bravenewworld | Figuring Out The Next Move

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Figuring Out The Next Move

OPEN

The days following the failed attempt to free the Gigas' from their captivity had been rather solemn. With the citizens of Union coming to terms both with their failure and the looming threat of retaliation on Gigas' part. It's a time for preparation, for reflection....

"Aaaand, fetch!"

And it's a perfect time to head down to the park and throw a ball around. Harry tosses the ball as hard as he can and then stands back as Mouse, now quite possibly a gazillion times the size he'd been as a Lilipup goes bounding across the grass in hot pursuit. He makes it, snatching the ball up in his mouth just as the newest addition to Harry's group, a Tyrunt, comes leaping out of nowhere and tackles the enormous Stoutland, making Harry wince with a slight grin as he watches the scuffle erupt. Lash stands beside him, serene and peaceful, though not without a look of irritated disinterest on her expression.

It's his day off.

---

Later on at night, he's left the more rambunctious Pokemon at home and headed out for dinner. It's a little place he's discovered since his move to Union. Almost literally a hole in the wall, or at least a door down a flight of steps.

It's a quiet place, old, slightly dingy but cozy enough for Dresden's taste with the sounds and smells of food cooking behind the bar. It's nearly deserted too with only a few customers, the bartender, the Machamp bouncer by the door. And Dresden sitting at one table with a half-downed glass of beer beside him, scratching away at a notepad while he rubbed his chin in thought.

Closed to Rei

Of course, it's not all parks and beer. A lot of people had been involved and as time ticked on, he found himself worried about one in particular. Of his team, he didn't exactly know Haruka or Michiru very well, but the memory of seeing Rei rattled, even for a moment, kind of stuck in his brain. As such, he'd resolved to check in on her. Ice cream in hand. Because ice cream makes everything better.

He found a place that does ice cream takeout. They have a Vanillite breathe on the box before you leave. It stays frozen under a hot sun for hours.

So, another afternoon, he makes his way down to Ninetales Vale with his absolute battleship of a Stoutland by his side eagerly wagging his tail as they approach Hikawa Shrine and knock on the door.

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"Just a couple of bumps and scrapes." He gathers his notes and writings into a pile, setting them off to the side. "We lucked out."

He doesn't sound particularly relieved or happy about that though, because he isn't. In this case, escaping without a scratch meant that it was the other groups who had taken the beating and Harry would have much rather he be the one to have taken those beatings rather than a couple of kids.

"We found the head big guy, Regigigas, but we had to get out of there pretty quick when the Emperor started channeling his power." He leans back in his chair. "Didn't do much good, but I did get a look at the machines holding him and I've been trying to work out how it might work."

They can be happy that they lived long enough to get back to Union. But anything else.. Well, there's plenty to be unhappy about. Sophia sighs softly and nods, gaze downcast.

"I was part of the group that found him originally.." With Waver, Raine, and a few others. "I never would have imagined there would be chains so large that might hold one of his might. We were on a different level to the devices controlling the room, though." She folds her hands on the table, left crossing right. As much to obscure the occasional metallic shimmer that flickers along her skin as it is to give herself a point of focus. "What have you figured out so far?"

"I'm not convinced the chains are for much more than show. They didn't do much to stop the big guy when he started thrashing around."

The glimmer of metal across Sophia's hands catches his attention, and he glances briefly toward it. That's new. Evolution, maybe? He knows that some people can change pretty drastically with each one. In Harry's case, evolution never came with any visible changes. Well, none except for the faint smell of burning and fire that seems to cling to him at all times.

Still, doesn't seem like it's something she wants to bring up so he carries on.

"Besides, chains are good for holding somebody still but they don't do anything to input orders or channel power." He reaches into a pocket and sets something on the table. A small, red and white and terribly recognizable ball. He spins it. "It's just theory but I think it works like these things. Just on a way bigger scale."

Evolution in progress. She was a late starter to begin with, that her first evolution should be slow and awkwardly activating is inconvenient but not unexpected. He doesn't ask, so she doesn't comment, focusing instead on the conversation at hand.

"Mental and emotional manipulation?" To remind the Gigases that the Emperor, for all intents and purposes, owned them. But her eyes grow wide as the ball is rolled onto the table, and she looks from it to him, then back, lips parting, then closing, frown furrowing her brow. Ouka hisses faintly at the ball, ears flattening back, before there's a soothing eeon from under the table.

"The technology used by these devices, writ large?" That makes..an awful lot of sense. Given the extend of their technological prowess, that was no longer outside the realm of possibility. "May I..?" She indicates the ball: she'd like to take a closer look.

