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Unprecedented Times [A Pokemon Ranger Quest]

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Honestly I tend to just treat quests as webfiction and vote very rarely, generally when something is either just a matter of taste, or when I immediately feel that one option is the best one.
 
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Historical Timeline
  • Informational
    • As a little bonus for helping me figure out how to better structure those kinds of choices in the future, I have come bearing a gift: a timeline of historical events in the canon of this quest. This timeline currently mainly includes things already laid out in the quest, but across multiple chapters. It also includes some information that is alluded to, but hasn't been outright said (until now). I'll add to this timeline as more information on the setting gets revealed.

    As a note, this timeline did involve me editing some of the dates on past posts, due to errors I only noticed when putting it together (particularly, the date of the Orrian refugee crisis) however no substantial modifications to established canon have been made outside of me tweaking some dates to make it feel less wonky.

    Very quickly, BQ in this list stands for 'before quest'. Let's get into it!


    Historical Timeline of the Unprecedented Times Pokemon Universe

    ​

    PREHISTORY

    Approx. 15,000 years BQ — Pastoral Era

    Human civilization is defined by nomadic herding communities, raising flocks of Pokemon. These communities meet semi-infrequently to trade and intermarry, but largely remain separate and mobile, owing to the difficulties (and dangers) of remaining stationary. Eventually, the gathering places of these communities would become the first cities of the world after many thousands of years of human presence.​

    ANCIENT HISTORY

    Approx. 3,000 years BQ — Darkest Day

    A wide-scale calamity consumes the ancient civilizations of Galar, leading to the collapse of centralized power in the region, as well as large migrations off of Galar and into the rest of the world, where these fleeing people would settle Unova and Orre. While this calamity would eventually end, those migrating groups would remain where they had since settled, and in its wake Galar would do much to bolster trade and travel between itself and its extant populations, resulting in close ties all throughout ancient history.

    Approx. 3,000 years BQ — Decline of Aura Use

    A noted, marked drop in the prevalence of aura use among humanity appears. This corresponds with a series of incredibly destructive wars between ancient polities, but it remains entirely unclear if the two are linked, and if they are, if the link is not simply that the observed disappearance of aura users is what incited the wars in the first place.​

    MODERN HISTORY

    Approx. 400 years BQ — Industrial Revolution

    The development of revolutionary, power-generating technology occurs in Kanto, leading the country to rapidly consolidate their place as the world's major power on account of their head start. Factories, power plants, and distribution of electricity soon follows.

    Approx. 200 years BQ — Formation of the Ranger Union

    Observing the ongoing, profound shifts in environment, social development, and society as a result of the industrial revolution, likeminded individuals ranging from members of monastic organizations, pre-existing groups devoted to managing wild Pokemon, and natural philosophers come together to found the Ranger Union, though it wouldn't be called that for another fifty years. These individuals set out with the goal of maintaining a balance between humanity and the greater wilderness, acting as both advisors for planned development and helping to manage conflicts or other dangers when they occur. While the Union's spread across the Caldeian regions would be swift, it would take much more time before it arrived on other continents. The first branch of the Union in the wider world would be settled in Johto, where the Union found a population more than receptive to their ideas.

    Approx. 170 years BQ — South Sea Wars

    The Indigo Dominion, seeking to expand and take direct control of nations within their sphere of influence, gets dragged into a series of escalating conflicts occurring over a roughly 70 year time-span. The wars that erupt from this incident have infrequent breaks—periods generally lasting no longer than a few years—and the collective death toll, destruction to the Dominion's trade, and the internal strife results in the Indigo Dominion's eventual collapse and reformation into the United Regions of Konrin.

    Approx. 100 years BQ — Founding of the Pokemon League

    In the wake of the horrible destruction wrought by the South Sea Wars, people desiring to avoid a future conflict on par with it move to establish a code of ethics surrounding war, drawing on historical ideas of ceremonial warfare. The resulting codes would be adopted by most of the world thereafter, de-emphasize drafting civilians into war, and create the Pokemon Gym and Elite 4 system.

    Approx. 60 years BQ — Chairperson Erma becomes the leader of the Ranger Union

    Taking the role in her thirties, which is the youngest to ever hold the position, Erma went on a spree of reforms that helped drag the Union out of its worsening slump. Through her efforts, she to this day continues to oversee the single largest expansion of the Ranger Union, and oversaw the introduction of and then full adoption of the Capture Styler (credited to her childhood friend, one Professor Hastings), the creation of a new curriculum for the schools, and spearheaded near-complete remodelling of how the Union presented itself and takes on new rangers.

    While her policies were not always popular initially, through her work and the work of those pursuing her goals, the Ranger Union is far stronger, flexible, and durable than it was in decades prior. Erma has been given the title of 'honorary founder', alongside the other major faces in her reforms, as a result of her grand efforts, which are still ongoing in the modern day.

    Approx. 47 years BQ — Orrian Civil War

    Following the massacre of climate refugees fleeing the desertification of east Orre, the government's already nebulous control over their eastern territories collapses entirely, and powerful gangs move into the vacuum left behind, taking on roles as local warlords. The Orrian government fails to retake control of the rebelling east, and combined with sanctions from other horrified regions, as well as internal strife, is soon after overthrown by its own military, placing their head general into the position as dictator. Further internal strife after the fact results in the Orrian government pulling their troops out of Aurcrom - the furthest they truly got into east Orre - to focus on maintaining stability in west Orre as the military consolidates power.

    Approx. 43 years BQ — Biotech Revolution

    Advances in science achieved by studying and recreating the biological abilities of Pokemon result in a massive leap forward in possible technology, including making green energy not just possible, but much more cost-efficient than fossil fuels. This technology also leads to the creation of Ditto and Porygon.

    Approx. 21 years BQ — Birth of Kylie Parsons

    Born to Merrion and Inmar Parsons, Kylie is born without complications after years of attempts. Kylie takes to water like a fish, and especially when young, one of the few ways her exhausted parents find to calm her down is getting on the boat and driving around with her in it.

    Approx. 19 years BQ — Pre-Industrial Greenhouse Gas Emissions Achieved

    Through what most countries have described as a 'heavy-handed' policy surrounding the aggressive spread of the revolutionary technology by Konrin, the world has their first year where the greenhouse gas emissions of the collective human population are at those observed before the industrial revolution. There is much rejoicing, but there is still much time to go before the planet will return to pre-industrial temperatures.

