bravenewworld | Another time, another place...

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!plot

Another time, another place...

As you descend into the newly formed tunnels, a strange feeling surrounds you. Driving deeper, a strange green light encircles you, pushing you unconsciously deeper and deeper into the swirling mists. There’s a power here, ancient and unfathomable. And then, light. But when you emerge, things have suddenly changed.

Any vestige of your Enlightened powers are gone. Your clothes are different, your equipment is different, even your Warp Band is gone! Any changes the process may have brought upon your body is also gone, you are now, fully and truly human. In its place, strapped securely to your belt, are a collection of red-and-white balls. You know instinctively what these are. The heretical tools of the lost age. Pokeballs…

[OOC Notes: ALL Enlightened powers, form changes, and other associated abilities will be gone for the duration of this log. Shifters may choose either to enter as a human, retaining their Pokemon team, or as a speech-capable Pokemon, although speaking in front of other humans may cause alarm and suspicion. Any Enhanced equipment is also altered, it is now entirely technological and may appear quite advanced. Unless specified in the intro log, your clothes will likely be reflective of more modern US attire or army combat gear, depending on the situation.

As always, we will be progressing the log at least once every 24 hours to keep things moving. If you have any further questions, please ask here.

When making your first comment in a thread, please list your character's Pokémon team.]

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Martin can tell instantly when he's back to a normal human. It's strange after months of being Enlightened, but at least he knows what to do. While Merrill talks to the woman, Martin takes stock of their surroundings. Pokéballs (oh, he feels dirty), strange clothing, strange people, and his sword is simply a staff strapped to his back. He seems to be dressed more or less the same, though rattier.

He almost pops Boar out of the damned ball but the looks on the faces of the people (survivors) convinces him to wait. A Doublade might frighten them and that's the last thing he wants.

"My name is Martin," he says, stepping forward. "We don't want anything from you. We're...just wandering."

Close enough to the truth.

[[OOC: Martin's team is Doublade, Frosslass, Vibrava, Growlithe, and Mantine, all level 35]]

The first thing Banzu notices is the sense of being lighter, like he's suddenly not carting around a bunch of metal in his body. Then the surroundings, followed by looking down at his hands and discovering that he no longer has steel knuckles growing out of his body. He also notices his beat-up clothes, similar to what he normally wears but cut differently and actually more comfortable, and the Pokéballs. He makes a mental note to try and disassemble one when he gets the chance to see if he can figure out how they work.

For the time being though, he leaves his Pokémon where they are and examines their surroundings more closely, looking for anything interesting that he can see from his current location - documents, technology, people or Pokémon ready to attack them, anything. He's confident that they're not underground right now, based on the lighting, but that just raises further questions. From the appearance of the other group answers don't seem likely from that direction, but being diplomatic-ish can't hurt here, especially considering that they're outnumbered right now.

"Yeah, we weren't planning on ending up here."

It'd be a bit more diplomatic if he wasn't visibly carrying a slicked-up black tactical-looking shotgun slung over his shoulder or some kind of handgun in a holster at his waist, but he's hardly going to disarm himself in such a bizarre situation.

[Team is Klinklang, Carbink, Smeargle, Rotom (all 6 cores on hand), and Pawniard.]

What catches Feliks's attention first is the change in his own body.

The fairy evolutions took a naturally small body and made it ethereal, feather-light. The first sensation he really gets is of his own weight coming back, his feet hitting the ground more heavily.

He tries to ignite a flicker of fire, the better to look down and see if anything is dragging on him, and it's an unpleasant shock to realize he can't. He can't seem to summon Misty Terrain, either... His hands go to his own body, patting himself down as he tries to understand the sudden shift in his center of gravity, and that's when he really realizes how wrong something is.

The clothes are strange to him -- a very simple, long-sleeved shirt, a jacket and pants made of some stiff, light-blue material, heavy boots -- but nothing to be alarmed about, no cause for concern. But the little spheres attached to his belt...

His stomach jerks a little. "Oh, Savior's light..."

Whatever Rory has ever said, the thought of his friends trapped in there is sickening, horrifying, enough that it's hard to focus on anything else. His hand goes for the first, to release whoever's in there (Jadwiga, probably?)...

But they're not alone. And while the others are carrying weapons, he's used to using his fire and his fists -- the Pokeballs are all he has that anyone could see as a threat. Is it really a good idea to let one out?

