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 Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 11:50 am
A loud burst of static would announce itself over everyone's SNAGs before it began to slowly clear itself out to a regular voice. "Sorry....sorry......Thought I could get this cockamamie thing ta work quickly and made the static." Reno's voice would come out over the speakers instead of the normal one of GRAY. "Well, on ta business. We need ta track down that crazy Psychic Channeler and I seem ta have a few oddities that have cropped up we could investigate. A man in Pallet Town went on a mad rush into the professor's lab in an effort to obtain some Pokemon from the lab, which struck me as strange. Anotha thing that's happened is some females in Vermillion City decided ta raid a few stores by going scantily clad and taking advantage of the males being distracted. The strange thing is these women are all highly paid and wouldn't need ta rob the odd things they did steal. And finally, we have a group of people who experienced a mass hallucination in Lavender Town, were contacted by a priest type person who explained it as a demon of sorts, and then proceeded to ask for donations in order to obtain money for materials to remove it." Reno mechanically listed off without a single thought before another voice decided to interrupt the explanation.
"What Reno means is these events are oddities which should be explored. After all, we are dealing with a slightly more advanced monkey here, so who is to say the extent of her powers is to simply convert people in mindless zombies when she is able to break them down mentally. So we need to look at all of these oddities as events caused by this mystery channeler in order to find a much easier way to track her down. All we have currently is that she has her psychic powers and it forces us to be reactive. Maybe if you somewhat inferior beings succeed in actually getting us a way to track and predict her movements, we can be proactive and head her off before she goes completely nuts." GRAY's voice would snidely add to explain why Reno decided to list these odd events before adding, "Now, you all pick a location to start and try not to all pick the same one. I'd rather like to see some variety over the usual monotonous progress.". Reno's voice would chip once more in an effort to simply establish himself again. " I'm gonna hang back just in case any other events occur and you guys are needin' some direction. I also would like ta stay back since I have some experience with Psychic Chi and can hopefully try to pick out the feel of it so GRAY can track any locations it crops up." Shutting off the speaker with a loud crackle, the SNAGs would light up with the possible routes to each location from the base or wherever the Snagems may lay. A small tally would appear beside each set of directions to show how many of the group went to each location in hopes of helping the less determined of their group decide which group might need backup.
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:38 am
Odd, Lykas and Kaya responded to GRAY's message before anyone else, it would seem. Kaya headed to Pallet Town while Lykas took to Vermillion City and Odd investigated Lavender Town.
Kaya, with his recently evolved Marill at his side and his infant Vulpix in his arms, walked towards Oak's Lab, with a bit of direction from locals, intending to inquire with the professor regarding his experience.
Lykas wandered the shops in Vermillion, attempting to assess the damage and collect information regarding the women who'd tried stealing things. He wanted to talk to them directly.
Odd, on the other hand, took a more indirect course of action. With Cadenza at his side, the Channeler was trying to hone in on the energy left behind by whatever had caused the mass hallucination reported from here. He was positive it couldn't have been natural so leftover energy was a good place to start trying to track something down, right?
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Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:43 am
Kaya would not make it five feet before a massive crowd was seen, surrounding the area around Professor Oak's lab. The crowd would keep moving and shifting, with no openings appearing for Kaya to slip through. It appeared the first obstacle was....a wall of people. How original.
Lykas would find the entire area in extreme disarray, with shards of glass on the ground inside and outside buildings, wood splinters from doors being broken down, pieces of suits and other clothing sitting in the middle of the street and drops of blood that went the same direction as most of the shattered glass. The shopkeepers would be getting sheets of plywood to cover the windows, replacing the doors that been broken down and sweeping up the broken glass to prevent further injury. Maybe one of them would have some information, or the more observant in the group could figure out themselves where the women would be.
Odd's search for a trace of energy would put him past a group of screaming people, running the exact opposite direction as he was heading. The source of the screams was one of three things: the horrid architecture of the area had finally driven them mad, the rotten fruit falling from trees was a major event or the huge black demonic shadow with glowing red eyes might have done it. The shade would turn to face Odd before it shifted, the black, menacing, devilish body slowly morphing into a swarm of Pachirisu and Emolga that charged at the channeler with reckless abandon.
