Lucy - Traveling to Oreburgh

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Lucy just sort of listened to what the boy within her had to say. Both an exasperated expression and a light blush appeared on her cheeks as she listened. See, here she was trying to interrogate a guy and he brought attention to the elephant in the room! Geez! She decidedly forced herself not to hold it against him though. Lucy panicked a moment as Amethyst jumped off her shoulders, as if fearing that she'd accidentally dropped the girl. When Amethyst actually moved forward on her own and started snarling however Lucy stopped. Geez..! She was pretty sure she hadn't seen this side of the girl before. She just sort of... stared for a moment before reaching her arms around her stomach and promptly releasing Mako into them, plausibly terrifying the already disturbed boy being snarled at. Lucy proceeded to set Mako down without comment and gaze out towards the other male, raising a brow as he blatantly tried to screw with them. Was he /trying/ to get attacked? You were supposed to be remotely /subtle/ about this sort of thing! Disregarding the poor boy she had just released, Lucy shifted her weight to one hip and crossed her arms indignantly.

"Hey! If you're so friendly, stop messing with us and tell us what you're doing!"

She totally sounded a tad annoyed. She didn't like the fact that he'd somehow managed to provoke Amethyst into hostile mode. Didn't like that he was blatantly trying to mess with them for some unknown reason. She had her reasons, some more significant than others.

Tim Korinal

Masculine values? He didn't really understand that, but he got that she just called him silly. For not being afraid of Nick's strategy? Then Hailey started spouting more smart-person words, but Tim managed to get the gist of it. It annoyed him, but before he could get a word in to argue, Dominick interrupted.

"You'd be killing any kids there if you do that!"

"R-right!" Tim added. "Hurting kids is exactly what we're trying to avoid here!" He quickly assumed that Hailey didn't plan on the other spirit users to get any warning on her attack. While it seemed okay since spirit users can withstand quite a bit of punishment, a super-boosted attack like what she said was going to decimate anyone that didn't have a resistance or a ton of stamina to endure it all, and even then they probably wouldn't want to live with the damage. "Plus, we're trying to rid the city of adults. We want the kids to have more freedom in the only livable places left, we're not gonna do that by killin' 'em!"

"Crap!" ryan yelled, as he flew over the ocean in the direction of sinnoh. he watched in panic as he realized that his sister was no longer riding on his back. ryan was in his morphed form, flat black charizard wings were protruding from his back, keeping him aloft. his black charizard tail was streaming out behind him, his blue tail flame blazing bright in panic. his skin was tinted a dark grey almost black color. he had two spines jutting from his head and red eys.

<what now ryan?>(when i use <>that is his pokespirit talking to him telepathically) "What do you think you idiot! lisa isnt riding on my back anymore!", Ryan circled the sky desperately searching for his sister. <i dont see her anywhere, but hey, less cargo huh?>

Ryan narrowed his eyes, and said in a low seething voice, "not the time, casper" <ok,ok, i'm out then>. "Casper really gets on my nerve sometimes" he muttered to himself. finally after about an hour of searching he gave up and continued to sinnoh resignedly. after many hours of flying and an near collision with a wingull pokespirit, ryan finally arrived in sinnoh. he rested on the cost for a while the whole time Casper was silent, which was unusual for him.

"Casper?" Ryan asked. hmm.. i wonder why Casper isn't responding. he usually takes any chance he can to talk. Ryan thought to himself. "well, Lisa wanted to head for Jubilife city, so if she made it she will be there" Ryan said for Caspers benefit. Without another word Ryan morphed and and took flight in the direction of Jubilife city. This was something he was going to come to regret in the future.

Hailey and Arcea - Children's City

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Hailey seemed disappointed with Dominick and Tim's reaction. She raised both her eyebrows and shrugged lightly, turning away and showing the others her back. Meanwhile, Arcea crossed her arms, watching silently. It took Hailey a moment, but she turned her head and flashed the others an unimpressed look, seemingly having just judged them for perceived weaknesses.

Hailey: "...Well alright. We don't need to free that city. But if you think you can free it without killing a bunch of kids in the process you're crazy."

She spoke in a matter-o-fact tone.

Hailey: "...Nicholas sure didn't."

All of the ominous implications. Due to the y'know... lack of survivors, first hand accounts of Nicholas' slaughter was actually rather rare. She was implying that Children's City was built on the sacrifice of kids and adults alike. Without hesitating, she continued.

Hailey: "I'd know. What do you think was the adult's first reaction to a mad pokespirit wielder slaughtering them? They threw all the wielders they could muster at him..! Some of them still lay buried under the overturned asphalt Nicholas used to crush them. "

She seemed to be implying she had been there and witnessed things personally. If what Hailey said was true, how did a first hand source survive to tell the tail? It would be extremely lucky, to say the least. If anyone looked at Arcea, she was giving Hailey a rather disbelieving look. She didn't appear to know what her 'friend' was on about. One might be able to help but wonder what Nicholas himself might've had to say had he been there.

