Event - Confrontation with the Enhanced

[bravenewmods]

With the revelation of the presence of the Enhanced, Union was able to quickly mobilize. As the strange conditions continued to worsen, the Trainers of Union once again set out to bring order to the chaos.

This time however, they do not walk entirely alone. A small, dedicated team remains behind in Union, sorting through the dossiers and information that Crystal and Rory have collected. Connected to those in the field via Warp Band network, hopefully they can identify the Enhanced and find a way to calm them before a tragedy occurs.

[OOC: There will be a thread for each active team based on the sign-ups. Any areas that did not have any sign-ups will not be present and will be addressed later. As per our usual standards, moderators and NPC helpers will progress the log at least once every 24 hours. The Union log will work somewhat differently from the battle logs in that the participants will be collecting information concerning the Enhanced; when enough information has been accumulated, they will be asked to tag into the battle threads to provide guidance and support to those out in the field.

Characters participating in the Union log will function as support staff for this event. They will have their own log interacting with Rory and Crystal and as characters in other logs encounter the Enhanced, they can use the observations made to try to find out more about the Enhanced in the field and help the people in the field determine an appropriate situation. Because of this, players in the Union thread may threadjack any ongoing log to relay information as needed.

The outcome of this event will depend very much on player decisions and the ability of the characters to respond to the threats at hand, so we would highly encourage you all to tag as regularly as possible. Thanks!]

Comments

[child_of_luv]

"No weaknesses???"

How was that even possible? What kind of combination had they put in this girl to make her that strong?

"What types is she?"

[my_father_is_a_tycoon]

Fairy, Dragon, and Steel. The Enhancement process removed her weakness to the Ground type. She's completely immune to Dragon and Poison, so you'll need to try something else if it comes down to a fight. But from what I'm hearing, you'll want to avoid fighting her at all.

[bnw_void_npcs]

Light footfalls can be heard as the world seems to shift and bend, light moving in unnatural ways. A woman is standing where none stood before not fifty feet in front of the team. An aura of power surrounds her. Slowly, emotionlessly, she drops three Pokeballs onto the ground and an Aggron, Gyrados, and Altaria appear in a flash of light. With deliberate poise she thrusts her arm into the air and a bracelet on her arm glows. All three are enveloped in color and in an instant three new Pokemon appear before her. In an instant, the three charge at the team, although what was once the Altaria appears to perhaps be hanging back a little.

[a_gentle_boy]

He'd seen the Mega Evolution before, of course - almost a year ago now. But the sight of three transformations simultaneously is beyond imagining; it makes his breath catch in his throat. Still, if there remained any chance at all of calming her down...

"Piyo!"

Having practiced well the art of fighting without actually fighting prior to leaving the city, the Togetic quickly flaps up into the air and exhales a great puff of breath that settles over the Gyarados, a Yawn. Following the next turn, it would hopefully be knocked out of the game for a little while. In the meantime, the chick flaps up to a high branch of a tree. Lucas himself follows quickly, bouncing out of the way and up high in two great leaps. He couldn't exactly levitate himself with telekinesis, but he could at least get himself out of the way a little easier.

The hesitation of the Mega Altaria does not go unnoticed, though, and his next motion is to reach out with his mind to see what this Pokemon is feeling. If it's receptive, he will attempt to communicate their good intentions... and the need for Sakina to stop.

[ladyofluminosity]

Sakina. The woman they met who traveled with Rory and Crystal. Seeing her there only confirmed Lux's fears, and she absently clenched a fist at her side.

Dear Savior, three Mega Evolutions at once? It was hard to stay calm, even after being directed to do so. How could they stand up against that, and against her? Her shield beginning to dissipate, Lux cast another around her comrades, before activating her own Warp Band and summoning three of her own--Altaria, Blissey, and Mienshao.

"We don't want to fight you. We won't," She said firmly, both to Sakina and the rest of the party. Fighting here was suicide. They needed to endure as long as possible. Endure, and pray that she decided not to attack. "We want to help you."

Blissey, inspired by Togetic's actions, began to Sing, directing its song toward Aggron. Altaria hung back near Lux and the rest of the party, giving its wings one quick, sharp flap before casting Safeguard. Mienshao brought it's hands (if it actually had hands under those "sleeves") together, bowing to Sakina and her own before casting a Wide Guard over the party.

The blond also took note of the Mega Altaria, however, there was not much that she could do at that point. All she could do was cover the rest of her teammates and hope that Sakina wouldn't view their actions as aggressive.

[child_of_luv]

"We don't want to fight you," Minako said to the woman, trying to crank up the Charm with her own Enlightened abilities. She had to hold back her Sylveon from sticking himself in the way and fighting back, and she backed up behind Lux's shield to avoid appearing hostile.

She had a lot of immunities... and the only weakness they might have been able to try had been removed. She'd never seen an Aggron look like that before, either. They still looked like themselves, but then didn't. She focused on the hesitant Altaria.

