color] [/left] [left][color=#008080]David got to his feet. "Not for two days. I'll see you then." He left Laqara's apartment. Laqara locked her door again, then reverted to her true form. She already knew what her decision would likely be, though she did want some time to really think about it. But she believed that, when David returned in two days, she's agree to join the Legionnaires.[/color][/left]

Rorohiko had no idea what was happening. One minute, he was talking with Alex, and the next minute the sailors were panicking. They were shouting a name, Kageryn. Some were pointing. Rorohiko and Alex looked in the indicated direction, and saw... something. Rorohiko had no idea what he was looking at, but he had a feeling that he was looking at Kageryn. A huge wave crashed into the boat, and Rorohiko was flung overboard. So was Alex, he saw. The two of them couldn't do anything but try to keep their heads above the water as they were swept away from the boat. Eventually, they washed up on the shore of the island that was their destination. "Well, we seem to be alive," Rorohiko remarked. "Fortunatly," Alex replied. "That one certainly came out of nowhere." At that point, someone else washed ashor by the two of them. It was the girl, Andy. Rorohiko and Alex pulled her out of the water. "Are you all right?" Alex asked. "I'm fine," Andy replied. "Where's Articuno?" Right on cue, Articuno swooped down from the sky and landed next to Andy. "Well, that answers that question," Alex remarked. "I hope everyone else is all right." Rorohiko looked out at the boat. It appeared to be upright. "If they're still on the boat, they're probably fine," he said. "If they were swept overboard, then who knows? Nothing we can do about it either way. I would not recommend going back out there. We should make our way to Rodscale. Any survivors are likely to head in that direction, too, so if the others are still alive, we'll probably find them." "Makes sense to me," Andy replied. "Man! What hit us?" "No idea," Rorohiko told her. "The sailors were shouting the name 'Kageryn', probably refering to that dragon thing. Unfortunatly, I've never heard of Kageryn before. That name familiar to either of you?" "I've heard the name," Alex said, "but I don't know much. There's some old legends about Kageryn, but that's all I know. No real information." "Well, I'll just need to ask someone else then," Rorohiko replied. "Can't do it now, though." He looked back out at the boat, which was still moving, continuing to Rodscale. "Hopefully my bag's still on the boat. I secured it pretty tightly, just in case. Let's get moving. We should be able to reach Rodscale quickly, and then we can check out the boat. Let's go." "Wait," Andy said. "Who's that?" She indicated someone who was lying face-down in the sand. There was a Pikachu next to him. "I don't know," Rorohiko replied. "Alex?" Alex shook his head. "I don't recognize him. Is he all right?" Rorohiko walked over to him, watching the Pikachu just in case it did anything. After inspecting the person, Rorohiko stood up. "He's alive. Unconcious, but alive. The Pikachu's probably his." "What should we do with him?" Andy asked. "Well, we can't leave him here." Rorohiko grabbed a Pokeball and released Absol. With Alex's help, he lifted the uncoucious boy onto Absol's back. "Make sure he doesn't fall off," Rorohiko instructed Absol. The group started towards Rodscale, with the unconcious boy's Pikachu following close behind.

[quote name='Warmaster']Also, even Nintendo is not "all about innovation," seeing as they constantly re-release titles and make formulaic sequels to games that sell very well. Innovation and Pokemon don't really seem to mix. Same goes for Mario Party, Donkey Konga, etc. And there's also Mario 64 DS to point out, and that Nintendo is pushing the fact that Revolution will make available all of Nintendo's old titles.[/quote] Um... are you sure you understand what you're talking about? I mean, you just used Mario Party and Donkey Konga as examples that Nintendo [i]isn't[/i] about innovation. Have you ever seen another game like Donkey Konga? Didn't think so. As for Mario Party, I realize they're cranking out MP games like there's no tomorrow, but when that particular franchise began, there'd never been aything like it before, either. No, Nintendo is very much about innovation. Yes, not every game of Nintendo's is something new, but many of them are. Oh, and don't forget the DS, a system built around the concepts of two screens and a touch screen. Definatly innovative. And look at the Revolution. Do we know much about it? No. But it's definatly innovative. Yes, Nintendo has some franchises that it sticks to, but I can't name a major game company that doesn't. And Nintendo has more innovative ideas than any other game company I can name.

Eso led Tesera into the command tent. There were a few soldiers inside, and a couple other people. Eso immediatly located Branit, his immediate superior. "Nice to see you made it out alive," he said. "And I'm glad to see you'r still alive, Eso," Branit replied. "And... is that who I think it is?" Eso nodded. "Branit, meet Tesera Shilu. Tesera, this is Branit." "Nice to meet you," Tesera said to Branit. "Nice to meet you, too," Branit replied. "Um, do you perhaps have any idea what the hell just happpened?" "I'm afraid not, sir." "Yeah, she doesn't know any more than the rest of us," Eso said. "She called the dragons, but she intended only to put on a show. She was just as surprised as the rest of us when things started happening. Of course, she does seem to have some role in all this." "And what would that be?" Branit asked. "A target," Eso replied. "See, a dragon battle wasn't the only thing that was happening. There were people trying to killl Tesera. A lot of them, too. Somebody wants Tesera dead very badly. Also, that somebody knew that the dragons would fight." "Are you sure?" Eso nodded. "Yes. I was able to question one of the attackers. He was proomise a substantial reward if he killed tesera, and way too many other people were promised this reward, as well. He didn't know who hired him, but he said that the mysterious employer knew that the dragons would come, and that they would fight. Which tells me that there's a connection between the dragons and the attempts on Tesera's life. that, and the fact that that huge dragon was deliberatly pursuing us." "Well, I'm glad you managed to escape it." "Yeah, me too. It was close, but we made it out alive. It was me, Tesera, and several others. The others are outside somewhere, though probably dispersed into the crowd by now. No reason to stick together after we made it here, after all. Now, I'm sure you have a lot more questions for me and Tesera, but we've kinda had a rough time of it, so is there any chance you could hold off on grilling us for at least a couple hours?" Branit chuckled. "I know how you feel. I could use a break myself. I can't take one yet, but I could use one. Sure, go do whatever. Just don't think you're getting out of anything!" "I know." Eso said. he and Tesera left the tent. --------------------------------------- OOC: Okay, action's done (for now, at least). Feel free to have your characters go their seperate ways. Don't worry, they'll all see each other again (After all, it wouldn't be a good RPG if everyone just went back to their everyday lives, now, would it?).