(OOC, sorry for posting again, but since i wont be interacting with any other RPers during this post, i thought it would be OK)

<whats that?>Casper asked Ryan casually as they flew over the sinnoh region about half a mile up. "oh, what? now your going to talk to me?"

<No, really, look over there!> Casper materialized next to Ryan and pointed to their right as they both hovered in the air, their wings beating to keep them aloft.

"What the f***?" Now i've seen it all Ryan thought to himself. There was an adult male screaming in terror as he fell from the sky about half a mile above them. Ryan flew over and caught him, and they both plummeted towards the ground, but at the last second Ryan managed to flap his wings enough to bring them up to a comfortable hight. Ryan held the guy out at arms length, and the guy was blubbering and crying.

"This may be a weird question, but, um... exactly why were you falling out of the sky?" Ryan asked incredulously. <Maybe he was jealous of all us flying pokespirits and decided to give flying a try?> Casper asked Ryan as he materialized next to him again. Ryan just rolled his eys and sighed, choosing to ignore casper for now. Ryan tried shaking the guy, and yelling at him, but nothing would break him out of his catatonic state.

"hmm..." This guy looks like he is well fed, he reminds me of some of the Caravan attendants back in Johto. "Well, lets search this guy, shall we?" <sounds good to me> Casper agreed. Ryan proceeded to search the guy and found a pouch full of Cheri and Rawst berries, along with two homebrew grenades. He took them from the guy, who continued to blubber like an idiot, and let go of him to fall to the ground. The guy then chose this time to resume screaming as he fell to the ground and landed with a splat.

<anyone up for pancakes?> Casper asked in his usual joking manner. "Let's see..... These grenades are crap, he obviously doesn't know the first thing about explosives, though the gunpowder could be useful" Ryan then took the gunpowder from the grenades and filled the berry pouch with it after eating the berries.

<We heading for Jubilife now?> Casper asked Ryan. "yes, we are". Ryan and Casper continued to fly the short distance to jubilife, and landed in the center of the town.<Um... Those adults dont look so friendly> Casper observed.

"Great" Ryan muttered as the group of adults surrounded him. <Lets try to get out of here alive shall we? i didnt wait a long time to get a spirit wielder host just so he could die on me the first chance he gets> Casper joked. "Planning on it" Ryan said as he began readying his Blast Burn.

Total opened his eyes, he was not in the same place he was, as he sat up, he looked around – he was not in Celestic Town either. He reached up and removed the hood of the cape he had stole before leaving his home before scratching his head, as he looked around, he seemed to be in a forestry area, before he had the chance to ask himself about what had gone on, a voice broke through his subconscious, it sounded very old and more than a little wise.

You are safe. You are currently in Eterna Forrest – there is no need to panic Total.

Eterna Forrest? So I wasn’t dreaming? Who, who are you?

Correct, I am a poke spirit. Many years ago when there were pokemon in the world, I was a dusknoir, well I still am, just in a less tangible form; my trainer named me Dusk – when you were looking at the crystal stone in Mt Coronet –

WHAT? So that wasn’t a hallucination? Dusk? Nice to meet you, my name is Ray, but prefer to be called Total

No, out of all the spirits it felt that I had the strongest bond with you, and so by the power of the great Arceus I was granted permission to fuse with you, but as you were near death, my first priority to get some nourishment.

You found some food? Where – tell me, please where did you ... is this BLOOD on my hands?

No – not food, as a wielder of my spirit you are able to absorb the essence of others to take nourishment, and in a world where food is scarce – I had to do what I could to help you –

You KILLED someone? A kid – an innocent –

Yes. No – I killed an adult, as they are not innocent, it was the adults who came before many a year ago who plunged the world into this mess, and as the stone says, you are to bring justice to this world, however you see fit. I will always be by your side whatever you choose.

Mr Dusk, just two more questions: Firstly – what would be the best move to make at this time? Secondly, what else happens apart from your being able to speak to me like this?

No need for the Mr, Total – I would suggest moving from here, perhaps try and find some other children who also have spirits with them. And you can take on part of my form, you will have access to six abilities to fight with, but even in your current form, you have some ghost qualities about you, you are able to mask yourself to others sight as well as no longer having a need for doors, and lastly you have an substantial increase to your physical strength, but continued use of these powers will tire you quickly to begin with, to take my form, all you need do is ask me in your mind, and I will take care of the rest. For now, head to where the poke spirit wielders dwell.

Total got up, his cape blowing gently in the faint wind, as he looked at it, he saw that it had changed colour, it was now pure black with yellow markings on each side, the outside, the side that others would see from the rear had yellow markings that looked like a smiling face, while the inside had more yellow markings, but made out to look like an angry face, he shook his head as he stood up, pulling the hood over his face, obscuring as much of his face as possible, and set off, he had heard that a lot of kids had taken over Hearthome City and renamed it Child’s City, so that would be his first stop...

