A Comedy of Circumstances [PG 16-17ish]

[Sambul]

It had taken her some time, but Sharon had finally arrived at Fortree City. The young woman had taken to reaching the city by foot and it showed. Sharon's face along with her clothes and possessions were covered in layer of dirt and grime from her travels. It looked like she had been trampled by a herd of Donphan.

Behind her was her closest companion, Ion who was carefully scanning the surrounding area while following at a steady pace. Unlike the orange haired woman, however, the Gardevoir's body looked completely clean, not a speck of dirt on her.

The pair stopped at the entrance, and if either could describe the atmosphere in one word, it would be 'tense'. From what Sharon could tell, this conference had definitely attracted masses of people from the two factions and more.
Running a hand through her sweat-matted hair, she knew that a fight was bound to happen...and that she needed to wash up. She grimaced at her sweaty skin and dirty clothes.

'First things first, why don't we go find an inn or something Ion?'
Even as she asked the quiet Pokemon, she began to search for a lodge to stay in. Ion said nothing, a small worried frown on her face, and followed her lead.

"WOAH!"
Sharon's surprised exclamation instantly rang warning bells in Ion's head. In an instant she teleported beside her friend's side ready to defend her should the need be.

"Wait a sec! Ion! Stop, stop! There's nothing wrong."
Ion looked doubtfully at her companion, but stopped when Sharon gave an exasperated sigh and pointed to what had caught her off guard. It was a Scyther and a Heracross fighting it out. By now, the fighting pair had moved their fight farther from Sharon and were getting closer to the watching public.

'Sharon, would you like me to stop them?' Ion inquired.

'No, those were wild pokemon. I think it was a territorial dispute, but I'm not sure. It's only natural they fight.' Red-orange hair went a flurry as she shook her head negatively.

Not a moment later, a group of loud mouthed Utopianists charged in. They acted hastily in ending the fight, but started a big commotion as well. Closing her amesthyt eyes in disappointment, Sharon sighed deeply at the actions of the bellowing extremists. Although she was in the Utopianist faction, she was aware of the growing numbers of extremists. It was pitiful really, they were so obsessed and absorbed in their beliefs that they lost sight of what it meant to be a Utopianist.

"Idiots...forcing Pokemon to fight and treating them cruelly is what we're against. Why can't they see that?"
Her words were whispered in a somber tone. It both infuriated and troubled to her that this may be what the Utopianists were becoming. Her small hand clenched into a fist as she thought of how pitiful this really was. It was the reason why she was here. The reason as to why she had to fight so everyone could understand that Utopianists weren't some fanatical blockheads.

'...Sharon?' There was a look of concern on the psychic Pokemon's face.

Turning to face her partner, she gave Ion a large grin.

"I'm completely fine Ion! Now c'mon! Let's go find a place to stay!" She turned and continued forward in a carefree pace, never noticing the smile that blossomed on Ion's face.

"Huh?" There was a puzzled look on Sharon's face as she stopped and watched something going on to her right. A girl, dressed in a bright blue sun dress, shot toward a man and a woman lying on the floor.

'This is gonna be trouble' she thought as she watched the girl begin to trip. 'Ion!'
'Understood.'

A blue aura surrounded the stumbling girl. Before she could get hurt or land on anyone, she was brought back into an upright position and placed safely back onto the ground. Sharon let out a relieved sigh, and slowly began to approach the trio.

 

[Scarlet Weather]

May gratefully accepted the hand that the Utopianist offered her, not particularly caring about factions at the moment. "Thanks, those Pokemon really gave me a-" she began.

That was when someone's foot caught on the hem of her lab coat, and someone's body went sprawling over hers. She gave a yelp of surprise as she hurriedly extricated herself from the girl's limbs and stood up, only to bend down a moment later to retrieve her glasses as someone's Pokemon caught the girl and brought her back to a standing position.

A beeping sounded at her feet, and May hurriedly picked up and dusted off her PDA. "Oh, thank God, it still works." She breathed a sigh of relief.

Rubber_Ducky: Lolz, a bigger klutz than you?

"Very funny, Haro," May muttered as she slipped her PDA back into her coat pocket. She looked at the two people she had- literally- bumped into. "Er, um, sorry you two..." she said, fumbling with her words. "Er, I'm sorry I fell, it's just that those Pokemon down there startled me a-and-"

 

[TowerWinder]

Nico dressed hurriedly, glancing frantically at his watch and cursing every few seconds. He had woken up this morning to an ice-cold blast of water from Arsenios an hour and a half before the summit would begin. Pulling on his favorite pair of tan slacks, he muttered, scolding himself: "This is why you're not allowed to have a life. Every time you let yourself have fun, you end up regretting it the next day. And this time..."


