Team Mission - The Maiden Voyage of the SS Anne II(Complete)

[Reno Vantas]

Aria would look towards the hole Darts had blasted into the wall, nonplussed over the wanton destruction of the building that was being committed. "Just once, I wanted to not be the reason half the town is wrecked. But between you, tiny cannonball, and the disaster field that seems to surround Reno, I'll be amazed if we have a building nearby still left when we're done." Aria said, slowly walking in behind Darts with Vibrato in tow. And just in time to see as Reno and Leslie had to get to work on saving a different building from collapse while the guy got away alongside his Pokemon. Well, she could certainly solve one of those things.

"Vibrato, Dragon Pulse. Take the Zangoose." Aria commanded, watching as a similar energy burst was unleashed from Veronica's palms. Well, at least it would make it pretty when they both hit. Speaking of, Aria got a nice view of both blasts drawing close to their targets, even taking a quick photo for effect. She wanted to remember this, it might be cool for album art at a later date.

Meanwhile, the terrible twosome were busy looking as a small building was threatening to collapse on top of them. So naturally, Reno's first course of action was to drop onto his shoes before popping open another Pokeball with a touch of electric current. Watching as a slimy coating began to coat his body in response to Aleister's emergence, Reno was quick to start altering the armor. Well, by the end, it was less armor and more a cadre of arms that all reached up to grab onto the building and hold it into position.

With Leslie, she would be frantically digging through the deluge of debris that Darts had distributed down the entirety of the alley. Modern problems require modern solutions, so naturally Leslie's solution to the tipping building was...a broken beam. Which is quickly smashed into the ground with her head at the point she figured would make for a good brace. And she watched as Reno slowly set the tipping building down on top of the busted beam....and the building's floor cracking as the beam punched slightly into it before everything settled. "...uh, mission accomplished." Leslie murmured out, slowly slinking away before any occupants might come out to protest her construction job.  

[Darksol88]

Almost as soon as Cera got the bead she hoped for, she'd crash to the ground, buried under entirely too much weight from the Metagross prepared as a trap. A pained groan could be heard as she finally heard Blizzard's warning. "Could've used that a few seconds sooner! Or I could've been more attentive..." Struggling and squirming from the weight, Blusix would be right about one thing: Metagross' resistances meant it wasn't budging from any telekinesis. "And what Blizz said. Aren't you just a bit outnumbered here?"

---

"Alright, that's fair enough. I guess," Amaranth spoke up, before immediately taking both of the posters and waving them in the air. "Heeeey! We'll pay double for anyone who has any info on these two!" She imagined that money would be a more appropriate language, maybe.  

[Atlantis_Darts]

DignityPower

Veronica kept chasing, however upon watching the structure get taken down she only stood back from the debris and sent out her Flygon. BlackCrystal went ahead to fly over the scene, keeping an eye on the fleeing enemies.
She took a bit of time getting through the debris. When Zook changed directions, she used Night Shade in hopes to slow him down and distract him, considering her attack probably wasn't enough to knock him out. Then BlackCrystal would come from his flight to collide into Zook and crush him into the ground. The Flygon prepared a Dragon Pulse to threatened the man. She caught up with him quickly. "So, think you have time to talk now?" she asked.

Reno Vantas

Aria would look towards the hole Darts had blasted into the wall, nonplussed over the wanton destruction of the building that was being committed. "Just once, I wanted to not be the reason half the town is wrecked. But between you, tiny cannonball, and the disaster field that seems to surround Reno, I'll be amazed if we have a building nearby still left when we're done." Aria said, slowly walking in behind Darts with Vibrato in tow. And just in time to see as Reno and Leslie had to get to work on saving a different building from collapse while the guy got away alongside his Pokemon. Well, she could certainly solve one of those things.

"Vibrato, Dragon Pulse. Take the Zangoose." Aria commanded, watching as a similar energy burst was unleashed from Veronica's palms. Well, at least it would make it pretty when they both hit. Speaking of, Aria got a nice view of both blasts drawing close to their targets, even taking a quick photo for effect. She wanted to remember this, it might be cool for album art at a later date.

Meanwhile, the terrible twosome were busy looking as a small building was threatening to collapse on top of them. So naturally, Reno's first course of action was to drop onto his shoes before popping open another Pokeball with a touch of electric current. Watching as a slimy coating began to coat his body in response to Aleister's emergence, Reno was quick to start altering the armor. Well, by the end, it was less armor and more a cadre of arms that all reached up to grab onto the building and hold it into position.

With Leslie, she would be frantically digging through the deluge of debris that Darts had distributed down the entirety of the alley. Modern problems require modern solutions, so naturally Leslie's solution to the tipping building was...a broken beam. Which is quickly smashed into the ground with her head at the point she figured would make for a good brace. And she watched as Reno slowly set the tipping building down on top of the busted beam....and the building's floor cracking as the beam punched slightly into it before everything settled. "...uh, mission accomplished." Leslie murmured out, slowly slinking away before any occupants might come out to protest her construction job.

