Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

(Yeah, her mind's still not leaving Spikeford)

"Ah, right." Xuehua shook her head. "Sorry. I don't know what I was thinking there."

With that over, she turned to the rest of the party. "Right. Should we update them on what we came here for?"

 

Like Xuehua, Atelier stood up straight upon being addressed as ‘sir’ by the Jolteon. Moreover, he was slightly overwhelmed by the appearance of so many others, never mind the Fenniken. They were well-acquainted with Blacky, weren’t they?

“Good to meet you too,” Atelier replied to Josson. In any case, reinforcements were greatly appreciated. From what he just heard - at first - the campaign was ongoing. Hence Xuehua’s uneasy reaction. But ‘the fort’ referred to this guild’s headquarters, from the sound of it. “Um… Xuehua, don’t worry. The campaign hasn’t started yet,” he muttered, before raising his voice. “Okay, let’s give them the update.”

 

@WavePearl

With most of the introductions out of the way, Xuehua seemed to be oh-so-eager to do the updating. Mostly for the Bright Flame School people because the Kickenham folks (including Celine who was a Spikeford-born calling Kickenham her home) had already knew what's going on. Blacky, for one, gave the Glaceon a "Go ahead" nod since Atelier had already agreed to her proposal.

 

Xuehua gave a nod. "You may have already heard that quite a few tyrannical overlords around Ardamore have been felled recently. But there remain two that have yet to be taken care of."

She turned to Master Hirate, expression concerned, but serious and unwavering. "You probably also know Spikeford is a dangerous, cruel place, ruled by a tyrannical school with an iron fist. We are planning to rectify that soon, and we will likely need as many allies as you feel safe sending. Our request also extends to any other dojos or other groups on this isle. Will you join us?"

 

Justice. Xuehua did always like the ring of that word. "We will alert you before we leave for Spikeford, then."

That being said, there were a few more questions. She would feel a bit awkward bringing it up, but the Bright Flame dojo probably wasn't the only one of the island. And they also didn't quite have a full idea on when they would be leaving, but she would leave that to their leader - and a few days of scouring the island, that was.

 

Atelier couldn't help smiling to himself. From the sound of it, there was going to be a big campaign up ahead which would require careful strategy. Unlike the previous attempts, this campaign would involve a lot of units. Speaking of 'the fire of justice', did Xuehua's eyes just light up with fire at the mention of 'justice'?

That said, Spikeford sounded like a stronghold too. Infiltration would not be easy, let alone an upfront attack.

Now he wondered what would be next. Another dojo? More units? An army? Atelier's mind raced with possibilities.

 

Well, seems like the Bright Flame School and the Expedition Society were ready to help. That's two down already even though the latter wasn't even based in the isle. "Thank you, sir," Blacky gratefully thanked Master Hirate for the assistance.

"Now that we're done here, come with me," Josson suddenly grabbed his protege's wrist and unceremoniously dragged him to a practice room the Jolteon had previously booked. Cue a collective jaw drop at Blacky's exasperated yelp ("Woah! Master, wait--") with Celine letting out a sigh. "Sorry about my pops, everyone," she sheepishly apologized to everyone present. "I know he means well, but his methods can be a bit..."

"Harsh?" knowing Josson, Chief Ampharos quickly picked up where Celine had left off.

"Yeah," the Fennekin affirmed. I mean, this was the same guy who'd planned her "kidnapping" just to protect her from unwanted adoption. What else could she expect?

The Society's right-hand Mawile merely shook her head. "Just let those two do their thing and we'll focus on our planning. I think that's a good-enough plan," she assured the young Fennekin.

"All right! Guess I'll introduce myself!" a quick thinking Buizel initiated his own introduction. "I'm Buizel! I go on expeditions! I'm in charge of the underwater expeditions! Nice meetin' ya!"

"All right, my turn!" Archen piped up. "Archen. I go out on expeditions too! I'm in charge of exploring the skies! I can't fly, though! Ha HA!" his introduction, in particular, made Celine wish he'd evolve ASAP. It was then followed by Bunnelby's own introduction as the Society's resident underground specialist.

(I just can't resist doing the PSMD-style intros for the Society... )

 

Then the Swirlix timidly stepped forward. Before she could even introduce herself, her nose(?) perked at Atelier. Atelier suddenly blanked when the Swirlix circled around him. "Mmm... I smell coffee! Do you cook? Or do you make coffee? You must have good taste."

Atelier swallowed. "I'm handy with coffee, that's true. Who might you be? Do you like food, perhaps?" he asked.

"Uh... um... I'm Swirlix. I'm the steward here at the Expedition Society. I cook everybody's meals." When the other members of the Expedition Society shot death glares at her (perhaps from Buizel), she added, "But they're just so delicious... I can never... wait."

 

(Added Archen's and Bunnelby's intros to my previous post so it won't be too awkward, skipped Dedenne's because she's not there, and threw Celine's in this post before Mawile's.)

And then Celine widened her eyes and Mawile shook her head (again) when everyone else shot death glares at the Swirlix with Buizel's "Just cut it out already!!!" not helping the situation. I mean, why did the Society even have a ravenous eater as their cook anyway? Oh well, too bad Blacky wasn't there -- he could've flaunted Atelier's coffee-making skill while at it.

"Oh well, I'm Celine, our resident magician," the Fennekin barely managed to shake her surprise off before introducing herself. "I'm actually a new kid here. Nice to meet you all, everyone," she added, all while keeping the "liaison between the Expedition Society and Spikeford resistance" part to herself unless someone asked (she didn't know Chief Ampharos had already told Blacky beforehand and Josson was already aware of it).

