[PKMN OPEN] Pokémon Odyssey: Search For Cresselia (IC)

All things considered, it was starting to look up for Charlie. Far apart from the banter with Snype, it seemed that the Gold Tribe here weren't as actively hostile to him as he'd expected them to be, Guardia notwithstanding - hell, he'd even had a wonderfully carefree chat with them on the subject of asses and abdomens - as Charlie walked around, even somewhat aimlessly, one might have even caught a hopeful smile on the Scyther's face even despite the raging headache he was feeling.

"So..." Joshua spoke up, grabbing the wandering scyther's attention - the half-smile almost immediately evaporating from his face remembering the last time they met. Joshua looked directly in Charlie's eyes. The Swadloon didn't look particularly unhappy... but neither did he look overjoyed. His expression was almost blank, but slightly confused. "Why are you here, anyways? You and I both know this was not Guardia's choice."

Charlie did his best to give as little intonation to his voice as possible. "You're right. It was Snype's choice." He turned back the way he was facing and started back up walking again, seemingly uninterested in pursuing the conversation further.

"Is that really all?" Joshua said, hoping to catch the Scyther's attention. "You had no choice in the matter? I wouldn't think you'd willingly associate yourself with the Gold Tribe, considering your mutual dislike of each other."

Charlie gave a dismissive claw-wave. "Figure I'd best get on the Tribe's good side if I ever want to go into Valkaria again without having to sneak in." He didn't turn around to face the Swadloon. "Why do you want to know? I'm pretty sure you told me we're through."

"Because I wanted to know what you had to say about it," Joshua replied, mentally preparing himself for what was coming next. "Because according to your friend Snype, you insisted to come along."

"Then I think Boss needs to pick his words better. There weren't no insistin' at all." Charlie shrugged, speeding up his step a little. "Snype said he wanted another Thief going. For whatever reason, he wanted me to go."

"So I'm guessing the part where you came along because you heard I was coming was made up too, then?" Joshua hadn't even finished speaking before his brother froze in place - completely silent. "Charlie, we need to talk."

"Do we? I seem to remember you weren't in no mood to talk back in Gold City and lemme tell ya, goin' back on serious words hurts. I said I'd never work with the Tribe again. I gone back on it, now I'm on an expedition to Arceus-knows where." Charlie snapped back. "I said I'd ditch Valkaria and never come back for any reason, but I thought I'd come to find you and maybe beg for a chance - if Darkrai hadn't shown up and the Tribe caught me there, I'd be in a cell for the rest 'a my life. But nah, I just got turned away like nobody."

"I believe I was well within my rights to say what I did in Valkaria," Joshua stated matter-of-factly. "You disappear for who knows how long, and then you just come back and pretend like nothing ever happened?" Joshua stared Charlie down, trying not to lose his temper again. He wanted to know what was going on. "Can you honestly not see how self-centered you're being right now?"

"Yeah. That's what a Thief does. Looks out for number one. Turns out, I'm pretty good at that." Charlie let away a sigh. "Look. Josh. I'm not pretendin' nothin' happened, 'kay? I f*cked up. I said that in Valkaria, I'll say it again now. You clearly don't think I can try to make up for that. Can't gimme a chance. So why are we both wastin' our breath here?"

"Because I was under the impression that you didn't care," Joshua replied, more confused now than anything. "Why else would you have completely abandoned us?"

"Bein' banished weren't exactly my choice." Charlie hung his head. "I ain't sayin' I woulda stuck with the tribe if I coulda done it differently, Arceus knows that I ain't right with 'em... but maybe I wouldn't 'a done the things I did. Ya wanna think I don't give a damn, go ahead. I told you all 'a this already and I'm just goin' over what I already said, so in the end, it'a all gonna be the same."

"It wouldn't be the same if you'd stop with the pity party already and explain yourself!" Joshua's voice was raised, but he held himself back. He didn't want it to end like last time, but at the same time he was getting sick of Charlie's constant excuses and evasions.

"Fine, wanna know why I'm here? Because you're a nervous little wreck who can't hold himself in a fight for anything! I thought I'd come here, so the day your ass needs pulling outta the fire I'll be there to do it! That sound like someone who don't care to you?" Charlie snapped back. He'd put himself here to protect Josh maybe, but his faith in the idea just waned and waned...

Joshua's eyelid twitched, completely missing the point about 'caring' that Charlie brought up. "Oh, I see how it is!" He snapped back angrily. "I'm still just the pathetic little brother to you! 'Oh, he's just a puny little Sewaddle, just like his mother! He'll never amount to anything!' Well, guess what? You see this badge?" He flashed his Gold Tribe insignia at Charlie, holding it up to reflect in the sun. "I earned this! And I had to do it by myself! I didn't have father to hold my hand for me, and I certainly don't need you to do it either! I don't need you here to babysit me like I'm some helpless child!"

"That the way you want it? I'll risk my life comin' out here to keep you safe and you'll just throw it back at me? Bollocks to ya." Charlie's wings began angrily buzzing. "Yer not my problem any more, you need sh*t done, go to your glorious Tribe!" Without leaving any time for Josh to respond, Charlie took to the air, flying high over Ferrol's buildings where the Swadloon couldn't hope to follow him.

"Well who needs you anyways? Huh?!" Joshua shouted back, though Charlie was long gone by then. "Certainly not me!" Joshua grumbled angrily to himself. "And to think I was actually starting to feel sorry for that jerk." He straightened his jacket and tucked his badge away in his coat pocket. He shuffled back to his little outpost. He had better things to do than fume over familial issues.

Snype headed inside of the small ice cream shop. There were a few Pokemon already here! Must have been a popular spot for the villagers. Not to mention it was seriously cold! That just meant the ice cream would be even sweeter here! There were two Pokemon at the counter. A Quagsire and a Nuzleaf, both running this shop it seemed. It had some good business at least! The thieves would have to affiliate them once this war was done...

"Heyo! Me and my friend here could use some ice cream. Keheh. He's like, obsessed with the stuff! One Vanilla and Chocolate please!" Snype asked.

"It's not an obsession." The Dreadmage snapped. "My appreciation for ice cream is perfectly healthy, and also delicious. Also, you are my minion, please keep to the proper terminology." Raz took a deep breath of cold air. "Ah, it's cold in here. I like it. Cold is sometimes a synonym for evil, you know."

"One vanilla and one chocolate, you say, good chaps?" The Quagsire at the counter asked, at which the Ralts gave a sharp nod of approval. "Splendid! Most spiffingly grand- Roger, old bean, one chocolate and one vanilla, if you please."

"Roger." The Nuzleaf replied.

"Yes, Roger, that is your name."

"We've been working here for twenty years, Bernard." The Nuzleaf moaned. "That joke wasn't funny the first time you said it, it won't be twenty years from now."

The Quagsire chuckled nonetheless. "Oh, Roger, you're quite the hoot, old boy."

"I thought it was funny..." Snype muttered just loudly enough for both of them to hear, snickering a little. At least this ice cream debacle would be over with for a little while. He could recall the last time he had a change to have freshly made ice cream. None of the thieves were good at making that sort of thing! Though now he'd have to find something to do while waiting around for the delicious dessert...

"Why thank you, my good sir!" Bernard smiled, looking down at the Sableye and adjusting his monocle to get a better look. "I say! It's the King of Thieves! I do hope you're planning on paying for our sumptuous deserts, eh?"

"Keheh, oh of course! If it's good, then you can expect a lot more business to come your way. Keheh. If it's bad then... well, maybe I'll have to steal it and figure out what's wrong! Kehe" Snype joked. "Naw but give it your best! For his sake anyways." Snype said, pointing to Raz.

"If it's not satisfactory," The Dreadmage commented. "I may have to destroy something."

Bernard flashed a worried smile for a second, but soon composed himself. "Well, I'm sure you'll be entirely satisfied, my good chaps. Only the best from The Iced Cream! Sorry about the name, Roger's idea, he's terrible, I'm afraid, bless his poor soul."

"It was your idea, Bernard!" Roger shouted from the other room.

Bernard chuckled and waved a hand dismissively, though for a moment his eyes glanced to his sides on reflex. "He's a riot, that one."

Snype snickered and started to look around the ice cream shop, looking around for some familiar faces... he quickly noticed a familar set of claws not to far off in the back, looking over some papers. Snype didn't delay to crawl on over. "Guardia? Kehe. I didn't think I'd see you down here! Figured you'd be too tough to be eating ice cream or something! Kehe" Snype said with a big ol grin.

Guardia looked somewhat restless. After Joshua had relieved her of guard duty, instead of going to sleep, she came here to catch a bite to eat and get some energy in her. There was a lot to do and with her being the Gold Tribe leader, others would be relying on her to have everything in order. She looked up at the call of her name. "Hmm? Oh, Snype," She answered drowzeely, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "Just needed to get some sugar in me to stay awake. Wraith recommended this place, said they had some kind of...food here that could help, or something."

Snype smiled up at her and jumped up onto a seat. "Yeah! Keheh. They have some Ice Cream here apparently! You oughta try some, considering they letcha sleep here and all. You seem pretty exhausted. A bit of sweets oughta get you back in shape! You can have some of mine! kehe" Snype said.

"Two ice creams up, my good sirs!" Bernard called. "One vanilla, one chocolate, as requested!"

"I'll take that." Raz said, bringing the frozen treats to their respective positions with a wave of his hand and the necessary psychokinesis. The Dreadmage tentatively took a lick, then looked up at the Quagsire with a scowl. "Your livelihood lives... this time." He then proceeded to take a large gulp of the stuff, licking his lips and repressing the urge to giggle. He noticed Snype had wandered off toward the back of the establishment, and upon seeing Guardia, walked up and poked the Zangoose on the elbow.

"Hey. It's Punchy McPunch-Punch. Hit any more innocents lately?"

Guardia rolled her eyes. She was way to tired to try and come up with an insult or talk back to Raz right now. There were far more important things to worry about besides the Dreadmage. "Raz," She greeted him with a tired nod of her head. "Keeping it together, I see," She turned back to Snype. "I've heard of that, but never tried it. They don't have any in Valkaria. What's it like?"

Snype's jaw dropped. "Y...you've never had ice cream before?"

"That'll be why she punches innocents." Raz noted.

"You and I needa have a talk about what 'innocent' means later, Raz," Guardia replied sluggishly.

"Ohhh man where to begin..." Snype went to grab his own vanilla ice cream, placed in a bowl since Snype would chomp it in one bite. Snype sat back down with Guardia and used a spoon to scoop up a good amount of it! Afterwards he pointed it toward Guardia's mouth. "I think you'll understand once ya taste it. Keheh" Snype said with a big grin.

Guardia cocked an eyebrow, and looked around the ice cream bar. She sighed, swiping the spoon out of Snype hands, and looking at the ice cream curiously. "It looks like...sludge or something. You're not trying to feed me dead Grimer, are you Snype?"

"Naw!... I think. Keheh. Bottom line, it tastes good! Better be quick. Wouldn't want it to melt on your fur or anything. Trust me! You'll fall in love with the stuff!" Snype said happily, grabbing a spoon to get a taste of his own.

"Right, I have to see this." Raz said, hopping up onto the seat with a bit of psychic help. "Bloody tall seats, such inconsiderate manufacture."

"Keheh, right? I gotta stand or sit on the table just to have a comfy meal. Keheh" He'd add.

"Alright, alright," Guardia lifted the spoon up to her mouth and licked a bit with her tongue. Immediately, she felt the sweet taste of the ice cream in her mouth in an explosion of flavor. She hadn't tasted anything quite like it. "Wow, this is...new," She finished the rest of the ice cream on the spoon with another few licks.

Snype grinned. "Kehe, soooooo? Ya like it?" Snype asked, tilting his head curiously.

"Yes, how is the dead Grimer?" Raz asked, before choking back a laugh, "Heh, I'm sorry, I can do a lot better than that, ugh. That was hardly evil at all. Don't mind me."

"I won't," Guardia retorted at Raz. She was pleased the Ralts seemed to be toning it down a bit. At least she hoped he was. She gazed again at the spoon and spinned it between her fingers curiously. "I don't think I've ever tasted anything quite like it. It's like, crushed up berries with stirred ice...maybe with some Miltank milk? I'm not sure, but it's good. And if it really is dead Grimer then it's one tasty dead Grimer," She added with a smirk.

Snype smiled and pushed his bowl closer to Guardia. "Keheh, well there's plenty left! Go on! Let your sweet tooth take over for awhile! It oughta take away alot of that stress." Snype said with a chuckle.

"Yes, I believe it is something to do with milk and ice," Raz pondered. "Though sometimes Pokémon or chemicals are involved. It is quite a masterful work of edible chemistry, if I say so myself. For a while, I considered being a mad scientist, you know, but I'm afraid evil wizard took the cake." As if suddenly remembering himself, he conjured a portal and grabbed his staff from his Magic Room, resting it on the ground and holding the tip.

"I dunno if I can see you as a mad scientist, but that's probably because of the robes," Guardia grabbed the bowl and dug the spoon into it, scooping out a large chunk of the delicious dessert treat and once more licking it all off. She decided to go for more this time, taking the remainder of the spoon into her mouth to enjoy the flavor all at once. All of a sudden, a sharp pain suddenly ascended into her head, as if her head were numb. "Ugh, what the heck? I think I ate too fast..." She pushed the bowl to the side.

"Kehe, that'd be Brainfreeze. Usually holding your nose and blowing out of it tends to help but it only lasts for a few seconds either way. Kehe. Happens to the best of us! Its very easy to get carried away with something soo tasty. Of course, if ya don't have a nose to hold, I just think of the sun. Tends to help. Kehe." Snype explained.

"I don't get brainfreeze." Raz noted. "Probably because I'm ice cold inside."

"Trying to come up with a pickup line there Raz? Cuz that's a good one. Kehe" Snype quickly replied.

Razathiel snorted. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you? Besides, I don't need pickup lines. I'm evil."

"So evil 'mon don't do pick up lines, is that it?" Guardia questioned, resisting the urge to enjoy more ice cream. She figured she had enough, and would eventually need to get back to work. However, she was surprised to feel a bit more energetic than she did ten minutes ago, but she wasn't sure if that was because of the ice cream or the conversation.

Snype smirked at the Ralts. "Kehehe, hey, Evil Pokemon probobly get all the ladies. Maybe Darkrai's just fighting back because he's jealous of our swagger? Keheh" Snype said, trying to throw some humor to the whole war in general.

Raz brought his staff to Snype's side and poked it a couple of times. "I don't need ladies, you silly ghost!" The Ralts laughed. "I'm evil! It's like you don't even know what evil is!" He glanced sideways. "Though I suppose it's easily possible the whole Darkrai incident is just some kind of swagger-envy."

"Keheh, yeah! Jealous and Confused amirite? Huh?" Snype said as he started to laugh.

"Well if we do fight back, then he'll only get stronger because of our swagger. Remember how he gets his power," Guardia joked, chuckling a bit as well. She was surprised she was getting into the joking around at a time like this, but then maybe this was the best time to do it. To keep spirits up.

"Darkrai's power lies mostly in his abilities." Raz reminded them with a smirk. "He's not going to be attacking physically all that much. Swagger will work perfectly."

"Keheh, there we go! Already found his weakness! Cresselia will just be a dose of overkill. To top it off, it'll be humiliating! Perfect plan right there!" Snype said, continuing his laughter.

"Well then, what do I need all this for?" Guardia joked, gesturing to all of the notes she had been gathering since the early morning. She laughed out loud before sighing deeply. She wished it were that easy.

Snype peeked over at the notes. "Ohhh! Busy as ever huh? What have you been up to lately? It was enough to get you looking exhausted earlier." Snype asked curiously.

"Planning," She replied in a more serious tone. "Trying to get everything together for today's meeting. I talked to Abel a bit and Thomas Blake too to get their insight, so I have some ideas on what to do, but really..." Her voice trailed off, and she looked back up at Snype and Raz. She didn't think telling them that she had very little to go on would be a good idea, so she held herself back. "We'll talk more about it in the meeting. Any intel you might have would be useful too."

"Keheh... well, the only intel I got right now is that the Ice Cream here is delicious. Pretty valuble information for the team I think. Kehe." Snype joked. "In all seriousness though, no new developments on this side. Heheh... I'll probably get some ideas once the meeting starts." Snype said.

"I have a bit of information you may well find useful." Raz said, a vampiric smile across his face. "Buuuut, I suppose I'll save that for the meeting. Also, I think there's Chesto flavour ice cream at the bar." The Dreadmage advised, managing to draw all traces of concern from the comment. "You should probably get some."

Guardia nodded in response. She was thankful they weren't coming in blind, and others have some information would definitely be useful. She wasn't sure about Raz, he only claimed to her earlier that he knew about ancient tomes. But she was certain the King of Thieves had something to bring to the table. "Maybe another time," She said as she declined the offer for more ice cream, as much as she would have liked some more. "I should probably get everything read for the meeting. We'll meet in a few hours, alright?"

"Sure thing Guardia. Kehe. Dibs on the Chesto flavor ice cream!" Snype said as he hopped off his seat and started to run over to the counter. "Hey, if we get the chance, we oughta bring the whole team here sometime! Kehe. Don't overwork yourself out there Guardia." Snype added before ordering the Chesto ice cream.

"Very well. If you'll excuse me, Guardia, I may well be forced to attend to my minion." Raz hopped off the seat, twirling his staff once before walking away.

"Right," Guardia replied with a nod, watching the two walk off as she sunk back into her notes. There was still a lot to do and not a lot of time to d- wait, minion? Guardia looked back up toward the small Ralts and cocked her eyebrow. Just who was this guy exactly?

Meeting the Musician again: Joshua and Obsidian​

Obsidian had woken up early that day. Most of the Seekers he could see were now bone tired, no doubt having been so worried the previous night that they had stayed awake all night. There were a few up and about, but most of these mon he didn't know. Well, they knew him of course, but the relationship was far from personal. He just grabbed his bag as he made his way outside into the bright sunshine. He would have normally eaten by this time, but his hunger had dwindled greatly. He just need to find a way to calm down.

Thankfully it seemed that the fort wasn't that active in the morning so finding a bench to sit down on was easy enough. "Just... relax." He said to himself as he fished out his violin and bow. He slowly drew the bow over the strings as a small relaxing melody sang out. His muscles slowly began to relax as he slowly drew the bow to the left and right, his claws carefully handling the strings as he couldn't help but stick out his tongue and bit slightly on it as he concentrated.

Joshua wandered through the streets idly, trying to take his mind off of recent events. A Gold Tribesman had taken his post for guard udty, suggesting that the Swadloon perhaps get something to eat before the meeting, something Joshua agreed with wholeheartedly. He sighed as he meandered, still in a less-than-pleasant mood, until he heard what sounded like a violin being played. The Swadloon stopped in his tracks; he was a sucker for a good violin.

He shuffled closer to the sound, until he found the source. Joshua recognized the player as the Weavile from Gold City the previous day. He was hesitant to approach, considering the Weavile's curt manner of greeting him during the attack, but he kept his gaze fixed on the instrument. A nice, calming bit of music was just what he needed right now. He slowly moved closer without even realizing it, until he was only a few meters away. "... You play very well."

Obsidian opened on eye to catch sight of the Swadloon but quickly closed it as he kept on gliding that bow along. The Weavile took in a soft breath as he began to softly sing.

"Oh werefore art Cresselia today?
Where has the light begone?
She was flung away by the evil of heart,
Yet she is due to return!

Pray, pray to the virgin hooost,
Lest the nightmares take boon over you!
Pray, pray to our guiding light,
And hope that she return soon."

Obsidian struck his last note as he wasted no time in pushing his violin back in his bag, "Thank you, but it's not the most useful skill to have in these times." He grumbled.

"That's not entirely true," Joshua said, moving closer to the bench where Obsidian rested. "A good song can give a much needed boost to morale in dire situations." He gestured towards the empty spot on the bench, waiting for permission to sit.

Obsidian just gave a small nod, "Perhaps, but morale is far from important here. If Darkrai were to appear in this square a small song will not cause him to flee."

Joshua hopped up on the bench, taking some time to relax for a bit before what was coming next. "Well, until that happens..." He paused for a moment, thinking of what to say. "I liked it."

Obsidian shrugged, "It's okay I guess. It's a small diddi really, nothing that important. The much longer songs end up being far harder." He leaned back against the bench, "So... you live here? Or did you come from Gold City?"

Joshua glanced at the Weavile, perplexed, if only so much. It would seem the Obsidian didn't remember him, which was good news in Joshua's opinion. They could get a fresh start, at least. "I'm not from here... wait," he reached into his coat pocket, pulling out his Gold Tribe badge. "Part of the Tribe from Gold City... here on Guardia's request." He looked over the Weavile. He was here now, which meant that he was likely part of the mission as well. "What about you?"

Obsidian was silent for a bit, "I would say... but I'm not sure if I can trust you." He finished packing and zipped up his bag, "A general ended up being with Darkrai so how can I trust someone I haven't met, right?" He asked, "I sincerely hope you don't trust me at all. We have no idea what our true affiliations are or if either of us are lying. For all I could know, you could have become a GT only to try and work from the inside as an agent, for myself I could simply lie about my name and affiliation and you would never know the difference." He sighed, "That's the problem here, aside from the big guys, we little guys could each be viewed as traitors, waiting for the right moment to strike."

Joshua raised an eyebrow in confusion. He hadn't expected that kind of response, but he could definitely see the merit in such an opinion. Considering that one of their most trusted generals ended up being a spy, and that there were apparently even more traitors willingly serving Darkrai, such doubts were not without good reason. That was how Joshua felt, though he suspected that the others wouldn't share the same mindset. "That is true enough... I hope I can convince you of my sincerity, at least." He paused for a bit. Even though the Weavile had made his distrust apparent, he felt the need to introduce himself regardless. "My name is Joshua, by the way, if it makes any difference to you."

Obsidian nodded, "Obsidian myself." He stood up from the bench, "So, will you be at the meeting? Given that a certain someone is out of commission for now, I'll have to attend for him."

"Yeah, I'll be there as well." Joshua replied. He was anxious about the meeting. Their plans had been rushed forward with the unexpected invasion, and everybody was on edge. They needed a plan of action, and fast...

Joshua's train of thought was interrupted as the pangs of hunger began to kick in. He hopped off the bench after Obsidian. "I suppose we'll see each other at the meeting, then..." he trailed off. "I... uh, I'll see you later, I guess..."

Not the greatest of farewells, but it served it's purpose well enough. Joshua quickly turned and headed off, in search of food before the meeting.

Guardia sat at the far corner of the table. Everyone else, about a dozen or so Pokemon from all the different factions, sat or stood around the table. A pile of notes and scribbles were in front of her, all the compilation of ideas and strategies she had gotten from many 'mon in preparation for this mission. After all, this mission was still something she had been working on before Darkrai had attacked. She stood up, and spread out each of these papers, one of them being a map she laid out in the center of the table.

"Alright," She began, as she finished spreading out the papers of notes to have everything easy to reach and read. "I think everyone's here. You all know what our mission is. It has two parts to it: find help for the Alpha Alliance, and find Cresselia. I've been working with Atrox from Beatruce and Thomas Blake and we outlined some of the best places to go to try and accomplish our objectives," She reached out with her hand, and pointed to four different parts of the map. "Karn. Beatruce. Anatellia. Tollen," She stated, synchronizing her pointing with the location of the country on the map. "The question is: where should we go first?"

"No Karn." Obsidian said immediately as he pointed at the map. The few Seekers who were awake at this hour were gathered around him, mostly for protection. "No way we're going to Karn. I'm not going to have any Seekers head in there and be one shotted." He looked up at Guardia, "Judging by the failed negotiations going on there, at least by what I hear within the grapevine, Karn is still dangerous for Seekers. If we do go there, you'll have to without any Seeker support."

"Hah." Raz barked from his place. He was stood atop his staff, which was itself atop a chair - such precautions had to be taken for one of the Dreadmage's 'vertical positioning'. "I've always wanted to visit Karn. Seems nice that I wouldn't have to bother to find people who I can murder on a whim. With that in mind, I feel I may be able to take some of the attention on the killing front, if you're all that worried about a few barbarians with a bone to pick."

Snype was unsure about commenting about his recent plans to expand to Karn. He had never revealed just how much power the thieves had gained since the last war. Even so, The whole expansion wasn't a solo effort but that kind of information didn't seem important enough to bring up. None of the thieves had been stationed there yet.

"And why not Karn?" Sylvio stood up from his seat. He was of the tallest Pokemon in the room, so his figure was made imposing. The look on his face was that of a hardened politician and his loud and clear voice reached to all. "I am Sylvio Arcansus, at your services... If things have not yet been favorable in Karn for any of your factions to this day, is it best to delay your visit there? Do not think of your failure in Karn. Think of your success. If - and I am talking for every group involved here - you gained footing in Karn, and perhaps forged healthy relationships there, would that not be seen by other, more trusting and friendly nations? If they admired your diplomacy, and you visited their country next, that would certainly... render things easier." Sylvio sat back down in his seat, hiding his mouth with his hand, his gaze brushing from Guardia and the gathered Gold Tribe to Obsidian and the Seekers, then to Snype, to whom he winked.

Snype finally began to speak up. "There's a scenario I've actually been considering relating to Karn. Their ruler, emperor, or whatever is chosen based on strength right? Now this is a wild assumption if Darkrai really wanted to cause as much havoc as possible but what if he killed their current king and took over? Frankly, I'm not very sure what we would do in that situation." Snype explained. "If that's a threat, we should handle it as soon as possible. We don't need two armies going after our head."

"Take out the current king...heh," Guardia smirked, looking down at Karn's placement on the map and shaking her head. "I was talking to Sylvio about this earlier back in Gold City. I never thought we'd ever have any sort of alliance with Karn. We did it because for all his faults and such, the Emperor is a somewhat...practical person. Well, OK maybe that's not entirely true. But as far as Emperors of Karn go, there's a reason he's been on the throne the second longest in their history. It took a while to build some sort of relationship with him. We had to pay for it...with blood." Guardia pointed to her face, particularly at the large scar beginning from her left eye, continuing down across her face, down her neck, across her shoulder, and ending just before reaching her chest. She had told few 'mon where she actually got it before.

"That...was the Emperor, and if you think that's bad, wait till you get a load of some of the other things he's done. But here's the kicker: after that fight, even I guess before that, maybe during the fight, he suddenly declared us allies, and now considers me a friend. Yeah...no joke. But if we want to talk about taking him out, and taking over instead, we'd better have all the facts first."

She looked at everyone across the room, and spoke. "As some of you might know, these places have certain ways they treat certain bodies or factions, case and point with Karn and the Seekers," Guardia said, pointing to Obsidian. "Each nation has their own alliances, tendencies, and situations. So every decision we make, we have to make it for the right reasons."

"Take Karn, for example. In terms of alliances, it really doesn't have one with any country, including Valkaria. It's still at war with Anatellia even, although technically they're in an armistice right now. Beatruce has bad blood with them. Even Tollen who's league away from them have a rough relationship because of past bad history. Point being, if we go to Karn first, we risk alienating two of the other nations partially."

Abel walked over to the table. He had been observing the meeting from against the wall behind Guardia, away from the spotlight, but he felt in this moment to add in a little bit to get the full perspective. "Beatruce is a practical place. We don't usually run our policies through vengeance and high emotions, but some of the Senators there do still see the 'debt' of Karn yet to be repaid. By that, I mean that in the past, our country used to be a lot bigger, before Karn stole quite a bit of our lands in war," Abel placed his hands on the table and shook his head. "I could think of a few Senators that are idiot enough to hold onto grudges to not want to help, even if we're allied with Valkaria. If we go to Karn first, we risk losing part of the help Beatruce will offer. I can't be sure of it, but the same might apply to Anatellia too. They're quite a…. passionate nation. If you can call them a nation. More like a collection of tribes, or some gangs that set up shop in a piece of land and called it theirs."

"Here's the upside of choosing Karn first though," Guardia continued. "If we manage to get their help, they have the largest Pokemon army out of any of the four nations. Probably even if you put the other three together. If we get their armies, it'll be HUGE for Gold City and Valkaria."

Guardia sighed, shaking her head. "But that's just Karn. I was talking to Atrox about affairs in Beatruce. It looks like there's a situation there that we think might not be unrelated to all of this." Abel nodded and spoke again.

