Welcome to Gaia! ::

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Ira's mouth consumed the world. In this case, it was not literal. Ira's mouth could suck everything inside, as if it was a miniature black hole. The motion of this, of simply opening her mouth, though temporarily, would be enough to off-set the speed at which Ratio intended to pull Nostrad, allowing for the following exchange.

With a flick of his wrist as he moved into action, the knife would leave its holtster on his left forearm, aimed to split the ribbon near where it held Nostrad, so that Ancile couldn't change the position of the ribbon to prevent Nostrad from being freed. Unless they had another way to avoid it, the ribbon would split and the court noble would be freed. To further ensure this, the blade flared with a pink psychic aura of Psycho Cut.

Jean moved into action at the same time. Ira, who was still at his side, and from her came a spray of Infestation, which split around Jean and Nostrad and aimed for Ratio and Ancille.

Auto-Cannibalisme

To Ratio, who was the primary target, the spray wouldn't be its original form, it would be like a spray of his loved ones, as well as tiny versions of himself, flying toward him, and if they hit the illusion would force Ratio to see images of them eating him as the infestation tore away at his life.

Jean would swing his blade, flaring like before, for the ribbon if it had managed to avoid the knife somehow, to split it in one motion as he would aim to catch Nostrad around the waist with his free arm. As for Ratio's swing, it would have to be abandoned if he wished to avoid Infestation, and if he moved to take it, and swing, it would allow Jean the split second to match the blade. Without Sword Dance, Ancile wouldn't have the upper hand in strength to simply split Jean's sword, reinforced as it was.

If Ratio paid attention, he would be able to feel the aura of Mesperyian, the Malamar, who watched all of this from the hall, creating the psychic blades that helped ensure Jean would be able to face the ghost type Pokemon.

As for Jean, with the distance closed, he would release Nostrad to run for the door - which was now no longer blocked.

Tower Vault

With two floors to go, Loki would begin to move, preserving his remaining teleports.

Up above, the battle raged.

"Come on, we're out-" she wanted to tell them to just give up, Nowell's Pokemon sprang into action. As its fangs dug into her neck, she'd grab its wings to prevent the Pokemon from getting away.

Several things happened at this point. Pan would lunge at Tyrant, only ot be ignored as Tyrant turned toward Poliwhirl, getting slammed by the Dragon's tail and knocked away a few feet. The Pokemon growled, and would have been restrained, but Helena was busy.

Instead the Water type would have to face down the dinosaur, who wasn't just openly salivating, that saliva was starting to create a puddle on the ground.

Écarlate jumped into action as Feather did, the two of them trading positions. Feather would use a vine whip to grab Muk's ball before Nowell could take it. She'd do this to any remaining Pokeballs on Nowell and then turn to do the same for Stunky's trainer.

The two other trainers still had Pokemon by them, so she saved that for later.

Écarlate, meanwhile, would lunge at Golbat, aiming to catch it with a Bullet Punch pinsir clamp and rip it away from Helena to pull it back into another Bullet Punch from his other claw.

Tyrant lunged at the water type, aiming to grab it in a Crunch with half of its body. If it hit, it would use one of its legs to press against the lower, exposed half of Poliwhirl's body and, with some effort, it would rip the Pokemon in half and consume the upper half.

If Poliwhirl dodged, his trainer would make a decent meal instead.

Foot Of The Tower

The soothing pulse emanating from Seelie’s ribbon feelers reached the pirate as well, amplifying his hesitation. For a moment, his willingness to go through with his threat was quelled, and his Crawdaunt was similarly pacified. They listened to what Zack had to say.

“…Phenac City was nothin’ but scared people.” The pirate’s anger was welling up again. His fists were shaking at his sides. “I’ve got Kalos to thank for that! You think we just came for the loot?! We came for blood!”

The shovel wielding acolyte was out of range from Seelie’s feelers. Unaffected by the pulse, he was undeterred in sneaking up on the pirate. When he was within range, he swung the shovel at the pirate’s legs, dropping the pirate to the floor by surprise. The pirate’s grip on Crawdaunt’s Pokéball slipped, flinging it up in the air.

