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((woot! Epic Spider man trailer and This, all in the same Day! great day its turning out to be biggrin oh, and i think its funny how i just got around to watching the last air bender when the next series comes out. great timing or what?))

"Hey... hey! Any word on my sister? Anybody...?" Wayne sunk, sticking out his bottom lip. Forensics had cordoned off the crime scene and he was trapped behind the police barricade; people ignored him, yet he still wasn't allowed to leave.

"This sucks."
A man approached, "Wayne Lee?"

He had shaggy black hair with a short beard and wore a black suit where the only bit of white was a small WG logo on the breast. Roy Hunter, one of the men who had been in charge of searching for Kenta until he eluded capture.

"WL," Wayne's eye shot narrow, "actually."
"Don't be stupid. My name is Roy, I work for the World Government as an investigator. I'm just here to ask you questions."

He gestured to a seat opposite Wayne's, "May I sit down?" and, not waiting for a response, did exactly that.

"I already told you guys everything I know," Wayne said, "by the time I got here, the house was already blown up, I don't know anything else."

He was not going to tell them about Plasma. Not after last night.

"No, no, this is about Shery Kirsten, the girl they found dead at your dorm room in the pokémon center." Roy held out a paper folder, which had its cover open to reveal a photograph. It was Shery, stripped and still with her nice new haircut. Her eyes were closed and she looked pale. The photograph showed Shery on a cold metal autopsy table.

"What?" Wayne's chair scraped as he shot to his feet. "What?!"
"Calm down, Wayne. Just sit, nobody's accusing you of anything."
"Do you think I give a s**t?! What happened to Shery?!"

His anger reached boiling point and a second later, Wayne's chair was booted into a table, landing with a crash. That got people's attention. "What the ******** is wrong with the world lately?! I swear, this past week has been like something out of the twilight zone!"

"Are you done?" Roy's face was stone, "Shery Kirsten was found dead in your room last night. Her throat was cut open. And the only trace of anyone being in your room came from her and you."
"I don't know," Wayne said, rubbing his forehead, "I don't know. Last time I saw Shery I was... I was on my way here."
"The receptionist said she saw you running from your room."

He stared at Wayne with a intense gaze, as if trying to discern the full story from the trainer's slightest twitch. It was unnerving to say the least.

"I thought you weren't accusing me of anything," Wayne said, looking at Roy carefully.
"I'm not. I'm just asking you some questions. Why were you running, Wayne?"
"Well... I wasn't running," Wayne looked away, "I... was jogging! World of difference."
"Do you think this is a game?"

"What do you want from me then, a signed confession?! The last time I saw Shery, she'd called in on me but then I had to go. I was in a hurry, so I didn't bother to check out. Do you have any idea how long it takes to check out of those places?! It's a nightmare!"
"A young woman is dead--"
"Yeah! And I can't help you! I'm sorry, Shery was my friend. If I knew anything I'd tell you but I don't!"

Roy broke his stare and stood up. He was taller than Wayne, much taller. "I see. Well, if you remember something that might be useful, be sure to give me a call." He passed Wayne a small business card. The trainer hesitated for a second, but eventually took it. "You know, Wayne, I worked with Zack during his time at the WG. I don't believe he'd raise you to be a killer."
"Lucky me."
The older man put his hands in his pockets and looked away. "The Kirstens are a family of doctors. The last time they saw their daughter alive, they'd been in an argument about her becoming a nurse and she left home with one of their Audino. Now all they want is the one killed their little girl to be brought to justice. Don't you think that's fair, Wayne?"

But he didn't say anything. Roy seemed satisfied and began to walk off. Police buzzed around, asking questions of startled street residents who were gathered around the relief station, not allowed back in their homes. They made noise, but Wayne didn't hear them; those people were ghosts.

His fist tightened and his blood boiled.

"Yana."

((Peeps are just busy. Richy's got exams and my next essay is due in a few days.

Whenever I'm stuck for posting material, I think about weird s**t happening in pokémon that makes no sense then try to address it. Like when I got that daycare centre shut down because they were holding pokémon for ransom. Evil old people.