Zook growls, lying flat on his back after the Night Shade threw him off balance and then Veronica planted him on the asphalt. "Girly... you don't know who you're..." He growls threateningly, as he tried to use his strength to get to his feet for a moment, before he saw the Dragon Pulse put his Zangoose flat on its back, and one promised for him in the future. "Uhh... I... I give." He says finally, lamely. "Just... I'll tell ya anything, just let me go..."

Requiem of Whyspers

"We don't know anything about any-" Wren started to correct the man before his Zangoose attacked. Watching as two of his allies were struck, hard it looked like, he snapped to his senses as the man made to flee and threw his hand forward, a handful of thorny vines sprouting from his artifact, flying toward Zook and his Pokemon from the motion of Wren's arm, aiming to tangle about their legs. He wasn't sure if his Channeling skills were good enough to pull it off, though, so it was a good thing there were others ready to give chase.

Unfortunately, his skill proved to not be enough, missing his mark by a mile as Zook bolted out of the building. Hearing Darts discussing catching the man with the others, he followed Sub into the back room. Upon seeing the poor sap in the chair, his first thought was to call out Hyacinth. The Floette saw the damage to the man's hands and floated out, clasping her tiny hands together and Wishing with all her might for them to be healed. The little Fairy would be sorely disappointed to see, should her magic be enough to do anything to the mangle digits, that they wouldn't be restored to working order. "We're not here to kill anyone." Wren announced to the man calmly. "We're certainly in need of information but this isn't really our method for getting." He stated with conviction. He didn't know that for certain but it definitely had to sound better to this unfortunate soul than the methods he'd been subjected to for now.

Perr shivers as the healing energy does its best to re-knit his broken joints and stitch back together what remains of his gnarled hands, doing a fairly good job of it considering the damage. "You..." He gasps, momentary relief surging through his eyes before they harden again, glaring at Wren. "What is this? Some kind of sick new strategy to get me to talk? i would have thought an emotion like kindness was beyond Ein's sick tools."

Requiem of Whyspers

Odd continued following after the others toward the lighthouse once Cera was defended. However, the second round attack aimed at Freth caught him a bit by surprise mostly due to the incoming threat of a Seaking racing toward them amid a sudden rainfall.

Moving to try and defend again, he heard Tristen's call for Dragonite to use Hurricane. "Oh... that's bad." He told himself before the others contributed their own attacks to the defense. By the time he had processed everything and come up with a plan of action, it was too late to do anything of his own. Cadenza had pressed onward, pulling the levitated channeler with it until they were both safely inside the lighthouse doors, just before Dragonite's Hurricane was set loose.

"Up!" Odd finally called to Cadenza as he was set down. "We need to get up there! I can sense a familiar soul up there but I can't tell what their intentions are..." Heading up as quickly as possible, he would attempt to provide some assistance to the assailed Mew atop the lighthouse.

Blizzard120

Meanwhile back inside...

"Christ, I am going to have a word with that kid. It's crap like that is the reason why I still feel like he relies on that dragon too much." I said. "Is everyone alright? Wait...Cera, don't get too far-" My instincts then tripped, looking up. Before I could get another word in edgewise, the Metagross dropped down on the Mew. "The hell!?" Another presence, considerably weaker now. I looked back, my eyes narrowing. "Oh great. The missing link of the color spectrum. At least the other five knew when to fold them...though, having the wrath of Freth come down on them on more than one occasion is probably enough to do so to most normal people. Then again, a normal person would realize that you got hybrids and sets of Pokemon at their aid, and you just got a Metagross...and I assume the Kingdra and Seaking outside was yours which was...-cough- thoroughly taken care of. What's your end game here, Bluesix? If you were actually the smart one of the bunch, you would know someone in your position right at this second is the next thing to suicidal."

Darksol88

Almost as soon as Cera got the bead she hoped for, she'd crash to the ground, buried under entirely too much weight from the Metagross prepared as a trap. A pained groan could be heard as she finally heard Blizzard's warning. "Could've used that a few seconds sooner! Or I could've been more attentive..." Struggling and squirming from the weight, Blusix would be right about one thing: Metagross' resistances meant it wasn't budging from any telekinesis. "And what Blizz said. Aren't you just a bit outnumbered here?"

TerashiLeonGoken

When Keiko realized what was going on, she grabbed Abby and made a rush for the lighthouse, which was helped by Blizzard pushing the two of them toward the interior of it. The shiny Lopunny hybrid only had a moment to catch her breath before Blusix's Metagross landed on top of Cera. When Blusix showed himself, Keiko remembered the last time she saw him, and that she didn't realize who he was until I told her. The memory filled her with anger that caused her body to practically radiate Normal-type energy - a sign of her rising Frustration.

"LET HER GO! NOW!" Keiko shouted, ready to pummel Blusix and Metagross if need be, even though none of her moves would really help her against it. Abby, being the calmer of the two, let Angela out of her ball. "You heard the bunny lady," she insisted, Angela spitting embers intimidatingly. When Keiko saw this, she saw the wisdom in and calmed down a bit, letting her Quilava out of its ball as Cutie flew in to meet back up with her trainer.