Even if it isn't, he decides, he doesn't care. It isn't right to let them stay in there. He lets Jadwiga out, and turns away from the strangers to inspect her like a fussy mother.

"Gods, look at you, poor girl. You ok?"

...Right, but the strangers. They do have to deal with this. Feliks glances at them, and gives them the best smile he can -- which, for obvious reasons, is a little shaken and uncomfortable.

"Right, um, what they said! We're just trying to figure out what's going on around here, don't freak out."

That was diplomatic, right?

[[OOC: Feliks has a Gardevoir, a Ninetales, a Beartic, a Mienshao, and a Rapidash with him.]]

Edited 2015-04-15 23:08 (UTC)

A few people rose to their feet as not one, but two pokémon are released. Surely they were here to take everything—what few remaining supplies they had left. There were those that even gripped their own pokéballs, ready to strike.

“Stop!” The woman held up her hand. She shot glances at both sides, her eyes wide, the child at her side gripping her close. “We don’t want to fight.” She said firmly, her words directed more at her people than at the newcomers.

She was met with grumbling opposition, as people reluctantly put their pokéballs away, watching with somewhat sunken eyes. The woman turned her attention to Yuuna, watching her sick at the wall. She sighed, her expression softening.

“Clara, come here. I need your help with something.”

“Bli?” Someone chirped from the group, a young Blissey toddling out. She tilted her head this way and that, before looking up at the woman. The two exchanged a glance before the Blissey nodded, making her way toward Yuuna and casting a Healing Pulse.

The woman took them all in, and while her posture did not ease, she did not seem nearly as intense as she initially had. “Wandering? Out there, where Yveltal could find you? Are you crazy?” She gave Feliks something of an odd look. It was hard to read. “Must be something in the air…” She muttered to herself, shaking her head.

Her attention moving to Isabela, her expression became a bit more complicated, more troubled. “I... am.” She managed, a bit of hesitance in her voice. The air in the room was thick with her words.

It took her a moment to shake off the feeling of apprehension, as well as a few looks of utter resentment from the group behind her. Managing shake off that feeling of unease, she addressed the group with conviction.

“You’re in Mauville City. Or what's left of it.”

[Merrill frowns at the somewhat hostile reception they seem to have gotten, but she's far too concerned with Yuuna's well-being to address it directly. As soon as she sees her collapse against the pillar, she's right there at her side to gently rub at her back. Even as Gokuen is released from his Pokeball to support her, Merrill is right there with the two of them, keeping a protective hand on her girlfriend's shoulder as she looks back at the assembled group.]

No... we don't want to fight.

[She echoes the woman's words, shaking her head and raising her free hand to signal that her intentions are pure.]

I think everyone has had quite enough of fighting for one lifetime. What happened here... it's terrible. If there's any way we can help at all, please, let us know.

[The Pokeballs have not escaped Merrill's notice, but right now, there are people in front of her who are afraid and in need of help. She may not have grown up with stories of Union's Savior, but having heard them, she is doubly convinced that compassion is always the better choice.]

"Right, Yveltal," Isabela said, smoothly adapting to the new information. "We headed this way because we didn't want it to catch us out in the open."

She still wasn't sure what was going on, but this woman seemed to think she did, so it couldn't hurt to play along. "You'll have to forgive my friends. They're of the belief that some Pokémon don't like being cooped up, so they'll let them out when there's not a fight."

She looked around. This place used to be a city? Union had sewers in better shape than this.

"If you don't mind sharing some space with us, we can give some supplies in exchange," she suggested. "Any info on Yveltal would help us all, too."

It wasn't like they'd brought much, but these people had even less. It was simple economics.

"What city? Never heard of it," Feliks said, without even a moment's thought to the advantage or disadvantage of saying so. He'd never been one to hide the truth -- except where his own feelings were involved, and even then, excessive bluntness was one way he distracted from moments of fear or insecurity.

"And you're the one who's crazy if you think I'm keeping her stuck in there, she's my best friend. But we're definitely not here to fight anybody, ok?"

The healing does help, as does the comforting hand on her back. Merrill is right, of course. These people need help, these people aren't enemies. They're just people, and that's really all there is to it. They're frightened, hungry, and as the haze of sudden shock began to clear the choices laid out in front of her were as plain as day. She'd get the job done, get her friends out, and beg forgiveness later.