Basic law of Legends: as long as what you're doing is plausible (as in, fits in with characterisation to some degree of credibility) do whatever the ******** you want. This is the RP where Dialga froze time in Jubilife City, undid inter-molecular bonds that held its atomic structure together, then pressed Play on time and let the city crumble. 99% of people died. Nothing was taken back. It was awesome.

Not saying you can genocide Castelia City (without getting approval anyway), but you can get involved with a bank robbery or a struggling restaurant or whatever

Alternatively, Nimbasa is just over there. Well, across a desert, but yeah. It's not like Lawrence of Arabia here.))

"Okay, are we ready for this? Cause we might be kinda screwed with this gym."

Castelia City was as busy as ever. Swarms of people buzzed up and down the wide open road, appropriately named Gym Street. Burgh's was the official pokémon gym of Castelia and specialised in bug pokémon, which were strong, in one way or another, against all three of Wayne's pokémon.

Petilil shivered a little when she stared up at the gym sign. Her last gym battle had been pretty intense, and the gym leaders weren't playing around. Now she'd barely even be able to damage them. She hoped and hoped and hoped that Wayne wouldn't decide to 'test her limits' and send her out there. She hid behind his leg.

"Duosion, this is gonna be on you," the trainer said, kneeling down and placing a firm hand on the psychic's self, "I have faith in your abilities. Hitm-Hitmonlee! Quit rolling your eyes!"

The Fight type shook his head and turned to face the gym doors, cracking his toes. Wayne had to quickly recall his other pokémon to keep up as Hitmonlee kicked the front door wide open and peered around the gym.

What. The. ******** everything covered in honey?"
"Beeeeautiful, isn't it?" Burgh fluttered in, dropping down from one of the honey-coated archways, "It came to me in a dream; pure inspiration. I'd go as far as calling it my artistic epiphany."

Wayne had already stuck his hand in one of the walls. With the honey making great slurping noises, he tried to free himself but it wasn't half difficult. "Won't this-- ah! Finally. Won't all this go off eventually? Like, start to rot in a couple days? Man, that'd smell. Sort of like Snorlax farts. Or Ursaring farts, I guess."
"I-- err. Well... nothing is perfect. Come, come, come, you must be a challenger. Let me introduce myself: I... am the Premier Insect Artist Burgh, Castelia City's Gym Leader!"

Hitmonlee pushed past the gym leader and approached the archway. It was empty aside from the great big film of honey in the middle. There was a little cartoon diagram etched in the side by Burgh himself; it showed trainers that they had to push and push until they finally broke through the honey and reached the other side. There was also some nonsense about switches and clowns, but Hitmonlee didn't care.

He wound back a kick then struck the air. Vacuum Wave, a great mass of nothing, crashed into the honey wall and started stretching it like bubblegum. Then it burst, and Vacuum Wave crashed through the wall beyond and cleared the way to Burgh's arena.

"My artwork!" Burgh shrieked, and Wayne managed a weak laugh.
"I guess the only art Hitmonlee cares about is... martial art," Wayne grinned. Hitmonlee frowned. A clown unicycled past, honking a horn. Someone coughed.
"Well," Burgh smirked, throwing his scarf over his shoulder, "I think I can manage that too."

((Yeah, just to make things clear: we're not incorporating anything from Black and White 2 until those games are released in the US. The only exception here would be pokémon distribution if you have access to a confirmed location list. And by confirmed I mean if you got it from Serebii))

Kenta

"I think that's far enough."

The man who spoke was dressed in bright robes; reds and yellows that made up a family insignia. He had a silver mantle over his shoulders fashioned in the shape of a dragon. It reached down his arm, meeting a steel glove whose twin rested on the hilt of an enormous sword set at the man's waist. His hair was black and swept back sharply and a scruffy beard framed old, sunken features.

He walked up from the ruined steps, out of the underground blackness. The sound of his footsteps was lost to the whirling whistle of wind as desert sand thrashed around the boy and him.

"Turn back now. This isn't a safe place."


