Group RP Pokemon: Evolution Quest (IC thread)

As Swirlix was being reprimanded by Celine, Josson, and the entire Expedition Society for eating a Blast Seed of all foods, it appeared she was still in a hungry mood as she helped herself more to her snack bag. That was basically her answer.

As for Atelier, he shook his head to get his mind off of his personal matters (as well as Brynhildr's voice). He decided to listen in on the conversations around him, but he was so tired that he didn't have the mind to listen to anything. There would be time to plan a strategy later.

 

(Welp, figured that I should tackle the rumors first -- an exposition about Kickenham's situation will be quite a long read by itself.)

@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken

While her guildmates were having their own squabble, Mawile flipped to another page of Aine's notes where there were several rumours jotted down:

Rumour #1

Rumour #1: One of the treasures in the Royal Archives supposedly played a part in the First Dragon War.

"I don't know, honestly," even Mawile scratched the back of her head at this particular rumour. "You'll want to ask a scholar there to make sure."

Rumour #2

Rumour #2: The Sword of the Stars is hidden somewhere near the royal city.

And now Blacky perked up. Considering he had been gathering the legendary sword's components, it's natural for him to be curious about the sword itself. Unfortunately for him, however, Mawile wasn't entirely sure about the rumour either. She directed him (and anyone interested) to ask the lorekeeper for the royal scholars about it -- he should know the stuff.

(Spoiler: The lorekeeper in question is the "Raihan" NPC Wave and I had discussed in our DMs beforehand. I also got the word "lorekeeper" from Zinnia's trainer class.)

 

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation
(Time for the main plot, people. )

Before Mawile could read the third rumour, the party came across an iridescent, starry night sky-like dome of barrier enveloping Kickenham which was surprisingly warm to touch. The "stars" parts were actually twinkles of pale blue where the warmth seemed to give way to powdery frost. And like Spikeford's barrier, this one also made it hard to see exactly what was within. Somewhere between translucent and opaque, if you will.

Looking up, everyone could see a white draconic being (not to be confused with Reshiram due to their different body shapes) persistently trying to break into the town. However, the effort was easier said than done because the dragon seemed to be thoroughly distracted by a volley of arrows and magical attacks from inside the dome. On top of that, there's Jirachi of the Expedition Society who did his best to hog the dragon's attention, so much that neither of them noticed the party down here.

Following the urgent matter at hand, everyone made their way through the barrier (though not without Mawile returning Aine's notes and Josson returning Blacky's sword) only for Blacky to skid to a stop upon realising that none of his friends could pass through the barrier courtesy of them not being Kickenham citizens -- one from Summerton, one from Spikeford, and one from a faraway land. Noticing this, Josson stopped as well, then pressed a Rollcall Orb on Blacky as a nonverbal prompt to use the thing. Obviously, the squire had no choice but to oblige, never mind that he had to mimic how Celine did it back at Spikeford.

Once the Eeveelutions got in, they could see chaos enfolding. Archers, snipers, and other bow wielders shot a barrage of arrows at the draconic assailant. Mages and minstrels were split in two groups: one group bombarding the dragon with offensive spells, another group forming and maintaining the barrier. Said barrier, while looking somewhere between translucent and opaque from the outside, now looked somewhere between transparent and translucent from the inside, thus allowing the archers and offensive mages to keep the dragon at bay while he was unable to pinpoint his counterattacks. And finally, the rest of the warriors (including Dedenne and Forrest of the Expedition Society as well as Josson's other apprentices unless they dabble in either magic or archery) directed their efforts to evacuate citizens to several evacuation points in town.

As for the recently returned Society, most of them went to help with evacuation. "Most of them" because there were three exceptions: Archen who joined the archers, Celine who lent the offensive mages her wand, and Mawile who assisted the barrier mages with her own copy of Clair de Lune tome and the extra power from her mega evolution (yes, she mega evolved here). Blacky was soon directed to help the archers while Josson joined the evacuation squad.

(See here for what your MCs might want to do at this point.)

 

Xuehua halted at the sight of the reptilian overlord smashing into the barrier, distracted by the little star darting about its head.

