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"Y'know, that Thaddeus Pallin guy is apparently coming to town." Erika remarked as she read the morning paper.

Lenore perked up at the sound of the familiar name. Prof. Thaddeus Pallin was the author of 'The Power of Battle', the book that Erika had purchased her a few weeks earlier. It was absolutely fascinating, the idea that you could harness the energy emitted by pokemon attacks. It had even convinced her to pay more attention when her pokemon battled the last few times. "R- really." The girl replied, trying her best to sound disinterested.

Erika looked up from the paper with a knowing smirk. "Ya wanna go?"

"...Yes."

The days passed as quickly as they always did, but for Lenore, it seemed much longer. Despite how much she didn't act it, she was still a child, and the excitement of a trip to some place she wanted to go was a distraction, to say the least. Two more days of reading the book at Erika's apartment, and another day in between at Samantha's - something had popped up that Erika needed to deal with, apparently - made for nothing but further excitement for the girl. She had so many questions for the professor, she wasn't sure where to begin.

Finally the day arrived that Professor Pallin would be in town. After Erika drove Lenore down to the building he'd be staying in, the two stepped through the door, Lenore hugging the huge book to her chest.

Samantha knocked on the professor's door, and a gruff voice gave a simple "Come in." Lenore looked around the room as she and Samantha entered. Like Erika's room, it was fairly bare, but it made sense, as Professor Pallin was only visiting. Sitting in a revolving chair was a wiry middle aged man, smiling at the two. He stood as they approached, extending his hand to Samantha. "Greetings. I'm Professor Thaddeus Pallin, as you are no doubt aware. This," He said, gesturing to the young woman standing beside him holding a binder full of notes. "is my assistant, Orianna." The lady bowed her head at the mention of her name, smiling softly.

Samantha took his hand and shook it, noting the frailty of the man's grip. "Hello, Professor. I'm Officer Samantha Pierce. I've been assigned to guard you during your stay."

The professor laughed heartily. "Oh, I'm sure that will be entirely unnecessary." He turned to Lenore before turning back to Samantha. "And who is the child you brought with you? Is she an officer, too?"

"Uh, no, she's not."

The man smiled. "Of course she isn't. It was a mere jest." He turned back to Lenore. "What is your name, young lady?"

"I'm Lenore." She looked down at the book in her hands. "Uhm. If it's not too much trouble, could you, uh, sign this?"

The girl held the book out to the man, whose expression brightened immensely. Taking it, he turned to his assistant. "Ori, could you pass me a pen?" The lady nodded, retrieving a pen from her pocket before handing it to the professor. Pallin signed the book's first page before handing it back to Lenore.

"Are you interested in my research, young lady?" Lenore nodded, and the man's smile grew. "Such a rarity to find young people interested in the sciences, let alone fringe theories such as my own. I hope it wasn't too dull?"

Lenore shook her head. "I think it's fascinating, actually. I've read it twice."

"Twice? My, but you are the up and coming researcher, aren't you?" Pallin laughed.

The conversation was brought to an abrupt halt by the sound of an explosion a short distance away. Looking out the window, Sam saw smoke rising from the building next to the one they were in. "Lenore, stay with the professor and Orianna. I have to go make sure everyone is alright!" Without waiting for an answer, the officer turned and bolted out the door.



Walpurgis looked up at the sound of an explosion. That was the signal. He dropped down from the vents and ran towards the room.

As Mephistopheles was blinded by flame and claw, the masked man rocketed forward once more, retrieved daggers in hand. "Mef, to your right!" The dusclops' hand shot out to the right, and a single tendril of shadow lurched toward him.



Walpurgis barely had time to register the girl's command, let alone the attack headed straight for him. Satori and Gangrel wouldn't be able to respond in time, either. As he resigned himself to his fate, he was pushed out of the way by Pallin's assistant. The shadow tendril pierced the young woman's leg, and she fell to the ground. "Run, Walpurgisnacht!" She cried out through gritted teeth.

Walpurgis turned, expressionless through his mask, and ran to the young woman and picked her up into a fireman's carry. "You moron, I'll get us both caught!"

Ignoring her, Walpurgis called out a command. "Blizzard!"

Gangrel's eyes turned to a light blue color, and snow began to blanket the room, obscuring everyone's vision. Walpurgis ran out of the room, and Satori picked up the rattata before giving chase to Walpurgis and Orianna. As they ran, snow continued to form and whip into a flurry behind them, slowing any potential pursuers.