OOC: If Rorohiko got hit by a fire attack, there'd be more than just singed hair, even if the attack just grazed him. How aboutu we say it hit next to him instead. ------------------------------------------------------ "That was random," Rorohiko remarked as Yubi walked away. He turned back to Alex. "Anyways, you were saying?" Alex was clearly uncomfortable"Um, yeah, so where was I?" "You were feeding me bull$hit," Rorohiko said. "What?" Rorohiko laughed. "You didn't actually think you were fooling me, did you? It's obvious that you're not being entirly truthful." "Um, well..." Rorohiko cut him off. "You don't have to explain yourself. If you don't want to tell me how you got Groudon, I have no problem with that. People always have things they don't want to talk about. Just don't assume I'm a moron, okay?" "Okay," Alex said, relieved. Rorohiko noticed a couple sailors staring at him and Alex. "What's your problem?" he asked. "N-nothing," one of them said. "Don't give me that," Rorohiko replied. "Let me guess. You heard me say that Alex here has a Groudon. Either that, or you recognise me. maybe both. Oh, and there's the fact that one of the other passengers has a Lugia. That about sum it up?" "Um, yes." "Well, calm down, will you? Alex isn't going to let his Groudon out of its Pokeball, and I'm going to keep Absol in its Pokeball. Oh, and Lugia is actually the'Guardian of the Sea', so stop worrying and do your jobs." Alex looked at Rorohiko as the two sailors walked away. Rorohiko shrugged. "Well, it's true. They're worrying about nothing. Our Pokemon will remain in their Pokeballs. And Lugia is the Guardian of the Sea. Trust me on this one, okay? I know a lot about legendary Pokemon. That's how I knew you were full of it with your Groudon story. What you said didn't fit the facts." "And here I thought you were only interested in Absol." "You were correct," Rorohiko replied. "The only reason I know so much about legendary Pokemon is because of my aunt and uncle. They, as well as their son and daughter, probably know more about legendary Pokemon than anyone else in the world. It's virtually impossible to be around them for any length of time without learning something." "Well, then. You're certainly not what I expected." Rorohiko chuckled. "Who is?"

None of the young trainers seemed to notice Rorohiko, who was wandering about the ship. He was searching for Alex and Reza, who had Groudon and Lugia. Alex he located quickly, but he didn't see Groudon. [i]At least he had the sense to return Groudon,[i/] Rorohiko thought. [i]That thing would really panic the sailors[/i] (OOC: I hope that's all right with you, Brooklyn. If it isn't, please tell me and I'll change it). Reza took a bit longer to find. She was talking to Rain, the girl who'd been in the tree. He approached the two of them. "What have you been up to lately?" Reza was asking Rain. "Well, I have been drawing a lot," Rain replied. "Sorry to interrupt," Rorohiko said, "but I just thought you should know that you're driving the sailors crazy." Both of them looked up. "Rorohiko!" Reza exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" "What do you think? I'm a passenger on this ship. Now, back to the sailors." "Yes, the sailors. How am I driving them crazy?" "You've left your Lugia outside of its Pokeball," Rorohiko explained. "I'm sure you know the legends about Lugia. Well, it just so happens that sailors are generally a superstitious bunch, and in the legends, Lugia's been associated with, um, unfortunate events. Even just catching a glimpse of one would make most sailors nervous. Yours is actualy on the boat. Those sailors may wet themselves if you don't return Lugia to its Pokeball." "I think Lugia'd prefer to stay out," Reza replied. "Well, I have no problem with that," Rorohiko said. "Hell, it's nice to see them occupied with someone other than myself for a change. They're normally hostile towards be because of Absol, but nobody on this ship's even realized who I am." "And just who are you?" Rain asked. "That's right, you never met me. My name's Rorohiko Alkarlo. You might have heard of me. I recently made some discoveries about Absol. And I mean very recent. Recent enough that almost nobody's Pokedex has the new data." "Ours might," Reza told him. "We have the latest model Pokegear." "Let's find out," Rorohiko said. "Here, hand me your Pokegear." Reza handed it to Rorohiko. "Pretty nice," Rorohiko remarked after inspecting it. He handed it back to Reza, saying "Now, let's see just how up to date its files are." After checking to make sure no sailors were in sight, Rorohiko released Ekratrel. "What's that?" Reza asked. "Check your Pokegear," Rorohiko replied. Reza pointed the Pokegear at Ekratrel. "[i]Ekratrel[/i]," it said. "[i]A newly discovered Dark/Psychic Pokemon. Ekratrel has demonstrated considerable power, though the true extent of its abilities remains unknown. Absol are decended from Ekratrel[/i]." "Pretty good," Rorohiko remarked as he returned Ekratrel to her Pokeball. "That's a nice summary of what's known. Not even I know any more, and I'm the one who discovered Ekratrel. The only thing it didn't mention was Ekratrel's mate, but that's understandable. It was asked for information on Ekratrel only." Rorohiko stood up. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." He walked off. ---------------------------------------------- OOC: Hope that was all right, Frankie and Reiku.

