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((Actually, there's a great deal of difference between the style and structure of comics and manga. Comics panels are arranged in a more action-to-action form, where you see the immediate effects of a character or event. Manga lean heavily on aspect-to-aspect, with an emphasis on background and character movements. You're also more likely to find moment-to-moment panels in a manga, which are basically non-existent in American comics.

In other news: I'm back, bitches! cool ))

The Bullet

[‘So you’re finally awake]’

The voice, distorted by computer, gender unknown, blared in from a speaker built into a wall. Wayne’s head slowly lifted up but felt heavy. He tried to move, and discovered that his hands and feet were bound to large steel chair with his arms stuck behind him, and his legs crossed at the bottom. There was something pinching a circle on his head, like a metal tiara.

[‘Do not move. You’ve been fitted with a device that detects Aura levels. It’ll fry your brain if you try to escape.’]

Wayne managed a fragile smile. “Wow. Okay,” he said with his voice croaky, “this has got to be like, the third weirdest situation I’ve been in.”
“I’m glad you find this so funny.” Someone else was there, just a few feet away. Wayne’s head snapped back as the metal headset shot up magnetically against the back of his chair. It meant that he couldn’t look anywhere but forward, straight at the man opposite.

Separated by a wall of thick, reinforced glass but not 10 feet away, Roy Hunter sat patiently with his leg over knee and hands rested on top of that. His black hair, normally long, had been cut short when he assumed his new position as commander of the Bullet, his beard neatly trimmed to add an air of sophistication matched by his expensive black suit.

Silence took over until Wayne said, “So, uh… can you let me out of here?”
“No.”
“Oh… but dude, this is really uncomfortable! I don’t even know where I am. I mean, like way less than usual. I get lost a lot. You’re not the government are you? My dad says that the government are assholes but I really shouldn’t go around pissing them off, y’know?”
“You,” Roy’s frown shifted. He was expecting the kid to start crying as soon as he woke up, “you really like talking don’t you?”
“I can’t help it, I’m scared,” Wayne said quickly. “Oh man, do you know what happened to Daphne? She’s not tied to a chair too is she?”
“Who are you talking about?”
“My Lilligant. Last time I saw her we were battling and then some stuff happened and I kinda sorta forget the rest. Do you have any idea how hungry I am?”

Roy pinched his brow, mentally resetting the conversation, and sat up straight.

“Apparently you don’t understand the gravity of your situation. This is a friendly precursor to your intorturgation, and believe me, we have machines for that. Big ones with drills. You will answer my questions, and you’ll drop the idiot act while you’re at it.”

Wayne went quiet. Roy continued.

“You mentioned a father with anti-government beliefs. Who are you, FLF?”
“Huh? No, I’m WL.”

-

“This is going well,” Oz said, sitting on the other side of the one-way glass overlooking the room. It was a small, dark suite with a few chairs where people could observe an interrogation without being observed themselves. “Remind me again why the substitute commander of a giant floating military base is handling the interrogation.”

“He said it’s what Houseman would do,” said the lieutenant with the eyepatch, “and because we don’t have this kid’s Aura signature on file.”

“Yeah, but Roy ain't no Houseman” Oz grunted as he climbed out of his chair. "Not even close."
“He’s the commander of this base and you'll treat him with respect,” her voice flashed with anger, “it's not a hard concept to grasp."

"Whatever you say, babe," said Oz with a smirk as he folded his arms and looked back in on the interview with Wayne. "Man, I swear that kid looks familiar. Wasn't he in Castelia? I can't even remember."
"You should. It wasn't that long since you were there."
"Ugh, it sure feels longer. Might's well have been weeks, months, or whatever. Whoever he is, he-- oh. Oh crap."

-

"I'll ask you again: where did you come from?" Roy growled, frowning with frustration. Wayne gave him a wink.
"C'mon, I think a grown-up ought to know all about that!"
"How did you learn how to use Aura?"
"Aura? Dude, I taught myself. Like, with my pokémon and in the desert and stuff. Do you know why there's a desert right in the middle of Unova? I don't think it makes any sense. Whoever put it there is pretty stupid if you ask me."

The door rapped with urgency and Roy pinched what was becoming a very sore-looking brow.

