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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 7, 2018 7:17:35 GMT
"Well, we can ask around about Psychic Branch, see if anybody knows where they got to. Or check where they used to be." Clay rubs the back of his neck. "Hope this doesn't turn into figuring out how to contact the Psychic Branch so we can figure out how to contact Darkrai. I wanna try and make some sort of progress here..."
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Post by oddeyes on Oct 8, 2018 5:47:22 GMT
"Hm. It sounded like they also fled the guild. Might as well take a look anyways. Lead the way." Tiki follows Clay towards the psychic branch. The quicker they leave the lousy fire branch, the better.
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May 31, 2023 21:25:23 GMT
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Post by Raven on Oct 8, 2018 6:30:06 GMT
As Team Cliki approaches the Psychic Branch, they are suddenly stopped in their tracks and lifted up into the air by an unknown force. Seems kinda like a... 'psychic trap'? Do those exist? Well, that's what it feels like at any rate. Shortly thereafter, they feel a "probing" of their minds, like someone is trying to see who they are. With that finished, they are lowered gently back to the ground. The pair blink, and suddenly Lady Anya is standing before them.
"Clay. Tiki. What brings you two back to the Guild?"
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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 8, 2018 6:47:42 GMT
After Ashandra said the Psychic Branch disappeared without any word of planning to do so, Clay sort of suspected that they might be hidden, or at least that their usual location might have a way to contact them. Being proven right is nice, though he could have done without walking into a trap in the process.
At least this means they don't have to run around finding a way to contact them. "Uh, hi, Lady Anya. We came back for... a few reasons, one of which turned out to be a bust but whatever. But we were looking for you 'cause I was wondering... all those dreams did turn out to be warnings. I wanted to try and figure out if there was any way to send a message back."
Well, all of them except the last one. Which Clay still isn't convinced was a normal dream, but Darkrai's messenger seemed pretty insistent that it wasn't from Darkrai.
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Post by Raven on Oct 8, 2018 6:59:54 GMT
Anya hmms. "I never considered that to be a possibility, to be honest. One usually doesn't want to mess with Legendary Pokemon, regardless of intent. As elusive as they are, it's really no surprise that there is no easy way to contact them. If you wish, I could gather some of my best Psychic Pokemon and we can attempt to dredge up one of those 'dream messages' to try and find a 'callback number', for lack of a better term. However, this would involve you re-experiencing the dream, which may be traumatizing. I wouldn't want to cause either of you any undue harm, naturally."
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Post by oddeyes on Oct 8, 2018 8:02:18 GMT
Tiki fought desperately to not roll her eyes at her last comment. "We are obviously gonna need more help, and help from legendaries seems like the best option....But, that has proven to be less then what we would expect. We got help from Xerneas, Victini is going to help...I guess, and there are others to hopefully speak to. We....REALLY need more help, so if this actually gets Darkrai to do something else than nothing..." Tiki just kind of shrugs, and trails off.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 8, 2018 21:45:52 GMT
"Right now I just wanna talk to it, honestly. If it can help that's great, but if it cares enough to be sending messages about it, and hasn't done anything but send messages, it might not be able to. The messenger kind of implied it couldn't. Then again she was a total jerk, so I dunno."
Clay takes a deep breath. "It's kind of a long shot, I know, but if it's something we can do I'd like to try it. I'll deal with the dream if it means we can get in contact with someone we at least know wants to help." He gives Tiki a sideways glance. "Would having both of us make it work better? I'm okay with dealing with it, but..."
... But he's still a little concerned about Tiki's mental state, and the dreams sure never made it better. Clay's pretty confident in his own stability, but the last time Tiki had a really bad day wasn't pleasant for any of them.
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Post by Raven on Oct 8, 2018 22:13:56 GMT
Anya shakes her head. "It shouldn't matter which of you does it, and having both won't necessarily make any connection stronger. In any case, please hold still a moment. I'll take you both to our current location."
Anya places a hand on Clay and Tiki's shoulders and then teleports them (plus Fan if she wasn't recalled for the trip) to a new location. This new place looks nothing like the Guild. In fact, it looks like some noble's estate house or something. She gives everyone a moment to recollect their bearings.
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Post by oddeyes on Oct 11, 2018 3:21:52 GMT
Tiki has never been a fan of the whole teleportation thing. She lurches over, hands on her knees, and holds in her lunch. She rubs her temples. "Ugghhh...I really don't like that...What happened? Where are we?" When the room stops spinning, Tiki looks around, and tilts her head. "Fancy...What is this place? Where is it?"
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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 12, 2018 4:24:20 GMT
Clay isn't much of a fan, himself, but he manages to keep his balance. Thankfully he did recall Fan, although that was more because he knew the Psychic Branch was a little uncomfortable with extra braining.
It does still take him a moment to collect himself before he looks around. "Nice place. Sorry, I know I kinda came out of nowhere with this whole idea, but we're kind of... what do you call it? Grabbing at straws. We're looking for anything that'll get us somewhere. Rei's still researching, but..." But I dunno if she's getting anywhere or not, 'cause she won't tell us anything.
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Post by Raven on Oct 12, 2018 4:58:03 GMT
Anya seemed to have planned for one or both of her transports losing their lunch, and Tiki's expulsion is quickly whisked away in some manner before it can soil the floor. "Welcome to my home. Well, my family's home, to be more precise. I'm sure you're probably surprised to learn that my family is wealthy. In any case, this is where the Psychic Branch has taken up residence. For safety reasons, I'm afraid I cannot tell you our exact location geographically. I apologize for that." She leads Clay and Tiki to a small bedroom, pointing out a bathroom along the way if Tiki would like to freshen up/wash out her mouth. She instructs Clay to lie down on the bed and relax while she gets her assistants ready. As Clay prepares himself and Tiki takes a seat nearby, there is a faint shimmer in the center of the room as multiple Pokemon teleport to the location. There is an Espeon, a pair of Alakazam, a white-furred cat-like Pokemon (female Meowstic), and some weird, creepy-looking thing that neither Clay nor Tiki recognize.