She gritted her teeth. Of course, how could she have been so blind? She'd even talked with Aine about it earlier. Just because Magius and the school of bull was down didn't mean everyone was safe yet. Didn't mean there weren't other foes left to destroy.

That just left what to do now, which was easy. Unlike Aine, she didn't say a word. She just cocked her staff and began blasting.

 

(Kind of feeling sadistic that the party had just finished a war and are about to wade into another one )

Atelier was out of energy by the time he was warped from his position outside the barrier to inside it. It was a strange feeling to pass through the barrier, since it had a feeling of warmth yet mixed with cold - like feeling sunshine on a cold day. While the feeling was welcome, it also had the side effect of making Atelier sleepier than he was. A long night of campaigning against the Shadow Dragon King had made him unmotivated to keep fighting. He needed reinforcements. Once he was through the barrier, he massaged his neck as he adjusted his eyes to his surroundings. He was in a town, and it appeared the town was in a state of warfare.

The shadow of the dragon outside was constantly hovering over the barrier, apparently engaging the town's defence forces. Snipers and mages were launching firepower against the dragon, unsure of how much effect they would really have, while the citizens were being escorted out. If Atelier had the energy, he would have assisted with the war effort, but he was that tired to the point that it was probably safer for him to head for an evacuation point. So was what it came to, with Swirlix munching happily on some berries while leading Atelier out to someone from the evacuation squad.

"Hey, you can't sleep now! You have a battle to win... I wanna be up there too. I want souls, 'kay? You owe me that much. Else, just give me to someone else's hands. Gawds, how sleepy can you get? Are you evening listening?!" Brynhildr said. "If you want, I can go possess the Glaceon for a little bit..."

"Can you get out of my head, for once?" Atelier shook his head. "And no. You're coming with me."

 

(Well, at least the townsfolk are fighting against the Dragon King this time. )

Atelier

@122 Generation

As it happened, Swirlix and Atelier could see a Riolu heading to an evacuation point at the warrior district with a Sylveon in tow -- both ladies having swords on their person. Swirlix would recognise this Riolu as Lianna, one of Josson's other proteges (he typically trained 3-4 aspiring knights at a time with Blacky being the oldest one at the moment -- the other two were Corey the Kirlia and Ami the Scorbunny). Also, unlike Aine, this Sylveon was mainly pink and dressed in a dancer garb that wouldn't get in her ribbons' way. She half-heartedly followed Lianna because she did so at her husband's insistence.

"Ah, Swirlix!" Lianna waved a paw at the Society's cleric/cook. "Back from Spikeford already?" the former asked (her liege had already told her and the others before he departed for Spikeford), though not without chuckling at the way Swirlix kept munching at one of the most inappropriate situations.

The Sylveon dancer, however, was more concerned at Atelier's current state. "Oh no!" she checked on the Eevee by touching her ribbon to him -- he did look like he's about to pass out anytime soon -- without even knowing that he was her brother's friend.

Aine & Xuehua

@WavePearl @ChocoChicken

As soon as her name was called, Celine nodded to Aine. She then directed Blacky's bard friend (no, really, that's who Aine was to Celine) to a group of minstrels chorusing their spellsongs -- one of whom was a Rillaboom beating his tree stump drum for his attacks (his wife should be safe at the warrior district by now). And seeing Xuehua start blasting, Celine followed suit with her own fire magic, though not without recognising Rowan the Lucario shooting his Aura Spheres despite being an unarmed fighter.

 

(I mean, according to Bulbapedia, Rillaboom is 2.1 meters tall (or 6'11" tall for you Americans). Of course Aine can find him easily.

Also, fun fact: This and Atelier's part of my previous post are just me hinting at two of our soon-to-be allies. )

The Rillaboom in question was a little surprised to see a shiny Sylveon joining the minstrels yet somehow managed to keep up the beat. Is that... Aine? he thought. The Rillaboom guy and his wife had been wanting to join Aine in her quest but couldn't find her because they didn't even know Aine was shiny until news of the Earth Dragon King's demise began to spread (the couple was already with the husband's family at Brasswick by then) -- and double the shock when they'd found out that the wife's brother (who was also shiny by the way) was with Aine all along. Yet here he was, finally finding that one minstrel long after the couple gave up. His wife surely would love to see this.

