PTU: Divided Age (Day Four - Arrival at Aytmos)

[Natrivv]

"Sorry, but I'll save something from my dinner, ok?"

"I thought we paid for a dorm room? Dorm rooms tend to house several people don't they?"

"Everyone meets with a hello, and from their people learn about each other, and then if they share interests, or even just enjoy each other's company friendship forms, and since you seem intent on keeping everyone at arms length, I'll just need to get through the walls you put up." April then offers a surprisingly bright smile. Not even slightly winded from the run on sentence.

[Nioca]

Watching the strange man carefully, Grace fishes into a pocket of her dress, and pulls out a pokeball. A quick glance at it revealed a tiny LED green light indicating its occupant was still inside; aside from that, it looked the same as most other pokeballs. There's a moment of hesitation, the fluid movement of handing it over seeming to momentarily catch against Grace's better judgement. But she then quietly concedes the ball.

If her right hand hadn't twitched toward her side and created a momentary silhouette of something underneath, one might almost be inclined to think she trusted him, to a small extent.

► Show Spoiler

When I heard dorms, I thought it meant University-style Resident Halls, rather than multi-person Hostels. Might need some clarification from Dusk on which it is, so I'm going to hold off on responding to April.

EDIT: Yeah, it's definitely a single-person dorm:

Moving on to the dormitories, he discovers that they're pretty basic - bed, toilet, shower, desk, and a basic kitchen area. That's it. If he wants to get a room, all he has to do is ask the guy at the reception desk. Pretty straightforward. The bank account stuff Chris mentioned is a little harder to track down, but not by much. He soon realises that his Poketch is actually already auto-connected to the system, and that he can even use it as a sort of bankcard to pay for things in stores. The 800$ is on there, too - it seems they don't deduct the 400$ for the dorm until you set it up.

It's also mentioned later that Soren and Lars each got their own room to themselves (plus anyone they Whitelist).

[Dusk9]

Nul

"Yes I was, ah well I gyess i can use the night to flesh out the full report. What time does he normally get here?"

"Hmm...well, he's usually here when I get in. Soooo, around half eight, I guess?"

Thanking the scientist for her help, Nul makes his way back towards the reception. He decides to try searching the web a bit more as he goes, but doesn't have much luck. His first two attempts hit dead ends, "anomalies" and "glitches" being too vague for what he wants. The odd Pokemon query seems more effective though, pulling up a couple of pages that look like they might be interesting....

Also, it would probably help if he could actually spell Aytmos correctly

Roll Tech.

Grace, Percy, and April

As Grace chats awkwardly with the two new arrivals, conversation turns to the dorm rooms. At which point the receptionist, despite only half-listening, decides to pipe up.

"Oh, the rooms are all singles. I suppose you could share if you really wanted, but...well, let's just say it would be a bit cramped. Especially if you had your Pokemon out too."

It's at this point that Nul walks in, head still buried in his Poketch as he looks up stuff on the 'net.

► Show Spoiler

Yeah, Nioca's right: the rooms are all one-person. I don't know what you guys call them, but here in the UK they're called Studio rooms.

Here's a good example of one:

Han

Trying to shake off its injuries, the Clefairy prepares for one final barrage of slaps....

However the Fennekin doesn't even give it a chance.

Surrounding herself in a miniature inferno, the little fox charges in, slamming into the fairy in a blast of intense heat and light! Squinting, Han covers his eyes, the afterimage of the attack still imprinted on his retinas. And when the spots finally stop flickering in his vision, he looks back at the battle to see his little Fennekin friend....well, isn't really a Fennekin anymore.

Han's Fennekin has evolved into a Braixen!

Sighing in resignation as his Clefairy drops unconscious to the floor, the opposing trainer recalls it, sending out his last Pokemon - a tiny fairy thing, perched on a red floating flower.

Minccino (16), -16/65Hp, KO
Striped Weasel (16), KO
Braixen (13), 14/61Hp
Flower Fairy (10)
Clefairy (6), KO
Pineco (2), Conceded

[Arch Lich Burns]

PbP Forum code: tech [4d6+1] = 16+1 = 17 Holly helps him giving him a +1.

"Sup guys? hey badass girl."

[SuperVaderMan]

As the blaze around the Braixen dissipates, she blinks and looks down at her... hands? Before realizing that it's not really comfortable being on all fours anymore. So, she stands up, surprising both Han and herself with her new vantage point of over 3 feet of height.