"I'm Mawile. I'm an archeologist," Mawile went ahead with her own introduction now that almost everyone had already done theirs. "I'm conducting research on the history of the world. If there's anything you're unsure of, just come ask me." That said, if one were to take a look at her notebook, she might as well be the Society's resident tactician.

"And lastly, myself. Allow me to introduce myself anew," Chief Ampharos showed his flair off again. "I am Ampharos, chief of the Expedition Society. Whatever I do, I do it stylishly. That's my motto," he said, though Blacky might want to chuckle at those last two sentences had his master not dragged him away. "I look forward to working with you."

...wait a minute, "lastly"? Celine couldn't help but to wonder, "Uh, Chief, don't we have three more members that aren't here?" By that, she meant the three Blacky had asked about earlier: Dedenne, Jirachi, and Forrest the Treecko. "Oh, those three back home? Allow me to introduce you to them when the opportunity next presents itself," Chief Ampharos assured.

 

Xuehua gave a nod at each member's introduction. So these were who they would be fighting with during their coup at Spikeford?

Josson seemed reliable, that was for sure, but someone who was Blacky's master would most likely be trustworthy. Buizel, Archen, and Bunnelby - of the three, given what she still remembered of the place, Bunnelby would probably be the most useful, but they all seemed decent scouts, despite Archen's... minor setbacks. And she imagined Mawile and Aine working together could probably get a good lead on some of the mysteries they'd come across before, between the Dragon War and the strange music they'd found in the Earth lair.

She couldn't tell enough about Celine to pass judgement on her, but another mage would always be appreciated. As for the last two, though? Ampharos was a chief, but given his liabilities, she wasn't sure if he would be suited for the actual coup. And Swirlix... You know what, they'd been doing fine without a chef, the worst she could do was a few attacks when actually fighting. But she should probably leave the coffee to Atelier, either way.

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation

"Now," Mawile flipped her notebook open and showed it to Sammi, Master Hirate, and the three remaining Eeveelutions (neither Blacky nor Josson were there, remember?). "Here's a recent map of Spikeford and there's a rough map of the Shadow Dragon's lair in the next two pages. Our intel there provided it for us," she explained, to which Celine beamed with pride as she had actually played a part in obtaining the information. And Mawile was right -- the pages she had specified contained her copy of the respective maps with Celine keeping the originals. The second page had a map of a school with "Shadowblight Academy of the Dark Arts" near its top margin and the page after that had a rough map of the lair itself. Atelier, for one, might want to compare his own notes with hers. And maybe Aine too, if she still had hers.

(I'll leave what the maps look like to... whoever wants to describe it.)

 

(PSA: Dungeon design isn't my hugely strong suit, so I'll keep it mostly vague.)

Each map seemed to presents its own obstacles to overcome. Spikeford itself was a mazelike city filled with alleyways, with the academy building itself standing to the north.

Once within the academy, the building presented its own challenge to navigate. The lair itself had been located beforehand - a hidden doorway on the belowground floor. However, to get there, the fastest route was through more narrow corridors - and more heavily patrolled ones at that. From the ground floor that they could break into from the outside, they would have to go down one level, and then through its labyrinthian chambers to reach the door (which could probably just be blasted open.)

Finally, as for the lair itself - it was difficult to make out all the specifics, but there was at least one huge chamber, which definitely had to house the Dragon King itself.

 

@WavePearl

Celine, meanwhile, was busy feasting her eyes on Sammi's garden. If the flourishing plants were any indication, pretty sure it was well-cared for. Her fascination didn't last long, however, since the two Eeveelutions she was familiar with hadn't came back yet. So now the little fox scooted closer to her fellow fire-types and nervously asked, "I-- uh... do you know where Blacky and my pops are now?" with "my pops" referring to Josson. I mean, that pair of master and student were probably sparring by now, but where in the dojo did it happen?

(Spoiler: Not sure if Sammi knows about + - Josson booking a practice room for his and Blacky's sparring session   , but maybe Master Hirate should? They'll want to answer Celine either way.)

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation
(Figured I should nudge y'all~)

"Like, in a practice room?" Celine asked, though it was left unanswered in favor of Master Hirate's offer, so she had to draw her own conclusion for this one. And as for the offer itself, the young Fennekin shook her head. "I'm good, sir, thank you. Just need to know for when they look for their friend, heh," she smiled at the three other Eeveelutions who were taking a look at Mawile's notes. I mean, since they came with Blacky earlier and she wasn't familiar with them at first, those three had to be some friends he'd met along the way, right?

So now Celine opted to sit down on a bench (if available; she'd sit on the ground leaning at the dojo's wall otherwise), then pulled out her own quill and sketchbook. With that, she started composing her letter to the Spikeford resistance (which was masked as a letter to her brother) to pass time. And yes, she would magically copy it on a separate paper for the actual mailing -- the ones in her sketchbook were for her drafts and archives.

 

Now that Atelier had a moment to examine the map, he recognised that there were two considerations. The first half was navigating through the city safely, and the other half was navigating through the school. If anything, the school may as well have looked like a prison. With that said and done, he pulled out his book of battle strategies and began sketching on a fresh page.

"Hmm... How to go about this..." he muttered. There needed to be a plan of attack, but attacking here wasn't so straightforward as the environment was very hostile. Not so like the volcano when they faced the Fire Dragon King. This was something else.

On the other hand, Swirlix was sniffing around Atelier's bag for coffee.

 

"Maybe we should play more into stealth and quick takedowns," Xuehua suggested to Atelier. "We're a large group, but so long as some of us can get ahead and, ahem, take out some of the guards, we could leave enough blind spots that everyone else can get through."

She looked over the map again. "Though that kind of tactic will probably only get us through the city itself. The school is more closely guarded, and I'm pretty sure some fights will be inevitable there."