GuyYouMetOnline

The fanfic version of this story is now up, and can be found [url=http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6292436/1/Warzone]here[/url]. A note: I will be using Eva in the fanfic. Sakura gave her permission for me to do so (although I'm really just taking the same starting point; my version of Eva will no end up substantially different from Sakura's).

The sweep was uneventful until Kiera and Dusa came back around the front to finish the sweep. As the main entrance came into view, they saw someone walking out of the building. "That's not one of ours," Kiera said. "Don't' attack, but be ready just in case." She released Espeon, and Dusa released an Umbreon. As they closed in on the unknown woman, Kiera saw that she had a Glaceon out. [i]Well, there's a funny little coincidence.[/i] "Who are you?" the girl asked as Kiera and Dusa came to a stop in front of her. "We could ask you the same thing," Kiera said. The girl thought for a moment before replying. "My name is Evangeline Drake." [i]Hmm... I've heard that name before. Wait.[/i] "Eva? PokeTalk 92.9?" She supposed that she usually wouldn't have known the name, but she'd been in Goldenrod for a couple weeks now, and had heard Eva on the radio several times. "That's right," Eva said. "And you are?" "I'm Kiera, and this is Dusa." "What are you doing here?" Eva asked "There's several of us hiding out here. We met during the attack, and I ended up leading the group." "Hmm, not just this city either. When the pokémon attacked us I was reading out a headline about Vermillion City in Kanto being hit by a similar strike." [i]And not just Vermillion, either,[/i] Kiera thought. "Well," she said as she and Dusa recalled their Pokemon, "I think you can be trusted, especially since you were caught in the attack, too." "Well I'm glad you think so," Eva said as Glaceon returned to her side. "If you're joining the group, then I'd appreciate it if you would tell me your Pokemon team. Aside from the obvious, of course." "Glaceon, clearly," Eva said, "Blaziken, Mightyena, Donphan, and Ampharos." [i]Odd.[/i] "Only five? Not a full team?" "....Yeah, guess not..." Eva replied hesitantly, placing her hand on the Pokeball hanging from her necklace. [i]Not that simple, then,[/i] Kiera thought. [i]Did her sixth die? Maybe not; she doesn't look like she's thinking about a loss. Could be wrong, though. Well, I'll have to ask her about it. In private, I think.[/i] "Come on," she said, "let's go meet up with the rest of the group." The three of them, plus Glaceon, stepped inside. "Kiera!" Kiera turned towards the voice to see Daniel and Terrence approaching. "Who's this?" Daniel asked, indicating Eva. "This is Eva," Kiera said. "Eva, this is Daniel and Terrence, two others from the group. Did you two find anything?" "No," Terrence said. "Well, nothing you haven't found. We thought we had something, but lost it as it moved this way." "Yeah, that was me," Eva said. "As I thought." "Well, this works well," Kiera said. "Dusa, you go with Daniel and Terrence. Finish the sweep, then return to the group. I'm going to take Eva on a supply run." "All right," Dusa said. She headed off with the pair. Kiera took her bag off-[i]And I should make sure to tell people to keep their packs with them[/i]-and opened it up. She reached in and pulled out another bag, an empty one. "Wait," Eva said, "you keep a spare bag in your bag?" "Yeah," Kiera replied. "What if my bag fails? I don't want to be in the wilderness and end up having to leave almost all of my supplies behind. And it's easy to fit an empty bag through into this one. Although it needs to stay off, of course, since stacked compression can have... interesting results." Which was why most bags made a lot of noise if anything with active compression, such as an occupied Pokeball, came near an open pouch. "Anyways, here. We're set up in the outdoor department, so I'll get another spare when we get back there. Anyways, come on." ------------------------------------ "Okay," Kiera said as Eva loaded food into her bag, "if you're going to stay with our group, then you need to know the rules. If you don't follow them, you're out of the group. First of all, I'm in charge. I didn't ask for that position, but when we all ran into each other, I was the only one who'd managed to stay calm enough to think clearly, so I ended up in charge. If you have thoughts on something I say, feel free to say so, but in the end, I'll expect you to go with whatever I end up deciding. Especially if we're actively in danger; I can't have anyone second-guessing me when we're in the middle of a fight." "All right," Eva said. "What else?" "The only other set rule I've made so far is that nobody goes anywhere alone. I don't care what you're doing; have at least one other human with you-and within sight-at all times. Yes, even if you're using the bathroom. I've already had one person slip away to do that in private," she explained after a questioning look. "Privacy takes a backseat to safety." "Makes sense. Anything else I need to know?" "Keep an eye out for symbols like that one by the entrance, or the one we'll see when we reach the pharmacy section. I think they may be related to whatever's going on." "All right. Is that all?" "Pretty much," Kiera said, "although I do have something to ask you." "What is it?" Eva replied, but Kiera could tell that she knew what was coming. [i]She was ready for me to press this. Definitely a sign that she's hiding something.[/i] "I''m fairly certain you've figured out what this is about," Kiera said. "You only named five pokemon when I asked for your team earlier." "I only have a team of five." "And yet you've got a sixth Pokeball on a necklace." 'It's... it means something to me." [i]Let's see about that.[/i] "Did your sixth die?" Eva's surprise at that qoestion briefly showed on her face, but she quickly hid it, although not quickly enough to keep Kiera from seeing it. "Um-" [i]As expected[/i] "No need to answer," Kiera said. "It never occurred to you that someone might think that, did it? I can tell you weren't expecting the question. You do have a sixth, don't you? You just don't want to say what it is." "I-" "If you want it kept secret, I won't tell anyone." "And yet you're asking me to tell you." "The difference," Kiera said, "is that I'm in charge of this group. Nobody else needs to know, but I won't accept having something like that kept from me. So out with it. What is your sixth Pokemon?" "I'm not going to tell you." "Then you're not going to come with us. It's your choice. I don't want to be a ***** here, but I need the group to do what I say. If you have objections, then by all means, voice them, but in the end, I can't have people going against me, not if we're going to get out of this alive. So I'll ask again: what is your sixth Pokemon?" "I don't want people to know I have it," Eva said after a pause. "Then I won't say anything." There was another pause. "All right," Eva said eventually. "My sixth is a Latias." [i]Latias? How the hell did she pull that off?[/i] "Well. All right, then. Thank you for telling me. And don't worry; I won't say a thing about it. And again, sorry about the rigid ***** routine. I don't like having to be like that, but, well..." "It's all right," Eva said. "Okay, then. Now that that's over with, let's get this supply run over with, shall we?"