"This isn't exactly public knowledge, or at least it is, but I wouldn't say we have been making a big deal of it just to continue our trading agreements with our allies. Up in the north of the country, maybe a few weeks ago, we had a few problems with...plague. I couldn't tell you exactly what caused it or where it originated from. Maybe it is just a disease through the air, but now that I think about the timing and the distress and turmoil it's causing, Guardia and I both believe they might not be totally unrelated. I won't say it's something Darkrai's causing, but I sure as hell won't be surprised if he is."

Guardia nodded and continued from there. "Beatruce is founded on trading and fair exchanges. They likely won't help us out unless we first help them out, or so Atrox told me. If we go there first, and help them with their problem, we'll likely have their full support militarily, which will be pretty useful. Along with that, we might learn a bit more about Darkrai if the plague has anything to do with him."

"I personally want to go to Beatruce first," Abel commented. "I won't worm around this, it's my home and I'd rather be there helping it than going on some wild Farfetch'd chase with you all."

"I agree." Snype added. "As worried as I am about Darkrai taking over Karn's army, I doubt we'd make much difference preparing them for that sort of event. Beatruce seems like a good place to start. I even have a couple connections there with the thieves so it should be easy enough. Keheh" Snype said with a smirk.

Guardia looked over at Snype and cocked an eyebrow. What did he mean by connections, exactly? She dismissed the thought for now, and spoke up again. "There are a few disadvantages of choosing Beatruce first. First, it doesn't look like they will get us much closer to finding Cresselia. I don't know how much they know about where to go in that regard. Also going to Beatruce might seem a bit of an insult to Karn and some of the Grand Generals there, but I can't be sure if they'd see that as such. Never thought them to be really sensitive. Just some things that might arise."

She looked over the map and pointed to the next location. "...Then there's Anatellia. I can't really call it a country more than...well kinda what Atrox said earlier."

"Which your Tribe can't get into." Obsidian pointed out, "We have the same problem with Karn there. If we go there, then obviously any Tribe will be not allowed in. I know Penance has a great relationship with the leader there. I'm not sure if Penance will be comfortable with what I do hand out as information, so you'll have to wait for him to wake up. From my own experiences, our relationship is solid there and even trying to negotiate to try and bring in some Gold Tribe might have a negative impact on that."

He crossed his arms, "I'm just saying that those two countries are a problem. We go to Karn and no seekers go. We got to Anatellia and no Gold Tribe come. The main thing with Anatellia is... uh..." Again Obsidian looked conflicted, "I mean... well, look here's the thing. Penance found this out a bit ago so please don't be mad Guardia. We sort of... kind of... found out that some legendaries have appeared in Anatellia in person before and there are some written materials about them there." He squirmed a bit, "I would have told you personally sooner... but Penance was really strict on that."

Snype glanced over to Obsidian at the mention of Legendaries, raising his brow and glancing to Guardia. His reaction seemed more calm though.

"In person?!" Guardia questioned loudly. Obsidian couldn't help but flinch at that. "You should have said something," She said, a bit angry he withheld information from her. She took in a deep breath and calmed herself down. She exhaled and continued. "But you're right. If we go to Anatellia or if the Seekers go to Karn, it'll be a problem. We might have to...sneak the rest in. Maybe fake them as members of the Gold Tribe or Seekers, respectively. But we'll get to that."

"Sucks to be you guys." Raz said, taking a breath. "Anyhow, either Karn or Anatellia - both really - are places we'll most likely have to visit eventually. The 'Search for Cresselia' as it's called isn't as straightforwardly about the Lunar Guardian as it may seem, especially considering her location itself is so elusive to us 'mon of non-celestial descent." The Ralts pointed to the map, specifically at a small portion just between the two countries mentioned. "This point here is more-or-less a Legendary gold mine. If Cresselia isn't there, likelihood is, there is another Legendary who does know of her there instead, and if they are willing to fight with us - which they bloody well should, considering the stakes - then all the better. Anyhow, the two temples in this area are widely known as the Temple of Balance and the Temple of Life."

He temporarily conjured a portal to his Magic Room, picked up a book and flicked through it, then replaced it. "The Temple of Balance is, with little doubt, a home to two of the Tao Trio - Zekrom and Reshiram, two who are handily often paired in the same inner circle of Legendaries as Darkrai and Cresselia in ancient lore." Raz readjusted his pointing to the Temple of Life. "The Temple of Life is less distinct in what Legendary, or Legendaries, it serves. Some believe it to be dedicated to the Lake Guardians, and I'm open to the possibility of it also belonging to Xerneas, who has a particular advantage against our Dark not-so-friend. Regardless:" The Dreadmage tapped the map in the same spot twice. "We're going there at some point, so we'd best make preparations for travelling through either of these places to get there."

"Well, looks like you weren't bluffing about knowing something," Guardia stated to the Ralts, somewhat impressed with the information he had.

Raz snorted. "Yes, it's almost like I'm a reputable mage who knows his sh*t, isn't it?"

Guardia shook her head at Raz's response, and continued. "Well, this might turn out to be a bit of a problem. If we decide to go through there, we can go either through Karn or Anatellia to get there. Technically, the two temples belong to Karn now, but they won them recently in fighting Anatellia, not even a decade ago. If we go through Karn's side to get to it, certain factions, especially those that worship Reshiram and Zekrom might take offense and not help us out later, which could hurt us. If we go through Anatellia to get to them, without telling Karn, and Karn finds out, however, they could treat it as trespassing and...well I wouldn't be surprised if they declare war."

"Keheheh... well, call it a stretch, but what if the thieves did that job then? I mean, nobody likes us anyways. We're just a bunch of dirty criminals after all right? Still... that'd quickly put us on the blame. I don't think the thieves can stand against Karn if they declare war on a bunch of thieves. Kehe." Snype said.

"They've done more for less...but it might be something to keep in mind. Going independently..." Guardia pondered this for a moment. "It'd be risky, but when we decide where we're going, it's one thing we can consider, among many other options. Now then, before we decide what to do, the last location: Tollen." Guardia sighed and shook her head. "In truth, I have no idea what's going on there. A few months ago, the King had passed away. His son was supposed to take over, but he had died a few years earlier in a tragic hunting accident. The throne is in the hands of Queen Aleena, his daughter. Since then, things have been...strained. We don't know the reason, but the Gold Tribe have been kicked out, so have the Seekers, and practically everyone else. We don't talk anymore despite our numerous attempts to do so. It's like they closed themselves off from the rest of the world. We've got one SEC Network that's still there, but it's only partially operational, as in we can communicate to the Psychics there, who rarely communicate back. I don't know what the deal is, and I don't know what consequences or benefits we can gain from them at this time."

"Even Beatruce has been cut off from them," Abel pipped up. "And we're usually in some sort of trading agreement or alliance with practically everyone. I can't really say what's happening."

"So...that's basically it," Guardia concluded, having laid everything out. "Unless someone has something else to add, now comes the decision. Where should we go?"

Obsidian thought, "Tollen." He stated. "Think on it, no one has been in there. If we head in secretly then we can not only gain information on their current predicament, but we can use any information we gain from there and potentially trade it to other nations for support. If the queen is now against us then we can at least see if she is allied with Darkrai. I think many nations would be thankful if we do see what's going on in there and possibly open up trade again if we can hit the right points."

"I agree on Tollen," Kaveri said. "With the minimum communication we've had with them, there's no telling what's going on there. And they might not even know about Darkrai yet. Someone should warn them."

Raz raised an eyebrow and glanced sideways at the two. "And if Darkrai is based there and we're walking into the mouth of the monster? Tollen is a concern, but one for reconnaissance, it'd be a waste to send everyone there. If you insist that Tollen is a priority," Raz pointed to the map again. "Then some can involve themselves in the relatively nearby Beatruce while a smaller group investigates Tollen. If all is well, we backtrack. If not, then... well, the answer is fairly obvious from there on."

"I'm inclined to disagree and agree," Abel declared. "We don't know the situation in Tollen, but to say they're against us right off the bat is stupid. It could be true, but closing your gates to the world could mean things besides that. For example, with the plague spreading in Beatruce, we're deciding closing our own borders so that it won't spread. Already that area is being quarantined. There could be so many other things happening in Tollen. Plague, economic imbalance, maybe even Civil War. I don't like the idea of going in blind. I say we go to Beatruce, where we can help from there, and also get help for Valkaria's fight in Gold City."

"Well...." Obsidian started saying, "We do have a leg up in Tollen." He smirked a bit, "Something else that Penance didn't tell you is that we have guys in Tollen still. Two in fact." He looked down at the map, "Know why we're so accepted in Anatellia? Cause we were taught to learn the culture of the places we go to. Unlike the Gold Tribe, who is set in their ways wherever they go, Penance wanted us to be more flexible, put on a cheery face and the like. It's why they like us so much there, cause we didn't try to override their culture or put our values over theirs. We listened to them and we respected their culture and now they see us as family."

He tapped on Tollen, "Now we did the same with Tollen. First day we get in we started learning. There are some who were coined as culture learners and they learn everything about that culture. How to walk, talk, even how to act in certain areas. When we were being pushed out Penance grabbed the best two learners on staff there and dabbed them with the mission of staying inside and letting them learn what was happening, keep tabs on things, and then we would get someone in who they would report to. They were Garon, a Garchomp. And Cirus, a Charmeleon. They were able to blend in well enough given they weren't pushed out yet and with the majority of seekers pushed out I doubt they'll be found now."

He began to tap his foot, "We have no psychics in there, and we couldn't get too close to try and contact before. But if we manage to sneak in we can get to them and get an update on what's been happening."

Sylvio was rubbing his pointy beard, his trademark sign of deep thought. There were a lot of factors to account for. So many, in fact, that the right answers could not be found through logical means. Once he found an opportunity, he stood up from his seat to draw attention. "I believe you are all getting ahead of yourselves. Have you thought that it might be impossible for everyone to go to one place at the same time? Karn would accept the Gold Tribe, but the Seekers?" He turned to Obsidian. "Seekers are not welcome in Karn, that is well known. But you have agents in Tollen. Be that as it may. In that case, Tollen would be your best bet. And you, Snype," he turned to the Sableye. "You mentioned... some sort of establishment of the thieves in Beatruce. In that case, that is where you are the strongest. My thought is this: why do you not go to where your influence is the strongest? That would be the most sensible thing, yes?"

"Sylvio, that is a viable plan," Annabelle spoke up this time, "but with all due respect it could pose serious problems for us. With the tension between Beatruce, Anatellia, and Karn, having one group go to Beatruce and one go to Karn could cause both countries to mistrust us and create even more tension. True, the Thieves will take the blame initially, but when one or both countries figures out we're all allied together? It won't be good, especially if we don't make it clear that helping us means possibly allying with their enemies." Annabelle looked down at the map and tapped Karn. "If we're going to split up at all then we need to focus on Karn and Tollen before we set foot in Beatruce. Like it's already been said, Karn has the largest army and having to fight them as well as Darkrai's forces will be bad for us and them in the end. And to quote Guardia, Karn's emperor is practical. If he can see why it's good to ally with us then he can see why it's good to form alliances--at least temporarily--with Beatruce and, if we can manage it, Anatellia. If we can get Karn as an ally and have them agree to ally with Beatruce and Anatellia as well, it would help our position to possibly bring representatives from Karn with us. If anything it should show the emperor's conviction. If we don't look like we intend to make a mess we should be fine." Anna took a breath. "Besides, Beatruce is experiencing a plague. It might be best to get information on how bad it is before proceeding into the country itself. If any of us catch the disease we'll be weakened and if we all catch it..." Annabelle trailed off. Their mission would end there, needless to say.

Anna tapped on Tollen on the map. "Now for Tollen. If we split up at all, I agree we should send a team to Tollen. They may need to be warned and there could be worse things going on than we imagine. Going in we should most definitely be cautious. We don't know if we're walking into a country Darkrai has already taken control over. That isn't to say we cut them off, however to assume they're our allies could possibly lead us down a tragic path. In Gold City we had Pokemon we trusted or Pokemon we simply thought were citizens in need end up turning against us. If we need to be cautious we should start being cautious now, not after something has already gone wrong.

"Obsidian has already told us they have allies in Tollen, correct? If we go into the country now we should send a small team. The fewer people we bring, the more discrete we'll be. I suggest either Obsidian or Penance go with the team since they would naturally know more about the situation than we would. Though a decision that's up to them if they want to go."

"Tollen sounds like a good place to start what with the lack of communication there. Maybe we can prepare for Beatruce instead of rushing in to get ourselves infected with whatever plague is floating around in there. The thieves I have there can keep an eye on stuff anyways so its pretty well covered." Snype explained.

Warren, who had been sitting in the back of the room quietly sipping a mug of ale, listened as the whole conversation went down. He had an idea of where he wanted to go. The hulking Blastoise stood up and approached the conversational center. "I say we go to Karn. I went there on leave a time or two. Won some respect in a bar brawl or two. Or three." The General finished his mug and set it down on the table. "Besides, I like their way of thinking." He gave a wry grin. "The best way to solve things is through a good fight."

He looked around at the gathered Gold Tribe members. "I cant agree with the decision that we should go to Tollen first, but I can stomach going there, especially since they are the wild card. Besides, I have seen the Knights in action before, and they aren't half bad in a scuffle." The grin left his face. "I think that Tollen would be a good place to start, if not Karn."

Charlie had remained silent up to this point; half of him still stewing at his younger brother, the other half... completely out of place. "So, Guardia. You think a five-minute politics lesson is gonna be enough for guys like me who neither had a reason or particularly large number of sh*ts ta give about the wider world to make a decision?" He shook his head. "Because, lady, that is a load of ass about as large as yours. All I'm sayin' about this is we ain't goin' into a damn plague zone. I got slightly higher goals than 'then he got sick and died', if that makes sense to ya."

"Um, pardon me, if I may interject...?" Joshua spoke up finally, having been listening quietly from his position at the table. "Listening to all of this... I'm hearing of lot of general suggestions. Go to this place, or that place, but what about when we actually get in these places?" He felt a bit nervous, a feeling akin to stage fright, drawing attention to himself, but he managed to push past it enough to continue speaking.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, we need a plan of action for each of these places in our consideration." Joshua continued. "We need to know what we're doing in any of these places, should we go to them; whom we're meeting, what we'll be asking, where we'll be looking..." Joshua looked towards Obsidian, eyeing him inquisitively. "You mentioned you have contacts in Tollen, yes? That's a start." He then looked over the rest of the 'mon gathered. "We need clear cut objectives, and we need to think over the ramifications of these objectives, should we actually pursue them."

Raz sniffed, turning his head away. "Well, my Legendary information involved solving puzzles once we actually arrived, so my suggestion was faultless in that regard."

Joshua simply shook his head at Raz's comment. He adjusted his coat, before speaking up once more. "I say, if we have contacts in Tollen, and since Tollen is the biggest mystery to us, that should be the first place we should go... but that's just my opinion." He spoke with uncertainty, but had no better ideas at the time.

"Well," Guardia began, looking down at the map. She made a note at the pretty substantial comments the Mareep from SEC had made, as well as 'Watchman' with good points too. "I'm not sure about splitting the group, mostly because our group is pretty small as it is, and we might need each faction's resources to help us in every place we go, most likely. I don't intend to go to any of these places blind. In each one we'll have some people to contact. Allies, friends, dignitaries. For example, in Beatruce, we have the Gold Tribe set up there. With Atrox's help, along with the leader and the Senators, we'd be able to figure out where to go from there. A trip to Beatruce seems to be more along the lines of securing some military forces, which we might be able to do if we help with their plague problem." Guardia moved from Beatruce to Anatellia.

"Anatellia is harder. I'm thinking the Seekers would take point here, since they have ties with one of the gangs, that run most of the country. From what I remember, there's about six or so main gangs around Anatellia, each with their own sect of legendary they worship. But there's also hundreds of smaller sects allied with some of the big ones. Gaiyo Nyys, leader of the Sons of Arceus, is probably who we'd start with, and see where we go from there. Unless we decide to do what Snype suggested and infiltrate the temples Razorheel mentioned.

"Karn obviously has their Emperor, which is who we'd probably seek out. But there's plenty of other routes to go as well. The Emperor also has the Grand Generals under him, so if we were to approach some of them, it might be beneficial too. I hear some of them are quite independent if they have to be.

"Then Tollen. I honestly wish I knew more about the situation there, but the Knights of Tollen and the Gold Tribe do have some history together back a century ago. Maybe we can get some help from them, if we manage to make contact."

Then we should head there first," Joshua replied. "They're the most unknown entity at this point. I think it would be beneficial for us to try and figure out what happened to them. I'm sure it's no coincidence that they've isolated themselves from the rest of the world."

Before anyone else could weigh in, the sound of shouting from outside began to pierce through the walls. At first it was only small... but then it began to increase in volume and soon many, many angry voices were shouting something about glue and chalk. In fact if anyone were to look outside there were many mon who were running past the building as fast as possible. One Linoone was seen barely at the corner of a building when a net flew out and over him from behind the wall. The Linoone screamed out as he dug in his claws, but was still dragged back behind the building.

The doors burst open as a Fearow suddenly flew in and fell to the ground, gasping a bit, "G-Guardia!" The Gold Tribe member gasped, "W-We have a problem out there! Mad duck! Twelve o' clock!" With that her face fell against the floor as she wheezed from her fast flight.

"Oh Arceus, he's up," Guardia groaned. She walked past the table and through the front doors to check on things on the outside. Everywhere, a large portion of the town seemed to be covered in a white substance, chalk if she were to guess. "What the hell?!"

Razathiel laughed, though there was a hint of dread in his voice. "Penance, I presume. I would say that he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but he strikes me as the kind of person to find some different way of escaping his sheets altogether."

Outside was Penance himself, along with Surge. Right now it was quite the mess. There was chalk drawn all over the place, but funny enough it wasn't only on the ground. It was drawn upon walls, up on ceilings, and even along grass and on trees too! Not only were inanimate objects being drawn over, but it seemed he had a few trapped subjects as well. Various 'mon were glued down in spots so masterfully, that they couldn't even squirm. Along their bodies chalk lines were drawn and now they had a new victim.

"You stepped on the chalk." Penance said to the shivering Linoone being held by Surge, "How do you plead?"

"N-Not guilty? Please Arceus no! I got a two hundred coin haircut yesterday!"

Penance snorted, "GLUE HIM!" At that Surge tossed the Linoone down as he grabbed a ridiculously large blue bottle as he spatted the Linoone's feet with the glue, sealing him in that spot. With that Penance drew up and over the Linoone's head and along his back, and down his tail to connect with another line he had drawn, "Perfect!" He decreed as he went over to where he had obviously stopped drawing his line and continued to drag the chalk along the ground until it connected where he had, presumably, started.

"Excellent!" He said as he went over to some sort of horn as he blew on it softly.

"Penance!" Guardia shouted from the front doors of the Gold Tribe hut. "What the hell are you doing?" She looked over at the other Gold Tribe members beside her. "Would someone please help get the citizens unglued?!"

Snype followed on out, watching Penance outside and just pinched between his eyes. "Ah geez..." He muttered.

Penance suddenly held up, what was now viewed as a bull horn, and shouted out, "Hey! Anyone touches the boundaries and you'll become a part of them!"

Surge smirked as he squeezed his bottle and glue splurted out of it.

"Now, how about you Goldies do us all a favor and not mess anything up? I wanted this all made with white chalk! Not gold chalk!" He muttered and then walked over to a building, grunting as he climbed over and on top, peering down, "Hm..." He held up the horn to his bill and shouted out, "Hey! Eastern border! Stop moving!" The Lairon that had been squirming quickly stopped as Penance nodded, "Right... good. Map is in business!" He shouted out. "Now we need to mark it, measure distance, et cetera. Should be all good!"

"What is..." Guardia began yelling again, before looking at the design of the glue around from her spot on the second level. "....is that a map?"

"Wonderful. Though pretty sure we already have a smaller one of those inside. Maybe we should get back to planning unless this actually has something to do with the expedition." Snype said bluntly.

".... WHAT!?" Penance shouted out, "OH GREAT! THE CHALK WAS WASTED! IT'S PRECIOUS!" He slapped his head and shouted out, "Alright disband everyone! APPARENTLY some people started without a certain someone!" He glared down at the assembled mon. "And I never got a card! Some mon you are!" He said with an offended huff as he turned away with crossed arms.

Razathiel stepped outside, a cautious but amused smirk on his face. "Hey, quackers," He called. "We started without you because you were asleep. And you were asleep because Paradox got his arse kicked. Even without that," He gestured to the chalk around with his staff. "You really think all this dickery was a better idea than asking if anyone had a map?"

Penance snorted, "Finders keepers until someone gets an axe!" He shouted back.

"I think I'll just ignore that." The Dreadmage murmured.

Meanwhile Surge was blasting glue off of the mon as he peeled them off of the borders and grabbed a broom to dust away the chalk. "Besides I already know where to go." The duck went over to the side of the building and fell down... well not down, but sat down and hung over so that he could see the gathered mon upside down. "I have inside information. The scoop. And it's in a place goldies aren't allowed." He stuck out his tongue. "I have this Delcatty in a sack."

"What else did you hold out on, then? Because I know you already didn't share what you knew about Anatellia," Guardia shouted down to Penance, clearly a bit angered. Over the last thirty years, Guardia had done her best not to keep any secrets from her allies, while it seemed those who went through similar things as her, both Penance and Snype for example, had a few they weren't sharing. It was as if they didn't learn anything.

Penance was silent for a bit and then, he sighed, "It's unverifiable." He muttered, "Ya happy. I didn't say no lies. I couldn't." He swung back and forth a bit, "Though if ya know then some things were told, which can't be good at all."

"Get to the point. Where do you want to go?" Snype interrupted, about as impatient as Guardia. "So far most of us have voted for Tollen. So if you have an objection about that then lets hear it."

Penance tilted his head, "Obsidian! What did you choose?"

The Weavile perked up a bit, "Uh... Tollen."

"Fine." The Golduck closed his eyes, "That's good enough for me then."

"Good then looks like the majority is up for Tollen so far. Anything else we need to discuss, Guardia?" Snype asked.

"How close she is to punching Penance, perhaps." Raz suggested.

Apparently Raz had underestimated how close his statement was to the truth, but for a different 'mon. Whatever piecemeal thoughts were venturing through Penance's mind at that moment were interrupted when a green fist slammed mercilessly into his face without the least bit of warning, sending him careening into the wall of a nearby hut. "No amount of usefulness excuses treating citizens like that! Oh, and by the way, I'm a big fan of your books, they're quite inspired and educational."

Penance blinked a bit as he laid against the wall, and then he burst into laughter. To Guardia's ears... it was a very specific laugh. "Oh... that's very good!" Penance said cheerfully. He wiped some blood from his bill as he stood up, "Hm... good good good!" He nodded, "I like ya! I happen to like birds more... but I still like ya all the same. About time someone takes a stand! Fights the power!" He giggled a bit, "Or maybe not. I'm not sure at the moment when the rain will fall, but it might fall later I'm thinking." He winked at the Dragonite, "About time I say. Good work G girl."

"'Inspired and educational'!?" Raz blurted out. "Did we read the same books? Inspired by something, certainly... but not in the usual bloody sense. Educational too, I suppose. Though in all of the wrong ways."

Cal gave Raz a sidelong glance and smirked. "You just have to sift through the ravings, there are quite a few gems if you look in the right places, Penance knows a thing or two... Just not how to set up an endearing love story so far." Cal didn't show much surprise on his face, but that's because when dealing with someone like Penance you either had no expectations or most likely the wrong ones. Which led to either being surprised by anything he did, or nothing he did, so he just nodded. He had the feeling that whole bit amounted to 'the ramifications can wait' so he just nodded at Penance.

Raz snorted. "Don't treat me like a moron, you hideous buffoon. Of course I sifted through the bloody things, otherwise I'd be insa- er, more insane. They're an informational gold mine, actually - but 'educational' and 'inspired' are certainly not the right words for those clumps of gold-speckled fantastical drivel."

"Anyway." Cal continued without acknowledging Raz's picking apart of his book-appraisal. "I'm okay with going to Tollen but personally my vote is for Karn, not because of what we could get out of it but because I think it would be the quickest and simplest choice to deal with one way or the other. Whatever happens they'd have to respect our strength, which we have in spades, it'd probably be a part of their constitution if they were that organized. Either they'll actually listen to us with their brains, or we prove their version of our worth with our fists - both figurative and literal - and if we have to we might actually try taking over. It wouldn't even require a real war, just one good strike at the emperor if we absolutely had to, then they couldn't argue with us about not liking the others, and the others wouldn't actually have much to complain about if Karn was following our orders."

Zai, who now stood next to Guardia, glanced between Penance and his various victims. "Well," she began hesitantly, "both Tollen and Karn certainly have their allure. Personally, though, I think I would prefer to begin with Tollen; its current state of isolation is interesting, at the least, and I think delving into it could provide a number of answers, even if not about Cresselia or Darkrai. We stand to learn from an expedition into its borders no matter what, and any knowledge at this point is a welcome start."

She glanced back at Guardia. "In the end, it's up to you, and I'm fine with whatever you choose. It's not like there are any wrong answers in this situation: some better than others, perhaps, but each one holds chances for loss and gain."

"I think I got the gist of what everyone's thinking," Guardia spoke up, ignoring the other craziness happening with Penance and the others. She would get to that in a bit, having the need to talk to a few people right now. But first, she wanted to establish where they were going to go. "Looks like our first place is going to be Tollen," Guardia crossed her arms and nodded. "Alright then. We'll talk specifics in a later meeting. I get the feeling everyone needs a break right now anyway, and time to plan and recover. We'll meet later and decide how we're going to approach Tollen. For now, let's do whatever we need to in order to prepare." With that, the meeting concluded, with Guardia heading out of the hut. She needed to talk with a few members of this group.

Once the meeting had broken up, Snype headed off on his own. Watching Penance's antics was enough to seriously stress out the Sableye. That unpredictable nature of his made Snype's thought process more complicated then it had to be but at least they were settled on a location. It was just a matter of figuring out what to do there, which would likely be discussed tomorrow. Snype walked past the watchtower and seemed to be heading to the edge of the lake. He needed some quiet time for himself.

Guardia walked out of the Gold Tribe hut with a lot of questions and uncertainties. At least they had gotten the location down on where they'd start, but a lot more things were bugging her, including one in particular. Spotting Snype heading down to the lake, Guardia decided to follow him. "Hey!" She yelled after the Sableye, running toward him and eventually catching up to him. "I think you and I need to have a talk."

Snype stopped right in his tracks and turned around to face Guardia. "...Keh. Yeah. I suppose we do huh?" Snype quickly sat down by the edge of the lake, crossing his legs. "Good thing I found such a relaxing spot for this eh? Keheh. Well then, go on. Let's talk." Snype simply said.

Guardia crossed her arms, looked out at the lake. In this light, as the sun was rising and reflecting off of the water, it was quite a beautiful spot. She was surprised at the serenity of the fort, despite Gold City burning to the south of them. She briefly wondered how everyone there was doing, before returning to Snype. "Look, I've never said anything, but I thought if I would leave you thieves alone in the forest, you'd keep your noses out of things and stay out of trouble. But now I'm hearing that your organization is probably a lot bigger than you've led on for it to be? I mean, Beatruce? Just how big is it really? Talk," She demanded.

Snype crossed his arms and gave off a sigh. "Keh. I figured rumors would spread one way or another. You can never keep a secret forever. Sooner or later somethings gonna leak. Keheh..." Snype said with a smirk. "Never thought I'd be the one leaking our info though. To put it to you straight, I've been one busy Sableye the past thirty years. After repairing the thieves, I had to make sure nothing would tear them apart again. Staying in the forest just didn't seem like a step in the right direction. So we expanded, completely undetected by SEC or anyone else. Just doing petty crimes as a distraction to make it seem like nothing's changed." Snype began, switching his legs around and crossing them once more.

"Actually, we have a station of thieves not to far off from here. Keheh. Valkaria is full of hideouts. We're like the eyes and ears of the country. Anything that happens, we're the first to know about it. Just be glad we don't make a business off of selling information too shady characters, otherwise we'd be waaayyy beyond Beatruce by now." Snype said.