Before the Crawdaunt could act, the acolyte caught the ball, returned Crawdaunt, and gave the pirate one final smack with the shovel’s spade.

“You’ve come for blood?” the Shovel Acolyte said, spinning the shovel at his side before embedding it into the earth. “You’ve found it now.”

The pirate’s eyes were swirls and his tongue was lolled out to the side. Shovel Acolyte gave the pirate an honorable bow, then checked on the Elder Woman. The Elder waved him off respectfully, an insistence that she was okay.

She faced Zack and gave him an identical bow. Her perpetually squinted eyes wrinkled with gratitude. “Are you alright, child?”

Tower Vault

Poliwhirl stood fast at his trainer’s side. They had been together how many years now? Nine? Ten? Poliwhirl wasn’t good at counting. He wasn’t good at holding on to things with his slippery hands either. He wasn’t good at a lot of things, but Jedah never held it against him. He loved him all the same. If this was this last thing he could do for his trainer-

Poliwhirl was eaten, gone while his trainer was unconscious. His last act wasn’t witnessed by the one it was meant for, but Nowell saw it all.

Golbat flapped harder, his wings not deterred by the grips of the teen. He sucked that sweet Helena blood like a vampire, until Écarlate ripped him off and pummeled him in the face. The bat spit up all the blood he drained, ejecting a torrent as he was sent out the window and out of the fight.

Stunky’s trainer, unconscious, had her Pokéballs taken. Nowell wasn’t passed out, but he was too stunned to struggle as Muk and Golbat’s balls were taken as well. All he could do was look at Helena defiantly. “Savage.”

Gotengo

There had been interference on the line. One second she was trying to persuade Salieri to act, and the next she was cut out. Sal had gone rogue, and Mia couldn’t regain control of Ivan. The Porygon Z’s code forced them to follow Sal’s commands above everyone else’s.

So Mia moved on to someone else. Every now and then, when the PC took time to load, she glanced over her shoulder and saw the Gotengo kids watching the news. They didn’t understand the gravity of Skarada’s ultimatum. The news covered the evacuation of Shalour, but they didn’t know the specifics of why. Mia felt alone in the treehouse.

She hadn’t upgraded Zack’s Holocaster, but she had upgraded Benedict’s. Part of that deal was putting tracking software on him, because Mia liked to keep tabs on things she didn’t fully understand. Like Ben.

The first impression she had of him was not off to a good start, but she knew he was a good guy. As good as she could get on short notice too. The news showed he was there too, no doubt a part of Salieri’s roundup. Besides, he actually answered the call.

“It’s Mia, from the treehouse. Sal’s held up by airship security.” That was a half lie. Salieri was choosing to prioritize said security. It meant leaving the delicate part up to Pokémon. That was, in Mia’s opinion, the wrong choice.

“That cannon will fire any minute.” She kept her voice level, but her fingers and mind were a flurry at the keys. “Can you get on the ship, Ben?”

The Fishbone – Hangar

The guards and their Pokémon in the hangar all looked at the entrance when they heard the door slide open. “Whose rat is that?” one of them asked when they saw the Pikachu.

Caboose used his Magnetic Discharge. Floatzel, the fastest of the enemies, ran on all fours with his tails spinning like propellers to the corner of the room, out of the electromagnetic energy’s range. The two pirates who were affected found themselves floating in the air, then stuck together in a forced hug.

Floatzel didn’t know how to activate the hangar’s alarm, so instead he activated the one thing he did know how to use: the fire sprinklers. The nozzles on the ceiling opened up, and water rained down on the whole room. Floatzel was now the fastest one in the soaked hangar.

The weasel set his sights on Caboose. As the Pikachu launched the Thundershock to send the guards to the ceiling, Floatzel wreathed himself in water and charged Caboose with an Aqua Jet.