He had spent the previous night out with some of the local young crowd, along with a couple of the girls from the church group he had trekked up to Fortree with. Sure they just sat around and enjoyed each other's company until some point past midnight, but it was the most fun he'd had in a while. Not to mention two of the girls had taken a particular interest in him. Stacy, one of the group from Lilycove he had come up with was nice and she was pretty cute... too bad she was a loyal Utopianist. Vanessa though, she didn't care much for the beliefs of those Utopianists and her body...


But that was over and it was time once again for business. There were papers to be delivered and attempts to be made at making connections. Nicholas walked up to the window and looked across at the conference center complex as he did up his tie. He wore an olive green tie with very thin diagonal stripes of a lighter green color, the same color as his shirt. He quickly turned around and walked to the door, grabbing his coat off the bed. Opening the door, he found his loyal Poliwrath on the other side waiting with a cup of orange juice and his messenger bag. Nico gave his old friend a smile and took them from him. "Thanks buddy, I owe you one. Quite a big one at that." Arsenios merely gave a small wave of his hand, denying any need for thanks, then motioned to the stairs.


Halfway down the stairs Nico really began to feel the heat. "Damn, why Hoenn of all places? Probably just part of a plan to get to the Technocrats," Nico joked to Arsenios. He had hoped it would be a cooler day so he could stay comfortable in his suit, yet already he was tugging slightly at his tie. By the time he'd reached the foot of the stairs, Nico had finished his orange juice, throwing away the disposable cup in a nearby trashcan. Checking his watch, he slowed his pace a bit. Despite waking up late, he still had a bit of time. Reaching the base of the conference center, he instantly began searching for the recipient of his father's notes.


There he was, not difficult to spot in a crowd, even if he was dressed in a white lab coat like many of those around. A tall thin blonde man, his golden hair pulled back into a ponytail reaching down to his mid-back. "Roy! Roy Brant!" he called out to the Technocrat. Walking up to Roy, he was surprised as an Electrode rolled up to him with a huge smile on its face. Instantly he pulled back a bit startled, prompting Arsenios to run forward ready to throw a punch. Tony the Electrode had exploded inside his house last time his father's colleague had come to visit.


"Nicholas? Nico, how great to see you! Tony, back off the boy! Can't you see you're scaring him?" Roy said, nearly shouting.


Nico merely smiled as the Electrode rolled back to his owner, allowing Arsenios to relax once more. "You don't have to be so loud about it," Nico muttered. Nico himself and his pokémon approached Roy and shook his hand continuing a bit louder now, "And I wasn't scared, he just caught me off guard. That thing blew up inside my house a few years back! I hope you've learned to control it."


Roy laughed again, "Don't worry about that. We both had to promise that he would control himself so he could come. Isn't that right Tony?" The Electrode smiled once more, rolling around in circles.


Nico couldn't help but smile. "All right, I trust you," he replied. "Anyway, dad sent me to give this to you," Nico said, reaching back into his messenger bag to pull out the a large tightly-sealed white business envelope.


Roy took the envelope with a confused look. "What could your dad possibly have to tell me after all this time? He hasn't done any research for four years. How is he anyway?"


"He's all right. He took up painting since he's really got nothing to do anymore. He's actually gotten pretty good... for a scientist anyway," replied Nico.


"Ah well makes sense that he'd send you rather than your mom. Your age, you must have jumped at the chance to vacation in Hoenn for a few days. There's some pretty young ladies here, huh?"


"Yeah there are," Nico said, recalling the previous night, "but actually I agreed because of the opportunities it presented. I mean it's a good overall experience, exposure to the real world and its very real conflicts. Who knows? I might even meet some important people. Maybe even Kyrene Silph herself?"


Roy laughed once more. "Sure kid, keep-" Roy was cut short as they were interrupted by a commotion. Nico jumped a bit and turned in the direction of the noise somewhere near the other side of the crowd. Apparently a fight between two wild pokémon. Once everything had calmed down, a voice called Roy from the same section of the crowd.. Roy excused himself saying good-bye to both Nico and Arsenios. He walked off then ran back to give Nico a piece of advice: "Nico, I don't know if you've noticed, but tensions are pretty high here. And I'm pretty sure a few or more people present are armed. Be careful who you sit next to, be careful who you talk to, and above all keep Arsenios with you at all times." With a nod to the Poliwrath, he walked off once more.

 

[_Diego//]

Dominic inhaled.

Oh, the fresh morning breeze of the dark sky being submitted to the first rays of the sun was delightful. How long had Dominic been flying, he didn't know. It hadn't been a ridiculously long trip. but Dom disliked being sit for more than 2 hours. It wasn't what he was trained for. No. He had an urge to stand up, daintily walk over to the captain to perform a neck breaker, and then jump out of the helicopter with the leather cover of a seat being used as parachute. That was more his style.