Rorohiko had followed the group when they went to get the equipment they'd need for their journey, though they didn't seem to notice him. He waited until they left Professor Wyatt's mansion before entering himself. Standing just inside was a man who was dressed... well, oddly. "Hello," Rorohiko said. "Why, hello there," the man replied. "I don't believe we've met, though I've got the feling I've seen you before. I'm Professor Wyatt. And you are?" "Rorohiko Alkarlo." "Ah, of course! The Absol guy. Pleasure to meet you. What brings you to Windsand?" "Nothing, really," Rorohiko said. "Just traveling. I've never been to this region before, so I decided to pay it a visit. Anyways, I didn't seek you out just because. I figured you were the one to come to for answers." "Oh? And what answers would those be?" "Well, I couldn't help but notice the unusual group of new trainers. You know, the ones that just left here. I ran into them earlier, and as you can probably imagine, I was surprised by the Pokemon they have. I figured that whoever would be starting them on their journey-that's you-would be the person to ask about what's going on, so I followed them here." "And you want to know why they all have legendary Pokemon?" "That's correct." "Well, it's really not anything that special," Wyatt told him. "Each one of them has his or her own story, but they're pretty ordinary despite the pokemon involved. They just found the Pokemon in one way or another. There's no evidence of anything special. It's quite a coincidence that so many from this village now have legendary Pokemon, but it's just a coincedence." "Strange coincedence," Rorohiko said. "I mean, multiple people discovering legendary Pokemon, well, that's believable. But all of them being from the same village? That's a bit harder to accept. I mean, what were all these legendary Pokemon doing here in the first place? One or two I could see, but that many? And they're diffrent types, too. They've got everything from water/psychic type Lugia to fire-type Moltres to grass/psychic type Celebi. Not types you would expect to find in the same area." Wyatt nodded. "That's true. there are certainly some unanswered questions, but still, I don't think there's anything that unusual going on here, aside from the specific Pokemon involved. If you want to know more, you might try asking them. Of course, their boat's about to leave, so you've probably missed your chance." "Perhaps," Rorohiko replied, "but perhaps not. I'll just have to find out." Rorohiko left Wyatt's place. [i]I guess I'll have to do this the hard way,[/i] he thought. [i]But first, I have to reach that ship.[/i] He grabbed one of his Pokeballs, releasing his own legendary Pokemon, Ekratrel. Ekratrel was faster than Absol, and larger, too. She'd have an easier time handling a rider, and riding her was what Rorohiko planned to do. It was the fastest method of travel he had, though it was hard on the Pokemon. He didn't do it often, but here, he didn't want to risk missing the boat. Upon reaching the port, Rorohiko returned Ekratrel to her Pokeball. He quickly located the new Trainers, who were boarding a ship that looked ready to depart. He quickly made his way over to the boat and walked up the ramp. "You made it just in time," the boarding officer said to Rorohiko. "Do you have a ticket?" Rorohiko shook his head. "No, unfortunatly. Do you have any room for another passenger?" "Plenty," the man replied. "You have money, I take it?" "Of course." "may I have your name, please?" the man asked after Rorohiko had paied. "Strictly for record-keeping purposes, of course." "Of course. My name is Rorohiko Alkarlo." Most sailors at least flinched when Rorohiko gave his name, but this one seemed oblivious. He wrote the name down, along with all other information the records needed to have. "Thank you for traveling with us," the man said as Rorohiko stepped on board the vessel. [i]That man didn't even seem to notice my name,[/i] Rorohiko observed. [i]He seemed a bit worn out, too. I wonder why.[/i] Rorohiko put his pack down, then set off to explore the ship. It didn't take him long to discover what was going on. None of the new trainers had bothered to return their legendary Pokemon. All the legendaries were still out of their Pokeballs. That would be enough to give any sailor fits. No wonder the man hadn't realized who he was! [i]This is bound to be an interesting journey,[/i] Rorohiko thought.