"Please. Tell her we don't want to fight. We just want to help."

[thunderboltprincess]

Makoto just watched the Mega Evolutions and felt her stomach tie itself in knots. No weaknesses...That was kinda admirable, in a 'we're doomed' sort of way. And, really, with her Steel typing, Makoto's own types were pretty much useless.

Her instincts screamed at her to fight, but she balled her hands into fists, letting her nails dig into her palms to keep her grounded.

"I don't know what to do here," she whispered. "There's gotta be a way we can avoid fighting, right?"

[bnw_void_npcs]

The Mega Gyrados fires a Hyper Beam directly at the team before it falls asleep. The Mega Aggron also falters under the effects of the Sing attach, unable to make any movements before doing so.

Lucas, assuming he isn't too busy dodging, will receive a curious set of imagery from the Altaria. He can tell it is concerned about the situation, that much is clear. The images he gets, however, are of Sakina and the Pokemon training together. Her methods, it seems, are quite intense but Lucas gets the impression that all three of the Pokemon are very comfortable with them, he sees things such as Sakina wrestling with Aggron bare-handed, Gyrados running obstacle courses full of flaming rings, and other things of that nature.

[a_gentle_boy]

Falling out of a tree from the shockwave of a ridiculous attack doesn't require much mental exertion; Lucas has totally got this. ...Well, maybe there's a brief moment of interruption while he hangs awkwardly from a lower branch. Piyo chirps in minor concern as a falling star sprinkles stardust overhead the group - a Wish, just in case they'll need it later.

As the others continue to protest and impart their good intentions, Lucas frowns in concentration. He's not entirely certain what to make of what he's picking up here. Clearly, Sakina likes exercising. ...Exercising a lot. Exercising in ways that would probably kill most other people. But what that has to do with the situation at hand and why Altaria would feel the need to try to convey this is beyond him.

"..."

And then something strikes him.

"Wait."

A slight pause.

"Maybe we should fight. ...Fake fight. She's burning with the desire to destroy something, right...? She hasn't been able to release her energy since she left. Miss Tycoon says that if we try to fight for real, she'll get more upset, but maybe... maybe if we can work it out of her..."

And then Lucas slowly begins to pull himself up on the branch. It looks almost like...

"Miss Sakina! I... I bet you can't do more pull-ups than us! And... I bet Piyo can fly higher than Altaria!"

Piyo stares. No, she can't.

"Go fly higher than Altaria!"

[ladyofluminosity]

What was he doing?

For a moment, Lux doubted him, doubted Lucas's decision. Fight her, was he crazy? That would be suicide! She would kill every single one of them! But, as she thinks about it, it strangely made sense. That's what she wanted, right? To engage something, blow off some steam.

It was crazy, but. Time to take Lucas's bluff. "Hey, don't count us out! Aubrey!"

The Altaria looked at his human in disbelief. But, seeing Lux nod, he let out something of a resigned coo and flapped his wings with meaningful force, hovering above Piyo and climbing higher.

Jogging over to one of the trees, Lux made her best effort to climb up--she definitely wasn't the most physically toned person out there, but she managed all right. Looking toward Lucas, she nodded, then engaged the others on the ground, giving them a subtle wink. "Come on, let's go! Or are you too scared that we'll beat you?"

[child_of_luv]

Say what?

Well, if it was competition and distraction they wanted, then this would be right up the alley of some of her Pokemon... and, while Eros couldn't fly, a certain suave bird could. Minako grinned back at them.

"Scared? No way!" She turned and jumped for a nearby branch, summoning Rico, her Staraptor, discreetly while she was turned away from Sakina. She could hold her own for a bit here with the pull-ups, but Rico gave a loud "STAR!" before taking off to fly above the others. Let's go! "Rico can fly higher than all of them!"

[thunderboltprincess]

Uh, okay? So, no fighting physically but a competition could get those feelings out just as easily.

Yeah, that made sense.

Plastering on a cocky grin, Mako flexes her arms to show off her biceps before running over to the tree as well.

"I bet I can do more than all of you combined!"

She doesn't have a flying Pokémon, but she has Hime.

"I bet my Eevee is faster than any Pokémon you guys have."

[bnw_sheepy_npcs]

[ Something seems to be watching from the distance, out of direct sight.

At first it seemed like this was going to be a bad situation, but what were the humans doing? It was curious. They were climbing a tree? Why?

It did look kind of fun, though. Maybe it should try flying really high too. ]

[bnw_wighty_npcs]

[But what's this?

Something Else seems to be watching Something from... well, right next it, really. There is a gentle poke on Something's tail from behind and the sensation of what amounts to a wet nose.]

[bnw_sheepy_npcs]

[ Hey whoa that's it's tail what are you

Oh, it's you! Hello! What are you doing here? Did you come to find out what these fabled "pull ups" are? ]

[bnw_wighty_npcs]

[There is the sound of faint, if a little subdued laughter.