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Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:20 am
Kaya's first instinct when it came to getting past the crowd would be to pull a police crowd control measure. But that would just tick a lot of people off and get him into fights he really didn't want right now.
"Le Faye, Frenzy Plant!" He called as he tossed out a Pokeball and released the Serperior Lykas had given him. When the massive snake appeared, she slammed her tail into the ground and summoned a huge arc of thorny vines which crossed right above the crowd and allowed him to jump down right at the door. If anyone tried following, Le Faye would retract the vines as soon as Kaya was across
Lykas, being less determined to remain oblivious than some, figured following the trail of destruction he found would be a likely lead, headed down the path it created. He could always come back and question people if this was a bad lead, after all.
Odd, figuring the screaming people might be leading him towards where he wanted to be if he went to where they came from, did just that. And found the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. The demonic shade was nothing to him after going through hell(literally) for his Channeling training. But the mass of squirrels. It had to be those, didn't it? His heart leaped into his throat, his breath caught for a split second and as he turned to try and escape the flood of squirrelly doom, he let out the most high pitched shriek of terror any human could be capable of making by natural means.
This is what you're afraid of? This is nothing. Cadenza's voice echoed within Odd's soul but the boy was so far absorbed by his fear for these little rodents that nothing registered in his mind for a response. Taking the lack of response for what it was, the Shedinja followed his master and hid on the other side of Mr. Fuji's house from the swarm in hopes of it losing track of them before it got there.
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Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 8:59 am
Kaya's leap over the crowd would certainly find him at the door, and also at the point of a Rhydon's horn. Around the crowd would be a few other bruiser style Pokemon like Machamp and Onix, suppressing the crowds and filtering them through to the lab now. Someone had apparently decided to install security after the last robbery and now the security wasn't happy. "Explain why you just jumped clear over my preventative measures and do it quickly, my Rhydon doesn't like intruders." A masked man announced from his position on the roof of the lab. Well, things might just get interesting after all.
Lykas and his following of the trail of destruction would end abruptly as the shops further up past the fifty feet he walked were completely fine. The ground near the shops he would end at would contain more blood that scattered in the same direction as the broken glass, but with more than the previous streaks coinciding with shattered glass. The shopkeepers down at this end would be doing the same work as the others from the beginning, putting plywood in windows, sweeping up glass and discussing exactly how this managed to happen.
Odd's pursuers would not track him along the house, in fact they would never pass near the house he had fled to. The shadow, after having it's fill of scaring off the people in the area, dissipated without another word. A minute or two would pass before a man would rush to the scene of the shade and begin to take samples. The man, content with what he obtained, began to speak to the people now surrounding the attack site. "My people. I know that these attacks have been disrupting every facet of your lives, but I only need more time and money in order to obtain the materials necessary to track and eliminate this demon from the area. In fact, with my current materials, I can at least track down the location it will attack at, but I was not prepared for another attack so soon. I have failed you people, but I shall do my best from this point forward to lead the fight to this demonic presence and free your town from it's tyranny." The man's final words came out in a roar, stirring the crowd into wild cheering and the throwing of small amounts of money to the strange man in the priest costume.
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Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 3:05 pm
Odd would also suddenly hear a series of knocks on the door. While it was somewhat light, it was rapid and constant, as if it'd want to bring the door down eventually.
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Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:00 pm
"I need to speak with the professor. I need to find out about the attempted robbery so I can help solve it. I've been trying to help track down someone who might have been the cause but I need more information from him to determine if the culprit might be the same person." The man called up, though he wasn't sure this particular man was the right one to be telling this to. "Besides, I was just going to try and talk through the door unless he let me in. I'm not so callous as to force my way into a barricaded building unless it's a life or death situation.
Lykas followed the trail of destruction on for a short bit but when the broken glass began to disappear and the bloodstains grew more populous, he decided now would be a good time to talk to the shop keepers. Sure there was still a trail to follow but this one wasn't likely to get cleaned up right away. Blood tends to hang around for a while when it gets on things.