For the first time since Tesera'd come on stage, things had stopped happening. Sure, they still had some walkig to do, but they were likely out of danger. Even that last battle had been nothing more than the result of bad luck. No, there wouldn't be any more danger. Eso saw Nait on the ground. Inspecting her, he determined that she was still alive, just completly worn out. Eso could understand. They'd been through a lot, and while he'd been trained for endurance, the others had not. In fact, he was surprised that Nait was the only one who'd collapsed like that, though Alno'dra was slumped against a tree and appeared to be sleeping. "Well, we made it." Tesera said. "Now what?" "We need to find everyone else," Eso said. "By now, the people've probably been gathered in three seperate locations outside the city. The nearest location shouldn't be too far from here. I'll have to join them, meet with some of the other soldiers and find out just what's been happening while we've been running for our lives. I recommend that you accompany me. We're most likely out of danger, but there's still a risk. Besides, after the evacuation, it'll be hell getting things back into any kind of recognisable order, and we don't need random groups of people who knows where doing who knows what to complicate things. It's really in both of our best intrests. Any objections?" There were none, though James looked a bit uncomfortable at the idea of going to where the soldiers were. Eso knelt down beside Nait. "Ashwin, give me a hand with Nait, will you? We'll have to carry her, because she's clearly too tired to walk. Lynn, go wake up Alno'dra. We can't just leave him here." When Alno'dra was back with the group, Eso and Ashwin lifted Nait up. They carried her between themselves as they led the group towards where Eso said the soldiers would be gathering people. While they walked, Eso motioned Tesera to come up beside him. "What is it?" she asked. "I'd like to know what you did earlier," Eso said. "No, I'm not talking about the dragon battle. I know that wasn't your fault. I'm talking about when you called them to the city. What exactly did you do?" "The end of a process," Tesera told him. "What I did was nothing more than a signal. I'd been planning this for a couple years now. It's not something I could do quickly. I had to travel all over the place, find each dragon individually and talk to him or her about coming here. Fortunatly, many were dragons I'd met already, and weren't difficult to persuade. I'm a familiar figure among dragons, and I've never met another human who can truthfully claim that. Dragons tend to know me, though of course, not all of them like me. Which is understandable. Nobody's going to be liked by everyone." "True," Eso said. "Anyways, so you talked to each dragon individually. How'd they know when to show themselves? They can't have been too close to the city, or somebody would have seen them. So, how did you ccall them?" "Well, they were all near Alsoto by early this morning, keeping out of sight. When I played my song, that was the signal." "How'd they hear the song? I mean, I know dragons are supposed to have much better senses than humans, but sound can travel only so far." "You're right there, but you're missing one piece of information," Tesera said. "The dragons most certainly didn't hear what you heard, ut that's not all there was to hear. My flute may look normal, but I had it custom made to produce additional sound that's outside the human range of hearing. That's what the dragons heard." "One more question. A friend of mine saw you play your flute yesterday. Why didn't the dragons come then?" "Part of it is because they weren't all here yesterday," Tesera explained. "The other part is because they didn't hear it yesterday. I'm sure you noticed the jewel attached to my flute when I played earlier today." Eso nodded. "I did." "People call it the Dragon's Jewel. People say it gives me power over dragons, but that's not true. However, it does have a role in how I call the dragons. When he jewel isn't attached to my flute, it's just a normal flute, producing only sounds that humans can hear. When the jewel is attached, it reacts with the flute to produce the additional sound, the sound that humans can't hear." "Interesting. A lot different than what people say, but then again, since when can you trust what people say?" "I know," Tesera said. "People say a lot of things about me, and they're always completly wrong. I don't have anything that gives me special powers over dragons. I'm just skilled where they're concerned." "But it's a skill that very few people have. I've seen it before. Somebody comes along who knows how to do something that nobody else can do, so they say that person has a special power of some kind. People never like to admit that they there's something they can't do, so they attribte it to luck. 'Oh, he's just lucky that he has that power. If I had it, I could do the same things he can'. People hate admitting that others are better than them at something. Know what I mean?" "Like I said, I get it all the time," Tesera replied. "It's all about the jewel with them. there's nothing special about the jewel. I found it in the lair of one of the first dragons I befriended. There's nothin special about it, or me. I don't rely on any powers. Sure, I have some ability. If I reach out, I can touch a dragon's mind, but only to a limited extent. Calm it down a little, make it so that it's willing to let me live long enough for me to talk to it, but nothing more than that. And that's nothing that only I can do." "Yeah, sounds like it wouldn't be too hard if you have the ability. Some form of telepathic ability, clearly, but not something most people think of when they hear the word 'telepathy'. Yeah, that's something others could learn, clearly." "Any more questions?" "No," Eso said. "I'm out for now. I'm sure you gave me the quick and simple version, but that's all I wanted." As the group kept walking, he replayed the morning's events in his head. Somethiing was up. The man he'd interrogated had said that whoever hired him had known that the dragons would fight. That this man had known that, and far enough in advance to go about hiring a large nuber of people to try and kill Tesera, indicated that something was going on. He just didn't know what. [color=cyan]He had been unsuccessful. She knew this well before he returned. Well, she didn't actually know it, but she anticipated the news. She'd never believed that Tesera would be killed. However, things were not a total failiure. The primary objective had been completed; the traitors had perished. Tesera, however, wouldn't have been so easy a target. Even though Tesera was generally well-known among dragons, most dragons would not be able to pick her out of a crowd. They had trouble telling individual humans apart, just as humans experienced difficulties in telling individual dragons apart. If Tesera panicked and ran with everyone else, which was almost undoubtably what the woman had done, the human would survive. If not, Tesera would die.[/color] [color=cyan]As for the humans pursuing Tesera, well, if one got the woman, then that was good, but in the panic and confusion, it would be difficult even for other humans to pick Tesera out of the crowd. Plus, security would probably get most, if not all, of them, but since human lives were generally unimportant to her, she allowed him to go ahead and do it. However, dispite his attitude towards the woman, Tesera was not yet a very important figure. She might be, eventually, but not yet, and if Tesera did become important, the human could be easily dealt with at that time. He wanted Tesera killed as soon as possible because of what the woman represented in his mind, but she was willing to let Tesera live. The woman would die eventually, but despite his attitude, Tesera didn't need to be killed immediatly.[/color] [color=#00ffff]She again found herself contemplating his attitude. He was very arrogant, beleiving in his own superiority, not only to humans but to most dragons as well. He didn't think that anyone besides her could ever pose a threat to him, and he was pretty much correct. She knew of no dragon besides herself that would stand a reasonable chance of defeating him in battle, but that was not do to any superior power he naturally possessed. He was actually just about average in that regard. He was stronger and more powerful than other dragons only because of his age, and he would not have lived to that age if it wasn't for her.[/color] [color=#00ffff]She remembered the first time the two of them met. It was on the island where she'd lived for most of her life. She'd always been among the most powerful of dragons. Her superior power had made her dominant abong dragons of her age, and even many that were older than her. After reaching full maturity, she'd begun the search all newly matured dragons undertake, the search for a place where she could make her lair. She'd located a large island chain, one the humans had no knowledge of and that was home to no dragons. She'd made her lair on the biggest island in the chain, where she'd remained throughout her life.[/color] [color=#00ffff]It was about 1,500 years later that he showed up. He was a few hundred years old, young compared to her, and of average power for a dragon. She could immediatly tell that he was badly injured, maybe even fatally injured. He had discovered the island chain completly by accident, and was surprised to discover that she had made her lair on one of the islands. He immediatly feared that she would think he wanted to fight her for her territory, but she could tell that that was not why he was there. After he'd calmed down, he'd revealed that his injuries had been caused by human mages. He didn't know why the humans attacked him, but it wasn't the first time he'd had a bad experience with humans. He'd had one bad encounter with them after another, causing him to develop a deep hatred for the entire race. While her own dislike of humans was rational and reasoned, based on numerous objective observations, his was irrational and obsessive. Still, she'd recognised that he could be useful, so she'd healed his wounds and accepted him into her lair as she would a mate.[/color] [color=#00ffff]Over a thousand years had passed since that day. He'd grown stronger with age, but no more powerful than any other dragon his age would be. He, Kaenosetek, was more powerful only because he'd lived longer than most dragons, and that was only because of her protection. On the other hand, she, Lesarioth, was extremely powerful, even for a dragon of her age. Kaenosetek's greatest strength was physical, wheras she was extremly powerful in all areas. Kaenosetek had his uses, but she would be the one who decided the outcome of the chain of events that he had set in motion.[/color] ---------------------------------------------------------- OOC: Hey, even the enemies need a backstory, right?

