Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Anastasia..." Phantasm murmured before striding forward and kneeling before her. "I do not believe that we are needed here any longer... Soon the authorities will be here to... Handle everything that has occurred."

"Iason is dangerous, Phantasm. Do you truly believe he will not manipulate their minds in a heartbeat to have them release him?" Anastasia admonished, her eyes narrowing as she reached out to touch the Mightyena's face. "He will come with us where we can contain him properly. If he resists... You know what to do."

Phantasm's face seemed to relax, all emotion and expression wiped from it. "Yes, Anastasia."

Iason watched the exchange as he applied the potion he had been given to his side, slowly lurching to his feet, eyes narrowed as he watched the exchange. He swallowed thickly when Phantasm stood and turned, their eyes locking, the other man's intent very clear. He glanced around at anyone that was near him, hoping that at least someone would be sympathetic towards him; when healthy Phantasm was still stronger and faster than him, but when he was injured like this, borderline dizzy from blood loss...

"I didn't do this!" he protested, hands clenching into fists at his side. "You don't even have evidence!"

"You are an anti-human worm, and unstable one at that. How can anyone doubt that you would do this? Especially after yesterday?" Anastasia questioned, her smile borderline cruel.

Iason watched Phantasm advance and swallowed, glancing around at those that had gathered once more. "She's controlling his mind... This isn't right..."

All that the Banette could do was hope that someone stayed by his side and helped defend him against the living weapon that was Phantasm. He was formidable in a fight in his own right normally but with his injury and weakness to the other man's attacks... Well it definitely was starting to look less and less promising.

"I didn't do this!" he called again, taking a step back and narrowing his eyes before looking back up to Anastasia; there was no way that he would go down without a fight. "...But I do know who did do this... And I guarantee that Phantasm does as well."

(( OOC: Note about Meta character battles: All Meta NPCs are significantly stronger than player Gijinka. Consider them... Lvl 100 EV trained. In this situation it will take multiple Gijinkas to take any one of them down, but you will have to take a side in this battle should you choose to fight. If you do not wish to take a side, you may remain neutral, but will get less points. Also note that this Chapter's outcome with change depending on what you all do, and who lives or dies depends on it as well. Don't worry, though, there's no risk of character death. There is no Battle System in place at this time, but please be reasonable with your abilities. If you are roleplaying your Gijinka as more powerful than you should, you will be warned the first time, and ejected from the Meta the second and your points will be forfeit. ))

Peregrin climbed up from the underground just in time as he helped the others...just in time to hear the newcomer's accusations. He coughed hard, and was a dreadful sight. His grey cloak and black hair were coated in dust, and from the wet feel on the back of his head, he was sure he'd gotten cut by a chunk of falling rubble. It didn't really matter now, though...the words the Gardevoir was saying filled his gut with a much colder feeling of dread. How could she be saying these things when it was Iason himself who had lifted the rubble up? It was enough to rile him up, and he left the others, his brows furrowing angrily.

Grin snarled, and darted over to Iason's side, teeth bared. "He helped lift the building! Lives have been saved due to his efforts...he was in the blast, he's injured!" he cried out, mostly to Anastasia. He wanted to try to talk to Phantasm, too, but after what Iason had said, it did indeed look as if he'd lost control. It sent a jolt of fear through his heart. What were they dealing with here? He had never been exposed to powerful psychic types, their abilities were still amazing (and frightful) to him. "Please, don't do this! We can't fight here in the streets!" he cried, casting a glance around. There were countless people still bustling about, people tending to the injured, humans, gijinkas, and pokemon. A fight would be dangerous, innocent bystanders could get in the way and get hurt.

