Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

@SAF
The notes held quite a bit of strange musings. The handwriting was neat on one side - the history of Shadowblight, that sort of basic thing - and then on the other end, hastily scrawled runes and spells. There was a lot of talk about reptilian weakness, snowflake symbols, and the like. The last page of "notes" held what was probably some spell motions - three diamonds arranged adjacently, a spiral, and an inverted isosceles triangle. Ice Shard. Icy Wind. Hail.

@122 Generation
Xuehua would have interjected, but she was instead walking towards one of the walls connected to another dorm, putting the base of her staff up on it. "You guys mind if I just bust that down real fast? For the good of the people and all."

 

Atelier raised a paw. “W-wait, don’t you think there could be another way?” He was amazed at how Xuehua instantly turned into trigger-happy mage in an instant. Was it the environment, perhaps? Plus, there were a few things he wanted to talk to her about.

“Eh. The walls are weaker in one spot. The school promised to repair the thing but they kept delaying the timeline. Might as well break it down,” Mochi remarked. At that, she climbed to the desk to try reading the notes. “So, you’ll find my friend, right?”

“If we can,” Atelier said.

 

Pages by pages Blacky flipped as carefully as a warrior could (Mochi did seem to treasure these things, after all). Among these pages were:

• History of Shadowblight (a.k.a. one of the must-know stuff for a Shadowblight student if Blacky had to guess);
• Scribbles of runes and spells (not that Blacky could even read it);
• Snowflake symbols (was the notes' owner an ice-type or did she aspire to be one?);
• Reptilian's weaknesses (why it had to be reptilian was beyond the squire); and
• Some random symbols of three diamonds arranged adjacently, a spiral, and an inverted isosceles triangle complete with what they're supposed to represent -- Ice Shard, Icy Wind, and Hail (wait a minute, had Blacky ever seen those symbols before?).

Curiosity ensued, Blacky went through the pages again, this time to try figuring out who had written the notes in the first place.

 

Xuehua gave Mochi a thumbs-up, then quickly drew her Fire staff to follow the Ice Shard spell she was drawing on the wall. Three diamonds, and then a quick tap to freeze the whole thing - then a Rock Smash spell with her Fire Staff to send it crashing down.

Well, the room was wider, if one didn't mind all the rubble. She kicked most of it to the side, building up some of the larger pieces behind the door of the new room to barricade it. Breaking down the school did feel better than she expected.

 

Eventually, Blacky found a name written on the back cover of the notes: Jingye. The very same name as the one written on that one wanted poster earlier. Really now? the Umbreon blinked. I mean, Jingye was an Eevee, right? And one of the many evolutionary options an Eevee could choose was an ice-type one, right? For Arceus's sake, this Jingye girl might as well be on the run as a Glaceon by now!

Such thoughts were immediately cut off by the rumble of a breaking wall. Blacky looked up from the notes only for his eyes to widen in amazement. Like, whoa, did Xuehua just break a dormitory's wall? Considering Blacky didn't hear Mochi's comment about the wall earlier, the shiny Umbreon was certainly in for a surprise.

 

As well as finding the history of Shadowblight, Blacky would also find maps of the school which would prove useful in navigating around the maze of stairs and hallways. It even detailed rooms with treasure and - very suspiciously - the space where the school kept tuition fees. What was this author Jingye thinking, plotting a heist?! Or an assassination? Whatever this girl was, she looked like she would grow to become a thief or an assassin. Maybe a sniper. Who knows?

No wonder she would be accused of treachery. Maybe she was out to rob the school, or Spikeford itself!

(Yeah, borrowing a leaf from Zelda here)

Mochi stared at the hole in the wall. “Guess that works, but now all you’ve done is delay the project! There goes my tuition money.”

“Hey, I’m sure you’ll be compensated for this. This will only be a temporary setback. Beside, didn’t you say to ‘might as well’ break it down? You got your wish,” Atelier assured her. Then he followed Xuehua in to look around the dorm next door. Now it seemed like there was sufficient space to establish the staging ground. All that was left was to launch the rest of the campaign, and find the Morpeko while they were at it.

 

As soon as he regained his composure, Blacky looked at the notes again. This time it revealed these (suspiciously detailed) maps of the school. Well! Someone could definitely use this!