    Approx. 10 years BQ — Wailord Incident

    The Parsons family boat runs aground on an ancient Wailord. Kylie breaks a rib.

    Approx. 8 years BQ — B.B. Hatches

    A persnickety Whismur who will later be known as B.B. hatches to his creche in east Orre. Due to a combination of his ability and temperament, B.B. is quickly at-odds with his creche, and by the time Kylie first catches sight of him, he has been everything short of driven from the local Whismur creche. Later, Kylie will endear herself to him and catch him.

    Approx. 5 years BQ — Red and Blue Sweep the Indigo League

    A pair of eleven-year-old children from a small and remote town proceed to complete their region's gym challenge and then defeat one of the most difficult Elite 4 challenges on the planet. Blue is the first to reach the Elite 4 and becomes champion, however Red beats him for the title not long after. Once told about the responsibilities involved with the title, Red promptly resigns, and while the League makes attempts to put Blue in that role - Lance wanting to retire - he instead takes up the gym leader role that Giovanni, the secret leader of Team Rocket, vacates following his organizations destruction at the hands of Red and Blue. Agatha and Lorelei both step down from the Indigo Elite 4, the former citing her age and the latter citing the fact that her home - the Sevii Islands - were under attack and she was unable to help.

    Approx. 2 years BQ — Team Rocket Resurgence

    High-level members of Team Rocket attempt to reform the gang following its dissolution years later and spend much of that time trying to track down Giovanni, who is still at large. They fail in doing so, and are thwarted by a young boy by the name of Ethan, who has a wildly successful battling career in the following competitive year.

    0 years BQ — Kylie Graduates From Ranger School

    After several years of training, Kylie Parsons passes her exams and field testing, officially making her a ranger.

    0 years BQ — May Becomes the Champion of Hoenn

    May Fujita, having just moved to Hoenn from her home region of Johto, completes Hoenn's gym challenge, beats the Elite 4, and becomes the region's champion in short order.

    0 years BQ — Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza Reveal Themselves to the World

    The destruction is unimaginable, the quest begins.​
     
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  • Informational
    • For what it's worth, while I tend to be more of a lurker, this particular plan vote in general felt like it had the most "uncertainty" in what to do out of all the plan votes so far. I agree with what others said about it having too many moving parts: asking to not only decide on a plan of action, but also for directing and orienting 4 other rangers, while we have incomplete information on the situation at hand ((e.g. with Altaria behavior or our partners' abilities)) and are trying to handle this in a way that doesn't escalate into a fight, is a lot to consider.

    Though, just to say--I tend to not vote in general more because I generally don't have strong opinions about the result. I'm generally fine with any result from most of the choices we've had so far.
     
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    • Vote results

    Quick summary:
    Plan: Preference for Preening wins at 9 votes.​

    With all of it laid out like that, you know what role you're going to need to fill. "I want B.B. and myself on contingency—particularly handling the Altaria's vocalizations," you insist. "B.B. is by a wide margin the loudest Pokemon here, and I'm including the Altaria in that assessment. He can outmatch her in sheer volume, and if we do reach the point where she tries to attack, he knows Screech and Echoed Voice to make her accomplishing that a lot harder."

    "What about Urchin?" Jackie asks, "would you want to double them up in that role?"

    You shake your head. "Urchin is ill-suited for helping B.B. in this case, and matter of fact, I'm not going to be bringing her out at all. Urchin doesn't have the moves to act as ranged support, she gets excited easily, and in a stressful environment like this, with potentially a lot of noise being thrown around, she runs the risk of getting quickly overwhelmed. The only role I can really see myself slotting her into is one where she makes a big enough mess to annoy the Altaria, potentially even draw her down, but that would probably involve Urchin layering the lawn in venomous quills. Sure, the second the Altaria would try to clean them up, we'd have a mostly-immobile Altaria, but speaking from experience, Mareanie venom is one of the least pleasant things on the world to experience, and I'd expect the Altaria to retaliate the second she has control over her body again."

    Jackie hums. "If nobody else feels up for running the distraction, in that case, I want to put forward Pierre for it. This wouldn't be the most dangerous bird he's had to charm, and while he's not much of a fighter, that's what my other two partners are for. I'm thinking Saturday and Fancy will back him up, in the event that the Altaria goes for him. They're trained to work as a flock."

    You were actually thinking the same thing—well, you were on the first part anyway. Learning that Pierre has Pokemon he's good at working with is just a bonus to your case. "It seems to me that keeping the Altaria as happy as we can while doing this is the smart way forward," you explain. Your mind, in that moment, takes the opportunity to drift back to Pacifidlog, the collapsed houses, angry and hurt Pokemon, and a Toxapex throwing chunks of reef at you. "I'd prefer it if we lowered the chance of conflict as much as possible, honestly."

    Maybe it's something in your voice, but you get a few sympathetic looks thrown your way.

    Shou clears his throat, his own gaze lingering on you—not necessarily with sympathy, but with curiosity. "Then we should reinforce all of this with stylers," he says, turning back to the rest of the team. "There's no point in only partially committing to something like this. If we want to keep the Altaria happy, let's make sure we pursue every means to do so."

    "That would let Saturday and Fancy do double duty, too," Jackie muses, sounding increasingly fond of the idea. "If they're already running interference to protect Pierre, it's not a big leap to also extend that to any nearby stylers."

    "What are we thinking for focus emotions?" Gereon asks.

    "Comfort and safety," Shou says matter-of-factly. "Standard protocol."

    Your mind walks back to your time in ranger school, which feels so terribly long ago now, to one of your classes on styler usage. There are a large number of positive emotions you've been taught to employ in using your styler, but as stated, comfort and safety are perhaps the most basic and fundamental of them. A styler is, ultimately, a tool to calm a Pokemon down and keep it calm enough to allow rangers to step in and manage whatever the problem might be.

    "What if we bring the Altaria down, in that case?" Tsunda offers, his voice a little quiet. "Not—I mean, not like violently, I mean luring her down from the roof. My Pokemon won't be of much use on the roof—Smiles could get up there, but he's fairly fragile and my tactics rely on him working with Porkchop or another Pokemon who can draw attention away from him, and I'm not putting Porkchop on someone's roof, he could set it on fire or something accidentally. We're putting a lot of the burden on our non-grounded Pokemon by restricting all of this to a rooftop encounter. Gereon has bait, why not use it?"