 

Swirlix waved back at Lianna (or so she tried). "Yes, we are back!” Swirlix said with her mouth full, now chewing on a gummi and and apple together. “Totally successful, but I did pass out for a while. They beat up the Dragon King much faster than I thought! I sure hope my pantry hasn’t been raided since I left Has everyone eaten yet? They shouldn't fight on an empty stomach. Or evacuate. Oh, as for Atelier here...” - she looked at the Eevee's direction - "Oh! I think he needs to hit the hay."

Atelier really looked like he was about to collapse on the spot. Even the mere contact of the ribbon was enough to make him sleep.

"Come on... If you're going to nap, then let me out. I wanna see the battle..."

Sighing, Atelier snapped himself awake momentarily to let the tome out of his bag, yet he was cradling it like a pillow after bringing it out, causing Brynhildr to shake nervously (which was strange - like, did books even have nerves or eyes?!).

 

Aw, dang. Too bad Swirlix passed out -- Lianna would love to ask how the battle went. Instead, she pivoted her question to something else while walking to the warrior district, "How's Master Josson, by the way? And Blacky too?"

The Sylveon, meanwhile, carefully lifted Atelier like a baby. She'd heard about Aine and her entourage before -- including her brother and a tome-wielding mage (the dancer had no idea that Atelier was actually a tactician) -- but never had she ever expected to meet the tome-wielding mage before meeting either her brother or Aine. Yes, the Sylveon dancer perked up at the mention of her brother's name ("Ah, yes, how's my brother doing?" she asked right after Lianna's question about Blacky came up). Yes, the Riolu was surprised, so the Sylveon had to introduce herself as Coco whom Lianna (and probably Swirlix) had previously known as an Eevee dancer. And no, she had no idea that her husband got to see Aine amid the chaos.

 

"They're doing great!" Swirlix replied to Lianna. "I am told they were heroic during the campaign, and they still have the will to fight on. How they manage to keep fighting without getting a bite to eat, I do no understand." She turned to look at the Sylveon. "Oho, new friend of yours, Lianna? I don't think I've met many Sylveons in my life..."

A short moment passed until the Sylveon's question sunk into Swirlix. "Wha... 'Brother'...? Huuuuuuuh? I didn't know Blacky had another sister - Waitwaitwait. Coco?!"

Whereas Atelier was basically limp in the Sylveon's arms, save for Brynhildr in his own arms. Clearly, he was missing out on the conversation, while Brynhildr was doing her best to see what was going on, wherever her 'eyes' were.

 

Xuehua paused to eye Celine and the new Lucario by her. Another member of one of the guilds, or a guard from the town? Whatever they were, they needed this Tyrant down, stat. "Hey, do you think it's about time we push up the offense or something? Change tactics? We just came from another fight, and I don't know if the others can keep this up all day!"

 

Xuehua

@ChocoChicken (I didn't specify Celine getting that close to Rowan but okay.)

Hearing a (not-so-)random question out of nowhere, Rowan turned to find a fired-up Glaceon wielding an ice staff (he didn't know who this Glaceon was but Celine did). "Dunno! Last time we went all out, people got killed!" he shouted back at the Glaceon. This might as well imply that the town had already tried every tactic at their disposal to deal with the Dragon King only to find playing defensively to be their safest bet.

Atelier

@122 Generation

And then Coco laughed at the way Swirlix was flustered. "Yep! It's me, Coco. Haven't come back here since I evolved, heh," she mused. And regarding Swirlix's comment about the warriors who kept fighting without getting a bite to eat, the Sylveon added, "But yeah, knowing those two, they might as well run on coffee, heh." Sure, Coco's wild guess was somewhat spot on, but Atelier should be the only one who knew this out of the four and he's currently passed out.