Kiera got to her feet as Dusa's group returned. "Any problems?" "No," Dusa said, "although I did hear a noise as we were finishing up." That got Kiera's attention. "Where?" "Pharmacy area. We were getting basic first-aid supplies." "Okay," Kiera said. "Let's see here... okay, Daniel and Terrence, you're with us." Daniel was another trainer, but Terrence was not. That didn't mean he didn't have any experiance with Pokemon battles, though; he may not have been an actual trainer, and may have had only the one Pokemon, but his Metagross was pretty tough, at least according to him. Kiera would've preferred to take another trainer, but she didn't want to leave the main group with too few, and Terrence would most likely suffice. "Dusa," she said, "take us to where you heard it." "And now you're freaking out because of some noise," Kathrine remarked. "What is the deal with all this paranoia?" "It keeps us alive," Kiera said. "If you don't like it, you can leave. Brandon, keep an eye on her, will you?" Brandon nodded, and Kiera turned back to Dusa and the other two. "Okay, Dusa, let's go." **************** "You know," Daniel said as Dusa lead the group over to where she'd heard the noise, "she may actually be at least somewhat close to having a point. I understand checking on a noise, but don't you think four of us is overkill? It's probably just a random wild Pokemon, anyways." "Not here it's not," Kiera said. "These Pokemon are not wild. You need to accept that right now. I have no doubt that there are still wild Pokemon, but the ones in this city are not among them. I know it may look like they've gone completely irrational and savage, but they haven't. This was planed, and judging by the fact that other cities were also attacked, coordinated. These Pokemon are most certainly not 'wild'." "Still, is checking out a noise with four people really necessary?" "I doubt it, but I'd rather be overprepared than underprepared. Although the main reason at the moment is that this way we have enough people to split up if we need to and still be in pairs." "We're here," Dusa said. "All right, then," Kiera said. "Let's sweep the area. And be careful. I'd expect that whatever made the noise is no longer here, but there's no garuntee of that. All right, let's get to work." Kiera led the group carefully through the isles. There wasn't any sign of anything at first, but then Kiera saw something that caught her attention. "What the hell is that?" Kiera led the group over to the wall and examined the odd design on it. "Any of you seen anything like this before? Daniel?" "No." "Dusa? "Um, no." "Terrence?" "Not something I've seen before." "And it wasn't here when we got here," Kiera said. "How do you know?" Dusa asked. "Because we did a full sweep of the place when we arrived," Kiera explained. "It was before you got here." "And you're sure it wasn't here then?" Kiera nodded. "I'm sure. Which means it was put here since then. Odds are that the noise you heard came from the one who made this mark." "So what, you think another person came in here and did this? Another human?" "No," Kiera said. "Not a human. Daniel, Terrence, get back to the campsite. Let them know there may be at least one unknown Pokemon in the building, and tell them to be on guard. Then do a sweep of the building. You two should be fine, but if you're not confident, take... Cain and Alicia with you. And don't just look for Pokemon. I want to know if there are any more symbols like this." "Do you think it means something?" Dusa asked. "Yes, I do. Why bother to put it here if it doesn't? And since it's most likely a Pokemon that did it, I think it's fair to say that it may very well have some connection to all of this. All right then. Dusa, you and I are going to do a sweep around the outside of the building. There may be more marks outside, and if there are, I want to know." ****************** "I don't know about this," Dusa said as she and Kiera headed for the entrance. "Are you sure it's safe?" "I don't think there's anywhere safe in this city any more, but you're right that it's more dangerous that the inside sweep. That's why it's the two of us going outside." "Are you sure that's a good idea? I'm not really very experienced; I've only been a trainer for a short time." "I could tell that when I asked for everyone's teams," Kiera said. "Yours definitely indicates you're a fairly new trainer. But I think you'll do just fine. In addition, you made it here by yourself, and that tells me you can stay calm and rational even when the **** really hits the fan hard. Which is very important. I don't think any of the others could do that; some were mild, but they were all panicking to at least a minor extent when I found them. Which is understandable, given the situation, but it's still a hinderance. In fact, we should probably keep one of us with the main group at all times. i'll have to remember that in the future." "Wait, are you saying I'm like a second-in-command or something?" "Not really. You're just my backup. If need be, you can lead the group in my place. I'll tell you what to do, though; you'll just have to do it. I can't be in two places at once, so it may be necessary." "I don't know." "Well, think about it, then. As for now," she said as the two of them reached the entrance, "we've got some work to do." The two of them walked outside, and Kiera quickly noticed another symbol on the outside wall by the door. "So there is more than one. And this one wasn't here when we arrived, either. Dusa, was this there when you came in?" "Um, no." "So it's new, too, then. But what the hell does it mean?" She pause briefly, then continued. "Well, come on. We've got a job to do." ------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Sakura, if you want Eva to meet up with Kiera, here's a good opportunity to do so.

Right now, they're just doing supply runs, although there will likely be other tasks in the future.

Chibi: That's fine. Humaru: There's no need to wait until everyone else has posted.

Feel free to describe them on your own. I deliberately left that open.

A note: Sakura has been given permission to have a Latias.

All right, the RP's up.

And it's up. Again, I'm leaving sigh-ups open for ow, so if you still want to sign up, go ahead. Note: Lawliet has recieved my permission to have a Phione.