    "It would also double up on what Shou pointed out," Gereon agrees thoughtfully, a pleased look on his face. "More positive interactions to keep her attention focused on something other than me, when I move in."

    You nod. "It would also mean, in the event of a fight, B.B. didn't risk causing difficult-to-repair collateral damage." The reality is that Echoed Voice could very quickly get strong enough to start stripping a roof from the house it's built on.

    "Porkchop could also protect the stylers, too," Tsunda adds in, a little more excitedly this time around. "He's very difficult to drive off or overwhelm, and once he's dug his claws in, the Altaria will have problems dislodging him. Hiding some of your discs under his shell would keep the Altaria from reaching them, if need be. Also, while the Altaria is focused on Porkchop, Smiles would have plenty of opportunities to startle or stun the Altaria."

    "Yeah, I think getting her down onto the turf is the smart decision, then," Gereon agrees, reaching up to scratch at his chin. "Since we're going in this direction, I can easily slot Sun into a contingency role with B.B.—Sun's got a number of pyrotechnic tricks she can do which are all extremely noisy and extremely bright. That just leaves Moon as our reserve attacker, and considering she knows Ice Beam, I think that's all I have to say on the matter."

    As Gereon trails off, the group turns to look towards Shou—the only person who hasn't yet committed to any particular role yet.

    Shou takes the looks with a visibly uncomfortable expression on his face. "My Pokemon can run interference, with Saturday and Fancy," he says, shifting back onto his heels. "Kaleidoscope can easily confuse the Altaria in the event of hostility, while Rune can support other Pokemon with his moves, or alternatively disrupt the Altaria with things like Sand Attack, Growl, and Charm."

    Gereon smiles. "Then it's settled, we've got our game plan."

    "Before we jump into it, I'd like to add another thing to the plan, if I could," Jackie interjects quickly, smiling. "As you said before, Gereon, Altaria get... fussy when things are too silent for them. I think we should keep up a relatively loud conversation here to make sure the Altaria knows where we are, even if she isn't looking directly at us. It'll help avoid the Altaria jumping to conclusions about incoming attacks."

    Gereon pauses, then nods. "It definitely can't hurt. All in favour?"

    There's a round of nods.

    "Alright, we'll add talking to the plan, then." Gereon reaches down to his belt and steps away from the group, pulling his pair of pokeballs out. "Let's get our Pokemon out."

    Everyone disperses, gaining distance between each other as hands fall to belts and pockets alike. Your own finds B.B.'s hooked into your belt, and you quickly pull it free and pop the ball open, emptying him out onto the grass in front of you.

    Once manifested, B.B. is immediately alert, his feet stomping down on the somewhat tall grass beneath him, his head pivoting around. He finds you, first, before going back to rapidly scanning his environment, his gaze eventually landing on the Altaria.

    His head is in the middle of twisting back to you when you hear the chorus of other Pokemon being released.

    You feel it too.

    You twist around, finding Gereon's Volcarona and Frosmoth floating a few paces away from the man. The competing heat from Sun—the Volcarona—meets the equally frigid cold of Moon—the Frosmoth—and together they combine into a thick haze of mist that spills out from the area around them like a descending cloud. Even at this distance, you can feel both of the temperature gradients, the dry, unrepentant heat and the bone-chilling cold.

    The mist, for a single moment, persists—such is its volume. Then, in the next instant, it begins to fade; not as mist normally does, but rather scrubbed away by the effects of the Cloud Nine ability, vanishing in clumps and fits, but inevitably fading into nothing.

    Out of the corner of your eye, you notice movement.

    You turn to look, and you find the Altaria staring down at your group from her place on the roof with intense focus. Her cloud-like plumage stands on end, puffed out, while her eyes are peeled wide open and unblinking.

    "Eyes up," you say, not looking away, "we've been noticed."

    Something in your tone is picked up on by B.B., who you see out of the corner of your eye snap around to stare at the Altaria, his own fur puffing out in response to the tension.

    "Jackie, you're the resident bird expert here—do you have a read on this?" you hear Gereon ask from somewhere behind you.

    The Altaria keeps her stare fixed, plumage rising even further out from her body.

    "Hazarding a guess that she's feeling a bit threatened. I expect she felt the moment when her ability had to compete with your two Pokemon there, Gereon, and it drew on her aura," Jackie responds somewhere off to your left. "But, ah—there we go. See? She's calming down, noticing we're not doing anything besides having our Pokemon out. It's an intrusion, and one she's unlikely to forget any time soon, but we're not a threat—not yet. She's going to be a bit on edge for the time being, though."

    True to his words, the Altaria's plumage finally ceases growing in volume and begins to shrink, while the Altaria herself relaxes fractionally, blinking a few times. After a few more moments of watching you, the Altaria pulls her wings in and turns her head away again—but you notice that one eye remains fixed in the general direction of your group.

    "Rocky start," you hear Tsunda mutter.

    He's not wrong.

    With that scare over with, you turn away from the Altaria and back to your teammates.

    A short ways to your right, Shou stands with his two Pokemon near his feet. Kaleidoscope you notice immediately, her tails curled up in slight tension as her eyes scan across the crowd. Her eyes find you a moment later, reads something in your posture, and her inquisitive gaze promptly becomes dismissive, disinterested.

    You try not to feel insulted by the look you just got from a Vulpix, and mostly succeed. Mostly.

    Kaleidoscope swings her head back around a moment later and trots in closer to Shou, leaning over to greedily rub her body against his leg, soaking up his presence.

    Joining Kaleidoscope is Rune, who is quite possibly Kaleidoscope's polar opposite. Where behind Kaleidoscope's eyes you saw a cunning - if rather dismissive - intellect, you can find nothing really similar behind Rune's gaze—rather, you don't find much at all. Rune might be the image of patience, sitting next to Shou's feet, if not for his tail, which thrashes excitedly against the grass, whapping repeatedly down as his eyes skitter this way and that, soaking up all the new things he clearly hasn't come into contact with before now.

    Next, you find Tsunda with his two Pokemon. Standing a few paces in front of Tsunda is a rather large Torkoal—a species you are, thankfully, quite familiar with. Porkchop is, by your estimates, fairly young, bearing few signs of age, with a shiny, dark-gray shell and bright orange, leathery skin. A constant plume of pale smoke spills out from both the Torkoal's nostrils and the crowning hole on his shell, and the fact that it's so pale and bereft of embers is a good sign, pointing towards the Pokemon being in great health.