Less than half of the sky was dark by now, and the many twinkling starts that lighted the firmament had disappeared. The trip had been calm, and it went by surprisingly fast; mainly because Dominic did nothing more than stare down at the land below him. Dom was heavy, and every time he reached out to look at what was directly below the helicopter, his seat bent over and the belt strained. Because of that, it had been an uneasy trip for Dynasty, who couldn't stop worrying that his trainer would fall off.

"How long will it be before we arrive?" Dominic said through the microphone in his headset. It had been given to him shortly after the trip began, and it was used to communicate with the captain so he didn't have to raise his voice over the swirling of the helicopter blades. Even Dynasty had been given one, but because of his head, he had to hold it up with his own hands. It was tiring.

"Don't worry, Agent. Maybe an hour or two from right now. We're already in Hoenn, though. Enjoy the view." The voice spoke through the earphones, at which precise moment Dominic took the gadget from his head and pulled it away; carelessly positioning it right next to him.

"Hey, Dom," Dynasty said with a toothy grin as he turned to a side and pulled the sleeve of Dominic's suit to catch his attention. The male turned to him, neatly removing the wrinkles occasioned by the grab and looking down at the Slowking, "are you excited?"

"Excited?" Dominic repeated in a baffled whisper. "Why would I be excited? It's not like I'm on Fortree for leisure. It's not like I ever get vacations. It's just a mission, it's just work."

"Yeah, but," Dynasty retorted. He hated Dominic's pessimism, which obnoxiously contrasted his own Mr. Brightside attitude, "you're going to a new city; seeing new landmarks and maybe even meeting new people. Doesn't that intrigue you?"
"Meeting new people? No." The man said as he shifted away, abruptly ending the conversation. Immediately after he did that, though, he could feel the Slowking's tug again; so he turned around with a grimace.

—"Hey, Dom."
— "What, Dynasty? What?"
— "Want to play a game?"
— "No."
— "C'mon, let's play I spy."
— "No."
— "Please!"
— "Fine."
— "Ok, I'll start. I spy—"
— "A tree."
— "Damnit, Dominic, you're no fun!"

It was a quiet trip from there.

(…)

"Dominic Ontiveiros, wake up now!"

"Huh?"

Dom's eyelids slowly opened in uniformity, only to be received by the oversized yellow snout and white eyes of a Slowking that was less than half a foot away.

"Agh!" Dominic yelled as he pushed his head back to make distance between the two, inevitably slamming it against the seat. Dynasty backed away as Dominic yelled in pain and rubbed his neck. "What, Dynasty?"
"We're here."

With a raised eyebrow, Dominic clicked the button in his seat belt to untighten it and then peered out. He was in Fortree, at last. The outskirts of Fortree City, to be exact. The actual city's foliage was too dense like to land. Dominic hadn't ever seen so much green simultaneously. It was impressing. Like, how did those trees get so tall? Heck, he wouldn't be afraid to state that the city was probably submitted to perpetual nighttime because of the rays barely hitting the ground. A fresh scent of fruit deluged the air, and the silence was pleasantly ebbed with the chirps and cries of many Pokémon. The weather was perfect, too, and it seemed like nothing could go wrong. With a blank "Thanks," Dominic stepped down from the vehicle, his shoe leaving a denture in the tall and thick grass.

"D'you sleep well?"

The captain spoke as soon as Dominic got out, his back –through his very hefty uniform– resting on the frame of the helicopter. He turned to the male, his face flashing a happy beam through the large visor held in place by the rest of the helmet.

"Yes, thank you captain. So this is Fortree…" Dominic responded as he rubbed his eyes and yawned, being sure to remove any eye left of rheum that might have accumulated during his sleep. He was clean, though; and he was pleased. He wanted to look good. The captain responded.

—"Yes, yes it is. I have been informed you are going to have a briefing before your mission starts, and that you should get to the place were it will be imparted. Stat."
— "I'll head there. Where is that place, exactly?"
— "Clear instructions weren't spared. Just look around for a building that has a lot of agents hanging around."
— "I'll try. What about my Pokémon?"
— "They're… Right here."

Dominic looked up at the sound of another helicopter approaching. A vast amount of air was being pressed down against him, making the grass and short trees waver from side to side. The hovering vehicle stopped right on top of them, and then it began descending a very large metal crate that was hanging below it. Not wanting the air to mess his attire, Dominic headed back inside the helicopter to get shelter. Dynasty looked up at the spinning blades, mouth open, and fascinated at how his eyes and saliva were dried so quickly. After a couple of seconds, the steel box hit the ground, and the doors opened. Kendall, Hercules, and Cyan sprung out, joyfully. The Rapidash viciously ran in circles, stretching her cramped legs, while the Bagon and Mime Jr. rolled from side to side in the grass. After some moments, the Pokémon stood up and pranced over to Dominic, merrily hugging his legs. They had to restrain the need to glomp him, for they knew that was prohibited when he was dressed up all nicely.