Lies! Swindler! Odd's thoughts roared as his fear slowly began to ebb away. He could hear the words of this false priest. This man of false power. He held no real power within him that Odd could feel yet the man pledged freedom from this beast to the people. Unless he truly held the Gods' favor and their power to banish evil, then he would be capable of nothing. Once he was certain that the shade he'd witnessed was gone, he emerged from hiding and walked towards the man. "And what materials might you need to do this with?" He asked of the man with a stern face. "Father Clancy could cleanse the entire town with little more than a single dish of holy water and three leaves of white sage." He challenged the man. "And he keeps supplies with him at all times in the case something torments the people he comes to aid." This fraudulent holy man irked him greatly the more he considered how little he seemed capable of compared to the man who'd raised him.
That knocking from before would begin to tug at his mind as well. What had that been? He decided he'd go back and look again after he'd heard this man's words. All he wanted from him was an explanation of what he planned to do.
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Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:25 pm
The masked man would fall to the ground, landing softly as the porcelain mask disguising his features held steady. Giving a small scoff as he appeared in full light, the man's appearance would be that of a decorated, almost ornate coat with a hood to cover the other parts of the head, with a leather chest piece keeping the short robe at just below the man's waist. The white mask would be more noticeable with a beige colored outline along the edges that extended into triangle-esque shapes on the cheekbones and two more trails of beige that swooped down over the eyes to the nose, outlining a red circle that fixed promptly in the forehead area. "The attempted robbery was a man simply rushing forward without any sort of care, trying to break down the door in an attempt to get one of the rare Pokemon that the Professor keeps. I was in the area and stopped the man before he could possibly cause any noticeable damage to the lab or the professor himself. After that, he saw no issue with me taking position as a guard until I felt he was safe from another suicidal attempt to rob him." The strange man spoke unemotionally from behind his mask, the eyes darting around the crowd to keep track of the people moving around.
The shopkeepers near Lykas would say nothing of interest, beyond a few mentions of odd herbs and charms being robbed, along with a few mentions of the robbers being taken the hospital after they had apparently hidden their spoils.
The crowd would begin to murmur amongst themselves as they stared up at the man who was before them, unsure exactly why this man needed their money if this method would work. Turning to face the new arrival without missing a single beat int his battle of wits between them, the priest would give a small flourish before gesturing to the entire town. "Unfortunately for this situation, such an act of purification would render any sort of spiritual contact within the bounds of this city useless!! That ham fisted way of blocking out the demon would work for sure, but it would also ruin the less violent spiritual things that attract people to this town. I was blind like you when I came and began my attempt but after explaining what it would do and hearing protest from the people, I was swayed to try another method that would simply target the beast instead of a widespread dispersal of every spirit in the area!!! I swear on my name as Father Vittorio Vincent, I shall rid this spirit form the area!!" Vittorio's roar of zeal at the end drove the crowd into a cheering frenzy, the crowd once again swayed to his side due to his appeal to their spiritual heritage and the words that seemed to sound correct. The crowd would now face Odd and stare down the man in concert to provoke another response from him.
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Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:54 pm
"Hmmmm. Seems like something that the person I'm thinking of might be capable of. So where did the robber wind up? Is he detained? I'd like to speak with him and get his side." Kaya asked of this masked man who seemed to be keeping a constant watch on the crowd.
Overhearing the shopkeeper's conversations amongst themselves and the responses to him, he headed towards the Pokemon Center, figuring that while he could get directions to the hospital while trying to get some more information from the trainers there. Hopefully someone else would show up to help soon. This investigation crap was boring when he was by himself.
Odd let out a small sigh towards the so-called priest. "You know nothing of the power of holy water or sage, then, do you? They repel only evil spirits and malevolent energies, purifying the area and inviting benevolent and harmless spirits and energies in to fill the void." The channeler explained with a level of confidence he felt this fraud couldn't match. "Besides, I think a spirit might know better than you what might work." He added before phasing into the ground. He'd emerge by the Pokemon Tower with his goal already decided upon. With his ability to see and communicate with spirits, he'd find a few in this haunted town and see what they had seen. With senses beyond those of mortals and the lack of presence to be affected by something physical, they would be capable of telling him more about what was happening around here than any human could.