    It takes you a moment to find Smiles, but when you do, it's rather hard to lose track of him again. Crouching behind Tsunda's legs, half-sunk into the shadow, is the Sableye in question. He looks to be about average size for his species, with dense, dark purple fur as is common. As he shifts around in the shadow, one hand reaches up from below and grips the edge, revealing the claw to be encrusted with glittering green and red gems—another sign of a very healthy Pokemon, if perhaps a gluttonous one.

    Sableye are a species you're less familiar with than Torkoal, but they're common enough up in the hills east of Cyffineal - where large deposits of quartz and other gems and crystals made an ideal home for them - for you to have experience with them. None of them made it down into Cyffineal, however, owing to the population of Impidimp and its evolutions who respond to dark-type Pokemon trying to muscle into their territory with extreme violence.

    Last, but not least, is Jackie's Pokemon.

    Standing in front of him is one who could only be Pierre, and the Unfezant is, you have to admit, probably the prettiest Unfezant you've ever seen before. Impeccably preened feathers are joined by a vibrant pink wattle that covers the majority of the front of Pierre's head, with a delicately hooked beak sitting just beneath it. A pair of long, antennae-like growths jut from the wattle on his head and hang nearly as low as his wings, while the green spot around his belly is bright and vibrant, almost as much as a Numel's green spot. He holds himself with confidence and poise, his head peeking around, this way and that, taking in everything he can see.

    Next to Pierre is Saturday the Ducklett and Fancy the Vullaby. You are, admittedly, much more familiar with the latter than the former. Vullaby and Mandibuzz are common all across Orre as a whole, not particularly caring one way or another what specific ecosystem they scavenged from. They are even common in Cyffineal, which again, due to the Impidimp population, is really saying something about how good they are at being dark-type Pokemon.

    Both Fancy and Saturday are wearing matching green ankle bands, and while Pierre is busy scoping out the place, the two of them are already preening each other, grooming out-of-place feathers back into shape. Once Pierre seems to be happy with his inspection, he trots on over to join them in preening, working on Saturday's head on account of Fancy being unable to reach it without Saturday leaning forward.

    A tug on the leg of your pants draws your gaze down, and you find B.B. staring imperiously up at you, his mouth pursed. Smothering a laugh, you lean down and hoist your little trooper up, depositing him onto your shoulder. B.B. takes that opportunity to lean over and grind his cheek into your own, murring happily.

    "Let's give this half-an-hour," Gereon says from across the field. Above him, Sun and Moon trail around each other like a pair of planets in orbit, intertwined in some kind of dance. "We'll get everyone used to each other, give Ryuuji a chance to get out of the house and get comfortable, and give us all the time we need to get into the grittier details on what we're doing here. Sounds good?"

    There's a chorus of assent.

    "Then let's get down to it."


    "Alright Jackie, you're up," Gereon says.

    Your group stands at the ready, your partners all about as comfortable with each other as they reasonably can be, given the time constraints. Behind your group, on the sidewalk, Ryuuji has since retired to a fold-out canvas chair - the kinds parents brought to their kid's footy matches - with his e-reader. A second chair, there in the event this stretches on long enough for his son to return while you're still working on the Altaria, sits empty next to him.

    In front of your group, Porkchop stands in the grass, vigilant. He occasionally tilts his head around to check on all of you before returning his relaxed gaze towards the Altaria on the roof above him.

    Jackie nods, and breaks from the rest of the group, stepping forward. He snaps his fingers sharply, then gestures towards Pierre, before continuing in his forward march. Pierre trots up to walk next to him, while Saturday and Fancy hang back, standing in the grass, though watching their trainer's departure with attentive eyes.

    Porkchop turns and greets Jackie with a low, rumbling grunt as the man and his bird arrive next to the Torkoal.

    Leaning down, Jackie brushes a hand down Pierre's neck, then gestures up, towards the Altaria. "Pierre, rizz her up," he says in Unovan Galarian, voice a complete monotone.

    You manage to choke on your own spit.

    Shou shoots you a worried look from the side, and you wave him off, swallowing a few times until the urge to cough up your stomach fades.

    Pierre doesn't hesitate, strutting forward before swinging both wings out and taking to the air. His flight is short, easily bounding across the distance between himself and the roof. As his talons stretch out, coming in to land on the edge of the roof, you see the Altaria twitch.

    An immediate, rattling hiss of warning screams out of the Altaria in the next instant, and the Pokemon moves, shifting to the side and forward as she pulls herself up to her full size, wings splayed out in a threat. Her neck cranes back in preparation for a powerful peck, body fluffing up to make herself look bigger.

    Pierre promptly aborts, twisting to the side and landing further away than where he'd clearly intended to, keeping himself out of the Altaria's attack radius. Once on the roof, Pierre turns to look at the Altaria, his posture a little more wary.

    "Jackie?" Tsunda calls out carefully.

    "Give it a moment," Jackie says, stepping back and leaning down, giving both Saturday and Fancy the opportunity to step up onto his arms. Once he's standing again, he moves forward, watching the interaction carefully. "She's agitated, but that's normal—Pierre's a large, unknown Pokemon currently in her territory, landing on her roof, and he's probably not like any bird she's seen before."

    Pierre hesitates, standing just beyond the Altaria's reach. After a moment, though, the Unfezant's plumage relaxes back down, smoothing out. Then, without any more hesitation, Pierre bows. It's a low, calculated motion, and with it comes a soft, melodious coo that sings out from his chest. He splays his wings out wide, extended in either direction, and raises his rear ever-higher behind him, presenting his sole, massive tail-feather, which he wags invitingly.

    The Altaria pauses, visibly confused.

    But Pierre is not done, oh no. Pierre pulls his posture in, in the next instant, drawing himself back up into a full stand and then struts one foot out in front of him, striking a pose. "'Fezant!" he croons, wings pulled towards his back.

    And then, without warning, he does it all over again: bowing low, cooing invitingly, then striking a pose. It is, you'll give him, a rather hypnotic dance, and he mixes it up every so often by repeating one of the two moves: a pair of bows that roll into each other like the tides, two poses that snap into place, one after another. It's not a frenetic or aggressive dance, but that certainly doesn't mean it's a lazy one.