Blusix calmly looked back at Blizz through the visor of his sentai-inspired helmet, crossing his arms. "Suicide? If you all take another step forward," he says, with a meaningful look at Keiko.. "It's going to be a murder-suicide." The Metagross put a tri-fingered metal claw on Cera's head, pressing the Mew's soft pink skull slightly into the floor for emphasis. "You, all of you, are my prisoners. Throw down your weapons and Pokemon, put your hands in the air, and don't do anything little Cera here is going to regret." The fact he knew her name should say more about whose orders he was here on than anything else leading up to this little standoff.

--

Cecile Silverstone

"Like you said 'international'. There are many other regions that need us, but there are only so many of us to go around. Luckily, we are closer to the end game now." She said to the sailor that was towering over her. While Ulla and Kaya were talking to the crowd, Leon got out of the bar as he finally breathed out a small puff of poisonous gas which went away after several swipes with his hand. Ulla watched her brother leave the bar for a second but then turned back to the sailors. "We have the enemies cornered now. All the pieces are in place, but we are still in need of more help." The little girl said as she pulled up a seat that was next to her. She brushed off some scraps of food on it as she sat down. "You've sailed these seas longer than I've been born I'm sure. Don't you want to go back to that? Without having to worry about having to watch your six? We need more eyes and more info. I'm sure we can come to an agreement on that." She asked with a smile. "We won't be asking you to battle along side us if you don't want to. We just need more of the populous on our side."

The sailors had gathered around this little girl, even the grimmest among them beginning to show something that resembled hope as she spoke. "Aye lassie, all of us want to get out of this port and get back to sea. Some of us miss the adventure, some of us got family we haven't heard from in more than a year..."

"My family hasn't gotten back to me since the war..." Another adds, sadly, his eyes falling to the floor. "And I'm stuck here, rotting in this abandoned hellhole of a port... Hoping that I don't get killed or shunted off to the forest..."

The first, the oldest sailor, nods in agreement. "Aye. And those of us without family, we be creatures of wanderlust. Stayin' in this port is tantamount to a death sentence to us anyway." He fixes her with a wary eye, rubbing his grizzled chin and beard with a gnarled hand. "What ye be suggesting, lassie?"

Requiem of Whyspers

Kaya wouldn't have much chance to intervene before Leon and the sailor were at each other's throats. Sending a surge of Fairy energy into his arms, he'd play a bit rough with the sailor, slamming his charged fist into the man's chin via an empowered uppercut, followed by a quick downward punch into his cheek, driving him right back through his chair and into the floor. "Sit down and shut up, you drunk ~/~." He'd snap as he withdrew his fist, pink steam coming up off it before he turned back to Leon. "Hold your breath." He warned. "You're not putting all of us in danger over a drunkard." His eyes were narrowed and it showed he wasn't about to let the Poison channeler do what it looked like he was.

When the other patron, one of the ones the sailor had taken the bottle from, asked about them being Snagem, he spoke again. "We've been a bit busy trying to stop the rest of the world from falling to ruin along with you all." He'd answer, a bit of remorse in his voice. "Had it not been for the world war outside your borders, we'd have been here long ago but it's easier to restore one region to sovereignty when the remainder of them are not fighting against you while you do."

The drunk slouched in the nearby chair, cradling his jaw. He may have been a fat drunkard, but it was clear that his ability to take a punch had probably helped him in many a barfight. "But..." He points to Ulla, surrounded by the sailors. He spits a bright rivulet of blood onto the ground from a cut on the inside of his cheek. "I just remembered where I recognized her from. It's not her I remember, it's her parents..." He announced, holding both hands up in surrender if either Kaya or Leon made an aggressive move towards him.

Espeon_Commander

A breath that Aile hadn't realized she was holding escaped when the bar keep said that posters of people who'd been taken care of were picked up. If his poster was here, then that meant that Robert was still out there, hopefully doing alright despite this. "Well, that's actually a bit of a relief. I owe that old man too much to have him get killed off before I paid him back," she chucked, returning the poster. "Hm." Aile looked at her fellow Snagems in the room before looking back at the barkeep. "Answer this or not, I don't care too much. If you don't, I'll figure out something else. You happen to know where the nearest forced labor camp is?" At this point, Aile didn't mind showing her hand. Ein had put the man who gave her the first leg up after winding up in the Orre desert on a wanted poster, possibly for being connected to her among other things listed. She was understandably a bit upset, and feeling fairly reckless now.

Darksol88

"Alright, that's fair enough. I guess," Amaranth spoke up, before immediately taking both of the posters and waving them in the air. "Heeeey! We'll pay double for anyone who has any info on these two!" She imagined that money would be a more appropriate language, maybe.