Yuuna stifled back another cough and lets go of her partner, turning to face the woman and the others. Rubbing her mouth one more time, she reached into a pack and pulled out a canteen and a small box of homemade poffins. Taking a swig to wash out the taste, she smiled at Clara and extended her other hand with the food.

"Yeah. Thanks for that. Just...felt pretty ill all of a sudden. Must've been something in the air, for sure."

She rose, still leaning a bit on the Hitmonchan, and sucked in a long breath. She spared a glance at Merrill before letting it out and smiling weakly.

"Seriously though, we aren't here to fight or steal. And like my friends said, it's more or less happenstance that we ended up here. I guess...we got pretty lucky as far as Yveltal is concerned. Dunno much about it, but we definitely heard something big."

Another breath and she stood straighter, finally letting go of Gouken and nodding, but not breaking the touch with Merrill. That steady presence helped push away her revulsion at the feeling of those six remaining balls against her belt. "Thanks again."

Whoever this woman is, the others aren't too happy with her being in charge. Did she make a mistake somewhere? Or was she just not very well liked for some reason? Either way, Martin nods.

"Our last shelter wasn't very safe," he explains. "We came this way hoping to find a better one but clearly you beat us here some time ago."

Oh for the love of... Banzu resists the urge to both facepalm and smack Feliks upside the head and instead tries to fix this while throwing a glare at Feliks.

"Man, crack your head open just once and half your memories fall out. Guess Heal Pulse can't fix everything, huh?"

He pulls out a package of dried berries and tosses it underarm to the woman. He'll be holding onto some stuff for himself though; no way he's giving up that much for the sake of diplomacy.

"Here. So any of you actually seen Yveltal? We've been lucky enough not to so far, but it'd kinda be nice to know what the thing we're running from is like beyond secondhand rumors. I mean, it can't really have... eight mouths, can it?"

"Help us?"

"How can you help?! You're just delaying the inevitable!"

"Mommy, I'm scared..."

"None of this would have happened if Owen was still here!"

The rabble spoke all at once, their voices raising with each proclamation, and with each declaration, the woman's resolve wavered. Clara watched, her head lowered slightly.

Still, she somehow managed to keep it together, holding her hands out to calm the mob. She shook her head. "We don't know much," She started, a deep frown on her face. "Only that he steals the very life from any person he finds. It isn't safe to go outside."

The child watched Yuuna closely as she pulled out a canteen, swallowing hard and biting at his lips. Clara likewise looked at her when she pulled out a box of poffins, doing a better job of hiding her hunger, if only just. She shook her head—she couldn't, not with so many others in much worse shape.

The woman watched as Banzu pulled out the dried berries, catching it, her eyes wide. "Are--are you sure we can have this? Really?" She looked to each one of them, any hardness left in her expression melting away. She looked tired. Opening the package, she bent down, showing it to the child at her side and offering the first bite to him. He took it quickly, shoving an entire piece of dried berry into his mouth and trying his best to savor it.

For the first time in a long time, the woman smiled. "How is it?"

"Really good!"

The tension in the room eased.

"Mira, can you help hand these out? There should be enough to give one to everyone."

A Bellossom peeked out from the group, jumping, then running over to take the package of dried berries. She would get the job done!

With that taken care of, she directed her attention back to the group. "If your last shelter wasn't safe, then feel free to stay with us for a while. Rest if you can; Yveltal hasn't been seen around here for a few days. It's probably better to keep your pokémon in their pokéballs. It will help them conserve energy. But I can understand. I don't use them myself. I haven't for a long time."

"Please, tell us what you've seen. We were sure we were the only survivors, but knowing others are still out there..."

The child sheepishly made his way toward Banzu. He was the berry man. As far as he was concerned, Banzu was the best.

"It sure can't fix a nasty personality," Feliks chirped, aggressively cheerful in a very pointed way, ignoring Jadwiga's little admonition about his temper. Really, how did he end up going down here with two people who he couldn't seem to get along with for 20 seconds at a stretch?

More importantly, at least the strangers seemed to be opening up a little. Following the others' lead, he took off his backpack and withdrew a bottle of cooled-off tea, some mini-poffins, and a loaf of bread and some cheese he'd intended for sandwiches.

"I've got this, if you want it? As for what we've seen, um..." How could he put it? Everyone else seemed to be trying to play along, but he wasn't good at all at lying... "...Our city was really damaged by these earthquakes out of nowhere, so a lot of us set out in different directions. And we just sort of ended up here, somehow?"

