Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

Atelier sweatdropped upon seeing the Fennekin push Blacky towards the stage. Whoa. He didn't take Blacky to be the type to do public presentations. Plus, the Fennekin appeared to be in a playful mood. He hid a smile and went to grab some food. As this was basically a training camp, he had no expectations about what kind of food this place served. If anything: rations.

Swirlix's expectations were high. "I hope they have good food..."

"Don't count on it," Atelier replied. If they were rations, then the least that Atelier could offer was to make coffee.

 

It looked like Blacky was having a moment to relax. Usually, Xuehua would warn him further about what was coming up, but to be entirely honest, it was probably better that he had some time with his family. His parents were... met with the same fate that was looming over her head, after all.

For now, she went to grab some food as well. Training would be a while.

 

"Not when he's all bloody like that!"

Seriously, Blacky had to thank Archen for stopping Celine from prodding him further. The guy, along with Buizel, came with a set of first aid kit for Blacky's sparring wounds (Chief Ampharos, Mawile, and Bunnelby were using another set to treat Josson's at the other side of the room). Why, they even managed to rope Celine into helping out with her White Flame -- which made her feel even smaller for failing to notice both swordsmons' wounds despite her coming to the mess hall with them earlier. Nothing fatal on either sides, thankfully.

 

As soon as Blacky's wounds were mostly healed, Celine took him to see their pops (or in Blacky's case, his liege -- he referred to Josson as "Pops" only when around the younger orphans back home). Much to Celine's amusement, Blacky and Josson had to assure each other that they were fine. And assuming Swirlix's ravenous appetite hadn't gone buck wild yet, Celine could've sworn she'd seen two plates and a bowl of different dishes on the table right in front of Josson. Would've been quite greedy of him weren't it for the fact that the plates had stuff the kids were particularly craving for right now.

"Wow, Master, how did you know I wanna this?" Josson's knack of knowing even the most random tidbits about everyone under his care (that is, residents of the orphanage ran by his wife) never ceased to amaze Blacky as he laid his eyes on the yakitori plate. In response, the older Jolteon simply said, "I have my ways," with a rather smug smile plastered on his face before going back to enjoying his miso ramen. And Celine? She popped a takoyaki from the other plate into her mouth right away.

As for Archen and Buizel, they immediately resumed their meals (which had been left behind earlier). That is, unless Swirlix managed to nom all of the remaining food while thinking they were leftovers.

"So..." Blacky turned to everyone else in the room. "What did we miss?"

 

"We've been discussing some tactics," Xuehua responded to Blacky's question. "Mawile showed us a few rough maps of Spikeford. It looks like stealth will be a big factor in getting into the Shadowblight Academy where the lair is hidden, let alone get to the lair itself."

 

Atelier sweatdropped seeing Blacky was covered in wounds. He had to agree that it would be unnatural to be eating in that state, which was why he was not surprised when Blacky received treatment from his friends. For now, he helped himself to several croquettes which paired well with his cup of tea. So that was what it came to - a plate piled high with croquettes. These definitely were not the rations that Atelier had envisioned!

Much to Buizel's fears, Swirlix was already up and about cleaning off leftovers. Honestly, did this girl have no end to her appetite? It was almost like she was begging everyone to finish their food... fast.

For the time being, Atelier continued to review his book of battle strategies, and studied which should be his next moves.

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation

As if on cue, Mawile (who had already finished her meal earlier) and Celine passed their maps of Spikeford to the warriors. One flip through Mawile's notebook and Josson commented, "So we're infiltrating a school, I see," with Blacky still running a paw through the original maps Celine got from the Spikeford resistance. Forest-y cave, underwater palace, volcano, starry cave, stormy mountain, ice tower, now under a school... the Umbreon mentally mused. Honestly, he wasn't that sure what to expect from the last two lairs yet to be explored even though he could've just asked his master about the Sol one.

"By the way, we heard you've reclaimed Jirachi's birthplace from its dragon, right?" Mawile raised a hand to get the heroes' attention. She, for one, had been waiting for Blacky's presence before she could say it. "Oh, yes. Thank you," Chief Ampharos nodded in a mix of agreement and gratitude.

(By "Jirachi's birthplace", Mawile meant the Star Cave -- a.k.a. what used to be the Moon lair back in Latermore. I'll see how your MCs will react to it before I do Blacky's.)

 

"Well it has teachers, and students, and that's about what you can say about that 'school'," Xuehua scoffed. "But speaking tactics - divide and conquer is their tactic, and we could turn it against them. If we can take down guards before any of the others can react, we could probably leave quite a few blind spots."

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation

"I'm sorry, what?" like Aine, Blacky blinked at the notion of a Dragon King taking over a Legendary's home and how a ragtag band of Eeveelutions unknowingly reclaimed it by killing said dragon. Seeing this, his master put a paw on Blacky's shoulder and gently reminded him about one of their previous letters to each other, "Remember when you wrote about a starry night-like cave with Clefable and other puzzles?" The Umbreon nodded while still trying to make sense of what his master just said. "That's actually Jirachi's old home, the Star Cave. He just had to flee when the Moon Dragon took over," Josson explained. "He said he didn't make the puzzles, though," Chief Ampharos added, possibly implying that the headache-inducing puzzles back then were all the dragon's doing.

Back to topic, seems like the Glaceon had a rough plan for the Spikeford raid. The maps also had some notes on which alleys were heavily guarded and which ones having less guards than others. But problem is, if they were to pull the "divide and conquer" tactic off, they'd want to have some nimble fighters (or warriors or mages or rogues or whatever) in their arsenal.

"Anyway, sir, do you know any dojos specialising in stealth around here?" Chief Ampharos directed his question to Master Hirate. "Like, ninja dojos or something?" Celine added with her head tilted.

 

"We could also use any other dojos you think suit us," Xuehua added. "Whilst stealth is important, we have to ensure we'll be strong enough in a fight to make it count."

 

(If I have to guess, is Hokage Mizune a Greninja by any chance?)

So Blacky went back to munching his yakitori, though he couldn't get his mind off those "new" (?) moves his master had used during their mock battle earlier. Some of them (e.g. Meteor Assault, Solar Blade) were already on Blacky's wishlist for a good while now, while some others (e.g. Bitter Blade, Aqua Cutter) were totally new to him. Long story short, he still had a lot to learn even with his previous feats.

 

(Fair -- hence "if I have to guess". You did reveal her gender though, LMAO~ )

"Me too, Sammi. Me too," Celine sighed at Sammi's last sentence just now. Makes sense though, since both Charmander and Fennekin are fire-types.

As for Blacky, maybe he could see if this Mizune, er, person could help him with learning Aqua Cutter. But it could wait until they got to the Mizu Village. Plus, he had a bigger problem: "Hey, uh... know anyone who can help with sol stuff?"

 

Having been invested into his drawings, Atelier caught only part of the conversation. From the sound of it, the strategy was to do a stealth raid. In a way, it was safer as they were going to venture into hostile territory.

He closed his book to continue eating his food. “When do we head out then?” he asked.

 

@ChocoChicken @122 Generation (@WavePearl Since my OOC question didn't quite cut it...)

"...never mind." Now that his question was ignored again (though maybe it was his fault for not being specific in the first place), Blacky decided to make a different request, "Actually, sir, can you teach me that one fire blade, er..." Cue Josson trying to make sense of his protege's request:

"Blazing Edge? You can do that already, can't you?"

"No, not that, the other one."

"...Bitter Blade?"

"Yeah, that one."

Both swordsmons then turned to Hirate, waiting for the Blaziken master to at least say something...