Requiem of Whyspers

Lykas, however, was still busy at the bar, looking through the stack of wanted posters. Aile and Amaranth had already made any points needed so far. "These two are definitely the ones we're after. " He state as he looked over the posters of Sol and Wes. "But just knowing they're still alive somewhere is good enough information for now, I think. It means we're not wasting our time looking for them." Something definitely seemed off, though. If Ein was in the business of paying bounties, now, then what did that mean for the rest of the region? Gateon Port looking this dead couldn't possibly bode well for the rest of Orre...Especially Pyrite and the Under." Speaking of.

"What do you know of Pyrite? Is the Under still functional? What about Mt. Battle?" Those were three of the most inhabited areas of Orre at last check. If they were all ghost towns like this place was, then there were few places left to look for their comrades. Agate was probably crawling with Ein's lackeys due to the proximity to one of the region's only sources of remotely local resources.

"Save your breath." The bartender told Amaranth, pulling down her arm as she waved to the sailors. "Any who'd take that offer have just as good of a chance being spies for... him. They'd take you straight to the devil's den and make good coin off your head, no mistake about that." The bartender sets down his glass and rag and sighs, jutting his chin out at the situation with Ulla charming the rough and tumble group of sailors. Some were inspired by her words, some charmed by the fact they had daughters of their own they wanted to see again some day. "Seeing the effect you all have on them louts makes me think that the time for forced anonymity is rapidly slipping away..."

He pulls out an old Town Map of the Orre Region from behind the bar, unfolding it and setting it in front of them. "We don't know much about the rest of the region." He confesses, pointing at what used to be Pyrite and the Under. "Chances are that the Under is still going strong. Criminal elements refuse to take orders from a higher power for the most part, so I assume they dug in after those Cipher louts went around quelling the worst of the early riots. Pyrite, your guess is as good as mine."

He points at the Relic Forest, a bright green swath surrounding Agate Village. "You want to know about labor camps? Someone you want to find?" He says to Aile. "The thing is, we talk about 'labor camps' but really, there's one. The townsfolk still call this place 'The Forest' but not because of the trees. Because of the green canvas tents they force everyone to sleep in. Slave labor across as far as the eye can see, forced every day to continue the project of deforesting the entire Relic Forest bit by bit and tree by tree starting on the outskirts and slowly driving inwards like a cancer." He sniffs a little, clearly the loss of the precious natural resources a bit hard on his soul. "No one even knows if he needs the trees for everything. It seems to be destruction for the sake of destruction. In the beginning, his inner circle ran everything. Now the population has turned on itself, our friends and neighbors turned slavers in order to keep people in line with powerful Shadow Pokemon. That's why," he continues pointing to Mt. Battle.

"We don't know what's going on in Mt. Battle. Ein razed the place with that infernal living weapon of his in preparation for a test run on some kind of tree or something. Left the place on fire and filled to the brim with insanely strong Shadow Pokemon free of their trainer's control... At least that Shadow... thing, whatever it was, hasn't been around here in a while. As for..." He points to Phenac City next. "Phenac, once the poison got into their water supply it was a fairly large loss of life. That other monster of his, the shark, liked the hydration and the easy prey, or so the rumor goes. Anyone getting too near had a chance of running into that thing, so most of my info has come third-hand."

Finally, his hand falls on the proud image of Realgam Tower. "This. Is known as Realgam Fortress. The less that's said about the things that happen there now, the better." His grim tone should need no explanation. "How much of this all is true, I don't know. I'm just a humble bartender people tell stories to."  

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Just as Odd reached the top of the lighthouse, he'd picked up on the ill intent from Blusix as well as, finally, sensing his Metagross only just too late to intervene in it's attack method. When Blusix demanded they throw down their weapons and Pokeballs, he'd carefully take off his Pokeball belt and his artifact, dropping them both straight down, hopefully leading the others to follow his lead. Cera wasn't worth risking right now. The moment Blusix thought he'd had his way, however, the channeler would have him, unleashing a wave of Eldritch Maleficence toward him and his Metagross, using his energy to emboss imagery of their gruesome deaths into their minds. So long as his artifact remained within his shadow, he was able to use Pharoah's Oppression to maintain "contact" with it for channeling his other moves. Hopefully the horrific visions would cause both human and Pokemon to release Cera for a moment, giving the Snagems time to grab their Pokeballs or use their own abilities to attack again. Blizzard and Freth, for certain, had the firepower to put Blusix on ice. Puns aside, he could only hope this crazy tactic didn't bring unwarranted harm to their unofficial mascot and friend.

~~~

Lykas nodded along quietly while the bartender gave them a rundown on what all was going on around the region."When someone's gotten a few drinks in them, the bartender becomes their confidante." He reminded the man behind the counter. "I guarantee you've heard far more truth than you care to believe." Taking the two posters of Sol and Wes into his own hands, he'd roll them up and tuck them inside one of his overlong sleeves. "We'll hang onto these if you don't mind. They might come in handy later." He wasn't surprised to hear that Relic Forest was being stripped away, though it did make him feel a bit queasy. That forest was a precious resource for this region. If Ein was stripping it of everything of value, the whole region would suffer for it.

The fact that the barkeep thought the Under might not be defunct was a good sign. If they could manage to get there, they might find Sol and Wes hiding out down there.