    The Altaria stares at Pierre with blank, uncomprehending eyes, then, it finally seems to click. A sluggish blink is soon followed by a slow relaxation of the Altaria's body, her wings coming back in and plumage evening out. Pierre, it would seem, has been registered as not a threat, and the Altaria seems to have picked up on the fact that she's being wooed—even if she clearly does not understand why.

    The Altaria turns her head back around, just as she had with Sun and Moon, but her eyes betray her once again. This time, one eye flicks over to Pierre ever so often, catching glimpses of his dance.

    Pierre, of course, takes that opportunity to move in a little closer. The Altaria fluffs up at the sudden movement, but then she hesitates, and down goes her plumage again, even as Pierre enters the range where she could easily lean over and smack him. He keeps up his dance the entire time, even weaving the little hops he does to get closer into it.

    "The initial shock has worn off, and Pierre's strut his way in," Jackie announces proudly. "Haven't seen a bird he couldn't charm, and now we get to add dragon-type Pokemon to his list. Anyway, what we saw there was the Altaria gearing up for a fight—I think at first she thought Pierre wanted to drive her off of the roof. This is why I didn't send in Fancy or Saturday immediately; doing that would have absolutely just reaffirmed the idea for her, and we'd be staring down a much more hostile Altaria at this point."

    "What are you getting from her now?" Gereon asks, staring up at the scene with a look of amusement, one you share. You imagine all three of you—yourself, Jackie and Gereon—have experience with the Pidove line. The birds are, regardless of evolutionary stage, always and persistently incorrigibly theatrical. It has something to do with their mating habits, you're pretty sure.

    "Well, she's not battering him off the roof, now is she?" Jackie replies merrily, leaning down to let Fancy and Saturday hop off of his arms. "Altaria are birds, but they're still dragon-type Pokemon. If she really wasn't interested in Pierre's attention, Pierre would not be next to her. The Altaria here definitely have experience dealing with other flying-type Pokemon, particularly the Wingull, Taillow, and Pikipek lines, and they'd know to drive them off if they started being pestered, so we can assume she's not reading this as being pestered. She's enjoying his attention, probably not enough to attempt to mate, but she's not opposed to being courted like this."

    "But she's still mostly ignoring him," Gereon points out, "a quiet rebuff is still a rebuff."

    "Just so," Jackie agrees, "the Altaria isn't engaged with Pierre here, or at least not yet. That she hasn't driven him off is an invitation to keep doing it, even if Pierre's got a ways to go before she pays him more than half a mind."

    "Keep a watch on it," Gereon decides, glancing towards Jackie. "We all will, but I want your eyes on it most of all, Jackie. You know the tells better than the rest of us. For now, we'll keep talking to keep the Altaria calm, and besides that? We settle in to wait, and look for our opportunity."

    Jackie gives him a thumbs up. "Will do."

    And so you do.

    You do for a while, matter of fact.

    Over the next hour and some change, you watch Pierre charm the Altaria by inches. Gradually, never pushing boundaries too far, but with a persistence you know cannot be easy for the bird to keep up. A persistence your own group doesn't have, as within twenty minutes of Pierre heading up to the roof, you'd all agreed that your jaws were starting to hurt from talking constantly and had quickly deployed your P★DA for use as a temporary radio. You'd argued over the channel you wanted it tuned to for a while, before everyone agreed on the local pop music station as the least offensive option, which your P★DA now blares in place of conversations about the best place to buy onions, or impromptu games of I Spy.

    Though it takes over an hour - and you feel every last minute of it - the impact of all that time spent wooing the Altaria shine clear as day. The Altaria, once disinterested, now openly watches Pierre instead of the space ahead of her, eyes hooded and posture relaxed. Pierre has managed to work his way right up to the Altaria, if still not touching her, and despite the fact that you know the Unfezant must be tired, he shows no signs of flagging.

    "Alright, I think we've got her as charmed as we can," Jackie announces over the sound of a trumpet solo. "Are we good to go, Gereon?"

    Gereon, off to the side, pulls his bag from his back and drops it down at his feet. Reaching inside, he soon pulls out a brick of something wrapped in a thick, almost rubbery plastic. "We should be. This right here is the bait—it's sealed right now, but the second I tear it open, anything nearby is going to smell it and probably want a piece of it. Once I get it torn open, I'm going to break off a small piece for one last distraction, and the rest will be left in front of Porkchop, which should be enough to lure her down with some encouragement from Pierre. Things will start happening very rapidly after that, and we'll have a pretty short window before she eats the entire thing, so I need people to get their stylers out and charge them. I'll set the bait down and charge my styler after, since I can do it really quickly, but the rest of you? Be prepared to deploy it early if it comes to that."

    You reach for your styler, and the others do much the same. Gereon, with brick in hand, re-zips his bag, throws it back over his shoulder, and begins moving towards the middle of the front yard.

    You glance down at your styler, feeling the weight of it in your hand. You breathe in, then out, long and slow, your free hand coming up to press fingers into B.B.'s warm fur, scratching at the top of his head. You let your eyes drift shut, and you focus your mind.

    You think about comfort, you think about safety—you channel them. You think of B.B. and his love for you, you think of home and your bed, you think of the protection and safety your parents pass onto you by simply being nearby. You think of the comfort of a warm summer day by the beach, you think of the smell of your home, the sound of the breeze, the many things you've come to know you miss dearly, this far from home.

    And you pull the trigger.

    Aura unwinds itself from your body and drains into the item in your hand. It warms the sinew and bones as it passes, but leaves behind a chill—a warmth only felt briefly, transient, taken from you before you can grasp fully onto it. Your mind whirls, your focus narrows, and you let all of those warm, happy feelings get channelled down into the styler.

    Then, you breathe out, and open your eyes. The disc attached to your styler glows with aura, imbued with comfort and safety. B.B. nuzzles greedily into your other hand, soaking up your sudden burst of affection.

    Your eyes flick up. You spot Gereon just as he rips open the bait with both hands.

    The Altaria on the roof twitches, a sharp motion. Her head swivels around, eyes snapping over to the bait, Pierre almost completely forgotten. You see a very real hunger in her stare, and you wonder, just for a moment, if perhaps the Altaria has not been so successful hunting at night. It wouldn't surprise you if that's the case, truthfully.

    On your shoulder, B.B. stiffens as he picks up on the scent as well. He sniffles and snorts, greedily soaking up as much of the scent as he can get.