It was a mixture of emotions from Guardia. On the one hand, she was surprised that Snype had managed to put something like this together. Thirty years was a long time, but enough for these kind of connections? On the other hand, she wasn't sure she liked the idea of a crime syndicate around places she was familiar with. The previous thieves might not have been this organized, and she was certain the Affiliates didn't have that kind of pull. Well, maybe in Valkaria but not to the extent outside. "You have been busy. Alright listen, right now, it's important that we are on the same page. I can't have people around be keeping these kinds of secrets. I haven't held anything back with the Gold Tribe, but it seems you and the Seekers have. If we're going to survive all of this, we have to work together, that means sharing everything we can. Right now, I don't care what you are. Seeker, SEC, Thief, Gold Tribe, whatever. We're allies now. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Tsk. No need to tell me twice. Unlike Penance, I know pretty darn well about keeping on track of things. My expansion way out there wasn't important until now though. But yeah. I got a big band of thieves... no... more like an order of thieves around the country and are still developing up in Beatruce. Keheh. Maybe further if the opportunity opens...but I'll worry about that after Darkrai's delt with. Besides, we mostly set our thieves up wherever the Gold Tribe is stationed so the hard part was dealt with already. Keheh. We're already close buddies, even if ya don't know it. All according to plan." Snype said with a snicker.

"Besides, I may be a thief, but I still have a bit of respect for you. Kehe. Dunno why, but you make for a pretty darn good leader. Just don't tell the other thieves that. Whatever the case, you have my support Guardia." He added.

"Well, I'm happy to have the support of the King of Thieves," Guardia replied sarcastically with a smirk, but in a way, she did actually mean it. Knowing he was behind her was great motivation for her. She supposed it helped that she learned he was well established with his own faction as it is, but it seemed to go beyond that too. They had known each other for quite a long time now. But that only made him telling her about his organization all the more...ominous. She wondered for a moment what would happen when the war with Darkrai was done. If, by some miracle, they would defeat him, what did that mean afterward for them? They were allies now, out of necessity. When it was all over, they were two opposite sides of a coin. One trying to break the rules and the other trying to uphold them.

It was something she decided to keep out of her mind for now. But it also meant not getting too comfortable with calling Snype an ally. After all, what would happen when he decided that his life or his priorities were more important than the mission? "So this is everything, right?" She asked more seriously again, eyeing the Snype with some suspicion.

"Kehe, oh more secrets? Alright then! Well when I was little, my mother used to call me Snypey Wipey before I went to sleep just to tease me! Awfully embarrassing cuz I was a heck of a crybaby back then! Oh! Also I remember when I was like seven a bunch of kids tied me up to a tree naked.. wait, I'm already naked. Oh! Ok! When I was in my teen years, I remember I had this rival or something then I eventually got a crush on-"

"Ok ok, I get it!" Guardia interjected, holding her hand up and motioning him to stop. She couldn't help but feel a smile creep onto her face as much as she tried to suppress it. She punched the Sableye somewhat lightly on the shoulder. "I don't need to hear your life story, cut the crap! I swear, Snype, sometimes I just wanna..." She trailed off and shook her head. "Just...we're in this together alright? We need to watch each other's backs instead of waiting for one of us to get some upper hand when we see the opportunity."

"Keheh, sometimes you wanna what? Comon don't leave me hangin! Keheh." Snype teased, poking Guardia back in the belly. "What would the Gold Tribe be if the thieves weren't around to keep them busy after all! You guys wouldn't be nearly as prepared for Darkrai if we haven't been keeping your soldiers active right? You and me are like Yin and Yang or something! I mean, if two Pokemon didn't already steal that title. Kehe." Snype joked.

"Strangle you and throw you into the lake," She said with a grin. "Yeah I guess if it weren't for thieves, we wouldn't be what we are today. At least not to the extent. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing though..." She shook her head again, and chuckled. "I guess it just goes to show how screwed we are if Yin and Yang are actually working together, huh?"

Snype smiled back and returned his own laugh. "Keheh, yeah! We have a pretty messed up world don't we? But ya know what? I kinda like it. Any other worlds out there probably don't have nearly as fun Pokemon as you guys. In another life I bet we'd be pets or something weird like that. Keheh. That's just me being crazy though... I already got through that phase once." Snype said with a sigh, turning around a bit to face the lake.

"Ya know, its rare that I get to see you smile like that! Keheh." He teased

"That's a weird thought. Who'd ever picture us as pets? And who the hell would be our masters?" She questioned, but quickly changed the subject, dropped her smile somewhat, although finding it somewhat hard to brush it completely off your face. "Yeah? Well maybe you just bring out the idiot in me. Don't get used to it," She declared, looking back out at the lake along with Snype. "...I guess I should get back to planning. Still a lot to do."

Snype smirked and wanted to keep teasing Guardia a bit more. "Keheh, why shouldn't I get used to it? A smile looks kinda cute on you!" Snype joked with a small laugh. "Kehe, If I'm not getting used to you smiling then don't get used to me frowning. You'll know if we're in serious **** when that happens!" He'd add.

Guardia rolled her eyes in response, but found it difficult to keep a small smirk off her face. "Oh Arceus will you cut it out? I swear one of these days I'm gonna knock your face in," She proceeded to walk away, feeling her cheeks redden somewhat from underneath her fur. "Don't get in too much trouble!"

"No promises! Kehe. And if you get the urge to knock my face in, I'm up for some sparring! Kehe" Snype replied with that big toothy grin of his. He didn't really go anywhere though. He found the view of the lake kind of relaxing. He'd probably be lost in thought here for awhile.

Penance had watched Guardia walk on off and he made his way up to Obsidian and poked him in the shoulder, "Tattle tellers aren't good. Go back to the hut." He said, a more firm tone in his voice. The Weavile winced a bit at the poke but he quickly scurried off as the duck turned to observe the green Dragonite, "So... do you need a lot of Cacturne or what?"

"Cacturne?" Cal queried. "For what? Ripping open and dying myself green?" An outlandish question to be sure, but one never knew with Penance, so it was perfectly within the realm of possibility.

Penance's smirk widened, "So I won't prick myself if I tap ya huh? Well that's no good. All balloons need to be popped at some point. One day we'll all pop, but try not to pop before the grand date." He glanced about, "Hm... Snype went away. All the same I suppose. As for you..." He turned to face Raz and tilted his head, "Such darkness I see. All talk, yet no bite. How... funny." His bill curled up into more of a smile, "So, think you should conquer the stepladder first? It might help."

"I don't need your sh*t right now, duck." Raz snapped. "You'd best stop going on about stepladders before I use your face as one." The Dreadmage twirled his staff - a strange feat for the small 'mon, only accomplishable through psychic assistance, of course. "As for my 'bite', you'll probably see soon enough. Unless you have Paradox fight all of your battles for you."

Cal couldn't help but chuckle at Raz and Penance's little back and forth. "Paradox huh? He definitely has some impressive power, but not exactly the most trustworthy or clear-thinking fellow eh?"

Penance's smile widened as he jumped over... and landed right on Raz's head. The Ralt's wouldn't feel his weight as he only hovered over him, not actually touching, thanks to his psychic power. "You're my new chair!" He said with a nod, "Been looking for one with attitude, and the table and the waiter left. By the way, I need to put a hit out for that waiter. Hundred coins to the one who can bring me his head." He looked down at the mage and blinked, 'You do come with silverware right?"

Raz looked with a grimace at Callimer. "I think I prefer Paradox."

"That's because you don't have to clean up any of his messes." Cal countered.

Penance's eyes widened as one hand grabbed onto the staff, "Heh, you were holding out on me. This fork will go quite well with sauce!"

"Yes, sauce." The Ralts agreed, tipping the staff somewhat forcefully toward the side of the Madman's face.

Penance wasn't deterred as when the staff was gripped again Raz would find that Penance now gripped it with both hands and had wrapped his body around the upper part of the staff, "My fork." He said as he stuck out his tongue, "Go find another."

Raz sighed and looked up at the Emerald Sentinel. "I'll level with you, Goldie. Just how much is it viable for me to harm this ineffable prick?"

"Hmmm..." Cal put his knuckles to his chin and thought earnestly for a moment. "That's a good question, I got away with slugging him into a wall, but then again he'd just terrorized the port. For just harassing you though I don't think anyone would complain too much if you at least tossed him about a bit."

At that moment Surge came up to the still staff gripping Penance and whispered into his ear as he handed him a note. Penance let go of the staff and looked down at the note, "I see... very good!" He nodded to Raz, "Well I must get going! Later!" He began to walk away, but then paused as he made his way to the Dragonite and patted him on the back and quickly began to make his way down the street. Cal felt something brushing along his back as Surge passed him by and gave him a small kick, "Sorry, sign says I have to." He said with a shrug, "Can't disobey signs."

Right after Surge turned around to scurry off a hand grabbed his fluffy tail and lifted him into the air with ease. "Hey Penance, I think you forgot something! Heads up, I don't wanna hit you with this lump!" Cal held surge up to his face for a moment and smiled. "Sorry buddy, I saw a sign earlier that said to return lost junk to it's proper owner." And with that Surge was tossed in Penance's general direction, skidding to a halt face-down near the Golduck's feet.

Funny enough, Surge didn't scream or anything, instead he giggled with glee as he flew out and even did his best to keep his air time as he skidded along the ground and rolled a bit before he finally stopped, "S-Score?" He gasped out. Penance made his way to the side and looked at the distance, "Hm... TWO HUNDRED FIFTY!"

Surge quickly got up and held his spoon up, "WHOO! NEW RECORD!" Penance ran up as the two slapped hands together. With that he jumped up onto the Kadabra's back and pointed out, "GO MY NEW CHAIR! TO ADVENTURE AND NEW SIGNS!" Surge quickly began to run off, leaving behind a corner as citizens quickly dived out of the way.

Cal shook his head at the departing pair and ventured a glance at Razathiel. "I know more or less what's up with Penance, but I wonder just how much of an effect he had on him? If you can become like that madduck from spending too much time around him I really hope we can get this mission over with quickly."

Raz huffed. "I'm already insane, to an extent. Personally, I think I've reached my capacity."

Snype walked up behind Cal after Penance had left. He had only arrived rather recently. "Tsk. Quite the couple aren't they?" Snype simply said. "By the way..." Snype gave the Dragonite's rear a good kick! Not that'd he'd feel alot of force from it. "Ya might wanna get rid of that sign on your back... Kehe. Sorry had to take the offer. It's kinda prankster law." He said with a laugh.

Cal turned on Snype with a devious glint in his eye and a smirk on his lips. "Oh don't you worry, think I didn't hear the slight crumpling of the paper or feel the spot less air was hitting, or be suspicious at all of Penance patting me on the back? But I think I'll leave it there for now, convince Penance he's given me my little comeuppance, and have some fun with it myself. Do you think it would be all that smart of an idea to kick me if you were anyone slower and I didn't already like you Snype?" He punctuated his point by lightly flicking the Sableye's forehead with one of his fingers, a small show of his physical strength even with little effort.

Snype was flicked back a little from the Dragonite's finger hitting him on the head. "Yeow! Kehe... well, I probably would have done it either way but hey! You're a little prankster yourself! Kehe. Fool people into thinking you've been fooled! Oughta help you determine which of us is the bravest. Or stupidest. I probobly fall under one of those categories. Kehe." Snype replied.

"What, you think I just let Kav get away with whatever she wanted when we were kids? If I did I promise you I'd be a nervous wreck about now." Cal's smile grew wider. "By the way, I saw you two on the boat, I was going to ask her if she wanted to get anything to eat but you both just wooked sho adowwwable I couldn't stomach the thought of ruining your nap."

Razathiel almost retched in disgust. "Not sure I can stomach this conversation."

Snype chuckled at Cal's comment. "Keheh, how thoughtful of you. We had a pretty rough night out there anyways. I doubt we'd be able to wake up regardless! Keheh."

Cal patted Snype on the head and continued. "I'm glad you two had fun, just make sure she keeps having fun. Because I prefer to let Kaveri make her own decisions, but I'm not a big fan of people who hurt her in any way." The entire time he kept up the same smile, emphasizing the unspoken threat he was sure he'd never have to carry through on. From what he'd seen of Snype the King of Thieves seemed pretty nice and even, ironically, trustworthy. Of course the fact he didn't expect Snype to do anything wrong didn't mean the threat was false.

"Heheh, aw she tends to make her own choices nonetheless! Keheh. After all, she's the one that pulled me down onto the floor of the boat and... well I'll keep the rest to myself. I doubt you're interested." Snype said, placing his hands behind his back and just casually rocking back and forth.

"I'm having suspicions," Raz noted dryly. "That you only bought me ice-cream earlier to see what colour it stains my vomit. Minion, I'll have to forbid you from talking of such matters in my presence." The Dreadmage turned away and folded his arms grumpily.

"That's alright, I think it's about time I got moving, I can't just sit here all day, I'll go crazy even with a good conversation. I gotta say Raz, you really are moving up in the world, having the King of Thieves for a minion? That's pretty evil if you ask me." Cal stretched his arms, making sure his wings didn't knock anything over this time.

The Ralts couldn't suppress a wry smile, though he was facing away at the time. "Well, yes. Me being evil and all, I wouldn't be surprised."

Snype snickered at that. He mostly played the minion role because he sort of liked Raz in some weird way. At least he was somewhat competent with the whole "Don't kill anyone" stuff. Of course, now this left Snype with nothing to do until everybody headed out.

Well, that's over. Thank Arceus for it too, any longer I'd have died of boredom before we even went anywhere dangerous. Charlie slumped away from the gathering, silently praising himself for only making one inappropriate comment throughout the whole affair, despite the number he'd felt like making. Still, there was a whole day left to do nothing with... and as much as he'd hated being thrown into it yesterday, he'd found the lakeside a pretty cool place to hang - even though he might have sobered up by now, the bug had a lot on his mind to work through.

Taking to his wings, he found what he thought to be an isolated spot at the side of the lake, enjoying the cool air, but making damn sure he was far enough away from the water itself that if a particular Ralts or Golduck showed up he would not find himself beneath the surface....

Guardia's talk with Snype turned out to be more productive than she anticipated. She was surprised to learn how much he had expanded his organization, but she was at least content he decided to share it with her. Despite that, she was certain there were other things he wasn't telling her. Hopefully, it wasn't anything too important. As she walked across the lake, she spotted a Scyther, Charlie, touching down not too far away from her. She had wanted to talk with this 'mon too, but figured it would come later. Seeing as he was here though, Guardia approached him from behind. "Hey," She announced somewhat passively. 

Charlie, not having expected anybody jumped a solid foot into the air. "Dammit! Who's sneakin' up on- Oh. Of all 'a the 'mon I don't need ta see..." He crossed his arms, set himself back onto the ground and glared back into the eyes of the Zangoose that startled him. "Whaddya want?"

"Get used to seeing me. Since you're coming on the mission with us, we'll be seeing a lot of each other. That's why I wanna talk to you now before we head off, just so we understand each other," She was glaring at the Scyther, but for the most part seemed to keep a pretty steady and cool demeanor. 

Charlie turned his back, looking back out to the lake. "Care ta tell me what's ta understand then? I got my reasons for bein' here, so I ain't gonna be puttin' no blades in ya back this time." Charlie didn't expect Guardia to believe him for even a second, but then he didn't believe he could say a word that Guardia would take at face-value anyway, so what was the point?

"Snype fought with me against Darkrai," She began, walking over beside the Scyther until she was close enough beside him so that they could talk without others hearing what they had to say around. "I don't trust everything he does or says, but I know he's not idiotic enough to bring someone along to this mission who doesn't deserve to be here. Besides, once I accepted you into the Gold Tribe, so I know you're capable." 

Guardia narrowed her eyes and glared at Charlie more fiercly. "But don't think this changes anything between us. For this mission, I'm willing to work with you and everyone else that I would prefer not to. For the sake of Valkaria and everyone I fight for, I'll call you an ally. Once this is over, and if you happen to still be alive... I don't care where you go, I'll hunt for you myself if I have to."

Charlie did the exact opposite thing that any 'mon would expect. He smiled at Guardia's tirade. "Good ta know yer still sure 'a how good I am at this game. Ya gave me a load of practice playin' it after all. Don't sweat it too much though, ya know yer never gonna find me after this." Without even breaking his sentence, Charlie's smile turned back into a glare. "I'm only on yer side 'cause I don't see much good in gettin' obliterated and I ain't expectin' jack ta change." After all, nothing's changed yet anyway. he thought to himself, before he continued. "All I'm promisin' here is I'll be doin' what I need to so this sh*t gets over with an' I can get back to doin' what I do best. No playin' nice with you or any of yer Tribe or nothin'."

"Think what you want. If you're still around after, I'm bringing you in," Guardia declared more fiercely than before. "Your betrayal won't stain the Gold Tribe. I've worked too hard to have it come back to that," Guardia turned to face the lake, and sighed. "We're going to need everyone to do their part. As long as we understand each other and not get in each others way, then everything'll work out. But if I see you trying to pull any sorta sh*t with anyone, I'll bury you. Oh, and stay away from Watchman too. He's not your brother any more, he's ours."

"What. The f*ck. Did you just say?" Charlie slowly turned his head to Guardia. "I hate to f*ckin' break it to ya, but I don't give the slightest f*ck how all-damn-powerful you think you are!" Charlie lifted his claw from his side, stopping the blade just inches from Guardia. "You say another word about my brother. I f*cking dare ya, ya dumb sh*t! Yer nothin' to do with my family, you don't have a f*cking say, you get me?" It was bad enough that someone thought they could meddle, but no way was he taking it from her. "His name is Joshua, and you can be damn sure that my blood is worth a f*ckton more than your damned organisation!"

Guardia didn't flinch at all, even with the Scyther's blade right in front of her. She continued to glare at Charlie, even with more disdain in her eyes than before. "Oh are we gonna do this now? Because honestly, by this point I'm just looking for a reason. I can work with you, I know that, but if you want to go for it, I'm begging you, BEGGING you, please do it. 'Cause I've been waiting for it for a long time," Guardia's eyes still had her fury in them, but her mouth curled to a smirk. "Watchman, the minute he took his oath, not only became your blood, but ours as well. He's a part of our family, just as he was yours. But we've been a better family to him than you ever were."

"Shut the f*ck up! The hell do you know? Think you're smart an' clever do ya?" Charlie kept a glare, staring right down the length of his outstretched claw, every fiber of his body resisting the uncontrollable urge to take a chunk of Zangoose as a prize for this conversation. "Ya listenin' to me? 'Cause lemme tell ya this. We ain't clashin' claws today. But ya name any day ya want after we're done with this, I'll come to ya in person an' cut yer f*cking tongue from yer head, save any 'a us from havin' ta listen to ya again." Reluctantly, the Scyther lowered his claw to his side. It felt bitter, like he was admitting defeat. "That all ya wanted? 'Cause if it was, be on ya damn way, with a sincere 'f*ck you' ta see ya off." Charlie spat his words at Guardia like venom, but refused to meet her eyes any more.

Guardia stared silently at Charlie. She wasn't quite sure why he reacted so venomously. Obviously, she wouldn't have minded one bit if they were to fight, but it was strange that he reacted like that to begin with, and it seemed to stem from her mentioning Joshua. Whatever his current feelings about the tribe, it seemed like he still was somewhat attached to his brother. Maybe she could use that. "We're done," Guardia finally replied. "I'll guess I'll be seeing you when all of this is over, then," She said as she began to turn to walk away. She had gotten what she wanted from the conversation, and perhaps a bit more. As much as she despised the Scyther for what he had done, gold didn't seem to be the sole thing that motivated him.

Charlie didn't even register Guardia leaving, instead, sitting to face the lake, muttering bitterly to himself the whole while. "F*ck it all. Why the f*ck am I even bothering to stay in this mess. Josh don't give a f*ck. I got the prime b*tch gettin' up in my face, just beggin' for me ta do somethin' dumb... Guess in no-one's eyes, ya can't change for nothin'..." The thought crossed his mind about simply calling out "F*ck y'all!" to everymon and disappearing into the sunrise... but he just couldn't let himself. If he had some point to prove or some grand reason to stay here, he had to figure it fast, not too long and he'd be where he didn't have a choice in the matter...

A... sane duck!!??​

Guardia proceeded through Fort Ferrol. Having a few conversations with the others down, she figured she needed to talk to another who might become a potential bother as well. However this one had a history of these types of outbursts, as she noticed from the residual glue and chalk still across parts of the town, despite most of it being cleaned up. She shook her head and looked around. Ferrol wasn't quite big enough to look long, and eventually Guardia found the Madman next to a sign of some sort, apparently staring at it. "Penance. I think we need to talk," Guardia declared, crossing her arms.

Penance hung upside thanks in part to surge who held him up by his shoulders. His legs were crossed and he was peering at sign that decreed that no littering was allowed. "Bout time." He said with a huff, "Am I not special enough any more Lyn?" He asked as he glanced over at her, "Look at this sign. It doesn't care, it doesn't think. It does it's job and does it damn well." He sighed, "Why can't I be a sign?"

"I think if you were a sign, you'd be too bored and eventually just want to be something else," Guardia commented. She shook her head. "But I didn't come to you to talk about that. I think we need to clear up a few things before we go ahead with this mission."

Penance sighed and hopped off Surge and landed on his feet, "Go Surge." He looked at Guardia with... well. It was that look. It was something that Guardia might have thought was long since gone, but it was back. The look of sanity, "We must. No one can hear us. We need a safe place. This is important, and depending on what was said in there... it could make the whole relationship with Anatellia shatter in a mere second. Understand this Guardia... this is very important. If the wrong word gets out, everything I've done for the past thirty years will be lost forever." His voice held no silly charm and instead was blunt and right to the point.

Guardia was genuinely surprised that the Madman was talking so...well, sane. She figured he was still capable of it, and here he was showing it again. She only hoped that sane state would remain with him for the rest of their journey too, but that may have just been wishful thinking. "You've got that right. We've only got this one chance at going at everything the right way. We screw up anywhere and it won't just be our heads that roll, it'll be everyone else too, waiting for us back at Gold City, and the rest of Valkaria. That means I need you at your...best. Like you say, your relationship is the strongest in Anatellia, which means we'll need you there. If there's any outbursts or madness...anything that goes wrong and ruins things, it could ruin everything."

He wasted no time in grabbing Guardia's hand and pulling her along, "Safe room. Safe room." He muttered angrily as he made his way to a house and pulled Guardia forward, "Have them evacuate it right now. No one can be in while we talk and we need a place RIGHT now." He began to tap his foot, "Trust me, this is the only insanity I'll show right now, but we need this right now Guardia. Even I can't go to the Seeker base. No one knows but me so get on with it."

Guardia was about to respond, when she was tugged along and apparently asked to remove people from a room. Guardia decided against it, shaking her head and motioning Penance to follow. There, they headed toward the Gold Tribe hut on the other end of Ferrol. It appeared to be mostly abandoned right now, save for a few 'mon sitting on the first level. However, as they moved through the hut to the second and then third level, they found it to be completely empty and safe to converse. "Ok, we're here now. So let's talk."

Penance narrowed his eyes, "Not good enough." He opened the door and shouted out, "YO GOLDIES! IF ANYONE STAYS IN HERE WHILE THE CHIEF AND I TALK THEN PARADOX IS GOING TO KICK YOUR ASSES!" He slammed the door and placed his back against it, "This is absolute Guardia. What I am about to tell you is so secretive... so needed to be protected that if but one, ONE, unprotected mind overhears it then EVERYTHING is lost!" He ran up and gripped her shoulders, "Do you UNDERSTAND?" He asked, "This is of paramount importance."

Guardia brushed off his hands from her shoulders and backed down to the trapdoor leading to the previous rooms. "Do as he says, give us the hut for the time being," Guardia yelled to the lower floors, hearing the shuffling of feet and different murmurs as everyone exited the hut. She stood up again from the trapdoor and once more eyed Penance. "There, NOW we're alone here. You don't have to be so secretive here, Penance. My Gold Tribe won't betray me. Can't say the same for your lot."

"Oh yes, and that's how a general managed to slip by huh?" He asked in a sneer before a look of realization crossed his face and he sighed as a frown formed, "I'm sorry... that was out of line." He paced a bit, "It's been some time like this. I can only stay sane for times upon times. This is important, so very important." He stopped in mid pace and looked at the Zangoose, "What did Obsidian say? His very exact words. I need to know. If I tell you more than what I should... then Anatellia will know. And everything there will be lost."

"You didn't say anything that isn't true. I don't know how the General slipped through, but he wasn't the Gold Tribe, so I never had a say on him to begin with," Guardia began with a shrug, before looking down at the floor and shaking her head. "The worst part is, though, if I did have a say in it, I don't think I would have denied him the chance to be General. There were no signs. Nothing at all."

"Obsidian said that legendaries were spotted in Anatellia," Guardia replied in somewhat annoyance. "Something you failed to mention at all, and keep a secret from me. Remember what happens with secrets? They get 'mon killed."

Penance was silent for a bit as he walked by the desk, then angrily grabbed the desk and flipped it over, "Stupid... stupid..." He muttered, "You don't know much of Anatellia..." He said with anger underlying his tone, "Anatellia knows of things... things that they don't want anyone else to know. They have a superior culture there... something they are proud of." He closed his eyes and slumped the floor, "If word gets out that outsiders know of this heritage... it was a promise I made."

He opened his eyes and looked up to Guardia, "I never lie... they know that. So when I gave my word they were satisfied. For twenty eight years I worked up their trust, just so I could see... some things they had. For the past two years I've looked over books, looked over culture to find specfiic information. Just before I came back to Valkaryia..." He chuckled a bit, "I found it. I found SOME things, things that could help. But it was only me. No other Seekers can go where I go. Only me. Obsidian knows some things, but not everything. It was a part of the promise." He began to giggle a bit more, "And... and the promise was, if I let anything slip, if Obsidian let anything slip... we would be shut out. Everything I worked up hard to find would be taken from me, and if necessary, burned so I could never read it in depth."

He giggled more, "And it looks like it might happen. If word is spread by anyone who was there... then it's over." He threw his hands up into the air, "It'll all be over and the small mentions I found of certain things... I can never read. I had twenty books... out of the millions. All set nice in a pile for when I would get back." He rubbed at his forehead, "If it's found out the Gold Tribe knows just a bit... if they know you found out just a bit then it's over. The minute you enter they will check your mind and see you have memories of what was said." He slowly stood up, "Heh, unless you don't go, but if any of your goldies... if any of my seekers say anything. It's over. Done. All those secrets I have yet to see will be taken from my grasp. Now do you see? That's why I couldn't say anything."

He paced a bit more, "Funny enough... it was going to be a gift. I was planning another three months there, reading, then come back and let you know everything. But nope, couldn't happen! So, you happy now?" He asked as he crossed his arms, "Now the world will start to know... unless we can keep certain people quiet. At least until we get what we need."

Guardia stared long and hard at Penance as he explained the situation. She knew that the Anatellians were quite private 'mon. The first time she tried going there, it was almost like a secret order that wouldn't budge. Even if there were a thousands sects from a thousand different gangs there, they all had one thing in common: no outsiders. They hated when foreign 'mon visited their country, and only on a few occasions would they ever allow some in, and even less were allowed any information like this. So she could understand why he kept it private. But the situation's changed now.

"We're going to Tollen first, but eventually we're coming to Anatellia. ALL of us. Which means you're either going to have to spill the info, or we'll find out together eventually. I don't know how we'll go about it, and I don't care. Maybe we'll pretend to be Seekers, or maybe we'll infiltrate, but we're going to need to go there eventually. It won't be just you. Which means eventually, you're going to have to share everything you know."

Penance closed his eyes, "If we go... then we'll have to spill it there." He sighed, "If they catch even a word of this having been spilled before you can bet that hundreds of them will swarm out personally to cut open my chest and eat my heart." He blinked a bit, "Well... maybe not that extreme, but at the very least they'll shish cabob me over an open fire. This is dangerous. We can't have anyone saying anything. Guardia..." He sighed, "Those who know... can't be allowed to speak."

"...We'll keep it quiet for now," Guardia replied, agreeing that perhaps for the moment, bringing up what little they do know about the legendary situation in Anatellia is not the best idea. "Either way, we need to focus on Tollen first. One place at a time. We'll have another meeting later where we'll discuss the specifics. But Penance...we're playing for the same team here now. I won't keep things from you, and I expect the same thing in return."