"Oi, Atelier!" Blacky called out to the Eevee tactician. "You've got to see this!" he gestured at him to come closer.

 

“Y-yes!” Atelier responded. He walked over to look at what Blacky wanted to show him. Ah, these were the ‘artifacts’ that Mochi mentioned earlier. He skimmed through the pages that Blacky highlighted, from the detailed maps and history of the school to the complex ice-based spells in the back.

“This is…” Atelier was struggling to find words to explain his excitement. “This is the answer to all of our problems!” At once he went into study mode and laid his book of battle strategies on the desk to compare notes. These details were much more useful than earlier intelligence!

But as he ran into the name in the back - Jingye - a thought struck him in the same manner like Blacky. Yes, given the time these notes were written to the present, Jingye must have become a Glaceon by now.

Glaceon… Xuehua’s odd behaviour before the attack... The serious expression on Jingye's face on the wanted poster... Then Xuehua's ferocity amid the attack... And if Jingye had indeed become a Glaceon...

Suddenly, a shocked expression appeared in Atelier's eyes and he let out a silent gasp. Without giving himself away, lest if Blacky or the others saw his reaction, Atelier bowed politely at Blacky and then went to the dorm next door. "Hey, Xuehua," he whispered.

 

"What's up?" Xuehua turned to face the Eevee, having finished the makeshift door barricade and a few "seats" that consisted of mostly-solid bricks scattered around the room. "You found something?"

 

The barricade looked like it would do for now. If anything, it would make an effective last stand in case if the door were to be breached. Hopefully that would never happen.

Atelier pulled Xuehua aside by her arm such that they were as far as possible from the other room and couldn't be heard (even though it was just paces from the hole in the wall). He found it difficult to believe that the same Glaceon who he learned more about just now was the same Glaceon he met and laughed with over books, stories, and novels when they first met.

"I found out something, yeah, and confirmed my suspicions about you - from your notebooks that you left in the dorm. You were a former student here, weren't you, Jingye? Why didn't you tell us who you were?" he whispered. "Why would you come back and put yourself in danger like this - with a bounty on your head?! Not as Xuehua, but as Jingye. I understand that... you might have a history with this place and it seems like a personal matter, but you shouldn't do this alone. We trust you. Couldn't you do the same for us - for me?"

 

Whoa, seems like Atelier just lit up at the sight of all these detailed info. Blacky should've seen this coming now that the tactician immediately went to work. The warrior just stood there, his gaze directed at Xuehua's recent handiwork -- it sure was one way to widen the party's temporary basecamp. If it could actually fit the whole army, even better.

And now Blacky was curious about the newly "opened" dorm room. He reclaimed his Wondrous Coat that was conveniently placed beside the notes, then stepped into said room via the hole in the wall and started exploring the rubbles and whatnots...

"...You were a former student here, weren't you, Jingye? Why didn't you tell us who you were?"

What the...? Blacky quickly wore the Wondrous Coat and hid behind one of the "seats" (or, well, tried to) as soon as he overheard Atelier's rant to Xuehua. I mean, did he just call her "Jingye"? As in, the one who had written those particular notes in Mochi's room?

 

The moment Atelier uttered the - her - name, Xuehua- Jingye- the Glaceon froze. "I- you-"

Well, thanks for leaving them as they were, Mochi. Now she had a situation to deal with. She took a moment to compose herself, pulling her hood back up.

"...Does it matter? And if it does, does it have to be settled now?" Her voice shook slightly, but stabilized as she continued. "I came here for the reason the rest of you did - to slay a dragon. Whatever happened in her- my- past, Shadowblight still wants us dead for that alone. If they've wanted me dead for longer, it changes nothing."

 

“I know they want us dead,” Atelier said, paling at the sight of Xuehua pulling her hood up. “I'm not asking you go settle things now. It’s just… I can’t see you throw away your life like this. It’s almost like you’re out for revenge."

He still hadn't let go of Xuehua's arm yet but he relaxed his grip. "It's like something happened to you here because of the school. I can tell, seeing your reaction when you broke down the wall back there, and your reaction at the name 'Jingye'. Can you tell me what happened?" he whispered.

