Pokémon: Endless Shadows IC

"If this is a trap, Father Time, I'll promise you this: I'll kill everyone here before you."

And Michael wasn't joking. He would kill everyone there, and leave the old man 'till last: a Gyarados is no big issue and geriatrics have brittle bones. Shotguns are the natural enemy of the human skeleton.

"How about we all introduce ourselves and explain what we're doing here. That means you too, sneaky psychic man. I know you're here so just show yourself."

Michael was glad he hadn't spent his early years playing video games or doing drugs like all of his friends. He studied hard, got two degrees, became proficient in many, many things, and made a lot of money. And hopefully, this was the payoff. While his money and diplomas mean nothing in an apocalypse, intelligence and survival skills mean a lot.

"My name is Michael. I used to own the Lilycove Department Store. I'm here because something that belongs to me is in that Devon Corp. building. Nothing more, nothing less."

Roseanne walked around her Jolteon walking next to her. She looked around for some berries, she saw an Oran berry but when she picked it a pokemon jumped out the bush. "Thunder fang now Jolt!" She yelled and her Jolteon sprung into action attacking the linoone. Jolt bit the linoone and sparks flew threw the pokemon. The linoone didn't give up with slash. Jolt guarded the move and took the hits making it look like it did no damage. Jolt attack again and again until it fainted.
"Great job jolt." Roseanne said taking a bite out of the bury and giving the other half to her pokemon.
"Now, let's continue our journey. I hope we come across another human soon, it's so lonely without being able to talk to someone and them talk back." She said patting jolts head before standing up and walking once again

Allesandor paused in his approach as more unknown factors decided to make their presence known, this was starting to look like more trouble then it was truly worth. As he began a new Risk/Benefit analysis it was interrupted in way that pleased him not at all. It appeared that one of the others knew he was there

Well... at least that cut out a large portion of the "Sneak safely away" plan's value, the best choice now seemed to be to trust these people. Let's go to Rustboro, the journey will be worth the data~ this whole mission was starting to look like a horrible idea. Still, they hadn't survived the last three years entirely out of luck.

As Allesandor moved out of cover to reveal himself he sent out message to Metagross :Hostile Evironment Protocol Zeta, Standby:. Something akin to resolve settled in his stomach as he stepped into view of the others and felt a telekinetic presence wrap around his torso. If things went haywire Metagross would yank him out of there before he could get hurt, hopefully.

"Hello there, I mean you no harm, I simply wish to acquire data. The Devon Building is likely to be a good source of data, hence my presence here." That was all they needed to know, though he did find one thing odd. "May I inquire as to why you called me 'Psychic Man'?"

Jesus. How many people are hiding around here? Michael was more than a bit frustrated. At least the creepy-looking psychic dude had revealed himself.

"Oh, come on. You were obviously harnessing a Pokemon's latent psychic power to stay hidden. A smart move, but it doesn't fool people like me with at least elementary knowledge of subionic energy patterns. And 'data'? That's ambiguous as all hell. What's to say you're not here to kill me? Or all of us? Or that you're part of a trap? Who are you, damn it!"

Well, one person's very much out in the open already... and I like his style, Cyan thought to himself.

"Stay here, Smeargle", Cyan whispered as he got up and walked towards Psychic Man and Michael.

"Yo, Psychic man, we're on the same side now, cool? So, what's the plan?"

He quickly assembled a post-hoc rationalization of his actions to do with chaos being the natural order or some shit like that.

Carrow took a moment to study the man before him. For someone who claimed to be intelligent he certainly had no idea how to collect relevant data.
"Who I am is irrelevant, the event three years ago made sure of that and, do you really expect that someone who is going to kill you will announce so before hand? Or would you really trust someone if they said weren't going to kill you? No, the only way you can answer that question is by observing them and collecting data on their actions, empirical data is what you can trust."
Allesandor finished calculating the stranger's most likely BMI and stored it away for future reference before looking up and meeting his eyes.
"That should answer your first question as well, it's what I do now. Collect data, primarily on the Event but all data is welcome, 'Knowledge is Power' as they say. Oh look another one. As for a Plan" He turned in Steven's direction "I'd to see a floor plan of the building if you have one, we can proceed much more efficiently with it"

Roseanne heard people and walked towards the voices. She took out her P99 and readied it just in case. She came out from her hiding spot and walked over to allesander and carrow. She put her gun in her pocket but held it just in case. Her Jolteon standing right next to her. She didn't say anything but just watched them for a moment. "Hello." She said softly

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Michael sighed as yet another newcomer appeared.

"Is there some sorta party invitation I've missed out on here? Seriously."

