Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

Opening the door, Blacky saw Aine coming with about half of the party in tow. "Ah, milady! Perfect timing!" he cheered just enough for everyone in the room to hear (not sure about Mochi, but Atelier and Xuehua should've known who he meant by "milady" by now). He then let everyone in and the clerics immediately went to work, starting from getting the wounded to beds.

 

Atelier followed Xuehua's gaze. "Sounds like they might be arriving. Let's check on them. Also... If someone does try to assassinate you, we've got your back, okay?"

He realised that he still hadn't let go of Xuehua's arm. "Ah, sorry about that," he added, finally letting go of her sheepishly. "Come, let's see what's going on out there."

Soon enough, Atelier had brought a kettle to boil and was crushing coffee beans into a grind. Reinforcements were arriving, so it was a good idea to rest up however he could. His Clair de Lune tome was in need of repair, so he needed tools to fix it.

On the other hand, Mochi brought her arms together. "Aw, thank you, sir!" she said to Blacky. "Her name is Estella."

 

"Estella the Morpeko. Got it!" Blacky repeated what Mochi just told him followed by an affirmation. He then put some of his berries on the table: 10 Sitrus, 10 Leppa, and 15 Lum (he wasn't sure whether Mochi had some plates for the berries). Maybe someone would nibble one as is, maybe someone would use the berries for medicines, maybe someone would mix them in a cup of coffee or something...

Celine, meanwhile, could be seen sitting in a corner while contacting the other members of Expedition Society with her Expedition Gadget. They, along with her pops and her brother's former dormmate, were left behind for now and would join the second half of the army later on.

 

After the kettle had boiled, Atelier set about pouring it over the coffee grind and let the strong aroma of coffee waft around the dorm. Seeing that there was a supply of berries before him, there was no need to add any flavour to the coffee at the moment. It was possible to mix in a berry with the coffee for flavour as well as turning the coffee into a kind of recovery drink. After the coffee was prepared, Atelier went to pour it into cups and placed them on the table. "Enjoy," he said to everyone.

Mochi looked curiously at the coffee. "Just so long as Estella gets back here safely, make yourselves at home." There were quite a lot of wounded to attend to, and at this rate, Mochi wondered how long it would be before she could clean her bedsheets.

After he had finished serving the coffee, Atelier walked aside to try and repair his tome. "Now, who else is coming?"

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken

"I'd say these are about half of the gang. The others are coming soon," Elio mused as he and Blacky dibbed their cups of coffee. Unlike Blacky though, Elio opted to mix a Leppa berry in his coffee. He also pocketed a Lum berry in his robe in case of medical emergency.

It was about then when Celine came over to the two guys currently enjoying Atelier's coffee. She told them about the slight change of pairings for this leg of the onslaught: Celine and Josson were to pair up with each other instead of sticking with their respective partners up until now, thus freeing Elio and Blacky up to do what must be done. And their responses? Elio was feeling apprehensive about letting his baby sister out to the battlefield, away from his watch, while Blacky could at least trust his master to keep her safe.

(Are we ready to go? Or do we have any other loose ends? Either way, here's a friendly reminder that Aine is already in Mochi's room along with our other MCs. Do with that what you will.)

 

"Hold on. Let's fetch other half of the army first, at least." Xuehua paused. "Regroup before moving on - that's the plan, right?"

 

"Yeah," Blacky said as he and the fire fox siblings nodded in agreement. "And Lemy's group will take care of that," Elio added.

 

After Atelier had his fill of coffee and berries, he went to attend to the reinforcements. As it currently stood, this was the only chance that everyone would have to rest before the army would proceed to the next part of the plan, which was to engage the Dragon King. It would not be easy though because of the number of hostiles they would encounter at this school, with many more sympathizers among them (with exceptions like Mochi).

His head felt heavy and he opted to sit down at a corner in the dorm to get a nap. "When everyone is here, we move out," he said. "Wake me up when everyone is good to go."