---

Wayne

Burgh led Wayne to the arena, tiptoeing around splatters of honey that were slathering the floor in the wake of Hitmonlee's kick. The arena itself had a texture quite like glass and was the of the deepest black Wayne had ever seen, standing at a bold contrast with its white markings. The gym leader's end had a metal pipe next to a computer monitor and both looked out of place.

"Ugh, they forced me to have these things," Burgh said when he caught Wayne's line of sight, "because obviously I need a machine to choose pokémon my pokémon for me."

Wayne recognised the devices from the Striaton City Gym. They were going to evaluate his battle prowess based on the data logged in his trainer card and current team. Since Wayne had already been a trainer once, he expected that he'd wind up facing slightly tougher opponents than his pokémon warranted.

"Well, well, aren't we a busy little bee?" Burgh's eyes traced from the console screen to his challenger. "There's a fierce competitor behind that honey-sweet act."
Wayne shot back a smile, "You can just give up if you want."

"Now why would I do that..." Burgh's finger slid onto a button and the steel cylinder next to him made a mechanic clunk. A pokéball shot up, "...when this is just getting interesting?!"

The pokéball split open and white light poured out. It swirled and tightened into a roughly square shape, looking like a cut-out from a geography book. It had three sets of tiny legs and two huge claws with a face poking out from between them. Wayne's pokédex beeped, identifying the monster as a Crustle.

The gym leader shot his finger forwards, "Let's get straight to it!"

((I was always more of a pokémon kid than a digimon kid razz ))

"The ruins are unstable and sinking sand can be deadly," the man replied, taking a canteen from a satchel and tossing it over to Kenta. It landed in the sand at the boy's feet.

"Take it, there's water inside."

Of course, this was the desert; once the winds died down, the sun would be harsh.

Zack

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

While forensics searched the remnants of Kero's house for clues, the police cordoned off the street and evacuated residents. Zack and Jacqueline were behind the surveillance truck, which operated as a kind of field station outfitted with top-notch computer systems. Nobody could see them, and Zack didn't speak until he was sure nobody was listening in.

"Last night, I broke into the Plasma Embassy."
"Now there's a surprise," Jacqueline smirked but Zack shoved a piece of paper into her chest.
"I found this."

She read it, and Zack watched as her eyes traced the words, opening wide when she stumbled over the main point. Jacqueline looked back up at him, putting the paper in her pocket.

"The Sinnoh Orbs," Zack said, "Plasma are looking for them."
"Good luck to them. After the Sinnoh Crisis, the orbs were relocated into three separate government vaults. They're guarded by what's literally the world's best security, a decade beyond anything else we authorise."

Zack looked at the wreckage of his father's home. The place where his daughter nearly died. Somewhere that was supposed to be safe turned against them.

"Are you sure--"
"Zack," Jackie grabbed his shoulder and looked him dead in the eye, "there's no way they're getting through. Buuut if you want to investigate..."

Zack frowned.

"...there's no way we can let you skulk around unauthorized. How big was the pile?"
Of knocked-out security guards? "Stealth has never been my strong point."
"We know Plasma are up to something; you fought them yourself, you know what kind of threat they pose. But at the same time, we can't be seen bringing the hammer down on this one; it's not exactly like we have much public approval as it is."

If you so much as smelled like you were up to trouble, the World Government made sure you paid the price. It was a necessary deterrent, otherwise what would stop people from using their pokémon to commit violent crimes? If the government were imposing enough, it'd keep most people away from the temptation. You had to be either really bold or really desperate to oppose the WG: that much has been true ever since their inception.

"You're worried about politics when we could have another Sinnoh on our hands?!"
"Personally, no. If it were up to me, we'd kick their door in and start taking names. But I can't imagine the higher-ups see it that way. Zack, I know how you're feeling, last night was a close call--"
"You have no idea how I'm feeling!" Zack spat back, "I'm taking the fight to these bastards. You're either with me, or you're getting out of my way!"

"Stop." Jackie grabbed Zack's arm as he shoved past her. "You're no good to me angry. You want to fight these guys, fine. But you're doing it my way."
Zack looked at her. "Listening."
"I'm putting together a task force, small one. Strictly investigation and intervention only when necessary. If these guys make a move, we hit them hard. How does that sound? You can't do this alone."