As Total stood up, he realized that he did indeed feel stronger, and fuller - then he had ever been in his short life. After a short inventory check he noticed the play cape that he had stole had changed appearance.

Dusk? Did you have something to do with my cape changing colours?


Yes Total, The cape will change when you want to take on my form, but for now - just travel as a normal kid, we are approaching Eterna City, the sooner we get through that place the better.


Yes, I agree - you mentioned that I could hide myself from sight Dusk, do I need your form for that?


No, you dont need to take my form for that, when we get to the gates, hide in the plant life and I will tell you what to do then.


With a firm plan in mind, Total emerges from Eterna Forrest and towards the western gates of Eterna City.

<Look out!> Ryan ducked and rolled just in time to avoid a grenade thrown by one of the adults. "So much for my Blast Burn, i wont have time to use it if they keep chucking grenades!" The blast from aforementioned grenade hit one of the adults and sent him flying backwards with two less limbs. This though, didnt discourage the remaining adults at all, and they kept pressing forward until there was only about a 10 foot radius between Ryan and the mob surrounding him on all sides.

<What do ya say we give them the old shake down?> Casper inquired."On it" Ryan replied. At that moment several things happened, Ryan sprang up into the air, an one of the mob threw another grenade, which of course missed, and a male adult managed to grab his tail and hang on, while trying to stab Ryan with a knife.

<watch out Ryan! You got one right on your tail!> As the grenade detonated The male adult was burned in the face by Ryan,s tail flame, and fell to the ground and rolled out of sight. Ryan quickly changed direction and flew headfirst towards the ground at he angry mob, bringing his feet down at the last second, leaving cracks in the earth and toppling most of the adults over with his earthquake attack. While they were still stunned and injured, Ryan sprinted towards the exit, only to feel and immense pain in left shoulder. He was forced to slow his pace due to the pain, but made it out of Jubilfe in time to lie low in a nearby forest.

Ryan sank down onto the ground next to a tree, and looked at his shoulder to find a scalpel sticking out of it. He sighed, adn reached over his shoulder and pulled it out out with a sharp tug. "ahh!" he yelped as blood began flowing out of his shoulder. he de-shifted, and gingerly took off his hoodie, and used it to tie his shoulder to slow the bleeding.

<Great, what now?> Ryan pushed him to his feet and pulled a map of Sinnoh out of his jeans pocket and stared at it wistfully, Man, i wish Lisa was here, i remember when she gave this map to me for safekeeping before journeying from Johto...I hope she is Okay...Ryan thought to himself. after studying the map for a bit, he decided to head to the nearest inhabited city, Eterna City.

<How are the Wings doing?> "Do you really think i can fly with this shoulder wound, casper?" Ryan asked.<Well, no...> Ryan just shook his head and started towards Eterna Forest.

Like some sort of divine intervention, the darkness was abruptly interrupted by daylight. Mako moved to shield his eyes, but before he knew it, he was pushed out by...something. Landing on his feet, he surveyed his surroundings. It looked like there was a new foe among them. "Hey! If you're so friendly, stop messing with us and tell us what you're doing!" Lucy said. Clearly Mako understood the situation less than he thought. From what he could gather, this guy, whoever he was, was threatening Lucy and Amethyst. Granted, it could have been inadvertent, but from his experience that wasn't much of a matter when it came to these girls. This guy was probably going to get killed, and that's the type of thing that he wanted to avoid, at least until he knew his intentions. Similarly, he didn't want the girls to get hurt, and he had no idea what this mystery man was capable of.

"How about we take care of him?" Kraus asked, with excitement seething through his voice. "We don't have to kill him, let's just rough him up a bit." Kraus had gotten over the spat that had happened between the two previously, at least for the time being.

"Last time I let you help me I woke up in Floaroma Town, and that was today." Mako said in response.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't know what happened after that, either. I thought I could take over a broken host and, well, it didn't go over so well." Mako was surprised to hear this, he was sure that it was Kraus that was responsible for his Blackout Journey, but he was as in the dark about the affair as Mako was. No pun intended. "Don't worry, I'm not going to try to take your body this time. There's some fresh meat over there and I want to see what this body can do. If not for me, do it for the girls." Mako smiled, Kraus may have been a devious bugger, but he did have the capabilities of being reasonable once in a while.

"But still, we're not even sure that this guy's an enemy." Mako said, looking at him.

"Only one way to find out."

After saying Kraus' this, Mako felt strange. He felt empty, the inside of his body felt like an inexplicable black void. Then, like a Black Hole regressing into a supernova, Mako felt an explosion of energy. Maybe he wasn't the strongest Pokewielder, but this was his first time "merging" with Kraus without becoming Creed (when he becomes Creed, the process is called "synchronization"), and the feeling that came from his first time was most certainly unique. "Amy, down girl," Mako said. He certainly felt more confident, and not really like himself, but at the same time, he did. He took off his sweatshirt and his wool gloved and set them ablaze with Dragon Breath. "I'll take care of this guy," Mako said, moving in front of Amethyst.

