012

[a_gentle_boy]

[action, Residential District]
[Sometime in the early evening, there comes a brief rumble of footsteps from one of the towers in the shabbier part of the Residential District before the door bursts open and a small horde of Pokemon stampedes out.

This is shortly followed by a roiling cloud of smoke and a young teenaged boy carrying a pan of fire. ...It was probably a pan of something meant to be edible at some point, but now it's mostly just a pan of fire.

He lobs it as far away from them as possible the moment he makes it to relative safety, coughing and spluttering.]

Someone use Water Gun!

[Sentret, Teddiursa, Togetic, Drifloon, Purrloin, Bagon, Espeon, and Cottonee slowly turn to stare at their trainer.]

...I've got to make friends with a Water type.

[While he works on that, he takes off his oven mitts and begins to beat at the flames with them instead. Good thing cobblestone isn't flammable. ...Well. It's probably not.]


[video, public, much later]
Hi, everyone. ...Um.

It's been a while since everything that happened now. I hope everyone's been able to recover from their injuries - if you still need medical assistance for any reason, please come by the Medical Center. Or I'd be happy to come over and see you, too.

I guess I wanted to ask... what exactly was Sanctuary making and who... saw them? I didn't really understand too much of what was going on, but I feel like... we ought to be telling the Council how we feel about all of this, too, right? Won't they be taking some part in the decisions, too?

Comments

Video;

[69problems]

[Wait, what? He's new, and this is the first he's heard about 'everything that happened'. His expression is one of deep concern.]

Injuries? What happened?

[a_gentle_boy]

...Um.

[Lucas blinks for a moment or two. It seems a bit surprising that someone could have missed what had no doubt been the popular topic of the month.]

Well, we just came back from a war, of sorts. I guess it was more of a battle.

[69problems]

[He's heard bits and pieces on the street -- it would be impossible not to -- but bits and pieces are not the whole story.]

With a place called Sanctuary, yes. That's all I've really been able to gather from the rumors. Why was there a battle?

[a_gentle_boy]

Ah --

Well, the original plan was because they said Gigas had taken over. They'd been taken over for the last thirty or forty years, I guess, so we wanted to help them get their freedom...

I think there was a little more to the story than that, though.

[A slight pause.]

Did you just get to Union a few days ago? Where did you come from, mister?

[69problems]

Refuge. So you'll understand that a lot of this is new to me when I didn't know any of these places existed until a few days ago.

[To anyone else it might seem strange to be asking for political information from a young boy. Out of all the options, surely there are better ones? But this boy seems knowledgeable enough, and Khepri has always been of the opinion that one should give people's voices weight regardless of their age.]

So Union aided Sanctuary against Gigas -- who I have not heard pleasant things about, by the way -- and it was then discovered that Sanctuary had some kind of... something. I think I'm as unclear on that point as you are.

video

[pearltergeist]

[ Pearl seems to hesitate a little. ]

I... I am not sure if I can rightly answer. I was helping to support the mission from the control room, so I did not see them, but... I heard what other people were saying.

[a_gentle_boy]

You mean... you can't answer about how you feel?

[Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure, either.]

What could you tell was going on?

[pearltergeist]

Oh no, I meant that I cannot really answer about what they are... what the mages in Sanctuary were making, that is. But if everything I heard was true, then it is simply horrible.

[ she frowns, thinking back. ] They were... doing some truly awful experiments, on people.

[a_gentle_boy]

[A slight nod.]

I think I'd gathered about that much.

It's not too different than what we saw with the Enhanced before, right? Everyone was really upset about it... I wonder why Gigas is so opposed if they do similar things themselves.

Action

[lunchleader]

...not supposed to go eating other people's clothes! [Right's scolding the Patrat he's holding by the scruff as he's walking back home. They're followed by Right's Oddish, who is happily balancing herself on top of a rolling Roggenrola.

They all pause, though, upon hearing that sound of stampeding Pokemon. They take a look at each other...and then, Right drops the Patrat as he and his Pokemon rushes towards the source of the stampede.

Only, they ended up finding Lucas trying to put out that pan of fire.] Whoah! Lucas, what happened?!

[a_gentle_boy]

[It's very trying, he thinks, that his failures somehow always end up being so public. There's no real way to be casual about putting out a fire, but he'll try to downplay it, nonetheless.]