"I'll handle them." The captain spoke. "I'll make sure they are where they need to be when your mission starts, but for now, you need to head to the conference."

"Thanks, DuMont. I shall part. Dynasty, stay with Kendall. Help her route Herc and Cyan."

Dominic turned around and began his walk into Fortree. As assumed, it was truly impressive. The hanging bridges that led to the many structures of various sizes were a sight to behold. It was distracting, and the scenery was impeding him from looking for the designated spot he was supposed to be at. Tons of people were in the city, and many times did he have to push his way through heated crowds. After some minutes of wandering and making his way through many Utopianists and Technocrats that were told off because of their choice of clothing, Dominic got to a sign that said "Agent briefing room" and had an arrow pointing to a building of immeasurable size.

~How convenient~ Dominic thought as he followed the way. He got to an entrance that was guarded by other agents, and after checking his name on a list, allowed him through. "Agent Dominic Ontiveiros, at your service…"

Signaling the way into the briefing room. "Agent Dominic Ontiveiros, at your service…" With a serious grimace, Dominic entered the room. He thought it was pretty plain, but that was subjective. If the room was supposed to resemble a football field, then yes, it was plain, but if it was just a room where a guy would stand up in the front to speak to people sitting in many chairs in front of him, it was ok. As Dominic walked in, his imposing figure and impeccable dressing caught a couple of stares. He wasn't the first one there, but judging by the amount of seats available, he sure as hell wasn't the last one. Clearing his throat and cracking his knuckles, Dominic took a seat in a chair of the third row. It wasn't as comfortable as the seat in the helicopter, but that'd do. With blank stares from side to side, he quietly waited for the speaking to start…

 

[Sweet Dreams]

Flamer gave a low whistle, impressed by the maze of a town around him. Certainly, he'd visited Fortree before, years ago, but the town had expanded considerably since then. He couldn't tell the time, with the greenery overhead blotting out the sky, but from the gathering crowd around the base of the conference center, the meeting would start soon. From his vantage point on one of the wooden bridges connecting several tree houses, there seemed to be a lot of friction between the Utopianists and Technocrats, their respective members gossiping like a bunch of housewives. He frowned slightly. Whatever he was getting into, it was a purely political type of thing and therefore not much interest to him except the money he got out of being here.

There was a yawn next to his ear, and he turned to grin at the Misdreavus resting on his shoulder. Trickery looked back sleepily, detecting the restlessness underneath them but unaffected by it. Flamer looked at the houses and bridges, this time with the eyes of a performer instead of a tourist. He could probably put on a great show with the layout of the buildings and trees. It would be slightly dangerous, but then, what wasn't? It was too bad he didn't have the time to choreograph an entire show right then, or he'd be blissfully throwing himself into the money-making practice.

What he could do, however, was check to see if a few things were valid. Immediately, he flung himself between the safety ropes and underneath the bridge itself. He dangled from his arms, grinning as he contemplated the almost definitely fatal drop that would greet him should he fall. He let go with one arm and grabbed onto the next piece of wood, repeating the process to move forwards. It was like the monkey bars that he had never been allowed to play on back in his childhood. Trickery was now floating by herself, keeping near just in case he did drop. After several more experimental swings, he slid so that he was on one side of the bridge and moved an arm to grab the bridge from above, his other arm following suit, and heaved himself upwards. That would be a great addition to any performance he would set up in Fortree. He just had to stylize it, add some special effects and fire and make it look as if it was easier than breathing to perform. Magic, his Houndoom, kept up his relentless pacing, whining every now and then in an effort to communicate that he was incredibly bored indeed.

Just as he stood up with a large grin on his face, a Scyther and Heracross leapt out of the greenery and attacked each other, presumably over territory or food. What was interesting was that they were forced to inhibit their instinctive need to fight by the Utopianists. This caused quite a stir among the gathered people and it was turning into an argument. Unfortunate 'significant pause' type of accidents, huh? That was going to be harder than he thought. The group preparing to attend the congregation looked about ready to try and slap their own views onto each other. Several looked as if they were ready to slit throats.

He shrugged, wondering why people were so bloody fired up every time anybody had the nerve to speak of 'religion'. Flamer beckoned to the two visible Pokemon by his side. Fool was reveling in the glory of being in his natural habitat.

"Come on, let's get down before we miss the real fun, eh?" He joked, leading them ever downwards. Trickery settled herself down on his shoulder again, eyes closing as she prepared to catch herself a nap, and Magic gave a short bark, happy to have something to do.

Quickly, they came to the base of the massive tree that was being used to hold the meeting itself. An agent passed through to the interior, presumably on some top-secret mission as the employed thugs of the government. He knew he was being slightly biased, but he'd had several bad run-ins with the group and had no wish to increase the number. True, he wasn't much better, being a prawn of the rich, but he had some measure of freedom at least.