Kraus laughed to himself and said"Be careful there, partner. You may be stronger, but you're not the king of the world; don't go crazy." Despite the fact the Mako thought this feeling was due to the merger, for the most part this was a simple adrenaline rush born from this being his first merging, so he felt stronger than he actually was. Kraus was aware of this, but he knew that Mako would make for a more admirable and worthy foe if he didn't know this; he thought it'd be a better idea to let Mako figure this out by himself.

---

To Amethyst's... What's the word? Surprise? No, more like annoyance. To Amethyst's annoyance, Dinnerman had taken a place right in front of her, and even let out a "down girl" remark. When he walked by she nearly bit his finger off, but decided against it. I hope he gets taken down, that'll make my day. She moved herself backward, standing close by her new best friend Lucy.

If Lucy looked at her, or felt her, she see that her right "soft blue" eye was flickering, the pupil slitting a bit to nearly match her left "ruby red" eye, and even turning a shade of light purple, on and off; her body was still tensed, and the occasional twitch and jitter seemed to emanate from her shoulders, legs, and various body parts. Even hair bright red hair seemed to flick and dance about, though there was no wind to push it.

Bay startled back at once. Not so much out of fear as surprise when the seemingly insane female released a male boy around his age out of her stomach. So she wasn't pregnant after all Bay sighed in relief. He wasn't sure what to do if he had to fight a pregnant person.

"Hey! If you're so friendly, stop messing with us and tell us what you're doing!"she exclaimed, sounding pretty mad.

She must not be human, or at least a regular human. The boy, who seemed somewhat startled from being abruptly released from the belly of the female, seemed to be debating on fighting too After contemplating it the boy seemed to be merging with a Pokespirit. Bay sighed, he felt like he wasn't going to be leaving without a fight. Here he was stuck in a conflict now with three Pokewielders and one supernatural cannibal.

The boy who was merging emitted a dark like aura to Bay and he seemed to be ready to fight. This guy was a natural fighter and was possibly the strongest of the group but he was the one who seemed to be going all-out as he was semi-merging with his Pokespirit. The other female, who took offense first with out warning, had an odd air about her and Bay knew that someone here was going to be leaving here brutally injured at the very least. The boy stepped forward in front of this girl as if he was going to be first to fight and threw his shirt off. No sooner afterwards he burnt it with a flame emitted from his mouth. "What a show off." Flow said.

After this thought Bay's skin felt jumpy and although he didn't realize it, his hair popped out of the ponytail tinting it from black to blackish-brown and his regular ears slowly changed into fox-like ones. He didn't know it but he was partially merging with he Pokespirit like the other boy.

Bay attempted to get one last warning to the group before fighting. "If you wish not to fight, now is the time to say so, but If you all want to fight I prefer that you all not massacre me at once unless it can't be avoided" Bay said with a calm grin on his face. "I think we are going in for the fight of our life" Bay said to Flow who cautiously replied "You better not die now."

Bay looked coldly ahead, looking at every movement of the three figures ahead of him, prepared to fight and prepared for diplomacy or at least a way to get out of this unscathed.

Stop Total!

The thought boomed inside the boys head making him stop the instant the thought had faded to nothing.

Whats the matter Dusk? Have I done something wrong?

No - I sense something, there are other poke spirit wielders south of the city... and something is not right, we need to get there fast.

But how?

A confused look appeared on Total's face as he internally conversed with dusk, but managed to wipe it off, in case anyone walked by, which luckily, no one did.

I mentioned before about your powers now I am fused with you, you are about to use them for the first time, first - get off the road, this is just so you dont get seen, not that matters for long...


Total quickly got off the road and managed to hide behind the remains of what had been a large and magnificent tree. He looked around quickly before resuming his talk with Dusk.

Ok, What now Dusk?


That has already been sorted Total, look at yourself.


Total followed his Poke Spirits instructions, only to not be able to see himself, it was disconcerting to say the least.

Yes, it is strange the first time, but at the moment, you are only hidden from sight - you still have a physical form, the next step is to imagine yourself free from the binds of gravity, I will help with the direction of travel.


Even though he could not see himself, Total felt his hands press against his temples as he thought hard about not needing to obey the non optional law that was gravity, after a minute he looked down, only to find him self in the air.

Am I flying?


No Total, As I am sure you are unaware the Pokemon species Dusknoir did not have legs and so had to resort to moving through the air - and this is one of the powers you now have Total, it will get quicker to activate the more you practice, but for now, we head to just beyond the southern gates of the City...Hurry.


Total found the sensation fairly odd to be half flying over the city of Eterna, but he was focused upon his destination, he started to descend, just as Dusk had said, there were some odd looking kids, three of them seemed to be ganging up on a forth kid, so trying to do the decent thing, he dropped down behind the forth kid, still hidden from sight, as his feet touched the ground, two small dust clouds rose from where he landed. Total crossed his arms and tried to look mean, but the effort was wasted as he was still invisible, and so he spoke to the group, trying to make it menacing.

