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"Thomas, this will be just a moment. You can come if you like, otherwise I'll be back shortly." Then with a full arm gesture toward the door, Ulysses led the newcomers away. "This way..."

It was a brief trek to the Professors' lab, but perhaps long enough for a game of twenty questions. He began with: "Was your journey here as eventful as my own?"

((How 'bout you could send me a catch-up in a PM, and write out that we did here and timeskip...?))

Lorenzo chuckled as Lexi's Pokemon clambered all over her.

"Forget about being skinny, you're lucky they haven't grown personalities like the she-demon over there. Especially doggy over there, he seems too cute to lose."

Lorenzo looked at Rex longingly. He was so much like Flora had been all those years ago. He had been small enough that he had to place his arms all the way around Flora's back to hug her, and she had yipped and licked his face. Nowadays, if he tried to hug her... Wait. He hadn't even tried to hug her. They'd been pretty distant even though they travelled together. He looked at the Vulpix and felt a stab inside.

"Flora?"

The Vulpix turned about, slightly surprised that her human wasn't calling her for something.

"Can I... Can..."

Flora barked at him, growling afterwards. she didn't want to be interrupted from her pleasurable position. Lorenzo sighed.

"Fine..."

Lorenzo had become a bit forlorn over the loss of his Pokemon. Sure, loss may have been an exagerration, but the past few minutes seemed to dictate so. They were even eating pancakes together. PANCAKES. He groaned in his stomach. What a chummy food to eat with your chums. God, friggin' pancakes...

Truth be told, it wouldn't have mattered whether it was pancakes or cookies or enchiladas, or whatever happened to have come up. He just missed Flora all of a sudden when he saw her so happy. But to see her enjoy herself... That made him happy too. He simply smiled sadly at the floor and ate his coffee cake, taking one more bite, but not quite able to finisht the rest, though he wasn't full...

((Wow, super-long absence. To update, though: I've survived the Biology GRE, my senior seminar, an art project, and a week's worth of exams! Who knows, maybe this time when I say I should have more free time, I won't be unwittingly lying through my teeth! Glad to be back, though ^^ I apologize sincerely for the delay.

An aside: Enradus, the comic in your sig is awesome.))


((EDIT: made a mistake up here with Maddy and Vivian. Horrifying, I know.))
The hat made its opinion clear to Maddy. "Cliffshire. Now." It was more than words, and far more than a suggestion. It was an impulse, and it begin driving Maddy that direction more rapidly than had anything else. The hat then promptly jumped onto the body's head and sat there as though it had a grip.

In his pockets, Vivian and Maddy found the following: half a dozen smoke bombs, a black leather wallet carrying only a few dead moths and a coupon for Mighty John's Fish Emporium with the words "come by any time, Alex" scrawled in faded black ink, a set of gold and silver gel pens with fancy card-stock, blank business cards, a pill with blue gel in it, a pair of Twinkies, and a few lengths of glittery string, most likely for tying onto the cards. Finally, they found two pokéballs, neither of which would open if the two women tried.

Maddy found herself entering the suburbs of Cliffshire an hour later; she was unaware whether or not Vivian had followed with the body. She was quickly accosted by a guard, who was dressed to look very much like a guard. He seemed ready to fight her if she didn't pay attention to him; in fact, more towards the middle of the town, it appeared that most of the citizens were tense as they went about their duties. "You! You from the Exterminant? No? Didn't think so. Damn. Look, keep an eye out if you see anyone with a big 'X' on their heads and let someone in uniform know, okay?" He ran off in a hurry, stopped when he'd gotten no more than ten steps away, turned around, and looked Maddy up and down one more time. "Can't have you being useless, though. Think you can join the expeditionary force? C'mon, let's have a battle. I'm s'posed to be recruiting." He tossed a pokéball, which released the encased growlithe, and caught it, kind of fumbling it a little. "Good way to pass the time anyway, huh?" He grinned a small grin at her, somewhat put off by her appearance, but clearly having seen stranger things since the Calamity.

---

A now-familiar pressure bump buzzed around Paul's eardrums as he entered his home. Zoidberg recognized the psychic signature immediately, although it seemed significantly diminished. Not the sort of thing one wantonly engaged, but no longer something to be explicitly feared. As Paul warily rounded the corner into his kitchen, he saw a humanoid figure composed of violet and ivory calmly making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Hello, Paul. You can trust me."

As the voice entered his head, Paul knew it wasn't - quite - the same as Terrian's. It was accompanied by a brief pulse of a glow in the creature's majestically-hued eyes. Those eyes seemed quite nearly devoid of expression, set apart from a household cat's only by their color and intensity. Any emotion was confined to a vague feeling of slight frustration, regret, and deep-set determination. The creature's bearing was business-like, and far less flighty than the last person who had approached McCulloch in such a way. "Please, don't be concerned. Your guards are resting peacefully in your bedroom upstairs; they will awaken when I leave. Sandwich?" A completed sandwich hoisted itself off the counter and floated congenially towards the man. To be sure, it was the most congenial sandwich that had likely ever graced or been graced by Paul's presence.