He nodded, "I will say this." He went up to Guardia and put a hand onto her shoulder, "I have made countless promises to you in the past. You remember those. I ask a promise in return." He fell silent for a moment, "... Erase what Obsidian said from the memories of those who were there. I'll do the same for my Seekers... but I can't have this coming up Guardia. If someone happens to peer into one of their minds during our travels, or they let the beans spill... it's just... if it gets out, then when we walk into Anatellia, we may very well be walking into a very large ambush designed to kill you all while I'm taught about keeping promises." He looked right into her eyes, "I'll do anything you want, anything whatsoever in return. I'll even kiss your feet in public if you request it. But... if this secret gets out we'll lose all that information in Anatellia."

"I'm not going to purge everyone's minds because of something they might say," Guardia replied forcefully. "We can make sure everyone is quiet about it, but I'm not going to do that to them. I have no right, and neither do you. Don't worry, I'll make sure they won't know about it either way."

Penance gritted his teeth, "Guardia... you know what? Fine." He held up his hands in defeat, "But know this. If anyone does say anything... it will be your fault. Do you wish to be responsible for all that information to be lost?"

I don't wish to compromise my character by purging memories from my allies. You know what happens when people withhold information and it gets buried away for a long time only to bite you in the backside later? Darkrai happens." The Zangoose explained. "You should know that better than anyone else."

He was silent for a bit, "Yeah... I know." He hung his head, "I guess I know what those guys back then were thinking huh?" He chuckled a bit, "You know... sometimes I'm not sure if I can do this." He said softly, "I wonder... if I'll just fail in the end. It's no mystery, everyone absolutely despises me."

"Hell, Penance, if everyone despising you constitutes us losing, then we would have lost a long time ago," Guardia replied with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure not everyone here is too fond about me either, and I'll take that with a grain of salt," She continued, thinking back to her conversation she just had with Charlie. Her jaw clenched. "It's not about liking everyone here, it's about learning to work with them so that we can succeed. Everything else is secondary."

Penance slumped over at first, then fell into a roll as he hit into the overturned desk, "Yeah, I suppose." He said as he looked up, that silly look returning to his eyes, "You shouldn't fret silly goose." He stuck out his tongue, "We're all friends in this and even if one falls we have others to pick them up!" In a split second Penance's left eye turned to a shade of gray as he quickly picked himself up, "Right then." He said in a softer tone, "We'll be right beside ya Guardia!" Brynn said as he held out his hand, "We're in this. The duck and I will start making plans, but he has the main points of Tollen memorized. Want us to make a map while we're at it?"

Guardia shrugged. "Anything we can use would help, so why not?" She gave the Golduck and nod and a smile. "I'll probably go prepare too. Plus, there's a few others I might need to see as well."

Brynn nodded and made his way to the door, "Right. I'll see how long I can keep him out of your hair Lyn. When we get to Tollen, you'll probably be seeing more of me." He gave the Zangoose a wink and closed the door behind him.

Joshua stared, dumbfounded, looking outside of the hut in an almost fearful manner. He had wanted to meet with Guardia afterwards, but she had apparently left. Then that Golduck came and... truthfully, Joshua was afraid of him.

The Swadloon poked his head outside of the doorway to the hut. "I-is that madman gone yet?"

"Yes, he is." Razathiel confirmed. "And good riddance."

Joshua sighed in relief. "Good. I don't know if I can take this. It hasn't even been an hour and already I fear for my life." He shivered once, adjusting his coat and glancing around. "Did Guardia leave, somewhere?"

"Kehe, actually yeah she's looking for different Gold Tribe members to talk with. Its likely she'll be chatting with Penance later too. I was confronted for keeping a couple of secrets from her but we've worked it out. Kehe. Had to leak a bit of info about the thieves but hey, whatever helps the group out right?" Snype explained.

"Remind me again why he's even here," Joshua started, before shaking his head. "Actually, nevermind. I don't want to know."

"Believe me, I wish I knew. Paradox got knocked out cold when we confronted that Greninja. All he had to do was poke him in the head and boom. Knocked out cold. Funny enough, Paradox hasn't been around... which is a good thing. He'd only cause more trouble. I'm guessing you're going to talk to Guardia about that huh? Keheh... if I wasn't so focused on the conversation, I'd have done it myself..." Snype replied.

"That might have come up, yes..." Joshua started. He was about to head off to search for the Zangoose, when his stomach growled. Loudly. He had forgotten to eat before the meeting. "... so, do they have a place for us to eat, here?"

Snype thought about food for a moment. While his appetite was filled by the ice cream he had earlier, some proper breakfast wouldn't hurt... "Hmmm... shouldn't be too hard to spot a good place to eat. Its a pretty small village and all. Kehe... breakfast sounds pretty darn good about now." Snype said, rubbing his belly a little.

"Breakfast sounds fairly good- er, evil- er... reasonable, to me." Raz agreed after some deliberation.

Snype looked around for anywhere to eat...There seemed to be a small cafe not too far off for both breakfast and other edible desires. Snype took a whiff of the food being cooked inside and started to make his way over.

A low rumbling seemed to fill the air enough to actually make smaller pokémon feel it instead of just hearing it spread through the air. When all eyes turned to Cal his face darkened to the point where red almost overtook the green and he looked down bashfully, muttering "Sonuva..."

Joshua looked up at the Dragonite, the green dragon towering over his small form. Joshua grinned just slightly, noticing that Snype had walked off towards a nearby cafe. "Heh, well, I guess that's our cue, then."

Inside the cafe, Zai sat at a table, sipping a cup of tea and nibbling on a pastry. She glanced up from her classy little snack just as Snype entered the establishment. She didn't speak up at first, weighing the pros and cons of speaking to the small imp. He was a thief, but so was her best friend, so that wasn't an issue. He was sane compared to individuals such as Penance, and he wasn't nearly as annoying as the little dread fairy, Razberryal. She would most likely be traveling with the Sableye during this expedition, so she figured she may as well start speaking to him now.

"In search of food, Snype?" she asked casually as he walked by. She noticed a few more pokémon were in tow behind him.

Snype's ears perked up a bit as he heard the nearby voice. "Keheh, Yep. Turns out the ice cream wasn't enough to fill up my stomach. Keheh. I guess I have more of an appetite for gems but I doubt those are being sold here... kehe. Maybe I'll go search for some kinda cave later tonight. I take you're here for the same thing... uh..." Snype paused. "Heh...Sorry, I don't think I caught your name back at our last conversation about our backsides... what's your name?" Snype asked

Zai set down her cup. "Alizai Arashi. I'm known as Skuld within the Gold Tribe, but Zai is just as well."

"I think I'll stick with Zai. Keheh. Short and to the point! Just like Snype! I think you and I will get along just fine in that regard." Snype said with a grin as he sat at the table with her. "Sooo what kinda food do they got here anyways? I'm up for anything at this rate."

"Assorted pastries, sweets and beverages. Apparently they make some great pancakes, or so I've been told," Zai responded. "As you guessed, there's a stunning lack of gemstones or precious metals here, sadly. I don't think this fort is known for its glamour and riches."

Snype sighed. "Keheh.. yeah I noticed, unfortunately. Getting a good meal like that takes some sneaky antics. Keheh. I think I'll test out my taste buds with some good old pancakes." Snype said.

Zai nodded. "Good idea. Who's with you, by the way?" she asked, glancing back at the pokémon that had followed Snype in.

"Well of course we got Raz here, but a few others oughta be popping in. Cal and Joshua should be joining us very soon." He replied.

Zai's eyes narrowed a bit at the mention of Raz. She wasn't yet acquainted with Cal or Joshua, but she didn't think she really wanted to get any more acquainted with the Ralts.

Joshua wandered in slowly behind the others into the small cafe. It wasn't very busy, which suited the Swadloon just fine. There appeared to be only three 'mon working at this time; a Quilava, a Numel, and a Fletchinder. The three 'mon were taking turns with baking, cleaning, and taking the scant amount of orders that were coming through.

"Hmm, two breakfasts." Razathiel pondered, hopping his way into the cafe. "I suppose I probably deserve a treat, what with all the evil I've been suppressing." The Ralts opened his Magic Room and stored away his staff before shuffling toward Snype's table. He didn't feel particularly hungry, but he could certainly eat more. The ice cream, wondrous as it was, had left him satisfied but also open to the possibility of ingesting more. He jumped up onto his seat - adjustable, a pleasant surprise - spared a quick puzzled glance at Alizai, then snatched a menu and began perusing.

As soon as Cal stepped into the place yet another hungry groan issued forth from his body and all the workers looked towards the door for a moment before the Quilava shouted "I hear a customer!" And all three of them got a little more active in their preparations. Cal looked down nervously again, embarrassed by just how noisy his stomach was.

Raz closed his menu. "Bloody hell, Groudon is awakening, we must- oh, never mind." After spotting Cal, he returned to his browsing.

"Wow... It's been a long time since I went this long without eating... I think I might start a much more active eating schedule just to make sure this doesn't happen again..." Cal muttered to himself while he walked over to a random table and grabbed a menu to see what they had. Ooooooh so many sweets, if nobody stops me I might get chubby in here.

Joshua took a seat opposite Cal. He wasn't sure about that Raz fellow, and while Snype seemed like good company... well, he was a thief. The King of Thieves, no less. The Swadloon felt more comfortable with a fellow Gold Tribesman, even though the Dragonite was easily several times his size. He read over the menu intently, muttering each meal to himself. "...Oran muffins... Mago pancakes... so many choices..."

"They've even got vanilla and razz berry cupcakes with cheri berries on top." Cal muttered to himself in perfect sync with Joshua. "So many decisions...I might empty my wallet today." The thought of all the wonderful things on the menu and the smell from the kitchen set off another loud growl from his stomach, making the chairs and table vibrate slightly.

The door swung open not even a second later and Kaveri poked her head in, glancing about. "I'm pretty sure I heard- Oh, yup, there he is." Sidling on over to the table the group was sitting at, the Floatzel squeezed in next to her brother on the side opposite Joshua. "Ya know, I sometimes think your stomach might be louder than your roar," she said, teasingly prodding Cal's belly.

Cal pushed his face further into his menu, despite how little of his big head it could cover. "Well, I couldn't find you last night when it was about time for dinner because you were running off for your 'date'. And then I was tired and just fell asleep..."

Joshua glanced from his menu towards the Floatzel that entered. He smirked slightly at her comment, but it faded quickly, seeing as Cal was looking somewhat irritated at the jab. "I take it you two know each other?"

"What, you can't tell? He's my little bro!" Kaveri patted the top of Cal's head, careful to avoid the spike, as she picked up a menu with her other paw and flipped it open.

"Heh, little. Coming from a shrimp like you that always sounds wrong even though I know it's true." Cal continued with a chuckle.

Snype looked over to the group that had just entered and waved. "Hey guys! We're over here! Kehe. We're gonna ask a waiter for what we need. There's plenty of seats for everyone! At least, for those who can fit in a seat. Kehe." Snype said.

Joshua chuckled at Kaveri and Callimer's exchange. "Must be nice to have someone with you to depend on in the Gold Tribe." He looked over towards Snype, who was waving them down to join their table, then back towards Kaveri and Callimer. "Well... I guess we should move, huh?"

Cal shrugged and got up from the chair, when an idea occurred to him. He grabbed Kaveri and hefted her over his shoulder, carrying her over to the other table and setting her in a chair next to Raz. With his rather minuscule bit of revenge out of the way he pulled a larger chair over to the table and sat down, patting the empty seat next to him for Joshua. Joshua nodded, hopping up next to the Dragonite and once again reading the menu.

Kaveri had let out a squeak of surprise when she was lifted up, but otherwise went along with Cal carrying her contentedly enough. It just meant she could keep reading the menu as she was moved. When she noticed whom Cal had put her next to though, she smirked slightly and reached out to ruffle the Ralts' hair. "The ice cream not enough for your tiny stomach, Tiny?" Razathiel sighed angrily, closing his eyes and slowly shutting his menu. In an instant, he whirled on Jetstream, one hand pointed firmly at the Floatzel's snout.

"Listen here, you oversized Rattata! Care to explain to me what you find so f*cking mystifying about my size!? YES. I am SMALL. I am AWARE. With that in mind, perhaps you should leave your idiotic, uninspired, pathetically redundant excuses for jokes at the door and actually leave me be for once, you irritating vermin! Do I make myself clear?"

Zai laughed from the other side of the table. "Perhaps if you didn't let it visibly irritate you, people wouldn't find it so compelling to make 'redundant excuses for jokes' at your expense."

"Don't even get me started on you! Ugh. I thought you Gold Tribe bastards actually cared for being virtuous. Clearly I was mistaken."

Zai took a sip of her tea. "Virtuous? Yes. That doesn't mean we won't make a few jokes, especially when aimed at someone who claims to be 'evil' and apparently likes to kill people for a pastime."

Raz pouted and folded his arms. "At least when I kill people they f*cking deserve it."

"I'm sure they do," Zai said, setting her tea back down.

Kaveri cocked her head, putting a finger to her chin in thought. "But if you only kill people who deserve to be killed, doesn't that make you less evil?"

"Pfft, no," The Ralts waved her away. "You aren't even evil, I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"But what if I am evil? What if I'm just pretending not to be evil so that when I reveal how evil I am I can mess with everyone who thought I wasn't evil?" Kaveri rattled out. She was barely even paying attention to Raz anymore, her gaze browsing the menu once again.

"And there we go again." The Dreadmage said. "Deception isn't evil, it's annoying. Subtle differences."

"Oh, so that's why you're so annoying," Zai chirped.

"I'm not annoying, you're annoying!"

Kaveri glanced over at Raz with a raised brow. "Are you sure you're an adult?"

"Yes I'm sure!" The Ralts cried, then turned away from them. "Waiter! I demand a SANDWICH!"

"An adult, just immature," Zai said, glancing at Kaveri.

Snype snickered during the conversation. "Keheh, well this certainly escalated quickly. Hey Waiter, I wanna try one of those Mago pancakes. Kehe." Snype said before turning back to the group. He was tempted to vouch his own definition of evil, but wasn't really sure how comfortable most Gold Tribe members would feel if he started talking about his experiences in the Silver Tribe.

Cal shook his head and kept looking at his menu. "You gals aren't exactly making a case for us being any more mature than he is. 'The brave warriors of the gold tribe, taunting smaller pokemon for their size while toting equality and peace.' Aren't we the valiant protectors? Oooooooh pecha pie." He banged his fist on the table as softly as he could so it wouldn't flip. "Waiter! I'll have one of everything!"

"Oran and Persim sandwich. And a Kasib smoothie." Raz ordered - from the menu, not in his usual sense.

"Yeah, but we gotta have a little fun sometimes. And maybe we're just bad at our jobs." Zai giggled. Glancing at the food around her, she decided to order some pancakes as well.

"Keheh, this is the kind of conversation I'd expect from thieves! Maybe I'm starting to rub off the Gold Tribe or something? Kehe. My charm strikes again!" Snype said with a big grin.

"I suppose, considering my best friend is a thief," Zai responded.

"I guess I can't really blame Wildfire for my personality considering she barely even knew what a joke was...," Kaveri chuckled, scratching the back of her head then waving the waiter over. "Hmm, think I'll go with the Mago pancakes as well."

"Kehe, we all have a bit of a thief inside of us It seems! Guess we're all craving some pancakes. Heheh."

"Not me," Joshua said plainly. When the waiter came to him, he ordered a simple Pecha muffin with some assorted fruit. "I don't think I'd even want to be a thief, even if I did have the skills..." he looked at Snype, realizing what he just said. "Erm... no offense."

"Keheh, none taken. The thief business isn't for everyone. I'd say its normally for those who really have nothing else to go back to honestly. Ask any of the thieves. Their reasoning will probably be along those lines." Snype explained.

"I don't have any thief in me." Cal casually weighed-in.

"You say your best friend is a thief, Zai? I might know em." Kehe." Snype replied

"Her name's Tebra, an Umbreon. Her mate, a Persian named Kesley, is also a thief." Zai said in answer to Snype.

"Really? Kehe. Funny you should mention but I actually ran into her back in Gold City. She helped save the third network point from that Greninja. Kept him in place for a good while. Pretty darn handy I gotta say. Keheh. I'll tell her ya said hi when we bump into eachother again." Snype said.

Zai nodded, impressed but not entirely surprised. "Thanks."

"I knew a thief once." Raz said.

"What'd you do, kill 'em?" Kaveri questioned casually.

"Yes, they tried to steal my staff." He paused. "I just realised that was a rather unsavoury thought. Oh well."

"So was this something recent and he succeeded and hid it before ya killed him or something? Cause I don't see your staff around anywhere," Kaveri said, eyeing Raz out of the corner of her eye. "Well, unless you lost it yourself."

Razathiel laughed. "Oh, no, that was a while ago. And my staff is safely stored away; Magic Room is a wonderful thing, especially when travelling."

"Is that so?" Kaveri smiled. "Nice to know."

"So then..." Joshua spoke up, seeking a change in the subject. As he was about to speak, the Quilava waiter came by with a large tray of their orders. As the plates were placed down in front of the proper 'mon, he continued. "... It looks like we're going to Tollen first."

When the Quilava set Cal's first two plates in front of him last, he nodded at him and made sure to assuage any concerns he might have. "I'm sure you can tell your entire order at once wouldn't fit unless you wanted to go eat by yourself, so just let us know as you finish each one and we'll bring more...as long as you can, in fact, pay for it all." Cal just nodded before digging into the Pecha Pie in front of him.

"You- you actually ordered everything on the menu?" Raz looked up at the dragon in surprise. "Well... good luck." The Dreadmage allowed himself the 'good', considering the sarcastic manner in which it was delivered.

"Oh, believe me, he doesn't need luck," Kaveri huffed, giving Cal's belly another prod. "It would be better to hope it's enough to fill him! Believe, I know, I have to cook for the damned behemoth."

Snype quickly started to munch on the pancakes that had been delivered, giving a smile to show that he was very pleased with the taste. "Keheh... so much food~ This oughta be fun to watch." Snype said, looking over to Cal before turning his head back to Joshua. "Yeah, I was actually considering Karn myself but something about Tollen is interesting... guess the mystery kinda appealed to me! Kehe." Snype said.

Cal finished his pecha pie quickly enough, somehow managing not to make a mess or any obscene noises, and wiped his mouth off. As soon as his first plate was clean he tapped the table with his hand again and shouted, "Next one up!" before starting on his razz berry bagels with cream cheese, while the workers in the kitchen hustled to keep up with his jaws and stomach. "Personally," he started between bites. "I'd prefer Tollen myself as well. I love mysteries, they're the majority of the books littered around our place. But we're racing against the clock, the dark, ominous, eldritch clock. Our allies, as well as our brothers and sisters are still fighting back home, dying even. My vote went to Karn because I felt it would be the fastest to deal with. Maybe we could even get it over with quickly and send them to Gold City so we'd have more time for the rest of our destinations."

"We don't know that'd it'd be easy, Cal. Don't forget their emperor gave Guardia a scar, and she's not some weakling." Kaveri paused for a moment to take a bite of pancake and swallow before continuing, "Besides, if Tollen doesn't know about Darkrai returning yet, any delay in alerting them could result in the entire nation being lost."

"Well it's like that Mareep said." Cal answered between bites. "Each option had plenty of pros and cons, what matters is that we decided and we know what we're doing now."

Snype nodded before taking another good chomp out of a chunk of his pancakes. "Yeah. I've never even been to Tollen, nor heard of it. To be frank, we're all at a disadvantage as soon as we get there. Well, besides the seekers, but hopefully we can learn something useful once we arrive," Snype said. If there was anything useful then perhaps it'd be good to expand the thieves. More ground to cover was never a bad thing.

Zai took a bite of her own pancakes, and then had to pause a moment to savor the taste before she could speak. They really were delicious. "I was entertaining the idea of going to either Tollen or Karn, but the air of mystery surrounding Tollen just seemed too intriguing to pass up." She took another bite and then glanced at Raz. "By the way, I'm not exactly well versed in the anatomy of Ralts, but I'm pretty sure they're supposed to have horns. And I'm pretty sure those horns are important."

Razathiel chuckled, swallowing his bite of sandwich. "Pah, they're not that important. Emotion sensors. Basically means I'm more your sort of level, as opposed to being an overemotional semi-moron."

"Don't forget more evil, because all those petty feelings don't get in your way." Cal added lightheartedly.

The Dreadmage waved a hand dismissively. "The horns have almost nothing to do with that. I'm just that evil naturally."

"Then again..." Cal kept on as if Raz hadn't answered. "Maybe you'd be even more evil with their greatest fears and insecurities."

"Well, the horns wouldn't actually allow him to see their worst fears, although I suppose he would be able to sense when they're most afraid, so with some trial and error, sure," Zai supplied.

Raz shrugged. "Well, I don't have them. Not much use toying with the possibility. Unless, perhaps, I'll get them back if I ever evol-" He stopped himself. "Hmph, doubt that's ever going to happen..."

Zai's ears perked up at Raz's sudden avoidance of the subject of evolution. "Oh? What, are you staying in your current form just to avoid growing a skirt? You know Kirlia can rip holes in dimensions and do a bunch of divination things, right?"

The Ralts laughed aloud at the mention of the skirt. "Heh, I think I could tolerate the skirt, if I were given the chance. More power isn't something I pass up lightly - especially seeing as I'm at least on-par with Gardevoirs my age. In fact, I think if I were to evolve now, I'd probably skip the 'skirt stage' altogether."

Zai tilted her head slightly, looking the Ralts up and down. "Even if you've built up the power, I'm not entirely sure it's possible to skip an evolutionary stage. I can't be sure, though, as no one in my family or any of my friends have more than one evolution. Still, I don't think I've heard of it being done. Besides, if you skipped to a Gardevoir, you'd just have a huge gown rather than a skirt."

Raz tutted the Absol. "Robe, please. At least let Gardevoirs have the privilege of denial."

Zai chuckled at that. "Deny it all you wish. Personally I like the gown, but I believe many Kirlia opt to wait to become a Gallade because of it."

"Keheh, a Gallade would be a good fit for you! If anything you could just get your own robe and still have something sharp to poke people with!" Snype added.

"Egh, I'm too invested in the psychic and magical arts," The Ralts shook his head. "Going physical wouldn't be worth it for getting rid of the gown- *aghem*, uh, robe. Even with the addition of sharp, pokey things."

"Keheh, suit yourself. I think having some big blades hidden inside some robes would be cool but I'll save the idea for myself. Kehe." Snype replied.

"Yeah, because nobody would ever look at a Gallade and think they were any sort of threat as long as they cover up. Sabeleye are so harmless too. Maybe I should buy a cloak so they'll let me right into Anatellia's greatest libraries and I can overthrow Penance?" Cal chuckled. "I don't really think there's much point concealing anything on yourself unless you can conceal your whole self; after all, everymon can be a living weapon."

"Hey I never said it would be useful. I just thought it'd look neat! Keheh" Snype said with a laugh. "Like if you were suddenly wielding some kinda sword Cal! It may not be effective in battle but hey, it'd look kinda cool! I guess if you made friends with an Aegislash then it'd actually be helpful... kehe."

Cal's eyes widened near the end of Snype's vocalized thoughts. "Or imagine if I could get two...one to be a sword and one to be a shield...I WOULD BE SO STRONG!" He half stood up when he raised his voice, then looked around at the rest of the table and sat back down bashfully. He stuffed his face with the last of his oran berry pancakes before he could say anything else stupid. Just as he finished the pancakes the Quilava came back around with two more large plates on a cart, taking Cal's empty plates and replacing them with a Figy-berry omelette and an Emboar bacon sandwich.

Joshua listened to the others, not really adding much himself as he was content to sit back and observe. "Heh, I already have a cloak. Maybe I could hide some kind of... weapon, or something." When the waiter came back to bring more food for Cal, he looked at the Dragonite with an expression of shock, having only eaten about half of his own small muffin. "Are you sure you can afford this, Cal?"

"He'd better, cause I'm sure as heck not helping him pay!" Kaveri said, syrup all over her muzzle. She eyed one of Cal's plates speculatively for a moment, specifically the one with the Emboar bacon sandwich, then reach over, lifted the bread off and plucked the bacon out. "I take that back, I'll help pay for that one."

The gluttonous Dragonite just kept eating without showing any signs of noticing the food-snatching; he could still taste the bacon juice on the sandwich and that was good enough for him. "Don't worry, I can handle it, I never really buy anything besides food and books."

Snype finished up his breakfast, giving his belly a pat. "Keheh, well I'm sure not paying for it! So I should probably head out before anyone starts pointing fingers at me... kehe." Snype said, implying that Cal would end up paying for the entire bill. Saved him some cash anyways! The Sableye scooted off from his chair. "I gotta look around for someone anyways. Kehe. I'll catch you all later." Snype said as he began to make his way out the door.

"Wait, what are you-" Joshua started, but Snype had already left. In hindsight, he really shouldn't have been surprised that someone with The King of Thieves as his moniker would walk away without paying. He grumbled silently to himself, slapping a handful of coins on the table to cover both his and the Sableye's tab.

Zai laughed a bit at that. "Well, breakfast seems to be winding down for all but Cal here. Good luck with all that food, big guy." She added her own coins to the mix as the finished the last bite of her pancakes, and then left the cafe.

Cal kept eating throughout the last bits of conversation, finishing the last dish, a mixed berry parfait, and leaning back in his seat to sigh contentedly.

Raz's eyes suddenly narrowed in suspicion. "Wait just an Arceus-damned second..." The Ralts backflipped from his chair onto the headrest, then called out to the Sableye attempting to leave the building. "Hey! Minion! Get your arse back over here NOW!"

Snype's ears twitched and looked back to Raz. "What? If you were at all evil you'd be joining me. Kehe." Snype said with a smirk.

"Don't lecture me about evil, fool! I'm evil, not a dickhead! Now pay for your own f*cking meal, because I sure as hell aren't! Just because I'm your master, doesn't mean I'm feeding you! Giratina's wings, I need to teach you one or two things about evil..."

Snype sighed and crossed his arms. "Geez. Keheh. You have no idea." Snype instead threw a couple coins on the counter as a tip to the waiter. "I'm pretty sure I have a good grasp of being evil." Snype said with a more stern expression.

The Dreadmage sniffed. "Please, I'm the master of evil! I was evil before I was born! If there were universities in evil, I'd have at least a Ph.D in evil." The Ralts paced along his headrest. "I once met someone who thought they were as evil as me; turns out they weren't, because I was more evil. I'm so evil, in fact, that sometimes people look at me and say 'Arceus, that Ralts is evil!' because they know that I'm just that evi-" Raz started for a moment, looking down and blinking in surprise. "Bloody hell, did you seriously finish that entire order?"

The Dragonite covered his mouth with a napkin to stifle a burp. "Of course I did, I was hungry. Can't let perfectly good food go to waste, not like we'll be carrying around a bunch of to-go boxes when we finally start the mission."

Joshua almost laughed at the Ralts' reaction, just looking at Cal in slight disbelief. He supposed it made sense for a large Dragonite like himself to eat so much, but it didn't make it any less appalling. "I suppose so, though you might want to consider reducing your intake..." With his meal finished and paid for, the Swadloon hopped off the seat, turning to the others. "Well, it was... interesting dining with you all. If you'll excuse me, I should probably get going." With that, Joshua turned and left, shuffling past the waiters as he made his way outside.

Kaveri licked up the syrup and crumbs that stained the fur around her mouth, smacking her lips in satisfaction as she dropped a few coins of her own on the table. "Watchman's right, if you don't watch it, you'll get even fatter!" she snickered, prodding Cal's belly with a little more force than was really necessary.

"That could be a tactical advantage, actually," Raz mused. "Squishing enemies can be surprisingly effective. Just, erm... if we ration food, I'll keep an eye on you."

"I'm not fat..." Cal muttered. "And I don't eat this much all the time, I'm not a Snorlax. Plus after this...er, splurge I actually won't need to eat for a while. And if I keep eating like a regular 'mon with all this power stored up it can be like a backup battery when I fight! Sort of, anyway. Don't worry Raz, I won't sit on you, I wouldn't want to be thrown off. And if I DID smoosh you then I would feel bad because I'm not evil, I'm supposed to do the opposite of squishing my allies." He stood up and reached into his coin pouch to pay for his food, when he heard voices coming from the kitchen.

Shortly the Quilava who'd been consistently hustling between the kitchen and the tables thanks to Cal's appetite ran back to the table and looked at Cal expectantly. "Just wondering sir, but might you be the one who walloped that cooky duck earlier?"

"Well done on that, by the way." Raz noted.

Cal blinked curiously, not sure why that was relevant. "Yes... I was. Why do you ask?"

