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As Mr. Howard held Gerard back, Phoenix jumped back to Lexi’s head as she followed Mrs. Howard. Lexi was happy to hear that Mr. Thatcher would be okay, and smiled a little herself as Mrs. Howard pointed out the similarity between her name and Alex’s. She had noticed earlier, but she didn’t think about getting confused because…well it’s hard to get confused on one’s own name. She then tried to answer the older woman’s questions “I don’t know for sure…” She started picking up silverware and setting it out, frowning as she thought out loud. “…He went into the tall grass, then I heard gunshots and saw sparks and he didn’t come back out. Then we were attacked by a pinsir and an electabuzz. Gerard was dealing with the electabuzz when he found a dead guy…he had the same forehead mark as Alex and had been on the bad end of something powerful...” Lexi grimaced at the memory of the body. “I think it was probably the dead guy…I don’t know if anything Jacob had could do that kind of damage, but…”

Rex was having a great time watching the plates fill with food as Lexi talked, his anticipation obvious, and Phoenix was helping out by carrying bunches of silverware The atmosphere was casual, but Lexi still felt like she was in the hot seat as she tried to continue explaining. “As far as where I found Alex…” She took a deep breath as she tried to find the right words again. Time to cross that bridge… She wasn’t going to lie but the truth seemed so…ouch “This is going to sound either really strange or really stupid…I’m pretty sure Jacob, or at least Gerard, already thinks I’m a total idiot for bringing her along after this…” With the table set, she walked over to where Mrs. Howard was standing. “But …I stopped for a stretch break, went to check out a noise, and she attacked me…I know it sounds stupid to bring someone like that along but a few things happened that made it make sense. At the time she was high on what had to be close to an overdose of heroin, and some people I count among my friends have attacked me after getting high…” She looked at Alex, who looked like she wanted to disappear, and tried to give her an encouraging smile. Yes the woman had tried to kill Lexi, but it was all over a misunderstanding and no one was hurt by it in the end…she didn’t deserve all the blame anyways…Lexi then closed her eyes and tilted her head down…She had been wondering about this next part for a while, ever since she had run into the two strange men in the forest. “and she told me a story that sounded rather familiar… Have you ever heard of a man who calls himself Reverend Beati?” With her last line, she looked up at the white-haired woman next to her, her head tilted and curiosity on her face.

Gerard obeyed the doctor silently, going out the door, starting his motorcycle, and roaring down the road, past the house from the direction he had come. He switched the radio back on, leaving it open as he rode for about ten or fifteen minutes. A good ten miles from the house, he stopped his motorcycle and walked another half-mile into the tree, leaving the radio in a small hollow at the base of a tall sycamore.

That done, he came back to the road. He felt an odd shift in his backpack and opened it to find the paper-wrapped TM. Feeling oddly homesick, he unwrapped it and hefted it in his hand. It had the number 29 stenciled on one side. Gerard remembered his TMs; 29 was gave the ability to use a powerful psychic blast. Justice couldn't learn it, but...

Gerard let Guts out of his Pokeball. The poliwag was at first excited, but tried to act aloof when it realized that Gerard had let it out. Still, he came over to it and placed the TM beside it. He hit the small button to activate it, and it began to glow brightly. Guts looked at it briefly before leaning over and nudging it with his nose - and then the glowing was done. Gerard knew that Guts had now absorbed the ability from the Technical Machine.

The excited poliwag danced about before stopping before Gerard, who watched in silent amusement. After a few seconds where Guts' expression was unreadable, the little water-type nodded once, letting Gerard know that it thought he was all right. Laughing, the young man picked the pokemon up and let it ride with him as he took his motorcycle back to the Doctors' house.

Lexi had chuckled a little when Mrs. Howard just missed saying something that was likely rather embarrassing, but hearing about what had happened while she was gone made her freeze solid…he tried to have them killed?!... When she had asked the question, Lexi was expecting, at worst, to bring up some worn out argument between theories, like those that had often littered scientific debates in the past--especially when religion got involved. She had been thinking about the arguments she had heard went on about Instead she had opened up a real can of weedle. The girl was shaking again as she stared with wide eyes at the knife in the older woman’s hand. The Reverend hadn’t seemed threatening when she had met him on the road, and his fight with Dr. Terrian had almost seemed like a joke, but he was most definitely a threat…

She was glad to hear about Terrian helping the Howards too because that was another strike against the troublesome hypotheses Beati had put forward earlier, thought she wondered why Mrs. Howard said he was a ‘poor, poor man.’ Her wondering was cut short when Mr. Thatcher then turned on Alex and Rex started growling. “Rex…” Lexi warned, shaking her head. The houndour slowly backed down, but still glared at the older man from under the table.

In the awkward silences that followed the threat and the move to the table, Lexi too was wondering why the man had suddenly become much more aggressive towards Alex, not to mention how he had been acting differently ever since she had come back, but she had only been around him for an hour, so she knew she shouldn’t be so surprised. Even after sitting down, the girl stared off into space, thinking about how crazy this day had been and trying to sort out the stories. She was pretty sure by this point that she was incredibly lucky to still be in one piece. I’ve lost track of how many times over I should be toast by now and it’s only lunch time A small, slightly sarcastic smile crossed her face as she realized how much that sounded like some characters she had seen in Sci-fi books, then the smile left quickly as she remembered that real life wasn’t like any book.