---

As the young-uns were enjoying their moment of peace, and Lance was growing accustomed to his new name, Gerard's mother retrieved the two requested potions. "Oh, it's not so much a trading post; we're more of a commune, now." A few family members harrumphed at the statement. "So go on ahead and have them; we'll put it on our tab." She grinned congenially (but it is to be noted, probably not as congenially as the sandwich approaching Paul at roughly the same moment).

With Flora's bark, she accidentally sent a tiny fireball rocketing towards Lorenzo. His reflexively-raised hand intercepted it, and the fireball... splashed, roughly a centimeter from his palm. He didn't feel the heat from it.

There was a polite knock at the door. Gerard's father answered it and initially was very confused by the lack of a person standing at that door. He finally looked down at the sound of something clearing its throat. "Oh! Charlesworth! Sorry about that. Come on in." Fighting an embarrassed blush, the man stepped aside to allow a kachina-like bird to walk in and peer watchfully around at the other occupants.

It closed its eyes and bowed obeisance before speaking into the minds of those assembled. "My apologies for interrupting, but the children are requested at the Oak labs. Don't worry; you may all sleep soon, but first we need an update on your progress and to retrieve your pokédexes. They are critical for the next step in your journey. Take your time; the Oaks are still sequestered-" A tremendous, cackling guffaw burst out from beyond the door and a purple, spiky, phantasmal shape tumbled through the wall (without damaging it). Grimstrip stuck his tongue out at everyone in turn and shook it back and forth while making an awful gibbering noise, clearly enjoying himself.

Charlesworth face-palmed... or -winged. "My cohort has a point. They're hiding from Nayana. She just met Juno, who is her adopted daughter and one of your companions, if you haven't met her yet, and very nearly tore the heads off everyone present. To be honest... that's why both of us came here to get you all. Even Grimstrip's afraid." The ghost buzzed his tongue at them all, then clawed at his face in mock-terror. "I swear when she slapped him it hit. So actually, if I overheard correctly that you have been invited to stay the night here... I think I would suggest it, and I will relay your decision to Sigmund."

The xatu cocked its head at Lance, blinked, and then hopped up on a counter to passive observe.

---

Upon Nayana's first sight of Juno, all hell broke loose.

Draw what conclusions you will.

In the end, it was only through some quick, soothing words from Ulysses that kept Nayana from bodily tossing Willam out the door. To recount, she snatched at his jacket, which he slipped off as though he were made of oil, but her quick hands grabbed the neck of his shirt, which he also managed to shed like a salamander's tail, and finally got her fingers clutched in his hair, which to his dismay he could not get rid of. One hand there and another cinched firmly around his belt, Nayana had begun hauling him to the main doors of the lab, despite any urging, gentle or otherwise, from any of the men present. With a speed that surprised even herself, Juno interposed herself between the large lady and the door, and in short order Willam was released.

While she turned her rage to the Oaks, who had been coming to greet Ulysses and immediately retreated to their labs, Willam collapsed against the wall, wide-eyed and pale-faced, looking as though he had honestly never been more afraid of anything in his life.

Everyone was suddenly happy that to their knowledge, Nayana Freedman had never in her life raised a pokémon. God forbid there were two things with that personality in the same room at the same time, ever. Eventually, it was suggested that because it had been a long day, it was perhaps a good time for everyone to do their best to tuck in for the night, in whatever quarters were best-prepared.

---

After some encouragement from the officer in charge, Jeremiah Hosborne was on his way to Woodmount, in an attempt to investigate the word they had gotten from a hasty Riverdale phone call. Another one had sent Benji Halloway southwards.

---

While the rest of the children had been adventuring, Benji had brought Dr. Bogdan to Elian's body where it had been laid in one of the accessory laboratory spaces near the Oaks' enclosed, primary one. The Oaks and their respective pokémon were analyzing her, and seemed to have made no progress. Beside her lay Aislin, and on a separate cot was Talia Horsley, who seemed to be more stable and, as Sigmund informed them, was in fact merely asleep and no longer comatose.

Elian's entire body was pallid and dirtied. Her face had been cleaned with a wet cloth and she appeared to have only suffered surface scratches from collapsing; there were no other physical marks on her. The doctors explained that she appeared to be both psychically drained and somehow infused with nether. They were hesitant to talk openly, except to mention that psychic ether seemed to in some way be sequestering the nether in her, but that as they had said, she had been drained. "We don't know what will happen when she comes out of the coma, nor what could serve to draw her out. Perhaps-"

"Got something."

Elian's eyes flickered open. The place went still, waiting with baited breath for her to act.

---

((Just so you all know, the current time is evening, so about eight o'clock. If you're worried about "oh-noes-time-differences," the answer is: trust the GM biggrin ))

Xitemo: +2 AP, korokorokorokorokoro
Shaula Al Nair: -2 AP, 2 potions

The sudden appearance of the growlithe snapped Maddy out of her trance, the last hour was hazy but there, at least she knew where she was. Why some dork wanted a fight was beyond her, but he looked harmless enough in his mall cop uniform. At some point during her walk she had taken out her pokeballs and started fidgeting with them in her right hand, one ball indicated that it was empty, that must be Smiffy, but she didn't feel his weight on her shoulder or in the backpack, he must be with Vivian and the body, wherever they were.

