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Post by DataNinja on Jan 27, 2016 21:06:04 GMT
"Psh... It's a warm day, you'll dry off," she says from the lake. Indeed, it does seem almost unseasonably warm, despite being the middle of summer. Maybe that has something to do with why the spring is drying up? Who knows. It is a lot more noticeable now that you aren't shaded by alleyways or trees. "Now, are you going to jump in yourself," she asks, swimming over to where he was sitting on the ledge, "or am I going to have to make you? It'll do you some good after that scuffle." You notice... the Magikarp. And silt, sand, and sediment. Lillian and the Pokémon too. Oh! What's that? ...nope, just another Magikarp. False alarm.
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Post by loganto87 on Jan 27, 2016 22:32:39 GMT
Braxton pulled himself up to a standing position. He removed his backpack and placed it on the side of the lake. He stood and removed his jacket, shoes, shirt and pants, with only his skivvies remaining.
"If you insist." Braxton jumped into the water and dunked his head immediately, swimming for a few metres before planting his feet and standing again. Ruairidh kept to the side of the water and watched on.
"If you don't want to come in, you'll have to run a few laps Ruairidh. Can't be having any slackers here. Keep an eye out as well in case anybody tries to sneak up on us.
Blaire, I need you to try some underwater manoeuvres." The Marshtomp dove under the water and began swimming around the group, a very muffled happy hum could be heard when she swam near. As she went, she began doing zig-zags, barrel rolls, and front and back flips. She would often change her direction, or veer, ensuring that she was never following the same movement pattern.
Braxton playfully splashed over in Lillian's direction and smiled. Slowly, he reached out towards Cyrus, hand outstretched, to try and pat it.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 28, 2016 0:11:51 GMT
"I don't getcha, man." Lillian says, blushing a little. "You said you were from Azure Cove. Did you hate swimming, or something? 'Cause I'm befuddled as to why you wouldn't just be carrying around a suit or something. Azure Cove's much nicer than Runecircle for that..."
"Psh..." she says, waving her hand dismissively, "I'm sure you don't need to train your brains out every second of the day. That isn't living life, it's doing life. She is impressive, though," she said, gesturing to Blaire.
As Braxton reaches towards Cyrus, the Swablu looks tentative... and then settles on Braxton's head, where he manages to be just high enough to avoid the wave of water that Lillian splashes back at Braxton.
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Post by loganto87 on Jan 28, 2016 0:24:27 GMT
Braxton blew the dripping water from his nose, and ran his free hand across his face.
"I don't hate swimming. I just never really had time for it. I had a lot of people to look after, and there are only so many hours in the day you know?
I tend to try and get as much out of my day as I can. There is time for enjoyment, but I am worried that if we don't act quickly there may not be time to get your pendant before it is filtered through a fence. At that point who knows who might have it. I am sorry if this isn't fun for you for you. Blaire and Ruairidh came from a very rough background, and I want them to be strong enough to fend for themselves if anything happens to me and they end up back in a situation like that. In case you hadn't noticed," Braxton chuckled, and shuddered slightly, "II tend to get myself in situations more often than not. If those thugs had killed me yesterday, and I want to know that these guys can take care of themselves.
Sorry to be a downer," Braxton carefully ran a finger along the length of the Swablu (if it stays), "I've held a lot of responsibility throughout my life, and I hate to see vagrants like these getting away with doing these sorts of things to people like you."
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 28, 2016 0:37:52 GMT
"Yeah, I see where you're coming from. But, don't worry." She lays a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "I think that we've probably got at least a bit of time to enjoy life. And not just because with the whole 'silent gods' kerfuffle, the world as we know it might go kaboom tomorrow, or something. I'd hope not, though!" She grins, to offset the seriousness of the statement.
"But, anyways, I know that one of those nogoodniks was eyeing my pendant, and she looked to be the second in command, or something. So, if I read the situation right, I'm guessing there's probably going to be a bit of a tussle over whether she gets to keep it or they go out to sell it.
She sighs. "And, if I'm wrong, we can always see if that awful witch can locate it. Yech. I wouldn't want to deal with her again, though. I got bad vibes from her."
Meanwhile, Cyrus the Swablu purrs contentedly, like a cotton cat.