Michael called Salamence over to him, as to shield him from the rest of the group. He grabbed Steven by the shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"Look, these fools are obviously only going to hinder you and I. Why don't we just go inside the building and sort shit out? We'll kill Cyrus, get my... thing... and just move on. I don't see why you'd want to deal with these idiots. Especially creepy Mr. Data over there."

Michael picked the wrong day to arrive in Rustboro City. He was wondering if he shouldn't just kill all these people, if only to speed up the process. Still, allies would be useful...

One person to help him out, that was nice. Two was excellent. Three was... getting a bit much, but who knows how many people Cyrus has working for him? This was, however, getting a bit too much. You put enough survivors together, even well meaning ones, and people tend to start getting shooty. Steven paused for a second.

Ezra chimed in here. "My name is Ezra. I'm here because my Lucario led me here." He turned his head to look at the Pokémon. "So what do you thing, Lucario? Can we trust these people?" The Lucario looked around at the group, then for just a split second, his eyes flashed a light blue. He turned back to Ezra and nodded. Ezra relaxed, and moved his hand away from the revolver at his waist. "Well, Lucario trusts you... trusts your auras, at least. And I'd say he's right about 90% of the time." The Lucario frowned. "95%, then."

Steven nodded to himself. Perhaps it'll be possible to organize this group after all. He glanced briefly at Michael. Perhaps he was right... but no. Steven had to take up the mantle of a leader in the past... so many years ago. He turned and addressed the amassed survivors. "All of you, quiet down for a second. My guess is that we've got about 30 minutes 'till nightfall, and by that point I'm sure we will have all gone our separate ways. In fact, anyone of you can leave right now. No one's leading you into a trap. Just walk away, if you feel you must. However, if you help me out, for whatever reason... for the research still left in the building... for the loot... perhaps just to help a stanger out, from the goodness of your heart... or maybe because you just want to shoot some people... Steven shrugged. "I can guarantee you'll be rewarded." Steven took a couple of steps back to look at the group. This many people all passing through town at the same time? That couldn't just be a coincidence. These people were brought here for a reason. Maybe this was it... probably not... but if Steven could just get them working together, perhaps their true purpose would become apparent.
Either way.
"So who's in?"

"Well, it seems I have no real choice, do I, Salamance?" Michael announced to his Pokemon. If Steven wasn't prepared to split from the group then Michael would either have to kill everyone or just cooperate. And cooperating wasn't too bad, actually. At heart, Michael was a people person. He didn't get to make a twelve-figure salary without a bit of conference call and soiree experience.

Michael rolled up his sleeves and rubbed his hands together.
"Alright then. If we want to do this, we'll need to set up a camp. We'll need food, fuel and a good hiding spot out of sight. We won't be able to do anything meaningful tonight. So let's build ourselves a nice little campfire and share life stories. Salamence knows Flamethrower!"

And if Steven was gonna be leader, Michael wanted to be at least second-in-command. Or sous chef. Or something.

Allesandor closed his eye briefly. Things were spiralling out of control, none of his original plan remained relevant and there were unknown variables all around him which made fighting a very dangerous prospect. His surroundings disappeared momentarily as he updated Metagross on all known and unknown data, consensus needed to be reached.....

Ah, :RunScenario_PES_Position=Executor: Consensus had been reached, so it would be. :Confirmed:

Ten seconds after closing his eyes Allesandor reopened them and turned towards Michael and Steven "The Pokecenter 500 meters south of us will provided ample space, cover from the elements and our enemy's sight. It is recommended we relocate there immediately in order to lower the chance of hostiles noticing our presence. After that the tasks of gathering firewood and foods should be delegated to those with the appropriate capabilities."

With relevant data issued to the appropriate authorities, the self appointed Executor of this new group waited for further commands as Metagross hovered to his side before settling itself down next him.

Cyan stayed close to Psychic Man, and considered offering him a hug, though he didn't seem the hugging type.

"I'm in if Mr. Psychic Pants is in."

Smeargle quickly etched an artwork in the dirt, captioned "We're All Going To Die". It featured lots of dead people and a laughing demon.

Cyan could tell that Smeargle approved of their new group.

Travis reached Rustboro, the sun slowly dripping into the horizon. He lazily strolled on the road, taking peeks into nearby buildings for helpful resources, though the whole town had been plundered.

He continued along the empty roads looking for anything that grabbed his attention, when he noticed a small group of people bickering. 'Could they be a group of bandits?' Travis pondered, 'no, they're simply too mismatched, and they appear to be pretty on edge'.

Travis turned to Sunny, "These folks seem a tad on edge and jumbled, don't you think? Maybe what they need is..." a smirk spread across his face, "guidance".