"Nobody just teaches themselves how to use Aura. You're lying to me. Who taught you?"
"Jesus?"
Roy grit his teeth.
"Okay, okay. It was Zombie Jesus. Look man, I'm not telling you a goddamn thing until you say why you're holding me here. The hell did I do?"

Door banged. Louder and heavier.

Roy jumped out of his seat, "Well, since I don't like getting the drill dirty, I guess I'll explain everything while you think of more ways to waste my time. We found you, unconscious in a street, having used Aura to make your pokémon blow half the storefronts apart. Some kid and his Bouffalant were trapped half-dead beneath the rubble. We matched the Aura signature. We know it was you."
Wayne's face sunk into seriousness. "I... I did what?"

Someone was breaking their fist on the damn door.

"Since your Trainer ID conveniently went missing during all of this, which I should add is a crime in itself, we have to hold you for questioning. Now are you up to speed?"
"Uh, no. Tell me what happened down there!"
"That's what I want to know!"

"Roy open the ******** door!"
And he did. He almost tore it off its hinges, red-faced and heaving breath, "What?!"
"That guy's the same kid Betty took in! You remember?! Pretty sure we saw him a while back."

The redness slowly faded from Roy's face. Replaced by white. He glanced back at Wayne and squinted. Beneath the mud and cuts on his face, there was definitely a familiarity, a resemblance.

"You ********, do you have any idea what you've done?"
"I... I..." Roy swallowed.
"Redgrave's gonna tear you apart!"
"Yes, well," Roy tightened his tie and swallowed, "I'm in charge here. He-he can't do that."

Oz gave Roy an 'are you sure about that?' look and the man's hand clapped to his face.

"I'm dead. I held the kid in the intorturgation room. I threatened to use the drill! The drill, Oz!" Roy grabbed Oz by the shoulders, "why didn't you stop me! The hell are we going to do now?!"
"You could just not tell him?"
"That's... that's not a bad plan. Oh. That's it. You tell Jackie. She can diffuse the situation."
"Me? Why the hell should I put my neck out for--" Oz trailed off, then grinned. He wouldn't mind Roy owing him a favour. Especially with his nice new position. "Get me a phone."

---

"Ratio."

The car hummed as it sped along open road. Sea stretched out on one side with wilderness on the other, the red convertible racing along the coast. Zack was driving, arm over the door casually as he controlled the wheel with his fingertips, sunglasses activating full poser mode.

"That supposed to mean something to me?" he asked, giving Jacqueline a look. She was in the passenger seat, feet up on the dashboard and a folded newspaper in her lap, pen in hand.
"Five across. Ratio: the relative value between two amounts." she said, "Are we there yet?"
"Shut up, you're worse than Wayne."

Jacqueline smirked. Her Xtransciever began to vibrate and she opened the call.

"Redgrave."
["Heeeeya Jackie. Nice tan!" Oz said on the other end of the line, "look Roy here needs kind of a favour and-"]
["Shh! Don't mention me!"]
["Huh? Oh right. Hey Jackie, you there?"]
"I'm here, Oz," Jacqueline replied, "what do you want?"

["Oh, nothing much. Only we kinda screwed the poochyena here. You know Wayne? The kid Redgrave kinda adopted? Yeah, well we arrested him a little bit and started the whole intorturgation thing. Roy was even ready to break out the drill! That's the one that puts the thing in the other thing, and well, drills it."]

Jackie gave him a blank look and Oz cleared his throat.

["W-well, the thing is. There is no way Redgrave can find out. Like, never. Only we figure he probably will and you know, it's best him to hear it from you. Except you should give him a really toned down version. Something like, I dunno, we picked the kid up off the street and gave him an impromptu roleplay session on what it's like to be harassed by the government. For education!"]
["Yeah! Education!"] Roy's voice cracked like a teenager's.
["And Wayne really enjoyed the whole thing, in spite of what he might say later, because kids are filthy liars."]

"Let me get this straight: you kidnapped, imprisoned, and nearly tortured Wayne with an implied rape machine and now you want me to lie to Zack about how it was all a big game just so he won't break several of your more important bones and organs? Is that about right?"
["Roy'd buy you lunch!"] Oz said, like it was the best thing in the world.
["Hey, I'm broke until my next payday-"]
["The ******** do you spend money on?"]
"Well, I don't know," Jacqueline said, sucking her teeth. She twisted her arm around to let the two agents see who was driving the car, "what do you think about that, Zack?"