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Post by oddeyes on Oct 14, 2018 2:47:59 GMT
Tiki does excuse herself to the washroom to clean herself up a bit. She'd probably be blown away by the fancy home, but living in a mansion herself for a while has cooled her off a bit on the amazement of it. She takes her seat next to Clay, and is quite surprised as multiple pokemon appear. She eyes them curiously as they prepare for whatever it was they had planned.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 14, 2018 19:21:57 GMT
Clay shrugs his shoulders. "I mean, nothing says you can't be rich and a good trainer. Kalani's friend, what's her face with the ghosts, kicked my tail the first time I met her. I didn't quite have a handle on Flower's weak points then." Another one to add to his rematch list. At least she probably doesn't spend basically all her time training like Ashley and Brenda, so she might not have actually gotten stronger as fast as him... maybe. Not that he's ever going to have enough time for all these people he wants rematches with.
It may also be worth noting that Clay pretty much has no metric for "rich" besides "fancy house". He understands money but he's shaky on a sense of scale between the extremes of "mansion" and "broke".
He lies down on the bed and breathes out slowly, clearing his mind. Just like meditating. He needs to try not to be afraid. This is not going to be an enjoyable experience, he's sure, but if he's so scared he wakes himself up it's not going to do any good. He just needs to focus on getting a message through to Darkrai. We're doing everything we can. Is there anything you can do to help us?
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Post by Raven on Oct 14, 2018 19:28:17 GMT
The strange-looking Pokemon, Malamar, begins waving its tentacles at Clay. He begins to feel drowsy and quickly falls asleep. All is quiet inside his mind for a moment, before the dream begins. It's that first dream again, the one with the dead city. He hears Anya's voice in his mind telling him to concentrate, to imagine projecting his voice, his thoughts out towards Darkrai. It's unclear if anything has actually happened, but he's pulled out of the dream shortly before it ends. He wakes up again right where he last was, and is told (if he asks) that he was only out for a minute or two. Just long enough to make the attempt. Whether it worked or not remains to be seen.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 15, 2018 5:33:46 GMT
Clay concentrates as hard as he can despite the dead city around him, trying to reach out with the part of him that channels Pokémon as well as with his normal thoughts. "Darkrai? This is one of the Chosen speaking. I know we're probably not the great heroes you were looking for, but we're doing everything we can. Is there anything you can do to help us against the Usurper? Please? I don't expect to be carried, but we need all the help we can get."
And then he's blinking awake. Only a couple of minutes? Well, he guesses that sort of makes sense. Time is weird in dreams. He sits up and swings his legs off the side of the bed.
"Well, I didn't hear an answer. But knowing how he's operated so far, I'm pretty sure we'll notice if he does." Clay runs a hand through his hair with a sigh. "Thanks, Lady Anya. I'm glad somebody we came to see today was helpful."
This isn't entirely fair, since he's planning on going to see Master Nob and he's never really expected anything but maybe some advice to come out of that, but he's still a little ticked off about Ashandra's attitude.
He looks over at Tiki and shrugs his shoulders. "So I guess that's pretty much that and we'll head back to the Guild now. If you've got any ideas, feel free to chime in, I feel bad leading you around by the nose all day. 'Specially if we're all gonna get teleport-sick."
He pauses and glances back to Anya. "We're, uh, also kind of trying to see if we can figure out what D'Mara's up to. Problem is we haven't really seen hide nor hair of her or her cronies in like two weeks, ever since Rei was attacked and everybody started breaking up. Do you know if there's a good place we could start looking for clues?"
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Post by Raven on Oct 16, 2018 7:05:46 GMT
Anya shakes her head. "I'm sorry, I have no idea where to look for her. I suspect she lives in seclusion somewhere outside of Celadon, but I couldn't tell you where to begin."
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Post by oddeyes on Oct 16, 2018 7:28:40 GMT
Tiki sighs as it seems they are coming up empty handed again. "Well it's whatever then...Might as well just head home. No one here to help us, and we gotta keep doing it all by ourselves...Let's go already." A mixture of failure, and queasiness makes for unhappy Tiki.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 16, 2018 7:44:41 GMT
"I mean, if she's got a house, somebody must know where it is, right? Could be something for Rei to look up since she's doing all that research." He shakes his head. "And just 'cause we sent Darkrai a message doesn't mean we'll hear back right away. When I send Peng with a message, or something, I don't get upset if he's not back right away. And I'll bet Darkrai lives really far away, just like Xerneas. Even a dream message might take a while to get there."
A thought strikes him. In retrospect it seems so obvious that he smacks himself in the forehead. "Wow, I'm dumb. We should just go look at the Dark Branch. I even know where it is, I walked into it looking for Rei one day 'cause it's right next to Steel Branch."
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Post by oddeyes on Oct 17, 2018 6:32:08 GMT
Tiki scratches her head. "Well that sounds dangerous, but it's not like we got much else to do..." Tiki would like more confirmed, and tangible help than waiting till judgment day to find out if help will come. Anyways, she's ready to head back if Clay is.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Oct 21, 2018 1:56:49 GMT
"I mean, we've got our Pokémon with us. We'd have to get seriously badly swarmed or trapped before we couldn't at least get away. Especially with you here. I'm gonna be honest, your voice is probably a better weapon than my fists anyway."
Clay cracks his knuckles, then turns back to Lady Anya. "Well, thanks for your help. Could you send us back, please?"
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