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Post by loganto87 on Jan 28, 2016 1:07:34 GMT
Braxton shuddered, "No. I would rather not deal with her again. Any opportunity to avoid her is a good opportunity in my mind."
Braxton continued swimming for about 30 more minutes, with the activities beginning as swimming lengths and directing his two Pokemon, but gradually faded into more playful activities. Blaire, at one point buried herself in the mud and hid, playfully grabbing at Lillian's heels as she passed. Blaire seemed to be warming up to Lillian as time went on, which was good. She tended to be a bit shyer around new people, but the water was her element.
Braxton remembered the last time he had gone swimming. It was with Blaire, after she had recovered and was still a Mudkip. She had been so afraid to interact with anybody besides Braxton and his mother. They stayed in the water almost all day. Slowly, the little Mudkip became more confident and began having fun in the water. The two of them played so happily together that they didn't notice that they had strayed into a more crowded area of the waterfront, with more tourists around. Blaire eventually forgot herself in the water. Since that day, submerging herself in water has always been the best way to calm herself. She was at ease, and could do anything.
Ruairidh never joined them in the water. He was content to sit at the water's edge and watch. He was very excitable by nature, but times like this he was happy to sit and watch, as he had watched Braxton help nurse Blaire back to health years ago. Ruairidh didn't like the water much. He could swim, but being so slow wasn't something that appealed to him.
After 30 minutes had passed, Braxton felt a bit hungry. "I think I am going to go dry off and prepare a bit of food for these guys. Feel free to stay in here if you'd like! Fighting can work up quite an appetite though." He climbed out of the water and lay on his back, staring up into the sky, squinting slightly as the sun shone overhead. Ruairidh walked over and hopped up onto his chest, sitting down on it and continuing to watch. Braxton reached up and scratched his friend behind the ear. "Sorry mate, only going to be here a second. You wan food? I'll need you off." "Luu." Ruairidh conceded, and Braxton gingerly lifted him off his chest and walked over to where his backpack lay to fetch a bit of food for them.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 28, 2016 1:23:21 GMT
"Uh, well, it all depends," she says. "What are you wanting to do during the rest of the day? Because if there's something you feel like doing, no sense in lounging the day away here. Regardless, I've had a grand old time here today, so thanks for that!"
As Braxton gets up, Cyrus flutters back over to Lillian, and begins preening her hair. "Hey, stop it! That tickles!" she laughs.
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Post by loganto87 on Jan 28, 2016 1:30:18 GMT
Braxton began handing some food to Ruairidh and Blaire. He pulled a few dried meats and some bread out for himself. "Have you brought anything for yourself? I have a bit of extra food if you need some. Also, here," he handed her a bit of the extra pokemon food he had packed, "for Cyrus. To avoid him eating your hair." Braxton laughed.
"Well if you were interested, I could show you a few things about commanding and working with Cyrus. That might take a few hours. There is a bit of training I think these guys could get in, but I would like to get back before dark and do a little bit of recon using the information we got today. See how heavily guarded this headquarters is." Braxton pulled out the map and began to look at the streets surrounding the Snakebites' headquarters, looking for possible back entrances or side doors, and checking how far it is from the Pokemon Centre.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 28, 2016 1:42:08 GMT
"It's fine," she giggles, playfully swatting at the Swablu, "he seemed to enjoy chowing my trail mix, so I'll just split that with him. And he's not eating it. At least not much."
"Yeah, sure, I'd not mind some training. Well, as long as I don't have to go about whacking rocks, or anything." She smiles. "What do you think, Cy? Up for a little training?" The bird-hat chirps happily. "Well, I guess that's settled. Let's try this, then. And not suck too badly."
Looking at the building circled, it seems to be a free-standing building in the warehouse district of town. So there's probably at least a front and back entrance, maybe even a few side ones. Judging by the time spent walking on the streets earlier, it's probably no more than thirty minutes from the Center.