He didn't stop looking ahead. "I think they should keep talking," he slowly turned to glare at the camera, "It'll save me time digging their graves."

["Oh shi-"] Beep. The Xtransciever's display went dead as the call ended. The car continued to hum and the tires screeched as they turned a corner. Starting as a dot in the distance, the cabin that Jump was sitting outside of slowly came into view.

Zack drove onto the sand, coming to a stop a short distance from Jump's location, and turned off the engine. Jackie leapt out of the car, while Zack got out normally, being very deliberate with not slamming the door in front of its owner. He put his hands in his pockets and quietly observed the cabin. There was a secret base under there? Sure, why not?

Jackie strolled over, hands in her pockets. "Sorry for the wait, Agent Einatz. Not everyone's as quick as you," she glanced over her shoulder, then back to Jump with a smirk, "especially if they drive like an old lady."

She folded her arms. "Now then. Is this the place?"

---

"Where's that beard guy gone to?" Wayne asked as he dried his face. The red-haired lieutenant in the eyepatch, whose name turned out to be Jennifer, took the towel from him and added it back to the pile.

"He's on a temporary leave of absence," she said, sounding disappointed, "I'll be in charge for now. You should've mentioned that you had government connections; it would've bought you a considerable amount of slack."
"Right. I'd totally do that when I had no idea who you were. You could've been Plasma for all I knew."

Jennifer put the stack of cloth onto the men's room sink table and Wayne got a better look at it. New clothes? Better than his current ones at any rate. At least they didn't have inappropriate holes in them, burns or mud stains that just wouldn't come out.

"I'm guessing these are for me? Sweet, thanks! I'm not even gonna question how you know my sizes."
"I have a good eye," Jennifer said. "What happened with Plasma to make you so suspicious of them, if you don't mind my asking?"

Wayne was pulling off his top when Jennifer asked the question, and he had to halt for a moment. "No, I don't mind. Not like it's some huge secret." The top came off and Jennifer looked in the other direction, "They talked me into giving up my pokémon, and I've been trying to get them back. Got into fighting them a couple of times, and well, yeah. I wouldn't put it past them to kidnap me or anything. They're so crazy!"

He left out everything to do with the Legends Crew and Yana. Getting more people involved wasn't going to be the answer. He had to do this himself. Well, by himself and with several other like-minded teenagers.

"Besides, I figured I'd better not say anything. I just imagined my dad yelling at me for giving in to questions."
"By 'dad', you mean Agent Redgrave?"
"Ha. Yeah, I guess I do." Wayne looked a little melancholy. He saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror, felt a quiet aching in the pit of his stomach. "It's weird getting used to calling someone mom or dad when they're not that much older than you. It was different when I was a kid but now...? Sometimes, I worry that it's because I'm forgetting my real parents. Like, I'm not even sure of their names anymore."

Wayne's eyes felt hot and wet. He picked up the towel and pretend to just be drying his face from the wash. It went quiet. For some reason he just felt like he could trust this woman. Maybe it was because she looked damaged too.

"I could find out for you if you'd like?" Jennifer suggested but Wayne shook his head lightly.
"Nah, I'm good. I could just get a tattoo with it on or something," he said putting on the new top and checking it out in the mirror. It was a long-sleeved World Government training top, which meant that it'd be fit for all kinds of activities. It was mostly dark grey with black lines intersecting in a cool-looking pattern, and the letters WG in white on the breast.

"Hey, Agent Jennifer? What happened with your eye?" Wayne asked, staring at the woman's eyepatch. She looked taken aback, but recovered with a whimsical sort of smile.
"Oh that. That's a long, boring story," she said, waving her hand dismissively. She waited for Wayne to finish changing into the new pants and boots the WG had provided, then picked up his old clothes. "Are you ready? I've set up a line to your mother, and we have to collect your pokémon from Confiscated Property."

"I think I'm ready," Wayne said, patting himself down. His pockets were empty, since the WG had seized everything he had with him. Except for his Trainer ID, apparently. Where the heck had that gone to anyway? "I just... is that guy I battled okay? Honestly, I have no idea what went down in the street. One minute we're battling, the next... blank. I think Daphne got hurt, but I'm not sure."
"The boy you were battling is in the infirmary, but I heard his injuries were minor. He's lucky; most people encountering Aura levels of that strength don't tend to come back in once piece. Are you sure you're self taught? Did your dad not teach you anything?"