Zack relented, almost smiled, "Fine. You should've said something sooner."
"There was no 'sooner', I just decided right now." Jackie folded her arms, "So, anyone in mind for an invite?"

Looking back to the bones of the burned building, Zack said, "Yeah. I think I know a couple."

---

Wayne

Hitmonlee was up first. He didn't even listen to Wayne's objections; he was here to fight, not play cheerleader. The kicking pokémon stared down his crustacean prey, and Crustle scuttled left and right, seemingly unhindered by the enormous boulder on its back.

On Burgh's command, the bell rang and the battle began. He ordered a "Rock Polish!" right off the bat and Crustle's body began to shine. Hitmonlee wasn't waiting around and straight away launched himself forwards using his high-powered springy legs. The fight type went into the air above Crustle, in the pokémon's blind spot, and kicked down with an "Earthquake!"

Crustle made the dodge, scuttling sideways and being nicked by Hitmonlee's diamond-hard foot. It chipped off a chunk of the pokémon's boulder and crashed into the glass-like arena floor, scattering white cracks across the black. The quakes made Crustle shake but it wasn't enough to stop the bug, not by a long shot.

Hitmonlee leant away with his foot still on the floor, ready to swing in with a "Rolling Kick!" But Crustle swayed back at him with a harsh "Giga Impact!" that met the Fight type's foot; the sheer power was enough to launch Hitmonlee backwards, crashing and bouncing as he came to a stop, leaving white crack marks each time he hit the floor.

The pokémon climbed back to his feet. He'd managed to cleave another hole into Crustle's boulder but was aching from the counter blow. If it had made contact anywhere but his foot, this battle would already be over.

"Keep at it!" Wayne yelled, "play smart with Double Team!"

Hitmonlee complied, charging forwards again and this time splitting into doubles; each time a clone was created, the real Hitmonlee was rocketed either to the left or right. By the time he'd closed the distance, a good half-dozen of the Fight type clones were surrounding him, and all of them were about to lay on a "Jump Kick!"

Crustle managed to finish recharging from Giga Impact just in time to use "Withdraw!", retreating under his boulder and fortifying his defences. Hitmonlee's kick drove him back, while the Double Team clones phased right through.

Burgh ordered another "Rock Polish!" that sent Crustle speeding to the side. He was faster than Hitmonlee's running speed, but not his springing speed. The Fight type gave chase, his clones surrounding him either side, jumping and switching positions to further confuse their foe.

Crustle stopped and brought his boulder down to the floor, launching an "Earthquake!" that sent out large cracks while shaking the arena. Hitmonlee had to dodge; jumping into the air with his clones. Meanwhile Crustle was stuck in position by using the attack, a sitting duck.

Hitmonlee flipped and came shooting down for another "Jump Kick!" with his clones around him, masking the real Hitmonlee; the blow must have been critical, because when it hit Crustle's boulder, the whole thing shattered. Dust kicked up as rock and earth crumbled to the floor. Hitmonlee paused for a second, realising that Crustle was nowhere to be found.

The crab-like pokémon quickly emerged from the dust shroud, right behind the Fight type. In destroying his boulder, Hitmonlee activated Crustle's Shell Smash, giving the pokémon dramatic power increases to not just his attack strength, but also further boosts to his speed.

Hitmonlee's hesitation bought Crustle some time; that this was the only Hitmonlee not to phase through the boulder, meaning that it must be the real one. Crustle shot at him, crashing into the pokémon's back with "Rock Wrecker!" and causing Hitmonlee to jerk back while being thrown forwards, tumbling over the arena. His clones flickered and died.

He came to a stop. The fight was over.

Wayne recalled his pokémon with a disappointed look and Burgh met his gaze. The gym leader smirked.

"Ready to go another round?"

Kenta

The man turned his back to the boy and his pokémon, his robes swaying as he moved. He started walking back down the stone steps, saying only: "Now leave."

Sand kicked up something fierce, swirling more harshly than ever. It didn't matter if Kenta had his goggles on, he'd still have to protect his face. By the time he looked back, he'd see that the ruins entrance and the sleeping Darmanitans were gone.