Oh!

N-Nothing, really! Just... making cookies.

[those aren't cookies anymore]

How's your night?

[better before the fire, probably]

[lunchleader]

Cookies? Oh, man; that's terrible that you lost them all... [Right's face fell. To think that food has just literally gone up in smoke...]

~Hey, um, Right? Any ides regarding that?~ [Turnip points to the flaming pan with her foot. She's usually one for adventure and ingenuity. But when it comes to something that has type advantage against her? She's stumped, for once.]

Wha--Oh, yeah, uh... need some help putting that out?

[a_gentle_boy]

N --

[Around this point, the pan decides to spit out a charcoal briquette that might possibly have once been a cookie at high velocity into the sky.]

...Maybe if you have some time and if you don't mind.

[Some of Lucas's Pokemon friends sigh. The rest have vanished somewhere in the last few seconds.]

Video.

[rainsrespite]

Hey.

[So Yuuna has a vague idea of who Lucas is from volunteering at the medical center and it's...a little weird to think that he was there, present, given his age. He's a nice boy, really. But...]

You...sure you wanna know? I was there, and saw what was going on firsthand.

[a_gentle_boy]

[He responds with a firm nod.]

I do.

[And since that seems like a vaguely unsatisfactory reply...]

In the last year, there's been all kinds of things that we can't understand or that... we'd rather not think about so much. But there's just going to be more. I'd rather not ignore it.

Private

[rainsrespite]

[That is a satisfactory answer. She folds her arms and Privates the feed just in case someone who doesn't wanna know is watching.

And that done, she just says it, right out. No frills.]

They were doing something really, really wrong. Experimenting on people, like Gigas does to make their Enhanced. Only, I'm not entirely sure those people? Still had free will when they were done.

Private to End!

[a_gentle_boy]

[And Lucas, hearing this, has nothing to say for a few moments as he nods slowly.]

I see. I'd been hearing rumors about zombies and... that sort of thing.

[The truth went a ways into explaining those stories, at least.]

So they used people... to make weapons.

It seems like that's how trouble always starts, isn't it? Using things that oughtn't to be used as weapons, because... they think they can control it, somehow.

Action

[faithfulflame]

[Walking through the residential district after dropping off some stuff at Usagi's, Rei stops at the sight in front of her. A flaming pan just...sitting there on the ground. On fire. Burning.

Huh.

And Lucas smacking it with pans.]

Do you...need some help, Lucas-kun?

[a_gentle_boy]

[It's a ritual, OK. Every year he celebrates the Calderan Day of Fire a week in advance and honors the Calderan gods with his immolated sacrifices.]

I think I'm alright!

[This is followed by a slight flare as the oven mitt he's holding suddenly sets aflame itself.]

[faithfulflame]

[A ritual indeed. A boyhood right.]

Not from where I'm standing...

[She taps her Warp Band and calls up a Spheal. The little ball looks around confusedly...until it sees the fire. And almost reflexively it starts spraying water at it. And Lucas...]

Thank you Borealis...

[a_gentle_boy]

Eeeeeeh!

[The mitt is quickly shaken off before the fire can work its way up towards his clothing - Lucas has a strong mind to write a letter of complaint about the misleading description of 'fire retardant'.

He's about to back away from the pan when the hose of water washes over him.]

Ah...

[A small splutter.]

...Thanks, Miss Rei.

Video

[bleeding_heart]

I... saw them.

[There's a bit of an uncomfortable pause there.]

What do you want to know?

[a_gentle_boy]

...Um.

[This person doesn't seem like she's very keen on explaining... Lucas will hesitate for a moment.]

It's alright if you'd rather not talk about it. I've heard already that it was... frightening. But, um, I was just wondering what you... thought, I guess. About the people and... what they were like.

[That's still horribly vague, but the question is mostly 'are they really mind-controlled zombies'.]

[bleeding_heart]

The ones I saw... their eyes were [there's a short pause here as she casts about for a word] ...hollow. Like their will was not their own. Arcane circles painted in blood had been painted on their faces. And their hands were more like claws. They looked like people, but their actions were monstrous.

[a_gentle_boy]

...Ah.

[The description is certainly horrific enough, and Lucas visibly swallows before he continues.]

And... there's definitely no way they could be... brought back to normal?