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 8:08 am
Giving another once over to the crowd before turning away from them for the moment, the masked defender offered an answer. "The robber is still here. He was a local and we decided to simply tie him up until he seemed more cooperative. So he should be sitting in the middle of town square. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to check on the Professor and see if there is anything new I should be informed about." The monotone voice keeping steady, the man's eyes gave another look over the crowd before motioning the Rhydon to come along with him as the pair entered the front door. The other Pokemon outside on the defensive would keep vigilant and keep the crowd suppressed while their current master got new orders.
Lyaks' entrance into the Pokemon Center would be met with a small amount of blood appearing on the ground and bandaged women sitting on a bench, handcuffed together and to the bench. Hopefully he would be able to figure out exactly where the women had gone now or this investigation would be truly in trouble.
Odd's words and sudden disappearance would lead the crowd to turn to Vittorio before beginning to approach him slowly, angry looks on their faces. The father's reaction was simple, rush like a madman for the Pokemon Tower. Over with Odd and his spirits, he would find a simple ghostly shape that simply muttered, "Not a haunting.....Strange thing is false spirit....." This odd spirit would continue to mutter this while it floated around in circles, almost looking ready to snap. A scream would announce the closing of Father Vittorio, although Odd would certainly have time to shake the spirit to the point of speaking directly to him.
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Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 1:33 pm
Before the man could escape into the confines of Oak's lab, something nudged him. Not something physical but something that said he should inquire. A simple question but he felt certain one he should ask, for some unknown reason. He really didn't care, personally, hence the reason that he hadn't brought it up before but now.... "What's with that mask? Trying to hide something?" He asked of his informant. He'd seemed particularly cooperative with a total stranger so he felt like he was overstepping his bounds by asking but that feeling that it might be important eventually wouldn't leave his mind.
Lykas, on the other hand, shrugged slightly when he spotted the women handcuffed together inside the Pokemon Center. "Guess I made a lucky guess here..." He said to himself before he walked over to them. Figuring they could do with a bit of fixing up, he released Mykel from his Ball. "Heal Pulse. Don't be in any hurry, though. Just fix them enough that they aren't going to keel over on me." He told the Gardevoir, pointing to the group of women.
After they were healed, the hybrid gave them all a questioning look. "What's the deal? Why were you lot acting like a bunch of petty thieves?" He asked them, trying to figure out what could have been going through their minds.
And back with Odd, he let out a small sigh. The priest hadn't been intended to be harmed by that display. He'd meant it to make the people reconsider who they placed their trust in before throwing it unquestioningly into a man who claimed he could save them only if they gave him something in exchange. Regardless, he turned his focus on the spirits he could see, one in particular standing out more than any other.
Approaching the spirit and offering a small bow of respect to it he spoke quietly. "I don't mean to disturb you but I hope you can help me. I'm trying to solve the mystery behind that shadow creature that has everyone terrified." Truth be told, he was still shaking a bit from a combination of the adrenaline from facing that false priest and the fear brought on by those rampaging squirrels before him.
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 10:17 am
Catching the door with his foot and turning on his heel, the man's mask would appear in the crack in the door. The typical monotone voice would ring out from behind the mask as had before, with the eyes darting around slightly. "The mask is because of a small incident I had with a Fire type that scarred my face. After seeing this mask, I figured looking more like something to run away from instead of something to gawk at was much more..easily dealt with." Returning to the confines of the lab without another word, the mysterious guardian would leave only the other Pokemon behind.
Over with Lykas, the women would all look to their slowly healing injuries with slight apprehension as they debated how to answer the strange man asking them questions. Finally, a brunette would raise her voice slightly, "None of us can remember doing anything like that...All we know is that one of us would black out, strip down, rob a few stores and then snap to normal just when someone had caught us before the next girl would do the same. That's all we know." The woman's voice would sound exasperated, likely from having to give the same story multiple times to get anyone who would remotely believe them.
The ghost would turn to face the odd person who had spoken up, blinking a few times before answering the man. "Shadow creature....is not a ghost.....Shadow creature is a man. You cannot see him for some reason but a man runs around where you people flee from and he is what you call the shadow creature." The ghost would respond, looking to the fleeing man as he approached the Pokemon Tower. "He is closing." The priest who Odd had outed would be the only one closing, with a panicked look in his eye as he slammed into the man. "I need your help." Vittorio would stammer out, eyes darting around as he examined the area for any of the townspeople.