"We definitely want several of these," Kiera said. What are they?" Kathrene asked. The two women and two others, Brandon and Seth, had just taken packs off the shelves, and were going around the store packing supplies and equipment. They didn't have anywhere to run to yet, but Kiera wanted to be ready in case they had to make a quick escape. Others had already packed their own bags; groups of thre or four were splitting off one at a time. There was generally one person in each group who took charge of packing for everyone. Kiera made sure that each group had at least one person with outdoor experiance; fortunately, there were enough trainers that this wasn't difficult. Kiera's groups had just started; they were still in the outdoor department, which was where they'd set up what everyone had taken to calling 'the campsite'. "These are chemical analyzers," Kiera told Kathrine. "And we need something like that why?" "Because if we're out in the wilderness, we may need to know what is and isn't safe. What if we need water? Maybe we find some, but we don't know if it's safe. So you just take one of these and fill up the little container here, then turn it on, and it'll tell you. Same goes for food. You wouldn't want to eat something poisonous. That's what this end is for. Stick it in the fruit or whatever it is, and you'll know if it's safe to eat." "Don't we have enough food and water already?" "Probably," Kiera said, "but I don't want to take chances. If we have to leave, who knows when we'll be able to stock up next?" "I don't want to leave," Kathrine said. "As soon as this settles down, I'm going home." Kiera sighed. [i]You're going to be a problem, aren't you?[/i] "Well, I don't think that'll happen anytime soon," she said, "but that's something we can talk about later. Here, take one." Kathrine did so, and the group continued through the store. [i]It's only been a few hours since we got here,[/i] Kiera thought, [i]and we may already be having a problem. Damn.[/i] *********** It was Seth who noticed first. "Hey, where's Kathrine?" [i]Oh, ****.[/i] "Okay, not good," Kiera said. "Damn. All right, what happened? Not an attack; we'd have noticed. "Did she get left behind?" "I doubt it. We've been careful about that." "Obviously not careful enough. Damn, we must have lost her while moving." "Not likely," Kiera said. "I admit that I haven't been paying much attention to any one of you. but I have been paying attention to the group as a whole. It can't have happened too long ago; she's probably just been gone for a minute or so." "But where is she?" Brandon finally spoke up. "I think she's using the bathroom." "She was saying she needed to go," Seth noted. "And we said we'd do a bathroom stop while in the grocery department, since they're located just off from it." Kiera said. "And that's where we are now." "But that doesn't explain why she's missing, does it?" "It does," Kiera said. "Damn it, I knew she'd cause trouble. She snuck away because she wanted her damn privacy. You heard her protest my insistance on staying in at least pairs. I told her we'd make a bathroom stop, but the idiot kept saying she didn't want someone else in there with her. And she knew I'd never change my mind, so she snuck away. Damn it! All right, come on. We need to go retrieve her." ********* The three of them came to a halt in front of the bathrooms. "Okay," Kiera said, "I think this stupid lady needs a lesson." "Um, what are you planning to do?" Seth asked. "Scare the **** out of her." Kiera grabbed one of her pokeballs, releasing Arcanine. "Okay, Arcanine, we've got a lady inside there who needs a lesson. Run in and make like you're attacking her. you'll need to make it look real, but don't hurt her. I want you to chase her out to us. got it?" Arcanine nodded. "Good. Okay, then. Go!" Arcanine charged into the ladies' room. A few seconds later, there was a loud scream, which was followed by other loud noises and then Kathrine running out of the restroom, terrified, with Arcanine right behind her. Kathrine ran straight into Brandon, sending both of them to the ground. Kathrine lept back to her feet and spun around to face Arcanine. Arcanine, however, wasn't paying attention to her anymore. He'd gone back over to Kiera. "Good job," Kiera said as the returned Arcanine to its ball. She went over to Brandon and helped him to his feet, then turned to face a now very angry Kathrine. "Okay, Kathrine, just what the hell were you thinking?" "What was [i]I[/i] thinking?" Kathrine yelled back. "What were [i]you[/i] thinking? Were you trying to kill me?" "If you had died, it would've been your own fault. You're the one who snuck away from us." "I had to use the bathroom!" "And I told you we'd do a bathroom stop." "And you also told me you wouldn't give me privacy! What did you expect me to do?" "I expected you to put up with it," Kiera said. "Absolutely not!" [i]Okay, I've had enough of this *****.[/i] "Okay, want to know why I did that? Because if that had been an enemy Pokemon, you'd have been dead. Beacuse I felt that you needed the **** scared out of you. Because you clearly do not understand the situation you're in." "Just because you're scared of some wild Pokeomn doesn't mean I am." "They are not wild," Kiera said. "They're clearly organized, and based on the fragments coming in before the power went down, other cities have been attacked, as well. They're not just cooperating, they're coordinating. Are there still 'wild' Pokemon? Undoubtedly. There's no way every Pokemon out there is participating in this. There are most certainly still substantial numbers of wild Pokemon. But the ones in this city aren't among them. they've got organization, and they seem to have an objective as well: killing humans. get that through your head: if they find you, they will move to kill you. As I said, if that had been an enemy Pokemon instead of one of mine, you'd be dead." "And you think that means you can order everyone around? What the hell gives you the right to tell us what to do?" "If we hadn't listened to her, we'd probably be dead," Brandon said. "You were just as panicked as the rest of us. Kiera's in charge because she's the only one who kept her head straight throughout all this ****. Because she's prooven she can stay calm when the **** hits the fan. I'm sure she doesn't want the responsibility of being our group's 'leader', but she's the only one who's prooven she can handle it. That's why." "Here's how it's going to be, Kathrine," Kiera said. "If you want to stay with the group, fine. But if you're with the group, you have to follow the rules. if you can't do that, you're not coming with us." "So now you're going to abandon me?" "That one's up to you. If we do leave you on your own, it will be of your own choosing. So, are you going to follow the rules?" there was a silence. "Fine," Kathrine said eventually. "Good. Then come on, let's get back to work." And they did. And although Kathrine was clearly still angry, she didn't cause any more trouble, and before long, the four of them had finished and returned to the campsite. "We're back," Kiera said. "Dusa, you take your group next." "Sure," Dusa said. [i]I think she's a good one to have around,[/i] Kiera thought as Dusa and three others walked off. [i]She certainly seems to have kept her cool better than any of the others. And that's good.[/i] Kiera looked around at the others, then sat down. [i]A lot of them think we're done running, don't they? They think we can stay here. But no. This is only temporary. We'll have to leave eventually. The only question is where to go. We don't know how many cities in total have been hit, or which ones. We could easily walk into a situation just as bad as this. Damn it, how the hell are we going to survive this?[/i] ----------------------------------------------------- Well, here we go.