Meanwhile, Nidoqueen was immune to the Magnetic Discharge. Before she could capitalize on that, Hazard snuck up on her and she fell into her own shadow, through the floor and the ship. Now she was upside down, with nothing but the Gengar holding her up. She gulped.

[Whoaaaa geez oh boy oh geez okay I’ll tell you what…zzz.]

Hypnosis took hold, and despite being upside down hundreds of feet in the air, Nidoqueen fell asleep. A snot bubble grew and shrank at her nostril with each snore.

Tower Vault

"All you had to do was surrender!" Helena shouted, frustration clear in her tone. She held her neck with one hand as she turned to Tyrant, who had turned to look at her as he smelled blood. His giant maw parted as he was engulfed in the red light of his Pokeball. She returned Pancham after that, the little guy struggling to stand with the poison coursing through his veins. Metric was the last one, the little dragon unconscious.

It was supposed to be under control. Poliwhirl was a pool of blood, the rest of his remains shredded up in Tyrant's digestive tract. The only conscious Pokemon was the little dark type puppy standing near their trainer.

Helena ignored it, but Écarlate kept watch.

"Take any items they have," she said to Feather who began the task of searching the unconscious trainers. Helena stepped over to Nowell.

"You guys have to understand something, I have two settings with this. I defeat you, and then you end up in a prison cell, or you run away, whatever. It's not my problem. I don't have the time to care about that. If you guys waste any more time I won't have that luxury. That-" she pointed at Poliwhirl's puddled remains, too sick of the sight to look at it herself, "is the alternative. I cannot let you murder an entire city for whatever bullshit reason you're here for."

Écarlate kept watch of Nowell too as Helena knelt down to loot the leader herself. If there was a revive, she'd use it on Metric. Any antidotes would go to Pancham and then Feather, and potions would go to Écarlate, then Tyrant, then Metric, then Pancham.

As this began, Loki would arrive on the scene. He'd be greeted by any remaining potions.

If Nowell didn't do anything to stop her, it'd give Helena a minute to adjust herself, taking a piece of cloth and wrapping it tightly around her neck to try and slow the blood that came out of the wound.

"Pan, Feather, Metric(if he was up again), keep guard," she told the three of them, Écarlate and Loki at her side as she looked back at the vault doors. "The rest of you, we have to get to the airship. But first," she turned to Loki, "take me to my brother."

If everything went according to plan, she'd arrive at the base of the Tower, and if Zack was still within earshot she'd call out to him.

Path to a Cannon

Ben glanced after the way Ska had gone off. Mia's voice was coming through and for a moment her felt a tinge of frustration. He'd left that part to the others because of not reading the file, but he'd managed to keep a pretty tough guy busy for a time. It wouldn't amount to anything if Sal was being stopped, though.

He trusted his pokemon to an extent, but Caboose probably didn't know a thing about finding and disabling cannons. Ben didn't have much idea either, but he did have a phone. With Mia on it. Was it wrong to assume hacker ladies could help with disabling weapons?

"I'll get on it." He replied, pulling himself on to the flying type. Francis would wait long enough for Essence and Manny to climb on as well before taking off. Likely it was a good thing he'd taken that time to speed up with what was going through Ben's head.

Sunny day burned to life as they started their way up, with Francis' keen eye raised to the sky as he pushed off the ground to launch towards the airship. One weakness of those cannon things tended to be that they had to have a place to come out of, and if Ska was threatening, it would probably be open somewhere to show he was serious.

Find that spot and get in it quickly and they'd have a good chance to stop it.

That was the half-baked plan anyway.

The plan was that Francis would Quick Attack skyward, while the other two defended. Solar beam would be brought to a one turn activation for Essence to defend them, and Manny would attack as needed. If no attacks came, he would take the time as they got closer to link with Caboose and, if Hazard was cool with it, them too.

********************************************

Secret Agent Mouse and the Shadow

When his companion's sunglasses fell to the ground, Pikachu would put them on.