"What do you think you are doing? three on one is not good odds."

He looked at one of the kids, who seemed to be salivating, it shook Totals resolve a bit, but he hoped a disembodied voice would surprise them enough to stop what was going on, even for a second....

A voice from somewhere tried to stop the fight, saying that the odds weren't in the other man's favor. Being that Kraus also had no physical form and, at least to Mako's knowledge, he couldn't assume physical form, he decided to write it off as a wandering pokespirit. "This is getting annoying, let's just figh-" Mako stopped himself in his tracks. His words weren't synchronizing with his intentions. The man offered diplomacy and Mako wanted to fight. Something was wrong. "K-Kraus...what did you do to me?" Mako asked, his adrenaline running on low. Even if it was pure adrenaline, there's no energy surge in the world that would make such a radical personality difference. His intention was to protect the three of them, even if it meant getting hurt, and this wasn't how that plan was supposed to be executed.

Kraus, in response, laughed. It was muffled, and he tried to stay silent. He couldn't help it, this idiot actually lent his body over to Kraus, so to speak. Kraus was more in control of Mako's psyche and mentality than ever. "You're such a freakin' idiot! I am honestly surprised that you're that stupid. Granted, I wasn't lying, I indeed wanted to fight this guy, but I wanted to tear him limb from limb." Mako looked at the characters around him, then he looked at his charred gloves and sweat shirt.

He looked to Bay and said, "If you're really not here to fight us, then take your hands away from any potential weapons. Put your hands up and walk over." He then walked over to the girls and said, "Amy, sorry about that belittling comment back there. That wasn't me...at least, I don't think it was." He looked down for a few moments and them back up again and said, "I really should thank you guys for all of your help, if it wasn't for you then I'd probably be dead, for reasons I'm still trying to figure out. Clearly I can't trust this pokespirit of mine and I have blackouts on occasion, but I am putting you two in danger by being here. I'm off to Pastoria, I hope we meet again." With that, he handed his beanie to Lucy and set off for the woods to pass by Eterna City without being noticed.

"well, that shoulder wound wasnt as bad as expected" Ryan commented to Casper, who was trudging behind him in his insubstantial form.The knife hadnt gone in as deep as Ryan originally thought, and looked worse than it actually was. They had been walking through eterna forest for a bit now and hadn't run into anything remotely dangerous yet, but Ryan was keeping his guard up anyways.

"Pretty soon we will be able to fly, once we get out of this forest" <thank god, i hate being in enclosed woods like this, it makes me nervous> Casper Commented.they continued to walk for a bit more, walking past an odd Boulder covered in moss that had stood the test of time.

<Wow, look at this Ryan!> Casper called when he passed by.Ryan took one look at the boulder, and ignored it. "Notify me if there is something important, Casper, not if you see a pretty rock" Ryan said scornfully to Casper as he continued through the forest.

Suddenly, Ryan heard the rustling of leaves, and spun around into a defensive stance."well, that shoulder wound wasnt as bad as expected" Ryan commented to Casper, who was trudging behind him in his insubstantial form.The knife hadnt gone in as deep as Ryan originally thought, and looked worse than it actually was. They had been walking through eterna forest for a bit now and hadn't run into anything remotely dangerous yet, but Ryan was keeping his guard up anyways.

"Pretty soon we will be able to fly, once we get out of this forest" <thank god, i hate being in enclosed woods like this, it makes me nervous> Casper Commented.they continued to walk for a bit more, walking past an odd Boulder covered in moss that had stood the test of time.

<Wow, look at this Ryan!> Casper called when he passed by.Ryan took one look at the boulder, and ignored it. "Notify me if there is something important, Casper, not if you see a pretty rock" Ryan said scornfully to Casper as he continued through the forest.

Suddenly, Ryan heard the rustling of leaves, and he spun around into a defensive stance. After several minutes of nothing, ryan continued on, making sure he watched his back.

<Is that the exit?>Casper asked."Guess we will find out now wont we?" Ryan answered. They neared the last of the edge of the woods, and looked out from behind a tree to see two girls standing outside of Eterna city and one guy. the guy was heading towards the woods, holding a charred sweatshirt.

<Well, looks like we see our first non adults in Sinnoh, wonder if they are friendly.> Casper said to Ryan. "Lets tail them for a bit, i dont want to confront them until i know what they are doing, and how powerful they are, if they are spirit wielders. knowledge can give you the upper hand in combat." Ryan whispered.

<why cant we make friends for once, why do you have to be so untrusting?> Casper whined. "Trusting people gets you killed, thats why. if i find they have good intentions, i may try to befriend them, as an ally could be useful, but i want more info first".

<It just gets so lonely with just you here, plus you never laugh at my jokes>Casper sighed. Ryan climbed up the tree he was hiding behind, and proceeded to watch and wait.

The Oreburgh mines were dark and damp, a surrounding most people would find avoidable, but Alex felt more at home in these tunnels than anywhere else. He was huddled against the wall with his knees tucked firmly to his chest when he first heard it.