~~~

Kaya glanced to the sailors speaking with Ulla. The little girl's charm seemed to be winning the rough-and-tumble group over already. Looking back to the one he'd just knocked around, he spoke again, curt and clear. "Then start talking. We don't have time to wait for a drunk to ramble on." He growled.

~~~

"Don't lump us in with that psycho." Wren snapped back. While he wasn't as familiar with the man as much as the rest of Snagem was, what he did know of him was enough to cement the scientist's madness. "If you promise you won't go attacking us, we might let you free." He added, though it was left open ended as to whether or not they would truly free the man from his bonds for the moment.  

[Darksol88]

"Blizz, don't. Think for a second; don't you think the whole 'comply with the request and set up a sucker punch' would also be something he prepared for? For all we know, he intends to have this thing just use Explosion and blow us all to bits!" Cera spoke up, failing to think about the fact that Blusix would hear the telepathy too. She hadn't bothered to read Blizzard's mind either; she just felt she had a good guess about what he might've had in mind when he opted to comply. "Not sure any of us could act fast enough to neutralize that or whatever else he's planned... oh, and big, metal and mental? You remind me of this Scizor I encountered once, so mind not squishing my head like a grape? It gives such a headache."

"And you," Finally, she seemed to be addressing Blusix directly. "I like to hope we can handle this without things getting too messy or any murder-suicide shenanigans. What are your demands?"

---

Listening to everything the bartender had to say, eyeing the map as he pointed at each locale, Amaranth felt she could piece a few things together. The biggest takeaway is that this wasn't anything like the Orre she sort of knew before all this happened. Ein all but had the region under an iron fist, and just Gateon Port alone was enough to point that out; the new information just further confirmed and dissolved any doubts. If there was any place that was maybe the same more or less based on that, it sounded like it'd be the Under. Hearing about Phenac City's state sent a chill down her spine.

There was a lot to take in, and a lot of locations to check out based on the leads. Which to check first, she was less certain on. But the safest one sounded almost less safe than any other alternative had it not been for everything else. Deciding to drop a few Pokedollars anyway, she'd stand up. "Thanks. I think we have something to go on here." Hearing Aile's response made her shudder, though. "I thought about that, too... we have a lot of places to check and tackle. But Pyrite and the Under sound like one of our best leads. If we can find either of them, it should make our efforts a little easier. But, having all of us go down there might not be the best idea? We'd stick out as it is, so all of us going would make that worse."  

[Reno Vantas]

Reno would be too busy grabbing the spare metal from around the scattered debris and getting an arcing lightning bolt from finger to weld a brace onto Leslie's shoddy attempt at a support to speak to Zook. After all, if it had cracked slightly already, then it was going to absolutely go to hell when they left. So there he was, using his vast hybrid power to do all the work that an arc welder could do. How majestic.

Aria would look over towards Darts for a moment before walking forward and dragging Leslie back by her second mouth, to a great deal of protesting from the little girl. "Hey! Let me go! Lemme do the thing! I wanna yell at the guy!" Leslie protested, struggling to get her second mouth open to slip out of Aria's grip.

For her effort, Aria was struggling against the tiny ball of anger and metal. But thankfully, it was hard to build momentum and jaws aren't build to open as strongly as they can shut. So Aria got a chance to speak before the Mawile hybrid could slip away. "Hey! Just because you CAN do something like this doesn't mean you always need to. Especially since we already have someone intimidating it." She lectured, staring into Leslie's eyes very pointedly until the girl relented and simply joined her and Darts to watch as Veronica took care of business.  

[DignityPower]

"It were up to me, I'd gladly drag you back through the dirt." Veronica said harshly, making it clear that she didn't care for his well being. She stared at him before calling BlackCrystal back and digging her claws into the man to pull him back to the team mates. She hoped someone else would have more concrete questions to ask as she had gotten so late she was still trying to orientate herself to what was going on in the region.  

[Cecile Silverstone]

Our main mission right now...rally the populous, find Sol and Wes, and gain intel on what had happened here in our absence. Right now some of my comrades are setting up base at the lighthouse. Ironically, to be a beacon to show that we have returned...others are at the Herb shop to see if anything is there." She said as she thought what their next plan of attack would be. Her ears perked up as she heard the bartender speaking about several things that have been happening. She also listened in on her comrades suggestions what their plan of attack would be. "As much as I would love to disagree and say to stick together, Amaranth is right. We'd stick out like a sore thumb if we all stick together." Ulla said with a smile as she looked back at the sailors. She thought of the Relic Forest, as she sort of had an idea why Ein would want to deforest the place.