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Post by loganto87 on Jan 28, 2016 2:08:47 GMT
"Hitting rocks won't be necessary, don't worry. Ideally though, we need to discover what it can actually do. We know it can use sing. That is when it put Ruairidh here to sleep, but it probably has other abilities that could be useful in a pinch. It won't be easy though, it can be tricky. Especially since it is only newly joined you, you will need to be careful not to betray its trust... finding out these moves can sometimes require a bit of motivation... to say the least. I'll help you how I can, but sometimes you just need to get them mad."Braxton moved to a bit more of an open area. "Right, Ruairidh and Blaire. I need you guys here. You're going to spar with each other. We're going basic here. Do not hurt each other. First exercise: Blaire, try to hit Ruairidh. Ruairidh, you need to try and dodge Blaire's attacks and after one minute, try and tag her. If Blaire gets tagged after a minute without hitting, Ruairidh gets a point, if Ruairidh gets hit once, Blaire gets a point. Stay agile Ruairidh, and Blaire, remember to use the terrain to your advantage and switch up your attacks. First to 10 points wins." Sufficiently occupied, Braxton turned to Lillian. "Now these next few hours will be hard work, but could be very rewarding, and I think you might get a bit of fun out of it. That being said, you will need to focus in order to get any headway here. That goes for you as well Cyrus, I need both of you to stay focussed. Lillian, Cyrus is your pokemon, so I will leave the motivation to you, but I need to you try and get him to use some sort of technique. Whether you coax it out of him or demand it is up to you, but see what he can do by way of attacking." Braxton uses Focussed Training, supported by Commanders Voice and Leadership to target both Lillian and Cyrus, giving them +2 to Skill Checks
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 28, 2016 3:37:41 GMT
After a while of training (and some momentary deafness...), it was determined that the Swablu could sing - loudly - in a few different ways. Two painful, one soothing. At least the mist it made was rather refreshing. So there was that. At least the ear ringing didn't last too long.
"Well, at least if all else fails, you've probably got a place at the opera, little guy..." Lillian says, rubbing her ears. "Uh, hey, how about you take a chill from singing for a bit, and take a snooze in a place that's not someone's noggin?" She holds out the Pokéball, which the Swablu pecks, and then gets sucked inside. "Uh, sorry 'bout that, Brax. Er, I hope you don't mind if I call you that." She goes a little red. "Uh, I should probably go change..."
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Post by loganto87 on Jan 28, 2016 3:55:33 GMT
Braxton turned to his two tuckered out companions. "You have done well. How about a bit of rest yourselves?" Blaire gladly returned to her Pokéball, happy to get a bit of rest. Ruairidh, on the other hand, stubbornly shook his head. "Your choice bud. You want to stick around, that's up to you.""Brax is fine, though it may take a bit of getting used to, so forgive me if I don't respond right away!"Braxton blushed slightly as well and returned to his tree with his back turned to give Lillian some privacy while she changed. He called over "Do you fancy beginning to walk back? I figure if we get back before dark we can scope out the place, then relax a bit for the evening. Given what I've seen from you two, I think tomorrow we should try to infiltrate their hideout and try to get your pendant back. You are free to stay behind if you don't feel comfortable coming, but I could use your help." If Lillian agrees to return, Braxton is happy to begin walking while this conversation is had
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 28, 2016 4:02:57 GMT
"Sure, we can start hoofing it back now." Lillian says, after having come back out, dressed in her regular clothes. "Would be kind of nice if we had a flying mount, get there quicker. And imagine seeing the city from up there!"
"And, yeah, relaxing sounds like fun," she says. "Got anything in mind? And...I'll come along. It wouldn't be right for you to go in on my behalf without me. Not in the slightest." She says the last little bit in a determined voice.
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Post by loganto87 on Jan 28, 2016 4:11:42 GMT
Braxton laughed, "You could try riding Cyrus, but I don't know how far you would get. I've always enjoyed walking anyway. Not the fastest, but it's a good time to collect your thoughts.
As to tonight, I don't know, we could see if there was anything to do around the town. Making sure to avoid any run-ins with any street-thug scum. We could hang out on the rooftop garden again if you'd like. Maybe the Centre has something going on. By the way, when we go to recon, can you make sure you are talking to me about something to avoid drawing attention. Just make something up, and I will try and catch a glimpse of anything they have going on."
When they got back to the city, Braxton made sure to plan their route to pass by the address they were searching for. He kept his head down, his hands in his pockets, and focussed on his peripherals, checking for entrances, guards, and anything else readily noticeable that might give a hint as to what they were up against.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 28, 2016 4:54:00 GMT
"Sure, the rooftop garden sounds spiff," Lillian agrees. "I know that guy at the Center was saying that there have been problems because of the spring, so there probably isn't that much going on."