"Hm." Harry nods in grim agreement at Sophia's suggestion. There's no other reason for such a symbol of captivity and everything he'd heard of this Emperor guy suggests that he's just that type of scumbag.

... Emperor. He doesn't like the taste of that word on his tongue or brain, he needs a better name. Gramps? Wrinkles? He'll think on it.

"Large and modified. There's actually a pretty impressive variety of these things." He nods and passes the ball across the table to her. He doesn't take the chance of rolling it, not with her Pokemon right there. "Go ahead but be careful with it. This is the real deal, not one of the modified ones they use here. It's not dangerous to handle but better safe than sorry."

There's a cautious look given at the warning. "..Is it possible that these could be used on Enlightened?" On us?

That question does not stop her from picking up the capture device, running fingers over the smooth shell. "They don't use them here," she corrects absent-mindedly, distantly marvelling that something so small could do what it was built for. "I don't believe the rangers have any stocked at all." And she should know, given she's been working as quartermaster for the past few months.

After a minute, she applied thumb pad to the button, curious enough to get a look at its innards.

"Uh.." Harry started when she asked her question and he gave the pokeball a look of newfound uncertainty and apprehension. That is... a really good question. Enlightened are, ultimately, human but with a definite connection to Pokemon. If he's right in his hunch though and Gigas really could modify the technology to imprison gods and harness their power... maybe it was something worth worrying.

"Well, I'm pretty sure this one can't but I am starting to question the wisdom in bouncing it off the wall and catching it earlier."

He eyes the device as it obediently springs open at the button press, exposing the metal interior.

"I grew up in Sanctuary but I never used one of these things. They come too close to breaking the Fourth Law for me to be a fan."

"Mmm," is the woman's response as she lifts the open ball up, tilting the parts open as wide as they'll allow without breaking so that she can get a good look at its innards. Her right hand lifts, fingers spreading wide.

Then stops, before hand pulls back, fingers curling into her palm instead. ..No. There'd be no point in casting a Scan spell on this. The information that the spell would glean from it would be no different than what her eyes already told her. And most folks knew the basics in regards to the use of a pokéball - even if the exact How was perhaps beyond them.

She does look up when Harry mentions the Fourth Law. "..What's that?" She's never heard of it.

The basic workings were relatively simple enough... at least as simple as anything that transformed living creatures into energy to store in a tiny space could be. It's been slow going. Harry's Engineering style tended more toward the old-fashioned. Handcrafting, infusing with power, creating channels for energy, that kind of thing. Technology and computers and electronics are still a little beyond his grasp.

All the same, energy is energy and whether it's being moved by magic or technology that remains true. It's just a matter of figuring out how it's being done and then cracking the equations.

"Hm?" He glances up, brows raising. "Oh, uh. It's kind of an old philosophy about practicing magic. Supposedly, a long time ago, there were seven Laws that served as a sort of guideline to keep practitioners from abusing their power. The Fourth," he nods to the pokeball, "forbade enthralling a living thing or enslaving it to your will."

Her fingers are careful, that dying ember of magic fading as she prods the innards with a nail. Something teases in the back of her mind, not solid enough to match recent headaches of memory, but there's something edging close to familiar in regards to the technology here. And that which she had seen in Gigas.

It's not something she's mentioned to anyone, not out loud. And she doesn't feel the need to start now. Instead, she closes the sphere, setting it between them as she meets Harry's eyes.

"...A sensible Law. How many are there, exactly? And do they govern all of Santuary?" Something in her tone shifts with that last question; she's never heard Waver or Raine mention them, hence the hint of curiosity.

There's only so much that can be learned by studying an inert device. A part of him wishes he could actually see it in use, whether just as storage, the actual capture process or both....

But that's not a step he's willing to take. Even on the off chance any of his Pokemon agreed to the idea, he's not prepared to do so. Not without fully understanding just what these balls do to the creatures they capture.

"Oh. Uh... well, there's Seven of them, but they don't actually govern any part of Sanctuary. Actually you won't find a lot of Mages who do follow them." He reaches across the table to the pokeball, spinning in in place idly. "My second teacher taught them to me. He always used to say that it was the people who had power that needed rules to follow more than anyone else."

"Oh." She can't help but feel a little disappointed that Sanctuary doesn't have such a thing in place for all mages. The Laws certainly sound sensible to her mind, but given what both Raine and Waver have said about their shared homeland, it isn't surprising. Her nose wrinkles a bit as she frowns, then shakes her head. "I'm guessing that your first teacher didn't feel the same way?"

Food arrives moments after asking, along with drinks for both, and the pokémon present. There's a friendly eon of thanks from under the table, while Ouka nods appreciatively.