Grin's eyes darted from Phantasm to Anastasia, and back again. His heart was pounding, from both the narrow escape, and the looming fight. He wasn't even sure about what he was doing, but he'd seen Iason and Phantasm working together with his own eyes. He couldn't imagine that lifting all the debris had been easy, and it didn't seem fair that this crazy psychic woman would come out of nowhere with such scathing accusations. His body tense, he readied himself for the inevitable conflict, ears laid back, tail bristled. He was ready to protect the injured Bannette.

tag to iason, anastasia

[[ Edited response slightly because I caught some things I missed the first time! ]]

It was only when everyone had managed to escape from the rubble that Insidia released his hold. Sadly, the gijinka's energy was spent and the Porygon unceremoniously plummeted to the ground. It was rather undignified but at the same time, Narcissus made no attempt to help him - there was method to his madness of course, even if no one understood it. Insidia needed to 'reboot' as it were and traditional techniques would not revive him... he would wake up in his own time and then his scars would be tended to.

Fortunately, Insidia's decision to 'exit' the scene at this precise moment in time was a stroke of luck for the Snivy who couldn't supply his attention to everything at once. Suffice to say that as he stood beside Grin and Monet, it became very obvious that something wasn't quite adding up. While he may have missed the majority of what had occured due to being beneath the ground, the tension in the air was as thick as a knife and the albino Mightyena was acting in a rather peculiar fashion in comparison to how he had been acting previously.

One look at the Gardevoir and well... Iason's accusations wouldn't have been inaccurate, it was highly plausible that the gijinka was subject to mind control.

"This is ever so slightly ironic," Narcissus remarked and shook his head as he glanced at Iason, "If he is a Mightyena should he not have developed a tolerance to psychic abilities?" he enquired. It was then that he shook his head, folded his arms across his chest and regarded both Phantasm and Anastasia critically - he couldn't say that he liked the woman overly much, but then again, he'd never liked an ego in anyone except himself.

"What Monet says is correct," he said at last and released a sigh. "Even the most dedicated of terrorists wouldn't be so foolish to injure themselves so critically if there was more to their plan," he mused. It was with this in mind that he, bizarrely, stepped forward to place himself between the Banette and the Mightyena, just a small distance from Suri. Admittedly he wasn't the best fighter in the world but there were just moments when he had to act and the cocky smile on Anastasia's lips was enough to provoke him!

"So, in line with the remarks made by my friends here, I would suggest that you stand down and allow the authorities to compile their evidence rather than throwing base accusations around," he remarked, a small smile lifting onto his lips as he continued to peer at the Mightyena and the Gardevoir.

"...Or would you prefer to be hypocrites towards your own organisation and declare that violence is preferrable to honest and equal treatment?"

Word of the explosion had spread rapidly, especially with concerned gijinka wondering about the implications of the explosion. The moment Seraphan had heard about the explosion, he'd stopped in the middle of helping Lev stock the shelves and taken off, launching himself into the air at the outer limits of Nimbasa City and flying full tilt towards the city he'd just left a day before.

Even at his top speed, it took him some time to actually reach the site of the explosion, but it seemed that he'd arrived just in time. He took stock of the situation at a glance: a Mightyena was advancing on a badly-injured Banette, with a woman on one side and a number of assorted gijinka on the other. He flicked his wings out to slow himself as he touched down at the edge of the gathering, careful not to let the backdraft hit any of the assorted gijinka.

The Banette was Iason, he remembered, from the gathering -- the one who claimed to advance Pokemon equality. The Mightyena was a new one, who he didn't recognize, but his bearing spoke of many battles hard-fought. The woman troubled him; something about her smile was unpleasant, though he didn't trust anyone who smiled in the face of so much destruction and death. And the Mightyena's sudden shift in expression and action was troubling, too. What the Snivy said was true, but there were subtler means of control than psychic suggestion.

From their exchange, it seemed the woman believed that the Banette was responsible -- and yet, judging by his injuries, he'd been right in the middle of the blast, and even the most carefully-controlled explosion could turn out badly for anyone caught in it. As much as he distrusted the Banette, especially after he'd crashed the gathering the other day, he was not so stubbornly devoted to first impressions that he would judge Iason by that alone.