Maddy tossed the empty ball to her other hand and chucked the occupied one into the air, adding a bit of spin just for the hell of it. At about ten feet above their heads the ball released Roger, spinning as well but much more slowly. For a moment he rotate in place, just having a look around, but after a full rotation he figured out what was going on and pointed his eye at the growlithe. The air became charged with an electric buzz.

((Another return aside: Freckles = love! And love for you all for thinking it's awesome. Also the song in this post is amazing. So is A Clockwork Orange.))

As Juno watched Naya walk down the hallway, she could feel something was wrong. Call it a gut feeling, but they'd never led her wrong the few times she felt it. "Hey Naya! I know I'm a bit dirty, but honestly, I'm oka--"

That was when it all went to hell.

She could have sworn she heard music playing in the background when Naya decided to go ape s**t crazy. It was happening in slow motion as she was frozen in place while Naya tried her hardest (and succeeded) in grabbing Willam. "Uh oh. NAYA!" She was able to keep surrogate mother from throwing the boy out but not able to do much else. Then came more trouble. The Oaks came out from whatever hole they were in only to face an angry black woman.

She didn't see what Naya bestowed upon them since she was giving Willam back his shirt and jacket (muttering worries and checking on him), but she did see Naya slap the haunter. Juno would never forget that imagery.

Then things turned even worse. The Oaks must have been truly frightened because next thing she knew they locked themselves in their lab. If anyone had paid attention to her at that moment, they'd have seen the exact same raging-Naya expression on Juno's face. However, Juno didn't scream or tear through anyone. She turned to Ramsden and Willam and said, "So that's my second mother, Naya. I think you know why you should never make her mad. Be right back."

She went up to the older lady (who was still banging and screaming at the door) and hugged her. "Hey Naya? Can we go home? We can get answers from the Oaks tomorrow...isn't that right Professors Oak?" She kicked the door lightly to get their attention. "I think we're all tired and could use the rest. Tomorrow when we're all rested and calm we can discuss this and I can finally report to you and figure out the point of the mission I was sent on." Her tone got very edgy at the end but she didn't let go of Naya. She was honestly disappointed by the Oak Professors - if a fifteen-year-old child could stand up to an angry black woman, why couldn't two grown adults do it? To be fair, Nayana was scary as Satan when furious...but still!

Once Naya was calm (ish), Juno let go and reached for her hand. "We can go back home and I'll tell you everything that happened. Okay?" Naya didn't say anything, but Juno gathered that she was too irritated to talk. "Oh wait, let me go say goodbye to my protectors. They didn't have to but they chose to help me on this trip and were very nice to me." Sure she might have been playing it up, but Juno did not want another fiasco to occur. She felt bad that Willam got the brunt end of Naya's fury and so she hugged him (regardless of whether he put on his shirt though it'd be reaaaaaaally awkward if he wasn't wearing it). "Thanks for sticking with me and helping me." Even though she felt very uncomfortable with it, she even went to Ramsden and hugged him too. "And thank you for doing a fine job of protecting me. I'm sure the Commander at Riverdale will be pleased." So will Naya hopefully.

She returned to holding Naya's hand...it used to keep the older woman calm when Juno was younger. She sincerely hoped for everyone's sake that this trick still worked. "I guess you guys will be rooming here then?" It MIGHT have been possible to get Naya to relax around her companions (which depended on whether Naya really wanted to provide shelter for them)...but it was even more unlikely that they'd want to stay under the same roof as her. They were probably safer and more welcome in the quarters provided by the Oaks.

-------

Alex watched the mini-drama occur with an odd smile on her face. I'm glad to see them make up. "I'd suggest you not tease so much. I don't think she appreciates that brand of joking." She absently rested her hand on Lance's fur. When she turned to look at her absol, she had to fight back a laugh.

On Lance's head was a curled up Giddy who apparently chose to make his bed there. Lance appeared not to care at all which signified to Alex that he truly seemed to like Giddy. "Took a liking to each other have you?"

A knock on the door made Alex flinch. The xatu's words made her start scratching her arm. Giddy hit her with his tail to stop her the first time. "Ah, sorry..." Angry black woman who has a child. So angry black mother. How are they still alive? Black women were scary. Mothers were terrifying. Black mothers? Not something Alex wanted to deal with if she could help it. Naya made her feel uncomfortable even when said woman was happy. When she unconsciously started to scratch again, Lance chose to grab Alex's arm with his mouth. He didn't bite down hard enough to give her pain but the message was obvious: don't scratch your arms.

"Uh...I would like to have my arm back please?" Lance merely rested his head on her thigh while keeping her arm in his possession. She sighed and looked at the group uneasily. "While I am of the opinion that we spend the night here and find the Oaks in the morning" -when hopefully Naya will not be around- "I am willing to follow whatever you want to do."

Jeremiah continued on his way to Woodmount until something happened. Traveling alone wasn't very eventful.