"If I had to make up a plan. Probably a portion of our team would go to Pyrite and The Under. See if our comrades are there and get more intel. While the other half go to the Relic Forest. The Relic Forest is a very sacred place. From what I've read, it's very unique place. Maybe the reason why he's cutting down the trees is because the forest has some special power or something. If we can time it. The people at the lighthouse could send out the beacon in the sky. The people there will see it, it will raise moral. We come out of hiding, and be able to free the people. I'm sure you sailors have some people of yours there as well I'm guessing?" She said as she looked around to see if anyone had any other plans or any other suggestions.

Meanwhile Leon came back and entered the bar after letting out the poisonous gas he was holding in out. He regrouped with Kaya and the drunk sailor pointed to Ulla as he said he recognized their parents. "Our parents are dead. They've been gone for as long as she's been alive. So, what do you know about them?" He asked a bit more calmer this time knowing Kaya would probably snap at him if he pulled anything funny again. He glanced over at Ulla to see that she didn't hear the sailor drunk sailor speak again as he looked back at the beat up man.  

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Cecile Silverstone

Lykas returned to Ulla's side at this point, considering all the information the bartender had given them. "If I had to wager a guess, he'd be interested in going after the forest because of the stories they tell in Agate Village." He told the little girl. "I'm not sure if it's true but they say there's a Celebi, possibly more than one, that comes to visit a certain structure there. I'd imagine that with the forest under attack, it would either come to save the forest and he could try to Shadowfy it or it would flee and take it's time-travel power with it."

If the stories were true, Celebi might be able to change the course of events leading to this moment. If nothing else, it might be able to reverse Shadowfication, sending a Pokemon to a point before it had become infected or after it had been cured? Who knew exactly what Ein's thoughts were on the forest but hey, it was an idea.  

[Atlantis_Darts]

SubonicXP

"You insult us." Sub said as he stepped forward after Wren had helped heal the man. "We are no tools of Ein's, uttering the name makes me sick to my stomach." He said, shooting the man a glare before recomposing himself with a sigh. The man would walk over to the bound person and undo the restraints. Sure, he was healed now and while they did want to ask him some questions he wasn't going to force the man against his will, it would make them no better than Ein after all.

With the man free he would walk back around to stand in front of him, if he got up and bolted then so be it but for the time being he would try diplomacy. "What's going on here? Who are you and why was that guy torturing you? What does Ein want with a...kid..." It then struct Sub in that moment. "You're with the Kids Grid, aren't you? We're Team Snagem. This is Wren and I'm Sub."

"I take it you're not with Ein then or you'd be turning me in for the fantastic reward." Perr comments, rising to his feet and rubbing his wrists with his slightly ruined but clearly no longer hurting him hands. "I think I echo a sentiment shared by everyone in this region: What took you guys so long?" He pulls out a communicator of some kind from his pocket, disguised as a regular cellular phone. He smacks it a few times with a disgusted snort. "Just cause we build these things from junk doesn't mean they have to act like it..." He looks back up to the Snagem Leader. "Yes, my name's Perr. I'm the Kid's Grid contact in this town. Normally I would worry about my cover being blown, but if that thug found out clearly I'm no longer as safe as I once was. We need to get back on the Grid, so to speak if you want any help from me."

Reno Vantas

For her effort, Aria was struggling against the tiny ball of anger and metal. But thankfully, it was hard to build momentum and jaws aren't build to open as strongly as they can shut. So Aria got a chance to speak before the Mawile hybrid could slip away. "Hey! Just because you CAN do something like this doesn't mean you always need to. Especially since we already have someone intimidating it." She lectured, staring into Leslie's eyes very pointedly until the girl relented and simply joined her and Darts to watch as Veronica took care of business.

DignityPower

"It were up to me, I'd gladly drag you back through the dirt." Veronica said harshly, making it clear that she didn't care for his well being. She stared at him before calling BlackCrystal back and digging her claws into the man to pull him back to the team mates. She hoped someone else would have more concrete questions to ask as she had gotten so late she was still trying to orientate herself to what was going on in the region.

Darts crosses his arms and leans against the wall as the rest of the team drag Zook before Sub and Perr, the once threatening mook now practically sobbing, big dollops of salty tears dribbling down his face. "You... you guys are crazy... Whaddaya want with me? I'm just... just a normal guy... and you are..." He gulps, looking from Darts to Leslie. "Like him..."

Requiem of Whyspers

Just as Odd reached the top of the lighthouse, he'd picked up on the ill intent from Blusix as well as, finally, sensing his Metagross only just too late to intervene in it's attack method. When Blusix demanded they throw down their weapons and Pokeballs, he'd carefully take off his Pokeball belt and his artifact, dropping them both straight down, hopefully leading the others to follow his lead. Cera wasn't worth risking right now. The moment Blusix thought he'd had his way, however, the channeler would have him, unleashing a wave of Eldritch Maleficence toward him and his Metagross, using his energy to emboss imagery of their gruesome deaths into their minds. So long as his artifact remained within his shadow, he was able to use Pharoah's Oppression to maintain "contact" with it for channeling his other moves. Hopefully the horrific visions would cause both human and Pokemon to release Cera for a moment, giving the Snagems time to grab their Pokeballs or use their own abilities to attack again. Blizzard and Freth, for certain, had the firepower to put Blusix on ice. Puns aside, he could only hope this crazy tactic didn't bring unwarranted harm to their unofficial mascot and friend.