There was some purposeful movement among the general milling about. He decided to just stay put until anything more interesting came up. As soon as Magic saw his intent, he shot off into the crowd in the hopes of bumping into any interesting Pokemon or people.

 

[Sambul]

Walking up to the group, Sharon silently scanned their bodies for signs of injury. Luckily there were none, but to be sure...

"Are you all alright?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she set her concerned gaze upon them.

The group was an odd one. It was obvious that the woman who had fallen from fright was a technocrat. Her white lab coat attested to that fact. The other two she couldn't categorize as easily. Beside the woman was a tall, a very all man who seemed friendly enough but looked quite menacing with his Machoke standing next to him. And then there was the girl she had helped. Sharon could only tell that the girl was clumsy and kind of cute. She looked fairly young but looks could be deceiving.

It seemed as though no one had gotten hurt in the collision. It was a relief since no one would want to attend the summit all banged up and bruised. As she stood before the other three, Sharon began to fiddle with her hair.

"Oh. Sorry for intruding like that."

She felt slightly embarrassed for just jumping in and forcing herself in the situation. Sending an apologetic look to the others, she smiled nervously at them. Ion, who had been following behind her, simply sighed at her friend's bashful nature. Usually Sharon never acted so shyly around others, it was only when she met new faces that she began feeling slightly insecure. It was a whole different story if you saw her with a group of friends. She was sometimes obnoxiously loud and sometimes cool and calculating.

'You weren't so hesitant when you helped that girl, now were you?' Ion quipped in an amused tone. The Gardevoir could tell she got her message when Sharon turned a light shade of pink and shot an irritated look at her Pokemon.

'Not right now Ion!' There was a pleading look on her face coupled with her exasperated voice. The pair knew just how odd it must look for them to hold a conversation. They could transmit thoughts and feelings between each other thus they communicated easily, however it was all done silently. Sometimes it was the oddest thing seeing Sharon's face suddenly scrunch up into an angry expression while Ion's face looked lax with a smug grin.

 

[Kularian]

Isaac gave a small smile to the girl as she accepted his hand. With the strength built up from years of following the Utopianist ways, not to mention trying to keep up with Templar, he easily helped her back into a standing position. Or, he would have, had not someone decided right then to trip over the girl. Though his reaction time was quick, (it was gossiped in a few Utopian circles that Isaac had brought a rabid Tauros down single-handedly,) he wasn't quick enough to catch the newcomer. Templar made no motion to catch her, not exactly approving of such haste and recklessness.

Thankfully, an aura of psychic energy surrounded her, lifting her back up to an upright position. At the Technocrat's explanation of what had happened, Isaac merely let out a friendly, if not booming, laugh, shaking his head. "Nothin' t' worry about, darlin'," he said with a smile as he moved his eyes to the other girl that had fallen. "Ain' too many that kin look an angry Scyther in th' eye; 'specially one goin' toe-to-toe with a Heracross, now." He smiled again, showing that there really had been no harm done.

About now is when the fourth member of their little group walked in, and as Isaac saw the Gardevoir, he identified it as the one who had most-likely saved the newcomer from performing a full face plant. Like the other, she seemed a bit embarrassed about being in such close quarters with others, and having acted on instinct rather than putting any thought into what she was doing. "Nah, don' worry about it none," he said with a small grin, which widened a little as he watched the silent interaction between her and her pokemon. He glanced at Templar. "Lookit that. Just like us, eh buddy?" he asked, elbowing the Machoke in the side. Templar grunted, crossing his powerful arms over his chest and looked away.

Isaac laughed again, the friendly company helping to ease his mind of the heat, though he was still quite warm. "Well, since we're bein' all friendly, I suppose introductions are in order, eh? Th' name's Isaac. The brute there is Templar, and this little girly here is Judgment," he said with a nod to the Ekans, who lazily opened one eye before closing it again, still basking. "Might I ask who ya'll are?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

 

[dream's-epilogue]

"How far we away now, By?"

"Approximately 573 feet and nine inches, mistress."

"Alright, that should be far enough."

Ty pulled herself up onto the thick branch, and withdrew her gun; she was surprised at how well the tree's limb held her weight. She still found it hard to believe they could support an entire town, though, at least until she saw it with her own eyes.

She removed her rifle from her back, flipped up the scope, and looked out in the distance. She panned her view around, but saw nothing beyond the thick foliage.

"I got nothing. By? A little help?"

"Yes, mistress."

With a "ping," two small grey triangles appeared in the scope, to the left of her field of view and far off in the distance. She centered on them and pushed the scope to its maximum.

"Alright, disable."

"Yes, mistress."

