Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

"Wh...Wha?! Idiot! You're getting in the way!" the voice screamed. "And stop that! That hurts, you know. You don't know how to care for books, do you? Now let me be with the Eevee again! If you don't, I will bite you!"

Sometimes Atelier wondered if the book was a psychic and was mildly amused that she threatened to bite Blacky despite having no teeth. Also, he wondered if Blacky could even hear the voice at all.

Nevertheless, he reached for the closest weapon he could find in his satchel and fished out a Gravelerock which he threw at Miss Magius, followed by a swipe of his sword. "Don't let her get you to, Xuehua. Don't lose it," he pleaded.

Balance: 20,900C
Inventory: ?x Books and Novels, 1x Journal, 1x Strategy Book, 1x Middle Rune of the Moon, 1x Watera Tome (SotS), 1x Lunar Tome (CdL) [damaged], 1x Firaga Tome, 1x Ethereal Grimoire, 10x Geo Pebbles, 9x Gravelerocks, 1x Thundara Gauntlets, 1x Potion of Fire, 2x Aloe Vera, 1x Kettle and Cup Set, 4x High quality coffee beans
Equipped: Steel Short Sword, Eevee Scarf

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation

Like Aine, Blacky hadn't counted on an ally getting captured, let alone being used as a meat shield. Nor did he count on suddenly hearing a girly voice complaining that "it hurts" while he was whacking Helge with the tome he had snatched from Atelier earlier...

Wait a minute, did the book actually have its own mind? The voice even implied that it (or she?) was actually a book, for Arceus's sake!

That said, Blacky stuffed Brynhildr in his own bag (but not without threatening to burn the dang book should it/she actually bite him) for now. "For sacrificing your student to an interloper of Ardamore..." the Umbreon nocked an arrow on his Archangels' Bow, then raised the bow at Magius, "...you've lost my respect as a teacher." Yes, Blacky normally respected teachers, but even he felt this particular one didn't deserve the respect. And yes, he kind of picked up the "interloper of Ardamore" part from Elio as it perfectly described the Dragon Kings in a nutshell.

So now the warrior fired a Gilded Arrow. It could've hit Xuehua, yes, but Arceus knew how he managed to remember those two particular seeds from the Moon lair despite the initial moral dilemma.

Turn 4 actions

In no particular order:

• Atelier: throws a Gravelerock
• Blacky: Gilded Arrow (sol unless someone enchants his arrow)
• Xuehua: ... (currently trapped)
• Aine: ... (whatever you do, please heed Choco's explanation on how this turn works)

 

@WavePearl @SAF @122 Generation

Spoiler: New Initiative!

Magius
Atelier
Magius
Aine
Xuehua
Magius
Blacky

Seeing Atelier already preparing his Gravelerock, Magius's sleeve went alight with a Psybeam - until Xuehua bit down on her other sleeve, causing the attack to fizzle out as her captor swapped focus (1). "JINGYE! You ungrateful WRETCH!"

His foe's guard was down, and Atelier prepared to fire - no, but the erratic movement would mean - he just had to- and before he knew it, his shot went wide, missing both of them (7, with advantage). By then, Magius had recovered, just in time to see Aine aiming an arrow at her. Both ladies fired an attack at the same time, the Phoenix Bow shot and Magius's Mystical Fire scorching their targets (14 for Magius, 11 for Aine).

While her grip on Xuehua remained tight, her attention had fixated on the other two Eeveelutions thus far, leaving Blacky free to sidle away for the right angle, unnoticed even as he spoke his curses. His shot arced through the air, landing right on Magius's sleeve. She roared, though whether it was from pain or rage, no one could tell. More importantly, her grip slipped as the arrow struck, and Xuehua broke her way out, landing on her feet and picking her staff up again (18). After sending a last Power Gem to knock Blacky to the floor (18), Miss Magius returned to her position high above, glaring down at the Eeveelutions.

She said nothing more. The reflection of the icy remnants of Xuehua's Blizzard on the ceiling, their shine obliterated by the hatred in her eyes, said enough.

(Current HP: )
Blacky - 2, Xuehua - 3, Aine - 3, Atelier - 4
Magius - 2
Gregus, Helge - Downed

 

@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

After giving Aine a nod of gratitude (if her healing actually got through, that is), Blacky looked up at the haughty Mismagius high above. He readied another Gilded Arrow again in case his friends' attacks didn't quite make it...