"Ha, I knew it! Well me and the boys back in the kitchen were-"

"I'm a girl!" The Numel shouted.

"As I was saying, the boys and I were trying to decide if it was you or not. He was quite the menace when he thought he'd been left out of whatever's going on. In fact, Cole - he's the Fletchinder - was one of the 'mon glued to that whole mess. Anyway, we appreciate you giving him a knock for that mess, so the food's-"

"Free?!?" Cal exclaimed with his eyes practically sparkling.

"No! What are you, crazy? Do you know how much food you just ate? We can't afford to give all that away, but I was going to say half off."

"Oh, well that's nice too.' Cal rubbed the back of his head and fished out the necessary amount, leaving it on the table and thanking the Quilava. His shoulders drooped a bit and he did his best not to let it show. "Well I better get going too, I've got... something I need to take care of. Kav, I'll see you later, have fun with whatever for a bit, I'll find you when I'm done." As soon as he finished he pushed his chair back under the table, forgetting it wasn't originally from the table anyways, and lumbered towards the door.

Kaveri watched Cal leave quietly, a small frown replacing her usual smile. She wasn't stupid, and she knew her brother well enough to know he was down about something. But whatever it was, it didn't look like he wanted to talk about it right now; she could bug him later. "Righto, I'll be off as well. Nice chit-chatting with you all!" She waved to the group before following Cal's lead and leaving.

"Keh, guess I'll be following suit. I need to find Penance and chat with the guy about some stuff. I'll be around if you all need me." Snype said as he left the restaurant.

"Hmm." Raz murmured in agreement as he opened his Magic Room and begun to scour it for loose change. He'd probably have some kind of business to attend to, as well... though it'd probably be more evil.

Brynn sighed as he leaned over the papers he had set down and began to draw ever so slowly. He glanced over at Surge who had a frown on his face, "When's he coming back?" He whined for the fifth time.

"Just let me do this Surge." The Golduck asked as he continued to trace along the paper, "Hm... theater was here... some houses..."

Snype had just finished up his breakfast inside of the cafe. Low and behold, Penance wasn't too far away. He was curious about a couple things ever since that Greninja knocked him out. He wanted to confirm a few suspicions. So he walked over to the table. "Hey you." Snype simply said to the Golduck.

Brynn lifted his head and looked down at the Sableye, his silver eye glowing a bit, "Ah, been some time Snype." He moved some junk off the seat and patted the spot next to him, "Come on up. How have you been?" He traced a bit more along the paper, "Hm... tell me do
you think this is too big of an outline for a theater?" He asked with a frown.

Snype observed the paper as soon as he took a seat and quickly looked at the silver eye on the Golduck. The Sableye Almost mistook him for Penance...or...her. It was a good thing he had such distinct features. "Hmm... well I'm not big on design but having alot of room for seat and a stage would be a good thing right? I doubt you could make a theater too big. Kehe. Just depends on the funds." Snype said, despite that it was distracting him from the main topic he wanted to confront him about. "Kehe, hows Penance feeling? He got knocked out pretty hard back there. Was pretty darn weird. The Greninja barely even touched him so I doubt he hit a pressure point or anything along those lines." Snype asked.

Brynn perked up, "Hm? Oh, I suppose so. But I'm not making building plans Snype, Guardia asked for a map of Tollen and I'm doing my part." He continued to draw, "Odds of me being there instead of Penance are very high. We do need to keep calm and act natural, which I can pull off any day." He smirked a bit, "But how have you been feeling? I know it was quite traumatic back there for some people. You don't show your true emotions clearly, but if you ever want to talk about it, we can."

Snype stared silently for a moment. "Ah... sorry, just trying to comprehend hearing that sentence coming out of this Golduck's mouth. Kehe. I'm still not used to it." Snype said with a small laugh.

He chuckled a bit, "You're telling me." He laid down his pencil, "Honestly it's so foreign to me too. Being male and all. It's good enough now, but there are some things I still keep. Like my walk. You couldn't believe how many mon look at us strangely if I walk like a lady."

Snype chuckled at that. "Haha, You Psychic types know all sorts of crazy tricks. Keheh. The thieves really don't have alot of them since we like to rely on our own physical strength and wits. Though we tend to get a few exceptions here and there... Was it uncomfortable for you at first? Not every day someone gets a gender swap. Kehe" Snype asked.

Brynn thought for a moment, "It... was I would say. There are certain things I had to unlearn, specifically how to NOT use the bathroom." He shuddered a bit, "But I learned to live with it. I didn't get out much at first, but as time I passed I gained my strength. It's just odd. It feel more like a suit than my body." She looked down at her blue flesh, "I expect if you ended up in a far different body and as a different gender you might be in the same position too."

"Heh. It'd be hard to picture myself as a female. Heck it'd be kinda weird if I ended up like that! I wouldn't even know where to begin... keheh. But uh... best we stop that conversation before things get to more "awkward" topics. Kehe." Snype said with a smirk.

He chuckled, "Yes of course." He went back to drawing, "So what brings you around here?" He asked, "Just to check up on Penance? I know you a bit Snype, that's not the only thing you're interested in."

"Keheh, everyone knows the King of Thieves. But yeah, I'm actually wondering if that Greninja did more then knock Penance out cold... or should I say, Paradox. It'd be nice to know what we're dealing with here. That Greninja didn't even touch him yet, he was easily knocked out cold." Snype asked.

Brynn fell silent and kept on drawing, "Yeah, he did." He simply said.

Snype frowned a bit. "...small response. That usually means you're hiding something. Kehe. Is Paradox still in that Golduck's head? Seems strange that he'd be taken out so easily." Snype continued to press him.

Brynn sighed, "You think I'll say anything about Paradox? That's for him to say, not me." He kept on drawing. "Is that all Snype?"

"If he wanted to tell me then I'm sure he'd come out and say it to my face right? Kehe." Snype said with a stern look. "But I guess that's all. If that Greninja did what I think he did then it just gives more reason for me to be cautious about our enemy." Snype continued.

Brynn stared and then looked away, "And I won't deny nor validate your theories." He said, "In any case I must work on this map. And Paradox would consider someone you like an insect and not even get off of his couch to say anything." He said.

"Keh. Well at least we both still have something in common. Both of us just love our secrets. Secrets tend to get Pokemon killed. But I guess Paradox's condition isn't a big deal right now. Best focus on the map. Its not like I know where we're going or anything. Kehe" Snype simply said.

Brynn sighed, "Dammit Snype... you devil." He hung his head, "Paradox is gone. He's sealed up. No idea how, but he is. And you know what? I have no idea what else they can do." He sighed, "If Cresselia hasn't showed up yet it means she doesn't care." He chuckled a bit, "I haven't seen any other legendaries either. I do have to wonder... do they really care about us? Wouldn't they have taken down Darkrai right as he fled when he was weak? It's just... what if we do find them? What if we manage to get all the clues only to run into Cresselia who's snorting a joint and saying that she doesn't want to help?"

Snype stared silently for a moment. He was right. That Greninja managed to take out Paradox... or at least, seal him up. Now that his theory was confirmed, it just made things more terrifying. Paradox was no slouch. "Then I guess we'll just have to figure out how to do things on our own. I'm sure there are Legendary Pokemon out there who care enough to protect us. Most of them created the world after all. They wouldn't appreciate it being covered in nightmares." Snype said.

He frowned, "I hope not." He did a few touch ups on his map, "Still... anyone could be a potential traitor now. I know chaos is bad, but paranoia has kept Penance and myself alive for quite a long time. It helps to be paranoid, especially now."

"I suppose, but I prefer try not to worry about it as far as the thieves are concerned. We've had our fair share of traitors in the past, but they're swiftly dealt with as soon as the thought crosses their mind. The forest we hide in has a wonderful way of keeping intruders and traitors in check... keheh, but I'll spare the details." Snype said, giving off a small sigh.

"Trevenant." He said as he finished his last details, "It isn't hard to think of when you have a good idea of the mon in the world." He blew on it and nodded, "Right. Is that all?"

Snype smirked. Oh if only the forest were that simple... "Keh, if ya say so. Yeah I've figured out all I need to know. More reason for me to be careful out there." Snype said, patting the Golduck's shoulder.

He nodded and got up, "Well I'll take my leave. Good luck and be careful too Snype."

Brynn walked along at a casual pace, unable to help that he moved his hips a bit more to the sides despite his attempts to stop. Even though he was in a male body... well, some habits that had been developed for years in his Gardevoir form were very very hard to get rid of. Arceus knows how long it took for him to use the bathroom correctly. Still, he held his head up high as many of the mon ended up making a wide berth around him. No doubt it was that stunt that Penance had pulled earlier. It was then when he glanced sight of a familiar Hypno and made his way over, "Thomas?" He asked with a curious look in his eyes, "I wasn't aware you came with us."

"Ah, yes," Thomas began, rubbing his forehead a bit as he tried to stop the aching the alcohol from last night created. "I had decided to come over and lend any assistance that I could," He continued. "I realize many, including perhaps you Penance, will think of my aid as unnecessary, but I truly wish to help in whatever way I can. I was mostly silent in our meeting because I didn't feel it was my place to bring up any opinions, but I do have a bit of knowledge about Tollen."

"As do I." Brynn said with a small smile, "But I'm not Penance right now. The name is Brynn and it's a pleasure to meet you. I can assure you that unlike Penance I won't laugh at you." He gave a weak smile and held out a hand, "Still, I do admit that it was a little humorous to see how passionate you were for your cause."

"Brynn, eh? Well it is a pleasure to meet you then, Brynn," Thomas replied, a bit confused by the Golduck's meaning. He supposed that he had multiple personalities living within his body, which he had heard something about, although he believed the 'other' was named something like Para...something. Thomas looked to the floor and sighed. "I suppose some would see the humor in it. Me? All I saw was a 'mon dedicated. Wrongly so I see now, but I truly believed what I was fighting for...and so did many others. Which is another reason why I believe I should come along." Thomas looked up at Brynn. "The VE movement didn't just touch the lives of 'mon in Valkaria, despite its name."

He nodded, "Yeah, we know all about that. So question Thomas." A smile formed over the Golduck's bill, "How much DO you know about our predicament? I mean, I'm not the kind of gal, er, guy to just throw surprises on someone like Penance." The grin stretched wider, "Judging by that surprised look on your face you have no idea who Brynn is huh?"

"You mean your predicament specifically?" Thomas inquired. "Because truthfully, I'm unaware too much about what is going on inside of your head. I do know that you are said to have an...alternate personality of some sort. But I'm unaware what or who I'm talking to at the moment, no."

He chuckled a bit and shook his head, "Oh no no." He thought for a moment, "Well you know that whole Darkrai thing that happened all those years ago? I died in it. Well, not DEAD as you know it, but more along Darkrai almost killed me. Killed my mind in a way, if it wasn't for Penance I wouldn't be alive. My full name is Brynn Sharpeye. Penance captured the last remnants of my mind and here I am now. It's hard living with him and Paradox, but it's still living."

Thomas cocked his head to the side. He didn't quite understand the full scope of the situation, perhaps because he wasn't fully aware of what truly happened thirty years ago. But he did recognize one thing. "Sharp-Eye? Are you related to the Sharp-Eyes by any chance?"

Brynn winked, "You got it long nose. But here I am now. Stuck in a manner of speaking."

"That's quite the interesting situation you have then," Thomas commented, somewhat intrigued with Brynn's living situation. He wondered if she had accepted fully her situation. From the way she described it, it was obviously challenging. Thomas can only imagine sharing a mind with a...well, a madman. "Stuck indeed. Isn't there something that could be done? Maybe a psychic connection or something that could transfer you out of his mind and into your own body?" It sounded farfetch'd to him, but it might be possible.

Byrnn nodded, "I could... but it means taking over another body." He smirked, "Unless you'll be willing to volunteer yourself and allowing us to have a duel setup going on?"

"Well, that would defeat the purpose of moving," Thomas stated, scratching the back of his head. "I meant taking over a vessel without someone else occupying it, or something of that nature."

Brynn sighed, "I have researched that plenty. The only way I could achieve such a feat would be to find someone who is about to die and jump right as they die. To have such a level of knowledge... well... most likely we would have to kill them personally and then comes the problems that would stop that as well. The body would have to not be in a state of disrepair or else I would die soon after. Meaning if someone is stabbed, sure they die, but if I go into the body I die quickly thereafter. The only way I could have a body of my own is if the mind is killed off by psychic powers."

Thomas frowned, nodding in understanding. "Ah, I see," He remarked, seeing the pickle Brynn found herself in. She placed a hand to his chin in contemplation, then sighed. "I suppose the situation is a lot more entrapping than I realized. However, I will try to formulate some sort of...solution while on this journey with you. Perhaps I can even figure out a way to do just that," Thomas offered Brynn a small smile of encouragement.

He chuckled, "Well thanks, but I doubt anything can be done. So then..." She leaned in close, "Penance reallly wants to come out right now to tell you off or something, so I'm doing you a favor and not letting him out." She pulled away, "Consider it a favor to be repaid later on. As for Paradox... you don't want to meet him."

"Yes Paradox does sound like someone I probably don't want to meet as well," He began, a disconcerting look appearing on his face. "Penance I wouldn't mind as much. I have seen his antics a bit earlier, so I think I know what to expect," Thomas quickly chuckled after stating that. "Quite a statement to be made, to claim to know what to expect from someone who one cannot expect anything. He's quite the loose cannon. But if it's my feelings you wish to spare, I appreciate the thought, but I have had many loud Pokemon scream in my face for years. I assure you I will be alright. Although I do appreciate the gesture. However, at this point, if he does have something to say to me, I am willing to accept it. It is only fitting."

At that Brynn's silverly eye disappeared and the Golduck smiled widely, "Hey there cushion!" He said as he grabbed Thomas' arm, "Say you know where that waiter went? I still have a dinner date!" He twisted the arm a bit and leaned in, "Hm... and how about you? Hiding some closets in your skeletons?"

Thomas tried backing away from the Golduck, but couldn't because of him grabbing onto his arm. "Ah...perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all," He said with a grunt. "I'm not quite sure what you mean by closets in skeletons, but if you admit that I've made mistakes, well..."

He tugged more, "Nope, not the m word!" He said with a cheery grin, "Deeper..." He leaned in closer, "Darker..." He leaned in so close that their eyes were almost touching, "Closets. Waiter was there... and I have to wonder. Are you a second waiter? Waiting to dish some cheese?"

"I don't know what you mean!" Thomas exclaimed in a somewhat pleading voice. "Waiter? Wha-" He cut himself off, recalling meeting Penance earlier in Gold City and treating his subordinates, Gabe and Sven, as waiters. "Waiter? You mean Gabe and Sven? What do they have to do with anything?"

He tightened his grip but then that silver eye came back and he released it, "Terribly sorry about that." Brynn said, "He gets like that. Point is your Gabe... that frog, he was with Darkrai. Heard those reports of places blowing up? He was using the guns at the teleporters to kill everyone, including the other teleporters." He sighed, "I thought you had been informed. I am sorry about that, but there was a agent of Darkrai there all along. Right next to you."

Thomas backed away after Penance changed back to Brynn and he released his arm. The Hypno stared long and hard at the Golduck in confusion. "Gabriel? My Gabe? Are you sure? No, no, there must be some mistake." Thomas shook his head in disbelief, unable to comprehend the situation.

Brynn sighed and put his hand on the Hypno's forehead, "Memory time. Far quicker than explanations." He said as a rush of images flowed between the two. There were images of Gabe sitting in that one canon chair, the next of him trying to shoot the teleporters, others of him arguing with Paradox, and so many more. Even one particular conversation was echoed about.

Hell, I've known the legendary for...well a long time and I'm not sure I know what kind of 'mon he really is.

With that Brynn let go and huffed a bit, "Still tiring when I do that." He muttered.

Thomas clutched his head, the pain of viewing flashing memories in such a quick motion taking their toll on him, even if he was a Psychic. The stinging sensation quickly passed however, leaving Thomas shaking and sweaty. "I...I...I don't know what to say. I mean, Gabriel? He was always such a kind 'mon. Polite, charming...how can this be possible? Just...who is he really then?"

"An ally of Darkrai." He said, "One willing to kill anyone to get his way probably, but there is a way you can help Thomas." He kneeled down and put a hand on Thomas' shoulder, "I need your help with something. It's in my memories but if you can help me with this, we can get a one up on Darkrai. I am sorry that you made a mistake, we all did. He has mon who are willing to serve him instead of being corrupted and forced to serve. I need you to travel with me into my mind and see some images that we saw when Paradox is in control. Consider this that favor for making sure Penance didn't bother you earlier." His face softened, "It's very important that you help me here. Please."

Thomas shakily looked at the Golduck, and nodded slowly. "I...I will help you. I haven't done mind infiltrating in a while, so I apologize if I'm a bit rusty in the beginning," He stated. He supposed they were going to try and collect information from when Paradox was active, but he wasn't sure. "What exactly will we be doing, then?"

He nodded, "Thank you. Now... with Penance and Paradox we have sort of achieved a synced mindset given our longevity together. Before it would be that whenever someone was in control we couldn't see or hear what they felt. That's changed. Any image I see now Penance can see, he can hear everything spoken, etc. Same with Paradox. It helps in that whenever we swap control we can quickly adapt to the environment and thus can know what the situation going on is."

He sighed, "Now, when Paradox was in control Gabe... did something to him." His voice lowered, "We can't hear Paradox anymore." He squirmed a bit, "It's unsettling. I know this, Gabe grabbed something, said a phrase, and Paradox was out of it. What I intend to do is rewind our memories. You can help Penance and I rewind our memories back and see what Gabe exactly did. It passed by too fast for our eyes, but we still saw the images. I know he had a small stone of some sort in his hands. Since you knew him, maybe you can help us identify what it was. Second... Paradox is our ace card. He's usually lazy and the only reason he came out in Gold City was because his father was there. For the past ten years he hasn't bothered to even come out once. We need to get him back in action. If you can help us unlock him once more, then we'll be more set against Darkrai."

"I don't know what I'll be capable of doing, but I will certainly try," He closed his eyes and focused. "I suppose could tackle the first bit first, rewinding your...his mind to the point you're referring to and see what happened," Thomas focused on traveling through the memories to pinpoint the exact one that they were referring to. Likewise Brynn concentrated as did Penance. A scene would soon open up, that of looking right at Gabe as he lounged in his seat. Pardox's voice rang out soon, "I'm waiting."

"I'm actually an ag—" And then a loud boom was heard in the background. "Right, that's my cue!" Gabriel suddenly leaned forward, which was something he was thought not able to do because of the Mean Look. He pressed his hand, which clutched something small within it, right up to Paradox's forehead. "You're not needed yet, Paradox. Sleep for now," He muttered softly. A small shine rose from the tips of his fingers and then there was darkness.

"That's when we all blacked out for a bit." Brynn's voice echoed out, but now that they were in Penance's mind her voice was FAR more feminine.

"There!" Penance said. The scene rewinded to Gabe extending his arm, "He has something in his hand. Something small. Yo long nose, know what he's got?"

Thomas concentrated on the scene, taking in all of the surroundings around him. It was murky, but the focal point was cleared up thanks to his abilities. He looked at Gabe through the memory, and still couldn't believe that his friend was an enemy. He closed his eyes tighter and tried to focus on the item in his hand. It was hard to see, Thomas replaying the memory a few times, including trying to invert the angle. "It seems like...it appears to be some sort of rock object. A stone or something of the sort," Thomas commented, trying to clear up the markings on it, but they were still rather vague. "It has some sort of design, a purple...some sort of insignia? I can't really tell."

Brynn hummed a bit, "Well.. have you seen anything like that in say... Tollen? You did say you went there and you knew it well, but if we can start eliminating places where it could or couldn't be, then that would be a start."

"Well...the design is intricate. I don't think I'm familiar with exactly what it is but...it does seem a little familiar. I don't think in Tollen, but I may have seen it before. I can't place my mind around it now."

Penance sighed, "Great pancakes. Fine no Tollen."

"Well, let's see... I know I felt the rushing sensation of Paradox being pushed out of the syncing area."

"Yeah, all the way back into my mind only." Penance stated. "Think you want an exploration long nose? Travel into a mad duck's mind? Hehehe."

Brynn sighed, "I don't think that's wise. Whatever this stone did... do you think it could have put some sort of barriers around Paradox? If we go back there and find him... I'm not sure if we could break him out again. Thomas, do you have any close psychic followers?"

"I do. Well, I did. None of them are with me here. They are either in Gold City or somewhere else now, fleeing to the other cities," Thomas answered. He curiously played around with the image of the stone in his own mind for a few more moments, trying to see if he could connect the dots somewhere.

"Hm... well in any case the waiter was really really odd." Penance muttered. The stream of memories began to play backwards, far more. "I caught something Paradox didn't bother with. This!" He began to play some parts, more of them where Gabe was caught smirking under his tongue, "Here's the thing... these didn't seem like haha moments. I can't explain it... but it's like he was being forced to smile." The duck muttered to himself for a moment, "And he didn't tell me the joke, or was the joke already being played?"

"I must agree with Penance. Gabe was just... odd. Before when we met him earlier I noticed that he seemed alright, pretty standard pokemon. But when we met him here... I don't know. He just seemed... strange. Like a prickly feeling you get sometimes. I still have my emotional senses from my Gardevoir life... but it just seemed odd."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Thomas replied, staring at the images of Gabriel as they passed by him. "I suppose I can't exactly comment on it because I wasn't there myself, but what do you mean by strange? Obviously he was making some kind of ruse, but you appear to think it goes beyond that too?"

"Yes." Brynn said, "Okay, he had a ruse, sure. Yet... he just seemed odd. At any point he could have forced Paradox away, yet he was genuinely acting frightened during the whole time he was out, especially when he was threatening him. And here."

She pulled the memories forward a bit, "The others didn't see it, but I did." The scene being played was of Gabe looking over at Snype, his face forming into a smile, "But look closer, if you notice, it's like his face twitches, like it's... convulsing into a smile, and his emotional reactions were all over the place. Before this part, he was frightened. Snype asks a question and that's enough to cause him to get as cheery as possible. No one can change their emotions that fast under such extreme circumstances. Not only that, but we broke his foot, Paradox managed to break his ankle and Penance and I both felt it. Yet in the next scene Gabe is quick to jump up and even kick, almost as if he had instantly healed. And he fought off the Mean Look too, almost like it never even affected him. I think... Gabe is no normal pokemon. Back in the war we had one Scizor... he was corrupted but didn't look it. He was a normal red Scizor, but was basically a mindless drone for Darkrai. It could be... well, that Gabe is the new version of the Silver Tribe."

Thomas nodded in agreement, seeing the things that were pointed out by Brynn. "Yes, yes, I can see it. I remember mention of the Scizor, he was Gold Tribe if I'm not mistaken. If you say he is some sort of new version of that, then it certainly can be a problem," Thomas looked over the scenes with the Greninja once more. He cocked his eye curiously. "But I'm wondering something... how strong must one be to simply push away a broken leg and walk through a Mean Look?" Thomas contemplated, trying to piece everything together. "Perhaps a strong 'mon could theoretically break through it, but wouldn't that take an enormous amount of force to do? It is possible, but... something else is coming to mind for me, if I might share."

"Go ahead." Brynn said, "Though... if what you say is true it could mean one of two things. Paradox never felt the corruption in Gabe, that much I'm sure. And Gabe said he knew Darkrai for some time. Could mean he was recruited very early on and trained personally by Darkrai, or somehow Darkrai infused some power into him. Those are my thoughts at least."

"Yes, those are my thoughts as well, or some variation of them," Thomas answered back. "Gabriel claimed to have known him for a while, and beyond that...well, let's put it this way. I have been in the public eye for a while. I ran for General of the Alpha Alliance and was trained and well adept in speaking in such a way to make others more inclined to believe what one says or does. It's political manipulation in a sense, 'psychically' mesmerizing someone with no actual powers but your own tongue. I'm looking at the way he talks, the way he whines and pleads and explains things...what he is doing doesn't seem too far off from what we as politicians do."

Thomas placed a hand to his chin and cleared his throat. "He's saying what the 'mon wanted him to say, or expected. General Grett was killed in an instant, quite brutally, by...well the Paradox fellow. It seemed to be a statement of some sort. But when they captured this Greninja, the same logic could be stated to follow. He was trapped, he shouldn't be able to move. By all virtues he was a frightened prisoner...but was he really? The way he swings around in his emotions, hiding them behind the tongue-scarf, it almost appears as if he can't contain what he truly feels. He's...and I might say this is only a theory, but I think he's...gloating," Thomas looked again across the Greninja's face. "As if he can't contain himself. As if he's just playing it all off. Maybe it wasn't strength that caused him to kick with a broken leg or break free of the Mean Look. Maybe it was just...misinterpretation. Manipulation. Or maybe just as easily, it was Darkrai behind him, pulling the strings as he did with the Scizor you're referring to."

"Perhaps..." The memory faded as Brynn sighed on the street "Just more questions. And it means we can't trust anyone. For all we know, the rest of your seekers all work for Darkrai, and with no chaos to search for we can't be sure who is friend or foe." He raised his brow, "Are YOU with Darkrai?"

Thomas shrugged his shoulders. "If I were with Darkrai, would I tell you if you asked me directly?"

He sighed, "I suppose not. And if you are, then you're probably will be getting a huge laugh out of everything we're doing." He shook his head, "Well... keep yourself open. If you want to crash with the seekers you're free to do so, but if we meet any of your psychic friends then we'll gather them all up. Either they can help us free Paradox again... or they'll be traitors and slaughter us all." He gave a modest shrug, "We'll see. No use worrying about it now."

"I appreciate the offer," Thomas thanked the Golduck. "And rest assured, if you do require anything of me, I will do my best to assist. I will prove myself an ally."

Brynn nodded, but soon her silver eye disappeared as Penance grabbed Thomas and hugged him close to his chest, "Heh, we'll be good friends long nose!" Penance said eagerly, "Hm... would you be willing to be the new Marrow?" He asked as he broke off the hug and looked at him expectantly, "You do have a hard head."

"I...don't know what that means, but if its a friend, then a friend I'll try to be."

He hugged him once more, "Yes! You are the new Marrow!" He said. He let go and gave a firm nod, "Now... just to find a bone and a skull..." He looked about, "Hm... none here... I'll have to get one!" He giggled wildly a bit, "And then we'll have to play fetch and all the fun things!"

Thomas stared blankly at Penance, quite puzzled. "Well, very well then," He answered, not sure what else to add to that. He wasn't quite versed with speaking with someone of his distinction.

Penance snickered, "Aw, come on Marrow!" He tapped the Hypno on his head, "Where your big words go? We have to dine on a dictionary soon. Make that in... a week." He nodded, "Yes, words and rhymes always go together. Where you heading? I am free all day!" His smile widened, "We can catch and trade plates."

"I'm probably going to see about making contact with the Network in Tollen. I doubt we'll get a response, but if we are going there eventually, perhaps we can be invited in? I do know a few 'mon in Tollen myself," Thomas put a hand up and thought. "Hmm, perhaps we can converse for a bit before that though. I will need to plan later for our supplementary meeting about the nature of our travel to Tollen."

A silver glint took over Penance's eye again, "That would be useful Thomas." Brynn said, "We have two mon in Tollen too in case you remember. It could be that they managed to sneak in to try and talk to the network in some way. We had some very distinct phrases to communicate secretly with spies. We can make a list of phrases for you to use, to see if they have communicated. It would be helpful if we could arrange a meeting place as our spies would either be captured already... or have hard rumors and gossip and know of safe places to hide.

"Good idea. We can see what we come up with and bring what we find to the next meeting," Thomas responded.

He nodded, "I'll get you those codes Thomas. And from there, we can see what's up. Hopefully it gets us a leg up in Tollen. For now, I guess we'll just wait and see."

It ain't no sane mind throwin' themself into the fire for nothin'... I'm a damn nutter. The normally upbeat bug's mood had taken a massive downturn after his conversation with Guardia... but he couldn't even figure what it was, he could handle having a verbal spar with somemon he hated any day of the week. Hell, usually he'd take joy in it, but as he trudged through Ferrol, Charlie seemed to drag shadows with him. He didn't even know what he was hoping to find walking around. It was just gonna be Tribe in a place like this and the Tribe were just mons like Guardia and Josh anyway...

Snype had just finished up his own conversation with Penance and was left with little to do for the rest of the day. Normally he'd do some usual thief related stuff but he had to hold back for a little while...speaking of thieves however, Snype ended up spotting Charlie, looking a little down. "Hey! Charlie! Ya doin alright over there?" Snype called out, walking closer to the Scyther.