The triangles disappeared. Her sights showed nothing other than multiple shades of green. Perfect.

"Nice and hidden. You couldn't find it unless you know it's there. Just how I like it."

"Mistress, I am receiving confirmation from Kit. The camp has been fully established."

"Great. Tell her 'good work, be back shortly.'

"Yes, mistress."

"Oh, and bring those markers back up while you're at it."

"Yes, mistress."

With a quick double check through the scope, she noted the location of the markers and started making her way back across the tough branches. It was slow and difficult, but nothing she couldn't handle. The landscape screamed "sniper" at her; it would be the best way to go for the job, but it also had her soldier's instinct going off. She kept seeing hostiles in every thicket, every patch of leaves, every hollow space. It was a bad habit to get into; she tried to turn her thoughts elsewhere. Thankfully, a voice from nowhere helped.

"Mistress, if you do not mind my asking, do you have an agenda planned for this task?"

"Hmm? Not really. Well, not yet. Soon as we get back and settled, I'ma head out to the town."

"Ah. Shall I launch the combat logistics program, then, mistress?"

"What? You mean, guns blazing? This ain't one o' those cut-and-dry CEO kill-'em-and-run missions. I hear there might be Agents there."

Agents were the enforcers of the government. They were enshrouded in secrecy, but she knew they didn't have to abide by the Pokémon limit, they had extensive training in several fields, and they were beasts in a fight; in short, the elite of the elite. She'd fought both alongside and against her fair share of them, enoguh to know that if there WERE any here, it could pose a bit of a problem. One, she could handle, but two would be a handful. Three? She didn't even want to think about that.

"Agents? That may have a significant negative impact on our success ratio."

"That's one way a' puttin' it," Ty responded slyly. She jumped to the next branch, but her instincts lit up like a wildfire. She barely managed to grab the net before rebounding off of it and to a long, unpleasant death. She climbed up and over, and landed in the campsite.

It was nestled on an exceptionally large branch; in fact, all of the supplies and equipment were resting on solid ground. Well, limb, anyway. A trio of hammocks were hung between a series of much smaller (but hopefully, no less strong) branches above them; a portable ladder was attached to the tree's vertical shaft and led up to the cozy cloth beds.

At the intersection of the branch and shaft, Kit sat with a small radio, fiddling with the controls and giving it an occasional burst of electricity.

"Anything yet, Kit?"

Without turning, Kit shook her tiny head a fraction of an inch. Ty gave a shrug, and took another look around. Behind her, several small sacks were attached to the netting, no doubt filled with the various foodstuffs that would serve as their meals over the course of this little expedition. The netting itself encompassed the entire camp, save for a very small sealable empty patch overhanging a fairly wide branch; this was to be the exit. The net itself was tightly and closely woven, strong enough to absorb small caliber weapons with minimal damage and support several hundred pounds, and tight enough to keep any nasty Bug Pokemon or other unwanted guests out. And, of course, the entire outside of the net was camo-painted and covered in authentic-looking leaves; it'd be impossible to find until you literally ran into it. Unless, of course, you already knew it was there.

A thought occurred to her suddenly and randomly. "Hey, where's One?"

Kit pointed upwards, again without turning away. The radio gave a sudden burst of static, and Kit let out something that vaguely resembled the cry of joy a strangled man might give.

Ty looked up, and noticed one of the hammocks had a much larger dip than the other two. She felt a little annoyed that he was sleeping in the middle of the day, but there wasn't much else he could do. Besides, he'd need all the energy he can get. Especially if the whole thing went sour, like she knew it would.

She headed over to the boxes of supplies, and set about double-checking everything they had brought. It payed to be anal in this line of work. Skip a beat, miss a detail, lose a step…and the job retired you permanently. So far, she'd stayed ahead of the curve. She'd survived in places where others might've given up, and made it out intact. Oh, sure, she'd failed a few jobs, but she was still alive. Still alive, and still able to work. Still able to bring in an income…still able to exist.

So far.

 

[Cirrus]

A great tree towered over them, granting them a cool shade to rest in. He was sitting at the base of the gigantic plant. The occasional beep was heard from the laptop which he held in his, well, lap, as he furiously mashed keys down to type with his fingers, perhaps at a slower speed than usual.

The moist atmospheres of Hoenn ill-suited the fair-haired physicist; he was a native of Kanto, like many members of their faction were. The crowdedness was not entirely to his liking, either; but for the sake of the technological advancement of the world, endurance was necessary. He sipped some water from a streamlined plastic bottle; it would have to do for the moment, though it wasn't his coolant of choice. He had arrived just this morning, along with other participants in today's conference.

The conference was going to last at least today, and possibly . To that end, a hotel room had been booked for him by someone; he wasn't sure who, and he did not think that it mattered much. The crowd was getting more restless by the minute, though; a Scyther and a Heracross have already begun quarreling. Utopianists? Not likely. Probably just the local wildlife.