"It is possible that he masterminded the explosion, and placed himself in the middle to divert suspicion," he remarked thoughtfully, taking stock of the Mightyena as he strode forward, to a spot near Narcissus and Suri. If it came to a fight, it would be a hard one -- many of the gijinka were injured, some heavily so. He had once scorched entire acres of land in battle with his brother, but his fighting skills had gone rusty over years of isolation. And the Mightyena was well-rested and seemed both skilled and confident -- an uneven match if he'd ever seen one. Still, bad odds had never been, and would never be, a good reason to back down.

"Possible, but stupid, and I doubt that very much. There are less dangerous ways to give oneself an alibi, and your 'evidence' is circumstantial at best. Perhaps you should let your previous quarrels go for the day; there is enough blood to clean up already." He didn't think that the Mightyena or the woman would back down from words alone, but perhaps the presence of others willing to fight would do it. Subconsciously bracing for a battle, he lifted and spread his wings slightly, using the same age-old tactic to make himself appear larger.

Unbidden, a memory of facing down his other half flashed through his head. Anzhelo had been his match, all those years ago. Their battles had raged for days on end, leaving the land around them charred from fire and lightning. They had only fought on the same side once, against the warring descendants of their original masters. He hadn't seen the white dragon who had once been part of him since, and it had been so long that he'd lost track of the years.

His first battle had been against his own brother; he'd hoped it would be his last. How ironic, then, that he was preparing for a fight with a fellow gijinka.

If things could go from bad to worse, they had. In many ways Kujo was against fighting over personal deputes. His trainer had them and often regretted them and the fact she'd send her pokemon to fight her battles for her. Later she learned that fighting with her own fists was no better. So in Kujo's experience, fighting for something argumentative was a waste of time and energy. Now, while he thought this true, that wasn't to say that his emotions or anger would and could get the better of him.

The insults being flung were red hot, and they didn't just really hit Iason, but any connected with him. The effect was Kujo who in his way had thrown his lot in with Iason, was suddenly thinking the insults were by default placed upon him as well. End result was Kujo was getting more than annoyed, and a bit more than peeved. It didn't help that Peregrin was siding with Iason as well, Kujo's pack instinct kicking in. The albino to be fighting them or not, the larger group, one he already felt inclined to, was hitting his sense of 'pack'.

Others were talking of not fighting, and really, Kujo would be more than happy to agree, but unless the other backed down, he would not. He wasn't going to be intimidated after all. It was the claim of the other mightyena's controlled mind that when questioned made him hesitate. It was very true, he was immune to physic abilities. They didn't effect him. To date only one had, and that had been rather voluntary really. Not to mention the pokemon, or gijinka rather, was just that powerful. He highly doubted this 'Anastasia' was just as powerful.

"There is only one physic who could effect me, and I chose that." He growled out at the woman before looking at Peregrin and Narcissus. "He asked me, and I accepted. Not to mention he had the power to change my form." Looking back at the supposed one controlling the albino's mind- "A creature like that doesn't have the same kind of power I do not think."

He had nothing more to say striding over to the injured Iason. If a fight broke out, he'd protect the hurt first. Iason was the target and he was already hurt enough. "I threw my lot in with yours because you made me curious as to your purpose." A huff. "I do not wish to come to regret it. You best make your accusation and provide evidence quickly, as I doubt the crowd will look kindly upon you otherwise." It was not spoken with demand in his voice but a reassignment. "There are dead upon the ground, and people will want someone to blame after all. Best it just not be you."

Iason blinked, looking up at the Volcarona that had taken his side in mild confusion. He had never seen this person before so it perplexed him that they'd put themselves between him and... That. Next came the Mightyena from before, the one wearing the cloak, then the brightly colored Milotic and the Snivy. It confused him that this many gijinka would stand at his side when they didn't even know what was going on between the three of them and yet he felt oddly... Warm. Shaking his head his gaze slid to the Zekrom of all things that had seemed to appear out of nowhere and come to his aid. Since when had Oneiro started giving human bodies to such ancient entities?