He shares her sentiment, at least what he can pick up from the troubled frown on her face. In his opinion, the Mages of Sanctuary were too damn wrapped up in what they could do that questions like right or wrong just don't enter their minds anymore. And working against that had earned him more than enough enemies back at the homestead.

He looks up when Sophia brings up his first teacher and his expression grows from grim to dark. Something dangerous and angry dances in his eyes.

"No. He didn't."

And then food and drinks arrive and the dangerous aura seems to abate as Harry nods with thanks as a refill for him is placed down. When he turns back, his expression is back to pleasant if grim.

"He and I didn't really part ways on the best terms."

There aren't many mages in Union. Even with the arrival and then prompt departure of senior members of Sanctuary's mage council, there wasn't much in place here to prevent those Laws being set more in stone - especially as they suited a Union state of mind far better.

She'd raise that point with Harry now, had her other question not resulted in a very obvious mood change, and Sophia freezes in place a moment, certain only that she's made a verbal misstep of sorts with her question. The Riolu's ears flatten back, and she growls very slightly at that aura, the sound rolling on until the food and drink helps return things to its previous even, if grim, keel. She's got her eye on you, Harry!

"..Ah. I see." Sort of, anyway. She hides a frown behind a sip of water, then clears her throat. "I am glad you found a better teacher, then."

It's a good thought, and a good point. A chance to establish a better way here in Union is something that Harry would be happy to consider. Had he not apparently squashed that particular line of conversation pretty handily without meaning to.

He senses the shift in mood in Sophia and her Pokemon, the subtle tenseness in the air. He can't very well see his own face or the look in his own eyes but he can tell something must have shown through in them. His first teacher. The first person who'd taught him the ways of magic. The first person he'd ever hated and the one he'd never forgive.

"He found me." He corrects quietly before shaking his head. "Sorry. That's just... bad memories. It was a long time ago."

The growling continues. Right up until Sophia reaches over and rests a hand on the Riolu's shoulder, which stills it, a startled look turned on her trainer.

"I am the one who should apologise." Sophia shakes her head at Harry in return. "I did not mean to give you reason to tread down such a path. Not all memories are those to be cherished." Says a woman who's own past is a murky mire of mystery - sometimes she wonders if her old life is better off left forgotten.

Lifting the spoon next to the bowl she was brought, the mess of vegetables and broth is stirred absently. "How long were you with your second teacher?"

Harry lets out a breath when it looks like whatever had crossed his face seems to be forgiven and isn't sending her running out of the room. Or getting him a Riolu tackling his face.

"Not all of them. Learned from maybe, but not cherished." He shrugs and moves on, more than happy to accept the change in topic. "Only about two or three years. Most of my training was done by the time so it was just a matter of finishing up in a few areas and relearning some others."

He laughs a bit to himself, pausing just a moment to have a drink from his half-empty bottle.

"It was tough in its own way. The man was a real tough-as-nails old codger and wasn't interested in giving an inch to some smartmouth punk kid, no matter where he came from. Dragged me out of a city to a farm, kicked me out of bed every morning before sunrise to get started on the day's chores and had me studying after it set." He grins a bit. "Learned a lot more from him than anyone else though. He taught me the Laws, taught me the value of getting your hands dirty. Pretty much dragged me away from the edge of a really deep, dark hole. Much as I didn't appreciate all of it at the time."

Now she's seen it, Sophia will do all she can not to encourage a return of that look. That may not be a good thing, in the long term, but for now, she'll certainly do her best to keep the peace. That Harry grows calmer with the chain in topic also soothes the Riolu, who relaxes now that the auras in her presence are less spikey.

"I'm told some things you really can't appreciate until you're older." And by the sound of it, Harry subscribes to that theory too. Her lips twitch, before she takes a sip of her soup. "Are there many farms around Sanctuary? Or did he take you as far as Crescent?"

It's not a look she's liable to see in average life, because it's a part of himself that Harry is far too aware of. It's been a useful tool to draw on at certain points in a lifetime of fighting invaders and oppressors but it's also something Harry'd hoped to leave behind in Sanctuary. There are too many things he's done that he's not particularly proud of in his life.

"Just about. I guess he figured getting away from Sanctuary and Gigas for awhile would do some good." He hadn't been wrong, but the old man just hadn't considered his student turning right back around and diving right in the first chance he got. "What about you? Where'd you learn?"

"I'm a late starter." Had she mentioned it before? She thinks she did, though even now she can feel a reluctance to go into too much detail. But Harry had at least elaborated a little. The least she could do was the same.

"I've only had knowledge of being a mage since a short time after the turn of the year. I was very fortunate that I had already befriended others who recognised what I could do, beyond being a grass Enlightened."

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Figuring Out The Next Move

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