"F*ckin' brilliant, y'know?" Charlie responded, his voice positively dripping sarcasm. "Just to let ya know, in case ya didn't, Guardia's a total b*tch."

Snype didn't seem to see that in Guardia from his recent conversations... possibly because of their stronger relationship."Keheh. Had a falling out huh? Sounds like it was a real doozy." Snype said.

"She was usin' Josh as f*cking leverage on me. After that, pulls up a little coward move tryin' to strike up a damn fight. I'd call that a bit of a-" Charlie's tone for a second changed to mock Snype's own "- 'doozy'. Just... kinda realisin' all the 'fun' I'm in fer over the next however long this mess takes to clean up. Nothin' major, boss. Won't let it distract me."

Snype crossed his arms. "Knowing your relationship with Guardia, I'm pretty darn sure its going to end up being a big distraction. Ya wanna talk about it before things get out of hand?" Snype asked.

"Ya care ta tell me what there's ta talk about? Guardia hates my guts and I hate hers, simple as." Charlie sighed. "More 'n I can get sorted whilst we're busy tryin' ta kick an abomination back ta the hellhole it crawled out of."

"Well if Guardia is trying to strike up something then that's pretty darn bad. Something tells me you're both clinging a little to tightly to your past. That's never healthy for anyone involved. Keh. I'd know." Snype crossed his arms. "So if you gotta vent, then you may as well get it all out on me. Keheh."

"Well, y' just got me interested in whatever past you got now... Still, there... really ain't that much to the story. I mean I was already pissed this mornin', got into another shoutin' match with my bro. So Guardia turns up after the meetin', threatens the sh*t outta me about catchin' up with me after this crap with Darkrai's over with..." Charlie shrugged "...I was kinda expectin' that. But then b*tch goes on to try keepin' me apart from Josh... it pissed me off good. I mean, it shouldn't. Little bro don't even wanna talk ta me and I ain't in no mood to wanna discuss nothin' with him either... but it still f*cked me off good..." The Scyther shook his head, turning his attention to a more mundane task - sharpening up his claws before they totally dulled out. "Look boss, it really ain't none 'a yer concern. I got bad blood with 'er and it ain't goin' away."

"Tsk. I think if I can regain the trust of an entire population of thieves, then you three can kiss and make up once you figure out what the hell is wrong." Snype began. "Ya know, I used to be an enemy of the Gold Tribe myself. About thirty years or so. Ya don't see Guardia puting a knife to my throat just because I may have been involved in a few schemes to kill their troops. ah but that's a long story. Keheh." Snype said.

"Then maybe ya just better at this diplomacy sh*t than I am. Certainly sounds a hell of a turnabout that yeh pulled on 'em." Charlie gave back a bit of a sly smile to Snype "But given ya position an' all, I say you gotta little more on the table to bargain with too. All's I got are these-" The Scyther lifted his distinctive claws "-then, I didn't kill nobody. The hell'd you even do?"

"Keheh. Your situation is small time. To put it bluntly, I was involved in the death of the previous King of Thieves." Snype said, giving a bit of time to let that all sink in. "Yeah, you could picture how alot of veteran thieves would feel about me taking the throne but honestly? I didn't have much choice. It was either I joined the Silver Tribe, or I get destroyed with the rest of the thieves. Its a really complicated story but I don't let that bother me. I doubt you know much about the whole Silver War. Bottom line, I was a pretty terrible guy. Despite all the awful things I was involved in, it concluded in a better organization of thieves. If I kept thinking about thirty years ago then I'd be working with Darkrai right about now."

It took a while before Charlie responded; he'd had his eyes firmly affixed to the ground. "Heh. Guess when ya put it that way... Y'know, it kinda doesn't surprise me that much if you did have somethin' ta do with the last leader shufflin' off the mortal coil. I mean, we might usually draw the line there at killin', but I hear the Silver War... somethin' else entirely. I wouldn't know for sure though. Did kinda all happen 'fore I was even born an' all. But we're still a little band where the strongest get furthest - I guess, time like that's a bit of a time like this?" Charlie looked around at Ferrol - it couldn't be anything like the stories he'd heard about the Silver War. The idea of a war didn't even seem to be here yet. Everymon just getting on with thier lives... like nothing was happening, as if Darkrai wasn't even real...

"I mean, I think I remember Gold City, I'm not so sure, I was kinda... unobservant... but it was enough to tell me that we should be scared 'a Darkrai and everythin' that megamon can do, right? I don't think nobody can blame ya for gettin' scared... Heh... Yeh know, yer makin' me look like a total crybaby here, boss."

"Being afraid of Darkrai isn't an uncommon thing. Keheh. If ya want me to be blunt, all three of you are being a bunch of crybabies. Keheh. If you wanna move forward, ya gotta let go of what's dragging you down and start making amends. Even if its a pain in the ass to do. I doubt a simple sorry is all that it'll take but a solution might pop up along the way. I think my part in repairing the thieves is the only reason the old veterans have faith in me. Eh... it took a long time for me to quit clinging onto my past mistakes." Snype said.

"Heh, I'll do what I gotta for Josh. I just wish I could let my kid brother know that, but he's not dumb. He knows what kinda liar and cheat I am, so he ain't gonna just take my words... that's kinda exactly what you're sayin', innit?" Charlie returned.

"Yeah. This isn't an easy thing to do by any means. This isn't something you'll wrap up in a few days. Could take weeks, months, a year, it just depends on how much you seriously care about putting things aside honestly. Honestly if I didn't betray the Gold Tribe and help Guardia stop Darkrai before then she'd be hunting me down to this day. Keheh... maybe she just has a soft side for me. I dunno." Snype said with a shrug.

"You bet your fine ass she does. If she's gonna chase a small fry like me, why's she lettin' the Gyarados run free, right? That or..." Charlie leaned in a little closer and lower to the Sableye so he could speak in a much lower tone. "...she's scared 'a ya. I can almost imagine her runnin' with that tail firmly between her legs! I dunno though. Not sure I even wanna get on with Guardia. Just, uh, suck it 'n see on that one."

Snype smirked a little. "Keheh... scared of me? Never thought of that. She's aware of our the whole thieves expansion so I betcha that's got her thinking a bit. Kehe. Not that I plan to turn on her. That wouldn't benefit the thieves at all. We kinda need a Gold Tribe to steal from ya know? Nonetheless, she seems pretty comfortable around me. I even caught her smiling! Guess I'm doing something right if she's off doing that." Snype said with a small laugh.

"Heh. Yeah. Old frosty ain't much 'a one fer smilin'. Then, dapper rogues like us have that kinda effect, right?" Charlie returned the laugh with a small chuckle of his own. "I dunno, it's too much fun gettin' on Guardia's six nerves for me to just forget about givin' her that little nudge off the deep end."

"Kehe, well everyone's got a hobby. Kehe. I've had a couple bouts with Guardia while doing the usual thieving buisness so guess I have fun getting on her nerves too." Snype said with a snicker. "So how about it? Feeling a bit better now that you got everything out of your system?" He asked

"Well, a little, I'll give ya that boss. Now I'm just mopin' 'cause yer makin' me feel like a tiny little bug compared to ya." Charlie gave a little half-smile, before he lowered his voice again to avoid being heard. "That said, I still got one problem... I got myself caught up so good, I ain't been lookin' out for any good marks... care ta catch me up on any chumps ya spotted?"

"Snype rubbed his chin. "Not quite... but I'm thinking if our expedition to Tollen has any good results, it may be good to consider expanding over there... not immediately though. I don't want to risk any kind of relationship between the Gold Tribe and Tollen. Besides, for all we know it may not even be profitable for the thieves. I'm more concerned about Karn to be honest but I guess we'll see whenever we go there." Snype explained.

"Y'know, I said it back in the meetin', but I never really did give time or even close to enough f*cks to learn about the rest 'a the world... Guess if ya want a hand scoutin' these places out, probably best I hold off on sayin' nothing 'til I been there." Charlie had one claw rested blunt side against his chin. "Ya know, I dare say the Tribe is gonna owe us a... debt 'a gratitude after all 'a this is over. Wonder what we could get outta this?"

Snype smirked. "Keheh... we can save the details of that after Darkrai is taken care of. Keheh... or take a reward for ourselves~ Comon we're thieves after all. I'll think of something." Snype replied.

"Sure, we can save the details, but I just needed ta be sure I was gonna be gettin' somethin' outta this, given all I've planned so far kinda buggered up a bit. Heh." Charlie nodded. "Well, one way or another I'll profit outta this. I'll be all over that idea."

"Kehe, well good to see that you're back to your usual self then. Kehe. Well now thats all done and over with, I'm kinda bored. I dunno when we're leaving this place and I gotta find something to do! " Snype said, crossing his arms and laying on his back.

"And we all know with Darkrai looming on the horizon, we do not wanna be layin' around bored, hey? I can always tell ya 'bout a particular Ralts that needs a good kickin', but I get the feelin' yer not with me on that one." Charlie chuckled. "Well, I could always suggest doin' what we thieves do best. Could even be useful, y'know? Stubborn mon don't wanna talk, not hard to loosen loyalties with some well-placed gold... Didn't exactly get the chance to bring my haul from Gold City out here." That was a fair chunk 'a change...

Snype rubbed his chin a little. "Hrm... keheh, I managed to bring along a bit of cash, ironically pick pocketed from a few or the Gold tribe folks here. Guardia included. Keheh" Snype said with a snicker. "Though can't say it'll be useful now since we're kinda traveling with them. The whole group will probably be buying food and all. Otherwise I'd be doing my usual gig. Kehe."

"Well what else ya think of ta do round here?" Charlie said, shrugging. "I mean, walk around this place too long I'm gonna go bonkers. Well, more bonkers than I already am. But, point is even if the gold ain't doin' squat for us, I am damn bored."

"I dunno. Hit on chicks? Haha" Snype joked with a small laugh, thinking back to a couple of the gals with the group.

Charlie put on a exasperated voice "Snype! I thought you had your little Floatzel friend!" He sniggerd, as the Scyther had the tendency to do, before returning to his normal voice. "Some player you are, eh?"

Snype chuckled. "Keheh, well, I'm mostly suggesting for you! Still seeing how my little relationship is going. Kehe. I mean, we had alot of fun out on the boat yesterday but ya know! Keheheh..." Snype said, crossing his arms.

"Ya know, I ain't sure if I'm impressed by ya honesty or disappointed. Though I guess at yer age and with them looks, you don't got too many options if she don't work out do ya?" Charlie replied, with a grin extending as far as his face would allow.

"Keheh, hey, I can outlive all of you and still look just as young! I might be old but I'm not some kinda koot. Keheh." Snype smirked a little. "Kehe, besides, at least I have hands~ pretty sure that's a plus" Snype teased, holding out his hands and wiggling his fingers a little.

"Now, pretty sure that's a low-blow 'bout the hands." Charlie looked down at his claw-tips. "Not like I can choose to have 'em."

Snype stuckout his tongue and gave the Scyther a pat. "Kehe, aw cheer up! I'm kidding. I always tease ya about that! Keheh. Having scythes for hands has alot of positive points too ya know. At least no average pokemon would would wanna mess with you." Snype said

"Too right. Anyway, we're wastin' time here I think. I mean, you just pointed it out, there's girls around here and if I'm really lucky some of 'em ain't goldies." Charlie shrugged. "Or at least, they don't know who I am if they are."

"Well, good luck to ya then. Kehe. I'll probably find something to do around here. Maybe I'll pull some pranks on some of the goldies to see how their reflexes are." Snype replied

"Luck? Don't need it, boss, you kiddin' with me? But while ya there gettin' the tribe, bag yourself one on that Ralts I mentioned." Charlie checked backwards, not finding any girls in the immediate area. "Still, wastin' time. Later!" He spun on his heels and strutted away from Snype.

Snype waved to the Scyther and started to head off. Begining to plot up some form of Prank he could pull off...

The whole breakfast was nice and all, he finally found - well got found by - Kav and he got to know a few of the other 'mon they'd be traveling with a bit better. The food was nice too, if wallet-draining but... Celebrating wasn't enough for him, he needed some time to genuinely lament what was happening back home, and all the 'mon who might be hurt or killed. He didn't want to be around everyone who was just acting normal anymore. There was only one 'mon he could think of he could just sit and talk about the whole thing without any worries since he didn't want to put a damper on Kav's parade. Cal's shoulder drooped a bit and he began walking around Ferrol to try and find Guardia.

Guardia stepped out of the Gold Tribe hut. Her conversation with Penance went about as well as can be expected. He had promised to try to tone down his insanity. She doubted something like that could happen, but she at least appreciated that he would try, for the sake of the mission. She was a bit upset about his mindset regarding information, though. But then, now she supposed that she understood how the 'mon of ancient times felt when they had to hide information as well. Sometimes, it truly felt justified. With these thoughts on her mind, the Zangoose proceeded into the village, catching sight of one of her brothers of the tribe, Cal.

"Hey there, brother," Guardia called out from the second level of the Gold Tribe hut. She stepped forward onto the wooden railings, and jumped down to the dock level where Cal stood. "How goes everything?"

"I'm not sure to be honest. I suppose things are relatively good considering we're all safe and sound for now, but I can't just keep acting normal about everything. The situation back home weighs on my mind and... well to be honest I was looking for you. I'm sure today's been nothing but one person after another talking to you about the mission and such, so would you like to just talk for a bit?"

Guardia nodded at the large Dragonite and ushered him to follow her. "Sure thing," She replied, leading him toward the lake area, where she began to walk more casually. "Actually, I've seen a lot of the others try to steer away from what's happening in Gold City. Maybe they're trying to occupy their mind and forget about it, maybe they don't care enough, maybe some other reason. Either way, if it helps them, I figure we should let them," Guardia lowered her head for a moment. "...it still doesn't change the fact that it's my home," Guardia sighed deeply, but quickly shook her head to stop herself from sulking. "Sorry about that. So, let's talk."

Cal followed behind Guardia silently at first, but shook his head when she apologized. "No, it's fine, I understand. That's why I had to get away, I don't want to get anyone else down." After a bit more quiet thinking something occurred to Cal that made him smile for the first time since he'd left the cafe. "You know what's funny? Despite all the commotion I still every once in a while go back to wondering about just who it was you were going to replace Scar with. He's always been such a reliable friend and comrade... It's hard even for me to let him go, I can only imagine how hard it was for you to try putting someone in his place.

Guardia felt her heart sink. There was another part she would have rather forgotten, but she knew she couldn't. She had no idea what was going on with Scar. Last she heard, he was engaging against the Greninja Gabriel everyone was talking about. Scar, even at that advanced age, was a capable fighter. But did he manage to make it out? She didn't know, and not knowing may have even been worse than knowing the worst.

Almost immediately Cal regretted bringing Scar up, it only took one look at Guardia to tell what was on her mind. He laid a hand on her shoulder and did his best to smile reassuringly. "Hey, Arceus himself can't force Scar into anything, I bet you he'll be back on that rock when we get back, safe and sound to rebuff Penance's next attempt at forcing his books on him."

Guardia chuckled a bit at Cal's last statement. She truly wished that were true. "You know, I hope you're right. Shame this all had to happen on his retirement day, though." Guardia said with a small sigh. She suspected the next time they contact Gold City, they might be able to figure out for sure what happened with her Mienshao friend and longtime brother. Before then, there would only be the wait. "As for his replacement...well I guess we can talk about that at our next meeting," Guardia looked back at Cal again. "How're you and Jetstream holding up?"

"To be honest we haven't actually talked about it yet, in fact we've barely spoken since we showed up in Fort Ferrol. I can tell she's in pain too but she's dealing with it her way, and frankly I think she's doing a better job than I am. But we'll get through it like we always do. She's strong as you well know, she's one of our brothers and sisters I can always count on even more-so than the rest. The only others I'd put in that group are you and Scar."

"Good," Guardia replied with a nod, before grinning. "And thanks, I know I can count on all the Gold Tribe here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let them in the tribe in the first place. Everyone else..." Her voice trailed off as she thought on each of the others, seeing potential problems that might run in. "Well, we're not going to get anything done pointing fingers and constantly watching our backs. They're our allies, but you never know how far they're willing to go, or what they're willing to sacrifice to see it through. Some aren't as selfless as others."

"True, I don't know how much I'd trust some of our other companions in any other situation. But... I think I trust all of them to help us save the city, and maybe even the world if this is indeed the only way to stop Darkrai. As long as nobody throws anyone else to the wolves I've got faith we can make it through in tact. I must admit, even though I still think it would be more practical to go to Karn first, I'm pretty interested to see what's up in Tollen. Mystery books have always been my favorite to read." He chuckled at the simple memory of sitting in his room whenever Kaveri wasn't around and he wasn't on a mission, just reading and letting himself be whisked away.

"I guess we'll see about that," Guardia commented, unsure of what to make of the rest of her allies. For now, she and the rest would have to put some faith in them, or else nothing would succeed. She agreed about Tollen, nodding and speaking soon after. "Yeah, it's a bit of a leap of faith, going in without knowing what you're up against. But when I was younger, I used to do that a lot more often. In reality, I haven't been to Tollen in months, maybe almost a year, so I don't really know what could be going on."

Cal looked up at the sky for a few seconds, no particular thoughts going through his head at that moment. "I supposed even the most desperate of attempts can become an adventure with a group like ours. You know, come to think of it, you've never sent me to Tollen on any missions. All I have is what I've read, what's your personal take on Tollen?"

Guardia crossed her arms again, and looked up to the sky, recalling what she knew from reading on it. "Well, lemme see... Tollen and Valkaria have some history together. About a hundred years ago, Tollen knights and the Gold Tribe fought side by side against Darkrai's forces. That was mostly covered up, in Tollen too I hear, but from what I understand, we Gold Tribe are held in pretty high regard among the Knights of Tollen as fellow warriors of honor. I also met the King multiple times while he lived. He was a good man, honorable. He was willing to listen to us, because he too knew about how we fought together from stories. I never met his daughter, but I can't really expect her to be much different than him, right?" She asked in a somewhat rhetorical manner.

"I mean, I met the prince while he lived and he had a pretty good head on his shoulders too. So this whole thing, whatever is going on... I'm not convinced its not something internally that's screwing with them. Civil War? Economic problems? Maybe that plague that was in Beatruce is there too? Maybe they're not keeping something or someone out, but something in?" She shrugged, and looked at Cal intently. "I dunno, just a guess. With situations like these, that's all you can do. Guess. Obviously another potential situation is that there's some really screwed up sh*t happening there where Darkrai is involved."

"I wouldn't leave out the possibility of the new queen not being as agreeable as her brother and father were, you never know with important families what kind of oddities there may be. I mean whatever else may have happened Tollen's silence did start almost right after she was crowned right? That coincidence doesn't sit right with me. Although I do certainly hope the queen is as well put together as her predecessors were."

"You've got a point there," Guardia replied. "Maybe we can try talking to her if that's the case. Maybe if she is like her family, she can help us out. I mean, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"Right, that way we would have something to work with. And if she doesn't want to help us then we'll know she can't be counted on at least. We may as well at least try."

Guardia nodded in agreement. "We'll probably go over this all at the meeting anyway, that way everyone will get a chance to speak their mind. I guess that'll be the first test to see if we can go at this thing together."

"We'll make it work, I think Raz may actually be growing on me. If the king of thieves, the dread-fairy, and a Gold Tribe warrior can get along as well as we seem to be so far, we can pull this off."

Guardia chuckled. "Yeah, you know what you're probably right. Let's just hope Riceapples doesn't go too crazy on us though. Besides that, I think Snype's experienced Darkrai before, so he knows how serious this is. Penance is crazy, but he knows better than most. We're a colorful group, but I didn't choose some of these for no reason whatsoever. That includes your sister and you, Sentinel."

"Well Guardia, Kav and I both have every intention of proving your choice to bring us along a wise one. It's always an honor to fight alongside you."

"I feel the same, Sentinel," Guardia replied with a smile. "I feel the same about all the Gold Tribe. It's what makes them special to me." She turned toward the lake beside Fort Ferrol. "You know, before I took over as leader, the Gold Tribe was a lot larger. Instead of the hundreds we have now, there were thousands of members. But I felt in a way it was less personal. We moved away from what it meant to truly represent the tribe, and that's why when I became leader, I purposefully made it tougher to join. I would also interview every single applying member at the end of their training, as you know. So unlike past leaders who may have not had the opportunity, I've met every single brother and sister in the tribe. I've turned many away, maybe even those that were stronger than some that were already in the tribe. Some stronger than me too. It made us smaller, but it also made us stronger."

Guardia turned from the lake to the giant Dragonite beside her. "Not just physically. It was our bond together, our mental and emotional bond that we made stronger. When you become one of us, you truly are apart of a family, and that family has a higher standard they abide by. That's why there are so few of us, and that's why I was so...upset earlier when I saw a former Gold Tribe member who dragged down our integrity with his criminal activities."

Cal's eyes remained on the water as he spoke. "I understand, the thought of someone tarnishing our name after we've all worked so hard to be better than our predecessors makes me angry too. In fact it makes me even angrier than I think it does some of our brothers and sisters who've been in since the old Tribe. I joined in a Gold Tribe that had already seen your improvements and closeness, I've seen almost nothing of our 'mon that I'm not proud of, nobody should be looking down on us."

Guardia smiled, her eyes fixated on the giant green 'mon. "I'm glad to hear you say that, brother. I think if the previous leader saw us now, he...he'd be happy. At least, I'd like to think he would be." Guardia's mind took a trip down her memories, recalling her adventures with Zane Tyrael thirty years ago. She snapped back to the present time soon after, grinning to Cal and lightly jabbing him on his shoulder. "I know he would have liked you!" She added.

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?" Cal asked, turning to Guardia with a glint in his eye both mischievous and inquisitive.

Guardia sat down on the docks and looked out into the lake, thinking back on her old friend. "Zane...'Vigil', he was...well, he was an idealist. He always tried to see the best in people, no matter their affiliation. He was willing to work with anyone if they were willing to do the same. But even at its worst, he never stopped believing in the tribe. Not even at the very end," Guardia glanced back at Cal. "I kinda see a bit of him inside of you. Stern, hard-working, but also a 'mon who has something drive his actions."

Cal's smile grew wider at Guardia's praise. "That's nice to hear, I have Kav, Wildfire, and you to thank for all of that. I would have liked to meet Vigil, he sounds like a good 'mon, and a good leader."

"He was...and a good friend too," Guardia added. She realized now that she might have gone too far off tangent with Cal, having treaded the conversation away from what he came to him about. It was just so easy to talk to the 'mon, having known him for many, many years. "Sorry if I went too far off tangent. You can rest assured, I haven't forgotten my home," She said passionately and sternly. "We still have brothers and sisters there, fighting and protecting everyone. But we'll come back. When we get help, when we find Cresselia, we'll come back. I promise you that."

"There's nothing to apologize for." Cal answered. "None of them would want us to be completely consumed by our mission, even amidst the chaos. I'd like to think most of them have as much faith in us as we do in them, and when we do return, Darkrai won't stand a chance! He couldn't beat the Gold Tribe before, and he certainly can't beat the new Tribe." He raised his right hand and clenched his proportionally-small fingers as best he could when he pumped himself up. "But, I'm sure you've got more important matters to attend to then sitting here chatting with me all day. I wouldn't want to keep you."

"You know, I always have time to talk to my tribe," She declared to Cal with a grin. "If you ever want to, I'm around. But...I guess I do have some planning to take care of," She looked onward at the lake again, taking in its beauty for a bit longer. "I'll just... sit here for a moment longer, to take in the scenery. It might be the last time I'll get to do it, after all. It was nice talking to you, brother."

"Always a pleasure Guardia, and I extend the same offer to you, anytime you want to talk to someone just as a friend, and not a leader or a 'goldie' feel free to find me. Speaking of which I'd better go find Kaveri, we've barely seen each other at all the past few days, it's not normal for us. See you later Lyn." He took a few steps away from Guardia so he wouldn't buffet her with wind and launched into the air with a single flap of his wings, off to find his sister.

Joshua casually wandered around Fort Ferrol, keeping a lookout for a certain Zangoose that he had intended to talk to earlier. Hopefully, considering some time had passed since their first meeting was dismissed, Guardia would have talked to all she had intended to, and he'd be able to catch her while she wasn't otherwise preoccupied.

Guardia, who had just finished her conversation with Cal, was now relaxing by the lake, trying to take a small breather from everything, if only for a moment longer. She didn't know when would be the next chance she would get to just sit down and look out into the world, not when they were about to embark on such a crucial mission, perhaps the most important one in her life. She sat for a few moments longer, before picking herself up and walking back into the village. Along the way, she spotted one of her tribesman, Joshua, who also appeared to be on the look-out for something, or someone.

"Hey there, Watchman," Guardia greeted the Swadloon. "Looking for someone?"

Joshua jumped slightly in surprise, before recognizing who was speaking to him. "Oh, ah, yes, actually. I was looking for you, as a matter of fact. I hate to drag you away, considering you probably have about a dozen other things to do right now, but if you have a moment to spare...?"

Guardia looked around her immediate area, giving Joshua a shrug and a smile. "I'm not really ultra busy at the moment, so of course I'd have time for you. What's up, brother?"

Joshua glanced around the streets. It was only mildly populated, but he still felt the need to find someplace more private. "I just had some questions about... well, our mission. Do you mind if we went somewhere quieter?"

Guardia moved her eyes across the street, seeing only a few 'mon around. She figured if Joshua wanted to go somewhere where no one would listen in, then the topic of conversation was likely one that was quite important. Either that, or he was being his usual self, which Guardia could relate to at a time like this. "Sure, why not?" Guardia answered. "We can go up into the top level of our base. There should be no one there at the moment."

"I suppose that works," Joshua replied, nodding in agreement. They both made their way towards the Gold Tribe's headquarters in Ferrol. Thankfully, as Guardia predicted, it was decidedly vacant. Most of the others were out and about in the city, with only about three others present in the bottom levels. Once they reached the top, Joshua felt confident they were alone. Besides, it wasn't the Gold Tribe he was trying to keep secrets from...

"Sorry to drag you all around Ferrol," Joshua stated with a weak laugh. "I just want to make sure on a few things."

"It's no problem," Guardia replied assuredly. "Given the current situation, I think we all need to be a bit more careful. So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well," Joshua started, clearing his throat a bit. "Given you're the leader of this expedition, I wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing..." He paused for a moment, realizing what he just said. "N-not that you don't know what you're doing, of course! I mean, you're our leader, so I imagine you know everything... well, not everything, really... I mean, nobody could have really known about Darkrai's returning... I, uh... not that it was your fault or anything! I mean, nobody could have predicted that the general would fool us all... n-not that you were easily fooled or something! It was... I- uh... ah..."

Guardia chuckled a bit at Joshua's ramblings, holding up a paw to calm him down. "Relax, brother. No offense given, none taken. You don't be wary about what you say to me, remember that," She stated, offering the Swadloon a smile. She then thought about how best to answer his question. "Well, truthfully, I don't even know if I can consider myself the leader of this expedition. Sure, I'm the Gold Tribe leader, but we only make up about half of the roster here. We've got an Alpha Alliance General here, who technically commands the Alpha Alliance and therefore me as well. But we also have 'mon from outside of Valkaria, as well as some... special parties too," She explained, referring to the thieves.

"But I don't think Warren's the kind of 'mon who would dish out orders to a group like this, and I don't see some of the others willing to follow someone like that. So in the end, I guess we really don't have a leader. I can give advice if they ask for it, but this isn't a Gold Tribe mission. We're all in this together, which means we all put in our ideas together."

Joshua sighed, partly out of relief, but partly out of nervousness as well. "Regardless, you're the leader of the Gold Tribe, and I consider your authority paramount in this situation, above the others." He glanced around the room again, as if they were being watched by some invisible spy. "Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk about. It concerns our companions. Now, I have no qualms with the Alpha Alliance. Rather, I'm concerned about... well, everyone else." He spoke in reference to the thieves and Penance. "Why are they here with us? Are you sure we can trust them?"