It was times like this that Caboose wished he knew Thunder. The Floatzel's attack redirected his own as he was forced to dodge, and the thundershock would shakily fire wildly. If any hangar doors were actually open, there would be a real chance he'd accidentally send the trainers flying outside. They would be pinned to any object they hit, however. Assuming they hit something before the thundershock reached its range.

Despite his attempt to dodge, Floatzel's speed was enough to earn a glancing blow, and a risk of being affected by Static. If the pokemon were crazy enough to hold on or try to physically take the Pikachu somewhere, he would unleash an electro ball at point-blank range, which would be quite dangerous to the now-faster pokemon.

Otherwise, Pikachu would attempt to reset their positions. Speed wasn't on his side, and he had a feeling that a discharge wasn't going to work. So long as the trainers hadn't been tossed out of the airship by total accident, he would Play Nice. [I don't want to fight. I'm here to keep a lot of people from dying down there, people I care about. Let's just stop.]

If the trainers had been tossed out accidentally, well, there wouldn't be any playing nice, and instead he'd prepare for a possibly more enraged Floatzel with an Electro Ball that he would try to slam into the other pokemon's face the next time it came flying at him.

Gotengo

“Hurry,” Mia said to Ben, rushing to pull up the pictures Salieri sent her earlier from Juliet’s dossier. The snapshots of the airship’s schematics were taken off of Sal’s Pokégear, so Mia worked to improve the resolution as best as she could. Somewhere on this schematic, there’d have to be a point for the cannon to fire. Considering the target was below the ship, the cannon was most likely somewhere on the bottom deck.

She relayed as much to Ben, outlining her thought process as she went. “So if they really were going to fire it, it’d have to be on the bottom half on the ship. Somewhere near the front, I think. Do you see anything?”

Below The Fishbone

Essence’s Sunny Day pierced through the Fishbone’s cloud cover with a sphere of hot light imitating the sun. That light would help illuminate the ship for Benedict and company, melting the shadows cast by the clouds.

The pirates that had been guarding the ship with air and deck patrol had been cleared out by Salieri and the other Pokémon, paving a safe way for Ben’s party. From his angle of approach, he’d be able to see the cannon.

Three hangar doors were closed and locked at the front end of the ship, but the one off the portside had a shoddily sliced out hole in it. Poking out of that hole was a cannon barrel the size of an SUV, pointing in the direction of Shalour City. With the barrel taking up so much space, entering through that hole would be impossible for anyone aside from a tiny Pokémon.

The only other readily available entrance to the ship on its bottom half was the emergency window previously opened by Hazard further along its length, now depressurized with time. The entrance was small, but not too small for someone of Benedict’s size to squeeze through.

A few more seconds of quick flying upwards, and Benedict would spy the most apparent entrance: the one on the top deck of the ship, with the defeated bodies of pirates and their Pokémon strewn in front of it.

The Fishbone – Hangar

Floatzel slid past Caboose, jumping and landing with his claws gripped to the inner wall. The two pirates floating in the air suddenly found themselves pinned to the ceiling, too smushed to each other to cry out for help loudly enough. Not that Floatzel needed to hear it.

Playing Nice bought Caboose a few seconds as Floatzel listened to his plea. The plight to reach his conscience lowered his fighting power ever so slightly, but not his fighting spirit. The weasel licked his lips. [Funny. We said the same thing to you Kalosians back in Orre!]

Floatzel, still wired with speed off of his Swift Swim, darted at Caboose with a second Aqua Jet, a wet orange blur screeching across the room. After all, it worked the first time. Assuming it worked again, Floatzel would keep zipping around the room back and forth to score a blitz of tackles until Caboose was down or he was stopped.

On the other side of the room, Nidoqueen rustled in her dream of being held upside down outside the ship, whispering to Hazard what the Ghost wanted to hear.

The cannon was located on the portside of the hangar, behind an airlock door that led to the proper hangar door. Through the airlock’s glass, the base on the SUV sized barrel could be seen, just as massive and wired with a rudimentary computer. The airlock door was, predictably locked, but there was a keypad for access. Something the crew didn’t like, but deemed necessary just in case. Due to their disdain, they kept the three letter password shockingly simple.