It was almost midday, and the heat made him a little drowsy. He drank again from his bottle. There would be no lack of attention span today. It could not be afforded. Despite the friendly atmosphere, there were almost always extremists.

And he had made a promise to be careful.

After all, there was tension in the air. Already, they were bumping into each other and conversing. There was bound to be a conflict soon. Sparks flew from Baryon's three magnets, firing themselves at their other ends.

Restlessness. That would be the word.

 

[Akustar]

Ariel didn't exactly know what exactly had happened. She conjured up a general idea of falling down and landing somehow without any pain. It was quite confusing. Even she knew that she did not possess such physical dexterity.

Ariel's shoulder felt strange. She put her hand on it. Of course it felt strange, there was nothing on it. Ariel quickly realized that Areuko was not on her shoulder. She must have flown off somehow. Or something like that.

A taller woman, standing next to a Gardevoir, walked over to where she and apparently a few others, were. The woman definitely seemed to have a noticeable height 'advantage' over Ariel, but the Gardevoir looked to only be a bit taller.

She was pleasantly surprised by the concern that the woman showed. She seemed to be a very nice person to Ariel. She seemed to be somewhat shy. Ariel found it strange that the woman was making an apology. When the woman fiddled with her hair, Ariel also got an urge to play with her own hair.

'Oh! A Gardevoir! I think...yes! That's how it didn't work. Why it didn't hurt. Wait, she should know.' Ariel sauntered over to the woman, expecting a friendly response. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the woman's countenance frown while Ariel approached.

'Oh gosh, what did I do? Oh no, do I have something in my face?' The woman's frown turned a confident saunter into a timid and somewhat awkward shuffle almost instantaneously. She somehow still was able to quickly shuffle into earshot.

"Ah...have you seen Areuko?" Ariel's voice seemed simultaneously distressed and impatient. She then realized that the woman probably had no idea who Areuko was. "Eer...she's a Bellossom. She was on my shoulder before I uh...you know. Thanks for that anyways. But have you seen her? I don't see her."

Ariel glanced around again in order to look for Areuko. Again, she came up with nothing. But she DID have a tendency to miss things right in front of her face...

 

[Sambul]

Quickly Sharon cut off her little banter with Ion. She just knew it would confuse the others, and she was right. The girl looked befuddled, but the man was simply smiling. She couldn't help but let out a giggle when the man elbowed his friend. Compared to the man, Templar, as the guy mentioned, was a large hulking figure. And watching the machoke get poked in the ribs of his bulkish body looked like a pikachu trying to beat an onix...wait a minu-

In a mere moment, the girl Sharon helped out began to fret over her lost Pokemon. Areuko, the girl's Bellossom, seemed to be missing. Her head swung back and forth searching for her little flower Pokemon. It was almost as if she forgot her situation in her distress. Sharon turned to the other two.

The man introduced himself. "Issac, Templar, Judgement..." she softly repeated their names, her lips moving slowly as if testing out how they sounded.

'Maybe you should introduce yourself instead of standing there? Hmm?' Ion's voice rang clear in her head, effectively snapping Sharon back into reality. Just when did she leave it anyway?

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Issac." She smiled again, this time with a little more confidence. "My name is Sharon, and that antisocial little lurker over there is Ion!"

The aforementioned Gardevoir simply nodded her head in acknowledgment paying no mind to Sharon's jokes.

 

[Kularian]

Isaac watched, bemused, as the girl who had been saved from performing a face plant began to slowly become aware of her surroundings, enough so that she realized that she was now in the presence of three others. The large man didn't count her as slow, but more as one who was in a bit of shock, as she had been quite close to the ground before the Gardevoir had saved her from a potential broken nose.

The initial reaction, interestingly enough, was her looking for her lost pokemon. A good bond, there, Isaac mused as he watched her glance around, as if trying to find the Bellosom by standing in place, using her eyes. But they were in a heavily wooded area, and there was a fair bit of grass and flowers just about everywhere around them. It would take a fair bit of effort to find it.

"Hey J..." he spoke, nudging the Ekans. The snake opened her eyes, turning over to look at him. "Help th' girl ou', yeah?" he asked, with a small smile. The snake's tongue flickered out of her mouth twice before she slid down from Isaac's arm, dropping to the forest floor to help investigate.

At Sharon's words, Isaac couldn't help but release a rather loud bout of laughter, guffawing loudly. "No, no dear. Isaac'll do," he said as he managed to recover from the initial burst. "I migh' be old, but I ain' old enough yet t' be mister nobody," he said, finishing his sentence with a bit of a chuckle. "It's good t' meet ya though, Sharon. An' you too, Ion," he said, looking to the Gardevoir.