No, silly! It lives here now. Didn't you get the memo? It's a good place to watch all the humans when it needs to. ...It would show you around, but... someone's made a terrible mess of the place...

It's a little concerned. It wants to fix this, but... that's not allowed, of course.]

[bnw_sheepy_npcs]

[ Oh. Right. That makes sense, considering all the flowers. You really like those, don't you?

Terrible mess? It did look a little pink in here earlier, but it thought that that was normal. Pink is definitely its color, there is nothing wrong with pink.

But innocent joking aside, the pink creature coos gently in agreement, it knows your pain. But it's been watching humans too, and they would probably be able to fix your garden. They're nicer this time.

Well, some of them. ]

[bnw_wighty_npcs]

[Mm-hm! It even went into the city once for a week! They were all very nice about it; these humans have a lot of respect for them... Actually, there have been a lot of friends passing by recently, and they've all had a good experience, it thinks.

This isn't going as well, though... even if there are a lot of humans that are nice, just a few bad ones can cause so much suffering...]

[bnw_sheepy_npcs]

[ You went into their city? The actual city?

Hello friend, what is personal space?

Tell it everything! What was it like? What were the people like? Did you talk to them? What do they eat? And what are those weird things they wear on their heads sometimes? It's very curious about those.

Another sad coo. Too much suffering, it makes it sad, and it makes their friends angry. Why did it have to be that way? Why couldn't everyone get alone? ]

24 hour advancement

[bnw_void_npcs]

Sakina stares at the team. The intense, murderous drive seems to be abating, slightly at least. But it seems to be replaced by something else, an almost towering irritation. Her face flushes a bit, the first bit of color any of you have ever seen in her face.

"That... that's not how you do this!" she shouts. "None of you are able to defeat my methods, stop this right now!"

Her Mega Altaria coos lazily while giving the fliers a bit of a disdainful glance. It clearly knows how this is going to go and has no intention of losing or even coming close. Meanwhile, Mega Aggron and Mega Gyrados rouse themselves, looking a bit confusedly at Sakina.

[a_gentle_boy]

In the meantime, the flying egg with two inch stubby wings has decided that there's no way she's getting even half as high as the Altaria so she'll just flap back down after a few moments of awkwardly fluttering to settle on Lucas's head.

So far, he has managed to do exactly 1 pull-up and 1 half-up.

"If you can't do that... at least... use Encore."

The boy grunts his instructions through gritted teeth, to which Piyo looks vaguely confused for a moment before she understands. After a moment, she'll begin to clap her arms together and cheer half-heartedly for her trainer; Lucas will find himself continuing on in the same slow repetitive motion, unable to stop even if he wanted to. In record time (another half minute) he has reached the extremely impressive total of 4.

"Then... show us how to do it right...!"

[ladyofluminosity]

You were really going all out on this, weren't you Lucas? Makoto and Minako seemed to be getting fired up as well, which seemed to at least somewhat defuse the situation. Curse her competitive nature.

Managing two pull-ups--likely with terrible form--Lux slowly moved her hands a bit closer together, enough that she could activate her Warp Band. "Poro!" With a flash of light, the Mamoswine appeared beneath her, shaking a bit as it woke up from its nap. "Hey Aggron, I have a sparing partner for you!"

W-what?! Lux! The Mamoswine protested, looking up at his human, then warily at the Mega Aggron. What... what did he just get summoned into?

As for pull-ups, she wasn't about to lose to a kid (who was probably relatively close to her age, all told), and shakily pulled herself up for a third. This was a lot harder than it looked...

Wait, Encore?! Really?!

"Hey, that's cheating!"

[child_of_luv]

Encore??? So not fair! Minako knew she wasn't going to be able to keep this up forever... but... She dropped back down to the ground.

"How do you want to do it, then?" She tilted her head, curious. "We can do it your way, if you want."

Eros cooed. He was willing to give it a try, too! How? How?

Artemis, the Persian, held back. He was curious about all this, but was happy to sit back and watch.

Rico was still above, circling, daring the flyers to go higher and higher.

[bnw_void_npcs]

Sakina's demeanor and aura have changed. No longer is she murderous, but somehow she is even more terrifying. She steps into a fairy ring and appears right beside the party.

"Sloppy technique. Poor shape. These are things we will... correct.

[OOC: The ensuing scene takes about 3 hours and is the most hellish training experience your characters and their Pokemon have ever had in their life. Feel free to react as you think is appropriate and use your imagination to fill in the blanks!]

[a_gentle_boy]

[As wonderful as it is that no one is fatally injured, Lucas is just going to be unconscious in a corner somewhere about two and a half hours in. A Teddiursa holds a large leaf fan and waves it over his face while Piyo cheerfully performs repeated applications of Wish.

On the plus side, he did end up making it to twenty five pullups.]