In the other room, Mochi was frantically trying to make space for the reinforcements to arrive. Who knows how many would show up? She didn't want a packed room, after all. Unlike Blacky, she was nowhere close to the hole in the wall to listen in on the private conversation next door.

 

@ChocoChicken @122 Generation

Elio was right. Xuehua was a Spikeford escapee all along. If Blacky had to guess, 13-years-old Jingye probably thought that the other towns and cities in Ardamore were about as fanatic as Spikeford when it comes to the Dragon Kings. No wonder she had to change both her name (from Jingye to Xuehua) and appearance (from Eevee to Glaceon) as soon as she got out from Spikeford.

Still, to Blacky, Jingye's case was but one of the many ways a Dragon King would cause someone a life full of grief. I mean, harsh taxes and general iron fist ruling aside, he had known plenty of such cases in his life:

• For Blacky himself, it was when his now-master (whom he used to call Uncle Josson back then) returned from the Sol Dragon's lair with the corpses of his birth parents in tow.
• For Master Josson, it was when the Sol Dragon King killed his two close friends right in his face.
• For Celine, it was more or less like Josson's case but with her biological father as the victim.
• For Elio, it was when his belief in the Dragon Kings started to waver upon hearing about Celine's case (and he'd done his best to protect his baby sister from the evils of Spikeford).
• For Angus and Kaitou's family, it was more or less like Josson's and Elio's cases respectively but with the Water Dragon King as the perpetrator.
• For that one Lilligant princess and her lady-in-waiting, it was when the Thunder Dragon King kidnapped them both.

Thus, the lunar knight-to-be silently vowed to neutralise the resident Dragon King before his henchpeople could capture Jingye... Xuehua... whatever the Glaceon would ultimately answer to. And when the Shadowblight war eventually came to an end, he would need to ask about her preferred name going forward.

 

@122 Generation
"It's nothing special really. Was one of the top students at this place until they found out about my... side project, let's call it." Xuehua scoffed slightly at the memory. "They wanted to sacrifice me to the Shadow Tyrant. Seriously! Altar and all. I had to bust out after that. Lived life on the run since then."

 

At this point Blacky had enough. Neither Xuehua (he figured it wouldn't be safe enough to call her Jingye yet) nor Atelier needed to know that he'd been around. The Umbreon returned to Mochi's side of the room, then took the Wondrous Coat off and approached the resident Litwick.

"Hey, Mochi," the lunar warrior sat on a vacant bed. "What does this dormmate of yours look like?

(Not sure whether or not Mochi had actually mentioned about her roommate's species before -- or whether it was just in @122 Generation's narration.)

 

Atelier scoffed, his mouth curling into an amused smile. No wonder Xuehua would run away! If she was about to be sacrificed, she might as well run for it. “That would be a waste of talent, for sure. Doesn’t make sense to me to sacrifice a top student, alive or dead. I assume you’ve been hunted even while you were with us?“

On the other hand, Mochi said to Blacky, “She’s a Morpeko. Shouldn’t be hard to miss her.” Then Mochi put away the artifacts.

 

"I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. So I kept my guard up." Xuehua crossed her limbs, leaning back against the wall. "Still do, I guess."

She looked towards the window. "Think they'll be back soon? The army, that is."

 

Shadowblight - Girls' dorms hallway

@WavePearl

"Karuto, iichiida shou..."

The first half of the army (the wounded, the healers, and half of the minstrels led by Aine) suddenly showed up in a hallway. Specifically the girls' dorms hallway. "This has to be the room, right?" Celine looked up at the room number plate fixed to the door in front of the army (Lemy had already told everyone which room Mochi was currently occupying). "Yeah, has to be it," Elio nodded in affirmation. Despite this being his first time entering the girls' dorms like Lemy, the room numbering was more or less the same between both sides of the dorms.

And then someone from the army knocked on the door...

(I'll leave who this "someone from the army" is up to Wave. Maybe Aine or Elio or Celine or a random NPC...)

Shadowblight - Mochi's room

@122 Generation @ChocoChicken

A Morpeko. That's what Blacky had to look out for once he's back to the battlefield. "Ah, okay. I'll see what I can do," he said to Mochi. Not quite a promise, but might as well sound like one to the Litwick.

And then someone knocked on the door. The Umbreon stood up and opened the door...

(Cuing the first half of the army to enter...)