Travis burst forth and presented himself with elegance on par with a rhino and bellowed greetings like an annoying salesperson. "Greetings travellers, I am here to help you with all of your worldly problems!"

Finally. Things were coming together. Steven looked over at the horizon and for a brief second, a frown crossed his face. He'd wanted to finish his business and get out of town by sundown. However, the moment passed. After all, it wasn't like they needed to get out of town anytime soon. The remains of Hoenn were, after all, a fairly static place. It would be nice to return to Mossdeep after this... though that would mean travelling through Lilycove.... still, one hurdle at a time. "That idea's excellent. After all, Cyrus isn't going anywhere. Still... I worry about the civilians..." Steven sighed. "But it wouldn't do them well if we just barged in without a plan, either. I think the Pokémon Center would make a pretty decent camp, so let's head over there."

Ezra wasn't so sure. Yeah, his Lucario said these guys were alright but... The Lucario tensed up a little."Hmm? There's someone else coming this way?" Lucario relaxed again as Travis approached the group. Ezra reached for his gun regardless. This guy was clearly crazy. Lucario looked at his master, then back at the new guy. "You can't be sure of that... Fine. But if he goes nuts and shoots us all, I'm blaming you."

Steven looked at the new guy for a couple of seconds before responding. "Oh... hello. Uh... I'm sorry, but what?"

Roseanne looked at Ezra. "Hello, I am Roseanne and this is jolt. You wouldn't mind if we joined you guys would you?" She asked. Jolteon stepped foreword and looked at the lucario. "Jolteon." He said his name in a form of friendship.

After wandering for several weeks, his food sources depleted and through sheer boredom, Terrence found himself at the end of Route 116, just near the entrance to Rusboro City. "Well lookie here, Rustboro. 'Might be able to get a decent night's rest at the pokécentre." Terrence said to himself as he made his way into the city. Walking though the city, Terrence looked in nostalgia at the old gym and smiled. Travelling a bit more, he heard voices coming from around the old Pokémon Centre, he pulled out his deagle and took cover behind a broken and looted vending machine on its side. "Dreavy." He said calling to his Misdreavus. "Can you lookie ahead and see where are them raiders be at? They must be getting dumber if they're just in the open like this."

With that order, his Misdreavus blended into the shadows and surveyed the situation. Turns out nothing more than a bunch of survivors. grouping up. She then signalled Terrence that the coast was clear. Terrence got up out of cover and slowly made his way towards the group of survivors.
"Odd seein' groups that aint raiders. Where y'at?" Terrence said to the group.

Cyan pointed at Smeargle's artwork in the ground.

"There are some bad dudes with guns and we're gonna stop them from being bad, I think. We were promised loot, and I decided that I'm on the psychic guy's side, so we're a temporary gang. It's actually kinda like Plato said, about friendship in the face of adversity, you know?"

Cyan really hoped nobody would call him out on that last bit.

"Anyway, wanna join our gang?"

Steven quickly explained the situation to the newcomers, then those who chose to do so followed him to the Pokécenter.

The group quickly set up a makeshift camp in the ruins of the old building. Since Pokéballs stopped working, Pokécenters became obsolete quickly, this one likely hadn't seen any attention in the last 3 years. The old building creaked. Steven looked around at the people around him. "Well, we may have all met under strange circumstances, but I'm glad to have you along. I'll begin going over my plan for tomorrow. if you're all okay with that."

((All aboard that's coming aboard. If you've decided you wanna sit this out, well, just post in the OOC. Only stay on board if you feel you can regularly keep up a rate of at least 1 post per day. Small absences are forgivable, so long as they're not constant.))

Michael pulled over a dilapidated chair and ran his fingers through his once-immaculate hair.

"I'm all ears."

Subconsciously, he removed the magazine from his Glock and felt over with his thumb how many bullet he had in it. Michael wanted to be prepared if anyone was going to attack the group, or if he was going to attack someone.

"By the by, if anyone has weapons maintenance issues, I'll fix up your guns and shit. Your pistol's pretty faulty, old man. I reckon that next round you fire, you'll blow off half your face."

Salamence was curled up in the corner, blowing fire through his nose every so often to keep him warm.

Allesandor looked to Metagross :Gather firewood: was sent over the mind link :confirmed:.

As Metagross marched off to get firewood, Allesandor focused most of his attention on Steven, prepared to obtain all data possible about the plan for tomorrow. The other part of his attention was assessing everything his could about the members of his new group without a more in depth study.

"Please continue"

Roseanne looked around for any potions or berries she could mix to make a great meal. She shuddered as she remember what happened 3years ago. Her Jolteon got close to her leg trying to put her at ease