"Oohh... this is wonderful, little friend. You should be much stronger now! Try your new strength with an Ember attack!"
Han scans the flower pokemon, as he gives his orders, though he's almost certain it's a Grass-type. Which it's not

The Braixen's self-inspection of her new form would have to wait for now. She faces her new opponent, a tiny little flower made even tinier from the Braixen's transformation, and shoots a spark of flame at it!
Ember on floating flower: 1D20 = [8] = 8
2D6+8+14 = [6, 4]+8+14 = 32

Also of note is the Braixen's new-found speed which, when combined with the 3 Flame Charges, pushes her Evasiveness even higher!

---

Braixen (20/13)

[Natrivv]

"Oh, I thought they were group rooms, sorry. Any interest in getting dinner together then? I did promise your friend a treat." At this point April tries to pay for a room, but while she opens the banking info, she still has trouble with the whole not fully autonomic part. April tech check [1d6] = 2

"Oh... hey Nul."

► Show Spoiler

They're called studio over here too, I just had college dorms in my head.

[M0rtimer]

Restating that Percival will accept the pokeball and use scrying on it.

[Dusk9]

Percy and Grace

Taking Mort's ball from Grace, Percy lets his body relax and mind wander. For a second, nothing happens - but then he feels the all too familiar sense of....something descend over his thoughts. He's never really been able figure out how his gift works, exactly. Not well enough to say what it is. The closest thing he can describe it to is a....a clouded veil, hovering just out of his reach.

However, while Percy can't interact directly with the veil, he can See through it. Only in very brief glimpses, perhaps, but you know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand words.

As usual, most of the things he sees are pretty dull. Trees, bushes, a rock here and there. But, some of the images are a little more interesting. Like the giant tree-dino, with huge leafy wings, dropping gracefully out of the sky. And the rather...tense stand-off between its rider, a friendly green-haired aviator, and the suspicious, pistol wielding girl he's trying to befriend. Jumping forward, the next flash is of Aytmos - only this time Percy is seeing it from the sky, soaring through the clouds on the back of the Gym Leader's Tropius.
The next few flashes are a blur of medical equipment and strangers in nurses outfits. Though Percy also catches a flash of someone he does recognise - the stiff, uptight Johnson, looking with widened eyes down the barrel of the pistol pointing at his face. Next, things move back outside, to the river. And to someone else he recognises - Han, chatting to Grace as their foxes play in the grass.

Almost as quickly as it began, the vision stops - the veil once again fading from Percy's Sight. But, while it might not be visible anymore, he can still feel it. Lurking, hiding at the very edge of his mind's eye.

► Show Spoiler

Percy uses Scrying! It's....kinda effective?

April and Nul

While Percy does his thing, his companions are busy trying to use computers. To varying degrees of success.

Browsing through the search pages, Nul quickly finds an entry that piques his interest. It seems to be an amateur webpage for reporting sightings of "strange or unusual Pokemon" in the wild. Most of them are cases of mistaken identity (like the guy who found an "electric Marill" that was actually a Pikachu). But some actually look legit. One even links to a news page, talking about the discovery of a mutated, giant, Poison-shifted Rattata living in the sewers of Eycikle City.

Roll Intuition.

April, meanwhile, is still struggling with her Poketch. Luckily though, the receptionist is still there to help her through the process, and she soon has a room number of her own.

Han

Quickly getting used to her new body, the Braixen coughs up a fireball at the Flabebe. The flower doesn't seem very flammable, surprisingly, but it still hurts pretty badly. Hovering above the fox, the fairy counterattacks with a blast of glittering wind, hitting her directly in the face for 30(9) damage and leaving her barely conscious!

Braixen (20/13), 5/61Hp
Minccino (16), -16/65Hp, KO
Striped Weasel (16), KO
Flabebe (10), Slightly Injured
Clefairy (6), KO
Pineco (2), Conceded

[Arch Lich Burns]

Nuligan tries to search for glitched pokemon.
PbP Forum code: Intuition [2d6] = 6

[SuperVaderMan]

"That is enough, friend. Come here, and I will send one of the others."

The Braixen gratefully returns to Han, a little unsteadily from both the beating she'd taken and from never having walked on two legs before.

Han sends out his Unown next, who zaps its non-Grass type opponent with its electric Hidden Power!
Hidden Power - Electric on Flabebe: 1D20 = [4] = 4
2D8+10+12 = [4, 4]+10+12 = 30
(Spending 1 AP to boost the AC to 5!)

Really late edit: Han's conceding the Braixen, if that wasn't clear

[M0rtimer]

His eyes still closed, Percival mutters silently as he peers beyond the veil- Only just loud enough for Grace to understand him.

"I see... Trees... Rocks... Nothing too interesting. Wait- There's Ryall... Although you seem rather suspicious of him... Got on though... Nice view."