"Only that punching pokémon in the face makes them stop being assholes. And I guess some other stuff. Mostly face punching though."
"That sounds about right."

-

Wayne and Jennifer left to the base corridor. They'd have to pass through the holding cells before reaching the elevator. There were several elevator shafts around the Bullet's central column, which acted as the base's spine. There were stairs, but hardly anyone used them.

Unless any surprise people popped up from the cells, the two would carry on normally.

((I believe Zamaku's next post concludes that plot thread if you wanna reply to that bit instead since it'd be the present))

Zack

"Should do," Zack said, swiping off the sunglasses then tossing them over to Jump, "I found them in your car."

He folded his arms and walked up to the cabin door. Just blow it up? He thought about every other door he'd ever blown up before. There was usually some... collateral damage.

Hm.

"Zack, get away from there. We don't need you destroying the bad guys' evidence for them," Jackie said, "let me-"
"No," Zack said, locked in concentration, "I've got this."

Breathing slowly, Zack steadied himself and held his palm over the door lock. Sweat drained down his temple and his hand began to shake. He grabbed his wrist to keep things in line and swallowed, then blow out sharply.

Then Zack released an explosion, a tiny fart of an explosion that blew the lock apart and allowed the door to swing open. Zack sniffed back then shoved his hands into his pocket. That was the smallest explosion he'd ever done, and it wasn't easy.

"Killed the lock."

---

Wayne

"N?" Wayne froze mid-pace then rewound, hurrying up to the cell door. He put his hands on the bars and peered through. "What are you doing in there?"

"Wayne, do you know this man?" Jennifer asked, giving N a suspicious look. It wouldn't look good if anyone found out that the WG had arrested two innocent people in one day. Luckily, nobody was going to find out.

"Uh, yeah. Hey, this is Norbert. He's a pokéman," Wayne said, then turned his attention back to the unfortunate prisoner, "dude, how did you get in there?" He smirked, "I hope you weren't showing pokémon too much of your love, cause that's totally illegal, and would probably explain why you're in a jail cell."

((Huh? confused ))

((I wonder where Luka is.))

A massive crowd had amassed inside of the stadium. Bleachers had been removed from the stands leaving a large area to stand for people. The upper dome had lights for people to see up until this point.

Azucena was moving through the crowd to get a closer view, one hand pulling Henrietta along with her.

"H-hey, didn't the tickets tell us where to go?"

"Nobodies gonna be able to tell once it all starts," Azucena retorted.

Then the lights darkened, leaving the stadium engulfed in darkness.

Voices pierced to the heavens, shouting, screaming. It was all cheering.

Two overhead lights moved to illuminate the center of the stadium. The way it was designed, moving downward, would give people a generally good view based on where the bleachers had been. Even so, from the center of the stadium a stage began to rise.

And the stadium erupted into music. Several people off to the side of the center stage had instruments. There didn't look to be a pre-recorded version of anything playing - it was constructed entirely from scratch right there.

And at the center of the stage was Helena. She began singing at her cue, her mic drowning out the cheering to let the music fill the entire stadium. There was a flash when this happened, illuminating the field of the stadium in lights - it was.. showy.

Henrietta couldn't her herself think but she could see the center of the stage from here.

"Come on, you have to get closer," Azucena said but she didn't hear it.

And then the music stopped, the cheering grew quiet. Henrietta, who had been staring at the stage the entire time, could see why. Partway into the first song there was someone large standing at the center of the stage.

***

"Just stay still." Those were the words the man spoke to Helena as she stared up at him. There was a blue of crimson but before Scizor could properly attack the man there was a rifle staring him down.

And from it was launched a Steelix, carrying him away from the stage, tearing through the roof and launching him skyward away from the stadium.

"We'll be done shortly."

***



Then her C-Gear went offline and Henrietta could only hope the message had managed to get through.

"What the hell...?" Azucena whispered and Henrietta tugged her backwards, further from the center of the stadium.

"Find someplace to hide," she whispered, shoving Melty's pokeball into her arms. She couldn't risk him in combat. Henrietta advanced toward the edge of the stands as Azucena stood there.