"Can it be? After all this..unf..time you came back here? No...something is..mmrnh...different...ahh, the boy. That is why your spirit seemed to be his."

"H-hello? Who are you...show yourself!" The voice seemed so close, it was as if someone was right on top of him. Alex stood and spun around the cave, searching for the one who was speaking to him.

"Heh...if you insist I shall...unf...show you."

Alex felt a quick and sudden breeze blow by in the tunnel just before he was thrown to the ground by the sheer force of something hitting him right in the gut. He cried out in pain, the sound echoing off the tunnel walls and bouncing back at him as if a crowd had gathered to mock him.

"Yes...share my pain and understand what it means to...hhrrun...use its power."

The voice was coming from iside of him, like it was his own thoughts, but Alex certainly wasn't the one creating them or this pain he was feeling. He slowly crawled to his feet to stand as the pain dwindled down to a more tolerable level, four sleak wings now stiff at his shoulders. The mine was more alive than he had ever noticed before, sights and sounds were all around him.

"What is happening? Who are you?"

"I am you as much as you are me now...and we..unf..are hungry."

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Alex sat up sharply, breathing heavily. "Still feels like it was yesterday when that happened..." but the truth was it had been longer than that. The town had been abandoned for awhile, save for the few who wandered in to town in search of food or shelter. But this was his home now and he had no intention of sharing it or leaving. Alex stretched and walked to the entrance of the mine, cool air covering him as he reached it.

"Let's see what's going on..mmmrh...in the forest tonight."

Alex sighed as he approached the old gym. He knelt down for a moment as the wings sprouted from his back before leaping high into the air and landing on the roof of the abandoned building. "Not much...wait, there I can smell them...almost feel them. They are different. Seems like some of them are in eternia city already."

"Ah yes, a spirit is much more...unf...filling anyways. Time to go greet our visitors accordingly."

Alex hopped down from the building and as soon as he hit the ground he took off sprinting, though he seemed to hover a few inches off the ground as if he was ice skating. Sounds came at him from all directions, but he had become used to tuning out the noise and to listen for certain things like voices or movements.

Cycling road had seen better days. Overgrown vegetation crawled across the once smooth pavement and in some places the road had collapsed altogether. Alex used to fight Jaqen's urge to feed on anyone or anything in the past, but as time carried on it became easier and easier to justify it as a means of survival. Sure, he wasn't proud of it, but it had to be done, at least that's what he told himself. Alex crept towards the southern gate leading to Eternia city with caution. He kept to the thick grass and the shadows to try and stay out of sight. Once at the gate he sneaked his way to the roof to get a better look.

There were a few off to the west, how many he wasn't sure of, but at this height he could see a boy in a tree. Perhaps he was searching for someone too. Alex jumped down and landed quietly on the ground below, re-assuming his normal human form. He took a deep breath and casually walked into the city making his way towards the western gate that led to the forest.

"Stay sharp, I never know what to expect, but I know I can count on you to keep us both alive."

"That will always be my priority no need to...hrrnnh...worry yourself, boy. We are much stronger than you give us credit for. After all we...unf..are still alive aren't we?"

Lucy -

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What are you talking about Bay? This is clearly how new pokespirit wielders are created. Silly boy. Lucy observed what was going on between the two males and just sort of... ignored it. This wasn't her fight. If either of them wanted to pick a fight, they could do so without her interference. She had absolutely no incentive to get involved. Instead, she turned her attention to Amethyst. If anime had been a thing, she would've had a thing or two to say about that hair. Instead she just sort of tilted her head and knelt down, brushing herself off briefly before reaching out and holding a hand just above Amethyst's hair, as if afraid it were radioactive and might explode at her touch. Woooah maaan. That's some pretty awesome stuff you're doing there maaaan. She decidedly did not ruffle Amethyst's hair however. Rather, she scooted a bit closer and reached down to grasp Amethyst's hand. She was a tad hesitant, because Amethyst was currently being CUTE ENOUGH TO EAT kind of scary actually. It was slightly more difficult to be intimidated by someone so small.

"...Hey."

She had a rather neutral tone, the default sternness perhaps in an attempt to snap Amethyst out of her anger.

"Are you... alright?"

This time concern seeped into her voice. Lucy wasn't sure what to make of this. She honestly hadn't expected Amethyst to be so ready to fight, so willing. She remembered her first time fighting. It was hard, when you grew up helpless.


And just like that, the two males managed to avoid a fight. Lucy looked up and acknowledged Mako, listening silently before being handed his beanie..? Huh, what? She got the impression she missed /something/, because she didn't understand why he'd given her that. Ah well. So it was his choice. She became aware of two boys in the distance, but didn't pay them much mind. Surely people had better things to do than pay attention than her. Guys. Guys I only ate a person. Chill, gawd. Instead, she turned her attention to Amethyst again.

"We should get moving."