Blizzard120

"Cera, who said anything about that? And besides, do you think I haven't already thought about all of that? I don't have any conceivable way of pulling any of that off. Unfortunately, this is one of those times where his cowardice is paying off." I said to Cera, still only keeping an eye on the Metagross and Blusix. "Though, in the midst of this, I can only help but to rack my brain a little as to why Blusix is on his own all the way out here. We've only seen three Pokemon, and none of them that I can think of could get him across the bridge gap unless his Metagross so happens can use Teleport. But if he could do that, he'd already done so and not risk a beating, let alone a stand off like this. And also considering the bridge and the controls the way they were when we got here, it leaves me to question...you got abandoned here, didn't you, Blusix? What's the matter, didn't serve Ein's tea right?" I then asked to Blusix.

As I stood there keeping my cool for the time being, I was hoping that all of this was a good enough distraction. Whatever Odd had in mind, I'm praying that it gets done within the next few seconds. This standoff cannot last forever.

Darksol88

"Blizz, don't. Think for a second; don't you think the whole 'comply with the request and set up a sucker punch' would also be something he prepared for? For all we know, he intends to have this thing just use Explosion and blow us all to bits!" Cera spoke up, failing to think about the fact that Blusix would hear the telepathy too. She hadn't bothered to read Blizzard's mind either; she just felt she had a good guess about what he might've had in mind when he opted to comply. "Not sure any of us could act fast enough to neutralize that or whatever else he's planned... oh, and big, metal and mental? You remind me of this Scizor I encountered once, so mind not squishing my head like a grape? It gives such a headache."

"And you," Finally, she seemed to be addressing Blusix directly. "I like to hope we can handle this without things getting too messy or any murder-suicide shenanigans. What are your demands?"

TerashiLeonGoken

"If you two won't step up to the plate, I-" Abby started to say, before Keiko pushed her back. "Abby, no."

"Abby, yes," Absinthe insisted. "I'm not scared of-"

"All it'll take is one second, and then Cera will be DEAD!" Keiko yelled, causing the daughter of the Deathrage family to flinch. "Please, think about this from her point of view. We can get her back without risking her life."

Though Abby felt irritated that the 'hit it until it dies' strategy was being crapped on, she realized that no matter how fast Angela may be, she's not THAT fast. "Fine," Abby huffed, recalling her Combusken, removing her belt with all her Pokemon's balls attatched, and dropping it to the floor before focusing on Blusix. "But do yourself a favor and don't-"

"Don't antagonize him right now," Keiko interrupted, recalling her Quilava, and mirrioring Abby's disarm. "You can say whatever you want when Cera's life isn't at risk." Much as Keiko wanted to keep Frustration active and push Metagross off of Cera, she didn't know how much the Steel/Psychic pokemon weighed, and knew that even with Frustration, her strength had its limits.

The horrifying images fill Blusix's mind alongside his Metagross. And a very strange thing would occur. He smiled, neither of the two of them seemingly shaken very much by the gruesome imagery. "Whichever of your little compatriots decided projecting the idea of mine and my Pokemon's deaths would shake is is very mistaken about this situation. I think about my death every day. In every conceivable way." The smile falls away, looking between the Snagems in the lighthouse. "Myself and my Pokemon have lived in the center of hell itself for the past year. You want to know what my demands are?" He pulls out a coil of cable-like rope from a pouch at his side. "Bind your hands. This cable is self-fastening at various junctions. Loop it and put your hands through the loops together. You want to know about failure? I didn't get left here. I broke the bridge controls myself to lure you here. I knew one of you wouldn't be able to resist scouting ahead and you failed to secure the area. My brothers aren't here because he has them, doing Arceus knows what to them... and I'm going to trade you for them. Now. I'm not going to entertain any more talking." He tosses the cable at Blizz's feet. "And if your man on the outside tries anything like that again, Cera is dead." The Metagross begins squeezing the little Mew's skull, applying a no doubt painful but not fatal pressure. "Dead dead. Do I make myself clear?"

Requiem of Whyspers

Lykas nodded along quietly while the bartender gave them a rundown on what all was going on around the region."When someone's gotten a few drinks in them, the bartender becomes their confidante." He reminded the man behind the counter. "I guarantee you've heard far more truth than you care to believe." Taking the two posters of Sol and Wes into his own hands, he'd roll them up and tuck them inside one of his overlong sleeves. "We'll hang onto these if you don't mind. They might come in handy later." He wasn't surprised to hear that Relic Forest was being stripped away, though it did make him feel a bit queasy. That forest was a precious resource for this region. If Ein was stripping it of everything of value, the whole region would suffer for it.

The fact that the barkeep thought the Under might not be defunct was a good sign. If they could manage to get there, they might find Sol and Wes hiding out down there.