So far the stadium was still quiet. People weren't quite sure if this was part of the act of not.

***

"Pick up!" Elysia shouted at her phone. First he wasn't answering, now she couldn't get any calls through. "Come on Kero!"

***

And some place far away, a sniper regretted training a barrel on Kero Redgrave, and weapons struck in the center of that forest clearing, the shockwaves ripping leaves and nuts from trees.

((Doesn't have a reason? They MADE EYE CONTACT! A battle HAS to be fought now!))

Robby Tobb, easily the most mysterious(good at sleeping) of the group had gone through his day in a mysterious(sleeping) manner. Up until this moment, as he was (awake) walking around the town, the lad heard a KWEH, his tone for the room having been altered somehow.

"She needs me?" The lad asked, frowning. Or was it the others? Damn chat rooms, always hard to figure out. Was the person intending it for you, or someone else?

The thought wasn't a hard one, obviously it was for everyone. With a sigh, Robby Tobb started on his way towards the stadium. He would be there soon enough, not that he was moving particularly fast. But the lad had the good fortune to be pretty close...

In The Crowd - Nearing Exit

That's when she saw him. Henrietta looked over to see Reid. So it was Plasma. But what did they want? Surely this wasn't some plan to steal all of the Pokemon in the stadium with a giant vacuum.

As she followed him toward the exit, turning to sift through the crowd, her attention was drawn to the concert stage. Where was Reid going? Could she really leave all of these people trapped in here?

No, if she was going to do this - she had to do it right. Regroup, and take it down with strategy. Starting a fight now would only put more lives in danger.

In The Crowd - Central

Stacy was one of the ones that freaked out. She was pushing her way through the crowd toward the exit. That's when she bumped into Azucena, who had been making her way in the same direction but stopped at the guard blocking the exit from the seating area into the outer ring of the stadium.

And they all three toppled down the flight of stairs.

Big Stadium: Exterior, West Exit

Henrietta had made it outside before the guard had been properly positioned. Maybe a few seconds right before, maybe with enough time for her to not be seen had she run away.

But she didn't, Henrietta looked right and left and checked her C-Gear again.

Nothing. No incoming messages. They wouldn't even know where to meet, this was gonna quickly turn into chaos.

Tapping Frate's ball, she started to move. "Reid!" she shouted. It might not do any good but she couldn't help it - she needed to get a handle on this quickly.

Why was he running away? Too afraid of the front lines? Did he want a vantage point that he could use to read minds? She let Socant out next as she rounded the corner - hopefully unnoticed by the guard of the west exit.

"See what you can do about scaling the place." Darumi next.

"Frate, take the west exit. Darumi, take the south. If you see the others - lead them here." At the south western corner of the building Henrietta's head went over the situation.

While the others made their way to the stadium, she was going to think up a strategy to fight.

The Tall Man

The Tall Man stood on the stage still, dressed in a bird styled mask with some armor and a cloak fashioned on. His left hand had a talon gauntlet, is right had the rifle - small enough for a giant to use effectively with just the one hand. "Want me to get rid of the kid and musicians?" Helena and the people recreating the music from scratch could only stand there, a flinch from one man when the shot rang out was pretty much it.

But the large man still had his rifle - they didn't really plan to do anything that'd warrant a Steelix being fired at them.

Helena merely stared him down, the years with her father, with her brother, had lead to a very apathetic expression in times of crisis. Even if she was worrying about her mother backstage there wasn't anything she could do. If they were taking over a live broadcast?

She was sure her brother and her father would show up any second.

Not long after Robby Tobb arrived at the south entrance Tk came to a sliding halt at the western entrance, His roller blade's receded into the soles of his shoes with a click. Another click later Spike was at his side.

Looking down to his X-tranceiver he noted that the message he tried sending out never went though. He'd attempted messaging Hiba just after leaving the plaza where he battled the psycho trainer. Just then the youth heard a sound and quickly ducked behind one of the decorative hedges that were cut to look like sports equipment.

Peaking around from the hedge he spotted a Boldore, not just any Boldore but Henrietta's Frate. Or at least he hopped it was, he was basing his speculation completely off the fact that it was staring dead at him and wasn't attacking. "Your... Are you with Henrietta?" Tk asked hesitantly, stepping from behind the decorative hedge.