“Password…is a name for a pirate…I guess…” Nidoqueen yawned. She rolled onto her back and scratched her stomach, eyes still closed as she completely drifted off.

The Fishbone - Above Deck

Durendal nodded at Serene's directions. Still wreathed in his red dust scarf, hovering inches off the deck, he led the way to where she pointed. Serene and Lethal would find themselves caught up in his wake, a breeze characterized by the red tint of the dust in its airflow. It acted as a makeshift Tailwind, boosting their speed for a short time.

Wherever Salieri was, she could be in trouble. Not only in true danger, but in her mind. He knew she had a tendency to lose stability where family matters were concerned. And Prou was family. For Dune, this was a race to save not only Shalour City, but the tenuous wellbeing Salieri had left.

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Ancile had Ratio covered. Once Jean broke the melee, the Aegislash's shield expanded, growing from the watch-sized disc on Ratio's wrist into a man-sized sheet of steel that deflected Jean's knife in a shower of sparks. A little over the top, perhaps, but it meant that Ratio could continue forward without breaking his stride. Ancile's shield detached itself, and walled Jean, preventing his pursuit as Ratio dashed for the door.

Celarsi, meanwhile, fell into Ira's Bind. As a Ditto, it couldn't escape, but Celarsi had been blessed with an eidetic memory, and could recall an armory of transformations. The blob pokémon glowed white, turning itself into a magnificent Rapidash. With Run Away as its new Ability, Celarsi broke Ira's Bind and Flame Charged, aiming to ram through the Ghost type and join its trainer in the hallway.

If Mesperyian attempted to block Ratio, the assassin would ram a glowing Ancile through its stomach, gutting it with Sacred Sword. If this went through, Ratio would catch Celarsi by the neck and mount it as it barreled through Mesperyian on the way to the hall. Nostrad wouldn't be far, and he couldn't outrun death on horseback.

Foot of the Tower

Zack glanced Loki's way and hesitated. He really didn't want Helena going on this trip, but he also couldn't leave her alone, even if she had apparently proved herself already. The relief he felt at seeing her okay told him to stay with her. Besides, attempting to put his foot down would just lead to an argue he didn't have the time for, and she owned the Teleporter.

Whatever. He gave Loki the nod.

'Just don't get distracted. Ska's an expert at misdirection.'

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Mesperyian couldn't let Ratio pass so easily. As Jean jumped away from Ancile to avoid being slammed into the wall, he would allow Ratio to pass by. Landed a few feet away, he'd turn toward Ratio's exposed back.

Arsenal, as was his true name, had no simple end to the amount of weapons he carried upon his person. Some were upon his person in their original form, others were kept in item balls, organized around his body on the interior of his clothing.

The kusarigama that he produced was one such weapon. The hooked sycthe blade attached to the chain would swing out toward Ratio, attempting to catch him in the back. If it hit Jean would pull on the chain to drag Ratio back toward him and to the ground.

Ira would fling herself away from Celarsi as she moved with Run Away. The Reaper's cloth would let the Ditto turned Rapidash go free, and she'd turn toward the escaping assassin, the pressure of her field disappearing for a moment as she melted into the shadows.

Mesperyian brought up both of its fins, hardened like blades with Night Slash and Psycho Cutter to ram themselves into Ratio's shoulders as the assassin drove the blade into his stomach. Ratio would have to abandon his attack to avoid the double blow, otherwise he'd find the tendons of his shoulders sliced, weakening his arms and slowing his swings.

If all of this failed to stop Ratio, he'd likely reach Celarsi, and as he would continue after Nostrad, the shadows cast by the Rapidash's light would give Ira her opportunity to emerge, snuck up behind Ratio again, attaching herself to Celarsi. This time she'd hold the face of Ratio's mother, if he could remember her, and in her voice she'd say "bad boy" before wrapping around the assassin to crush him in her Binding embrace.

If Jean missed or was otherwise stopped obviously he'd give chase.