OOC: Cut down on Alex's knowledge of Rorohiko, please, Brooklyn. It's quite fine if he knows about Rorohiko's discoveries (Rorohiko did anounce his findings, after all), but not the rest. Okay, so it's fine if Alex knows Rorohiko's collaborated with Professor Oak on research before (and he should only know the research collaboration part, not the personal-favors part. Oh, and Rorohiko's relationship with Oak goes no deeper than 'friend and colleauge(sp?)'), but the rest should go. Please make those changes. ----------------------------------------------------------- "I'm not here for any reason in particular," Rorohiko told Alex. "Just wandering, basically. I've never been to Kaijin before, so I decided to visit the region. Windsand here just happens to be where I got off the ship." The rest of the unusuall group of new Trainers reached the two of them, except for the one with the Celebi. She was still in the tree. 'What happened?" a girl asked. "Nothing much," Rorohiko replied. "Alex here didn't want to simply come over here and introduce himself, so he manufactured an incident. Anyways, my name's Rorohiko. What are your names?" The girl introduced herself as Reza, then introduced the others, including Rain, who was still in the tree. "Nice to meet you," she said. "What brings you to Windsand?" "Nothing much," Rorohiko said. "Just exploring, seeing the one region I've never been to. Now, if you don't mind, I was lost in thought before Alex had his Pikachu fake-atack me, and I'd like to get back to that. I might talk with you some other time, but not right now." And with that, he turned and walked off. Eventually, he sat down underatree. He was still within sight of the group, who had returned to their tree. He wanted to watch them for a little while, but he didn't want to be with them. Maybe he'd join them eventually, but not yet.

Rorohiko was glad when he stepped onto land. The sea voyage to the region of Kaijin had actually been fairly pleasant, but Rorohiko didn't like traveling via ship. It wasn't because of seasickness, or that he didn't like the ocean, or anything like that. No, his problem was with the crewmen. Oh, sure, many of them were nice people, but sailors tended to be a bit on the superstitious side. That frequently caused problems, because Rorohiko wasn't exactly an unknown person. He'd made quite a name for himself with his discoveries, so a lot of people recognized his name. And sailors tended not to like Absol. The whole disaster thing meant that many, espeially superstitious types, regarded Absol as an ill omen. Rorohiko was usually treated with contempt by sailors, and occasionally open hostility. Once, he'd had to resort to open threats before he was even able to board the ship. No, he preferred to travel by land or air whenever possible, but sometimes the best, or even the only, way to get somewhere was by sea. Rorohiko left the docks and took a look around. Windsand Village was a pretty small place, though you wouldn't know it from the port. It happened to be in a location passed by many ships bound for other locations. It was amost never the final destination of a ship, but it was a frequent intermediary stop. Windsand itself was a nice little village. It wasn't the type of place Rorohiko would care to live in, but it was a nice place to visit. Of course, Rorohiko probably wouldn't be there for too long. He normally didn't stay in one place for any length of time. Before, it'd been because he was busy searching for answers, but now... Rorohiko grabbed one of his two Pokeballs and looked at it. He still hadn't gotten used to having it. He'd had only a single Pokemon, Absol, since he was just 11 years old, and he'd never wanted another Pokemon. That hadn't changed until just a couple months ago, when he'd discovered Ekratrel after a series of events involving Victor Trolmont, the cops, Team Rocket, and a guy with a sword-he still wasn't sure just what had happened there. Eventually, Ekratrel decided to accompany Rorohiko. She was the first Pokemon besides Absol he'd ever had, and he still hadn't gotten used to having her. Rorohiko returned the Pokeball to his belt and took another look around. He'd never been to Windsand before; in fact, he'd never been to Kaijin at all. He'd gone practically everywhere else durring his search for answers, but the search had never taken him to Kaijin. Not knowing what to do now that he'd found the answers he sought, he'd decided to visit Kaijin, the one region he'd never been to. Perhaps he'd find something there that would interest him. Rorohiko wandered through the village. Eventually, he saw a small group gathered by a stream, under an oak tree. There were three of them, and a fourth was approaching. Rorohiko could guess what was happening here. The three under the tree had the unmistakable look of new Trainers about to begin their journey, and the fourth, the one approaching the other hree, looked more experienced. He was probably the one who'd give them their first Pokemon and start them on their way. Rorohiko didn't really pay much attention to him, instead focusing on the three beneath the tree. They were clearly beginning Trainers, yet there was something different about this group that Rorohiko couldn't place. Rorohiko didn't have to wonder for long. He soon placed the difference. All it took was Latias appearing in front of the group. They were startled by the suden appearance, but didn't seem to be surprised that it was, indeed, a Latias. then Rorohiko saw Celebi, and then he noticed the Lugia flying overhead. [i]I bet their story is an interesting one,[/i] he thought. Rorohiko's attention returned to the approaching man. Rorohiko decided he'd been wrong about this particular one. He was greeting the others as one of them, a beginning Trainer like themselves. However, he, too, had a legendary Pokemon, a Groudon. Then the fifth person arrived. This one had a Rayquaza. Rorohiko'd never seen anything like this, and he'd seen quite a lot. [i]So I'm not the only one with a legendary Pokemon. Well, I knew that already. Aunt Hope and Uncle Shinobi[/i] (OOC: That was his name, right, Frankie?) [i]and their kids can't seem to get away from the things. But they're all experienced trainers, whereas these people clearly aren't. I wonder what the[/i] [i]deal is.[/i] Rorohiko didn't approach the group. Instead, he kept his distance, and simply watched. He wanted to see whoever it was that would send this particular group on their way, maybe talk with the person, but he didn't have any desire to get involved with another group of new Trainers. He'd done that twice in his life already, and he didn't need to do it again, though with this particular group, he might end up changeing his mind.