"...In the center... And..." Percy says, his murmuring briefly stopping as Percival can't help but release a smirk as he gets to see Johnson looking down the barrel of the gun- "...Had it coming..."

"And... Hey. That's Han. You met Han?" Percival says- snapping back to real life as the veil lifts with his sudden realization, not to mention they had pretty much arrived at present time anyways. Realizing the girl must still be confused however he gives a mildly awkward laugh, passing back the pokeball- "I'm sorry... Grace, as I tried to demonstrate I have a... Gift. If I focus, I can often recall an object's history... But at times, I don't even need an object. Simply able to... Anticipate something. Past, present, or the future. And that is how I saw you would arrive. More than that, I got a glimpse at what you've been through... I could see it would be hard for you to trust someone. Now I can certainly understand why... But I also saw a girl that once she did trust someone, would back down at nothing to protect them. Hence I wanted to make sure you knew that you don't have to go at it alone."

"...So given all that, and knowing where we're both from... Maybe we should meet up again?" Percival says- Now offering Grace a genuine smile.

[Natrivv]

"Oh thank you, I'm still used to this process being more automated." Turning back to Grace she'll ask "Hey, I know I totally misunderstood how the dorm thing worked here, but do you want to eat together?"

[Nioca]

Grace takes back the ball. "So I take it yer some kinda psychic, then. Had a run-in with your kind before." Grace replies, a hint of venom lacing her title for the stranger. "Yes, I met Han. I'd taken the team out to relax when I ran into him, and he tried to lecture Mort on chasin' squirrels."

"But don't think your fancy powers means you know me," Grace adds, crossing her arms defensively. "You don't. And you sure as hell are barking up the wrong tree if you think a few pretty words means I'm gonna catch a bullet for you, which seems to be what your goin' for here."

"Hey, I know I totally misunderstood how the dorm thing worked here, but do you want to eat together?"

Turning her gaze to April, she keeps her arms crossed. "No, what I want to do is shower, and maybe sleep someplace that has indoor heating. I'm not-"

"Vuuuul," a soft, low whine interrupts Grace. Glancing down, she finds her vulpix staring up at her, his wide eyes shining with his plea.

"...Auri, you just ate twenty minutes ago."

"Vuul..."

Frowning, Grace's thought turn to her own recent meals, and to their sparseness and inadequacy. With a sigh, she turns back to April. "Alright, fine, but you're paying."

► Show Spoiler

Auri certainly has Grace well-trained.

Sorry for the delay here. It's been stupidly hectic all week; I've sat down to write a post about 8 different times, and got interrupted each time.

[Natrivv]

"That's great, and now I can also keep my promise to you" She says looking at the Vulpix in question.

Once at the Canteen April will quickly eat up the rest of the money remaining from her tips earlier that day, spending 20 poke on the meal for Grace, and then 40 for two bags of food for Auri, and Enchan.

► Show Spoiler

I'm going of the field packs that give a days worth of nutrition here for the price of Grace's meal.

[M0rtimer]

"...No, Grace, I evidently don't know you. I've only seen the tiniest glimpse of who you are... A good part, which I believe to be true." Percival says, offering Grace a faint smile as his eyes glance over the adorable chubby fox for a moment.

"But... You don't know me, either, do you? I'm not doing this for me. I'm just trying to say... It might be easy for now to push off this strange world and everything in it... But it'll take it's toll. It's why I've been trying to keep an open mind even though it's honestly a bit overwhelming. But what I'm trying to say is... You don't need to push everyone away. You can make new friends in this world. That doesn't have to be me. In fact, I'd prefer if you didn't go catching bullets anytime soon."

"But given how we all seem to be, you know... I think there's some comfort that can be found there." Percival says, offering what at least seems like another genuine smile, before sighing- Seeming to at least recognize that at least for a little bit, it's best to keep out of her way and let her cool down.

"Anyways, I guess I'll leave you two to grab some dinner then. I believe there was food included with this whole dorm thing, so I'm going to check that out..." Percival says, already good way on his way out when he seems to remember something- Making an abrupt 180 turn.

"Oh- Wait a second... Weren't we going to meet up with Chris this evening? Before she has to leave tomorrow?"

"Ah, well, you probably don't know her Grace, but she's the one who helped us get here... Maybe we could arrange for all of us to meet for dinner instead? Then we can introduce you to the others! If that's what you want, of course..."

► Show Spoiler

Note to Dusk: I don't expect any more RP for that, but depending on how things go we could have "And then everybody had a lovely dinner together before heading to their dorms, the end"

[Nioca]

"Yeah, I met her already," Grace replies. "And I suppose I might as well. I seem to be getting pulled into this thing anyhow."