At least that foppy-looking kid seems to be getting the idea now. Isabela nods at his description, and casually picks her knife-belt back up with a foot, tossing it over her shoulder.

"It's a mess out there, right enough," she reports. "It's hard to say for sure, but there's definitely other groups out there. Us humans are pretty resilient if we can find a decent place to hole up. Bloody earthquakes are the main problem with that, of course."

She looks around at the ruined buildings. "Did Yveltal do this all by itself, or was there something else?"

Yuuna stepped forward rather slowly and pressed the poffin package into Clara’s hands, breaking contact with Merrill and Gouken for the first time. She understood the sentiment, but really all of her Pokemon were well fed and she had more food. A ranger was always prepared, and since she’d joined eight months ago she’d learned to live by that adage.

“It’s alright,” she said quietly, “I know you’re hungry. Share them with the others, okay? We’re taken care of.” And looking up, she smiled at the child and tossed her canteen over. “You too, okay? It’s clean, I found a clean spring on our way in and filled up.” Because she at least assumed a bit that whatever’s happening here has probably defiled the landscape as well as the cityscape. It was pretty apparent to her when this was, and just how deadly dangerous the situation they were in had been. Despite not knowing Yveltal by name, she could at least guess that it was some sort of god. And that it was immensely powerful, and deadly. Exactly the sort of thing she wouldn’t want to face off against. But…she’d said that about Heatran too. If it came to it, she knew she’d at least have to try, for the sake of these people.

That didn’t make her feel any less queasy, though, so she quashed the thoughts by focusing on words.

“I’m not even sure how far we traveled, but we didn’t see a lot. Scars in the earth, burned out houses…” and she shivered, because despite the lie the images came to mind all too readily. “Nothing good. But my friend’s right. We are pretty resilient, especially if we can find a place to keep our heads down. Hopefully it won't poke back down in here..."

Edited 2015-04-16 16:40 (UTC)

Once it's clear that help is accepted, Martin pulls Boar and Sunflash out of their prisons. Boar spends a good thirty seconds chewing Martin out and demanding an explanation before he spots the people. Answers can wait. He gets into Martin's bag without being told and brings out one of the blankets Martin had packed in case of freezing weather, handing them over to the nearest survivor. Thankfully, they were already pretty ratty looking and didn't stand out too much in this hellscape.

(Sunflash, meanwhile, just presses against Martin's legs, scared but glad to be out of her ball. He'll coax her to help in a moment.)

"Far too many signs of death." Martin shakes his head. "We haven't even seen any Pokémon, aside from our own."

[Merrill only has half a loaf of bread, but she gladly shares it with the assembled people of the ruined city as well. With everyone pitching in together, at least these people can eat. Most of the Pokemon she brought with her are rather large, so she leaves most of them there, but she does think to take out her Trevenant.]

Spookytree has the Harvest ability... it's not much, but he might be able to produce a few more berries for your people while we're staying here.

[The scary tree does its level best to give a friendly smile, but it is a Ghost type, after all. At least it's trying.]

Can you tell us more about what's been happening here recently? Or more about Yveltal? It seems that we've been lucky not to run into it so far, but if it's still out there, we'd like to know more.

[Banzu looks down at the boy approaching him.]

What?

"This is what happens when you feed someone directly, Banzu," Isabela explains with a smirk. "It's why I always feed the Pidgeys on someone else's stoop."

The people took their offerings willingly, and for the first time in a long time, there were smiles and excitement. The poffins and sandwiches were a welcome treat, as was the tea. Blankets went to the older members of the group, as they made room for their new friends. The tension was still there to be sure, but it wasn't directed at them.

The child did his best to not drain Yuuna's canteen before handing it back and thanking her shyly. He retreated back into the group, going to settle near Clara once she finished handing out poffins. He kept his eye on Banzu, until finally falling to sleep next to the Blissey. There were a few other Pokémon among them, other than Clara and Mira--mostly fully evolved, save for a few.

Settling in, the woman only sat down when everyone else was attended to. "Earthquakes, huh?" She mused to herself, thinking for a moment. "That could be Groudon. It was the one that tore the giant scar into 117. You're lucky you made it out alive."

She sighed deeply. "If only it was just Yveltal. Many of the legendary Pokémon are attacking humans indiscriminately, and the Pokémon protecting them. People thought that they could capture them, and that it wouldn't backfire on them..."