Even if it's fewer characters than one per team, I think that unreliable posters should be among the first to go, along with those whose post quality has been generally poor (and no, I'm not talking about anybody specifically.I think everyone's quality has been pretty good). People like that negativly impact the enjoyment others get out of an RPG, and often end up killing it, something I've experienced more than once. So they should be among the first to go. That's my opinion, at least. Of course, I think it'll still be a little while before the Body Bag will go up. I know Grean Team still has two more times through the post order before our mission is complete, which may take a little while. And don't forget that there are stilll people who haven't been in a single mission yet. No, the Body Bag won't be happening for a while, I don't think.

Liquid had been in some unusual situations before, but this one beat them all. She was 4,000 years in the past, attempting to stop a man from the future from performing sick experiments on humans and creating monstrosities like those half-machine things, and now her stepfather had her at gunpoint with a gun he'd taken from her while she stared at her real father, a man who'd died before she was born. "You know who that is, right?" Kajo asked Liquid, indicating Branit. Liquid nodded. "I do." "Well, I've never seen you before," Branit told Liquid, "though you do remind me of my wife. How do you know who I am?" "She came from the future," Kajo explained. "Well, the future as far as you're concerned. She's from the same time I am, over 20 years later than the time you came here from." "I see," Branit said. "She remembers things that as far as I'm concerned haven't happened yet, just like you. You seem to know her." "I do, though it's been four years since we've seen each other." That remark took Liquid by surprise, though she didn't let it show. [i]It's been eight years since he tried to rape me, and I haven't seen him since. Why did he say four years, and not eight? Did he come back here from four years before my present?[/i] "Yeah, whatever," she said aloud. "Now, would somebody please tell me what's going on here? It's obvious you're working for the man I'm here to take out, so why haven't you killed me yet?" "We're not here to kill you," Branit said. "Our boss wants your aid." "He wants me to help him?" "That's right," Branit confirmed. "He wants you to help him with your companions. don't worry, he doesn't want you to kill them, or even to harm them. He wants you to convince them to leave him be. Obviously, he feels that someone they trust, namely you, would have a bettter chance at persuadeing them to do so. Kajo and I are simply to convince you to do that. I guess he chose us for the same reason. I mean, you and Kajo know each other, and apparently I end up knowing you sometime in my future. It's much easier to trust a familiar face." Liquid could tell that something was up. Trust? She'd never trust Kajo, not after he tried to rape her. And Branit had died before she was born. She recognised him because she'd seen pictures, but she didn't know him, and so had know reason to trust him. No, there was something else to this. However, she decided to play along, to try and find out just what was going on without letting either of them know she was on to them. "And why would I do such a thing?" she asked. "Because of our boss's situation," Branit told her, "and his reasons for doing what he's doing. Our boss is from about a thousand years ahead of our-and your-time. In that future, there's a war. The two sides of this particular war were dead even for a while, but eventually, one side got the advantage. Our boss is on the other side, which is facing defeat. If they lose, they'll lose more than the war. Their enemy doesn't just kill soldiers. They slaughter innocents, massacre entire cities for no good reason." That part was clearly bogus, but again, Liquid pretended that she couldn't tell. "God! Why would they do that?" "We don't know. Anyways, our boss is willing to go to almost any lengths to protect the innocents. He came up with the plan of coming back to this time, taking people living now, and using them to fight. Unfortunatly, with the way things are-or will be, I guess-going for his side, just more men isn't going to be enough. But because he's doing his work here, 5,000 years before his time, he can take as much time as he wants, and still return at the instant he left. That gives him enough time to do what he's doing. "What he's doing is taking men from this time and changing them. The human-machine hybrids he wanted to show you are the earliest attempts. Now, he and his men are a lot better at it. Those wolf-creatures that brought you here are some of his subjects. He has others, ones that are much more powerful. He believes that the small army of creatures he's creating here will be enough to win the war when he takes them back to his time." Branit seemed as though he believed everything he'd just said. Kajo, however, was a different story. Liquid knew how to read the man. He was clearly enjoying himself. There was something going on here, and Liquid needed to find out what. "And what happens if I refuse?" she asked. "Then Branit here will die," Kajo told her. "Hey, wait a minute!" Branit exalimed. "What the hell are you talking about?" "Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you. You die, Branit. You die, and your death is caused by Laqara here." "That's bull$hit!" Liquid exclaimed. Kajo laughed. "No, it's not. Your actions cause Branit's death. In return for your cooperation, our boss will take measures to change that. He will prevent you from causing Branit's death." "What has already happened cannot be changed," Liquid said. "Even if I accept the offer, he will die. That can't be changed. My answer is no." "Suit yourself," Kajo replied. "Oh, and I told the truth. Branit's death is your fault." Kajo pointed Liquid's gun at Branit. As soon as Liquid saw what he was doing, she shifted into her liquid state and charged at Kajo. Fast as she was, she wasn't quite quick enough. Just before she shifted back to her solid state and tackled Kajo to the ground, he fired. Then Liquid hit him. He was able to use her momentum to roll over so he was on top of her. He quickly got up and moved away from her, but not before she was able to get