A glance at Bay, and she stood, preparing to start heading on towards Oreburgh again.

After the guy handed over the Beanie and started to walk off, Total felt that the fight would not happen. So after a moment or two he made himself visible, knowing that the girls were Spirit wielders so he had no fear about the sudden unveiling.

"Hiya...mind if I tag along?"

(OOC: really sorry about the shortness of this post - only way to make it longer is to copy your posts in, the rest wont be this short)

"aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!" i cried. i had fallen off of ryan's back while he was flying over the ocean! as i fell, i morphed into my espeon form. in form, i have a lavender body and a magenta orb on my head. sploosh! i splashed in the water with a crash. <oh no! what now?> (when i use <>, it means lisa's pokespirit is speaking). "well, it seems i fell off of ryans back while he was flying, obviously. the question is how to get out of this wet situation, because i can't swim!" i struggled to stay afloat when suddenly a blue dot appeared in the distance. <we've reached land!> "uh, i don't think so...." i replied uneasily. <ok, well try to stay alive while we try to figure out what this thing is.> "ok, ok, but i'm getting tired!" i said in frustration. as it got closer, i realized that it was a pokespirit in the form of a lapras. "help!" <help!> we cried together. "hello. you seem to be in distress. please hop on my back." i scrambled onto the lapras pokespirit's back fast to get out of the freezing ocean. "allow me to introduce myself. i am anna pentom, but you can call me laprisa. you are? who are you? i haven't seen you around these parts." laprisa said, navigating towards sinnoh. "well, i am lisa ishimura, and i came from the johto region. if you wish, you can call me espii. my old friends from johto called me that." "wow, what a story!" laprisa commented. "well, we be headed to sandgem town. we're about, say, 20 minutes away." and i listened to laprisa tell stories while we headed towards sandgem town, wherever in sinnoh that happened to be, far away from ryan or not.

A somewhat eerie voice caused Bay to jump, commenting on how the confrontation appeared to be against him. Apparently someone else had joined this standoff, seemingly coming to his protection. Hopefully this person knew what they were doing but, it also came to Bay as unexpected and surprising. Despite his perceptive abilities, he was unable to detect this apparition approaching until they got close enough to have killed him and spoke. The voice seemed to come from behind him but the invisible stranger could have moved anywhere by now. This person was skilled in stealth, and Bay had to give them credit, the voice coming from nowhere seemed to have startled everyone as much as he.

The wielder who seemed to have a demonic aura seemed to have out aside his hostility for now. This dark figure told him to take his hands away from potential weapons and Bay, half-heartily raised his hands to shoulder level like he was about to get pat down or arrested. Then the boy walked over to the group of girls, exchanged a few words and a beanie then walked off. The person who was somehow still able to allude Bay's sight suddenly revealed himself to them all. He seemed to want to travel with the girls. A sudden figure who came from nowhere changed all of this and possibly saved Bay.


Bay was more tired than he was before and he felt dizzy as if all the blood in his body rushed to his head from using the most he's ever used before. He tried to walk it off and not appear weak to the remaining group of wielders, and he even managed to get a few steps away, before he stumbled to the ground. Well at least one thing hadn't changed, he still ended up on the ground at the end of the day. Strength was drained and senses dulled down, the fox ears on Bay's body receded and his hair reverted back to brown. Hopefully no one would decide to rob him. Bay's head plopped to the ground and he lost consciousness.

"Hey, pissboy," Kraus said in a nonchalant voice. "Don't look now, but those chicks from before are going the same way as us." Mako looked out of the trees to see that Lucy and Amy were indeed going in the same direction, but were a distance away.

"What the heck!? Are they following us or something?" He was bothered by this because there were several reasons he could think that they would follow him; most of them not good.

"Forget that for a second, there's something we need to discuss," Kraus said in an uncharacteristically serious voice. Mako, being dubious of Kraus as he was, wasn't sure if he wanted to listen. Still, given the rarity of his seriousness, he decided to stay quiet and listen. "So, about those blackouts..."

"You know what causes them?"

"No, but it's interesting that you brought them up earlier. I've also been having blackouts, and the timeline coincides with yours." It was rare that Kraus talked this much without so much as an insult unless he was trying to trick Mako, but in this case he had no real reason to.

"So basically you're saying that when I have blackouts, you have blackouts as well?" Mako said, quickening the pace of his walking.

"Yeah, that seems to be the case. Neither you nor I can remember what happens during the time one of us is out, so it must be simultaneous." Kraus responded. Mako was unsure of what to make of this connection, there still wasn't much to suggest any sort of foul play. "Also, we both remember small snippets of things that occur during said blackouts, like the girls' names or Tarsus Gin."

"Wait, you remember stuff too? Like what?"

"Not as much as you, just the name Creed." The name was indeed familiar to Mako, but he'd never met anyone named Creed before. "Anyway, it looks like we're at an impasse, so we might as well leave it at that for now." Mako nodded and exited his tree cover. It was impossible for them to learn anything more, so they decided to wait for more information to arise.