"Well, I appreciate the vote of confidence," Guardia replied with a smile. She then turned to his other line of question. "Yeah, I can understand where you're coming from. In any other case, I would be more careful about who I choose to come on a trip like this," She crossed her arms and inhaled through her nose, closing her eyes for a moment, before reopening them and glancing at Joshua. "But this isn't just an issue that affects Valkaria or the Gold Tribe. Sure, we seem to have the worst of it right now. At least, to the best of our knowledge. But Darkrai isn't going to stop there. No one's going to be safe. So I need every resource I can get to help us stop him. That includes getting help from 'mon we might not entirely trust... like a few I can think of here."

Joshua closed his eyes, pondering over the words that Guardia spoke, before opening them again. "I see your point, but... I don't know. I can't say I know any of this from experience, but I've heard stories about the people we travel with. I've even done a little research myself." He paused for a moment, almost afraid to continue speaking his mind. "I just... never mind."

"Hey," Guardia began, walking over to Joshua and placing a paw on his shoulder gently. "There's no judgment here. Say what's on your mind, no matter what it is. You can always say anything to me, alright? What did you hear from stories and your research?"

Joshua calmed down at her reassurance, mustering up the courage to speak again. "The people we travel with... they've back-stabbed us before, didn't they? What makes you think they won't do it again?" He stopped for a moment, trying to piece together his words carefully. "I mean, I understand what you meant earlier, about how this threat concerns all of us. But how can we be sure our companions won't double cross us when this is all over? They're not like us. We exist to protect Valkaria, and the realm as a whole. But the others? They're only out for themselves and the preservation of their own. If the opportunity were to present itself to be rid of us and stop Darkrai..." Joshua looked down, frowning in fear, before looking Guardia sternly in the eyes. "Who's to say they won't seize that chance?"

Guardia listened silently and carefully to Joshua. She was quite impressed with his assumptions, though not entirely surprised. His approach to situations was one of the reasons she wanted to bring him along on this mission to begin with. They would need someone who knew when to be careful, even to an extreme. "I'm not going to lie, you have a point," She began to say, returning Joshua's stern gaze with one of her own. "Right now, we're brought together under the same goal, but if there's an opportunity to advance their own goals in the process, especially at our expense, there's no guarantee that they won't take it."

Guardia inhaled and exhaled again. "I never liked to hide things from the tribe, so I won't start now. The only thing some of these 'mon want to see more than bringing down the Gold Tribe is bringing down Darkrai. For now, given that some of them have seen and fought Darkrai before in person, I think they'll stick to the obviously bigger threat. But just in case, we might have to watch each other's backs."

Joshua nodded, somewhat solemnly. "I was about to suggest that. I'm glad we're on the same page. Obviously, we need all the help we can get, and they are willing to help..." He adjusted his coat, turning his gaze back to Guardia. "But like you said. Just in case."

"Just in case," Guardia nodded in agreement. "We sleep with one eye open, and we can make sure they're not up to anything suspicious. Obviously, we'll try to keep tabs on them for that. I know I can depend on you making sure of that on that end, right?"

Joshua chuckled at her comment. "Truthfully, I was going to do that even if you disagreed with me." The Swadloon exhaled, readjusting his jacket once more. "In any case, I suppose that's all we can do for now." His expression quickly changed, rapidly donning an obviously forced smile. "Well then! I won't waste any more of your time. Just needed to get that off my chest."

Guardia nodded and gave Joshua a smile as well, though one not as forced. "Anytime. Oh, and Watchman," She once more gave a stern look, but hidden beneath it was compassion. "You know you can come to me anytime you like, right? I brought you here specifically for a reason. I'll need your insight and your caution probably many more times before everything's said and done."

Joshua grew a bit flustered, unused to receiving compliments like that. Most of the time, others saw his "caution" as crazy, thinking him to be too pessimistic and paranoid for his own good. It was strange for him to hear that it was the reason he had been brought along. Normally it was the reason he was avoided. "Right! O-of course." He stammered through his words, trying to at least end the conversation with some semblance of grace. "I, ah, I'm glad we have an understanding." He shuffled over to the door, opening it before turning back towards Guardia. "I'm sure you have many more things to attend to rather than listen to my rambling. So, I'll, ah... leave you to it, then!"

With that said, the Swadloon made his way out, heading down towards the lower levels. Guardia kept her smile on her face as she watched the Swadloon go down the hut toward the lower levels, and out of the building. Her mind wandered to the interview she had with him when he finished his training. If anything, this conversation they had only further confirmed she had made the right decision making him a brother of the tribe. She was glad to have him around, even if he didn't realize it himself.

"Well, it can't be THAT bad, can it?"

"Yes, it can be. I totally forgot and guess what?"

"What my dead compatriot?" Alex asked as he leaned forward on his cane.

"It means that something is definitely going to happen. From Penance first off. Not only that, but what if I really really did mess up huge?" Obsidian hung his head, "He's going to make me run around like an idiot. I know he will."

Alex snorted, "He has no time to throw you around. We are heading to Tollen in any case, and you'll be needed. Remember what you were saying? You have Seekers there. Makes sense for the group to split up there and you can lead the way to one Seeker. It's just good sense in my eyes. He'll need you in top shape and you can prove yourself to him there."

The Weavile sighed, "He won't let me go off on my own. Like I said, he has MAJOR control issues. You know that out of all people."

"Well... get him to change then. If you show how much you have matured then he'll lay off a bit."

"Yeah, mature in having just blabbed a big secret." Obsidian muttered. "How is that mature in any sense? I gave into instincts and wanted people to know, and it wasn't the best course at all."

Alex shrugged, "We'll just have to see what lies in store then. There might be some harsh words, but in the end he'll need you out still."

The Dreadmage, hopping by the two, paused and spared a glance their way. He'd heard a familiar name - and not one he was fond of. Now, the questions were how much these two were affiliated with the Madman, and whether or not they had any shenanigans prepared for him.

Alex glanced over and saw the small figure making their way over to them, "Hey Obsidian." He whispered, "Why is a Ralts coming over here?"

Obsidian glanced over and frowned, "Not sure... did you make friends with him?"

Alex chuckled, "Sorry, I'm not a fan of cloaks." He stated as he readjusted his cape.

"But... you're wearing one now."

The Gardevoir snorted, "This is a CAPE, not a cloak. You must remember the correct terminology."

Raz sniffed, raising his head. "Your tastes are misplaced. Cloaks are like capes-plus-one." He readjusted his head to directly face the two 'mon. "Now answer me this. Just how affiliated are you with the Golduck Madman known as Penance Malum?"

Obsidian and Alex glanced among each other as Alex smirked, "How about this?" He asked as he tipped his cane forward, "You agree to participate in a magic trick of mine. If you can guess out how the trick works, then you'll get your answer."

The Ralts frowned. "A trick is a trick, and a trick is fruitless. Answer me plainly or fear the consequences."

Alex chuckled, "What consequences? Yes you do lightning, but if you fry us up obviously you won't get your answers." He twirled his cane a bit as he began to walk off, "Come along Obsidian. If he wants his answers, he'll do what needs to be done."

The Weavile glanced at Raz and then hurried off after Alex, "Still, I mean he made a good point about cloaks you know."

"What you want to be done is not the same as what needs to be done, Gardevoir." Raz called after the two. "If it's only your ego that needs to be filled, why not display your magic more straightforwardly? Unless you're hiding something, as the trickster tends to." He folded his arms. "Cloaks are also better for hiding. Cloaks rule."

Alex paused and looked back at the Ralts, "Magic is a trickery. It's fooling the eyes and having others marvel at what one can do." He said with a growing smile, "You understand the use of magic quite well. Good for you." He gave a nod, "There is no psychic power, no ghostly abilities, just plain trickery to amaze those around you." He began walking once more, "Cloaks are too burdensome as well."

"Nonsense and drivel! My power is no trickery!" Razathiel sent a Psyshock into the water to his side, creating a splash several times higher than himself. Several times higher than Alex, rather; Raz's height, even multiplied, isn't that impressive. "Magic, the Psychic arts; whatever you suppose this silly trickery to be, is power at its purest form! Mind over matter! The will of a 'mon to create and destroy, realised in our material plane! Where you learned your magic I dread to think."

Alex paused as Obsidian chuckled softly, "Uh... Alex. Let it go."

The Gardevoir smirked and turned about, heading right up to Raz. "Maybe you would listen far easier..." He raised his hand to show he held nothing and then he reached into the cloak, right against Raz's head as he pulled out a coin, "If you cleaned out your ears." He dropped the coin at Raz's feet, "When you learn how I did that, then we can talk. Or perhaps your mind cannot handle it? I wouldn't know." He once more began to walk away.

"Stop right there, you cretin." Razathiel said, arms still crossed impatiently. "Sleight of hand, Magic Room, Wonder Room - or, as you'd probably prefer, Trick Room - Substitute, Double Team, Extremespeed, Pay Day if you were a Meowth or something; the list is somewhat extensive, and the trick is cheap. Don't make me waste my breath. There is a multitude of ways you could have produced that coin from behind me."

Alex just waved a hand behind him, "Then figure it out." He said.

Obsidian glanced back, "You know, that's mean. He'll never figure it out. You have to be like, a master magician."

Alex chuckled, "Funny thing is this... being a psychic you should be able to sense psychic power being used. Question is this... how could I pull off a psychic move... yet shed no psychic powers? Figure it out why don't you?" He called to Raz. "Now... let's see Obsidian... well how about you go and just tell Penance that you are sorry? See what the punishment is that way." He said as he continued his walk.

Obsidian sighed as he walked alongside him, "I don't know, what if I just go about it stealthily? See if he forgets?"

Alex just chuckled, "Obsidian, Penance never forgets."

"If you're actually trying to hide your affiliation with Penance," Raz said. "You're not doing a very good job of it."

Alex just gave another wave behind as he and Obsidian disappeared around a corner.

Razathiel rolled his eyes, flipping the coin at his feet up with Psychic and firing a blast of flame at its base. The coin flipped, white hot, through the air and into the water beside the Ralts with a sharp hiss. "You forgot your coin, you prick!"

Alex sighed and Obsidian glanced back around the corner, "You're... not going to leave us alone until we tell you stuff... are you?"

The Dreadmage rolled his eyes again. "Yes, it does seem rather a lot of effort, doesn't it, considering the simplicity of the bloody question I'm asking?"

Obsidian frowned, "Well... why are you so impatient on having it answered?" He walked over a bit and crossed his arms, "This must be really important to you if you keep harping on it."

"I'm only getting impatient because you could have answered me in two seconds! Honestly... for Yveltal's sake, it's a simple question and you've done nothing but waste my time over it."

Obsidian casually put his hands behind his head, "Uh huh... so you reallly want to know the answer?" He asked as a smirk formed on his face, "I may be more polite than most dark types... but as you can see, I still like to taunt in a way." He thought for a moment, "Now... to give you what you want... I honestly see nothing I can get out of this deal. What do I get in return? Lost time? That doesn't seem very fair now does it?"

Raz exhaled. "Well, I can tell you how affiliated I am with Penance. That's a pretty damn simple trade. If that's not fair I don't know what is - though I don't suppose it'd be all that likely I would, what with me being so evil and all."

Obsidian tilted his head, "Well, I could find out easily how affiliated you are. Let's say... I have a way of picking Penance's mind." He lowered his arms and shrugged, "You'll have to do better than that."

"Are you serious? Egh, you represented Penance at the meeting, it's not like I'm entirely in the dark about this sh*t. Look; I don't know you two. I need to lump you in somewhere, and Penance is not a preferable place to be lumped with."

Obsidian bent his legs so he could be more on an acceptable level with Raz, "How about this? I tell you how I know Penance so well... but you have to tell me one secret of yours. No worries, I won't ask for anything major. Tell me from what city you're from, and I'll tell you how I know Penance. It's not that much at all."

"You knowing Penance isn't a f*cking secret! Are you kidding me? I'm from a village at the end of buggering nowhere that I barely remember, what's it to you? Why's it I have to answer a useless irrelevant question, and you can't expand on common bloody knowledge?"

Obsidian's smile grew as he tapped the Ralt's on his head, earning a swift slap away from the mage. Obsidian frowned as he rubbed his hand, but he shrugged. "That was actually an answer. Thank you for your contribution." He stood back up, "And the reason I know Penance so well, is because I'm his son." He began to walk away, "Though, how exactly I'm related is something else entirely." He chuckled a bit.

"Well, that wasn't so f*cking difficult, was it? Giratina's wings, you're lumped with him, all right." The Ralts flipped his staff and shuffled in the opposite direction, muttering angrily to himself. "That's one big, old, lump of dickheads right there. Can't answer a simple bloody question..."

After Cal had left to go contemplate whatever it was that was on her mind, Kaveri had gone to do the same. Quiet wasn't usually something she sought out, and she most definitely never avoided crowds, but at the moment she was feeling quite frustrated and felt like just... thinking. Alone, by herself, without anyone around to distract her. She had found a place of isolation out in the middle of the lake, floating on her back with her red float inflated to act as a raft of sorts.

What was on her mind? Well, there was plenty to think about. Darkrai's forces attacking Gold City, what was happening to her brothers and sisters of the Gold Tribe who had remained to defend the city, about the quest to find Cresselia, about Tollen, where they were going... The list went on and on, but right now her mind was on Cal. He probably hadn't even noticed that she had noticed something was up; and while she had a pretty good idea of what was weighing on his mind, it bothered her that he was refusing to talk her, his big sister, about it.

Kaveri grit her teeth and let out a frustrated sigh. In all honesty, she could understand why Cal wouldn't go to her of all Pokemon. He was all business while she was the life of the party, not exactly someone you would go to when you wanted to talk seriously. But still, she wasn't all about parties, and he should know that! How many times had she been there for him when they were kids? ...Or maybe that was just the thing. They weren't kids anymore. They hadn't been kids for a long time, really. They had both grown up years ago, yet she realized she was still clinging to that protective side of her that wanted to do everything to keep Cal safe.

But still... Kaveri scowled. He should know keeping her in the dark just worried her more. They'd have to talk about that, soon. Adults or not, she was still the older sibling, damn it, and she was gonna look out for her little bro! With a huff, she deflated her float and swam back to the shore, her twin tails twirling behind her.

The Second Meeting - Thieves, Forests, and Diplomats

The group was once again gathered in the Gold Tribe hut. Guardia was seated in the same spot she was the day before. Mostly everyone seemed to have arrived, including Penance, who was on the ceiling, drinking from a teacup of some sort. In front of her were the notes she gathered from yesterday, a map of the known world, and another smaller map of Tollen. When everyone arrived, Guardia cleared her throat and began to speak. "Alright, I guess we're all here. So we decided yesterday we'll be starting in Tollen. Now that we have come to that decision, it's time to figure out the particulars: how we're going in, who we should talk to, where we should start, what should we be looking for, where to get help. Stuff like that. I know we don't know much about what's going on currently, but we do know that there's 'mon we can approach for help in both lending a hand to Valkaria and Finding Cresselia."

Guardia looked through a few papers and continued. "We've got the Queen, Aleena, for example. I really don't know much about her, but from what I understand about Tollen, the Queen holds ultimate authority in all regards, so her subjects have to listen to her. If we talk to her and she listens, that would be a huge boon for us," Guardia flipped the page and continued. "But let's say the Queen isn't willing to help. We could ask a few others for help too. There's three 'mon that control the military in Tollen as well: the Captain of the Guardians of the Borders, the General of the standing army, and the Royal Commander of the Knights of Tollen. In Tollen, some form of service to the crown is a requirement. Most 'mon join the military and are judged based on their service. They all start off in the standing army. If they serve well, they have the option to return to civilian life, and if they perform well enough, they could also join the Royal Knights, the most elite of the three. It gives you a lot of benefits to do so. However, if you don't perform well, you could be forced to remain in the military and join the Guardians of the Borders, which is stationed outside of the capital."

Guardia tapped the edges of the map and continued. "See, Tollen wasn't exactly set up in the best spot for a country. They're neighboring two other countries that aren't exactly docile. Beyond that, their founders chose to establish their country deep within the forests and jungles. Because of that, it becomes really hard to actually defend the borders because of constant surprise attacks from tribal or wild 'mon, and bandit activity. But having the capital, Argime, deep in the center of the kingdom is also a huge advantage, as attackers generally are too worn out by the time they navigate through the thick jungle. Top that off with Argime being one of the most defended cities in the world, and you're pretty set. Can't say the same about the border towns though. It's a mess out there. No actual borders since they're always changing; almost daily attacks, harsh heat from the thick forests and jungles. It actually is like hell out there usually. That's why they nicknamed the Guardians of the Borders the 'Hellguards'. I hear that some of them actually embrace the nickname, and are really good at what they do, too. But for the vast majority of Tollen citizens, it's a nightmare, so they perform their duty as best as they can while with the standing army."

Guardia flipped the page of her notes again, and tapped back to the center of the map in the capital. "Then there's the nobility. They have great connections around the country, and the higher houses have a lot of pull there too. Generally... the Gold Tribe and the nobles don't exactly see eye to eye from our bad history together about 100 years ago, so I don't know if we can get their help, but we can try. They do have some private security forces, and a lot of information too. Maybe something that can lead to Cresselia. I hear House Ellia and Durania are pretty prominent. Generally, we have a pretty good relationship with the Royal Knights, so maybe asking them for help directly could help too. Plus, the Royal Commander has control over all three other military forces, although they generally never use it. I'm not sure about the current leaders, but I hear the General of the standing army and the Captain of the Hellguards usually hate, or at least disagree, with the Royal Commander, mostly because of his pull."

"That's assuming, of course," Razathiel pointed out. "that the country hasn't gone to sh*t within its year of isolation. Just a reminder that the information we have isn't necessarily up to date."

Penance finished slurping his tea as he casually threw the glass at a wall, shattering it. "Well... there's other factors too." He said in a soft voice as he hopped down, "At least for this meeting, I'll spare you all from his typical ramblings and get to the point. They expunged everyone but a few SEC members. Now, if these psychics had been... say, important people, or very high on the SEC ladder, then I would say that they were being kept for political reasons or to dissuade Valkaria from attacking them. These psychics are basic citizens who had a job to do. Why keep someone alive if you aim to clean your country free of foreigners?"

He held up one claw as his silver eye glittered in the light, "It's simple, you make them assets. These psychics have had trained in not only linking to other psychic minds, but also establishing communication networks. Probably this whole year they've had them forcibly training psychics who are serving among the guard so they can create a wide security blanket across Tollen. Not only that, but at the same time these psychics are probably being forced to serve Tollen in other ways. Given their predicament, I highly think Tollen would give them commands, with the consequence of not following them being death or something similar. If there is a wide psychic blanket over Tollen, it also means they could probably police any telepathic communications. Basically, if we try to talk via psychic powers in there, odds are they'll find out our locations and be able to hack into such conversations. But then again, that's a guess."

Brynn leaned against a wall, "It's been one year. For all we know, anyone stuck in there could be suffering from Stockholm syndrome. It's a tricky slope. Even if we find those psychics it might not be a happy reunion."

"Yeah, that's the biggest problem now," Guardia agreed. "We really have no idea what has been going on the past few months. They kicked out practically every foreign entity. They broke off most alliances with everyone. I don't know why, but because of that, we're blind on what's going on inside."

"If I may," Thomas interjected, stepping forward to the table. "I actually might have a bit more information. While speaking with Penance earlier, we devised a plan to attempt to contact the last Network point stationed over there. Penance has one or two Seekers still undercover there. I actually managed to make contact with the Network, although the message I received was a bit jumbled and hard to figure out, mostly because it was in code."

The silver eye left Penance as he ooed at Thomas' words, "Do tell, Marrow version two!" He laid down on his stomach and propped his chin upon his hands. Thomas picked up the coded message and read it aloud.

"You know that goldfish we were lent? Well, the water is too chilly for the fishbowl. Heating is mandatory to ensure life. The fun thing is that the fish are flying ones! With wings and all! They play high in the sky and riding each other as well with saddles! How that happens, I have no idea.

Outside the fishbowl the soccer team is kicking the ball around. They yodel every time the ball is kicked and then they end up yielding to a draw. Time is gone for the moment, laters."

When Thomas finished reading, he looked up at everyone and continued. "Obviously that makes no sense as it is, but Penance gave me the code to decipher it. See, goldfish is palace, referring to the palace in the capital. Then there's 'feeling' words to describe the situation. Chilly means hostile to outsiders. Flying means that the situation is peaceful. Riding means that we'll find few or no allies there. Balling means low morale, yodelling means chaos is in the air, and yielding means there could be some allies around," He concluded the explanation, hoping people would get the interpretation. Even he didn't fully understand it.

Zai bit her lip. It sounded like the message was coded by a child. Couldn't they have made it less obvious that it was a code? "So the palace is peaceful, but the rest of the area is . . . chilly, so we need to find a way to heat it in order to pass through safely? But we'll find no allies at the palace. Outside . . . the fishbowl, which I'm not sure where that ends or begins," Zai said, narrowing her eyes at Penance and this ridiculous code. "But we may find allies outside the fishbowl, despite it being chaotic."

She sighed. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Penance, what is the fishbowl? In fact, why don't you try to translate this ridiculously childish code for the rest of us?"

"Don't forget about the soccer team, to me it sounds as if there might be some sort of inner conflict going on in Tollen. And if so I'd assume the last part means neither side has the advantage and every skirmish ends in a stalemate." Cal jumped in. "With the rocky relationships between the military leaders there might be some sort of power struggle going on, maybe even a coup. If so, that would go far towards explaining Tollen's silence; if they were having a civil war they'd be far too busy with their own matters to concern themselves with the rest of the world. Their pride would also encourage them not to be open about their troubles."

Penance crackled with laughter as he rolled about on the floor, pausing a moment to look up, "Well obviously higher minds know how to talk." He said as he stuck out his tongue playfully. "Not my fault you all didn't eat goldfish." He stood up and glanced about, "Please tell me that SOMEONE owned a fish." He poked Thomas right on his nose, "Surely you had one. The real Marrow had one too, but he ate it!" He burst into laughter once more.

"I agree with the Sentinel," The Hypno nodded. "There could be some sort of tension going on. I am however, unsure about outright Civil War. Or else why would the message say the capital is peaceful?"

Penance suddenly sighed as his silver eye returned. "Let me explain," Brynn muttered. "Listening to the message again, it seems simple enough. The code Penance devised was to relay general information as quickly as possible. If we had terms to describe every single thing that could possibly happen then it would be far harder to memorize. The fishbowl usually refers to a place of high importance. In this case our seeker could be referring to the palace itself, or to the capital. Inside either the palace or the capital there is high morale and peace, but at the same time it's a hostile area specifically to Seekers."

He frowned a bit, "That means the area around the palace at least is just doing fine, nothing is amiss, probably everyday life is still going strong. Outside the palace or the capital... chaos is out there. People are desperate and there is a lot of chaos in the air. Whatever is going down... the people are suffering big time out there."

The silver eye faded away as Penance snorted and crossed his arms, "Oh, you just spilled it! No chance to make them think!"

"Chaos, eh? Doesn't Darkrai feed off of that? So if whatever is going on in Tollen continues, it could very well make Darkrai stronger, right?" Kaveri questioned, blinking about at the other 'mon.

Joshua nodded at Kaveri's question. "She makes a good point. Whatever is going on there, I have no doubt it's linked to what we're facing now. It just seems too convenient that they cut themselves off just before disaster strikes." He looked around the room at the others gathered around. "Even so, we should definitely be careful. We're essentially walking in the dark without a light."

"I can't say I disagree," Razathiel murmured. "It is certainly the wildcard. For all we know this could very well be a trap; in fact, if we weren't all reasonably powerful I'd be liable to say we're all a rather ludicrous amount of f*cked walking into Tollen, but there you go."

Snype was concerned what all of this would mean upon arrival. And just as concerned for how it'd effect the thieves possible expansion out there. The least he could do is scout the area out. Losing Tollen's trust because of Snype's actions would be a huge blow to the Gold Tribe. Nonetheless, he was going to keep an eye out for an opportunity.

"We're walking in blind as is. This whole expedition could end up being a huge gamble. Still... I know you guys have dealt with worse odds. Kehe..." Snype said.

"I think we're all in agreement that we're walking blind," Abel began to say, his arms crossed as he looked at the group from afar. "And we've got some options on where to go and how to do it. The question is: how do we want to do it?"

Guardia shrugged. "Like you said, brother, we've got options. I can think of a few off the top of my head," She turned her attention to the map, tapping it on the capital of Argime. "We got a message through the Network, so it could be possible to try and sneak us in there. Obviously that has risks associated with it," Guardia turned her attention to the larger map which showed the surrounding area as well. "We could always try taking the long way too, through the Network station on the border of Beatruce. From there we could cross the river and take the eastern road through the jungles of Tollen. It'll be a longer way, and we could potentially run into some trouble from what the Seekers are describing," Guardia looked across the room. "But that's just two ways I have that came to mind off the top of my head. We can go about it many other ways. I'll leave the floor open to you guys."

"Does the second method involve sneaking in as well?" Joshua questioned. "I understand they've locked out all foreigners, but if there's any way to get inside without breaking in, it might be safer to do so."

"Why don't we do both?" Charlie suggested. "Some 'a us are better at sneakin' and spyin', yeh could even call it a speciality 'a thieves, not ta mention some 'a yer tribe-" Charlie slyly gestured to his brother. "-seem ta be pretty interested in savin' their skin, but some 'a ya can handle yourselves way better in a fight if ya walk in announced an' they ain't keen on it. Not ta mention the guys who get in first can get info back ta everymon else, so why not split into two?"

Joshua's eyelid twitched slightly, trying to ignore Charlie's comment. He took in a breath, then exhaled to calm himself, before resuming. "Considering that Tollen isn't exactly on the best terms with, well, anybody, if we sneak in and are caught, I imagine that it won't make for the best first impression." He adjusted his coat slightly, before turning towards Guardia. "If there is any chance at all for diplomacy, I believe it would be in our best interests, in order to avoid any unnecessary conflict."

"A shame, seeing is unnecessary conflict is one of my fortés. I think I should probably be left out of any particularly diplomatic ventures," The Dreadmage noted nonchalantly. "with me being so inexplicably evil and whatnot. With that said, I have something of an intense loathing for stealth, so it seems whatever plan you intend on going through with will leave me equally as miserable."

Penance grumbled angrily to the side, "Well the knowing ones obviously will have posters up, no?" He asked. "Of course it'll work to spread the butter both ways, you can't have it all on one side you know." He gave a nod to Guardia, "Meaning that we'll need some garlic to bunch up on it.

"Someone wanna translate?" Charlie didn't have much patience for the quack's rune-speak.

That silverly glow appeared again in Penance's left eye, "Well..." Brynn began, "Penance is thinking that some members of our party will be too recognized in Tollen. For starters." He put a hand to his chest, "We are known very well as the leader of the Seekers. Guardia had personal meetings with the king and will be recognized. Even Thomas had some fame in there too. If we three head in, then we'll be pounced upon rather quickly. Anyone who can't keep their mouth shut in Tollen or are unable to blend in will also blow our cover. Basically, we'll have to make sure certain people don't head into the capital at the least."

"People like you and I, Scyther." Raz chirped.

"You, perhaps, ya little runt-" the Scyther began, before being rudely cut off by Raz.

"-Thanks for proving my point, prick."

Unfazed, Charlie continued. "But I can play nice with mons that deserve respect, not wankers like you."

Raz exhaled with a smirk. "I've yet to see evidence of that."

Charlie's voice rose. "Wanna know why, shortstuff? Ain't met no f*cker worth playin' nice with here. Now shut the f*ck up 'till ya got somethin' worth hearin' to say, 'cause I'm sick 'a yer voice."

The Ralts' smirk grew. "And you apparently live up to your own standards? Fascinating. If only you could form standards as well as you could play into other people's hands..."

"Keep it up and you two will become more annoying than Penance." Snype interrupted. "If you're both going to have a childish fight, then make like children and step outside while the adults continue our discussion about life or death." Snype stated bluntly.

Charlie sighed a wearied sigh. "F*ck it, I'll just sit in this cozy little corner here, 'n say the grand total 'a jack sh*t, kay?"

The Dreadmage waved a hand and chuckled. "Heheh, fine, fine, wouldn't want to be compared to Penance- but anyhow! I hope you see my point that some of us are, let's say... lacking certain diplomatic qualities. It's something of a serious issue, actually, and it does need to be acknowledged."

Brynn nodded, "That much is true. We need to gather those who would be best fit to enter the capital, and ultimately the palace itself, and send them there. Everyone else who can't fit in will have to do something else, like infiltrating the SEC outpost."

"Though, we'll be some help!" Alex strode on in as Obsidian followed, the Weavile glancing around nervously as they did so.