~~~

Kaya glanced to the sailors speaking with Ulla. The little girl's charm seemed to be winning the rough-and-tumble group over already. Looking back to the one he'd just knocked around, he spoke again, curt and clear. "Then start talking. We don't have time to wait for a drunk to ramble on." He growled.

Espeon_Commander

"So, unless anyone else has any better plans, I'm planning on wrecking the camp and getting people out of there. If people want to scout out Pyrite and The Under instead, I can join you all for that instead. Dealing with the camp could give a morale boost though, and free up the old coots in the village to do some things as well." Aile put one of her hands in her pocket before shrugging. "Ah, I mean, that's just my two cents, for what it's worth."

Darksol88

Listening to everything the bartender had to say, eyeing the map as he pointed at each locale, Amaranth felt she could piece a few things together. The biggest takeaway is that this wasn't anything like the Orre she sort of knew before all this happened. Ein all but had the region under an iron fist, and just Gateon Port alone was enough to point that out; the new information just further confirmed and dissolved any doubts. If there was any place that was maybe the same more or less based on that, it sounded like it'd be the Under. Hearing about Phenac City's state sent a chill down her spine.

There was a lot to take in, and a lot of locations to check out based on the leads. Which to check first, she was less certain on. But the safest one sounded almost less safe than any other alternative had it not been for everything else. Deciding to drop a few Pokedollars anyway, she'd stand up. "Thanks. I think we have something to go on here." Hearing Aile's response made her shudder, though. "I thought about that, too... we have a lot of places to check and tackle. But Pyrite and the Under sound like one of our best leads. If we can find either of them, it should make our efforts a little easier. But, having all of us go down there might not be the best idea? We'd stick out as it is, so all of us going would make that worse."

Cecile Silverstone

Our main mission right now...rally the populous, find Sol and Wes, and gain intel on what had happened here in our absence. Right now some of my comrades are setting up base at the lighthouse. Ironically, to be a beacon to show that we have returned...others are at the Herb shop to see if anything is there." She said as she thought what their next plan of attack would be. Her ears perked up as she heard the bartender speaking about several things that have been happening. She also listened in on her comrades suggestions what their plan of attack would be. "As much as I would love to disagree and say to stick together, Amaranth is right. We'd stick out like a sore thumb if we all stick together." Ulla said with a smile as she looked back at the sailors. She thought of the Relic Forest, as she sort of had an idea why Ein would want to deforest the place.

"If I had to make up a plan. Probably a portion of our team would go to Pyrite and The Under. See if our comrades are there and get more intel. While the other half go to the Relic Forest. The Relic Forest is a very sacred place. From what I've read, it's very unique place. Maybe the reason why he's cutting down the trees is because the forest has some special power or something. If we can time it. The people at the lighthouse could send out the beacon in the sky. The people there will see it, it will raise moral. We come out of hiding, and be able to free the people. I'm sure you sailors have some people of yours there as well I'm guessing?" She said as she looked around to see if anyone had any other plans or any other suggestions.

Meanwhile Leon came back and entered the bar after letting out the poisonous gas he was holding in out. He regrouped with Kaya and the drunk sailor pointed to Ulla as he said he recognized their parents. "Our parents are dead. They've been gone for as long as she's been alive. So, what do you know about them?" He asked a bit more calmer this time knowing Kaya would probably snap at him if he pulled anything funny again. He glanced over at Ulla to see that she didn't hear the sailor drunk sailor speak again as he looked back at the beat up man.

"Aye. Aye lassie we hear you. We'll pull together every able-bodied man we can find. Once ye've find your friends, we'll meet ye at the Forest with every sailor trying to get out of this port from Gateon on north!" The rest of the sailors give a cheer in response, clearly heartened by the first good news that they've had since Ein took over the country. "Thank'ee lassie, we'll see you and the rest of Team Snagem when you come for us!" The large group of seafarers other than the fat one that had accosted Ulla earlier leave the bar, talking amongst themselves, making rowdy seafarer boasts about who was going to do what, and uttering the first laughter the team had heard since arriving. Maybe there still was hope.

The fat sailor remaining looks at Leon. "As far as I can remember, they were important scientists of some kind... working on inventions, genetics, you name it... last time they were in this region... I think they were working with Ein. The first time before he became what he is now..."

The Bartender merely looks relieved that the situation resolved itself without his bar getting destroyed. "I'm not sure what the current state of Pyrite and the Under is, but if you all decide to head to the Forest..." He clears his throat, sounding almost embarassed. "I'll join you all alongside the sailors. Those camps they... they took my wife and my daughter. Two long years without knowing whether or not they're okay..." He clears his throat, steel coming into the old drink-dealer's hardened visage. "I can't stand by anymore as a bystander. I'll round up the decent people remaining in this town and take them to meet up with the sailors you've already recruited. Do or die, we're going to help you." The muscular bartender extends a firm hand to Aile. "I hope you find your friend Miss, from one bartender for the sake of another."