Buried in her thoughts, she didn’t hear Mrs. Howard’s question so much as realize everyone was looking at her for an answer and think back to try and figure out what question she had heard. “huh…oh…umm, about 7 meters..” She answered, blinking as she tried to get back to the present.

Abe stayed on Richard's tail, watching as the bodies fell around him. He pulled up beside Richard so that he could hear him shout. "No kidding!" He thought about it for a second. "Truth is...she interests me! No! Not like that! Not to mention the fact that if she fulfills her purpose, lots of people will die, the Ether may go back to the source, and the source may explode! So there's a chance we could all die! I kind of enjoy living!"
An Exterminant pulled up on Abe's other side on a motorcycle and began to draw a weapon. Abe whipped his cane out and brought it down on the guy's other hand, causing him to let go of the handle and spinning the bike into a wipe-out.
"If you want to look at it humanely, though, she saved my life! Least I can do is return the favor!"

Gerard entered the house as they were speaking, seating himself discreetly and listening with interest to the conversation. He politely helped himself to a bit of food as he waited to be brought into the talk.

As Elian spoke, the man with the gun trained on her shook vividly, tears forming at the corners of his eyes and beginning to track down his face. To see the Oracle in pain... but what if it wasn't the Oracle? She could be an impostor, but what impostor could have walked down here unimpeded? What impostor could have Solomon's assistance?

And she... "I never know what I'll be lead to next." She was as much caught up in this world as the rest of them. She was as much human as the rest of them, and the guard could see- he could see it! The struggle within her to reconcile her godliness with her humanness had to be a suffocating one. Only the real Oracle could feel that - and no one could fake her fatigue. To be sure, still keeping the gun trained on her unconscious body, he reached one of his sleeping comrades and released a xatu from within. Solomon's dead gaze never left the barrel of the gun while the stately bird scanned as well as it could in the oppressive environment and ensure Elian was unconscious. Satisfied, he recalled the bird and approached Elian's limp form.

He then knelt down and relinquished his gun before carefully, so as not to startle her, reaching his hands out to Aislin. "I won't hurt you. I need to get you two somewhere safe. Trust me." He smiled, hoping that his having just had a gun pointed at Aislin's mistress's head would be overridden by his genuine desire to help and no longer having the gun with him.

Solomon continued to watch, somehow maintaining his footing. Suddenly, he whipped his head up, having felt a pulse of ether from far above them. At roughly the same time, the two-way radio in the guards' ears began squawking with static and screams. The one kneeling winced. "What the hell was that? Are we under attack?" he demanded from his headset.

"Allbrite has activated an unknown ether source; it's gone now. So are the men sent to retrieve him."

"All of them?" he demanded. His military training was warring with his need to help Elian. His fellows were slowly getting up.

"Affirmative."

"Orders?"

"Stand fast. Oblivion will find them."

The guard grinned. So... they had released the Oblivion. "I thought that was to be reserved for Terrian himself."

"We have decided to send the good doctor a warning."

"Understood." With that, the guard gently rolled Elian over, picked up Aislin, and placed her on Elian's limp body before picking up that body and carrying her away.

Asleep, Elian once again felt herself drifting, as though among stars. The connection was more tenuous this time, as though at any moment, she may awaken. Once more, the greater, pulsing light of the mew was evident, still so far away that it seemed dimmer than the rest; this time, though, she felt she recognized it. As she floated, Aislin by her side, a second, also familiar presence made itself known; it was much closer, and seemed - if one could describe the other forms as spherical, for the sake of the visual - to be cut in half. It was a strange existence; an unnatural one, that was out of sync with the rest of the dreamscape.

"Elian? M'lady Elian, is that you?"

It was...

"This is Dr. Terrian; I know I don't seem it, but it's me, I swear." He sounded ecstatic. "I knew it! I knew there had to be a channel out of there; I was watching - that one psychic-type got out! I thought it was impossible; he should have died transporting the others, but he didn't, and it's because you-! Elian, you have contacted the Mew, haven't you? You have! I know you have! Tell me everything! Please." He seemed to sober, and with a shimmering of the odd plane they were in, his form could be seen, although it flickered steadily, as though he were fighting to stay there. "I've been waiting for a way to contact you. What have you learned?"

---

"Seven meters?" Mrs. Howard confirmed, starting in on the meal and signaling the others to do the same. When Gerard entered, she showed him a plate and invited him to sit down with smile. "That's rather far away for Mr. Thatcher to have been knocked out, don't you think?"

An uncomfortably silence reigned for a few moments. The Howards ate and tried to pretend nothing was wrong while Alex did her best not to tear into the food in front of her. Her eyes flicked with lightning speed from either scientist, to Lexi, to the food, to Rex, back to the food while she began eating.