---

Kid... Kid, snap out of it! Wake up!!

Amethyst looked to be in some sort of blind fury, and all it took was Lucy's gentle touch to snap her right back to normal, as well as nearly make her jump.

"Are you... Alright?"

Amethyst nodded, glancing up at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Maybe because you were standing there staring into space and leaking your energy out in strong waves! What the hell are you doing??

Amethyst gave a quick glance around. Wasn't that boy standing in front of here? Wasn't there a fight going on? It seemed like a lot had changed. I... I must have drained my power... I feel so weak... She looked to be losing the ability to stand up straight, as she began to just lean into Lucy, finding a comfortable place to rest her head at Lucy's side. She was still conscious, however, ready to move forward. Though now it seemed someone else was going with them too. Amy, sort of in a daze at this point, took notice of the beanie that was now in Lucy's possession. Wasn't that the other boy's hat? She noticed that it seemed rather dark. I think that'll match my dress... She, eyes half-open and looking as brain-dead as ever, took the beanie and put it on, somehow content with her decision on wearing it.

<Come on, cant we just introduce ourselves already?> Casper asked Ryan. Casper, you are way too impatient. <hey i heard that!> Casper exclaimed. They were hiding in a tree near Eterna city,watching the two girls.

The younger one didnt seem to notice that the fight was already over, and was still standing there, exuding waves of power. Hmm.. she doesnt looklike much , but she could be dangerous. Ryan thought. The older girl walked up to her and seemed to be talking to the younger girl, and the younger one seemed to calm down, but was exhausted. The little girl then proceeded to grab the beanie the one boy spirit wielder left the older one and put it on her head.

<gahh!>Casper exclaimed. "thank god you cant talk out loud, otherwise we would be caught" Ryan whispered. A male spirit wielder had just appeared out of nowhere and seemed to be talking to the girls.

"Hmm.... i wonder what will happen, lets see if the girls are friendly or not."Ryan said to casper under his breath as they continued to wait.

<so this is sandgem,> xena commented. we had reached sandgem town, and it was abandoned!

"this is where i live," laprissa said.
"WHY?!" I exclaimed.
"well, yes, its awfully lonely here, but berry bushes grow here, and adults sometimes pass by here with food on their way to jubilife city, so i pick their pockets clean of food after knocking them out. its kinda peaceful, too, you know." laprissa shrugged.
"YOU HURT OTHERS?!" i shrieked.
"well, ya, i kinda have to in order to survive around here. thats probably what your brother did, too so he could supply you with food that he could've kept for himself." she said.
"from now on, i'll pick the pockets, got that?" i told her stubbornly.
"ok, show me your way." she chuckled, nodding towards a lone adult passing by. using my epic psychic powers, i controlled the adult's mind to think that the food he was traveling with only weighed him down and that is was useless, and he then dumped the food onto the side of the road.
"ooh, your gonna regret that," laprissa said.
"what?" i asked.
"nothing. you'll find out yourself tommorrow morning." she quikly replied.
"well, lets check the loot we got," i nodded towards the area that the adult had dumped it. we found:
3 oran berries
2 loaves of bread
1 box full of lava cookies
<looks like a feast to me,> xena laughed cheerfully.

"naw, we should probably save some for later on, never know what could happen in sinnoh." i replied.
<hmmm... your probably right about that.> xena instantly became serious.
"well, where do we camp for the night?" i questioned laprissa, only to find her curled up in the bushes, snoring softly.
<theres your answer,> xena said. i laid down next to laprissa and fell asleep.

Bay stood up and stretched. He could feel pain transmitted all throughout his body almost as if he had a needle on every inch of his skin. He found a tree nearby to sit under to grasp his surroundings and recover, he still felt exhausted and didn't know that his actions would have taken a toll on his body. After about an hour of cloud-gazing and internally debating what happened, he remembered the whole situation and realized first time that he ever truly used any of Flow's abilities. He remembered he was trying to go to Children's City and his instinct was telling him that some city was south or otherwise those Kids wouldn't have been nearby.

Bay went through all that happened in his mind again. He was slightly upset that he wasn't able to fight but also glad because he probably would've died. "I want to find that boy with that dark aura and get to fight him one on one." said Bay solemnly to himself although he forgot Flow even existed.

After a few minutes of sitting around Bay decided it was time to leave this place and headed to Eterna. As soon as he got right outside of Eterna he knew it wasn't Children's City as he saw a few adults in the city. He furiously swung his fist at a tree and cursed to himself.

"Hey Flow any ideas what to do now?" Bay said impatiently. Normally this wasn't like him to be so brash and uptight but he was upset over how the course of things have been going for him. His mood wasn't improved by the fact that Flow didn't answer. Bay wandered around the City desperately for directions and, after spending what seemed like eons of getting rude backlash from the denizens, he decided that he'd be better off navigating the world on his own. He restocked some of his goods and with that he headed east of Eterna with a determined look on his face.