Okay, looking good, everyone. I'd say everyone's in so far (although Lilt, please remove the teleportation part; see the Backstage thread for more information). The RP will probably be going up sometime in the next couple days, but sign-ups will remain open for the time being.

[quote name='Sakura' date='11 July 2010 - 07:21 AM' timestamp='1278858109' post='697107'] [size="2"][color="#800080"]Takuya, long time no see. Thinking of trying to get back into the swing of OB and saw your thread so I thought I'd check it out. I'm kinda out of the Pokemon swing so I don't really know the different cities and stuff past the first gen. games and some of the second gen. Any help on that would probably be good, or anywhere you would prefer me to start? Will probably try to come up with a scenario sign up, which might take me at least a day. When are you thinking of starting the RP? Alright, will check back and start working on my basics.[/color][/size] [/quote] Well, holy ****, someone I know from before I changed my username. For the information you wantd, I'd recommend seribii.net. Some people seem to prefer Bulbapedia for Pokemon information, but I've never used that site, so I can't say anything about how useful it is. The RP's probably starting in a day or two, but don't feel like you need to rush; you can post your sign-up whenever. I'm not going to close sign-ups (introducing new characters would be fairly easy in something like this), so there's no hurry. Humaru: I don't know that I'll be using that, but thanks for it anyways. A note: Lilt, your sign-up post included Dusa's Abra teleporting her (and please remove that), reminding me that I forgot to mention teleportation and other psychic abilities in my notes, so here goes: Teleportation is not possible. Mind reading is also not possible, although telepathic communication is, to a limited extent. Humans do not have such abailities, however; only Pokemon with psychic abilities can do it. Also, just because a Pokemon has psychic abilities doesn't mean it knows how to communicate telepathically. Pokemon in the wild are less likely to be able to communicate telepathically; those who've been around humans for a substantial time, such as those captured by trainers, are the ones that usually develop the ability. In addition, the Pokemon must know the location of the person it's communicating with, which effectively limits the range to line-of-sight (which is why wild Pokemon generally don't bother learning to do it; at that range, they can communicate normally, and they can already understand each other. In most circumstances, it's really only useful for communicating with humans.).

Please do.

[quote name='Lilt' date='03 July 2010 - 01:34 AM' timestamp='1278146070' post='696423'] [b]Okay, Guy. Well, I chose my team. Just let me know if I will even survive with a team this low at all and I will finish up my sign up. How will we handle Pokémon evolutions by the way? Maybe evolution items like moon stones and leaf stones, etc will be valuable now?[/b] [/quote] There probably won't be many cases of evolution, although I suppose your character's more likely to have evolving Pokemon than the others. As for evolution catalysts, those have always been pretty rare and valuable, and that's not likely to change. Although most of them are still found, not purchaced, so having your character discover one or maybe more shouldn't be a problem. As for your team, yours obviously isn't going to be as effective as a team like, say, Kiera's, but it's certainly an acceptable team for you to have.

Yes, the RP covers all regions (although let's stay away from Black/White's new region). As for everyone meeting, I'm not sure what's going to happen. I don't think it's completely necessary for everyone to end up as a group, but it could happen. I plan to see how things are unfolding before deciding on any specific direction to take this in. Feel free to message me with any ideas, though.

Not bad so far, although I was hoping for the writing samples to be more than a paragraph or two. My own with Kiera is a fairly good example of the kind of thing I'm looking for (although you can certainly vary the length; use mine as a guideline, not a requirement). And Cat, you need to work on your grammar. Fix up the grammar, and then we'll see about the rest.

Lilt: Not every Pokemon is involved in the attacks. As mentioned in the intro post, not all trainers had incidents with their Pokemon. Those Pokemon that didn't turn on their trainers before aren't suddenly going to do so now. So basically, trainers' Pokemon made the choice to remain with their trainers. A basic rule for this is that if they didn't turn on their trainers, they'll follow instructions and all that just as they did before the changes began. As for teams, pretty much anything goes, as long as there are no legendaries (although if you really want one, message me and I'll see what we can work out). However, do make sure the team matches your character. So if your character's a new trainer, his/her team should reflect that (weaker Pokemon, for instance; not a strong team like an experienced trainer might put together). If your character's never left a certain region, limit what Pokemon he/she has that are usually only found in other regions (there are still ways one could get Pokemon from other regions, so one or two is certainly fine). As long as you keep that in mind, as well as the no-legendary rule, have whatever team you want. And as for Team Rocket, I'm going to go ahead and say no to them being in this world. If you want your character to belong to a criminal organization, that's fine. Team Rocket is generally seen as a more silly type of group, and a real criminal organization wouldn't be that way. And even if you portrayed Team Rocket as more serious, that perception would still be there. So no on TR, but yes on the criminal organization part (although unless your character's a new member, she should probably be a bit older). Humaru: I haven't worked out characters meeting up yet. It depends a lot on where people have their characters be. Yes, characters will meet up, but I don't yet know how it'll happen. If you have any kind of idea, though, feel free to message me about it. That goes for everyone: If you have an idea, let me know.