Turn 5 actions

In the roll initiative order:

• Atelier: ...
• Aine: heals Blacky with a ribbon
• Xuehua: ...
• Blacky: Gilded Arrow (sol unless someone enchants his arrow)

Meanwhile, there were three Pokémon making a quick descent to the basement: a Jolteon, a Sneasler, and a Hisuian Typhlosion. The three of them went through the staircases while everyone else were evacuating. Yes, the Void Shadows had been gone for awhile, never to return due to their master's demise. And yes, there had been an order to evacuate in the first place, though these three Pokémon insisted on checking on the main squad before running for their lives.

 

"Oh dear..." Atelier muttered to himself as Xuehua was freed. He could guess that by using her real name, Magius was attempting to lead Xuehua into a dark path. As well, he couldn't help but to think about what history Xuehua had with this school. Sure, being a sacrifice was one thing, but he wondered if there was more to the story. With Xuehua now safely out of the line of fire, he also readied a Flame Burst from his tome. (The thought of accidently hitting Xuehua with a fire-based attack seemed inconceivable, but it might be effective - wait, was this the path of the dark side? It seemed like it)

Also, he commended Aine for still being able to stand after taking on a Mystical Fire full blast. He hoped she was okay.

As for the book that was inside Blacky's bag, it was a wonder how she gave a whimper as if she was about to break down into tears before being muffled by the bag - mainly because she was scared at the thought of being burned alive(?). Wait, how was it possible that the bag covered her voice? Wasn't the speech supposed to be psychic or something? Some things just could not be explained.

 

@SAF @WavePearl @122 Generation

A ghastly projetitle from Magius soared just past Xuehua, smashing against the ground (4). From within the smoke and rubble smashed up by the attack, Atelier stood strong, blasting the dust away with his Flame Burst - which struck true (18).

The headmistress's sleeves roared alight with her Mystical Fire again. Her eyes, set in the crazed scowl of a last stand, darted between the four opponents before her - before eventually settling on Blacky as Aine rushed over to heal him (16). With a last shriek, she raised her arms and-

There was ice on her hem.

The cracking noise of her freezing only grew as it spread across the rest of her body, the Ice Beam attack firing right through her. The flames of her sleeves sputtered to embers, then to nothing as they were overtaken by rime (8). Finally, with a clink, her frozen body hit the floor, expression locked in fury.

Xuehua stood straight from her stance, the hexagon she'd drawn in the air dissipating (14) - as did the red glow on the nearby Morpeko's eyes.

Ding dong, the witch was down.

(HP Counts: Xuehua, Atelier, and Blacky - 4. Aine - 3.)

 

There was a moment of deafening silence that filled the air after the frozen Miss Magius had been felled. Now, Atelier had more worries on his mind. Was Aine okay? Did she need medical attention? On the other hand, he could imagine that Xuehua might want to completely finish off the headmistress for good to exact some kind of revenge.

Then there was Estella the Morpeko, having completely come back to her senses and found herself plopped on the floor. "Huh? What's going on?" she said, her head perking up as if she had woken from a daze.

"Oh! Uh, nothing much. You're not safe here," Atelier warned. As he packed away his tome, he was reminded of one of the objectives of his strategy, which was to evacuate the students. "You're Estella, aren't you? Mochi sent us to find you."

"That's me, yes! Glad to meet you!" Estella said. "Let me find Mochi."

Atelier turned to his companions. "Right... Where are we headed to next?'

 

@SAF @122 Generation @WavePearl

As he finished his statement, there came a loud cracking from the ceiling. The ice that had formed from Xuehua's Blizzard began to gave way, chunks of frost and stone dislodging from the ceiling and finding a new home half-buried in the basement floor. Several of Eternatus's bones shattered under the weight, smashing into the ground nearby. The rumble reveberated throughout the rest of the building, warning everyone about the frozen foundation crumbling under its own weight. And with the damage done, who knew how long it would last...?

"We gotta go. Now!" Xuehua pointed her staff at the door, as if to answer Atelier's question.

 

(Disclaimer: The first three paragraphs of this post were supposed to be posted before Choco posted in an attempt to keep pacing. This might as well be my pet peeve at this point. )

Before Blacky could fire what would've been his final shot of the fight, the Golden Eye of the Dragon had been turned into a Poke-popsicle. By her former protege, no less. "Well? Who's getting sacrificed now?" the squire sneered at the now-frozen headmistress. It sure was a sweet, sweet irony considering her earlier boast about sacrificing her student to her draconic patron.

And then there was the Morpeko from before who just woke up from her hypnosis. Blacky immediately helped her to get back on her feet ("Estella, yes? Mochi's looking for you," he said). And failing that, he could always carry her to safety like what Lemy did to (the real) Swirlix of the Expedition Society earlier.