    Leaning down, Gereon plops the bait down in front of him, pausing to rip off a small, strawberry-sized corner piece, which he stuffs back into the packaging and wads up, before making a brisk retreat back towards the rest of your group.

    Around you, the others finish charging their own stylers, each of their discs glowing with light.

    Gereon arrives back just in time, pulling out his own styler with his free hand. Without so much as pausing to focus, you watch, rapt and somewhat awed, as the disc attached to Gereon's styler begins to glow. He's still moving, getting into position for what is to come next—a feat you should stress you can't imagine doing yourself. Charging a styler requires focus, intense focus to ensure your emotions don't change on you, but there Gereon is anyway, his disc glowing ever-brighter, ever-more-intense, until, a bare few seconds later, it glows like a small, warm sun.

    He charged it quicker than you did while he was still doing other things. While he was still planning. Even your styler instructors back at school aren't that good.

    Gereon's focus lands back on the Altaria, and he breathes out. "Alright Jackie! Send out the call!"

    "Pierre! Down and attend!" Jackie calls out, pointing towards the bait.

    Pierre stops his dance immediately, bowing one last time towards the Altaria before he kicks off the roof. The Altaria, perhaps a little spooked by the sudden movement, jerks, her attention drawn back to Pierre as she watches him descend from his place next to her and land right next to the food, barely sparing the bait any attention. Pierre kicks at the ground a few times, pulling his wings in and straightening his posture, standing tall and aloof next to the orange brick of bait.

    "Call out to her, Pierre!" Jackie finishes, jabbing his finger back at the Altaria.

    And so he does. Pierre coos, a soft, inviting noise—the same one he has been laying on the Altaria all this morning, if a little louder and more insistent. He bows at her once more, tail feather waggling, before cooing again.

    Just like that, the Altaria takes the bait.

    Rising from her place on the roof, the Altaria shuffles forward, her legs emerging from the veil of cloudy plumage they had been nestled beneath. Slowly, she arrives at the edge of the roof, staring warily down at your group, before her eyes swing back to the bait. A few moments of contemplation follow, then, she kicks off, gliding down from the roof and landing just a short distance away from Pierre.

    Slowly, ever so carefully, the Altaria approaches, wings pulled in, head swivelling around, making sure nobody's about to interrupt her. As she arrives at the bait, she doesn't lean down to eat, and instead, her gaze settles onto the thing nearest to it that isn't Pierre—Porkchop, who regards the Altaria with a placid, disaffected gaze from his place in front of your group.

    The Altaria stomps forward suddenly, moving her body over the brick of bait and bringing her head back. She hisses a warning, low and threatening, towards the Torkoal, waving her wings out on either side. This is mine, you think she's saying. Leave.

    Porkchop is unmoved. You suspect very little could move Porkchop, honestly. Instead of responding aggressively to her threat, Porkchop rattles out his own warning hiss, reptilian and low, the steam venting from his body briefly darkening in warning. His beak opens, then shuts with a flare of sparks jetting from where the top and lower portions of his beak meets.

    You watch some of those sparks land in the grass next to Porkchop. You watch as that same grass begins to burn, only to be promptly snuffed out by a stomp from Porkchop.

    The Altaria hesitates, inspecting Porkchop a moment longer. You can see the gears turning in her head, and you're about ready to instruct B.B. to get ready for something worse when, finally, the Altaria pulls back with one final warning hiss - one that, once more, leaves Porkchop unmoving and disinterested - and steps away until her body has cleared the bait. Then, without any more hesitation, the Altaria leans down and begins to peck hungrily at the food, shovelling as much of it into her mouth as she can.

    Gereon wasn't kidding—you don't have a lot of time.

    "I'm judging the temperament here still too volatile to get in close," Gereon says quickly, cutting through the din of another song picking up on the radio. "Deploy stylers."

    Ah. Well, the peace was nice while it lasted.

    You pull the trigger on your styler again and flick your wrist, releasing the disc and sending it forward. Streaks of white join the descent of your disc, your teammates joining you in your act, all five converging in on the Altaria, each of them radiating light, aura, and emotion.

    The Altaria is having none of it.

    Rearing back from the bait, the Altaria surges forward again, covering the bait with her body. Her plumage flares out to nearly twice its regular size, and her head rears back. She raises her beak and releases one long, hostile screech.

    The noise is harsh, pounding against your head, but—frankly...

    It's no Whismur scream.

    Time for you to get to work. "B.B., loud!" you instruct, barking over the screech.

    "WHIS!" B.B. barks in response, his own voice a brutal thunderclap of noise that shatters the Altaria's growing screech like a dinner plate. The Altaria cuts off, her head whipping around to find you and B.B., eyes narrowing.

    You're about to start moving - if only to make yourself less of an easy target - when her head twists away, having caught sight of your group's discs as they slip beneath Porkchop. Porkchop, after a moment's pause, lowers himself down a little—not quite sitting on the discs, but certainly leaving less room for the Altaria to get to them.

    You're briefly reminded that male Torkoal are the ones who brood—female Torkoal lay the eggs, but they don't bother taking care of them.

    Eyes narrowing, the Altaria pulls herself upright, another warning hiss pushing out past her beak, growing into a loud screech—

    "B.B., again," you interrupt.

    "WHIS-MUR!" B.B. belts out, cantankerous and annoyed at all of this noise, you suspect. The Altaria's screech is broken once more, and the look the Pokemon sends you this time around is less startled and more annoyed than anything else.

    Before anything can come of it, though, you see her concentration lapse and her head turn away from you, going back to the discs, to Porkchop and his unmoving, disinterested stare. You suspect that's her feeling the effects of the disc, and if you had to guess, she doesn't like it.

    But neither can she move, not without giving up the bait. Something's got to give.

    And a decision, somewhere in that blue head of hers, is made.

    The Altaria lunges forward, beak aimed towards the closest disc beneath Porkchop.

    Porkchop smacks her in the face with a claw.

    The Altaria rears back, and this time what comes out of her mouth is less of a hiss or screech of annoyance and more of an aggrieved honk. The impact didn't land all that hard, but it definitely still hit, and the Altaria, with one eye shut, promptly brings one wing up and—

    Is immediately waylaid by Saturday, who interposes himself between the Altaria and Porkchop, flying right up next to her face. This time, the noise the Altaria makes is definitely a screech, and her wing comes down prematurely, trying to slap Saturday away, instead of building up to slam into Porkchop. The wing misses the Ducklett, who easily relocated above her, and subsequently all the Altaria hits is open air.