[i]Something happened. It started with an increase in incidents of Pokemon disobeying and, in some cases, attacking their trainers. Analysis of the incidents showed that they occurred more frequently with trainers who treated their Pokemon poorly. It seemed, then, that Pokemon had simply begun excersizing a greater level of personal choice. This news, though fairly major, ended up not being as huge a story as some predicted; in fact, many people were surpried that such a thing hadn't happened sooner, especially in regards to less kind trainers. Such incidents with trainers who do treat their Pokemon well, it was assumed, were for other reasons; a Pokemon that wants to remain wild, for instance, or one that doesn't like its trainer for some other reason. But despite that, the general consensus was that it was a change for the better. Next came an increase in the resistance to capture of wild Pokemon.Many saw nothing too strange about this; it seemed a natural extension of Pokemon exercising greater choice in regards to their trainers. The speed with which these changes occurred was seen as strange, however, but most saw this as nothing more than a curiosity, especially since most attention was on the fact that these changes were occurring at all. The attacks began about a month after Pokemon started exercising greater personal choice. Not individual attacks; these were coordinated strikes against multiple cities. This was no natural incident; it was a surprise attack. It was the opening strike of a war.[/i] Kiera Sente leaned cautiously out from the alleyway. [i]Looks clear.[/i] "You sense anything, Espeon?" she whispered, turning to the Pokemon beside her. Espeon shook her head. "Good." She turned to the other Pokemon next to her. "All right, Sceptile, bring the others up." Sceptile vanished back through the alleyway. She was soon back, a small group of humans following her. Around them were the other four members of Kiera's team: Gardevoir on point, Glaceon and Arcanine to either side, and Garchomp bringing up the rear. They'd been moving carefully through the streets of Goldenrod in this manner for a while now, and had almost reached their destination. "Okay," Kiera said, "it looks clear. The bad news is that we'll be in the open the rest of the way, so we'll have to move quickly. It shouldn't take us more than a couple minutes, but it'll be the longest we've been exposed for. If we're seen, just keep moving and let me handle it. And you stay with," she said to the four Pokemon surrounding the humans. "Espeon and Sceptile will stay with me." She leaned out again for one more look. [i]Okay, looks like we're good to go. Damn it, this is not how I wanted to be spending my birthday. 'Happy 25th! Now go run for your life!' Well, let's do this.[/i] "Now!" Things had happened quickly, and not just in Goldenrod. Goldenrod had been hit about fifteen minutes after news for the first attack, targeting Vermillion, had reached the city. Within that time, there were reports of attack from several other cities, including Olivine in Johto, Slateport in Hoenn, and Veilstone and Hearthome in Sinnoh. How many other cities had been attacked was unknown, because the attacking Pokemon took out the city's power as quickly as they could. Their force took the city completely by surprise, and had overrun it before anyone really knew what was happening. The main force, Kiera thought, had likely departed, but a substantial number still remained, and everyone in the city was in danger. The attacking force had killed everyone it could, and the remaining force was scouring the city, looking for anyone who was still alive. [i]What the hell is this?[/i] Kiera wondered as she and her group moved. [i]This is clearly not some crazy wild Pokemon rampage. This was carefully planned, and it sounds like it was coordinated with other attacks. That implies centralized leadership. But why this massacre? Why go straight to 'kill everyone'?[/i] Kiera had stumbled upon a small group as she'd moved through the city. Like her, they'd just happened to come upon each other, and had banded together in the hope that it would increase their chance of survival. Except that the group's mood was one of panic. None of them really had their wits about them, whereas Kiera had managed to keep her cool. So she'd found herself the informal leader of the group, simply because nobody else was composed enough to think too clearly. The group made it the rest of the way to their destination without incident, and quickly entered the building. [i]Running for our lives, staying out of sight, banding together in desperation, and now we're hiding out in the local big box store,[/i] Kiera thought as she recalled her team. [i]I feel like I'm in a goddamn zombie movie.[/i] She examined the group. "Okay, it looks like we're all here. Good. All right, we should be at least a little safer here, but I don't think there's anywhere in the city that's completely safe. Let's see here... you and you." She pointed at two who looked less shaky then the rest. [i]And who have multiple Pokemon on them.[/i] "You're one pair. And you, you're with me. We need to sweep the place, make sure there aren't any surprises waiting for us. And we need to seal all the doors as best we can. Am I right to assume that all three of you are trainers?" They nodded. "Good. You two take the left side; we'll take the right. As for the rest of you... you. Are you a trainer, too?" Another nod. "All right, then. You take everyone over to the outdoor department. We'll set up camp there-and I guess that's where the camping gear is, so pardon the pun. Get everyone there and wait. Once the four of us get back, we'll see about food and other supplies. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "All right, then. Two more things. First, we may not be the only people hiding in here, and even if we are now, someone else may show up later. If anyone else is here, they'll probably be just as on edge as we are, so be careful. But try not to hurt them; any humans we see will be in the same situation as we are, so we should join together, not fight. And second, we're at risk even here, so nobody goes anywhere alone. Always move in pairs at the minimum. Do not go anywhere alone. Don't even step out of sight of your partner. I don't care if you need to take a piss, or what. Have another human with you at all times. Got it?" More nods. "Good. All right, then, let's get to work." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- That should tell you the basic situation. Armies of Pokemon are attacking cities and killing everyone they see. People in the attacked cities are desperately trying to survive, and those in other cities are probably pretty damn freaked out by the news of all this. Check the [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/index.php?/topic/44425-pokemon-warzone-backstage/"]Backstage thread[/url] for more information. Sign-ups can be in whatever form you like, but they must contain the following information: Name Age Gender Current location/situation Pokemon team Appearance information isn't required. You can include it if you want, but you don't have to. Just dropping a few bits of information here and therethroughout the RP will be more than sufficient. Children are allowed, but they're not going to be skilled trainers. I know the show has kids starting at age 10, but that's not the case here. Kids can have Pokemon, but nobody under the age of 16 is allowed to be a registered trainer. And if you want to be in the millitary, note that nobody under 20 is permitted to join any branch of the millitary. Some basic personality information is also necessary, but it's probably not necessary to include anything besides what comes out in what you write, although if you decide to do a basic sign-up form, do be sure to include some personality information. Although if you do just do a form, I'll want a seperate writing sample anyways, so you still may not need to include anything extra. As for the location/situation part, you're free to choose where you want your character to be and what you want him/her to be doing (if it's unacceptable, I'll let you know, but I don't think that will be an issue).(And if you want to be in Kiera's group, or someone else in the same place, go ahead.). And a note on Pokemon teams: no legendaries. If you really want one, PM me, and I'll see what we can work out. Well, there we go. If you have any questions, please head over to the Backstage thread.