"Mightyenas do have an immunity to psychic abilities but there's more than one way to control minds, and all sorts of ways to break down psychic immunities." he snapped at the Snivy, eyes narrowing in offense; as if he wouldn't know what the other man was and wasn't immune to. "If I remember correctly Phantasm hates collars, make him feel domesticated, yet, oddly, he seems to have acquired one."

His eyes then shot to the other Mightyena that had decided to throw in his lot with him, eyes narrowing at his comments. None of them realized that Anastasia was a great deal more powerful than they gave her credit for. She looked like a princess but when it came to combat she was ruthless and sadistic; always had been, always would be. Finally he strode forward, clutching his side, eyes narrow, standing amongst those that had gathered and shaking his head.

"First, I don't need to be lectured. Second, Phantasm is being controlled, most likely through not-quite traditional means. Third, I have no evidence, Fido, because that's what Phantasm was digging up underground." he muttered, eyes narrow before he looked back to Anatasia. "You won't take me alive."

His eyes suddenly slid to a Shedinja that was offering his aid, eyes narrowing a little as he glanced between the Gardevoir and the ones gathered, then back. There was no guarantee that they'd be able to take down this opponent, especially not if Phantasm attacked them. Unfortunately for them, Phantasm had a tendency for using more lethal attacks than his traditional Pokemon ones, thus one wrong move and they'd have another corpse on their hands. He took a step back, feeling helpless, eyes narrowed as he glanced back at the Shedinja again.

"Phantasm will slaughter them if I don't do something." he bit out eyes narrowing before widening as he watched Hawthorne approach the Mightyena, swallowing thickly. "That idiot! What does he think he's doing?"

Meanwhile Anastasia watched with amusement as the gijinkas gathered in front of the Banette, a small smile curving her lips. When the Zorua approached her eyes narrowed a bit before she smiled again, mentally strengthening her hold on him when he felt it waver a little. After all her hard work getting Phantasm under her control she wasn't going to let it slip now. Never mind that she was rather close to reaching her goal, so it would be a shame to let it all go to waste.

"You all seem so keen to believe a psychopath isn't capable of irrational thought." she sighed a little at that, shaking her head. "I supposed that there's no helping it. If you are all so eager to be accessories to his crime, then I'll have to apprehend you all as well."

Anastasia quickly lashed out with her power, aiming to immobilize any in the vicinity that did not have direct immunity to her abilities. She watched everyone in the crowd freeze, rooted in place by her abilities before her gaze slid back to those that stood before Iason. He seemed to be struggling against the effects of her abilities as well, but he was stronger and had more of a resistance than the others that had gathered.

"Phantasm. Subdue these Pokemon so we may take them to the proper authorities." she breathed, smiling.

"Don't... Attack... Phantasm..." he managed to get out, grimacing. "Anastasia... Is the real problem..."

Phantasm's eyes swung to Hawthorne then, narrowing a little as he analyzed his injuries, the way he stood, before his hand shot out, gripping the injured Pokemon's throat, lifting him and then throwing him towards the immobilized crowd. That particular gijinka hadn't registered as a threat, so he wouldn't focus on him for now. Instead he turned his gaze to the others, registering two as Mightyena, like himself. His gaze slid to Peregrin eyes narrowing as he lifted his hand to fire Hyper Beam at him, not hesitating for an instant.

(( OOC: If your gijinka is NOT immune to psychic abilities, roll 1 d10 at this time. Any number lower than 7 will be immobilized until after the next npc post.

To any who is attacked / thrown. Roll 1 d10 to determine the severity of the attack. 1 is a dodge, 10 is instant KO.

If you are attacking during your post, roll 1 d10 to determine if it lands and 1 d10 to determine severity. Anything below 7 on the d10 will miss and anything on the seond d10 below 8 will do minimal damage. Anything above will do a decent amount.

Another note: You can choose your target, even if it's an inanimate object.

Extra extra note: Since people have asked, consider the collar to be advanced, rather resistant technology. Any one hit will not destroy or remove it. ))

[[For Rua's attack; he's Psychic-Immune]]

checking first, haha.