bravenewworld | Arrival in Gigas

The City of Gigas is unlike anything the people of Union have ever seen before. The city is immense, a sprawling metropolis that covers the land as far as the eye can see. Built up primarily around enormous centralized towers, unlike Union these towers are dark concrete buildings, covered in glass windows. The buildings seem to serve any number of functions, and have a startling variety in construction, style, and even size, creating a unique skyline that is breathtaking to behold. The city is connected with roads of asphalt, upon which whiz smoke-belching steel carriages at frightful speeds, the engines (and piercing, constant horns) creating an ever-present din that engulfs the city in loud, chaotic sound.

“Downtown,” as the Gigans know it, is a huge collection of stores, apartments, and businesses. Apparently, the larger homes are built in Calderan-style but tend to be further from the main commotion of the downtown areas, of which Gigas citizens assure Union citizens that there are several, each with their own district name and culture. The technology is quite advanced as well, full color televisions are standard in every home and built in devices so slim and with such sharp images that they seem decades ahead of Union’s own technology. Pokemon are still quite present in Gigas, many people riding flying types and the buildings having huge perches to accommodate them. As with the vehicles below, however, Gigas seems to regulate air traffic to individual lanes and the birds seem well-trained as they convey their trainers to and fro.

Humans are just that, here, Human. No unusual shapes and sizes like the Enlightened and Earthkin of the Union Alliance, and those displaying unusual traits receive odd looks. Like many civilizations to the east, Battling is a common sport though in this place it’s more like the combat arenas of old. Several stadiums dot the cityscape, the sounds of Pokemon Battles and cheering crowds echoing for blocks all around, and it’s a stadium where humans are not welcome. Unless, of course, they want to make a show and spar against a Pokemon, of course.

This is Gigas, the City of Reclamation. Union civilians have free rein to explore this grand city as councillors are invited into the massive capitol building to negotiate with the Gigan leaders. Gigas civilians, for their part, are polite, friendly even. While many of them are caught in the bustle of their daily lives they regard Union citizens with interest and curiosity, willing to talk about their city, extolling its virtues while complaining about the noise, the crowds, the lines, and the expense all the while. One thing is clear though, the people of Gigas are proud of their city and their accomplishments. This is their home, and they are eager to show it off to the world.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Three. Four if you count the illusion of Entei, and five if Darkrai's...game...counts. I fought against Heatran in the plains of Citadel, and then Reshiram at Glacier, and Kyurem in Union. It was very much fight or die, and my partner and I have never been ones to roll over.

[Rei had stepped into the vanguard more than once, and she was proud of that fact. She did what other people couldn't, and she'd always done things that way. There was a reason Ninetales Vale had rallied behind the Hinos and the Feys, after all, and it wasn't because they had money or political power. She can't help but smirk, a brief expression lingering on her shapeshifted lips that vanishes as quickly as a spark.]

Stay near Union too long and you'll end up pulled into the maelstrom yourself, Harry.

[The old Unionite honorific system didn't really apply to outsiders, and that made it easier to just ignore it in favor of simplicity. Especially with someone she'd hired.]

Any yes, the saying has merit. I don't trust Gigas at all, but unless they mean to start a war right here and now, then we should be fine. And if they do mean to? Then we should make it as costly for them as we possibly can from the outset and make them think twice.

[Harry raises his eyebrows a little bit and lets out a low whistle. That's a hell of a resume, and no wonder why her name is so respected in Union and around Ninetales Vale in particular. This job of his might end up even more interesting than he'd expected.

Still, even with a list of accomplishments like that hoping to threaten Gigas into hesitance is tall order. He knows the kind of military power they can bring to the table, and it's a scary amount.]

... I'd keep that off any tourist brochures if I were you.

[He lets out a breath through his nose and glances toward the impossibly flat television screen through the window again.]

So, the plan is to keep an ear open for trouble, our guards up and try to enjoy a little window shopping in the meantime?

[Rei has faith in the people who're here with her, really. Union sent some of it's best and brightest, and even if it is a heroic last stand...it will be a heroic last stand in the middle of the enemy capitol.]