"Told you we would be late!" Obsidian muttered as Alex just chuckled. The Gardevoir glanced over at the Golduck and smirked, "Hello aunt Brynn, I hope this isn't too much of a stir."

The Golduck sighed, "I thought you two weren't coming. But that's two more we can count on I suppose. Right now we need a list of who will go where and decide what our objectives will be." He crossed his arms, "We'll also need to plan a time table. We can't risk any psychic communication so plan a day when we'll go fully on the offensive and at a certain hour as well."

Cal stepped forward to make himself known, letting out a small sigh beforehand. "As it stands I think I have to agree with the idea to split up. As much as I'd prefer us all to stay together in most situations, Raz has a point about some among us not handling diplomacy so well. And personally, I think the scyther should go with the group that will be more or less sneaking in. Chances are we'll have to deal with a few people who aren't so worthy of respect and keep our mouths shut anyways, so if that's his condition for not starting fights he may not like it so much there. If he was just exaggerating about mouthing off at anyone who hasn't strictly earned his respect than I'm all for him going with either team." He allowed himself a short smirk before becoming completely serious again.

"I don't really want to spend more time than necessary but... I definitely think the more open group should make our way in the long way. If we were to get caught trying to go in through the networks it would make us look that much worse, and we'd be completely surrounded already. On the other hand, if we try to walk in we might actually be able to make it in peacefully. And if we have to fight our way through the long way at least most, if not all of our enemies will be in front of us. We won't be fighting on all sides."

"So, splitting up then," Guardia remarked, seeing that a few of them were suggesting that idea. "Are we all in agreement that we should do that?"

"As long as I'm in the diplomatic group..." Joshua said, almost whispering.

"Splitting up seems like a good idea to me," Kaveri said, nodding.

Obsidian looked about, "If we do split up... I mean a Seeker had to give a message to the psychics right? If Penance goes there with you guys then if you're lucky you could possibly bump into him, get some info that could help. If another Seeker is in the capital, then I can be there too." He gave a meek shrug, "Hopefully at least one of them is in the capital. Would help us quite a bit I say."

"Keheh, I can handle the diplomatic group. I'm a charming fella as is. Kehe. I'm pretty sure I can sway them one way or another if they aren't offended by my presence as a thief. If not, I can obviously handle stealth just as well." Snype said.

"You know, thirty years ago I probably would have said 'no chance'," Guardia said with a smirk to Snype. "But I guess it shouldn't be too bad, as long as you behave. What about the rest of you? Since it seems mostly everyone is alright with splitting up into two groups, which do you prefer to go with?"

"If we're going by Beatruce into Tollen, even if it's only the outskirts of Beatruce, I should be with that group," Abel commented. Guardia nodded in agreement.

"I will accompany the group that goes into the capital, then," Thomas declared. "I feel my expertise could be useful there. Plus, I might still have friends among the citizens, or even the nobles. That is, if it is alright with the rest of you."

Brynn sighed, "That's a problem Thomas." She explained, "If either you, Guardia, or I head in with the others... well, we're big names. People know us. We head in and you can be certain that word will spread around. And if we, the heads of certain factions, head in directly it is highly possible that it alerts the higher ups that some soldiers have come with us too."

Alexandre however raised a hand, "Actually... there is a way around that problem. Thomas, you could head in without raising any alarms, because I know a way to help." He said with a knowing smirk.

"I understand your reservation," Thomas began, "but as Watchman had said earlier, sneaking in and raising the alarm, especially if caught would be quite unpleasant diplomatically. If there was a way to perhaps go in without that..."

Brynn frowned, "Alex... what do you know?"

The Gardevoir twirled his cane, "Weeeellll.... there IS a SEC base here after all... and they tend to have many items that could help us. If you want I could show you around. Given the priority of our mission, I'm sure that my father would have sent word ahead of letting us use what will help us."

Snype seemed to be deep in thought thinking about the whole plan in general. He was bothered. Something about this whole plan seemed flawed but he couldn't quite put his finger on what that gaping hole in the whole plan was...he was perfectly fine with investigating Tollen. It was the most suspicious place around, but the execution of the plan was bugging the Sableye for some reason. A covert operation in a place that they're walking blindly into? "...I hope you all realize that all of these plans are subject to major change once we arrive. We have no idea what's going on either way. I'm down for diplomacy, but other then that, we'll be forced to improvise once we arrive. So I hope you're all good at that. There's a high chance everything we're talking about won't matter." Snype explained.

"I'm all good for improvising, so long as it involves violence." Raz quipped.

"All this talk about infiltration makes us sound like a band of criminals. And this is coming from the king himself. If anybody is going to do infiltration, it should be a group that has shallow ties with most of these factions as is. Keheh. If the thieves were in charge, then it wouldn't matter if we get caught. We're just petty criminals after all right? Who'd think the Gold Tribe would have any relation to that? All we're doing is causing trouble as usual...just doing it on new territory. Kehe... I wonder how convenient it'd be if the Gold Tribe arrived after a new group of criminals began to expand in their territory? Would be a wonderful way to gain their trust hm? Depending on if criminal activity exists there or not, the thieves can easily blend in." Snype said with a smirk. He was honestly brainstorming out loud but it seemed reliable in his eyes to go ahead of time and act as a scout. And it'd be a wonderful opportunity to expand his order throughout the continent.

"So what are you saying, Snype?" Guardia inquired, crossing her arms at him. "You go in quiet-like and we come in after?"

"I'd basically be your scout. Using the Ninjask network to give more reliable information than stupid coded messages. In the mean time, we blend in as a group of petty thieves looking to cause trouble in Tollen to save our own hides from the impending doom that is Darkrai. And I'm willing to take people along who want to live that life temporarily until we figure out what's going on in Tollen. The whole idea is off the top of my head, so if anyone has an objection, don't be afraid to say. Kehe. I can always plot up something new." Snype said.

Obsidian held up a hand, "I would be okay with that." He said, "I mean, I've been in Tollen before, but it isn't like I paraded around with Penance. And I look the part of a thief right?" He asked. "And if there are any of our two Seekers in there then I can use our code to meet up with them and we could get some information out of them."

"Perfect. That way we can exchange information with the diplomatic group and plan our next steps carefully. Anyone who isn't too fond of diplomacy can fit in with the thieves. Of course, this could be dangerous for us as well... but ya know, the life of a criminal is never easy. Keheh" Snype said with a smirk.

"Well," Raz had been on the verge of twiddling his hands (he didn't have thumbs) for a little while now, and still sounded a little bored. "I despise diplomacy and I despise stealth all the same. Whenever you need me to blast someone's head off, I'll be here, but for now I suppose I'll be best placed wherever I stand the least chance of disrupting the plan. Alternatively, I can always go wherever there's most chance of violent improvisation in case everything goes balls-up."

"In that case you'd fit well with my group, assuming we all go with this plan. The thieves will be causing trouble, possibly stealing from folks and all... but of course, this might end up with our group going against the diplomatic group at times. Ya know...in case someone at Tollen decides we need to be taught a lesson? Would be a good way to gain their trust right? It honestly sounds like a lot of fun." Snype said with a chuckle. "I could even set up shop in town possibly... hear whispers from civilians and get all sorts of juicy gossip. That'll be another project in itself but it oughta benefit the rest of us," Snype added.

"So we have three teams, then," Guardia remarked. She gave Snype a small, cold glare after his comment about 'setting up shop', which she didn't like the sound of. "The thief infiltration team, the team that'll go through Beatruce, and the the team that'll try to diplomatic route. Any objections to this?" She asked the 'mon in the room. Hearing no complaints from the others, she sighed deeply and nodded. "Alright, looks like this is what we're going with then. I think we should go with the team we feel best suited to our strengths."

She remembered before that Abel mentioned going with the Beatrucian team, and Thomas would go with the diplomats. Watchman also mentioned going with the diplomats, while he was certain Snype and Charlie would be in the thief team. That suited her fine, as she would rather be as far away from Charlie as possible. "I'll probably go with the diplomat team," Guardia stated to the others.

"As much as I'd like to take you up on your offer, Snype, the Beatruce team sounds a little more 'my style'." Razathiel said. "Not necessarily so much diplomacy, not necessarily so much stealth, and a lovely jungle to go through in which I can kill things. How wonderfully evil."

Obsidian was about to speak when Penance came on over and grabbed the Weavile, flipping over his shoulder as he walked out, "No you're not going without me, and we're going to have a talk." He said brusquely as he walked on out. Alex glanced over at them, "Father and son dilemma, how appropriate for the time."

"F*cking lovely." Raz murmured.

"And as f*cking lovely as I'm sure it is, looks like we got a plan here. So we done?" Charlie had, up to now remained as he claimed he would, quiet in the corner, but apparently he now felt the need to speak again. "I'm sure if anyone wants ta link up with us dashing rogues, they can find us."

"I'm going with the team going in through Beatruce, I can be fast, and quiet when necessary but... I'm still not exactly an expert in stealth, just a few hat tricks here or there. I'm more comfortable going where I can walk openly and not hold back if we're attacked."

After a moment of indecisive silence from Kaveri, she finally piped up. "I'll go with the thieves. It's where my talents are best suited for this situation."

Guardia glanced around the room as everyone stated which they preferred to join. When everyone concluded, they had a fairly evened out three-teams. "Well, looks like they're all in place. I guess now the thing to decide is who'll take point with each team," She looked around once more at the mon in the room and continued. "Obviously the decision doesn't rest just with me, but I would like to give my choices. Snype seems like the logical fit to lead the thief team, being the King of Thieves. I know I'm going with the diplomatic team, but I feel the most suited should take point there. That's why I'm nominating Watchman to lead us in," She stated, looking over at Joshua and offering him a smile. "As for the forest team, I know Abel could act as the guide from Beatruce, but I'm recommending the new second-in-command of the Gold Tribe for Valkaria to take point there. Sentinel."

Kaveri grinned broadly and thumped a paw against Cal's back. "My little bro, second-in-command? That's gonna take some getting used to," she chuckled. "Can't say I'm too surprised, though!"

Cal kept looking at Guardia expectantly for a few more moments as if still waiting for her to say who would be leading the forest team before his eyes widened. "M-me? I... I mean there was always the idea in the back of my head ever since Scar's retirement was made known but... I never thought..." Before he could sit there looking like an overly-humble idiot any longer he set his jaw, straightened his back, and tapped his chest with his right fist. "I'm proud to accept the honor Guardia, I'll do my best to do justice to your trust." He could only hold his solemn expression for a few seconds before a small smile overtook his face.

Razathiel smirked at the green Dragonite. "Hmph, you seemed like the right choice for it, being quite noble and all." The Ralts glanced away and crossed his arms. "And that's not a compliment when it comes from me, before you say anything... prick."

"Alright then, looks like we have everything set," Guardia said, looking around the room again and nodding. "We'll probably have the thief team head out tomorrow morning. The forest team will head out tonight since it'll be longer to get to Tollen. The diplomat team will go in after the thief team," Guardia took in a deep breath and exhaled, looking down at the map of Tollen again. "I guess the meeting's over then. Do whatever you need to do to prepare."

Snype funny enough returned to the same spot he was sitting at after the last meeting. Only this time rather then sitting at the edge, he was in the water, taking a small bath it seemed. In reality though, he was expecting somebody to come look for him after a certain comment he made during the meeting. Sometimes he loved being a sly little bastard... it was good to be a thief, and this expedition to Tollen could be a fun one, after all the Darkrai stuff was handled of course. He waited in the water, poking his head out to look for Guardia.

As if on cue, Guardia came storming down the docks toward the area where the two spoke the day before. She wasn't exactly angry, but she was frustrated. Just the day before, they had spoken about clearing up all the secrets, and here Snype was, planning something that Guardia had a feeling she wouldn't like. It was better to get it out in the open now. "Snype!" She exclaimed from the wooden docks, glaring at him in the water. "What are you planning now?"

"Kehe, I'm planning on taking a bath. What? Came to watch? Didn't know you had such hobbies!" Snype teased with a small laugh.

"I...yo-...that's not what I'm doing at all!" Guardia blurted out. She felt her blood begin to boil on the inside. "You know damn well what I'm talking about, midget!" She yelled, stepping up closer to the dock edge. She crossed her arms, not taking her glaring eyes from the Sableye. "Set up shop?" She repeated what he had said in the meeting. "What's that suppose to mean? Huh?!"

Snype chuckled at her first reaction, tempted to make another comment but really didn't want Guardia to explode into little bits on him. He was getting washed after all! "Keheh, took the bait then huh? Yeah I mentioned that bit on purpose. Comon, the most valuable stuff is underground. I'm just digging a little deeper. Keheh..." Snype said with a smirk, rubbing his head with some water.

"So that was all just to get me mad?" Guardia demanded.

"Well that... kehe. And you DID say you wanted me to be honest right? Comon.. the thieves don't just set up tents outside of town and expect not to be caught. It involves underground involvement, getting right under everyone's noses. I've gotten away with it several times and I can do it again in Tollen. After a few days there anyways... scouting the town, building connections, I guess we're doing a little diplomacy of our own huh? Kehe" Snype said, rubbing his arm a bit.

"You're not setting up some underground criminal organization, Snype!" Guardia spat. "You're just getting intel and checking out the situation in Tollen. We're coming in right after you so if you screw up anything for us, like getting yourself caught or killed, I swear I'll kick your a$$!" She rolled her eyes, and sighed deeply. Why did he always have to make her so dang bothered all the time?

"Heheh, you almost sound worried about me!" Snype teased again. "Comon I know the job. We're still getting intel. I'm just doing the most natural way to get information. Keheh.. Drunken patrons and civilians of course! It doesn't even have to be direct! Just get a bartender and watch soldiers, citizen, and all that good stuff spill their secrets in a secret establishment... keheh." Snype said, making no sense obviously without knowing about his speakeasys.

"I'm not worried about you, I just don't want you to endanger the mission, or any of my brothers and sisters," Guardia shot back. She shook her head and sighed. "Well, I guess you know what's best on that end of things. I'll leave the thieving to you, just remember to give us a quick rundown of things so that we can go through right after you. You can keep scouting and gathering intel after, just make sure not to lead anything back to us."

"Keheh, you know that's the whole reason I suggested my group of thieves leading the stealth charge. The last plan was GOING to put the gold tribe in that very danger. Keheh...I'd say I do know what's best on both ends" Snype said with a small wink. "The thing is, if we're caught at all, then we're seen as petty criminals. Wouldn't be the first time a thief screwed up. Keheh. You'd have your information, and we'd just get locked up somewhere or hit a few times." Snype said rather calmly.

"Of course, We won't get caught. The King isn't going down that easily." Snype said as he dunked his head into the water for a moment.

"Yeah well this time around, two of my Gold Tribe members are joining your thief band," Guardia replied. Her eyes darted over to the nearby town, as she spotting a few of her brothers and sisters attending to errands, or wandering about. "Which means on the off chance that you are caught and they're linked back to the Gold Tribe, it could spell major trouble for us, maybe even ruin this entire venture," Guardia's eyes returned to Snype. "You get that, right?"

Snype smirked and flung his head out of the water. "Heh, well when they're with me, they won't be Gold Tribe Members during that time. They'll be thieves. Perhaps under a totally different allias... just for safety reasons ya know? But they won't be caught with what I have in mind. It'll be totally seemless! Keheh. I could even disguise you under the thieves! A little red and white paint over those scars and maybe a hood and you could be a totally different Zangoose! Could call you... Aidraug? Naw too obvious... kehe." Snype joked a little.

Guardia curled her mouth, trying to prevent herself from giggling at the Sableye's joke. She let a small smirk appear on her face despite trying to repel it. "Aidraug? Really?" She shook her head. "That's the worst attempt to disguise someone I've ever heard! How did you ever get to become King of Thieves anyway?" She teasingly asked.

Snype noticed that expression on Guardia's face. She was holding something back... he wondered if he could stop her from doing that~ "Haha, alot of charm and skill. And that's hardly the worst! I could give you a cute hat or something. Maybe new outfit on top of that! I'd barely be trying there. Keheh. You big on dresses?" He joked again with a chuckle.

Guardia shook her head somewhat violently, trying to prevent herself from bursting in laughter. This was a far more serious moment than it was turning out to be. "You try and get me in a dress and I'll beat the thief outta you!" She stated, pointing a finger somewhat menacingly at Snype. "A-and you're totally dodging the original reason I came here!"

"Original reason? What? To peep on my bathing?" Snype interrupted with a laugh, rubbing his shoulder with some water.

"I-I WAS NOT PEEPING ON YOU!" Guardia yelled, becoming more frustrated with Snype. Her face was a bit red as she yelled. "Ugh, you're impossible!" She said, turning around and proceeding to storm off.

"Man you really need to work on that temper." Snype called out to her. "Sometimes you just gotta ease yourself and relax! Get a good laugh out every so often! We might not have another chance to do this sort of thing once we head out ya know?" Snype said, peeking over the dock. "That's not very diplomatic of you to storm off like that. Keheh... I expected better Guardia." Snype said with a smirk.

"Maybe if you weren't trying to always get under my skin all the time, I wouldn't have to blow up in your face!" Guardia declared as she momentarily stopped rampaging away to shout back to Snype. She realized though that he did have a point. She would have to be able to keep her cool when she would be in Tollen, especially when with any of the higher command. "Just...yeah fine whatever," She said, unwilling to admit to him publicly that he was right in a way.

Snype grinned at Guardia. "Sorry for giving ya such a hard time. Just had to make sure you're up to this whole diplomacy thing and all. The folks running shop at Tollen might be more obnoxious than me ya know?" Snype explained, catching his breath from all the laughter. "Hah... but yeah... the original topic right?"

Guardia returned back closer to Snype after hearing the Sableye explain himself a bit more. He was right. She wasn't sure how everyone in Tollen was. It was certainly not the easiest thing to talk to some of them the last few times she visited, and that was when they were allied. She figured it would be even tougher now, and it would be important to maintain her cool. Over the years she was much better at doing so than when she was younger, but it still tended to burst out on occasions. One example was when she met up with people she had known for so long, even when she was just a teenager, like Snype.

"Right," Guardia nodded. "I just... I don't want you getting in over your head when we're there. 'Setting up shop' or whatever you plan to do. In all likelihood, if we both end up surviving this thing... well... look Snype, I don't wanna have to fight you."

Snype titled his head. "Isn't that kind of inevitable? I'm a thief. Enemies of the Gold Tribe ya know? Though I guess both factions have had a strange relationship lately...If I'm getting over my head in Tollen then that'll be nothing. I was getting over my head "setting up shop" in Gold City honestly! You know how hard it is to sneak past you AND your brothers and sisters? After we take out Darkrai you oughta have a meeting about that!" Snype said with a smile.

"And here I thought you were behaving all nice and quiet in your forest," Guardia replied, shaking her head once more. She felt a depressed feeling suddenly wash over her at the realization that the two would most likely have to clash if this all went favorably. It wasn't exactly something she was looking forward to in such a desperate situation that they were in now. "I guess we should be happy we're not at each other's throats now then, huh?"

"Heheh, me? Behave? Comon now. The king tends to be the naughty sort! Keheh" Snype joked with a laugh. "But yeah. As much fun as I have with our little clashes, being friendly isn't too bad."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that, I should have known better," Guardia said. She then turned to his other statement, and agreed. "Yeah, I guess it's not, not to bad at all," She added with a smirk. She was suddenly alerted to another presence close behind her. Turning around, she noticed Abel from the Beatrucian Gold Tribe staring quietly but intently at the two of them. She couldn't get a read on his face, whether he was just casually glancing at them, or if there was some resentment or malice behind it. It seemed to just be his standing expression. Guardia quickly turned back to Snype and continued. "That is, when you're not being a complete jerk. I'm gonna go get some, uh, stuff ready. Just remember what I said. Hey, Atrox," Guardia greeted the Medicham on her way away from the two of them.

"...Guardia," Abel responded back somewhat indifferently. He brought his eyes to glare at the Sableye by the lake. Whether his look was one of callous or simply curiosity, few could tell.

Snype smiled up at Guardia and noticed Abel just staring at the two. Being the little gremlin he was, Snype decided to poke at this. "Kehe, whatcha lookin at?"

Abel was quiet for a moment longer, coldly staring at Snype, before answering. "Nothing," He stated plainly. His eyes remained fixated on the Sableye.

"Really? That's the kinda answer I'd expect from a peeper!. Kehe. I'd say your lookin at plenty." Snype teased as slipped further into the water, splashing a little water in Abel's direction.

"No, I'd say I'm looking at exactly what I said," Abel retorted harshly, ignoring the splashes of water flung toward his direction. "Nothing," He repeated.

Snype frowned at that. He knew an insult when he heard one. moved closer to the dock and leaned up against it. He wasn't one to be easily offended. "Heh, well in that case I won't interfere with the scenery eh?" He retorted back.

"Your entire existence is an interference with the scenery," Abel responded back just as harshly as he did the first time, but this time more directly. "King of Thieves," He added with an additional ounce of venom in his voice.

"Yeesh, someone's got a grudge. Keheh." Snype said with a more stern expression. He suddenly got an unsettling feeling.

"I don't hold any grudge against you as a person, thief," Abel responded, continued to stonewall the Sableye with his harsh tongue and glare. "I hold a grudge against the idea of what you are."

Snype raised a brow. "Tsk. Well wouldn't be the first time huh? What are you gonna lecture me on how "stealing is bad" or something? Sorry for having an unfortunate living. We can't all be pampered in fancy homes. Keheh." Snype said, likely just making assumptions on the conversation's direction.

"No, I won't lecture you. You've long chosen your path and I've chosen mine," He stated. "But just as I won't presume to know how you became the way you are, you shouldn't make assumptions on me either," Abel pushed himself off the hut he was leaning against, proceeding closer to the Sableye. He looked to the side of the road to see if anyone else was around, before returning his gaze to Snype. "I just wanted to let you know that any of this alliance nonsense doesn't fool me. I know exactly what you are, and so do you. Which is why I came to give you a warning."

Snype crossed his arms. "Pretty sure I had this conversation with Guardia. But yeah. I'm a thief. What about it?" Snype replied.

"You're a thief, and we are Gold Tribe. Always we've stood on the opposite side of the river, and looked in two different directions. But Darkrai didn't turn our directions, it simply made the river the enemy. In the end... we are what we are," Abel shook his head. "I've known Guardia for a while, so I'm certain the warning I give you now is different than what she gave you. There is no if ands, buts or maybes. The first chance I get you alone, the first chance you're isolated, injured, tarnished or depleted.... I will kill you."

Snype just stared. Yikes where did that come from? "Sheesh, and I thought Guardia needed lighting up. You make it sound like I killed a whole village or something." Snype said. He wasn't all that intimidated though. He already had quite a type advantage but he didn't want to start fighting amongst his allies.

"You haven't just killed a village, King," Abel responded plainly. "You've likely killed a lot more without realizing it. In your entire lifetime you've probably killed much and gotten away with it. No one becomes depraved all at once."

Snype climbed out of the water, standing on the dock dripping wet. Snype caught onto what Abel meant by that somewhat. "Tsk, what because we stole a couple of coins? I think you're over exaggerating a bit. The thieves aren't murderers."

"You may say what you like to vindicate yourself," Abel stated, turning around as he prepared to leave. "It doesn't change the fact that you are who you are, and I am who I am. We have chosen our paths. You've been warned. That day will come."

Snype just stayed silent as we walked away, feeling another retort pop from his mouth. "Tsk. I'm sure you'll be a real hero slaying the king of thieves." Snype said sternly as a closing remark. He had nothing else to say to him.

Another death threat!?​

"LET ME GO! COME ON!" Obsidian shrieked out as he squirmed in Penance's grip, "I know I can help!"

"And I say no." The Golduck said again, "You will not head out there alone. I can't trust anyone, and neither should you! I've taught you better than this!"

"Yeah, that I have to be with you all the time! I can do this! Just give me a chance!"

"End of discussion Obsidian. You're coming with me into the forest and that's final."

"Keheh, geez Penance, you'd be wasting this guys potential if you stuck him with you all the time." Snype interrupted, walking up to the two. "You really don't trust us? Penance you're not exactly the most reliable guy on the planet yourself you know, no offense." Snype stated bluntly.

Penance whipped about and held out a Water Pulse, "Don't... push me." He said, tension in his voice. "You know what I did to the last Sableye that talked back to me?" His smile widened, "Hehe... he was a goldie... his eyes were nice crystals that's for sure. They cut open things so easily."

"Come on! You know I have talent!" Obsidian protested, "I need to be there!"

"He really does. Obsidian could be our main means of communicating with the other teams. He'd be a valuable asset to making this plan work out." Snype said. Seeing Penance react like this was only further proving his statement correct. He prepared Detect just incase. He wasn't exactly the trusting sort either. Especially after what happened earlier.

Penance twitched a bit as Obsidian squirmed more, "Come on Penance! I can help!"

The duck dropped Obsidian as he narrowed his eyes at the ghost, "Oh? You'll protect him? You'll make sure nothing hurts him? You'll make sure he won't die? I DOUBT IT! All I see is chompy chomp all over your face! Wonder if your own crystal will be in your mouth by night's end!"

Snype twitched his eye a bit. "Tsk. Starting to wonder why your even here if you aren't even going to trust everyone around you Penance. I don't know if its pride or you really just care about Obsidian that much, but he isnt going to get himself killed. If he was, then I wouldn't be bringing the guy along. I know talent when I see it." Snype stated.

"Please Penance." Obsidian said, "I can do this."

The Golduck looked back at the pleading Weavile then picked Snype up as he narrowed his eyes, "Anything happens to him... I will hunt you down. You'll wake up one down on a table. I'll remove all those gems and force you to eat them one by one. I'll grab a twig and dig them so deep into your earholes that you'll never be able to use them again. I'll cut out your tongue and plaster it to your forehead. Understood?" He asked.

"Tsk. Better then the last threat I got. Kehe." Snype said with a smirk. "Yeah I'll take good care of him. And if he's as talented as I think, then he should be able to handle his own as well. Don't worry so much." Snype replied.

Penance turned about and walked away, clearly sulking as Obsidian smiled a bit, "Uh... thanks for that." He said, "I mean, I could have handled it by myself of course."

"Keheh, I can see where you get that ego from" Snype joked with a snicker. "But hey don't mention it. I'd feel alot safer having a reliable form of communication on our side. Besides, ya seem capable enough. Keheh. " Snype replied.

Obsidian nodded, "I know I am. I know what my job is and I'm going to do it. We're all in this together after all." He said, "So, when do we leave? I got pulled out before the meeting finished after all."

"I plan to leave tommorow. ASAP. I want to get a head start on any kind of information we can get and establish whatever I need to. Such as another Ninjask network. Of course, there's only so much I can do in that short ammount of time. We'll likely be camping out until we establish a proper base within the city. I have to find connections underground and all if we're gonna get reliable info. Keheh" Snype explained.

Obsidian nodded slowly, "I'm used to early mornings. Well, I guess we'll just meet up and hope for the best. What's the worst that can happen, right?"

"Keheh... don't say that. If I had a coin for every time something happened after that statement, I'd be a rich Sableye. Kehe" Snype said, crossing his arms a bit. "But yeah. We'll meet up at the SEC point, gather supplies and the thieves, and start preparing over at Tollen. I'll devise the plans and go from there. We should be able to establish our presence in a few days easily."

Obsidian thought for a moment, "Well... when we go through we'll have to act fast and get out of the area before anyone comes searching right? They have surveilence there and all manner of things no doubt. It's just improvising really."

"Keheh. Of course. No avoiding that. Just follow me and we oughta be fine but don't be afraid to give insight. The thieves aren't a solo organization ya know. I may be the king but I'm not always perfect. Kehe" Snype admitted.

"Sure... so..." Obsidian squirmed a bit, "Uh... I guess I'll get ready? Uh.. sir?" He asked with a weak smile.

Snype smiled. "Kehe, may as well! Get some good sleep! There's no telling on what we'll be using as beds once we head out. Kehe."

Obsidian was about to speak when Alexandre came on over to the two, "Hey thieves! Come on with me!" He grabbed Obsidian's hand and began to pull, "You too Snype! Gather all your thief friends! Er... the ones going anyway. You'll get to see things that will blow your minds! And help out too!"

"What?" Obsidian asked as he was dragged along. "What things?"

"Secret things!" Alex responded with a smirk, "Now come along! We don't have much time to waste!"