Mochi decided to have some coffee too. "This tastes good. Can't help but think about Gregus when I see this though. Teachers can't even let us have a decent night's sleep when we're all running on coffee."

 

@122 Generation
Unfortunate timing on the Eevee's part, it appeared. As soon as he collapsed, the sound of knocking showed up at Mochi's door, and more troops began to file in the moment the call was answered.

Xuehua stepped back against the wall as Atelier slumped over, at the very least just to make more room for everyone else entering. "Hey, Atelier, I've got some bad news for your nap. Look alive."

Bunnelby, Buizel, Ampharos, Swirlix, and those that weren't wounded - everyone was present when accounted for. The troops began to regroup in the room, cramped as it was. Quite a few asked for some of Atelier's coffee, and with the sheer number of Pokémon present, it didn't take long for it to run out.

Thankfully, Swirlix was there. Not far from the other Eeveelutions, she walked up to Atelier in the corner. She already had the sack of snacks slung over one side, an empty cup prepared, and her own pot of coffee right by it. "Hey, you look tired. Would you like some of this? I'll pour you a cup."

(122 is pinged, but anyone can respond! If they ask for a drink, they'll be served when I post next.)

 

“Can’t even get a minute’s rest, can I?” Atelier muttered to Xuehua. So because of this, Atelier got on his feet to make some space. Even the coffee he brewed for everyone had been finished!

With Swirlix offering him the coffee, he nodded. “Thank you,” he said to her.

 

By the time Josson entered the room, it was already crowded and they had already run out of coffee. "Ah, Master, welcome back," Blacky greeted him with a half cup of his coffee in a paw (he'd already drunk the first half earlier) which soon drew the Jolteon's attention, "Coffee?" "Yes, but..." Blacky's ears drooped while Josson's were perking up only for the latter to droop as well. "I understand. They ran out of coffee--"

And then the Umbreon noticed Swirlix bringing in her own pot of coffee somehow. "Oi, Swirlix! A cup for Master Josson, please!" he called out, much to his liege's surprise (and amusement later on). And knowing that she probably would sweeten the coffee unless specified otherwise, he quickly added, "No cream, no sugar."

"You mean, Coffee Gregus?" Lemy chimed in now that he overheard Mochi complaining about this Gregus guy. "I know, right?" Elio rolled his eyes. "Felt like dude wanted us to have insomnia or something." And before they knew it, more ex-students of Shadowblight -- resistance and runaways alike -- began to vent about Gregus as well.

 

@122 Generation @SAF
"No cream, no sugar," Swirlix nodded. "I got it!"

With barely a moment to spare, she pulled out a second cup from the bag, and turned away to pour some out. Soon, she handed two cups of black, swirling liquid to both the Eevee and the Jolteon.

"Coming right up, sir! Two coffees."

She smiled. "Extra dark."

The liquid in their cups began to shift for a moment. Then they leaped out at their cups' holders, just about missing their necks.

From where they splattered on the floor, they began to rise up into bloblike creatures with a tarlike oily sheen - Void Shadows to anyone who recognized them. Swirlix's leering grin only grew wider as she kicked over the coffee pot, hordes more of of the creature leaking out from within.

 

@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

Surprise and chaos ensued when the "Swirlix" served the cups of "coffee" which turned out to be these black, shadowy blobs of slime. "Soldiers! To arms!" Josson commanded right after barely missing the blobs' surprise attack and downing the remaining of Blacky's (actual) coffee. The phrase itself was normally used by the Order of the Knuckles' commanders whenever the Sol Dragon King started invading Kickenham but the Jolteon saw no reason to not use it here. The general command was then followed by the more specific ones directed to his wards: "Blacky, take your friends and go! Celine, to me!"