The plan is to do more than that. Part of why I held off on business arrangements at home was to have a little capital here. I might be looking to do some importing. I certainly plan to take home some devices that are more functional than these...televisions...though. Things of merit, that we can reverse engineer.

[No argument from him. Gigas would certainly have a fight on their hands if they suddenly decided to turn on their Unionite guests, but heroic or not, costly or not a last stand is still just that. The last one. And that's enough to make it something Harry would prefer to take steps at avoiding entirely.]

Never pass up good business, huh? Funny though, I had the same thought on the way over. Track down a couple things that might come in handy, bring them back home with me.

[Another glance around the street. Nobody's listening.]

Probably not gonna stick around too long after that's done.

[If Rei's thinking of the same things he is.]

[Rei would as well. But sometimes these things are unavoidable. His commentary though...she nods and pitches her voice lower]

Neither me.

[And then he'll feel a gentle tapping at his mental door, a psychic hello, funneled through Deimos.]

The Seekers are going to need a lot of help to make this work.

[There's a short pause at the psychic message, it's a strange sensation and one that has his defenses on high alert for just an instant before he picks out the source and hears Rei's voice coming through. The "door" doesn't open, not even a crack, and his mind stays as it was. Closed off, a mental fortress of solid stone and iron. But he answers.]

They'll have it. I've got a guy poking around the more high security areas and I've been mapping out the streets in my head all day. Want a look?

[And just because two people who'd been having a pleasant conversation a moment ago going silent would look weird.]

Not that I'm not tempted to get one of these too. That picture is something else.

[Which is more or less what Deimos had expected. Sweet thing that she is, the Gardevoir smiles genially, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Rei on the other hand just keeps thinking.]

Yes, please.

[And turning away, she eyes the television.]

It is nice. I don't know how much use we'll get out of it at the moment, since I assume our broadcast bands and theirs are different but reverse-engineering might be possible.

[Give a guy a little warning next time. But of course, she had done just that. Damnit. Rei might just have a point about him being paranoid.]

Might be worth it. Those games in Citadel would have looked amazing on one of these.

[Keeping up a simple, pointless conversation about TVs was easy enough while Harry conjured up the mental image he'd crafted of the city. It's a well-crafted one. Street names and which ones intersect and where, noted landmarks from multiple angles and where and how they stand in relation to each other. Even a number of shortcuts and side alleys. An insanely difficult trick for anybody but as both a detective and a mage, Harry had spent a long time training his mind to pick up and visualize that level of detail. It had served him well too with the kind of work he'd done in Sanctuary.]

Here it comes.

[And with the image conjured in his mind, he sends it across the telepathic link to Rei.]

We'll see what some of the Engineers think. I'll probably buy one closer to the end of the trip.

[While she chatters back, Rei and Deimos both start picking out the various details of the mental map. Deimos at least is able to keep her mind focused enough to commit the whole of it to memory, being a Psychic type with a far-beyond human level of mental strength. Rei's own thoughts are a bit more jumbled, but she focuses on the largest things, landmarks and main streets...and mentally?]

This is excellent. I'll try and sketch this out, and have Deimos fill in gaps later. It's even more detailed than I expected. You have quite a mind, Harry Dresden.

This isn't really my wheelhouse, or I'd give it a shot myself.

Thanks. I worked hard at it. [It's then that a crack appears in the stone walls of his mental fortress, a tiny one, just enough for the quickest glimpse of a memory to peek through. "FOCUS, BOY!" a voice bellows out through the crack, loud and terribly unkind. The emotions drifting out along with it mark it as a memory that isn't particularly pleasant or cherished.

And then, in a blink, it's gone. The crack is sealed back up, the fortress intact again and Harry continues either unaware of the slip or ignoring it.]

Pass it around, make sure the right people see it. We might need to know the best way out of here.

[Rei doesn't miss that crack, but she declines to comment. It isn't her place, it isn't her head, and it's wrong of her to pry. She does, however, nod.]

I know a few people. I'll share the sentiment with everyone.

[The connection drops, and she gestures off down the street.]

Now, why don't we go check out some of the other sites?

Arrival in Gigas

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