    The Altaria, evidently about done with this, screams at Saturday.

    "B.B., loud again, please."

    "MURR!"

    The Altaria's focus breaks again, and she reels, pulling her head in towards her body this time around. She kicks out with one foot in anger, shoving dirt towards Porkchop, who ignores the attempt and snaps his beak a few times in warning at her.

    Her movements, you notice, are getting not weaker, but less committed. The discs are working on her, and with five of them, the effect is compounded, intense—she's calming, beginning to treat this less like some hostile Pokemon trying to take food from her, and more like how she might behave around other closely-related Altaria when eating.

    But you're not out of the woods yet, as while B.B. has annoyed her, Porkchop, it would seem, has properly infuriated her. Perhaps it's because his response to her is so minimal, maybe it's because she correctly identifies the discs as numbing her anger towards this situation and wants that to stop, so she can be properly upset and lean into her survival instincts. Maybe it's a mix of all of that.

    It doesn't matter, because her ire settles onto Porkchop like an inbound wave and, with no hesitation, she rears back again, neck curling in, ready to peck.

    Just in time to watch as, over head, Sun zips past and leaves in her wake a cloud of glowing scales. You instinctively avert your eyes, but the Altaria isn't so lucky—you're pretty sure there's no native populations of Volcarona in Hoenn.

    The cloud of Volcarona scales promptly detonate into a cluster of bright flashes and loud pops.

    The Altaria screeches, hell, you hear Shou and Tsunda both shout. Oops, you probably should have told them about that trick, huh? Volcarona are... not common, but frequently sighted enough on the slopes of Mount Battle - being some of the few non-dragon-type Pokemon powerful enough to survive the highlands - that you're long acquainted with how to behave around them.

    The big one is: don't look at any of the scales they leave behind, because the Volcarona use them to blind their prey, among other things.

    The Altaria curls away, snapping her beak as her vision returns, staring at all of you in what is growing annoyance. Hostility bleeds away, replaced instead by something like competition, like frustration, but not the kind that gets you killed—rather, the kind you get when your sibling decides to sit on you because they happen to be feeling annoying that day.

    The Altaria rears up, rising from her bait, but not moving away from it. She waves her wings out wide, puffing and huffing, kicking at the dirt.

    "Ease off, keep your Pokemon back," Gereon instructs.

    You hear some calls go out, and Saturday pulls out of the sky, giving the Altaria some distance. Porkchop also retreats, and you briefly pause to make sure your disc remains under him as he does—not that it's particularly difficult, given his speed.

    The Altaria, given room to breathe, squawks in annoyance at all of you for a third time, though not so loud that you feel the need to instruct B.B. to respond. Her chest rises and falls, her focus keeps flickering between all of you, lapsing and cutting out, never able to narrow in on any one of you for any real length of time. Slowly, ever so slowly, the Altaria's eyes flick away from you and down to the food.

    Warily, with kicks at the ground to make sure you all know just how annoyed she is by this song and dance, the Altaria steps back, shoots you all another narrow look, then lowers her head down to the food, going right back at it, hungrily eating.

    "Send Porkchop up again with the discs."

    "Forward again for me, Pork!" Tsunda calls out.

    Porkchop wanders forward slowly, back into distance, and the effect is almost immediate: the Altaria rears up again, squawking in annoyance and frustration and yet, and yet—

    She doesn't rush over her food again. The effect the stylers have had on her have already settled in—she's not comfortable, she's not happy, but she definitely feels safe enough in this scenario that, when Porkchop gives her a lazy stare and stops in place, instead of covering her food with her body to ward away the competition, the Altaria glares at Porkchop then slowly, carefully, lowers her head back down and gets back to eating.

    "Jackie, on me. We have about a minute—I'm going to aim for thirty seconds of non-hostile exposure to the discs, which should be enough for us to get close," Gereon explains. "Get Pierre ready to get out of dodge."

    Speaking of Pierre, you spare the bird a glance to find him peevishly pecking dirt out of his plumage, looking miserable. Poor thing, he clearly spends a lot of time grooming.

    The seconds tick by, you see the Altaria's posture begin to loosen, tension rippling out of her. You hear her hungry, happy noises as she eats—soft vocalizations, wet snapping and swallowing. Her body flattens out some, loosening even further.

    Gereon moves forward, motions at Jackie, and the two of them move in, shadowed by Rune and Smiles.

    Gereon goes in low, slipping around the side of the Altaria. The Altaria shifts, a little frustrated by the proximity, but doesn't rise up to combat Gereon's closeness.

    Jackie, by comparison, has the last remaining fragment of bait Gereon tore off, wrapped up in the plastic. He approaches the front of the Altaria, carefully unwraps the piece of bait, and presents it just above the Altaria's head.

    A moment of hesitation, then the Altaria's head flicks up, catches sight of Jackie, sees the bait. You see her eyes flick between Jackie and Pierre—perhaps picking up on the shared scents between the two, you can't be sure—before, a moment later, she leans in and takes the bait for a second time today.

    At the exact same moment, with the Altaria even further distracted, Gereon slips the anklet around the Altaria's leg and tightens it.

    Whatever good mood you'd cultivated vanishes. The Altaria screeches in abject outrage at the sudden handling, and kicks out with her talon, narrowly missing Gereon's face, who scrambles back and towards the rest of you.

    The Altaria lunges forward, neck extended in a brutal act of retaliation, a peck aimed towards Jackie's centre mass—

    "Vee!"

    —Only to get a face full of dirt for her troubles.

    The Altaria yelps, rearing back, but the brief introduction of dirt to her eyes is evidently not enough to stop her, as the Altaria starts to thrash. Having evidently decided she doesn't care what precisely she hits, just that she hits something, it is only the swift intervention of Smiles, who shoves Jackie to the side, that stops the man from having his arm broken by a lash of the Altaria's wing, which hits the lawn instead with enough force to be heard.

    It takes her a few moments to blink the grit out of her eyes, but you see the exact moment the Altaria notices Jackie running away. She rises and lurches forward, vengeful and aggrieved, only for Smiles to again appear, jumping up into the space between Jackie's fleeing back and the Altaria. Suffused in white light, Smiles blurs forward, impossible to follow, and promptly slams both gem-encrusted hands down on either side of the Altaria's skull.

    The Altaria's head rolls back, completely stunned.