Soon enough, the ladies (with Coco still carrying Atelier) arrived at the warrior district which was currently repurposed as evacuation points. Lianna then led the others to one of these points: a warrior's hall managed by Order of the Knuckles. Dunno about Swirlix, but Coco and Atelier were left behind in the hall while Lianna ran off to evacuate more people.

@WavePearl

About an hour or so after everyone was evacuated, the Dragon King gave up. The only real damage he could cause this time was at Jirachi who was the only one fighting him head-on. The little star unsteadily headed down, though he might as well crash unless someone caught him in time...

 

(I can make edits as needed, but I presumed this was a moment to introduce other characters, so turned to the one that we didn't already know.)

Xuehua lowered her staff as the Dragon Dictator turned tail and fled. If she wasn't tired out from the raid and fight earlier, one could guess she probably would have gone after it herself.

She looked out at the field - whether or not the injured she could see from a distance had been so due to the earlier raid, like herself, or had wounds fresh from the battle. Nobody had fallen, right? How much did Kickenham deal with this again?

Then a flash of light above her caught her attention, a meteor falling to earth. Well, that looked bad. She took off after it, preparing her Ice Staff to slide ahead if she needed, though given her position seconds ago, who knew if she would be able to cover the distance in time.

 

@SAF

"Whooaaaa I didn't recognise you! You definitely have the looks now! I wonder, does Blacky even know you evolved? I bet he'll be shocked when he sees you," Swirlix giggled as she followed Coco and Lianna to the warrior's hall. Soon enough, Lianna had gone to resume her duties as Coco and Atelier were left in the hall.

A hall, huh?

Suddenly, Swirlix had the instinctive urge to check out the food supply, so she went off to look around at the pantry. That essentially left Coco and Atelier where they were. Atelier, who had passed out, had been limp on Coco's shoulder. It really looked like he was in need of sleep, and was harder to tell when he would awaken. Like, he wasn't under a spell, was he? He sure looked like it!

"Oh my gawds... Can you really sleep at a time like this? If you're going to sleep, at least let me out..."

Something like a dark aura - like what the Shadow Dragon King did to siphon power into the heroes from earlier - was seeping from the tome. Then a lot more of it seeped out and was taking the shape of a head and figure - complete with long pigtails that seemed to form part of the body itself. Then a face appeared where the head was - a not-so-scary ghostly face, in particular. If anyone knew their lore, it was a Misdreavus that had formed. Plus, it was more likely that this Misdreavus was capable of possessing most things.

"Finally. Can I possess you now?" Brynhildr said to Atelier. "Ugh, you're not even listening to me..."

 

Warrior's hall

@122 Generation

As soon as she entered one of the practice rooms (which was thankfully empty), Coco laid Atelier down on the floor before sitting down herself. She soon found herself reminiscing about that one time when Blacky taught her basic swordsmanship in this very room at her request -- never mind that it only lasted for several days before their pops found out. Yes, she needed to learn how to wield a sword before actually dancing with it. And yes, Josson was a little less strict with Coco than with his own proteges because he somehow knew that she would want to put a dancer's spin on her swordsmanship. Still, even with the lenience, the now-Sylveon dancer couldn't help but to wonder how her brother managed to cope with a much stricter training regiment than she'd got.

And then Coco's ribbons twitched. Like Aine, she could sense that something was wrong with the tome Atelier was holding but couldn't put a ribbon on what. It didn't last long, however, with a dark aura emanating from the tome and actually taking the form of a Misdreavus. Coco stepped back, gaping at the Misdreavus with a rather shaky "Who... who are you?"

Outside

@ChocoChicken @WavePearl

Like Xuehua, Blacky and some other people ran to the falling star's direction to try catching Jirachi. However, since he seemed to be falling Aine's way, the Rillaboom who happened to be nearby was the lucky one to catch Jirachi before he could crash. A closer look revealed the current state Jirachi was in: tired, wounded, as one would expect from someone who'd just fought a powerful foe head-on. Poor guy...

(Stopping here to see how the girls would react -- Blacky will arrive in the next post.)

 

Xuehua slid to a stop as the Rillaboom caught the little star. Good. That was accounted for.

"He still alive?" she asked, somewhat bluntly. "Do we need to get him to the medics?"