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 7:45 pm
Sub would arrive on the scene rather late, standing just outside the Pokemon Tower as he looked up at the ominous building before him. GRAY had alerted him to where the others had gone, quit some time ago. Unfortunately, the leader was unable to break away from his responsibilities back at their headquarters until now. He hoped everything was going fine for the time being, but just in case they weren't, he was prepared to storm the tower and play the main character of this story, or at least that was the plan he devised in his own little fantasy. "Let's see what's going on here." He said to himself as he took a few steps forward, entering the graveyard tower before him.
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:40 pm
Kaya nodded to the man with a small amount of shame now. That really wasn't a question he should have asked, in hindsight. Not when this man had been nothing but helpful with providing him information he needed. So he hung his head just slightly and signaled Le Faye to bring him back out of the throng, which seemed to have stopped swarming for the time being when he waltzed right over their heads. Outside the crowd, he started towards the town square, figuring he could interrogate the robber personally and see what he had to say for himself.
Lykas, reading into the woman's eyes as she spoke, decided he try a little something. "I'm going to test you. I've learned, thanks to some studying, that a certain move I've been working on can work without actually using it." With that, his eyes began to glow with black energy. While this Hex was incomplete, it would serve it's purpose. It would react based on many different sources of physical or mental ailments, Guilt included. The women recoiled but otherwise didn't react to the collected chi in any way. They were telling the truth, it would seem. Either that or he still wasn't able to do that right. Regardless, he went with his gut instinct and believed them. "So I'm going with the belief that you're being honest with me. So why not tell me the whole story? When did all this start? Any signs or symptoms before this little incident?" He asked, motioning Mykel to cut the Heal Pulse now that they didn't seem to be in any mortal danger from their wounds.
Odd, on the other hand, had suspected as much when the spirit spoke to him. He was beginning to try and work out a way to see through that shade when Vittorio rushed him. "Why should I help you? You're a swindler feeding on these peoples' fears." He pointed out as he stumbled backwards, barely avoiding falling down in the process. He wanted a genuine reason before he would offer any such thing regardless of how much Vittorio might beg.
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Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 10:52 pm
Kaya's very downtrodden approach made many of the crowd look to him in thought, pondering exactly what they might do to make him feel better before almost snapping back into fervent fan mode and continuing to push against the Pokemon blocking their path. Over in the town square, the odd sight of splintering wood and rusted hinges used to form a cheap stocks would be the first thing one would likely notice before the man inside would draw attention. It looked like one of the Rocket members from Celadon City and as Kaya drew closer, the thief would jerk upwards, snapping the stocks to splinters. Drawing a pair of Pokeballs from his waist, the man shouted, "I remember you!! Time for a little payback on you and then that little witch!!" Throwing the first Pokeball, a Houndoom would greet the investigator with a Flamethrower attack to deter and burn him.
The woman stared up at the strange man who had just stared into her soul, quivering slightly from the feeling of being so exposed to mental invasion. "It just happened today like I said. We supposedly robbed a few places filled with strange herbs and a few New Age charms, but all I remember is a giant red R. And between us all, the only common thing is we had to have a haircut in the last week or so, and even then, I'm the odd one out. The only eventful thing I've done is donate blood. But if this helps, the girl on the end was the last one to go under. Maybe she has a trace of something in her mind?" The strange brunette in front of him offered, looking slightly hopeful now that someone believed her almost insane story.
Vittorio stared at the man who had exposed him with frightened eyes before exclaiming, "Because I think I'm possessed and that the demon is me!!" The exclamation would soon be overshadowed by his eyes glazing over and his body going slightly limp before snapping back like an elastic. In stead of his normal voice, a very neutral growling voice would instead emit from the father's mouth. "What an excellent day for a haunting. Wouldn't you agree?" The raspy voice would speak directly into Odd's ear before the man's body dissolved into a mass of Emolga and Pachirisu to swarm over the phobic man. Vitorrio's body would be seen as only a shadow now, which charged the doors of the Pokemon Tower. The shadow would swiftly close upon Sub inside, spiraling through the air towards him before shifting in midair to become...
(Due to time of night, I will need you (Sub) to fill in the sentence with Sub's worst fear or, if you feel the dark powers are passively powerful enough to block telepathy, a flying shade still.)
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