In case you haven't read the Auditions thread, it's [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/index.php?/topic/44426-pokemon-warzone/"]here[/url]. Okay, there's some information to get out of the way, so here we go. First, cities. As mentioned in the Auditions thread, multiple cities have been hit. In all cases, the attackers took out power to the city as quickly as possible, so any news that got out is incomplete and fragmentary, but some has gotten out, including a few brief clips of Pokemon viciously attacking humans, and, of course, which cities have been hit. And, also as mentioned, a force is left behind in each city when the main army departs, and they're hunting and killing any survivors. The following is a list of the cities that have been attacked, with additional notes as necessary: Vermillion: The first city hit. All the forces moved in at about the same time, so it wasn't by more than a couple minutes, but Vermillion was the first city attacked. Despite the millitary presence there, the city was overrun with minimal resistance, thanks to the attacking force achieving complete and total surprise. Olivine Sunnyshore Cerulean Slateport Jubilife: Most information about the current situation, including the video clips, came from Jubilife; the Jubilife TV network continued broadcast for as long as they possibly could. Hearthome Goldenrod: Goldenrod's end of the Magnet Train system is down. Saffron's end is still active, but the system only works if both ends are active, so the Magnet Train is currently inoperable. Pewter Blackthorn Oreburgh: The last city to be overrun, it was first hit about twenty-five minutes after Vermillion. Lilycove: The only targeted city to mount any effective resistance. Naval forces were conducting full-scale training exersizes offshore, and detected the approach of a large force of aquatic Pokemon. A second force came in on land, but by then, the navy had engaged and defeated the oncoming aquatic force and returned to shore. The second force was also engaged and repelled, although not before inflicting significant damage to the city, as well as substantial casualties, both civilian and millitary. Other notes: It has been five hours since the first attack. On supplies: Packs make use of the same matter-compression technology used to allow Pokeballs to contain even the largest of Pokemon. The compression ratio isn't as good, but the packs are larger than Pokeballs, so it evens out. The biggest limitation on such packs is that anything put in them has to to be able to fit through the unzipped opening, so there is a limit on how large any one item in such a pack can be. As stated previously, information on exactly what's happening in the attacked cities is minimal, with nothing coming out of a city once the power goes down (no cell phones here; yes, I realize some of the games have such things, but for the purposes of the RP, there aren't any). As a result, nobody outside of those cities knows much about the situations within them. Those within an attacked city will have little to no knowledge of conditions within other cities, or even of which and how many cities were hit. Conditions within the attacked cities can be assumed to be similar to the depiction of Goldenrod in in Auditions thread, although details are open for interpretation. Cities with notables levels of millitary forces include Eterna, Fuchia, and Rustboro (army), and Violet and Fallarbor (air force). Vermillion's naval forces were pretty much wiped out, whereas Lilycove's remain fairly intact. On levels and moves: Levels will not be used. Pokemon do get tougher with more fighting, but I don't want to see anything about a 'level x' anything. Also, Pokemon are not limited to four moves. Actually, using move names is not required, although you can if you want to. However, note that moves are not completely set actions. This isn't [url="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VancianMagic"]Vancian Magic[/url]. The fire breath of the 'Flamethrower' move, for example, is not limited to to basic blast of flame. This RP is intended to be a bit more realistic that the games and other material. What I mean by that is, primarily, that humans and Pokemon are going to be dying. A human that gets zapped or burnt to a crisp is not going to come out of it just fine. There. That's everything I can think of right now. If I think of anything else, I'll add it, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them.

Works for me.

[quote name='Kei'][COLOR=darkblue][SIZE=1]The size of the squad is fine. The thing is, though, that the mission here was really supposed to be more of a precision tactical air raid, so Falkner may not (read: will not) be pleased about there being ground action involved. And since the city is already on alert and there are troops on the ground, the squad's escape might be a bit more harried than your post would lead one to believe. There wouldn't necessarily be casulaties, but you'll probably have a bit of a rabble behind you. =p[/SIZE][/COLOR][/quote] I guess that part just wasn't clear. I didn't see anything in that post that indicated this was supposed to be purely an air strike. I was assuming that there'd be a good deal of that, if only because flying Pokemon are the focus of Falkner's gym, but I didn't see anything to indicate that the actual order was 'air strike'. As for the city being on alert, Brand's squad was hitting an outlying residential area, and I didn't think there'd be too much in the way of forces there. There is, of course, a limit to the size of any force in the city, so decisions like where to prioritize defesive forces have to be made. And I figured that if nothing else, people could be moved from the outlying areas into protected areas. Anyways, it's your choice how this all plays out, but here's my suggestion: Brand, as I've stated before, isn't a gym trainer. He's a recruit like Aesera, although he joined a good deal earlier. So I think that if you indeed want to go with it being supposed to be a pure air strike, Brand, being less familiar with Falkner's methods and ways of speaking (I'd assume most of the team leaders are gym trainers, although there would doubtless be exceptions, like Brand), simply misinterpreted the orders. I would think, then, that any... diciplinary action taken in response to a team going in on the ground would be given to Brand, as the others were just following their team leader in. Although Falkner may have something else to be angry at Aesera for (the prisoners, maybe, and of course the fact that she's still pushing treating Pokemon as equals). There, that's my suggestion. Any thoughts?

I've got my post up, now, too. Allamorph/Kei, I don't know what size you want the assault teams to be. Brand's currently has six people I've specifically mentioned, so is that a good size? Or would you rather it be larger? Because I've never specified its size; there's no reason I can't have more people in it. Also, I hope that stuff about 'battle sleep' was all right; it seemed like the kind of 'reinterpretation' you've been talking about. Also, I'm not sure what will be done with the prisoners, but in case 'interrogation' is a possibility, I'd like to make sure it's known that Aesera would not object, and would probably even be the one to first suggest doing so (she's something of an ends-justify the-means type, although she'd never put it that way herself).