her gun back. "Nice try," Kajo said as Liquid picked herself up, "but you were just a bit too slow, so he died. Pity, really. If you had simply cooperated, he would still be alive. Well, too late to change your mind. Nice seeing you, Laqara." With that, he turned around and walked away, heading towards the fortress. Liquid could have easily shot him, but she did not. She could see the game he was playing, and she would let him think he'd won. For now. Instead of shooting Kajo, she knelt by Branit's body, crying. Eventually she stood up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and walked slowly towards the fortress. [size=1][color=darkred][b]Laqara Solero, aka Liquid, was finished. He'd watched the entire thing, and he was pleased with how well it had worked. He'd never doubted that it would succeed, but he had expected Kajo to die after killing Branit, which didn't happen. Liquid's defeat was so total that she couldn't even shoot the man who'd done it. [/b][/color][/size][b][size=1][color=#8b0000]He watched as Liquid got to her feet and walked in the direction of the fortress. Her sense of duty was admirable. She was in no condition to fight, and she probably knew it, yet she proceeded onwards.[/color][/size][/b] [b][size=1][color=#8b0000]He remembered formulating the plan for Liquid. He'd studied her record, of course, but that hadn't told him what he wanted to know. Yes, he learned her style, including her penchant for recklessness, but to do what he wanted to do, he needed to know who she was, not just what she did. He needed someone who knew her, so he had used Kajo. The man had been eager to get revenge on Liquid for what she'd done the night Kajo tried to rape her. All he'd had to do to get Kajo's cooperation was allow the man to participate in Liquid's downfall. It had prooven to be a very good move, as Kajo's idea formed the basis of the plan which had so clearly destroyed Liquid. Now, Liquid was as good as dead, and when she entered the fortress, she would die. He could have her killed now, of course, but he wanted her to suffer first.[/color][/size][/b] Liquid could tell exactly was was going on. Kajo was, of course, working for the rouge Green Team was there to stop. He'd have been easy to recruit, too. All he'd have needed was the promise of a chance for revenge, and he'd have offered his complete cooperation. Most of what had just happened was probably his idea. As for getting her away from the rest of the team, well, she could only assume that Kajo's boss, being from the future, knew her record, which would of course include her penchant for recklessness. He had presented an obvious opportunity for a move that fit her style perfectly, and she'd taken it. This man, Kajo's 'boss', was clearly a sick individual. He could have easily had her killed. Hell, Branit could have shot her while she'd been busy fighting Kajo, and that would have been the end of that. But merely killing her wasn't enough for 'the boss', as she was coming to think of this man. The boss didn't want her to merely die; he wanted her to suffer first That would be why he needed Kajo. The boss could study her record as much as he wanted, but that would tell him only what she did. To truly hurt her, he'd need information from someone who knew her. That would explain Kajo's presence. Kajo, with whom she'd lived for two years, would certainly know her. The boss's plan was solid, but he'd made one mistake. Kajo didn't know Liquid at all. Yes, she had once lived with him, but that had been eight years ago (although apparently only four for Kajo). Liquid had changed a lot in eight years. Kajo's plan was based on outdated knowledge, but he did accurately remember what she was like back then. The old Laqara, the Laqara that Kajo had known, would have been destroyed by what she'd just witnessed. But that Laqara was gone. Liquid was a very different person then she'd been back then. But Kajo clearly didn't know that. Liquid could identify multiple mistakes which the boss had made. For one thing, he'd relied on the idea of Kojo,who hadn't seen her for four years. Another mistake was that he'd taken Kajo from that particular time. Liquid considered that to be a particularly important one. It showed thatthe boss wasn't as careful as he needed to be. He'd pulled Kajo from a seemingly random point in time, four years after Kajo had last seen Liquid but four years before the time Liquid had come back from. In a way, this was understandable. When one's looking back a thousand years or so, a period of four years is easy to dismiss as irrelevant. The gap may even have escaped the boss's notice entirly. Regardless of the reason, however, and despite the fact that it was an understandable error, it was a deadly mistake, as it meant that at least some of the boss's information was out of date. And then, of course, there was the boss's greatest mistake: neglecting to kill his opponents. He wanted them to suffer, but that meant that he had to leave them alive, and a living opponent can kill you, whereas a dead person cannot. Still, a person devestaded enough was little threat. Which was why Liquid acted as though the boss's plan had worked. She wanted the boss to assume that she was defeated, her sense of duty forcing herself to continue when she knew she could do nothing except slow the rest of the team down. Liquid would reveal her hand only when she had to, keeping it hidden for as long as possible. As she neared the fortress, Liquid saw something launch out of the forest and onto the floating island on which the fortress sat. There were some flashes, then nothing. [i]The rest of the team must be up there,[/i] she concluded. [i]And here I was hoping to rejoin them before going up there. At least I can get myself up there, though it would have been easier to have Era teleport me and the rest of the group up. Well, can't really do anything about it now. I'll just have to get up there myself.