Martin winces, finally shooing Sunflash to go help keep people warm or generally be friendly. "They are essentially gods. Why wouldn't that backfire?"

People in the past really were idiots.

Isabela shrugs. She can understand, even if she wouldn't be tempted herself. "Pokémon are power. People want power, so they want the most powerful Pokémon. It's pretty easy to see how that would blind someone to simple logic."

"And then, of course," she adds, sighing, "it's pretty easy to see how the Pokémon might fight back, and then humans try to fight back themselves. Like a bar brawl. People are continuously pulled into the fray, and nobody remembers why it started."

She looks around. "Although I think they've won this round. Hopefully they pick up the repair bill."

He'd had a feeling, but the confirmation of what they'd somehow gotten themselves into hits him pretty hard all the same. For a moment, his eyes go wide, looking to the other Unionites in particular for confirmation that they're hearing what he's hearing.

"Ok. Ok, you know that was stupid, and I know that was stupid, and I think we can all agree they've won, but what can we do now?" With Feliks, that question is never rhetorical. "They're intelligent and stuff, there's got to be some way to reason with them!"

He lets a large Ninetales out of her Pokeball, with an internal apology to the three still stuck inside. But... if Rory's to be believed even a little, they're probably safer there, right? After a moment's explanation from Jadwiga, she goes to go help people keep warm where the blankets seem sparse.

Edited (Tenses) 2015-04-17 14:01 (UTC)

Yuuna finally took a seat as well, pressing her back to a pillar on the fringes of the group and sliding down. With a cautious look at the rest of the trainers there, she tapped open two more Pokeballs and gathered the two smallest Pokemon she brought with her up into her arms. The Politoed squirmed a bit, excited to get out and explore, but it relaxed into the hug after a moment as she affectionately rested her head against his. The Hawlucha, though, just cuddled up right then and there, unhappy for a number of reasons. Why couldn’t she hear the boss? Why was she in that ball? Not that she didn’t trust Yuuna, but she liked their link. Don’t you like her anymore? A grunt from the Hitmonchan silenced any argument though. Calm down, Ichijou. Something weird’s going on but it’s not permanent. Just be ready to act when trainer or I say so. Just the same as always.

“Martin, they aren’t basically anything. They are gods. There’s no other way to describe them,” Yuuna said flatly, and with some experience. Heatran had been like something out of a nightmare, and Darkrai was a nightmare. “They’re beyond powerful, they’re literal forces of nature. All you can do is resist enough to try and weather their rage intact. Feliks is right. There’s no point talking about how stupid attempting to bottle a volcano or cage a nightmare is. Reasoning with them isn’t out of the question, it’s just a matter of getting one to talk and accept that we are being genuine, just like with people or our own Pokemon. Giant…angry people and Pokemon with the power to steal away life and cause earthquakes…”

She wasn’t totally sure how one stole away life, but that didn’t really matter. Pokemon were weird and somewhat terrifying at times, and gods were no exception. Frankly, they were even worse.

“Trouble is finding one that isn’t infuriated and ready to do those things is probably not going to be the easiest thing. Maybe there’s one god that isn’t a gigantic death-machine, but I don’t know anything solid about them beyond the couple I only barely got away from. The rest, like Yveltal? All I got is rumors. Does anyone else?”

[Merrill listens to each of the others in turn, nodding her assent before turning back to the woman.]

That's right. It's too late to talk about what we should or shouldn't have done. What's important now is to apologize, and to be sincere when we do it. It's the Pokemon's choice whether or not to recognize that apology - they were the ones who were wronged.

[It seems only natural to her that that would be how to handle things, as hard as it most likely is for these people to accept.]

[Whether this is real or an illusion, it has to be treated as if it's real for the best possible outcome. If this is real, then like the others he's guessing that this is the past, and he's getting a feeling he knows who the woman they're talking to might be. That possibility, however, isn't as interesting to him as the implications of being in the past. Specifically, being in an age where high technology was commonplace and not bearing the burden of five centuries on it. It might be worth trying to find some of it and bringing it back with them (he's not going to entertain the idea that they're stuck here just yet).]

Speaking of paying the repair bill, and in case a god that isn't interested in talking finds us first, I'm gonna take a look around. Double-check that nothing's gonna collapse easily and we've got no back doors we don't know about.

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