All of a sudden, Mrs. Howard set her silverware on her plate with a clang and folded her hands in front of her. "I want to offer my apology for both of us, Alexis, Alex, Gerard," she said, nodding at each of them in turn. "I know we appear less hospitable than we ought to be. An hour ago, Dr. Alex Terrian appeared in our house, picked up the four packs of dynamite that had been taped around our house, and told us goodbye, and that the dynamite was a gift from the Exterminant. Allen?"

The older gentleman mimicked his wife's movements and looked at the three children. "We don't know Dr. Terrian very well. We know of him. We know of his contributions to the scientific community. But we don't know him. So we could not trust that he wasn't lying to us. And then, once he had left, a small contingent of Exterminant assassins reached our home, apparently to ensure we had been 'taken care of.' Luckily, we have benefitted from the steady march of science, and were well prepared." He did not elaborate. "Even so, we were not unscathed. Billie very nearly lost Janis, and her dugtrio is in critical condition. So we wondered why Dr. Terrian would save us from an explosion, only to allow the Exterminant to kill us in a more personal manner. In short, we don't know who we can trust.

"I'm surprised that one fellow was left. I think he was back-up. I think there're people under the Exterminant left in layer over layer to make sure that we are all killed. That's why I think we need to get rid of Miss Alex as soon as possible. But she can certainly eat with us, first." He nodded at Alex with a purposeful stare, and she meekly dropped her eyes to her meal, her fork frozen on her plate. Billie was glaring at her from red-rimmed eyes. It was clear why she had handed the conversation over to her husband, now. "Based on what I've seen and what you have said, I think Mr. Thatcher killed your attacker as a ruse, knocked himself out with that gun he has, and assumed the pinsir and electabuzz would take care of you children. Luckily, he was wrong."

Alex seemed like she wanted to say something, but couldn't bring herself to open her mouth again. Mr. Howard noticed, and didn't react to her.

His wife dabbed at her eyes with her napkin before finally returning to eating while Allen finished with, "So please forgive us for sounding so formal all of a sudden. We're frightened for our lives, and for yours. If I were you, I would trust no one but the two of you and the Oaks." He looked significantly at Lexi and Gerard before he, too, went back to his meal, but didn't seem very interested in it. Instead, he looked at Gerard. "Mr. Gerard, why don't you tell us something about yourself? How's Glenville these days? I used to work there."

"We know you did, Allen; you tell everyone," Mrs. Howard muttered, clearly trying to make herself recover from her bitterness towards Alex and what the X on her forehead represented. He smiled at her, then turned his attention back to the boy.

---

((One hour left to submit for Richard Allbrite; he currently has two (2) sample posts for judgment. Final judgment will be given tomorrow, when I am clear-headed enough to make the right decision ^^

Now then, I have a few comments that are, unfortunately, not directed at everyone, but nonetheless are best said through this medium. I want to start by saying that I am thoroughly impressed by the level of RP-ing you have all wielded during your time as Cinders. Having never been a part of a "literate/third-level/whatever" RP before, myself, I've been very happy with what I've seen thus far.

However, I want you to grow in this, and the best way is critique. I want to remind some of you that this is a third-level RP. As such, there are things you need to pay attention to.

First, you need to at the very least scan through every post. Don't read every one in detail if you don't want to, but you need to have some idea of what the other players are doing and what has happened to them so that you don't end up overriding one another; we're all better than that, here.

Second, your character represents an entire life, and a psyche; as such, (s)he needs to be developed. Some of you are very good about this; some of you are not. You don't need to explain why your character scratched his butt; but (s)he is a thinking creature. Let us -see- that.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, is that this is a group role play. Some of your characters are isolated; some are not. Those who are in groups: no one on this Earth totally ignores someone who is right next to them without really, really good reason. Being dead would be a sufficiently good reason to not at least think about those in your immediate proximity. Talk to one another. If you are all fighting the same enemy, you don't walk out of the battle and forget about it.

Fourth and finally, something that a lot of RP-ers suffer from: believability. Your characters are not infinitely experienced people. When an army attacks a city, when holograms show up - these are not everyday things. React accordingly.

Those are my comments. Thank you for reading them - paying attention to them will lead to AP, will lead to cool awesome things, will lead to fantasticness of epic proportions. You are all, honestly, really, really good writers. Show me more than that of which you are capable. And thank you all so much for playing thus far ^^ ))

Juno felt herself relaxing in Jñan's presence, though she tried to keep her guard up. It's hard to feel tense around this kind of person, though. Jñan was chatting with such enthusiasm and curiosity that Juno almost felt guilty about being so paranoid. Almost. I haven't been here long enough to really know this lady.

When Jñan lowered her voice, Juno's hands clenched under the table. Go with her? Alone? She'd unconsciously looked at Paul, but found that he had his own conversation going on with a teen. He doesn't seem much older than me. It almost brought comfort to Juno; she wasn't the only kid in the bunch. Juno felt a light scratch against her leg. Evie was apparently trying to get the young girl's attention.

After petting the pokemon's head, Juno turned to Jñan and smiled. "I would have no problem with that at all. Please lead the way, and I will try to answer as best as I can." That said, she stood up and picked up her fox-like friend. "And would you mind too terribly if I brought Evie along? I'd hate to leave her out here by herself."