[/i] Liquid kept walking towards the fortress. She wanted to be as close to it as possible before beginning her ascent. It wouldn't be easy for her to get herself up there, and she wanted to have as small a distance as possible to cover while in the air. When she reached it, she knelt and placed her hands on the ground. She remained in that position for several seconds, drawing energy from the water around her (OOC: It's raining heavily, remember). Eventually, she put as much power as she could into streams of water she fired from her hands. The force launched her into the air. She drew upon the water in the air to keep her from falling. She was able to land on the flloating island. Liquid looked around. There was an entrance, a dead body, and evidence of a battle. She wondered if the dead man was one of the rouge's experiments. She didn't see any other bodies, so all four of the others were probably still alive. Just then, she saw more flashes. She walked in the direction of the flashes, stopping when she came to the narrow path. She guessed that the others had gone that way, but why, when there was a clear entrance? Liquid didn't like the look of that narrow path, either. It would be impossible to fight efffectivly while walking across it. Liquid decided to take a look at the obvious entrance. Walking past the dead body, she came to a dead end. She saw the note saying to go to the rear entrance, and guessed that that's what the others had done. Liquid could see why, too. There wasn't any way out of the room other than the way she'd come in. At least, not one that most people would see. There was, in fact, a door. It was perfectly hidden, but Liquid had the advantage of her water-sight. She could see the doorr without too much diffficulty. She couldn't see any way to open it, though. Unless... there was another spot on the wall, near the door, that wouldn't be easily visible to most but that Liquid could see clearly. She placed her hand on it, and the door opened. [i]Of course. No doorknobs in the future, I guess.[/i] Liquid hesitated briefly before walking through the open door. It closed behind her, but there was another panel that could be used to open it. Liquid, however, wasn't going back out. She continued forward. ------------------------------------------------- OOC: Again, don't bring Liquid back to the group.

Obviously you haven't read through this thread thuroghly (sp?) enough, as this issue has been brought up before. The last person in the posting order (you, in this case) gets to end the mission.

The man Ajax had quickly singled out Eso as the leader of the group, and while no formal decision had been made, he had been acting as the leader. He'd done it only because he was trained for battle situations, and even though the others were clearly skilled fighters (well, most of them, at least. Sakura and Lynn were clearly inexperienced, and Nait's experience was in a form of battle much different than that which the group had engaged in), he was the one best suited to lead them in their escape from the city. He'd almost gotten them to safety, and that task would be complete as soon as the current attackers were dealt with. But Eso didn't want to simply kill them all. He wanted information, which meant that he needed at least one of them alive. so when Ajax engaged him in just the right spot, he was ready to make his move. Ajax charged Eso and locked swords with him. "You got any last words, scum?" Eso, seeing that the two of them were a several feet away from anyone else-enough room to avoid bring anybody else down with himself and Ajax-made his move after responding to Ajax's question with, "How does 'fuck you' sound?" Eso collapsed the ground underneath himself and Ajax, sending the two of them down into the tunnel from which he and the others had emerged just a f ew minutes ago. The move took Ajax by surprise, which Eso took advantage of. Before Ajax knew what had happened, he was disarmed and on his back, with the tip of Eso's sword at his throat. "Tell me why you're here," Eso demanded. "Or what?" Ajax asked. "I die? You'll kill me anyways." "Death threats are useless in an interrogation," Eso replied. "After all, dead men can't talk. If you don't tell me what I want to know, you'll keep living, but you'll have to live wthout your dick." "You're bluffing!" "Am I?" Eso made a cut right next to Ajax's left nut, then returned his sword to the man's throat. "Talk, or I'll take the whole set." "Okay, fine! It won't do you much good anyways." "I'll be the judge of that," Eso said. "Now, why are you here?" "To kill the woman Tesera. I was promised a hefty reward if I did so." "And the others?" "A few of them are people I know," Ajax told him. "I knew how tight security would be at the festival, and I figured that having some friends would help. We'd split the reward evenly among ourselves. Even split, each of us would come out with an impressive sum. As for the others, the ones I don't know, well, they're here for the same reason. They were hired seperatly from me. Some are mercs, some are bounty hunters, others are just common thieves. The only commonallities is that we were all offered the same reward for Tesera's head, and that we all seem to have been hired by the same man." "Who?" "None of us know. He came to each of us after the sun had set, and he wore a cloak. Nobody could make out any features." "Did he say why he wanted Tesera killed?" "No," Ajax said. "He didn't reveal any motive, but whatever the reason, the man's serious. Some of the men with me had friends of their own elsewhere in the city, and apparently there were men like us all over the place looking for her. Whoever that man was, he really wants Tesera dead. And he knows more than he should. He told us that the dragons would come, and warned us that they would fight. And he knew that the mystery performer was Tesera, even though nobody else seemed to." "And you know nothing more?" "Nothing." "I'd say you're telling the truth," Eso said. "you really don't know any more. I'd hoped to get a bit more information, but it loks like you're not the man to give it to me." "So you have no more use for me. You'll kill me now, won't you?" Eso shrugged. "I have no other choice. I can't really let you live, now, can I? So, farewell." He cut Ajax's head off. Eso walked out of the tunnel. Turning towards the others, he saw that the battle appeared to be in its final phase. A couple of the attackers had already given up, and were running away as fast as they can. The others kept fighting, even as it became clear that they would lose. It would be over soon. ----------------------------------------------------- OOC: Now you can wrap things up. Just don't have the group go their seperate ways yet. There's still one more thing to get out of the way before that happens.