Passing the address, with Lillian rambling on about all of the different minutiae of the different (or...claiming to be different, at least) types of occultists in Runecircle, the different covens, the differeblah blah blah...
Anyways, from the cursory glance, it seems that there are three possible entrances to the building. Some better than others. A door at the back, that looks like it's been poorly welded shut. Very poorly. A side door, that looks like a main entrance. It still seems pretty solid, though, judging by the surroundings. And the last is a series of fairly large loading doors. They look like someone strong enough might be able to pry one up. As for people, he doesn't notice anyone... they're probably all either inside or out being a nuisance.
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 2, 2016 14:16:02 GMT
Braxton took a mental note of all the entrances and began trying to plan how they could best infiltrate the warehouse. If only he had gotten a closer look... that welded door could prove useful if he could find a way to get through it. Doubtful though.
The problem is that trying to get through either the welded door or the loading doors would likely make too much noise.
He would have to think on it.
Braxton continued to the pokemon centre and released his Pokemon again. He bid farewell to Lillian for the time being and went up to where he slept. He got changed into some less-dirty clothes and returned to the meal hall in order to rendez-vous with Lillian.
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 2, 2016 15:55:03 GMT
"Whew, good," Lillian says upon seeing Braxton, "you're all tidied up. Now we can grab some food. Man, that training takes a lot out of you, no wonder you ate like a Gulpin was inside you last night. I'm ready to chow down, now. How can you do that day in and day out? It's way more taxing than travelling without a care in the world."
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 2, 2016 22:39:49 GMT
Braxton sat on the rooftop gardens with his food after having provided both Blaire and Ruairidh their fair share off sustenance.
"Training is hard work, but the results are worth it. When I first became friends with Blaire, she was just a baby. Through training and effort, she eventually evolved into a Marshtomp. Ruairidh should be evolving eventually too, though I am not quite sure when. It does't really matter though, your team is as useful as the leader that guides them, which is where we as trainers come in.
Traveling can be nice, but with some of the people out there, I try and stay trained and vigilant in case of trouble. I'd prefer to avoid situations like yours whenever possible."
Braxton began eating his food, looking up at the night sky. This time, he sat beside Lillian, leaving Ruairidh and Blaire to sit with each other and enjoy their food. "Enough with business, you have worked hard today and I'm sure you'd prefer to take your mind off the training today.
What is it you and your brother did for fun while exploring the world?"
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Post by DataNinja on Feb 3, 2016 1:30:15 GMT
"Psh, it wasn't really intresting," she said, shrugging, "We traveled, we met people, stayed with those who wanted to let us in. Some of those people were pretty swell, though. Like that librarian in Gemhollow. She was an odd duck, almost never finished a train of though, but a memory like a Donphan. You just needed to keep at what you wanted to find out. Oh, and there was that storyteller in Windplains. He seemed to know a new tale of the gods and their heroes for every day..." She laughed, "I'd be darned if half of them were true. Some of them seemed pretty far out. Like Moltres painting Arcticuno gold while she slept. I'd never heard that one before. But the way he told it..." She started laughing again, which eventually subsided into giggling. "Ah, sorry about that... Then there was that Seer on top of Mount Radiance. Pleasant chap, he had a lot of tales of other travelers, which were nice to hear. Stuff like that."
"But, I guess, really, we just did stuff with the people we met. You name it, we might have done it."
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Post by loganto87 on Feb 3, 2016 11:22:00 GMT
"And now you're becoming a trainer. Braxton smiled. "I guess you must have met a lot of very interesting people while traveling. Hopefully when we take out these rogues it'll add to your story collection. I've never been much of a story teller myself, but I've seen a lot of things. It can be amazing to watch how people grow and change, and they often surprise you. There was a girl back home named Cynthia. Tiny slip of a thing when she was younger, but she was always quick. When she got older, she shot up. Ended up being as tall as half the boys, and stronger than most of them. Was a time that a brute jumped her and tried to steal some of the food she was bringing back for a group dinner."He laughed, "She gained a bit of a reputation from that. Local gangs learned to never try and steal from the tall red-haired girl, if you wanted to keep all your teeth that is.[ /font]
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