    Smiles hits the ground running, chasing after Jackie and Pierre, the latter of which evidently wanting no more part in this.

    "Out! Back! Towards the sidewalk! Give her a lot of ground, pull your discs away—Tsunda, retreat Porkchop!" Gereon shouts.

    You all start rushing away, Tsunda quickly retreating Porkchop back into his Pokeball as he runs with you. You lash out with one wrist, hurling your disc up into the air back in your direction, and raise your hand up in time to catch the descending disc. It smarts your palm, but at least you have it before your feet hit the pavement of the sidewalk.

    Behind you, you hear the Altaria come back to her senses, and boy fucking almighty does she not sound thrilled. A howl of apocalyptic proportions rattles out of her, genuinely matching B.B. in this single instance, the tone thick with outrage.

    Yet—there's no target for her to take her grievances out on.

    You twist around, standing on the sidewalk, and watch as the Altaria realizes this too.

    The Altaria howls a second time and rips up the grass around her in anger. It doesn't last too long, dying out into a noise of palpable annoyance. You see her bring her leg up to inspect, and then peck angrily at the band around her ankle—only to get no results. She stomps a few more times, screeches in the general direction of your group, before finally, at last, going back to her food.

    She eats with a sullen intensity. You might feel bad for her, if not for the circumstances.

    "Thanks for not getting my house destroyed," Ryuuji says, startling you. You'd honestly forgotten he was even there. "But did you really need to piss her off like that?"

    Gereon, breathing a little heavily, shrugs. "I mean, maybe we could have disengaged with less of an impact, but it wouldn't have been as safe. Would you prefer an annoyed Altaria or a dead body?"

    Ryuuji has nothing to say in response to that, which is probably wise.


    You're all back at the hotel by around nine in the morning, after making sure the Altaria isn't about to take out her anger on Ryuuji or anyone nearby. Every instinct in your body insists it should be the afternoon, but you ignore it, knowing better.

    Nobody, let alone you, is particularly tired, perhaps besides Pierre, who collapsed into a sitting position and refused to move after you'd gotten out of range of the Altaria's boundless rage. Jackie put him back into his ball after praising him, and most others retreated their Pokemon, though B.B., ever fond of being out and about, is still perched on your shoulder.

    You have the rest of the day to spend, and you need to spend it somehow. Gereon expects the other teams will begin to return in larger numbers in the evening, and that's some time from now. You can't be an idle hand in a place like this, not when there are things you can actually get up to

    Thankfully, this time around, you can get up to something on your own. After extracting a verbal agreement out of each of you to steer well clear of the Altaria you just antagonized, Gereon gave the approval for you all to choose what you wanted to do independently, if you so wanted, for the rest of the day.

    So, the only question is, how will you spend the rest of your time?

    Choice:
    [ ] Join Tsunda in the library, reading through The Clouds Have Eyes
    The book isn't small, and with the two of you, you might be able to make a real dent in it. Maybe you can find some information about the island that was missed during the last pass.

    [ ] Accompany Jackie as he checks out what the Altaria left behind after protecting the town
    With so many Altaria present in the town during Kyogre and Groundon's fight, there's bound to be plenty of material they left behind—material, Jackie insists, that could shed some light on the state of the flock.

    [ ] Follow Shou as he checks out the town, looking for displaced Pokemon
    Shou seems to think he might be able to glean some information by getting some real numbers on the kinds of Pokemon that have been driven into the town, and he's allowed you to accompany him if you so desire.

    [ ] Help out around the base, doing general tasks
    A less intense job, if you're feeling up for it. The operators and mechanics who came with your crew of rangers still need help getting things set up around the hotel. It might not glean much information about the state of things, but it could be a nice way to rest after a hectic morning, and it is still work that needs doing.

    [ ] Write in
    Maybe you have something you personally want to explore on your own. The only caveat is to stay within the town and away from the Altaria you agitated, which should be simple enough.​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [] Follow Shou as he checks out the town, looking for displaced Pokemon
    Shou seems to think he might be able to glean some information by getting some real numbers on the kinds of Pokemon that have been driven into the town, and he's allowed you to accompany him if you so desire.

    I feel this is the best plan. The altaria are attention-grabbing, but who knows what else got blown in or snuck in with them around.
     
    I like that the plan was distributed between the various rangers to figure out.
    The entire encounter in general was well written in general, and the mix of bird and dragon temperaments showed through nicely.
    On the voting front, I have no preferences between the first three, I just want more info.
     
    I wanna do something where we can let Mareanie out. So it'll be between these two for me.


    [] Accompany Jackie as he checks out what the Altaria left behind after protecting the town

    [] Follow Shou as he checks out the town, looking for displaced Pokemon

    One to introduce her to lots of new mon, and another to indulge our her looting instincts.
     
    [X] Follow Shou as he checks out the town, looking for displaced Pokemon

    Is there a Moratorium? Or are the votes already open? Thanks.
     
    [X] Accompany Jackie as he checks out what the Altaria left behind after protecting the town

    [X] Follow Shou as he checks out the town, looking for displaced Pokemon

    TimEd makes a fair point.
     
    [X] Accompany Jackie as he checks out what the Altaria left behind after protecting the town
     
    [X] Accompany Jackie as he checks out what the Altaria left behind after protecting the town

    [X] Follow Shou as he checks out the town, looking for displaced Pokemon
     
    OxfordOctopus said:
    "WHIS!" B.B. barks in response, his own voice a brutal thunderclap of noise that shatters the Altaria's growing screech like a dinner plate. The Altaria cuts off, her head whipping around to find you and B.B., eyes narrowing.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Altaria's screech has got nothing on B.B. hehehe.
    allmightytoaster said:
    I like that the plan was distributed between the various rangers to figure out.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Agreed. Felt very organic and vibes of everyone being competent and useful/helpful in some way.
    TimEd said:
    I wanna do something where we can let Mareanie out. So it'll be between these two for me.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Oh yeah seconded.

    [X] Accompany Jackie as he checks out what the Altaria left behind after protecting the town

    I didn't like Shou's vibes when Urchin's newness was brought up so Jackie is my pick.
     
    [X] Accompany Jackie as he checks out what the Altaria left behind after protecting the town

    Normally I'd want to spend time getting to know our partner, but A) I get the feeling Shou might want some alone time and B) Jackie seems like a cool dude. Pierre has rizz for days
     
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