Following the mayhem, everyone readied themselves to retaliate. Lemy brandished his claws, Blacky and Archen nocked an arrow on their bows, Chief Ampharos and Josson crackled with electricity coursing through their bodies (and in the latter's case, his sword too), Buizel jumped the "Swirlix" with both his dagger and Aqua Jet, Mawile pulled out her tome, the fire fox siblings readied their wands, and the others -- the healthier ones, at least -- hastily took their weapons out. With that, the combatants pushed the shadowy slimes (and by extension, the onslaught itself) out from the dorm room, thus leaving Mochi behind along with the medics and the not-yet-recovered people.

 

Atelier needed a second to catch his breath as he had narrowly avoided death by inches. What was going on with Swirlix? And when did she learn to make puns on coffee and shadows? Like, extra dark was very literal in this sense. Even so, with two Void Shadows spawning in their presence, there was no time to rest - or even compete the repair on his tome. Instead, Atelier picked up his sword and used whatever he could with the Clair de Lune tome.

"Wh-WHAT?!" Mochi screamed. "No no NO! Not in my dorm! Or my books! Never! Out! OUT!"

Using a Dark Pulse from the tome, Atelier blasted the Void Shadows and Swirlix(?) in an effort to assist Blacky, Buizel, and Mawile in repelling the Void Shadows from the dorm. "We have no time," he ordered the others. "We must locate and engage the Dragon King now, and lure him out of the school. It's only a matter of time before we get overwhelmed if we stay here."

As he left with the others, Mochi casually closed and locked the door behind them. "Gosh, this is messy. Now I have to deal with the wounded and the fallen students," she remarked.

 

Thankfully for Mochi, she was not alone. The army's medical team also stayed behind to care for the wounded while keeping in mind that there were fallen students in the closet (Lemy and Josson had already warned them about it beforehand). Since the medics mainly employed white magic -- and by extension, holy spells -- for their jobs, it would be hard for the Void Shadows to pose as patients there due to their innate weaknesses to such magic.

(Since the Void Shadows are tied to a necromancer boss (?) here, I'd imagine they'll share the same weaknesses with Final Fantasy's undead: Sol and healing magic (still debating on Fire tbh) with Shadow-type attacks actually healing them. Also, I'm still waiting for @ChocoChicken before moving on with Blacky's side of the story.)

 

Before Buizel's attack could hit, "Swirlix" grinned and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The group rushed out the dorm, the Void Shadows following as a chaotic combat began all around them.

In the metaphorical eye of the hurricane of violence stood "Swirlix", her dark grin only widening.

"Come now, friends. It's showtime."

She began to glow - and so did many of the army members around her. One by one, the Zorua that had infiltrated the team revealed themselves with Foul Play and Pursuit attacks, the few of them supported by the masses of Void Shadows around them. The same sound of their shifting forms could be heard within the dorm, too, as some of the "wounded" began to let their disguises fall away.

"I must thank my colleagues for their work earlier," laughed the Zoroark, ducking underneath arrow shots and whirling around blades as if he were dancing. "It was so easy to replace them in the smokescreen. And that Swirlix's bag! Excellent place to hold all the real fallen. I'm sure she doesn't mind resting among her sweets now."

Xuehua growled in some mix of frustration and annoyance. The army had been strong, but it looked like their numbers had been turned against him. Had this only been the four of them, their enemy wouldn't have been able to pull this off!

Besides that, this was the one teacher she knew nothing about. She had always known, even back then, she was never going to be a minstrel, so she'd never signed up for that class. And yet here Shadowblight's performance arts teacher was, leering down at her. She fired an Ice Shard at the Zoroark, who easily flipped over them with a flourish.

"Oh, pardon me, where are my manners?" he added, mockingly. "You may call me the the Great Shadow Magician - Rennach Rouge."

With a pose, his claws began to shine dangerously under the candlelight. "Now let us dance!"


(Combat begins! Depending on the number of combatants, Rennach may have two or three attacks per round.)

@WavePearl @SAF @122 Generation