The teams prepared quickly and took off as soon as they were ready. Everyone was leaving most of their supplies behind, which made sense; why carry extra weight if you don't need to? Everyone was taking the standard field equipment, of course, but that was it. "Okay," Brand said, "we don't have a lot of time here. We get in, do some damage, and get out. Our target is one of the outer residential areas." "As long as we're not the ones hitting the Center," Tala said. "I do not want to be part of that." "They're not actually going to damage the Center facilities, are they?" Aesera said. "I don't know," Brand replied. "It really depends on which team is hitting it, and that's something I don't know. In a way, I wish it was us hitting the Center. At least then we'd know." "I'd still rather not," Tala said. "Well, we're in agreement on that. Okay, people, mount up. Let's go." The team landed in the middle of the target area and dismounted their birds. "Okay," Brand said, "let's do some damage. Looks like there's a convinience store over there. Tala, take Jan and Cain, and go wreck it. Everyone else, we'll just make a mess for now. As for people, if they run, let them, but if they try to fight, they're fair game. Incapacitate them however you can, but let's try to minimize casualties. All right, go!" Tala's team released Pokemon and headed off. The others also began releasing their Pokemon of choice. "I think we've got a couple trainers behind us," Aesera told Brand as she released a couple Pokemon of her own. "I spotted them on the way in. They may be coming at us." "Good to know." "Actually," Aesera said, "I plan to take care of them." "You- wait, excuse me? You want to take them on solo?" "Don't worry," Aesera said as she turned back to her Pokemon. "Okay, we're going to do a chase routine. Tyranitar, you're on pursuit duty." "Hold on," Brand said. "You're going to just fake danger and hope they assume you're on their side? No, Aesera. They're not going to fall for that." "Well, I certainly hope not. If they're really that stupid, I'll be quite dissapointed." The two trainers were indeed heading towards the team's location, but they came to a halt as Aesera came running into view, Tyranitar chasing after her. A blast impacted the ground behind her, the 'Hyper Beam' as many called it, although Aesera never used the common 'move names' herself. She didn't like the implication of rigidity, that a pokemon could only use its abilities in certain, specific ways. That, and using the names told people what to expect. Another blast hit, and Aesera knew what the two had to be thinking, that there was no way Tyranitar's blasts would be as far off as they were if it was actually trying to hit her. which would mean it was a trick. One of the two started to move, but was stopped by the other. And Aesera knew exactly why. The one trainer had moved presumably to attack, but his companion had stopped him, and Aesera knew exactly why he'd done so: the trick was too obvious. What if she wanted them to move in and attack? And then the inevitable counter-thought, that what if she'd planned on them realizing that? What if the trick was obvious because she wanted them to think it was a fake-out? As Aesera and Tyranitar closed in, one of the two stumbled and fell over, while the other dropped to his knees. Aesera and Tyranitar slowed to a walk as the pair collapsed. "Well, that was dissapointing," Aesera said. "Rhydon, we're done!" Rhydon, who had dug his way underneath the street, emerged from the ground behind the two unconcious trainers. Espeon also showed herself, emerging from a narrow alley with Brand following her. "What do you know," Brand said, "it worked." "I told you it would. Actually, it was easier than I expected. they must not be very experienced. There's no way Espeon would've gotten them so easily if they knew what they were doing." "What do you mean?" "Start breaking things," Laresa told her Pokemon. She turned back to Brand. "It takes time and concentration to put someone to sleep." "I've never seen it go anything but quickly." "You probably haven't seen a Pokemonactually put someone to sleep. You've seen what I like to call 'battle sleep'. It's not really sleep at all, actually. More like a... well, I'm not really sure how to put it. Kind of a half-sleep, I guess. Anyways, the effect is to briefly render the target unconcious, but, as I'm sure you know, the effect is in fact quite brief. It's often enough to get a couple good hits in, though, although sometimes the target recovers almost immediately. Anyways, it's not real sleep. That takes a lot more time and focus. And even if you don't know what it feels like, it should be pretty easy to tell that something's happening. But these two didn't seem to react at all until the effect actually started to show, which is not what I expected." "Wait, but wasn't the Tyranitar thing to distract them from Espeon?" "No," Laresa said. "It was just to distract them. When they saw me coming at them, they knew I was up to something. I'd have thought it was to keep me looking one way while someoneone else ambushed me, but I don't know about them. Anyways, instead of let them reach some unknown conclusion, I gave them a riddle. They knew I was trying to trick them, and were occupied with trying to figure out if I wanted them to come at me or stay back. Of course, I didn't care what conclusion they reached; I just wanted them to focus on that problem. I did think they'd notice Espeon's attempt to put them to sleep, though. Then they'd have reacted. Rhydon's job was to handle the reaction and ensure that Espeon had enough time, although this turned out to be unnecessary." "I... see," Brand said. "Anyways, let's get back to the others." Aesera nodded. "Okay," she called out to her team, "we're moving! Rhydon, bring these two." "Wait," Brand said as Rhydon picked up the two unconcious trainers, "you're taking them prisoner?" they headed back towards the others. "Of course," Laresa said. "Why wouldn't I? After seeing them in action, I doubt they're anything but the bottom of the chain, but they may still have some useful information. And even if they don't tell us anything, will Pryce know that? No, they'll probably assume we'll get information from these two." "Then they'll change things, won't they? Won't that defeat the purpose?" "No. They can't just say to go to plan B, cause that would require that everyone know what plan B is, including our prisoners. They may have secret backup plans, but they'd have to be known only by a few. So most of them wouldn't be familiar with the backup." "So either way, we come out ahead. Good thinking." The team returned to the encampment and dismounted. They weren't the first team back, but there weren't too many others back yet. Which made sense; their target had been one of the outer areas, so they'd had less travel distance, although not very much less. "Damn it, you're supposed to do what I say!" Aesera turned towards the source of the voice, and was not surprised to see that it was Mathis. He was yelling at a Pokemon again; a Fearow this time. "That was your fault, you worthless bitch. They almost had me because of you!" Fearow chittered in response. "Shut up!" Mathis shouted as he punched Fearow in the face. "Just shut up!" "We'd probably be better off if they did get him," Brand remarked to Aesera. "The guy's as much of an incompetent as he is an asshole. Although you may have noticed that he doesn't ever think it's his fault." "Stay here," Aesera said. "And have the others watch." "You're going to confront him again? That's probably not the best idea." "Don't worry. This time, there are witnesses." She left Brand and walked over to Mathis. "You know, that's really not a smart thing to be doing." Mathis spun to face her. "You again? I though I told you to stay the hell out of my business." "One person can drag a lot more down with him. It's the entire force's business." "Bullshit. You're just upset 'cause I'm giving another useless piece of shit what she deserves. You got a problem with that?" "Yeah, actually," Aesera said. "You're the one at risk, though. Or did you not realize it might be a bad idea to hit something that's perfectly capable of killing you?" "Enough shit. You're just spewing out bullshit to justify the huge stick you have up your ass." "Or maybe I'm thinking about something other than myself and my ego. Which, judging by what I've seen, is a foreign concept for you." "Shut up. Just shut the hell up." "You know, I'm not sure what I'm doing to deserve the anger. I'm just trying to give you some advice. I mean, what do you think would happen if one of your Pokemon decides it's had enough?" "They know who the boss is." "Oh? Haven't you been getting pissed off at them for ignoring you? That suggests to me that they don't know who the boss is?" "Oh, yeah? And what, you think your way is better?" "I've certainly never had obedience problems. Besides, just think about it. If someone who treats you like shit asks you to do something, you're not going to want to, now, are you? And if you do do it, you're not likely to put in as much effort as you would for someone who treated you better." "And?" "And Pokemon are the same way. The better you treat them, the harder they'll work for you." "Whatever," Mathis said. "Just get out of my business." "Sure," Aesera said. "I've said everything I had to say, anyways." She left him and returned to Brand and the others. "That could have ended up a lot worse," Brand said. "For a while, I though he was going to hit you." "He could've tried." "Well, whatever. Just try not to pick any more fights, all right?" "I'm not going to stop speaking up," Aesera said, "but yeah, I'll try not to start any fights." "Just don't say I didn't warn you. Anyways, good job out there, everyone. Especially you, Aesera. You did good, especially considering you've never even practiced with us before. Nice bit of trickery, too. I didn't know what to expect from you, but now I do, and it's good to have you on the team." "Thanks," Aesera said. "Okay, let's get the prisoners secured before they wake up. then we'll wait for everyone's return and see what Falkner wants to do with them."