"So," he said, looking at the three females around him. "What brings ya'll t' Fortree?" The meeting was obvious; he was simply curious as to their faction.

 

[Sweet Dreams]

Flamer leaned against the tree, watching the crowd lazily and listening to the rustle of the leaves underneath the general babble of noise wherever too many people were gathered in one place. He was interrupted from his dazed woolgathering by a polite cough. The cough had come from a man with the look of somebody who had been harassed all day under conditions that his body was not used to.

"Excuse me," he said hurriedly, hoping that the harmless-looking, not-too-bright guy he had chosen wouldn't suddenly turn into a venomous Seviper. "What brings you to Fortree?"

Flamer didn't say anything for a moment, wondering what attitude he should take. At the reporter's increasingly worried look, however, he decided to be nice. The man looked as if he needed a little charity. Flamer gave him an easy grin, and the reporter found himself grinning back. He had the air of a man telling an inside joke to the world, and you either had to laugh with him or throw away any and all sense of humour you might have possessed.

"Actually, I came for the crowd and gossip," he lied tranquilly. "There's people back home that want to know how this turns out, but they can't leave their animals and shops to come up here. So they sent the useless lump of a performer up to make what I could of it."

"I see. Do you not support any side at all? Surely you must have some opinion?" The reporter asked.

He hesitated for a moment, debating with himself. His present employer was going for the Technocrats, but being the true Hoenn-born apathetic Freelancer, he had the 'if it's free and I can keep doing what I do, then I don't really care' approach to the entire situation. He decided to go with the truth; after all, his employer did say that he wasn't there to meddle with the debate.

"Unlike some of these fellas, I was born and raised here, so..." He shrugged helplessly. The reporter sighed, disappointed. The one almost normal person he'd had the luck to bump into, and it was a perennial waverer. Just his luck. With one sad shake of his head, he looked around to find some other person to corner and question.

Trickery started to snore softly at her place on his shoulder, causing him to smile. He decided that just standing there was getting rather dull, so he started to stroll through the crowds, keeping an eye out for Magic or, indeed, Fool. It took only a little while for a group to catch his attention. Conversing with each other was a rather vertically challenged woman with black hair that almost reached the ground, two taller women who both had reddish hair, and hulking above them was a muscular man with dirt-coloured hair. Standing firm beside the man was a Machoke that towered over them all, and a Gardevoir trailing behind one of the taller red-heads. Flamer couldn't help the laugh that escaped from his lips, especially when the man nudged the immovable Machoke in the ribs.

He went up to them, beaming brightly. "Hey, when d'you think the meeting's going to bloody start? They shouldn't keep the foreigners out like this; they could have a heat stroke or something," he announced, chipper. He looked more closely at the complexions of the faces in the group and judged that they were probably foreigners themselves. "Well, welcome to Hoenn and our bloody climate," he told them.

*

Meanwhile, Magic was doing some wandering around of his own. He started in surprise when what he had thought of as a couple of flowers turned out to belong to a Bellossum. The Pokemon could probably distract him for a while, at least. <Hey, who're you?> he asked.

 

[Sambul]

The booming of Mister Issac's laughter had actually startled her. Sharon quickly calmed herself while the man reintroduced himself, who rather preferred being called Issac instead of Mister Issac. She smiled at his jovial nature all the while secretly amused by his peculiar accent. It almost seemed to be a different dialect and it was odd yet intriguing at the same time.

"Well then Issac, it's a pleasure to make your acquantaince as well."

In her head she thought that maybe that sounded too formal. She paid it no mind. As for his question, she wondered if she should tell him. There were technocrats everywhere, and most likely overzealous utopianists as well. It wasn't that she was distrustful of them, rather she was weary of their outcries and objections to her opinions. If she could avoid it, she rather not be mobbed by the missionaries of either side.

Pondering on what to do, Sharon realized that her pause was becoming most peculiar. Sensing her friend's impending distress Ion offered some sage advice.

'Stop panicking and just tell the the truth...idiot.'
'...but'
'I don't sense any mal intent from them. You may even make some allies.'
'Hmph...smartass Ion always thinking ahead. Thinks she's so smart.'
'I heard that.'

Ignoring her companion, she turned in favor of the group.

"I'm here as a Utopianist. The world isn't so great right now, and it needs change. So what better than being where it happens. I'm sure this summit will change thin-"

Stopping mid sentence, her head turned to the rugged looking man approaching their little group. The way he smiled so nonchalantly bothered her. Suspicions high, Sharon laughed at his little jokes.

"Ah! Dear Arceus do I know!I thought Petalburg was horribly hot and humid, but it doesn't even compare to here. Are you from here then Mister...um?"

 

[Alter Ego]

EDIT: Oh you know what, that's it. Over two weeks now and none of the 'able and willing' have apparently even checked the thread, let alone posted. Lock time.