Speaking of Lemy, he was now at the basement's doorway along with a Hisuian Typhlosion (an ally, Blacky figured, though he didn't know that this guy was one of Elio's teammates) and a familiar Jolteon (for Arceus's sake, what was Master Josson doing here?). "Is everything okay? Anybody hurt?" the Typhlosion asked out of concern as the three newcomers barged in. Josson, for one, immediately made a beeline to Blacky who was still helping Estella to get back on her feet. And after one quick explanation about who Estella was (i.e. Mochi's roommate) and why she was even there in the first place (go blame Miss Magius on this one), both warriors could be seen flanking the Morpeko as the light from Lemy's spellsong washed over everyone's wounds. Yes, Blacky did the explaining. And yes, it was loud enough for everyone to hear, never mind that the explanation was supposed to be for his liege.

(Now, there was supposed to be a chance to interact with the newly arrived NPCs here, but it didn't happen in favor of the plot quickening. I had to add this last bit in mere minutes after the post was up, so apologies if this feels too rushed on my end.)

And then Lemy's spellsong was interrupted by the dangerously rumbling ground around them. The Typhlosion rushed back to the door, holding it open to allow the others to pass through. Blacky was now carrying Estella like he would a toddler while escaping. And his liege? Together with the Typhlosion, he made sure everyone got out safely before getting out themselves.

 

The group scurried upstairs, trying their best to avoid falling brick and stone sealing the basement floors away. Lemy and Xuehua took the lead, the former leaving his music behind in favor for slashing through any wreckage, and the latter freezing falling stone to the walls and ceiling wherever she could - hardly caring about any further damage to the building.

"Nobody else is in the building, right?" Xuehua shouted towards the new Pokémon that had showed up. Well, nobody who didn't deserve to be left here.

"Everyone else is already on their way out, with the mages and bards teleporting the injured," Lemy yelled from the front, leaping and weaving between falling pillars and crushed statues. "We got all the students, too, even though they're unconscious now. Rennach's been captured, too!"

 

Screw carrying Estella like a toddler, Blacky ended up carrying her with just one arm instead. His other arm (which so happened to be his main sword arm) was busy slashing through the debris with his sword. However, some of the wreckage somehow managed to elude him upon hearing that everyone had been evacuated, what with the Umbreon worrying about Celine whom he thought was with his liege. Not that he could even dwell on that thought because a falling pillar was about to crush both Blacky and Estella only to be crushed by Josson and his borrowed blade instead. "She's safe," the Jolteon said as if he could read his protege's mind (but actually not -- to Josson, Blacky's expression was just that easy to read). And yes, said protege instantly understood what his master meant by "she" if his slight relief was anything to go by.

Also, now that the group was at the school's corridors, anyone astute enough would notice that the Void Shadows from before were nowhere to be seen.

 

Atelier had also followed his companions out of the crumbling basement to safety. It was only a matter of time before parts of the school could collapse because of a destroyed foundation. Hopefully, no one here would be buried with the school. As per his strategy that was planned from the beginning - before they even set foot into Spikeford - students were being evacuated.

Estella was clearly confused when she found herself hoisted on an Umbreon's shoulder and could hear the fighting all around. Yet she had no idea what was happening because her view was only of the floor. And there was a lot of noise involving blades smashing against pillars. She wondered how Mochi was doing.

Outside, Mawile and Mochi were among those who were safely evacuated from the school. Mochi had taken a moment to pack all her personal belongings as well as Jingye's journal for good measure. The captured or unconscious students were safely moved away by the resistance members to the safehouses. With that being done, as per Atelier's strategy, all that was left was for everyone to retreat to the rendezvous point and engage the Shadow Dragon King. It wouldn't be easy, since the entire population could be out hunting them down. So Mawile led the students discreetly in small groups to escort them to the safehouses to meet with the resistance afterward.

"This looks dangerous..." Mochi muttered, watching the battle around her rage on.

 

@ChocoChicken @WavePearl (@122 Generation Thank you for giving me an idea on what the Expedition Society would do here~ )

Spikeford - Outside the school

It's not just Mawile who discreetly escort the students to the safehouses -- both Ludester and Kickenham guild members pitched in too. Celine, for one, seemed a little worried for her pops only for Chief Ampharos to assure her that Josson should be fine. I mean, for Arceus's sake, that Jolteon rushed to the school's basement when it was time to evacuate. Of course the kid was worried.

Shadowblight - Corridors

Seeing the now-empty corridors (aside from the crumbling pillars, walls, and other whatnots), Blacky couldn't help but to shout, "Master! What happened to the blobs from before?" However, considering Josson was too busy slashing through the wreckage, the Hisuian Typhlosion who had came with him and Lemy earlier actually beat the Jolteon to answering his ward, "The Void Shadows? They're gone!" while their ghostly flames burnt any debris that came too close for comfort and wasn't covered by the others.