OOC: Man, I didn't think this was still going. Also, just to make sure it's clear, the characters I introduce in this post, Tala and Turner, are female and male respectively. ---------------------------------- Aesera's Pidgeot landed in formation behind Brand's Fearow. She'd found the flight from Violet fairly odd, mainly because she didn't know the signs people were using; Brand had shown her the basic ones, but just the basic ones. "Just stay in formation," he'd told her. "There shouldn't be any problems, but if something does happen, just stick with me and do whatever I do." And indeed, the flight was quite uneventful; the only ones who broke formation were scouts and Falkner himself, heading off on his own for some reason. "Well, that went well," Brand said as the team dismounted. "I take it there weren't any problems on your end." "Nope, no problems," Aesera said. "Hey, any idea where Falkner went off to?" "No. I'm wondering that myself." "He's probably off to demand Pryce's surrender," Tala, another member of the team, put in. "I don't know about that, Tal," Brand replied. "Isn't this supposed to be a surprise attack? Telling Pryce we're here kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?" "I was a Gym trainer, remember. I've known Falkner a lot longer than you, and trust me, it's something I'd expect from him. Besides, it's not like Pryce'll have too much of a warning. Sure, he'd know we're here, but, well, we're here. He won't exactly have much time to prepare before we attack." Another team member, Turner, spoke up. "I'd still prefer he not know we're coming at all." "I'd have to agree with that," Aesera said. "Plus, if Pryce knows we're coming, it'll likely mean less rest for the birds, since waiting would give Pryce more time to prepare." She turned to her Pidgeot. "What do you think?" Pidgeot gave a cry. "Yeah, I'd image you could use some rest after that flight." "You know, Aesera," Tala said, "you may be new to this, but I can tell you're an experienced trainer just by the way you talk with your Pokemon. I watched you and Pidgeot talk before we took off; you've got an impressive level of understanding." "I like to think so," Aesera said. "I can have Espeon translate for me if needed, but that's not a need I usually have with my team." "Yeah, but there is a limit to that," Brand said. Aesera chuckled. "I'd say so, too, but my brother would disagree. He has a truly amazing level of understanding with his Absol. Of course, they've been together for over ten years now, and Absol is his only Pokemon, so that helps-and incidentally, he'd have my head if he knew I'd called it his. He hates it when people apply posessive statements to Pokemon. Says it helps foster a mindset of Pokemon as just things. I don't know about that, although I certainly agree with him on a Pokemon-as-tools mindset being bad, and I'm kind of rambling here, aren't I?" "Yeah," Brand said, "but there's no problem. We're just waiting around right now, anyways. So, you don't see Pokemon as tools?" "That's right." "Odd that you'd be fighting for the League," Turner remarked. "Well, I agree with the League's stance otherwise, and as far as I know, the Pokemon-are-tools thing isn't actual policy, just a mindset. Which is actually another reason I'm here; I figure that the more voices for treating pokemon as equals among League forces, the better." "That what you were doing while waiting for the order to move out?" Aesera nodded. "Yeah. Brand showed me the basic flight signs, but yes, other than that, I was basically wandering around telling people to treat their Pokemon better. Not that bluntly, though. And I was always careful to somehow mention that Pokemon who are treated well, and thus like their Trainers, are more effective." "I assume," Brand said, "that that's in order to preparing a defense in case Falkner decides to chew you out again?" "That is why I'm always mentioning that, but it is true." "Yeah. you should still be careful, though, after the incident with Mathis." "Well, I'm making sure not to start any confrontations," Aesera said. "I know there'll be something eventually, no matter how I approach it, but I'm hoping to have distinguished myself in action by then." "And if you haven't?" "Then I haven't," Aesera replied, "but I'm doing this regardless."

I'm still interested, too, but as I've mentioned before, I don't really have anything to post until Falkner's force gets moving.